Photo Shoot

Christmas Eve we tried to take some family pictures. My mom took about 30 pictures of us and there was not a SINGLE picture where both kids were looking at the camera and smiling. It was kind of disappointing considering how many of them were so cute but just not so cute of all of us. Here are a few:

My Christmas Gift to You!

Merry Christmas!

Can you believe it's almost here?

Here is a gift we can each enjoy on this beautiful holiday!

Also... I braved another sewing project. I'm starting to wonder how many projects it takes for a person of average sewing talent to be able to sew in nice, strait, neat lines... If it's less then 6 or so, I may be a person of less-than-average sewing talent. Anyway, here are the results:

Pooley Family Stockings

Rylan's :

Parker's:

Tyler's:

Mommy's: mine was the guinea pig of the bunch, which is why it's kinda goofy looking. You're right they are all a little goofy looking, but this is the goofiest. It is also the largest... I think that means I deserve extra presents because of all my hard work on these beauties!

Rylan and I got an extra girly touch of rosettes on the top. Still looking for something fun to add to the top of the boys.

Enjoy your holidays! It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

The Coat

Last night we watched a very touching video on the true meaning of Christmas. It is called

The Coat

It is such a sweet video. Parker asked to watch it 3 times... and all three times I cried!

A few minutes later, Rylan fell and bit her tongue :( She was so sad. Parker ran into the other room, I didn't think much of it until he came back with Rylan's favorite stuffed animal, handed it to her and comforted her. It melted my heart. Then he ran off and came back with HIS favorite stuffed animal (the one he is very possessive over) and gave it to her as well. Isn't it amazing that the Spirit of Christmas can catch so quickly? He is normally a very sweet boy but I think he was extra-inspired!

I hope I can be just as inspired!

Traditions.....

Last year, during the holiday season, I was a little out of sync. We had moved a few times and by the time December rolled around we were staying in Tyler's grandma's house while she was in Arizona for the winter and we were in between houses. I am very grateful for her generosity! But it was a little bit difficult for me to get into the Christmas spirit when I was living in a home that wasn't mine. I could not spend my days decorating, baking and blasting Christmas music to dance and sing to all day. But I did learn something... While all those activities are fun and make wonderful memories, Christ's birth and the blessings of the atonement and

our families are really what make Christmas special.

This year, I have my own place to decorate, bake in, and embarrass myself with some serious holiday tunes... and don't you worry I will be taking full advantage of that! But I wanted to make sure Christ was central in my family's celebrations this year so I have come up with my very first Pooley Family Tradition. We have lots of great traditions with each sides of our family but this will be the first one that is unique to just Tyler, the kids, and I. So I am excited!

I call it the Nativity Advent.

I bought a cute little 10 piece Nativity set. Then I found 25 Christmas messages consisting of scriptures, talks from the Friend magazine, url's for christmas videos on LDS.org, and explanations of what each christmas symbol represents. I plan to wrap each of the 10 pieces of the nativity set individually with a little message and a piece of candy for each of us. Then I will wrap the remaining messages with some candy as well. The baby Jesus figurine will be wrapped in a different paper than the rest of the gifts. After we set up our tree tonight, all of the gifts will go under the tree and they will be the ONLY presents we put there. Each day the kids will get to pick one gift to open. We will read the message, talk about the role of the figurine (if they picked a gift with one of the 10 figurines) and enjoy the candy. Then we will set up the nativity display piece by piece. Christmas morning (we will probably be at my parents so we'll have to bring Him with us) we will open the last gift, which will be baby Jesus, before we open any other gifts and read the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2.

I want my kids to remember while all the toys and presents and santa are so very fun... Christ is the most wonderful of all gifts.

So I am looking for other fun traditions to start with my family too. You guys have any good ones? Please share!!

'Tis the Season to Believe!

When I was in high school, I had numerous conversations that started something like this:

"So Natalie, You're a Mormon? That means you like, can't drink alcohol or coffee and can't have sex or do anything fun on Sunday, right?"

Well, yes, I am a Mormon. A member of The Church of Jesus Christ o

f Latter-day Saints. Back in those days of high school... ok give me a break people it wasn't that long ago... only like 7 years or something (yikes), not too many people in California new a whole lot about the LDS church. And what they did know was all the stuff we "weren't allowed to do". Today if I asked someone in California what they knew about Mormons, I'm sure the first thing they would bring up is that we don't believe in gay marriage. The LDS or Mormon church has been popping into the spot light quite a bit lately, most recently being called a cult. And here I am sitting in Idaho, drinking my cup of hot chocolate, with the feeling that maybe I can help define what my religion is to the few people who run across my bog and actually take the time to read.

So, what do YOU know about the Mormons?

If you don't have time to read all of my post but want a summed up version (it won't be as personal, silly and fun as my rendition but it is the flat out truth:) click here.

Let's get one thing straight. I am a human being. An imperfect human being. I use the delete key a lot, not only while typing but also in life. I make mistakes, I have a bad attitude occasionally, I am impatient, and I do a lot of repenting. So when you read this, please do not imagine me preaching to you from a pedestal. Because I am in no position to do such. I am just a regular person in this world, trying to share the gospel that has shaped my life into something beautiful and meaningful with anyone who is curious. With that said... read on!

I believe in Christ. I would be a goner if it were not for the atoning sacrifice He made for us. I believe He is the son of God. He lived a perfect life of purity and service, after which I am meant to shape my own life after. He died for our sins and was resurrected so that we too can over come death and be resurrected someday. And He carries me through this life when I suffer, because He has felt my pain so I don't have to suffer alone. I believe in Christ. Am I a Christian? I'll leave that for you to decide.

Maybe you've heard of Joseph Smith? While he did not found

the Church, he did restore it to the Earth after it had been miscommunicated, changed and lost throughout the thousands of years following the death of Christ's original disciples. He is revered as a prophet who worked many miracles to bring Christ's Church back to it's original order here on Earth.

Have you read the Bible? I have! And I believe it's the word of God. As do I believe the Book of Mormon is another account of God's work among His people. It is a powerful book of scripture and if you read it, you will feel that as well.

I know a lot of people look at me and think I am crazy, at 25 years of age, already married with not one but two kids. Am I crazy... well I'll be honest that there are days I go a little crazy. But it's my family that keeps me sane. There is no joy greater than that of a happy, honest, loyal and honorable marriage, where husband and wife are equals in a partnership that can last forever. The only thing that brings an equal amount of joy is that of having two beautiful children who call you mommy. I know some of you don't believe me... but maybe someday you'll see for yourself. And if you have a family and you love them as much as I love mine, you'd want to be with them forever too right? Click here to read more about the Mormon perspective on family.

Since we are talking about family, we might as well address the elephant in the room. Gay marriage. Most people know we believe that God has intended marriage to be between a man and a woman. We will not waver on this belief, despite the many pressures to do so. However, our gospel is a gospel of love, not hate. I have never in any of my religious study or worship, been told to hate someone who does not believe what I believe. So for those of you who think we as Mormons hate homosexuals, please know that we do not! We are trying to preserve a God-given law and just as God loves all of His children, so will we.

I could go on for pages and pages about what I believe but

I think I'll turn you over to the Church's website for more. There is one more thing, or person in this case, who I would like to mention. This guy:

He is a prophet. Just like Moses and Noah. And while he did not part the Red Sea, he does many miraculous things today. He spends his life traveling the world and serving the sick and afflicted. He receives direct revelation from God and shares it with us twice a year. I love this man. And how could you not? He tells stories like your grandpa would and has the demeanor of Santa Claus. And if you don't believe me about just how lovable he is, wait until you see him wiggle his ears. Watch it, you know you want to!

I hope that if you are reading this and have ever know me in person, you will already know my testimony of this church. I hope when you hear the word Mormon, you think of me... and hopefully those thoughts are of someone who was kind and true. And if you want to hear more... I'll be here!

Soccer Star

I spent a lot of my life kicking around a soccer ball. I still remember the day I told my mom I hated ballet and wanted to play soccer! And from then on I loved that silly sport. Playing soccer was my one and only talent and hobby back then. But a few weeks ago, I acquired a new calling in life....

Soccer Mom!

And watching this kid play is even more enjoyable than actually playing myself, I must say.

And he loves it! His first game he just went for it! There are 5 kids on his team and only 3 play at a time... Parker played the whole game because he refused to come out and sit on the side lines and his coaches didn't have the heart to ruin his fun.

And he scored a goal!

But more importantly he had fun!

I am so proud of him for being a little go getter!

He occasionally likes to fall down very dramatically...

Go

Tigers!

Being a mom just gets better and better! Just when you think, "Oh I wish my kids would stop growing up!", they reach a new age filled with new kinds of fun! Like soccer games!

Oh and he has scored a total of 8 goals so far in 4 games!

But who is counting and bragging?

Me... I can't help it.

:)

A Year Ago....

A year ago I met my beautiful baby girl for the first time. And fell in love with her instantly. Rylan is such a warm and happy little spirit. She lights up any room she is in. We love this little girl and are so blessed to have her in our lives.

Rylan is quite the character. She has such a charming personality... and a feisty one as well. She does what ever she can to keep up with her brother. She wants to be involved in everyone's activity and conversation... and she is warmly welcomed by everyone :)

Happy 1st Birthday to my favorite little girl!

We had a fun little luau at the park to celebrate. She was the cutest little thing all dressed in her grass skirt. You'll have to check out the pictures on Facebook though, for some reason I can't get them to load here.

So far Rylan has:

Sat up on her own: 4 months old

Crawled:7 months old

Got her first tooth: 9months old

Walked: Just in time for her 1st birthday

She says :Momma, Dadda, Hi, Hey, More.

She loves: people (but won' let anyone hold her) and food! And also getting into trouble with Parker.

She eats: EVERYTHING

She weighs: 16.5 lbs (yes, she is tiny!)

We love you Rylan!

Is it Football Season Yet?

The other day Parker and I were out in my parent's backyard. He creativly turned a plastic hose from his toy fire truck into a stethescope and told me he was going to "doctor" us. He held one end of the hose up to his ear and the other he held against his chest.....

"Mom, my heart is saying "boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom!"

He then said it was my turn to get "doctered". He held his little fire hose stethescope up to my chest...

"What is my heart saying Parker?"

....... "Mom, It says BYU!!!!!".......

Confused I looked down to see he had placed the end of the stethesope on the Y logo of the BYU shirt I was wearing. But let's be honest, my heart most likely does beat "BYU!"

We Be Pirates!

My little Parker is three now... how does that even happen? One day I'm holding this tiny baby in my arms and the next, I'm chasing after a little boy who is dressed as a pirate and yelling "Arrgghh!" at his 3rd birthday party. It goes by too fast. Which is why I like to throw birthday parties because then at least I can look back at each year of his life and see all the ways he has grown and all the fun memories we have.

This little guy is such light to us. He loves each member of our family, our extended family and our circle of friends. Everyone around him feels that love too. He gives the best hugs and kisses. He loves nursery, he loves to talk about Jesus. He loves to say dinner prayers and every night when we read scriptures, he wants to talk about Ammon fighting the bad guys and getting the sheep back (no matter what story we are actually reading that night). He is learning so much at preschool and has made lots of friends. He loves basketball (and every time he makes a shot he yells "Jimmer!"), soccer, all Disney Pixar movies, and Little Einstein's.

To celebrate my very favorite 3 year old, we had a Pirate party.

There was a huge inflatable water slide:

Grandma lead us on a very fun treasure hunt:

And we had a whole bunch of pirates running around!

Thank you to all of our friends and family who made Parker's day so special. And a special thank you to my family for all of the help.

Happy Birthday my little pirate Parker... but try to slow down a little, you're growing up way too fast!

Oh say can you see....

Have I ever mentioned I love holidays? Well I do. Especially the 4th of July. I have this Patriotic streak in me (I can't listen to the national anthem with out crying, I have a strange impulse to hug soldiers, and I love fireworks) I love all things patriotic. Plus, throw in a little summer, family, BBQ, parades, fireworks... How could you not love this one?

Yes, I made my family dress entirely in red, white and blue.

For those of you unfamiliar with area, there are some nice little po-dunk towns on the out skirts of the city. We ventured out to one of these towns because it has the best parade in the valley. And in addition to the parade, you can enjoy the scenery of the strange-type people that live out in the country. Good ol' country folk, the kind that still wear overalls and chew on grass. No really. I saw it with my own eyes.

The parade was perfect though. Not too long, not too short. A little water, a little candy. Some horses and a marching band. Oh and the fire trucks, like 10 of them. Parker was in parade heaven!

We finished off with a BBQ with my family. And fireworks down town.

My family has a band. I wasn't invited due to my lack of any form of musical talent. Parker was however... I will admit, he has more potential rock star power than me.

How lucky am I to live in a country where I can spend a day like this? Happy Birthday America. You are the source of many joys in my life!

Dad Day

Dear Daddy,

You're a good one. And we really like having you around. You work hard, you play harder and most important, you are a good example of a worthy priesthood holder. We are especially lucky to have you.

Love, Mommy, Parker, and Rylan

Parker's Father's Day BBQ at preschool. And Daddy in all his goofball glory. we sure do love that goofball.

The "men" in my life:

I am blessed to be surrounded by wonderful fathers! My dad is also an example of an exceptional man and father. I look up to him in so many ways. Love you Dad :)

I also had the opportunity to express love to my Heavenly Father via my 2nd Father's Day talk in church ( I think its a mean joke to make me speak on Father's Day all the time, how can I not cry and embarrass myself when talking about my dad?) Tyler and I both spoke, his talk was awesome... Im sure mine could have been if you could have understood me through my blubbering. But here is to another Father's Day. Aren't we lucky to have Dads in life? I think so!

Stories...

Well, despite the weather fighting us, we have decided to continue on in summer fashion, come rain (a whole lot of it) or shine.

This weekend we went to the Eagle Fun Days parade. Parker was thrilled to see the fire trucks at the beginning, thought the tiny little girls doing cartwheels, back handsprings, and back flips were quite inspirational (as evidenced by his later attempts at back flips on to our couch... awesome) and was enthusiastic about any other truck he saw. The parade over all... kinda lame, but I mustered up an impressive amount of fake enthusiasm to keep the kids entertained and excited. Afterwards we wandered around downtown, enjoyed some cotton candy and listened to some 90's cover bands playing at the gazebo. We had quite a bit of fun until later that day we realized the stroller was not as sufficient of a sun shield as we hoped and poor Rylan was as pink as a tomato :(

Waiting for the parade.

Waiting and waiting for that darn parade.

Rylan has her very own face- a signature face that she makes just about every time someone smiles at her. She scrunches up her nose, squints her eyes, and smiles as big as her petite little face and jumbo cheeks will let her. It looks a lot like this.....

I LOVE THIS LITTLE FACE!

The other night we went on a little drive. As we were driving we came across this in the middle of the road:

The biggest frog I have ever seen in real life. It was a monster toad. I was half tempted to kiss it to see if I could score my sister some basketball player of a prince but thought better of it thinking it might actually produce a Sumo wrestling type prince.. Yikes. Unfortunately Parker was asleep in the car so he didn't get to see mom and dad's awesome wild life discovery. I was also tempted to take the thing home and let Parker have a pet for a day or so but who knows what you need to house and feed a frog that size? He could eat small Rylan-ish babies for all I know?

My last story is about my funny little Parker. My sister got me my favorite flowers for my birthday (isn't she nice :) As I put them in the jar, I sprinkled in the powdered plant food that comes with flowers. Parker watched, asking me what I was putting in the water. I answered "Well, it's kinda like food for my flowers," to which he said, "So they don't get hungry?" Exactly.

Well through out the couple of weeks that those flowers sat on the table, I noticed Parker kept climbing on to the table and playing with my flowers, taking them out of the jar and I would have to ask him over and over again to get down and leave the poor flowers alone. Just the other day I walked by the jar and noticed the water was really cloudy and kinda nasty looking. Upon further observation I found tiny pieces of a variety of Parker's snacks floating in the bottom. He has been feeding my flowers all this time. So they don't get hungry. No wonder they have lasted so long!

What a funny little boy.

Alive and Kickin'

Don't worry, I am alive. My internet has been and remains touch and go, resulting in a month of no blogging. But if you need a recap of May... it was all about yours truly!

I had a super duper Mother's day. The friday before, Parker invited me to a Mother's day brunch at preschool. Is that just cute or what. We enjoyed sandwiches, salad, chocolate covered strawberries (delish!) cookies and lemonade. But the food wasn't even the best part, it was actually sitting next to my handsome little preschooler, who was So excited to have me there and even more excited to give me my presents he made (he told me well in advance that he had presents for me, like a week in advance) a cute little laminated book mark with a picture of him on it and a cute baby food jar decorated in colorful tissue paper with tiny little flowers planted inside. Am I the luckiest or what?

Then it was my birthday. I was royally spoiled by Tyler, his family and my family. May is just my favorite, can you blame me for loving it so? Two days of spoilings.

So enough about me, because really I hate talking about me. Until next time.... hopefully it wont be another month away.

Easter

This week I had the worst day of my life. Ever. I know people who have suffered far worse days than my worst day ever but for me it was terribly rotten. But as a few days have passed, the anger is starting to diminish, and I am starting to recover from the little ache in my stomach because it is Easter and I know my Savior lives and loves me. For anyone who doesn't believe me, I have proof that he does indeed love me.

My two-year-old little boy told me so.

As I was frosting cinnamon rolls the morning after my worst day ever, I was consumed with thoughts of "what good reason could there possibly be for that to have happened?" and "If the Lord loves me, why didn't we get any help in this situation?" and lastly, "I guess we must deserve this somehow". I was kind of hurting in a way. Then I turned to meet the purest blue eyes of my little Parker as he stood there with his arms reached out to hug me. As I embraced that warm little boy he said so sweetly,

"Mommy, I love you."

And I hugged him tighter. But he pulled away from me, put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me again with his innocent eyes and said,

"Mommy, Jesus love you too."

Wow.

How is it I can forget that so quickly and my 2-year-old, who has 22 years less of life and experience in the gospel, can bring me back so quickly and make me feel so silly for thinking those thoughts.

Then we sang Jesus wants me for a sunbeam :)

Today, I will be thinking of the atonement and of the healing power it has in our lives, to heal broken hearts, to help us bear our burdens, and eventually to help us forgive others. I hope you have a great Easter as well.

(and just to clarify, everyone n my life is just fine... so I am thankful that my worst day ever was completely unrelated to the well being of my loved ones so don't worry about us!)

And here is an Easter message for you!

Events

The latest haps around the Pooley home...

She crawls!

She has for about a month, after an additional month of rocking back and forth on all fours and making more forward progress via face planting than actually crawling. But now, she means business. This means my life will now consist of getting her out of trouble. Yay. But she is rather adorable when she crawls. Back in the face planting days, Tyler, Parker and I would crawl around, overemphasizing the "move your arms forward" part in the crawling process. Apparently it stuck with her because she now looks like she is half swimming as she lifts her hands up past her ears and plants them up ahead of her. Go Rylan, Go!

He wears "undies"!

That is right. After two months of experimenting with the potty, Parker and I are finally confident enough to make the undies a permanent gig in life. He just decided one day he was ready and he hasn't looked back since. I must say I am really enjoying this decreased quota of diaper changing in my life.

Once upon a time....

Once upon a time I met this boy.... his name was Tyler. And we had a really cute story together.... a story that has lasted more than four years! That is a long story right? But let me tell you, the story is getting longer and happier, and funnier, and prettier, and exciting-er, and wonderful-er :) And it will continue to do so because we are going to be together forever!

I heard a song on the radio and it is strangely similar to our story. I think Tyler secretly wrote me a song and sold it to this country band because how would Thompson Square know our story this well? If you've heard this one, you now know how Tyler and I began our story, if you want more, you'll just have to keep reading.

We were sittin' up there on your momma's roof

Talkin' bout everything under the moon

With the smell of honeysuckle and your perfume

All I could think about was my next move

Oh, but you were so shy and so was I

Maybe that's why it was so hard to believe

When you smiled and said to me

Are you gonna kiss me or not

Are we gonna do this or what

I think you know I like you a lot

But you're bout to miss your shot

Are you gonna kiss me or not

It was the best dang kiss that I'd ever had

Except for that long one after that

And I knew if I wanted this thing to last

Sooner or later I'd have to ask

For your hand

So I took a chance

Bought a wedding band

And I got down on one knee

And you smiled and said to me

Are you gonna kiss me or not

Are we gonna do this or what

I think you know I love you a lot

I think we've got a real good shot

Are you gonna kiss me or not

So, we planned it all out for the middle of June

From the wedding cake to the honeymoon

And your momma cried when you walked down the aisle

When the preacher man said say I Do

I did, and you did, too

Then I lifted that veil and saw your pretty smile

And I said

Are you gonna kiss me or not

Are we gonna do this or what

Look at all the love that we've got

And it ain't never gonna stop

Are you gonna kiss me or not

Yeah baby I love you a lot

I really think we've got a shot

Are you gonna kiss me or not

March 24 marked four years post-wedding for us. I sure do love that boy who kissed me under the stars. I love him so much I spent our anniversary watching BYU basketball play in the sweet 16! Ok so it might that he loves me so much he was ok with these plans... Regardless we love each other a lot more than we love BYU basketball. The next day we took the kiddos to see Rango (strange but funny movie) and then we let Grandma take the kids and we went to our fave restaurant, Lock Stock and Barrel, and stuffed ourselves with prime rib and lobster because it was our anniversary so we were allowed to! And in case you were wondering, I love that boy who married me in the temple even more than I love lobster! It's only been four years and yet I cant remember life with out him. I'm pretty glad he kissed me.

Story Time

Parker, Rylan and I have been especially loving story time lately. We read books and then we read some more books, and then we read some more books, and then we read all those books again. But it keeps them happy for more than an hour at a time. Sometimes I decide to spice up the stories with a few additions of my own. Parker is too smart for that though- he calls me out on it- "That's not how it goes!". But he laughs at my renditions anyway. Rylan more prefers to eat the books. I used to think she was trying to help me turn the pages until I noticed every time she happened to get her pretty little fingers on a page she would instantly attempt to devour it. That is pretty much how it goes with everything in her little world. If she can get ahold of it, she assumes it must be edible. Speaking of stories, and Rylan eating everything, the other day Tyler and I were trying to convince Parker that he is too big to need a bottle at bedtime. As he began his rebuttal with several well thought out points, such as, "Bottles are not for babies, they are for Parker too" (I mean how can you argue that one?) anyway, as he made his points, he did not notice his bottle had fallen into the clenches of his baby sister, who especially loves bottles seeing how near and dear they are to her brother's heart. As she helped herself, Parker finally noticed, turned to Tyler and I and while resignedly shaking his head said, "Oh my man, she is drinking my bottle". I don't know what was so funny about it but we laughed about that one for a while.... we're still laughing.

Tomorrow is April Fools Day... I need a good prank and fast.

Oh my man.... March is over! (Had to use Parker's coined phrase there).

On an entirely different note, I have learned something. I have been spending a lot of time watching HGTV and DIY network shows. I love that kinda stuff (decorating, fixing up, beautifying houses). Houses are fun but I have noticed that a "home" is kinda like a little bubble that envelopes you no matter where you are. If home is a happy place, filled with love and security, and the Holy Ghost, you carry that with you no matter what kind of house you live in. I know this because we have moved 5 times in 9 months!! Yes you read that correctly. But in each house we have easily felt at home because of the joy we share when we are together. So the thing to remember is that it doesn't matter what the house looks like after all that decorating, fixing, and beautifying ... all that matters is what it feels like inside your home, and our home is a good one!

I almost forgot... Parker called me pretty today. I don't even know where he learned the word pretty but isn't that just melt-your-heart cute. That little gem is what mommyhood is made of!

My Corn Dogs

First off, don't you just want to smooch these two? I do!

Valentine's Day can be described by the following three words: Roses, donuts and Novacaine. Tyler unfortunately spent most of his Valentine's with the dentist. I would be jealous but I know he loves dentists about as much as he loves terrorists. Which is not at all just in case the government is reading this and thinks my husband is a terrorist-lover. He is most definitely not! He hates the dentist! So a root canal on Valentine's was so not ideal. However, he did manage to snag me some roses and a chocolate donut when he ran into Albertson's to get his prescription. What a sweet little Valentine he was with his drooping, half-numb smile :)

Then we ventured across the frozen foreverness of Idaho and Montana to visit Tyler's family and appraise in Bozeman. Tyler cannot appraise with out his assistant appraisers you know. He would die of boredom otherwise. Parker spent lots of time with Julia, Isaac and Cece and was pretty much in play-mate heaven. We had to take advantage of the snow so we went sledding and snowmobiling and just had a good ol' time with his family.

Defrosting after sledding.

Montana or so we would guess, who knows under all that snow?

And we stopped off to play trucks with Great Grandma Rice before rushing home as another snow storm hit. I think my grandma must play trucks in her free time. She is just too good at crawling around with her dump truck in hand, picking up trash from places such as the zoo. Parker loved it!

And to close, an awesome glimpse into the helplessness of men. We are moving this week so our kitchen, and all means with which to cook, are now in boxes. So the question arose, what's for dinner? I was busy with my sick and very sad baby so when Tyler mentioned we had some frozen corn dogs I said "Throw them in them oven!" to which he responded, "Ummm, I don't know how." So I proceeded to tell him each of the two steps to cooking frozen corn dogs, in great detail, just to find him five minutes later with a bag of frozen corn dogs and a puzzled look on his face. So I told him how to do it again. To make a long story short, I ended up putting them on the baking sheet and putting them in the oven. After they were done, he made it up to me by singing his very best rendition of The Star Spangled Banner into his corn dog as if it were a microphone. Men, what can you even say about that?

oh and one last picture of Rylan and her pig tails.

The End