When You're Here You're Family...

The boys and I took a trip to Utah to get out of this nasty heat, and stayed for about a week and a half. Poor Ace had to stay behind because of work. Lame. I felt {just a little} guilty enjoying the nice weather of Utah without him.

I found some cheap tickets to fly there so I flew with my two kids BY MYSELF. I had major anxiety about this. I have flown with Easton and Ty separately, but never together, and I feared the worst. But everything went so good, and they were both so excited about the whole thing, it was actually pretty enjoyable.

Two funny stories about the plane ride: Easton has been watching Toy Story 2 a lot lately and he was completely convinced that Woody and Buzz were at the airport just like in the movie...

He said, "Mommy. Buzz needs my help! They are trying to get Jessie! I gotta go help them!" He continued to quote the movie the entire time.

Then when the plane was getting ready to take off, I was explaining to Easton what was going to happen "The plane is going to start going really super fast and then start going up into the sky." He wasn't really listening to me and then as we started to take off, he gripped the armrests and starting yelling, "What is Happening?! What is Happening?!" I told him to look out the window...he then relaxed a little and yelled, "We are Flying! Mommy! We are Flying! This is sooo amazing!" I was laughing so hard I couldn't even tell him to talk softer. He continued to give a play-by-play with the things he could see out the window the whole flight. He said things like, "We are like big giants and we are going to smash those little tiny trees."

Uncle Jesse had to get his tonsils out, and he was pretty miserable.  So we tried to keep him company.  Easton was his movie watching buddy all week long...Sometimes there was a little too much teasing, but it always ended on a happy note...

Then we headed up to the Casper's for Baby Carson's First Birthday... Can't believe he is already 1!

There was a little teasing by Uncle Brad...

But Ty liked it, so all was well.

We tried to get pictures of the cousins...this is what we got:

At least they are all cute even when they don't smile.

We went to the Farm with Grammy, Aunt Rebecca, and Carson.  Everybody liked the ducks.

Rebecca got really into feeding those ducks :)

Some more Uncle Brad teasing that didn't go as well as the water... apparently Ty is cool with standing in the grass, but things get crazy if you put grass on top of his feet.

Bubbles were a nightly routine.

We went to Thanksgiving Point with Grandma Leelee.  The boys got to ride the pony's, and there was no convincing Ty that it was a pony...He kept calling it "Doggy".  But he did love to see all the other "Mammimals".

This one is random, but just enjoyable to me.  I found Easton sleeping like this one night....

And the reason we really made the trip was for the reunions.  We had a big giant Smith reunion, and then the next night we had a smaller reunion/tribute to my Fabulous Grandpa John.  It was so fun to see everybody, Easton loved having so many big cousins to play with, and it was yet again confirmed that my family's nuttiness goes back many, many, many generations.  All I can do is continue to pass it on...

We are so glad to be back home with Ace, but not so much back in the heat.  Bleh.  But yay for family, I am glad we got to spend some time with everyone!

p.s The post title is dedicated to my mother...who while at our {very large} family gathering at The Olive Garden made that very statement to the waitress...yep.

18 Months

 Ty has reached 18 months.  This could be the very best age for the one and only reason of being eligible for Nursery.  This means I can start bringing my scriptures (and actually get to use them), and I only have to worry about keeping him happy for 1 hour of church, and then I pass him on to the lucky ducks in the Nursery Room.  I cheated, and started taking him a few weeks ago to see how he would do.  The first time he went in, he looked at me with a glare as if to say, "You mean to tell me, I have been sitting on your lap for 3 hours every week for my entire life, and all the while there was this incredibly awesome room with toys and FOOD?!"  So far, he has loved every minute of Nursery (and me too).  Yay for Nursery.

--Ty at 18 months--

-Weight: 22.6 lbs (he's back up to the 10th percentile so the Dr. is happy and said he can stay in the 10th % as long as there is some weight gain every time)

-Height: 33 1/2 Inches (75th-90th percentile)

-Walking all over the place

-Finds every possible thing that he shouldn't

-Loves to color

-Knows when it's time to pray and folds his arms, but if he feels the prayer goes too long he'll end it himself with an "Aaaammmmeennnnn"

-Sleeps awesomely

-Has about 30 words and will attempt to repeat anything we say

-Loves Blueberries

 -He climbs up and on everything, jumps and hangs over the edge of the couches and yet, is easily scared by any weird small noise (example: whoopie cushion completely freaks him out)
-Loves to get his teeth brushed
-He could throw a ball further than I could (maybe that's a small exaggeration, but it would be close)

-Is always making silly faces 

 -Loves to Skype Grandma Leelee

-Is super happy and content all time...unless his brother is teasing him

-Still incredibly flexible 

-Loves his baby blankets, but is okay with keeping them in the crib

-Always super sweet, but also super sensitive

-Loves to wear hats and have things on his face

-Gives very dramatic Loves and Kisses (mmmmwaaaahhh)

We love, love, love having Ty in our family, and I really can't believe it has already been 18 months!  

Happy Un-Birthday Ty!

Surgery update... Didn't happen.  The eye Dr. said his eyes aren't quite ready (still tearing too much).  So now, we have our billion-and-oneth prescription eye drops to hopefully help his eyes.  We will be re-scheduling and give his eyes a little more time.

Here We Are, {Mostly} Moved In

We have made it into the new house, and here is a giant little Sum Up of what has been happening:

The move went as good as it could go in 115 degree weather.  We had some Awesome, Awesome guys volunteer their muscles...Thank you again to everyone who helped!  Our other house was officially closed on June 24 (yay).

Parts of the house still look somewhat like this:

And this:

But, the Kitchen, Front Room, Family Room, Garage, and Bedrooms are put together.  So things are coming along, slowly, but surely.

Ty mastered the stairs the first day we moved in...

Coming from a one-story house, he was pretty proud of himself.

The boys have spent a large amount of their time coloring while I unpack.

My birthday just happened to be (very inconveniently, I might add) the day after the "big" moving day.  The plan was going to be to take the day off from moving and go out to eat and celebrate.  But instead, Ace spent the day in a quick care...

He got cut at work and had to go get a Tetanus Shot.  Once he got there, and they saw the cut, he ended up getting SIX stitches in his PINKY Finger.  By the time he got home, he was so exhausted, and was still planning on taking us to dinner.  I said, No Way. And that we could just celebrate next weekend.  Which we did...

A little Olive Garden and a delicious custom Cold Stone Cake made us all happy.

This last weekend we also made a failed attempt to set up the pool.  As we were setting it up, we realized it had a hole. Bummer.  So we tried to patch the hole.  Didn't work. Bummer.  We went to the store to buy a new one.  Every store was all out of any kind of pool.  Bummer. Bummer.

But it didn't get the boys down...they enjoyed it just as much even if it was only 2 inches deep.

We are happy to be moved in and loving the extra, extra space.  Although, I (unlike Ty), have not gotten used to climbing stairs 10,000 times a day :)

**In other news, Ty is scheduled to get the stints out of his eyes on Thursday.  Tomorrow, we are going to see the eye doctor to make sure that his eyes look ready and then we will be set for Thursday.  It's going to be another day of no food for Ty and Needles and Anesthesia and just Yuck.  But it is going to be a fast surgery and really simple, and hopefully, the last one...hip hip hooray.** 

Fourth of July Festivities 2010

We had a nice, low-key, relaxing 4th of July.

We did some fireworks...

 Ty liked them.

And Easton looked like this the entire time...

 At church that day, Easton gave his first talk in Primary.  He was so excited to give his talk all week long.  I  heard him lecturing Ty on parts of his talk that he could remember.  And he did a super good job giving it in Primary.  He spoke nice and clear, and {maybe a little too} loudly. 
Way to go Easton!

And then after church, we chatted, played, and had some yummy food at the Smith's house.

Except for the ridiculousness of the heat...A good, good day.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

About this time last year, we stopped paying our mortgage.  We decided to stop, after a lot of discussing, and praying, and thinking, thankfully not because we couldn't make the payments, but because we have out-grown our little 1300 square foot home and we couldn't rent it for anywhere near what our payment was.  The bank wouldn't even talk to us about negotiating the loan until we missed a payment, and when we did that, all they wanted to do was talk about collecting a payment (a real bunch of geniuses over there)...oh, and our home is now selling for $175,000 LESS than what we paid for it.

What a blessing that decision has turned out to be.  We have continued to live in our home up til now without making a payment, which has helped us build up our savings, and prepare for a better (and wiser) home purchase in the the future. 

But now, the time has come.  Our house has been approved for short sale, and it should close today or tomorrow!  Which means, we are moving.  This is a little bitter-sweet...this was our first home that we owned, and the home Easton and now Ty have spent their life in.  But on the other hand, we are excited to move on and more importantly, have more space! 

A little while back when we were trying to figure out where we should move to, the oh-so-awesome Custer Family mentioned that they were buying a new house and going to be moving soon.  They so awesomely offered us a teeny tiny rent payment for their ridiculously huge house that they are leaving behind for their even ridiculously huger house.  And so, we accepted.  We are so, so sad that the Custer's are moving away, but they are so great to let us stay in their home which will keep us in our ward and close to friends. 

So, after that novel of a story, if anyone is still reading, the plan...

The Custers are moving out on Thursday, and then we will be moving in on Saturday...how about that for timing eh?

Since this will most likely be the last post for a little bit I thought I would leave you with some cuteness...

Ty's first Fat lip

Easton's "Muscle Flex"

p.s: Just have to say that moving stinks, but in the summertime in Vegas it's like suicide, and yet, so far we have moved in the summer each time.  Lame.

The Binky

I love binkies.  My babies love binkies.  We are a binky loving family.  And so, when it comes time to say goodbye to the binky there is some sadness, and just a little fear.

For some reason, with both Easton and Ty, I have noticed that I begin to fear the worst as I start thinking about taking the binky away.  I feel like it will be traumatizing for him and there will be many, many sleepless nights for the whole family.  So therefore, I try to put the event off with various excuses of why I should wait. 

I am pretty sure this fear stems from my childhood memories of my little sister, who, on a family vacation flight,  lost her binky. The world may as well have just stopped turning at that very moment.  For, that moment lead to the next week of listening to her screaming and crying and crying and screaming and screaming and crying every night.  I watched my poor mom run from store to store desperately trying to find the correct binky or any binky that little Lauren would be happy with.  None of them worked, but at the end of the week, Lauren (and the rest of us) survived and she was completely binky free... 

She is now, by the way, dating boys and driving cars (against my all my wishes).

From this memory, I knew what it would be like to be rid of the binky.  So, with Easton, I prepared myself, and then put it off, and then prepared again, and then put it off (This went on for a while).  And then, one day I did it.  I snipped the end off of the binky so there would be no suction...and he didn't care one bit.  He handed the binky to me, laid down, and went to bed.  The End.  What?!  I couldn't believe it, and thought for sure Easton was one in a million and it would never happen to me again...

Skip to present day,  Ty is just a bit older than Easton was (for that same reason of putting it off).  I was planning on doing it the same way, by cutting the tip, but last night as I was putting Ty to bed, I thought I would just try NOT giving him the binky and wait to see what his reaction would be.  

You know what happened?
This:

Never made a peep.  Didn't even give me 'the look' that he was going to make a peep.  Nothing.
 

To many of you, this may be no big deal.  But, to me it's incredible because well, I saw what removing the binky could be like. 
So, I am happy.

p.s Tonight is night two, and so far so good, but now I am a bit nervous that because I am writing this I am going to jinx everything as soon it is posted. ha

Running Into A Wall Hurts

That's what Easton found out.

We had just gotten home from the store and unloading the car, which Easton loves to help with.  He handed me something in the kitchen, and then took off running to the garage door get more stuff.  Instead, there was a loud 'thud', and then an insane amount of crying.  I am still a little confused about what happened here...

1. Because he completely missed the door by about 2 feet

and

2. Because he somehow only hit the underside of his chin. 

My guess is that he was running with is head tilted back and his eyes shut. 

I mean, that's so normal.

Poop Problems

Disclaimer: Not that I will be sharing horribly disgusting details or anything, but if you couldn't tell by the title, this post is about poop.  Queasy readers...look away :)

Ever since Ty was born, he has had a problem with getting a little "backed up".  Well, a lot backed up...to the point that he is in major pain and screaming.  It's so so sad.  We tried prunes and juices and all types of food to help relieve him, but nothing really helps him.  Now I have to give him Miralax when he has such a hard time, and that seems to help him out a bit.

My point to this wonderful story is about the position that Ty gets in when he needs to poop.  I suppose he has gotten used to "struggling" so he automatically gets into position and prepares for the worst...

 So, is it horrible that I can't help but smile (maybe even laugh a little) every time I see him do this?