How Cute Are They?!?!

My Sister, Abby, took some pictures of my little family. She did an AMAZING JOB!

 I have never felt very photogenic, but  I sure think my boys are, they must get it from their father. Here's my little Baby B, 10 months and 3 weeks old, wearing an 18 month size outfit that fits just right! He is a tall boy.

 I call this next one "Love Thy Brother" 

 And I love this one too, my J is getting so BIG! 

 My little dirty faced boy- He even has some treasures in his nose! And he is Gorgeous!

 Ken and B! B was getting a little fussy, Ken fixed that.

 Lately J has been giving us kisses on our noses- he loves it, and it makes for a cute picture.

  Lately if Ken tells J that he loves him, J says "No, You love Baby, Mommy love me!" It's true I do love J, I am glad he knows it. We always tell him that Mommy loves him and Daddy loves him and Brother loves him too! We all Love each other! Sometimes J agrees, sometimes he stands his ground, "No, Mommy Love Me!"

Fingers in the mouth, kind of cute.

 Right now, this next one is the picture I thinking of getting printed, though the one above is growing on me....

 My Man and his Boys!

 I just love this one- they boys were getting wiggly and wouldn't look at the camera- or even in the same direction, my sister asked our brother in law to take the dogs to a different part of the lawn, since the boys were watching the dogs, instead our smart brother, lifted one of the dogs up into the air, the boys went CRAZY!

 I love Ken Wheeler, SO MUCH! 

 Thanks Abby for taking these pictures. They, and You, are Amazing!

Baby B Vs. the Flour Bucket (and the Sippy Cup too)

Can you guess who won? B was hanging out with me in the kitchen, I left to take something to the computer desk and when I came back I found that the almost empty flour bucket had been over turned, and someone had been eating the flour! I cleaned up the flour and then got the camera, when he heard the camera turn on, Baby B raised his arms in Triumph! 

Baby B has also been working on holding his own bottle and using a sippy cup. If he is sitting straight up he can't do it. I don't know if it is an arm strength issue, I really have no idea what it is BUT I do know that if B is in his chair, slightly reclined he can do ANYTHING! For example, drink (watered down) Apple Juice. 

He LOVED it!

Kate's New Adventure

I am going to be Utah County's FIRST Premier Designs Jeweler! 

I hosted two pretty successful parties over the past couple of years, after my second party the Jeweler (Alecia, who happens to be my cousin) asked me if I was interested in becoming a jeweler myself, she thought I would be good at it. I was very easy for me to tell her I wasn't interested, because I am not a salesman.

So a year has gone by I was ready to host another party (meaning I was ready to get some more AWESOME hostess benefits-i.e.free jewelry LOVE IT!) and I contacted Alecia and we set the date, and then a couple of days later she emailed me and asked if I had thought about being a Jeweler again. I almost shot an email right back saying that "wasn't my thing, I just liked the free jewelry" but I didn't. We were chatting again a few days later and she reminded me that I had never answered her question, and I tried to say that I wasn't interested, but I couldn't. I felt like I was being stopped mid sentence and I couldn't finish. Instead I said that I needed to think about it some more, and talk to Ken. The talk with Ken never really happened other than me telling Ken that Alecia was going to come over to tell me more about working for/with Premier Designs.

And so it happened that Alecia came over and told me how it all works and the benefits of being a Jeweler for Premier Designs. Ken was there. And he and I both thought the same thing. This is something that I should do. We prayed about it and still felt the same way, and so I signed up. I am excited and a little scared, but more an anticipation kind of scared than a fear of clowns kind of scared.

Some of the things I have learned about Premier Designs that I love-

• The founders of the company wanted to create an opportunity for stay at home mothers, single parents, or individuals serving full time in Christian Ministries to be able to earn money and help support themselves and their families.
• The first of the four things they list as their company philosophy is "We believe God created every person with value." The first of the four items listed as their company purpose is "To enrich every life we touch" and the first of the companies objectives is"God demands fairness in every business deal. He sets the standard and we desire to honor Him" I was really impressed by those things.
• I have always enjoyed hosting the parties, I like the jewelry, and loved the hostess benefits. But I also just felt good about myself, I thought it was because I had new jewelry to wear but I think it might have something to do with the way Premier Designs does business "Building this business on Biblical principles has made this business strong as well as enabled us to enrich lives. These principles keep us focused on the things that really matter — serving, caring, hard work, hope and truth. We are determined that our growth should never outpace our ability to serve. Nothing is more important than service — it defined our beginning, has defined our growth, and it will define our future," declares Premier Designs Co-founder Andy Horner. "I'm talking about a total life commitment to being a servant. This means that when one of our Jewelers walks into a home, she must focus on more than selling jewelry. She must see each of the individuals at the Home Show as an infinitely valuable person made in the image of God. She must care about those people and seek to build them up. Even if the retail sales are disappointing, a Home Show is considered a success if the Jeweler gives of herself — expecting nothing in return — and enriches the lives of each person there by caring, listening, encouraging, and helping each participant understand that they are 'somebody.' This is the heart of how Premier Designs defines success." I found that on the Premier Designs Website. I think it explains a little why I always felt so good about my parties- even when only 2 or 3 people showed up. I had hosted other types of direct sales parties- My Tupperware party would be a good example- and when not many people showed I always felt like I had failed in some way, it wasn't the best of experiences, but with my jewelry parties it was just different. I felt valued. I think I am a caring person, I can listen and encourage and help to lift people when they need it. I LOVE that service is actually the focus of this company. It makes me feel really good about working with them.

So I am starting to make plans, set up home shows/jewelry parties. I have a goal to have 6-9 shows in my first 6 weeks (July 6th to August 16th). I am hoping to talk some good friends into being hostess for those shows. I know it would be fun, and I hope that they would feel as good as I felt after my parties. I really have a desire to love and serve and uplift as I build my little business. So, if I send you an email, or give you a call, and beg for your help, please know that I put a lot of thought and prayer into my list of potential hostesses. And if you want to preempt my call/email and you just really really really want to host a Home Show- Let Me Know! (and don't worry if you live outside of Utah County- I am totally willing to travel-within reason ;) )

Baby B Explains it All

Hello All! It's me, Baby B. I thought I would share some stories with you today. This weekend we went out of town, all the way to Midway! It's just 21.44 miles from where we live- as the crow flies- but since we are not crows we had to drive 35 miles around the mountain that separates us from Midway. 

I was pretty happy in Midway, but hey, I am pretty happy everywhere right? Midway was beautiful, we got there on Saturday and came home on Monday, which I think was not long enough! I wanted to go on a hike, maybe check out those cool craters that seemed to be EVERYWHERE, as it was we didn't leave our condo much, but our view was quite pretty and we had some pretty fun adventures.

The first thing we did once we got settled in, was go swimming. My brother J was SO EXCITED to go swimming that I thought it must be something amazing! I watched J jump to Mommy a few times and then Mommy put me into a plastic, air filled, TORTURE DEVICE! I immediately started to complain, it just didn't seem safe to me, sure, it had two circle shape things and a seat with a back rest and it floated quite well, BUT I didn't like it. Pretty soon Mommy gave up and let Daddy catch J. Mommy and I went and sat next to a big tub full of really warm water. Mommy put her feet in the water but she wouldn't let me get it. Who knows, I think I would have liked it. It was fun watching J and flirting with all the other ladies and babies and everyone really. I like flirting. J also had a new toy, Mommy called it a Noodle. J even kicked his feet a little while he used the noodle to help him float in the water. Mommy said J is gong to take swimming lessons soon, if Mommy can remember to sign him up that is.

Here is a picture of our Condo. Mommy thought it was really cute, very Swiss. We were right next door to the Zermatt Resort and Spa, it was also Swiss inspired- as were most of the other resorts.....I felt very at home here, so did Mom, after all, we are part Swiss, and we really like Swiss Cheese and stuff like that. Mom really wants to go to Swiss days sometime, but that is another story, so on to my next adventure.

When Mom and Dad decided to go to Midway they were still living under the false hope that J and I would be able to share a room at night, so they booked a 2 bedroom condo for us to stay in. Mommy decided to try  making the second bathroom into a special little nursery just for me! My pack and play fit very well into the bathroom, but Mommy forgot to bring my extra soft convoluted mattress pad....this proved to be a problem. You see, I like comfort. I will put up with the uncomfortable and hard pack and play thing for a couple of hours, but not all night. At 2 AM on Sunday Morning I turned on my "I am NOT Happy and I will wake up the Neighbors" siren. It worked. Mommy came and saved me. She brought me into her room and told me that since she and Daddy had a King sized bed there at the Condo, there would definitely be room for little old me. Mommy and Daddy decided it would be safest for me to be in the middle of he bed. They were right, I do move around  A LOT, and I do intentionally try to fall off beds and stuff. So anyway, what Mommy and Daddy didn't realize was that I am a complete and total BED HOG! It is true, like I said, I like comfort and when I find a comfortable mattress I make it mine. In this case I decided that the most comfortable part of the bed was indeed in the middle but not length wise down the middle, I wiggled until I found the perfect spot, which was width wise, Mommy and Daddy had sufficient room on either side of me, as long as they laid on their sides. Sometimes they crowded me, so I would kick Mom or headbutt Dad until they gave me the appropriate space. Mommy didn't like this, she took an extra blanket and folded it 4 or 5 times until it fit perfectly into my little pack and play, then she banished me back to the bathroom. The blanket provided sufficient softness for me to sleep, so I tried not to complain about losing my King Sized Bed. I heard Mommy complain about how she had passed on her "Princess and the Pea" gene to me....I don't think that is a problem, as long as I have a comfortable mattress, and there are no peas under it. Little J also escaped his room (no toddler proof door knob covers) and came into visit Mom and Dad at about 3. Mom and Dad didn't sleep too well.

Speaking of Peas! Look what Mommy let me eat, she didn't puree them or anything! That means I am big. I got about 75% of them in my mouth on the first try too. I was excited about that until those peas interrupted my sleep on Sunday night. Daddy saved me this time, he changed my diaper (peas really don't like me) and held me until I was calm again. I have a nice Daddy. I hope he had a good Father's Day because he is my Favorite Father EVER!

So, on Monday morning we packed up all our stuff and came home. We did get to stop at Arctic Circle for some shakes, Mommy let me have some of her shake because I am such a good boy. Someday I want to be as good as J because he got to have his own cone. It was a fun trip, I wouldn't mind going back there someday, anyone want to go to Swiss Days? I am guessing there will be Yodeling!

A Big Splash

Last summer I heard that Highland had a splash park, being large with child at the time I was very willing to spend time at splash parks. It was hot, I could wade through water if i wanted. J could have lots of fun. I even  scheduled a play date, it was for either August 5th or 6th......who knew I would have a Baby on August 4th! No one, and I totally forgot about the splash park, until last week when my friend Annaca reminded me. So on Friday the boys and I suited up and headed over to Highland. 

I was a little worried, because on the Highland City website they said that the splash park was not open when the temperature was below 75. Well it has been hot this week, right up until yesterday afternoon. When we got the the park there was no water, just a bunch of kids in suits running around and jumping on rocks. J was perfectly willing to jump on rocks. Then about 15 min after we got there water erupted from everywhere!

B enjoyed this little perch (for about 90 seconds)

J enjoyed running around this splash pad, but he would not venture into it when the water was shooting.

The splash park had a large waterfall (just for show it was pretty well blocked off though I did have to stop J from climbing down into it at one point) the water from the waterfall flows under a bridge and through a little lagoon, where J spent most of his time. In the lagoon there are lots of rocks that spurt water. J had a blast AND he didn't make anyone cry! YES!

Baby B, once again, spent most of his time in the igloo. I love that tent, quite possibly the best Ikea purchase I have ever made.

We had so much fun that I decided we would go every Friday, if possible. And next time, we're bringing lunch. Also for next time, I am not going to leave my camera at the splash park. I didn't realize the camera was missing until after we were home and both the boys were napping- basically when I wanted to blog about how much fun we had had. After Ken got home I drove back over there, parked in the same spot, walked the same path, couldn't find our camera.......then for some strange reason I looked up- and there it was hanging from a small branch on the tree closest to our parking spot. I am grateful for honest people! I was so worried, not about the camera but about the pictures that we hadn't moved to the computer yet. Ken took care of that as soon as I got home. So that is the end of our Splash Park adventure, for today that is.

Temple Picnics

The boys and I started something new this week, we are going go to a temple each month and have a picnic. On Wednesday we went to the Draper Utah LDS Temple. As soon as we drove into the parking lot at the temple, J started calling out, "Moroni! Moroni! Mommy there's Moroni!" And I wondered who taught him about the statue of Moroni on top of the Temples. I vaguely remember pointing it out once, but really only once. He has a great memory. The next thing J noticed was the groundskeepers, or more importantly their equipment. He stalked this "Digger" with the ease and skill of a jungle cat. We will see later if he was successful in catching his prey.

 Then there was Baby B, It was pretty sunny and since the Draper Temple is only a couple  years old I knew they wouldn't have much shade there, so we brought our Ikea igloo tent, it was perfect for B. He rolled around and cooed and was generally CUTE. When we have picnics B gets to eat bread, I toss it in the tent and he rolls over to it, it's a pretty fun game.

So, yes, J eventually caught the digger. Truth be told the groundskeepers went in for lunch and they parked the digger about 15 feet from us. J was in heaven. He is sitting on my lap right now and he keeps saying "Me likes dee digger". 

Baby B is on the verge of crawling, he is at the point where he can go in reverse but hasn't figured out how to put himself into drive. I put the tent next to a little tree and B kept backing up and backing up into the a corner of the tent. Eventually I realized that he was actually moving the tent. He had wrapped the tent around the tree, about 5 to 6 inches. He was quite pleased with himself. 

Later that day Baby B did something new- he got into a sitting position all on his own. He has been sitting up on his own for quite a while now, he will sit FOREVER and play, but if he fell over he couldn't get back up. On Tuesday we had some friends over and B rolled himself into the middle of the room, then with great gusto he showed of his new trick, twice, both times he did it a different way. Since then he has been rolling or backing up, wherever he wanted, sitting up, playing for a while, then rolling somewhere else. He is pretty proud of his new ability.....but back to the final Temple picture. I couldn't get both of the boys to look at the camera and smile at the same time. This one was the cutest. I learned for next time not to put the boys in the shade (1 minute in the sun for pictures won't hurt them). 

 All in all we had a wonderful time at the temple. J and I had a pretty nice conversation about the temple and why it is a special place, how it is the house of the Lord and that Mommy and Daddy got married in a Temple and they get to go to the temple sometimes. The Groundskeepers told me that there are lots of people who come up there and eat lunch and look at the Temple, so now I don't feel so funny about picnicking at the Temple. I hope our boys enjoy our new tradition. More pictures of our Temple Picnics will come every month

Favorites

These pictures are from last Sunday.

The baby was just too cute NOT to take a picture. He sure loves his Daddy.

 And J figured out that he could pretty much take care of himself, as long as he had the cooler to push around the kitchen. Yep, too cute to not take a picture, though the cooler was eventually confiscated.

Just your typical Sunday afternoon around here.

Pies!

We had a neighborhood picnic this weekend, and I signed up to bring a pie for the Pie Contest. I didn't just want to make an apple pie, anyone can make an apple pie. I know anyone can because I can, in fact that is the only kind of pie I have ever made. I wanted to make something Fabulous, maybe something with a single crust. So I looked online for a while and found a few recipes I wanted to try. One was a Mock Pecan and the other was a Peanut Butter and Chocolate pie. I couldn't decide which one to make for the picnic, so I made both. Ken had Friday off of work this week, so that he could participate in Youth Conference/Day Camp for the Special Need Mutual, he was going to be home until around 10 AM and he agreed to watch the boys while I made pie crusts....well it turned out that he watched the boys while I made the whole pies. 

I love Pie Crust. LOVE IT!

Never having made a single crust pie before, I was a little uncertain about how to make the crust nice looking- you know, how to crimp the edges and stuff. The Peanut Butter pie needed a pre-baked crust. I made the crust, put it in the pan then cut and crimped the edges. I made 2 mistakes with this crust- first, I cut the crust so that the crimped edges were above the top of the pie dish, second, I didn't crimp very hard. I discovered after it was baked that the crimped edges had come apart and fallen over the side of the pie dish......oops. It wasn't the prettiest pie crust I had ever made, but it did taste good.

Next, I melted some chocolate and stirred in a couple tablespoons of heavy whipping cream, when it was all well combined I spread it into the pie crust and put it in the refrigerator to cool, it needed to be firm before I could pour the peanut butter layer on.

For the Peanut Butter layer, I mixed 1/2 cup peanut butter together with one 5 oz package of instant vanilla pudding powder. Once that was combined I turned on the heat and let it melt and then I mixed in some milk. This next part was the most annoying- I had to stir it constantly over LOW heat until it boiled. IT TOOK FOREVER! .

Then once it boiled I took it off the heat and let it cool for 15 minutes, then I poured it over the chocolate and put the pie back in the fridge to cool completely. This pie tasted good! It also held together really well. I saw one man take a slice, he was using a fork and the piece came out perfectly- then before he got it too his plate he dropped the piece of pie! He caught it with his hand, any other pie would have fallen apart or smashed...this one just kind of giggled and he put it onto his plate and walked away....very nice.

Having learned my lesson from the first pie crust I made two very necessary changes-  I trimmed the crust much shorter and I crimped the edges with much more force. I have decided that this crust is the prettiest pie crust I have ever made.

Now, this is a Mock Pecan pie. This is a pie perfect for those who enjoy the sweet goodness of pecan pie but who don't enjoy or can't eat pecans. I happen to be married to just such a person, and he was excited for the sweet sugary goodness of this pie! I must say it was pretty simple to make Eggs, Brown Sugar, White Sugar, Vanilla and melted butter all beaten together, then fold in some rolled oats and coconut, pour it into the the pie crust and bake it for 30 min. Edges covered, of course.

It was a very good looking pie, it had a crusty top and I had no idea what the inside was like.....it was at this point that I said to myself "What were you thinking?! You made two pies for a pie contest and you have no idea if they are even good!"

Well, they were good, and it turns out that there was no pie contest! The would be judges were also manning the 4 BBQ grills that were cooking the hamburgers and hot dogs for all the picnickers. They greatly underestimated the amount of people who were going to show up for the picnic and or how long it would take to cook all that meat and before they could judge the pies....the pies had pretty much all been eaten. Oh well, maybe next year. I do know this, I made two pretty yummy pies. I am definitely going to try the Mock Pecan again, it was a little runny, I want to figure out how to get it to set properly....because I too like that sugary filling.

Parkin' It

So today has been a weird day. Ken was home in the morning, then at about 10 he left to go to the Special Needs Mutual Youth Conference, he is going to be gone until about 9 tonight. It is beautiful outside and I want to spend lots of time out there. We have been to the big park, that is about a block and a half away from our house, a few times this week. The park is getting really fun because J is very able and willing to play by himself. So today I thought I wanted to try something new. I knew that B would enjoy time in the tent- because I took it to the big park earlier this week- but I wanted some shade too and I am too big for the tent. So I set up my market umbrella..... Look how happy B is!

See that gate- that's my gate. We were close enough to the house (and our wireless) that I was able to take my laptop out there.

And here is another view- see how close we are to the neighborhood playground! We are going to be out here a lot this summer, we are ALL going to enjoy it. J had fun for an hour- then it was nap time. A side effect of playing at the park, J sleeps pretty darn good at nap time AND bedtime. And yes, we are going back to the park after dinner. (hehehehehehe, do you think he will figure out my evil plan?)

There were not a lot of kids at the park today, two 15 month old girls came to play, but they didn't really want to play with J. At one point J denied use of the Baby Swing to one of the little girls,  his brother was going to come swing....so I took B over to the swing so as to not turn J into a liar. So, this is what happened...

"I'm not to sure about this, are you sure this is safe?!?!" 

"I feel a little funny in my tummy! I like it!"

 "Weeeeeeeeeeee!"

 B's has been in a swing like this 3 times now, the first few times he lasted about a minute before he was crying and begging to get out. This time he really liked it. J pushed him for a while and then I took over, he had fun in the swing for at least 10 minutes. I think he might be addicted. J is learning how to swing on the big swings. He still wants to sit in the baby swings (I believe this is the real reason he denied access to the swing to the little girl) but since he weighs 35 pounds, I am not very inclined to help him get in and out of the baby swings. This picture really doesn't show how well he did, in fact he kind of looks like he is in pain, but believe me, he enjoyed the big swing and I believe that he will soon not even ask for me to put him in the baby swing.

So if you're in the neighborhood and want to spend some time at the park, let us know! We will bring out the tent, umbrella and blanket! We will all have a good old time at the park.

Other stuff we've been doing

Last weekend I ran a 5k, the Blood Run and no it was not a race for Vampires, it was a race to support the Utah Hemophilia Foundation. It was near my parents house AND it started at 7 AM, because Ken was busy that morning and because I didn't want to wake the boys up at 5 AM so that I could get them to my Parent's house with time for me to make it to the race early enough to get my # and run the race, I decided to sleep over with the boys at Grandma and Grandpas, It was fun. Before we left Daddy alone at home, we treated him to dinner at Emmett's and Ethel's here in Lehi. 

B is getting to be a big boy, but he seemed so little in the high chair. Happy, but little. 

 I later realized that B was little because he was pretty much laying down in the chair.

 This is rare- this boy seems to have cleaned his plate! I cleaned my plate too, that may or may not have been a good thing- calorie wise.

Some other things we've been doing- B is still enjoying all kinds of foods, here he is with some more sauce-less spaghetti- he really likes noodles.

 And J continues to pick out his own clothes. He is also talking more and more, it is amazing the things this kid says and sings. He has a great memory too, he reminds me of things all the time (so now I have to stop making promises that I don't intend to keep, because he remembers), AND, he has a great imagination too. We have lots of conversations about Fires and Firemen and Fire Trucks and Smoke, Just about everything in our house has been on fire recently- according to J.

I also love the baby down in the bottom of this picture- sometimes that kid busts a gut laughing. I love my boys!