Our Super Fun Weekend

We are so lucky to be blessed with weekends. The kids begin to forget who Dustin is by Friday, so Saturday and Sunday are our catch up days. This weekend was especially awesome because it's Sammy's first birthday AND general conference. Unfortunately we didn't get to watch any of the Saturday sessions due to birthday party prep, but were so happy to have friends and family over to play. We started out coloring treat bags, to collect all of our sweet things! Then we set all the kids on their own scavenger hunt- Tyler's was so hard, I couldn't even figure out where the clues were. Dustin is so clever. With each clue was a little chocolate egg so the littlest kids were pretty excited about that. After everyone found their clues we had the kids line up to take turns at smashing the Easter egg pinata we had made with a potato masher. Justin was in charge of finding a stick to hit the pinata so we ended up with the masher... Our handy dandy treat bags were put to good use, that's for sure! The kids picked up all the candy and we set off for cupcakes and fruit. We all had a lot of fun and definitely enjoyed each others' company. The kids had fun playing and eating their brains out. mmmmm brains....

Sammy loved his cupcake for about 2 minutes and then wanted down out of his chair to play. We opened gifts, or the 3 toddlers opened the gifts while Sam chased after stray paper, then sent everyone home. We had so much fun catching up with everyone and eating. Aren't parties so awesome?

Today is Sam's actual birthday. It's funny that is falls on conference weekend again. I was thinking that I'll have to plan better in the future, so we don't miss any of the sessions with party preparation! Anyway, we've had a blast just hanging out at home all of us together today. Max likes putting up stickers on our General Authorities chart, and eating treats while we "listen" to conference. He's such a sweet kid.

We're looking forward to seeing my parents this weekend coming up for Kellsey's baptism. It is a light at the end of the tunnel that is brightening up a lonely week. Dustin has exams so it is back to single-parenthood for me. I only have to make it a little while longer until Summer. Oh the joys of joint-parenthood!

COLDPLAY!

I don't think I have been this excited since we brought Sam home from the Hospital! Dustin and I are going to Coldplay in June! I feel so spoiled because I get to go to Hawaii with my mom and sister in May then to the concert. I think one of the reasons I am freakin out is because I haven't ever been to a concert before- let alone my favorite bad. Well, one of them anyway. Who's happy? MEEEEE!!!!!

These are a few of my favorite things

Judging by the lack of comments from my last entry, and rereading it, I have determined it may have been a little negative! Come on, like you don't have those kinds of days! That entry helped me see just what makes me happy, so here it is for your enjoyment:
1. My boys- I cannot get over how sweet all three of them are. I know it sounds a little cheesey, but they surprise me everyday. Sammy is nearly one, crawling, trying to walk everywhere and yelling out "words". Max is so perceptive and told me when I pat his head it means he's doing something good. Dustin plugs away at school day after day and comes home happy to see us. I don't think I could ask for a better situation.

2. My van- it has remote controlled doors so I can get my groceries and kids in without having to fumble with the handles!

3. Sunshine. this helps with my seasonal affective disorder- and may be why I'm a lot happier than last week. Daylight Savings!

4. Good friends. I have a sweet girlfriend who called today just to see how I was doing and then brought supper for us. I was so amazed at her ability to be so kind. You're an inspiration, Lauren!

5. Mom and Dad. Brothers and sisters. All have a great way of making us feel special.

At the risk of sounding ridiculous, I just want to say how lucky and blessed we are. We have a beautiful family and a wonderful home with room to stretch out in! We have a loving Father in heaven who knows us and wants us to succeed.

stuff that makes me crazy

I think I have been a little on edge lately. I would like to think it is because I have a husband in school and is gone for hours and days at a time. Also, I have two small (and may I say, rather energetic) children who require my constant attention. All work and no play makes Lindsey a crazy person. I wish I could find a picture of Jack Nicholson breaking through the door and have my face photoshopped in, but leave his freaky smirk...Anyway, so I have been thinking about what is possible making me a little mad, and maybe this will help me a little. I'm also hoping you might get a chuckle from my neurotic rants.

1. going to bed late and waking up ridiculously early. Why do I do this to myself? I can't control when my kids wake up in the morning so you would think I would go to bed early. Nope. I love watching Dust play Zelda at night, in fact I ask him if he'd like to play so I can "participate". If he's still at school when normal people go to bed, I make excuses in my head to stay up and wait because what if he was beheaded on the bus. It happens!

2. not enough dessert. i think that should explain most of my problems.

3. my incessant need for cleanliness. why do i have to have my bed made for the front cover of better homes and gardens before i can do anything else in the morning? why do i have to group clothes together in order of color and cut? why does it bother me that thinking of things that I like clean are, in my mind, still messy!!!???

4. my ability to see things a little on the negative and not always positive. i reeeeeaaally need to work on seeing things in pink!

5. i don't see my sister enough. we talk on the phone a lot, but i miss her. in fact, i don't see any of my brothers enough either. that makes me crazy.

This list could go on and on, I think. I also think it's funny that I originally intended on this being a completely different post. Something about my philosophies on life- our family's in particular. Oh well, I don't do enough for me anyway. This post should be the beginning of something beautiful. And crazy.

What about you? What stuff makes you crazy? I'd like to know, just for validation. I can't be the only crazy one!

I can't forget this, so I will blog it

Max has said some crazy funny things in the last little while. I can't find his baby or scrap book so the blog will have to do.

A friend of ours who serves in the primary in our ward told me she called on Max to answer a question on Sunday. She said "Max, where did we live before we came to live on Earth?" Max thought for a while and messed up his face a little before he said, rather loudly, "Outer space". I don't think we have ever taught Max about outer space, but I'm sure in FHE somewhere along the line, we HAVE taught him about where we came from. Just goes to show ya that kids remember what they want.

The same friend came with us to IKEA this week. Max was really excited that we got to eat there. We finally got our food and settled down when Max started sneezing. He looked at me and said very matter-of-factly " I'm sneezing. In IKEA." It was very important for me to know where he was sneezing. A little ways into his mac and cheese, I was anxious to show this friend that Max did indeed know where we came from. I asked him the same question as she had and he didn't even take a second to think about it, "IKEA".

Lately...

I have neglected to keep all of our faithful readers (ok, maybe this is mainly for grama's and grampa's) apprised of our kids' happenings. So here is the latest stuff our little darlings have been up to.

Max is becoming more articulate. He seems to over- annunciate, which makes us laugh. The other day he asked if he could play with "play-toe". Also at lunch today he asked me for Ichi-dan. I asked if he knew an itchy Dan and he looked at me like I was nuts.

He is always making new games for us to play, and as ever, they most often involve some kind of train. Thomas is his favorite right now, so we are immersed in Thomas books, videos etc. Thanks Grama Wilde! We took the boys tobogganing last week and Max absolutely loved it. HE couldn't stop talking about sledding down the fast hill.

Max has also been in the habit of telling me "I really wish Dad would come home" about a thousand times a day. He really likes playing with Dustin. It is really funny to watch when he comes home from school just how quickly Max gets to the door. This week before bed the two of them have been playing super mario brothers and Max is way better at it than me! A sign of things to come....

Sammy is all over the place. He's crawling and yelling. He pulls himself up on the furniture and walks all around it. We always know where Sam is because he's always talking, or yelling. Its really fun! He has the 2 front bottom teeth as well as his 2 top side teeth. He looks like a little vampire when he smiles- which is quite often. He loves his brother and follows him everywhere- maybe he'll stop soon because Max mauls him - with love- any chance he gets! I think he'll be walking soon just trying to escape Max! Sam is also eating lots and gaining weight, so he is very happy and healthy. We're very happy to have such sweet little boys.

For those who didn't know, we moved the beginning of this month to a house. We love it here! This is a little old house with lots of character and lots of space! It's still close to the school and in the same neighborhood we were in before. We live a block from an elementary school and a cute little park. We can't wait to utilise it once we get a little bit warmer weather.

We've been very blessed to have these amazing tender mercies in our lives. We can't wait for all of you to come visit us here.

No time like the present...

We've been thinking about resolutions this week. Neither of us are really gung ho on the idea because a positive change can be made any time of the year. We've made an exception this year as our joint resolution is to NOT be like this guy.

Happy New Year- Aim high for 2009!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XURRzofbMc0