It's pictures like this...

....that make you forget the sacrifices of being a parent.

and

....that remind you of how precious little children are!

First 5 people will win

The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It'll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it's going to be. It may be weird or beautiful. I might bake something for you and mail it to you when you least expect it. I may even create something totally unbelievable and surprise you at work!! Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your note.

IMPORTANT: It would be great if you would forward this note on to spread the kindness... but even if you don't I will still make you something! :)

P.S. If you don't want to make something, offer whatever you are good at

I am excited....

for the next couple of months.

There is nothing too spectacular that is going to happen. I am just trying to appreciate the little things so that I can enjoy life more.

I am so excited for spring and I am looking forward to my tulips blooming. They are my favorite flowers and make my pitiful yard look so nice.
I am looking forward to getting this semester of school over with next month and hopefully having good grades.

I am looking forward to going on a road trip with the boys. We aren't sure where we are gonna go to yet, but it should be a blast. Maybe Portland or Denver... somewhere that isn't too far. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I am looking forward to my birthday. I am not looking forward to the fact that I will be 24 and I am getting older, but I will just have to find a way to deal with it, because I am going to get older no matter what and so I better enjoy it!

I am looking forward to talking to Dane on Mother's Day. Hopefully we will get to talk to him more than we did on Christmas.

I am looking forward to going to Good Things Utah on my mom's birthday. We always have a fun time when we do that.

I am looking forward to all the fun outdoors that Spring and Summer bring!

What are you looking forward to?

Okay, so life has been a little more interesting these days. Over the past few months, life's redundancies and stresses have taken a back seat. My point is that I have been able to travel to several parts of the country, met many new people, tried new foods, seen a lot of tourist sites, and enjoyed the various cultures. In the last twelve months, I have been to South Dakota, Wyoming (2X), Idaho, California, Texas (2X), Maryland, Kansas, Missouri (2X), Washington D.C., Virginia, Illinois (2X), Ohio (2X), and Kentucky (2X). This is wildly incredible. I did not know of all the travel opportunities that were ahead of me twelve months ago. To simply put, I have had a lot of fun. The neat thing about all this traveling is that I still plan on going to Alabama, Tennessee, and California once again.

However, I can't gloat with about these adventures without thanking me wife, Nanette, for allowing me to go on all of these trips. Without her support, I would never have had a chance to enjoy this part of my life. Albeit it true, she has gone on some these trips with me in one way or another, but she has been amazing. On top of that, she has done very well in school and has done an exceptional job with raising the boys. Other individuals, particularly my in-laws, have been amazing with their support. I know it takes a lot of time and energy to help us out at this point in our lives, but be it known, I do recognize their selfless assistance.

As a summary as to what I enjoyed the most on these trips was the fact taht I was able to see a lot of chruch sites that I otherwise would not have enjoyed and seeing the history our country. DC and San Antonio was filled with a lot of cool historical buildings and artifacts. While on the churchy stuff, Wyoming and Missouri has some spiritual places that fill the soul and greater respect of the early sacrifices of LDS church members.

Anyway, it's been very nice to travel and see the country.

An encounter of the creepy kind.

I kind of had a traumatic experience yesterday.

For most people it probably wouldn't have been.

Any one who knows me... knows that I am terrified of SPIDERS!!!

I am so scared of them that I had to have my 2 year old son come to the rescue.

I was getting ready to give the boys a bath. The toys are already in the tub and I have already turned the water on. I have just sat Logan in the tub, when I happen to glance into the empty toy tote and see that there is a spider in there. Instantly my mind begins to race about what I should do. The spider is too big to squish with toilet paper. I will only do that if it is really little. I also didn't think that I could kill it with my shoe, since it was in the corner of the toy bin. I run out into the hall. I'm not always to bright when it comes to figuring out what to do and so I got the brilliant idea to dump water on it and see if it would drown. I go into the kitchen and fill a cup with water.

This is where Ethan comes in.

He follows me into the kitchen. I ask him if he will dump the water on the spider, because I am too scared to even do that. He says yes and seems kind of excited about it. I stand out in the hall while Ethan does the job. Remember that Logan is still in the tub, the water is still running, but the plug is down so that tub isn't filling up.

Immediately after he starts pouring the water in the tote and yells, "The spider ran away!"... and then he drops the cup in the tote and runs out into the hall with me.

This is when I really start freaking out! I pictured in my mind that the spider had crawled out of the tote and was running rampant in the bathroom. Remember that Logan is still in this tub.

I grab my phone and call Chris at work. I don't know what I thought he could do to help. He's an hour away and it is not like he can come running home. I don't think clearly though when I am upset... so I call him expecting him to have a solution.

Logan is starting to get upset and wants to get out of the tub. I am crying to Chris on the phone for like 15 minutes. He keeps telling me to just hurry and grab Logan and shut the door. Thoughts of the spider still running around in the bathroom keep me from listening. I begin to beg Ethan to go turn the water off in the tub. I also keep begging him to get Logan out of the tub, even though I know that he can't lift Logan very well. Ethan keeps saying no, because I think that he is also scared now that he has seen how freaked out I am. I begin to promise him that he can have one of his potty training prizes if he will go turn the water off. He still won't go in there, but he did keep saying, "Mommy needs kisses!" and he would kiss me on the leg. It was really sweet.

Finally I calm down and I tell Chris that I am going to try and hurry and grab Logan. I slowly creep into the room and of course I have to peak into the toy tote. It crazy how things happen that way. You are so terrified of something, but you still have to look. I see that the spider is still in the tote and that it is kind of shriveled up. I think to myself, "Good job Ethan. You killed it!" I guess when Ethan had said that it was running away, he just meant that it was trying to get away from the water, not out of the tote. I am so crazy sometimes. Anyways, I hurry and get Logan out of the tub and turn the water off. Chris kept telling me on the phone to hurry and put the lid on the tote so the spider couldn't get out and then he would get rid of it when he got home. So I finally got brave and did just that.

Needless to say, I did my hair and makeup in my bedroom yesterday... and Logan and Ethan did not get a bath.

Thanks Chris for putting up with the drama!

I am so pathetic.

I am such a wuss.

Now that I think back on this story I think of how ridiculous it is and how I let that spider ruin my day (at least for an hour). The sad thing is that I will probably do the same thing again... when the same situation arises.

Thanks to Ethan for helping save the day. I think he deserves a prize!

P.S. Does anyone know how to keep a child in their booster seat? I get it as tight as I can, but Ethan still manages to climb out.

Incentives

I am trying a lot harder to getting Ethan potty trained. He will be 3 at the end of June and I don't want him to be the only 3 year old in nursery who wears a diaper. I have gotten a few ideas, after talking to people about what they have done. Katie and I took Ethan to the store yesterday and let him pick out a few prizes (incentives) that he can have for when he goes in his potty. He seemed really excited about it, so we will see if it works. I tried getting him to sit on it today, but so far I have had no luck. I think he is embarrassed about the whole thing. I did let him wear his underwear with out his diaper for awhile. I told him to go sit on the potty when he needed to go, but instead he just went in his underwear, so I struck out again. He told me that he wanted Logan to sit on it. I guess he doesn't understand that it is even more embarrassing if your little brother gets potty trained before you. :) Wish me luck!

Maybe Logi will accidentally go in the toilet. It's the most I can hope for, from him.

Other random pics:

I bought this shirt for Max for $1. I didn't realize how fun it is to dress your dog!

Ethan and Uncle Aaron brushing their teeth. Ethan insisted on getting a "princess" tooth brush over a "cars" and an "elmo" one. It was so funny!

Time to breathe

I just finished my last exam for this round of tests and so now I can breathe a sigh of relief! I can get back to blogging and doing other things I enjoy. No more studying! At least for another three weeks. :( I want to thank all of my family who helped me and the boys out while I was busy with school. You guys are wonderful!I also get the joy of potty training Ethan. I have attempted to potty train him a few times, but never hard core. I decided it is time and he is ready and so I am going to set aside a day and get it done! I hope it will be that easy. He has already gone number 2 in it once. I didn't know he had, but yesterday I was in the bathroom and he lifted up his potty and said, "There's poop in there!" I didn't believe him, but when I looked in... to my surprise there was! I was so ecstatic and awarded him with a cupcake! I have no idea when he did it and who knows... maybe it was really Logans... but the odds are in Ethan's favor and so I will just stick to my theory that it was his.