Update

Here is a quick update on everyone.
Cole is starting the PhD program and will stay very busy. He just came back from a conference put on by BYU about how to be competitive in his field come job time. He will be doing lots of research as well as teaching a undergraduate class, Human Development. Here he is on the first day of school (well for him. He missed the first real day while he was as the conference).

Here is a picture of Cole and I that we took ourselves after our anniversary date. We had so much fun. He had just gotten back in town so we had lots to talk about. He went to Harry's for dinner (nicest place in Manhattan so we got to dress up!) and then went somewhere else for dessert.

Cade is getting so much older. He can go to the bathroom, get dressed, get undressed, wash his hands, brush his teeth, get shoes on, and take dishes to the sink all by himself. Not that he does all the time. Or even if he does it may not be done well. But he is capable of it and that is progress. It is so nice to be able to tell him to go do something and not have to help him-especially Sunday mornings!! He loves to play with Rylee. He loves to ask questions. He loves Legos and cars. He is really good at pushing my buttons. He stole something from the store the other day and was so proud of himself for being sneaky. I would talk to him about it and he would say, "I know but I was sneaky!" and giggle with pride. He also wanted to put his hand in the fish tanks at the pet store (I know-what was I doing in a pet store) so he could eat them. He wanted to feel them wiggle in his mouth. We had just had fish for dinner the other night. Confusing huh? Overall, a very sweet boy.

Rylee is on the verge of walking. Maybe not verge but she is getting more and more gutsy. She can go from sitting to standing by herself. She is starting to cruise along furniture. She balances standing up for little bits at a time. She can walk with a fair amount of support. She loves her brother. She is getting to be a very picky eater. But you would never know it by lookin at her! She is very rolly and squishy. She loves animals which serves me right since I am not a big fan. New words she can say are car and ball. She is so sweet and overall a happy girl. These pictures are from her first visit to the zoo. She loved it.

And for me just normal mom stuff. I did get haircut-a pixie cut. Who are we kidding? Just a trim. But it was like a 4 inch trim so I am feeling like my hair is chopped to my chin. I also ran my first 10K last week. And it was a positive experience which I never thought was possible. I am doing a booth at a craft fair in November. Other than that just trying to make sure Cole does not die of stress. We are looking forward to another school year.

5 Years!

Happy 5 Years to us today!!

Then:

Now:

5 years
4 moves
3 degrees (between the 2 of us)
2 kids and
1 more degree to get...

Lookin forward to what the future brings!!
I love you Cole!

Cousins!

This past week Cole's 3 nephews came to visit. They have never been outside of Utah. So this was a real treat for them! Cole told the boys that if they would each cut their hair then they could come to Kansas for a week. And they did. So Cole met his dad in Denver to pick up the boys. We did lots of fun things and had a good time having them here. Cade loved having other boys around. One of his favorite things was to wake them up in the morning with the spray bottle. (They were a little unprepared for how early Cade wakes up!)

 The day they drove out was Tristin's 9th birthday. (16 hours in the car on his birthday!) So we had cake and celebrated the next day.

 Pillow fights

 Reading to Cade

 At the way awesome new City Pool

 At our tiny Sunset Zoo. 

 Evening scripture study. Look at all those boys. Good thing I had Rylee around.

I made Gage and Tristin hold hands on the couch because they just couldn't keep their hands off each other ;) I had to get a picture so they are trying to look tough. 

 We made homemade pizza one night. Cole told everyone to look at the camera and smile like they were smiling at a cute girl-nice Gage.

 

 Cole took them to a place called Pillsbury Crossing where they tried to catch frogs. 

Cole pinning all 3 boys

Not pictured is the one-on-one activities Cole did with each of them and the fun times they had at the Institute building. It is not really being used right now so they had the whole place to themselves. They played capture the flag, hide and seek, sardines, as well as some of the games there like ping pong and air hockey. They also experienced Blue Bell Ice Cream (because it is an experience) and loved it.

It was funny how having pre-teens aroundPo is so different than toddlers and infants. It was so nice on Sunday morning when trying to get all 5 kids ready-they could eat, dress and go to the bathroom all by themselves!
Amazing! They were great helpers in taking the trash out and helping out with things like that.

Thanks Hayden, Gage, and Tristin for spending the week with us!

Two Loves

If you love Harry Potter as much as I do....
and you love BYU as much as I do...
then this is worth watching...
as Shanna said, "in a BYU dorky kind of way"

Miss Rylee

Rylee has changed so much in the last month. She is growing up! I feel like I need to document her acheivements so far. So if you don't love her enough to read them then just skip to the pictures.

She is officially all over the place. She never really scooted but when she finally figured out crawling (when we were gone on trek) she fully mastered it. She has also started pulling herself up to standing. She can say 3 words and understand them; Dada, Nana (banana) and sisis (Jesus). On her own she would reach toward Jesus pictures and get all excited. I told her He was Jesus and that is all it took. Even other Jesus pictures that she is not familiar with she will point and say Jesus. She is working on her signing. She can do milk, more, bath, hat, all done, sleepy time, and eat. She is really understanding a lot when we talk to her. She loves books, baby dolls, stuffed and real animals, baths and food. She is a great eater. Will eat almost anything we offer her. She has two teeth on the bottom and she may be just barely working on some top ones. She sleeps great through the night and still takes 2 good naps. She has a blanket that she is more than attached too. She only gets it when she is going to sleep or on long road trips. When she goes down for a nap she giggles with excitement because she knows she gets her blanket (thanks Melissa!!). She is a really happy baby. She is very sweet and cuddly. Now that she is mobile it is pretty cute to see her and Cade interact. Cade is sometimes not sure how to handle Rylee now that she can get his toys. But they both love each other tons. I can't wait to watch them grow up together.

A Fabulous Fourth

I am a few days late but I still wanted to document our fourth festivities. We live near a military base so we have lots of military families in our ward at church. It was really neat to hear some of their testimonies on Sunday. Very powerful. Then for Monday, we had such a fun day. In the morning I ran a race with my friend Jenny. We did a 5K and finished in 26' 13''. We ended up getting 2nd and 3rd for our age division and both got medals. We were pretty pumped!

Then Cole went to play softball with some church friends while I played with the kids at the park next door. When we got home we made a Independence day treat. They didn't turn out as well as the picture but Cade had fun helping.

Then we went to a festival type event. There were inflatables, a little train ride, rides on an old fire engine, cotton candy-all things Cade loves. It was perfect. It is amazing how easy it is to have fun when you see your kids having fun.

 I know Cade looks like he is hating life in this next picture but he loved it. He was squirming with excitement the whole time. I thought for sure once he got on he would realize it was no big deal. But just as a 3 year old should, he thought it was pretty fantastic.

At the end of the day we attended a BBQ with some friends. Cade and Rylee were acting cute.

So all in all a fabulous fourth!

Primary and 'In my tummy!'

Today Cade had his first responsibility in Primary (Sunday School for kids). He gave the scripture in opening exercises. All week we have been preparing for it. We picked the scripture from the given topic and then every night we went over it. I tried to explain how everything would happen: They would announce his name for giving the scripture, he would go to the microphone, I would be there to help him, he would talk into the microphone, and then he would go back to his seat. During sacrament meeting (where the entire congregation meets together) it was testimony meeting (one Sunday a month members of the congregation are invited to "share their testimony," or their beliefs about God, with the rest of the congregation) so he was seeing lots of different people go up to the microphone, talk, and then sit back down. Near the end of the meeting he turns to me and says, "Nevermind. I don't want to do my scripture in the microphone anymore." I reassured him that he would be at the microphone in Primary (with 30-40 kids rather than in front of the whole congregation). He felt better after that. I almost wish I had a funny story about how he did something funny or embarrassing up in front of everybody. But he didn't. He did perfect. He was so cute and did everything just as he should have. After they called his name he started up to the microphone all by himself without waiting to see where I was. While I was turning to the scripture I could tell he was pretty excited. He talked loud and clear and amazingly did nothing goofy. Later we talked about it and I told him I was so proud of him. He asked if Heavenly Father and Jesus were proud of him too. I told him definitely.

Now for something goofy.

The other morning Cade and I went on a walk. He found a rolly polly and made a 'rolly polly' house with his hands and carried it all the way home. He wanted to play with it in the house for a little bit. The next thing I know he is saying, "Mommy, the rolly polly is in my tummy!" I'm thinking great, he ate it. What gave him motivation for that? But then I looked and this is what I saw.

Nope, he was exactly right! It was in his tummy. He is already obsessed with tummies so why not put his beloved bug there? We just cracked up. It is better then 'deading' them which is what he usually does. Boys will be boys I guess.