Happy Anniversary to Us!

We have been married for 7 years now so we decided to do something different to celebrate. My parents kindly offered to watch the boys while we went out for the night so on Friday we drove up and stayed the night with my parents. The next morning we hung out around the house and then Reed and I left to go up to Calgary. It was so nice to have a day without the kids. The drive up was nice because we could just talk and read. After we got to Calgary we did a little shopping and found a good deal on sleeping bags. Then we went and checked into our hotel. By that time we were hungry so we went and found a nice steak place. I was so glad the kids weren't with us - it took a while for us to get a seat and then it took a while for the food to come. I didn't mind the wait though because it gave Reed and I a chance to talk. After that we did a little more shopping and then we went back to the hotel and went swimming. The next day we slept in and just relaxed and then we got ready for church. After church we decided to come home. It was a very nice outing and it sounds like the boys had a blast playing with Grandpa and Grandma. Sunday night we put the kids to bed early and we played games with my parents and Jodie. Reed had Monday off so we stayed and helped my dad put the bricks into the new patio. It was super windy that day and when we finished we had sand all over. So that was our fun anniversary.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms out there. Today was a good day. Reed and Alan made me breakfast in bed - french toast with strawberries and icing sugar. It was delicious. Then we got ready for church. At church Alan gave his first talk in primary. He talked about mothers and he dictated most of his talk to Reed so it all came from his heart. It was extremely cute and he did such a good job. The last time when he gave a scripture he was very shy but this time he stood up there and said the talk (with Reed whispering in his ear). He spoke kind of quietly but he wasn't whispering. After church everyone took a nap, which was nice. Then we cleaned up a bit and had the missionaries over for dinner. Reed made most of the meal and it turned out fabulous - steak, garlic mashed potatoes, spinach salad and rolls. Then tonight we all went for a walk and then came home to call our moms. I didn't change any diapers today and I only did a couple of dishes. It has been a great day and I am thankful for my husband and sons who make being a mom so enjoyable.

Drumroll Please

Yesterday we went in for my routine ultrasound and we got to have a good look at the baby. I love getting a sneak peak at the baby. The baby is healthy and we got to hear the heart beat (160 beats per minute). The baby was very active. The baby kept wiggling and kicking and squirming. We got a nice side look at the baby's head while the baby opened and closed its mouth several times and nodded its head. It was cute and fun to watch. Now for the moment you've all been waiting for - we are having a BOY! We are so excited! Alan was very excited as well, he has been hoping for another little brother. Conner doesn't have any idea what is going on so I can't say what his reaction is. Now we can start thinking about names.

Snow Castles

Last week we had a big spring snow storm roll through here. I heard it snowed about 12 inches but only 3 of the inches stuck. The snow was heavy and wet so many trees lost branches and some people's power went out. Alan was thrilled that it snowed again and he begged me to go out and build a snowman. He built a little snow man but then he decided he wanted to build a snow castle so we got out our sand buckets and shovels and went to work. We built a castle with three towers.

Then later we came out and added a bridge and a front door. Alan was really disappointed because all the snow melted before we had a chance to add a back door.

Conner decided the stomp in the puddles was more fun than building anything so that is what he did. He would pile snow into the puddle and then stomp on it.

By the end of it he got quite wet. He also had fun just walking in the snow and looking back to see his foot prints. During this storm he also added the words "snow" and "ta-da" to his vocabulary. Now when he does something special or builds something he will bring you to look at it and say "ta-da!"

That night Conner had a hard time settling down for bed. He laid awake in his bed, happily jabbering away, for a long time. When it was all quiet I went in to check on him and this is what I found:
He had unzipped his pajamas and completely undressed himself (except for his diaper thankfully). I didn't have any idea that he could do that. Crazy boy.

Just Say No

That seems to be Conner's motto lately. Before I tell you this story you have to understand that Conner doesn't talk very much at all. Last month he only had about 10 words that he would say occasionally, so any new word is a cause for celebration. So last month he was playing in my kitchen utensil drawer and he threw a spoon across the kitchen. I told him to go pick it up and put it back. He looked at me and said "No". It was as clear as day and I was so excited! I contained my excitement and repeated my command until he returned the spoon and then I went to tell Reed the good news: Conner said a new word! Well, since then it seems that "No" is one of the only words he can say. He has perfected this new word by adding actions - he will bang his fist on the table and say "No!" very forcefully. The funny thing about that is that he isn't saying it to anyone, he is just practicing. He also tells me "No!" and shakes his finger at me - "No, no, no" while shaking his finger and looking very stern for a not quite 2 year old. His other favorite phrase right now is "Owie".

Lately Conner has been really tired. He keeps waking up early (before 6 am) and then by mid morning he is exhausted. He often has a hard time making it through lunch before he falls asleep.

Conner loves his brother. He also know how to push his buttons so he has learned how to give hugs after he makes Alan sad.

Lately Conner has become more interested in books. Now he will actually point to things and you can tell he is making an effort to repeat some of the words. This last week his favorite books are about animals and he has learned several new animal sounds. They include "meow", "baa", "moo", "woof", "hiss", and he makes the funniest hissing/growling noise when he sees a picture of a lion or tiger. He also attempted to mimic monkey noises. He has also learned "stuck", "bye", "apple", "Dad" and a couple other words recently. I am hoping he will continue this trend so that I can finally know what he wants, instead of guessing.

Easter 2010

This year my parents and my brother Reed and his fiancee Jody came to visit us for Easter. We had a lot of fun watching the boys since both of them really got into the eggs this year. Alan was very patient this year about letting the eggs sit for a while in the dye.

Conner on the other hand was very impatient and kept taking the eggs out after 5 seconds. Then he would look at them and drop them back in (not very gently)

Wait a second, is this juice?!?! Nope, I guess not.

On Sunday morning we had an Easter egg hunt in our back yard. There were some real eggs and some plastic eggs. I tried to tell Conner to look for the eggs but he kept getting distracted. He saw a plastic one sitting on the slide and he excitedly ran over to it. I expected him to add it to his bucket but instead he pushed it down the slide. Then he grabbed one of the real eggs from his bucked and chucked it down the slide too. He would have been happy to stay there all day long and throw eggs down the slide but I don't think the eggs could have withstood the abuse. After that he found one of our sand buckets and spent most of the rest of the time transferring his eggs from one bucket to the other, then carrying both buckets around happily.
Alan on the other hand was very eager and efficient at finding Easter eggs. Reed and Jodie were looking for eggs too and when Alan noticed that they didn't have very many he helped them find some eggs too.
Then we went inside to look for our Easter baskets. Some of them were hidden very well but we all eventually found ours.

Here are Reed and Jodie showing the boys how to use their toys.

Conner was very eager to see what everyone else had in their baskets.
Conner saw the candy in his and he didn't care about anything else. He spent several minutes unwrapping piece after piece of chocolate and shoveling them into his mouth.

Yea for gum and toys! Alan was really excited to get gum in his basket. He was also really excited to get a Super Why dvd and he was excited that Conner got a Curious George dvd.

I like these movies of Curious George. - Alan

The best primary activity ever

Alan went to his very first primary activity day last week and he had a blast! The theme was "Follow the Prophet". The kids went to 5 different stations where they had activities that went along with a talk given by a general authority from last conference. Two of the activities were building models of temples out of marshmallows and toothpicks and I think Alan's favorite activity was building the paper airplanes. He was so excited to bring his plane (which he named Harold, by the way) home and show me how it flies. He even remembered part of the story that went with the plane activity. He also said that they tried to pick up marbles with their toes. Then at the end of the activity they had an Easter egg hunt. Conner and I were there for that so Conner helped Alan gather some eggs. Both boys were pretty excited to find out that there was candy in some of them. After we came home Alan talked and talked about all that he did and he was so excited for Reed to come home so that he could tell him all that he had done.