Nevermind...

So, I went in on Monday night to tell the bakery that the job would just not work out. I asked if they had an internship... something where maybe I could just come in once or twice a week while Alex is in school and I can get someone to watch Darek. That way I could still drop off and pick Alex up from school. She was more than happy to allow me to do something like that. She said I needed to go to an orientation (which is tonight) and then they would work me into the schedule with whatever I would be able to do. And they are still going to pay me for it! So I just pick out the Wednesday before what hours I can come in the following week (if any) and they put me down for it. If it looks like it won't work out, then I let them know. It's really better than I could've imagined and it feels good to really be wanted. So, we'll see how it all goes!

I've decided my answer will be "no" to the job. I sat in bed last night talking to Ryan about it. We hadn't had much of a chance to talk about it before that. I told him I wasn't leaning one way or the other. I told him that I thought if I was supposed to take it, I would feel much better about it. He agreed. Once I had made the decision not to take the job, I felt so much better. And it really all came down to my boys. I have waited my whole married life for the opportunity to stay at home with my kids. This is my dream! And now that I have it, I don't want to give it up. I know it's important for me to continue to develop skills and hobbies, but I can do that on my own. I've done it so far! So that is what I will do. I may not become a pro as quickly as I'd like, but I can still be really good. I just know that time is limited with your children. They grow up quickly and there may come a time where Alex and Darek (and future children) don't want me home all the time. So while they do, I will be there for them!

Thanks for all the comments left on my last post. They really helped and it was nice having the support!

Yes or No?

I applied for a job as a cake decorator about a week ago. I had my first interview last Wednesday and had my second one yesterday. I was offered (begged) the job yesterday. I am so torn as to what to do. I've been thinking and praying about it. They told me that they would pretty much work with me as far as hours go and would start me out with a few hours if needs be and work it up if I wanted. In other words, they'll let me do just about whatever I need to do. Great, huh? It's a job I really want and I'd get to learn so much from the decorators that work there already. We could use the money, but don't necessarily NEED it. My boys (especially Alex) REALLY don't want me to take it and I know that I don't want to leave them. I have to have an answer by tomorrow, so I'm weighing all pros and cons at this point and trying to figure it out. Wish me lots of luck. Feel free to leave opinions for me.

Random Pictures

I took a few pictures of the boys while we were out today. Didn't get tons of Darek as he wasn't very happy at the time. But here are my cute boys.









OH MAN, I HAVE ADORABLE BOYS!

Thankful Friday

It's not like me to go a whole week without blogging. At least I have this weekly one to make sure I blog at least once a week.

1. Saving Money - We've been thinking about getting a new swing set for quite a while, but never found the greatest deal. But this past week I saw that all the swing sets were going to be on sale at Toys R Us. So we found one that was normally $500.00, on sale for $379.99. To make matters even better, we got a 20% off coupon for any one item. So there was another $76.00 off. It felt good looking at the receipt and seeing "you saved $196.00".

2. Lagoon - We were able to go to Lagoon last Saturday and we totally had a blast. It was beautiful weather and the lines were all short. It was the perfect day to go and we had so much fun together. And I finally got to go on Wicked (3 times)! The last time I went, I decided not to hold on at all. I love that feeling of excitement!

3. Less than 2 weeks - We are 12 days away from Disneyland... need I say more? :)

4. Slurpees - I have had 2 slurpees this week! I love when the good weather starts to come out, because that means it's slurpee season. We'll still get a few during the winter, but there is nothing like a cold slurpee on a hot day!

5. Dadadadada - That is my favorite new noise. I love Darek's babbling, but it's especially cute when he says Dadadadada.

6. My van - When we decided to still get our van after Ian died, I didn't know if we'd really need the extra space and if we were wasting our money by getting it. But it has been so wonderful to have, especially considering that I watch 3 little girls throughout the week. I LOVE my van and it's such a perfect fit for our family!

7. Sleeping through the night - It doesn't happen all the time, but in the past 2 weeks I've had probably 6 or 7 nights where I've been able to sleep all through the night. It has been so nice and I'm so grateful to Darek for it!

8. A little boys love - I applied for a job as a cake decorator this past Wednesday. When I had told Alex that I was applying for the job, he thought it was cool that I might get to work in a bakery and I'm sure thought about all the cookies and brownies he might get from this. So after my interview on Wednesday, I picked Alex up from school and told him the interview went well and explained that I'd have one more interview. He asked if I got the job. I told him I didn't know yet. He said, "Good, cause I don't want you to go back to work." I explained it would only be part time, so I wouldn't be gone too much. He replied, "I just like having you home and don't want you to be gone at all." I told him that I would go to the 2nd interview, but I wouldn't take the job until we discussed it as a family. He agreed to that. I love my little man. And even though it broke my heart to hear him say that, it also made me feel so good. I'm so glad that he loves having me around as much as I love being around him.

Well, I will probably be working on putting a swing set together all weekend. Hope yours is a lot more exciting. Wish me luck!

Thankful Friday

Oh how I love Fridays!

1. Kettle Chips - This has become a new love for me. Most people love chocolate as a comfort food. Not me! Give me a bag of kettle chips with some cottage cheese and I'm in heaven!

2. Nights Out as a Family - This week we went to Chuck-E-Cheeses again, but this time Ryan got to go. We had so much fun together. Alex had no idea we were going and the look on his face was totally priceless when we got there. We won almost 1000 tickets, so Alex got to pick out some pretty cool prizes. Darek enjoyed watching all the kids and was amazed by all the colors coming from the games. I love nights like that!

3. WIC - Because of Darek's situation, he qualifies for a lot of different programs, one of which is WIC. Not that I've been taking it for granted, but I am just so grateful to not have the worry of buying formula (especially where he's on a specialty one). I just remember how expensive the regular store brand stuff was for Alex, so I'm very grateful for programs like this.

4. Root Beer - I don't know why, but I have really been craving Root Beer lately. And for some reason it just tastes so good and really hits the spot.

5. Things to look forward to - I'm not just referring to the trips we're taking, but also the little things in life. For example, I love being able to look forward to working in Alex's class every Thursday. Those are the things that help me get through the harder days, and I'm grateful for those little things.

6. New Clothes - Kohl's had a great sale and I was able to buy 3 new shirts. I love getting new clothes on sale, not just the clearanced (what I can afford) clothes.

7. Alex Reading and Singing - Alex is such a good reader and can whip through a book right now without much trouble. And he's always loved to sing. But now he loves to share these talents with Darek. One of his favorite things to do with Darek is to read him a book or sing a song to him. Of course, I get all emotional whenever he does this because it is so sweet to see. And Darek just sits and takes it all in. He loves watching Alex and listens to every word!

8. Being told how cute Darek is - I know a few people who find it annoying to be stopped all the time to be told how cute their kids are, but I love it! I don't care where I am, if I can tell someone is looking at him and gushing at how cute he is, I stop to let them look. Why not? He is cute and deserves the attention!! :) Sometimes I feel bad for Alex (even though I know he's the cutest boy out there), but then remember how much I was stopped when he was a baby. I know it won't last forever with Darek either so I'm really happy to just take in those moments.

9. Home Movies - I must confess, I'm terrible at remembering to bring along the video camera. And when I do, I'm terrible at remembering to take it out and use it. But I love looking through our "old" videos (especially the ones where Alex is the cameraman) and remembering those times.

10. A Desire to Grow - I love that I have a desire to grow and learn new things. When I was working all the time, I would think about things I wanted to do and then just forget about it because I didn't have the time. Now that I (sort of) have a little more time, I love reading and learning about new things. I have finally had the time to sit down and realize what I want to do after my kids are grown (or if I get any free time). I'm excited at all the possibilities and love trying to find ways to accomplish my goals.

There it is! I hope everyone has a great weekend and I pray the weather remains nice so I can go to Lagoon tomorrow!

Easter Weekend cont.

We left from Hurricane at about 2:15 and headed straight for Ryan's parents home. They wanted us over for an Easter dinner and egg hunt as well. We got there just a little before 7:00. I love spending time with his side of the family. It's such a change from mine because the nephews are a lot older. It's fun to sit and talk with them and tease them a little :) Anyway we ate a little and then Ryan's sister Roxie, Ryan and I went out and played the Easter bunny. We had 63 eggs to hide for 3 boys! We hid them pretty well and ended up finding all of them. The boys ended up with $26.00 in their eggs along with candy and playdoh. Alex was thrilled! He's saving all this money for Disneyland and he's up to about $55.00 right now. After the boys finished looking in their eggs, we sat and talked for a bit but then had to head home as it was getting late (and we had been traveling all afternoon). But it was a very fun and memorable Easter. Here are some pictures of our egg hunt there.

We were pretty mean hiding Dylan's eggs. But he did a good job finding them.

Alex on the hunt

Alex, Dylan and Marc



Alex reaching for one of Dylans eggs

Darek and his constant runny nose

Helping Marc get to one of his eggs

Dean playing with Darek

Looking through the eggs

Darek with Aunt Roxie

Darek with Great-Aunt Esther

Steve in the back room. He obviously loved having his picture taken :)

Easter Weekend

Our Easter was really wonderful this year. My sister Bethany decided to host it. So after Ryan got home from work on Friday, we traveled down to Hurricane. My mom and dad had left a little earlier than us and had been nice enough to take Alex down with them. So he was all ready for bed by the time we got there at 10:15pm. We stayed up for a while talking and putting the rest of the Easter stuff together for the next day.

The next morning, both boys woke up so happy and Alex could not wait for his cousins to arrive. We had planned on having the Easter egg hunt in Beth's backyard, but as luck would have it... it was raining. So we went over to the school she works at and hid all the eggs there. It was actually quite a fun place to have an egg hunt. Little Darek sat with Uncle Chad the whole time and played with a few toys they had gotten for him. After all the eggs were found and the kids hopped up on sugar, we went back to Beth's. The girls got dinner all ready while the guys got to play a little. The little boys wanted to go out back and sword fight with their Uncle Chad. Uncle Chad could not turn them down of course! I asked Ryan to go take some pictures, and before too long he had joined in on the fighting as well. One funny story about that. My dad had been out back watching and came inside totally cracking up. We asked him what had happened. He said that they had been playing Ryan and Chad against Tyson and Alex. Tyson had gone down and it was just Alex left to fight Ryan and Chad. I guess Alex looked up at them, took his sword and pretended to slit his throat and fell down dead. (It sounds pretty gruesome writing it down, but I promise it was funny.) I guess he knew it was an impossible feat and didn't want to be taken alive :)

Dinner was great! We decided that Hayley's older kids, Tyson and Anna, would be sleeping over that night. Mike and Hayley went home with little Brayden. After we settled down from dinner, we asked the kids if they would like to go to the store to pick something out with the money they had gotten in their Easter eggs. So Beth and I took them to Walmart to each spend their $7.00. Anna picked out a Cinderella set, Tyson got a Star Wars figurine and Alex got a few hot wheels cars and a cowboy play set. They were all thrilled and couldn't wait to get home to play with their new toys.

The next morning we got up and were all going to sacrament meeting at Beth and Chad's ward. We packed up so that we could leave right after the meeting. We had planned it so the kids had matching clothes. It was so cute. My boys had on striped shirts with orange vests and Hayley's boys had on the same shirts with green vests. And Anna wore a green dress. The kids looked adorable, so we had to get pictures of them all before we left.

After pictures, we said goodbye. Another fun trip down south. We were so sad that we didn't have time to stop by and say hi to Ryan's brother. We didn't even really get into St. George this time. Next time!




























Part 2 of Easter soon to come!

Thankful Friday

I have to make this really quick. I'm supposed to be packed and ready to leave for St. George and I haven't even started yet.

1. Family trips - I'm kinda cheating with this one. But I love going on vacations with my family. Even if they are just for the weekend. It's fun to get away and spend quality time with the fam.

2. Healthy kids - It was so nice getting a good report from the doctor. Knowing your kids are healthy really helps to put your mind at ease.

3. Coloring - Alex has really started to enjoy coloring and I just love the pages he does for me. I especially love the To: Mom From: Alex at the top of each page. So cute!

4. My Nintendo DS - I know this might sound silly, but it's a totally great way for me to relax and unwind. I just got a new game for it and cannot wait to try it out on the trip today.

5. Friend outings - I was able to hang out with a friend this week that I never get to hang out with (at least not without our spouses there). We had such a wonderful time and it was such a great therapy to sit and talk with her. I am truly grateful for that outing!

6. Great Movies - I finally was able to see Slumdog Millionaire this week on DVD. I thought it was an incredible movie and the story was really amazing. I just loved it!

7. Date night - My Mom watched my boys so that Ryan and I could go on a date. We saw a movie and did a little shopping. It was a very laid back date, but it was so fun to spend that quality time with him.

Okay, I must finish. I'll be back in a couple days!

Ghostbusters

After the doctor appointments yesterday, we went over to Toys R Us. It's directly across the street from our doctor, so there isn't much of a way to avoid going. We got into the parking lot, and Alex yelled out with excitement. Not about being at Toys R Us, but because he had just seen a Ghostbusters car in the parking lot. Right now, Ghostbusters is his favorite movie... right along with the movie Clue. (I know, my child has weird favorite movies for someone his age. But I totally love it!) Immediately he started asking questions like, "I wonder if the Ghostbusters are here?" and "If they are here, does that mean there is a ghost inside Toys R Us?" It was totally cracking me up and I totally played along with it. After we were done shopping, the car was still there, so I asked the girl at check out who it belonged to. She said it was a guy that worked in electronics. (Figures, huh?) I had to take some pictures of it on our way out. But it was one of those really cute moments of childhood, and I just had to write it down.

Updates

I took both boys in for check-ups yesterday. Alex had his 6 year old check-up and Darek had his 9 month old one.

Alex is doing just perfectly! He is exactly 4 ft tall, which is the average size of a 7 year old. And the doctor did the numbers for his body mass as well. At 3 years old, Alex was just under being over weight. (He was quite the chunky little guy :) Now his BMI is perfect! He is exactly where he should be with his weight and height. So I was very grateful for that. I didn't want to be chewed out by the pediatrician about my kid being overweight!

Darek is also doing better. He had stopped gaining weight for a little while, but he had been sick. So now that he has been over most of the sickness, I had hoped he'd gained a little more weight. He did! He now weighs 13 lbs. 14 oz. and is 25 3/4 long. He is still not on the charts for anything for when he was born. If he had been born when he was supposed to, he would be at 50% for height and only 10-20% for weight. So even for when he was supposed to be born, he still is very tiny. But he is growing and he is doing new things. Showing progress is always a good thing.

Annoyed With Stupid People

Okay, so the stupid people are some Moms and kids we came across at IKEA today. When we got to IKEA, we went right upstairs to have lunch. We sat down at a table and started eating. Next to us, there was a table of 4-5 Moms. Between them, they probably had 8-9 kids. All the kids were playing in an area close by. Soon after we sat down, a little girl came over and started talking at us. Alex and I had cookies on our plates. She leaned over the table, grabbed my cookie and said, "MY COOKIE!" I told her that it wasn't and to please put it down. She did it several times after that, all with the table of Moms looking at us. She started to climb into my cart and push it (with Darek still in it). I told her to leave the cart where it was. The little girl kept commenting on how cute Darek was and had to point out his brown skin, brown ears, etc. I told her she was right. As she said that, one of the boys said, "Yeah, because he has brown skin, he's going to have to sit in the back of the bus." I told him he was very wrong about that. He also commented to Alex that he could not play on their team because he wasn't one of their friends. Sooo... what do I do? Being the nice person I am, I didn't say anything to the Moms, but now I'm really regretting it. I should've said something to them about educating their children. Comments like that shouldn't be said by anyone. The thing that bugs me is where they heard it from. Anyway, I'm just annoyed after that incident today. We ate as quickly as we could and walked around the store. I'm sure it won't be the last of those comments Darek or I hear, but it makes me angry that parents don't correct behavior like this.

Ok, I'm done. Thanks for letting me vent.

Pay It Forward - Again

I did this a little while ago, but only got 2 hits. So Hayley and Adrian.. you guys automatically get something still. You don't have to reply. Here's how it goes: The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice--for you!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make NO guarantees that you will LIKE what I make! (I can only hope)

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It WILL be done this year.

4. You have no CLUE what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a bookmark, something delicious or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows?

5. Most importantly, you MUST offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog get something made by YOU!

Thank you Spring!

I was so happy to see that today was going to be a beautiful day. Alex decided that we had to go to the park today. And I had to agree with him! How nice to sit out and get some fresh air. We were just about ready to leave when Ryan got home from school. He wanted so badly to come with us but as he's on his 7 working days on, he really needed to get some sleep. Sorry Ryan... next time!! We went to Spanky's and got ourselves some lunch. We took it over to the ABC park. (Alex likes to name parks so that I know which ones he's talking about.) We had a picnic on the grass and then Alex went to play. He insisted on holding Darek while going down the slides. Darek didn't show much emotion, so I'm not sure if he hated it or liked it. He also hid his emotions on his first swing ride. But we still had a great time and really enjoyed being out in the sun.

After the park, we went and ran some errands and got some ice cream from Cold Stone. On our way home, we stopped by Ian's grave. It was a really nice afternoon. Right now, Alex is pacing around the house, waiting for his neighbor friends to get home so he can have a play date with them. So cute!

Thank you Spring for finally showing yourself!

Just Excited!

I've just been sitting here thinking about all the wonderful things I have planned for the spring and summertime. From here on out, we will have a trip about every 3 weeks. It's going to be so busy, but so fun!! I know none of you are very interested in what I have planned, but I just want to lay it all out here for myself. :) (Feel free to skip past this post if you're too bored.)

April 10-12 St. George, Utah - My sister Bethany is hosting Easter this year, so it will be fun to get together with them and have an Easter egg hunt and yummy dinner.

May 6-12 Anaheim, California - As previously mentioned (several times), we will be going to Disneyland for several days. We cannot wait for this trip and are excited to see some of the changes underway in California Adventure.

June 10-24 Eugene, Oregon - Not positive about these dates, but we will be heading up to Oregon for my cousin Joshua's wedding. This is my first cousin to get married, so we are very excited that we get to be there. They have also helped me to fulfill one of my goals this year. I wanted to make a wedding cake for someone and they have enough faith in me to let me do that. They are having a Celtic themed wedding, so I'm excited too try out some of the different patterns and designs.

June 26-28 - Heber City, Utah - As soon as I get back from Oregon, I'm going to pack up again and go on a camping trip that weekend with my best buddies. I haven't been camping in way too long and am really excited to be able to take Alex and Darek on several camping trips this summer.

July 10-12 - Heber City, Utah - Another camping trip! Hikes, smores, games... really what could be better?

July 31-August 3 - Park City, Utah - I'm going to go on a girls only trip to Park City. We did this last year and had a blast. However, this year we are going to get a hotel with air conditioning :)

August 16-18 - Heber City, Utah - Last camping trip of the summer. This will probably be the only one Ryan will get to go on, since he'll be in school for the other two. So we'll have to make sure to have a blast on this trip.

I'm sure somewhere in there I'll have another trip or two to St. George. Can't keep cousins away from each other for too long. And we'll have our Lagoon passes to keep us busy when we're not on a trip. I have a feeling that this will be a very eventful and extremely fun summer!

9 Months Old

I truly have a hard time believing that Darek is 9 months old already! What a wonderful little boy we have! Darek has grown a little bit, but I don't have his actual height. Somewhere around 25 inches maybe. But he is still very little. He's about 13 1/2 lbs now. Darek is really starting to show his personality. He is a good natured little guy most of the time. As long as you put him down for a nap when he's tired, feed him when he's hungry and don't let him sit in a poopy diaper for more than a minute, he is good to go. But when you take too much time doing any of those things, the wrath of Darek comes out. :) Darek is becoming a little more mobile. He rolls from his tummy to back very well, but hasn't gotten the back to tummy down yet. He can turn around in circles when he's on his belly just from moving around so much. But he hasn't gotten close yet to learning how to crawl. And I'm really ok with that. I don't want to baby proof yet. Darek is a funny little guy. He loves to laugh and smile. Unless he's sleepy, you are almost guaranteed a smile from him if you smile at him. He loves to touch and study things. He particularly loves hair right now. He loves to grab it and eat it. Darek is becoming very attached to his big brother and just loves to watch everything he does. I truly have the most beautiful and loving little guys! Happy 9 months Darek!

Thankful Friday

Even though it's only 2:30 in the morning, I guess it's officially Friday so I can do this post :)

1. Hot Showers - I have never been one to love a bath. The water gets too cold, the bathtub just isn't big enough (or I'm not small enough), etc... but I love a hot shower! It feels so good in the morning, like I can start really fresh with the day. I can't explain this well, but it just feels so nice.

2. The Locator - This is a newer show (at least to me) that I've begun watching that is a really wonderful program. It's about bringing separated family members back together again. Each story has brought tears to my eyes and I just love being able to watch something so worthwhile. It doesn't happen very often on tv.

3. Darek eating again - Don't worry, he hasn't been starved or anything. But he has been sick for almost a month now. When he's sick, he cannot eat baby food properly and ends up gagging or not being able to breathe when he's congested. He just hasn't figured it out how to do it yet. So he has just been on bottles. But the past week he has really started to get better and can eat baby food again. It's a relief to me and hopefully this will get him gaining a little more weight.

4. Class parties - Alex's spring class party is tomorrow (today) and I get to be in charge of one of the activities. I'm doing jello jigglers in easter shapes and having the kids put whip cream and candy on them and then they get to eat it. I hope it will be a big hit. But I just love doing things like this and it makes me wonder if I should've stuck with schooling and become a teacher... NAH!

5. Movies - I haven't been able to sit and watch a movie for a long time by myself. But these past couple nights have given me the opportunity to do that, while I've worked on other projects. I've watched some really good movies: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, A Mighty Heart and I even enjoyed Because I Said So. It's fun to have a movie night by yourself every once in a while.

6. Vacation Countdown - We are now into the thirties with our countdown to Disneyland. It's going by so fast and I can't wait for it to come.

7. Modern Technology - My parents are currently in Disneyland and this morning as I was sitting at the computer, I saw that my Dad got on Skype (a video phone call type program). At first we started typing messages back and forth, but when I told him I was holding the cutest baby in the world, he caved and called me. We got to do a video phone call through web cams. Ryan and I got laptops with web cams for this very reason. It's so nice to know that even though you're away from people you love, you can still see them at a click of a button. It just amazes me!

8. Less Stress - It's nice not to have a big project to work on right now. I'm still crazy busy with lots of little things, but I love not having a big project to stress over. It has helped me to relax a little more.

9. Humility - There are times when I start thinking about what happened with Ian and I start a little pity party, but then I get on facebook or blogs and read about what other people are going through. I know we all have our own trials to face, but I am grateful to be humbled every once in a while and remember that I am not the only person facing trials in this world.

10. Change - There have been changes in my life in the past couple months that have helped me grow tremendously! Change can be very scary at first when you don't know the outcome. But when you stick to what you know is right and what will be best for you, the result can be better than what you could ever have imagined!

Love to all! Have a great weekend!

Sharing the Love!

I signed up for an account with www.mp3fiesta.com a long time ago and have LOVED it!! I was introduced to the site by a coworker and have saved so much money by downloading music off this site. It's a legal site (with what I've read about the site) and it's so inexpensive to download music. It's cost about .20 a song or 1.98 for an album. It used to be .10 a song and 1.00 per album... but really, I can't complain about the current price. Well I got on today to see what the current amounts are to refill your account. I got on and found they are doing some kind of promotion on it where you can pay 100.00 and get unlimited LIFETIME downloads from their site. They also have an option to pay 50.00 to get unlimited downloads for a YEAR!!! It looks like they are only offering this to a certain number of people though. Normally I don't have extra money to do something like this. But it just so happens that we recently got our tax return, and this seemed like a very worthwhile thing to do. I've been downloading like crazy this afternoon, and it shows my platinum membership with lifetime downloads.

So, if you already have an account on this site, you may want to think about doing this promotion. If you don't... I think that they do not allow anyone to sign up on this site anymore, but you can try www.mp3panda.com. Both sites are run by the same people, but the first one has used the amount of users they can have on it, so they created the second one. Let me know if you end up trying this out!

Just wanted to share the love!