Valentine's Day, Monster Trucks, Movies & More

Happy Valentine's Day!! What a great day; I owe a HUGE thanks to my sweeter than ever sister-in-law, Wendy. First, she and Todd bought tickets for my two boys (Jared and Jordan) to see the Monster Jam on Saturday. Jordan has been counting down the days on his calendar since Christmas - so Feb. 14th was a big day for him. And even better, Mike and Jack Henry went, too. And Wendy was so sweet, she even watched our little monkeys while we went out for dinner on V-Day, and at 11:00 PM my kids were still running around and did not want to leave Aunt "Wee's" house. What an angel...

Jared and I had such a great night out; we went to this cozy little place up in Deer Valley called Fireside Dining. I loved this place; each course was served right from one of their fireplaces and it just felt cozy and romantic. Ahhh... Perfect.

Jordan's friend, Dane, joined us for breakfast and the boys all had pink and blue pancakes. Dane just lives a few doors down and so he's always welcome to come over and play (in PJ's and all); we love having him around.
Jared and Jordan off to see the Monster Jam (sorry Austin, maybe next year) :-(
All the boys at California Pizza Kitchen before the Monster Jam.


All of the fun and excitement = a very tired little boy.
Since Bolt was such a hit with our kids, Tiffany and I took the kids to see Bolt again at the Dollar movies. Jordan was glued the entire time.. and Austin sat through the entire movie (that's a first!) These kids were just too cute; after the movie they got a little snuggly and they were giving each other hugs.
Jordan, Corbin, and Sammy - aren't these kids adorable?

Jared and Austin at the Boat Show

Jackson Machon came over to play a few nights ago and these boys had so much fun chasing each other around with their little pop-guns, watching movies, and making dinosaur sugar cookies. Wouldn't it be fun to be a kid again??

So that's what we've been up to this past week or so. Our mission for this next week is to rearrange the kids' rooms so we can have a place for this new little boy once he arrives (in just about 4 more months... the clock is ticking). So that means moving Jordan down the hall (and a new bed/bedding, paint on the walls, etc. etc.) and moving Austin out of the nursery, and making room for their baby brother. We just put our back seat in the SUV for the first time since we never had a need for it before, so Jordan's trying out the back seat.
I'm really excited about this new little boy (we all are). Jordan likes to tell everyone about his baby brother in mommy's tummy and how we'll have 6 families: Daddy, Mommy, Jordan, Austin, our baby brother, and Indy. Can't leave out the cat, right? So six it is.

Grateful

For some reason this past weekend I just keep thinking about how grateful I am for my little family and these cute boys I have in my life. Let me start with this: I went to get out my camera on Friday to take some pictures and I realized that Jordan had erased all of my pictures for the past few weeks and I had some really cute pictures so I was naturally a little sad, but what's cute about this is he was so proud to show me some of the new pictures he'd taken for me. He took pictures of his trucks, the walls, his shoes, and I had to take a step back and just realize this is what being a mom is all about right?? I'm learning as I go.
That's what started my whole thought process on how grateful I am; I've just been trying to look for all of the positives in my life and there are just so many, so many great little memories and fun moments that I get to enjoy each day of my life. I'm so grateful for my little boys; how cute they are and how much they are starting to really be friends. These kids mean everything to me and I just want to squeeze them every time I see them. Sometimes I have to take a deep breath and remind myself that these days are going to fly by so fast, and not to sweat the small stuff (like blue markers on the carpet, deleted pictures, the list goes on and on). I'm going to miss all of this one day, I just know it!
Secondly, I'm SO grateful for Jared. I love that we can stay up all night talking about everything under the sun, just like when we first met. I love that he tells my boys that "mommy is our princess", and he treats me like one. I love that he's such an awesome daddy and how he wrestles with my kids and they all just roll around on the ground cackling. He treated me to a fun date the other night: market street and a movie, just the two of us, and I just felt all giddy the whole night. I always think this can't get any better but he keeps raising the bar and yes, after almost 10 years it's still getting better. I love him so much and I could write a book on all of the things I love about him.
Thirdly, I'm so grateful for this new little boy that will be here in June, and how I can't wait for him to join our little pack. I'm already picturing my little boys running circles around me, playing out in the backyard with their dad, taking trips down to the sand dunes, camping, etc. etc. I just can't even wait to meet this new little baby boy. I just have a lot to be grateful for and sorry for the very long post, but that's what I've been thinking about all weekend so I had to write it all down!
My cute little boys




Jordan, Dane, and Corbin swimming at Dimple Dell
Jordan and Corbin - aren't they cute? These two boys are buds!

Out and About ...

So sad to see the holidays come to an end, but I know this is going to be a great year, so here we go!

We always go to the car show each year at the South Towne Expo; Jordan was in Heaven - so many cool cars to see!

We love this place: Thanksgiving Point. We went to the Dino Museum with some friends and let the kids run around and play, and dig for bones.
My cute little boys!
Jared rigged his golf cart to plow the snow off the driveway and Jordan loves to sit with his daddy and drive up and down the driveway.
Austin and mom @ Baja Cantina (this is our family's favorite place to go in Park City).
Jordan and his little bud Jackson Machon swimming at the Treehouse pool.
My boys checking out the deer in the back yard (we get tons of deer back there and we even watched a fox run across the backyard the other day).


We went downtown and shopped around at the Gateway, ate at the SkyBar, and then let the kids play at the arcades.
These are my favorites: my two silly boys splashing each other and making a mess in the bathroom. This is usually what bathtime looks like at our house (what am I going to do when there are three little monkeys in there??)



Jordan has finally labeled Austin as one of his friends (this is a big step because Austin has always just been the "baby"). They really are becoming good friends; they chase each other around the house; Jordan is Chick-Hicks and Austin is The King according to Jordan, and they just race around and around. Jordan really does love his little brother. One of his favorite things to do is play king of the hill on the little love sac in their playroom. They both try and stand up on the lovesac and Jordan will body-slam his brother, but I can tell he's just trying to have fun with him. He'll tell me, "I'm just loving him". He came up to me the other day and said, "I have some good news and I have some bad news". I laughed and asked what his good news was and he said, "my good new is that I'm being good to Austin and he's being good to me. My bad news is that Austin is being bad to me and I'm being bad to him." Don't know where that came from, but I thought it was funny.
That's what our little family's been up to these past few weeks. Just trying to catch my breath each day chasing these two little busy bodies around, but it's so fun and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Santa Clause Came to Town!

I was so lucky this Christmas to have my family in town (Kent, Carly, and Amy) and they got to spend Christmas with us!! Here we are on Christmas Eve with the whole gang (Jared's mom and dad, Kent, Carly, Tiffany, Coby, Corbin, Uncle Wayne and Aunt Laurie, Sommer, Amber, Amy, and the rest of us). We had so much yummy food and just had a great time being together as a family.
Earlier that day we went up to see the Joseph Smith movie at the JSM building downtown and then we hit the Gateway for some last minute Christmas shopping, and it was COLD!!
CHRISTMAS!!! Christmas morning was just the best. I can never sleep on Christmas Eve so I was up 'till about 4:00 AM and at the crack of dawn I wanted to get a head start on making breakfast. Austin was my first little guy to wake up and he was so excited - he just kept bouncing up and down and laughing. Jordan came downstairs and said, "Mom, Santa left me a bell on my door!!" and then he saw the new cars and tracks and he couldn't wait to dive right in and start opening his presents. It was a fun morning for everyone.


Jordan and Austin's Aunt Wee and Uncle "T" completely spoiled these little boys (as always!); Jordan got a new tool box and he's learning how to use his new tools so he can help Todd and Wendy work on their house and build a new bed. That's his latest obsession. They got more cars and tracks, a new love sac for the new baby (yeah!), and tickets to go with his dad to see the Monster Truck show in Feb. My boys are so lucky to have such great aunts and unlces!!

Later that evening we stepped out to drop off a few more gifts and visit Grandma and Grandpa Larson at their house.
Every year Jared's mom's side of the family have a Christmas get-together. Santa came to see the kids and everyone had a great time.
And... for Christmas this year we decided to take everyone tubing @ Soldiers Hollow. After everyone froze their toes and had enough we went to Don Pedros in Heber for dinner.




And so this Christmas was just the best; we had plenty of fresh snow, lots of friends and family around, lots of yummy food, and so many cars, trucks, and race tracks to keep these kids busy for a very long time. Thanks to everyone for making this Christmas so special, and thanks Kent, Carly, and Amy for making the trip up here to be with us. We love you!!