HAD to share!

Yay! Some new books arrived that I ordered from Amazon.com and we are very excited!

These two books by Munro Leaf were introduced to me while at our friends during Christmas. I read one of the books to her daughter and LOVED the lessons they teach in a simple way for children. Of course, I think some adults could stand to read these books, too, as a refresher!

Matt recently asked me if I could find some books for the boys that he remembered reading as a kid - they had to do with values. After doing some research on Google, I found out they were ones that I remember as a kid, too!
ValueTales!
Valuetales were a series of biographical stories that gave a simplified and fictionalized biography of a historical figure as an allegory, illustrating the value of a positive characteristic. They have been out of print for a while and when I found some on ebay, I was pretty disappointed to find out that the books go for a pretty penny.

BUT, I found that Simon & Schuster is re-releasing the series!

This is their version:

I am very excited to read these to the boys!

Santa, define: good?

What a fun time we have had on our Christmas vacation in Utah! We have been able to spend almost every-waking-moment with family! I was initially worried we all might get overwhelmed but so far, so good!

These are just some of the highlights of our trip thus far!

Here we are enjoying an unseasonably warm evening at Temple Square admiring the lights. Quinton and Sawyer both really enjoyed all of the lights…the crowds were a little hairy for me and Matt – especially when Quinton decided to wander off at one point, but it was worth wading through the throngs of people to see the beautiful lights!

Matt’s mom asked us if we would spend Christmas at their house since Santa hadn’t been to their house in a very long time. Who can say no to doting grandparents?

We had a great time pulling out the family’s old stockings and getting ready for Santa’s arrival. We spent a good portion of the evening tracking Santa’s progress on Google maps…too bad that had the opposite effect and by 10pm, both boys were NOT going to sleep! Matt and I ended up bundling the boys up into the car and driving around looking at Christmas lights trying to get our boys to sleep! At one point, the map showed Santa in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Quinton about had a heart attack! He told me we HAD to get home RIGHT NOW. On the way home, we passed by a Walmart where Quinton SWORE he saw Santa in his sleigh at the back of the building!

By the time we got home at 10:45pm, both boys had finally sacked out! Whew!

Did I mention Sawyer turned 8 months this week? He has LOVED all the attention from family!

Ralphie in The Christmas Story had it easy with the bunny suit compared to Sawyer, this year! What you can’t see is Sawyer’s Santa booties complete with curled toes and little white fluff balls and bells attached!

And this family gem is of my parents and my nieces and nephew at the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at BYU. This was today! We had a great time at this free museum and then headed over to the Cougareat for lunch, the games center for bowling and then a budget discount movie theater to see Secretariat for $1 a person! Seriously, 8 people to see the movie was $8! My mom actually high-fived me for that one!

And that is what we have been up to so far!

The big news is that by a week from now, I will NO LONGER BE WEARING GLASSES! Wooohoooo! I go in for Lasix on Monday so wish me luck!

A Random Sampling of Pictures

So I've been a lazy blogger but that means I am a busy mom!

I just thought I'd post a few pictures of what we've been doing lately.

This is Quinton's friend "Rexie."

Rexie goes with us on most errands and can be found sleeping next to Quinton most nights. Funny, doesn't he look like a cuddly dinosaur to you?

I thought these swings at our new park were kind of funny looking but hey, moms and dads can fit in them, too!
And what post would it be if there weren't adorable pictures of Sawyer and his pretty eyelashes?
Since we've moved here, Sawyer has been mistaken for being a girl dressed in brown, orange, black and most other NON pink colors, all because of his eyelashes! It's funny!

And this is the literal artistic interpretation of "The Bible Belt" at our little park.

This means Sawyer actually wore himself out jumping in his jumper. He LOVES his jumper and I love that Quinton fell asleep like this when he used to use it.

I totally laughed when I found Quinton's bathroom like this. At first, I thought he might have become a germophobe overnight but he told me he wanted to make sure he didn't mess up the toilet since he is standing up these days to go number 1. I know, TMI but this was a laughable sight!

Last Sunday, we fed ALL of the missionaries in our ward...all six of them!

One of the missionaries asked me to take this picture and I thought it was a funny representation of them all.

Next post: I'll show more of our lovely Alabama home.

Alabama or Bust!

To whine that we have been busy these past few weeks and more so, the past few days, would be a gross misrepresentation of what has been happening in our lives! I wouldn't even know where to begin if I were to regale you with all of the goings on that have been going on!

Instead, however, I will share with you a delicious picture of the preciousness we call Sawyer:

The eyelashes.

The smile.

The love.

Here we were, enjoying our final full day in Utah at the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. It was a glorious fall day...one not to be forgotten for a while!

And here's our new adventure!
Monday, the truck will arrive with all of our worldly posessions, or what's left of them after THREE garage sales in Chicago. Today, though, we signed the lease on this cute-as-a-button house in Mobile, Alabama.

And this is a COTTON bale.

In my 34 years, I don't recall ever seeing a bale of cotton...have you?

And tyo pass some time today while waiting for the lease agent, we drove to Dauphin Island about 20 minutes away from where we live. Check out the houses on stilts!

The beaches on Dauphin Island are VERY nice, not what I expected from Alabama, so I hope to post lots of pictures of us at the beach whilst our Chicago and Utah friends freeze their tushies off this winter.

5 Months, 5 Years, Mississippi & A Bike Ride for the Books!

Funny thing, you don't see a lot of me on my blog...this is because I'd rather go on and on about the wonderful guys in my life like these two:

Here they are again.

Can you feel the love squeezing out of Quinton's arms?

I can't believe Sawyer is 5 months old (21 and a half weeks to be exact)!

He is so chubby and cute. You can't see his delicious little thighs in these pictures, but trust me, they are DIVINE!

Sawyer is already rolling over like a champ and thinks rice cereal is just O.K. He tried bananas tonight for the first time and REALLY enjoyed it! I think he'll be crawling in another two weeks which is exciting and scary at the same time! Wish me luck, I'll need it.

And here they are again...in my bed...if someone had taken a picture of me, they would have found me curled up on Quinton's twin bed after these two took over mine!
Here is my other baby, I mean big boy!
Quinton turned 5!
My oh my, how time flies! Having Sawyer has made Quinton seem so much older all of the sudden. I love hanging out with Quinton...he makes me crack up with the funny things he says and his strange observations. Yesterday, in the car, I sneezed and Quinton said, "Bless you. Hey mom, isn't it a good thing I was in here with you?" Me: "Why is that?" Quinton: "So I could say bless you!" - Of course, right?

We celebrated Quinton's birthday at his favorite: Chuck E. Cheese's
Silly Grandpa made it all the way from Idaho to come to Quinton's birthday party!
And Quinton's cousins made it a great party, too.
Me and my boys, partying it up!

Before Quinton's birthday last week, Matt, Sawyer and I flew to Mobile, Alabama for a house hunting trip. Matt's new job will be in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Yes, I have to spell it out in my head every time I type it. And it isn't Mobile, it's pronounced Mo-Beel!

Mo-Beel turned out to be a lot like where I grew up in Melbourne, Florida only people have thicker southern accents than I am used to which I think will provide lots of funny vignettes for my blog once we move to the south in October.

We found some lovely homes but I think we are going to rent instead of buy...the market is just too unstable to be saddled with a house for a job assignment that might only last for 18 months. With Matt's new job, we will be moving every couple of years.

This picture was taken in our hotel...you can't see it but the clocks say "Sydney, Tokyo, Mobile, Moscow, London" pretty funny, in my book!

Sawyer enjoying the fluffy hotel towels after a bath.

And here is my other boy I like to brag about!

The weekend of September 11th, Matt fulfilled his year-long goal to ride in the longest sanctioned bike race from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming called LOTOJA. Only 2,500 cyclists have the opportunity to ride in this 206-mile race each year. Matt and two friends from Chicago have been training all year for this race as well as raising funds for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Matt has spent almost every Saturday for the last year training for the race, not to mention a couple of days each week, trying to fit rides in wherever he could. Lucky for Matt, he spent the last two months training in the Utah mountains because our Chicago friends had a little bit of a rough time in this altitude.

Lucky me, I was able to be part of the support crew. Me and Krazy Khania! It was a fun 12 hours in the car with Khania by my side but when we pulled up to the feed zones to help our team, she was alllllll business!

Here is Matt before launch at 6:30 am.

Here is Matt at our first Feed Zone where we met our team in Montpelier, Idaho. At this stop, 80 miles into the race, Matt was ready to stop - sort of - he just needed a pep talk and he was on his way again.

Here is Krazy Khania and her cyclist husband, Isaac. Aren't they cute? Don't let this picture deceive you because she is a WOMAN ON A MISSION when it comes time to feed and water our team!

Here is Matt in Afton, Wyoming. He was feeling pretty good by now and the team was doing great, too.

Matt's parents met up with us in Alpine, Wyoming - the last feed zone before the finish line. Matt's Aunt and Uncle were also there too, to cheer him on. Matt loved having so much support and it was a blast to cheer him on!

We caught up with Matt on his way up a big climb in the race.

This is why I love Khania! We were SO excited for the guys to cross the finish line! Matt finished the race with his buddies, Mark and Isaac at 12 hours and 39 minutes, not bad for his first time, it was actually really great!

Mark and Matt rehashing after the race.

I have to say that I love my boys, all three of them. I can't imagine life without them! I am also grateful to my friends and family far and wide. It hasn't been easy to relocate and think about moving again...I miss my girlfriends! They are a big part of my life and it's hard to get excited about making new friends in Mississippi/Alabama when I know I may not be there very long.

Sawyer, A Blessed Boy!

Two Sundays ago, we were able to bless Sawyer at Matt's brother's house with lots of family and friends to celebrate the wonderful occasion. Normally, babies are blessed in church but because of our recent move to Utah, we don't really have a ward we call "home" quite yet.

I wanted it to be a really special affair so I roped my mom into helping me a lot of the preparations. I have a wonderful mother, who probably thought I was a little crazy with all of my plans for the event but she helped me with everything and kept a sweet smile on her face and was such a big help!

Here she is helping me assemble the cupcake tower with a sweet smile (this smile actually says to me, "Someone help me, I think my daughter is crazy" - as she ices Ss onto white chocolate buttons for EACH cupcake)!

The end result of our cupcake mania!

Our tower of sugar!
My mom even helped me with this little pictorial homage to our sweet little Sawyer.
It turned out cute, whaddya think?

A closer shot...

A big part of what made the day so special was that almost all of Matt's brothers were able to be at the blessing. A lot of my family and even some of our great friends were able to make it, too.

Here is Sawyer with Wanda and Ferrin, Matt's parents. Can you tell they are proud of grandbaby #31?

Our little family!

P.S. I love Sawyer's smile/smirk.

Here I am with two of my sisters and our mom, cute girls, eh?

My super-mom and Sawyer.

Silly Grandpa with Sawyer...

After all of the excitement, this is where Sawyer ended up...I wish I could sleep like that once in a while!

Here is Matt with one of his best high school friends, Giff.

The guys are like peas and carrots, if you ask me!

It was such a wonderful day to spend with friends and family and to bless our little Saywer!

Quinton 2.0

We make cute boys who resemble each other A LOT!

You can see why we might jokingly call Sawyer: Quinton 2.0....can you tell who is who?

We love 'em both!