Fred's 28th Birthday

WOW! Am I a lame blogger or what?! I'm just really finding it hard to find time to blog. We've been up to a lot in the last month, but you certainly can't tell by looking at this blog. Rather than doing a tiresome catch up post, I'm just gonna jump back into the present and hopefully keep a better track record from here on out.

Fred's Birthday was last Friday. Hunter made a cute birthday banner for him - I helped him write out all the letters (I put down dotted lines and he traced over them with his crayons). The writing turned out a little light, so it would be hard to see in a photo, so I'm not going to post one. But, Hunter was SO proud of himself - it was very cute. In fact, even after spelling out "Happy Birthday Daddy!" he wanted to keep tracing letters, so we pulled out one of his Hooked on Phonics workbooks and did some more in there.

Friday night I surprised Fred with a night out. I arranged fro Ryan and Alexis to come over and babysit so we could go out on our own (it's been MONTHS since we've done that). I even managed to keep it a secret so it really was a surprise - which is amazing for me, I usually have a spacey moment and blow it. We went to dinner at Red Robin (he had a free burger coupon and he LOVE the bottomless fries).

Then we headed over to JCPenny. I had 2 $10 off coupons, so we split up and bought something for each other. We put a cap at $15 (only $5 after the coupon). It was a fun challenge. Although Fred was upset at me because I wouldn't allow him to use some of his birthday money to buy me a $30 skirt. He did get me a nice button up shirt - it was originally $30. And I got him a purple, black, gray and silver striped tie - it was originally $30 too. We each spent $5.33 (with tax) out of pocket - what great deals, huh?!

After our "shopping spree" (which it kind of was for us), we headed over to Payless shoe store. This was during the 50% off Oprah coupon event and Hunter needed new church shoes, so we decided to get some. We waited in line for 45 minutes! There were so many people there. We had a great time talking to everyone in line that it wasn't that bad at all. We were probably the only ones buying 1 pair of shoes - I would've loved to get more, but we just don't have the money right now.

Here's what we were able to get for less than $20 - Originally these items would've totaled over $80 wtih tax (Sorry the picture's so dark):

While it was a really simple date night, just the fact that we had a date night was SO wonderful.

On Sunday, we had a big birthday dinner as well. We invited over Jillian, Ryan and Alexis (and Maija), Mike and Alicia (and Katie & Ethan), and our neighbors Jade and David Griffith (and Ezra & Eli). Ezra was sick, so he and David didn't come, which was sad because Hunter loves Ezra. But, he had so much fun with Katie anyways. We had a big dinner with Allison's Brisket, blue cheese mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus and broccoli, salad, rolls, wassail and other drinks too. For dessert we had brownie sundaes. Fred REALLY wanted to play games with everyone, but it never happened. The kids were so crazy and with daylight savings, the kids were tired "earlier" so people had to head home before we could get out the games. We still had a great time talking and hanging out. We'll have to have a game night some other time just for Fred.

Unfortunately I didn't think about taking pictures. I did snap this one of the kids trying to grab the DVD logo on the TV as it bounced around the screen. At first it was just Maija and Ethan mesmerized by it and trying to grab it, then Katie got in on the action too.

Overall, I think Fred had a pretty good birthday. It was fun to turn the spotlight on him - he's so great a taking care of all of us that it was nice to give a special couple of days. Love ya babe! xoxo

Fall in the Provo Canyon

Last Saturday, in between sessions of General Conference, we took a trip up Provo Canyon to see the leaves and play at bridal veil falls.

The trees were beautiful, as you can see:

Hunter had SO much fun playing in the waterfall. It was a none too warm day, and the water was frigid as usual, but he didn't care one bit. He splashed and leaped and stomped and climbed until the only dry part of him was his underwear (which is all he was wearing in the car ride home). It was the perfect mid-conference-day activity to get all the wiggles out. We'll have to remember that for next year, that is, if we're still around here. Next fall will be law school, and who knows where we'll be.

Review of Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim and Charles Fray

I just finished reading Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim and Charles Fray and let me tell you, that's one life changing book. As a parent of a energetic and sometimes difficult 3 year old, I was looking for any and all help that I could get. My friend Kimberly said that this book helped her immensely with her preschooler, so I decided it was worth a try. The book is very enjoyable to read, provides lots of memorable examples to go along with the principles it teaches. The principles are simple but powerful. Now, I just need to break my habit of getting frustrated at every misbehavior and implement the love and logic principles. It's hard to change behavior, but I determined to do it and put love and logic to the test. I can't wait to see the results, both in Hunter and in myself. This is seriously a life changing book for parents of young children - everyone should read it.

BYU Football Starts with a Bang

On Saturday we headed over to Mike and Alicia's to watch the BYU - OU football game (Mike is Fred's business partner). Ryan, Alexis and Maija also joined us for the excitement. It was truly BYU style football - small apartment and lots of kids :o). We are so grateful that Mike and Alicia invited us over, because we decided not to get cable this fall (we got it last year, mainly for football). We're so glad that we're able to not only able to watch the games, but hang out with them as well.

To say that watching the game in a small apartment with 6 adults and 5 kids was crazy would be an understatement! The kids were all really well behaved, but between the stress of a very close football game and the stress created by keeping and eye on all the kiddos - phew, we were wiped out at the end.

Katie and Hunter had a great time playing together. They had some crazy 3 year old synergy going on - by the end of the game they were so hyper! Hunter was worn out and ready for by by the time we got home. Grant, Maija and Ethan were very good - they just played with toys and explored the living room.

We had an exciting game, yummy food, and great company. We hope the rest of the reason is just as great!

Go Cougars!

Who Says You Have To Play By The Rules?

Today was the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication and so Amber went to the morning session. Hunter was asking to play games all morning but could not until Grant went down for his morning nap. I lifted Hunter up to the "restricted section" of his room where we store all of the games he can't play with on his own, or at least we don't let him, and he picked out "Harry Potter Scene It?" I let him set up the game as he wanted, because of course I'm not going to try and teach him the rules when he's three, and this is what we got. All of the player pieces in the middle of the board instead of on the outside track and the House Points cards lined up around the room. It's not in this picture but all of the question cards ended up strewn around the area right next to the computer desk. Then Hunter looked at it for a little and decided he'd had his fun and that it was time to clean up. So he picked everything up and put it all back right where it belonged. We had fun without the rules, so who needs 'em? At least when you're three, right?

Birthday Boy!

("Happy Birthday Grant!")

We had a fun day celebrating our little guy. We are so grateful that he is part of our family here on earth. We know his being here is a complete miracle and are so grateful that we have been blessed to have him in our home. I can't imagine life without him. He brings pure joy into our house. Thanks for being such a sweet kid, Grant! We love you.

(I'll post details about today over in the kiddos blog tomorrow - I've got lots of fun pictures and videos. If you don't have access to our private blog, but would like to, please e-mail me and I'll send you an invitation)

Adventures in Babysting

Last week I babysat 5 of my cousins while my aunt and uncle were on a cruise in the Caribbean. What a crazy week! Their 5 plus my 2 meant that overnight I was the mother of 7 kids, which I learned, is probably more than I can handle. It was an exciting week complete with an act of vandalism, a broken finger, 6 stitches, a concussion, hair curling, an overflowing bubble bath, middle of the night wakings, more hair curling, countless potty training accidents, a birthday, and even more hair curling and all of the other "regular" things that go along with a house full of kids. While there were a lot of stressful happenings, it was a lot of fun too. There is something really great about a house full of kids with all their energy and enthusiasm. It was a valuable experience because I discovered some things that I definitely want to do as a parent and things I don't want to do. While my Aunt and I have different parenting styles, watching her kids kind of gave me a preview of what my life could be like in a few years. I was able to see what I liked and what I didn't. Now I can make better decisions about how I want my home to be run.

Last week was wonderful too because Fred was there with me most of the time. There is nothing I love more than spending time with family at home (well, maybe spending time with family at Disneyland). We did simple things like playing silly games, hide-and-seek, basketball, talking and joking over dinner, watching movies together, reading books and just enjoying each other. It was nice to get back to basics and focus on the simple things that make us happy - making memories as a family. It's these times that me realize how little we truly need in this world. I think we put too much emphasis on having things (clothes, furniture, electronics, toys, etc). When really, it's not these things that make us happy. The experiences that we have with our loved ones make us happy and those experiences and the relationships that come out of them are what we can take with us into our next life. We all need to slow down every once in a while so that we can make sure that the best parts of life aren't passing us by.