Phases in the life of a toddler

Josh is in a really interesting phase right now. He wants to please his mommy and daddy but he also wants to have fun and be mischievous. He loves to play with his daddy, and now that we've been able to have him put himself to sleep (we have a routine) he seems so big. At the end of our routine we put him in bed, he lays down, we tell him we love him, he says something back, then we say na-night, and he says na-night, and that's it. We leave the "room" and he goes to sleep. He's so cute but growing up so fast. It melts my little heart and I almost cry every time he does it because it so sweet. We love our little Joshy!

Other pictures from our trip

The first two pictures are from the Mormon battalion visitors center: The boys pumping water, and us as a family "making bricks". The last three are from Disneyland. Thanks Peterson's for letting me steal pictures of us from your blog.

I guess we could share. . .

We have decided to add to our family! It happened quicker than we were expecting since it took us six months for Josh, but we are excited to say that we will be having another baby in December, again. I've been given the due date of December 28, that cuts it a little close to the end/beginning of the year, not to mention ten days after Josh's birthday. We'd like that tax deduction, but the less winter to endure with a new baby the better. We know we are truly blessed and do not discredit the work of our father in heaven in the timing of this child. We only hope our friends who have been trying to have kids for years will know that we love them and pray for them often. Keep your chin up, your time will come.

Proud of my Mamma!

Don't misunderstand me when I say that my mom is rocking 50! In June my mom did 2 bike rides. She just started spinning classes in the last few years and loves to workout when she can. So my mom in her fit 50 year old body rode an 18 mile ride in 45 minutes in Lewiston near the beginning of June and two weeks after that she rode the Tour de Cure with her friend Trina. There were different distances you could ride and they chose 25 miles. The day was cold and really windy. Mike and I drove them up to Brigham City so we went to breakfast after we dropped them off and walked around, drove part of the course to pass the time. We moved our car twice to get better parking and ended up right by the finish line. My mom is amazing and I can only hope to be as fit as her when I'm fifty!

Monday, Monday. . .

I don't know how many posts I've given this title to but I'm going to use it again. Since it had warmed up this particular Monday, Jenny invited us over to Grandma's to have picnic lunch and play in the kiddie pool. It was too hot to eat outside so we ate inside and played in the kiddie pool after lunch. Once we got used to the cold water the three of us sat and watched the boys play in the water near us. Josh wasn't too sure about it at first but now that he's been in a kiddie pool a few times he's warmed up to it. After they were done swimming Alex wanted to lay on his towel, and Josh wanted to lay right next to him. But really, right next to him. We then decided we were hot and needed a drink and the boys did too, so you can see Josh's water bottle. When they had had enough sitting, we got the sprinkler out thinking Josh might like that better, he didn't. He wanted to throw the ball and try to get it without getting wet. It was a really fun day and I'm glad Jenny had the good idea on that Monday.

If you can't beat them, ask them to join you

I was trying to make dinner one night and Josh was being particularly difficult. I thought, instead of fighting with him, why don't I just ask him if he wants to help me. So I did and he said yes. He was really excited to get to wear an apron like mommy. He liked to stand on the chair so that he could see what I was doing, but I think his favorite part was "helping" shred the cheese. I think most of it made it into the bowl but that's not to say that some of it didn't end up in his mouth. He was really cute and it was a fun lesson in mommy-hood.

San Diego, Celebration trip part 2

When we left Anaheim, we headed out to San Diego. We had some time to kill so we stopped by the San Diego Temple. We had a potty break/let the boys stretch their legs break. We ran into the sister missionaries who told us about the Mormon Battalion visitors center, so we opted to go. It was so cool and anyone who goes to San Diego, member of the church or not, should stop by this gem. It had an interactive storytelling that was so fun. At the end outside you could "make bricks", pan for gold, climb a tower, and have a complimentary picture taken. It was awesome.

We checked into our timeshare, thanks Tien and Tyler, and rested for a while but the next day it was up and at em'.

We headed off to the San Diego Zoo. It was a long hot day and I got sun burned but we had a lot of fun looking at animals in excellent exhibits. Gorillas, elephants (they have 9!) and lots of birds. We could barely make out the hippo in his murky water but he was there. Our favorite of the day was the polar bears. They were being so playful while we were there. We also go to see panda bears. They had three on display that day a mom and her two babies. We also saw a sea lion show that was so fun. We sat in the splash zone hoping to get a little wet, not a drop! It was so hot. I loved the Zoo and could have spent another day there. But for that day we were done.

The day after we went to the Zoo we were going to go to the beach, but we were so pooped that we decided to leave and head back. We stayed in Vegas that night. Went to see Shrek 3 and Preston's baseball game the next day; and drove the rest of the way home on Sunday. It was a long trip but a fun one. We were glad we took this opportunity to go and see fun things, especially witnessing Dave, Tyson, and Josh's first time at Disneyland. Before this trip I had less than great feelings about "The happiest place one earth" but as a parent I have a new found respect and joy in visiting Disneyland and look forward to the day when we can go as a bigger family someday.

I'm sure this is how we all felt by the end of our trip.