B&M WHITING CLAN

July

2011-11-09T06:57:00.009-07:00

July is the time when it starts to get hot in our apartment without a/c. One way we found to pass the time and keep cool this year was a bowl full of water and various cups with holes on the balcony.

It worked the best the first day and for the the first hour. After awhile, the boys just started dumping the water off the balcony.

Here is a mini Brylee shoot. She is so good at sitting!

She is also an avid reader :)

Another activity we do to keep cool is go play at Toys R Us. We usually start with the train table and play there for 45 minutes or so (depending on how much time we have) Then we made our way to the cars. Brylee is such a natural driver and then we go ride the trikes. The people at Toys R Us are so friendly. It is how I got signed up for their birthday club. On your child's birthday they send a $3 gift card for the parents and a $3 gift card for the child. I am looking to receiving our first set of gift cards for Brylee's birthday. I'm also excited for Tucker's birthday because he will be able to afford a new train for his track!

We had lots of fun seeing everyone for Jonathan's wedding. Hunter loved the horse at Aunt Diane's house. I was amazed that I actually got a still shot of him.

Not caught on video was Tucker dancing with a girl at Uncle Keith's wedding reception. Tucker asked the little girl to dance all by himself (after a little direction from Bryant). It was so cute. The girl was getting into the dancing and rocking out and Tucker was just swaying back and forth on his feet holding her hands. It all ended as a result of the girl's older brother trying to make them kiss.

Tucker came up with this idea all on his own. He put the Mr. Potato Head tongue in his mouth and it makes for a really silly face

Here are Brylee's beautiful blue eyes.

She is so good at scooting!!

She is my first child to get stuck under the couch head first. Everyone else has ended up scooting backwards and getting stuck!

Hunter "smiling" for a picture

Playtime in the boys room :)

Hunter loved to be upside down in the toy saucer and Brylee utterly despises the things so we put it back in storage

I decided to splurge and buy a couple of extra track pieces from Funfinity for Tucker and Hunter. Tucker really enjoyed being able to make new cool tracks. It looks different every time he or I build one. He really liked this track and asked that we not clean it up at the end of the day so that he could enjoy it more the next day. It was cute.

I really like how he tried to color coordinate all of the cars and trains on the track.

The boys were amazed the day that I let them play on the bike racks at the library. There are usually lots of bikes on the rack and they tend to play with the bikes so the racks are usually forbidden.

Tucker had to show me some "cool" tricks :)

I am trying to convince Brylee to say "ma ma ma ma" in this video because whenever she is grumpy and want me she starts scooting down the hall calling "ma ma ma ma" and stops as soon as she finds me.

Cabin Fever!

2011-11-08T10:47:00.007-07:00

July always means a trip to the cabin for us. Somehow Bryant's Mom is able to get the cabin for the Fourth of July every year! We weren't sure we would make it this year because Bryant had found a job that might have kept us in Utah and there was the huge fire that went through Greer, AZ. Fortunately, the cabin was safe and we were allowed into Greer to go to the cabin. It was a lot of fun!

How many nephews can fit on a quad with Uncle Jeff? In this picture 4. He had an additional one or two on his way back up :)

Hunter Loved the rings!!

Here he is smiling for a picture when I was trying to video him :)

And here he is showing off his skills :)

Tucker got a frisbee at the parade thanks to Smokey the Bear. He had lots of fun playing with it at the cabin and at home :)

Everyone tried to start a game of baseball but it ultimately just ended up with all the kids taking turns trying to bat.

Hunter really enjoyed climbing on the fence.

Tucker loved watching everyone play horseshoes. After the "big boys" were done he took his turn. FIrst he explained to me how to play and then he showed me how it worked. I was so happy to see that he did not get frustrated when he missed the ring and decided to just say "Oops, Try again"

They both had so much fun!! They were usually worn out by bed time if not before :)

Hunter's Birthday

2011-11-08T10:37:00.003-07:00

Hunter was super excited to turn 2! And being able to open presents was even better!

He even let Tucker rip some of the paper :)

We found this set of Disney Cars at Target in their clearance section a couple of months back. Because the new movies was coming out they wanted to make room for all the Cars 2 figures. So this set that was originally $30 was marked down to 7.45 and we had a gift card so it was practically free! Tucker was more excited about the cars than Hunter and we considered separating the cars and putting them in their Christmas stockings but I couldn't wait any longer to give them to the boys, so Hunter got them for his Birthday.

Recently our boys have loved to "fish" so when we saw this Fishing Puzzle at the store we knew it would be perfect for Hunter (and Tucker) It is recommended for ages 3 and up and Hunter was only turning 2 but I have never really listened to the age recommendations on the side of toys in the past :)

For the first couple of days Hunter would fish by holding on to the end of the line where the magnet is and pulling the fish out. He has gotten better at it and actually fishes them out now :)

This was Hunter's birthday cake. I got the idea from the cake my Mom made for my sister Emilee when she turned 7 or something.

Happy Birthday Hunter!

King Reunion

2011-11-08T10:14:00.007-07:00

We were also able to attend the King family reunion in June with a lot of my siblings.

We were able to attend the King family reunion in June with some of my siblings. It was a lot of fun and all thanks to my Uncle Daryl. We had so much fun getting to know all of our cousins and just hanging out. It was a great location and there were so many cousins with children that I actually felt safe letting Tucker and Hunter wander around knowing that they were being watched by one of my cousins (of course I still made sure that I knew where they were).

Here we are playing games

Brylee really enjoyed wearing Bryant's hat

The boys loved climbing on the rail

My Uncle even arranged to let us play with these "trikes" They were a lot of fun. There were only so many big ones so Jared got stuck with a small at first. The smaller ones were really hard to turn!

Here is Bryant cruising with Hunter

Here is Jared enjoying the larger model :)

Even my mom took one out

And Natalie sure enjoyed them too

This airplane was one of Tucker's favorite features of the reunion. It is a glorified teeter-totter with places in the middle, on the wings, and on the tail. He loves being like his dad and so spent most of his time "flying" the plane

We let the boys get in the hot tub with Uncle Jared and cousin Ian.

Bryant stayed close and kept an eye on Hunter, which was a really good thing because at one point, Hunter decided to move towards the other side of the hot tub and while Bryant was changing around Hunter started to slip. Fortunately, he has had swimming lessons and knew how to hold his breath. You can hear in the background of the second movie below Bryant call out "Hunter..." just before diving across to get him. It is not caught on film because once I realized what was going on I stopped recording in an effort to try and get over there myself

Tucker had lots of fun playing with the bubbles and putting them on his face. Of his own accord he started covering his face with bubbles and saying "Hello, Ladies" to those of us sitting behind the camera watching them. It was adorable :)

My Uncle also arranged for this wonder bounce house!! My brother Isaac didn't really want to get in, but then Tucker crawled out and asked him to come in and jump with him. Isaac is a true softy so he couldn't refuse. Tucker was so excited to have Isaac jump with him.

I attempted to take some pictures of Hunter wandering around. Enjoy

They also had a skit on one of the evenings. Bryant was grateful that I took his place, he really isn't a stand in front of everyone and do something like this kind of guy. I enjoyed it thought and it worked out well because there were no more guy parts for him anyway.

My Uncle Blaine brought enough pieces of wood for all the grandchildren to build bird houses! Tucker had a lot of fun helping Bryant build and pain the birdhouse. Thank you Uncle Blaine

Thank You Uncle Daryl and Aunt Amy for putting the whole thing together for us. It was such a fun time!

The Zoo!!

2011-11-08T09:36:00.009-07:00

One Saturday morning (June 11) we woke up and decided it would be fun to go to the Zoo. So we packed our lunches and went to Utah's Hogel Zoo. We got a little lost and had to ask for directions but we still got there at a good time. The weather was perfect and didn't start to get hot until we were almost done!

Here we are waiting in the long line at the zoo. It was dinosaur week (or month) so there were a lot of people! Thankfully they had a nice waterfall to watch while we were waiting in line.

Here we are inside the zoo using the bathroom and planning our route
Brylee was super excited

Tucker found some rocks :)

and Hunter found a place to climb

Tucker had a list of animals he wanted to see and we saw everything on that list but the Zebra

Everything is really close to you at the Zoo. My only experience has been the Phoenix Zoo where everything is far away and hard to see (or so my memory tells me) so it was fun to be so close to the animals!

Here is the Rhino

The boys enjoyed climbing on this one!

We saw Giraffes. Tucker was impressed with how tall they were

I think the Tiger exhibit was the most exciting for me and Bryant. The tiger had been given a nice bone of meat to chew on and was eating it right next to the fence!

Yes, all that is between us and the tiger is a small wood fence a couple feet from the "wire" fence

We also saw a Gibbon. We have ready books that have gibbons in them but I had no idea they made this noise. This gibbon was very happy to perform. He even swung by his arms all around his cage while we were watching.

After lunch the boys went to the restroom to wash up and found this small sink to be the most entertaining thing at the zoo (to this point). Bryant had to pry them out of the bathroom and back to me and Brylee to go see more things.

Here is a lizard from the super smelly house exhibit. I waited outside with Brylee since strollers were not allowed and we did not want to risk losing our stroller.

Bryant liked how vibrant this bird was in comparison to the brown dirt surrounding it.

So it was Dinosaur day at the Zoo. They had a lot of animatronic dinosaurs around the zoo for you to see. Before we even saw any real animals we came across this Dilophosaurus. It likes to spit water at the passerbyers. Hunter had no idea and so he got up nice and close to it. He was rather freaked out when it sprayed him.

There was also this huge T-Rex that bent down and roared. It was in one of the main traffic areas and a lot of the children were scared to pass by it to go see the other animals. It was a little entertaining to watch

Tucker said that he was not scared of the T-Rex so we forced him to stand right in front of it for a picture. He kept looking up at it very concerned that it was going to roar at any minute or bend over and get him.

After getting the picture, Tucker said that there was a different dinosaur that he was not afraid of. He took us back up one of the trails and said that he wanted a picture with this dinosaur.

At the end of our journey we came to the kids' play area. The boys had lots of fun running around and playing before we headed home.

Here is Tucker inside a turtle shell

Here is Hunter at the bottom of the long snake slide. We had to convince him to come and see the other things to play on.

Here is Tucker inside a giant egg

Hunter inside the turtle shell

Hunter inside the egg

Tucker going down an elephant slide

the boys enjoying a teeter-totter

All three children were asleep shortly after we got in the car and on the way home.

Even Bryant passed out once we got home.

The zoo was so much fun!! and our children did such a good job. It is so nice to be able to take them out to do fun things and have them appreciate the time and not whine or complain while we are out!. I'm so grateful for my children and husband!

June 9

2011-11-08T09:31:00.002-07:00

We had a lot of friends over and they were fishing from the top bunk of the bunk bed. Instead of fishing for fish they were fishing for people using one of those soft balls attached to an elastic string

Well when Tucker was being fished the elastic came out and hit him in the face.
I don't think we will be owning another one of those for a while. I'm just glad it missed his eye!

June June June

2011-11-05T20:47:00.008-06:00

Brylee loves to hold on to her toes!! Even when sleeping!

Hunter has had a hard time adjusting to life without a nap. He decided he was done with naps only two weeks after Tucker decided the same thing. Unfortunately, his little body still requires the occasional nap and it can hit at the oddest times. At a different meal we were eating chicken wings when he passed out after taking a bite. After he dropped his chicken bone I realized he was asleep and said his name. He responded by waking, pointing at chicken bone on his plate, exclaiming "Bone!" and then falling back to sleep in his chair.

We bought the boys a bunk bed with our tax refund this year. It took forever to find one that was sturdy and worth the money. We were extrememly disappointed with R.C. Wiley Outlet. There were lots of employees and no "helpers." It was like pulling teeth to get someone to help us. We will never be shopping there, even to look, again. R.C. Wiley, the main store, was amazing!! We barely made it back to the kid section and someone offered to help us. Surprisingly enough, while Bryant and I were looking at different beds someone else came up to Bryant to see if he was being helped.

The boys love their new bed!!!

This was my attempt to take two pictures and make them one panoramic. It's not perfect but I still like it :)

We spent many days at the park in June to pass the time!!

Brylee was always great. She would take a short nap when we first got there and then played for a little before it was time to go!

You might have been wondering how I would be able to walk to many different parks. Well it is thanks to this "sit-and-stand" stroller. It is really only meant for two kids but we made it work with three. It sure was hard to push back up hills. Once there was someone walking down the hill with one child in a stroller and said to me "you're almost there!"

I made this blanket for Tucker and one for Hunter. It took me forever to finish (and I mean forever, I cut all the squares out in October of last year, the pieces were sown together and it was waiting for me to decide how to attach the backing). Tucker was so excited when I finished the blanket and he got to keep it!

Tucker loves to have his picture taken and on this particular day he was exceptionally dirty after playing outside in the dirt!

Brylee has such a great smile. I was so glad she smiled for the picture.

Tucker decided that he would sleep in his pillowcase like a sleeping bag :)

Tucker was trying so hard to keep his toys safe from everyone so he decided to barricade himself in the closet with the toys.

Hunter loves Brylee so much! They love playing together!

Brylee is such a good little girl. She loves to play on her tummy with toys.

But even she gets super tired and falls asleep while eating :)

May Flowers

2011-09-15T21:36:00.010-06:00

May was lots of fun. I decided to start working from home and see how that would work. It has worked out fairly well. I am a lot more efficient when I can just focus on a single project and get it done. It is important that I work first thing in the morning, otherwise it is really hard for me to have the focus I need to make myself work. Bryant is great and takes care of the kiddos while I work. Some really exciting news is that a case I have been working on for over a year finally settled and so I will get to have a portion of the settlement that the firms gets assuming the opposing party actually makes all of the payments. It was hard some months going with less money as a result of the hours put in the case. But it seems to have actually paid out this time :)

The month of May has also brought some great weather. We love playing outside in the back yard!

Here is Bryant showing that he loves me enough to smile for the camera and put up with me as a wife ;)

Here is Brylee sleeping as sprawled as she can be. She is such a good sleeper and sleeps through most of the boys noises, which are loud and a lot!

Hunter loves Brylee. This picture is totally posed because by the time I got the camera Hunter had already let go of Brylee's hand so I told him to re-grab it.

Tucker loves to pose for a picture :)

Brylee has her first taste of rice cereal :P

Here is a video of Brylee enjoying her first few bites. I will not be the least bit offended if you don't watch it. It is not that exciting unless you completely love Brylee and like to be a part of her "firsts" :)

May also brought lots of baths in the sink. This really helped get the dishes done early in the evening because I would need the sink for the bath and the table to dry her off on. I love baths in the sink. It is the easiest bathing stage in my opinion. There is no need to fill a "baby tub" and you don't have to lean over the side of the normal tub. Everything is at just the right height for comfort, except the table may be a little low now that I am thinking about it but nothing to ruin sink bathing.

The boys were having fun being silly on Tucker's bed.

We traveled home to Arizona for Memorial Day Weekend. I decided that I didn't want to listen to the boys complain about the sun being in their eyes while traveling so we bought them each a pair of sunglasses for the trip.

The drive down was more stressful in the moment than it really was. Traveling with three car seats in the back of our two door cavalier was interesting to say the least. Usually I hop between the front and back seat taking care of the children. This time there was no room to hop in the back while traveling. So Brylee cried a lot, which bothered her brothers. When it was time to eat Tucker did not have the attention span to hold the bottle for Brylee. Ultimately I leaned the front seat forward as far as I could sat on the back of the seat and held the bottle for Brlyee while Bryant drove. Tucker and Hunter entertained each other rather well until they sprayed invisible water on each other. I never thought I would have to tell my children that they could not "spray" each other with water anymore. We were more than happy to make it Mesa and get in bed.

We arrived early for the weekend and spent time with Bryant's family at his grandparents' house in their pool the boys had fun swimming and jumping on the trampoline

Hunter got a little cold (the sun was setting after all) so we had him lay on the "warm" bricks and covered him with his towel to keep warm :)

At my parent's house we found some sunglasses that fit Brylee so she ended up with a pair too :)

She pulls the look off so well

one of the evenings we went to a park with ducks. The boys had lots of fun feeding the ducks :)

Brylee had lots of fun eating her toes too :)

One I started taking pictures she decided to stop eating her toes and give me this look of innocence like she was not just sucking on her toes

This is one of my all time favorite videos of Tucker! We went to the church to have a family jeopardy night and Tucker decided to sing some songs for all of us of the relief society microphone. It was so precious. I was so grateful that I had my camera to capture his innocence :0)

April Showers

2011-09-05T09:48:00.011-06:00

In April the boys finished up their swimming lessons. Tucker did really well in preschool level 1. He had previously taken the parent tot class with Bryant. He can hold his breath for 5 whole seconds underwater. I think he was the only kid in the class that wasn't afraid to go underwater. I'm such a proud parent. I could not get a lot of pictures or video of Tucker because they do not let parents stay near the pool. Instead parents are required to sit on the second level in the observation seating with the high riser benches. However, if you have a child in the parent tot class you are allowed to sit on the bench along the permiter of the pool by the class to watch your tot. I'm not sure their reasoning. As a result of "watching Hunter" I was able to snag this picture of Tucker by moving along the wall long enough to take the picture.

Hunter really loves to climb out of the water and jump back in to Bryant

In the parent tot class the "tots" are given a toy that floats to swim after.

Bryant was really good at getting Hunter to "swim" under the lap lane line to get his duck on the other side. Then Hunter would throw the duck back to the first side, swim under the line, and get his duck again. Bryant is such a good teacher :)

Brylee chilling on the couch while my family was up for Conference Weekend :)

It randomly snowed so we pulled out the snow clothes and let the boys have at it on the balcony. I went outside and scooped some extra snow up for them to enjoy. I'm such a nice mom.

So we previously had a VHS/DVD combo player. I tried to play a VHS on it, it broke, was constantly under the impression that there was a VHS stuck inside it even after I got it out. As a result of this malfunction the combo player kept reading ERR and would not stay on for more than 5 seconds regardless of whether I was trying to play a VHS or DVD. This meant that we were without movies (or any TV because we don't get TV) for an extended period of time. So when I would need a "movie" break I would pull out the mini DVD player and put on something for the boys to watch. Tucker cracks me up. I would have them sit on a stool and they were not allowed to move the stool any closer. Tucker had such patience. As you can see Hunter left his stool. He had no patience for that small of screen, of course he doesn't usually sit for a movie anyway.

Brylee is my first child to love lying under toys and batting and talking to them.

Hunter loved hiding in Brylee's carseat. He loves her so much and everything that is hers ;)

Tucker thinks it is so cool when he and Brylee are doing the same thing. Everytime he asks me to come and take a picture of him doing what she is doing so this is both of them "kicking" the couch.

and again

Tucker hiding in the "crack" between the wall and entertainment center

Here is Tucker helping Bryant with the dishes. It really does make it harder to do the dishes and now Bryant believes me. He used to encourage the children to come "help" me with the dishes. They just love to fill things up with water and soap and dump them out. They also get very grumpy if you do not share the water coming out of the faucet with them. :P

Brylee got her feet.

Tucker thought it was so cool that he could lay down on two chairs at the table. He is so silly sometimes.

It was the apartment easter egg hunt. Tucker and Hunter loved finding all the eggs.

Brylee is slowing learning to appreciate books. Can't you tell from her look that she is in deep contemplation?

and now she seems very concerned. They must be looking at all the fire emergency vehicles :)

Here is Tucker making Brylee's binki "pop" He thought it was so cool. Do you think Brylee is feeling a little teased that she can see her binki but it is just out of reach? :)

March Madness

2011-09-02T20:04:00.010-06:00

At the beginning of March, I was going slightly crazy with my boys wanting lots of attention when I was very tired, so the idea came to me to make them Sumo wrestlers. I grabbed a couple of Bryant's old button up shirts from when he worked at Western Tool Supply, stuck a couch pillow up the shirt and tied it at the bottom. The boys loved it. We ended up making them Sumo boys a few times after this.

Brylee was not sure what to make of all the commotion :)

So I have been wanting to buy a "kitchen" for the boys for a really long time but I am unwilling to pay a lot of money for one. Well, something came in the mail that was the perfect size and sturdiness for a sink so I spent one evening Bryant was in class making this beautiful kitchen for the boys. It has a sink with a faucet, a stove burner, and an oven! It turned out even better than I had invisioned, which is rather rare for me.

The boys loved it!! They played with it instead of begging for breakfast first think in the morning.

This kitchen held up surprisingly well, even with the boys attempting to take baths in the sink. The only damage it received before being thrown out was the removal of the faucet, which took a couple of weeks and even then it was usually placed back in so they could wash their dishes. Unfortunately, as is the side effect with potty training any child, Hunter had an "accident" that got on the kitchen. The boys were both sad to see it get thrown away and taken away by the garbage truck.

This was one of Tucker's favorite places to play. Funny enough he would crawl from the back, under Brylee, rather than scoot backwards on his tummy to get under. He is such a silly guy.

Hunter did an amazing job learning to use the potty! I have always heard that boys are hard to train and that girls are easier. If that is the case Brylee should be mostly trained in a matter of hours! Hunter loved learning to be trained and he was only 20 months. I thought I would end up waiting longer to train him, holding out for conference weekend when we would not have any obligations for three days but I couldn't hold out. Hunter did great and was taking himself to the potty by the second day. He also only went pantless and without underwear for a short time. He was begging to wear underwear all the time. He did really well. Yes we had accidents (as noted above with the kitchen) Usually, he only had a hard time realizing that he needed to poo so if we caught him when he was starting he would get on the pot, but if we didn't notice, he wouldn't realize he needed to go until he had already gone. One thing we do when potty training is a dance and little song like "Yaaaaa Hunter did it, Yaaaa Hunter did it. Hooray!) Hunter caught on quick and when I would ask him to go potty before we left the house and would look at me throw his hands in the air and say "did it Hooray!" It was precious!

This is the cake I made for St. Patrick's day. I don't usually get into the whole green festivities or pay much attention to the day but I was making a cake and it was fun to make it semi-festive.

Tucker and Hunter love to be up so high and especially to touch the ceiling. You only get to see the picture of Tucker because, well, Hunter was being potty trained and this was taken before his underwear wearing days ;)

Hunter loved running around in underwear. I can't believe how fast he has grown up

Brylee gets stronger and stronger all the time.

She really loved sitting under the toys, staring at them and talking. There was one evening she laid on her back and talked to one of the fish the entire time we were eating dinner!! It was amazing. I love Brylee's face in this video when she seems to realize that it is her foot that is causing the sound and she know how to control it (at least partly)

I love how "modern" Tucker looks. Shouldn't all three year old be walking around with sunglasses and an electronic device of some sort :P

Tucker loves to do whatever Bryant or I am doing. He loves having a backpack and filling it with toys. He often will "go to work" and "do his school paper" I'm not sure who is really trying to be. Me who leaves for work every morning or Bryant who works on school papers in the afternoons. He is such a fun little guy and it is fun to see him learning and understanding more each day

Hunter thought it would be a good idea to sit inside the diaper bag.

Hunter came up with the idea to sit in the rocking chair under its cushion while reading a book so....

Tucker thought it looked like a good idea, climbed over, and

squeezed in next to him :)

I think Brylee looks so cute whenever her head is covered it seems. She looks darling in a beanie and I loves putting her in one anytime we ventured out into the cold. I can't decide if it is because when her head is covered you can't see how bald she is

One of the things that my boys love to do is get each other and everything else wet. In more recent times this has lead to fake water fights in the car so that instead of hearing "Hunter is touching me" you hear "No Hunter stop getting me all wet!" I mean really, it is not real water and you are not really getting wet :) This has also lead to the invention of the invisible umbrella which leads the water spraying child to get upset that the water is bouncing off the umbrella and not getting the anticipated victim covered in water. Oh Goodness!!!

Here is Hunter actually using a watering can versus his figure to get everything all wet

Brylee's Blessing

2011-09-02T19:57:00.004-06:00

Brylee was blessed on February 20, 2011. It was a good thing I was such a big baby otherwise she might not have fit into the blessing dress anymore. I only took a few pictures planning to take more after all the hub bub was over but for one reason or another I never got around to it. Thankfully we have the few picture I did take. Unfortunately, nothing does justice to the dress (which I just love).

This is Brylee with her great-grandma Bonnie

Here are the boys "enjoying" some time with Mom. Do you think they were getting enough attention? :P

Brylee with her Grandpa Mike

It was a beautiful day and more people were there than I have pictures of :'( Let this be a lesson to everyone. Take the time to document some memories because you may never get back around to it after the moments are over.

February Pictures

2011-07-07T08:53:00.009-06:00

Brylee's brothers love to share with her, even the food that they have just cut up :)

Tucker smiling for a picture while getting as close as he can

Brlyee chilling on her back

Bryant (smiling and wishing that I would not take a picture ;)) and Hunter

How many boys can fit in a rocking chair?

Brlyee has a smile :)

Hunter loves his sister and always wants to be right next to her.

I love this picture of Tucker!

Brylee

Brlyee has never liked to be swaddled! I feel sorry for anyone that has to share a bed with this little girl when she gets bigger. She better invest in a king size

Such a sweet girl

Tucker is so patient with his brother.

How many monkeys are on the chair? Don't fall off and bonk your head

Hunter loves Brylee's carseat and anything else that is Brylees

This is what happens to Tucker when we go to a ward activity and he eats something off the dessert table that does not have a label. I didn't think it had peanuts in it, perhaps it was heavy on the eggs or something. Tucker and I came home (cause we forgot the benadryl of course) took some medicine and went back for the magic show. Tucker was really loopy the rest of the evening.

Brylee generally loves to "dance" to Bryant's songs. This video does not quite capture the enjoyment she was getting before the camera came out :P

Tucker loves to dance. This is the music that plays at the end of the Little Mermaid 3 I believe. He loves to get up and groove to anything that has a beat.

Tucker's Birthday

2011-03-18T12:34:00.005-06:00

So as soon as I decided to start catching up on the blog Bryant decided he was done studying. So I have had to postpone catching up :) Everyone is napping and the internet is working so here I go again :) Tucker is now three-years-old. I can no longer claim the phrase "I have three children under three" :). I tried to use it every chance I got over the month and a half that I had three under three. Now it is three, three and under, which is still impressive to most people.

Tucker is growing up so fast! He is a great big brother and willing to share most things with Hunter. It is getting harder as Hunter gets more opinionated about what he plays with but he is doing great nonetheless.

Tucker was so exicited to get presents. Tucker gave one of his presents to Hunter to open. I don't think he quite understood that they were all for him to open, either that or he is just so nice and willing to share. Either way, Hunter was excited to have a present to open.

Tucker got a train set which he was so excited for. His friend Rex next door has lots of Thomas trains and tracks and are Tucker's favorite thing to play with. He is really sad when he can't go over there and play with Rex's trains so he was super excited to get his very own train set!

Unlike my brother Isaac and his forever captured disappointment with a wooden trianset, Tucker was estatic! We tried to get him to frown for a picture but he just couldn't do it :) It makes me so happy.

Here is Tucker playing with his train set. He even knows what it means to chuff!

Tucker really wanted a whoopie pie for his birthday. He saw it in a magazine and decided that is what he wanted. So I made it really easy. I made a cake, baked it in two circle pans and stacked them on top of each other with frosting in the middle. He really wanted it to be red and I forgot to put the red food coloring in it before pouring it in the pans. I wasn't going to worry too much about it until a neighbor came over and Tucker told her all about how he was going to get a red cake! So I swirled it into the batter that was already in the pans. Thank goodness he is easy enough to please!

Family Night Highlight

2011-03-14T22:11:00.003-06:00

We decided to introduce the boys to painting with watercolors. It went really well (the first time). The boys both loved it. Hunter likes to dip in the color, water, and then paper. Tucker is good at dipping in the water, color, and then paper but he doesn't always dip in water before color, which is to be expected. It was a lot of fun, we almost used an entire watercolor set the first night! I also discovered that Tucker really liked painting with the color black and brown.

Their finished product :)

WOW

2011-03-14T21:38:00.008-06:00

So I was sitting here at the computer, while Bryant is studying for a test he has tomorrow, thinking how good I am doing at Solotaire right now because I have just won my third game (almost in a row) playing under the Vegas rules (draw three at a time and only get to go through the deck three times), when it occurred to me that I have not posted anything on the blog for awhile. So I open up the blog to realize that I have not posted anything since December and the only pictures of Brylee that are up are from when she was a newborn! She is already 2.5 months old! Where has the time gone! So I am going to work on updating while Bryant is working on studying :)

Here is Hunter. He is getting so big. I just love what a great little boy he is becoming.

Tucker is relaxing on the couch (and you can't take a picture of one boy without taking a picture of the other :) )

The boys love playing with our tub of cookie cutters. I think it is more because they like the bucket rather than the cookie cutters :)

Brylee is such an Egyptian. If it weren't for the buttons on the pjs it would be really hard to tell if she were on her back or tummy. Either way she is not one for being wrapped up and she loves to sprawl. She better have a King Size bed when she gets married ;)

Here is Bryant (with his poor hair that I never cut) holding Brylee

Hunter loves wearing boots. His Grandma Whiting got him some when she was here for Thanksgiving. Hunter will wear them most places. As a result of the snow we had been having, everyone's boots have been kept by the front door and Hunter decided he wanted to wear Bryant's instead of his own.

It sure seems like nap time :0

Tucker shortly after another buzz cut. He always looks so bald! Maybe if he would sit still long enough for a regular cut I could give him one, but I don't think that will ever happen, even Bryant dislikes waiting for my hair cuts :P

The boys love holding Brylee. Tucker only holds her for a couple of seconds at a time so it is usually easiest to just let him hold her right when he asks then listen to him continue asking while you finish whatever it is you are doing.

Hunter likes to hold Brylee too, but when he is done he just pushes her off his lap so you have to be ready to pounce when he says he is all done.

Brylee is such a good sleeper, but I didn't dare risk her waking up after she fell asleep while in the carrier

Hunter and his great smile

Bryant giving me a "smile" so that I will just put the camera down :)

Tucker holding Brylee again

Here is "white trash" Hunter (quote Bryant). He always manages to get his shirt COVERED in food and everything else!

And as a little update, while waiting for pictures to load I won another game of solitaire. My score is almost $800. I know, I'm awesome and your jealous :P

What we've been up to lately

2011-01-13T20:57:00.003-07:00

Well I have been back at work for a week now. I went back Wednesday of last week. I know, you all think I'm crazy but the fact of the matter is that I was feeling good (aside from lack of sleep), my milk production was good, Brylee was sleeping in the mornings and napping in the afternoon at the same time as the boys, and well I'm the only one working. It is amazing how starting back to work on a Wednesay can compltely affect your week. My work week was really short and my weekend, while only two days, was really long! This week has not seemed to bad and I'm surpirsed that it is already Thursday!

Here are some random highlights from the past week or so in no particular order:

We made it to church for the first time since the time changed to 11:30 this last Sunday. I figured it would be hard since our boys take naps everyday and go to sleep sometime between noon and 1. Hunter was really upset by 12:15 and asked Bryant to take him out to the hallway, which is really impressive when you are 18 months and don't communicate very well. As soon as Bryant left with Hunter, Tucker laid on the pew and was asleep within seconds! Bryant returned after only a couple minutes with Hunter passed out in his arms. They continued to sleep the remainder of sacrament and the first block of classes. They would have continued to sleep if we let them but priesthood was gathering in the chapel for opening exercises. It was amazing. I wonder if and when Hunter will actually make it to nursery now that he is old enough to attend :0) This is going to be an interesting year.

The boys helped me do the dishes this evening. Their help consists of standing on stools in front of the sink and playing with the water. I can at least convince Hunter to put the silverware in the dishwasher as long as I hand it to him. Except that Hunter holds onto any teaspoon or tablespoon measuring spoons. So this evening after loading the silverware he had one had full of measuring spoons :)

The boys love Brylee! Tucker loves to hold her and pet her tummy and give her hugs. Hunter loves to have her lay on his lap while he tries to hug and kiss her. Hunter also loves laying down next to Brylee, which is fine as long as you make sure he doesn't roll over on top of her while trying to get on his back.

Hunter seems to be losing his baby chubbiness. He is starting to look more like a little boy than a baby.

Bryant had pink eye and amazingly no one else contracted it! We thought it was viral but after seeing the eye doctor got a perscription for some drops. Bryant was not pleased with me when I would wake him up after feeding Brylee to give him a drop (He was supossed to have 1 drop ever hour, even through the night for the first two days but it didn't happen).

The washing machines at the apartment complex froze once again and so I went to a laundromat. I did 11 loads of laundry in two hours for 13.75, which included washing and drying! It was only 2.75 more than I would have paid if I had just washed at the apartment, although that would have taken me at least 11 days since I would have been hang drying everything and it takes 24 hours for things to hang dry. Plus I might have had to do more than 11 loads because the washer at the apartment is smaller than the one at the laundromat. I'm thinking that I might have to leave work early every other week or so so that I can take advantage of the free drying between 5am and 3pm. Now I just need to put away all the laundry I already washed and folded :P

Brylee has really strong neck muscles! At only a few hours old when leaning against my belly (while I'm sitting up be reclined a litte) she was able to turn her head from side to side. She has great control turning her head from one side to the other while on her belly on the floor.

Bryant started school last Wednesday and will be flying again this semester. He is excited to be flying again but not looking forward to the papers he has to write in his other classes. He is taking one class in person two times a week at night which leaves me with the kids at bedtime. So far the boys have been good for the hour before bed and good at getting ready for bed. I'm excited for him to be able to get out the house and take a class in person and me to be able to successfully get the boys to bed (for at least three nights thus far :P)

Tucker and Hunter have both been pretty sick. Tucker seems to be over his dreadful cough and sleeping better. While he was feeling rotten he would come out of his room at night and request a breathing treatment. As he started to feel better he would ask just so that he could stay up late. He is getting too smart for his own good. Hunter is still dealing with the cough and his nose is running like CRAZY! One of these nights I hope that he will be able to sleep without waking up from his cough or at least be able to fall back to sleep easily. It is hard enough being awakened by Brylee and poor Bryant hasn't gotten much sleep because I send him off to take care of Hunter. So he gets to be awakened by Brylee and Hunter each night. He is a great husband! (of course he does get a nap every afternoon, if he's lucky, which has been every day since I've been back to work thus far)

Well there is probably more but that is all I can think of for now.

A quickie

2010-12-31T13:52:00.002-07:00

Hunter loves Brylee and has only tried to kill her twice :) The first time, Brylee was put on the couch, Bryant came into the front room to get something and then went back to the bedroom. I thought he was coming to sit at the computer, quickly said that I was headed to the restroom and left. When I came out Bryant informed me that he had just taken Hunter off of Brylee's head. Apparently he wanted to sit right next to her and ended up on top of her.

The second time, Hunter wanted the blanket that was underneath Brylee and so he pulled it out from underneath her. Unfortunately, Brylee came with the blanket. She didn't seemed to phased by the occurrence.

As a result of all this love, Hunter wants to be right next to Brylee most of the time. I am amazed at how bit Hunter looks next to Brylee. He still has major baby like features and looks very much like a big baby to me still. This is a strange complex for me because when we had Hunter, Tucker looked very much like the big boy that I thought he was. Perhaps it is because Hunter still seems to have the baby chunk on him and Tucker was a very lean boy when Hunter came along.

This is Tucker with his friend Armani. They generally play well together and it is fun for Tucker to have someone his age to interact with. Here they are sharing the plasma car that Tucker got for Christmas. Sorry Michelle and Daniel, We would have gotten it through you (and I'm sure yours is better) but it was too cheap the day after Thanksgiving to pass up.

Snow Snow Snow

2010-12-31T13:40:00.003-07:00

We got some wonderful snow on Wednesday and after nap time Bryant took the boys out to play in it along with Armani (our neighbor Tucker's age) and her parents. I snuck out to get a couple of pictures and then ran back inside to get warm and keep an eye on Brylee.

Here is Bryant and Tucker

Here is Hunter enjoying Lock, Armani's dad, throwing snowballs at Katie (Armani's mom) and Armani.

Hunter loved being outside

Tucker found a demolished snowman and was helping to destroy the bottom half of it.

Fortunately I did not go outside in my WARM coat and I was holding the camera so Bryant threw the snowball at Hunter instead of me. Hunter thought it was the coolest.

The snow continued to fall off and on throughout the remainder of Wednesday leaving a nice collection on our balcony, so today the boys played in the snow on the balcony. I like having a balcony, it lets the boys play "outside" while I can accomplish something else inside like the dishes. Bryant was nice enough to go outside and throw some snowballs from the ground up at the boys. I don't know why but they love getting hit with snow :0P

Neither of them wanted to come inside but their faces were nice and red and they were looking rather cold so Bryant pulled them one at a time back inside and put them in a nice warm shower.

I'm glad we were able to get them snow pants so cheap after Thanksgiving, it makes it so easy to let them play in the snow.

Baby Brylee!!

2010-12-30T21:45:00.007-07:00

Here I am right before heading to the hospital to have Brylee!

Brylee Lynnea Whiting was born at 6:20 pm, weighed 7lbs 3 oz, and was 19.5 inches tall, although one week later she measured at 20.5 inches so I don't know what to believe ;) I had an epidural for the delivery and didn't feel a thing once again. The epidural was so strong that I did not even notice Brylee move down the birth canal and think to call the nurses in. Fortunately, the monitor was no longer picking up her heart beat so the nurse came in and after not finding the heart beat for a minute decided to check how dilated I was only to discover Brylee's head was almost out. She ran to the door and called for a "code white." I had two doctors and three or four nurses in the room for the delivery. Even though my doctor was making rounds in the hospital that day he walked into the room the moment after Brylee was born. She he missed the delivery but showed up in time to stitch me up. I'm glad we have medicaid and I don't have to worry about who is getting paid what for that delivery. I can only imagine that all three doctors are going to want something for what they did :)

I was so surprised when they first showed her to me. She was so small!! 7lbs 11 oz may seem like a big baby to some people but it is almost a whole pound smaller than my next smallest baby. It is fun to have a baby that actually looks like a newborn rather than a one month old. I am thoroughly enjoying it!

Here is Brylee, only a few minutes old.

Here is Brylee one day old. I was surprised by how dark her haired looked. I expected all of our children to be born with super white hair (just like Tucker and Hunter). Her hair is lighter towards the ends but has the darker roots like Bryant's hair.

Here are her two older brothers. Hunter had become fascinated with babies lately and always smiles at them and wants to touch them at church. He was super excited to have a baby of his own to hold :) As you can see Tucker was quite excited too.

Hunter loves to give Brylee hugs and kisses and wants to hold her all the time (even if only for a few seconds)

Here she is two days old before leaving the hospital!

Shortly after Brylee and I got home from the hospital, Brylee had to be put under the blue lights to help her break down the biliruben. We had a few rough nights, and having had children under the lights before, I don't think I was as strict with her treatment. I knew that if we kept her under there as much as possible (but still allowed her out when she was grumpy) that she would get over it eventually and she only had to be under the lights for two nights (the second being the harder of the two)

Christmas

2010-12-29T22:29:00.007-07:00

This year we finally got a tree topper. Every year I mean to get one the day after Christmas when they are really cheap but I either forget or never get around to it. Well Bryant found a beautiful star, reasonably priced, for the top of our tree this year while out shopping Saturday after Thanksgiving. This was the only decoration on our tree this year because the boys seemed to be completely incapable of leaving the tree alone for more than five minutes. This also resulted in us not putting/leaving any presents under the Christmas tree. So when presents arrived from their great-grandma Cooley we just had to open them so the boys got to open a present a couple weeks early.

Here they are posing, as required, before opening the presents.

Neither of them needed help ripping the paper :)

Here they are enjoying their new toys.

Christmas eve, we put all the presents under the tree while the boys were still awake. We were taking quite the risk. The boys were actually really good at staking them and knocking them down but did not try to open them. I was amazed. As a result we let each boy open one present after dinner (plus it provided Bryant and I the opportunity to sit and relax while the boys played with a new toy).

Here is Tucker with his present. I tried to get him to open a present that I knew was a toy he would enjoy playing with but he insisted on opening this present from his Uncle Jeremy (toy Story 2). After opening presents we watched the movie while the boys played with the present Hunter opened.

Yes I double wrapped Hunter's Christmas present. I did this, originally thinking that the presents would go under the tree more than a day early, so that if the boys tried to open a present and actually ripped some of the paper before Bryant or I could stop them at least they wouldn't know what was inside cause it was wrapped again.

Here is the tree after Santa came to our house.

Tucker really loved the fire engine

Hunter really loved this expanding ball. He laughed every time he pulled it open and then let it collapse back down.

This is Bryant's present from his parents and brother Jeff. Tucker is showing him how to rip the paper off :) He is such a good helper.

It is the Garret Ace 250 metal detector that he has been wanting for a while now. He was so excited!

This is Hunter opening a present, with Tucker encouraging him along the way

Here is Tucker opening the present exclaiming "rip, rip, rip, rip" the entire time.

December

2010-12-29T22:13:00.005-07:00

This is Tucker refusing to smile for the camera. Every time Bryant would ask Tucker to smile he would say "noooo." Well one of the times he said no he smiled at the same time and we got thes great picture of him :)

Tucker, Hunter, and I ran around the house pretending to be cowboys. The boys worn the hats, Tucker was nice enough to share my hat with me sometime, and together we raced back and forth through the apartment galloping to the sounds of our own hoof prints. Hunter thought Tucker and I were crazy but he loves hats so much that he wore his the rest of the evening :)

i tried to set up the crib we got from a couple that moved out of ward during the summer only to discover that the crib has no screws. I don't know if the couple gave me the screws or forgot to give them to me. Either way I have no idea where the screws are. So I initially thought Brylee would get to enjoy a sturdy full size crib (the first of our children) but alas she gets the old school rickety port-a-crib that we got from my grandma when I was pregnant with Tucker that was probably the same crib my father slept in over 60 years ago. After I got the port-a-crib set up, Hunter loved "sleeping" in it with the first pink blanket we got for Brylee. Hunter is likely to despise the existence of this picture when he gets older but he is such a darn cute boy :)

Thanksgiving

2010-12-29T22:05:00.004-07:00

Bryant's parents and brother Jordan came to our house for Thanksgiving this year. It was strange not traveling down to the valley and seeing both of our families, but it was fun to put Thanksgiving on ourselves. Wednesday night Bryant and I set to work on preparing the big feast. My father and I communicated through text messages comparing how far along each of us was. My sister-in-law Juli was nice enough to be the go between and felt truly sorry to learn that we only have one mixing bowl for our kitchen aid making it impossible to work on multiple projects at a time. It was a lot of fun. My dad claimed the only reason we were ahead in making food was because we were only serving eight people instead of twenty :0P

Fortunately for us, all of our neighbors were with family for Thanksgiving and so we were able to us our neighbors oven to cook the Turkey and our oven to cook the rolls, stuffing, and everything else. Dinner was wonderful! Too bad we didn't think of taking a picture of our masterpiece with all its colors until after we had eaten half of it and started cleaning up.

On Friday we went to lots of "black Friday" deals. No we did not wake up at midnight or go to stores as some other unreasonable hour. We left the house after taking our time waking up and getting ready. Surprisingly, everything we wanted was still at the stores when we got there despite the LATE hour :) Tucker had lots of fun riding in Grandma and Grandpa's truck. He even went with them to Lehi to go to Rod Works. Along the way they saw lots of construction vehicles alongside the freeway. Grandpa tried to point out one of the construction vehicles calling it a digger and Tucker kindly corrected him saying "No, that's not a digger, it's a front end loader (or whatever type of construction vehicle it was)" Tucker knows his construction vehicles well and loves playing with them just as much. Thank you Grandma for getting him some more!

Saturday was spent similar to Friday, with Grandma spoiling Tucker even more. We received quite the snow storm Saturday night through Sunday morning while Bryant's family was trying to pack up to head home. Tucker and Hunter had lots of fun playing in the snow that was on the balcony and getting hit by snowballs thrown by Uncle Jordan.

After being hit with of few of Jordan's snowballs, Tucker started throwing snow at Hunter. The boys had so much fun playing outside!

After Bryant's family was all packed up they said goodbye. Tucker did not realize they were leaving FOREVER until they started to pull away without. He immediately exclaimed quite distraught "Oh no! I need to go in Grandma and Grandpa's truck!" I explained that Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Jordan were driving home to Arizona and he said "that's sad." Tucker truly enjoyed spending lots of time with his Grandparents and Uncle Jordan and continuously asks when they are coming up again.

After church, Bryant and Tucker sat down and watched "How to train your Dragon" and finished off the popcorn that Grandma bought for Tucker :)

November

2010-12-27T21:42:00.006-07:00

Here are my handsome boys

Tucker has really caught on to having things similar as others, especially wen he is similar with Bryant. Bryant drinks 2% milk which comes with a blue label. Tucker drinks soy milk, which comes in a blue carton. Whenever both of them are having a drink of milk, Tucker explains that he is drinking blue milk just like Daddy's blue milk. So when Tucker climbed up on the back of the couch (which is against the rules) and exclaimed "Look mommy, I'm just like Daddy" I could not be upset with him for climbing on the back of the couch bu instead took a picture of him being just like Daddy :)

This is Bryant trying to stay warm in our apartment while I'm home. When I'm away at work he turns the heater up to 76 degrees most days. When I get home I turn it back down to 73 degrees. Well Bryant started out with the boys just sitting on him but eventually...

It turned into quite the game of peek-a-boo with all three of them under the blanket :)

Hunter had SO much FUN!

Something we have been doing a lot lately is building a tent in our front room. It is made from our card table and the boys blankets. Hunter asks at least once a day to make a tent :)

Here are Tucker and Hunter playing peek-a-boo from under their tent.

Here is Hunter chilling on the couch miraculously posing for a picture

Playing in the leaves!!

2010-12-27T21:30:00.003-07:00

It took forever for the leaves to fall off the trees this year it seemed. Most of the time only a few were on the ground at a time. Finally, the parking lot at our apartment filled with leaves from the trees over the wall. The boys had a lot of fun running through the leaves after we got home from grocery shopping.

After the above experience, it got really cold and all the leaves nearby us had been cleaned up. Then we went to church on Sunday and the trees had just barely lost their leaves, so while it may not have been a "Sunday activity" by some people's standard, we walked to church after dinner and played in the leaves as a family. The sun went down quick making it hard to capture some good pictures. I was glad we took the opportunity to go play because the next day it rained and made everything wet. Surprisingly there was not another chance to go play in leaves because they all got wet.

I am almost 34 weeks pregnant with Brylee :)

October

2010-12-27T21:15:00.004-07:00

Here is Tucker building a tower and Hunter surprisingly happy doing his own thing and not trying to knock it down :)

Tucker was very proud of himself for getting his shorts on his own head.

Here Tucker is brushing his teeth wearing one of my snow boots and one of my red heels. I don't know why but both shoes are currently my boys favorites.

Hunter was not feeling well and as a result was very docile. This is a rare occurrence in Hunter's life.

This is Tucker's "happy face." Anytime I ask to see a smile or a happy face he puts on the saddest look in the world. He is such a silly guy.

Here is Hunter playing with our neighbor Ivory. Hunter enjoys playing with her just so long as she does not want the same toy he has, which when you are under 2 is whatever toy the other person is playing with.

Ivory has the same problems keeping her pants up as Hunter. No wonder they get along so well :)

Hunter loves to help. He sat on the table the entire time Bryant was getting the stew ready. He put everything in the colander and then pulled it all out and put it on the cutting board over and over and over and...

Here Hunter is showing off his climbing skills again and showing off the fact that he was able to reach the light switch and turn on the hallway light. He is such a resourceful kid. If there is something he wants, he usually figures out a way to get it without any encouragement.

Hunter is such a sweet little boy.

Pumpkin Carving

2010-12-27T21:12:00.003-07:00

This year the boys helped carve our pumpkin. We had a neighbor over as well. The boys loved digging in the pumpkins and pulling out the insides. It was a lot of fun!

Halloween

2010-12-27T21:03:00.004-07:00

Here is Tucker all ready to leave. He loved this dog costume. The picture just doesn't do it justice. This costume has the biggest butt in the world and looked especially funny when he walked.

Here is Tucker with one of our neighbors, Armani, at the ward Halloween party. It started outside but then the rain just kept coming and wouldn't stop so we moved inside. Tucker and Hunter were able to make the rounds again as a result of the move :)

This is Brighton, her brother Rex is one of Tucker's best friends. Tucker loves to play at Rex's house and with Rex's trains.

Here are Tucker and Hunter hiding between the tables at the church.

This was Hunter by the time we got home. We went for a small drive in the rain after the Halloween party to pass some time. Hunter had some m&ms and Tucker had some nerds. I just love his chocolate covered sleeping face.

Here I am at 30.5 weeks along with Brylee.

Bryant went as Indian Jones again this year. Somehow he managed to not get his picture taken...

September

2010-12-25T22:27:00.006-07:00

Here is Hunter sitting on the table enjoying an oreo and a glass of milk, mmmm.

Hunter loves to sit with things on his lap. He is constantly taking the hand towel off the oven door, sitting on the kitchen floor, and draping the towel across his legs. He will also pile pillows on his lap.

Hunter rarely fits pants that are his size and as a result has a hard time keeping his pants up :)

Fortunately it does not seem to bother him.

Happy Hunter

Tucker loves to look out our bedroom window at the various cars and watch the garbage truck that comes and gets the trash right outside our window at least once a week. I rather do not enjoy when the garbage man (and yes it is a man) comes at 6am. It guarantees that the boys are awake and not going back to sleep...

Hunter crawled under the couch for something but then ended up getting stuck.

I am so grateful that Tucker has a love for reading.

Here is Hunter rolling out the remainder pie crust dough

I just love it when Tucker smiles for the camera :)

August Pictures and Videos

2010-12-09T22:17:00.012-07:00

Here is Tucker showing off his staff with two pizza cutters

Hunter playing peek-a-boo

Hunter loves to eat bananas

Hunter and Tucker playing

Tucker loves to put things on his head

Tucker got out of bed and put himself to sleep on the futon in the toy room :)

Tucker still enjoys lining things up in a row!

Hunter before his haircut

Hunter after his hair cut

This is Tucker being the light for red light green light. He usually gets red light stop and green light go right but he was on a kick where red meant go and green meant stop. He would always tell us to go when we were stopped at red lights and insist that we stop whenever the light was green

Hunter loves to climb into the wagon. He just has to be careful not to tip it over when he climbs in :)

Hunter was not allowed outside with the garden unattended and so Tucker was good at playing with him through the glass door to keep him happy.

Hunter was playing boo with Tucker and having a blast :)

Both boys wanted to play in the saucer...

Tucker was not so happy with the idea.

Hunter stopping for a quick picture

Tucker chose to nap in the rocking chair in his room rather than his bed. Personally I think the futon in the toy room looked a lot comfier ;)

Hunter is showing off his climbing skills.

The boys love to play ring-around-the-rosies. Fortunately, they are happy to run in circles and Tucker is getting very good at singing the songs.

The boys love to help sweep. Thank goodness we have two brooms :)

This is a dinosaur at the mall for kids to climb and play on. Tucker always ask if we can go play at the mall. As long as it is not over crowded with kids, it is a lot of fun and is inside so it is wonderful to go to to get the wiggles out of the boys.

Bryant helped the boys make sugar cookies. They loved helping but surprisingly didn't care much for the eating of the cookies.

Hunter loves "cooking" and will sit for minutes (which seems like hours in child time) playing with the food and pots and pans.

Tucker loves racing cars around on this mat. The funny thing is that he insists that the cars go a certain direction and follow a certain path :0 and he insists the same direction and path every time!

Hunter loves to turn the foot rest upside down and climb inside.

This and That from July

2010-10-10T21:33:00.004-06:00

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium in southern Salt Lake with one of Bryant's friends from Arizona and his wife and daughter. It was a lot of fun, smaller than we expected, but perfect for a Saturday morning.

Tucker enjoyed climbing on the frog

Tucker also loved looking in all the difference aquariums. He really enjoyed the penguins and shark tank. Hunter just lovd running around more than looking at all the different fish :)

Here are some pictures taken by Tucker:

Picture of me :P

Take one of Hunter

Take two. Tucker has a hard time holding the camera still while pushing the button on top. He usually lines the picture up right and then moves the camera in order to push the button :>

Hunter and Bryant chilling on the couch.

Hunter eating cheerios with a fork. He rarely uses a fork or spoon to eat his food, but for one reason or another he loves to eat his cheerios with a fork. He can be so strange sometimes :P

Tucker was coming to get the camera from me :)

Bryant had the opportunity to spend some time with one of the members he brought to baptism. She came all the way from the Canary Islands with her son and daughter for a visit. They went to Arizona and enjoyed the grand canyon before coming up to Utah and spending time with Bryant one of his companions Daniel Perkinson. Bryant was a little shy with his Spanish but I think he managed well having not practiced since being back from his mission six years ago :) I tried to offer them a drink when they arrived with my limited Spanish. I had no way of interrupting the conversation other than to just ask "Quieren vasito con agua, jugo, o leche?" Kavbi smiled and was very impressed with my attempts. She understood what I was asking and was grateful for the water. Bryant's comment to me was that I would make a great mission president's wife :) Other than that I just played with Hunter on the floor and listened, trying to decipher what was being talked about. :)

Bryant also went with the group of them and his old companion to temple square. Everyone was impressed by his ability to push two strollers at the same time. (Even I am impressed by this because it is no easy task).

Here is Tucker during one of his naps. He is such a sweet sleeper (as long as you are not trying to sleep next to him :P). Often times he will be lying on his bed holding either his bear or dog under one of his arms. I love him so much!

Well it finally happened. We make $100 too much to qualify to food stamps. So we went out and tried to spend all the money on our food stamps card before the end of the month in case it disappeared if we didn't use. These are pictures from our first attempt. We went shopping again the next and tried to use up the rest and ended up with at least as many bags.

So while we no longer have food stamps, the majority of the groceries we buy are milk, cheese, and meat products. Everything else we could possibly want is tucked away in one of the bedroom closets. I'm sad that we no longer have the luxury to buy whatever we want when we want but it was sure a blessing when we had them. We still have WIC and so we get our milk and bread and limited fruits and vegetables for free :) It will be interesting to see how much we really do spend on food now. It may sound odd but in a way I'm grateful to be out of food stamps so that I can actually know how much money we need to live off of better enabling us to plan for our future capabilities :)

Hot Air Balloon Ride!

2010-10-10T21:25:00.004-06:00

So I have always wanted to go for a ride in a hot air balloon. A friend I graduated from law school with is working as a realtor with ReMax. For one reason or another (probably to get better known) ReMax gave free rides in their hot air balloon

Me holding Tucker, Jordan, and Hunter sitting in the stroller waiting in line for our turn :)

Hunter was very excited!

Even Tucker was happy enough to smile for a picture :)

Here is the balloon we were in line to ride

Jordan holding Tucker and me holding Hunter. It was getting hot and so they had to limit the amount of weight in the balloon. Bryant was perfectly happy staying on the ground watching us.

We didn't go very high but that's okay. It just means that I can still try and get a "real" hot air balloon ride out of Bryant one day and if not I have at least been up in the air in one. (I think I went in one when I was young but I can't rememeber for sure). Tucker and Hunter both enjoyed it until we started heading for the ground, then Tucker was a little anxious.

They also had bounce houses. Tucker loved playing them. It took him a little bit to figure out how to make it to the ladder to go down the slide with all the other big kids running through it, but he toughed it out and had fun!

July Fourth at the Cabin

2010-10-10T15:45:00.011-06:00

Bryant, Tucker, Hunter, and I traveled to Greer Arizona for the 4th of July. On Friday we spent time geocaching. Tucker had lots of fun trading out toys in the various geocaches.

There is also this really old rope swing at the Whiting Homestead. The entire day leading up to the rope swing Bryant kept assuring me that I should not feel pressured to go on the rope swing. After all I am pregnant and should not do anything that could endanger the life of our unborn child. Well I eventually climbed up the "hill" to get better pictures of Bryant swinging and what do you know? Bryant is telling me that I need to try the swing at least once :) I always knew he would want me to experience the rope swing that almost claimed the life of his sister-in-law's sister (well not quite but she did roll down the "hill").

Me on the rope swing :)

Bryant on the rope swing. He went numerous times.

Bryant took Tucker on the rope swing after seeing his brother Jeff takes his girls one at a time. Tucker however was not so fond of the adventure and did not care to do it again!

Bryant and Tucker on the Rope swing!

Also while at the cabin Bryant enlisted the help of his brother Jordan to pull all of the studs out of our tires. We have had snow tires on our car since winter of 2008. Bryant didn't think it was such a good idea to continue to press our luck with the snow tires. Did you know it is like a $500 fine if you have snow tires on your car after April? It is definitely A LOT cheaper to buy new tires than pay the fine and then buy new tires. So instead of buying new tires they pulled every single stud out of the tires.

Tucker loved riding in/on anything that was not our car. He loved riding the quad with Bryant. Even rode on Uncle Jeremy's new motorcycle! He had a lot of fun

He even tried to take his cousin Rachel out for a ride. Fortunately they had no idea how to turn it on or make it go. But it is quite the picturesque moment :)

On Saturday we enjoyed the annual Springville/Taylor parade. This year my father-in-law knew better than to sit next to me and poor Jon was stuck with me on one side of him and his girlfriend on the other. We both like to shout out to all the passing paradeans. When I was younger and in parades it was my favorite to be able to hear my dad yelling my name out above the crowed! "Yea! Go Malisa!" Everyone next to me would always ask, "Who is that?" and it please me like nothing else to be able to say it was my dad. So to carry on the tradition of being loud, I yell for everyone in the parade based on what their banners say. Our first year with Bryant's family I cheered loudly. Than Bryant's father turns to Bryant and says "whoever that is yelling is going to lose their voice." To which Bryant replied, "That's Malisa." :) It was nice to have another person at the parade happy to yell at everything too! Besides the louder you are the more likely the people in the parade are to throw their candy at your group :)

Even Tucker got into the cheering mood. It was so fun to hear him yell, "Yea, woo hoo!" and clap his hands :)

The ponies and horses were a big hit with Tucker!

One of the best floats at the parade was Abraham Lincoln. He was really big!

After the parade we went to one of Bryant's aunt's house for lunch. Hunter loved sitting in the back of the tractor and going wherever anyone would take him.

Hunter and Rachel

On Sunday, we decided that we would go see the infamous beaver dam and maybe catch a glimpse of the beaver that has built the amazing dam.

Here we all are on the quad. Eventually we moved Hunter between me and Bryant but otherwise it was a delightful trip.

Here is the beaver mound where the beaver lives. We saw him swim into it on one side and while we were watching for him to come out he took off out a different side and down the stream. He was one tricky beaver.

Malisa and Hunter in front of the dam that has been build by the beaver!

Here is Tucker reluctantly posing for a picture :P

That night they made smores (YUM). Bryant and Jon tried to play chubby bunnies with the giant marshmallows. It was hilarious!! Bryant was not even able to fit one in his mouth because he was laughing so hard at Jon! Jon managed to get one into his mouth say "chubby bunnies" and then eventually (despite the enormous amount of laughter) get a second one into his mouth. Shortly after the second one went in, he tried to exclaim "chubby bunnies" and then everything came out of his mouth!

Here is Sarah, Baileigh, and Rachel enjoying their gooey smores.

Rachel showing off her sticky fingers.

I was grateful that Tucker had more interest in the swing set than in smores, cause I really did not want to have to clean him up.

He was so proud of the fact that he could hang :)

Bryant and his brothers and cousins and other family, played a delightful round or two of "the stick game." Everyone has a stick and everyone but one has a hole for their stick. The person without a hole is trying to get a hole from someone else. This person whacks a can (or some other sturdy piece of garbage) towards the other players. If the can comes close to your hole you are supposed to hit it away with your stick without losing your hole. While you are hitting the can other players tyr to take your hole leaving you without a whole. This game usually lasts until someone gets injured bad enough to bleed. Which is what eventually happened with this game.

Farnsworth Family Reunion

2010-10-08T21:31:00.018-06:00

My family reunion this year was up in Washington. It was a long drive in a crowded car to get there. For the drive from Provo to My Aunt's house in Washington we fit two car seats for Tucker and Hunter, Bryant, myself, my Sister Michelle, her son Ian, and two of my other sisters Aleisa and Emilee. It was a crowded and long journey! We were glad to get to my Aunt Pam's house and run free in all of her grass! It was also wonderful to share in the fabulous Father's Day meal she had made. Thank you Aunt Pam and Uncle Rob. Oh and did I mention that in addition to all of us my mom, sister Natalie, brother Jared, Brother Isaac and his wife Juli were at the house? My poor cousin Leilani went to a friend's house to sleep for the night because there was no room at the inn.

It felt good stretch our legs :)

Hunter decided to be clingy right before this vacation so he usually cried when left with anyone but Bryant or me.

For the 4 hour drive from my Aunt Pam's to the reunion the minivan held Isaac and Juli instead of Emilee and Aleisa (and I think that Ian went with my mom but I can't remember). Juli was not too excited about being stuck eithout leg room for the long journey either, especially since she is taller than most of us :( AlsoTucker was done driving by the time we made it to Taco Time only 45 minutes away.

We did survive and made it to camp Brinkley! Hooray!!

When we first arrived at the family reunion there was a lot of cleaning to be done in our cabin to get out the dirt. Here is Isaac, Juli, and Bryant whacking the dirt out of our main room carpet/rug. They originally wanted to bang it out inside the cabin figuring it wouldn't be too bad to sweep up the mess :) I'm glad they went outside to take care of it!

At the reunion there was a lake. Tucker did not want to get in the boat at first but was happy to be in it once we were out on the lake and wanted to stay out there forever! Hunter loved the moving water and it was all I could do to keep in him the boat and not topple of the side trying to get closer to the water :)

Here is my brother Isaac pushing Hunter down to the lake. The only time Hunter was not crying when with someone else was when he was being b\pushed in the stroller. This worked to our advantage one day because Juli was able to take him for a walk until he fell asleep while Bryant, Tucker and I took a nap in the cabin.

Here is me, Tucker, and Bryant making our way to the lake!

Bryant paddle from the back and was quite the "task master" :) poor Juli tried hard to follow every command but I think it was more funny than anything.

Here are the boys sitting on the dock watching everyone else jump in. They thought they wanted in until we actually let them get in with Isaac :)

Isaac and Juli at the one and only breakfast they ever made it too :)

Hunter and Tucker eating one of the many delicious meals that my dad made :)

Tucker playing in our cabin

Every reunion there is a "fish pond" for all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren that are 8 and younger.

Hunter Fishing

Hunter caught a fish!!

Tucker Fishing :)

Tucker caught a fish!

The boys were good about sharing their toys with each other. Tucker got the fire truck and a bubble gun. Hunter got the ball spinner and a minivan :) All of these toys are still loved and played with on a daily basis :)

We had a fire place in our cabin and so we built a fire a couple of the nights we were there. Isaac and Juli went to the log pile and chopped up the wood for our fires.

Here is Juli with the wagon

Isaac showing off his Lumber Jack skills. He would make NAU proud :P

Even Ian had a turn at it :)

Bryant took on the task of building our fires.

He can make a mean tepee :)

Hunter really liked to wet the wood with his mouth before Bryant put it in the fireplace...

Then Hunter did not want to stay away while Bryant tried to light it. Camp Brinkley had tons of rain right before our reunion started. The wood in the shed was supposed to be dry. As it turned out it was a bit damp and full of sap so it made an interesting fire to light. Once lit it shot off little embers like fireworks. It was fun to watch and listen too but we had to make sure nothing got on Isaac and Juli's air mattress :)

A success!

Tucker and Hunter had lots of fun playing outside. Hunter was not walking at this point, so he rarely wore shoes, so his pants and socks were always filthy bu the end of the day (or even just half way through the day :P)

It was a lot of fun. Hunter was either really sad to be leaving or not looking forward to our 16 hour car ride home in a cramped van cause he cried at the top of his lungs once he was in his car seat until we started driving off :'(

June Pictures

2010-10-08T21:18:00.004-06:00

So we requested a screen for our apartment sliding door in June sometime (I'm not exactly sure when I actually got the request turned in but it was at the beginning of the month I'm pretty sure and could have been the end of May). Our apartment A/C does not work worth anything and so we needed to cool our house down by opening doors and windows. Last summer we did not have a garden and so Tucker was constantly in and out of the sliding door. This year however, he loved to pick all the "flowers" and so he could not be on the balcony without supervision.

We first tried to block off the sliding door by putting only the kids' chair in front of it. That did not work at all. Both of them knew they could just move it out of the way. So we tried to wedge the chair with another chair. They eventually figured out a way to get past this set up as well.

Then we took a piece of Styrofoam and held it in place with the two chairs. The boys could not move the Styrofoam with the chairs in the way and could not get both chairs out of the way (at least for a few weeks :P). We ultimately could not have the door open during awake time and then could not have it open much at night because we would get a ton of bugs. The result was that the house was always cooler in the bedrooms than the front of the house and the house was dreadfully HOT whenever we made dinner. I think overall (through July and August) the apartment made it to at least 86 degrees and was constantly 84 degrees by dinner time.

We eventually had someone come out to our place and fixed the problem with the A/C switching the breaker and then another guy come out and tell us that the A/C was working fine. We tried running for two day but the house was still just as hot. I don't know why but the thing was just not able to maintain a temperature of 76 or 78 degrees. It still got up to 84 degrees by dinner time. Then when we received our electric bill for the month it was $10 more than it had previously been. We were glad we decided the A/C had not been working well after two days because an additional $5/day for a month would have made our bill $150 more than usual. Since it was almost the end of July we figured we had survived the worst and that there was no need to ever run the A/C!!

It turns out that Hunter enjoys being inside of boxes as much as Tucker. They both loved to be in the box and have it closed up on them so they could pop out like a jack-in-the-box

I came home from work and found them blissfully sleeping this way :)

And Bryant was having fun with the camera so I thought I would share his handsome picture!

The Close Call!!

2010-10-04T20:50:00.004-06:00

We had dinner on June 3, 2010 like any other night. The only exception is that I was having issued undoing the snaps on Hunter's high chair. Generally this would not seem to be an issue. However, this evening, as soon as I bent over to put Hunter on the ground, our kitchen light swung down from the ceiling. There was a spark and a loud pop and then our braker flipped.

I don't know why but for one reason or another it was not anchored to the ceiling and was merely screwed directly into the dry wall!! Needless to say that there could have been a great lawsuit against the apartments if Hunter or I had been hit and injured. Fortunately, we were both fine and missed being whacked by the light by a mere second or two!

The only thing holding the light to the ceiling until the next day when it was fixed were the wires

Our Grow Box

2010-10-03T22:50:00.004-06:00

My dad brought us up some wood and gave us a drill so we could have a garden this year. Bryant did the manual labor of screwing the box together. Tucker thought it was the coolest thing!

Tucker played for countless hours out in the grow box until we actually put plants in it :)

Here is the beginning stages of our garden...Tucker was so proud :)

It took us a little while to go and get the plants to put in the box but eventually we got them and it stopped freezing at night so we planeted our plants.

We have since discovered that we may of gone way over board for our little box. we initially planted 4 strawberri plants, 2 bell pepper plants, 1 chili plant, 10 tomato plants, and seeds for basil, oregano, and cilantro. Oh and we were given 4 pansy plants as a mother's day gift when we bought our other plants so they started in the box but were eventually moved to another bucket. The basil, oregano, and cilatro started to grow but were soon blocked out by all the other plants. We eventually pulled out the strawberry plants because they were taking over the entire box and were not producing like we would have hoped (Of course, TUcker thought it was fun to pull the flowers that blossomed on the strawberry plants because they looked so pretty and he did not understand that they were going to become strawberries). Also, it was not until we got some new neighbors that we learned the importance of plant food, especially for box gardens. Oh well. Getting rid of the strawberry plants enabled us to move our pepper plants out from under the shadows of the tomato plants enabling them to get the sun they need to provide us with a few peppers. I think we will be better prepared to be selective with our plant choices next year and reap the benefits of our garden a little better.

Now that it is October we are actually getting some red tomatoes out of our garden. Our garden is in the shade most of the day now again, the people with plants on the otherside of the building get a lot more sun and appear to have had a bit more success getting things to grow fully earlier in the summer. Oh well we enjoy it and the boys have loved watching the vegetables grow.

Pictures from May

2010-10-03T22:28:00.007-06:00

Random picture of Tucker.

Sometimes the best way to get a nap is to take one with the baby. No one ever questions that.

Tucker thought it was so cool to have his bear sit in the high chair. He did the snaps and everything.

Here is Tucker stuck in the chair. At first he thought it was funny to be stuck...

...but the joy of it only lasted a mere moments :)

I love this little guy. He is so GREAT!!

Classic Hunter faces:

He always has something in his mouth. It has even caused Tucker to put everything into his mounth. I was glad that Tucker had semi skipped the stage of mouthing everything but now I have two boys that mouth practically everything!

Even Hunter enjoys sitting inside boxes. He will dump all the contents of the box out and then flip it back over and climb in to sit.

Hunter showing off his skills at climbing up and into the chair. He is quite the climber and always on the move!!

Hunter sleeping in his car seat.

Tucker loves putting things on his head so these pictures started out with us making him a helmet from a soy milk box. Then Bryant had the good idea of making a chest plate to wear too. And since we had a chest plate and helmet Tucker of course needed a sword.

Tucker loved wearing the "suit of armor" And of course Bryant had to try it on as well :)

He ultimately decided that it worked better without the helment.

This is Hunter trying on the armor

Women's Conference

2010-10-03T22:19:00.004-06:00

Not long after the Grand Canyon my sisters and sisters-in-law came up to to women's conference. It was a blast to spend time with them. I should have taken a picture of our spare room where they all slept. There were two twin mattresses, a double bed futon, and a queen blow up bed all in the room. There was not much room to move between the beds or for their luggage but they made it work :)

Here we are ready to go out and be uplifted.

Malisa, Juli, Mom (Wendy), Michelle, Tammy

Here we are at the final session. Mom (Wendy), Me, Michelle, Tammy, and Juli

It was a fun packed time together including getting hair cuts, going to the distribution center, and Deseret Book. The rest of the girls went to the concernt on Thursday evening while I stayed home with my boys. I can't wait to make this some kind of tradition and do it every year, at least while I'm in Utah that is :)

Trip to the Grand Canyon

2010-10-03T21:50:00.008-06:00

Bryant and I took advantage of National Park week and went to the Grand Canyon with Bryant's family. Once we decided to drive down from Utah everyone else in Bryant's family decided to drive up to Flagstaff for the fun. Bryant really is the coolest member of his family because no one was going to go with his brother until he decided to come down :) The weather was great and we had a lot of fun. Tucker hiked the whole way down (as far as we dared to go) by himself and then at least half way back up. I was very impressed. Apparently I kept scaring Bryant because I seemed to be walking on the edge of the trail the entire time and he kept thinking that I was going to slip right off the edge and perhaps pull Tucker with me. Nothing of the sort happened. We had a very safe and enjoyable trip. We even got to visit with my sister and her family while we were there. Thanks Jeff and Katie for thinking of us even though we live so far away. It was a great weekend.

Here is me (Malisa) finished with my lunch and ready to get hiking

Tucker had lots of fun running around in the open spaces and picking up all the sticks and rocks.

Hunter with his intense blue eye stare

He was quite the happy boy on this trip!

This is Tucker's cousin Baileigh trying to move the biggest "stick"

Bryant and Hunter are ready for the hike

Here we are waiting for the bus to take us to the trail head. Little did we know that the distance we walked to the bus was almost the same distance to the trail head :) Silly us. Tucker had fun grabbing all the little rocks.

Tucker still does not like posing for pictures...

Here are Tucker's cousins Sarah and Baileigh

Here we are at the top of the trail head ready to make our way down...

Tucker was quite the trooper, he scalled down the side of the cliff while we took the trail :)

Hunter was happy to sleep the entire time on Bryant's back

Luke (7 days older than Hunter) likewise slept the entire time on the hike.

Here is Tucker with his counsins (Baileigh, Sarah, and Rachel) at our turn around point. I didn't dare go further because I did not want to have to carry Tucker back up the trail.

Tucker loved seeing the squirls on our way back up the trial. That is until one squirel actually decided to move towards him. He had been feeling tried and wanted me to carry him, but he quickly ran up the trail when the squirel started his way and from that point on did not think that the squirels were quite so fun up close.

We made it!!

Here comes Bryant's nephew Kyle

Bryant's brother Jeremy with Emily and and his other son Sean

We rewarded ourselves with ice cream afterwards. Thankfully Tucker did not have any major reactions to the milk in the ice cream

Bryant sure does look like he is enjoying his ice cream

Bryant was amazed at how light he felt when he finally got Hunter off his back.

On our way back to the car we saw a lot of Elk. This one was just relaxing in the shade and did not seem too bothered by the noise our group was making.

Jeff and Katie's girls have bunkbeds and Tucker thought it was so cool to be on the top bunk he actually let me take this picture

Here is Tucker with Rachel. Rachel is 1.5-2 months older than Tucker

Here is Luke (left) and Hunter (right) getting in trouble together.

Pictures from April

2010-10-03T21:41:00.005-06:00

Here are some pictures from April that are not specific to anything

Tucker in his tv watching mode

Hunter being cute :)

Tucker and Hunter having fun on the slide together

After I moved some toys into the front room and made this cupboard accesible to the boys, Tucker discovered that it was a great place to play. One day, Hunter actually came and sat in front of the doors after Tucker crawled inside and would not move when Tucker wanted out.

Bryant reading to the boys before bedtime. Hunter does not do much listening and Tucker tries to be patient. He is a really good big brother.

Tucker did this of his own accord. Watching now still makes me laugh. He looks so wierd.

Pictures from March

2010-10-03T21:16:00.006-06:00

Okay so there are a lot of people bugging me for pictures. Since we are currently sharing a neighbors internet and I have the ability to be on the computer here are things from the end of March

Tucker was napping until Hunter came along...

Hunter tried so hard to get up on the bed. It was fun watching him try to use his crawling skills everywhere.

Hunter was so proud of the fact that he was able to crawl up the slide. He actually uses every step. From the beginning of having this slide, Tucker always tried to skip steps. Hunter go really good at climbing up the slide so we moved it into our front room where we could keep a better eye on him and know when he had actually made it up the slide so we could ensure a safe trip down the slide :)

Tucker did not like posing for pictures so it took the coaxing of Bryant and his bear to hold still.

Tucker loved this toy saucer when he was little and still loves, unfortunately he had a little trouble getting in and me being the great mom that I am made him stay there until after I took a picture.

Tucker's Birthday

2010-03-25T17:29:00.003-06:00

So for Tucker's birthday we went to the dollar store. Tucker ended up with five different presents this way which he thought was the coolest!! When he woke up on his birthday morning, he say the different presents and was so excited when I told them they were for him. We took a baby shower gift to a lady in my ward and he was sad that the clothes were not for him. After I told him the presents were his he moved them all in front of the front door where Hunter couldn't get them.

He was so excited to open his presents. He didn't need any prodding, he's a pro.

Tucker played with this alphabet puzzle for hours after opening it. He even insisted that we take it to church with us that week. For some reason or another Tucker has decided that the t and f make the best guns and so he will run through the house saying "boom boom boom."

Here he is reluctantly posing for a picture with all his presents. He got a set of monster trucks, the alphabet puzzle, a package of dinosaurs, a set of cars, and a soft baseball attached to a stretch cord that can attach to his wrist. It is quite long and so we have since tied the cord in a knot to make it shorter.

This is the cake that Bryant made. It looked really good but after taking a bite we realized that it was WAY to sweet for us to eat and then Tucker dumped water all over it so we ended up throwing the majority of it out which is okay with me.

A Quick One

2010-03-24T20:36:00.009-06:00

The internet is working for the moment at the apartment and so here are some pictures of what we have been doing the last couple of months.

Here is Hunter after bath time. He is so funny. He does not like to stay laying on his back long enough to get dried off and get a diaper on so he usually roams through the house with his towel on his head trailing down his back and behind him as he crawls.

Here is that great smile of his :)

Tucker loves to sit on Bryant whenever he is racing making it harder for Bryant to make great time.

We played in the hampers after I finally caught up on laundry. Hunter loved being in the small hamper. Tucker was jealous and so I trapped him in the tall hamper. He thought it was fun to pass cars back and forth through the handles on the hamper.

This is one of my favorite pictures

Tucker went through a phase where he liked to eat at the table while lying on his back. There was one evening that Bryant made pizza for dinner and Tucker ate it lying down that was hilarious. he would reach up with his hand feel for his plate, grab his pizza, and then eat to his fill or until he was thirsty, reach back up with the pizza, put it on the plate, grab his sippy cup, take a drink, put the cup back on the table, and repeat. Bryant and I were laughing so hard. Unfortunately, by the time I grabbed the camera to take a picture he was in his eating pizza phase and then sat up when he was done.

Hunter has gotten really good and crawling through this tunnel. He looks around for praise after each time he goes through.

I experimented and made this chocolate torte. It turned out looking really good but Bryant and I discovered that we don't much care for cream cheese type bottoms. Needless to say we ate the top two layers but not the bottom layer. I have officially decided that I do not care for the Kroger brand foods available at Smiths. They constantly have an odd flavor compared the leading brands.

Bryant used to corral Hunter into the front room by placing items along the perimeter like pillows, the diaper bag, etc. Well as Hunter got better at crawling he started to climb over the pillows and escape so we no longer try and keep in trapped in the front room and sweep the kitchen floor more often because Hunter puts anything and everything in his mouth!!

Here is Tucker enjoying some snow on our balcony. This was during one of his better days. He had a really bad cough with mucous in his lungs so he was trapped inside most of the time there was snow. He loves to play/walk in the snow.

So whenever we run out of paper towels we go to Costco and buy more which means that Tucker gets to enjoy an evening of bowling,building towers, and hiding in caves. He was even nice enough to share a couple rolls with Hunter.

Here is Hunter showing off his standing skills

Tucker was all dressed including normal socks when he discovered my red socks in the bedroom. He then took off his current socks and put my red sock on his feet all by himself. He was so proud that I didn't dare take them off. Tucker is getting really good at putting socks on and learning the joy of walking around in socks. Just yesterday he ran to his bedroom and put on a pair of socks. Then he came out running down the hall exclaiming "Socks! Socks!" I love how much he is talking and expressing himself.

The weather was warm enough to let the boys play out on the balcony recently. They were still bundled up because our balcony is in the shade and they have been constantly getting over being sick so I didn't want to take any chances. It sure is easier to get dinner made with them playing out there together.

Tucker and Hunter are getting really good and playing with one another. Tucker purposely does things that make Hunter. Tucker likes to get down on all fours and crawl around with Hunter and is constantly asking Hunter if he is coming. It is so fun to see them interacting with one another and getting along so well. There are still plenty of times when Tucker will come racing out of his room screaming "NO TOUCH, NO TOUCH" carrying something that he is playing with. He will then play with it in the front room until Hunter shows up and then he will start racing down the hallway towards a bedroom screaming "NO TOUCH, NO TOUCH."

One of Tucker's favorite things is to enforce the rules on me and Bryant. If we are trying to get him to get his PJs on for bed and I push him towards Bryant he says "No push." The other day Bryant threw a stuffed animal into the front room and Tucker said "No ball." This made us laugh because we are always asking Tucker if the thing he has thrown is a ball or not because he is only allowed to throw balls.

Hunter is getting really good at pulling to a standing and walking along objects. He is one super fast crawler and can end up behind you before you even realize that he is on the move. His learning to crawl has been so wonder because now he can move and follow Tucker around the house and keep himself better occupied. The two boys will actually play together (in the same room occasionally interacting with each other) for 30 minutes to hour which provides great down time for me or Bryant.

Bryant is working hard on school. Not having internet has made it a little harder to do school online so he has been making trips to school each afternoon when I get home from work. I am enjoying my job. They are willing to let me continue working only 30 hours a week after becoming an associate (assuming I passed the bar). I am so excited for this. I always expected that they would want me to work full-time after passing the bar which would mean that I would miss a lot of my boys life and make it harder for Bryant to finish school. I am so grateful for a job that understands the role of a mother in the home and that they are willing to let me play that role and still treat me like any other employee that is working full-time. This job really has been the perfect fit for me. I really hope that I have passed the bar and can become an associate at the firm. I still have another 4 or so weeks to wait for the results :'(

If the Internet is still working later I might be able to get pictures from Tucker's birthday on here. Keep your fingers crossed :)