Christmas!

We had a great christmas.  Kire really enjoyed it this year and understood so it made christmas morning exciting.  Santa brought him a knight's castle and he and dad both got light-sabers so they can fight.  

Kire is Aniken, the good guy, and dad is darth vador, the bad guy.

We've enjoyed spending time with family playing rock band and watching football, but I'm ready for things to calm down and get back to normal; also I will be going on a diet-I hate the holidays, there's always too much good food!

Kire has been spending some good time with dad since he's been off of work for the week; and I picked up a few extra days so have been working all week.  It's hard to be gone all day, but I'm glad the two of them get some time together.  Yesterday they went to the treehouse and today they went to the Body Worlds exhibit in SLC.  I was worried it might scare him, but Kire loved  seeing the bodies and he got to see what the baby in my belly looks like.

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanks Char, this is hilarious, and I look pretty hot

Decorating cookies

We've been doing a lot of fun things for Christmas. Yesterday we made sugar cookies and then went and saw the lights at the Layton Park. We were planning on going to the zoo, but it snowed all day and we didn't want to drive to salt lake.

Then today we had our ward Christmas party and Kire saw Santa. He didn't care for him and he said he didn't want Santa to come to his house and take his toys; I think he's little confused about who Santa is.

New Job!

The office manager, Megan, at the office I work at just quit last week because she got better job opportunity. I really like her so I was sad to see her go.  I told her if there was ever an opening at her office to let me know.  Right now I am working for this great dentist in Clinton.  I work every Tuesday and then pick up extra days here and there.  i have been looking for one other day somewhere else so I have a guaranteed 2 days a week.  This morning Megan called and her office needs someone for Saturdays 7-12.  It is going to be so perfect, especially once I have the baby.  I have been worried about what to do with a new baby, I hate to send him to daycare.  Well now Erik will be able to watch the kids on Saturday.  I still may have to put the baby in daycare once a week if i can't find family or a neighbor to watch him, but one day isn't too bad.  At this office I will be doing double hygiene, seeing more patients, and they have  different computer system so I'm a little nervous, but also excited.  And I think they also pay more and do bonus's, so that's also exciting.

gingerbread house

Me and Kire made this lovely gingerbread house yesterday.  I did the frosting and Kire put all of the candy on it.  It looks and smells delicious, but it doesn't taste good at all.  Does anyone have a good gingerbread recipe?

San Diego

On Wednesday we flew to San Diego for a little get-away. We didn't do a vacation this year and Erik just finished up football so we were due for one. We got buddy passes from a friend and used our time-share so it ended up being super cheap.
We spent one whole day at Sea World. It was fun and there was no one there. We went to most of the shows, but Kire's favorite things were the sting ray & star fish pools where he could touch the animals. Kire & I about killed Erik when he made us sit in the "soak zone" during the dolphin show. He assured us that they couldn't splash that high. Well they brought out a whale and it just happened to soak our section. Me & Kire were pissed for the rest of the show, but it didn't take us too long to dry off.
We also spent a full day at the beach. We went to La Jolla & saw the seals, then to Coronado for the rest of the day. The water was too cold for me, but Kire & Erik were out there for at least an hour. Kire also liked to chase the seagulls & dig in the sand.
Then we ate some good food and went to Balboa park and did some shopping. It was just nice to be together and relax.

Petting the sting rays

Watching the shows at Sea World

Petting the star fish

Erik & Kire swimming in the ocean

On the airplane-he kept busy watching a movie

Kire's 3rd Birthday

We had a great time at Kire's birthday party.  He's into Pirates now so I made these cute invitations (see below) and attempted to make a cake in the shape of a boat.  Well the cake fell apart so I had to run to the grocery store to buy one, but I still put the sails, treasure chest and coins on it so it kind of looked like a ship.  

The kids had fun.  They each put on tattoos and made their own hook out of a cup and candy-cane & we played a game to see how many pretzels they could hook.  Then we had a pinata, which they kids took turns hitting, but Erik finally had to beat it with a bat to break it.

Kire got tons of fun toys.  We got him a pirate ship and he got a doctor set, train, gun and some legos.  Me and Erik joked that we were going to hide some of them and give them to him for Christmas, but he ended up opening all of them.

Kire & his buddy "Mash" (Nash)

Congats Grady

My younger brother got engaged a week ago to a sweet girl, Lauren, who he met at utah state.  I'm so excited for them and can't wait for them to have some kids.  I feel bad that my kids don't have any cousins on my side- I know when they're older they're going to hate going to family functions because they won't have any cousins to play with.

BUt I do hate them because they are getting married a week before I am due in March.  Thanks guys.  I will either have a new baby or be a whale : )

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago we had our family pictures done for the first time. I usually just take Kire to do his, but I decided we needed a family one. I called this cute girl, Brittany-her blogs listed under sites I like, and she did an awesome job. Kire was the grumpiest grump that evening, but she managed to get several good ones of all of us. She also made up the Christmas card above. She had great ideas and was very reasonable.

Twilight!

So I'm a total Twilight freak.  My friend Brittani introduced me a few years ago, THANK YOU, and I have since gotten my sisters and most of my friends hooked too.  I went with a group of friends to the movie today and loved it!  Of course it wasn't as good as the book, but they did a good job.  And Edward was gorgeous.  i loved his hair.  I wish he would have dressed more elegantly-in designer turtle-necks and such like in the book, and I think he was a little too harsh-he was more charming in the book too.  But he still made my heart flutter.  I think I may have to read the series again.

Thanks Casandra, Chanci & Jamey!

Then tonight my friend Megan invited me over for Bunko.  I don't know if this is just like a Utah mormon mom thing, but I've heard of so many groups that do it.  It's just a game of dice and you win prizes, but I think it's just a chance to get together with a bunch of women and eat crap and talk trash on husbands-or at least that's what I do.  But I think I should get together a group of girls and do it.  Anyone interested?

And yesterday I made invitations for Kire's birthday party. He turns 3 in a week! And he's into pirates right now so I made treasure maps and burned the edges and stuck them in bottles for the invites. Then I'm going to make a pirate ship for the cake. I'm excited.

Is it too early for Christmas

I know it's a little early, but I couldn't wait to put up my christmas decorations.  I keep seeing all this cute stuff everywhere I go, so I wanted to go through my things and see what I needed.

Otherwise, nothing much going on with us. Kire is still doing Joy school on Thursday and he goes to daycare a couple of days a week while I work. He does so good at both places. He learns and loves to play with other kids. On days when we're home together we try to go to the treehouse museum, park, library or just Costco to get a hotdog. He's so much fun. Even when we just stay home and clean he makes it fun and makes me laugh.

Kire's big boy room

I've been working on this room for a little while. As soon as we found out we were having another boy I tracked down this Pottery Barn bunk bed at a Downeast. I painted the room tan and added the stripes, which were really easy, but I think they really add to the sports theme I'm going for. Kire loves the bunk bed and our bedrooms are so small that it works great.

I had this old little dresser I painted to match the bed and found this cute baseball bat rack and hung his hats on it.

Erik found this old baseball jersey of his dads while he was cleaning out the closet and I thought it matched the room perfectly!

This room is so small I didn't have room for a book shelf, but these hanging shelves don't take up too much room.

High School Tag

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yes. Too many; I won't even try.

2. What kind of car did you drive? a red Pathfinder, it was pretty sweet

3. What was the most embarrassing moment of High School? everyday when I would have to walk up the stairs below "the rail" where all the "cool" guys would hang out, I'm kind of shy

4. Were you a party animal? No, but I recently admitted to my mom I did "party" a few times. Me and my friends were more into dressing up like idiots, doing kareoke and just hanging out.

5. Were you in a band, orchestra, or choir? no

6. Were you considered a flirt? maybe a little

7. Were you a nerd? I got good grades

8. Were you on any Varsity teams? No athletic ability

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never

10. Can you still sing the fight song? heck yes, I have to go to football games every week

11. Who were your favorite teachers? Coach Thompson of course; for all of you that don't know, I married my favorite teacher : ). I used to watch him walk by my locker and check out his butt.

12. Where did you sit during lunch? I don't think I ever ate at school, we always went out

13. What was your school's full name? Northridge High School

14. School Mascot? Knights

15. Did you go to Homecoming and with whom did you go? Spencer Fowler & John Phelps

16. Would you go back and do it again? my life is so fun right now, and kids are so mean, so no

17. What do you remember most about graduation? not much, I had a boyfriend at another school and had to go to his afterwards

18. Where did you go for Sr. Skip Day? that was like every other day for me

19. Were you in any clubs? I was an officer when i was a jr. but otherwise I was pretty unmotivated

20. Who was your Prom Date? Ryan Larsen, Mckay Miller & Elias Larkin, and there was one more I'd rather not remember

21. Are you planning on going to your 10yr. reunion? Uhhh... maybe if some of my girlfriends go

22. Looking back what advice would you give yourself? Don't worry so much about boys and what other people think

I tag: Amber S & Lindsey R since you guys can appreciate this and cause you are the worst bloggers; and anyone else who wants to do it...

Kire says...

I keep forgetting all of the funny things kire says, so here's a few:

• while I'm doing his hair, "mom, I don't want to be cute, I'm not a little girl anymore."
  
• when I ask him if he needs anything, "no, I'm good."
  
• feeling my legs, "mom, you have a beard,"
  
• while I'm trying on a dress, "you're a princess."
  
• when I ask him what he's doing, "don't worry, I'm not making a mess."
  
• after we brush his teeth, "my teeth not going to fall off." (I may have told him they would fall out if we didn't brush them ;)
  
• when I'm watching tv, "mom, I don't like this kind, it's too scary for me, I need carcoons."

I'm so bad at journaling, i need to be better.  Kire makes me laugh everyday, multiple times, but I need to write down everything.

I saw the doc this week and she's still pretty sure it's a boy, but i go in for my big ultrasound in a couple of weeks, so I'm not making any big plans until then.  As for the names, apparently people like bridger, I do too, but it's not my top.   My number 1 is Hayden, then Lincoln, then Kael.  Erik's number 1 is Kael-but he likes Lincoln and Hayden too.  We just both like the sound of Kael & Kire together.  So we're undecided but are leaning that way.  The little guy looks good and the doc said he's already looking big, like Kire was, so to plan on going early-which of course is great for me! It finally feels real now that he's moving and I'm looking more pregnant than fat!

Voting

This is the first election that I have been really confused as to who to vote for. Honestly, I am not thrilled with either of the candidates and have not quite decided, but here are a few thoughts.

I am anti-abortion, especially partial birth.  I worry that with a democratic pres. that the abortion laws will become even more lenient-so there's a vote for McCain.

Then I have strong opinions about health care. I get so frustrated with people who don't work and live on medicaid and just take whatever the government will give them. I know medicaid helps a lot of people who really need it; but there are far too many people who take advantage of it.   I read a really good article on the health care proposals here.  And it seems that with the democratic proposal-even more people will take advantage of free/low cost health care, while those hard working Americans will still be paying high premiums and deductibles.  

Obama is definitely more charismatic and likable than McCain.  I still have not made my mind up and am no expert at all on either candidate, but from what I've researched I'm leaning more towards McCain because of my republican values.

Mr Pumpkin Head

Mr. Pumpkin Head

Kire found an old tractor and didn't want to get off-maybe he should have been a cowboy

Kire is doing Joy school this year with some cousins & friends and today was their halloween party.  We went to this pumpkin patch and met "Mr. Pumpkin Head."  Kire was a little unsure of him, but he had fun.  And I definitely like the pirate costume better than the "witch."

witch

So every time I ask Kire what he wants to be for Halloween he says, "a witch."  I don't know where he came up with it.  I think he's been playing dress-up with his girl-cousins too much because while we were shopping yesterday I tried on a dress and he told me I was a princess : ) But I found this cute wizard costume at old navy and he thinks it's a witch, and I also got him a pirate costume-so I'm hoping he'll wear that one instead.  

This weekend we took him to the treehouse museum for their little program.  They told stories and had treats, Kire didn't really care about the stories, he just wanted to play.  I had him wear the wizard because I hope he'll wear the pirate to the other parties.  On Saturday there's the Boo at the zoo and the haunted dinosaur park.  Kire loves the dinosaurs, so I think we may go there and wait to go to the zoo until they have their christmas lights.  

Are there any other fun activities that are going on?

Listening to stories

Trevor's Home!

My brother Trevor just returned from his LDS mission to Birmingham Alabama last week. My brother Grady was gone on a mission for 2 years before that so it seems like finally our family is all home! Kire was a little shy around him at first, but now he loves him! I knew he would. Trevor is so sweet. His homecoming is on Oct 19th at 9:00 am; let me know if any one needs directions.

TICKET

I have had the worst car luck lately. I hadn't gotten in a wreck in years and 2 weeks ago I rear-ended someone; then yesterday I was pulled over. First off, I was going 30 in a 45 zone down south weber drive; then this lady cop pulled me over, I had no idea why. She said I went through a school zone-I didn't see lights or anything and it was 9:09 am. She said that there was a cone out and that the area I passed is a school zone until 9:15 am. No warning, she wrote me a ticket for going 30 in a 20! So I was pissed, I don't know how much this one is going to cost me. Seriously, 5 minutes lady, and I was going well under the normal speed limit-obviously I wasn't being wreck less.

Another boy

Well today at the doctor everything looked good and she was 99% sure we're having another little boy! I was a little shocked, I've been so sick that I was sure I was having a girl, but either way is wonderful. Erik is thrilled, he wanted another boy. The only problem is Erik is not loving all of the names I like.

Potty Training

Kire has had zero interest in potty training, but he'll be 3 in December so I started potty training 2 weeks ago.  It's going ok.  While we're home he'll wear underwear and I have to ask him every 30 minutes, but he'll go.  I made him a little chart and he gets really excited to put a sticker on it and he's almost earned himself a toy.  I put him in a pull up when we're out, but he doesn't ever want to go.  I don't know if I should expect anymore, but it seems to be going really slow.  Any advice?  Everything I've read says to start with boys sitting down, and he does ok, but I think he might do better and like it more if he were standing.  And he doesn't seem to want to go poop in the toilet.

Here he is putting a sticker on his chart.  His little bum does look super cute in underwear

Northridge Football is the other thing that has consumed our time.  Erik has done better this year by coming home earlier, so that's nice.  Kire waits up for him every night and goes downstairs and watches Super Friends while Erik watches film on the lap top.  It's good that they get to spend some time together, but then Kire ends up staying up until 12.

Kire loves Friday night games.  He runs down the grass hills and wrestles his friends and we see Erik at half time.  Northridge has done well this year, they just lost there first game in overtime to Layton on Friday.  It's nice to just hang out with Kire in the grass-then I don't have to hear all the parents yelling at Erik.  I almost got in a fight 2 years ago defending my man : )

Son of a bitch

Yesterday Erik & I were both driving to work and we were stopped next to each other at a red light.  He was turning left and I was blowing kisses to Kire, and when he started going, so did I, only my light wasn't green.  I smashed into the back of a Land rover.  There really wasn't any damage to his car, but he was like, " oh the bumper might be misaligned..."  So I know I'm going to have to pay something, and my bumper is banged up, but not too bad.  But everything with fixing cars is always so expensive, even though it looks minor.

I haven't gotten into a car accident since I was 16, so I'm pretty lucky, but it was just such a stupid mistake I was pissed.

But the day was not a total loss.  This patient of mine came in with this fabulous bag she said she got at TJ Maxx.  So I went there later and got this great red Guess bag that was regularly $128 for $28!  So it made my day a little better : )  

That's what she said

via videosift.com

I got this from my friend Jamey's blog and #1 is my all time favorite Office moment ever. I hate Michael, he's such a jack-ass, but he makes the show.

Number 2

It didn't take us quite as long this time, but we are finally pregnant with baby #2!  I went to the dr. this morning and we saw the little nudger and I am 11 weeks pregnant!  Last time we didn't find out I was pregnant until I was 8 weeks along, but this time we've known from the beginning so it has been a long few weeks.  I took the test on Erik's birthday in July, so that was his favorite present.  I have been sicker this time around and my belly is already hanging out, but it's all worth it.  The dr. said she should be able to tell what the baby is at my next visit in 4 weeks, I can't wait.  We would love to have another boy, so Kire has a friend, but we'll will be thrilled either way.  I'm excited to start getting Kire's big boy room ready, and if we have another boy I'm going to get him a bunk bed.

Fire Station

Kire is obsessed with tractors and trucks and anything that has wheels right now (I'm going to kill myself if I see Bob the Builder one more time). So last week Kire and I went to visit my friends Lindsey and Natalie and we took the kids to the fire station. Natalie's husband, Topher, is a fireman and was so great.  He let the kids get in the truck, put on clothes, hold the hose and showed us all around. Kire loved it so thanks guys!

Kire would not put this hat down the whole time we were there; I thought his neck was going to break-the hats are so heavy!

Macy, Kire & Max driving the firetuck

Kire with the fireman holding the hose

We've also gone to the Ogden dinosaur park several times.  It is Kire's favorite place.  I need to get a yearly pass because it's pretty expensive-it was $20 for our family of 3.

Kire is at the funnest age fight now, I can't imagine kids get much more fun, but he's also starting to talk back.  Now he says, "don't say that," and "don't talk to me mom," when I'm telling him not to do something or saying something he doesn't want to hear.  BUt he also is the sweetest little boy.  He still loves to snuggle and hold my hand and give "bear hugs" and kisses.  I hope he never grows up!