What a Great Group of Little Guys

I was thinking last night about how great it is to be a mom and how wonderful my three little boys are. I started thinking about all the cute and funny things that they do and thought I might share some.
I look at Spencer right now and cannot believe how big he is. He is now 6 years old. When I look back on his baby pictures I can't believe it is the same person. It makes me a little bit sad thinking of how fast he has grown up. Spencer is learning to read. It is amazing to see him progress in his learning, I love it! He is really good at math, which will be a great quality. When I ask him about how his day went at school he always answers "It was AWESOME!" I hope this enthusiasm will last through the rest of his school years, but have you ever heard a teenager say that school was AWESOME! It might just be wishful thinking. We went to a parent teacher conference last week and his teacher, Miss Gurney, said "Have you noticed that Spencer is always the last one out of class when you come pick him up? Well the reason is that he always stays and helps me push in the chairs." It brings a smile to my face. He is so sweet and will do those small acts of service. For Valentines Day Spencer wanted to spend the money he got from his Grandma on Valentine gifts for his brothers. He went with Jimmy to the dollar store and bought little dinosaur toys for Trenton and TJ. He was so happy and proud to be giving instead of receiving. Spencer has always been good at video games. We've discovered that he is amazing at the game Guitar Hero, which is a video game where you have to play a guitar. He is on level medium, because he has already passed the easy level. He is better at it then me. I had to have him pass a couple songs for me. He keeps saying, "Mom I'm better than you, huh." Little show off! :) At school he would tell us about the funny games the kids would play at recess at. He said that all the girls would chase the boys, and when the girls caught you they would put you in "jail." Then the other boys had to come rescue you from jail. He would play that every day until he discovered football. Football has now become the sport of choice. He is quite talented at playing as well. Jimmy will go out and play with him in the yard. Spencer has got quite the arm. It is interesting because his favorite team is the "VT's" (Virgina Tech). I have no idea why, it is probably because he played as the VT's on his video game. He once asked me where Virgina Tech was (we were talking about when you get older you go off to college). I told him it was far away and you would have to ride in a plane to get there. He then said "where can I go to school where I don't have to fly a plane to get there?" I guess that was his way of saying he wants to stay close to us when he gets older. For Christmas I bought him a football jersey, which he wears all the time. Grandma Cindy once said to him, "Do you ever wear anything else?"
Trenton is four years old. His birthday is in January and he told me right after Christmas, "You need to take down the Christmas decorations and put up decorations for my Batman birthday". Boy was he excited. Trenton does not eat, and when he does eat it is because we are forcing him to. Every meal he says he is not hungry, unless you offer him cookies and treats. It is so frustrating! I keep hoping he'll snap out of it soon. But I guess a kid won't starve himself, right!?! He has just started getting into playing video games with Spencer. It is really quite cute to watch him and he is actually getting pretty good. Trenton is Spencer's shadow. He loves going where Spencer goes. The great thing about it is that Spencer doesn't mind, what a blessing! Trenton loves to turn on the soundtrack to Cars and run around our kitchen island, all the while saying "Vrroooommm". The other boys usually join in but it is Trenton who always starts it. Every night Trenton has to have a story before he goes to bed. He really likes the story I made up about the 3 boys being super heroes with super forces. Spencer, strong force, Trenton, fast force, and TJ, stinky force (because he still wears diapers). He laughs and laughs when the story comes to the stinky force part. Trenton is probably our worst sleeper. He is always the last to bed and the first one up. I have his bedtime routine down, we'll put him to bed, then within 5 minutes he'll come out crying because "Spencer hurt me". I'll ask "where you in your bed or Spencer's?" He'll always say "mine", which is a lie. After we put him back he'll come out at least 2 more times for a drink, story, to go potty or to tell us something very important. He'll say "I have to tell you something" and it will usually be something ridiculous like "I have a nose" or "Yellow is a nice color" which makes us think "You have got to be kidding me, Please just go to bed!" He has been on a kick lately of coming out of his room and asking us to play hide and seek in his bed. We usually say, "sure go hide in your bed, we will count, and then come find you". Then, about 5 minutes later we'll hear, "I'm ready, are you coming". What a goof. Trenton has quite the imagination. He loves to dress up as Batman and pretend he is saving the world. My very favorite story about Trenton was this one day when I was trying to get some Christmas decorations up Spencer and Trenton started being a little bit wild and bumping into the decorations. I sent them to their room. A couple minutes later I heard Trenton and Spencer sneaking down the stairs. They were both dressed in camouflage. Spencer proceeded to tell me that Trenton told him to "dress in camo so mom would think we were bushes and then we could come out of our room". I could not help but laugh. Trenton is also our monkey boy, doing flips off the couch, or on our bed and "swinging" into bed (he does not like to climb up the ladder to get on the top bunk). He is also very photogenic. In pretty much all of the pictures we took for our family photos this year he looks amazing. He is quite a model. Trenton also loves to play in the dirt. When we went to Yellowstone he did "dirt angels". When he walked or you touched him dirt would puff off his body. Man was he a dirty boy. I was frustrated at the time, but looking back on it now it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
Taylor (TJ) is 2 years old. He is at such a fun age, I can't get enough of him. He is completely adorable. He loves to wrestle and play tackle football. When you play football with him all he wants you to do is chase him and tackle him to the ground. You will never get the chance to be the "tackled"! He'll grab the ball and say "Hike" at that point you have to tackle him or you'll hear about it. If you stop playing he will cry or say "No mommy, come back" or "Stand up!" He loves trains and Thomas the Tank Engine. He tries to sing the song on the Thomas movie, the only part he knows is "Thomas, he's the cheeky one". He will repeat this over and over. He also likes to sing a dinosaur song, but the only part we know is "Dinosaur, his tail is swift as lightning", so he will just sing "Dinosaur" over and over. He is our first child to get attached to a blanket. He has to have it to go to bed. When I try to put him down for a nap he will always say "No, play". Sometimes I can't help but give in and let him go play. I love this age when they are learning to talk. It's so cute! TJ is our best eater, and is usually in the kitchen. Everyday at lunch time he will stand at the kitchen table and yell to Spencer and Trenton "Sencer,Tenton - unch, it's Weady" (translation: Spencer, Trenton - lunch, it's ready). He has a little friend named Landen, who lives a couple houses away from us. I would say to him, "Do you want to go play with Landen?", and instantly he would wave and say "See Ya" and head for the door, meaning see you later mom, I'm out of here. TJ loves to watch movies, and he tends to want to change the movie every 10 minutes. He loves to watch Thomas the Train, Monster Inc. (he calls it "Scary-ya"), Cars, Toy Story 2, and Kung Fu Panda. He'll ask for "Fu Pana". He sounds so cute saying it. These are a few of his favorites, although he tends to watch just about anything you will put on. Sometimes he will sing "Na, Na, Na, Na Atman" (batman). So cute! He likes to pretend he's a dinosaur or monster and will walk around growling. Then when he sees you he will ROAR, and keep roaring until you react. Then he will laugh and start over again. He only wants to wear Thomas shirts or Dinosaur shirts, and he will fight you if you try to put something else on him. When he wants a drink he'll say "Fishy (thirsty) Mommy, drinky-ya (drink)". I don't know what it is about the "ya" at the end of words, but I sure do love it! I hope I will always remember how it sounds. He loves fruit snacks and will say "snacky" then when you give him one he'll bounce up and down and say "Yeah!" He gets excited about the littlest things. Then after he has the snack he will shove the whole thing in his mouth at once.
I have so many memories of these precious angels. They are the joys of my life. I just want to soak in everything and always remember them like this. Sometimes life gets hard when you are right in the middle of raising little kids, but I know that one day I am going to miss this time so much. I can already see it happening since I have no more little babies. I am moving on to another phase of life. I was talking to a friend who has 3 teenage boys, and she was saying how much she misses buying toys for Christmas. It hit me at that moment that my kids are growing up, FAST, and someday my life will be the same way, 3 teenage boys who won't want toys for Christmas. I need to enjoy these little things! I am striving to cherish every single day, no matter how stressful things get, and cherish my little children. I love you boys!!!

Off we go to New Mexico

I am a planner, so when Jimmy suggested taking a trip to New Mexico I was a little stressed but pretty excited. We decided to take the trip on a Sunday, leave for New Mexico 3 days later, that Wednesday, and be home the next Sunday. Could I possibly take a trip without months of planning!?! YES! It was so invigorating! Jimmy's brother was called to be the new bishop in his ward in Albuquerque, so we figured that was a great excuse for a visit and to give support. Everything fell right into place. My mom offered to take the kids - WOW, Jimmy had the week off, and we have the transportation to get there. I guess a little get away doesn't need to take months of planning. We left early Wednesday and drove straight through. It took about 9 1/2 hours to get there, but it was an easy drive because we were kid-less! John and Stacey were so accommodating. We have never been to New Mexico and it definitely has a unique landscape. It is a charming dessert city. We arrived around 4:00 pm on Wednesday January 28th, got settled in, and then took a short bike tour of John's neighborhood. Jimmy wanted to find some fun places to go skateboarding. We spent the rest of the evening playing Rock Band. That game is a blast! The next day, Thursday January 29th, we did a quick run in the morning, (it was nice to be outdoors and not freezing), then went to the Petroglyph National Monument. It was fun to hike around and see all the old Indian writings, we also found a few "not so old" writings, which included a peace sign. I guess the area was a volcanic area so there was lots of volcanic rock. When you hiked to the top you had a view of the whole city. It was really nice. Friday January 30th, we drove out to Santa Fe to check out the state capitol. We walked around The Plaza, which is a historic part of Santa Fe, which has ritzy shopping boutiques, as well as an area where the native people lay blankets out and sell jewelry, pottery, and paintings. That was fun to see. Jimmy and I wanted to try New Mexican cuisine, so John and Stacey treated us to lunch at The Shed. It was a cool restaurant decorated with New Mexican decor. Jimmy ordered a taco and enchilada place smothered with green chili sauce, I ordered an ultra spicy pork dish. Man, were my lips burning! I wish I could remember what the dish was called, so if you read about pork slow cooking in red sauce, beware! Later that evening we all went to the local pool (it was .25 cent night). It was fun to swim laps and play with the kids, however the water was pretty cold, but we got use to it. On Saturday January 31st, Jimmy and I took Madison and Jarom to this cool geological site call Tent Rock National Monument. It was this really cool area with volcanic formations. There were two hike you could take. The first hike we went on took you through a slot canyon on the way up to the top lookout point. I have never hiked in slot canyons before, it was AWESOME, and the scenery was so beautiful. It was cool to hike through narrow paths and crawl under rocks. We also climbed up in some of the formations, which afterward Jimmy informed us that it was illegal and we could have been charged $250.00 if caught. I was a bit more careful after that. The weather was amazing and the view from the top was beautiful. After that hike we went on the other hike which was just a short loop around the bottom of the canyon. After going on the first hike we decided that the loop hike was lame! That evening the rest of Jimmy's family arrived. We had fun playing games and having FHE. On Sunday we went to church for John's big new calling. We could not even imagine what John was thinking. He will do a great job as bishop. After sacrament, setting apart, and lunch we were on our way back home. Again another smooth drive back. We even listened to the super bowl. We had a great trip and are looking forward to another visit, but this time with the kids. It was so nice to spend time wit Jimmy's brother and his family. It was fun to get to know Stacey a little better, she is an amazing cook and fed us well. Madison likes the same type of music as I do and she's really fun to talk to. Jarom is a really smart kid and is amazing at Rock Band, Charity is the cutest little 3 year old ever. I had fun playing tickle monster with her and at FHE the thing she said she liked about me was that "I made funny noises". I laughed me head off. What is that supposed to mean Charity? She is a doll. John wanted us to have the time of our life, which we did. He is so young at heart, he reminds me of Jimmy in that way. It was fun to spend time with him. Thanks John and Stacey for making our trip a memorable one!