Texting Insights

The last 2 days Clark has left the house at 5:30 AM and hasn't gotten home until 9 PM or later.  I think we will see this schedule frequently throughout his residency, but hopefully not every night.  The hardest time of day for me when I really miss Clark being home is dinnertime to bedtime.  Everyone is hungry, and tired.      

Tuesday night I was also trying to get our office unpacked/organized and the house clean to prepare for our friends coming the next morning.  It was crazy, I literally could not keep up with the messes.  While cleaning up one in the kitchen, Ethan came out of my bedroom dressed like this:

Yes that is a lace cami and my sweatshirt.

He had been playing dress up in my closet, and I found all of my clothes pulled off the hangers in a pile on the floor.  My normally sweet little Caden decided to be a destructive 2 year old and was on a war path all night.

At 7:42 PM I sent Clark this text:  

If you want your sons u better check ebay it never ends today, never never

Wednesday evening was different.  It rained, the boys played in the puddles, ate popsicles, and raced the sticks down the gutters.  I was able to get some much needed weeding done on our crazy flower beds.  Everyone was happy.  I thought this is the key, when Clark is gone at night I just need to not have an agenda and we will all survive.

At 7:20 PM I sent Clark this text:
Just came in and dirty boys r bathing and hungry!  We've been out weeding over 2 hours and halfway done.  Much better night than last night

Clark responds at 7:21 PM:
:)

Steph at 7:34 PM:
Take that back, e just busted a hole in the wall and I lost it

Clark at 7:43 PM:
Oh dear, where's the hole?

Steph at 7:44 PM:
Bathroom towel rack doesn't work for pull-ups

Clark at 7:44 PM:
Bummer

So after studying these text messages I have come to one conclusion:  It doesn't matter what I do, the evenings are just better when Dad is home!

Monday night was great!

Baby You're a Firework...Our Own Music Video

So a few days ago the boys and I made a music video.  It is pretty stellar if I do say so myself.  Even if you never watch blog videos you should watch this one

Here is a little background information about the video.  I think this song played once or twice while we were boating last week.  Ethan then continued to sing just the line, "baby you're a firework," over and over again.  At the family party in Vernal he sang it while dancing over and over again like he was trying out for American Idol.  He loved all the attention it brought him and hasn't stopped singing it since.

It was starting to drive me crazy that he only sang that one line, so today I downloaded the song and just let the cameras roll.

My Favorite Parts:  Hearing the boys sing, especially when Caden sings so loud his whole body is into it (0:22).  When Ethan had a vision of himself and Caden jumping off of the couches simultaneously and giving each other high fives in the air...you can see what really happened (1:05).  I also loved Caden's solo at (2:20) because he got so shy after he sang.

My Disclaimer:  No children were hurt in the making of this video, and Ethan has learned he is not to throw his bouncy ball at his little brother's face anymore.    

Love my little fireworks!

The Big BOOM!!!

So we finally got our playroom cleaned up enough that we could inflate the bouncy balls and the Rody horse.  The boys literally love bouncing off the walls for a good chunk of every day.  Clark even inflated mine.  In my current state I didn't feel it would be wise for me to do much bouncing so Clark took it on the maiden voyage.
I was putting clothes away in the boys' room when I heard the giant BOOM, and then a yelp from Clark.  I thought for sure one of the boys had bounced through a wall, it was that loud, I came running and found this:

Clark had taken a big bounce and popped my ball!!!  It was a little under-inflated and the needle that plugs the hole must have bent and poked through when he jumped.  It literally split in half.  Such a sad day in Mudville, my favorite Christmas present gone!  Reminds me of when my little brother pulled my new Christmas doll's head right off...I guess we'll be bouncing a little less around here now.

Underwear Logic

So today Ethan had a hard time pulling off his pants to go to the bathroom, when Clark went to help him he realized it was because he had 3 pairs of underwear on.  Diego underwear so he could have an adventure, Thomas underwear so he could be a train, and Lightning McQueen underwear so he could run really fast.  Makes perfect sense to me.

Then later that night as we were getting out of the car he slipped and fell and hurt his behind.  With tears streaming down his face he said, "I don't think I'll ever be able to poop again."  Luckily he had on 3 pairs of underwear to give a little extra cushion.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Flaming Gorge

Last week my little travel buddies and I drove over the beautiful Rocky Mountains to meet my parents at Flaming Gorge.  Caden was so excited to go in "Gappa's boat."  We actually met up with up with my Grandpa and Nada, all of my mom's sisters and their families and had a great family reunion at the lake.  

The first day we got some playing in before the wind blew us home.  The little kids loved just playing in the dirt and the water.

The next day was perfect.  We found a beautiful beach, and had lots of playing on the lake.  Ethan and Caden both wanted to get their little Star Wars' fishing poles out to fish from the docks while we were waiting for everyone to get loaded.

Grandpa helped them actually put some bait on.

Even though it was a little scary Ethan tried the tube.

Caden on the other hand, was not scared at all and just jumped on when it was his turn!

I had to put these on for my Aunt Tonya's family...proof that she was a wild tuber with her grandchildren Brandlee and Jefferey. 

Flaming Gorge has some beautiful scenery, we even spotted a herd of big horn sheep on our way out.

The boys played so hard, they are still recuperating from all the fun, this is Caden getting a little rest on his ball one afternoon.

On Saturday the rest of the family went rafting and we put the boat in and did a little fishing.  Caden's little Star Wars' fishing pole caught a trout!  Grandpa's fishing pole caught a bass that was smaller than the lure.  That night we traveled to Vernal for a family gathering at my Grandma's house.  It was such a fun party!

 The next day I was so excited to see my friend Sora Sarah!  She was one of my mission companions in Romania and one of my best friends.  I haven't seen her since Ethan was a baby, and she just happens to be in Vernal this summer while her husband does an internship.  We had so much fun catching up.  We both have 2 boys the same ages so it was so fun to see our boys play.

Fun, fun little boys!  

And now I need a week to recover from my vacation!  It was such a great time!

4 and 2

I am loving the dynamic of ages 4 and 2.  I think it is so fun to watch my boys play together so well.  Caden is verbal enough now that even if he can't understand all of the pretend worlds that Ethan creates he knows enough to say the right things.  We were a little shocked the other day when he came and told us I'm the "witch," unfortunately his "w" sounds come out as "b's."

On Saturday morning I woke up and heard Caden talking in his crib.  A few minutes later I heard Ethan talking to him.  After about 10 minutes it was full blown laughter, screaming, and playing.  I just left them alone and laid in my bed reading and smiling listening to them play.  I finally went down and found this scene:

Ethan was pretending to be his newest imaginary hero, Huggy, the super hero skunk without a stink as he says.  At 4 and 2 I'm glad they love each other and that they have so much fun together.  I'm glad we will have a 4 and 2 dynamic again in 2 more years!

It's A...

So today I had my ultrasound to see our new little one.  Clark was unable to come with me, so when I got home I made a baby cake with either a blue or pink middle for Clark and the boys to find out the gender.  The boys were so excited for the cake...at one point Ethan sneaked a lick and then came over to me and said, "mom is it a boy, because that frosting tastes like boy."

And the results...(Ethan's reaction is priceless)!

Let's just say I was grateful to have the cake to help dry Ethan's tears.  He's been referring to this baby as his sister now for a few months and was slightly distraught.

So stop all plans of making giant head sized hair bows immediately!

I'm pretty excited to be a mom of 3 boys, a lot of great guys have come in groups of 3:

We are so excited!  I was telling the ultrasound tech that on my first two boys their personalities came out a little during the ultrasound.  She decided then that this baby will be my stubborn one.  He was wiggly and moving all over so she couldn't get a good picture of the heart.  She sent me on a walk, and when I came back he had moved but still she couldn't get the heart.  He also had his feet in front of his face for the first part, trying to chew on his little toes.  So cute!  Seeing the baby moving made this pregnancy so real, and so  excited to meet this little boy (toe chewing and all)!