14 Days!

The countdown is on only 14 more days until Eric is home for good! Today the boys and I made paper chains Lance is in love with the idea of tearing a chain off every day until we reach the happy day when daddy walks through our door for good!

There is just a few things on my to do list until Eric gets home:

a. go to Red box and rent all of the chick flicks I have been wanting to see, this may be my last chance!

b. clear out half of my closet, this will be a sad thing for me I have loved having that huge walk in to myself.

c. make a menu for that first week Eric is home, I have been advised we won't be eating out for at least a month, this boy is in need of some good home cooking.

I can't believe how fast these last nine months have gone and yet in some ways it has gone by slowly. I think I have done pretty well, it helps that I have stayed so busy with the boys but I think what has been the hardest is the loneliness. Nights were the worst, I miss my friend going to the grocery store at 9 pm because we are in desperate need of an ice cream break, I miss standing in solitude folding laundry while I listen to my three boys squeal with delight during bath time, and mostly I just miss him, talking on the phone is just not the same. 14 days can not come soon enough!

Who needs camping?

I don't think it's any surprise to anyone that I am not the biggest fan of roughing it in the outdoors camping, hiking, whatever I don't like it. My mom calls me a city girl and I guess I am. I like to pretend I like it, I like to pretend I am excited and I had a great time, but truth is I really don't. The only appealing thing to me about camping is the campfire, I love the smell, hot dogs, smores, everything. That is usually the only thing that draws me to the great outdoors, is the opportunity to sit around a campfire and loading up on marshmallows. The dirt, bugs, sleeping in tents, no bathrooms, is just not my thing. It's all fun and games until it's time for bed and then I am missing my shower and comfy bed. Well thanks to this fun new toy I no longer feel the need to ever pretend to want to go camping again (family and friends you can still ask me and I will probably go, but.....). My mom and Dean received this as a gift and last night at my moms Dean with much encouragement from Lance set it up for us all to enjoy. If I really feel the need for an actual camp out this summer Mom I will just come sleep in your driveway in the trailer, that should do it for me!

Lance and Luke with a few of their Stokes cousins Jordyn and Dycen, they taught my boys the art of rolling down hills, hours of entertainment for these four kids!

Oh and Ash (not my sister Ash, Ashley Woodyatt) the reason I have not put a picture of me in my Easter dress is because sadly nobody was around to take one. Unless you count Lance but I don't because he is not known to be a great photographer. I did look cute in it (if I am allowed to say that about myself), but don't you worry I will make Eric take a picture of me the next time I wear it and then I will post it on here just for you.....

Help I need a Swimsuit!

Okay friends I am in need of your help!!!

Every summer I hate swimming. Why mostly because I hate my hideous swimming suits, every year I try and try to find a cute one and I finally just settle on something that I end up hating and wanting to die looking at pictures of me at the pool. I plan on spending a lot of time at the pools this summer and I am in desperate need of a cute swimming suit. Now I know they are out there, because I see all of you in your cute suits on your cute blogs, I see them at the poolside on cute little moms with their cute little ponytails. Where oh where are you finding them? If you read this blog and you have bought yourself a cute new swimsuit this year or last or whenever you are required to leave a comment and tell me where you found it. My boys like to swim, my sisters like to swim, my friends like to swim I do not want to spend the entire summer indoors because I hate my suit, so please help me!

Monsters Vs. Aliens

Monsters Vs. Aliens, sure it was a cute movie but it is not in anyway what made last night memorable for me and my boy......it's every moment in between, before and after.....

It's hearing Lance tell Luke "bye Lukey, have fun with Granny, me and mommy will be back".

It's that little hand in mine as we walk to the car, looking up and smiling every few minutes, excited for his night ahead.

It's both of us laughing are heads off as I accidently tried to shove him into Luke's carseat, my mind was taking a little vacation at the time.

It's Lancey asking over and over and over again on the drive down "where are we going to Monsters?" "Yes Lance, that is still the plan, nothings changed in the last two seconds".

It's him not letting me put my arm down from his head the entire movie in order to shield him from the scary parts.

It's Lance trying my cinnamon popcorn and saying patronizingly "that's yucky, but that's cute you like it mommy".

I don't even mind him, Brevy and Carson jumping up and down on our booth at Wingers they are so overjoyed with happiness and repeatedly hitting the poor man behind us with the huge hat on his head a thousand times because of their flailing limbs going every direction.

I love the 50 pictures he took with my camera in the pitch dark on the way home mostly featuring my hand on the dark steering wheel, or a big shot of my head.

......but I think my all time favorite has got to be the sound of little pitter pattering feet at 3 am tiptoeing into my room, crawling into bed beside me and whispering "mommy I love you, it was so much fun".

Lance my precious boy I thoroughly enjoyed our time together last night and treasure every moment of being your mom!

Gardner Village

Welcome 80 degree weather, it was Salt Lake City's first 80 of the year yesterday and Earth Day it worked out so well that my mom sisters and I had planned a trip to Gardner Village in Salt Lake City. It was the perfect weather for a fun afternoon walking the shops and seeing all the sights in Gardner Village, not to mention my boys wore shorts for the first time this year, a sight that always makes me laugh as they try to pull their shorts down over their white little legs, so funny! It's always an adjustment to go from long pants and shoes to shorts and flip flops, takes a few days of encouragement from me. Is this just something that bothers my kids or do you all find that with your kids as well?

Poor Luke never gets to join in with the big kids and walk around he always gets designated for the umbrella stroller. However if you know Luke he is pretty much the worlds biggest handful when he is left on his own to stroll at his pace. Which is running, diving in front of cars, jumping into ponds, you get the idea and he is so mellow and content in strollers, it's the oddest thing he sings and talks and enjoys life at a much more manageable pace, so the stroller it is at least for now.

There is so many opportunities for good photo moments in Gardner Village, every few seconds one of was pulling out our cameras and snapping pictures.

Lance trying his darndest to see above the bridge into the little pond, poor guy he just wasn't quite tall enough. Funny picture I know but I have a thing about little feet they are so cute to me.

The kids recieved late Easter gifts from their Stokes cousins bubble wands and this helped keep Luke preoccupied the majority of the time, he loves bubbles, mostly eating them.

Cute boy he enjoys leisure time like his mother......

So I just love this stage baby Lincoln and Elle are in, they are just getting their little personalities, smiling, cooing yet are still small enough that you can cuddle and love so easily. This cute girl she loves to be held like this and smiled at, she was being so darn loveable.

End the trip with nice cold ice cream treats, it's so fun to me to see what each little one picked as a treat, it shows their personalities so much. Lance had a Reese's Peanut Butter Ice cream, Luke had a sherbet push pop, Carsy had an ice cream sandwich, and Brev had a strawberry shortcake popsicle. Love these kids! Now for us mommies we had a stop at the bakery the best Lemonberry Lemon Bars you have ever tasted I had TWO, and I don't feel guilty about it, they were that good.

Fun shopping trip with you all, can't wait to do it again!

Critter Clips

We got two more packages in the mail the other day from Eric for the boys, I can't even tell you how excited they get. When I pulled the packages out of the mailbox, one for Lance and one for Luke they both start going crazy jumping up and down. Lance immediately takes his and darts for the stairs and independent Luke must carry his alone as well. It took fifteen minutes to get from the mailbox, up three flights of stairs (yes we live on the third floor, imagine the joys of carrying groceries) and into our apartment. He was so funny, the package was rather large for him so he had to sit down and drag the package up after him, and if I helped for one second, I received an ear splitting scream that said hands off mom! Eric sent them both Georgetown Tshirts and a package of skittles. Luke was more excited about the Skittles naturally, and Lance was more excited about the t-shirt naturally. Oh honey you know our boys well!

There was also these little darlings called "critter clips" for Luke. I have to say when it comes to kids with hearing aids, these are quite possibly the best invention ever. You have all probably seen the clip on Luke's hearing aids that attaches them to his shirt, so they won't get lost. You can imagine how careful a 2 year old is with some VERY VERY expensive hearing aids attached, not careful at all. I can't even tell you how much these have saved me from a serious breakdown over the many times Luke pulls his hearing aids out of his ears. Thankfully he is almost past this phase of pulling them out, he actually gets mad now when I take them out because he can tell the difference without them (well it's either that or he knows that it means nap time, one of the two, I like to imagine it's the first!). So this might be the very last time I have to make a purchase for critter clips, might as well accessorize while I can. With boys there is not a whole lot of chances for accessorizing, if you know what I mean.

Luke nobody pulls off hearing aids quite like ya buddy! He makes it look cool, right?

Boys After My Own Heart

I have taught these boys well, one loves shopping for shoes. Luke loves, loves, when I am buying shoes for him and I try them on first to make sure the fit is good. He gets so mad when I take them off to buy them, one time at Target he spent an entire hour with alligator rain boots on his feet, too bad they were $20.00 too expensive and he threw a screaming fit about giving them back. However these little darlings were only $12.00 at Children's Place, so he got to wear them throughout the mall, we got some looks seeing how it was doing this outside:

Seriously snow go away!!!

And this boy he loves shopping for books, he can spend hours browsing through the shelves and shelves of books. Take me and Lance to a bookstore and we are both lost in our own little worlds hunting for that perfect book. Shoes and books I think that makes for a pretty good shopping experience!

Happy Easter!!

(warning.....lot's of pictures)

We had a great Easter Sunday, starting the day off with looking all handsome in their new Easter clothes, ready for church. It's funny because when I first bought their Easter outfits I was a little unsure of the colors, they seemed awfully bright, but I have never loved Easter clothes as much as I loved these little outfits, they looked so handsome and grown up in them. Church was great, well as great as it can be while sitting in nursery with your two year old the entire time. I have come to realize that while I love Luke's school it has been somewhat of a curse regarding nursery now. I stay with Luke in school until he is 3, so now he goes ballistic in nursery when I go to leave, he can't figure it out. Woe is me only 4 more weeks of church by myself until Eric is home!

They loved their Easter baskets, they each got a movie Marley and Me for Lance and Curious George for Luke, new CARS sippy cups, new bowls (which I really wanted for myself, but they were plastic so I thought what the heck throw them in as well), and candy lots of candy.

Of course we had to sample the movies and the candy before we headed off to Grandma's for the rest of the afternoon.

This was probably my favorite moment of the day, the Easter Bunny had to get a little tricky to when he was going to hide the eggs around the house. Being without an accomplice he had to wait until the boys were interested in their baskets and then hurry and hide them in their bedroom before they made their way in there. Lance went crazy with delight when he saw what that funny bunny had done to his room with the eggs. He just could not believe he would dare go into his room, all day long that's all I heard was "mom that bunny is so funny, he put eggs in my bed"!

We then went to my grandparents house in Tremonton for dinner and another Easter egg hunt outdoors. Carson this picture is for you, you have got these two boys hooked on Grandma's pickles too!

I love going to my grandparents house, it takes me back to my childhood so much, there is always something crazy and fun going on there. I love my cousins they are always up to something funny yesterday we spent a good thirty minutes watching Markell rip Kylie's face off while sugaring? it, I think it is something similar to waxing. All I know Markell is you are not coming near me with that thing, I will keep my fuzzy eyebrows, thanks!

Sigh....my babies are looking so old in these pictures, such a handsome one of Lance.

Gehrig and Lance I loved this picture their shirts are so springy, I just had to have a picture of the two of them.

I loved the sunshine represented in this photo. My first thought this morning as I walked outside on this beautiful Easter morning was I hope this was the kind of day it was on the morning of the resurrection. Sunny, warm, spring, the feeling of hope, joy and a new awakening. What a glorious Easter day this was, being away from Eric and missing him helped me to focus more on the meaning of Easter and the joy of the resurrection. I can truly say it was a glorious day for me and I have felt the spirit of our savior on this blessed day.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Baby Animal Days

We went to Baby Animal Days here in Cache Valley yesterday with Grandma Smith, Gaby and the kids, it was so much fun, there is tons to see and do for kids, my boys loved it. This is a moment to remember right here, Lance holding a baby chick. If you know Lance you know he is terrified of any and all animals, I was shocked when he said he wanted to hold one. No matter it's smaller than my fist, it is after all still an animal and he didn't run away screaming, we are making progress.....


Lance and Julia peering in at the baby bunnies, they were so cute, but the line to hold them was WAY LONG, we settled for just peeking in on them.



What happened to my brave boy, it seems right as Lance is getting over some of his fears and shyness Luke is now taking over those qualities. He didn't even want to be near the animals and would squirm away anytime I brought one near him.

They loved the train ride, though Lance was a little apprehensive in the beginning Wall-E had to accompany him on the ride. What's Wall-E doing at Baby Animal Days, you ask? Yeah we don't go anywhere without carting at least one movie along with us sometimes two. I guess you could say movies are to Lance like some kids carry around blankets or a favorite stuffed animal, sad but true, they bring him comfort.

They also had a ton of craft projects for kids to do, I am so happy my boys are finally getting to the age where they enjoy coloring and will actually color something for longer than five minutes. Well Lance will anyways, art projects are not really Luke's thing, but he was a good sport for trying. They are making Easter baskets in this picture.

Lance with the Easter Bunny, he may look scared in this picture but he really wasn't he just climbed right up with a huge smile on his face, Luke would have nothing to do with it, just like Santa.

Here he is deciding maybe it is fun to pet baby animals.....

Thanks Grandma Smith for coming up and taking us, we had a great time, the weather was perfect, the kids loved it and it's so nice having something fun to do with the cousins!

Happy Easter everyone, have a great day tommorow!