9 Month Update

I feel like I neglect Ian a little on this blog so here's a post all about him. He turned 9 months old this month. I can't believe he's been here as long as I was pregnant--it really has flown by. I really will be sad to be done with the baby stage with him because he is such a good natured baby. He is almost always happy and content and sleeps like a champ. He has the most beautiful blue eyes and is very cuddly. He is also very friendly. After church yesterday several people commented about what a ham he was in sacrament meeting and at least 10 people told me how much he looks like Jer. I've noticed! I read a story a while ago about IVF embryos that were transferred into the wrong moms (which is so sad), but I feel confident we got our baby! It's true...the older he gets the more he's the spitting image of his dad--minus the red hair. He's a blondy all the way and is working on a little fringe mullet in the back.


Drool is a constant around here right now. Ian still has no teeth, but he has quite a few that look like they could come through soon, so he's a drooler. It's hard to get a picture of him sitting still like this. He's a happy baby, but he's not one to hold still and play. You can surround him with tons of toys, but he just crawls off to play with an outlet or something. He still prefers his army crawl but he does both, and he is pulling up to things he can reach. He already opens drawers and has taken a roll down a couple of stairs. He is just about impossible to change right now because he's so wiggly. He could be a baby wrestler because you cannot keep this kid on his back.




Ian loves to give wet sloppy kisses and Seth is willing to take them. He thinks it's funny. Sidenote about Seth: He's potty trained! I'm loving having only one kid in diapers!


I really can't express what a blessing Ian has been to our family. We all love him so much!

Snow Days

We finally got some snow this week, especially this weekend, and the kids have been having fun. I was able to go up again Saturday for a great day of skiing with Jer, Luke, and my dad. Jer and I even got a few runs in during Luke's lesson. It snowed all day, and I had a chance to try my new skis out.



Ian even got in on the snow action Friday evening while I was shoveling. As long as he had one of us in sight he was pretty content.





Yes that scary person with the giant head is me. Jer has used a helmet for years (which he needs), and he finally insisted that I get one too. I'm still trying to get used to it. The strap under the chin kind of gets my gag reflex going.


After his lesson and lunch Luke told me he wanted to race me down Little Beav. He wasn't kidding. He headed down from top to bottom at a high rate of speed. He's improved so much from last year and is really having fun. He also likes to ride up the "big lift" and ski Gentle Ben.

Chairlift Revisited

So I have a few minutes to myself while Luke is skiing with Jer and my little boys are napping. I talked about skiing and riding the chairlift in yesterday's record-breaking lengthy post, but here I go again. I read on a friend's blog about her little boy who is Luke's friend riding up the chairlift on his own, and I thought that was a bit scary. Last night at dinner Luke informed Jer and I that he rode up on the lift himself at his lesson last week. We both basically told him he was fibbing. In fact, Jer told Luke he was going to ask his teacher about it today and Luke told him to do it. After that I wasn't so sure, but I did tell his teacher last week before class that he needed some assistance in that department. When I ride up with him, I'm so careful to keep a hold of him and help him off at the top. (Hey, he did fall asleep that one time.)

Anyhow, today at a bridal shower I was talking to my cousin Jodi, and she said she couldn't believe it last week when she saw Luke and the other kids in his class riding the Little Beav lift by themselves!! I had to laugh, and I explained to her how we accused Luke of telling a tall tale. That's probably one of those things I'd be better off not knowing.

I have to say that skiing with Luke this year has already been so fun. I must take pictures soon! Skiing has always been a part of my life, and I think it's such a fun family activity. I had lots of quality talks with my dad on the chairlift even when I was an ornery teenager. I also drove up with girlfriends to go skiing lots of weekends in high school and looking back we were lucky to have escaped a few of those adventures without injury. Last week watching Luke's big old helmeted head on his tiny body bob down Gentle Ben in front of me, I'll admit I had a lump in my throat for a second. He was just so dang cute, and it's fun to see your kids learn something new, especially if it's something you love. Now I just need to apologize to Luke when he gets home!

Odds and Ends

Really long post: Don't feel obligated to read!

I'm not off to the best blogging start in 2010 and this is possibly the most random post ever but here goes. I always kind of get the blues in January. In my opinion it's just kind of a bummer month. The holidays are over, there's nothing big in our family to look forward to for a while, and the weather especially this year has just been cold and smoggy with no snow. Complaining aside, I'm glad to say that it has flown by, and we've actually had quite a bit of fun.

I got a new camera, and I am so excited about it. Problem is I have not had much time to use it yet. I actually sold my old one back, used money given to me by my parents and Jer's parents, and still barely made the cost but it's going to be worth it. I'll have to demonstrate what it can do once I've taken a few decent pictures. Since there are no pictures to document the month so far I will just ramble on about a few goings on around here.

Seth has been cracking me up lately. He got a little Alvin doll in a Happy Meal that says "hello gorgeous," and he thought it was so funny. He started saying it and at first it was like he was French or something, "gorgeoux." Now he can say it right and since we told the boys it's a nice thing to say to mom he tells me "mommy gorgeous." I usually have bedhead and bad pjs when he says that, so I appreciate it. Seth is also almost potty trained. We've been in underwear for a couple of weeks now. I wouldn't say we're quite there yet, but if I watch him like a hawk for #2 we can make it the whole day. Kids do strange and gross things while potty training. The other night he came wandering out in his birthday suit with a considerable amount of #2 in some toilet paper. I'm still not exactly sure what went down but amazingly he did not make a huge mess. I should also document how Seth says his name. He tacks a y on the end and calls himself "Sethy" and is always talking about himself in the third person. The problem is he doesn't do S well as a beginning letter and can't do "th" either. The result is "ye-ti." It is the worst possible combination of sounds for him. Oh well, all in all his speech is improving a lot and someday there will be no more talk about "ye-tis" at our house.

Ian is cute as ever. He gets all over the place. He still does his belly crawl the most, but he does crawl on his hands and knees sometimes and is starting to pull up to things. Seth is taking a lot more interest in Ian now and plays with him cute. Whenever Seth is doing something he shouldn't i.e. shooting Ian at point blank range with a Nerf gun, he has gotten in the habit of apologizing while he's in the process of doing it.

Luke is learning and growing like crazy. He can still be wild and crazy and has an obsession with wrestling anybody, anytime, anywhere that I'm hoping he'll grow out of. He loves playing basketball and plays with other kindergartners every morning before school. He started skiing lessons this year and he did a great job and is having fun. He was so tired the other day, he fell asleep while we were riding up on the chairlift together. I spotted some drool on his coat and sure enough he was snoozing. He got a great report from parent teacher conference about his academics. He tested way above where he needs to be. In the attentiveness/listening/hands to self kind of categories he could use some improvement, but we're working on it. Luke picked up on the term "nuts" while playing at a friend's house the other day...and I'm not talking about acorns. Since he already knew the term, I had to clarify what anatomical part that term actually applies to and then tell him it wasn't something I'd like him to say. My message really must have stuck because later that night Seth came over with a pouty face and the report that, "Lukey kick Yeti's nuts." Jer had to stick his head in the fridge to hide his laughter. I tried to keep a straight face and tell them both we don't say that. Don't you just love what they pick up elsewhere?

Between the holidays and other days off for Parent Teacher Conference, we've had time to do a few fun things this month. We took all the kids up to Beaver when Jer patrolled at a night party. We took turns taking Luke out and had to enlist both Travis and Mason who were also patrolling at times to help us entertain the kids. It was a fun but crazy night. Luke was a die hard to the end, and we skied down to the Litte Beav lift only to find out it wasn't running anymore. I wasn't too excited about the prospect of walking with him back to the patrol building (uphill), but Travis came along and gave him a ride on the snowmobile and he thought that was the coolest thing ever. I also got to ski with him Saturday while my mom watched the other boys. I won't be able to do that every week, but it was fun. Seth really wants to try too, so we may take him out at another night party.

We also went ice skating with TJ and Amy's family. We had a fun time. My boys have never been on roller or any kind of skates, so they struggled at first. I realized after a while that all the other kids had figure skates on and they had hockey skates, so we made the switch. Luke did fine after that. Seth on the other hand looked like a baby deer learning to stand. He was all legs. He made it around the ice a few times with the walker thing and Jer helping him, and he was a trooper about it but he was out of control. We tried to shove his feet into some figure skates towards the end and it wouldn't go, so we had to give up. Better luck next time for Seth! I pushed Ian in the stroller, and he loved it. He was smiling and waving his arms at everyone we passed.

I slurped my 2009 blog into WordPress and now I need to edit it and print it out. One of these days. I'm also almost 2 years behind in printing pictures, so I'm not sure how and when to catch up on that. I really don't have time for these extra projects right now but maybe one of these days. I started another class on Monday so that should keep me busy burning the midnight oil. The problem is I've also been going to the gym at 5:30 in the morning for a few months. I try to make it at least 3 times a week. I am not capable of burning the candle at both ends for too many days in a row, so I'm still trying to figure that one out. (Although I'm doing it, I still firmly believe there's something wrong with being up in the 5's...especially to exert yourself in any way!) I'm not a big TV watcher, but I have followed Lost since the beginning and am excited to see how they wrap it all up when it starts next month. Well, I think I've written enough about basically nothing for one night. Maybe if I post more often I won't do these long ones that bore people to tears.

Must Be 18

I just did a ridiculously long post about Christmas, but I wanted to quickly write about something funny Luke said the other day. Out of the blue he asked me if when he was older he would be able to kiss girls. He is the most naive kid and has no clue about most things, so I was surprised. I questioned him a little to find out more, but he immediately clammed up. I told him yes but when he was much older, like 18. He promptly counted to 18 as if that was no big deal. A few days later I was wrapping presents and Luke was out in the garage with Jer. I turned on the TV and watched the end of that movie "You've Got Mail." Luke came back in right at the very end when Meg Ryan sees Tom Hanks and they're walking towards each other in the park. He was watching with interest, so I told him they were going to kiss. He just kept watching and I could see his wheels spinning and then he looked at me and said, "Hmm, must be 18."

Wrapping It Up

Well, Christmas came and went without any blogging on my part. As usual I found myself scrambling at the last minute to get everything ready, but it was fun. I can honestly say I love the chaos of the holidays, and it is fun to have so many chances to see friends and family. I was cursing myself a few days before Christmas though when I found myself standing in a long line at Walmart at 11 pm picking up a few things for Luke's class party...sometimes prior planning is not in my vocabulary. In the last few weeks we've been to family parties for both sides of Jer's family, gone on our annual trip to SLC, and gone to school, church, and neighborhood events. For those who are local, we took our kids for family night to a live nativity at a farm in Nibley, and I thought it was really neat. It was about 2 degrees that night, but they had fires and a hay ride and the kids had a lot of fun. I slacked off the first few events but the last few weeks I've redeemed myself by taking about a million pictures...so here's a rundown of our Christmas season.


After the first few storms, sledding was big at our house. Now we're just waiting to get out of this deep freeze and get some new snow on the ground. Luke and his buddy Max sled down our back hill and off of the retaining wall into the "hole." It's probably not the safest, but they have a blast.


We headed down to Salt Lake with my parents for our annual shopping trip. We really don't do that much shopping, but we always make a trip to REI and this year my mom and I dropped everyone else back off at the hotel to hit the Gateway. (A highlight at REI was when the boys tried out the bikes, which were all chained together, starting a domino effect and taking out a huge line of them. As Jer would say, "that's why we can't have nice things.") We took Trax to Temple Square, and I feared death by trampling. We opted to walk back. Luke loved stomping through the snow. Seth by then was exhausted and fell asleep riding on Jer's shoulders.


I subjected the kids to lots of picture taking trying to get a few for our Christmas card. If you didn't get one I probably didn't have your address, or I'm just a flake.

Luke was in seventh heaven because he got to swim. Jer took the boys the first time and I thought maybe I dodged a bullet, but the second night he insisted I take him. I'll be honest, swimming doesn't have the same appeal it used to. Isn't there a rule somewhere that moms over 30 shouldn't have to get into a swimming suit in the middle of the winter?

Thanks for the fun weekend!

Luke and the other kindergartners did a cute program at school. He and his class were elves.

Luke and his kindergarten teacher. She is awesome. Don't let her grandmotherliness fool you...she's intense. I think she does a great job.

We have poles similar to the one pictured lining our sidewalk and driveway edges. Jer places them there so that once the snow gets really high he can see exactly where the borders are for snow removal. Jer is intense about the driveway and really lets his pickiness shine. He is well known in our neighborhood as a snow nazi, and the thought of anyone driving on our driveway with snow still on it is about enough to send him into fits. Just thought I'd note that.

Christmas Eve at my Aunt Tamra's house. These two were doing some last minute brown nosing when Santa showed up.

Ian has no fear when it comes to Santa.

Seth was an unwilling participant in the nativity this year. He disrobed and refused to put his wise man stuff back on, but I did manage to get this scarf around him last minute. He did like his prop though and spent quite a bit of time blowing into it.

Christmas morning. I tried to booby trap the boys' door with bells, but Luke snuck out like a ninja anyway. He didn't see the presents though. He just headed downstairs where my parents were. When Seth got up Jer and I wrestled him in our bed for about 30 minutes thinking Luke was still asleep (Jer claimed he saw a "lump and a head"). Finally it was time to get up and open gifts. Ian peed through his Christmas jammies, so I was glad I took some pics the night before.

Ian and his retro rocket. My parents stayed over and opened presents with us and then we enjoyed a big breakfast. Everyone was totally spoiled, and it was lots of fun.

We spent Christmas day with Jer's family. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. I'm sure Tucker and Ian will be good buddies soon. Ian was quite interested in Tucker's hair and spent a lot of time slobbering on it and pulling it. Maybe he wishes he had some of his own.

One last bit of mileage out of those plaid shirts. The boys wore them to church the Sunday before and after Christmas.

I think Ian is telling me "enough pictures already." He did have a sweater vest on but covered it with spit up at church.

We wrapped up the Christmas parties last night with a Pickett get together. Most of the cousins and their kids were there, and it was really fun. Luke was so excited because it was at a gym, and they got to take their basketballs. On the way out the door, he commented that I wasn't wearing "very good shoes for basketball." It's nice when your son is still little and doesn't know yet how incredibly uncoordinated you are at pretty much anything involving a ball. He still thinks I have skills.

With the addition of Ian to our family, 2009 was a really great year for us. I am looking forward to more fun and chaos this next year. I was struggling and worrying a few weeks ago about a few things that were going on with the kids and Jer came home with some advice from an older friend. He said that his biggest regret with his kids was that he didn't "love more." I am really going to try and make that my motto this upcoming year. I think sometimes I need to put my worrying and focus on discipline to the side a bit and just let my kids know how much I love them. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Belated Thanks

I'm burning a little midnight oil here attempting to catch up on all the homework I procrastinated over the holiday, but I wanted to write down a few thoughts of gratitude because I have a lot to be thankful for. So here's a few in no particular order.

• My family. I have been blessed with a great family, including amazing parents, and now I am so blessed to be a parent myself. I certainly wouldn't have imagined myself with three kids five years ago. I know modern medicine and adoption were tools that Heavenly Father used to make me a mom. November was Adoption Awareness Month so between that and Thanksgiving I have been thinking a ton about Seth and his birth parents. Obviously there aren't words that are adequate to thank someone for choosing you to parent the baby they loved and brought into this world, but I am so eternally grateful to Seth's birthparents and their choice to place Seth with us. I can't imagine our lives without him, and I just know he was meant to be a part of our family. I will never forget the raw emotion, heartache, and joy of the day we met with them and brought Seth home. Someday I hope to explain to him just how much he was loved by so many people right from the start. Today I got an email from someone who has no children and has been trying to adopt for three years. That would be so hard. I am so lucky.

Luke and Seth--Thanksgiving 2007

• Jer. He of course fits into the family category, but he deserves a bullet all to himself for being my best friend, the person I most want to spend time with, such a hard worker, and an incredibly supportive husband and dad.
• Where I live. I know I live in the greatest country on Earth, and my little corner of it (Cache Valley) is the best. Thanks to all those who make living in this free country possible.
• The gospel.
• My health.

I could go on and on but that's a good start.

Our Thanksgiving was spent with my family this year at a big dinner at my aunt's house. The food was so good, the kids played great, and it was a fun day. It was such a nice day that Jer and the boys spent the morning going on 4-wheeler and motorcycle rides. (My dad was nice enough to give Jer his old dirt moto, and we also "store" the newer one for him. Jer bought this four-wheeler from his dad a couple of years ago for "plowing purposes.") Luke likes going for a ride but Seth loves it. There's not much he would rather do. Just today we got a big snow and Seth was in seventh heaven riding around with Jer while he plowed the street and flipped some cookies along the way (the snowy day driving kind of cookies).

I got up ridiculously early on Black Friday and went shopping with my mom, aunt, and cousins. The earliness was made even a little crazier when Ian was up all night with an earache, but it was fun anyway. I don't particularly enjoy shopping, mornings, cold, or crowds but on this one occasion it is fun. We divided and conquered and everyone got what they were looking for. You know you started early when you're able to go to every store in town, eat out for breakfast, go home for your baby and back out to the doctor's office, pick up a prescription, and still be home by 11:30 am!

The whole weekend was great and having Jer home for four straight days was awesome. Saturday night we took the kids to Preston for the Festival of Lights. It included fireworks, candy, a light parade, Santa (a scary one in red sweat pants I might add), and a trip to Big J's with cousins so it was a hit.


Notice Luke is only wearing a sweatshirt while everyone else is bundled. He pitched a fit about taking his coat, so I decided to let the consequence teach the lesson. He was quite chilly, so I'm hoping we're done with that argument!