Update

Here's the week:

We have had a good week. Although none of our kids are in school we still benefited from spring break. Well, we didn't do preschool lessons with Dallin or a playgroup with Adam like normal but those don't take much of our time anyway. We ended up having quite a busy week. On Monday my mom came over and watched the boys while I went down to the sewing machine shop to get oriented on the new machine I got for my birthday. I have had an old machine that needed a tune-up and it wasn't really worth the cost to keep it maintained. Several weeks before my birthday Mark left the house on a Saturday to "get his hair cut." After two hours of him being gone I begun to wonder what was taking him so long. After three hours I thought things were getting ridiculous and called to see what was up. So he had to tell me he'd been out and about for my birthday. Kudos to Mark for planning early, I was impressed (this doesn't usually happen--usually he leaves the house the day before a holiday to go and "run errands.") So I got a new machine and now I am ready to actually begin some sewing. Baby steps, like maybe some Easter ties for the boys like I made last year.

Tuesday Dallin got to go to a birthday party. Wednesday we went to the zoo with neighbors from three other homes on our street. We have some great neighbors and my kids love having kids to play with all the time. After the zoo we came home and the boys all took naps (even Dallin). That evening was sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's. Mark's sisters had been wanting to have Dallin and Adam over for a sleepover for a long time but Adam was still having occasional (and sometimes frequent) accidents so we waited a few months for him to get the chance to sleep over. Mark and I had a night with just the one little babe. We went out to Waldo's BBQ and Owen fell asleep on the way home and slept pretty much all night long. Good baby.

Thursday I picked Dallin and Adam up from Grandma's for a gathering at the park with some friends in the ward. There was suppose to be a group of people getting together but we ended up being the only ones that showed up so we went for a walk just the four of us and had our own picnic. Halfway through the picnic we saw a friend (not from our ward) who we hung out with for a while till it was time to go. Dallin was not too happy that there were no friends to begin with and kept asking me who I invited and wanting to know why no one else was there.

Friday a couple of friends from high school came over for lunch. We use to get together once a month for a "Salad Day" but hadn't since Owen was born and another friend had twins last summer. Not everyone could make it, but it's always fun to get together with old friends. Even though I don't see them enough, I still feel like these friends understand me better in many ways than anyone I've known since. Mark and I went to the temple that night while some friends watched our kids.

Yesterday was a great day! That morning we spent some time cleaning the house together. We set a timer for five minutes for each room and cleaned until it beeped then moved on to the next room. After we were done with that we went hiking at South Mountain. The weather has been gorgeous and the mountain was green and covered in yellow wildflowers. Aside from each of Dallin and Adam falling and scraping up their arms and/or forehead we had a great time. If you live around here you should go ASAP before it gets too hot. We came home and tended to a few more chores then returned the favor and watched our friends' kids that night.

About Dallin
Dallin is five and a half. He will start kindergarten later this year. He is reading pretty well now and writes and does really well at coloring detailed pictures. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up being an engineer, or an architect, or some other design profession. A few months ago he had made several space ships or robots or something and I told him to put his toys away. He decided to draw diagrams of each one in a notebook complete with arrows showing which peices connected where. He also named each one with names like "LNX" (linx) or the name he was most proud of, "BLTESE" (like the sandwich). Like I've said before he is very social and loves to have a friend to play with. He loves board games and could tell you several facts about the planets.

I taught Dallin the Fifty Nifty United States song and was really shocked to find that Adam in the process had learned most of it. I know it's not essential or even necessary to teach little kids this kind of stuff, but I like that they have heard of all of the states. Now when they hear someone talking about Minnesota or Florida it doesn't all go over their heads, they at least know that those are some of the states.

About Adam
Adam is three and a half. He likes to sing and change the lyrics of songs to try and be silly. He memorizes songs really easily and even just a few weeks after being in Primary for the first time he was singing some of the songs at home that he'd just learned. He seems to have gotten past a rough, rebellious stage and is much easier to discipline and spends less time in time-out. He is a sweet boy and still often tells me he loves me throughout the day or wants to hug and kiss his baby brother. He smothers Owen sometimes and loves to get things like toys for Owen. Adam loves to play with his wooden trains, dress up in his Pikachu costume, play with his stuffed animals and ride his tricycle.

Lately Dallin and Adam have been arguing and fighting a lot. I have been at a loss with what to do. For a while I tried not to intervene because I wanted them to learn to work things out for themselves. It sounds silly now, seeing as they are three and five years old. Then I remembered the scripture about not letting your children fight and quarrel with each other and realized I needed to do something else. My newest strategy is to wait a while and see if they can resolve the problem and when it is clear that won't happen I will stop them and say that since they are fighting then they will have to think of something nice to do for each other and if they need some time to think about it they can go into their room until they come up with something. So far (It's only been a week or two) this is working. This idea came from a Relief Society lesson a few weeks ago on service. One lady said that she noticed another family whose children always seemed to get along with each other and she asked the mother what her secret was. The mom said that they taught their children to serve each other. I am trying to change and start teaching that principle to my children. I was happy that just yesterday out of nowhere Adam decided to make Dallin's bed for him. I told Dallin what Adam had done and Dallin was really happy about it and commented on how straight his blanket was on the bed. Progress.

About Owen
Owen is rolling all over the floor. He has two bottom teeth now. Still sweet and cute and sunshiney. He can grab little bites of graham crackers and feed himself. And he there is not too much more to say except that he is loved a lot around here.

Did you make it to the end of this ultra-long-post-without pictures? Wow, I am impressed. And now we are signing out.

Adam's Quotes

Marily: Dad is coming back with a new light bulb for your nightlight

Dallin: But I want my room totally dark

Marily: Adam doesn't want it dark, so the nightlight is going to be on

Dallin: I want my own room so I can have it totally dark!

Marily: Well, maybe you can buy another house so you can have your own room

Dallin: But, I don't even have enough money to buy a house.

Marily: Bummer.

Adam: Sometime I want to go to the brick store and buy Dallin some bricks for his new house.

~What a thoughtful little brother~

On Sunday morning Mark was getting Adam dressed for church.
Mark: Are you going to Primary today?
Adam: Yeah!
Mark: What do you do in Primary?
Adam: Hold still!

Owen was chewing on something like always and Adam says, "Owen is an eaty baby, 'cuz he eats all sorts of stuff. If Owen was in a battle he would swallow the robots all up."

"We went to the park lasterday."

The word "lasterday" pretty much means any day before today. And I refuse to correct him on this one because it's so funny and cute when he says it.

Eight Months

Owen, you are eight months old!
This month Owen, you...

• Starting making several new sounds. D was first at just after seven months, then T, S, and Z.
• Rolled all the way across the living room floor to play with the handle on the TV hutch. You are not crawling, but you can roll around to get something if you are motivated enough
• Got lots of comments about your pretty blue eyes.
• Were not so happy with teething. You have had a hard time cutting teeth. But finally yesterday when you turned eight months your first tooth broke through!
• Like to play with people by shaking your head back and forth really fast

I think we won't do photo shoots on the bare grass anymore.

Hmmm. What's down here?

It looks crunchy.

Drooling over crunchy thing.

Tasting crunchy thing.

Crunchy thing doesn't taste so good.

"Mark, could you grab the leaf out of Owen's mouth?"

And 20 more shots just like those.

I think I am enjoying having a baby just a little bit more this time. The good times aren't necessarily any better than with the other two it's more like the hard times don't phase me as much. I have gotten the advice about children numberless times, "Enjoy them. They grow up too fast." Mostly it's been from strangers at the grocery store. I always thought that I was doing that, but now I know that I still have more to work on in that area. Now that I've had two other babies I think I am really getting it. It's not just the good times that go by too fast, but actually the hard times go by fast too. When the baby is up in the middle of the night (again) and you are tired and helpless and don't know what to do it feels like there is no end in sight. But those moments pass and baby moves on to another stage. It all passes quickly, the good and the bad. That is what I am still learning. And little Owen, you are teaching me to be more patient, to enjoy all of your sweetness and not let get so frustrated when things don't go smoothly.

It was a good weekend

Pictures from Friday:

Words from Saturday:

On Saturday Mark took Dallin and Adam to work at the church farm early in the morning. He woke up at 5:00am and I got up shortly after that to help get the boys ready and into the car. They were suppose to be at the farm at 6:30 and it's an hour or so away. We were all going to go then we figured I wouldn't be much use anyways since I'd have to feed Owen sometime and hold him while I worked. So it ended up being a Dad and sons activity. The job was shoveling mud out of some ditches at the farm. Mark brought the boys' shovels and also one for himself though he ended up loaning his out because he was too busy supervising the boys, teaching them how to shovel, and taking Adam to find a secluded spot to go potty outside every twenty minutes.

Did I tell you I like being a mom? I made hot chocolate for the boys and brought it to the car that morning before they left. It was dark and cold and early and they thought I was the greatest. Then Dad drove them to the farm to teach them how to work. We're not a perfect family, but every now and then we get things right.

They came back later that morning and Dallin and Adam spent most of the day outside playing with the neighbors. We have a great neighborhood and there are often kids playing outside which Dallin especially loves. He is a social guy.

The weather was perfect. When the weather is nice I can't help but have a great day. Plus, Owen had a great long naps and Mark got our doorbell fixed. So now can be better hosts and not make people think we are hiding from them.

Then today as I was writing this post a couple of kids in the neighborhood knocked on the door. They are having a contest at school collecting plastic bags for recycling. I asked them if they were sure that they wanted ALL of my plastic bags and they said yes. So, I unloaded on them and that made me happy. In our laundry closet, the area between the wall and the dryer (about a foot wide)has been the place where I stow used plastic bags. I know I should get some reusable bags, but I do at least recycle my bags. Or, I do when I get around to it. The bags were smushed in that area up to level with the clothes dryer. I was a little embarrassed but happy to get them off my hands. And, the neighbor kids told me I was their best customer.

The Good and the Bad of Pot Stickers

Tonight for dinner I made these pot stickers. I served them with this sauce. They were delicious. The adults in our family really enjoyed them. Short and sweet--that is the good of the pot stickers.

But still, the pot stickers bit me in the rear tonight. It seems like I should have a better handle on things than I do. I sometimes feel like everyone else with little children has things under control way better than I do. Does anyone else feel this way? Sometimes when I try and do something a little extra everything else explodes.

So, I started assembling my pot stickers early and let my children tear up the house and bicker at each other while I did so. The baby was playing in a laundry basket on the kitchen floor and only cried through the filling of the last three pot stickers. Then, I tended to some motherly duties and eventually forced my children to clean up their toys in an embarrassing display of impatience. After that, Mark arrived home late just the same as every other night (not complaining, Mark, just saying it how it is). Adam had just slipped on a pad of construction paper that he should have already put away and whacked his head quite good on the floor. I had a bag of peas to his head because we don't have any ice in the house and the baby was starting to cry. After Adam was calmed and Mark took the baby I started cooking the things and dropped a plate on the floor. The thing about natural stone is that it is really hard and unforgiving.

By the time dinner got to the table it was about 7:00 and the kids were too hungry and cranky to even think of eating something flavorful. Dallin gave them an honest try. Adam was sent to his room for his rude disrespect of mom's hard work (it was for him! No, actually, I guess it was for me). Eventually we gave into making peanut butter and honey sandwiches for the boys. Worked out because then there were more pot stickers for Mark and I. I had spent too much time on the things to really consider making something else to go with them and several of them had fallen on the floor with the broken plate so the supply was a little limited. We ate herded the kids through the nighttime ritual and got them all to bed.

Mark is having a potluck for lunch at work tomorrow. We made a pasta salad after the kids were in bed and I dropped another plate on the floor in the process. More time sweeping the floor again.

I like to cook. I have really scaled down on what I do since having kids. Every now and then I feel like doing a little more than the normal quick dinner. But alas, it might have been the wrong choice tonight. And this wasn't even that involved of a dish.

Good thing my kids are forgiving even when I put pot stickers ahead of them for a night.

And in spite of my experience, I bet you'd like the pot stickers. Don't you want to try them after all that?

Still Going Strong

February 28th Mark and I celebrated our seventh anniversary. I have a great husband. Did you know that he rubs my shoulders at least every other night? Don't get jealous.

My mom was nice enough to come watch the boys on Friday night so we could go out on a big date: dinner at Serrano's and the musical Guys and Dolls at Hale Centre Theatre. Both Mark and I thought the musical was awesome by the way if you are interested in seeing it. The best part about the musical though must have been being able to hold my husband's hand for a good two hours or more.

Although this may tarnish Mark's good name, I will tell you the story of how we came to be engaged. Perhaps you've heard it? It doesn't get told often, so you're a special soul if you have heard it.

Mark asked me to marry him in the basement of his parents' house while we were watching an ASU football game. He had the ring and everything. Actually, he'd expected some of his friends to be there too when he casually whipped a ring out and surprised his girlfriend who he's never had the "marriage talk" with. Good thing his friends weren't there, because it would have been quite embarrassing for everyone when I didn't say yes. Is this confusing? Let's start over.

We went over to Mark's parents' house to watch the football game. We were sitting downstairs alone with the game on as we chatted over it. Somehow, the subject got onto "if we got married." It was all silly talk about funny themes for a wedding reception (clowns?) and bad color choices etcetera. We had never talked about whether or not we might get married before so this was a funny/awkward/nervous/exciting conversation (at least that's how I remember feeling). He pulled out a huge toy ring with a big blue gem and slid it onto my finger. I was trying to figure out where that ring came from, because Mark has younger sisters but the youngest was maybe 12 at the time and too old to have dress-up clothes. I thought he must have planned this and not just picked up the ring somewhere around their house. I think I remember saying something about him getting a blue tuxedo to match the ring. He started saying the ring wasn't going to work and then he pulled out a diamond ring from his pocket and said, "Maybe this one would be better." It was obvious what was happening, but I said nothing because I was trying to make sure I wasn't jumping to conclusions. I remember sitting in silence for a while as I tried to compute it all. He must have asked me to marry him sometime during that time but I don't remember the words he used. And no, he didn't kneel, he just sat there on the couch in front of the football game. Silence from me still until I finally said, "I just thought we'd talk about it first." And so we decided that we'd talk about it and we left the house to go for a walk around the neighborhood. I don't remember that conversation. Probably a good thing.

This was Veteran's Day weekend, November of 2002. This gave me an extra day before having to go back to work and school to figure out if I was going to marry Mark. I remember having an emotional couple of days. I pulled out old journals and looked for lists I'd made as a teenager of what I wanted in a husband and comparing them to Mark. I prayed a lot. I don't know what I was waiting for, a big epiphany, or hammer on the head of divine guidance, I don't know. But something. I was waiting for something. Then Monday morning came and I knew. Something happened and that morning I just knew that marrying Mark would be a great thing. I realized that I had been guided in my relationship with Mark from the start and I had been getting divine guidance all along the way. I remember talking to my good friend Rebekah about this that day. Do you remember this conversation Bekah? It seems so long ago. Mark had a long day working two jobs and I didn't get to see him until after 10pm that night. We were in the front of my house when I put my arms around his neck and told him "Let's get married." He said, "Really?" and I said, "yes." Then he asked me at least once or twice more to make sure I was serious. We drove back to his apartment so he could get the ring and I waited outside by his car in the parking lot while he snuck around his roommates to get the ring and bring it back. He knelt down on the asphalt by his little green Hyundai and asked me to marry him. This time I said yes.

Thank goodness I made the right choice. And I don't really feel too bad for leaving Mark feeling totally lost for three days because come on, he might have done a better job with a serious proposal to help things out. And lest you think he is not romantic nor creative, let me assure you that he has many times proven otherwise. But could you ask him what he was thinking asking me to marry him in his parents' basement with a football game going in the backround? I still don't really understand.

I've looked back on that experience and shivered at the thought of not making the right choice. Though actually, if I'd not known at that moment I should marry Mark it would have eventually become clear I am sure. We are just perfect for each other. I couldn't have known then how wonderful our life would be together. What an awesome thing it is to be married to your best friend who supports you and loves you and thinks the world of you. If more marriages were like that this world would be a much better place.

Here's to many, many more years!