Tasmanian Devil

I am writing this post so that if anyone who reads it ever decides to stop my apartment and finds it to be a complete and total disaster, you will know that it is due to my adorable Tasmanian Devil! I love him but he sure knows how to destroy a house!

He looks innocent right??

Think again!

He made that mess in under 2 minutes!

That face is his saving grace!

Pictures from our Salt Lake trip are coming soon... I'm too sick to blog today :(

Nerd Shorts!

For those who have spent a summer with Tyler, you'll know his favorite article of clothing are what we affectionately call his "Nerd Shorts". He lives in them all summer! Well we found Parker a couple pairs of Nerd Shorts to match his daddy this summer and it has finally been warm enough for him to wear them. Yay for sunshine and 80* weather. Anyway, these pics aren't the greatest because they are off my phone and the little squirt wouldn't sit still long enough for a good one. 

You may also notice the huge bruise on his forehead... that, along with several other bruises, are his "adventure wounds". he is on the move ALL THEE TIME!! I can't keep up with him to protect him so sadly he ends up with some ouches!

In other news... he has taken six whole consecutive steps on his own! He hasn't wanted to walk since, which I am perfectly ok with for now. The more he gets around, the more trouble he'll be in.

Tyler is in Salt Lake finishing some appraisal classes, on top of school and finals coming up. He is such a hero to his family. We are thankful for his hard work for us and miss him terribly. Thanks Love! We get to go down there on Saturday with my family to pick up Kristen from BYU (SOO EXCITED!!!) and I will finally get my hubby back! 

I have been staying at my parents so I'm not all alone for the week. We've been going on walks in their beautiful neighborhood. There are ponds full of ducks and their new babies, so cute! Parker loves all animals and tries desperately to get ahold of the ducks and geese. The funny thing is the ducks actually come up to him and follow us around, I think they think we have food for them or something, but Parker gets a real kick out of it.

I got to go to the temple last night with some girls from the my relief society. I am grateful for great girl friends! If I can't be in the temple with Tyler, I am very glad I can be with some awesome friends. Love you girls!

That is it for now... just trying to get through the rest of the week so I can get my husband and sister back, ha ha!

Chocolate....

Looks like someone got into the Easter chocolate.....

Our Easter in pictures.....

Our beautiful eggs!

Tyler's "Pepsi" egg.

Parker was too impatient to let the eggs sit in the dye so he stuck his hands in the dye and "finger painted" his eggs... they were beautiful!

Pooley's love BYU football.... ok we are a little obsessed!

My brother Jake preparing for some eggs artwork!

Mom and Dad trying to help Parker with his eggs, he didn't want much help however!

Having so much fun!

Parker finding his first egg in our Easter Egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Milligan's.

Why does my son love to be tossed 10 feet in the air??

Chillin' with Dad at Grandma and Grandpa Pooley's on a beautiful Easter Sunday!

Parker loves dogs! Every time there is a dog around he chases after it and tries to communicate with it by whimpering. It is hilarious! Here he is with Tyler's dog Jake.

We had a wonderful Easter. The weather was beautiful, Church was wonderful and time with our families was so fun!

Oh and a fun little extra... Parker's first little tooth popped through on Easter morning, not sure whether I should be excited or fearful about that one!

As we celebrate Easter tomorrow, I am so grateful to know of my Savior. To know of his love for me as an individual and to know of the great sacrifice he made in my behalf. I am grateful to know that because of the atonement I will never be alone, no matter what happens in this life. I am also thankful for the sunshine that the gospel brings to my life. I can't help but be happy in everything I do because I know I have the Lord on my side. I know that my Redeemer lives! That is my Easter testimony.  Here is a beautiful Easter message! Enjoy and Happy Easter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epFhS0dAduc

My Little Musician

Parker loves music! He loves to dance to music! He love Tyler's guitar, he loves the piano and he thinks everything is a drum, rhythmically pounding on tables, floors, and toys.

He played the piano the other night for about 20 consecutive minutes.

He has learned how to pull every DVD out of our entertainment center and he does it 2-3 times a day.

And a random picture of Parker and his cousins... I thought it was funny. It kind of reminds me of that cartoon "The Rugrats" and Libby is Angelica.

Conference Weekend

Conference weekend was wonderful as usual. I am so grateful to belong to a church that has a living prophet to lead and guide us. It is an amazing thing and President Monson is truly inspired, as are the rest of the general authorities. I really enjoyed all of the talks; they gave me a very needed "boost" . It's almost like a spiritual vacation, two days to focus on spiritual matters and nothing else. I love it! 

We spent Sunday watching conference at Tyler's Grandma's. This picture is of the four generations: Parker, Tyler, his mom DeAnna and his Grandma Sweet.

We also went to visit Tyler's other Grandma in between session to wish her a happy birthday. Here she is with Parker and his cousin Mikaela.

And here are the four generation's on Tyler's dad's side.

A wonderful weekend! 

In The Motherhood

I was really looking forward to ABC's new TV series "In the Motherhood". It looked like a funny show that I could maybe relate to. I made it through about 15 minutes of the first episode and gave up on it. Maybe someone out there watched it and I missed the better of it, but as far as I am concerned, working all day and then avoiding going home to relieve your nanny so you can have drinks with your friends, has very little to do with being a mother. So it was a disappointment mostly because I expected there to be a mother, involved with her children somehow... strange expectation right? To add to my disappointment, I watched an episode of Oprah the other day about "celebrating moms". I thought to myself, "It's about time motherhood was celebrated!". Little did I know, the entire episode was of mothers talking about how hard and terrible motherhood is. Granted, some of the stories were pretty hilarious, but the mothers interviewed made it sound like motherhood was a dirty job that someone has to do and they drew the short straw. Poor me, I had a baby and it changed my life. So enough of my venting. My point is yes, motherhood is hard. I only have one child so far and he is just now learning how to tear my house apart, so I am anticipating it getting much harder. Maybe I am jaded because I have an adorable, chubby cheeked, blue eyed boy giggling back at me, but I think motherhood is a beautiful and joyous thing. As a matter of fact, I think it is the greatest and most rewarding thing on Earth. There are days I look at the clock and realize it's four in the afternoon, I haven't showered, Parker and I have already had two naps, I've done zero of my homework, my house is a disaster and dinner needs to be ready in an hour or so. But who cares? Every little grin on his face makes up for 100 showerless days. I love motherhood and I wish there was a more positive spotlight on the greatest calling on Earth!

Done With Clinicals!

 I had my last day of clinicals on Wednesday! It was a long ten weeks of getting up at 5:00 in the morning on Mondays and Wednesdays and feeling so guilty for abandoning more poor sleeping baby but I survived! Part of me was actually sad it ended because I really love being a nurse and I loved the patients I worked with. The last few weeks I was completely on my own caring for 2-3 patients and I loved it! I have been working at the Veteran's hospital here in Boise and at first I was a little disappointed because I had hopes of working in one of the "big" hospitals like St. Luke's and St. Al's but it was truly a blessing to work at the VA. The men and women I treated there were so friendly and I had so many enriching and uplifting conversations. One day I sat with a 93 year old man who told me all about his life and his "angel" of a wife who he'd been married to for 67 years!!! and loves more than anything in this world. It is kind of sad how the perception of love and marriage has changed so much- a marriage lasting that long is hard to find these days. Anyway, it was neat to get to see the perspective of people who grew up in such a different time than the one I did. I have also come to appreciate even more the sacrifice Veterans make for our freedom and families. Take the time to thank a Veteran!

Even though I will miss being a nurse twice a week, I am so excited to be home with my little boy again! The little monster is growing before my eyes! I'm sad because I lost my camera and don't have any fun pics to post. He is unstoppable now- crawling every which way. I like to get on my hands and knees and chase after him. We usually end up in the bedroom where Tyler keeps his guitar- that is Parker's new favorite thing... the guitar. He loves to pet it when Tyler isn't around. He grabs at the strings and looks at me like, "Mom look, I'm playing the guitar!!" and he also loves to listen to Tyler play! I've also found Parker in the bathroom, unwinding the roll of toilet paper all over the place. Oh the joys of motherhood, and I really do mean joy because not even a little part of me gets upset with him when he does stuff like that. I just grin and think to myself, this kid is going to get away with everything because he's just too stinking cute!

Life is good! Tyler has five weeks left of his Master's degree and I have five weeks and one semester left. Go us! Before we know it we'll be done...