Catching Up

It has been a hectic past few weeks so I have some catching up to on blogging. I guess we'll start with fathers day. David is of course the best father ever. The kids love to play with him and can't get enough of him when he is home. I couldn't have asked for a better father for our kids. Alexis and Timothy gave him a framed picture of them playing together on the bed. See below.

Then I got David some new knifes for the kitchen and a foot whirlpool. I have to confess the whirlpool is something I kinda wanted too. It is our little game though to get the other person something we really wanted our self. For example, David got me a back massager for our anniversary... and well... he's used it more than I have. Oh well, as long as we both enjoy. So here is a pic of David with what I got him.

Then there is poor Timothy. He's had a fever off and on for the past week and we finally got him in to see the Dr. When we got there, of course he had no signs or symptoms of anything, so the Dr. just ordered blood work. At the lab they drew blood from his arm. It was so sad. They stuck him 6 times before they got anything. The little guy broke my heart with his crying. I wanted to cry too. I had to hold him during the entire process and Alexis was crouched under the chair praying she wasn't next in line. Still no lab results so I hope all is okay.

Not much else is going on. David is finishing his first rotation at the VA today. Crazy how fast time flies. He enjoys what he is doing though, so that is good. It is also getting HOT. We are in hibernation mode. We only venture out when we have to. The car seats get so darn hot that I hate to put the kids in them. We have spent most of our time at the children's museum because it is indoors. We attempted the zoo today but it was so hot. The kids got soaked in the splash area though... so that helped. There is also a monsoon currently going on. The lightening is flickering in the windows and it is 2:45 in the afternoon... Guess I better finish this before I fry the computer.

Oh... we also went to PHX last weekend and spent some time with family. Alexis, Timothy and I went to the zoo with Grandma Mower. We had lots of fun. Alexis enjoyed the water most of all... go figure. It is a big zoo and we didn't see a quarter of it so we'll slowly see more when we go to visit next. Fun pictures are below. Enjoy until next time. Adios.

Change

So I officially did it... I am no longer the blonde I grew up as. I cut and colored my hair pretty dark. It is a super big change, and all David had to say was, "it's nice". In other words... what happened to the blonde. I think that deep down most guys like the blonde even though they won't admit it.
The weather is also changing. Summer is setting in. The 100+ degree days are here. Alexis doesn't like to play outside and most the parks around here are not shaded so it is going to be a long summer. We'll have to get real creative here soon.
My sister Katelynn also decided to leave us. She finally gave up on Tucson. She is going to go back to Yuma and live with the folks. It'll be sad to see her go. Alexis absolutely adores her.... almost stalks her. She'll camp outside her bedroom door and wait for her to come out so she can play. Our "live-in" babysitting situation will also disappear. Darn. David and I better go on a few dates before she is gone. I'll admit that I'm really going to miss her and all her help.
In other funny things... Last night Alexis was eating her dinner and decided she was done. I asked her if she wanted to save the food she had not yet eaten, and her reply, "the bugs will eat it". So either we have an infestation problem I'm unaware of or Alexis has picked up another funny phrase... I'm hoping she is just being funny. I honestly don't know where she learns these things. She is definitely a sponge.

Family History Part 1 - "How I Met Your Father"

Recently I was de-cluttering the house and came upon eight...yes I said eight journals all of which had only a few pages filled out. So I decided to combine and conquer. I now have one journal and seven new coloring books for Alexis. While I was reminiscing and compiling I noticed that my last journal entry was YEARS ago. Having said this, I thought it would be appropriate to catch up with a little family history. This is part one: "How I Met Your Father".
I graduated from Yuma High School in 2000 as a "criminal". (Yes, that truly is their mascot) Having received the "almighty diploma" I decided to move onto bigger things and places. I packed my bags and my little 1997 Nissan Sentra and headed for Phoenix to attend ASU. Having only been to Phoenix a few times prior this made for some interesting driving lessons. I arrived at rush hour in Phoenix (Tempe) and once arriving to my new home on "Hermosa Place" I thought I'd just experienced a miracle in arriving alive. Upon unpacking I noticed I had forgotten one minor thing at home... my underwear! Little did I know my adventure was just beginning.
Sidebar: The day previous to leaving I visited a boys home who was just about to leave on his mission to Ireland. We were super good friends and as they say, "Distance makes the heart grow fonder". Needless to say, we wrote, and I guess you could say I was waiting for this missionary.
So part of the ASU experience was roommates and singles wards. Both were very hard to adjust to. My "member" roommates were falling off the path you could say and the singles ward was... well for single people, and I didn't consider myself to be such. I attended, however, to try and make some friends. I made a few, and dated a few... Within my first month or so there I was invited to a house party where my newest friend Jenafer was attending. She introduced me to her brother "David" who had just returned home from his mission. He was pretty dorky looking and I didn't have much interest, and turns out neither did he. Which was okay, because I was waiting for a missionary.
My Missionary (we'll call him Ireland) and I continued to correspond. The hard part is that mail is slow and my missionary would one week say, "wait for me" and the next letter would say, "Don't wait for me". So I took the middle road. I dated, but never seriously. I would wait, but keep my options open. I continued this for two years. I did wait for my missionary. David just happened to officially enter the picture about one month before Ireland came home. I informed David about Ireland, and how I felt about him, but David's response, "I've been the missionary before... we'll see what happens". So David and I became good friends in that month.
It was about a year and a half from when I first met David to when we met up again. David, his brother Aaron, myself and my sister April would always sit in the back row of Sunday school in our singles ward. Our nickname for David was "Back row boy". He had a full beard and looked more Amish than anything else, but he was funny (see photo to side). Our singles ward was having a camp out and David called our house to see if my ROOMMATE Lara was attending. Her not being the camping type said no... but I was planning on going. At this camp out they had a dance. David asked me to dance and during our dancing conversation he asked how old I was. When my response was 19 he slowly gulped and walked away. Apparently I was just a "baby".
I didn't hear from David for a few months as I was to young and he was dating some other girl. David lived across the street from me and my roommate liked one of his roommates so we invited their crew to our house for game night. We played Cranium and David is crazy smart so he whooped us all. We knew we were in trouble when he told us how to pronounce "Calapigeon" and gave us its definition, which by the way is "one who possesses a beautiful buttocks". It was then that I found renewed interest in David and he interest in me. I guess a few months made a big difference in my age.
David and I began to hang out. He had just returned from a trip to Mexico with friends and apparently did some soul searching and decided he was okay to hang out with girls again, after having had some bad bouts with the evil gender. We went repelling, movie watching, dancing, and to some other church activities. We knew we worked well together when at an FHE activity we were making homemade ice cream and ours was the only one to turn out.
Then the day arrived when Ireland came home. I returned to Yuma to sort things out. David was well aware of the possibility that I may not return a "single" girl. When I met up with Ireland he informed me that he was going to join the air force and I was welcome to wait another 6 years for him. I asked him if it came down to me or the air force which he would choose. His answer was not me... so as my old roommate Kathy said, "If he doesn't think you're better than apple pie he's not worth it". It was a good confirmation to prayers that had been answered the same way. It's funny how you think that maybe with time the Lord will answer your prayers differently. It took this event to confirm what I already knew, but didn't want to admit... Ireland wasn't the one... he was a good one... but not the right one.
Meanwhile David was up in Phoenix pacing. My sister who saw him at church that weekend said he was a wreck. How Cute! I knew that there was a reason I met David when I did. I returned to Phoenix and David and I began to date more seriously. I knew it was serious when I was given the "family test". If I met his family and didn't run, I was apparently a keeper. Well I didn't run and in December David invited me to join him in the Temple. He had invited me to his apartment for lunch. It was a special lunch of homemade burritos. He even chopped tomatoes, so I should have suspected something was up. Then while eating he proposed. I said yes, and then he mentioned, he hadn't asked my Dad yet, so we kept things hush until we went to Yuma for Christmas and made it official.
Three months later on March 14th, 2003 David and I married in the San Diego temple. David was 25 and I was 20... but almost 21. (For some reason I always feel a need to toss that in there.) We married over spring break. We were sealed on Friday, with a reception in Yuma that night, and another reception in Phoenix on Saturday. A whirlwind of travel and excitement... that I wish we had spread out... but it was fun nonetheless.

So.... That is how I met your Father....

Progression & Regression

What a fun day so far. Timothy rolled over! He has been moving quite a bit as of late and then he finally did it... he rolled over. Yeah Timmy! Here is his victory picture:
Then his sister wanted in on the excitement. She came running for picture time. Notice that Timothy is not so happy that she is trying to steal his thunder.
Then he decided he had enough of his sister. Today was HIS day... the day when he gets all the pictures and all the lovin'. So here is his response:

Oh dear... am I in big trouble or what? The rivalry starts already? I must say it was super funny and Alexis just looked at him like "what just happened here".

So that is our big news of the day. Timothy rolled over! Kinda scared he's going to be one of those kids who is walking by 9 months. Eeeek... Used to think that would be cool... but not so much anymore.

Also today, Alexis poured her own cereal and milk without even spilling. That surprised me. I thought how she is becoming so mature and growing so fast... but then I caught her doing this:

She was playing in Timothy's exersaucer, saying, "Coochie, coochie, cooooo..." Just when I think she's doing good and moving forward, I realize that it truly is two steps forward, one step back. Potty training should be kicks!

Last week in Pictures

Have you ever been on the msn site and seen the week in pictures? I think that is how I will sum up last weeks events.

Timothy and David are good buddies at night now. This week they spent some good time watching the hockey game on TV. Crazy thing is that Timothy was truly captivated by the game and was glued to the tv. Oh no... we are in trouble now. The best part is the manly bright pink pillow they like to cuddle up on to watch the game.

Then there was the day where both kids were asleep at the same time. This was such a moment that I truly got out the camera and took pictures of the clock and both kids for proof. Alexis has been waking up with the sun at 5am... so she has been napping earlier. Either that or she was REALLY bored...which is possible. What a miracle though... both asleep, but then Timothy woke up about five minutes later... oh well.

This may be hard to see but there are two baby quail outside our window. Thy kinda look like rocks in this picture. There was a mom, dad, and four baby quail all walking outside the window and the babies were learning how to fly. They were trying to get over the wall, but kept hitting the window. Alexis got a kick out of it.

We put a bird feeder in the back yard about 4 months ago with no birds for months, but now we have a few "regulars" who come and snack every day. Alexis loves to watch the birds.

On Sunday Alexis was playing hide and seek in our bedroom. She was under our sheet and said, "Mommy, come find me". I snuck into the room and tickled her and she said, "Mommy, that was excellent!". Where does she get this vocabulary from. So funny. But then she got quiet in her game of hide and seek... so I decided to go find her even if she wasn't ready... and above is what I found. She decided to color with a pen all over her arms and legs. It is one of those things that is super funny as a parent, but you can't laugh... because it truly isn't okay. So I got some pics and then we got a scrub brush and cleaned her up. Where does she come up with such ideas?

Then we made homemade bread! Alexis helped me mix it up and it actually turned out. We have made several previous attempts at bread but all failed. I'm not sure if it was recipes or ingredients, but all other times the bread has come out tasting horrible or being hard as a rock... so I gave up the bread making machine and made this by hand. It tastes great, even after Alexis sneezed right into the dough... but it will cook the germs out, right?

Last week was an eventful and fun week. We went all over town and saw some fun things at the zoo and children's museum. Now this week we have to stay home and catch up on all the chores. Oh well... Like my mom always said, "First you do your chores, and then you can play".

A Walk on the South Side

Tonight my sister and I went walking and because of where we live the scenery was a bit different. They have a paved path through our development so we thought we'd try that. On one side of the path was the desert blooming... on the other was profanity, graffiti, and some interesting "art". I've never been so offended by a wall before. It is so sad that punks feel the need to spray such things on a wall. Where are their parents... oh wait... That would be the problem. Needless to say, our walk was an interesting one.

Alexis, Timothy, and I also went to the zoo today. Alexis has been quite frail lately (over the top emotional) so it made for a long zoo experience. She cried over every little thing and I didn't bring my double stroller. Big mistake. I had to carry her around the entire zoo. Kids are a work out all on their own. Sorry to all the patrons who were run over by my one-handed pushing of a stroller. Long day... need I say more...

Round is a shape

So tonight was my first night doing lap swim. I now realize just how out of shape I am. WOW! My legs are killing me, I'm wheezing and I'm not sure I'll be able to move tomorrow. But I have a goal and no matter how bad it hurts... I'll be taking a "vigorous" walk tomorrow. I am going to mix things up... I guess that is my way of saying, I can't show up at the pool tomorrow because I think they'll all laugh when I only make it half way across the pool because I hurt so bad. So if anyone sees me limping around town or being carried by my two year old you'll know why. Yeah Fitness!

SURPRISE!

I just remembered something that happened this weekend that I meant to write down. It's one of those things that are funny, but you know that if you don't write it down that you'll forget it.

On Friday we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner and it was great. But then again, any time I don't have to cook dinner is great. Alexis chowed down on mac-n-cheese and pizza. David had gotten her a treat (cookie) for eating so well. I too went to get a treat of their soft serve frozen yogurt...and knew Alexis would want some the second she saw mine. Knowing this I went ahead and got her one of those tiny cones. When I arrived at the table her face truly lit up! Then she exclaimed, "I close my eyes, and you say SURPRISE!" She then shut her eyes so tight and I said SURPRISE and her eyes popped open and her face just beamed. I can't explain how funny it was. She enjoyed the surprise so much that she wanted to be surprised another three times before she finally decided to eat her ice cream.

I love that such simple things can make her so incredibly happy. I sure have some great kids...

Days of Discovery

Wow! Another week has gone by and now it is JUNE! My joke is that once June hits it might as well be December because time just flies faster. David now has two weeks of rotations under his belt. He is at the VA in the surgery unit. I ask how his day was and get more info than I'd like most times. I've also learned not to ask at the dinner table as he goes into more detail than I can handle. I am definitely not a blood and guts gal. Can't watch most shows because of it. Nonetheless, David seems to be enjoying the amputations and other such things.

Timothy discovered his hands this week. He just followed them with such amazement with the look in his eyes saying, "what are these things and why are they moving?" He is also giggling much more, and gets the hiccups every time he does. So cute. He also had his first haircut today! I know I must be crazy to cut his hair... but I just couldn't handle the mullet any more. He had rubbed a bald circle around his head and it looked pretty funny. I think that is the joy of having a boy... you can buzz cut their hair and it is okay. It'll be much cooler for the summer too... right?

Alexis has been exercising her rights as a two year old. Her whining is like nails on a chalkboard and it has become worse with every day. I'm trying all the techniques that I have found and it seems to not help a bit. Any suggestions are welcome. She is also telling me how to answer her questions. She ask me if she can have some fruit snacks and follows her question with, "Mom, say sure".... Pretty funny, but it is making it hard to teach her that just because she wants it, doesn't mean she can have it. She sure has a big personality.

Tomorrow Katelynn (my sister) and I are going to start lap swimming. I love to swim, but haven't been for exercise purposes in a long time so I invested in a kick board so as not to drown on the first lap. I used to be a lifeguard so that would not be fun to try and explain how I couldn't make it one lap without having to be rescued myself. I'm excited to get active again though. Wish me luck... so maybe I'll be able to post more in the future... :)

Ode To Martha...

I have a confession.... I do enjoy Martha... Martha Stewart that is. I even subscribe to her magazine. I was talking to my mom the other day about how I like some of her ideas, but most of them are a bit ridiculous for the every day person. Her recipes call for ingredients I've never heard of and her crafts call for a lifetime of skills and tools. Nonetheless her magazine has pretty pictures and I like to dream. My sister, Rebekah sent me the note below and I found it to be hilarious... so I hope you enjoy. It pretty much sums up Martha's world... or insanity...

***From the Desk of Martha Stewart***

This perfectly delightful note is being sent (on paper I made yesterday afternoon) to tell you what I've been up to since I saw you last in Palm Springs. It snowed last night, so I got up early and made a sled with old barn wood and a hot glue gun. I hand-painted it in gold-leaf, got out my loom, and made a blanket in peaches and mauve's. Then, to make the sled complete, I made some reindeer to pull it with some extra reindeer DNA I had laying around in the refrigerator. By then it was time to make the place mats and napkins for my 50 guests.

I'm serving the old standard twelve-course Stewart breakfast, but I'll let you in on a little secret, I didn't have time to make the table and chairs this morning, so I used the ones I had on hand and antiqued them while doing my 45 minutes on the treadmill. Before I moved the table and chairs into the dining room, I decided to add a festive touch to the room. So, I repainted the room in pink and stenciled gold stars on the ceiling. Then, while my 12-grain bread was rising, I took antique molds and made the dishes (in exactly the same shade of pink!) to use for breakfast. These were made from Hungarian clay, which you can get in almost any Hungarian craft store.

Well, I must run. I need to finish the button holes on the dress I'm wearing for the breakfast. I'll get out the sled and drive this note to the post office as soon as the glue dries on the envelopes I'll be making shortly. Hope my breakfast guests don't stay too long - I have 40,000 cranberries to string with bay leaves before my speaking engagement at noon. It's a good thing!

Love, Martha

P.S. When I made the ribbon for this typewriter, I used 1/8 inch gold gauze. I soaked the gauze in a mixture of white grapes and blackberries, which I grew, picked and crushed last week in an idle moment