HONG KONG!!!

I can't believe we went to Hong Kong! What's funny is, I ran into a guy at the Wal Mart pharmacy in Logan who told me his son in law (a certain Mr. Steve Wall some of you may remember) just got back from China and I said, "Oh! I wonder if I'm going to China!" But then I totally put it out of my mind like, "Yeah, right. China?" But it was! And I'm so glad! It was the absolute best and we want to go back someday. In some ways I'm sad we are back, but I missed my babies so so much, I was so glad to smother them in kisses and see how much they've changed! I have so much to post, and I totally will. Just not tonight. I have some jet lag to get over. :)

Get ready!

(Little Einsteins theme song) "We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship! Zooming through the sky..." to an unknown destination to me. BJ and I are finally able to go on our 5 year anniversary trip and I'm super excited! I'm really sad about leaving the kids. I'm also a little nervous because of Ethan's allergies, but I know they will be in good hands (Grandmas and Aunt Debbie), so that helps a little. I'm just making some last minute preparations and we'll be taking off! I'm so excited to blog about where we went!

E-Bear, how could we love you more?

Ethan has been such a blessing in our lives and I'm so grateful each day that he decided to come to our family. I was just realizing the other day that he tends to be full of surprises, to name a few: We were surprised to find out he was coming to our family, He surprised us again by coming early
(This morning I said to him, "Exactly one year ago, I was in labor and nobody believed me..." lol), He surprised us again with his anaphylaxis to milk, when he figured out how the gate works, and keeps figuring it out no matter how we jimmy it, when he started crawling he pulled himself up and started cruising (I think he surprised himself that time, too), and when he took off all the way up the stairs unscathed... I could go on and on.
He does so many things daily that catch us off guard and it keeps life fresh. He is always so happy and sweet to everyone, he also loves to play games and have fun. I don't think I've ever seen a baby that laughs like he does.
He loves Olivia with everything he has and it's the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I love my boy, my little E-bear and I don't think we'd be a family without him. He sincerely enjoys life and I think he will teach me a lot as the years continue to pass. Heavenly Father really knows who we need in our lives and when we need them. I'm so grateful each day for my 2 little blessings. They really do fulfill my life and make the days so much brighter. Happy birthday little guy!

Keep those kiddies safe

Just a little reminder to keep and extra eye out! Don't read it if you feel like you won't be able to handle it. (Not graphic, all have happy endings, even, but as a mother, it really hits home).

There have been a few incidents in Bountiful that give us the terrible reminder that summer, though fun, is also a very dangerous time of year. Along with the little boy in our old ward (who by the way, last I heard, woke up, doesn't know his family, is doing physical therapy to walk again, but all of his therapy is going really well. I'm so glad he made it and hope that he makes a full recovery.), the other day there were 3 separate incidents within 4 hours of each other in Bountiful. The first was a little boy playing in his back yard on the swing set. A tree fell over and hit a power line which then fell onto the swing set and electricuted him. the burn went out of his head and his foot. He was flown to Primary's where he was in critical condition and expected to live. I haven't heard an update about that case. The second happened about an hour later. A little boy just about 1 year old somehow got outside and crawled into the driveway where his teenage brother backed the car over his little head. He was also flown the Primary's in critical condition. He is now doing surprisingly well. The doctors say he is making a miraculous recovery unlike anything they have ever seen. I believe he was also the recipient of a priesthood blessing. This was also the family of a South Salt Lake Police Officer. The third came out about an hour and 1/2 later. A 2 year old little girl was missing and they found her at the bottom of the swimming pool in the back yard. She was also flown to Primary's in critical condition. Last I heard she was expected to live as well.

Anyway, BJ came home from hearing about these with a new mind set on protecting our children. A new rule that we have implemented, especially now that Sam is living with us, is that we back into the garage and driveway to park. It's less likely that a child will go unnoticed if you are not backing out. That doesn't make it fail safe, but it is a little better. I thought I'd pass it along to any who may also like to adopt the practice.

Neet to update

I need to update here, and I always make empty promises of editing and this or that story is coming, so none of that. Here's the scoop, we moved. The house is beautiful, but has a few... minor issues. Let's just say we'd never buy it. We have the constant irritation of realtors trying to waltz into our house without a knock or ring at the door. BJ finally called the listing realtor and said, "look, it's not a good idea to just walk into somebody's house. You never know what you'll run into and it's really not safe. I'm a cop, so you might just end up with a gun in your face if you walk into my house uninvited." I thought that may have gotten the message across. The realtor said he's make sure they all knew, but what typically happened was they'd make an appointment and the tenants wouldn't be there. There is no way I have the time or the energy to accomodate that, which they are aware of. So he put the message out, but tonight I was getting the kids ready for bed and the laundry folded and the kitchen cleaned and calling Sam to family prayer with us when I hear a guy in my house saying, "Hello? We had an appointment." We have had at least 3 to 5 realtors do this one of which actually started fighting with BJ. Yes, fighting (not physical, just verbal). Like he has a right to just walk into somebody's house. UUUGGGHHH! So frustrating. Supposedly this isn't supposed to be happening every day a few times a day, but that is what's happening. Okay, that's the headache. The rest of it is great. I have more space than I know what to do with, I almost don't like it, actually. So I'm not too worried about the transition to a smaller place. It'll be nice when we can have a yard. This is a super temporary move and we are actively shopping for a new place. We will probably rent another year so we can be first time home buyers next summer again. It has been 2 years since we sold in North Ogden, so one more year and we are there again. The word on the street is that they may extend and even double the first time home buyer money to next year. We are super excited about that and hope it passes so we can finally stop moving for awhile.

Enough of that, now for the good stuff. The kids are adorable. Olivia really communicates with me now and it's the funniest thing ever. I have been looking forward to this for a very long time. She usually refers to things by color so she'll say, "I want my pink water (translation: I want my water in the pink cup)", "I want to see the butterfies (translation: I want to go out on the deck and smell the purple weeds)", "I want a pink in there (pointing to the pantry or the bedroom, usually referring to a pink frosted cookie... contraband in our house these days)". She is also very into dancing and princesses. She loves Cinderella best and so do I seeing as it's the only one that I own that doesn't have a scary dragon or snake in it. All she wants to wear are dresses and "slippers". She took a terrible tumble down the stairs the other day. She was playing and jumping, I told her to stop because it was dangerous and the next thing I knew I heard this super power fast thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud and I looked up and she is rolling down the stairs like a burrito. Luckily I was sitting about 1/4 of the way up the stairs and was able to stop her before she hit anything metal and the wall at the bottom. It gave us both a good scare and now she is very careful and even asks mommy and daddy to come and hold her hand while she goes down the stairs. I wish there was a safer way for them to learn these little lessons.

Ethan is hilarious. His personality is really starting to come out and he is the most charming little guy I've ever seen. He is the biggest flirt! He is starting to stall at bedtime. I'll bundle him up and he'll start jibber jabbing and telling me stories with mostly consisted of the "s" and the "o" sound, and then lets out a little giggle like he's telling me a joke or something. It's so so funny! I wish I could get it on camera. He now says, "Moo", "Da" (for daddy), "Mama", shakes his head for "no" and can figure out every trap I set for him. The gates I have (which really aren't that great) are no match for him. I have a gate that I stretch between the metal ballisters on the stairs by sliding it all the way through from one side to the other. He watches and watches and figures out how to move it himself. The little stinker. He is a master at crawling up the stairs now.

Wow, this really turned into a novel, lol. Hopefully it's not terribly boring to read :).

Goodbye multi-unit dwelling...

BJ and I have always shared a wall with at least one neighbor since we've been married and have decided (after sharing not only a wall, but a floor and a ceiling with neighbors) that it's time to find a place with a yard and room to grow--and NO shared walls. We made the decision long ago, but are now in a situation where we have to move quickly. BJ's little brother, Sam, is preparing for his mission and had dwindling options in helping him with that goal. In short, we became the best option, but in order to do that, we had to find a bigger place fast and one that would rent to us month to month because we want to find a permanent residence for ourselves. One we can be in for at least 10 years, if not longer. We are hoping to find this place within the next year. So, we found the hurried rental and are moving in 2 days. We are so looking forward to the move as the kids (and BJ and I) will each have their own room and we'll have an office and Sam will have some space to call his own as well. We're excited, although I'm starting to get a little nervous about the whole situation as it approaches. The reality of having an 18 year old who is still in need of some guidance is a little daunting. However, we have both earnestly prayed about it many many times and know that this is what we need to do. There is not a doubt in our minds. In that light, I'm looking forward to it not only because Sam is hilarious and really great to have around, but especially because I know that the Lord is with us and will guide us as to what we need to do. Sam is a great kid and we both believe his desires are pure. Especially because we laid it out very clearly what is expected of him and what he can expect from us and told him not to agree to it unless he was totally and completely willing to abide by our terms. We are really looking forward to the next few months, and I sincerely hope that he is, too.

more cuteness

This is a pic from when we took the kids to see the baby animals at heritage farm. I just barely got them on my computer from my sis, hence the delay...
anyway, Livi loves to read to me lately (looking a the pictures and repeating about 3 lines she remembers from me reading the book to her...along with several other story lines)and this morning, she was reading me "Green Eggs and Ham". She stopped for a minute and looked up at me and said, "Mommy, Sam I am is really hungry."

Parade of Homes

I went to the Parade of Homes with my mom on Saturday, thanks to my cousin, Rachel, who so graciously offered us a couple of free tickets. We were going to try to go to a couple of houses that she had recommended and on the way we though we'd stop at two others. The kids got hungry and tired so we ended up stopping after those two. We were bummed we didn't get to see the other two, but we were so so glad we at least saw the second house (#4). It was seriously, my dream house. It wasn't the biggest and grandest house ever, but it was so so perfect. I wish I could describe it, but it just won't do it justice. It was perfect. The room that I absolutely couldn't get over was their little boy's room. It was adorable! It was decorated with all contractor equipment and toys. He had a little reading cave and his reading chair was a wheelbarrow stuffed with pillows. His hamper was a silver garbage can complete with banged up lid. It was, seriously, the cutest thing I've ever seen. I wish I was that creative.

Phew!

We have had the busiest week. Today is my first day home to get anything done. I barely had time to do one load of dishes, and my laundry pile has been getting higher and higher! We had family come in to town, I went to stay at my moms for a couple of days, then we had the air show, the next day my BJ's mom invited the kids and me to go to temple square for the day, with her, Heather, and Kaylie, to see the art exhibit at the conference center. It was really really neat. There was a painting there that really struck me called, "modern day mother in Zion". It was a young woman dressed in armor with a dagger at her side and she was holding a light ahead of her as a child clung to her. Speaking of motherhood, Livi has been wetting her pants daily and I have resorted back to potty treats. She decided the conference center floor was a good place to do it, so she did. She decided to do it again in the bathroom of the geneological library as I was preparing the seat(sigh). We worked through it, had a little "talk" and now the treats are working swimmingly. We took the girls over to the temple to watch the brides and touch the temple wall. Livi couldn't get enough of it. She loves loves loves the temple. One of her favorite books is this coffee table book my sister, Becky, gave us about temple square in all it's seasons. She was very sad to leave it. Sunday we had a family dinner at Matt and Heather's. Monday we went to the Oquirh Mt. Temple open house (Which I will be going to at least one more time with my mom and sisters), It's so so beautiful. Tile all the way through the whole thing. Livi kept looking up at everything saying, "Wow! It's so beautiful!" over and over. in the celestial room, I told her what it represents and how we are here to return to Heavenly Father and she looks up and whispers, "Celestial Kindom..." like she was so fascinated. Anyway, Tuesday was a work day. We had no food, so I went shopping after wrestling with the kids all morning. I didn't have the energy to do anything else. At all. Wednesday, I went to my mom's for a M/D cookout in her ward, and today I went to the doc, came home and worked on getting caught up... Phew. I haven't been this busy since... college. I used to pack my schedule with stuff... but now I have children and it's just... not... that... easy. We had a lot of fun, though, and I have so much more to say news wise, but I'll have to make another post for that later. No pics this time, I really need a new camera.

Air Show

We had the opportunity to go the air show dress rehearsal at Hill AFB yesterday. It was really awesome. We waited till about 2:30 to head over there because we didn't want to miss the blue angels (I think that's what they're called, anyway) who were flying at 3. We got there just in time to snag a good spot and watch their amazing stunts. I can't believe how pefect everything was. There were a couple of times where they had the crowd completely enthralled in what the cluster planes were doing and then would surprise us with low fly over and blast us all away. It was sooo cool. It was funny though. Each time it happened, it scared the kids (scared everyone), and it was a chorus of kids screaming and crying, and parents shushing and comforting--especially us. We kept their ears covered the whole time, and realized how unprepared we were as we looked around and saw everyone with ear protection, chairs, drinks (duh! Why didn't we think of drinks, at least!), etc. At least I remembered the sunscreen and hats for the kids. Ethan got pretty tired and we put in in the reclining stroller and when to check out the planes on display... working our way to the helicopters. That's BJ's favorite (those who don't know, he is trying to get financing and decide where to go for helicopter flight school). Ethan was asleep instantly as we started rolling. Then they announced two biplanes called the Red Eagles, climbing into the sky. They were so so cool! BJ thought they were almost better than the Blue Angels. One of them did a flat spin down down down through the air, they did barrel rolls and all sorts of stuff. It was really awesome. Both of our cameras are out of comission, so the only pic we have of the whole thing is a picture my mother in-law took on her cell phone. It was a great day and we plan on making it an annual event for our family.