I always find myself getting emotional as I pack away my boys clothes that they've out grown. It's a time when I cannot deny that they are changing, getting bigger, growing up. Time is moving forward and I can't stop it no matter how much I'd like to. This is the one story in my life that I choose to enjoy each page instead of skipping straight to the end to see what happens. Today I'm just filled with gratitude for my babies, for their perfect smiles and contagious little giggles, for their big blue eyes that reflect their curiosity, for their ever positive dispositions, and for their ability to love and forgive instantly. We were having a big family game night, and somehow my niece got the impression that I was pregnant. I laughed, and told her not yet. In all her 7 year old wisdom she nonchalantly replied, "Why would you have another one when you can't even control the ones you've got." Hilarious, right?!? But I've thought about that. A lot, actually. Not because of my niece, but because of the world around me. Many responses have run through my head. Oh, control...that's such a relative term. Some mom's believe that control means their children are in a straight line, saluting her the second they are called for; others lean more towards it meaning children are still breathing at the end of the day. I've thought about explaining how Caden is a handful and how I'll probably always be grasping straws to "control" him. I've thought about how I feel the need to have my kids close together because I fear that someday that blessing could just be taken away from me. I've thought about what a difference it makes in a family having male children, compared to female. My boys believe they are a part of circus act flying from the couch tops to the lovesac, and yes, that makes them a bit hard to control. I've thought about how parenting children of any age is never just going to be easy. And yes, I have thought about the very real possibility that I am just plain crazy for thinking about having another kid. After all these thoughts the bottom line is that I would and want to have another baby because my kids bring me more joy than anything else in this life. My world is my family. My calling is motherhood. When I feel another little spirit knocking to come down I'm not going to tell them to hold on til I get their siblings "under control" because that very well could mean they'd be waiting until Caden's on a mission. ANYWAY, Megan was here visiting. We had a blast. She got a camera for her birthday, and it was so nice to have a night at the park documented without me having to do a thing.

Caden kept all of us laughing. He loves to spin, so Wes put him on here for the first time and he wobbled around like a drunken sailor. He even ran into a wall; his response: that's pretty funny. We had like 20 different videos, but this was the only one short enough for blogger. I love it because its so true to his personality. If you fall off just get back on and try again. He's persistent.

March Madness

We've been drinking away our sorrows with some good ol' homemade Dr. Pepper from our Soda Stream. It was sad to see BYU's winningest season end, especially because it will be the last time we get to watch Jimmer throw up his amazing 3's for the Y's team. I think what I was most impressed by was that when it was all said and done the thing Jimmer said he wanted to be remember for was being a good person. Now that's the kind of athlete I want to be my boys role model. This season was also a chance for BYU to set simple examples with all the controversy over suspending a player. To hear sports announces sing praises to BYU for staying true to their standards was sweet, and equally as sweet was seeing how the team rallied behind Davies to support him in making things right. We really are a gospel of values AND of forgiveness.In other news: Gramma Glenda came to visit. The boys were in heaven; I was in heaven. It was great to have my mom see where we are at, even if it was raining nearly the entire time. Luckily that was still a step up from the cold snow. :)

Mom got the boys a Tickle Me Elmo. Caden was under the impression that he had to really be tickling Elmo for him to laugh.A few months ago Caden's mean mom threw away his yellow blankey. I was tired of the tantrums that came when he wanted it, and figured it was time to grow up. The other night he came wondering out to the family room with this. Bry looks at me, "why does he have a fitted sheet?" He found it in the closet and decided it would be his new blue blankey. It doubles as a head dress and cocoon.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

We made green cookies with just enough green sprinkles for Caden to be somewhat satisfied. Then we went with our cute play group and hunted for a pot of gold. Caden was thrilled when the pot contained mini reeses. Parker got a slinky. Believe me, there were a lot happier than the picture shows. {And yes, I'm totally straining to hold them both.}

Some Randoms.

We've been staying busy around here. Bry took a few days off of work to go scuba diving off Catalina Island with all the Phipps' boys. They were on a lobster boat; Before they left they all talked a big game, but guess how many lobster they came home with?

Uno.
I'm sure they will blame it all on the Tsunami (which surely aged me at least 5 years.) It's a good thing that all that really matters is they had fun. While they were gone we had a fabulous girls day out with pedicures, eating, shopping, and celebrating Tami and Wes's 10 year anniversary. The other three days were filled with special mommy and boys time, and me triple checking that my doors were locked tight.

I read the Hunger Game series. I highly recommend it. Very fun read!

Finished decorating our toy room. Pictures to come...

Our goat, Frannie, has mysteriously disappeared. I don't know if she ran away or a mountain lion ate her. It's devastating either way.

And I got to take a quilting applique class with my MIL and 6 other quilting ladies. It was pretty exciting to learn the tricks of the trade, and add another skill to my lacking list. The teacher talked about starting her applique journey in '97 and all I could think was, what was I doing in 7th grade?... Definitely wasn't this.

My baby isn't much of a baby anymore. Parker has changed so much this last little bit. He climbs and jumps on everything. His favorite places to be are dancing on the kitchen table or stomping on Caden's train table.
Little Linus follows me around like this while I clean the house.

In other news we are still potty training. I'm convinced this is the worst part of parenting. The ladies in my ward say I'm wrong, that's the teen years. We'll see...

It's not that he doesn't understand. He understands alright. The other day he got put on a timeout. It just so happens that his timeout spot has been in the bathroom on a stool. So to spite me he pees all over the floor and then rolls in it. Dis.gust.ing. Bryan thought that maybe I was just upset and overreacting. When Caden did it again the next day, he didn't think he was as cleaver as he cleaned it all up.

He has a rocket shape on his night time pull-ups that disappears if he pees. Some nights he does better than others, but one morning I asked him where his rocket went? He responds, "I did not go potty. The rocket flew up in the sky and disappeared."

As I finishing up, Caden has asked me to clean his ears four times, and is now telling me that, "animals are stomping in my ears." Sounds like we are going to have a trip to the doctors office...

A friend posted video's of her two adorable girls quietly dancing and singing. While I'm watching the video I hear this going on in the back of my house...

And that's the difference between boys and girls folks. :)

I got a call from the Stake Relief Society President a few weeks back; She asked me to do centerpieces for the upcoming stake event, "Draw Near unto Me." Simple beauty always reminds me to draw near to Heavenly Father so that's what I went with for the centerpieces. I have the best in-laws ever, who helped prepare and spent a Friday night putting 25 of these pieces together. The event was a wonderful, spiritually uplifting day. I walked away filled with a desire to become more like these incredible ladies that are so close to the Lord because they have served diligently in the church all their lives.

A New Place to Call Home.

It's been 6 months since we moved to California. What an adventure it has been. I live in the country. I own 3 goats, 4 chickens {yeah...one was a rooster that had to go, and another got eaten...}, and some ugly black muck boots. I haven't been to the mall in 2 months. My closest neighbor is a horse, and when I look outside at night I can see every star in the sky.

I wish I could say that every moment of this transition has been an easy one, but that would be a lie. I'm human; Though we always try to focus on the positive, there have been some ups and downs. There were days that I sat at home and cried because I missed Utah, our old friends, and especially my family there. I missed stupid little things like the mountains, BYU environment, and my well-known running trials. I missed the restaurants, all the LDS billboards, and Tai Pan Trading. I missed my ward with 40 other woman going through the same trials of motherhood, and I missed driving up the Provo Canyon. I missed Temple Square, dry heat, sporting events, and running into people at our townhouse parking lot.

There were days that I just so desperately wanted this new place to feel like home. It's a simple thing but I missed that security.

Awhile back while I was driving down the good old country road to our circular driveway, the feeling that I'd been praying months for finally came. This is home. I'm so blessed to be here. I'm so grateful to be here. Surrounded by such an incredible family, with the hope to make some wonderful friends, and raise my boys in a unique, beautiful place is an adventure that finally feels like home. I really can say that Heavenly Father has been with us and is watching over us. We truly are so blessed.Our chickens gave us our first two eggs. Caden dropped them right after this picture, but I'm sure they would have been delicious {in cookies or bread, of course}. My favorite chicken, snow sniper, turned out to be a rooster. His 5 am cock-a-doodle-doing was my first clue. I wanted strangle him myself. This farm girl didn't really think through what it meant to have to "get rid of" a rooster. Bryan took care of him on garbage day. I did not participate. The chickens got a new bright red coop. It's about as cute as a coop can be. The goats weren't sure what to think about it.
The weather has been absolutely beautiful here. How could I be homesick when it's 75 degrees and I'm at the park with my boys and sister in law every day?!?{This is from the beginning of January. I swear we are not Dub-T who still have their Christmas lights up!}And nothing, absolutely nothing, is more beautiful than the country sunsets. If you'll let them, they really will take your breath away.

And I can finally call all this home. :)