another doughnut kind of morning

rough night last night. not sure why... both kids were EXHAUSTED when they went to bed, but were kind of restless. at one point, while trying to ignore the crying, joe tells me how hungry he was. then he asked if we were going to get doughnuts this morning, because today is day 1 of general conference. what he was doing thinking about doughnuts at 3:30 in the morning, i don't know. i think i just ignored it, because he never heard the response, which in me head was "what are you thinking about that for?!?!"

so when we couldn't put off getting up any longer, we headed out. i particularly love claire's outfit- owl jammies, fuzzy vest, and sparkly shoes. awesome. i haven't laughed this hard at the pictures my daughter takes in a long while.

not sure about whats going to happen... something about sprinkles?

what is going on?

yum mommy!

i promise she is normal.

this is lame. i get nothing?

shoved it all in

exhausted. but love the sugar first thing in the morning.

shockingly, she loved the hat. kept it on forever.

the end.

hope you are all enjoying watching/listening to general conference. claire is a crazy girl making it kind of hard, but we are trying. i love just being home together and talking, playing, eating and listening. happy weekend.

phone pics

thank you phone for being available to snap pics when camera is not around.

although i wish you would take pictures faster, so i could share my funny moment with a picture:

driving out of our neighborhood i was suddenly REALLY annoyed at the person in front of me for coming to a complete stop when i thought it was unnecessary to do so. (i had already lost my patience for the day.) finally the person started moving again, and i could see what-the-heck was going on. there was a chicken crossing the road. and i asked myself, in my head, why-the-heck is the chicken crossing the road? and then started laughing really, really hard out loud. get it?

i crack myself up. pretty sure the kiddos thought i was crazy. probably am.

but it really was so funny to see the chicken crossing the road. and i couldn't figure out why, which made it even funnier. good times.

weekend to remember

our friends have a cabin up in mountains that they invited us to stay at this weekend. of course we joined them and totally had a blast! there was still tons and tons of snow, and it dumped quite a bit more while we there. we had lots of down time, sledding, and game playing, late nights, and tons of good food. we had 6 couples and 7 kids 3 and under, including 4 babies 5-8 months old. they were all so cute together! love it.

pictures are backwards.... whatever. claire is obsessed with taking pictures but usually looks away so i wasn't really paying attention to this one, but love her cheese face.

all the ladies- thanks again cara!
joe fulfilled a dare and went and hopped in the snow with just shorts. i missed this because i was putting kids down, but it was pretty funny to watch the video.
some of the sledding- the kids loved this! and the big boys too. they were all out there having a blast.
bubba and his gf kaylyn. the lucky guy has a few of them, but we love little kaylyn. she has such a happy personality just like mr. caleb and think they are so cute together!
the three girls were somewhat crazy together at times- they all took turns being the ringleader of getting into mischief, but lets be honest: it was usually claire leading the way, layton telling her not to, and adi just trying to figure out who to listen to. but they were good sometimes, and yesterday were all looking for each other at church. so cute!

they played lots of ring around the rosie with dog piling at the end. love it!


still waiting for the self timer pictures of everyone, but we had so much fun! lets play dip again soon, please?

i love him.

messy face and all.

because he is a stink bum and won't sit still, i will just tell you- kiddo has FANGS. yes fangs. little jack-o-lantern. two bottom front teeth, top two side front teeth. yes it hurts sometimes. that little stink bum. getting teeth that early should not be allowed! but that is about the only early thing. claire started walking right about now, and he is no where near. thank GOODNESS. i would probably die. no crawling either, which is probably a good thing because claire still doesn't get the whole "don't dump food on the floor" bit. working on it.

we are hiding away for a couple days in the mountains starting tomorrow. yesss... that means no work, just lots of play and good food with some friends. until we return, enjoy this chunk face sticky mess. 

going to bed these days

is getting really pretty difficult. especially when claire gets a nap, like today. it can be pretty frustrating. no matter how hard i try to get the energy out, the routines we set up, the white noise, blacked out room, blankies and toys/lack thereof, and all that jazz, it can take up to three hours of bedtime stuff before she finally passes out. it is really wearing down my patience. it has gotten better the last couple of weeks, but some nights you just never know.

bubbers on the other hand- dream boat. wrap him up, binky, aquarium, gone. (most of the time.) dreaming of the day that used to be claire. sigh.

here's a little pre-bed recap:

up close and personal

diamond in the sky

cheese mommy!

mid kick

no more pictures!

i'm not gonna fall over!

bum in the way

fly away bubba!

i'm a frog. i jump allllll day

claire- turn on the lights!

now time for jack. (jack bauer.)

how did you start your day?

on top of the dresser giggling and smiling! what a crazy monkey that one. she sat and waited for me to grab the camera, and then even posed. happy girl- love the way she normally wakes up. glad to see me, huge hug and smile, dancing away.

by-the-way that thing sitting next to claire? a hippo my grandma made. my mom thinks its hideous, but has kept if for all these years.... i love it. i don't know why. maybe because i don't have many things from my grandma, but i think hes a little charming anyways. just a goofy little guy.

happy monday.

crazy in the brain

so much going on in my head right now.

mostly gratitude for so, so many things. so many prayers answered. my children- they really are the best. the more i know them, the more i want everyone to know them, because they are that awesome. the rest of the fam is the best- always there. couldn't live without them. knowledge of my savior is such a comfort. everything else makes complete sense because of that.

anyways. there was a moment yesterday that really struck me, that makes me want to jump up and do a jig. i had been thinking about the temple, and how to get the girls in our yw to want to go there. we were having a meeting just discussing different things, and one girl expressed wanting to visit the temple, and for each of the other girls to be able to go and visit before we head to girls camp. i almost jumped up and yelled yes! yes you get it! lets make it happen! it might sound a little silly, but for this particular girl to express that desire was an incredible thing for me to witness.

still so much more that is still in my head, but really glad today is sunday. my favorite day. the sun is shining and i think we will walk to church.

oh my lanta what a day (and some other things!)

this is a happy face :)

this didn't last too long....

it hasn't been alllll bad... despite the

waking up at 5 am

total meltdown by 745 and back to bed for claire

mess with playdough

some general grumpiness and

snow on the ground

it was a rather lovely day. the sun came out. the playdough was pretty easy to clean up. claire and i had some fun at the golden arches (empty play place means no worries about claire stealing anything- bonus!) fresh baked cookies and milk. i got two LONG-AWAITED packages (not that long... but one came early!) i am wearing new earrings (sorry sarah!). i got a nice looong shower. my face wash is here=good bye zits! really. a pretty great day. oh, and claire actually let me do her hair. double bonus!

*********

i am totally laughing to myself right now. my parents are in the loooong and grueling process of moving (again.) and my dad is mostly not around for helping while he is traveling like a madman and starting his new job, so my mom is up to her (recently straightened) teeth in getting the house ready to be sold. as such, things are pretty hectic, and her creativity for birthday presents (normally AMAZING) is just not up on the priority list. TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE. so joe and i got a little cash for birthday presents this year, and i just can't decide what to do! you must know, this is a very first. my parents are really ones to think up some great gifts, and cash is just not usually one of them (which is just fine! they are always so thoughtful) we kids always had jobs and such, so when we wanted something, we worked for it. hmmm. what to do, what to do! i could

get new shoes

clothes or swimsuit

make up

go skiing

night on the town

hmmmm... it might be a while before i decide! i am feeling the usual tendency of hoarding any extra cash and just keeping it. the possibilities are endless- don't want to decide too soon and then find something later.... ugh.

**********

and finally, a word of caution. do NOT, ever EVER rent the movie catfish. possibly the worst movie ever made. really and truly. i get a free redbox code every first monday of the month, and forwarded it on to joe to pick something out on his way home last night, since he would be home earlier than usual. he had no idea what it was, but said it had "good reviews." i had never heard of it, and we got about 15 minutes in to it and just had to turn it off. it claims to be "suspenseful" and such, but really it was the biggest waste of a free movie rental. save yourself. do not bother with it. he already apologized profusely, but it didn't matter too much. i just put on another episode of 24 and called it a night. (i am having jack bauer with-drawls, and have been re-watching all the seasons. addicted? probably... but i only watch it after kids are in bed while waiting for joe to get home!)

********

now off to mutual, kids in tow. always an adventure. can't remember the last time claire actually sat still. no really. she is always. on. the. move. i sometimes (seriously) think she has restless leg syndrome.

love this girl

i may have been up a little bit earlier with her today than i would have liked, but "crazy hair claire" is my best little bud. and i will gladly spend every minute with her, that she wants. most of them anyways.

and check it out----> i'm a mormon!

love that website. or click here

baaaaahaha!

originally this was going to be titled

"so my kid likes to watch cartoons"

but then i really looked at the picture, and while bubbers is cute and all, i was dying laughing when i saw i had gotten claire in the shot. doing a flip off the ottoman. awesome. 

but caleb does like to watch some shows with claire. its nice when i need to get some things done. like blogging.... and fixing the vacuum. he loves sitting up now. when i sit him up. not even close to doing that on his own. and that big head of his is still getting in the way of crawling. life's tough kid.