OJD Rocks

SIX MONTHS!

2011-11-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

This kid is 6 months! How is this possible?

Happy Baby Update

2011-08-31T08:42:00.001-07:00

This baby is as good as they come. He is starting to drool a lot and if he is like his brothers at all that means his mouth is getting ready for some toothers.

Owen and Eli have both started school and things seem to be going well for both of them. Now what to do with my ONE whole hour of free time every other day where I only have the baby! Honestly I was pretty disappointed when I realized that is all I got once all the running to and from is figured in. At least I have that though:)

Happy Bronze Anniversary

2011-08-06T20:21:00.001-07:00

Today was mine and Spencer's 8th anniversary. Spencer, Emmett and I celebrated last week by going to Vegas. It was really great to get a break from normal life for a couple of nights. Anyway we decided that we were not going to go out or anything today since we had already celebrated. So after what was by far the worst night we've had with Emmett so far, (he had the flu and a cold) we got almost zero sleep, Spencer let me sleep in. He then took the boys to the sand dunes while Emmett and I did some laundry. When the boys got home we made smoothies and sandwiches for lunch and then went swimming.

Okay, I totally get that this is not that interesting. But today was for sure my favorite day in a really long time. My boys are playing so well together. Owen is becoming such a responsible big kid and super helpful. Eli is so happy and he really is the sweetest boy. Emmett is the best baby ever. Even on his worst day, he is so nice. And I already said how awesome Spencer was to take the boys and everything. So my point is I am grateful for my family and enjoy them so much right now. I think that is what an anniversary should be. A chance to sit back and see what we have created in 8 years and recognize how awesome that is.

Grins

2011-07-15T11:49:00.001-07:00

Owen is really enjoying holding the baby lately. He also likes to try to get him to smile at him. Here is this mornings successful attempt.

SwimmingSwimmingly

2011-06-30T10:58:00.001-07:00

Emmett's first Hickey

2011-06-26T12:23:00.001-07:00

Who needs a binky when you have a forearm?

Natural Born Babies

2011-06-22T20:32:00.001-07:00

Tonight we had a reunion with all the parents and kids born from our Bradley childbirth class at our Doula Trisha's house. It was a lot of fun to see all the babies together and to hear how different everyone's births went. Here is a picture of all the babies together.

Rolls

2011-06-22T14:53:00.001-07:00

Not much of a surprise, but someone is turning into quite the rolley-polley boy:)

Swim lessons

2011-06-16T13:42:00.001-07:00

One of my goals this year was to have Owen learn to swim. So the last 2 weeks we have had swim lessons. Owen really liked his class and his teacher Taylor was great! Here are some pictures.

6 weeks old

2011-06-14T07:47:00.001-07:00

Guess what I'll be doing later? If you guessed taking care of a baby you guessed correct! Oh and technically now I am suppose to start exercising :( boo

Bubbles with Straws!

2011-06-13T10:25:00.001-07:00

Cathie ( my kindergarten teaching MIL) gave me some fun ideas of things to do this summer with the boys. So far bubbles with straws is a hit! We have done bubbles like this a few times already. My boys love bubbles, but I hate that they usually just blow a few and dump the rest. So all you do is put a tiny amount of bubbles in the bottom of a cup and get a straw and blow. It keeps them entertained for a while. You want to cut little holes in the middle of the straws to prevent the kids from sucking up the bubble mixture.

Warmer Weather

2011-06-08T18:38:00.001-07:00

So it is finally getting warmer! Hooray and just in time for some fun with cousins!

Here is Eli at Aunt Kamari's pool! We are so lucky to be able to go swimming with our cousins. And to mooch all of their food. I don't know why my kids are STARVING every time we go swimming! We can eat right before we go, and we walk in the gate and suddenly Eli is famished.

On Saturday we went with some of the Davis cousins to Gunlock for a little BBQ on the river, we also got some sweet skim-boarding in! We had lots of fun!

And here is Emmett being held by Angel (the baby whisperer) he really loved her. We went to the doc yesterday and he was 10 lbs 15 oz! I guess that is what happens when you eat every TWO hrs day and night.

Emmett’s Birth Story

2011-05-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

Emmett’s Birth Story

(The Little Squirt That Gave Me the Squirts!)
yeah I obviously left in the yucky parts.

I have always wanted to have a natural birth, though I have not always wanted to have a baby at home. That is until I experienced my first birth. I had Owen in a hospital 5 years ago with a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife). She was very supportive of me having the birth I wanted, the way I wanted. The hospital on the other hand was not. I was hooked up to an IV, was given a very high dose of Pitocin, and was not able to walk through my contractions or move about how I wanted during my labor. All in all, Owen’s Labor was a 48 plus hour nightmare that ended with me blacking out several times and giving into an epidural. I went in with a “birth plan” and I left having almost everything on my list crossed off with a big fat red marker. In the end I felt blessed to not to have had a C-section, and to have a health baby, but it was definitely not my idea of a good time.

I went into my second birth, 2 years later, still traumatized from Owen’s Birth. With Eli I went into the hospital, had an epidural and the pit started at the same time. I was NOT about to go through another birth like Owen’s. What I experienced this time was a different type of nightmare. I had the most powerful epidural known to man and didn’t feel my legs for 10+ hours after giving birth. I was thrilled to not have to experience another birth like my first, but I have never felt so trapped and claustrophobic in all my life. Still though, it was not so much physically hard as it was emotionally draining. Again, I knew there had to be a better way.

So when I started planning for this birth I knew I wanted something different. I started reading a lot of different books and things trying to decide exactly what I did want. One of the obstacles I had in planning Owen’s birth was that Spencer was not at all interested in natural birth. He had zero interest in being my birth coach. This time I knew that going in, and did not try to get “blood out of a turnip.” Is that even a saying? I knew going into this birth that I would have a support system outside of our marriage. I hired an awesome doula, enrolled in a Bradley Child Birth class, asked my Sister-in-law to be my birth coach, read a lot of birth stories, and talked to everyone I knew about their birth experiences. Initially I made the decision to have my doula support me in the hospital. I went with that for a while, until the first of the year rolled around and we received our new insurance cards in the mail.

The new cards let me know that we no longer had maternity coverage. The birth that we had saved $5K for would now cost closer to $10K! I was not sure how that was going to work. Immediately I called around and priced out the midwife option. With the Prenatal care, the birth, the doula and the childbirth education classes, it was about $2500. Suddenly I felt that a home birth was totally doable. I felt a weird peace about it. Like it was just exactly what we needed to do. It was not just the money, but it took the money to wrap my mind around it, and to accept it. I think it was the same for Spencer. I was so wrapped up in making this decision. It was all I could think about day and night. I prayed a lot and went to the temple all in making this huge decision. A day or so after we made the decision to use a midwife to deliver Emmett, we were informed that the insurance cards were misprinted and that we still had the maternity coverage after all. At this point my heart was set on the home birth I didn’t know I had always wanted. Now I knew I wanted it, and I knew it was the right decision for us.

Monday May 2^nd 2011 6:30 AM (37 weeks and 6 days) I got up to find my undies were what seemed to be super sweaty, so much so that I changed into a fresh pair after I went pee and got back in bed. 20 minutes later I got up again and the new pair was now also wet. I had had my bag of waters leak with Eli (my second child) so I knew what was happening pretty soon. Around 9 am I called my midwife Liz and made an appointment with her for 11am. For the next couple of hours I wore a pad and continued to enjoy the “I just peed my pants” sensation that occurred every 15 minutes or so. At my appointment she used a swab thing to check if the fluid I was leaking was in fact amniotic fluid. At this point I pretty much knew it was, but it’s good to know for sure that I did not just have a weak bladder.

Liz let me know that it is her policy to let me go for 48 hours after my water broke to see if I go into labor on my own. She also let me know that she would not be doing any internal exams, and that I was to be very strict with my personal hygiene (no sex, no baths, and I had to clean myself with a water bottle after I went to the bathroom). Liz had checked me the Tuesday before and let me know at that time that I was dilated to a 2.5 and was 40% effaced. Liz referred me to an acupressure masseuse who was willing to meet me at 4pm that day to help induce my labor. I also was using some herbal drops that Liz had given me every 2 hours under my tongue that contained some cohosh and other things. I believe it was called Start Up, or something like that. I got home from my massage around 4:45 and we hurried out the door to the movies. We took the boys to the 5 pm matinée of Rio. During the movie I timed my contractions, even though I had committed not to “pay attention too soon.” The contractions were about 15 minutes apart and lasted for 45 seconds or so, but not painful at all. At this point, it would be a stretch to say I was in early, early labor. After the movie we met up with Cathie, my mother –in-law, and went to dinner. After dinner we went home and put the boys to bed. Cathie stayed with the boys and Spencer and I went grocery shopping. I went to bed that night thinking that I was going to wake up in full-blown labor. I never really fell asleep. I was just so sure that the next contraction was going to kick me into high gear! At 1:07 I decided to make a note of the contractions; it was not like I was sleeping anyway. I had contractions at 1:07, 1:17, 1:26, 1:37, 1:43, and 1:53… It went on like this all night until 5am when I fell asleep for an hour and a half.

Tuesday just before my appointment

Tuesday May 3^rd 2011 (38 weeks) I woke up a little pissed, a lot tired and with no contractions to speak of. I went to my already scheduled 38-week appointment with Liz at 11:30 where she informed me of my options. I had until the next morning to have the baby or I would need to go to the hospital and be put on antibiotics. She recommended that I continue the Start Up herbs and she thought I should take castor oil if things had not started by 5 pm. I knew exactly what that meant. I was going to be pooping my brains out L and I was not too excited about it. At 4:45 I took the castor oil, which by the way is so horrible that as I type the words, I repeatedly am getting the willies and starting to gag. By 6:00pm nothing had happened. No poop. Nothing. Just mild and irregular Braxton hicks contractions. Kamari, (my home birthing sister-in-law / Bradley method coach) called to let me know that she was on her way over to the house. She had attended some of my Bradley classes with me and was going to be my birth support (little did I know.) I told her that it was still premature, but that she was welcome to come hang out with Spencer and I. Kamari walked in about 6:15. We sat around for 5 minutes or so and Spencer decided to start timing my contractions on the fun new app I had just installed on my iPhone. So that started at 6:21pm. (For more details please refer to Figure A:1) Little by little the contractions got worse and worse. I had this ridiculous pressure in my crotch that hurt really bad. OK, I admit that in hindsight that sounds really stupid. Like, no kidding, there was a baby coming out of your vagina and it hurt… hmmm that’s really weird! But in the moment I was sure that I had not even started real labor. That I had hours and hours of labor in front of me, and that before any of this happened I first had to have a castor oil induced poop fest. Seriously, the whole poop thing had me super preoccupied.

Figure A-1

So each contraction sucked more than the one before, but in between each contraction I felt pretty okay. At 7:30pm, not during a contraction mind you, I had Spencer call Trisha (my doula) to come over. He handed me the phone, and she asked me if it would be okay if she showed up in about an hour. She lives a half hour away and I thought that would be fine. Especially since this was not yet real labor, right?!

This is where things got crazy. Around 7:45 things sped up. I was now convinced this was in fact real labor and that I did in fact want to die. At 8:14, after I started having a mini-meltdown, you know, “I can’t do this anymore!”, “I just want to stop now!,” “I’ve had enough…,” Kamari told me that she thought I was in “transition.” I told Kamari that she didn’t know what the HELL she was talking about. But we decided to call Liz anyway. The next contraction came and I felt like I was in my own little Hell and I wished I were already dead. I couldn’t do anything but flail about. I was sitting on the exercise ball up to this point and had thrown my upper body onto the foot of my bed, keeping my legs on the ball. I immediately felt the urge to push. Kamari advised that I should probably take off my sweat pants and my garments at this point, which I did with Her and Spencer’s help. At 8:19 Spencer called Liz back to inform her that upon taking off my pants they could see the baby’s head! He was crowning. Liz was turning on to our street. I could hear her on the phone say that I should go ahead and push, not that I could have done anything else. At 8:20pm, after one solid push, Emmett Scott Davis was born. Both Kamari and Spencer were able to catch him and seconds later Liz walked in to deliver the placenta, and deal with all the fun that is the afterbirth.

Moments later, Trisha showed up; she and Liz took care of weighing, measuring, and bathing Emmett. Oh, and that Poop I was so worried about, yeah, it reared it’s ugly head just moments after that placenta! There is an endless list of things that Kamari did that night that were selfless and Christ like. Dealing with that last thing tops the list. Seriously, who has to do that? And who does it with such a kind and loving disposition? I am forever in debt.

People have asked me where my kids were during all of this? As I had mentioned, Cathie came down from Salt Lake to help out the day before. Owen had his last soccer game that night at 6pm, which Cathie took both Eli and Owen to. Before labor had started I laid out the boys pajamas on their beds. In the event that I was otherwise occupied, I had asked Cathie to give them baths and get them ready for bed when she came home, which is exactly what she did. At 7:30 she came in with the boys and a frozen yogurt for me. She is so ridiculously sweet and helpful it is not even funny. She bathed the boys and got them in jammys. When I started into the real fun stuff, she made the executive decision to take them into their room, shut the door and play superheroes with them. I had told Cathie before this that there are all sorts of crazy homebirth lady things that I understand and even participate in. I went through a good chunk of time where I didn’t shave my legs. I don’t eat meat. I don’t wear makeup. But having my kids present for a homebirth? Not my cup if chamomile tea, thank you very much! Shortly after Emmett was born, maybe 5 minutes or so, the boys came in and met their new baby brother. It was really great!

The real kicker of the whole experience for me was Spencer. Mr. “I don’t understand why you are doing this” took charge. He actually retained the information I had made him read and that he had learned in the three childbirth classes he did attended with me. He was encouraging, loving and helpful. He told me I was doing great and reminded me of the things I wanted to remember during the birth. He turned on my birth mix of yoga music and then he turned it off when I said, “I hate this song; turn this crap off!!” He even tried really valiantly to do some back pressure point stuff, and for one contraction it was exactly what I needed. And then he promptly stopped the very next contraction when I bit his head off for doing the same thing again.

In the end I think that homebirth is not for everyone. But I do think it is for me. I loved being at home, in my space, with people who were loving and supportive of me. I loved that I could eat and drink what I wanted when I wanted. I loved that right after I could get up and go to the bathroom, cause I really needed to ;). I loved how that night no one came into my room and woke me up to take my blood. I loved that I was home with all of my boys, even Sergio (our 6 year old Yellow Lab, who by the way was in the room with me up until the last half hour or so). Overall I feel so blessed to have been able to have this experience and am grateful to all who helped me to be able to experience the joy and pain of this birth. Mostly I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father for blessing me with this amazing baby boy, who is a miracle in every way.

Baby Emmett

2011-05-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

Emmett was born on Tuesday. I am going to write up a birth story for my records. I will probably edit out the gory details and put the rest on here:) Until then, here are some pictures that I took today. I can hardly stand how much I love him. The boys and Spencer like him a lot too.

the lizard

2011-04-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

My boys are not that into bugs and lizards and such. a few weeks ago Owen screamed like he was dying and when I ran into his room expecting to find blood there was only a little bug on the carpet. So imagine my surprise when I walked back outside from one of my potty breaks to find Owen with a lizard on his arm! All the boys had to take a turn. I thought it was picture / blog worthy... yeah maybe not so much!

Soccer 2011

2011-04-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

To say that it took some time for Owen to get excited about soccer this year would be an understatement. We went to 3 whole games and just watched before he would even step foot on the field. There was some pouting, some tears, and a bit of hiding under the blanket that we brought to sit on. But... patience and persistence paid off and he ended up LOVING it. So last week I finally got some pictures of him in action. Enjoy!

Spectators


he totally does the same thing with his hands that Spencer does while playing soccer! could you die of cuteness?

Oceanside

2011-04-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

We went to Oceanside the first weekend in April so Spencer could participate in the Oceanside 70.3 Half Ironman. He has been training for this for quite some time and it was really exciting to see all his hard work pay off! He ended up loving the race. I personally am not sure how one LOVE's something like this, but to each his own. I wouldn't have minded if he liked it a little less so that maybe he would not want to do another one for a long while, but.... you can't win 'em all. I am glad that he has found something he really enjoys and that he is really good at. Not to mention what a sexy bod he has gotten with all this training!!

This is the night we got there just after Spencer picked up his race packet!

somehow we were able to find him in sea of black wet suits

Eli watching the swim

the end of the bike

half way done with the 13.1 mile run

Due to the fact that we had a stroller with us and a baby on my bladder, we were unable to see Spencer come in to the actual finish line, but this stolen picture was almost just as exciting! BTW his finishing time was not what the clock above says, since he started in a different swim heat. Official finish time was 6:22:55

back at the hotel with our Ironman

The next day we headed up to Newport. It was so nice having Cathie there with us. The boys obviously didn't mind having her around either.

We went to the Children's Museum while there.

Considering that I am not sure Eli has ever sat down to watch Sesame Street he really liked the exhibit.

Eli ran and gave Elmo a big bear hug, it was pretty funny.

Later that day we went to the beach again. We only wish we could have stayed a few days more.

Oh and just in case you thought that we got home and Spencer fell off the training wagon, I am including this picture of him and T.J. 2 weeks later doing the SLC half marathon. Lunatics! and yes Spencer is 30 and he is still doing that stupid thing with his hand from high school.

Now and Then

2011-04-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

The other day Eli was hiding in the hamper. When I saw him I immediately thought of this picture I have of my brother Brian in a similar position. I quit my solitaire game on my phone and snapped this. They actually look a lot alike. Anyone else see the resemblance?

Another Ultrasound

2011-03-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

We were in Vegas this weekend and thought it would be fun to do an ultrasound and check this kid out. Eli and Owen were pretty dang cute watching it. Overall everyone thinks he looks like Eli did especially with the chubby cheeks and all. The lady doing the ultrasound also said she see's hair, so we're thinking we may have Eli 2.0 come May. If he is anywhere near as good of a baby as Eli was I will be thrilled.

I get to hang out with these 2 dorks all day long!

2011-03-10T15:22:00.000-08:00

I realize this is probably only entertaining to a select few, but seriously. I am convinced that Owen thinks he has the force. Also it's pretty funny how he is determined to teach Eli every thing there is to know about Star Wars crap. So. Freaking. Weird!

P.S. Probably the best part about this is that I know NOTHING about Star Wars. I have never even seen the movies . So I am no help at all when trying to resolve an argument over who has what color lightsaber or whatever it is they are asking me. I say the words "I don't know ask dad when he gets home" at least 25 times a day.

gift idea

2011-03-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

I am pretty sure I NEED this.

If you are bored check out the demo video on their site.

(P.S. my Bday is April 14th)

new pictures of the boys

2011-03-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

This boy just turned FIVE!!

In just under 3 weeks this one will be THREE!

Don't they look Handsome?

I like this one because it looks like Eli is spanking Owen
who doesn't like them some spanks?

New Years Slashie Halloween Party on NYE

2011-01-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

Our October was crazy busy this year, so we didn't have our annual Halloween get together. When we realized that we would be up for New Years we thought we should celebrate the best way we knew how, in costume. Here's how it went down.

Cassandra & Wade
Soldier and his Bride

Sabrina & Danny
Snookie and The Situation

Spencer & Allison
Jareth and Sarah

Cicely & Dave
Stinky Asparagus Pee

Allison & Judd
Alice and The White Rabbit

Nate & Allison
Flapper and Gangster

Joe & Lindsay
Mr. T and Hulk Hogan

Keler & Melissa
Party Poopers
(they whopped out their real costumes once the games began and they were offensively short!)

These two were are winners for best Costume!
this costume was dedication! Sab's really got a spray tan. It was gross!

The Games:
This Year we played Minute to Win it Games, it was intense!

Hanky Panky

Stack Attack

Bobble Head

Separation Anxiety

Nervous Nelly

After Cicely and Dave won the coveted 1st place prize, we all played TJ's new Wii game Just Dance. It was ridiculously awesome!

And that is how we brought in 2011! So much fun!

Christmas Morning Pictures

2011-01-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

Eli's pillow pet and his real pet

Jumpin' Jacks

2011-01-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

We went to Jumpin' Jacks with the Hyer boys the week before Christmas. It was seriously the best four bucks I have ever spent. the boys slept wonderfully that night, plus we were one of two small groups there. Once the big kids showed up it was not nearly as much fun, but luckily we had been there for a while at that point. The best part was none of us contracted any diseases! Hooray! I know these pictures are about the worst quality ever, but its in a warehouse and these kids were traveling at lightning fast speeds!

Ultrasound Pics!

2010-12-21T14:37:00.000-08:00

We got our ultrasound today and we seriously could not be more excited! Baby is healthy and super active and developing right on schedule. Everyone asked us if we wanted a girl. Honestly that question totally bugs me. As cliche as it sounds, all I want is a healthy happy baby. Maybe someday I will want a girl, but for now this feels totally right. I can't wait to get to know our new addition!

Family Pictures

2010-11-17T18:34:00.000-08:00

In September we had family pictures taken. Ashlee Bowler took them for us and did a great job. I had lots of favorites! Here's just a few:

I love how Owen and Spencer have the exact same face in this one.

I can't decide which one of these last two to blow up on canvas??

I think both of them are great of all 5 of us.

Halloween Ect.

2010-11-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

We carved out pumpkins at the Knapp home. It was rad. I want to make it a yearly tradition. Angel are you in??

Eli not so sure about the yucky insides, Owen loved it.

The boys showing off their jock-o-lanterns!

Eli being cute

Owen got to dress up in his costume for school one day. Eli had to join in too.

He had a pretty sweet little halloween program.

He got really into it.

Owen and his BFF Cutler on Halloween (well the 30th)

Cute kids

Spencer joined in too. He had on the second most embarrassing costume at our neighborhood social. At least he covered up his side boobs!

Mahalo Big Island

2010-11-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

We were LUCKY enough to get to go to Hawaii the first of October. We went to Kona and had SO much fun!

We totally looked like locals, at least that's what everyone was telling us everywhere we went.

We lucked out and were there for the Ironman. It was rediculousness. Spencer was pretty excited to be there.

It really was like what I imagine it's like to be at the super bowl. Really!

look at all those arms!

We went to the sickest Luau on earth, and I don't mean sick as in good. This is a picture of us while there. Do you like my hair piece?

We went to these botanical gardens and got to see this not so impressive waterfall. I think everything pales in comparison to Havasupai, at least for me.

We took probably 200 pictures of flowers. This is my favorite one. Check out the nasty little bugs on it.

This is where I ate the only Sushi I have ever been able to swallow. It was not so bad, minus that gross green paper.

We had a great dinner our last night there.

The last day before we flew out on the red eye we took a sailing / snorkeling trip. It was awesome.

Captain Cook Monument = best snorkeling ever

Such a fun trip!

Owen's FIRST day of School

2010-11-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

Owen was super excited for school to start this year. It is his second year of Pre-school and he loves his teacher and all his friends at school. I am so happy that he likes school!

Mr. Handsome.

Eli had to get in on this picture taking action.

Eli totally misses Owen when he is at school and can't wait to go pick him up. I'm not gonna lie, the TWO hours flies by for me.

Fitness Fanatic

2010-11-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

So it's no big surprise that Spencer has become quite the little athlete. Here are a few of his recent races!

BOUNTIFUL TRIATHLON

08/20/2010

We obviously did this one together. It's a long story but I ended up doing the last half with a broken hand. Spencer did awesome! I finished, which was awesome!

this is a fake smile fyi

ST. GEORGE MARATHON

10/02/2010

the kids made this sign for DAD!

We had a really fun time watching all the runners. The boys were a little bored after about the 5000th runner, and found ways to entertain themselves, in the middle of the street:)

Owen decided to give himself a haircut the day before. He looked pretty great, and I wondered why I hadn't done it sooner.

Mile 26

Spencer and the boys just after he said "I'm NEVER doing that again"

I love how miserable and hot the boys looked. They were sitting in the shade for the 4 hours that Spencer was running. Big Babies.

Cathie came down to support Spencer and to help me entertain the kids, Thanks!

After race Shower

TURKEY TRIATHLON

11/13/2010

Finishing Strong

enjoying some post-race snacks

When we were walking back to the car the boys were being cute.

The Company Lagoon Day

2010-11-17T15:30:00.000-08:00

Back in August we went to Lagoon with Spencer's work. It was pretty awesome. I think the boys are at the best ages for total Lagoon enjoyment!

Spencer took the boys on the Tidal Wave. I thought this was a BAD idea. They lived. Turns out I am still the biggest scaredy-cat in the family.

Owen and I made out on the skyride!

I didn't get so lucky with Eli, he was pooped!

The next night we went to Cherry hill camping with Spencer's Family. This is the one and only picture I took of the camping trip.

Scofield Triathlon

2010-09-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

July 17th was not THAT long ago, right? Well that is the day Spencer did the Scofield Triathlon. He did the Olympic Distance, it was 1.5 K (1 mile) Swim in open water, a 40 K (25 miles) bike, and a 10 K (6.2 miles) Run. Here are his results: over all finnish time of 3 hours and 30 seconds! Here is how it broke down: Swim 33 min 10 sec, Bike 1hr 21min 02 sec, Run 58 min, 58sec.

He did Amazing! My favorite part of this triathlon was the fact that the boys stayed at grandma's house therefore I was able to really watch the whole thing. For example, I went out on a dock to watch the swim! Had my boys been there they would have for sure jumped or fell in the water. Thanks Scott and Cathie for keeping the boys overnight.

Go Spencer!

P.S. less than 3 weeks till the Marathon! I'm not gonna lie to you and say I am not super excited to have Saturday mornings back, that is until he starts his training for this!

new sleeping arrangements

2010-08-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

A few months back we moved Eli into the bottom bunk. Within a few weeks Owen decided that he wanted to sleep down on the bottom bunk too. I am pretty sure it is just so they can keep each other up giggling and such. The thing that puzzles me is why anyone would want to share a bed with this wiggle worm!?!

big-o-melons

2010-08-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

we waited very patiently for our first watermelon to be ripe! the boys were super excited to cut into it! it was pretty tasty too.

A few of Owen's faves

2010-07-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

Owen has recently decided he has musical taste. I am not sure what I think of this since now I am no longer in control of what we listen to, here are his favorite songs that he insists upon listening to on repeat every time the ipod is on.

Guster - Satellite: It all started with this one, for some reason he calls it the "Ironman song." I think is does sound sorta super hero-ish, don't you?

Regina Spector - On The Radio: I am gonna attribute this one to the GNR references and the constant repeating of as he calls it "on the Braidio" that has him hooked.

Avett Brothers - And It Spread: He's a sucker for the screaming parts. I laughed pretty hard the first time I saw him rocking out in his car seat to this one.

Kelly Clarkson: My Life Would Suck Without You: and Spencer's favorite to sing along with.... I especially like when Owen sings along to "I know that I've got issues" with conviction! What four year old doesn't have issues?

Awesome!

2010-05-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure I could handle anything the boys bring my way if I did this everyday!

Some Serious Re-Caping

2010-04-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

While it technically has not been that long since I have posted something but I have a lot of pictures and stuff to share anyway. We have had a busy few months and with summer just around the corner it is only gonna get more nutso. Here is some of what we've been up to:

Owen Turned 4!!

Had his 1st and Last day of Soccer!

don't ask.

Spencer got a new BBQ and has been cooking ridiculously large amounts of meat.

(the smoke must have blown out his face, it couldn't have been my camera skills!)

Eli had a BIRTHDAY!

Eli had a Party

Cousins Came

Eli had another cake

The kids and I had to get up early on a Saturday to watch Dad, Uncle Ian, and Uncle Judd do a Triathlon! It was pretty rough on us, but at least we didn't have to bike, run or swim!

Grandma Cath was there!

Spencer did Pretty freaking AWESOME!

I missed seeing him at the finish line:(

THREE Generations of Athleticism

Spencer and Judd stained my sheets with their stupid numbers!

Spencer was admitted to Hogwarts

THE END

Cool Kid Corner, Here We Come!

2010-04-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

Does it get any cooler than this?

Yep, Sure does.......

Seriously, If he can keep this up he will for sure have a pass to the cool kid corner. I can't wait!

Craft Update

2010-04-07T15:01:00.000-07:00

Remember This? I didn't either until a week ago, looks like I missed the deadline, but who really cares? Since Judd asked me to buy his craft I am going to call the cereal that he ate this weekend at my house his craft! As for the rest of you, you are lucky I had a couple hours of conference to watch this weekend.

For Sam I made a little headband for Claire with some inter-changeable flowers,

For Whitney, I made you a snow hat.(I think Owen did a pretty snazzy job of taking this picture of me!)

Sam and Whitney email me your mailing addresses and I will mail these little beauties off in a jiffy!

Look Out World

2010-02-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

There's a new racer in town!

A few weeks ago Spencer injured his knee doing Jiu-Jitsu. His Doctor says that until they figure out exactly what they need to do to fix it that he should not do Jiu-jitsu or Racquetball (anything that has lunges or twisting of the knee ect..) The Doctor did say he could Swim, Run, Walk, and Bike. So guess who is training for a triathlon? The Sman ran in his first official race on Saturday and did pretty awesome, it was the Dam to Dam race, and he did the 5 miles in 46 minutes. Here's a few pictures of my little Tri-Athlete! GOoooo BABE!!

10am start time was a little too early for Eli

(that's funny since he wakes up at 5:30?)

Sergio, I love/ hate him.

2010-02-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

Owen is mostly over taking naps. Last week after lunch Owen told me he was "ready for his nap now." I was pretty excited that he would want to go to sleep. 95% of the time Sergio ruins our naps by barking at people knocking at the front door or a bird he sees out the window. I have to lay down by Owen when he takes naps, I am not sure why, but it is the only way we have found that he will actually fall asleep, then I can sneak out and have some me time. Anyway, Just as he was drifting off to sleep, I remembered the dog, and went to get him to bring him in by us so he couldn't hear the door, or see any birds. He (the dog) runs into Owen's room, and jumps up on my pillow and blanket. Before I could even tell him to "Get off!!" he PUKES all over my pillow!! Never mind to that nap, since my afternoon would now be full of laundering all of Owen's bedding ect. I HATE this Dog!!!

skip to the next morning... here is a clip of him being super patient and nice with Eli. Seriously is any dog this good with kids??

P.S. Don't worry, I am certain we brushed his teeth before this.

P.P.S. We already know he is super fat, he eats the kids food like crazy. I am thinking that is why he is so nice to them, he couldn't scare away his main treat source, right?

KA KAW KA KAW

2010-02-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Aunt Millie-Mill came for a visit last weekend. Camille works for Hawk Watch and came down for the local bird festival. On Saturday she brought a real live raptor to our house. Owen was slightly LESS interested than Eli in the bird of prey.

couple favs from xmas

2010-01-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

So before it has been a whole month, I am going to post some pictures from Christmas Day.

We couldn't wipe this smile off Owen's Face ALL day.

Eli showing off his cool present from Owen

Here is Eli Shaking his groove thing to a song from a the Yo Gabba Gabba CD that Cathie got the boys. They LOVE their music!

Gingerbread Houses = Sugar Overload

2010-01-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve we had a party at Cathie and Scott's house. Although we had been telling Owen that we were having a party, I am not sure where got the idea that it was a superhero party. As much as we would tell him otherwise, he was convinced, and there was no budging. I am thinking it had something to do with his superhero themed birthday party (10 months ago) combined with the fact that we had told him that it was Jesus' Birthday on Christmas??? Who knows. Anyway here is a gingerbread house pictorial essay ( aka I am too lazy to put captions on the pictures, and they are fairly self explanatory anyway.)

THE END

Frustratration

2010-01-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Eli in the kitchen. He was trying to pick up three little balls at the same time. Each time he thought he had all three, one would fall out of his hands. It's kinda like watching a dog chase it's tail. Enjoy!

Garden Update

2009-12-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Owen and I picked all the carrots, here is our loot!

Here Owen is showing off the biggest one.

Carrots are good and all but we decided to make them better by adding a lot of sugar.

Eli loved the frosting the most!

Eli Went POOP In The Potty!!

2009-12-17T12:41:00.000-08:00

and he's not even 2 yet!!

Real Cranberry Juice

2009-11-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

So Spencer decided to make real Cranberry sauce this year for Thanksgiving, which required 1/4 a cup of real cranberry juice (as oppose to Cranberry cocktail that we normally drink.) There ended up being a lot of juice left over. After daring each other to try it, we had a little fun with Eli, he will after all eat ANYTHING. I really think it is weird that he keeps going back more, what a little weirdo!

Snurfs

2009-11-25T08:29:00.000-08:00

What is worse than being sick and having to take care of 2 off the wall kids?

Waking up to this.

Not Happy

2009-11-23T21:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning was rough at our house.

Park City 2009

2009-11-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enough to spend a few days this last week in park city doing absolutely nothing. I got to sleep in every day. The boys got LOTS of Dad time, and we got to visit with friends and family that came up to see us! Thanks Cathie and Scott for being out of the country and unable to use your timeshare. We loved it!! Here are some pics.

we went on walks

played in the kids center

introduced Owen to the "shoe monster"

more walks

We also went on a fun drive. We went on the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway. Spencer has always told me about how he loves the Uintas, and it was fun to see for myself how cool of an area it is.

overlooking some river

it would be cool if I could remember what this area was called, but I can't so I will just tell you it was rad and you should go.

living on the edge, Owen was pretty stressed about falling the whole time, I think he gets that from me.

proof that I was there

this was so much cooler in person. the colors were CRAZY!

Never Gets Old

2009-11-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

Trick or Treat!!!

2009-10-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

Halloween Party 2009

2009-10-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who showed up to the Halloween party this year. To everyone who didn't, swine flu or not, you missed out big time. We'll see if you make the guest list next year...

Here are pictures of everyone who came. Sorry Lameroux's we forgot to get a picture of you guys, try getting there maybe an hour and a half earlier next time, and you might get one!

Allison & Spencer Eli & Owen

(CATS) (DJ Lance, and Spiderman)

Kyle and Haley

(Dancing with the Stars)

Anna, Rob & Grey

(Zombies)

Cassandra and Wade

(Superheroes)

Lindsey & Scott

(Juno & Polly Bleeker)

TJ and Alex

(balloon boy and balloon)

Camille

(Wicked witch of the west)

Scott and Anna

(the martians)

Judd and Emily

(Kim Jung il, and Marilyn Monroe)

Nate & Sarah

(Swine Flu)

Metals Ceremony

Baby Indie

2009-10-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

On our way to SLC last weekend we heard that Lindsay, Spencer's sister, was in labor. We were really excited, because this meant that we could see baby Indie while we were up, but we were also sad, since they were planning on going to our halloween party the next night. In the end, we were thrilled to be able to see that sweet baby girl, and can't wait to get back up north ASAP (when my kids are not sick) to hold her some more! Check her out!

What's the time? Diaper Time

2009-09-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

Eli belongs on public access T.V.

Panguitch Lake and the Incident

2009-09-04T09:18:00.001-07:00

This last Weekend we got to spend in Panguitch lake. It was so much fun! Thanks Jeff and Jacquie again for inviting us. The first night was pretty horrible. My kids were honestly the worst that they have ever been. We ended up keeping the whole cabin from sleeping for the majority of the night. I am pretty sure everyone wanted to kick us out at 3 in the morning. But we are so glad that they didn't. The second night went so much better. I think it helped that everyone was so tired that it wouldn't have mattered how loud my kids were, they probably would have slept right through it.

Owen and Anna running wild

Just before they started throwing gravel on each other
Anna is a champ, I don't know many other little girls who can keep up with my wild boys. Anna definitely held her own!

Us about to fall into Cedar Breaks, super windy

So cool
I have grown up to be one of those people who are totally and completely blown away by how awesome nature is.

Juddy and Eli enjoying the view

Owen NEEDED this picture to be taken?

Spencer and Judd thought it would be a good idea to take Owen out on the Canoe. Owen disagreed, 15 seconds into the ride, he demanded to go back to the shore.

So off they went

Natural Canoe-ers

Seriously maybe 2 minutes in, they capsized. Owen took it the hardest. He was pretty upset. He thought his DAD was gone forever. He had real tears!

Commanders of the Waters

We hurried and got a shot of the group, before the boys clothes dried.
Wet Tee shirt Contest, Yes Thank you!

Turbie Twist

2009-09-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

A little over 6 years ago, I had some credit at Bed Bath and Beyond. I thought that with that credit, I would get a pack of Turbie Twists. I did after all have hair that took along time to dry, and hated when my towel would fall out. I vividly remember Spencer fighting me on this, saying "that is NEVER gonna get used." Well I have used them here and there over the years, but not like everyday. So I would say I could definatly have done with out them. That is until I got the guineas idea to put my boys in them. For some reason, I think this is the funniest thing ever. You decide. Eli likes

Owen is not so sure

Cherry Hill

2009-09-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

When I was 7 my mom moved my 2 sisters and I up to Farmington. While we were looking for a permanent residence, we lived in a little motel that was right next to Cherry Hill. I think we lived there for 3 months, but it seemed like longer. Other than walking by and seeing a mini golf course, I don't remember ever going inside to see all that Cherry Hill had to offer. That is my childhood memory of the place. So not all that awesome of a memory. Spencer on the other hand has very fond memories of Cherry Hill. Their whole Davis side of the family would go there camping in the summers when they were little. I didn't even know that they had camp grounds.

Anyway the day after Lagoon, we got to go experience the awesomeness that is Camping at Cherry Hill. Considering that it rained and we had 6 kids 3 years old and under, I think it turned out pretty great! We had heard it was gonna rain, so when we got there we hurried and set up our tents and then headed right to the water park. I was sure after the response we got out of Owen at Lagoon, that he was gonna hate the water slide, but he loved it. Spencer and I took him down it like 5 times. It turned out to be well worth the cost of the ticket. Although I was a little hesitant to fork out the non-refundable admittance ticket in loo of the forecast I am glad that the cheapskate in me lost, and we went. About an hour after we got there it started raining, so we got out of the water and went back to camp. Where we ate a lovely dinner, put the kids in front of a movie, and then went to sleep. The weather was actually pretty good until about 5 AM when it started poring, and got really windy. In the morning we decided to pack up, and go have our yummy camping breakfast back at Cathie and Scott's. Overall it was good times.

Eli loved exploring our camp site, as well as all the neighbors.

The older Cousins enjoying an after dinner treat and a movie

Eli and his tent pole that he carried around. It kept him entertained for most of the night, why do we buy toys again?

more cousins enjoying the movie

Lagoon Day!

2009-08-31T17:03:00.000-07:00

We got to go to Lagoon with Spencer's work a few weeks ago. I am just now posting some pictures. Owen was really funny. He loved some rides and hated others. Eli just hated everything, well all the rides. He is like me, I enjoy the people and the memories. The Rides, not-so -much. Here are some pictures.

While I let the kids get a good nap, Judd and Spencer went early to get in some grown up rides.

Here is a picture we took right after we met up. They just got off The Samurai and were a little queazy

This is the first ride we had Owen go on. He HATED it. Screamed bloody Murder the whole time.

Owen trying really hard to get his airplane high in the air.

Owen and Harper got pretty into this one

Eli and Izaiah, not so much

Owen excited

The one and only smile I got of Eli on a ride, This was just before it "took off"

and this was after

The Last ride of the day was for some of the adults.

I think Spencer, Joe, Melissa and Keler are Crazy for going on this one.

Thanks Mountain West, you are the Best!

next years day at Lagoon, can't come too soon.

( I think I am going to quit this whole mom thing and take up poetry, No? )

Baby Grey

2009-08-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

We got back from yet another busy trip to SLC last night. Here's what we did:

Went to 2 movies
Went to Lagoon
Went Camping and to a Water park at Cherry Hill
Skyline High School's 10 year reunion

The highlight of the trip for me was getting to hold my newest nephew Grey. He was born on July 23rd and I have been waiting since then to get my hands on him. Here are some pictures of him and his crazy sisters.

Road Trip

2009-08-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

In January Spencer and I decided that this was the year for us to see Utah. Well, eight months later we finally took our first adventure off I-15. We decided to go to Moab. I had never been, and it had been a long time for Spencer. The trip went by way too fast. If we do it again we are for sure going for longer. Spencer had a work thing that he needed to go to in Cedar City on Friday night so we went to that before heading to Moab. We also got to go swimming with Grandma Cathie and Grandpa Scott at their hotel. I think that ended up being a great idea, that and not giving the kids a nap earlier on Friday, because once we hit the road toward Moab on Friday night, both boys were OUT. I am thinking that we should always drive at night. It was so nice!

Swimming Boys

We got into town just after midnight. So we went right to sleep. The next morning we went on a hike. Owen loved the hike, well he loved the first half. We ended up doing part of Negro Bill Canyon, which is a slot canyon along a stream. So going in was good, Owen got pretty pooped and tripped a couple times which led to me carrying him out, while he cried. It wasn't so bad though. Overall, we had a lot of fun.

Our Family at the trail head

Group Shot before the hike

Mr. Adventure himself.

Owen loved finding rocks and throwing them into the water

After we got home from the hike we went to dinner and then the boys played tennis. Eli got hit in the face at one point. I thought this was a pretty funny picture.

So Sad

The next morning, Sunday, we packed up our stuff to head home. We decided since we were in the neighborhood we should stop and see Arches National Park. We are so glad we did! It was awesome! I seriously was blown away by everything. The boys were really good and nice to each other.

Owen and I in front of the fiery furnace

the boys on the trail to sand dune arch

I took the boys shoes off at the dunes, they LOVE it!

the boys and I in a crack

Boys under Dune Arch

Cute Picture, minus Eli's sand mouth

Owen standing in front of Delicate Arch
(it is the tiny thing, just left of his head)

The Road trip home was not as pleasant, but I thought the boys did really well. By the time we got to Richfield they had had enough of the car, so we stopped at the park to let them get some energy out.

I think Eli looks like my dad in this picture.

Glad to be home. We had so much fun!

Cute Pictures in the studio

2009-08-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, when we were in SLC the boys played a little dress-up. Well that kinda caught on, so when we got home Owen thought that he got to dress up all the time. He was obsessive about it with himself, but totally crazy about dressing up Eli. As though he was his little doll. He was all, "Mom Eli wants to be Batman today!!" and would freak out until I dressed Eli up the way he requested. Well that went on for a few days until I once again hid all the costumes. Poor Owen:(

I fixed my studio lighting during one of those days and needed to test my lights out. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Salt Lake July 2009

2009-08-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

We went to Salt Lake for 10 days last month. Those days were Jam packed to the max. Here is a little of what we did.

played dress-up a lot

hung out with cousins

Grandma Cathie's backyard is the funnest!

did slip and slide for the first time!

Eli got in the kid play sink fully dressed!

Millcreek 4th of July Parade

went to a cabin, had some pizza and played with cousins.

Went to a petting zoo, and rode a horse

Eli not so sure about the horse

That's just the stuff we took pictures of.

Racker Family Reuinion

2009-08-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

My mom is one of TEN kids. Because she has such a big family, we rarely get to see all of our cousins. Over the weekend of the 4th of July we finally had a reunion. Eight of the ten Siblings were able to come, which is an accomplishment on its own. The crazy thing is, that I don't even think this is half of everybody. Because of Facebook and blogs I have been able to catch up with a bunch of my cousins, but It was great to see everyone in person for sure!

8/10 siblings
Brent, Joel, Steve, Annette, Beverly, Stan, Evan, and David

8/10 Racker siblings and their spouses

Some of the Grandkids

Grandkids and their families

This is what Owen did the whole time!

Overheard in a Dream part 1

2009-07-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

Spencer and I have many things in common. Sleeping schedules are not one of them. I am a go to sleep late, sleep in kinda gal. Spencer's idea of sleeping in is getting up at 7:30am. So anyway while I am staying up late next to him I often overhear him talking in his sleep. I would say as a general rule he does not let his nerdiness overflow into real life too much. He has the blog and hopefully gets most of the scifi out of his system on that. His Dream's however, well I suspect that they are filled with this crap.

From time to time my sister will do this thing on her blog where she quotes her little girl. Her daughter Nina will say the weirdest things, so they post it, and it's funny. I have seen this before on other blogs and it's not really even interesting, for sure not funny. You know what I'm talking about.

Not like this: "I wov woo mommy." -not funny kid

More like this: "I wish Jesus could make you a nice mommy." -nina

So I have decided to start a new, possibly re-occuring, post.

Here is the first installment of

Overheard in a Dream

Spencer had been asleep like 40 minutes, when he looks over at me and says

"Do NOT wake me up!"
and I laugh and say
"what?, you are so weird, I didn't say a thing"
to which he replies
" unless there are triplets"
I then laugh again out loud, and ask him
"what in the world? triplets? what kind of dream are you having babe?
to which he says
"I am not asleep. It's not like I have ever deblt with zombies before either!!"

I trust that you my readers, will let me know if this is like " I wov woo mommy" so I can discontinue, if needs be.

Smokin Hot Deal

2009-07-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

Have I got a deal for you!! Okay our BFFF's (best family friends forever) the Suites are selling their St. George Condo, and for a steal! I have had the pleasure of spending a lot of time in this beauty, and I am telling you, this place is AMAZING. Go now, Check it out. Tell all your friends how HUGE it is, how they could have a family reunion in it. How awesome the storage space is. Ect. Ect. Tell anyone who might be interested. If you are the person who passed it on, and the place sells, YOU get $1000!

I am hoping that the purchaser wants to be our best friends too, so we can continue to enjoy it's awesomeness, I can dream, no?

Excited to see

2009-06-23T20:54:00.000-07:00

I defiantly have a specific taste when it comes to movies. Although I don't consider myself a romantic comedy kinda gal. In my own way I kinda am. The sad thing about being me is that chances are, none of the movies I want to see will come to St. G :( (Yeah i just did a emoticon, what of it? )

Here are a couple movies I am excited to see this summer. Away We Go & 500 Days of Summer. Who wants to go with? When we are up north of course.

Good News!

2009-06-15T09:50:00.001-07:00

The Garden Mystery is solved! Well one of the garden mysteries anyway. We had pill bugs (aka rolley pollies) Eating our Strawberries. I got some Sluggo Plus and killed those little buggers! Here is a picture of the finished product

pretty impressive, hu?

Well, not really. The way I figure it, The bowl of berries on the right cost about 10 times the bunch on the left and that does not even include the time we put into it. Seriously, I just don't see the point. Ya teach a man to fish my eye.

In other news, Owen started summer school!! Here he is all ready for the first day. I am really loving the hour and a half I have to get stuff done/waste time online 2 days a week, and can't believe we are already to week three of a six week class! Although you would never be able to tell from these pictures, he really does loves it.

what we've been up to cont...

2009-06-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

For Owen's birthday party in Feburary Cathie got him these bubble toys, we finally got them out again last week. The boys were pretty entertained.

So an old friend was giving away some unused disneyland tickets the other day and we took her up on her offer. We got the great idea to press our luck with some standby tickets and fly out there and back in the same day. So we woke up early on Tuesday morning and took off. We're not really those kinda people that fly by the seat of their pants, so this was out of our comfort zone, but all in all we got on the flights, and had a great time. Here are a bunch of pics of us standing in lines, and riding rides. Thanks Kassie for the tickets and to Duane for the plane tickets!

what we've been up to

2009-06-11T11:36:00.001-07:00

Am I the worst blogger ever, or what? So last month we talked Cathie and Scott into coming down for 4 days while Spencer and I went on an alone trip. The way we figured it, the last time we went anywhere, just the 2 of us was May of 2005 when we went to Chile. Due time for some us time. This being my first childless trip since becoming a mother, I forgot what it was like not to have to worry about anyone but myself. The first couple days I was sure there was something I had forgotten, or something I should be doing. Although I fully knew the kids were fine, and that they would rather be with Cathie than me, I still was crazy. I am aware that I was the one who needed them. I was pretty sad, but I got over it and in the end I am so glad we went, I feel like it re-charged my battery. Thanks to Cathie, Scott, and Lindsay for keeping my babies happy and giving me a chance to miss them.

Sman outside the hotel

us in the garden area at the hotel

neither of us had been to the mesa temple, so on a rainy day we went.

this is a funny pic for a couple reasons,

1- there is mo po tofu all down my shirt

2- spencer told me it looked like I was holding the sign, he is a retard.

As soon as we got home from Scottsdale, we packed the car and headed to My grandma's annual memorial day picnic. It was a super quick trip, but we're glad we got to see everyone, and eat some great food. The minute we got in my grandma's yard Owen disappeared. He loves playing with all the big cousins, that's why there are no pictures of him.

Eli & Spencer

Spencer being all lovey-dovey with Eli.

Surprisingly, he too missed the kids while we were on our trip

A slide just Eli's size

Since owen was MIA during the picnic, he didn't get anything to eat.

we stopped and got him a corn dog and this is how he fell asleep.

For the record he slept from Centerville until 600 north (so like 7 minutes) that was it the whole ride home, and Eli finally fell asleep when we turned onto Sunset Blvd, a mile away from our house. It was a long car ride.

Attic Ladders ROCK!!

2009-05-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

About a month ago Spencer and Rob, (our awesome neighbor/handyman ) installed an attic ladder above our garage. I love it! We have seriously created so much space! We needed it big time. We love our house, but our one complaint is the lack of storage. Problem solved! Here are some pictures of the adventure.

Eli couldn't get out of the box, so it was the perfect babysitter

Sman looking ultra ruff and tough, as usual!

Owen not so sure about the stability of the ladder

Owen up top

Look at all that space!
Thanks Rob, we could not have done it on our own.

Puppy Love

2009-04-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

It's official....Sergio's got a GIRLFRIEND!!! Well I guess technically they are kissing cousins, but anyway. Her name is Rexy. This past week her Mom and Dad went to Hawaii, so she got to spend the week making out with The Serg. He couldn't have been more thrilled!

The engagement photo

Sergio playing hard to get.

What's Eating Spencer's Grapes?

2009-04-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Or rather strawberries.

So we started a garden this year. We have been getting lots of strawberries, which we are thrilled about, BUT something is eating them! Since we are new to this, I am not sure where to start. Does anyone of my billion readers have a clue?

Here's a picture of the damage. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Things Are Looking Up!

2009-04-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got to go over and see baby Emmy again! Here are some cute pictures we took while there.

Eli would get pretty pissed when he saw me holding the tiny baby. It was really funny.

Pretty Emmy

She was seriously the best baby to take pictures of.
She sat forever on this blanket and I really think she loved the flash on my camera.
She is totally a little super model!

Kamari was nice to come with and occupy the kids.
I snapped this one of them chillin, check out Owen- Mr. Rico Suave himself.

Update: Things are getting much better, as far as Owen's charades go. He has actually done like a 180. I know this might jinks it, but for the past few days he has been 100% potty trained. He does awesome even at nap and bedtime! Miracles do happen after all. Thanks to everyone for listening to my whining.

Where To Look

2009-04-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

I have had a pretty insane last few days. Owen has been beyond a handful and I have dealt with it all horribly. Today was good, but the few days before were pretty Hellish. On Tuesday the 1st incident was a whole jar of Honey spilled on the hallway carpet, which was quite a nightmare to clean, hot water was key. I am sure I will be finding spots I missed for months to come. Later that day he sprayed PAM cooking spray all over the tile in the entry way and down the hallway. When I ran to catch him I slipped and screamed some obscenity resulting in waking up the baby.

On Satur-poop-day. He first pooped on the carpet in his bedroom, then once in the toilet, again in the corner of the dining room where he proceeded to drive his cars in the "mud" until we found him, and finally once in his spider man big boy pants while playing in the back yard.

Yesterday was pretty mild. The coloring on the bathroom walls wasn't too bad, but the poop in the hall moments later took it to a new level because Eli found it before I did. As with everything he touches lately, you can guess where it ended up!

I have come up with a plan to begin giving him more positive attention. Possibly a sticker chart. Also I can no longer chat on the phone during the day. I believe that he either gets bored while I am on the phone and therefore finds his own entertainment- i.e. a crazy screaming mother, or B he looks at my phone time as the perfect opportunity to get away with murder. Probably both. But either way it is not worth it. I figured I can still chat if and when he is asleep, and when he is strapped in his car seat.

Conference was really good. Which makes me feel like this could all be a large dose of temptation. I have always believed that at the moments you are tempted to do evil (kill my 3 year old) that those are the same moments that you are meant to and could do something amazing. Our opportunities for greatness if you will. So in a way the temptation is laid on really thick.

I know that through all this I can choose to grow or to not. I also completely realize that to many, this is not that big of a deal, but to me and my sanity, it is. All kidding aside I am really being tried and I need help. The good thing is I know where to look.

New Baby

2009-04-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

My brother Danny and Sis-in-law Natalie had their baby yesterday! She is so tiny and so cute. I'm pretty sure she loves me the most of all the Kemp girls, ( since I visited her first!)

Check her out!

Emmy Nicole Kemp 6 pounds, 6 ounces, 20 inches

The First Cake

2009-03-26T15:51:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday Eli!!

2009-03-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI!!!

Well that was by far the fastest year of my life.
Holy Cow. You are seriously the BEST baby of all time.
We love you so much and can't believe you are already ONE.

OJD @ THREE

2009-03-18T09:10:00.001-07:00

I finally got around to taking some birthday pictures of the O-ster. Here's a few.

CIF exchange

2009-03-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

Wa Hoo--- I am so doing this. Who else wants in?......

Craft it Forward Exchange.... (1st 3 people to respond)Craft It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie "Pay it forward". I will send a hand made gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the CIF exchange. All the gifts will be made and sent out 'sometime within the next year'. How exciting to not know when your surprise package will arrive! What you need to do in return, is craft it forward by making the same promise on your blog. This exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PROMISE TO POST THIS SAME 'CRAFT IT FORWARD' MESSAGE ONTO YOUR BLOG, WHICH MUST BE ACTIVE IN ORDER TO PLAY. YOU WILL CRAFT IT FORWARD TO THREE PEOPLE WHO COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG. I'd love for you to join me! Will you? Other comments are welcome, but only the first three will be my Craft It Forward recipients. Come and join me who doesn't love a gift or giving gifts???This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!2- What I create will be just for you.3- It'll be done this year.4- You have no clue what it's going to be or when.5- The catch is that you must post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. also If I don't know your address you have to email it to me. THANKS.

Happy 3rd OJD!!

2009-03-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

It was Owens birthday on the 28th. Here is how we celebrated! ( please excuse the lack of posting a birthday wish to him on here on his actual birthday. I just figured, its not like he can read, and I am lazy!)

Owen with his mustard cake. Spencer thought it would be funny to tell the kids it was mustard icing.

Owen had some friends over for a little party. Superhero style. The kids looked so funny in their costumes.

Owen trying to make Abe jealous of all his gifts!

The boys with Grandma Cath. Thank you so much Cathie. We all loved having another set of hands around.

Owen with morning poo face on his actual bday.

I love this picture because Eli looks like a giant.

One of Owen's very favorite bday gifts were these AWESOME tattoos
I kept catching him in the bathroom checking himself out. Like every 3 minutes!

As a birthday gift to me Owen decided he does not like diapers anymore! What?? yep! it's not like he decided he likes to go potty in the potty. He just gave the diapers the axe. Its a step in the right direction. Right??

Here is a pic of Chubs McGee sleeping. This is what I get to wake up to! Awe. I know, I know.

Walkin Man

2009-02-25T13:31:00.000-08:00

It's official! Bring on the bumps and bruises.

Baby It's Pleasant Outside

2009-02-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

Since the weather has been so nice, We decided to play outside in our front yard yesterday afternoon (the backyard is too covered in fecal matter) not that you asked. Anyway I thought this would be a good occasion to snap some pictures of my boys. Looks like Owen thinks he is pretty funny. Check out all his expressions.

Scared

Confused

Pooping

Now that I have fulfilled Judd's request, here are some of my second born....

Grumpy

& Handsome

New Dew

2009-02-17T17:48:00.001-08:00

I got a new haircut today.
Check me out!

I don't think my hair has been this short since this...

Eli and his Dog

2009-02-06T15:04:00.000-08:00

For as much as I complain about "The Serge" He really is a good dog. At least with the kids. He has never snapped at either of the boys and believe you me, he has been poked, prodded, and teased to death! Here is a little clip I took on my phone of Eli and Sergio having some one on one time yesterday while Owen was asleep.

Weird Sleepers

2009-01-27T21:58:00.000-08:00

itunes picks

2009-01-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

There once was a time when I felt like I was pretty "in the know" when it came to new and awesome upcoming sappy singer songwriter- put you to sleep type music. Sometimes it feels like I have been living in a cave, as far as my exposure to music goes the last few years. Anyway, I finally got a few new albums with the itunes gift cards I received for Christmas. Here are my choices thus far:

1st choice Ray Lamontagne: Gossip In The Grain. I am really still loving his music. Maybe it it that I got his first album right before OJD was born, his 2 albums have been like the soundtrack to my being a mom. Wow! I am a believer and Family's can be together forever and the church is true.

2nd Choice Fleet Foxes: Self Titled. I got this one cause it was on the NPR top albums of the year list. I really like it. But I have yet to fall in love.

3rd Choice Elvis Perkins: Ash Wednesday. Keeping inmind that I really like his voice and songwriting style, I do have a couple critiques: songs tend to be a bit repetitve and long winded. But I REALLY like it at the exact same time.

I have not been this pleased with my musical purchases in a long time. I like all the albums that I have gotten so far, not an easy feet. I am wondering if anyone has gotten any albums that they loved lately. If so pass them along. That is if it is not the crap my husband has been listening to. I am not interested in listening vomit in musical form, Thanks.

Super Man

2009-01-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

I am not trying to pretend to be ultra stylish, but I have always been kinda anti character clothing. Especially on adults, there is a fine line between what is okay and what is not in my book regarding cartoons on clothing. Keeping this in mind, I forgot to get some jammys for the boys to open on christmas eve. On the 23rd I went to Big K and you guessed it they were out of everything even sorta cute. Not wanting to drive anywhere else I took the plunge and got the boys matching superman pajamas with included velcro capes. They (okay Owen) LOVES them. He thinks he gets to wear them every night. Thus begins our lives as Pooh overall wearin', Tigger T- shirt wearin', Sponge Bob light up velcro shoe wearin' consumer whores. Here are some pictures of our holiday and the boys saving the world.

Owen being "SO nice!!".

Spencer opening his Iron Maiden shoes that are gonna give my kids nightmares

Owen being camera shy

Me showing off the gifts Owen got me at the dollar store

candy cigs and a Spiderman watch!!

Happy Eli

Things got even better for Owen when cousin harper got him this Awesome cape! Dreams really do come true at Chistmas time.

Looks like I have now changed my rules in regards to character clothing. I am okay with pajamas, underoos, and Dress ups. Tell me I am not alone on this.

Christmas Card

2008-12-25T15:39:00.000-08:00

here's what it looks like.

Christmas Tree Woes

2008-12-11T08:52:00.001-08:00

So I am seriously contemplating taking our Christmas tree down early. Owen just won't leave it alone. Ether that or maybe I will just put all the ornaments away. He started just taking off the ones he could reach and calling them spaceships or planes(I am gonna blame the startrek tree for that one.) To prevent having broken glass everywhere. As he takes them off I have been puting them up high ontop of the TV. So now the tree is nearly empty and he is going out of his way to try to reach the ones on top. Which resulted in his tipping the whole thing over this morning and having broken glass all over my front room. I have been trying the naughty chair, and even telling him how we are gonna have to take the tree down and santa won't know where to put his presents. Anyway, I am pissed. Any suggestions?

What I Get When I Ask Sman For A Simple Favor

2008-12-05T20:18:00.000-08:00

So last night I needed to use my studio. I asked Spencer if he would let me test the lighting on him. This is what I got....

Isn't he a crack up!!! By the way who else is lovin' the scruffy winter beard? facial hair at it's finest. I am a lucky gal!

Now You Can Breath!!

2008-11-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

To everyone who has been holding their breath in hopes of getting to see my kids in their Halloween costumes, Today's the day!

After screaming at all of our neighbors, that he didn't need anymore candy, "he already had TWO!" OJD ransacked kamari's candy basket, and stole all of her blow pops.

cute looked Eli he did

Best family picture ever!

In other news Steve Kemp is stronger than I thought, that is 22 lbs people!

This One's For The Grandparents

2008-10-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

but feel free to love it even if you're not one.

Yep, this is me, I am THAT Blogger

2008-10-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

Okay I know I am becoming a stereotype even as I write this, but I need help. Here it goes:

So about a month ago we decided to be done with diapers for good with Owen. I was not going to be that mom who took baby steps to get this crap (pun intended) over with. I was going to bite the bullet, and take the plunge. I knew it was gonna suck, but I would rather be covered in poop for a few days, maybe even a week or so, and be done with it. Well that was Monday September 29th. Four and a half weeks, and endless times being covered in feces later, and I am done, I give up.

Here is what we have been doing.... I will tell you and my hope is that someone who reads this will be able to tell me what it is that I am doing wrong.

-1st thing in the AM we take him potty, usually 80% of the time his diaper he slept in is dry. He is still in diapers during his one nap, and while asleep at night. I have been told by everyone, that Pull Ups are glorified, more expensive diapers, so we are just using diapers.

- I started with setting a timer and taking him potty every 20 minutes, if he went pee he got one potty treat, poop two. Eventually I figured he really only needed to go every 45mins to an hour. That was working out pretty well. I then started to notice "the signs" that he needed to go. Every time he wandered off down the hallway I would find an accident. So I got pretty good at watching him, and taking him at the right times. That is it, That is what I have been doing for a month, and we are not moving on. He is not potty trained, I am. If I try to get anything done, including feeding the baby, shower, use the bathroom myself, ANYTHING. He will create a mess for me to clean up.

So my question is this: How do I get him to care about it? Is this normal? Have I, by deciding to potty train my child, agreed to never let him out of my sight again? I am seriously contemplating putting him back in diapers until he starts to care about his own bowels. Would it really be so bad to just put him back in diapers? Will I be making things worse? My favorite time of day is when he is asleep :( I am on edge all day that he is in big boy pants. I have done the let him play outside thing too, he comes in with muddy urine all over him.

I am done. I will accept any and all suggestions. THANKS for reading, hope you're not dry heaving you non-breaders out there.

I am glad the office is back

2008-09-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

So I have not blogged in a while. I keep finding pictures to post and then I get side tracked. Owen had another marker incident the other day and I thought about taking pictures and posting how CRAZY! my kid is but then I realized even I am becoming bored with his destruction. He has become so destructive lately. Eli has 2 teeth now and has decided to stop sleeping through the nights. This kid honestly has slept so well up to this point that I can't complain, about his sleeping anyway....

The other day I was helping one of my young women with a photo assignment she had for school. Here are some of the shots she took of my kids. I think she has an eye, don't you?

Bling Bling

2008-09-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

Anyone interested in some really cool coins? Yeah you read that right COINS!!!! Go check out my Auction. Don't worry there's more where these came from.

Playing Ketchup

2008-09-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

*LAGOON*

Spencer livin' on the edge, as usual.

*Visiting Baby Ella*

She is so tiny!

*San Fran Trip*

For our 5 year anniversary sman surprised me with a trip to SF. Awe, I am the luckiest I know.
We left OJD with G&G, this was a 1st. It was harder on me than him I know. He loved it. Other than the fact that 2 weeks later he is still calling me grandma, I am so happy we did it.

Our Hotel

This is was our view from the 15th floor!
My feet got all tingly when I leaned out the window.

Eating at Nanking is always our 1st stop!
this was funny, we asked this random guy to take our picture and this is what we got!
all I said is get us in it and the sign!?!
No prob, I just photoshoped us together, ya can't even tell! Right??
notice the sign

Checkin out the Crazies

we don't need no stinking patches

Eli's 1st trip to the Ocean!!!

ALCATRAZ!!

*Back in SLC*

Harper & Eli looking awesome

*Casey's Birthday Party*

THE END

The Lady @ Mavrick Thinks My Kid is Awesome!

2008-09-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

And so do I. It is time to cut Owen's hair, but for real this time. Yesterday we decided to have a little fun while we were at it.