All About Atkins

In Idaho

2012-02-14T00:07:00.000-08:00

Well, now we are in Idaho. We got here about a week ago. It's certainly cold, but I have been very proud of us that we have not gone crazy in cold weather. I actually do not like cold weather one bit and love skipping out on winter living in Hawaii, but I think I actually take the cold weather not too bad. I remember when we were first married I thought Lance was wierd because he didnt' like to wear coats much because they were such a bother and you only really needed them to and from the car. So, anyways, now I am like that and prefer not to be bothered with a coat if I can help it. And my kids can be like that sometimes. I had to force the kids to put a coat on while they were playing outside. But I think they were appreciative of it in the end. And I thought I read it's a myth that being outside in the cold can make you sick. I don't know, is it? All I know is that I am sick. My throat hurts, my eyes water, and I am a baby. I hate being sick. It's been a long time it seems since I have been sick. Whenever I am sick I think life is just too hard to handle. And then I always am so excited to get healthy again. Anyways, I am excited to get better. I slept as much as I could last night and took one of those emergency C drinks or something with a lot of vitamin C. And then I took a 3 hour nap today. Which explains why I am up at 1 in the morning.
Hopefully I don't sound too lazy.

Porter does not do well handling anger and frustration. We watched him as he chased after Will crying and yelling since Will took the little bowling ball he was playing with. Then we watched him try to set up the bowling pins by himself and angrily throw them all around when they weren't working just so. Ahhh, good thing he is still only 2 and some of this stuff is kind of cute.

We have been using the stools here at my mother in law's house for time outs for the kids. I think it's working??? I don't know. My mom advised me not to threaten so much and just take action. So instead of counting all the time, I take them straight to the stool when they are not listening. I feel bad for my kids; they are the subjects of all my experiments.

Will talks and talks. It's so funny; he is much more talkative than Porter. Porter actually talks lots when he is comfortable, but around people he doesn't know he doesn't say a thing and people don't realize he talks. But Will; everyone becomes his friend fast. And Will and Porter think they are hilarious. They make up words and tell ridiculous jokes and fall over laughing. I am glad they think each other is funny.

Porter is an echo to whoever is saying the prayer. I have given up trying to make him be quiet during prayers. He talks quietly, but he still talks. He always just sort of repeats the words people say, kind of like he is Baptist or something. I remember going to a revival with some friends when I was in the fourth grade. The preacher at the front would sort of comment during the prayer, and of course, my friends and I, being the mature 10 year olds we were, just thought this was hilarious.

I took the boys to the Hop To It place here. It's one of those little places that has all the fun blow up slides and things like that. I am an extremely nostalgic person and I just kept thinking about the last time I was there. Will was probably 15 or 18 months. I took him with my friend Kim and her husband and little girl. Will hated it. He was scared of everything. This time was very different. He loved it and went on everything. Porter was very fearful of most of it at first. Then Lance pretty much forced him up the latter that takes you to a slide to go down. Porter was screaming on the way up, and it was funny. Lance was going to go down with him, but Porter just slid right down by himself. I don't know if he was too angry to wait for Lance or if he decided it wasn't too bad. Whatever it was, it was funny. He proceeded to go back up the ladder and probably went down another 10 times, so he ended up loving it.

I have driven by our old house a couple of times. It wasn't that long ago, but it just seems like it was forever ago. Porter only lived in that house the summer after he was born and Will lived in it from age 6 months to 2 and a half years. Our life was so crazy after Porter was born that it seems like Porter was never a baby. Lance lost his job just 2 months after Porter was born and he was so busy that summer travelling around looking for jobs, applying, interviewing, doing any work just to keep some money coming in. Then he moved out to Hawaii when Porter was just 4 months and lived there for 6 weeks before we finally moved out there after selling our house and moving our stuff out. Then life just took off so fast and I just can't remember much about Porter being really little!

I also ordered a new camera today. I am excited. It was on one of the daily deal sites. It is a Kodak easy share camera that has 14 megapixels. I dont' know much about those, but my camera that I use now is an Easy Share with only 7 megapixels. I got it when Will was born and it keeps turning off and on. It has been on its last leg for a year now and I need to take more pictures. It isn't the best camera with the fanciest and best quality of stuff, but oh well. The new one will be more updated than the one I have now. And it was only 44 dollars including shipping, which is cheaper than the one I bought almost 5 years ago! It will be good to have a new camera. I will hopefully post lots more pictures once I get it.
Well, I will try to go get some sleep now.

EdVenture Museum

2012-02-03T21:43:00.000-08:00

My mom, sister, Will, Porter, and I went to a fun museum on Wednesday in Columbia, South Carolina. It was called the EdVenture Museum and it was just one of those cute children's museums that are kind of a kid's dream. A fire truck you could go on while wearing a fireman's coat, boots, and hat; a car to sit in, a little construction site, a little kitchen, little grocery store, little farm, etc. Porter absolutely loved the kitchen. He looked just like a little cook. He would shake the play cans and boxes as if he were trying to get them out into the little pot he was working over. He stayed in there as long as he could. We just talked him out of staying forever so he could see the other displays. He also loved the little grocery store. For a few minutes it was just Will and Porter in there. As we were finishing, tons of kids all of a sudden came in, so I am glad we could be in there just us for a little while. Porter also really loved picking the "peaches" from the "tree". They were little orange balls that would come out of these little holes that were supposed to be branches. Then when you were done you would dump the peaches back up into the pile so they could continue to come down. Oh, it was so cute. The kids also sort of enjoyed climbing through the giant "Ed" boy, but were a bit scared. Porter did not want to go down the slide, but I made him because I knew he would like it. Sometimes I wonder if I should just let him be. But if I know something is not scary and I know he will enjoy it, I really try to make him do it. Will and Porter also enjoyed milking the cow. Their favorite thing was the fire truck, though, so on the way out we did that again.

Anyways, the boys loved the museum. I thought they would be so tired and sleep all the way home, but that sure was silly of me to think. My boys just don't sleep lately. I know the time change is hard. But I read this article earlier this week out of California about toddlers and sleep. It talked about how kids aren't getting enough sleep and they need a good nap every day. If they don't get this nap and don't get enough sleep, it said, they were more likely to suffer from emotional problems later on. I can't remember exactly why, but something about not dealing with emotions well when they are tired and not learning that skill, or something. Don't quote me on any of that. Anyways, after I read that, I got right up and went to make the kids take a nap. I sang every Article of Faith to Porter plus all kinds of other songs and he just sat there not going to sleep. Eventually I gave up and he did not nap. So, my kids will just have to have emotional problems I guess. Anyways, I will definitely keep working on this. I know it's hard when you are out of town and out of your element and time zone.

Talking about things to work on. Porter will be 3 in 2 months. This means I need to start potty trainig him. Please no. Potty training was rough rough rough. I have been avoiding it but he is getting old. He just grew up so fast and man, I can't believe it.

In Georgia, in the Aquarium

2012-02-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

Porter's neck hurt from looking up. The display went up and over our heads.

Right now the kids and I are in Georgia. Lance is a busy man with work, school, and basketball. He is also a sick man. He's been sick for weeks now. I always tell him he needs to sleep and he wouldn't get so sick. But he doesn't listen! And he still is not sleeping. When I say he doesn't sleep, I am not kidding. He studies and works late and then wakes up to leave for work, typically before 6. He is a hard worker. I am hoping when he graduates things will slow down a bit, but we will see!

So anyways, we are in Georgia so Lance can get all the stuff done he needs to do!

We have been here for almost 3 weeks. And we will go to Idaho on Monday night, staying there for 2 weeks. Lance will be meeting us there next week. That was not the in the original plan, but it will be good for Lance. I am hoping he will catch up on lots of sleep. And, watch the kids while I do whatever. Just kidding.

So, for this post I will share some pictures of the aquarium. We went to the big aquarium in Georgia. It opened a few years ago and I had never been. It's about a 2 and a half drive to Atlanta. My mom rented a van and the boys, me, 2 of my sisters, and my dad all went. The first bummer was the portable dvd player was out of battery and for some reason the cigarette lighter thing doesn't work. Fortunately, the van had one of those regular outlets, so we were able to get the kids to watch some tv. I was squished in between them. Bad. We ate at Steak and Shake on the way up. The aqaurium was super cool. But as time went by, the novelty wore off and my feet, and I am sure my kids feet, started hurt. I would like to say my kids were really good, but man, the whole time change thing has been rough on them. I will just blame it on that. But they have sort of been little devils here. But they have definitely had their very cute and angelic moments.

Today

2011-12-09T00:04:00.001-08:00

Well, today was actually one of those 9 kids days. The kind where the kids are so good and so cute and you just feel full of love and gratitude for all you have. The kind where you think...Yeah, I could have 9 kids and I would be such a great mom!!

I remember the first time I thought that. Will was a one year old and I only had him! And now here I am thinking that with just 2! (Except I am not really thinking that seriously) Don't you just love that? I remember when Will was a newborn and I was at church and he was just sleeping being an angel. Then some 3 year was screaming and being bad and I just thought, oh man my kid is so good-much better behaved than that one! I can't remember all of my thoughts at that moment, but I hope I was just kidding in my mind. No comparison between a newborn and 3 year old, so I hope I wasn't truly comparing them! And besides, I am sure Will has outscreamed that kid by now.

Will was so cute today. At dinner he was eating some corn. He said, you know what happens if you eat blue corn? It will be cold! you know what happens if you eat red corn? You will be hot!! You know what happens if you eat green corn? It will be gross!! you know what happens if you eat yellow corn? It will be good!!

The kids and I went to the park for a bit today with Lance and then he had to go study. Then the boys made friends with these adorable sisters. One was 6 and one was 10. They took care of Porter and Will and were so sweet to them and to me. They said they were there every Friday, except today they were here on thursday. I told them we would come the next next Friday since we are going out of town next Friday. They were so cute!

Kids. Who Needs Them.

2011-12-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

That's what my mom would jokingly say when we were growing up. And yes, kids. For a few months we were having a great time and the kids were so sweet and some ladies asked me how many more kids I wanted. I said maybe 4 and they opened their mouths in disbelief.
Well, if they asked me today, I may say a different number!!!
The past couple of weeks I think Porter finally hit terrible twos. Not that he already hasn't. I suppose he hit the terribler twos!!!! I hear lots of screams and he doesn't seem to listen to a darn word I say!! So, I need to reread 1-2-3 magic. And read lots of John Rosemond--that's what my mom tells me. He is a child expert and really has some good advice. A lot of it is good old fashioned advice that our parents probably followed more.

Being a parent today can be a hard balance. I never know if I am being too strict or too indulgent.

But as hard as they can be to keep up with sometimes, they really are very very sweet. And funny. Porter still mimics everything Will says. Will will be saying sometimes, usually slowly, and after every word Porter just repeats Will. And if I ever get mad at Will for something I usually wait just 2 seconds for Porter to do it too so I can just tell them both not to do it.

Will has the most incredible memory ever. He seriously remembers things from months and even year (I can't really say years, so I just mean the past year and a half or so). But maybe lots of kids are like that. We all probably tend to think our kids are the smartest ever.
Well, I do have pictures but my camera is out of battery so I need to charge it up and then I will put some up. I just wanted to do a quick update.

The Weekend

2011-11-19T23:03:00.000-08:00

Well, we still have one more day in the weekend, thank goodness. I need a good long nap tomorrow after church I think. I am beat. But it's weird, because lately i can't ever sleep when it's time to take a nap. Believe me, I am the queen of naps. But the past couple of days I just haven't been able to fall asleep when my kids are sleeping. Today I was so beat that I just turned on the tv to some cartoons and told the kids to watch and I went and lay down but still couldn't sleep. I am definitely going to try to go to sleep when I am done with this post.
Anyways, last night Lance got home and took a little rest, which he never does. He seriously doesn't ever sleep and denies that he needs any. We always have good arguments over sleep. I am a huge believer in sleep. Lance says that the most successful people didn't sleep very much. I tell you, though, if I have the choice between being successful and well rested, I just might choose well rested. Then he got up, we had some lumpy broccoli soup that I made (actually just the kids and I had some--Lance is always leery of vegetable stuff). I am not a natural born cook. The recipe got 5 starts on allrecipes, but if they had my version, it probably wouldn't get that many starts.

We wanted to do something fun since we knew Lance wouldn't really be here today. We couldn't think of anything. It has been raining here a lot lately. So, we decided to go to Lihue and go to Costco. We always think Costco is a good time. We walked through the store, the kids wanted to walk through the toy section and beg for everything they saw and we would just tell them to put it on their Christmas list. Then we went out and got some ice cream. Then went home. That was our exciting night. Today Lance woke up and went to the garden that our ward is working on. They are working on clearing out land so they can actually plant something on it. I think he told me he left before 8, but I when I

Yikes. Just had to take a break. Will has been asleep for an hour when all of a sudden he walked out and looked like he needed to go the bathroom. He does this typically. Just sort of stands there and I keep telling him to go to the bathroom and then he finally walks over to the toilet. Well, tonight I don't know if he was half asleep, but he just wasn't going to the toilet so I walk over to get him to go to the toilet and he just starts going. And I am helpless. I don't want to move him in the middle of it because then it will get even more everywhere than the everywhere it is already going. Then he starts to cry and then I pretty much start to cry because I know that's a big mess in the making for me to clean up. So then I put him in the shower and clean up. So now he is back in bed and all is well.

So back to my story. Actually, I will finish this tomorrow

Okay, actually it is now 2 weeks later. I need to get better with this blogger thing!

Anyways, so hopefully I can even remember what story I was telling! But anyways, I found out he left before 8. i knew Will had woken up so Lance turned on some cartoons. But then I accidentally slept until 9 and walked down the stairs and there was Porter and Will. Hopefully they didn't do anything too crazy. But then last week I fell asleep while they were watching a show during their "naptime" and suffice it to say I am never doing that again. Never.

Hmmm, so I will finish up this post and do another.

Beach Day

2011-11-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

Day one-Polihale cook out. We did some swimming and roasted hot dogs. My brother in law and Lance were brave enough to try some boogie boarding. I am still terrified of boogie boarding even after living here for 2 years.

Today was a full day for us. I brought my camera with plans of taking pictures but then I never took out my camera. I wish I would have because it was a really good day. We left early for our playgroup that was on the other side of the island today. We first walked on a boardwalk that went along the ocean. We figured we walked a total of around 2 miles or so. I had never walked in that area before and it was beautiful! The kids had a really good time until they got tired and then they refused to move. I had to carry Porter the last half of the trip. I was a sweaty mess by the end. Then Will got into a race with some lady in a motorized wheelchair. He kept saying "I'm faster than you" and then running ahead of her. She was a great sport and raced him a bit. It was really cute. But then the cuteness only lasts so long so I rescued the lady and made Will stay with me so she could catch up to her husband.

Then we went to the beach area. First we played on the playground they have there. Its a huge wooden playground with all sorts of cool tunnels and slides and swings, but my kids were ready for the beach immediately and had no interest in the park so I bribed them a bit to play. Then we headed over to the beach where my kids had a blast. Will is terrified of putting his face in the water, but today he did so good. I put my snorkel and mask on him and he was a little fish! He would dip his whole head in the water and look around. He was in a swimming lesson session a few months ago for a few weeks and nothing could convince him to put his face in the water, not even a nice little pair of kid goggles. So I guess I will need to start big with huge snorkel goggles and a snorkel.

Then we ate at a little taco shop with some friends. I put my leftovers in a doggie bag and then the leftovers of my friends. I know that probably sounds so bummy and it probably is, but their stuff looked so good and they weren't taking it with them. Then we got some huge shave ice (That's what they call it here-not shaved ice). I got the combo of peanut butter, dulce de leche, cake batter, and ice cream flavoring. If that sounds disgusting, it actually kind of was. But I just can't resist trying all that. After that we were a sticky mess and Porter accidently dumped a lot of the ice and juices all over him. Then we went to the library in Kapaa, the last library on the island that i have not been too. You could tell, too, because I walked out of their with an obscene amount of books. I have been to the other libraries and already looked at all the books I wanted to, but this one had new books that the other ones didn't have, so I was excited. It was a packed day. Then we got home and I had to run to cub scouts.

So there is the play by play of my day. Since I didn't take any pictures today, I will start my installment of pictures taken when my family was here.

Phew

2011-11-14T22:36:00.001-08:00

Phew. I am beat. Today was a long day. I tried to go to bed semi early last night. Oh yeah. I just remembered that I did my last post in the middle of the night last night. I ended up not really sleeping very well for the rest of the night. Then Porter and Will both woke up again in the early morning hours and climbed into bed with me. I have to be strong tonight!! I just don't sleep well with them in bed with me. I remember when my kids were just little babies I loved nothing more than sleeping with them. But once they get past a certain height and weight, it just doesn't work. They start kicking, moving all around, etc. And they are really picky about which way I am facing. Porter always wants to be facing me and wants my arms to be around him. So, if I turn around and face the other way, he complains and tries to grab my arm to go around him.
Ahh. I still remember the days of when it was just Will and I. He was just little and I had terrible habits like staying up really late looking at blogs and facebook. Those were the days when I had just discovered blogs. I would stay up super late then be super tired the next day. But I could get Will down for a nap and when he would wake up I would lay down with him and just nurse him back to sleep. He would take a good 3 hour nap. Things change when there are 2! But don't worry, I love having 2. I can't imagine life without Porter. I think I have gotten better on some habits, but every once in a while I feel like staying up late and getting the updates on everyone's life...

Anyways. So we woke up and ate breakfast. I did my insanity workout. It is the hardest workout system ever. I got it for my birthday. It is super hard, but it is definitely a workout. Then it was my turn for preschool. We learned about Thanksgiving things. Lance even came and planted some corn in our little dirt patch (we have no yard). He taught the kids about what it needs to grow and all that. They seemed to enjoy it. Then I read, or at least tried to read, a story to the kids about the first Thanksgiving. I am not sure if they got anything out of it besides they all were yelling at each other trying to see the pictures. I had 6 kids squished all around me. But don't worry if you any of you preschool moms are reading this. I really do love it and they are great kids. We all sat inside a square I made from tape trying to imagine being on the Mayflower. Then we had some good snacks, including crackers that got crumbs all over the floor! I really think the 3-4 year old age range is hilarious.
After that my kids watched a show. Lazy Town. Any of your kids watch that? For some reason Will adores it. Lance hates it and won't let the kids watch it when he is around. Will usually a current tv obsession. I miss his obsession of Phineas and Ferb because that show is hilarious, but he never wants to watch it anymore.

Then the kids napped. So I was super excited because I was so tired. But then I lied down and just sat there and couldn't sleep! It made me so mad! So I knew I was going to be super tired today so I woke them up a little early from their naps. Then we went to the park and played around. The fire station is right next to the park and the firemen were all working out. One was moving around a big tractor tire. I didn't realize he was one of the firemen, so I asked him if he farmed or something. But then he told me it was donated to them and then I realized he was a fireman. Will would not stop talking to this fireman. He told the fireman that my name was Melissa. Then I told Will that my name was mom. He said, "But daddy calls you Melissa."

I had the kids do lots of races. I like to wear them out! But then Porter would collapse on the ground and cry when Will was beating him in the race. And Will would collapse on the ground and cry when I was beating him in the race! I kept trying to tell them not to cry just because they don't win! I am working on that with them. They always want to "beat" each other.

Anyways, I made some soup tonight. I don't think I have actually cooked a decent meal in forever. Though some may argue this meal was decent. I thought it was pretty good though, but the soup took way longer to make than I had planned. And then I put the kids to bed and now I am EXHAUSTED!!!! Lance is still at work studying and there are so many things I want to do but I may just go to bed! I am a big believer in sleep. Some people seem to get by fine without much of it, but I become a mess without sleep. The world is a much better place in my eyes if I have rested!

I am including a few pictures of the latest happenings, even if they were a couple of months ago. One of them is of Porter sleeping on the hard uncomfortable ground. I can't remember if he had refused to nap that day and collapsed on the floor or if he had woken up from a nap still tired. The other pictures are of our little preschool group going on a field trip to a place here on Kauai where they take you on a train ride all around their farms and then you get to feed the pigs.

Updates

2011-11-14T04:17:00.000-08:00

AtLance's work. The kids are in heaven. Will says he wants to be a sprayer when we grows up. It was so cute. On Friday night on the way to the beach Will told Lance he wants to be just like him.

Well, my computer is still broken but for now I am using an old laptop that has new life again. So, it's been a couple of months so i will do some updates.

Me-I got my first speeding ticket! I am so so so so so so so mad. Speeding tickets and library fines are the worst. They are things that should never happen. yes i was speeding, but the police here make me so mad. I guess I will not own up to my mistake. I was going 49 in a 35 zone where it's about to turn 50. The cops seriously sit there pointing their radar guns just trying to get someone. I usually am such a slow driver and Lance and my sister call me grandma. But that day i was just not paying attention. So, I am out $127. Bummer.
I had a birthday. And I can't remember much about it! It was in September and now I am 28! I can't believe how fast time goes. I still feel 18. Or maybe even 15.
Lance-Is busy as usual going to school and working. Basketball season is starting up again soon. So, we will be leaving in January to spend time with family to prevent fights and frustrations about an absent husband! Seriously, though, he has been working extra hard to spend time with us when possible. On Friday we went and roasted hot dogs on the beach and stayed until late. Then the next day we went on a hike with the boys. Our friends have a boy that is about 7 months younger than Will and they went on a hike with their boy that was 6 miles and he walked the whole way. Ever since Lance heard that, he is determined that we need to get Will hiking. We did a 2 miler. Will enjoyed the very beginning and the very end, but in between was iffy. Porter kept getting scared on the trail. I really did quite enjoy myself, though. It was fun.
Porter-Just a cutie that keeps getting bigger. he still has some baby fat which I am really loving. he still has some squishiness that makes it so fun to hold and cuddle him, but I am afraid he will lose it soon. He woke up in the middle of the night last week screaming "Will ate my cheese!" He just kept screaming that and was visibly upset. I was trying to make sense of all this and was thinking it had to have been a dream. I asked him, well, Porter, how did he eat your cheese? He then cried as he said "With his mouth". Seriously, food it important around here. We all love food so much and are very protective of it and apparently even dream of it. Sometimes I feel so bad about it. my mother in law is always so good about saving a piece of something for her husband and won't let anyone touch it. I always thought that was so nice. Most of the time I really want to save whatever it is for Lance, but I always eat it in the end. It's not that I don't care about him, we just really love our food around here. Lance said Porter was the last one to finish snacks in nursery today. He just kept eating and eating and eating all the animal crackers. oh yeah, Lance is now a nursery helper for the second hour with another guy. I think the nursery will be a pretty funny place now. 2 guys help out the first hour and Lance and another guy help out the 2nd hour.

Will-Will is really so cute and so caring. He does have his moments, though. oh yes he has his moments. But it's actually the middle of the night and I am awake, and I have a story from about an hour ago. Porter woke up and wanted to sleep on the couch. I am enabling a bad habit to avoid a huge tantrum in the night while at the same time probably creating a monster. Anyways, so we lay on the couch and Porter wanted the tv on. Again, creating a monster, I turned on CNN. Will came in awhile later and I can't remember everything he said, but he so sweetly just said he would go sleep with daddy. Then he just very sweetly as he went up the stairs said "Night night. have a good sleep mommy" I really keep meaning to break this terrible night habit of kids waking up and sleeping in different beds and I get really tired in the day from it. I think I am making some improvements in the day, but not at night. I have been reading 123 magic, a very good book about discipline and all that. One thing I have been trying very hard to do is not show emotion when I am mad. I just try to enforce the consequences. But that's hard! Parenting is tough work, I tell you. Most of the time it can be pretty hard and dull at times, but at the same time nothing has ever brought me more happiness.

Anyways, we were so lucky to have my mom, dad, sister and brother in law come visit us last week. I just love love love to have family in town, so i need to post pictures about it and tell our stories. Probably not tonight though.

Well, actually that's probably enough for tonight.

Hey please don't stop reading my blog. Our internet and computer is not working right now so I will do lots of updates when they get fixed.

2011-08-29T00:52:00.001-07:00

4th of July (technically the first of July)

2011-07-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

So, on the first of July we went to the fireworks at the same place as last year. It's the Pacific Missile Range Facility. It is open to the public for the fireworks. If you want to go during the year, you have to get a background check and a pass. We haven't done it yet, but we should. There is a restaurant that we heard is good there and the beach is pretty cool.

We walked in and I kept trying to take pictures so you could see what we were walking into. Lance kept getting really mad and made grumpy faces all the way in. I wish I would have taken a picture of the area with all the food and booths. Not that it was super cool, just so I could show you. Anyways we didn't eat any food there because it is so expensive. We ate at Subway before. I ate a sub without the cheese and didn't get any cookies. I stayed within my calories like I did for a week and never lost any weight. I am actually quite bitter about the weight battle right now. Have any of you ever lost weight? If so, please tell me what you did. Thank you.

We hung around for awhile and were so proud of ourselves because we didn't spend any money. While we waited for the fireworks to start, kids were playing in the sand. There were some cute little girls that kept trying to build sand castles. Every time they would start to build one, Porter would come along and step on it and ruin it. Then they would move to another spot. Repeat. I felt bad that it was so funny to me. Porter in some situations still seems so innocent to me. It was so funny to watch the girls get so frustrated with Porter.

Then the fireworks started. I could feel Porter absolutely shaking. He was terrified. He turned around, buried his face in my neck, and did not move. I would try to get him to turn around and look, but he was glued to me. I couldn't have gotten him off of me if I had tried. It actually broke my heart that he was so scared. But I have to admit I just loved hugging him and keeping him safe during the fireworks.

Afterwards it took forever to get out of the parking lot. It was just a big field of cars and chaos of cars trying to get out. We finally got home late and went to bed.

Photo Diary

2011-07-18T16:25:00.001-07:00

On the way to Polihale. These are pictures of the corn fields that are so big for all the ag companies out here. Maybe this one is from Syngenta, who Lance works for.

So, this is from camping about 3 weeks ago I believe. I am just posting photos and explanations if needed! We were at Polihale, the beach we love and the beach we camp at the most. On this trip I was watching the boys at the Queens Pond area. Porter was walking all around the water and loving it. He is usually scared of the water, so I

was glad he was acting so brave. Then he fell though and wasn't able to get up. I tore into the water and picked him up, but my camera got all wet and wouldnt' work for awhile! But it was scary. It just shows that even though the water is not too deep for them (I think it was only a little past his knees), they get disoriented and can't get up themselves in water.

Kauai Adventures

2011-06-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I need to keep updating the Idaho trip and I will. But I also need to update what we have been doing.

If you asked me what I really liked to do, if I had time just to myself, I am the most boring, unproductive person in the world. I would say, well, I would probably read all the decorating, political, and money management books I could, then I would surf the internet and comment on liberal blogs only to have people scream back at me, and then I would watch some political shows. And then I would organize my stuff. Oh, and then take a very long nap. So, I am trying to balance myself a little more than just surfing the internet and watching tv. I keep telling Will that the more tv he watches, the less interesting he becomes. That goes for me, too, so I am on a new kick where I try to do more around here. Around the island. I hope the kick lasts for awhile because most of my kicks last a couple of days.

Anyways, when we first got back home from Idaho my neck had a horrible crick in it. The crick lasted 2 weeks and I just didn't feel like doing anything. All I wanted to do was sleep and sit around. Anyways, once I felt better, I decided I needed to do more. Lance is so busy with work and school so sometimes we don't get to do much. So, I planned some stuff for us to do with Lance when he was here and just the kids and I when he wasn't around. So, I got out my trusty blue Kauai tourist book and tried to find some good stuff to do. Last Friday we didn't have a whole lot of time until dark so I tried to find something simple. Lance kept trying to sleep. He doesn't usually nap but he was so tired that day but I kept bugging him to get up so we could go. So, we first headed over to Menehune Fish Pond. I think the legend is the Menehune, some legendary people that I am not sure if they really existed, built some fish pond wall overnight a long time ago. We sort of looked around. And then I tried to do some falling pictures because I love falling pictures. Lance thinks they are kind of dumb, but I have always loved them. I don't know if I really look like I am falling, though. If I did what I really wanted to do, I probably would have really fallen and then it really wouldn't be funny.

Then we went to Kauai Lagoons, a nice golf course by the airport. We went all the way to some government lighthouse. No one was there so we couldn't go up in it. But we sat there for awhile and watched some planes come in. Even though I am scared of flying, I sort of have some sort of morbid obsession with airplanes. I just love watching them. So does my boys. We had a good time. Then I wanted to start trying different restaurants around the island. So we went to some barbeque place that Lance wanted to go to that I didn't want to go to. We had been before and it was pretty good, but I still didn't want to go there. It just got to be our only option, though. I got a seafood plate. It was all fried food, which I do love fried food, but it actually wasn't the greatest. Oh, well.

Part 3 Trip to McCall

2011-06-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

*Note: So, I am finally finishing this post from so long ago. I wanted to put in every single picture that I took of this place and area, but it just takes so long. If you want to see more, let me know. It really would make my day.

So, first of all, we had a great first week. I went for a bike ride, trying to train for our upcoming triathlon that would be in Rigby. Then the next weekend, we tried to get Lance out, which never works flying standby. We ended up buying him a ticket from Honolulu to LAX. I stayed up all night long trying to get him over and nothing was working, so that's how we ended up buying a ticket. At first I bought a priceline ticket, but I misunderstood the priceline thing. It said that the person would get there no later than 2 am the next day or something like that. I thought that would work for us since we had a family thing the next day later in the day. However, I guess I went to a part that would not guarantee that if I got a certain price. So, Lance wouldn't get there until much later the next day and would miss all the family events. I called priceline and begged for my money back. Priceline does NOT give money back. I was calm and nice and the lady wouldn't budge and I didn't really expect her too. However, I was persistent and somehow got my money back. But then I felt really guilty because Priceline does not give money back. So, I felt guilty all the next day about that. Then my kids woke up really early in the morning and were crawling all over me as I was trying to get everything worked out. And it all ended up working out. Lance got here, the whole family was there. So, we all went to the temple. Then we had a bbq for Clarke and then we had his Eagle Court of Honor. It was fun to be with everyone. I missed most of the Eagle Court of Honor because of noisy kids obsessed with the balloons around. I had to take them out so others could actually hear what was going on.

Then after the weekend Lance, the kids and I headed over to McCall to meet up with our friends Ben and Lisa and their two kids. We headed out after Lance got all mad at me for taking so long to say goodbye to everyone and being the last to leave (The other siblings had to go back to Provo where they live). So we talked about my problem about how I like to always be the last to leave any event. I just don't want to miss anything! I went to a little party once and had to leave early because I had a babysitter and had told them what time I would be home and babysitters are expensive anyways! It totally pained me to be the first to leave.

Anyways, the weather started going downhill fast. It became quite cool and rainy. But the cabin was great! We spent most of our time there. It was awesome. I like just hanging around and talking anyways. The first day the guys got out of children tending by golfing. That's okay, though, because we left when they got back and went shopping for a bit. I think the kids got a long pretty well. It was funny because Zeke, the oldest, had this little Lightning McQueen rolling backpack that Will just loved and adopted as his. Will rolled that thing wherever he went. It got to the point that Porter thought it was Will's, so whenever Zeke would take what was rightfully his, Porter would yell that it was Will's. But that little backpack was so cute and I loved watching the kids roll it around.

The next day we drove around McCall and stopped at a park to play, but Will would have none of it. He was so cold. However, Porter wanted very badly to play. It was drizzling and freezing, so we spent just a few minutes there. Afterwards we went to eat at the Pancake House. It was yummy! I ordered a giant cinnamon roll and giant it was. It was the biggest one I'd ever seen. It covered an entire plate. Lance ordered a bunch of stuff and it was comical because it was a ton of food.

I took a nap both days we were there. One night nothing was on tv, so we watched the Bachelorette. Funny story about this week's episode coming up in a future post having to do with Lance. Dont' miss it. Anyways, so we all enjoyed watching that. The next night the guys decided to go into town 20 minutes away to rent a movie but it was already 10 pm. They got The Tourist. I think I was the only one still awake at the end, but I had an unfair advantage, as I had had a nap. One day I will try to give up naps but I seriously can't make it through most days without one.

We had a great time and I know I am missing some stories. I can't remember much. I need to write things down sooner. The last night Lance and I went into the hot tub for a couple of minutes because I hadn't been in yet. But then I discovered why. I am not a hot tub fan. They make me sweat

and I just don't love them.

We took turns with Ben and Lisa staying in the Master Suite since it was so cool! It was very reasonably priced, too. We packed up the next morning and headed back to Twin.

Part 2

2011-06-14T23:30:00.001-07:00

Well, that day I belive we went on a picnic at Shoshonne Falls. It's a very cool part of Twin Falls. They were raging then too! It was the perfect time of year to go.

Take off--Idaho Trip Part 1

2011-06-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

(This is the kids playing at the airport)

Well, I feel so overwhelmed because I have a lot I want to catch up on. Usually I would wait until the kids were napping or until they were in bed and then I planned on blogging. However, when they were down for a nap, I wanted a nap too. When they were in bed, I wanted to just veg and watch tv and go to bed, too.

So, right now I am just doing this as my kids wreak havoc all around me. Hopefully they won't inflict any lasting damage around here.

Anyways, so we left for Idaho almost 5 weeks ago. Once again, I was flying by myself with the kids. This time I was all packed and ready in advance. We got to the airport on time and everything. The kids were good and tired and had not napped that day, but they weren't overly grumpy like the last time we flew out and were threatened by an airport worker to not board the plane. They seriously were being really really good except all of a sudden I can't remember what happened but Porter was crying in the waiting area. Just for a minute about something. That SAME airport lady asked me, Are you guys going to be okay on the flight? We can deny boarding if they get out of control. I said yes they are great. From that you may think my kids were total monsters. Well, sometimes they are. But I promise they really weren't that bad. I think that lady just threatens anyone who's kids aren't sitting down with their arms folded acting as docile as possible.

The flight was great. The good thing about flying to Idaho is that the flight is overnight going that way. So, the kids were up for maybe an hour and then slept the rest of the way. They were awake for half of the lax to slc flight. Then we had a slight layover in salt lake. The kids played at the playing area for a bit and I talked to a pilot there with his kids. He was a pilot for one of the delta connection airlines. I always love talking to pilots because I ask them about all the stuff I am scared of on flying. Then we boarded our twin falls flight. It was great. Porter didn't want to sit by himself though, but the flight attendant said he had to for takeoff. Then it got bumpy coming into Twin Falls and Porter was sort of scared. I am always scared, but I was able to calm him down. It was also funny because as we were pulling away from the gate in Lihue, Will all of a sudden said he was scared and wanted to go back to the airport. He kept telling me to tell the flight attendants to go back to the gate. Will is not usually scared, but I think he hears me and all my talk of flying and fear and it's probably getting to him. So, I will not talk about airplanes and fear and crashes anymore. At least not around him. He will sometimes crash his play airplanes and say all the people died. I find it very morbid.

So anyways, we landed in Twin Falls. My brother in law Rees picked us up. The kids were very excited to get to Idaho. The weather was great. That did not last long, however, on this trip.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T21:37:00.000-07:00

Today has been a great mother's day. Yesterday it was raining all day and Lance agreed with me that we should go to macys. It was funny because he kept following me around as I was looking at things. I couldn't find anything I wanted at a price that I wanted. Finally Lance was like, Will you just like something? I haven't gotten a Mother's day present for you yet and you are making it very hard. I told him I didn't want anything since I couldn't find anything that I liked that wasn't super expensive.

This morning Lance made some delicious pancakes for breakfast. Then we went to church. I quickly turned grumpy because it seemed like my kids were the craziest in the congregation. Lance was nice and had the kids right next to him for most of the meeting. He reminded me that we are one of the only ones with 2 little boys that are still young like that and close in age so it's inevitable that they will be a little crazy. So he helped me lighten up a bit. But sometimes you feel like such a fool fighting with your kids in the meeting desperately trying to find something to keep them happy.

Then I got a nap today and Lance made loco mocos for dinner and he is showering the kids and cleaning the kitchen. I am also going to make him rub my back today. I just love massages but they are so expensive so I will make Lance give me a massage.

A funny thing Will said today--I turned on the tv and Lethal Weapon 4 was just starting on the channel we were on. Will said oooh I love this movie ( He really has no idea what movie that is). I said, no we are not watching it. It's a bad movie. Then Will said "But I love bad movies".

Today at church Will's sunbeam teacher told Lance she usually has a quote every Sunday from Will to tell her family at dinner. I guess a few weeks ago they were all playing with playdough making food out of it. Will stopped making it and just sort of sat there. They asked Will why he wasn't making more food. Will said, Well, my kitchen is closed.

Some friends of mine invited me to a bible study at their church so I went and dropped the kids off at a little nursery there. Anyways, I dropped Will off and hung around because there was a slide in the room that was sort of scary to me and I could just see one of my kids falling off and breaking something. Anyways, Will was really excited about everything and couldn't get me out fast enough. Will kept saying, don't you need to be somewhere? Bye mom. Bye mom!! It was so funny. If only he knew how he was the very first time I dropped him off at nursery at church. And not just the first time, but probably the first 52 times.

Well, that's it for now.

Shopping With the Family

2011-05-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

Is usually not very fun. Take today. It has been raining for almost a week here on Kauai. I feel bad for all the tourists that are here this week because it has been awful. Rain rain rain and holy cow the wind!! Anyways, so today was a Saturday, but it was just raining most of the day so we couldn't do anything outside! That's more for the boys. I am quite content to stay inside but I have become convinced that my boys need hours of running a day. I think they just have so much energy built up in them that they need something really really really really active to do. So, when there was a little window of dryness, Lance and I put the kids in the jogger and ran down to a bay and back. So, we got the exercise instead of the kids. Anyways, Porter took a nap and so did I and Lance watched a looney toons show with Will. Then we got up and went to the mall here. It's an outdoor mall, so it wasn't the best day, but there was the overhangs to walk under. However, in Macys, I decided that my kids are just not well behaved. I actually decided that a long time ago. But they couldn't help themselves with anything. They just kept running all over the place. So, we had to hold them a lot and hold their hands. Then Will kept taking his shoes off. Then we were walking by the swimsuit section and there was a manequin with a bikini on. Will grabbed onto the binkini bottom and pulled at it and tried to look in. I was very embarassed because then our kid looked like a sicko.
Afterwards, everyone was hungry, but we told our kids since they hadn't listened to us at all they were not getting happy meals or ice cream. Just a plain hamburger and french fries. They had pretty much yelled all the way to the mall too. I really have tried hard to raise good kids, but I know I have probably been a huge pushover, too. We will keep working on this.

A Jot about Will

2011-05-05T23:33:00.000-07:00

(This picture is 6 months old. He is dressed up as a pilot for our ward halloween activity)

I am trying to do better on blogging so I can remember all the little things my kids did growing up. We had a great Relief Society activity on journaling and I need to do so much better.

It was last month I believe when Will fell in the toilet. When I told Lance he cracked up and said he knew it was going to happen at some point in time because of the way Will gets on the toilet. He sort of climbs up on one side and then brings the other leg to the other side. I don't know if that made any sense. Anyways, his one leg didn't quite make it to the other side so he sort of just stepped in the toilet. Of course this made him very upset. I have created quite the germophobe don't like to get dirty quality in my son. I am trying to undo that a little so he doesn't have a cow anytime he gets a little dirty. He's a boy and I guess they are supposed to get dirty. But I probably made him a little OCD. When they come in I check their feet and wipe them off with baby wipes if they are dirty.

Another little story about Will happened today. They give flouride supplements to the kids here. My kids love their little pills. After we brush their teeth, I give them their flouride and they just carry it around as much as they can. Will first always looks closely at it and asks me about the letters on it. Then he carries it around so carefully. Lately I have been trying to make him take it right away, though, because he stuck his pill up his nose last month. I just shudder when I think about it. He was crying, so I just thought we were going to have to go to the hospital. I got ready and Lance said no we did not need to go to the doctor. He got a pair of tweezers and made me hold Will's nose open and got the pill. Yuck. So anyways, tonight he was really carrying that pill around but I was watching him. We were having scripture time and I told Porter to go sit by Will. Then Will put the little pill on the other side of him and told me the flouride was sitting right next to him. A stupid little thing, I know, but it made me laugh.

Then I have my little spelling bee trophy out from fifth grade on my computer desk. I have had it in storage for years now and I thought, why just store it? Might as well show off my awesome accomplishment! Anyways, it's just a trophy of this bee sort dressed like a person. Will was asking me about it. I can't remember everything he was asking; I probably wasn't really listening. The bee is wearing a graduation hat. Will asked me if I wore a hat. I said yeah. Then he asked me if I had wings then. Then I tried to explain to him it was just a bee dressed up like a person.

Oh, my little boy. He will be 4 this month and I just can't believe it. I remember the minute he was born. He came early and had to stay in the hospital a few days shy of 3 weeks. I worried every second about him the first 2 years of his life. I hovered over that poor little kid. But he makes me so happy. There are days he can be SO SO SO challenging, but children are definitely worth it. It's fun to see him growing up and learning all sorts of new things and make new connections. I miss the days of him being just a little teeny baby, but I am glad I had them and that I have many new adventures coming our way.

Lance's Triathlon

2011-05-02T00:24:00.001-07:00

Lance just completed his 3rd triathlon! His other two were in Rigby, Idaho and his fourth will be there, too next month! I will do my first sprint triathlon there next month, too.

This triathlon was the Kauai Loves You triathlon. It was a much harder course than the one he has done in Rigby, yet he still completed it in the same amount of time. This one had much more hills and it was swimming in an ocean. It started and ended at Kalapaki Beach in Lihue. He had to be there at 6 a.m. The kids and I got there around 8:50 in the morning. His triathlon started at 7.

The kids and I played around the beach a bit. Will needed to go to the bathroom. He always wants to go outside no matter where he is, so that is a little frustrating. I hate to admit this, but I just told him to go in the ocean. But don't worry, I have talked to a lot of people and they all say they do this. I have never gone in the ocean, though. I just feel so wierd doing that. Anyways, Will doesn't want to go into the ocean. He just keeps trying to pull his swimsuit down right there on the beach. I quickly pick him up to bring him in the ocean, but he just starts going. I put him down right away, but not before getting some on my leg. Ahhh. Boys. They are gross.

Then a lady comes around and asks to take a picture of us for the Kauai Midweek paper. I hope we get in there. I am still a little kid in that way; I think it's totally awesome to be in the paper or on the local news. If we get in there, I will post a picture.

There are lots of bananas and oranges at the triathlon and my kids eat a lot of them.

Lance finally comes in sweaty sweaty sweaty. We are proud of him. We go home and he is horribly sore and can barely move.

Anyways. It was a good day. But then we all went home and really wanted a nap. However, when I say we, I just mean Lance and I. We put the kids in the their rooms and went up for a nap. I was just about asleep when Will came up. I have the lock on the outside of the door, but somehow it doesn't work anymore so Will can just get out as he pleases. I tell him to go back downstairs. Porter is playing in his room. Well, playing his style, which is destroying anything in his path. I hear Will go into Porter's room and invite him to his room. I can't remember what happened, but I think I heard something so I went downstairs. I found yet another library book that Porter has ripped up. I am not kidding when I say that is the 5th or 6th book that Porter has ripped. Except he really demolished this book. I have tried very hard to keep all the library books away from him. He only gets the board books. Will's library books were in the closet in a bag, but somehow Porter got them and ripped one up really good. I get super frustrated with that. I once tried to tape up a book that he ripped. He only ripped one page. So, anyways, I bring it to the library and the librarian comes up to me and asks me to tell her what happened with the book. I told her my son ripped it. She said, not very nicely, that there will be a fee and not to tape up the books. They have a special tape they tape with and now she will have to try to undo my tape and fix it. Every time I went by her desk I could hear her sighing and mumbling. So I don't think I want to go to that library anymore. I am nervous; the book that Porter just ripped apart belonged to that library. When we turned it in the other day, we turned it into another library and they said they would have to send it over to that library and they would bill us.

So yes, that's Porter's deal right now. Destroy whatever he can. If there is a bucket or box of something, he will dump it out. If I have folded a nice pile of laundry, he will knock it down and throw the clothes all around. I keep trying to teach him. I keep sending him to time out but he seems to enjoy it most of the time. So today after he did that I sent him into his room until I was done folding laundry. So at this age, do I just do that or do I punish him? I don't know what to do. I tell you what, being a parent is very hard sometimes. I want to raise good kids but never know if I am being too strict or too indulgent.

Today in primary Will was not behaving. I get so stressed because I play the piano in primary and constantly am watching him. Then I see him misbehaving, then I worry the teachers are thinking boy this kid is bad. It is a stress!!!!!

Kirby guy

2011-04-29T01:20:00.000-07:00

I hate sales presentations. I am terrible at saying no and sometimes get into awkward situations. I remember once we went to some dinner that said do not bring your checkbooks we don't want you to buy anything, all that. However, after the dinner we had to make an appointment. So some guy comes to our house a few days later trying to sell us fire alarms for our house that cost over $3000. It was one of the most awkward times ever, but we were able to just say no. The guy made it as uncomfortable as he could.

So that brings me to today. Some girl comes to my door (waking me up from a most pleasant nap) and knocks and knocks. By the time I heard it she had already walked off. She was walking down our ramp when I finally opened the door. She says we can get our carpets cleaned for free. Or just one room. And made some cheesy jokes. Anyways, I tell her we really can't buy anything. She says she doesn't care. She gets $25 every time they get into someone's house to clean it and she doesn't care if we don't buy it. So I am like, okay. She says she'll be back in 30 minutes. It's more like 2 hours, but it's a guy that comes to the door. I was running errands, so lance let him in. I got home and he was pulling out the kirby vacuum. He was quite the slick salesman. Lance had to go to play church basketball. The guy keeps asking us if the kirby were affordable would we buy it. We say yes if it's affordable. Anyways, Lance leaves and says that I can decide whether or not to buy it; it's up to me. So Lance is gone and the guy goes through the whole sales pitch and never even cleaned my couch. The girl had told me they would clean my couch and stairs. But he only cleaned 3 stairs. Anyways, we sit down and go through prices. He starts out at $2000. I think the kirby is sorta cool but for $2000 I don't think so. I keep acting pretty reluctant. He talks about how they are trying to earn a trip to New Orleans and if I buy that helps him get there. I say can I talk to my husband first. He is like "Your husband said it was up to you and I believe him when he says that." I said, yeah, he said that, but I think he still would want me to talk to him. Anyways, I will spare all the details. Then later into it he tries the whole thing where he talks quietly because he "doesn't want the neighbors to hear" the low price of $1300 he will give it to me for. I say let me call you tomorrow. He says that he can only get the points for his vacation for the very first time he comes to my house. I tell him that's dumb; if I buy it from him tomorrow he still sold it to me and should get the points. Anyways, I tell him no. Believe me, for me, this is hard. But I can't spend $1300 just because I don't want to say no!!! I tell him I will call him tomorrow. Then he asks if I think they would want to come all the way out here to deliver the vacuum to me for that price because they won't make any money off of it and he won't get his vacation points. I say yes because it's good business; you have to be nice to the consumer. He said it's not good business because they don't make money. I don't believe most of what salespeople say. I have heard all the same gimmicks and they make me mad!! He wasn't the nicest after all this and it was sure not fun to be in the house with him for the 20 minutes after so he could gather up the vacuum.
I DON'T LIKE SALESMAN. Anyways. Does anyone have a kirby? Are they actually worth all of that money? Maybe when we start making the big bucks (because farmers make big bucks) we can buy a kirby.

Don it and I am (unfortunately) not a princess

2011-04-29T01:11:00.000-07:00

Porter I guess heard me say darn it awhile ago and now he says it all the time. He says it whenever he drops something or messes up on something. It's actually really cute to hear him say it because he says "Oh don it" in his little 2 year old voice. Yesterday Lance told me they were in the truck and Porter was playing with a ball. Lance heard the ball drop and then Porter said "Oh don it. Ball on ground".

So, I am not a princess. I was on the computer this morning and reading all about Kate Middleton and how beautiful wonderful perfect blah blah blah she is. How she is so mature and blah blah blah. How she is all the most wonderful things in the world and blah blah blah. Okay, so yes, you probably do detect some jealousy in there. Seriously though. I read some article about how Princess Diana was just a young bride with not much confidence, had kids early, didn't know what she wanted out of life, blah. But then here comes Kate Middleton, 28, a confident woman who has had a career, time to blossom or whatever, and blah blah blah. I was quite the young bride who also had kids young, so I never like reading that stuff. Those articles always make the younger girls seem so foolish. Anyways. So this morning I was like I need to get ready and look really nice today. So I took a shower and blew dry my hair and tried to do my makeup nice. I put on a nice shirt, but I did put on my sweat pant capris. It's more comfortable during the day. I was watching another little boy, too. However, by midday I was pretty sweaty and my hair didn't look good anymore. So oh well. Lance got home later and I went out to run a couple of errands. As I was running around I looked down and realized I was still wearing my sweat pant capris with a bleach stain on them. I felt very un princess like. Then after I got home I look down and saw a tag sticking out of my shirt. Somehow I was wearing my shirt wrong side out. Sigh.
I can't wait for the royal wedding to be done with so I can quit feeling jealous of Kate Middleton.

On the Farm

2011-04-17T03:01:00.000-07:00

We visited Lance last week at work. I had to go to do a health assessment. It was some incentive at his work. I get a health assessment, I get $50. Anyone who knows me knows I never pass up money. My health was good. I was not thrilled with my weight but who ever is? My cholesterol was very very low. However my triglycerides were very very high. I don't exactly know what that means. Anyways, afterwards we went to the sprayers, any little boy's dream. Will went up into it with Lance and loved it. They started it and made Porter bawl. So then Porter didn't want a turn in it.

Scary thing today--I was talking on my cell phone on speakerphone as I was driving. I shouldn't even do that, though. It's illegal here to talk on your cell phone while driving. Anyways, I had it on speakerphone and was talking away. I was on my way home from a yard sale and Lance was on a bike ride. Lance got home a little bit after I did and informed me that I almost killed him on my way home. He said that he was on the side of the road when a car came right up close to him. He looked and kind of threw his arms up in the air and then he noticed it was me. He said he thought I was joking around but then he noticed I wasn't even looking his way. I seriously never remember seeing a biker on the road at all. I must have been engrossed talking. Anyways, although it was sort of funny, it would not have been a bit funny if I actually did hit him!! We talked about how people would probably not believe it was an accident and think I did it on purpose. Seriously, what are the chances of just randomly hitting your husband while he is biking? I felt really bad after that because I seriously did not once ever notice a biker. I am going to be so careful on the road from now on!!

Boys are Made of Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

2011-04-15T00:33:00.000-07:00

Once we were in the car and my boys were probably spitting or doing something equally gross. I can't remember, but I started telling them (lovingly, I promise) that boys were very disgusting and I told them about the song that boys were made of snails and puppy dog tails. I told him that girls were made of sugar, spice, and everything nice. Will thought this was hilarious. He kept laughing and saying "Boys aren't constusting (he didn't quite get the pronunciation), Mommy!" And later he told me that girls were made of windows and lamps. Anyways. A few days later he leaned over and smelled me and said "Wow, you really are made of sugar and spice!" It was pretty funny. Then we were in the car and talking about how Will was getting so big and I told him I was so sad that he was getting so big so fast. Will said "Sorry mom, that's what happens when big boys grow. Stop whining." Then later he said "I'm sorry I am growing". It was cute. At bedtime Will really tries to sweet talk his way out of everything and it drives me crazy. He will constantly hug me and say how much he loves me and how I am the best mommy in the world. I usually have an annoyed look on my face so he will say, "Smile at me mommy." Ugh. Smart kid. Because what am I supposed to do or say to that? I always say I love you too or I smile, but I try to be businesslike so he will get to bed!! We got a health screening yesterday for Lance's work. I got a giftcard for doing it, so I was happy to do it. My health was good except I had extremely high triglycerides. Anyone know what that means??

If Lance Wants to do more school...

2011-04-15T00:32:00.001-07:00

I decided today that if Lance wants a Phd after finishing his masters, I will very abruptly tell him no.

Porter BDay

2011-04-13T23:50:00.000-07:00

So I get super lazy with blogging. I know it doesn't take too much work to do it, but sometimes it feels like it does! But once I get going I really like it! I am forcing myself to do one update tonight.

I think I will go cry now. Porter is 2 and it breaks my heart. I can't believe how fast time goes! Every day just zips by and everything is a blur! Since Porter is easy to please with toys, we spent a grand total of $4.50 on his birthday present. Not his birthday dinner, though. I certainly wish. We got him a big plastic bat and a wiffle type ball and he was happy as a clam. He just loves balls. We have tons of balls. Little, big, bouncy, hard, soft, all. I am learning so much about boys because that is what I am exposed to every day. I was exposed to girls growing up, so this is different for me. When I first started having kids, I only wanted girls. Boys were icky and gross. Well, I still think boys are icky and gross but now I can't imagine having a girl. I just love little boys. However, if I do have a girl one day, we can definitely adjust! Will wants a sister for the next kid, which will be awhile.

Anyways, I forgot to go to Porter's 2 year old check up on the doctor that day. I remember scheduling it and the receptionist said I probably didn't want to have it on his birthday but I assured her that we are simple with birthdays and it would be fine. Well, I forgot. I still haven't called the doctor (the appointment/birthday was the 11th). I probably will tomorrow, but I am always scared to call about those things. I always worry they will be annoyed at my irresponsibility!

I made rolls and cupcakes for Porter's birthday. We had turkey ham and cheese with the rolls and grapes on the side. We went down to Salt Ponds, the beach near our house. Porter still is too young to get it. On Sunday in nursery they held hands around him and sang happy birthday but he just wanted to hold hands with everybody and not be in the middle. We sang happy birthday to him at his little dinner party, but he just sort of sat there. Maybe he would have somewhat understood if I had remembered the matches to light the candle. Oh, well.

Ahh, Porter. He is a doll. Unfortunately he is making his mark as a two year old and threw his sippy cup at Will today at dinner. He also did a couple other things I can't remember that earned him a time out. Ask him how old he is and he will always say 3. Ask him his name and he usually says either "Name" or "Will." He bangs his head somewhere usually at least once a day. He is picky with his clothing (It's hilarious to me--Will never cared and still never cares what he wears. He just wears whatever I put on him, but Porter usually protests if I put him in something he doesn't want). He really is quite the talker compared to Will at this age. He says complete sentences on some things. When he doesn't want something, he says it so cute. He will say "bib" as he vigorously shakes his head no. He will say "fall" and shake his head no when he is up on the counter brushing his teeth (I am there the whole time, I promise). He loves to look at books. He doesn't usually have the patience for me to read them, though. He climbs out of his crib a lot! He is a follower--he copies everything Will does and adores Will. He has a giant cheesy smile that I love. I remember the day I brought him home from the hospital. Will was a month and a half shy of 2, and I remember crying in the hospital room because I couldn't believe it had been that long since I brought Will home. And now Porter is that age!! Children, though they are a LOT of work and can test your patience to the upmost of your ability, truly truly bring the greatest joy in the world. I sometimes just feel the most bursting warm feeling in me at times for my children. Hopefully that didn't sound too cheesy. They really are worth it.

Next month we will celebrate Will's 4th. I will probably cry again then, too.

What I'm Doing and What I Should Be Doing

2011-03-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well, right now I am sitting here writing on my blog. Porter refused to take a nap. I put him down and left and darn it I heard him knocking on the door. Porter has learned how to climb out of the crib. I'm mad. Will didn't start doing that until he was 2 and a half. Will learned how to fall out of the crib at about this age, but not climb. I still remember sitting there in the next room and hearing the most awful crash and being so worried that he had really hurt himself, but he must have been okay. So anyways, I put both kids in front of Ice Age so I could just kind of sit and now Porter is doing this:

Well, what I should be doing is calling HP and saying our kind of new computer is no longer working. And hasn't worked for over a month now. I don't know if Lance and I don't have good luck with electronics and cars or if we just don't know how to take care of them or if we are just really rough with them. We do not have a good track record on these things. Then I need to call the companies that keep charging us these wierd annual fees on our credit cards. Lance has some sort of magazine that keeps coming to him and charging him. So, I will go do that right now. Porter just sort of fell over into a sleeping position on the couch and I know that next he will fall onto the floor and he has done enough of falling lately so I went ahead and put him in the crib.

Tsunami Watch

2011-03-10T23:35:00.000-08:00

I was just sitting watching the news and painting my toenails when everything was interrupted to inform us of the huge earthquake in Japan. Then they showed footage of the tsunami there and it looks awful!!! We are under a tsunami watch. It is 9:30 right now, so depending on what happens we might be hearing the sirens sometime tonight. Fortunately for Lance and I we live way high up so we are safe. Lance had just barely walked into the door after being at work all day and night and then had to head right back to put equipment and all that stuff by the mountains just in case. This is the third time he has had to do that since we moved here. Fortunately nothing has actually hit us. Hopefully it will be the same tonight.

Boy I am tired. I have really been working out. I have been eating better than I have in a long time. It's been 2 weeks since I have been doing this and not one pound lost!!!! Frustrating!! I am hoping it's just holding out and that I will soon really drop!!! We will see.
I may get up tomorrow to go workout with some girls at the church. They meet at 6 a.m. a few days a week. They do the insanity workouts and the P90x workouts. We all bring our kids which makes for an interesting workout session with lots of background noise. And me constantly telling my boys to quit touching the baby. They love babies. Will keeps telling me he has a sister named Alisa. I keep asking him where she is. Once he told me I was going to be pregnant soon, but I don't think that will be happening. Who knows, maybe my next (and it will be awhile) will be a girl. But I don't want to name her Alisa!! I love the name Audrey for a girl. Little Audrey Atkins. Lance despises the name, but I am going to fight for it if the situation arises!!

Photo Sesh

2011-03-09T23:39:00.000-08:00

Well, every once in awhile I try really hard to get some cool pictures. I don't have the greatest camera or the greatest photo skills, so yes, they are amateurish. But I thought I'd share them. These are on our deck and a beach near our house.

The Sounds of a Hawaiian Morning

2011-03-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

I love the sounds that I hear when I wake up in the mornings. As I have said before, we have to always keep our windows open. So, you can hear what's going on out there. You can hear birds chirping, roosters cockadoodling, all that. So I took my camera out today so you could hear what we wake up to. It sounds like a jungle.

My New Passion

2011-03-03T00:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I will just couple this with the latest happenings. My new passion has been a passion for awhile, but has waned lately because of the craziness of life. I love politics. I still don't know much about politics, but I like to talk about them. Now, I am embarassed to admit this, but every once in awhile I like to go on Huffington Post, find an article that elicits a lot of comments from liberals to totally bash conservatives, and then argue with the libs. I absolutely promise I don't spend hours doing this. Just a few minutes. However, yes, I know it's a huge waste of time. I guess I still have the 10 year old in me that liked to go into chat rooms and pretend to be a middle aged man. Except I don't pretend to be a middle aged man anymore. I only did that once. I remember when my family first got the internet, I loved to go into chat rooms. I promise I didn't spend too much time on that, either. But probably too much time. But I remember once I pretended to be a man that had just gotten home from work. I said that I had a sedan. At that time, I thought a sedan was a brand of a car.
Then I discovered the Y chat, which were Mormon chat rooms. I had great fun with those. I would go in and say some ridiculous things. Then people in the room would get tired of me and want me out. Then I would sign out and sign back in using a different name. However, someone in the room caught me once because you always had the same ID number even if you changed your chat name.
Anyways, before you think that all I did as a preteen was sit on the computer and chat in chat rooms, I promise I did lots of other stuff. I watched Saved By the Bell a lot. I guess that's not very redeeming. I promise, I did have friends.

Anyways, so I love politics. I need to study up on them. I keep telling Lance I want him to run for office one day. However, today I told Lance that maybe I should just take matters into my own hands and run myself. Sadly, I think it may be a terrible idea. Terrible. Oh, well.

Will said some funny things the other day. He told me after getting soap in his eyes: "There are two things that sting me: soap and bees." It made me laugh. He makes me laugh and he makes me mad, that kid. I probably get onto him way to much. Every time I get mad at him I think about a book we rented from the library a couple of months ago. I can't remember the title, but it was something about the most horriblest awful boy. People were always getting onto him and calling him terrible and awful, and he became terrible and awful. Then, some person, I can't remember who it was in the story, took a different approach. When this little boy, I think his name was Edward or Eduardo maybe, was for example, coloring somewhere he shouldn't, the guy was telling him what a great colorer he was or something like that. And all these nice things. And then Edward became the nicest boy in the world. So, when Will was incessantly whining today, I started talking about him doing a very good monkey impression. When he was going -12 miles per hour putting his underwear and pants back on after the bathroom, I talked to him about being the king underwear boy. But then the rest of the day I don't think I did such a good job. I would say " You need to do this or else you will go to time out." I can't remember where I read it, but I think you are not supposed to say or else to your kids. Poor Will. He really is a sweet boy.

Lance and I are training for a triathlon. We are also counting calories. We have to do something. I hadn't gotten on the scale for awhile and planned on avoiding it until I felt like I was thinner. However, I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and weighed 8 pounds more than I though. I mean, I am in the decade or whatever of numbers just behind what my pregnancy weight was right before delivery. NOT GOOD. I am just doing a triathlon sprint. I sure don't sprint, though. Lance has told me I am one of two of the slowest runners in the world. His sister is the other slow runner.
Well. I am going to prove him wrong! And his other friend who once said he saw me running in our ward relay in college and it looked like I was running in slow mo. The funny thing is I remember thinking, Man I am flying.
I am also going to take some swim lessons. I am a terrible swimmer and I need to learn how to swim right and straight. I failed the swim test at girl's camp one summer because instead of swimming from one side to the other, I ended up at the shore of the lake. I eventually snuck over to the dock anyways. (You weren't supposed to go there if you didn't pass the swim test)

Oh yes, we have been back exactly one week. The flight alone with the kids was the most miserable of my life. Porter was on my lap and Will was next to me and every other seat was pretty much taken. Porter squirmed, did not sleep once during all 10 hours of flying, and cried. I cried too a couple of times. I was glad when it was all over. We had a great time in Georgia! It was fun to hang around where I grew up.

Coupon Binder

2011-02-15T19:53:00.001-08:00

Here it is--my new coupon binder in all its glory. I have finally done the sort of coupon organizing I have wanted to do. I have been couponing for 4 years now-and for the past year and a half I have been on the verge of giving it up--it is so different on Kauai. We don't have Target, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, all the cool grocery stores...so even with sales at the other places, everything is still cheaper at Costco. But, since I am visiting my family, I decided to give it one last shot and see if I had all my coupons super organized if I could really save money and do it. Time will tell. I will keep you updated. I hope the hours and hours that went into it don't go to waste! You may say that I have too much time on my hands...it's not true, I promise!! I just don't make the best use of the time that I do have!! I try hard, but I still probably waste so much time on minute things. Once Lance got home and I proudly told him that I reorganized our kitchen cabinets. He told me I had too much time on my hands. It's not true! I was just cleaning up the breakfast mess that day and decided it had to be done and didn't stop until it was!! One day I will finally do some worthwhile things with my time...

Would You Eat This?

2011-02-15T19:30:00.001-08:00

My dad got my mom a vitamix for Christmas last year. I had heard the girls at playgroup talking about the vitamix a few times and had seen someone demonstrating them at Costco, but never really paid attention because of the hefty price tag.

Anyways, since I am visiting home, I have gotten acquainted with the vitamix. I will not be getting one still, again, because of the hefty price tag, but I have been enjoying it while here. Today I made drink/smoothie from it. It was a combination of lots of spinach, some kale, avocado, blueberries, applesauce, yogurt, oranges, water, milk, and ice. I know that sounds awful, but the awesome thing about this vitamix is that it really isn't that bad. It is very drinkable. The colors may be a little funny, but it makes eating your vegetables waaaaay easier. It really is quite ok. I can't say delicious, because milkshakes are delicious and I can't really compare these vegetable drinks to milkshakes. The awesome thing about the vitamix too is that the fiber is in the drink too, since it doesn't take any pulp out or anything.

However, I still can't convince my kids. Porter will sip little sips and make funny faces, but Will just refuses to try. Even with the promise that he will get some candy afterwards. It's just not worth it to him, I guess.

Photo Diary of today

2011-02-12T22:06:00.000-08:00

Around Augusta

2011-02-12T22:01:00.000-08:00

Today we took a walk around the riverwalk of my hometown, Augusta, Georgia. It was a lot of fun, but also crazy. Sometimes it's crazy to think that your little kids are running around the exact area that you ran around when you were little like them!

The playground they played on was a different one than I played on, but it was on the same spot. We walked around the ampitheater that I sang in when I was in choir in elementary school. It's just crazy how quickly life goes!! The kids had a great time. Then for dinner, we went to the happiest place on earth for my kids (We haven't been to Disneyworld yet): McDonalds. Porter refused to eat his cheeseburger and only wanted to get on that playplace.

Porter is really talking. Well, at least talking for a 22 month old. He says words and is just a funny kid. He really hams it up sometimes. He copies every last thing Will does. And Will just always says funny things. He always starts things by saying "Well, maybe..." Everything is always a maybe.
Okay, I will just devote the next post to photos of today and other days that I haven't yet blogged about!!

Boot Camp

2011-02-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

Okay, these are all old photos once again. The first is Porter. He was about 6 months. The next 2 of are Will, probably 8 or 10 months. The next 2 are also of Will at about 18 months.

Okay, here is Will and my dad a long time ago in the Twin Falls airport. Then the next pictures are of a trip my mom, dad, sister, aunt and I took to Italy the summer before I got married. My one last "hurrah". My mom works for delta and I would lose my free flight benefits once I got married. Italy was gorgeous.

So, once again I am just putting up old pictures from my parent's computer since I don't have any right now. I find some engagement photos of Lance and I. The one I have always thought looked so funny. Neither Lance or I look very comfortable. Then one is of the lighthouse on Kauai in Kilauea. Then one of Porter and Will in December of '09. Then one of us at a restaurant on Kauai in '09.

Right now I am getting some boot camp lessons in making life easier. My mother has been giving me some pointers as we have been here. See, we have always known that I make my life much harder than it should be. I was telling my mom how I regularly cleaned my vacuum. She was not as impressed as I thought she would be! See, what I do every once in awhile is take my vacuum apart, take the hose out and squirt the water hose through it to get it nice and clean. Then I take out the bag and clean the filters. Then I take apart the bottom part with the agitator and all that and clean it. So, my mother's response was..."You don't need to do that."

Then we talked about getting some heavy duty bibs for Porter while he eats and laying down some rules about not letting him throw food around. I make lots of empty threats but never follow through on them. So, usually after meals, Porter is a mess and the floor underneath him is a big mess.

We are having a good time here in Georgia. Will is finally over his longest sickness ever. Thank goodness; that was brutal. The kids are finally accustomed to Georgia time somewhat. I am already dreading the flight back!!! I have been trying to think of things to do with them to make the flight seem not so long.

We are planning a trip to Idaho in May and Lance wants to do a triathlon. He has done the Rigby Lake triathlon twice (when we lived in Idaho) and wants to do it again this year. And like every other time he talks about these things, I say I will do it too and dream about what dress size I will be wearing after I am done training. I sure hope the ending is different than it has been before for me!! (aka I never end up doing any training so I don't do the race and I usually am wearing a larger dress size by then)

Lance has a brother and sister who will be leaving us for 2 years and one and a half years respectively. They will be going on missions, so this trip is to see them and say goodbye. We will find out where they will go this weekend probably. And Will and Porter will have some competition in the next few weeks! My sister in law is due in the next couple of weeks! So I am sure we will no longer have the status of the favorite grandchildren, especially since she is having a girl that I am sure will be beautiful with huge blue eyes and blonde curly hair. Boo. Of course she gets the first girl. Yes, I am jealous(Don't worry, this is all a big joke with my in laws.) But I admit I am excited to see that baby!! I know that Porter and Will will adore their new cousin.

Georgia

2011-02-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

Us at our fav pizza place, Skippolinis in Clayton, California. Porter at 1o months. Porter with my sister Mandy. (This is all our California trip in March '10.

I found these adorable pictures on my parents computer. They are a year old in March. We took a trip to California to visit my sister. Porter was not yet a year and Will was almost 3. I remember we put Porter in a little baby swing and he loved it.

Well, I have been in Georgia for one week and it's been great! However, it has also been not so great due to Will being sick for a week now! He seems to get a little better every day, but the sickness is definitely lingering for much longer than any other sickness he's had. The poor thing. It has also caused some misbehavior in him, which is no fun when you want to feel sorry for him. He hit me in the face tonight as I was putting him to bed, which was not cool. Oh kids. Who needs them?? (my mom would always say that.)

You know, I have not announced this yet, at least I don't think I have. I can't remember what I wrote last.

Will is potty trained!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know how awesome that is for me? We have been working for months and months and months. It was rough. We have had some setbacks, however, since he has been sick. He has wet the bed twice during naptimes. Both Saturday and Sunday. So, we have had to change the bed. Hopefully that does not continue! But it really has been great. I am still pretty paranoid, however, and often ask him if he needs to go, which I think he gets really annoyed at.

The plane ride over was really not too bad. It was before the ride that was one of the worst experiences of my life. And not really because of them. See, I was truly one of the only ones at the ticket counter. I fly standby and they were having a hard time getting the infant in arms thing on my seat request card. They were taking a long time, so I let Porter out of his stroller and he and Will were just kind of playing on some bench where no one else was around. Porter was super tired, so when it was time to put him back in the stroller, he screamed. I was pulling suitcases so Will pushed the stroller. The gate lady had to walk me over to security to explain what was going on with my seat request card. So, Porter was absolutely screaming and Will was super excited to go on the airplane. Anyways, I really didn't think they were being all that terrible. However, the lady told me that I need to calm my kids down or they could deny us boarding. After that, I was mortified. All of a sudden I realized I was that lady with the crazy kids. At least for that moment. Who knows, though, maybe that's what I always am????? I sure hope not! Anyways, my kids really did calm down once we got in the line. And they were excellent on the airplane ride. Porter really cried the last 15 minutes, but on a 5 and a half trip that's not bad. Then my dad met us in LAX and they did very well on the way to Atlanta. Porter slept pretty much the whole way and Will was great. Then to Augusta they did well, too. Adjusting to the 5 hour time change was quite rough, but I think we are adjusted now. For awhile they would wake up at night and be up for 3-5 hours.

Anyways. Being a parent is tough work. It's funny; I think a lot of people are sometimes critical of others and their parenting techniques and all that. We judge and think, man, if that were my child... Anyways, I have pretty much learned to not do that once I had kids. Well, once my kids were of age (aka over 9 months). The thing is, most parents are really trying their very hardest. There is so much advice and theory of what to do with kids. It can be frustrating. You try your best and there still may be people judging your children and you. And we all probably mess up a lot, but we are doing our best!! And I suppose that's what really counts. That, and you just love your children. So anyways. I was mortified with that experience. I was all by myself too; Lance is not on this trip. It's not that cool to travel by yourself with 2 little kids. I am very nervous to do it again because the flights back over are not overnight flights. My kids usually sleep on the overnight flights. We will see how that goes!

Lance is back at home working and going to school. His basketball season is over; they had their last game. It was a fun adventure that really fulfilled a dream of his. When we were dating, Lance was majoring in education. He wanted to teach so he could also coach. I remember I always kind of worried about this because I saw what they started out in Idaho. I think the starting salaries have since gone up in Idaho, but back then I saw it wasn't much. We were just dating and I remember looking up starting salaries for teachers in different states. I saw that they started out around $50,000 in Connecticut (I don't know if that's accurate; that's just what I read somewhere). I went over to him, we were in the library, and I said "Hey, teachers start out at $50,000 in Connecticut." Lance got this smile on his face and said, "Oh, so you are thinking about that, huh?" Then I was really embarassed. At that time I was trying not to get too serious because he was a returned missionary and I knew he was probably looking to get married, so I was trying to play it real cool. And by the way, I am not very good at playing it cool. So anyways.

So, this fulfilled a dream of Lance's. He really enjoyed coaching this season.

Church basketball, though, I tell you what. Lance goes and plays as much as he can whenever the guys play basketball. Someone is getting hurt every week it seems. Lance really beat up his foot a few months back that prevented him from playing for awhile and it still bothers him. One guy has had stitches, and then another week his nose would not stop bleeding. Lance called me the other day and told me that his shoulder got ripped apart and he could hardly move it. Then the next day he somehow hurt his mouth playing basketball, so every time we talk on the phone he gives me some lame excuse as to why he can't talk for very long (his mouth is just hurting). I suppose I believe him, although I do know he's not a phone talker.

I am on my parents computer so I will see if they have any cool pictures of us. After all, what's a post without pictures? Then I have some from my phone I put on here, so I will put those on too. Okay, actually I can't find my cell phone pictures. I will post them when I find them.

Hello

2011-01-14T01:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I am sorry but I am not posting pictures on this update. I will post some soon, though, because I have some. I have been a lazy blogger! Once you get out of the habit, you really just get out of the habit! Things were crazy since the last time I blogged. We got home from Idaho (we did-we survived. Me and the kids on the airplane with no help. All I can say is we made it home. It wasn't disastrous, but I wouldn't call it delightful by any means. And we are very crazy because we are planning to do it again. Except this time we are challenging ourselves even more--a flight to Georgia with just me and the kids. A flight twice as long. Can't wait)

Yes, that means we will leave Lance again. That poor guy. Except poor both of us. He has been busier than ever with work, school, and coaching basketball at the local high school. There have been many a nights that he gets home close to midnight after being gone since before 6 a.m. Actually, there haven't been too many of that, but many days where he does not see the kids awake. It may get a little easier when basketball season ends, but school will still be very busy.

Anyways, when we got back home, we moved to our new place. Then, a week later, we moved back to our old place. After we had moved every last piece of furniture to our new house. It was great. Anyways, the place was just not the place I thought it was. Now I am so happy in our house. I will never complain again about where I live. It's the best place ever and I appreciate it now.

Christmas was fun. I did not think that I could survive a Christmas away from family. We did, though, and even had a good time in the process. We had some Christmas meals with friends and spent Christmas day at the beach. The boys loved Christmas and every once in awhile Will will tell me how sad he is because he wishes there was another Christmas day.

The kids are doing well. They have escaped death many times in the past month and have the goose eggs and bruises to prove it. They continue to play their favorite game "dump" even though their mother makes empty threats all the while they do it (Dump, in case you were wondering, is a made up game from Will's mind. You just find whatever you can find and put it together in a nice big pile and move it around. Toys, books, anything, will go in this pile.) After being a total pushover for awhile with this game, I finally enforced the rule that Lance has tried to enforce for months: No toys anywhere except the bedrooms. If you saw my house you woudl understand why. The setup of the house is a little different and they will not suffer only having the toys in the room. Then I packed up most of the toys and put them up in the attic. That way toys are not always all over the place. I will rotate them every so often.

Well, I better go. It's very late, but at least I finally did an entry and I will post some pictures and more stories later. I need to post a video of Porter talking.

Snow Day

2010-11-21T00:07:00.001-08:00

Obviously we are still not in Hawaii. The kids and I were supposed to fly back Thursday but the flights were no good since we do standby. Anyways, we will probably go back Monday. I am dreading it. I have never flown with both of them by myself. Aughh. Oh well, it's just a total of 8 hours in the air. Okay, that does not make me feel better. I wish it wasn't bad to drug your kids every once in awhile.

So, last night the snow started. The kids and I were at coming out of Target and the snow was coming down. It was so pretty. Then it didn't really seem to stop until the early morning, so we got a good amount of snow. Just enough for some snowmen and snowball fights. Will loved it. Porter acted more like what I remember Will acting like when we lived here. He didn't want to keep his gloves on but then his hands got cold and he cried. Then he stepped in some water and got his feet wet and cried. So we went in and I gave him a bath.

It will be so nice to be back home and on a schedule and such, but we've had a great time! It depends on what day I talk about it, though. Unfortunately, the kids were sick throughout most of the trip. Porter was sick with a fever from the first or second day. Then he got better, but most nights of the trip he woke up screaming uncontrollably with quite the demonic sounding screams. This sometimes happened 2 or 3 times a night. Anyways, then he got better. But then he still acted so awful and fussy sometimes, so I finally took him to instacare. We went there the last time we visited Twin Falls. They really do get sick every trip. They couldn't find anything wrong, but gave him the strep test and he tested positive. So, he is on amoxicillan and actually takes it quite well. Currently, he seems to be alright.

Will got sick a couple days into the trip, then got better. Then a couple of days ago he threw up 2 times and I won't go into detail about all of that because then you may throw up. It seemed to be a 24 hour thing. He is better now. They have, however, had runny noses the entire trip. I really think travelling, especially through time zones, can wreak havoc upon little kids. At least in my experience it definitely has.

Anyways, I will still be sad when we leave. I have been able to really coupon while I've been here! I have missed it! Maybe it's good I don't live here. I have been wanting to shop every day. I am pretty sure my in laws think I am a shopaholic. I will have to post more about my finds, but I have really spend hardly any money.

Anyways, I am excited for warm weather again though!

Dedicated to Hawaii

2010-11-13T23:04:00.000-08:00

Things I love about Hawaii:
1. It never gets cold (unless you count when it gets in the 60s during the winter time. It actually gets chilly in the house because there is no heat)
2. It's always warm
3. Sometimes it's hot
4. My kids can wear flip flops year round and don't have to fight about putting coats on
5. It's just about always perfect weather for the beach
6. It never snows
7. The wind is a nice breeze, not a chilling billow
8. I never have to use the heat in the car

Okay. Can you tell I am writing this from Idaho Falls right now? It's an ice box. There is snow on the ground.
Don't get the wrong idea. I LOVE Idaho and the mainland. There is so much I miss about it. But boy do I love warm weather.

On a grosser note, Lance has caught 8 mice since returning home last Tuesday. That makes me feel like we have a disgusting messy home. I promise we don't. There are wierd holes where the pipes come in under our kitchen sink. I am always cleaning there and everywhere. The mice just come. Especially when we are not home, I guess. Dont' let this deter you from visiting us. We will be in a new place on December 1 and will make sure to do a thorough bug audit and seal anything that could lead to the outside and use whatever chemical to kill every last thing that is not a person or animal (rodents, yes, they will be killed). If you don't like chemicals, talk to Lance and he will comfort you about that.

Lazy Days

2010-11-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

The boys watching Charlotte's Web (Porter usually didn't sit for long. Will, on the other hand, did)

Me, my grandmother, Will, and my mother. Taken probably 2 years ago! I can't believe it.

Well, that earlier post where I didn't post anything was an accident. I was going to write in it, but then it posted before I wrote anything. And then I decided it was too much work to write a post.

Today was a VERY lazy day. I just truly did not feel like doing anything. Most days there are a few hours where I really feel like being productive.

Not today. Although I did force myself to do a little organizing and touch up painting in the kids rooms. I am hoping to get all of our deposit back when we move out at the end of the month.

I was lazy in every way. I don't want to know how much ice cream and cookies I ate today. I sure hope I feel more productive tomorrow! I have a lot to do. We are going to the mainland tomorrow, so I need to pack and get things ready. We are going to Logan, Utah for my grandmother's funeral. She died on Monday. We knew it was coming, but I did not realize it would come so soon! I am very sad, but I know that she is truly happy. She truly lived a full and rich life. I admire her so much. She was 92 when she died. All day long after hearing the news, I kept getting chills because I could just picture her reuniting with her husband (my wonderful grandfather) who died 6 years ago. I also pictured her seeing my cousin, whom she was very close with, who died 7 years ago at the young age of 21. He was fresh off an honorable mission when he died. I am looking forward to seeing all of my family and extended family to celebrate her life. She will be so missed by us all. I know the funeral will be beautiful. Two of her sons will speak at the funeral. I asked my mom why she wasn't going speak, knowing full well why. My mother "cries, not speaks" as she told me.

My kids have watched Charlotte's Web about 5 times in the past week! They rented it at the library, which reminds me I missed the due date today to avoid a fine. Will adores it. I haven't seen or heard the story in years, but I think I finally have the story back in memory now that I have seen and heard all bits and pieces of it over the past week. It is a beautiful story!! Charlotte was a wonderful friend. That movie, along with reflections of my grandmother's life, gives me a renewed desire to really be the best I can be (just ignore my post about the lazy day today, plus the fact that I sat and watched a trashy reality show today-Sister Wives-I'd never seen it before today but it sort of made me sick). My grandmother was a true friend. She knew what was important-and not important-in life. She absolutely loved her family. She has done so much for others her whole life. I remember when I moved to Idaho from Georgia for college. I was so excited because I would finally be somewhat close to my grandparents. They lived about 2 and a half hours from Rexburg. I would try to catch rides down to Logan every so often. My grandfather was still alive for my first 2 years of college. My uncle also lived with them, as he has his whole life. He was born with mental disabilites that left him unable to live independently. I enjoyed visiting with them and lamenting about boy troubles. My grandmother just couldn't understand all these silly things I worried about!! She always made me feel better about things. I remember deciding I was going to be just like them.

Anyways, I am sort of blabbing on. I still have lots of pictures and stories to share, so I need to get on that. However, I don't know about today. I am still feeling super lazy.

Headed to Logan

2010-11-03T16:11:00.001-07:00

Guess Who We Are

2010-11-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hey, this is just a quick post. I am going to post more pictures later today of halloween costumes, but first I wanted everyone to guess who Lance and I are dressed up as. We are famous people. I want to see your guesses!!

Moving

2010-10-29T16:24:00.001-07:00

Well, don't worry. We are not moving from Hawaii. We are just moving down to the valley in the same town. Our landlord is no longer paying electricity as part of the rent, so it was just going to be too expensive for us. We found a cute place for $300 cheaper very close to here. We will not longer be on the cliffside, so I will miss that awesome wind that blows through our house. However, I have heard that the weather is actually cooler down in the valley.

Anyone who knows me pretty well knows that I hate moving, even if it is just down the street. I usually bawl for awhile whenever it's time to move. Maybe I won't bawl this time, but I will still miss our house here!

I did not grow up moving, so moving is hard for me. I grew up in the same house from age 3-18. From 0-2 I lived in just another house in the same area. So, I went to Evans Elementary, Evans Middle, and Evans High school. Then I made the big move to Idaho for school. Married Lance, finished school, and then we moved to California. We lived there for a little over a year. I was 7.5 months pregnant when we decided to move, so I was already quite weepy and moody. That pushed me over the edge and I quite bawled. Then when it was time to move to Hawaii, I bawled a bit. I was excited, but change is hard!!!

Anyways, I am excited about our new place. It's actually very clean, large, and quite nice. It's not modern or anything. It has great bright green carpet and bright pink carpet. But it is great for when visitors come! So you all need to come and visit. Seriously, your visit could be so cheap. You could stay with us, use our car, eat at our house (We could split the bill at Costco or something), and go all around Kauai. Hanging out at the beach is free. You can use our boogie boards, old beat up surfboards, and snorkel gear.
I am also excited because we will have a garage and a little yard (we do not have a garage which really stinks).

Tonight is our ward Trunk or Treat. I will be a flight attendant, Will will be a pilot, and Lance and Porter will be Pillsbury doughboys.
Well, I better go. I actually need to work on these costumes. I will post pictures of them later!

My Weekend

2010-10-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

Salt ponds. Salt ponds sunset. I saw everyone else taking a picture of it so I figured I better, too.

Boys at Salt Ponds. Polihale sunset(last Sunday) Porter with feet ready to eat.

Eating breakfast together.

Do you want to hear about my weekend? I will tell you about it. It had some really great parts and really bad parts.

Anyways, on Friday, I pushed the double stroller (I have gotten every last penny's worth out of the $15 that stroller cost me) down to the library with the kids. I had all of our beach stuff packed. One kid had to hold my purse and the other kid had to hold the bag of towels since there wasn't enough room in the stroller basket.

We walked in the library (as we do probably twice a week-our town is teeny and there's not much there, so we go to the library a lot) and I am sure the librarians did an eye roll. They actually are so nice for the most part, but I am sure they would not complain if we came less. I really do try so hard to keep my kids quiet and good. I think I do an alright job. When we went to the kids section, there were books all over the place. I thought to myself that the librarians would probably think it was us that made the mess. That will come into play later.

Anyways, Will looked at one of the books that was left out and put it by our stroller since I told him we should check it out. It looked pretty cute.

Then we went to the video section. They just have the movie covers in that section; you bring the cover to them and they give you the video. I pulled out the Thomas the Train covers and told Will to choose one.

Then one of the librarians came and gave us a look and pointed at the mess of books. I told her I absolutely promised it was there when we came; that we did not do it. I had even put a couple of books away that had been lying out. Then she pointed at the book by the stroller and said she saw Will looking at it. I told her that particular book, yes, we were checking out, but all the other ones we did not pull out. I also explained to her that Will was just looking through the Thomas videos; I was supervising him and was going to put them all away afterwards. It wasn't that many covers, either.

Anyways, I really got off track. So, it all ended well. We got some books and then I pushed the kids over to the beach near our house. I had told Lance to meet us there after work. So, after a good workout, I put my swimsuit on and we ran in the water. When Lance came I told him I wanted to snorkel. He told me the snorkeling was no good there, but I just wanted to try it. It was true. I saw one fish and a sea cucumber and that was it.

We saw a girl getting some wedding dress pictures with her husband or fiancee, I am not sure which. It was a nice setting, but then the photographer wanted her to get into the water! She had her do all kind of pictures in the water, even lying down in the water!! Her dress was soaked afterwards. I don't think I would ever do a picture like that. I don't think the wedding dress would ever be very white again.

Anyways. Then we decided that despite our lack of funds, we should go out to dinner. I wanted to go to the local place to eat, but it was very busy, so we went to another place for some dinner. The kids had a great time stacking the little coffee creamers.

The next day we went to Polihale beach and tried boogie boarding. I discovered that I am just too scared for it. We had some friends with us, but I was even to scared to pretend like I wasn't scared and just boogie board. I can't seem to catch a wave. Then the waves started getting big. I started walking in, but then a big wave crashed on me, took my sunglasses who knows were, and flipped me all around. I just want to boogie board on little waves.

Afterwards, I dropped Lance off to go study. I decided to paint Porter's little bookcase. I brought the bookcase out on our deck. Then I grabbed all the paint. We walked outside and I dropped the can of paint. The whole thing happened in slo mo. Of course the can busted open and deep brown paint splattered down through the deck down onto our neighbor's washing machine and deck.

(the very sad thing is that this is not the first time. A few months ago a large can fell and busted. However, it didn't get all over his washing machine that time) Fortunately, we finally have a super nice neighbor under us, otherwise I probably would not be alive right now. I was mortified. I would not have blamed him one bit if he screamed at me, but he was so nice. I came down and scrubbed his washing machine for over an hour while he so nicely entertained my boys. Will asked him question after question and Porter kept grabbing his package of cigarettes and beer bottles.

Anyways, our neighbor is so so nice.

Will did, unfortunately, wet his pants twice that day. I think I need to try some new methods of potty training.

So, with all that craziness, I did not get the kids fed dinner and it was time to pick Lance up. The kids, without a nap and dinner, were somewhat cranky. We had to stop at the grocery store on the way home, so I got them something there to eat.

Lance got the milk and said he got the whole milk kind since it was 3 dollars cheaper than all the others. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT STILL COST??? $5. Crazy.

Right now all is well, though. The kids are sleeping for their naps, their bellies are full, the wind is blowing hard (the house was truly boiling last week. We were just sweaty messes), and I think I may take a nap unless one of the kids wakes up.

An Inconvenient Date

2010-10-22T01:15:00.001-07:00

Well, for years now I have been wanting to watch An Inconvenient Truth. I was just curious. I really don't buy the whole premise of it, so I just wanted to watch it. Lance of course, never wanted to. Anyways, on Saturday, I went to the library and decided to look through their documentaries. For some reason, I love watching documentaries on stuff I don't agree with. Now I want to see the Michael Moore movies. Anyways, so I spotted An Inconvenient Truth and decided that Lance (who was studying all day that Saturday) and I would have a date that night after the kids went to bed and just watch the movie. Lance could only take 30 minutes that night. We watched another 30 minutes a couple days later and then we just finished it. Anyone can make anything look convincing. I don't really buy a lot of what Al Gore says. I think a lot of what we are taught about global warming and all that isn't really true.

One thing I think that has happened with this whole movement is that it's become almost a religion for some people. Sometimes I hear about Hollywood stars getting passionate about some causes. I remember hearing Leo Dicaprio was very passionate about global warming. My feelings are, uh, there are A LOT more important things to deal with than global warming. There are so many things that are destroying the earth, and I don't really mean physically, than global warming. Corruption, decline and weakening of the family unit, blah blah all that stuff.

Anyways. I don't want anyone to think I am anti environment. I think it's extremely important to take care of our world. Don't litter, plant trees, recycle (We dont' do very well at this), reduce, reuse, all of that.

Anyways, but I am sort of sick of the word "green".
I have a lot of political stuff to talk about, but to the avoid the risk of blabbing on about it and having you realize that I actually don't know anything, I will just stop there.

It's kind of like the time I entered the local America Junior Miss pageant when I was a junior in high school. Or maybe sophmore, I can't remember. We were supposed to fill out these papers beforehand. I think I may have put George W. Bush as one of the people that I admire. So, in the interview portion, some very unimpressed with me judges asked what I knew about Bush's platform or policies or whatever. DO YOU KNOW WHAT I SAID? I am so embarassed. See, I didn't know anything. All I could say was "He doesn't believe in abortion." (And then I added one of those dumb little giggles I add after every single thing I say) I did those dumb giggles through the whole interview. I could tell the judges were NOT impressed with me. See, this pageant was different than most of the local America Junior Miss pageants. It was for all the people who did not have a local pageant in their town. So, all the girls in Georgia without a local town pageant were in it. I think almost 50% of the girls got to go to the next pageant. Not me. I was not made to be a pageant girl. I tried one more time in my high school pageant and once again did not come near placing. I have some stories about that one too. I would tell them to you right now, but Lance just said I need to wrap it up since he is tired and ready to go to bed.

Organize

2010-10-16T01:24:00.001-07:00

Well, I organized for the 365th day. Seriously. Ever since we have moved in here, I try new organizing ideas. Oh, and by the way, tomorrow the 16th will mark the year since I moved out here. Lance came out in August.

So anyways. Every day, I wake up, clean, think, and then carry out my thoughts. I have reorganized every room in the house multiple times. So you probably have a picture in your mind of clean, well run home. Well, you probably don't actually. I have put pictures up of our house on here.

The sad truth is, it's still not there. I always think, every time I organize, okay, this is it. This will be the perfect system and I won't reorganize. I had those thoughts again today. I really wanted my closet to look nice and vacuum my room finally. I was determined to get it done. The kids and I stayed in the house ALL DAY. We did not see the light of day until the night time after Lance got home and we went out for a bit. Anyways, while I organized, the kids watched A LOT of cartoons. When they were not watching cartoons, actually, when Will was not watching cartoons (Porter doesn't sit still for tv for more than 2 minutes), they were throwing clothes, pennies, anything they could get their hands on around the room. No matter what kind of messes they made, I was determined to finish this project. It's almost done. However, the sad truth is that you still have to clean and tidy every day. It really stinks. I always think as I do my painting and organizing projects that one day I will wake up and every project will be completed. I will sit and read for a bit while the kids play. Then I will play with the kids. Then we can just do whatever we feel like because all the projects would be done.

I am actually torn about that thought, though. Do I want all my projects to be done? I sometimes worry too much about getting to the "station", rather than enjoying the ride. I think part of the fun and challenge of life is just the day to day stuff.

So, as for the organizing. I have lost both of our p.o. box keys and either Lance or I lost our only car key. Yeah. I promise our house is not a total disaster, but my organizing is not doing the trick either! I still haven't gotten replacements for our p.o. box keys, so our mail is probably piling up. We did, however, get a replacement key for the car. I was very happy it only cost $8. That was good news. Lance thought it would cost $100.

I am posting a few pictures. A few of them are a pretty sunrise from my window yesterday. The other one was from Sunday. We went to a little teeny beach near our house called Glass beach. It's not a beach to swim in and it is

right by an industrial area, but it is still kind of cool. The sand is a bunch of broken glass from who knows what. I need to do more research. It's just kind of a sit there beach. Lance and I went there tonight for our date. We just sat on the beach and talked. Then we laid down and looked up at the stars. I know that sounds cheesy. Anyways, the Hawaiian skies are truly amazing.

Best Friends (I think)

2010-10-14T19:49:00.001-07:00

I just adore this picture. I took it yesterday as I was running pushing the kids. I didn't have my camera with me, so I snapped it with my phone. We were going down a hill and the boys were just so happy. They were giggling and pointing and then Porter reached around to put his arm around Will. I just died. I slowed down to a stop and prayed that they would stay that way. They did, so I caught the most perfect picture.

I think they are best friends most of the time. They laugh hysterically, copy each other incessantly, run around, play, all that. I notice that less and less Will is always asking me to play with him. Thankfully, though, he still does ask once in awhile, but right now he has a great playmate that plays with him all the time. Whenever I sent Porter to time out, Will tries to block the door so he can't go in his room. Whenever I send Will to time out, Porter runs over and knocks on the door.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like this all the time. Porter has learned how to hit. He hits Will, takes things away from him, and tries to push him out of my lap. Will gets mad whenever Porter takes things and does his best to get it back. He pushes Porter plenty and tries all sorts of tricks that he believes to be harmless on Porter that usually end up in Porter getting hurt.

As for copying, that can be scary at times. Will was straddling the top of the couch the other day. I made him get down. Later, when Lance was watching the kids, he informed me he saved Porter's life. I guess Porter was straddling the top of the couch too and Lance caught him right before he hit the ground.

Sprinkles

2010-10-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

Well, again, life is just sprinkles of different days. Some days seem to go perfectly; others are anything but! The trick I suppose is to be grateful for every day and just go with what happens. I absolutely love the talk Joseph B. Wirthlin gave before his death Come What May an Love it.

Anyways, I need to do a little more of loving what comes. Wirthlin says we need to laugh more about stuff. Stuff really isn't the big deal we make it out to be sometimes.

Even if you have only read one post, you can figure out that potty training is on my brain right now. Will continues to dirty his pants. I have been trying hard to just be positive and not get mad. However, today, I just got mad. I really could have just been patient and non reactive, but I just got mad. Then I felt terrible because Will told me "Be nice to me mommy." He went down for his nap. Then I cuddled with him while he napped. Then, after he woke up, I felt like everything was okay again. Then, within the next hour, he wet his pants then dirtied his pants. I did not however, "just get mad" again. Yes, inside, I was boiling. Then a little while later, Will told me he needed to go to the bathroom and he went, so I got really excited for him. I know they say that positive reinforcement works better than negative reinforcement.

I have been reading a great book that I recommend to anyone that is parenting. It's called What's a Parent to Do? by Glenn Latham. I read it a couple of weeks ago and am now rereading it to make sure I get it down. There is a quote in there from Brigham Young: "Those whom I once knew as little boys...[were] in some instances called wild and ungovernable; but these wild boys, porperly guided and directed, will make the greatest men who have ever lived upon this earth."

So do you know what this means? My little boys are going to be some of the greatest men who have ever lived upon the earth! Another quote from Brigham Young: "It never hurts my feelings to see young exuberant life and animation manifest themselves. Do not be discouraged about the follies of the young."

My boys are definitely exuberant and animated. I should just celebrate that instead of worrying that they are the worst behaved in the room!!

Big Boy

2010-10-10T23:21:00.000-07:00

I could cry! Porter went to nursery for the first time today. Would you like to know how easy it was? Easy peasy measy keasy. Seriously, it was that easy. Watch, I have probably jinxed everything and he will bawl all nursery long next week.

I think it was because of a few reasons. First of all, Porter has not spent every Sunday during church with me except for Sacrament meeting. He was always with Lance during Sunday School and Priesthood since I was in primary. Next, I don't hover around him NEAR as much as I did with Will.

Will going to nursery was not easy peasy, all that. It was rough, tough, muff, luff. It truly took months and months before he would not being crying the whole time. I actually am kind of embarassed looking back now. I was living in Twin Falls at the time. Will was my first and only kid. I bet I was quite the spectacle, hovering over my kid and looking through the nursery window often. Will was so attached to me it wasn't even funny! I remember hearing that you relax with your second kid. I would always think, they obviously don't know me. I will worry with every kid I have. Not so. I have relaxed two hundred fold.

Anyways, Lance was going to sit in with Porter, but he said when he walked in Porter got right down on the floor and starting playing with cars. I peeked in and saw Will holding Porter's hands and Porter had a huge smile on his face. Lance said Will was talking to people and telling them that Porter was in nursery now. I will never forget that picture of Will holding Porter's hand, with Porter's huge smile. It was the best. Will also told me that Porter kept stealing other kids' food during snack time. I don't doubt it. Porter eats amazing amounts. He eats anything he can possible get his hands on. When I cleaning breakfast, I often catch him on Will's chair, eating the cold oatmeal that Will didn't eat. Lance also told me that one morning he was putting him in the high chair and it hadn't been cleaned very well the night before, so there was a piece of cold broccoli on the tray. No prob, Porter ate that too. Totally gross, I know. The other day, we had sandwiches for lunch. I threw the parts away the kids didn't eat. A couple of hours later, Porter was walking around eating something. I was horrified when I saw the crusts from lunch in his hands and put the trash can up where Porter couldn't get it.

After church, Lance had to go do visits for Elder's Quorums, so he rode with someone else. The kids were playing outside with some of the other church kids. I just let them play for a long time because they looked like they were in heaven. We usually leave right after church so they don't get a chance to play outside, but today they did and I decided maybe we will have to stay after some Sundays. They were just so cute. Will is so funny. He follows kids around and kind of copies them. Actually, to you that probably sounds sort of annoying, but it really is so cute.

Today was one of those days that I thought I need to have 10 kids. But then Will pooped in his underwear this afternoon and I quickly stopped that thought.

One Armed Toy

2010-10-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

I have so many little stories to write. I don't think I will get them all written tonight, so I will just share a few.

On Friday, the boys and I took a walk down to the Habitat for Humanity reStore thrift store. I love that store because they have all kind of building and paint supplies for super cheap. There is a lot of used paint, but they also have brand new cans of spray paint and brand new cans of paint. I have been doing a lot of painting, so I need to take some pictures. Anyway, I was looking for a color I had bought before there.

One of our cars (that is one of the stories I need to write about) is currently not working. So, Lance brought our working car to work that day, so that's why the kids and I walked. My double jogger has a flat tire, so I put Will in the single jogger and Porter in my hiking backpack and took off.

You have to go through the whole thrift store part to get to the painting supplies. Of course, Will loves looking at all the toys. Guess what he wanted this time. A little red action figure looking guy with a missing arm. It looked like one of those happy meal toys from McDonalds. When we went to buy my paint, Will insisted on getting that little guy. The lady didn't make us pay for that, thank goodness. 2 minutes later one leg fell off. Will is still playing with it, though.
The lady told us to go and pick out a book for free, too. However, while we looked for books, Will found a nice looking shirt with airplanes on it that lit up. It was just his size, too. He wanted it and it was in really good shape, so we got it. I may sound cheap with what I am about to say, but it was $2. I really thought that was way too much. I sometimes go months without things because I don't want to spend over a certain amount on things. It's ridiculous sometimes. Anyways, but I thought $2 was too much for a thrift store shirt, but he liked it and it was a fun little shirt.

Yeah, I don't like to spend money on stuff that really we sometimes need. I have a dollar amount that I want to spend and hate to go over that. I'll talk more about financial stuff later.

Anyways, so that's the one armed toy.

Misery Loves Company...and I would like some company!

2010-10-06T00:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I was going to write about the misery of potty training. But I won't go into details. I just hope that I have company with others out there. My 3.5 year old has troubles. He just prefers to go in his underwear at certain times. I guess I will leave it at that. I just hope I don't have to send him to kindergarten in a diaper.

Anyways. That's it for the misery loves company part.

Tonight I was cleaning the dinner dishes and I saw something little and furry move. Ah, that's right. A little mouse. Not on the floor. ON MY COUNTERTOP! Now that is disgusting. One thing, though, is mice don't bother me too terribly bad. Don't get me wrong. I do not want them in my house for a second. But I would a thousand times over rather have a mouse in the house than one of the humongous spiders that have graced their presence in our house twice since we moved in. I was talking to Lance about this and he would a thousand times over rather have the huge spider than the mouse. Lance is pretty scared of mice. I have seen him when he spotted a mouse before and it was kind of funny.
Anyways. Which would you rather have?

Camping and Visits

2010-10-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I am posting some pictures of a camping trip we took a few months ago that I never posted. I am also posting some pictures of another beach we did a little barbeque

at with some friends.

We went back to the camping spot last weekend just for the night. My parents had called the week before to tell us they were coming to visit and would be coming that Friday night, so we joined our camping group for a few hours before my parents and sisters got in.

I just love having family come!! It's a lot of fun. We did some fun things, but I will write about it when I get the pictures from my dad. He will email them to me.

Lance is getting better. He drove himself to Priesthood meeting tonight. I tried to convince him to ride with someone, but he said he needed to start getting back up and about. Hopefully he does okay! He studied most of the day and it was funny to hear him hobbling around above us. The kids and I spent most of the day at Kalapaki beach with some friends. I said we would only spend an hour there and come home for naps, but the kids had such a good time that we stayed about 4 hours I think!! Our friend buried Porter in the sand except for his head. Porter loved it. I have a picture of it. Once again, I will post that one later too!

Will found a new friend. He was a nice boy about a year older than Will and Will could not stop following him around! They also went to the kiddie pool at the Marriot behind the beach and played around. His new friend, Ty, kept trying to convince Will to go down the slide with him, but Will refused. He was too scared for some reason. It was the coolest kiddie pool I'd ever seen. It was big. Porter loved how he could just walk around. Then there was a fun little slide into it. I worried most of the time that a worker would somehow be able to tell that we were not guests at the hotel and kick us out, but it didn't happen, so that's good.

I had never really had a beach day at Kalapaki, but we enjoyed ourselves. It seems to be one of the busier beaches on the island. There is a huge Marriot right on the beach, as well as some restaurants. It's right by the Nawiliwili harbor where the ships come in. Our friends had some food, and I just knew that if I did not get the kids something, they would eat everyone's food, so I went to the grill restaurant by the pool and got a cheeseburger and fries for the kids. They still, however, managed to eat everyone else's food still!!

I am trying to lose weight, but today I had peanut butter m&ms, birthday cake, then my leftover birthday cake, a cheeseburger, fries, and I think that about covers it. I must not be trying very hard. For dinner I had chips, green beans, and broccoli. I polished it off with more peanut butter m&ms and cake. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. I really seriously don't usually eat all that every day, but the past couple of days I have been around too much good food.

Well, I am going to take a nap because I am going to go to a little cleaning at a new resort place tonight for a couple of hours. It's just a temporary part time thing that ends tonight.

Now a Mother of Three

2010-10-02T03:10:00.001-07:00

Haha. I just wanted to make everyone think I was expecting. No way not a chance.

Anyways, I temporarily have an extra kid to take care of. Lance, the day before my birthday, gave me an early present of a trip to the hospital. Lance was at basketball on Wednesday nights as he usually is. Lately the guys have been getting hurt left and right. I told Lance he needs to watch out because he may be next. I told him that last Wednesday. And he was.

He called to tell me someone was taking him to the ER because his ankle had been sprained very badly. It was very swollen. When I got there, kids in tow at 10:00, he was all wrapped up and just about ready to go. The nurse was telling him what to do and all that. Lance said, "So basically I just need to sit on the couch all day and prop my foot up and watch sports?" I can't remember exactly what he said, but it was something like that, and he said it in a disappointed tone. He was joking of course, insinuating that it really stunk he had to sit there and watch sports. I don't know if the nurse understood or appreciated his humor, but I thought it was kind of funny.

Anyways, so he is my third kid now. I have to get everything for him. I have to drive. I have to take full control of everything. It's been okay, though. He fell a little bit down the stairs today and practically cried. I felt very badly for him. He has to be on crutches and can't put any weight on his poor little foot.

I need to write more about all of our latest happenings. It has been quite the 2 weeks. I will write more about that later. I am kind of tired and need to go to bed. We stayed up late and went on a date tonight, made possible by our friends Chad and Mary. Mary said she would watch my kids for my birthday so we could go out. So, we first stopped at Costco and bought diapers. That was the most romantic part of the trip. Then we tried to decide where to go to dinner. We went to Kauai Pasta. I really wanted to eat at a place right at the beach, but I didn't want to go to any of those restaurants for some reason. So, we ate in town and had some yummy pasta. We saw some friends there and they invited us to sit with them. Then Lance and I went to go do what I love to do: Sit in Borders and read the latest gossip and decorating magazines. Lance said that was no kind of date, but I reminded him it was my birthday date and we were going to do what I wanted!! He said fine, but I had to bring him all the books he wanted to look at since he can't really walk around. It was a deal.

Well, I better go. The night is going downhill fast. Lance is watching a really wierd movie on TNT and it is just time to go to bed. It's true what they say, that nothing good happens after 12.

Updates

2010-09-15T23:10:00.000-07:00

Lance- Lance started a Master's program at the end of August through Iowa State University. He will get his MS in Agronomy. It will be a busy 2 years (at least I hope it will be just 2 years). The program is mostly online, but I think he has to go to Iowa once. I hope that we will still know and love each other when it's all done. It's very busy. On top of that, he will continue to work full time and also will be assistant coaching varsity basketball at the local high school. Again, I hope we will still know and love each other when this is all over!

He really is a hard worker and really pushing himself. I cannot imagine having that much on my plate. I remember being constantly busy in college, working and studying and all that, but I did not have kids and all these responsibilites back then!

Me- I am plugging away. I am currently burned out on working on projects for now. I tried to get too much done before my in laws came to visit, so I am just too tired for projects now. I am currently trying to potty train Will, which has been one of the most mentally draining things I have ever done! He is a stubborn one and I do hope he does not have to go to kindergarten in a diaper.

I am walking with a lady I met a few mornings a week. The kids and I go to playgroup on Tuesdays. I try to make it to the beach with the kids everly so often.

Will-Busy busy busy. Today he refused a nap and kept trying to cling to me as I made dinner. I was kind of annoyed because he kept asking me to sit down and he wanted to get in my lap. He just kept running all around me. Then he said quite dramatically, "Mom, I just love you!" My icy mood slightly melted and I laughed and then sat down with him a few minutes later. Will is obsessed with airplanes and got to sit in one and also got to sit in a hang glider. I need to put those pictures up. I will do that soon.

Porter- I think he will start to talk pretty soon. For now, he says little words every once in awhile, like bye and ball. I often hear him shouting "Mommy!!!" Today I tried to get him to say bye bye to Lance as Lance left, but Porter was upset because he wanted to go outside too, so he wouldn't say bye. After he calmed down and drank some water and hung around a bit, I picked him up and brought him to his room. As we passed the door, he waved and said "bye bye." He is also doing a few signs and seems to understand more and more every day. He also likes to climb up on the coffee table and fall onto the couch. One of these days that is not going to end up very pretty. I keep trying to send him to time out when he does this, but I always catch him doing this. Once I did come downstairs to him on the floor bawling, so I wonder if he fell from the couch. I am not sure.

Last week I went to the beach with some friends. I had never been to this beach before and it was about an hour away. Anyways, we got done and showered our kids and all that. I said goodbye to the girls and said I would meet them at the mall since we were going there for some kids thing. They had watched my kids while I put our beach stuff in the car (before they left). Anyways, I got the kids all ready and went to the car. No keys. I had already put my cell phone in the car and it was locked. So, no phone and no keys. I looked everywhere for those keys. Nowhere. So, we walked to the nearest hotel so I could call Lance. Unfortunately, he was home sick that day from work and most likely sleeping. On top of that, the ringer on his phone does not work. So, every once in awhile I would just ask someone if they had a phone I could borrow. I just kept leaving messages with Lance. 3 hours later Lance finally made it. The happy ending is somehow my keys ended up in one of the girls's beach bags. So, I got that from her a couple days later and did not have to pay for a replacement key! Plus, I had to force myself to just sit and enjoy time with my kids. It was good. It was a little hard, though, not knowing when you were going to make it home.

Well, you can probably tell from this post that I am very tired. We are working on getting into a good routine with all these changes in our lives and I am sure we will get into something soon. The truth is, normal life really does leave you with the best memories. I am trying my best to really enjoy these crazy times with a young family. I will just bawl when my kids get older and leave, so I am trying to just enjoy this time. I love looking back and when Lance and I hadn't been married very long and lived in a little old trailer for his internship. That was definitely not glamourous and I probably complained a lot at the time, but I have only soft spots for that time now. I am sure one day I will look back at the times when Will would only go to the bathroom in his underwear instead of the toilet and smile. Well, maybe not at those times. Let me try another one. I will probably look back and smile at the times I saw Porter (yes, Porter!!) shove another kid to the ground. Hmm. Maybe not that one either. I will definitely smile though when I think about Porter holding the little baseball bat and giving me the ball to throw to him. I will also smile when I think about Will sitting on my lap in church and smiling at me and putting his arms around me and giving me a million kisses before Lance decides that's enough and pulling him off of my lap.

Kids are the best. (Lots of work, too).

I am posting a video of Will at our

ward luau this past week. He was taking a shot at the pinata.

Phew

2010-09-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

First of all, I am quite excited. This may not make sense to everyone, but I feel like Nephi in a way when he wasn't sure why he was recording things that had already been recorded elsewhere (Hopefully that's right). I have been importing pictures onto my computer from my cheap little camera for months now. I don't think I have ever erased a picture on it. I would always thing, oh, I ought to erase all those pictures now. But I never did. Then I lost the camera for a little bit. Then I found it. Anyways, a virus attacked our brand new Norton protected computer. It was devastating. Lance stayed home with Porter on Sunday since Porter seemed to sick and tried to fix it since he needs the computer for his schooling right now. I came home from church and he announced that he had fixed the virus, but in the process, he had to delete all the pictures on our computer. I was really bummed. But then I realized that I had never deleted the pictures on my camera! The other ones I had are on a jump drive and on various other people's cameras. So, I think I still have all my pictures! I am very happy about this.

Perfect Days, Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Days

2010-09-06T01:09:00.000-07:00

These pictures are from about a month ago. It was really really hot one day, so we took off to the Waimea canyon where it was much cooler. We brought snacks and the kids ran around the grassy area.

It's so funny how life is sometimes. Last week I had the most perfect day with the kids. They were so good, they played together so well, Will was making improvement in this horrible thing we call potty training, they went to bed well, and life was great. I decided I needed to hurry up and have 6 more kids before I got too much older.

Ahh, if only every day was like that. I don't mean that all the other days are horrible. Most of them are pretty good days, with sprinkles of great times and rather be forgotten times.

Today was one of the horrible days. Well, not horrible, but for some reason the kids would NOT take afternoon naps, so as a result, they were cranky and whiny the rest of the day. I was not a very patient mom and got very upset with Will when we sent him to time out because he pushed Porter and then he purposely wet his pull up. Towards the end of the day I questioned what I was thinking when I decided to have kids. Both Lance and I took turns trying to take little naps, but the naps mostly turned into one of us lying down hearing the other threatening time out, efforts to make the kids nap, and then lots of screaming and crying from Porter and Will in between that. I hope that doesn't sound too negative. It is quite the madhouse sometimes around here, but it's all good.

Anyways, Lance and I tried out the new kid hiking backpack I found at a yard sale last week. He carried Will, and I carried Porter in the little backpack we already owned. We went on a walk around the neighborhood and life was good. The kids went to bed super well because they were so tired. Then Lance boiled a crab one of friends gave us on our walk that they caught from a river on the island (actually the river we went kayaking on). We ate some of that, but then I decided I could no longer eat it when I found out that we were the ones that actually killed it when we boiled it. I really am not a PETA supporter or a vegetarian or anything and I really love meat, but I sure don't like thinking about the animals getting killed and all that.

Anyways, tomorrow should be a good day. Lance has the day off. We are going to have a good breakfast and hopefully do some hiking with the kids.

Day 4, 5, 6, 7

2010-09-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

The ones responsible for my crazy in laws.
South Shore day.

Picking up Carlie and Coleman from their boat tour. McDonalds.

This was Kipu falls. I actually did not go to this place with everyone because the kids were taking a nap, and I was too scared to jump off the cliff and rope anyways.

Kayaking, hiking, and the waterfall.

Swinging bridge.

Sunday pics (Will was napping)

Well, day 4 was south shore. We went to Poipu beach. I first tried to surf. I swam, or more like struggled, out and kept asking all these die hard surfers where the beginners go, and I got about 10 different answers.

By the time I finally made it back to shore, never having surfed and missing a chance to show off for everyone, I was way far away from everyone and had to walk with the big old surfboard back to our spot. I was also disappointed to come back and find that no one was panicking over where I had been for the past long while.

Then we did some snorkeling. I have been wanting to snorkel at Poipu for a long time. It feels much safer and is shallow. The fish were great, but I must say I still enjoy Tunnels Beach the best. It's deeper, but much more mysterious and exciting. And scary.

Then we went to Brennecke's beach and got completely torn apart and beat up from boogie boarding. The waves were huge, as were the crowds. I did many flips (not on purpose) and bumped into people and just about had my swimsuit top torn off from the waves. So, I abandoned that and went behind the waves, before they broke, and hung out there. It was fun.

Sunday we went to church and then took a walk down to the Hanapepe swinging bridge. I was disappointed it wasn't more windy. When Lance and I went with the kids a few months back, it was really windy and kind of scary! We just about fell down a couple of times.
Anyways, it was still fun.

Monday was the kayaking day. We rented some kayaks and went down the river (Kauai is the only Hawaiian island with navigable rivers) to a really cool waterfall that you could swim right under. It doesn't look like it in the pictures, but it really pours! It was fun to be right under it, but I was a little nervous a rock would fall down from way up high and kill me. There was a sign that said to stay out because of falling rocks, but I don't think anyone listens to that sign. You did have to do a hike to get to the waterfall that seemed to take forever. That day it had really rained, so it was super muddy. You also had to cross a stream holding on to a rope. My flip flop fell off, but my father in law was a hero and rescued it for me downstream. Anyways, halfway through the hike some of us abandoned our shoes and just walked barefoot. It was easier that way and I felt like Tarzan. Oh, on the way back, Lance and I overturned his sister and brother's kayak. Then they overturned ours. It was great fun. I just about drowned trying to save the paddles, but then I found out they floated.

Tuesday was free day, also the day they were leaving. The flight did not leave until 9 or 10 at night, so we had all day. Everyone wanted to go back to Poipu and boogie board, so we repeated the chaos from the last time. I again gave up on boogie boarding, went behind the waves, and hung out there. We even saw a sea turtle floating out there. If you ever come, though, be sure not to touch the sea turtles. That comes with a $50,000 fine. To protect the (not so) innocent, I will not mention any names, but someone on this trip did not know this (neither did I, until later) and had quite a time with the sea turtles earlier in the trip.

We ended the night with a delicious dinner at Dukes, my fav restaurant on the island. It's really nice. It's right on the beach, and it's fun going at sunset. It's kind of an open walled restaurant, so it's inside/outside. Delicious. I had shrimp scampi, steak, and a good chunk of delicious hula pie. A quick stop at Costco was in order to change into comfortable clothes and grab some last minute snacks for the flight. Then we had a sad goodbye and drove home alone. Will was quite devastated.

Anyways, the next day I got to cleaning up. 12 people living in our house for one week does not usually mean a clean house. Don't worry, though, it was totally worth it! I would do it all again, so please all come back!

Day 4

2010-08-31T15:52:00.000-07:00

Amazing! I can just hear the background music.

Wow, what a lucky guy that Lance is:)

I look dumb in all the pictures because of my poor, stinging eye.

I was really looking forward to day 4. It was the Napali coast boat tour. It was great! It started out badly, though, because they wouldn't take my newly pregnant sister in law Carlie on the boat because of how rough it could be (we were riding a zodiac raft type thing). She was devastated! But she and her husband went on a later boat ride on a more yacht like boat, which was much smoother.

Anyways, it was amazing! It was tons of fun, too. It was bumpy and adventurous. The napali coast was breathtaking. We saw a spot where I believe Mary J. Blige filmed part of a music video. I can't remember what the song was called.

The only bad thing was I got sunscreen in my eye, which happens almost everyday. It always stings and makes me tear up, but on this particular day I couldn't even open my eye, so I look stupid in a lot of the pictures. I kept having my father in law pour water in my eyes. Finally, a crew member gave me some visine, which helped a bit. By the end I was doing much better.

The boat tour started out a little bit before the Polihale beach, which you have seen in my blog numerous times, went up to Ke'e beach, which you saw from the pictures of our hike from day 3 (it's the one below and behind us in the group picture), which is the last beach you can get to by car on the north shore. So, this tour shows you what you can't see except by boat or plane.

At the beginning of the tour, we were boating right next to a big pack of dolphins. That was fun; I'd never seen them before. There was a cute little baby dolphin in the pack.

Day 3

2010-08-30T01:16:00.000-07:00

We did another hike on day 3. We hiked part of the Kalalau trail to Hanakapiai beach. We found out later it was the most dangerous beach on Hawaii with a strong rip current. It was a fun beach though before we knew that. Anyways, we hadn't worn our swimsuits, so we didn't go swimming there. Well, Rees and Clark wore their swimsuits, so they waded around a bit.

The hike wasn't too bad, but we could have gone another 9 miles to make it hard. One day I hope to do the trail that takes you to Kalalau beach. It's a beautiful area on the napali coast.

Then we went to Tunnels beach and did some snorkeling. I didn't get a chance to do much snorkeling, but it was my own fault. I was being a baby and got mad at Lance over something stupid so I wouldn't go into the water with him until it was almost time to go.

Everyone said they saw several sea turtles, but I didn't see any! Oh, well. I love snorkeling at tunnels. It's mysterious and also quite creepy.

Vacation Day 2, Part 2

2010-08-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

On the beach. Alyssa and Kara. Will and Clark. Will was so excited he never made it into his swimsuit. He was just wearing his shorts.

After the hike we headed down to Polihale. I don't have a ton of pictures of this time, but if you look through my blog, you will see plenty of Polihale pictures.

Everyone loved this beach. We love it, too. It's usually not very crowded, the sand goes on for miles (literally--I think it goes for maybe 22 miles. Or maybe more). We jumped around in the pretty pathetic waves. I really wanted to go boogie boarding, but the waves were breaking right on the shore. Then everyone played football. Laure and I got out of playing football though so we could watch the boys.

Vacation Day 2

2010-08-23T00:28:00.001-07:00

First pictures: Will kept getting bloody noses on the day of our hike in the Waimea canyon. Lance was carrying Will on his shoulders and sort of tripped (Will didn't fall off), and that set off another bloody nose. I was ahead of them on the trail and when I first saw him, I was really worried. His family tried to trick me into thinking somethign serious happened! I was so scared! I think the hike we did was to Waipo'o falls.

Porter and Kara at the Waimea Canyon lookout.

Lance, Will, and I at the edge of some scary cliff on the hike. Not sure what I am looking at.

Porter poking his head through. My mother in law on the hike. Reese, Alyssa, and I on the hike.

More views. Then the whole fam at the canyon.

Vacation Day 1

2010-08-23T00:22:00.000-07:00

I blog in spurts it seems. Then I run out of steam and quit for awhile. However, this time I haven't been blogging much because I was getting the house all ready for my in laws. We were going to have 12 people staying in our house for a week, so I wanted to start out with a really clean place and try to have good organization systems down. However, that's hard with so many people! But we had so much fun, so it was okay.

I don't know if we have pictures from the first day. I actually didn't take any pictures the whole time; I just stole pictures from the family that took them.

They opened the door to our house around 3 pm August 10th. (Lance and a friend picked up the whole crew) Will had run up a 103+ fever, just in time for visitors. He was sick and mostly sat around. We hung out for awhile and then all went to Costco and dropped a few hundred dollars on food for the week. Then we all got the dinner staple, costco pizza and frozen yogurt. I have had so much of that since we moved here. We never go out to eat anymore (seriously, never), but we do eat at costco when we go shopping.

Then we put everything away and went to bed.

For Angie

2010-08-04T03:59:00.001-07:00

And hey, I do want to be invited to your blog! I don't know your email, so I will just contact you this way. My email is melissatkins@yahoo.com. And if anybody else has a private blog that I am not in, go ahead and add me so I can see it!

That's It; I'm Having Another Baby

2010-08-04T03:45:00.001-07:00

Haha, not really. Maybe one day. Not now, though. But I can't sleep right now and I was just looking though my blog. I was watching videos of Will when he was just small and I could just cry!! I love Will being a 3 year old. He's so fun and says the funniest things. Sometimes, though, I just miss that little Will!! It was so funny to look at what I would write about. Life was definitely different with just Will. I never believed it would happen, but I truly did relax and lighten up with the second kid!
And Porter. Man he is big!!! I was just looking at when he was first born. What a doll. That was just a year and a few months ago, but life changes so much in just a short matter of time!! My kids are so big now and seeing them when they were little makes me miss those times when they were teeny. Almost makes me want another baby right now. But then I remember there is much more to it than just holding them while they sweetly look up at you. The more typical scene is the toddler screaming while the baby also screams, toys scattered all over, spit up all over your nice shirt (who are we kidding. It's actually on the nightshirt that you still haven't gotten out of and it's past noon), greasy hair because you haven't gotten the chance to shower yet, the gross bathroom that you STILL haven't cleaned, and hearing the baby dirty up yet another diaper. Seriously, though, it's all worth it. Those are funny memories. I have been thinking. There really are seasons in life. Back then, I couldn't really dream of doing many projects. Even recently I was always too tired to do anything but sleep when the kids took their naps. Now, though, they are getting older and play a bit better together. They sleep through the night (Well...sometimes.) so I have more energy to get more done. I know it will all change when and if the next baby comes. But that's okay.

Lance and I were talking the other day about how we miss our old house, yard, and living in Twin near our friends and in laws. We wouldn't trade how life worked out and moving to Hawaii, but sometimes you just miss the old times! Life goes by so fast!
Okay. I know I am just 26 (27 next month, though, you know) and that this post makes it sound like I am more like 90 or something. Well, except for the part about having the baby last year. Just the part about life going by so fast. It totally does!!

Okay, I better just sign off for now. I could go on and on..

Sewing Melissa Style

2010-07-15T00:46:00.001-07:00

Sewing Melissa style is much easier than regular sewing. Lance and I decided a few years back that we got the useless gender genes. Lance loves sports, eating, sports, eating, and that guy stuff. He is not great about car repair, home repair, building things, etc. As for me, I love shopping, makeup, chatting, chatting, chatting, and hair. I am a terrible sewer (despite 2 classes with other so called beginners, but I don't know. They were good), a mediocre cook, and so not crafty.

Anyways, last week I was cursing HGTV and all the decorating blogs that I love to look at so much. I decided I was done with all of it. No more couponing, no more refinishing things, no more trying to sew things, I WAS DONE. I was just going to save our money for the things that I want. However, I had a half done project that I thought I would go ahead and finish (this was after I had a few days to cool off). So, I finished it. It definitely didn't turn out how I thought it would, but if you don't look too close, it looks fine. I sewed a shower curtain that we rarely used (it was in the guest bathroom in our old house) to a sheet. It was not quite the right size for a queen size duvet that I got at a yard sale, but it actually looks quite nice stuffed in it. It makes it look nice and cozy and pillowy. I had tried to make it bigger with stuff, but only managed to mess up an old duvet cover I had ripped apart to try to add to this one. And I did a lot of seam ripping. Anyways, so I did it! I like it. Now I just need to get a bedskirt.

Then, a couple of months ago I picked up a pair of XXL pajama pants at a yard sale that were so cute and I liked the fabric and thought about making pillows for Porter's crib. I had some ideas. So, I finally tackled them today. I looked at an old sewing book I had and even pillows looked too complicated and I am not very good with hand stitching the covers closed and all that. So, I cut each pant leg off. I just used a decorative seam from the sewing machine to sew 2 sides, stuff it with filling (the other side was already seamed from being the leg), and sewed it closed with the machine. Easy. Just sew all around. I actually kind of like them. They also make good mock bumpers that make good decoration and you can just take them out when the baby sleeps, since they say now you really shouldn't have bumpers in your crib. The pillows even have a pocket and an elastic side. So, enjoy the pictures. I think the creations are quite great, but my creations usually don't really end up lasting (aka that dumb little "town" I made for Will. Yes, it's at the landfill. I kept meaning to touch up the paint and all that, but I just never got around to it and just gave up. I came up with another idea for his cars. I will share that later). However, I think these are here to stay! I hope, at least.

July 4th

2010-07-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

We went and saw the fireworks this year at the military base. They were actually on the 3rd. We saw just about everyone we knew on the island! The island is not huge, so at these type of events you usually see lots of people you know. We sat right on the beach to enjoy the fireworks. They also had lots of activities before the fireworks, so we did some of those. Of course we had to get some food. Then, in a temporary lapse of judgment, we paid $10 for an all you can play pass in the bounce houses. Of course Will probably spent just 10 minutes or so in them before getting hurt, so we did not get our money's worth.

We hadn't been to firework show in years, so I forgot they are pretty short. I just remember fireworks shows being so long, but maybe I am just remembering from my childhood, when everything seems so long. The show was probably 10 or 15 minutes. But it was good, just perfect. Porter was entranced by the show and Will covered his ears. Before the show, Porter walked around trying to drink everyone's drink. This kid is truly obsessed with water.

Tunnels Beach

2010-07-11T23:32:00.001-07:00

Last week we went up to the North Shore to Tunnels Beach. I hadn't been that far up north yet, except for when my family and I took a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands before I met Lance. We got there and at first I wasn't too impressed. It seemed sort of crowded. But once we sat down and looked around, I thought it was gorgeous. Lance and I decided to take turns snorkeling. I still had not been snorkeling. I just couldn't get a hang of the breathing thing. So, Lance gave me a quick lesson and I was off. I was very impressed and had a great time seeing all the fish and coral around. Then all of a sudden the ground sort of dropped off and got very deep. I guess that's why it's called Tunnels; there's lots of tunnels and things under the water. I sort of freaked out and turned around and rushed back to shore. Something about that big deep ocean is a bit creepy. I played with the kids while Lance went out. Then our friends Chad and Mary came. I wanted to go out with them so I wouldn't have to snorkel alone, since that's sort of creepy. I followed them very closely, probably annoyingly close, but I was a little creeped out! It was fun and I just followed them around and felt pretty safe until I thought about sharks. But I kept going. Then all of a sudden I couldn't find them anymore. I was waaay out there, or at least it seemed like that, and I freaked out again and paddled my feet as hard as I could. Then the water got super deep. I was going the wrong way, which only freaked me out more. I finally made it back. I still think snorkeling is really fun. Then Lance told me a girl got her arm bitten off at that beach a few years back. However, I do know that sort of thing is super rare.

I played with the kids while Lance and Chad went spear fishing. Then it sort of rained off and on. We had to drive to the showers, which were extremely cold and made the kids cry. I felt really bad, but I knew they would be more comfortable with clean clothes in the car rather than sandy skin.

Snorkeling was awesome and I want to do it again.

Kilauea Lighthouse

2010-07-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

The boys and I joined a group on the island here called Ohana Mamas. They go and do fun things all over the island, often at free or discounted rates. One activity we recently did was go to the Kilauea lighthouse. It's up on the north shore and very beautiful. The kids fell asleep on the way up there. It took about an hour and 15 minutes. We learned about the birds in the area and saw some eggs. Then we went to the lighthouse area and just hung around. Will found a little guy to play around with and Porter couldn't stay off the golf cart by the visitor's center. A nice guy that volunteered there gave Porter and Will a ride. The views at the lighthouse were beautiful.

Who's the Hottest?

2010-07-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

Lately there has just been funny stuff being said around here. I think Will hears my dramatic talk a lot. So, sometimes I will hear him groaning "I just can't do this anymore." or "I just can't do this right now." I suppose I am kind of dramatic sometimes. He is sort of a parrot sometimes, too. He copies everything he hears Lance says. It's pretty funny. We were eating hamburgers tonight and Lance goes "Ummm girlfriend" in kind of a goofy voice, and it sounds hilarious when Will copies it.

Then last night I can't remember what we were watching, but it had a picture of each guy in Twilight: It was just some dumb tv show and they were just asking who was hotter. Then Lance goes, "I don't get that. Isn't obvious? I mean one guy has sort of a wierd creepy look and the other guy...(Then he pauses, trying to figure out how to basically say how he thought the other guy was hotter, but not sound wierd saying that) (finally he came up with a way to say that) ...is just one step below me in the sex appeal factor." It was pretty funny.

You know, I haven't even read the books! I have only seen the a little bit of the first movie. I just haven't done much fiction reading for a long time. I need to. Maybe I would really like them. I just haven't been bitten by the twilight bug yet. I do think the story about the author is fascinating, though, how she had the dream and all that and started writing and now is probably filthy rich.

Latest

2010-07-01T23:37:00.001-07:00

I tell you what, I never knew how much fun I was! But I have people that try their very hardest just to get near me! I seem to have the best ideas and a party just does not start without me. At least, that's how Porter and Will make me feel. Will all day long just said "Play with me mommy." I tried my best to play some, but I also was trying to get some cleaning done. Porter just follows me all day long and wants to be by my side.
Sometimes I just ask my kids dumb questions, out of boredom I suppose. I asked Will today, "Am I exciting or am I boring?" Will told me that I was exciting.

I am finally over my sickness. Nothing helps you to appreciate your health as does being sick. The past two times I have done a run up the hill we live I have gotten sick! I'm sure there's no connection, but I am sure scared to ever do it again. The first time I was only sick for a day, but this last time I was sick for almost a week. My fever went up to 103.6 and I had body aches all over. I had a pounding headache and just felt miserable. Lance stayed home for a couple of days to help with the kids. He did pretty good holding down the fort. At first I think I was a little critical of him and his methods, but I lightened up as the time went on. I got to thinking that I have had lots of practice over the past 3 years of taking care of kids and the house. It's a little rough when the dad is just thrown into it! He really did quite well.

Will just keeps me laughing. The other day, when I was still sick, he kept coming up the stairs to my room even though Lance kept telling him to come back down. When he got up, he ran over to me and said "The wind blew me up here!"

Then Lance was dressing him for church. He took of his nightshirt and Will fussed since it was kind of tight. In a very matter of fact voice Will said "Sometimes shirts hurt."

The other day Lance was making cookies and wanted me to come down and help. I was pretty much better, but still feeling a tiny bit sick and very tired. I just sat on a chair with a blanket wrapped around me. I guess I was complaining about the way he was making cookies. He wasn't being very receptive. Then I said "You know Lance, if we weren't married right now and we were just hanging out, right about now I would be thinking that you were not very interested in me." Then he said "Well, if we were just hanging out, I don't think you would be nitpicking at my cookie making." I thought that made pretty good sense. I was just being sort of an unpleasant blob. Don't worry, though, we were having a good time.

Well, I will write more later. I took the kids to the lighthouse yesterday and took some pictures. They seemed to have a good time. I will post pictures then!

Awkard Stage

2010-06-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

Poor Will is already going through an awkward stage. First of all, his crooked tooth is pretty obvious. Then, he's got some wierd scalp thing. I don't know what the deal is, but there are parts that scab up and if you try to get them out, the hair comes out with it, so then he has bald spots. We got his haircut on Saturday and you can see the wierd parts of his head with the haircut. It didn't help that on Sunday I tucked his shirt into his shorts sort of dorkily. But I have always loved the dorky look. I always thought dorky guys were so cute. Lance does not take this as a compliment.

Another funny thing about Will is his affection. He is just very open with affection and Lance usually has to intervene at church. Will loves to sit on my lap facing me and just kiss me and kiss me. Then he will hug me, smile at me, and kiss and kiss all over my face. Then Lance gets upset and takes him away. Will really is so funny. He often says, "I love you mommy." I wish you could hear how he says it, though.

It's Not As Much Fun As It Looks

2010-06-29T23:23:00.001-07:00

My dad visited for a couple of days at the beginning of the month. I wanted him to do something really fun while he was here. A really nice girl at work had given Lance some Luau tickets she won. So, we thought we would go. I tried desperately to find a babysitter, but could not find one. It's my own fault, though, because I was giving a moment's notice.

So, we all headed there.

We started out on a little bus ride around the gardens. Then we had the dinner. It was a fight from there. The kids were tired, or at least they were acting like it. I notice that I always say the kids were tired whenever they aren't behaving. Lance and I would take turns walking out with Porter. Porter and Will together managed to spill 2 or 3 glasses of water and punch. We sat across some honeymooners and another couple without kids. I think we caused them to decide to stay that way.

Then we had the show. The kids were just not interested. I was, though. In the end, though, I didn't think it was worth the fight and we left after 20 or 30 minutes of the show. At least I got to see the Tahitian dancers. I want to dance like one so bad.

My poor dad was so tired the whole time. He was on his way home from Japan and his poor body was just so confused. It was funny, because his flight from Japan to Hawaii left on Thursday night, but he got here around noon on Thursday. He crossed over the dateline or whatever it is. (My mom works for Delta and you better believe my family takes advantage of this. I no longer fly for free since I am over 23 and married. I did fly free at one time in my life and it was great).

Tooth Tragedy

2010-06-23T00:21:00.000-07:00

You can see his tooth behind his bottom teeth.

Waiting

Port all tuckered out.

The waiting room.

Outside the office.

On the way to the dentist.

Poor tooth.

We went to the park yesterday morning and played around. Then Porter was getting tired, so I figured it was time to go. I was putting Porter in his car seat and told Will to go get his shoes and put them on (That kid won't wear shoes for the life of me). He wouldn't and I kept counting 123 and all that, but he still wouldn't. Then I told him he would not get a snack at home unless he got his shoes. So, I saw him run off towards the shoes. I was still getting Porter all buckled in when I heard Will sort of screaming and crying. I feel bad, because I didn't go running. He says ouch and ow all the time over everything and does a lot of fake crying. But he kept on, so I went over. It looked like he had gotten hurt on his mouth. Sure enough, there was a little bit of blood, but not bad. However, he kept crying the whole way home. He did not want to do anything. I even told him to watch some cartoons, but he didn't want to. I took a shower and he sort of cried on and off. Then I figured something must be wrong for him to be crying so much. I took another look, and one of his front teeth looked like it had moved. That was the one with a little blood. So, I called our dentist. We got an appointment for that day in a couple of hours.

So, I was a little worried. Will had never been to the dentist and I thought it was going to be a terror of a time. I have a cute little Usborne book about going to the dentist. We had read it several times before, but I got it out again and we read it. I tried to act really excited about it and explained all the stuff in it to him. In this book, the waiting room is very busy and has lots of cool toys, including a train. He kept talking about the train that would be in the waiting room. I was a little nervous, because I figured there would not be much of a waiting room at this place.

Anyways, so we get there. The waiting room was teeny with a few kids books and some adult magazines (by adult, I mean like Golf, Women's Day, etc. Not the other stuff). So, Will was a bit disappointed. They called his name and at first he was dragging his feet and wouldn't put on his shoes (notice a pattern here?).

IT WAS SO GREAT! First of all, the dentists are the nicest ever. It's a husband and wife team. We had the wife. She was so nice. Will got up in the chair. She told him she was going to take some pictures of his teeth. They had a cool little camera they put in your mouth and you can see it on the television screen in front of you. Will did pretty good with that. Then he got excited about the light he saw above the chair. We had talked about the cool light the dentist shines in your mouth. He pointed at it and asked "Is that the light?" She said yes and shined it in his mouth. He did so good the whole time; I was just so happy. So read that book before you take your kid to the dentist.

Anyways, sure enough, the tooth had moved. The x ray showed it, also. She said usually they don't do anything; just watch it. The tooth will most likely die, so I will probably have a little gray-toothed kid. He goes back in a month to get it checked on, and he will also get his first cleaning. I am a little worried about that. Hopefully that will go well. I keep telling him about the cool buzzing toothbrush they will put in his mouth, so hopefully he will like that.

Also, now he talks with a lisp. It's pretty funny.

Sunday Walk

2010-06-21T16:44:00.001-07:00

Another one of our houses. :)

Yesterday we went on a little walk on the other side of the island. We live on the westside and went over to the eastside. It was a little past Kapa'a. Kapa'a is quite the tourist town. The walk was great! We first walked on the beach a bit. Then we put the kids in the stroller and went on the walking path. It was beautiful! Then we headed home around 7. Lance's plan was for the kids to fall asleep on the way home, but it did not happen!

Addicted

2010-06-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know most of you probably don't care about this type of post, but I will just say I am doing it for my sister. I have come to love garage sales! I never have been into them and had only been to a few. Once we moved here, though, I decided I ought to give them a try. They have been awesome! I have to stop now though and use what I have bought so far and decorate and do what I want to do with the stuff and then I can get back to garage saling. But dont' worry, I am a firm believer in the simple life, so I will not accumulate too much stuff. Plus, I am always purging out stuff and getting rid of stuff. Before I go on, though, why did people ever start decorating? I wish they never did. It would make life so much easier. I was talking to my mom about all my frustrations and one of them was never having the time it seemed to really spruce up my place and make it look cute. My mom told me now to worry so much about it. She said it didn't use to be quite like that. You would keep your place clean and maybe have some flowers around, but that was it. That's probably true. My grandmother's house is always neat and tidy, but it's not decorated a ton. There are some nice pictures and things like that, but that's it. It's too late now to go back to that, though, since I love all the decorating stuff.

Sometimes I wish I never even got into the decorating thing. I remember when I was blissfully ignorant about all of that. When Lance and I first got married, we lived in a house that split into 3 places. We had a basic kitchen table we had gotten from my grandmother's house. We had two old brown chairs from my grandmother's house and a couple of bookcases, well, from her house again. And they weren't like solid wood bookcases or anything. Then we had an old seventies type dresser and a bed with no headboard. And I didn't even really think about it too much. Those were the good old days! Then I started watching HGTV after we graduated and got all these crazy ideas.
Oh, I just feel so nostalgic thinking about that first little place we had!! When you walked in, it just reminded you of your grandmother's house, just the style of it all. Our rent was $465 a month, including utilities. We did not have phone, cable, or internet. Just a cell phone we shared. HOW DID WE EVER LIVE WITHOUT INTERNET???? We shared an old blue mercury sable. Ahhh, this is for another post. I could just go on and on.

Anyways, so here are pictures of all my exciting finds this weekend. The great thing about it was I have been wanting to decorate Will's room in the american theme. He has a cute little american quilt my mother in law made, so I was going to decorate around that theme. And guess what I found this weekend. A bunch of cute american decorations!!! And then I have been wanting to get lots of fun pillows for the kids since they like to play with pillows and climb around them. I am going to make some nice covers for them (Hopefully. I always say I will do things with all this stuff) and they will make for fun times. Also, a couple of the pillows are perfect for putting next to Will's bed. He seriously falls out of the bed quite regularly. I will hear a big thump and out comes Will a few minutes later. Will loved all the decorations.

So I think if I can remember right, this is what I bought at garage sales this weekend:

1. Duvet

2. Ikea duvet cover and pillowcases

3. Scentsy warmer and some scents with it

4. 2 American themed trashcans

5. American themed towel holder

6. God Bless America quote decoration

7. Another little American themed decoration

8. A bunch of pillows

9. A Gap Linen dress

10. A scarf that I will use to decorate the couch

11. Exercise pants

12. 2 lamps for my bedside tables that I will spray paint oil rubbed bronze like my sister did here

13. A nice glass vase that I will use to decorate my table with a flower arrangement.

14. And probaby some other things I forgot about

Okay, so maybe I went overboard. Oops.

I didn't post all the pictures, but I will later. Lance is getting sick of me being on the computer.

Porter Walking Pics and Playing on a Sunday Afternoon

2010-06-20T23:57:00.000-07:00

My sister has been waiting for me to post pictures of Porter walking. I have a video of him walking early on, but I can't figure out how to get it on here since it's from a video camcorder. I will figure it out. However, I do have some recent pictures of him walking. I am also going to post some pictures of playtime today with the boys before their naps. Oh, and believe it or not (which you probably won't since the pictures usually have the boys looking like this) I really do put pants on my boys all the time. Really. This one I had just changed their diapers and their shorts had gotten dirty since they spilled stuff on them from lunch. Whenever you see Porter without shorts, it's probably because I tried really hard to put them on after changing his diaper, but he threw such a fit and wriggled around so much I finally gave up trying to put them on him. He is a strong little boy.

You're Fired

2010-06-20T23:47:00.000-07:00

First of all, I just love having a computer that can copy pictures onto it in a matter of seconds. It's great.

Anyways, when I used to be more uptight (yes, can you believe it? I used to be more uptight than I am now), sometimes I would tell Lance he was fired when he would be watching the kids and I thought he wasn't paying them attention or doing a good enough job watching them (I promise I am not a nagging wife...I sure hope I'm not at least). Anyways, he has had a few "You're fired" moments lately.

Living here is great, but sometimes it gets hard. I don't have family nearby that can watch the kids for me and Lance works quite a bit. So, I was going crazy sometimes with the kids. We'd be home all day and I felt like I never really had a break. So we started a Thursday night break for me. Lance watches the kids and I go to the library and read and relax. A few weeks ago I took off for the library and Lance worked in the little garden we are attempting. When I got home he told me that while he was gardening, he looked up and couldn't see Porter anywhere. When he went around looking, he say Porter walking down the middle of the road about two houses down with one of the play garden tools. Scary.

Then, as you can see from the laundry basket picture, the kids found the crayons while Lance was watching the kids while talking on the phone. When I walked upstairs and saw that, I was kind of mad, but Will was so proud of it and I figured it was just a plastic laundry basket. So, I just decided to tell him what a great job he did. But then I started thinking that would encourage all that coloring everywhere. Don't worry, though, I am in control of the crayons. They are hiding.

Another time Lance let me take a nap on a Sunday afternoon (Actually, he always lets me take naps on Sunday afternoon. It really is so nice of him and I really appreciate it). He was watching Porter. However, I woke up to Porter coming up the stairs. Our stairs are scary for a little tike like him. I guess Lance had fallen asleep while watching Porter and he made it up the stairs!

I hope this didn't sound like a Lance bashing session. That's not what I mean it to be. I have made plenty of dumb mistakes while watching the kids, that's for sure.

For the Hopelessly Uncrafty

2010-06-20T17:14:00.001-07:00

Well, my poor kids did not get a crafty mom. Never in my life have I been crafty. I always disliked craft time at girl's camp. The two sewing classes I took in my life were a huge challenge for me and usually caused me to lose friends as I was always asking the girls around me for help. All the other girls would claim they were beginners too, but I just don't know. They seemed to catch on quite naturally.

Anyways, so the past few weeks we have been different things around here for entertainment. First we played with all the paper towel rolls. We stacked them, made little houses, and made little beds. Then Will used part of a diaper box to make them into garbage for a garbage truck:

Then Will kept trying to mess with our computer, so I told him we would make him his own little computer. I cut out part of the diaper box, found some pictures to make into the screen, and then just sort of cheated on the keyboard. I just put a little card thing there. I keep telling him I will make him a better keyboard.

The only thing about these thrown together toys is that they don't entertain for too long. One time all we did was cut out shapes from a piece of paper and build things with them. I was trying to get him to be happy while I went and took a shower. I think he was tired of the shapes after 2 minutes. If I played with him all day, though, I think he would like them for longer. Then we cut out little people out of paper like little paper dolls. We took the front cover off of a cereal box and made it into a little house and put in little furniture we cut out. And when I say furniture, we just cut out little squares and it was like, "Okay, this is the oven, this is the couch..."

Well, I need to take a nap. I am practically falling asleep as I type this. I will post more after my nap since I have quite a bit more to post.

Beach Day

2010-06-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent a few hours at Polihale, one of our favorite beaches. The kids seemed to have a good time. I was super bummed, though. I have been feeling more brave about water ever since I sort of learned how to surf, so I wanted to do some good boogie boarding. This beach usually has good waves, but the water was so calm. The waves were crashing right on the shore, so it was not a boogie boarding day. Oh, well. I just laid on the boogie board and floated around a bit. The sand was SUPER hot later on in the day. It hurt so bad to walk on it. The kids were so tired and fell asleep the second we put them in the car.

There is a nice shelf developing on the shore. We dug out some little holes and made little "houses" as Will called them. They actually made very comfortable little chairs to sit in.

Surf's Up

2010-06-10T00:51:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled. A few Saturdays ago we went to Hanalei Bay to learn surfing with our friends. Our friend gave us a mini lesson and then we got up a bit, but I would always fall off once I got up. Then my dad came last weekend and we went to get surfing lessons again. This time I not only got up, I rode the waves all the way in!! I was so excited! I never am good at things like that!! The thing is, I probably am really not that good, but to me, I am da best!!

It was a blast. I can't wait to go again now. The area was beautiful, too.

Oh, this old house? That's just ours. (I WISH!!!!)

Fight it Out

2010-06-10T00:43:00.000-07:00

The other day Lance and I were driving home from a little Hawaiian dance recital. I was saying how the ocean had definitely gotten warmer since it was easier for me to get into it. We started stupidly arguing about the water temperature. Lance said that it was a fact that the water temp had not changed and that one or two degrees would not make a difference (I can't remember play by play, so maybe I am not saying everything quite right). Lance kept talking about it being science and all that. So we were arguing and definitely gettinginto it (Isn't that dumb???) Then I said we should just drop it and forget about it. We were silent for a few minutes and then I started talking about other stuff. Lance was sort of grumpy and didn't talk much. Then he said he didn't like when I just acted like everything was back to normal. I said it was back to normal. He kept saying it wasn't and that he wasn't going to play along. So then I said "Fine, I am just going to keep talking, you don't have to talk to me."
Finally Lance just burst out and said "I would just rather us just fight it out and then get back to normal." So I said okay and we fought a little bit more about the subject and then got back to normal. However, poor little Will said from the back "Don't fight it out. Daddy, be nice to Mommy." So then Lance was grumpy because Will got onto his case.

That's just the style that works for Lance and I. Sometimes I try to cover things up that I am mad about and be really nice, but Lance always tells me he does not like it when I play the "nice wife." He would rather me just blow up about whatever I am mad about and then get back to normal.

From the Mouth of Will

2010-06-09T23:39:00.000-07:00

Will has been really funny lately. The other night we were all in bed. Will had already fallen asleep. Anyways, I could hear him coming up the stairs. It was midnight, so Lance was asleep, too. Will ran in our room and I said "No Will. No, there's no room (3 of us in the bed is way too much). There's no room here." Will just said "Please you give me room?"

Then yesterday I put him down for his nap. He did NOT want to take a nap. Finally, he stayed in his room. Then 10 minutes later he walks out squinting his eyes. He then announces "I just woke up." It was the funniest thing ever. How does a 3 year old pick that kind of stuff up? I probably don't give 3 year olds enough credit. Everything he says just seems so smart and witty, but I guess I am his mom.