Joyous June

June appears as if it was a busy month, though, I have to admit, I totally forgot most of it until I went back and looked at all the pictures. Some of the fun things that happened in June were that we celebrated my birthday and Father's Day, as well as had a Panda Marathon and Scout Camp.

 So, the first big thing that happened in June was my birthday. I turned a whopping 29! Man I am getting old. Scott is so excited for next year, when he can make me feel old on my 30th birthday. I think he really just wants to get back at me for making him feel old on his 30th! Anyway, for my birthday we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner with Scott's family. It was fun being able to share my day with them. Andy and Marybeth ended up coming too. It was great to see them all. Scott spoiled me for my birthday. He got me cute rooster canisters for my kitchen, and the promise to edit last years blog book so I can print it. His family also got me a book and a rooster towel holder for my kitchen. It was really a nice birthday.

Okay, so let's see what to talk about next? There really is so much! I think the next thing should be Father's Day. For Father's Day, I had so much fun creating an awesome surprise for Scott. I had received a coupon for creating a free photo book for Father's Day, so I spent a good week gathering pictures so that I could make sure the book had arrived before Father's Day. It turned out being a cute 20-page book all about how Scott is the best Dad ever! We also got him a new shaver too. It was so hard for me to wait to give Scott the book, so I gave it to him the morning of Father's Day. I also had fun spoiling him the day of Father's Day. The night before, I told him to sleep downstairs, so he could get one night of uninterrupted sleep. He was able to sleep downstairs without having to wake up with the boys. And when they woke up, I was able to play with them and even make breakfast for him. It was great seeing the look on his face when he got the book. It was a complete surprise and he loved it! For dinner, I made ribs, and his Mom brought oatmeal cookies for desert. It was a great day!

I would like to add a little note here about how amazing Scott is as a Dad. I have to say that I really couldn't do this whole Mom thing without him. He is always so supportive of me. He changes diapers, and was even willing to not only do cloth diapers, but even clean out the poopie cloth diapers! He always bathes the boys, and helps with the bedtime routine. He reads stories, wrestles, and just laughs with the boys. He truly is the best dad ever. I feel so lucky to have him as my partner in the great adventure of parenthood!

Okay, so next we should talk about our Panda Marathon. Scott and I thought it would be fun to have a Panda marathon where we watched the Kung Fu Panda movies and ate Panda Express. We invited Andy and Marybeth to join us. They ended up being super busy, so we were only able to watch one movie, but we did eat some Panda Express and Marybeth even made some yummy lettuce wraps and sweet and sour chicken. I also made some really cute panda cupcakes. It was a blast!

The other fun thing that happened in June, was that Scott went to Scout Camp! They went to Arches National Park and did lots of hiking. It was super hot, so the boys ended up complaining enough that they found an indoor swimming pool to cool off in. Scott absolutely loved camping and they hiked a ton.

Another fun thing we did in June was garden! I was able to acquire a ton of irises from the Relief Society President, Kaylene Bradford, for free! I also used my birthday money to buy a whole bunch of other flowers. Our garden beds are primarily full of grass, so we have been working on clearing those out. But I did take some pictures of just how bad some of the beds are, and some pictures of us gardening. If anyone has tips on getting rid of grass, I would love them! Here are the pictures:

Okay, before I end. I wanted to add a few fun pictures of the boys. During the month of June Jacob seemed to get more mobile. He was rolling all over the place and was able to sit up much better too. So the boys have started to "play" together a little more. Xander has also had to start learning to share his toys because Jacob wants to play with big boy toys. We also have some fun pictures of bath time pics. I also have some fun stroller pictures of our outings too. Every day is truly an adventure! Here are some pictures of them:

Well, that about covers the month of June! It is almost time for our date night, so we should get ready for that. I will have to work on catching up on blogging, some other time! Tune in next time for Jolly July :)

Magnificent May

Once again, my brain is stumped! This is why I have to catch up to where we are now. Anyway, the only thing I can really remember about May was us trying to get adjusted to living in a new house, in a new town. Of course, there was also Mother's Day. So I guess we'll just talk about both of those things.

So as I mentioned, May was full of adjusting to our new home. Overall, the transition went really well. We were lucky to move next door to some awesome neighbors, James and Chelsea McKinney. From the moment we showed up with the moving truck, they were there to help! We had to move on a Friday night because that is when we had helpers. So we showed up at around 9 pm to unload, and they came over with their newborn, to help us out. They even helped us to set up the crib so Xander could get to sleep. The ward really has been amazing. We have had several families drop things by and introduce themselves, and one family even invited us over for dinner. The ward is very diverse though. There are young families, older families, richer families, and poorer families.We even have some hispanic, native-american, and african-american families. I absolutely love the diversity of our ward! I also love how homey this area feels. In the first month or so, I would go on walks and every day it seemed I would meet a new person who was out working in their yard. They would always take time to stop and say hi and introduce themselves to me. Though we loved living so close to Scott's work, I have to say that I couldn't be happier that we moved to American Fork. The ward just seems so much more welcoming than our last ward, and it is a much smaller town. It just feels like home!

Our ward was also ready to put us to work! Scott was extended a calling before our names were even read into the ward, and I was extended a calling the day our names were read in. Scott got called as the Assistant Scout Master to the Deacons. So he basically helps organize scouting stuff and attends Young Men's every week. I was called as the Primary Chorister. I have to admit that receiving that calling pretty much freaked me out! On my mission, I was asked to lead the music at a baptism. I tried to explain to my mission companion (who asked me), that I didn't know how to lead music, and outside of the church, very few people have that skill. I explained that I would gladly go where the Lord would have me go, but that it might turn out very badly. How right I was! They had me lead a 6/8 song, and I was so bad that the girl getting baptized was cracking up in the front row, and the companion who asked me, was trying to show me with her fingers how to lead. Of course it was a musical ward too, so I am sure lots of people were laughing on the inside as well! Anyway, I accepted the calling, and then asked what it meant exactly. I have never served in Primary, so I haven't even seen what Sharing Time looks like. Well, now that it is August, I am happy to say that I really am enjoying my new calling. I am getting better at leading music every day, and am constantly trying to come up with ideas to make it fun for the kids. Many of the teachers have also commented how great I am doing. So my confidence is building. Anyway, the ward is keeping us busy with our new callings, but we love it!

We also had a fun little housewarming party, in May to show off our new home. I took tons of pictures of our home then, and had fun showing our guests around the new place. Scott's family came, as well as the Cox family (Scott's co-worker and his family). We made yummy treats and had tons of fun. Scott's parents got us a weed whacker as a housewarming gift, and the Cox family brought us some homemade jam.

Okay, so lastly, we will talk about Mother's Day. Wow...it has been a few months, so I will do my best to remember what happened. Mother's Day, is on a Sunday of course, so we didn't go out to eat or anything like that. But we had been walking to the temple every Sunday morning (before it started getting really hot), as a fun family activity. Before I was endowed, I used to love to walk temple grounds and just take in the wonderful Spirit of the temple. Now that we live only half a mile away from the temple, I am excited to help my children gain that same love of the temple. So we started doing Sunday morning temple walks (since our ward doesn't start until 2:00 pm). Since it was Mother's Day, I had Scott take a few fun pictures of me with the boys in front of the temple. It was so great being at the temple and reflecting on eternal families. Even though it has been a little hot to walk up the huge hill that leads to the temple, we are still doing all we can to help the boys love the temple. One thing I do is whenever we are passing the temple, I say, "Alexander, where's the temple?" He then points to it. Well, the other day, I asked him where the temple was, and he pointed to it out the window and said, "WOW!" I loved it!

Okay, so back to Mother's Day. Scott let me pick out a hanging flower pot for our back deck (which I promptly killed, because we didn't hang it and I forgot about it...maybe next time) for my gift. We went to Russ and Diane's for dinner and desert. It was a fun night, but I can't really remember what we had for dinner. Though I do remember we brought stuff for brownie sundaes for desert. It was super fun spending time with the family!

Oh! I almost forgot! One more exciting thing happened in May! We had been trying for so long to get Alexander to say "Mama" and "Dada." For most kids, it is their first words. Not for Alexander. His first word was "Hi!" He loved telling everyone that he saw "hi!" After that he even learned other words, but we couldn't say our names. Scott finally decided that Alexander was going to learn, and worked really hard at trying to get him to say "Dada" and Alexander finally started calling him "Da." Well, I wanted him to say my name too. So I kept working at it. A few days before Mother's Day, he finally did it! We were shopping in Walmart, and he reached his arms up towards me (while sitting in the shopping cart) and said, "Ma." I got so excited that I picked him up and carried him through the whole store. He kept saying my name the whole time because he realized how excited it made me, and that it got me to pick him up! So I am pretty sure that was the best Mother's Day gift I could have ever gotten. Since then, his language has just taken off, and he says "Mom" all the time. I just love my little man!

Well, that is all I can think of that happened in May. I hope to start June next, so you guys can read all about it, and we can get caught up. No promises though. Life as a Mommy of two is much busier than a Mommy of one! Tune in next time for Joyous June :)

Amazing April

Oh wow...it is July, and I am staring at the computer screen trying to remember what happened in April. I remember that the month was filled with us packing up the apartment so we could move into our new home. But what else happened? Okay, I had to look back at some pictures to remind myself! We did at least two other things in the month of April; we attended General Conference and took the boys mini-golfing. So I guess I will start by recounting those events.

General Conference, was, as always, amazing! I felt like all the talks were great. And to be honest, I don't remember much of them, and since we moved, I missed out on the Ensign article that contains them all. But one talk I remember that really seemed to hit home with me was given by Elder Richard G. Scott it was titled, "For Peace at Home." He talked about how important it is to have a gospel centered home and how easy it can be to get distracted by media and things of the world. He didn't say that they don't have a place in our lives, he just counseled against wasting time on the internet when we could be doing something that will help draw our families closer together. I loved his talk. If you want to read it, I have included the link here:  http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/for-peace-at-home?lang=eng It really was a great talk. Elder Scott has seemed to know exactly what I have needed to hear for sometime now. Just before my mission, I started to question whether I should really go, and he happened to come to speak to the YSA in our area. They usually speak about marriage, but he spoke to hundreds of YSAs that day on the topic of missions. It touched me so much and helped confirm that I should go. One of these days, I will make the time to write him a letter about how his words inspired me and even changed my life. Anyway, General Conference was great. I believe we watched some of conference at our place and some at Russ and Diane's. Oh! I just remembered one more thing. We did go to Russ and Diane's on Saturday, and we accidentally left Xander's blankie there that night. He was super sad that he didn't have it for bed time. So in one of the pictures below you can see his utter joy as he was re-united with it! Below are also a few other pictures we took while enjoying conference:

Okay, so the other thing that happened in April was we took the boys to Boondocks, to go mini-golfing. Scott and I had been pretty burned out with all the packing and hadn't had a date night since our anniversary. It seemed every time we had a sitter, we were packing. So one Friday night, we decided to do a Date Night with the boys, or I guess you'd call it a Family Night. Anyway, we all went mini-golfing and it was super fun. Alexander loved it! He wasn't ever willing to hit the ball, but he loved watching the ball go around the green. The funny thing was, if you didn't get a hole-in-one (we rarely got them), then Alexander would chase the ball and go pick it up. Sometimes he would even put it in the hole for us. He was great at getting the balls out of the hole for us too. He even started to recognize our ball colors, and give the right ones to us. We decided to just play for fun and that we would only keep track of hole-in-ones to see who won. Somehow, I lucked out and won! It was a fun night. We can't wait to take them again. Below are some pictures of our fun:

Oh! I just remembered another fun thing that happened in April! We bought our first home, just in time for my brother and his girlfriend, StevVe, to come for a quick visit on their way to Alaska. They were only here for about 24 hours, but it was still fun. I made them a yummy rib dinner, and we played some games and just hung out together. It was so fun seeing them. I hope they come back for a visit soon!

Well, since it has been so long, that is all I can remember. I guess it will have to do for now. I will try and get all caught up, so you can enjoy more of the things happening now, instead of 3 months ago. Well, that's all for now. Tune in next time for Magnificent May!