Pictures!

Here is some of what we've been up to!

hmmm.... don't ask! I just randomly caught him watching TV this way.

At our friends Birthday Party... the theme was under the sea. It was awesome!

I just love my little boys smiles... they make my day.

He loves his new McQueen sleeping bag, sleeps with it practically every night. And watches TV with it too.

Chillin' in the Hot Tub.

Just some more Thoughts... Look Out!!!!

Okay, here are some more of my recent thoughts and feelings ... you have been sufficiently warned. ;)1. Last night I went to my first Hip Hop Dance class. It was a whole lot of fun. It is so important to get out as a stay at home mom and do your own thing. There is something about taking a step out that makes you so happy to step back in. When I came back home Q was so happy to see me. I asked him if he wanted to help me bring the groceries in and he got so excited and happy and said with a sort of sweet desperation, "Yes, Please, Mama!" He is so sweet, so tenderhearted. The class also made me remember and think back to College and how fun it is to have a group instruction and to be able to learn with other people. I wouldn't go as far as to say I miss College, because I know how hard it is, but it sure was fun and I am glad I did it.

2. Last night I was putting Quincey to bed (way after his bed time), we were laying in the dark, and he asked me to read Where's Spot (his current favorite) to him. So, I started repeating all that I remembered... is Spot in the Closet? no, that's a monkey! (etc., ) Anyways, I finished all the ones I could remember and was pretty confident that I got them all and Quince started saying, " Bear please? Bear please? " (Apparently, I had forgotten the Bear). I didn't think much of this until this morning. Man, kids are so smart!! It is so fun to see how Quincey is learning and growing. Soon, he will be constantly correcting me because I am so old and don't remember anything. So, I appreciate the polite 'Bear please'.

3. Yesterday, I was at the park with some friends from my MOMS club, and Quincey started wandering (and just so you know, this kid can go 0 to 60 in 'really fast time') towards the play sets, which were a bit of a distance from where we were at the picnic tables. He started making me nervous, getting a bit too close to the parking area, so I started to call and run after him, telling him to stay on the sidewalk... and of course, he doesn't even turn a head. (I did catch up with him and he is fine.) It just sometimes scares me how much this kid loves his independence. Telling him no is like setting fire on a desire to prove that he can. My friend Lara recommended this book... I ordered it, and it should be here soon. She says it focuses on rewarding good behavior instead of just punishing the bad. I am hoping that it will give me a better idea on how to do this, because sometimes I feel like I am just saying 'no' all day long and to be honest Q loves getting attention any way he can get it, and 'no' makes him want to do it even more. So, we will see. I don't normally read a lot of Parent Help Guides, because there are a lot of opinions out there, and most of the time, I think it is important just to stick with your gut... but, this seems to be what my gut is telling me! ;)

4. A friend of our family told me that he asked my mom if she sometimes sees her kids having to discipline her grandkids and thinks, "Ha, that serves them right!" And she said that sometimes she does feel that towards her kids that were a pain for her, but with her children who didn't give her as much of a hard time, she feels mostly empathy. I just thought that was cute. I think when Q grows up and has little 'Quincey's' I will probably think, "ha, serves you right!"

A thought

I recently re-read this talk.... "None Were With Him" by Jeffrey R Holland from April's General Conference. I just wanted to mention how much I loved this talk. This showed a unique angle of the Atonement that I hadn't really heard before. I think it is easy for any of us to feel alone or not understood, so I find it so comforting to be reminded
"that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. Truly the Redeemer of us all said, “I will not leave you comfortless. [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].”John 14:18; see also v. 23."

Moab Trip

We went to Moab this weekend for a little Tea family get together. It was a lot of fun! Thanks to Cameron and Susan who did the planning and preparation!
We got to go White Water Rafting. (By we, I mean Geren and I and some from other families. Maiya and Quince are too young). Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera for that part. But, we went on a hike and I was able to get some pictures of that. This is something we plan on doing again for sure.

We got to see some cows being herded right by our car!

At the Cabin

Maiya and me on the hike.

Quincey and Geren

The arch that we hiked to.

We got to see some guys repelling down the arch. So cool.

Baby Maiya, taking a rest.

Quincey enjoyed all of the time with his cousins!

And in this video, Quincey got to learn what an Echo is!

Updates on baby Maiya

I know crawling videos may be a little boring... but I finally was able to get one of Maiya. I wish I could've gotten one when she wasn't as good, but you can still see elements of the 'funny crawling'. She kind of scoots both of her legs at once. Anyways, This munchkin is so much happier now that she crawls. She can be left in a room all by herself and find plenty to do to entertain herself. Before she would always cry because she was bored!
I weighed her today and she weighs 19lb. 5oz. Looks like she's about average.

The "Sharing Feelings" Series

After reading my friend Kristen's post entitled Sharing Feelings, I was motivated to share my own! So, you have been sufficiently warned. This isn't something that I would say I do very often on a public scale, but I thought maybe it would hopefully be therapeutic.

1. I realized that I don't always allow myself to enjoy myself. If the kids are napping and I feel like watching a movie, I sometimes feel bad about that! Mostly, because of all of the other things that I have to do. I do it anyway, but that doesn't stop me from feeling a little guilty.

2. Being a stay at home mom is so interesting. Most jobs have paychecks. In my other jobs that I have had in my life, the paycheck was the big motivator. Well, I don't get a paycheck for cleaning my bathroom, or grocery shopping, or making dinner, or changing a million diapers in one day (sidenote: I really am amazed at how fast diapers can create 'diaper mountain'). So, what then is my motivation???!!! I would have to say that typically I act out of necessity, I mean the smell of those diapers is enough to motivate almost anyone! In an ideal world a mother's paycheck would be feeling appreciated. But, of course we can't always count on that. I have to admit though, a regular paycheck would be nice.
3. I have to fight with Quincey on almost every single aspect of our day. Transitions seem to be so tough on him. He is the type that you have to fight to get in the tub and than fight to get him out. I fight to get him in the car, I fight to get him out. Getting dressed, getting undressed and so on. The best tool that I found for it all was distraction, but as illustrated by my last post, he has caught onto that now, and it doesn't really work anymore. So, I have to think of some new tactics.

Okay that is a good start for now! Not nearly perfected in the art of 'tell-all', but practice makes perfect!

And here are a couple of pictures:

This is the famous Jeep that all of the boys wanted to play in. Barbie, nonetheless.

My girl is crazy for spaghetti.

That Little Stinker!!!

Quincey is the master of distraction. Today we were at a friends house and Q really wanted to sit in the drivers seat of this really cool toy jeep, and he went through all kinds of measures to try to get in the drivers seat to the point of violence. I kept trying to get Quincey interested in other things, like playing with the balls, or the sandbox, but nothing worked. Finally Quincey said to his friend, Jackson, (who was sitting in the drivers seat) "Jackson, do you want to go play with the balls with me?" And Jack agreed. So they both started to head over there. But as soon as Q saw that the coast was clear he ran back to the jeep to sit in the coveted driving position. Hmmm.... not so sure what to do with that.

Chicka Boom Boom Pow!

We've been pretty busy here! Lots of good things. I did have my birthday on Saturday, and it was a very nice day. It is so nice to be thought of by so many people. Maiya has officially started crawling. She is quite the little perfectionist. She has to have her skills perfect before she will show them off. I am still trying to get a good video of it. I do have one, but it is pretty shaky. She crawls so cute. She puts both of her hands in front of her, and than drags both of her feet behind her. I am also pleased to announce that she has not bitten me since my last post. So, I guess she learned her lesson. She can also wave hello and good bye. Her top two teeth have finally broken through, so hopefully she will calm down a bit, the last couple of weeks have been pretty rough on her.

Quincey has been a lot of fun lately... he is learning about a million words per minute. His favorite song is Boom Boom Pow by the black eyed peas. (that has nothing to do with my influence at all! lol.) And we rented Madagascar 2 once and now everything is.. 'Chicka What?' And Winnie the Pooh all of a sudden became Chicka Pooh! He cracks me up. (I have all of this in the video below.) He also got to go on top of the roof with his Uncle. He still can't stop talking about that.

We only had a '2' candle, so here is me holding up the 8 ;)

Quince on the roof

Sweet Maiya

Quincey Chatting


Maiya Crawling

Free songs

Go here and use the code BEAUTYBEAT and you can choose to download 6 songs for free from a list of about 10. I really like the songs that I downloaded! :)

And go here to download the entire Colplay live album (Left right left) for free. I love listening to them live! Happy Listening!

(sorry, the link should work now!)