Cookie Montser!!!

Last night, since it was near bathtime anyway, I decided to see how Ian would like Oreos.......I think the picture says it all (what you don't see in the picture is the smeared chocolate all over the kitchen floor in front of him).

Where's Ian?

Jason went to get Ian out of his crib and at first he couldn't figure out where was. Test your hidden picture skills and see if you can spot him (he's wearing blue and white striped pj's).

Now that Ian is able to move himself around more, he is all over the place...especially at night in his crib. He is never in the same spot that we lay him in...he's usually in the opposite corner flipped around. I used to keep a few blankets and stuffed animals at the end of the crib, but I have to take those out now.

I think we have a future climber on our hands. He's already figured out how to climb under the coffee table. He loves to crawl under things too. He crawls under his jump-a-roo, under the chairs at the table, under my vanity chair in my room, and under the computer desk. Whenever I catch him he looks up at me and smiles that little smile of his...the same smile he gives me when he spots something that he wants and gets ready to take off after it. He is loving being able to get around now. He loves to follow his ssiter into the bedroom and he'll stay in there and play with her for hours (or until he gets hungry). He loves being able to follow me and find me now. Now the adventures begin!!!

My little girl is growing up!!

Brenna had her first day of preschool yesterday. She is growing upway too fast!!! It seems like it was just yesterday that she was just learning to crawl, now she's running away from me (more on that thought in a minute). Brenna is going to preschool with a lady named Penny Pincock. Every day Brenna wakes up and asks if she can go to school. She was so excited to go on Tuesday. She got up and got reayd and grabbed her backpack and was waiting by the car and we still had an hour before we had to leave. She is excited to go to school just like her daddy! She was mad at me when I picked her up from school. She didn't want to go home. The whole drive home she kept telling me to turn the car around and take her back. Now, usually it's the kids who have a hard time being away from their parents, but not my little girl. She can't wait to get away. When I dropped her off she told me to leave. What a little stinker!!!

Speaking of being a stinker...on to my earlier comment about running away. Today while we were at the grocery store Brenna got mad at me. She kept pushing the cart awya whenever I stepped away from it so I told to get away from it and leave it alone. She then told me "Fine! I'm running away then!. But I won't let any kidnappers get me!" She then ran away. I tried to be mad at her but the way she said it was so funny so I just told her "Fine. Go ahead. Hurry and run away." She ran away to the end of the isle. Everytime I moved to the next isle she would go the next isle, just out of sight, but not out of hearing distance. Whenever I would call her back (just to make sure she wasn't causing trouble) she would tell me "Mom, I told you I'm just running away!" and turn on her little heel and run away. Hopefully she's getting all of the sass out of her systme while she's young and by the time she hits the rebelious teenage years she'll be done .....not likely...but I'm trying to keep positive. Even though she is a sassy little thing, I love her to death!!! She is such a sweetheart. She loves to make her brother laugh and help me with him. Her favorite thing to do is to help me cook. She wanted to make cookies today so she went and got all the ingredients, at tleast the ones she could reach, and told me she was ready to help. She is the biggest helper with everything. Sometimes it's a chore to get her to clean her room (speaking of which she needs to do that tonight) but whenever I am cleaning anything else she alwyas jumps right to it to help me, without me asking, especially the bathroom. I love having her, sass and all. She keeps me on my toes and I look forward to watching her grow up (which is happening way too fast by the way!). I love you Brenna Kay!!!

Ian is on the move!

Ian has been rolling all over the floor for the past month now. He has figured out how to manuever himself to get what he wants. Now he has discovered a few more things. He has mastered the art of sitting up by himself. He loves to sit up in the bathtub and splash. He still loses his balance when he reaches too far for a toy. He tried to go swimming after a rubber duck the other day. Luckily I caught him before he got more than a little water in his nose. Today I saw him pull himself around for the first time. He is starting to do the army crawl and can push himself off with his legs. Now the fun stuff will begin. He loves to get into everything so now that he is getting a little more mobile it's gonna be a full time job keeping him out of stuff. I just need to block off the whole living room so he can't escape anywhere. This is definately going to be an adventure with him. His favorite things to get are remotes, games controllers, cell phones, and computers. Boy can he throw a fit if you don't let him have it. We're really in for it if he stays this way.....we may not make it through the terrible two's when the time comes. He also likes to pull things out of bags on boxes. I have two big cans (the ones you get around Christmas with popcorn in them) and I have a bunch of his toys in them and I lay them down and let him pull everything out....that keeps him occupied for a few minutes.

He is going to be such a stinker but he's already getting that impish grin that will be irresistable and make it impossible to get mad at him...he's already tried it a few times when he is cruising to the cords and plugs. But he is such a sweet boy, he loves giving Mommy nice slobberry kisses and then first thing he does when he wakes up is reach up and touch my face and start making soft noises. Awww!!!! I love my little guy!!!!

Fun, Fun birthday for me!

(Is that a hint of a smile on Jason's face? Is he actually going to enjoy himself at a country concert?)

For my birthday Jason took me to the Toby Keith concert at Usana. It was a blast. I went to Toby 2 years ago and loved it but this time it was a lot better. I think it was because I liked all the performers. Jason got us great seats. We were about 15 rows from the stage. Last time I went I was in the lawn seats and had to use the jumbo screens to be able to see what was going on. This time was a lot better. The opening act was Trailer Park Choir (or something like that). They were pretty good. The most entertaining part was when the 382 lb guy in the group did the "worm" across the stage. He was up there dancing more than the other 2 singers.

The next one was Trace Adkins. He was totally awesome. Jason actually knew a few of his songs (surprising huh?) and was singing on. His favorite is "Honkytonk Badonkadonk." I almost think he agreed to go just to hear that song. I know the picture isn't that great but this of Trace on stage.

Finally at about 9:00 Toby comes on....and as soon as I go to snap a picture when he walks on stage.....my camera dies! What?! I was so mad....it had a full battery when we left and I didn't take that many pictures before. Oh well...since it was dark they probably wouldn't have turned out anyway. I did take a video with Jason's phone so I'll have to load that when I get a chance.

One thing that I love about Toby is he is not afraid to state his opinion and stand his ground. He is one of the most patriotic singers out there. He is always supporting the troops and the country...even if he doesn't agree with what is happening. What you see is what you get with him. Another thing that was great about the concert is that it is about the music. There aren't any grand pyro-technic displays with a stage full of gyrating half dressed dancers. It's just the band and the singers up there.

(I can't believe I'm actually going to a country concert....I sure must love my wife.)

As we sat there waiting for the concert to start I was looking around at the people there. I never realized that Utah had so many rednecks. If Jeff Foxworthy was there he would have found enough material to last him for quite a long time. So maybe I'll try my hand at it:

You might be a redneck at a concert if......

1. You get dressed up for a concert by wearing last years concert shirt, blue jeans, and your best pair of boots.
2. Your hair is so big that the person behind you has to stand up to see around you.

3. You think short shorts and cowboy boots are in fashion.
4. The guys have longer hair than the girls.

5.Middle-aged women with beer bellies are dressed in the same size and style of clothes as their teenage daughter (the same ones wearing the shorts and cowboy boots).

I had so much fun. Thank you, Honey, for a great birthday!!!

Aloha!

This summer the library has been doing a summer reading program for the little kids. They have been focusing on the arts. Every week the kids get a prize if they did their reading. At the end of the program the library had a special event where they had people come and share their talents in the arts. They had people playing instruments, painting, sculpting, and dancing. Brenna got to try her hips out at doing some Hawaiian dancing. She was so stinking cute up there, but alas, she takes after me and has no rhythm. She had so much fun doing it that it didn't matter that she was off beat....who knows...maybe she'll get better and one day make an appearance on So You Think You Can Dance (which I am watching the finale of as I am writing this....I'm shooting for the underdog Evan but good luck Utah's own Brandon!). It was fun to watch all the kids having so much fun and especially be involved in a program that helps promote reading. I think kids need to do more reading and less watching tv or playing video games, but I'm biased because I'm big bookworm and I think everyone else should be like me ;P

Any man can be a father, but it takes a truly great man to be a daddy!!

Brenna loves to be read to so her daddy was reading to her. I had to go something so I gave Ian to Jason and he read to them both. It was such a sweet moment seeing him reading to his two little monsters. Ian kept trying to grab the book but I think he really liked it. Hopefully he'll grow to love books just like his big sister.