18 Months

Coen is 18 months today. I can hardly believe it. Most of you know what that means....NURSERY. Outside of Mormon culture I am sure that 18 months is not a big milestone but in the Mormon culture a mother and father long await this milestone. You no longer need to cart your restless child with you during all of your church meetings. Now I might be able to listen to a Sunday school lesson!! Coen is growing so fast. He now is talking more and his personality is getting more prominent. He is such a sweet kid and is such a ham. He loves to play catch with anyone. He loves Johnny's Woody doll and will carry it through the house and put Woody's hat on his head and when it falls off he will just laugh and laugh, it is pretty hilarious. He also loves to compete with his brother on who can scream the loudest in the car (Not my favorite). He also loves when we are driving and when we are going down a hill he will scream "Whee" all the way down the hill. He is also the only child of mine that has a favorite stuffed animal that we call "bear, bear" that he has to have with him when he sleeps. When we go in and check on him at night he is usually cuddling up to his "bear, bear". It is so cute. He is quite an adventurer and we love this about him. We are so glad he is part of our family. Happy 18 month Birthday COEY!

Caught Red Handed

Coen is by far my most busy child. He gets into everything. From the trash, my makeup, my feminine products, Paige's jewelry. It is amazing the things this kids gets into. For the past few weeks John has been coming home and getting upset because someone had pushed his books in on his bookshelf. Any of you that know John know he is pretty obsessive about his books. So I had a pretty good idea who was getting into his books but I didn't know for sure because I hadn't caught him in that act. Well, today I did.

(Making the Climb)

(Making it to the peak)

(Preventive measures in place)

(Sitting and contemplating his next move)

What a Turkey!:)

Do I look like a push over?

As many of you know I have been known to get somethings done that other may not have thought possible. The big green box is one of those. From time to time I have the annoying bill that should not have been billed or a bill that is not correct. I usually call up and explain the situation and all is well. A month or so ago we bought a new car. It's not a "brand" new car but it's new to us so it's a new car. Many people were surprised to find out the deal that we got on this car. And they were even more surprised when they found out I had done it myself. Well the car is great and we have had no problems with it and everything seems to be going smooth. As many of you know especially my family I plan ahead. My mom is a planner my sister is a planner so of course I am a planner. So these past few weeks I have had in the back of my mind the fact that the temporary registration is going to expire on April 1st. I called a few weeks ago inquiring about this to only get an answer something like this " you have two weeks before it expires, there is nothing to worry about." At this point I felt kind of silly even worry about it. Our past cars we had gotten the plates long before the temporary expired so I wanted to make sure all was well. So I just put it back in my mind and didn't worry about it. Well, today I called up since I only have three days before the big day and the women tells me that the DMV sometimes takes a long time with these things. So my response was "so it's the DMV that is slow?" Here response was very quick (I am sure she knew exactly what I was getting at). She said actually we haven't turned in the paperwork yet but it will be here by Wednesday or Thursday. I then told here my registration runs out on Weds. And she said oh that is no big deal police officers won't pull you over for a day or two on a expired registration (she obviously doesn't live where I live). Then she explains if I do get a ticket they would pay the fine. (Oh how generous of them). I say whatever and then hang up the phone. At this point I am not too happy. So I decide to call the DMV and ask them if they have the same policy on "it's no big deal if your tags are expired a few days." As you can guess they do care and even though it may not affect your insurance because it is a none moving violation it still goes on my license. I have never had a ticket in my life and I will not be getting one because someone else can't do their job. So needless to say I called them back and explained to them that this was unacceptable and they told me that the manager would be calling me back. That was at 1 pm it is now almost 6. If they think I will go down quietly they have another thing coming. Just ask Utah Power.

Some regrets

Since being in Young Women's the past few years I have thought about my own experiences in Young Womens. I was not always active and most of my high school years I was not active. Looking back I realize how much I missed out on. I look at all the awesome girls that were in my ward and my high school that were active and think wow was I really that dense to not realize what I was missing out on. Every chance I get I try to let the Young Women that I serve know how much this time in their lives is so important. How 10 years from now it won't matter what you did in high school. That when you get to college no one cares if you were popular or homecoming queen or anything. I look back and really regret the choices I made during those years. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to repent and to make better choices in my life. I remember a few years ago I went to my 10 year class reunion. And it was so great to see everyone that I hadn't seen in 10 years. Right after high school I left Las Vegas and came to Utah. I remember thinking how now I had more in common with the "Mormons" but those were not my close friends in high school. I didn't have many memories with those kids and it really made me realize how much I missed out. I would do anything to let my Young Women and my own children know how important it is to have good friends and those friends that you share common interests. Don't get me wrong I had awesome friends in high school. And I love them to death. But I think about all the opportunities I missed by not going to mutual or youth conference or anything. I missed out on so many other friendships. I had a awesome ward growing up and didn't realize it till I was long gone. I am just glad that I was giving the opportunity to come to Utah and to eventually make it to BYU where I graduated. I love BYU!! I have never been to another college campus where it feels so peaceful and you can feel the spirit. It is so awesome. Even though I have made some mistakes in my life I am so grateful for the blessings that I have been given and I know that my Heavenly Father loves me regardless of the mistakes I have made. Now that I am older and somewhat more wiser I hope that I can teach my children the importance to the youth programs in the church and help them realize they are inspired organizations.

(This is a picture of me that was in my 10 year Class Reunion slideshow)

Congrats Neal

As many of you know. John's family is very musically talented. It is pretty funny to have people come to our house and see our piano and automatically assume it is me that plays. I have to tell them that actually it is my husband that plays. I think this is pretty cool. I think that it is awesome that John can play two instruments. Yesterday we were able to go to John's littlest brother Neal's Suzuki violin graduation. He graduated from the entire program. This took years and years. He is sixteen and started violin when he was young. It is always so strange for me to think of Neal as a teenager. When I met John he was just finishing Kindergarten. When we got married he was Paige's age. I am so glad that I married into such a musically talented family and that I can instill this talent in my children. They may not appreciate it when they are young and have to go to lessons or practice but when they get older they certainly will. For all you family in Cali. that didn't get to see his performance or those who are interested in who awesome he is here it is. Enjoy. He is the one on the far left. And sorry for the sound effects. I was sitting my Johnny and he kept playing with Buzz. ** I am trying to get the video to upload. It is over 5 minutes so that may be the problem. I will keep trying.

Disneyland

A few weeks ago we went to Disneyland and it was a lot of fun. It is so much fun to see Disneyland through your kids eyes. It makes you remember when you were a kid and getting so excited to go to Disneyland. It was great. There was hardly any people and we got on all the rides that we wanted to. One of the days John's sisters Meredith and Julie joined us as well as my friend Korby. It was great to see all of them. The first day we were there it rained really bad for the first couple of hours but in the afternoon things were great. The rest of the days were great. For all those people who live in So. Cal. it probably was on the cold side but for those of us who were leaving freezing temperatures the temperature was great. I hope we can take a trip to Disneyland every couple of years. I know that the kids absolutely loved it and we loved it too.

(This was the kids on the way down with their new sunglasses. I think this was the only time Johnny ever wore his)

(Paige and I in front of "It's a Small World". They redid the inside to add some cool new characters in some of the scenes).

(As many of you know, Johnny loves and I mean loves Buzz Lightyear. Just ask Julie and Meredith they had to take him on the Buzz Lightyear ride several times. Notice Johnny looking at Buzz with awe).

(The kids with the star of Disneyland).

(Coen with his "kid leash" on. This kids was so funny with his leash. He wanted to walk you rather then you walk him. We finally had to ditch the thing and put him in the stroller).

(Paige at "Ariel's Grotto". This is where your little "princess" can eat and see most of the princesses. It was great she got to see all the princesses and get her picture taken with them. It is a little pricey but well worth it).

(Johnny with "Cars". Notice the "Buzz" cup in his hand).

(Paige and I on Dumbo)

(Julie and Johnny on Autopia).

(Paige and Johnny in "Minnie's" house playing the piano).

Trains

A few weekends ago John took Johnny to a model train show. He absolutely loved it. John said that Johnny kept going under the rope which is intended to keep kids away from the trains. That didn't deter our Johnny. John said at one point Johnny put his head down to watch the train come down the track and Johnny derailed the train. The man at this particular train table was not upset at all he was concerned if Johnny was OK. Johnny of course was fine. I think it was good for Johnny and John to get some son and father time. I think they had a great time.

(Notice Johnny on the other side of the rope from the other children, he's our child that doesn't believe in rules.)