Devan, Christofer, Radley, and Demsey

2012-01-12T15:20:00.001-08:00

Sad that it's been so long since I've blogged and that all the fun we've been having the past 6 months isn't on here...but here is my morning today:

Wake up and the kids seem relatively happy and well rested...for about 5 minutes, and then...Radely throws a fit because Demsey went pee before he did. Demsey throws a fit when I try to hold Rad instead of her. Rad throws a fit because I haven't gotten him breakfast yet (he hasn't told me what he wants yet). Demsey's whining because she wants me to hold her and feed her breakfast TO her. Demsey tantrums when she sees Radley sitting on her tutu skirt. Rad freaks out because Demsey takes her skirt away and he needs something soft to sit on. Demsey looses it again because I poured her cereal into the blue bowl instead of the pink bowl even though I had gotten the pink bowl out for her and she cried and told me she wanted the blue bowl! I'm trying to stay calm, I eat the cereal in the blue blow, get Radley a blanket to sit on and pour Demsey some cereal in the PINK bowl. Oh no, the blanket isn't soft enough and keeps slipping off the chair. I go into the other room to try and escape the madness and feed Demsey her dang cereal. Radley continues his whining/crying insesently and wants me..."won't stop crying until I come sit by him"....But I won't come sit by him until he STOPS CRYING OR I"LL LOOSE MY MIND! Demsey finishes eating, Radley comes and hugs me and stops crying. Everything is calm now, right? No, Demsey wants more cereal, the kind Radley has this time. I get her the kind Radley has, but no, it isn't really the kind she wants. She wants the kind in the box (whining/crying). Get her the box. I need to go to the bathroom....more crying by both of them while I'm there. Demsey is trying to add fist fulls of her cereal to Radley's bowl and he doesn't want that kind! Demsey has a fit when I tell her to stop and that Rad doesn't want it. I start to take Demsey to time out and Radley flips out...he doesn't want his sister to have to go to time out...I'm trying to find some comical relief in all of this, but at that moment, my tears were threatening to come and all I wanted to do was run to my room, lock the doors, and turn on some really loud music for the rest of the day...and the morning had literally just begun. This whole scene went down within 45 minutes of getting out of bed. I tell the kids that I need to go to the store (obviously we all need to get out of the house before we hurt each other) and Radley says so sweetly, "Mom, can I get a prize?" Haha...H*@! no you can't!

So...as this is NOT the norm at our house, PLEASE tell me that some of you other mothers with toddlers have experienced this same kind of thing? Hearing that I'm not the only one with days like this is much more helpful to me that just blogging about the 'Brady Bunch' moments in our family life.

Now, while reading my rant might not be that helpful to anyone, I'm doing it so that I can be more understanding and sympathetic to my daughters and daughter-in-laws in the future. This next part is a MUST READ for you moms with small children. It was taken off Momastery.com and it is awesome. I loved it and wanted to share it with all of you:

Okay, when I try to copy and paste it, it just shows up in a white box, must have a block on it or something. But seriously it's worth you time reading: http://momastery.com/blog/2012/01/04/2011-lesson-2-dont-carpe-diem/

Califorina and Lake Tahoe

2011-06-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

We spent the last 2 weeks in California (Bay Area) and Lake Tahoe. It was a lot of fun and we were on the go constantly. I tried to keep this post short, but we are always a little too camera happy and have sooo many pictures. Here's a quick recap of our trip:
This is us at Happy Hollow, it like a mini lagoon with lots of kid rides and a mini zoo. The kids loved it.
The main reason for the trip was that Christofer's brother was blessing their new baby. Here's a photo with all of Chris' family.

Next we went to a beach as Half Moon Bay, Rad got buried in the sand and had a ball. My kids could play at a beach in the sand all day.

Then we went to the Baylands to see some ducks and other birds. My cute kids are such good friends...most of the time :)

This pic is at Santa Cruz beach. We tried to get a pic with the cousins, it's impossible to get a good one with so many kids.

We took the kids to Lemos Farms and Demsey was in LOVE with the ponies, all she wanted to do was the pony rides. Radley liked the train, hayride and tractor, but his favorite thing was the bouncy house?

Ha ha, isn't his face perfect? I wouldn't want to mess with Cowboy Rad

The tide pools are always one of Radley's favorite places to go, here he is with a big star fish.

Radley is obsessed with bugs and critters, so I found him a banana slug. He loved it and held it for hours...well...we found out why no one actually plays with banana slugs, when we tried to wash the slime off his hands, it would NOT come off. We got online and everyone said that banana slug slime is impossible to get off and that water and soap only make it worse. It is so true, it was like multiplying in the water. We just had to dry his hands off and then rub them in dirt forever.

Demsey loved the Dog, at least someone in our family did :)The kids were so worn out, here they are doing some good cuddling during a nap.

This was a fun place called the Junior Museum, it had lots of fun interactive stuff for the kids and another mini zoo.

This was a place called Ano Nuevo. That's a whale vertibrate that Radley is standing on. This is a beach where tons of elephant seals come...it was also the windiest place I've ever been. Demsey didn't seem to mind the wind, she was workin it like a photo shoot.

Finally, Tahoe. I had never been here before and holy beautiful. We stayed in a cabin that over looked Emerald Bay, it was such a pretty place. We went on lots of hikes and to lots of beaches.

Radley loves to collect pinecones and there were some massive pinecones there, the one in this picture is little compared to some of the ones we found.

Eagle Falls hike.

Demsey liked sitting on the porch and enjoying the scenery with a good book. :)

And we finished off our last day of the trip with one of the best sunsets I have ever seen. Tahoe is definitely a place I want to keep going back to.

I LOVE SUMMER!

2011-05-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

So, I finally sat down and looked at everyone's blog...I seriously kinda forgot about blogs and it was so fun to see what everyone has been up to and how big kids are getting. I've been so bad about blogging, I think it's mostly because I've been into scrapbooking lately and we put stuff on facebook so I kinda feel like it's not necessary for us and just takes time. But, you've all inspired me so here's a quick update post. I tried to keep it short and simple because I could have gone on and on. We went to Hawaii in April...it was a blast, so many good memories and so many more good memories made with the kiddos.

Beach Body :)

Remember Johnny Lingo? Well this is the mean dad, "Mahanna you ugly, get down from that tree!" Haha, he was Chris' landlord when he lived there...this is the house that Chris lived in. The next pic is the house we lived in when we were married.

Easter, worms, worms and more worms, and remodeling:

PJ posers(with Dad's socks as props), lots of books

Ice castles, horse rides, snowkids

Cousins, Friends, Dentist, Fun, Love, Snow!

Christmas, Tractors, Pillow Pets, Nativity, Excitement!

Hopefully I'll be better at blogging now, but I wouldn't hold my breath, maybe it'll be another 5 months...we'll see :)

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

Radley's preschool group (minus one member) came to our house the Thursday before Halloween so we had a little preschool/Halloween party. It was a lot of fun, we read Halloween books, made ghost suckers, had a pumpkin walk, played pin the tail on the cat, did some dancing to Halloween songs, and got a little learning in there somewhere. Radley insisted on being a robot this year. I never saw any robot costumes in the stores, so we made his costume this year. It was a lot of fun to make and turned out really good. Radley loved it and would walk around like a robot making robot noises.

We went to a Halloween costume party at Christofer's cousins. Everyone was dressed up and there were some fun costumes. We are Nacho and Incarnacion the Nun if you can't tell, I'm not really one for dressing up, but it was pretty fun. They actually had everyone there vote on their favorite costume and Radley won a trophy for best costume. He was so excited, they had a costume walk where everyone walked by to show off their costume and Radley just kept butting in front of people and going again and again. He was a pretty awesome robot and proud of it!

This is Demsey the monkey at the party. She wasn't scared of costumes until I put her down for a picture, then she wasn't sure about things.

This picture is my favorite. On Saturday night it had rained some so when we went out trick or treating there were worms everywhere. Well, worms are Radley's new favorite thing right now. It took us forever to get from house to house because Radley had to stop and get every worm..dead or alive..off the ground and put in his bucket with his candy. His robot costume wasn't very mobile, so he couldn't bend over, which means I had to pick up the gross worms for him. In this next pic he tried to pick a worm up by himself. He totally got high-centered and stuck and couldn't move. It was hillarious. We had quite the bucket-ful of candy and worms by the end of the night.

Demsey really started getting the hang of it and was thrilled that people were giving her candy.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Firsts

2010-10-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

Radley has had a lot of firsts this summer, here's a few of them:

First trip to the dentist...he did great!

First kiss with cousin Quincee...they both seem pretty into it by the looks on their faces.

First major injury. Nasty 2nd degree burns...Rad stuck his hand in a trash can full of hot ashes thinking it was sand. A food vendor had left the ashes out at one of those town celebrations :(

First time being a ring bearer and wearing a bow tie. Chris' brother Andy got married this summer and Radley was their ring bearer. He drove this dump truck with a white pillow and the rings on it down the aisle. He did awesome and looked so cute.

First pocket bike ride...He couldn't really ride it, but man did he ever want to.

First star fish encounter...I was probably more excited than Radley, you know how I like bugs and creatures. We love going to the tide pools when we are in Cali and seeing the hermit crabs, sea anenomes, fish and other critters

First time climbing a fence. Obviously his hand didn't keep him down long, it healed quickly and we found Radley in the backyard like this, all the way up the fence.

First skateboard moves...RAD!

First day of preschool. Me and a few ladies in my ward are just doing a co-op preschool where we switch off having it once a week and each others houses. Today was the first day and Radley was excited to wear his backpack and go to preschool. He loved it and asked me if he could go tomorrow too.

We love you too Demsey! You make us smile and laugh everyday.

Summer Happenings

2010-08-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

This summer started off pretty rocky with the unexpected death of my Dad. It's been a few months now and it's still kinda rough sometimes. Luckily the summer's for us are crazy busy and that took my mind off things a little. With Christofer off for the summer we are going non-stop. It's tons of fun, but by the end of the summer I am ready for school to start again and for me and the kids to get our schedule back. Here's a breakdown of the crazy fun summer:

Radley LOVES to play outside so we decided to build him a sandbox under the deck. He loves it, there's a sandbox, a slide coming down the deck stairs, swings and plenty of dirt and grass. Our backyard is fenced in, so the kids go out and keep themselves pretty entertained.

We got this sweet blow-up water slide for a super good deal. It was new in the box and was originally $400, but Chris' dad found it for us at Goodwill. It's been fun to have and we've hauled it around for the kids to play with, we took it to a family reunion and it was a hit.

Demsey is learning to defend herself against older brother. :)

Christofer's family came out a couple of times this summer. Baby mania with the twins and Demsey. Here's the triplets (not really, but twins and then Demsey is two months older than them).

We did tons of boating this year. This isn't a very good pic, but I had just gotten done with some serious knee-boarding and wakeboarding. By the end of the summer I finally got wakeboarding done pretty good...well, at least I can get back over the wake :) Too bad I don't have any pics of Christofer. He's super good at wakeboarding and get tons of air and does tons of tricks. He walked into the water with the camera in his pocket when he was docking the boat, so it ruined our camera...oops.

Happy 4th of July! Love the 4th of July in Blanding! I played co-ed vball that day and didn't get many pics, but here's a few from the parade.

Bear Lake Baby! We had our annual Bear Lake reunion with all my friends. It's been on everyone's blog so not a lot needs to be said. It is a flippin Blast and I love my friends and their kiddos.

Here's just some pics of my cute kids. There is a picture of Demsey's 1st pigtails...so cute, although almost impossible to get her to hold still for. We also have a bunny rabbit that Radley loves as you can see. He will just go outside and take the rabbit out by himself and hold it.

We planted a garden with our neighbors this year and last year. Last year the weeds overtook our garden. This year the produce is on steroids. Check out the size of that carrot! Maybe one year we'll get it right.

We had a really fun family reunion at Storm's house this year. We went to Lava Hot Springs and floated down the river and did lots of swimming. We also went boating and had tons of good food and good visiting. We decided to do a yearly reunion and call it our Stephen H. Burtenshaw memorial reunion. We shared lots of good memories of dad and did tons and laughing and crying. We didn't have our camera there, so no pics. But it was a blast and I love my family.

We go to Cherry Hill every year with Christofer's cousins. It is a waterpark that is pretty fun. Radley loved the water this year and Demsey liked it too...as long as no one splashed her.

My Dad

2010-06-20T21:08:00.001-07:00

I thought that today would be a pretty fitting day to write a little tribute to my Dad. I wanted to do it earlier, but just haven't been able to. I love my Dad so much and on this Father's Day I find myself being so grateful for all the years I had him in my life. Now that I have kids I can picture what my Dad used to tell me about the times he would cuddle me and rock me to sleep and play horsey with me and love me. At times I feel like a little girl again and have such an intense need for my Daddy that it actually hurts. I know in time that pain will lessen and I'm actually grateful for it because it reminds me how lucky I am to have such a great Father.

I couldn't have asked for a better Dad and I have so many great memories and so many things to reminisce about and laugh about. My Dad lived to make others happy. I have a lot of memories of people coming to our house and asking my Dad for help in some way or another and he never turned anyone away. My Dad couldn't say no, sometimes this worked to my advantage, but he just wanted to make everyone around him happy. My Dad spent his life serving others and I have learned so many valuable lessons from him. I'm trying really hard to not be angry that my Dad's gone. I have some letters that he's written me and they all talk about how much he loved me and how proud he was to be my Dad. I'm going to miss my Dad everyday, but my goal is to keep his memory alive by being the kind of person he's shown me how to be and that he wants me to be, that way he'll always be proud to be my Dad.

Happy Father's Day Dad. I love you so much and I will always be so proud to be your daughter. Below are some pictures of my Dad with the kids. When I look at them it makes me so sad to know that they will never know their amazing grandpa and I'm so sad that he will miss out on their lives. But, then I feel comforted knowing that even though I'm sure my Dad is busy where he is, he has the time and will take the time to watch my kids grow and he'll get to see and be apart of more than he would have before. There's always those special moments with your kids that you just wish someone else could have seen, and Dad will get to be apart of those moments.

Thanks again to everyone for all of your love and support. So many people were so thoughtful in so many different ways. It really brought me a lot of comfort through all of this and I really appreciate it. I love you all!

Happy 1st Birthday Demsey!!!

2010-06-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

I don't know how it happened, but my baby is now a one-year-old! This past year has flown by, I'm sure the years go by faster and faster with each child you have. Demsey brings our family so much joy and I can't even picture our life without her. She is so much fun, she loves to cuddle and smile and wrestle with Radley. She is starting to develop a little attitude and definitely knows what she wants. Radley loves his sister so much. He is so good to share with her and always lets me know, 'Demsey wants some too.' She had to get her shots yesterday and Radley was so concerned, he didn't want to let me leave the house and kept telling me, 'But baby Demsey doesn't want shots, she's not sick, don't give her shots!' We had a little birthday party for Demsey in the backyard...luckily the weather was good for us. It was really fun and oh so cute. Here's some pics of the decorations, big disclaimer here, I did not make the decorations. I'm in the Primary Presidency and the Primary President is so darn cute and loves to plan parties and make decorations. She begged me if she could do a little something for Demsey's party. I of course said yes and it turned out adorable. I did make the birthday cake, that's why it's not extravagant, but it worked out perfect for a little one-year-old to destroy. That is supposed to be a big flower on the top. My mom showed me a trick where you can just roll out gum drops to make designs.

Here's the birthday girl herself, she is even cuter than the decorations.

We had some cute little crafts and games for the kiddos. We used Tyrel's cute idea of planting 'majic' jellybean seeds in the dirt. Kids love dirt so they had fun.

Then we made a bunch of fun things out of spray painted pasta. We had cute tiara's and barrettes with rhinestones for the girls. This is Christofer's cousins' kid and she was so cute, she just loved the girly crafts. The boys made trains with the pasta that were really fun, but I forgot to get a picture of those.

Then, after awhile, lollypop sucker-flowers grew where we had planted the majic jellybeans! Hurray!

Then it was present time. Demsey needed a little help with the opening part, but there were plenty of kids there willing to help out with that. She got lots of fun stuff, cute dolls and doll accessories like a stroller, blanket, bottle. She got some fun toys, cute clothes and a push/ride car that she loves. Thanks everybody for the gifts!

Then it was cake time. Demsey already has a sweet tooth and really loved her cake. She pretty much had that thing torn apart and demolished by the time she was done with it.

Happy Happy Birthday Demsey! We love you so much!

Let me explain the next picture. This is one of my dresses from when I was a kid. My parents got it in Switzerland and I wanted to get a pic of Demsey in it. I could not get a good picture to save my life, she wasn't cooperating. The next pic is of me when I was one. Everyone always wonders who Demsey looks like so I put this in because I like to think she looks like me :) That's why I dressesd Demsey in one of my old dresses and tried to recapture a pic that looked like the one of me when I was one. It totally didn't work, but you can still kinds see the resemblance.

Now, so that Radley doesn't feel left out :) Here are some pictures of Radley at the big scoutarama he went to with his Dad who is the Scout Master in our ward. He got to play some fun games.

This picture is the best: Boy in a Bubble. If you look Rad and Chris are actually inside a giant bubble and Radley is blowing the best bubble ever.

Last but not least, there was a reptile show at the event. They asked for a brave 30 pound kid out of the audience and Radley got picked to ride an enormous tortoise! He was so brave and loved riding it around for a few minutes.

Blanding & St. George

2010-05-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

We went to Blanding a couple of weekends ago to surprise my Dad for his 60th birthday. Storm came up with the idea to have a big surprise party and I helped her plan it. We also made a DVD with pictures of my Dad's whole life put to music. This is a pic of Dad watching it, he was crying the whole time, which of course made me cry the whole time. We were lucky the party worked out because Dad had to get a total knee replacement and got home from the hosptial just in time for the party. Everyone but Kyle and Val were able to come and we had a blast together. There's a picture of a bunch of us, and that was only half of the room...we are a big group but we have lots of fun. I love you Dad, Happy Birthday! My Dad is a big teddy bear and I love him so much and have so many good memories.

While we were in Blanding we went to the Dinosaur Museum. Radley loves dinosaurs and he had a ball. We even bought a season pass...I guess we'll be going to the dino museum every time we go to Blanding! Hopefully Demsey learns to likes dinos cause she was pretty freaked by them this time around.

I love this picture, Radley the Raptor

I thought I'd take a few pictures of the kiddos in the pretty tulips in our backyard. Leave it to Radley to pull goofy faces...and to ruin the flowers in the process :)

We got to go to St. George with our neighbors the Smoots whose parents have a huge house there. It was a fun, relaxing weekend. We drove together, here's a picture of the babies sitting by each other keeping each other company. We went to Zion's one day and did a bunch of hiking, it was really beautiful there, we'd never been before. Then we spent another day in St. George shopping, eating and walking around. It was a blast...thanks Smoots!

We are so excited that the weather is starting to warm up. Radley spends the majority of his days in the backyard now and Demsey is turing into a mini Radley, loving to be outside and in the dirt. Although, she usually ends up eating a few handfuls. Chris only has about 17 days of school left and we are so excited for summer!!! We have TONS of fun things planned, it will be a busy summer but soo much fun!

Easter & Spring Break

2010-04-12T20:43:00.001-07:00

Radley had like four Easters this year. Our neighbor, who always babysits our kids for us, invited us over for a BIG easter egg hunt and had these cute bunny ears for the kids. Radley wasn't very into them, but did pose for a couple pictures...what cute little bunnies!

Then we went to our city's Easter egg hunt, it was freezing that morning, ice on the grass, so we didn't take Demsey. There were tons of kids and at first Radley just thought it was a race, flying by all the eggs as fast as he could go. But, he finally got the hang of it and made a haul. Then he got to sit with the kinda creepy looking Easter bunny, he wasn't sure about the bunny at first, but then he saw the candy and that's all it took.

Then we went to another HUGE Easter egg hunt and party with Storm and her husbands family. There were sooo many eggs hidden, it was lots of fun for the kids. Here's Rad with his cousins Rylee and Quincee. I'm glad they live so close now because Radley looks out the window and wants them to come to his house all the time.

Then we celebrated Easter morning at our house with Storm's family. It was a weekend full of fun, food, family and the gospel, what could be better? Demsey really loved playing with the plastic eggs and all the shiny candy wrappers.

This past week was Chris' spring break. We got some things done around the house that we needed to and then we went for on this cool hike. It was a fairly warm day even though the second half of the hike was in the snow. The hike ended at this awesome waterfall. The ice was melting and falling off while we were there which was way cool. Chris packed Rad in a hiking backpack and I had Demsey in a front carrier. Luckily Chris' cousins were with us and they took a turn packing the kids, it was hard work packing another person, my legs were so sore for a few days! I guess it tired the kiddos out too because they both fell asleep before we got back down the mountain.

I guess we were just wishing it was a warm spring break and we went camping with Chris' cousins too. I'm not gonna lie, it was freezing and pretty miserable, especially with kids, but we toughed it out. The things I do for my husband, I tell ya. We did do some fishing and shot guns, which was fun...I think we'll wait a few months for the next camping trip. Maybe when the snow has melted and the campgrounds are officially open, that might be a good idea.

Okay now weather, warm up and let's really have spring now!

Pampered Chef

2010-04-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I just went to a Pampered Chef party and totally got sucked in. They have so many fun, time-saving kitchen gadgets! I decided to do an online catalog show and thought I might as well post the link in case any of you wanted in on the fun products. My Show closes on Thursday, Apr 15th...good timing for Mother's Day. Here's the link if you are interested http://www.pamperedchef.biz/cindyabawi

Here's the Mother's Day Special Trifle Bowl: Great for salads, desserts and centerpieces! Straight glass walls show off your recipes elegantly. A unique, removable stem helps you easily and conveniently transport, refrigerate and store the bowl. Unlike most trifle bowls, ours has a flat bottom that keeps layers from sinking in the center. The generous 15-cup capacity provides extra room to leave decorative borders and toppings untouched when you use the plastic lid. Dishwasher-safe.

Another Special: Cranberry microfiber towel FREE when you order $60 or more.

Mix ‘N Chop - $10-A Pampered Chef® exclusive! Unique, beveled pinwheel blades efficiently chop and crumble foods for even cooking and seasoning. Its high-quality nylon design follows the curves of your cookware and won't scratch the surface. A soft grip and thumb rest help you comfortably grasp the handle and chop more easily. Heat-resistant to 428°F. 11". Dishwasher-safe. I'm all about this! I don't like big chunks in my hamburger and this makes getting it nice and crumbly easy!

There's soooo many fun things, go online and check it all out!

Mom, this blogs for you

2010-03-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

Mom, this is so you won't be mad about us not sending as many pics as we used to. The kids weren't crazy about getting their pics taken, I bribed Rad with candy and told him to smile and pose for the camera and this is what I got. You can really see their personalities though :) I you look close you can see the 'steps' Christofer put in Radley's hair.

Entertainment While It's Freezing Outside

2010-02-18T09:31:00.000-08:00

Once there was a snowman tall, tall, tall...Radley loves that song from Nursery and he loved making this snowman...but, just like the song, it melted pretty fast. The nose and eyes kept falling off and everytime we'd go somewhere or come home Radley would see it and make us get out and fix the snowman until he melted beyond repair :) Radley named him, "Super Duper Snowman"

Here's Demsey doing some snow poses. She sat like that for a long time, probably didn't know what to do in the snow. Don't mind the HUGE Pooh Bear, it's a hand-me-down and the only thing warm enough that fit her. :)

We went to the Rodeo with Chris' cousin and his kids. Radley loved it, he just watched so intently the whole time. They have a little break in the middle of the Rodeo and have kids come down to do a chicken chase and of course Radley wanted to go and was right in the mix of things running around like crazy with all the big kids. Demsey sat in her carseat most of the time watching, she is such a smiley and happy baby! So much fun.

So, a few years ago Chris and I caught a tiny, cute baby catfish at the Dam in Blanding. He was seriously not even an inch long and so cute. Well, he obviously got big, bigger, huge and was outgrowing our fishtank. I was pretty sick of cleaning a fishtank too, so we decided to say goodbye to our catfish. I couldn't flush him (probably would have clogged the toilet anyways) or kill him, so we took him to a pond by our house and dropped him in a hole someone was using for ice fishing. Hopefully he enjoys his new home and now he can grow as big as he wants...Radley loved taking him to the pond and setting him free.

The kids are both at such fun ages. Radley and Demsey love each other so much. Demsey follows Radley around and laughs at him and Radley loves making her laugh. Demsey is seriously just a little ball of joy. She's always got a big grin or giggle. Radley is just a little adult these days and makes me laugh constantly. My mom sent us some valentine sugar cookies and after Radley ate his dinner I told him he could have one. He had already had 2 cookies and then here's a little dialogue between us:

Rad: "I want a Kit Kat candy bar."

Me: "No way, you already had 2 cookies."

Rad: "I'm not happy Mom, I'm running away because I'm not happy" (as he stormed off down the hall to his room with a mad look on his face.)

Me: "Radley, you should be happy, you just had 2 yummy cookies."

Rad: "I'm not proud of you Mom, I'm not happy...but watching a show on the computer will make me happy."

Hahaha, at least he knows what he wants. He also likes to sing "What do you want from me" from Adam Lamberts song. Too much fun these days. :)

Family, Friends & Fun

2010-01-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas was great this year, so much fun with Radley. Unfortunetly we can't find our Christmas pics on our computer, they are lost somewhere :( Radley was so excited for Santa Claus and Baby Jesus :) He got lots of fun stuff, a mini recliner, race car track, lots of clothes and toys/movies, but his favorite present was a dinky little squishy toy...he loves those things. We spent Christmas Eve at our house and it was really fun being Santa Claus and filling the socks, etc. Radley didn't wake up until 10 am on Christmas, so we had a relaxed morning, then we went to Idaho and spent the next couple of days with Storm and her family and my Mom and Stevie. Then, we came home and got ready for Christofer's family to come visit. We had 10 of Christofer's family memebers stay with us for a week, and that's not even all of them, 2 of his brothers couldn't come. It was pretty crazy, but we had a lot of fun. We went swimming at a rec center, saw Avitar, did some snow activities, had a little family birthday party for Chris and celebrated New Year's. Christofer's brother and sister in law have twins that are just a 2 1/2 months younger than Demsey...I realize they look the same age or older than Demsey, I have mini babies...so it was fun having the three babies together:

Here's a pic from Christofer's bday party, this was a present I got him that he could share with Radley...Hulk gloves that make sounds. When Chris was little he loved Hulk and would throw cardboard boxes around the room in his Hulk underoos, so I got him the gloves and Radley LOVES to wear them around and 'Hulk Smash' things. Happy Birthday Chris...we love you!

Here's a cute present, Demsey is crawling now, moslty army crawling everywhere, but she has done some real crawling too. She is such a good sleeper/napper and is just so much fun:

Here's Demsey with our neighbors little girl Isabel. We already have them arranged to be BFF's so I hope that works out:

So, I mentioned earlier Radley loves 'squishy toys,' that's what he calls them and they are his favorite thing. He sleeps with all of them every night and has named them. He has pink ball, big blue, Crocadile (some of his names aren't very original :), Piggy the lizard and spiky snake.
Never a dull moment and I love it.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Radley told Santa he wanted a motorcycle for Christmas...maybe he'll get a little one :) I love Christmas time and it's so much more fun with little ones!

November Fun

2009-12-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

Here is Demsey, 6 months old already!? Crazy how fast they grow, she is such a cutie and so much fun. Her little voice and laugh are my favorite! Love you little sis!

So, we have 3 HUGE trees in our yard and every fall we have SOOOO many leaves to rake and bag and take care of...it's not my favortie thing, I can't wait until Radley's old enough to do it :) But this year he had so much fun 'helping' me rake and then jumping in them over and over again, which made the work a little more fun.

We really have at least 60 bags every year, in the backyard this year there was a giant circle of leaves and Radley made a 'tunnel' through them and would just run around and around. I'm glad the leaves are done until next year...now time for the snow shoveling.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We were in Blanding this year, Radley got to do a lot of cute crafts and had a lot of cousin time. We ate at Chanelle's house, I guess it's Calvin and Julie's house :) but of course there was lots of good food and company. I didn't get any pics because between the two kids, I ended up eating my food when almost everyone else was finished...the life of a mom :) But Demsey loved her sweet potatoes!

So, I had to go to Christofer's school the other day and take Demsey to the Family Life class. It's the class that makes the kids take home a fake baby to take care of and they wanted a real baby and mom to come talk to the class. It was actually fun and the kids were all going crazy over Demsey. So, while I talked to the class, I took Radley to his Dad's keyboarding class and here he is, a 7th grader already! Chris said he just sat there and 'typed' and loved it the whole hour.

Demsey and Halloween

2009-10-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Demsey is growing up, 5 months old already! She is so much fun and we just love her, especially Radley, he can make her laugh more than any of us.

Happy Halloween! Radley loved it this year, he could say trick or treat and thank you and thought it was the coolest thing ever that people were giving him candy! We went to a lot of parties this year. I think Radley is going to think there should be a party a few times every week. We went on a pumpkin walk that they do in our town, there are tons of pumpkins and they are awesome. I love the first picture, Radley is making the same face as the scary pumpkin. Here's my little Halloween bugs:

Tyrel is such a dang cute mom. She had a Halloween Party for Havyn and her little friends. Radley got to go and had a lot of fun, they had a yummy lunch, played a few fun games and got lots and lots of goodies! Here's the kids doing a pumpkin walk, making spider hats and playing pin the heart on the skeleton. The kids were supposed to put the heart where they thought it should go...look closely at the skeleton picture and you'll see where Radley's heart is....what a boy! It was funny!

That's a family picture of us at our ward's trunk or treat and then a few of Radley doing some trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Chris just told me that our families are asking for more pictures of Demsey...I guess we haven't been sharing them by the millions like we did with Radley, so here's some Random pictures of little sis. The first few are pictures we took with our neighbors/good friends baby: So, I have a lot of other cute pics of Demsey, but our computer won't let me upload them for some reason? Sorry fam, you'll just have to see her scrapbook :)

California Trip

2009-09-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

We recently got back from a trip to California. Christofer's brother was blessing his new twin babies and another brother was going through the temple so we made the long road trip to be there for the special events. The road trip wasn't as bad as I thought it would be with two kids. We stayed at Circus Circus in Reno on the way there to break it up and then on the way home we got there at 3am so the kids slept most of the ride. There's always fun to be had in Cali and we had our fair share. Day one we went to downtown San Fransisco to Peir 39 so that Radley could see the sea lions, they are fun to watch but they sure do smell bad. There are always lots of street performers to see, yummy food to eat and shops to spend $ at:

These pics have Alcatraz in the background and the famous Coit Tower:

The breakdancers did some pretty sweet moves, this is one of the bboys and a pic of a submarine. Oh, and I have to throw in a disclaimer, those 80's flourescent sunglasses are Christfoers, he bought them and that flourescent sweetshirt in San Fran, I was just wearing them to keep my hair out of my face :)

Day two we went to the Oakland temple and Christofer's brother went through and then we got to do some sealings for some family names, it was neat. The Oakland temple has such a beautiful view! We all went out to eat afterwards and stopped at the Vans store on the way home to get some sweet shoes for Rad and Demsey. That night we went to Stanford University and did some long boarding on campus.

Day three was the baby blessings. This is a pic of Christofer's family after the blessings at the luncheon they had. Good food, good fun. We are so excited that there are finally some more babies in the family and cousins to play with.

Day Four we went to the cute little beach town of Pescadero to hear Christofer's brother's band play a gig that they had. The music was great and this is a pic of us laying on the grass listening to the band. You can't really see it, but we all have a blade of grass coming out of our mouth. Baby Demsey and her grandpa in their cool hats.

After we listened to the band, we went to a beach for the rest of the day. The waves were pretty big and the water was cold. Chris and his brother Jeff were the only ones crazy enough to get in. Radley had a ball playing in the sand and flying a kite. It was kinda windy too, so we found this little cave to put the babies in. Demsey really enjoyed it and took a nap in her little cave. Then we tried to get a pic of all 3 babies, that wasn't easy, as soon as we'd get one to stop crying, another one would start. We drove home the next day, it was a fun trip, there's always so much to do in California we can never fit in everything we want to, this was the best weather we've ever had too.

These are just some random pictures of the kids. The best part about the first one is that Radley took it. He LOVES taking pictures these days and walks around with the camera taking all sorts of artistic shots...he's actually pretty good. Demsey is getting to be so much fun, she smiles and laughs tons these days.

Nice little half smile, she's getting some chubs on her which I love to pinch and kiss.

My kids, such cuties and they look a lot alike. Don't mind Radley's hands in this pic, he is such a boy these days :) This is just a cute pic of Rad and Dad, this is Radley's FAVORITE book, it has like 5 different Berenstein Bear books in one and we have to read them a million times a day.

Okay, Catch-up time

2009-08-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

Wow....our summer has been crazy busy and I really haven't had much time to update the blog. This is going to be a long post, but I'm going to try and briefly recap the fun summer and what's been going on since my last post. There really hasn't been many days this summer that we didn't have guests staying here or we were out of town on trips or camping, etc. We've been to Bear Lake twice, had mine and Radley's birthdays, had our 6-year Anniversary, Chris coached a bball camp and I helped coach the middle schools vball camp, Chris went on a couple scout camps and he took Radley so I could have a little bit of a break, we've been to Cherry Hill, the zoo, had weddings to attend and did lots of boating just to name a few :). I'll post some pics of all the fun:
Here's some pics from the bear lake trip with my friends, the cabin is so nice and I love the blue water, it almost seems tropical! Radley loves the water and sand and he absolutely loves jet skis, he can even drive them by himself! :) There were lots of babies, mine, Marci's and Tyrel's, all within a few weeks of each other. There were almost as many kids as adults so there was never a dull moment. The kids had plenty of junk to snack on, Radley and Maxon are being little cookie monsters.

I don't have any pics from my birthday...but Chris sent me on a fun scavenger hunt. He had rapped clues to the next place on our camera and so I had to watch them to find out where to go next. We had a fun day of shopping, eating, and going fun places. My mom was here, so we even got to leave the kids and go to dinner and a movie. There weren't many movies at that time, so we saw transformers...more of a birthday present for Chris, but it was alright I guess. Fun birthday, thanks babe for being so creative!
We finally got some baby announcements out, we didn't order very many, so here's a copy that everyone can see and here is a cute updated picture of little Demsey smiling away. She is so smiley these days and has the cutest little dimple just like Radley. I can't believe she's almost 3 months old already!

This picture is just for fun. We were looking at some old pics and realized how much Radley and Demsey look alike. They aren't the best pictures, but can you tell which is which?

We also got to go to Nicole's wedding in the Salt Lake Temple. It was great, I have some of the greatest friends and it makes me so happy to see them happy. Here's one of the girls and one of my family. Radley was also trying to break into the temple, hope he wants in that bad when he's older!

Happy 24th of July! We went to a Raptors baseball game and Radley's uncle Jeff caught a ball and gave it to Rad...he loves it.

Our 6-year anniversary was on July 29th, my mom came back up so that she could watch Radley while we went to this fun Bed and Breakfast in Salt Lake called the Armstrong Mansion. It was such a cute place, our room had its own staircase leading up to a jacuzzi. I can't believe I've been married so long and have 2 kids, I really am getting old....but I don't feel old, it's so weird.

These are our good friends from Hawaii, the Moncurs. They still live in Hawaii but they visit Utah every once in awhile to see family. It's always fun to see them and we are so excited to someday go back and visit them in Hawaii.

We found this fun park near our house that has a splash pad. It's a lot of fun and totally free because it's just a regular city park. Radley is going to be totally water logged by the end of the summer, but with Chris off for the summer we just go go go. Radley's birthday was August 2nd. I can't believe I have a two-year-old now! He talks so much now and amazes me everyday...he also tries my patience everyday. :) We were at my sisters with her kids and my mom and had a little party. Radley got a drill, because he loves to play with his dad's real drill so my sister figured he needed a toy drill. He loves it, he also got tons of cars and a carpet track to go with them. He also got a big wheel which was his favorite. Chris loved his big wheel as a kid so his mom got Radley one and he loves it. We even have to carry it up and down the stairs with us. His cake was a 'dirt' cake because Radley loves to play in the dirt so much. It had worms coming out of it and a shovel to serve it with...it was acutally pretty good too.

Here's a couple pics from the Scout Camp that Radley went on with Chris. Radley was actually mad that he had to live inside when they got back, he loves the outdoors.

We've had tons of fun in the water, we've been boating lots and went to Cherry Hill the other day. We didn't get pictures of the fun rides, but that's the best part of Cherry Hill. Here's one of my hubby posing thinking he's funny:

Here's a few from the Bear Lake trip we took with Christofer's cousins. Demsey chilled in the shade and Radley loved the boat and building sand castles with his boy cousins. We also rented a jet ski and had it all three days, I love jet skis!

We had a fun BBQ at our house this past weekend. We had yummy carne asada steak burritos. Stacy brought some yummy lime/cilantro rice, I made some homemade salsa, Noelle brought delicious tres leche desert and we all had tons of fun, there were people and kids and toys all over! Stacy, Kacey, Noelle, Tyrel, Landry, Storm and all their spouses and kids were there. We missed Nicole and Cassie...it's fun that we all still get together.

Of course we had to go to the zoo. We went with Storm and her family. Radley loved it all, but his favorite animals were the snakes and bugs, and the train ride of course :) There were a lot of cute baby animals there too, it was fun but it was hotter than heck! I'm never going to the zoo in the summer again...I think I'll try October next year!

We planted a garden this year with our next door neighbors, but they had a new baby this summer too and we were both too busy with our babies and having fun, so the weeds in our garden are as big as the plants. The veggies got a little big before we picked them :) Next summer we are going to give our garden a little more TLC.

Phew, sorry for the mega post, I told you I had a lot to catch-up on; I had way more pics and events but didn't want to be too extreme :). Today summer is officially over, Chris had to start school. I think this is the first time I'm glad summer is over...I'm tired. Hopefully I'm going to have time to keep the blog current now :)

Baby Blessing, Boating and Buds

2009-07-15T07:54:00.001-07:00

It has already been a very busy summer. We blessed Demsey on Sunday and all of Christofer's family was here from California, all 6 brothers. It was crazy and fun, we had so many of our friends and family at the blessing and had a fun little luncheon in our backyard afterwards, thanks to everyone for coming and for your support! My mom made the blessing dress and it is so beautiful...thanks Mom!

Here's Chris' brothers...they get soo goofy when they all get together, they are holding baby Demsey up Simba style from Lion King. You should have seen some of the dance sessions they had with Radley :)

We took everyone boating a couple of times at Willard Bay. Radley loved the boat and the water, Demsey pretty much slept on shore the whole time and I finally got wakeboarding down pretty good.

Radley has had lots of fun playing with all his cousins at all the cookouts and get togethers. We also got to go to Boise to Chase's baptism on the 4th of July which was really neat.

This is the kids playing in the dirt under our deck at the blessing luncheon. Radley loves his dirt pile and is covered in dirt at the end of each day.
Summer is so great, and there is still so much to look forward to. We'll keep ya posted on all the adventures!

More Baby Pics

2009-06-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here's some more pictures of little Demsey. I am so NOT a photographer, but we tried to be a little creative, and a few turned out okay:

This is the pose Radley is in most of the time...he LOVES his little sister. He constantly wants to lay by her and hold her and kisses her on the head about a hundred times a day. He's pretty protective as you can see by his face in the picture, he's getting better at sharing her though :) She's starting to get a little chub on her cheeks, she had gained a pound at her 2 week appointment, but everyone still always comments on how little she is. She's a good baby during the day, but when night comes she gets a little colicky for a couple hours...I hope she outgrows that soon.

We've already done some fun things this summer: dinosaur park, air show, airplane museum, parks and we have lots more planned. Chris likes to always be on the go; working on projects or doing fun stuff, but it's nice to have him home so that I can take a much needed nap most days. I still can't believe I have two kids, I think it makes me feel more like a real mom, before I kinda felt like I was just hanging out with Radley :) Fun stuff, hope everyone has a super fun summer!

She's Here!!!

2009-05-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

Baby Demsey Marie(pronounced Dem-See) was born on May 28th at 12:15 pm. She was 6 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 inches long. I'll put pictures first for those who just want to see pics and then I'll write the details at the end, here's the family awaiting the new addition. My mom was taking care of Radley and had just brought him to say hi.

She was so tiny, I forgot how small newborns really are. She also had the cord wrapped around her neck THREE times...I was totally freaked but the doctor said it's totally common and that my cord was long enough that it was never causing the baby any problems. She sure did move around tons in my belly, I guess the cord was bound to be wrapped around her somewhere.This is my first hold after the baby was checked and cleaned. She doesn't have tons of hair, there's a lot more in the back than on top. She kinda has a mini mullet :) Here hair is brown, but Radley's was too until he got older.

Here's the new little family of four, so crazy that now I have 2 kids.

I can't tell who she looks like, sometimes she looks like Radley, sometimes she looks like me and sometimes Chris...too hard to tell with newborns, we'll have to wait and see I guess.This is the cutest picture of big brother Radley holding her in the hospital room. He has been so cute with her. He loves to hold and kiss her and is already protective. Whenever my nieces want to hold her he tells them she is his and that they can't.

It is so amazing having children, being pregnant isn't fun and the whole labor process isn't fun either, but it is all such a miracle. Now there is a new little human in the world that totally depends on us for everything. It is such a spiritual experience when the doctor first puts that little baby up on your chest, there's nothing like it and it makes all the pain seem so insignificant.

So, here's some details. First, I found out a week before my due date that my doctor was going out of town for two weeks and she asked me if I wanted to be induced before she left. At first I kinda had mixed feelings, I wanted to at least go to my due date and see what happened, but on the other hand, I was already dialated to a three, 80% effaced, and it would make planning easier. So after thinking about it, we decided to go for it because I really didn't want to take my chances with just whatever doc was on call. So we planned to get induced on Thursday and my mom drove up Wednesday so she could be with Rad. Things started out a little rocky at the hospital...I was kinda stressed at first. The nurse came in to start my I.V. and she was trying to draw some blood and having a hard time and digging around in my arm. It was hurting way more than it should and I was just trying to be brave. When she put the I.V. on, my arm starting swelling and she realized that she had gone through the vein and into my tissue...so she had to take it out and try my other arm. The other arm didn't hurt at all but when she put the I.V. drip on, I got super nauseated and dizzy and weak and apparently I shorta passed out for a few seconds and was totally unresponsive and my lips were as white as the sheets. I didn't even know I had passed out, but when I came to Chris was over my bed all freaked out. The nurse said that it happens a lot, but it was weird for me because I usually have no problems with needles and blood and stuff. So I felt weird for awhile and the baby's heart rate was going up and down a lot so they gave me oxygen and waited to start the Pitocin until the doctor said it was okay. After they started the Pitocin at about 10am things went fast. I got my epidural when I was dialated to a 6...let me just say I love epidurals...they are the best and I don't know what on earth I would do without them. I don't know what Chris would do either, I was getting pretty mean before the epidural because those pitocin contractions were not messing around and I was not a happy camper. Anyways, I went from being dialated from a 6 to a 1o in 2o minutes. Then I had to wait a few minutes for the doctor to get there and I had to fight the urge to push so hard...I've never wanted to push so hard in my life! So the doctor got there and it only took me 2 contractions to push her out, less than 5 minutes. It was so fast! Storm was there to watch the birth and she was all sad because it all happened so fast that it wasn't very exciting :) Baby number 2 was much easier and the recovery has been much better too. The timing is perfect because Chris is off for the summer next week so he'll be around to help entertain Radley and let me get some much needed sleep. I'll keep the updates coming but so far so good and we are sooo glad Demsey is here!

Recent Radley Happenings

2009-05-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

I decided that I'd better give Radley a little more attention and one more post before the baby comes. We've been getting Radley ready for summer and for the baby. This is a before and after picture of Radley's hair....it was definitely time for a haircut, he would have major bedhead every morning and I could hardly get it wet enough to lay down. Plus, he's outside 24-7 when the weather is nice and he was getting so sweaty and dirty with his long hair...I like the short hair look, although he looks so old.

I have been dreading the switch of moving Radley from his crib to a bed. I just knew he'd get up all night long and come into our room. I decided we might as well try it, so we put the crib in the nursery and put Radley's car bed in his room. We made a big deal about it and he loved it, he thought it was so cool and just layed and played on it tons that day. That night he only got up once and I just layed him back down in it and he slept till morning. He's been fine ever since, going to bed at 9-ish and sleeping all night long in his big car bed until 7-8 in the morning. It's great and I stressed for nothing I guess. One more thing I can check off the list as we prepare for little sister! He really looks old sleeping in a bed!

Chris got a hold of Radley again and this is what that looks like:
Chris just loves dressin' him up and making him a little rapper or hip/hop dancer. I've decided that Chris is going to be soley to blame when all Radley listens to is rap when he's a teenager...Chris can deal with that all by himself. :) Radley loved the bandana though and didn't take it off the rest of the day. Rad sure is lots of fun these days, gotta to enjoy him while we can, only 2 1/2 weeks left before the baby comes and I think Radley is going to have a hard time adjusting to not being the center of attention all day everyday. We are so excited though and can't wait to add to our family and see what our little girl will look like!

Easter/Spring Break

2009-04-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

Chris had spring break the week of Easter, so we spent the first few days doing yard work and cleaning around the house. I was getting the flower bed ready and Radley got one of my gloves and this is what he came up with...the growl is a little scary, but so funny...funny unless he's doing it during the entire sacrament prayer :)

After doing some spring cleaning, we headed to Blanding for Easter weekend and for a baby shower that Storm and Laici were having for me. We stopped at the dinosaur museum in Price because I needed to stretch my pregnant legs and we thought Rad would love it, which he did. He just ran around the place like crazy pointing to everything and saying Oh, Oh, and growling like a dinosaur. They had some fun interactive kid activites there, here's Rad doing some bone excavating.

Once we were in Blanding, I had a baby shower that was so much fun. I'm sad because I didn't take my camera so I didn't even get pictures of all the yummy food, cute decorations and super cute dresses, bows, ribbons, blankets and all the adorable little girl stuff I got. It was a lot of fun though, thanks everyone for coming and for all the goods! People have been bugging me to post pictures of my belly, so here's a picture that I took before the baby shower. Everyone always says my belly is small, but I still feel like a big uncomfortable cow :)

I'm a little nervous for baby #2, Storm ran to the grocery store while we were there and left Quincee with me. I was watching Radley and Quincee wandered off and this is what I found about 10 minutes later-she was covered in flour. I wasn't a very good babysitter. I'm sure Radley will get into all kinds of trouble while I'm taking care of the baby.

We went on a little Easter picnic with the fourwheelers. We got a few short rides in, but then it started raining and ruined our fun. The weather wasn't really cooperating that weekend, but the kids loved the 4-wheeler, rain and all.

Here's Radley with his Easter basket. This is the face he makes when we tell him to smile for the camera...kinda looks like the 'udge' from High School.

On the way home we stopped at the sand dune north of Moab to roll some Easter eggs and play. Radley loved the sand. Christofer thought he was going to 'dominate' the dune and run up it in record time. He about died halfway up, but he did make it pretty fast. I made it all the way up too, but it took me a lot longer with a lot of pit stops on the way.
It was a fun weekend, last long trip I'll take before the new baby comes...that's the next big event that I'll definitely keep you posted on.

New Ride, New Room, New Rad moves

2009-03-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

We recently got a new family car. Christofer finally got rid of his grandpa's boat/car and we bought this older 4runner so that we'd have something to haul trash away with and to pull our boat this summer. It was owned by a grandma who took really good care of it and put in a new transmission and engine right before we bought it. We love it, it lots of fun to drive. Oh and yes, Radley was enjoying walking around on top of it. Here's a view of the inside too.

Here's the baby girls room. I don't think these pictures do it justice, the paint job is so dang cute. We don't have the crib and everything set up yet because Radley is still in the crib for now, but it will be so cute when it is all done. I'll have to put more pics up then, but we painted it ourselves and we pretty excited with how it turned out.

We were watching some TV one night and Radley was just running around being crazy. Out of no where he just starting busting this move over and over again. It was hillarious, I thought I was going to pee my pants I was laughing so hard. He just flings his little arms out and flicks his wrists to the side, he does it all the time now. Having a kid is definitely entertaining, you never know what they'll come up with next!

Hammer Time Baby!!!

2009-03-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

Yeah, that's right....I went to the Vanilla Ice/MC Hammer concert this weekend! I got a free ticket from a friend I play volleyball with and went with a fun group of girls...I played vball with all but one of them and they are lots of fun. Christofer told me that I had to go, he was pretty jealous, but so nice to hang out with Radley while I had a girls night out.

So, we had general admission tickets which meant we were on the floor...I really shouldn't have worn boots...but we got there early and we were so excited because we were like right in the middle and only about 4 feet from center stage. BUT, then all the people started showing up and filling in and pretty soon we were getting squished beyond belief. I felt like a sardine, we were all sweaty and crammed next to all these weird people. I was actually scared a couple of times because people were pushing so hard that we almost fell down. Not the best idea being pregnant and all, but we had no idea how crazy it would be. We toughed it out for about an hour and a half through the opening band and finally Vanilla Ice came out.

We were seriously sooo close, it was pretty cool, even if it was torture at times! Here's a crowd surfer right next to us.

We got some good pics and then decided to get out of the craziness. We found an area where we could breath and dance around to finish off the concert. There were so many people dressed up all crazy...I kinda felt like I was at an 80's party...here's just a few of the crazies.

Here's a little video of MC Hammer singin Too Legit To Quit. He had some good dancers and did a good job. He also of course sang Hammer Time and You've Got to Pray Just to Make it Today. It was fun, we didn't get home until 3am and I decided that I'm a little too old for that, being prego and all...good memories though, you gotta have a girls night out every once in awhile! Here we are after the concert taking a break, feeling pretty tired. Word To Your Mutha!!!

2009-02-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

This is what Radley and his Dad do when I am gone. I come home and there's always another video...I can never get these to post, so I'm glad that one of the video's finally worked!

I hate binky's

2009-01-29T08:45:00.000-08:00

So, when Radley was first born, Chris didn't want to give him a binky, but my family and I, and our pediatrician thought it was important for a little baby to have something comforting to suck on. So, we gave Radley a binky...he didn't even like it for a long time but I kept giving it to him until he finally liked it. What was I thinking!? Chris hated it every time Radley had his binky because he couldn't see his cute face and when he got older, you couldn't hear him jabbering and trying to talk, it was all muffled and slobbery. So, when he turned one we sort of took it away, we only let him have it when he was sleeping. That worked for awhile, but now that he's older and smarter, he has been starting to want it all the time again. Whenever he's mad, or hurt, or tired, he goes running into his room and around the house trying desperately to find his binky and throwing a royal fit when he can't find it. We decided a couple days ago that it was time to totally get rid of the stupid thing. I tried all the tricks you hear, I cut the end off the binky, but that just ticked Radley off. He'd put it in his mouth and it wouldn't suck right, so he'd take it out, throw it across the room and then immediatley sprint over to it and try it again. He was so mad that it wouldn't work, but wouldn't quit trying to make it work or let me take it away. I decided I just needed to throw it away because the stupid cut binky was just making things worse. So, I told him it was broken and I threw it in the outside trash. He sat at the door banging on it and screaming and acting like a wild animal forever...I finally had to let our neighbors cat that Radley loves into the house to distract him (I soo don't like animals in my house). So, needless to say, my last couple of days have been a nightmare, naps are pretty much non-existant, although he has been going to sleep at night okay. I really hope that he forgets about the dang binky soon...he's pretty stubborn and determined though and he sure hasn't forgotten yet. If anyone has any great tips for me, or just some sympathy, let me know. All I know is that if I give my next baby a binky, she'll only have it until she's 3-6 months old like all the books suggest because taking a binky away from a stubborn, strong willed toddler is hell. Sorry for all the venting, hopefully my next blog will be a little more positive. :)

BABY #2

2009-01-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

So, most of you probably already know that I am pregnant...if you didn't, I am prego again:) I'm 20 weeks along and just got my ultrasound yesterday and....IT'S A GIRL!!!!! We are sooo excited. I thought it would be another boy, and I was excited for that because Radley would have a buddy, but I'm really excited about a girl and maybe she'll teach Radley how to be a little more gentle. We finally broke the Bradshaw boy streak, there are seven brothers in Chris' family-no girls, then we had the first grandkid...a boy...so I wasn't sure if I'd get a girl. When we told everyone, we first said, Radley is going to be a big brother, and Chris' brothers thought that meant we were having a boy...it was funny. I'm finally starting to feel better with the whole nausea nightmare and I'm definitely getting a little belly. Time to start buying cute clothes and girly things for a nursery...I know my mom is going to be busy for then next 4 1/2 months. My scanner is broken right now, so I can't scan the ultrasound pics, but they are really cute. Yay for girls!!!

Home for the Holidays

2009-01-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

We got to go to Blanding for 8 days over the Christmas break. It was lots of fun, Radley had fun with his cousins, but was wishing there was at least one other boy by the end of our stay. Here's some pics, hope everyone had a great Holiday season!

There was so much snow in Blanding over the break, so we took advantage and had some fun. My Dad's family all went tubing at the 4th, Letha was hillarious, she was the most daring, it was funny. There was a huge snowman around the corner from my mom's house, it had shovels for arms and a hat, but had melted a little by the time we got our picture.

Radley had fun with his cousins, he LOVED Rylee's sunglasses...guess I know what I need to get him soon.

On Christmas Eve we watched the Christmas video, cartoon form of course, then we tried to get the kids to dress-up in a little manger scene. This is the best we could get, but it's still way cute. Then we went over to my Dad's for that party and for the opening of our name exchange.

Christmas morning was fun, we opened presents at my moms house first with Storm and the girls and Stevie and Nate, then went to my Dads and then spent the rest of the day eating and partying. Christofer and I are putting a new bathroom in our basement and we had some 2X4's left over, so we decided to make Radley some blocks for Christmas. He got way too many presents, thanks everyone for all the gifts! I got a Kitchen Aid and a new volleyball among other things, Christofer got laser tag guns and you should have seen him playing with those the rest of the week with anyone he could get to play. He was diving behind couches and rolling across the floor..boys really never grow up! I'm always sad when Christmas is over and we have to wait another year!

I don't have any pictures of New Year's Eve, we spent the night with Christofer's cousins and their kids. We played tons of games and won lots of cool prizes. I thought Radley would fall asleep before midnight, but there was so much action he totally made it to the New Year wide awake. New Year's Eve is Christofer's bday, he says that everyone is partying for him, but I think he secretly gets sad because his big day kinda gets lost in the mix. He did get the bball shoes he's been wanting for 12 years, they finally remade the ones he had in High School that he loved, the 1996 Jason Kids, so he was pretty stoked. Chris is an awesome husband and father, he does so much for us and keeps us laughing and entertained. Love you babe!

I almost forgot this pic of Radley and Santa...he wasn't totally excited about Santa, but he never cried and as soon as Santa busted out the candy cane, Radley decided they could hang out.

Where Did November Go?

2008-12-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

Not that I'm complaining, because I love December and Christmas time, but I swear it was just Halloween and now it's December all the sudden. I wish I had a bunch of fun pics from Thanksgiving to post. We went to Boise with my Mom and Stevie to Kyle's house. We forgot to take our camera, so we didn't get any pictures. I guess that's okay because most of the weekend Radley was sick. He got the stomach flu the night before Thanksgivng and threw up 8 times that night. Then I got sick on Saturday night, along with Matti and Chase and we were all throwing up all night...bummer. There's nothing I hate more than throwing up. We still managed to have fun in between all the sickness. The kids had fun playing, we went to this cool Discover Center place where the kids could do hands on science experiements and it was cool. The boys also got to go to the end of the Boise State football game and see them win their trophy on the 'smurf turf.' The girls got a little shopping in too :) So it still turned out good and was so fun to see Kyle, Sharo and the kids...and of cousre the food was yummy. Now onto Christmas activities, yippy! I love it!

Here's a couple of pictures from earlier in November: This is Christofer's brother Jefferson who just got home from his mission to New Mexico last month. This was the first time he got to see Radley, he thought he was pretty dang Rad.

So, this is a picture of our Women's church volleyball team. We had the Region tourney and our team took 2nd in the Region. It was lots of fun, we won T-shirts. I've also been playing on a comp league volleyball team once a week and I just started coaching a 15 year old comp league vball team once a week. So I've been doing lots of volleyball lately, but I love it. What I wouldn't give to get on the court with the girls from our Senior year again...good times!

Christofer had a bunch of his hats down in the basement on a shelf and one of Radley's new favorite things to do is to get them down and put one on himself and one on everybody else. He's so much fun these days, although he can certainly throw some serious tantrums if he doesn't get his way :)

October Adventures

2008-11-12T13:24:00.000-08:00

So, the main reason I never update my blog is because we never download our pics from our camera to our computer. When we finally get around to it, there are a million things I want to blog about. We've done lots of fun stuff in October...so I'll try to just put some highlights and start with Radley's cute Halloween pictures. Oh, and when I changed templates awhile ago, I lost all my friend links, so if you're not on it, it's just because I haven't updated that yet and you might need to write on my blog so that I can get your link again :)

Radley was a fireman for Halloween, he was soo cute. I love the fire hydrant and fire truck pics. The one with the other kids was taken at our ward trunk or treat. We filled our trunk with leaves and Chris got in, covered himself up with the leaves and would jump out and scare the kids....and their moms....when they came by to get candy. It was fun. Then we took Radley to a few houses, he really liked trick or treating and got the hang of it real fast.

We went on another one of our family camping trips to the sand dunes. They have some way pretty sunsets there. Radley loves playing in the sand, going for 4-wheeler rides and playing with his cousins! It was a little cold, but so fun!

Chris and I went with his family when they were here visiting and a couple from our ward and got to do a little rock climbing. It's actually really fun, I like it. We both made it to the top...my favorite part is getting to repel down:)

The beginning of October we had a pretty good snow storm, our area got like 9 inches of snow, so Radley and I went outside and made a little snowman. It's fun to have kids, cause then you get to be a kid again too!

2008-10-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

We had some friends from our ward over for dinner. The little boys had a blast together. There are at least 6-7 little boys around the same age in our ward, so its really fun. The guys were trying to play fooz (how the crap do you spell that) ball and the kids really wanted in, so they had to hold them and let them watch the whole time.

We had a couples pinewood derby contest at our
church. It was fun, Radley loved it. There were
some real intense cars there...and as you can see,
we got best design. Chris cut the car out at the

shop at his school and I painted it.

2008-10-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Radley loves to feed himself,

he won't let me help, and

sometimes he does really

good, but sometimes...

not so much, but he thinks
he's pretty funny.

TAG...insignificant six

2008-09-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the tag Cami, I've been wanting to blog about something other than Radley for once, so this will be fun. Here are six insignificant things about me:
1. I hate wearing jewelry...seriously it gives me anxiety. I can only wear one ring on each finger and I'm maxed out on jewelry. Kinda ironic because sometimes I sell LiaSophia jewelry and I have to pretent to like it. I also can't even walk in heels like stilettos and unlike most girls, I don't like to go shoe shopping because I can never find anything I like. I guess my style is to have no style :)..k...that was more than one thing.
2. I love bugs, creepy crawlers and the outdoors. Recently I caught a salamander and put it in my fish tank and then we went fishing with some friends and me and the other girl both caught these tiny baby blue gill. That's all we caught but I was stoked because of course I brought them home to my fish tank too. Right now our fish tank only has wild fish in it, a baby catfish from the dam and two blue gill. The salamander got eaten by the catfish :(
3. I can not rollerblade at all. When we were younger, my friends would all want to go rollerblading and I would just have to ride my bike along with them. Christofer has tried to teach me to, but no luck. I must just have weak ankles, they just buckle inwards when I try...maybe that's way I can't wear heels! :)
4. I like to crochet but it's hard to find time to do it. My next project is going to be a baby blanket. So far all I've made is pillows, slippers, wash rags and heat pads. I sure can't sew, so I guess it's good I know how to do something motherly-like.
5. I have had at least 7 kidney stones...I kinda lost track. I had about three when I was pregnant and they were the biggest ones...OUCH...sorry if that's too graphic for anyone. They really freakin hurt though, I would always just go to the doctors and they'd give me morphine, but I just had to tough them out when I was pregnant. Storm kinda likes it when I get them because she thinks I'm hillarious when I'm in pain.
6. I really love to read a good book. But, whenever I start one I constantly feel like I have something I need to do that is unfinished and I end up ignoring my husband and other chores until I'm done. So, that's why I don't read as much as I would like to.
I tag Laici, Janae, Brooke, Noelle, Susan, and Sharo.

Oldie but Goodie

2008-08-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

So, these pics are kinda old, they are from the 4th of July, but we had a little drama with our camera...Chris deleted a bunch of pics on accident and we had to get some recovery software, but we finally got them back. So, even though these are old, they are so cute and need to be posted. This is Radley with his Blanding buddies (the sons of my good friends) So it's Tripp, Cash, Maxon and Radley...cool names and cool kids. They are a bunch of cute boys..watch out future ladies! :)

I think this pic is adorable...we got family pictures when we were home for the 4th of July and this was one that the photographer took. I can't remember the photographers name, but Laici's blog has it on it. I just want to kiss his face!

Summer Fun

2008-08-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know that I am the worst blog updater...everyone is probably mad that they waste their time having me on their friends link...but summer has been crazy! It has been fun, because Christofer has been home, but we havne't really been home much. We were in Blanding for a week and a half for the 4th and a family campout, then we went to Bear Lake with friends, then we had a little family reunion at our house for the 24th and then we went to California to see Christofer's family. So, I really have been too busy to blog, but I'm excited to be back home and relax for a bit. Here's some pictures of our busy, but fun, summer.

Above are some pics from the Bear Lake trip, the cabin that we stayed at was awesome! It's Tyrel's in-laws and it was more like a mansion than a cabin. It was right on the 3rd hole of the Bear Lake golf course. We rented a jet ski between all of us and that was tons of fun...I love jet skis. Radley had fun on the beach with the sand, this isn't the best pic of him, but I wanted to show off his little pirate tattoo. Tyrel is so cute, she brought sand buckets full of fun stuff for each kid, like bubbles, tattoos, etc. It was my birthday on Sunday, when I woke up and came out of my room, all the girls attacked me with silly string and those loud popping things that shoot confetti. It was all such a blast and we are definitely going to make this a yearly tradition! We had 7 Blanding girls there this year, and hopefully more will come next year.

We went to Pineview Damn when my family was here for the 24th...I think Christofer wanted these pics in here to show off the towely's we are wearing that he makes. Radley has a mini pair that is so cute, they are convienent..you don't have to take an extra towel with you because you are already wearing it over your swimsuit.

I can't believe Radley is ONE! We had an early birthday party for Radley while my family was here, Radley's cousins colored his bday banner. He ate a lot of his cake, but mostly made a mess out with it. We had another party for him when we went to California. We had a pool party at a really nice house with a pool, jacuzzi and big yard. We even had a little band...this is Christofer's brothers and Dad jammin out, Radley is helping his uncle play the drums and loving it!

Our Cali trip was fun. We hiked to some HUGE redwood trees...like 300 feet high! We also went to some tide pools where you could see some really cool critters like sea crabs, urchins, star fish, anenomies (don't know how to spell that) as you can tell...I really liked it and do did Radley. He loves playing in sand, I think we need to get a sandbox and he'd be happy for hours. Then of course we played around by the Golden Gate bridge. The main reason we went though was so that we could have another bday party for Rad with his uncles. It's been a fun summer, I'll be so bored when Chris goes back to school, but hey, maybe then I'll be more consistent with the blogging world.

June

2008-06-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

Christofer got to go with the 9th graders to Lagoon Day and Radley and I got to go along for free. This Radley in a ride at Lagoon. Christofer didn't really have to watch the students, so we just kind of had the day to ourselves. It was fun.

This is a store at Lagoona Beach, we thought it was cool because the name of it as you can see is Rad Brad's, so we put Radley Bradshaw up by it to take a pic.

It has been so fun having Chris home for the summer..we love it and are looking forward to all of our summers. We have been doing a lot of remodeling around the house, we got a bathroom vanity in this huge box and it is now Radley's fort and favorite toy.

Here's som pics of Radley doing his favorite thing...playing outside.

Radlye's Grandpa Bradshaw brought him this nice Radio Flyer wooden wagon from California. Radley loves being pulled around in it.

I don't really have anything to blog about other than Radley. He's pretty much our life and so much fun. He is starting to get a little temper and can throw a fit if he doesn't get what he wants, I just think it's funny and cute...I'm sure I won't think that in a few more months. Toddler years will be interesting, but no matter how many challenges it brings, it will always bring much more joy. I'm sure all moms know that. We are so excited for the summer and to seeing all of you and having some serious fun! :)

Radley's recent rendezvous

2008-05-18T19:59:00.000-07:00

Radley loves to 'help' me put groceries away...or try to take them out.

We recently discovered that Radley can walk with the help of this toy, he even seems to enjoy it without clothes. It's so fun to watch, he's getting so big.

We bought a swimming pool for Radley, he loves it and would stay in it all day if we let him. The weather is finally so nice and we love being in our big yard.
I always wondered how kids fell asleep in their highchairs...now I know. Radley would not take a nap this day even though I tried like 3 times, so at lunch time he fell asleep mid bite.

Radley loved playing with his dad's electric toothbrush, so I bought him his own and he loves to 'brush' his teeth now.

I was eating cucumbers in rice vinegar (yum) Christofer doesn't like them, but told me to let Radley try. I thought he would hate it, but he loved it and kept begging for more! Radley loves being outside and exploring/picking everything. We have to be careful because he sticks everything in his mouth.

This is Radley and his cousins (Christofer's cousins kids) Porter is 6 weeks older, Jameson is 6 weeks younger. We were camping at the sand dunes riding ATV's and Christofer came up with this 'kid pit' idea. He and his cousin dug this big pit, lined it with a tarp, threw in some toys and enjoyed a break from the kids while they enjoyed being able to crawl around. No babies were able to escape the pit...it was funny, but so nice to be able to put them down and not worry about all the sand.

Radley Goes Ape at Hogle Zoo

2008-05-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

Storm and Tom were in town so we took the kids to the Zoo. Rylee enjoyed it the most because of her age, but Radley still had a good time, even though he looks scared in this pic.

There was a long line to see this white croc, so Chris just snuck in the back exit door and snapped this pic so that we could all see it. Pretty cool white croc, huh? Kinda looks spray painted.

Looks like Christofer, Radley and the camel were all laughing. So, do people ride in between thoses humps, or on top? I don't get it.

Elephants are big.

Radley is so much fun, he loves being outside and had a fun day at the Zoo. He's crawling everywhere now and always has a bruised head. His dady loves to rap with him and make videos. There are some funny videos on www.youtube.com/westpoint07

2008-03-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

Our first Easter with Radley! Saturday we decided to take Radley over to the city "Easter Egg Hunt". It turned out to be more like an Easter Egg Football game. We go to the park just to hear someone counting down from 10 on a bullhorn. We ran up to the "line" where at least 300 hundred kids were crouched in a sprinter-like stance.

By the time the announcer called "one" we were nearly trampled by eager easter eggers on all sides. Mom hung Radley low to the ground as she tried to stay ahead of the crowd, while hoping Radley would scoop up eggs. Another 10 seconds passed and we found ourselves in the middle of a eggless soccer field clinging to one single egg, all the while boxing out creeeping kids. We later learned there were lanes for the different age groups and we had stumbled into the oldest kids' line. We then spotted a roped off area labeled "special needs". We figured Radley's inability to walk or talk qualified him. So we slipped under the flimsy barrier and were showered with eggs by the attending event worker. She assured us Radley was allowed there and then proceeded to pile eggs around Rad. The video below shows Radley in "special needs" aciton. He also go to pet little baby chicks and even a real life easter bunny. On Sunday we put on our 'pasteliest' outfits (yes, Dad's idea) and went off to an enjoyable church service to celebrate the real reason for the season, Our Lord Jesus Christ's Resurrection.

We are truly thankful for all of our blessings, especially the incomprehensible atonement and resurrection of our Savior. We hope all of you had a wonderful Easter weekend and wish you the best this spring.