{happy birthday XANDER!!!}

I can't believe it's been 2 years since our little man was born.

(This is not one of my finer scrapbooking moments)

I'll do a quick re-cap because I didn't blog 2 years ago. :)

So, if you will, travel back in time to July 28, 2007...

Aliyah turned 11 months old...I was still 10 days from my due date. I woke up from a nap and noticed my water had broke.

No biggie.

I don't know why, but I really wasn't urgent about the matter. Probably because 2 days earlier I had an appt. and I was only 4 cm. I called Jace because he was out golfing at The Ledges. He asked if I was in a hurry. He didn't really know what to do, after all, he was on the 18th hole and he had to finish. Whatever. I was so calm, I just went about what I was doing.

5 min later I got a knock on my door. My good friend, and neighbor, Sara came to take me to the hospital. I was getting Aliyah lunch when she came by and I remember her asking me why I was so calm. I really didn't know. I had never felt a contraction, with Aliyah or Xander, so I figured it wasn't close to time yet.

Anyway, she got me to the hospital around 1 pm, the nurses didn't believe my water broke so they were going to put me in the "observation" room. Well, when there was a puddle in the bathroom when I changed they decided maybe my water really did break so they put me in a real room. (Honestly, I don't know how you could NOT know if your water broke. Sheesh.)

I told them to give me the epidural right away because I didn't want to feel a thing. It ended up only working on my left side (it did with Aliyah too...not much help.) So, I'm at the hospital, Jace got there and everything was great. The Stubbs were awesome friends and took Aliyah with them for the day. I didn't end up delivering until 5:59 pm.

Xander weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long and as healthy as can be. :)

Now I have a 2 year old who:
*Loves to watch TV (Diego, Dora, Wubbzy, and Backyardigans are his favs)
*Loves to run outside
*Loves his sister
*Loves to scream at the top of his lungs
*Loves every type of ball
*Loves his Daddy
*Loves his "Mama"
*Loves his blankie (although he's not really particular on which one, he just needs a blankie sometimes.)
*Loves to eat...anything

So, I took him to Kiddie Kandids for his birthday. There were some cute shots.










So, now we are going to have cake and ice cream and open presents.

More pics tomorrow. :)

Well, Xander. We are glad to have you as part of our family.

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

the call

Today I got the call from my mom...the call I knew would be coming, but dreaded still the same...my Great Grandma passed away in her home today around 3:00.

I really thought I'd be more sad and there would be a lot more tears. Honestly, there's been more tears thinking about this day coming than there were today. Don't get me wrong...I'm sure they're in there somewhere. And I guess it was a little easier to let her go because she wasn't doing well. She was 99 and for the last couple months has been in and out of hospitals and care facilities. I am SUPER glad I got to take the kids and visit her before she died. She always lit up when my kids would come visit.

This lady was AMAZING and I'm so glad I got to know her the way I did. I really wish I would've taken the time to know more of her, actually. But, I was blessed to have her in my life.

I remember when I was in elementary, I would get to have a sleepover with her. Just the 2 of us. We would stay up WAY past my curfew playing rook and all sorts of games. Or watching old musicals. "The King and I" will forever remind me of her.

I remember when my sister and I would "paint" her fence. We filled up a bucket full of water and grabbed our paintbrushes and headed out back.

I remember her old swing set in the back yard. She would push us on there forever.

I remember her apricot tree. I loved picking those because I LOVED eating them. Amy and I would climb all over that tree to get those lovely fruit.

I remember her singing all sorts of songs to us when we were little. "How Much is That Doggy in the Window," "A Kiss When I Wake in the Morning," "Baby Bie, There's a Fly"...and many more.

Most importantly, I never doubted for 1 second that she loved me. She was the best Great Grandma EVER and I'm glad she got to meet 2 of my children and they got to meet her.

Grammie, I love you and I'm so glad you're with Grandpa now. Until we meet again.

{pirate island pizza}

Yesterday we took the kids to Pirate Island Pizza for dinner. (It's kind of like Chuck E. Cheese.) The kids loved the arcade and got enough tickets for a few prizes.

I didn't take any pictures of the inside of the building but it was awesome. The whole thing was done as a pirate cave and skulls and waterfalls and gun powder barrels. That description doesn't do it justice. Anyway, we had a fun night there.



We told the kids we were going to go see fireworks after we ate. So we loaded them up at 9:00 and took them over to where they were supposed to be. Well, we waited...and waited...nothing happened. They never did them. The kids were really bummed, but they did have fun running around on the grass and Xander got good at the running tackle. He took Aliyah out about 10 times...all in good fun though. There was no crying, oddly enough.

Funny story real quick:
Xander ran off towards the goal post (we were on a soccer field) and I couldn't see him very well in the dark, so I asked Aliyah to go get him. A few minutes later I hear Aliyah laughing and Xander yelling "Got you!" I looked over to see Xander on top of her squishing Aliyah's head in the grass and Aliyah said, "Mom, I found him." I got a good laugh out of that.

bad news for couponers

I copied this directly from pinchingyourpennies.com I'm a little upset by this. If you are too and want do anything about it then all the links are on here.

Valassis pulling all RedPlum inserts from Utah newspapers!

Grocery coupons found in newspaper inserts have become an important money saving tool for Utah consumers. Many Utah families are surviving these tough economic times because of increased coupon use. In August, Utah consumers will lose half of these coupons when Red Plum coupon insert distribution is discontinued in the Utah market. Valassis Communications, publisher of the Red Plum coupon insert, has opted to distribute the coupons by mail. The problem for Utah consumers is that the direct mailing will be in targeted areas only. There are many coupon users who do not live in these targeted areas and will not be receiving the coupons. These mailings will also be limited to one insert per household. Many coupon shoppers currently purchase more than one Sunday newspaper to obtain more than one copy of the money saving coupon inserts. This provides Utah consumers with increased purchasing power and an effective way to combat the economic stress.

Join us in telling Valassis Communications "Don't cut my coupons!"

Spread the word about this story! Get your friends and family involved. Forward the link to this page, blog about it, post it on your Facebook profile, Tweet it, whatever it takes to get the word out. We can make a difference and keep our coupons. Consumer influence has worked in other coupon markets. Let Valassis know that we don't want them to cut our coupons! On www.DontCutMyCoupons.com, you can contact companies that advertise with Valassis and let them know that you are not happy about this change. We've made a list of advertisers to make it easier for everyone to express their opinion.

Visit us at www.DontCutMyCoupons.com and make your voice heard!

Also, please sign our Online Petition against this action!

A Chinese Lesson...from a 2 year old

Have you ever seen this show?


It's called Ni-Hao Kai-Lan. It's like the Chinese version of Dora. The kids LOVE this show.

So today the kids and I were in the car waiting for Jace to come out and they decided they wanted to eat "chicken nuggets, fries, and ice cream." I told them to wait until Jace came out and then ask him.

Aliyah: Yah, Mom. I sayin' PLEASE to dad.
Me: I think that would be a good idea.
Aliyah: No, I not sayin' please, I sayin' please in Chinese...Say woo. (She had an accent and everything, it was hilarious.)

I had a good chuckle over that one.

(By the way...I checked and that is totally NOT how you say please in Chinese. I think she was just saying it to sound cool.)

he must be a vernon

Xander has been very self-reliant lately. If he wants something he will get the bathroom stool or a chair, scoot it over to wherever something is that he wants, and he gets it. This is what I found him doing today:


I wish I would've gotten the pic of him scooting the chair over. He looks so funny pushing it in front of him.

Anyway, I guess Jace's little brother, Jaxon, would do that when he was little. Jace slept in the basement and he said that he remembers hearing a chair scraping across the floor super early in the morning and he knew it was Jaxon getting his cereal. So, I guess it's a Vernon thing. Heaven knows I wasn't that self-reliant at almost 2. Heck, I'm still not that self-reliant and I'm 25. :)

D.I. Find

Jace is obsessed with the DI lately. I've gotta say, I'm fine with the DI, but there are some things that I would DEFINITELY NOT buy there. Shoes, for instance...I just think that's gross.

Anyway...Jace goes there a lot for books and whatnot. He was there the other day and found a basketball hoop for Xander. It was only $6 bucks. How can you beat that?

He brought it home and Xander was immediately in love with it. He calls it "sports."

So, here he is with his new "sports."






He was so excited he started playing with every ball he could find


And even Aliyah joined in the fun. She likes it too...and as you can see, she's pretty good. :)

the 4th...and whatnot

I know that I never wrote about our 4th, there's good reason for that. I wanted to scrap all the pics before I put them up. I didn't realize I took that many pictures. So, I'm not putting them in a slideshow because I put a LOT of work into these.

So, here we go...

We came up on the 2nd...which was also my 25th birthday. (I know...can you believe that!?!) I decided I wanted to take the kids to the zoo since they had never been, so that's where we went. Amy met us there and the kids LOVED that. The sad part about it is that it rained...wait...it DOWNPOURED for a good 20 minutes while we were all crammed under a straw umbrella in front of the warthogs. That wasn't so enjoyable...but it makes for a good memory. I never remember it raining on my birthday...ever. The kids really liked the zoo...most of the animals were hiding because of the rain, but they didn't know that. :) So, here are the zoo pic:

I remember this lion drinking fountain being there when I was little so I wanted to snap a pic with the kids.


This is us hiding under the umbrella. We finally ventured out because it was done downpouring, but still sprinkling. Aliyah didn't want to get wet so she kept her head under her canopy in her stroller while we went to see the giraffes.

Measuring up to a gorilla

After the rain there were many puddles for the kids to jump in. Xander had so much water in his shoes when we finally left.

We went on the carousel. The kids LOVED it and didn't want to get off.


This was the statue thing that is right when you enter the zoo. If you can stop it it changes directions...it's wet though, so it's hard.
We saw a bunch of kids with their faces painted so Aliyah wanted to get hers done too. She wanted a dolphin. She was very good at holding still and when it was all done she was so happy with it she stared in the mirror forever.

Some random pics

My birthday celebration later at my mom's. She made a delicious dinner and then we had home made ice cream cake. Mmmm.



The next day we played with bubbles. Jace had to go meet some people for work, so we just chilled at my mom's. Jace also took me out for my birthday that night. We went out to eat at Mimi's Cafe and then saw The Proposal. I liked it.


Now for the 4th:



It's become a tradition that we go up to my parent's neighbors for a big breakfast. So, that's just where we went.



Waiting for the candy bomb.

Some people in my parent's ward brought their dog and they were nice enough to let Xander "walk" him. The puppy really pulled Xander along. He loved the dog.


Davis High had a bunch of blow up toys for the kids to play on, so we headed over there before the parade.



Just enjoying the parade.

Aunt Maymie and Aliyah

My parents

Aliyah got this toy gun when Bukoos threw their toys out. She wasted no time in learning how to use it.

And can you believe that this isn't all of the pics? I know...We went up to Jace's parents that night and watched fireworks in Henefer. They also had blow up toys there and the kids couldn't get enough. Then all the cousins were over on Sunday and we had a big lunch before we headed home.

I still have a few more pages to scrapbook, but honestly I'm burned out. I'll let you just stick with these for now. :)

We finally caught our super rodent!

WHAT IS THIS!?! (Seriously, if anyone knows please tell me.)




SCARY STORY!!! (By far more scary than your lizard story, Sara.)

This story actually dates back to last week...or maybe the week before. Anyway...

Jace started finding some bigger poop in our garage...not huge by any means, but bigger than mouse poop. He thought maybe there was a chipmunk in our garage. So, he put out those sticky traps for mice. Well, the next morning he found a tail on one of the traps. Yes, a tail. The little rodent pulled and pulled until he pulled his tail right off his body. Yikes. Later that day he looked at the other trap he put out and apparently another one had gotten stuck, but don't worry...he wasn't there. HE CHEWED HIS WAY OFF! I know! These are super rodents. We still didn't know what it was because the tail was just too weird. (See above pic.)

Well, just 5 minutes ago Jace started yelling my name in a funny way down the hall. Then he appears in the doorway of the laundry room holding my purse in a funny way...like there is something in there. Don't worry, it was the SUPER RODENT!!! I have NO idea what happened, but Jace said he walked out to the kitchen and the rodent was sitting on the sink. When he saw Jace he ran into my purse! AHH!

So, there was now a rodent in my purse and I didn't want to let it out anywhere near our house so we started digging through totes in the garage to find an empty one to dump it in. Finally we found one with a lid. Who knows if the lid would do any good for this thing though. It probably has super powers and can teleport outside the tote. :(

Finally it emerged and I saw it for a split second before he ran back in my bag. Boo. Obviously we got him out of my bag. Now I have to sanitize EVERYTHING in it.

And now at least one of the rodents is gone...hopefully never to return. I say 1 of the rodents is gone because this one had a tail. Now, unless they can magically regrow tails in a week I'm guessing this isn't the one we almost caught last week.

What scares me is how it even got in our house in the first place. Oooh. It gives me chills.

But seriously, if you know what this animal is please let me know.



O - and in response to the last post...yes, Aliyah made it to the potty. Phew. I was scared though. :) I did forget the part when Aliyah rolled down her window and ordered chicken nuggets and fries from the cop. That was funny.

i LOATHE cops

I've got a LOT to blog about...such as my birthday and the 4th of July festivities...that will all come in due time. Tonight I just want to take a minute to express my hatred of cops who have NOTHING better to do than to sit on the side of the road with a radar gun pointed at all the cars that pass them by. BLAH!!!

As you might tell, I'm a bit on edge about the whole subject. BUT, I will say there is a time and a place that cops can be helpful...pulling over speeders trying to get their 2 year old bladders to a bathroom before there is an accident in the backseat is NOT one of these times.

Sigh...

O...and not just the bladder. I was informed 16 miles from Beaver that Aliyah had to go potty. When we hit 8 miles to go she said, "Mom, I gotta poop!" Now that is just NOT good in the car seat. That's when I decided to hit the gas and unfortunately a cop happened to be right there to see me going 91 in a 75. Hmmph.

The best part was that he pulled me over 1 mile to the exit. (I'm being VERY sarcastic.)

Now, it would've been AWESOME had the cop had a child who he has had to rush to a bathroom before. I don't know if that's happened or not...most likely not because I got NO warning. Instead he wrote me up for the full amount...16 miles over. He could've been a little lenient and written me up for 15 instead of 16, there is a $50 difference. :(

I hate cops.