Owen and his Little Birdie

Owen loves to point at things...with his middle finger.

Hello Little Birdie!

We went to California last week for a quick getaway. A lot of Jeff's family live there. Since Jeff snowplows in the winter, we had to wait til we knew the weather would be nice for several days in a row. We ended up being gone for a week (although we did spend 2 days driving).

Playing with cousins is always fun.


Oh look, Jeff has a little birdie friend too.

Right before we went out of town we got Benson a new car seat. It's a 5 point harness booster, so he can use it a long time. It's called the Britax Frontier. I love it. It's quite expensive, but for good reason. It's the best and safest 5-point harness booster out there. A lot of these have a weight limit of 40 lbs for the 5-point harness. It's best to keep your kids in a 5PH for as long as possible. Benson is already 33 lbs. The Britax Frontier has a 5PH weight limit of 80 lbs. So they can stay in it a lot longer. Since we got that for Benson, we upgraded Owen to Benson's carseat, the Britax Boulevard. We decided to put him forward facing for the long car ride. He really liked it.

While we were in California Benson was exposed to Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. Here are a few facts that I've learned about HFMD (from the nurse at the Pediatrician's office).

Kids between 6 months & 4 years are most likely to get it (it's unusual for adults & older kids to get it).

HFMD is very contagious.

When you get it you are contagious for 1-3 days and will usually have a low-grade fever.

You don't show any rashes until 3-6 days after you get it, so by then you're not contagious anymore.

So, it's a lot like chickenpox...you don't know you have it, but you're spreading it to someone else.

You don't always get rashes/sores on your hands, feet, and mouth.

30% of kids have it start on their buttocks.

Benson's started on his bum and I thought it was just a weird diaper rash, but a couple days later he had a rash on his legs then his arms. After I found out it was HFMD I checked his mouth and he has a couple coldsore type sores in his mouth. Nothing seems to bother him, so he has a minor case of it. I just hate telling people he has HFMD. I feel like I'm telling them he's a leper or something. Owen hasn't shown any signs of it yet, so he didn't get it.

Here's Benson giving a goodbye kiss to his cousin Laney. Luckily Laney didn't get HFMD.

Waiting to go home.

Bye Grandma

Owen loves to wave bye-bye.

We had such a good time. My sis-in-law, April, took some pictures of the boys while we were there too. She is so talented. I can't wait to put up some new pictures in the house.

The Day After Valentine's

Today, the day after Valentine's Day, means more to me than the blessed v-day.
5 years ago today, Jeff proposed to me. It's the anniversary of our engagement. So, Jeff's brother did a video of the actual proposal. We have it on VHS, so I took a video of the video. I know, so clever. It's obviously not the best quality, but you get the idea. Just a little info before you start it; we were in California with a lot of Jeff's fam. We were playing the game Cranium.
(Pause the music on my playlist)

My only request was to have it be a total surprise. I was not expecting it at all...he did awesome!
Love you Jeff!
You might have noticed Benson at the bottom of the screen watching the video. I thought he'd like it, but he just wanted us to put Dumbo back on.

"Come Back"

I'm not sure why I've been feeling such a strong impression to share this...the spirit I'm sure. I've been reconnecting with old friends from college and high school on Facebook (and here) lately. It's interesting to see where people are in their lives...and how different they are. Some have changed for the better. Some that I thought were not very 'active' members of the church have turned things around and have been sealed in the temple and are very 'active' in their callings and church activities.
Others have changed in a different way. They've gone the other direction. Friends who I went to church with, who shared their testimonies with me, who knew the plan and were going to stick to it...they fell off the path. It breaks my heart. I wonder what made things change for them. I'm sure for some it was a very gradual thing...miss church once in awhile, stop paying tithing, get new friends who don't share the same values. I'll admit, I haven't always been on the straight and narrow. But I'm sure glad I got back on it. I'm having a hard time getting these people out of my mind. Wondering what they think the purpose of life is...without the gospel.
A talk that kept coming to my mind was the April 2008 Conference talk by our Prophet, President Monson. I'll admit, I'm not usually good at remembering things our leaders tell us at Conference (sometimes I'm asleep or trying to keep the kids quite or happy..whatever). But for some reason this one stuck with me. I just loved it.

Here's the quote from President Monson's talk:

Throughout the journey along the pathway of life, there are casualties. Some depart from the road markers which point toward life eternal, only to discover the detour chosen ultimately leads to a dead end. Indifference, carelessness, selfishness, and sin all take their costly toll in human lives.

Change for the better can come to all. Over the years we have issued appeals to the less active, the offended, the critical, the transgressor—to come back. “Come back and feast at the table of the Lord, and taste again the sweet and satisfying fruits of fellowship with the Saints.”

In the private sanctuary of one’s own conscience lies that spirit, that determination to cast off the old person and to measure up to the stature of true potential. In this spirit, we again issue that heartfelt invitation: Come back. We reach out to you in the pure love of Christ and express our desire to assist you and to welcome you into full fellowship. To those who are wounded in spirit or who are struggling and fearful, we say, Let us lift you and cheer you and calm your fears. Take literally the Lord’s invitation, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

educational games

I've been trying my best to be a better mom lately...so I've been playing some educational games with Benson while Owen is taking his morning nap. I did this before, but I didn't make an effort to do it everyday. For Christmas Benson got a game called Roll & Play from Grandma & Grandpa Gunther. It helps him learn his colors and follow simple directions. One time he rolled red, and the card told him to find something yellow. I showed him the card and reminded him what the color yellow looks like. He got really excited and ran out of the room. We were playing upstairs in his room and I could hear him running down the stairs. I figured he must have something yellow in mind and knew exactly what he wanted. A minute later he came up the stairs with a yellow banana. I laughed so hard...because the girl on the card was holding a yellow banana. Benson then had a snack.

Here's Owen with his Nap Hair aka Bed Head.

These are from a couple months ago, but I just wanted to show them. Benson actually likes to eat vegetables. We have a hard time getting him to eat the main course, but he'll eat his veggies.
Funny guy.


He especially likes his veggies when he can dip them in yummy veggie dip.

He's actually dipping his finger in the dip. Oh well, as long as he gets some calories...this guy is skinny.

Benson doesn't like to take naps or go to bed at night. On a few occasions I've just let him play in the loft until he falls asleep. This is really how it looked when I went up to move him to his bed.