Open House

Colin and I took the boys to the Draper Temple Open House on Saturday. It was very crowded and took a long time but it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that I was excited to take Ryan to. He's watched that temple being built for several months now and often asks about it. He is sort of fascinated by temples, just wish he would have remembered it then. I didn't get any pictures of us there because the walkways into and out of the temple were covered and you obviously aren't allowed to take pictures inside. But, I got pictures of the boys inside the car! LAME. Oh well.

Jungle Jim's

Ryan was invited to a birthday party for his friend Josh (my friend Autumn's nephew). We had a great time playing at Jungle Jims. I had never been there before. It's sort of like Chuck-E-Cheese's with carnival rides too. Ryan brought his friend Charlie (they've been feeling pretty inseparable these days) and the three boys had a lot of fun playing together. Afterward we had pizza and birthday cake. Thanks for inviting Ryan, Amy & Alan, we had a wonderful time. Ryan and Charlie on the bumper cars. Those were by far my favorite as a kid.
The tea-pot like ride.
Ry-ry and "Char" on the airplane ride.
Josh on the airplanes.
All three boys zooming around on the airplane ride.
Here they are again.

The cute dinosaur birthday cake.

Ryan's Photography

Although it isn't a toy, Ryan likes to play with my camera. Maybe this is the reason that it doesn't function the way that it should. Anyway, here are some of the shots he's taken recently. Apparently I am his favorite subject.


Looking for keys or something. Who knows.


Ryan set the self timer and took his own picture. You'll notice he's looking into the camera and smiling. If only he would do that for me.
"Say Cheese Mommy". He says that every time he's taking a picture.
Evan wasn't cooperating with the picture taking for Ryan. He knows E can't say "cheese" so he always tells him to say "dada".
I'm in my jammies with the hair pulled back, but he doesn't care, he just likes to take pictures. I guess I'm also always standing in the same spot in the kitchen, washing dishes and stuff.

Fit Me Pink

My friend Robyn does a fitness blog and she invited me to guest post this week. I wrote "10 tips for going sugar-free". Its very related to the fact that I have diabetes, but the tips are great for anyone who is looking to go low-carb or even just cut out some extra calories. So check it out! Check out her fitness blog too!
I've been thinking of some good diabetes posts that I need to do soon also, so stay tuned.

Happy Valentine's Day!

With Valentine's Day being on a Saturday this year, it seems to have gone on forever. On Wednesday, Ryan had his school Valentine party.

This is Ryan with his Valentine sack from preschool. He loves going to preschool and I think it is so neat that he gets to participate in all of the fun Holiday celebrations throughout the year.
He was really bummed about me taking his picture, but I knew he was going to tear into his treats right away, so I made him pose anyway.

And then, he got to open his Valentines.


Evan thought it was pretty fun to open Valentines too.

Then on Friday, the boys and I drove up to Colin's work and delivered two dozen mini-cupcakes and a Valentine for Daddy. I'm really bummed that I forgot to take a picture of the gift, or of Colin... There's been a lot going on and it was a pretty busy morning on Friday.

Today is actually Valentine's Day, so I gave the boys their presents this morning.

This was my gift to Ryan. I got him a little puppy because he's been really into the stuffed animals lately. I also got him his own markers to draw with, so he can quit ruining mine. He loves to color and I thought these were just his size. They're called Crayola Pip Squeaks.
I got Evan a little puppy too. I thought I'd get him a blue one. I liked this one, thought he was a cutie!
Colin brought me home some roses after work on Friday. They are really pretty and they smell absolutely fantastic, you can smell them clear across the room!



Later tonight we're going to see a chick-flick in the theater! That's a big deal for us, we usually just rent them. I'm super excited.

Boys, Boys, Boys

Ryan has been a lot of fun lately. He says so many funny and interesting things. I try to make a list of all of his sayings and things, but I forget to write them down. I'll try to remember a few of them for you.
The other day we were driving down the road and he was jabbering away. I asked him to hush. He said, "why do you want me to hush mommy?" I responded, "Because sometimes you talk a lot." "Yeah, I do that," he said. I had to laugh out loud.
My facebook status the other day said that I wonder how he got to be so smart. Here's the story of what I was referring to.
Ryan and I got out the game Don't Break the Ice and were trying to play when "the destroyer" aka Evan, came along and got in our way. Ryan asked me to put him to bed and I told him that it wasn't time for Evan to go to sleep yet. He responded to that by saying, "When the little hand gets on the seven, it's time for Evan to go to bed."
WHAT? My three-year old can read time? Sure enough, the little hand was on the seven. I asked him to point to the seven on the clock, just to check that he really knew what he was talking about. Sure enough, he pointed to the seven. The next day, as we were getting ready for Church, I asked Colin for the time. Ryan chimes in and says, "I'll go check Mommy." He comes back and says, the little hand is on the 10, and the big hand is on the 1. "OK, thanks Ry!"
Truly, amazed!
Lately after he runs around the house he'll say, "My heart is beeping." I guess he can feel his heart beat when it's going fast.

Evan has been into a lot of fun things lately too. This week he learned how to traverse stairs. We don't have stairs in our apartment right now, so he doesn't get a lot of practice. We've been out looking at new places to live and he's been enjoying climbing up the stairs. It sort of freaks me out but he's been doing pretty well. On Sunday, he got some stair lessons at Grandma's house. He's doing much better. Tuesday we hung out with Grandma a little bit and she started to teach him how to climb down the stairs as well. While he isn't perfect yet, he's starting to get the hang of it.

Evan spoke his first word this week. Twice he's said "baba" for bottle. I'm not surprised that his first word has to do with eating. Our little guy is a year old in a month from tomorrow! Yikes! Where has the time gone?

Every night when Colin gets home, it's daddy jungle gym time. He wrestles and plays around with the boys for five or ten minutes and gets them all nice and riled up before bedtime. Then we usually do bath time and get ready for bed.

This is a photo of my long-haired Colin. He's got this wild idea lately to grow out his hair. Who knows how long he'll keep it this way, but I sure like it!

2 more pair

On our trip we each got a new pair of Forces.

Here are the additions to the collection.

Colin: White on White (gum bottom) Jen: grey & fuchsia with a quilted side

Ocean's Blessing

This weekend we made a quick trip to the DC area for Ocean's blessing. It was a fun trip and we all had a great time. We wish we could have stayed longer. Thanks to Karen and Bruce, and Stuart and Brooke for letting us stay with you. Here are the pictures from our trip. They aren't great, and there aren't very many, but here they are nonetheless. Enjoy!


Me & E on the airplane. Sleeping baby on the airplane is a good thing! The boys did as well as can be expected, and when we landed in SLC Colin and I heard a phrase we've NEVER heard before, and probably will never hear again. "Their kids did much better than ours!" Ha!

Ry playing with transformer on the plane.

Stuart likes to give Bear meat as a treat. He's teaching Ryan how to feed the dog in these pictures.

I know I have a picture of Ryan doing this as an 18 month old but I haven't been able to dig it up yet.

Colin was walking on the ice in the back yard. He is a goof. The snow there got a layer of ice on top of it and it was the strangest thing I've ever seen. Here the snow will melt and freeze, but not like this.

On Saturday night Stuart and Brooke invited us to a Chinese New Year party for their branch. It was a lot of fun. Good food and fun entertainment too.

"Can someone take a picture of me feeding Ocean?"

Thanks, Colin for making a face in the background.

Lets try that again. Shall we?

How about a shot where you can see his face, please.

Thank you.

Stuart is an excellent Uncle, and Father. He played with my boys the whole time were were there and does a great job of caring for Ocean as well.

Ryan with the Lion head.

Bruce gave a piece on the year of the Ox.

Stuart playing with Evan.

Evan standing up by himself.

Brooke and Ocean on blessing day.

The Dean Family. Minus Katie & Erin.

Colin, Karen, Jen, Ryan, Evan, Bruce, Brooke, Ocean, Stuart

Me, Ocean and Evan.