{aYdEn vs. tHe kItChEnAiD mIxEr}

I learned today that this is what happens when a toddler comes in contact with a Kitchen Aid mixer!! A BIG FAT MESS!! I love this picture because his face looks so scared and sad! He knew something wasn't right!!

Today Ayden and I were making cookies. I was in a rush and didn't really "need" his help with it, but Jeremiah wasn't home from work yet and Ayden was literally DYING to help me!! He pulled his own chair over and was watching me put the ingredients in the mixer! At the moment, all that was in there was flour, sugar and oatmeal....lots of DRY ingredients!! I was watching his every move, but before I could stop him or even realized what was happening, he turned the mixer from OFF to FULL SPEED!!! You can imagine what happened next! FLOUR, SUGAR and OATMEAL went EVERYWHERE!!! It went all over the counter, the chair, the floor, him!!! I think he was a little shocked at what happened and I think it even scared him a little! So I am hoping that he will learn from this and not try to turn it on again next time. Jeremiah keeps telling me every time I make cookies that it is dangerous to have Ayden around the mixer. I think I believe him now because when that mixer went to FULL SPEED, it was going so FAST!! I have never had the speed that high and I was cringing at the thought of his tiny little hands being stuck in there! Anyway, I realized that this is what happens when you let a one year old "help out" with the mixing! Hopefully he learned his lesson...but I couldn't help but be a little amused and get a good laugh out of it myself as he was wiping flour out of his eyes and nose and ears and everywhere else that it landed!!!

{Spring iS In tHe AiR!!!}

Even if it is just temporary (because I hear there is another storm coming this weekend), we are SO enjoying this warm weather! It makes me laugh that I call 50 degrees warm because when I lived in Cali, if it was 50 degrees, people would be wearing winter coats, scarves, beanies...and would never dare go outside to play!! We have definitely been taking advantage of the sunshine these past few days! Ayden has been such a happier little guy as well...I think the cabin fever was finally getting to him!

This is how we have felt the past few weeks/months....

And this is how we have felt the past few days...

It has been so fun and Ayden has LOVED playing outside every day and going to the park with his daddy when he gets home from work! This morning we even went for a long walk...it was the first exercise I have done in a while, so I was glad to get out! I think that is the reason that I am the most excited about spring...I just hate my treadmill!! I just hope it is here to stay for a while!! And we are SO looking forward to our trip to Cali next week! Can't wait for the "real" warm weather!!

{Tagged!!!}

I was tagged by my friend Holly! So here it goes...

How long have you and your significant other been together?
Married- 5.5 years
Dating/Hanging Out- 6 months before we were married

Who eats more?
Jeremiah...he always eats his and 1/2 of mine (unless we are talking sugar or desserts)

Who said "I love you" first?
I honestly can't remember...probably him because I wouldn't say it first!

Who is taller?
Jeremiah (I have never dated someone shorter than me)

Who sings better?
Neither of us...we'd be embarrassed if anyone heard either of us sing!

Who is smarter?
Jeremiah, but don't tell him that...he would just get a big head! =) He pretty much knows a little about EVERYTHING!!

Who does the laundry?
I do! Laundry is one of my FAVE chores...I love the clean, fresh smell!

Who does the dishes?
Jeremiah clears the table...I do dishes! Unless he cooks, then he will do the dishes cuz he is such a messy cooker!!

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
Jeremiah

Who pays the bills?
I do! I like it that way cuz then he never knows if I "accidentally" find something I can't live without! =)

Who mows the lawn?
Jeremiah, but last summer he let me do it a few times! I really LOVE to mow the lawn, but he doesn't like to let me...guess I don't do a "good enough" job! =)

Who cooks dinner?
Me on Monday nights...and our neighbors on Tues, Wed & Thurs!! We are in a great dinner group & I love that I only have to cook once a week!

Who drives when you are together?
Jeremiah always....I have a thing about women driving when a man is in the car...so weird to me! =)

Who is more stubborn?
We both are....in our own ways and about different things!

Who is the first to admit when they're wrong?
Depends, but we both have a hard time admitting this (must be because we are so stubborn)

Whose parents do you see the most?
We wish we could see them both more.....but they are in Cali and we are in Utah!

Who kissed who first?
I finally let him kiss me on the 4th date...he tried every date before that, but I didn't let him! What a brat I was! =)

Who proposed?
Jeremiah did!

Who is more sensitive?
Definitely me!! It takes a lot to really get under Jeremiah's skin!

Who has more siblings?
Jeremiah...he has 3 and I only have 1! But I have more nephews...3 on my side and we don't have any yet on his side!

I am tagging the people that I try to get to post more often...Marci, Kristen, Andrea & Becki...and also these guys just because....Katie D., Shelly (because you NEVER reply when you get tagged) =), Kelly S. and Sinika (welcome to blogging)!! =) Have fun!!!

{PeePing aYDen}

Ayden is still sleeping so well in his big boy bed! He really has no trouble going to sleep (knock on wood) and never tries to get out of bed once we put him down! Ever since he was a new baby, he has loved his sleep and now when it's bedtime and we leave his room he waves and says "bye bye" to us...its as if he can't get us out quick enough so he can fall asleep!

But I must say that having him in his new room has also brought some interesting challenges with it! For example, as soon as I hear him awake, I have to hurry to his room to let him out or else he will be on a rampage to turn his room upside down. Gone are the days when I could leave him in his crib for a few minutes after he woke up so I could finish whatever I was doing!

Another interesting thing that I have had to deal with was the time that I went into his room to check on him and couldn't find him ANYWHERE!!! I walked in....heard nothing....he wasn't in his bed or running around the room or under the bed....I literally could not find him!!! I really started to panic and had visions of him getting out of bed during his nap, running downstairs and out the front door without me even noticing!! Then all of a sudden, I saw the blinds move! He was standing on the windowsill in between the closed blinds and the window...just watching the kids outside playing! I was so relieved to find him!! Then I found out that he does this every morning when my friend across the street told me that her 2 kids like to watch Ayden in his bedroom window each morning as they eat their breakfast! So funny!

Well, today I went out to get the mail and looked up and saw our little peeping Ayden laughing at me and waving through his window! I had to run and get the camera...it was so funny! He was in his window....waving and laughing....as he stood in his diaper! My only fear now is that he will figure out how to unlock the windows, slide it open and fall two stories onto the driveway! Maybe its time to move his bed away from the window!!!

{oH wHaT fUn!!!}

I LOVE TO SHOP!!!! I don't just love to wear new clothes....I love to actually shop for them too! I think this is one of the biggest sacrifices that comes with marriage! Before I was married, every penny I made would buy me new clothes (there are obviously more important things that need to be paid for now)!! But I never knew that shopping could be THIS MUCH FUN!!! This past week, I have really started to do some baby girl shopping and I can't get over how cute everything is and how fun it is to find cute things! I remember really enjoying shopping for Ayden also, but let's be honest....boys clothes just aren't even half as cute!!!

We are lucky because this will be the first granddaughter on my side of the family (out of 5 grandkids) and she will also be the first on Jeremiah's side. She isn't even born yet and is already being spoiled rotten!! Our parents have enjoyed buying things already!!! And I just had to post a picture of this adorable swimsuit, hat and cover up that I got from Gymboree! Every year for 4th of July we go with my family to my parents cabin in Big Bear Lake and I just can't wait to see how cute she will be in this darling swimsuit!! This is only one of the many cute things that I got this week....I better draw the line somewhere soon or I will be in BIG trouble with Jeremiah!! =)

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{Vacation......WHAT VACATION????}

Last week, we got suckered into going to one of those time share (I'm going to try to get you to sign up) meetings! Well, we didn't really get suckered into it...we actually got a free trip just for going! Jeremiah's brother bought a time share and put our names on the list for who might be interested. When the lady called to invite us to the meeting and said we would get a free trip to California (how could we pass that up), I made absolute sure that there was no catch and we would get the free trip just for attending their 90 minute meeting! Sure enough, that was the case, so we decided to go through the torture of sitting there to allow us the free airfare for two, three night hotel stay and a gift card for dinner!

For me, it was so worth it to go just for the trip, but I think Jeremiah would've rather bagged the whole idea! I lectured him the whole way there saying we have to be stern and just say NO (he is the type that will hear out the entire sales pitch of a door-to-door salesman just to be nice) and pretty much tell them we were only there for the free trip!

As we sat through the group part of the presentation, I must say that it was pretty interesting to hear how it all works and see the cool places that we could actually vacation. But even at that point, we still kept saying to each other "be strong...say no"!!! Even when the sales people were walking in to take couples individually into another room to really put the pressure on, we were examing each individual salesman to decide which one would be easier to say no to!

We finally sat down with a girl who asked us about our current vacationing status! She asked where we like to vacation, how often we go, our favorite destinations, etc. I said to her "Ummmm....we DON'T vacation"! And that is the absolute truth. I was pretty embaressed to actually admit it! Since our wonderful honeymoon in Maui almost 6 years ago, we have not gone on a vacation by ourselves since! Our only vacations are to Cali to see our family, which is nice, but is not a "true" vacation! Any other vacation we have been on has involved mooching off our parents and tagging along with them (which we did last year and went to Lake Powell with Jeremiah's family and Puerto Vallarta with mine)!

When we told the sales girl all about this, she found her "in" and painted a wonderful picture of us vacationing by ourselves to any of over 60 destinations at least two weeks a year! It was getting harder and harder to say no and Jeremiah says I kept walking us back into the trap! I disagree though because I didn't hear the word "no" come out of his mouth at any time!

Anyway, so I don't drag this story on any longer, I will get to the point. We did say no, but then allowed them to sell us the "let's try it out and see how we like it" package (like we really won't like it)! So for a lot less money, we are trying it out for a year and have 2 weeks of vacation points to use! We have made a committment to each other that this year we are going to go on one family vacation (with only us, Ayden and the new baby) and one vacation alone (just the two of us)! This will be nice to have that ON TOP of the vacationing that we do with each of our families. I'm sure we will enjoy it and will realize we really want to go for it and committ to a lifetime of vacations!

After all was said and done, it wasn't too bad! The 90 minute meeting turned into 4 hours because we couldn't make up our mind and that is how long it took us to finally say "no"! But hey, we got a free trip to Cali out of it and our 2 week vacation to be used at any time throughout the year....I think I better start planning the first one! And somewhere tropical is looking pretty nice right now....I AM SO SO SO OVER THIS SNOW!!!!!

{A bUnCh of SiCkOs!!!}

It has been a while since I have posted anything! Mostly because we have been a bunch of sickos at our house! We have had the "winter cold bug" lingering our house for a few weeks now...Ayden started it a few weeks ago, Jeremiah had it last week and now I am blessed to have it this week! It has been a pain in the neck, but it did get me out of teaching Sharing Time tomorrow in Primary since I can barely speak! Jeremiah keeps saying "what?? what???" every time I talk...it's getting pretty frustrating because I am screaming at the top of my lungs, but no sound is coming out!! Anyway, we have been doing a lot of lounging around, being lazy, watching TV and eating cookies to make us feel better these days!! Nice to have an excuse to make cookies...I'm so glad I'm not the type of person that can't eat when they get sick!! In fact, I am quite the opposite and use it as my excuse to splurge on things I wouldn't normally eat!! So fun!!!

{Our Future Basketall Star???}

Since I have been playing in our ward basketball games every week for the past month or two, Ayden has been in heaven! I never really knew he was so into basketball...he was too young to remember my games last year and we haven't really been to any games or had him around basketball at all! It all starts when I put on my black basketball shorts from college...they have a little basketball on them, so when he sees those go on, he knows he is in for a good night of basketball! Whenever I am in my closet changing my clothes, he pulls them out of the drawer and cries if I don't put them on (even if it's not game night)!! We can't tell him about the game until right before we are getting ready to leave...he goes into hyper mode and runs and jumps around the house in excitement. The funniest part of it all is that Ayden is not like the other kids that come to the games. He has no interest in playing with them or running around the church or being in the nursery with all the toys!! All he wants is to be RIGHT THERE....on the court! In fact, it's pretty much a full time job to keep him off the court and that is why Jeremiah misses most of what happens during the game! Ayden just doesn't understand why he can't be running out there with all the other people running up and down the court. I'm sure the first time he gets knocked over when someone shoots a ball, he will understand!

Here is our future Michael Jordan getting ready to dunk the ball....he even has the "tongue hanging out" thing down! I think it's funny that the ball is like 4 times the size of his head! To be honest, I never really wanted my kids to be basketball players (I guess because I had enough of it growing up with both me and my brother playing). But I don't think I have control over this one...he already LOVES the game....I know this is making my dad very happy and when he sees this picture, he will tell me to go get Ayden signed up on his first team! I just hope our height rubs off on him a little as he grows up...otherwise, there is no future for this wannabe little basketball star!

{OuR FrIdAy NiGhT...are you jealous??}

This is what we did on Friday night!! Are you jealous of our chaos??? =) We are in a babysitting group on Friday nights and for 3 1/2 hours a month we watch 8 kids and this is what our Friday nights look like! It's pretty crazy and sometimes hard to keep all the kids entertained. So this time, Jeremiah got out his helicopter and thought it would be fun for the older kids to chase it around the family room. I love that you can hear Ayden screaming in the background as he tries to catch the helicopter...can you tell that this is part of his daily routine when Daddy gets home from work every day!?!?!?! They had a blast until Andrew got hit in the head with the blade!! OUCH!!! He still had a smile on his face though and wanted to keep going! What a trooper!! They had so much fun, but it did get pretty wild! And this was only 6 kids...we had 2 missing that night! It's a crazy night, but so worth it since we get to go out on a date each Friday for the rest of the month. And we really are so excited for that because I sware Ayden's first year, Jeremiah and I didn't go out alone once!!! That is sad, so we really needed this!! I'm glad we have such a great group of kids to watch and it's so fun to see Ayden so excited to have his friends over!!