2 years ago...

Sylus came into our lives. We were able to get a stone for his resting place. We took some roses and a toy tractor. We couldn't stay long because Leo wanted to play with the toys on the grave site next to Sylus'. The 2 little boys next to Sylus' is a family in our ward. Small world.

He may be physically gone, but we never lost him.

Demolition Derby

We took the family to the Demolition Derby at the Cache County Fair. It was exciting watching cars crash into each other.

Leo's adventures

Leo has been watching his brothers play. He turned the TV and X-Box360 on. I caught him on the couch having fun and feeling proud of himself.


Leo thinks it's great to have big brothers with cool stuff to climb on.


I didn't have a rocking chair with my first boys. I found this one at a yard sale. I love it! I love the special moments that I get with Leo as I'm rocking him.

THIRTY! (or something....)

I've been 30 for all of 3 weeks. I know! Exciting isn't it? Hopefully by my enthusiasm (or lack of it, you will bare with me as I find myself... yet again!) I find myself confused with many things. Okay, just one thing.... my personal style. I'm not a young, hip 20-something (aka Spring Chicken). But I'm also not a refined lady that uses proper English. I still feel 17 (and wish I had the body to go with it).

Here's my story... I decided enough is enough and I wasn't going to be a frumpy lady anymore... I say that because I had been a brunette for a year (A YEAR!). 30! I'm going to do something crazy and hip - start going back to blond. And get a haircut of course! 2 weeks later, I'm in Sally's purchasing a bottle of 3N color (a shade darker than I was). Now my hair is black (or dark brown)... I'm washing it every night just to get the fading process to begin. As I was laying in bed tonight, I think to myself that I didn't like the flaps on the side (the A-line haircut) and that I must cut them tomorrow. I... I can't wait. Can't sleep. I shouldn't. Really! But I have to do it or it will bother me until I actually do it. With the scissors in my hand, I snip away until I figure that in the morning I will be some what happy with what I did. And don't worry... besides this post, I got rid of all evidence that I "fixed" my problems. Now I can go to sleep. Night.

Happy 1st Birthday Leo!

Still here

I guess I have some catching up to do!

Ethan had his Pinewood Derby. It was a crazy putting his car together. Nathaniel broke the car the day before the race, I had to buy another car. Ethan is excited that summer is finally here. He loves to play with friends. The boys found a snake the other day in the field. They kept it in a bucket on the porch. When Ethan went outside to check on it, he caught it from the last 6 inches before it went behind the siding. I told him to grab it with both hands and pull it back... I was wrong.

Warning... this is GRAPHIC. The snake ripped in half...



Isaac is glad school is over too! He loves to be around his friends. (Ethan and Isaac play with the same group of boys in the neighborhood.) Isaac learned to ride a 2-wheel bike.




Leo will be a year old on Tuesday. We celebrated his birthday with Nathaniel's family along with Father's Day.

Leo's cake. It's suppose to be a farm... but the cake had a little earthquake...


Leo enjoying the cake...


Leo on his play horse...


He is a chatter box. I love to listen to him talk away and the boys try to make sense out of the babble. He took his first step May 16 and continues to try to walk everywhere.



Leo loves to be around his brothers. He loves their attention and loves to get their attention.

I've been trying to teach Leo his alphabet. He tries to repeat them...


I ran my first 5K Saturday. I ran it in my fastest time - 34.29. It was a lot of fun and felt good to have finished it alive. I have to thank Janet for being a great motivator.

I also turned the BIG 30! If my birthday is any indication how well my 30's is going to be, I have to say that I'm going to love being thirty. I had the best birthday!

We planted our garden about a month ago. This is our first attempt to have a garden. We have beans, radishes, green onion, cucumber, lettuce, bell pepper, hot peppers, cilantro, carrots, corn, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and a pumpkin. The most exciting part is watching for the plants to come up. I will post pictures once I get all the weeds pulled. It's nuts how many weeds can grow. I hate morning glory. That weed is a monster!

I've been having a couple of the neighborhood girls over to play beauty shop. They've let me polish their toes and nails and style their hair.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today my mom is.... well, it's her birthday. My mom is an amazing woman. I know that everyone thinks their mom is the best, but my mom really is. She is understanding and never judges the mistakes we've made (and continue to make). She is the person on the side lines cheering you on. She's behind you to pick you up when you fall. She is a selfless person. Everyone and everything comes before her. She's thoughtful, kind, and full of love. She's also very funny. She knows how to laugh at herself. She is a great homemaker. My kids absolutely love their mema. She loves to do things with my kids to make it memory. She is my bestest friend. She's the one I turn to for advice or just to talk to. I love my mom!! Not just because she's my mom, but because of the person she is.

Happy Easter

We had a simple get together with Nathaniel's family. The kids hunted for eggs, the boys played football and the girls?... the girls chatted.



COUSINS (not pictured Cici and Harrison)

I love contests....

A friend of mine that is a photographer had a contest and guess who won? Me

Me so happy! You have to check out her website. She takes amazing pictures! Thanks Alana!

http://www.alanalangephotography.com/

Projects II

For the bathroom, the towel rack was hanging by a thread... or just loose screws. I decided to take them down and put up something a little easier for the boys to hang up their towels. I bought these great rod hooks at Tai Pan for $2 each. Now each boy has his own hook with his own colored towel (Ethan blue, Isaac green and Leo white). The picture above was a long time in the making. The picture of the sailboats is a puzzle (thrift store $1.50). I had the frame it's in for about 6 years. The larger frame was another great thrift store find for $2. I spray painted it black and voila! Hung and done.




Now if you read 'Joys of Home' or 'Thrifty Decor Chick' blogs, there seems to be a trend with spray painting branches. Only I painted mine black. I bought ribbon and glue gunned it to plastic Easter eggs. It was interesting to get the ribbon to go around the egg, but it was fun and now I'm addicted to glue gunning anything!

boys room

The other day I was looking at a friend's blog and the cute room they have for their son. Grant you he's 2 and there is an age difference for how a room is put together. But still, I was sad and wanted something cute for my boys. I got to work. I organized their shelves, closet and put their wall together.

Crawling and Sesame Street

Leo absolutely loves Sesame Street. Once it's on, he's hooked. He had just woken from a nap and he wasn't in a good mood. Found the recorded program and BAM! He's good to go.




Leo figured out crawling last week. I didn't even need to show him how to move his knees and hands at the same time. He's a quick learner. I'm just scared that he'll be walking next week. (And yes... the gate is not up to block the stairs.)

Let's go fly a Kite

Today was a perfect day to fly a kite. Chilly, but still good to fly a kite. I put the boys kite's together and got them flying. Isaac just wanted to watch, so his friend, Carter did the flying. Hopefully this picture also gives you an idea about the country life I live. The field across the street was full of corn last fall.

project

I've been frustrated and jealous by watching blogs go by with before and after projects. I wanted a project of my own. And then I found this frame at the thrift store. I wasn't a 100% sure because of the hole, but I bought it anyway.




I'm not one for letting my boys keep dead bugs, but for this I made an exception. Ethan found this huge dragonfly a year ago at a neighbors. With the frame, I first filled the hole with putty. Then I hand-sanded the frame to smooth the wood. I spray painted it black. I used scrapbook paper for the back and mesh. I found the scientific name for dragonfly and antiqued the edges. It is up in the boys room.

Don't brake on Ice

Yesterday I was driving home from my sisters in Layton. The roads were clear. But then I got into the canyon. The roads weren't too bad for my little red Ford Escort. Then I drove another 5 minutes. I was going 40mph. The truck with a trailer in front of me started to brake. So I, with my tiny knowledge of driving in the snow, was braking. My car started to slide to the right. My stomach was in knots and I was freaking out. My boys were worried too! A thought came to me to get my foot off the brake, I did, the car came out from the slide. I quickly told Ethan to pray for our safety. I honestly was freaking out. I wanted to throw up the entire drive through the canyon. My knuckles were white from their grip around the steering wheel. I now was going 30mph and I wasn't going to go any faster... but then about 10 minutes later the truck (with the trailer) started to brake AGAIN! I started to pump my brakes. My car wasn't slowing down... IT WASN'T SLOWING DOWN! I was (YES!) freaking out again praying I wouldn't hit the trailer. I tried getting into the left lane (I checked for any cars) and moved over so that I wouldn't be eating the dashboard. Phew! That was a close one. I don't think my boys were ever so quiet during a road trip when they were actually awake.

Needless to say, we got through the canyon safe. Stupid long canyon! There is nothing like learning to drive with actual experience rather then being told what to do. And I told Nathaniel he needs to get me a car with AWD. As we got closer to home, I asked Isaac to say a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for our safety.

Passing out

While watching my neices, Olivia pushed over Leo and his head hit the tile. Leo cried, Leo passed out. His first pass out and certainly not the last.

Volunteering

Today I volunteered at Isaac's class. He did so well writing the numbers 1-20 without help and he wrote them all the right way. He also got to hold the chicks. I can't believe how quickly they grow in a week. The kids were very excited to hold the chicks.

Growing

Leo is growing like crazy. He already weighs 21 lbs and is 8 months old.

My sister

I took several (okay many) pictures of my sister so that she would have a picture for her Facebook profile. I would take a picture and then she would look at it and scrunch her nose and say whatever she thought was wrong with the picture. I would look at it and think 'There is nothing wrong'. She is a beautiful person. Inside and out. She's gorgeous! She has the cutest figure (skinny brat!). She makes me laugh. The way she thinks... it cracks me up. But then most people don't understand me either. Anyway, back to Mary. She is an amazing person and she is very thoughtful. Even if I'm 45 minutes away and it's 9pm on a Sunday night, she still drove up to bring me a bag full of goodies. Mary, I love you and am so thankful and blessed to call you sister and friend.

It's a girl thing

I was watching my then six week old niece. I swore to myself that I wouldn't do anything girly to her. But then I saw her nails and they called to me. Needless to say, she got her nails polished. She was a good client and just looked glamorous!

Nothing makes you prouder

Tonight I had asked Isaac to give the prayer and to remember to bless Isaac to get well. Isaac asked me to give it because he isn't feeling well either. After prayer he told Nathaniel that he needed to give Leo and him a blessing. How great is it when your 6-year old has faith in the Priesthood? I am amazed at how often he thinks of the Priesthood and it's power to heal. I am also thankful to have a husband that respects and honors his Priesthood and was able to perform an amazing ordinance.

I will go, I will do...

I was reading a post my dad made to my brother on Facebook. For those that don't know, my family is spread around the U.S. with Jonathan in Iraq. My parents are in Virginia, Emily (Jonathan's wife), David and Lindsey in Arizona, Mary and Reese are in Layton, Utah (45 min south of me) and we are in Nibley (near Logan). My dad's comment was that we wouldn't leave this place even if we hit famine. My entire family misses being apart and the family gatherings. Jonathan wants to rally everyone back to Arizona. As much as I would love to have my family closer and miss the crap out of them, I know that this is where we need to be. I thought about Lehi and how he had to leave all of his possessions and tary in the wilderness. The Lord also asked that they get the brass plates from Laban. Can you imagine Sariah's scare? And Sariah had children in the wilderness. Regardless of what struggle or "hell" we go through, I know that Heavenly Father wants us just where we are. I just pray and hope that I can visit my family often. Love you guys.

Dancing Leo

Snow

Mary brought her kids up last Monday so that we could take the kids sledding. We went into Logan to a park that had many other kids sledding. The kids had a great time. Mary even took Olivia down.

Coming together

For many that have lost a loved one, not a day goes by that you don't think about that person. The way they touched your life and how they will always have a special place in your heart. Well, when we moved into this ward, I met a lady that had lost her son too. After several months of learning more, I've realized that she and I have a lot more in common. Both our boys were 24 weeks along. Both were the third child and third boy of the family. Both were born on a Friday the 13th. Hers lived for 10 days, mine was a still-born. There are many out there that have lost their babies too and have a special story. I have a cousin and friend that lost their sons around the same time I lost Sylus. Since I figured out how to link a picture to a site, I created a blog about our story of losing Sylus. You can go over to the picture of me holding him to take you there. If there is anyone else that has a site that I can link too, let me know. Anyone else that wants to share their story, let me know. I think it would be great to have a place that people can go to to maybe help them heal with their loss. Let me know.

No fun until now...

This morning Leo was sitting on my lap. The boys and I were tickling Leo and making him giggle. It is a lot of fun to see his chubby cheeks go up as he grins and laughs. Later Ethan made the comment that life wasn't fun until we had Leo. I appreciate that Ethan was enjoying the simple things.... making a baby laugh. It's the best.

Ethan jamming out

brothers

Ethan and Isaac absolutely love Leo. He is the first person they want to see when they wake up and come home from school. He's the last person they kiss before going to bed. If Leo makes one little noise during his nap, they freak out and have to be at his crib side. Leo loves his brothers too. His entire face glows when he sees his 2 older brothers. They bond they all share is amazing. Ethan and Isaac share the same friends and they look out for one another. Today Ethan had to unload the dishwasher before he could play and Isaac helped him so that he could get it done sooner.

45 min south Getaway

We went to Mary and Reese's for the weekend to watch the UFC fight Saturday night. The fight was great, but I wish Penn would have actually tried to fight back. Yes, I was rooting for St. Pierre... mostly because he's better looking, freaking cut and has better shorts than Penn. St. Pierre dominated the 4 rounds and then Penn's corner had to throw in the towel because Penn was getting his hinny beat! We had a great time staying at my sister's home. The kids enjoyed themselves!! I loved doing my neice's hair and make-up. I got my first EYE popping girl experience watching Mary deal with getting Makenna ready for church. It was a fight of what dress was being worn with what socks and shoes. I love my neice's. They are so freaking cute. Makenna looked too HOT for a 6 year old and Olivia was too cute at whatever Olivia was doing. About an hour before we left, Mary and I decided to rearrange her basement. We moved the loveseat upstairs and chair with ottaman downstairs. When she and I were carrying up the loveseat, Reese asked her what she was doing. Mary, matter of factly, said we were rearranging. I about peed my pants. I loved hanging out with my sister. And I have to tell you, I've decided she's more neurotic than me. Many of you think I'm obsessive, but I think Mary beats me by far. But I love her just the same.

We're family...

Isaac has this huge plastic jar with Airsoft pellets. It holds 15,000 pellets. Isaac didn't check the top before he picked it up and you guessed it -- all 15,000 pellets fell on the floor. I had asked Ethan to help Isaac pick them up. Ethan's reply was that he couldn't because it's too hard.

Last week I asked Ethan to come downstairs to help me with laundry. I think it's important for my boys to know what I do from beginning to end and to help out, that includes starting the washing machine to putting laundry away. Well, Ethan looked at the laundry and started complaining. It's not like it was hard, I had all the clothes folded. I just needed help sorting and hanging up shirts. While I was getting started, I had asked Ethan to run the kitchen towels upstairs and put them away. I had expected Ethan to be right down, but 5 minutes later I was yelling his name to get back downstairs. I asked him what he was doing. He responded that he was drinking his soda.
Seriously, someone slap me!
I looked at him and told him that I don't like doing laundry, that I actually hated it. I hate doing dishes too. I explained that I don't like doing any of the household chores (shhh! I do get some satisfaction out of it... but that's not the point). I told him I do it because I love him and my family and that I like them to have clean clothes and clean dishes.

I feel like I constantly have to repeat myself. I think my new phrase is going to be 'DANG IT, we're family and that's just what we do'!!

Cooking... baking... in the kitchen

I'm not a chef. By far a good one at that. I've burnt butter (in the microwave), but I do make the best prepackaged Nestle Tollhouse cookies ever! Well, since provident living has become bigger... or maybe I'm just actually listening, I've been trying to do better at preparing meals for my family. Nathaniel loves "farm" boy food, so I've been antsy to make Turkey Pot Pie for him. I finally found a recipe and tried it. It turned out yummy. I do have to share with you what I used to make the crust (homemade crust). Remember, I'm not a baker... which pretty much means that I don't have the appropriate utensils...


If you aren't sure what you are looking at, it's a play dough rolling pin. :)

Teeth

Leo cut his two bottom teeth yesterday. He's also rolling over all over the place, picking up Cheerio's and sitting up.

This project was 2 years in the making. The larger frame was a window pane I bought at an antique shop. It had six smaller window panes. Well, the window broke and I was forced to think outside the box and find something new for it. The wood panel with the wreath, I made at Super Saturday. The chicken wire was from Nathaniel's grandpa's chicken coop.

Boys birthday's

For the boys birthday, they asked me to make a treasure map to their present. I also added in 4 clues along the way. The treasure map was even burnt around the edges (note: do not do this inside the house. it smells of burnt paper for a long time). The map took them to their first clue. The clues were about the boys. Like one of Ethan's said "Ethan is learning to start laundry"... so the clue was taped to the washing machine. I did this for each of them and they loved it. I also enjoyed watching them try to guess the clue.


Ethan looking for his clue.


Jonathan trying to read his treasure map.

Isaac has decided to go by his first name Jonathan. He is also learning to spell it. I figure at least he is in kindergarten when he's making the change. He was also really excited to learn that Papa's first name is Jonathan too.

Thank you!!

Winter... and it ain't no wonderland up here

It's freaking cold outside and it won't stop snowing. I have at least 8 inches of snow on my lawn... or at least what was a lawn. The roads in my neighborhood are hardly scraped of snow... and guess what that leaves? ICE! So I'm learning how to turn and break in our little red Ford Escort. So if you see a little red flash pass you at a 4-way stop, it's us... because I forgot to stop sooner and pump the breaks. The boys have been having a blast with friends building forts and throwing snowballs. I always thought of snowboots as an accessory, but now see them as a necessity as my boys cross our snow covered yard to the bus stop. And get this... they wear the boots all day long. It's so wierd up here... wearing snowboots. So I've learned 3 new things in the past couple of weeks... 1.) Don't stand under icicles when you are knocking them down. They are solid ice and hurt like crap! 2.) High heels really aren't all that cute (and sexy) when you have to cross snow covered parking lots and 3.) when driving in snow... pump breaks AND... start breaking sooner than you normally would... because the husband doesn't think it's funny at all that you don't have control of the car!

Oh and Ethan got his Wolf. It was very exciting... Now I'm just hoping to get him some arrows before he turns 9.


Leo dressed to keep him warm.


Our tree... dressed in snow.


Ethan pinning me with my Wolf pin. I love being a mom! Just wish I got the badge too!

Merry Christmas 2008!!

Family... moved. Nibley,Utah. baby. 10th anniversary.

Ethan... baptized. scouts. 3rd grade. smart. read.

Isaac... fishing. snakes. kindergarten. clean.

Leo... June 23. 5 months. big eyes. cute. SMILEY!

For Aunt Preesie

My aunt Caprese had bought Leo several pairs of pajamas. Mind you that the pajamas he is wearing are for 18-24 months. Leo is a week shy of turning 5 months.

Leo with Grandma & Papa Cox

Fall

Halloween

Here we are with Amy and Eli. Eli is 4 months older than Leo. Amy and I both dressed the boys as skeletons... and it wasn't planned.



Leo with his firsts sucker. I thought it was only right that he taste a little candy on Halloween.



The boys. Nathaniel kept the mask on for a little while. It's hard to breath in. Isaac was a Ninja, Ethan was a Boy Scout and Leo was a skeleton.

Pumpkins

Well, it was about time to carve the pumpkins. I have to admit I did have a stencil, but I still had to do the carving. I'm quite proud of how they turned out...

My lil skeleton...