Brighter Than Sunshine

Resolutions:

2012-01-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

So happened to find the list of New Year Resolutions I made for last year.

Here's how they went:

1. Read Scriptures and pray, both individually and with family, every day!

- Well I was probably at about 50% when I made that goal and I'd say I've improved to about 70%. So I guess this one better stay on my list 'til I get to 100%!

2. Learn about and understand the Atonement better.

-I'd say that is a life long assignment. I did read a great book on the Atonement in January... then I didn't do much else.

3. Read at least one book a month.

- Totally failed this one. I think I got to recreationally read 3 books all year! How sad. I'll be attempting this one again!

4. Potty Train Parker by February 1st!

-I think it took until about March 1st but we were successful!!

5. Spend one hour a day doing a fun, educational activity with the kids.

-If I could, I would spend 5 hours a day doing fun stuff with my kids. Some days I spent 3, others I spent 1, and some days I had to make up for the previous days I got nothing done because I spent all day playing with the kids. I'd say all those days probably evened out to an hour or so a day.

6. Lose 20 lbs.

-I lost 16 lbs... does that count?

I thought if I posted my resolutions on here this year, I would be held accountable to them.

So in addition to my failed attempts at the above resolutions... here are my 2012 Resolutions:

1. Prepare for and fast every fast Sunday.

- Sometimes I fast with out a purpose because I forgot it was fast sunday until the night before :(

2. Spend the entire week preparing, reading, praying about, and pondering about the lessons I give in Relief Society!

-Got a new calling and I'm feeling really nervous and inadequate!

3. SUCCESSFULLY budget and manage all our finances!

-We are still trying to find a system that works with Tyler's crazy pay periods.

4. Be featured on the show Extreme Couponing!

-ok not really but I would like to get back into coupons and save us a little more money!

5. Master the art of photography and photo editing.

-Mastering is definitely an over-reach but I would like to continue playing around with it until I get better.

6. Physically write in a journal.

-I use this blog as a journal but as you can see I am really bad at keeping up with it so I want to have a more personal account of my life!

7. Lose at least 11 more lbs.

-ugggg.....

With that said.... Anyone have any good books to recommend? Good luck to each of you on your resolutions.

And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Photo Shoot

2011-12-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-12-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

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.....

2011-12-01T11:09:00.001-08:00

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!

2011-11-20T14:47:00.000-08:00

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

2011-10-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

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...

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....

2011-08-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-08-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-24T13:08:00.001-07:00

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....

2011-07-08T20:52:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-06-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

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'

2011-06-05T23:02:00.001-07:00

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

2011-04-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-19T16:07:00.001-07:00

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....

2011-04-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-31T22:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

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

Baby, baby, baby Ooohh...

2011-02-15T20:53:00.000-08:00

Well I do have some funny things to say about Valentine's Day but that is a long story and I am really tired so I will save that one for another day.

I had to share this though. My baby loves the Bieber, Justin Bieber, that is (or technically Justin Glee-ber, since it was actually a Glee character imitating the Biebs). Yes it's true, he's got a catchy song or two, and I hear his fan base consists of mostly 13-year-old girls. But my six-month-old daughter? Swooning over a boy with the face of a 10-year-old and the voice of a modern-day Jackson 5 member?

Here is how we discovered this. Rylan has been down right grumpy the past day or so, which I now believe is due to a stomach bug seeing as how Parker threw up tonight :( Poor kiddos. Anyway, she was letting us have it tonight. Tyler and I tried just about every trick we know, rocking, swaddling, bouncing, walking, massaging, burping, nursing... you get it. She was not having any of that. She just kept crying. Well it's Tuesday and Tuesday night is Glee night at the Pooley Palace so we were enjoying what little we could hear over Rylan's distress (I really was feeling bad for her, she was so miserable) when all of the sudden, like a ray of sunshine, that Bieber imitator started to sing. Rylan immediately stopped crying. She sprawled out across my lap, arching her back to get a good look at this new dreamboat. In that position, she smiled and cooed along with his "Like baby, baby, baby ooohh" 's as if every "baby" was the Bieber calling her by name. As happy as any preteen girl I've ever seen. As a matter of fact she reminded me of myself back in the NSYNC era.

So, there you have it. My baby just became the youngest member of the Justin Bieber fan club. I'm not sure what to think about that but hey, he cured what I couldn't tonight so I just might be in love with him as well. That's an awful lot of Bieber Love in this home, isn't it? Shh.. don't tell Tyler :)

Sunday

2011-02-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel like certain church meetings were prepared specifically for you? Like Heavenly Father whispered to the speakers and teachers "Pst... Natalie is going to need to hear this today so make sure to stare her down as you teach it!" Well I got the message and I made a point to pay close attention.

Here is what I learned at church today:

1. Difficult. I will assume that word conjures up the same negative feelings in you as it does me. But I learned today that "difficult" is not synonymous with "bad". Actually difficult can be good. Hardships teach us. We learn, we overcome and we progress, all of which are very good things. Life itself is an obstacle course of challenges, some more difficult than others. What we do with those challenges makes us who we are. The world seems to live by the motto "the easier, the better". Take the shortcut, avoid the effort. But the right route isn't always the easy one. Just imagine who we would be if long ago, as little tiny first-graders (or for you really smart people, kindergarteners) we decided reading was just too difficult and we gave up. So when we look at our lives and think to ourselves, "why is my life so stinking difficult?" instead we might think of it this way... "Why is my life so stinking good?".

2. Heavenly Father gives us trials to see if we will put our righteous responsibilities first in life.

3. The worth of sacrifice is not measured by how much you give, but rather by how much faith it requires to give it up.

4. While some people are blessed with visions, visitations, and overwhelming sensations, most often, the Holy Ghost is understood by the soul as a still small voice or a feeling of peace. We don't always need a a sign in neon lights to know what the Lord is trying to tell us.

5. I really like my ward, I really miss being in primary, but Relief Society isn't so bad :)

If you're reading this, you're not LDS and you're wondering what in the world I am talking about, I highly recommend you click here to learn more about amazing Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Date Night

2011-02-04T22:12:00.000-08:00

So tonight, after receiving 3 desperate text messages and one desperate voicemail from Tyler begging me to come rescue him from his boredom and starvation (also known as his office), we decided we were going out to dinner. Like a date! But not just a date.... a family date! As in braving a sit-down restaurant on a friday night with a two-year-old and a 5month old. I can see the word NIGHTMARE flashing in many of your minds as you toss that idea around in your "been there, tried that, won't try it ever again" brain compartment. Face it, we moms have an entire brain compartment devoted to those kinds of things. But when your husband offers to take you to dinner, you have to jump all over it because:

A. He gets all chivalrous and opens doors and dishes your salad for you (cute!)

B. You don't have to cook (which also means you don't have to dishes)

C. It's Olive Garden and who doesn't love Olive Garden?

Well, about half way through the date, I found myself looking at my little table of four as if from a distance. Rylan was on my lap, terrorizing a mass of mushiness that once was a breadstick (she apparently loves Italian food as much as her momma!), Tyler was smiling with that smile that I love so much, taking pictures of Rylan and her new love, Mr. Breadstick. And Parker was driving sugar packets up and down the arms of his chair while softly singing "happy birthday to you". And my heart just melted right there next to my plate of ravioli. So this is love?

Many would have looked at the same scene I was seeing and say, "This is a date? It looks more like a circus to me!" But I saw my whole existence, together, content and in love and I wish I could freeze that moment forever! Now don't get me wrong, I think dates consisting of just my hubby and me are all kinds of magical but I have to say tonight was one of the best date nights EVER!

On another note, if you haven't read about the Barbaramobile, you probably should here to fully appreciate this bit. On our way home tonight, I was hardly surprised when Tyler decided to mortify me with his gangster antics. At several stop lights I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of our pimpmobile with my window rolled down (not my doing), some awful base-blasting song on the radio, my seat vibrating with each beat. Tyler was raging a little faster than usual because Rylan was declaring her anger from the back seat for separating her from her previously mentioned breadstick. We came up behind another car and, apparently, they were overcome by Barbarella because they flung their 4 Runner to the shoulder, let us pass, and crept back out behind us. Seriously. We own the road!

Fortress from The Cold!

2011-02-02T18:29:00.001-08:00

For over a week now our whole family has been battling the cold from you-know-where. We've had many sleepless nights and I have taken on the role of zombie mom, alive but barely. I think it was at about 4 pm, while I was in the middle of eating my third piece of chocolate cake and about half way through movie #2 of the High School Musical marathon on the Disney channel, that my brain suddenly and unexpectedly came back to me. Parker had been napping, and oh how I wish I had been as well, but little Rylan and her double ear infection would not give in to sleep. As soon as Parker woke up I realized I needed SOMETHING to combat this exhaustion. So we built ourselves a good ol' fashioned living room fort.

The kiddos loved it!

We read books...

and pretty soon Parker was convinced he was on a full on adventure! Especially when I told him we were on a safari and hiding from the lions and rhinos.

Then we heard the garage door open and found ourselves hiding from the "daddy monster"!

But he found us... Could have been Parker's squirmies and giggles that gave us away, who knows?

So the "daddy monster" joined in on the fort fun.

My favorite quote from within our cozy fortress...

"Mommy, this is one big fart!"

Fort, fart, close enough.

Sweet Ride.

2011-02-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

This is Silvester (spelled with an "i" because he is silver)

Silvester is my new car that Tyler and I spent months searching for. He was the perfect car for the perfect price. I mean perfect! Had everything we wanted. So as you might imagine, I was growing very fond of Silvester when just one very short month after purchasing him we were rear-ended. Turns out there was a lot more damage done than we realized and so Silvester is out of commission until at least the end of February.

Meet Barbara the Black Beauty... or as Tyler affectionately calls her, Barbarella. She is the rental who will be taking us from point A to point B in the mean time.

Although she lacks some of the more pimped-out features of her fellow Chevy HHR family members...

... Don't underestimate her 1940's ghetto-fabulousness! Her radio presets are set at the most hip-hoppin-est stations Boise has to offer and her boomin' base does not disappoint! Tyler and I have noticed, on several occasions, other drivers forfeiting their right-of-way to us. And I can see the intimidation in the drivers' eyes as Barbara pulls up next to them, loaded down with car seats and a very soccer mom-esque driver in the front seat. Don't mess with the Pooley fam, we're riding gangsta' style in the Barbaramobile.

Moral of the story: material things like Silvester come and go in life, true joy is having a husband who likes to help you pick out radical names for cars and lives up to his full potential as a 1940's mobster, cruising the streets of Boise, Idaho.

Win!

2011-01-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

Last night BYU Men's basketball, ranked #9 in the nation, defeated San Diego State, ranked #4, 71-58. It was one of those games you anticipate and lose sleep over (well if you're a rather intense BYU sports fan like me, you do). Regardless, I think everyone, not just fans but the entire NCAA world, recognized this game as "the big one" of the season. It was close but BYU pulled away and finished them off. It was a great game!

So the question that is now on everyone's mind... What was the factor in BYU's epic win over SDSU? I'm sure Coach Rose would agree....

Our fans were cuter than theirs.

Enough said.

January Can be Fun!

2011-01-25T15:01:00.000-08:00

In Boise, January can be described by one word... Gray! The post-Christmas blues plus the gray skies and cold weather equals a long depressing month of wishing Spring would burst in with all of its color and warmth a few months early. But it doesn't have to be gray, especially when you have little kids who seem to make everything more fun! If you are looking for a little sunshine, try the following:

1. Feed your 5 month old baby her first taste of rice cereal and watch the funny faces she makes.

First Bite

The aftermath

2. Find an awesome, brightly colored, joyfully musical toy that lets you bounce around in it... It seems to entertain this little girl no matter what the weather is outside.

3. Take your 2-year-old to a huge place filled with bounce houses- Parker thought he had died and gone to Heaven. And Rylan and I even had some fun running through the inflatable obstacle courses and sliding down the "Extreme Adrenaline" slide. What can I say, I am a real thrill seeker :)

Jump!

Rylan being bounced on my lap in the giant bounce house.

Parker and his cousin Peyton

I don't think he's having any fun!

4. Take your kids swimming at the YMCA kiddie pool. My kids are such water babies. I am pretty sure I could stick the in a puddle and they would think I was the coolest mom on Earth.

In addition to the entertainment, these fun activities help moms burn calories and wear our kids out so they are nice and mellow the rest of the day. And if you're lucky they might even take long naps afterward!

Kids make the Januarys of life so much more bearable! They are my sunshine :)

My Kids

2011-01-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

I just love this little girl! She is such a happy little baby, so content to just be apart of our family. She is all smiles and her little personality is not little at all! She has so much to say and she expresses most of it in the faces she makes. I know I am biased but I think that little face of her's is so beautiful! She will be five months in a few short days and I can't believe how quickly it has gone by. She is still our tiny little peanut, weighing in at 12.5 lb, which is only in the 17%, so sometimes I forget how fast she is growing up. But what she lacks in size she makes up for in personality :) She loves her big brother and he lovers her too! He has even made up special songs that he likes to sing to her, one goes something like "baby, baby, baby" in a really jazzy voice and the other is a little chant, the words of which I can't make out for the life of me but everytime he sings it and does this funny little dance, Rylan starts giggling- it never fails! They must have some secret language from the pre-existence, but I sure wish I knew what he was singing :)

We are so happy to have this little bundle of joy and had so much fun celebrating her first Christmas.

Parker is still as fun as can be. He is learning and growing so much!He has been going to Grandma Milligan's pre school twice a week and he comes home with fun art projects and new songs everyday. The best part is that I can tell he is learning so much! He is also getting a little more used to being away from mommy and daddy, of course it helps to know his grandma is just in the other room if he needs her.

The other day after going potty on the toilet he said to me "I'm a big boy!" I answered, "Yes you are and I'm so proud of you." Then he added very seriously "Mommy, I'm growing up!" which made me want to cry. He is growing up!

Christmas Time!

2011-01-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

Well another holiday season has come and gone.... I am still in denial about it being over which is why I have yet to write about it. But here we are, almost half way through January, so I thought I'd better get to it. Here is how Christmas 2010 went down for the Pooley Family...

We got a tree! Parker picked us out a beautiful tree!

And Daddy chopped it down... ok so it was already chopped down but he did pay for it and carry it off the lot :)

Next, we had a visit to St. Luke's Urgent Care. The Monday before Christmas, Parker was exploring Grandma and Grandpa Milligan's beautifully decorated house when he came across the stockings, hung with care, on the mantle. He thought maybe he would peek to see if there were any goodies in them and when he yanked on one, the metal stocking holder fell with it, hitting Parker in the head and cutting his eyebrow open :( A little Dermabond (aka super glue) and he was good as new!

Christmas Eve we spent playing "Minute to Win It" games with my family. It was so much fun!

Opening our traditional gift of Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve

Minute to Win It games! It was a blast!

We spent the night at my parents' and woke up early with my family to open presents.

Parker coming down the stairs Christmas morning...

Look what Santa brought!

After presents and breakfast we headed over to Tyler's Grandma's house where we all got to talk to Tyler's brother Jay who is on his mission in Brazil. It was great to hear from him! Then we enjoyed the company of Tyler's family and extended family.

Parker had so much fun with all of the kids.

Julia and our new nephew Jefferson

Parker getting some hugs from his cousin Miki

Then on New Year's Eve, my aunt and uncle and cousins came over and we played more Minute to Win It games (since they were so much fun before). We didn't tell them that we had some previous practice under our belts :)

My cousin Carly playing one of the games.

I already miss that Christmas feeling! It is so fun to have family traditions and celebrations. But I know that even though Christmas may not last all year long, the gift of the Atonement does. And our Savior and His Gospel can give us that wonderful feeling every day of the year. We hope you all felt His love and joy this holiday season and that it continues to bless you through out the year!

ThAnKsGiViNg!!

2010-12-02T19:14:00.000-08:00

I love the holidays! This year we spent Thanksgiving on Fort Lewis just south of Seattle. Tyler's sister and her husband live on base and Tyler's parents rented a cabin there for a few days. The drive there and back was not much fun- snow packed and icy roads slowed us way down so it ended up being a 10 hour drive each way. But once we got there we enjoyed a lot of fun with the Pooleys. Tyler and Parker, along with all the other kids, spent quite a bit of time in the hot tub despite the chilly 20 degree weather and snow. They are crazy! We enjoyed a very yummy meal as well!

Dinner time!

Parker ate some turkey and a roll but his favorite was definitely the sparkling cider... I think he had half a bottle by himself :)

Rylan had her first taste of Thanksgiving- I snuck her a little taste of sweet potato. She wasn't quite sure what to think about it. Luckily she has another few months to decide before food enters her life again.

And we were very excited to meet our brand new nephew Jeffferson Lee. He was born the day before Thanksgiving- just in time for the family to meet him! Congratulations to Lacey, Denver and the new big sisters Libby and Miki!

We have so much to be thankful for. I am truly grateful for my wonderful little family. I can testify that family, along with the true gospel of Jesus Christ, is all you need in life! Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving as well!

Kristen and Some Cougar Football

2010-11-19T15:52:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago we went down to Provo to see my sister and go to BYU football game!! It was a short trip but we had so much fun! We were really missing Auntie Kristen so we were so glad see her. Parker loved the football game! Every touchdown he sang and danced to the "Ra ra ra ra ra... gooooooo Cougars!" Just like we do at home :) He talked about it for days afterward.

Rylan slept about half the time and the rest she was pretty content on my lap. All the cheering and cannons didn't phase her a bit.

Unfortunately this next picture was terrible of me but so cute of Parker so some cropping was done. He was loving life in Lavell Edwards Statium!

We also got to see lots of great friends who still live around Provo. It was so fun to see them. Love you guys :)

We are a cougar family for sure... Goooo Cougars!

Stop Complaining

2010-11-09T22:24:00.000-08:00

Every time I start feeling sorry for myself and feel the urge to complain to Heavenly Father about the hand I've been dealt that week, I am quickly reminded how lucky I am. I admire all the people in my life who endure far more severe trials than my own. And from now on I am going to stop complaining!

2010-10-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

I say this every year but I LOVE pumpkin patches. Some of my favorite memories growing up are from this amazing pumpkin patch my family went to every year in Wheatland, California called Bishop's Pumpkin Farm. I have never been to one that was as cool as that one but I have decided pumpkin patches have to be a tradition for our family as well. So we headed out to Farmstead Pumpkin Patch and we had a lot of fun! We saw lots of pumpkins, we ate yummy funnel cake, and we enjoyed the cool Fall air and pretty scenery.

Parker road a pony! He wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first but be the time the ride was over, he didn't want to get off. His pony's name was Sweetie Pie.

We sat in a giant rocking chair....

Parker rode the cow train. Same story as the pony rides, not sure at first but loving it by the end. His cow was named Duke :)

We jumped on the bouncy pillow- that was Parker's favorite part!

And little Rylan did this the whole time. Hopefully next year she'll be in on the fun too!

I can't believe how fast October has flown by. Tomorrow is Halloween and before we know it, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here. I wish it would slow down a little so I can soak in the holidays a little bit more!

Oh and I got a new double stroller today and I am so excited to try it out and do some walking before it gets too cold. I sure will miss my walking buddies though :(

My Little Pumpkins

2010-10-21T20:27:00.001-07:00

I love Fall, cool air, colorful leaves, Halloween, and most of all pumpkins- my little pumpkins!

Go hold your little pumpkins, they are precious and as I was reminded this week, fragile. We are so lucky to have them in our lives.

Rylan's Blessing

2010-10-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to bless Rylan at church. I love baby blessing days. Both Parker and Rylan's blessing days were so very special. They reminded us of how lucky we are to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to have the Priesthood in our home, to have beautiful healthy children, and to be surrounded by amazing family and friends. What more can you ask for in life? Rylan's blessing was beautiful and I love my husband for his sincere words, you could feel the Spirit so strongly. The weather was also gorgeous! It was sunny and warm but felt so much like Fall- so pretty!

After Sacrament meeting we had lunch at our house with all of our wonderful family and friends that joined us. We are so grateful to everyone who made the day so special especially Grandma Pooley for Rylan's beautiful dress and Grandma Milligan for the delicious food and all of the help and life-saving she was for me that day.

I have such a strong testimony of the Plan of Salvation and eternal families, Sunday was another great reminder of what eternity with loved ones will be like.

Photography

2010-09-23T11:18:00.001-07:00

Photography

I LOVE pictures! You can ask Tyler- I am one of those annoying wives that makes everyone take family pictures every two months and I am constantly torturing my children with the bright flash of my camera. Need more evidence? I have 35 Facebook albums and over 5,000 pictures on my computer... Yeah I am a little crazy. I have a couple of friends who are really great at photography and they have inspired me to play around with my pictures to try to make them a little more professional looking. I totally lack the skill and creativity to be really good at this photography thing but I have a lot of passion so this week I am seeing what comes from it. Here is what I have so far.

These are a few of my favorites... I want to take some cute pictures of both the kids within the next few days. If you want to see real talent you should check out my friend's blog. I have a bunch more from this photo shoot with Rylan on Facebook.

One Month!

2010-09-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

One month goes by so fast!

Parker at one month:

Rylan at one month:

If they were both naked I am not sure I'd be able to tell them apart. And they both made/make that same face- I LOVE that face :)

I love my babies!!!

Life with Two!

2010-09-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging, life with two little kiddos is BUSY! But so wonderful. I don't have much to post because we have not done much the last month. But today Rylan is exactly one month old so I thought I would post some pictures of her.

She is growing so fast and her little spirit and personality are becoming more observable everyday. It is so fun to have her in our home. She is healthy and is starting to sleep in good 3-4 hr chunks already. She seems to be a pretty happy baby and she always has her mouth wide open, tongue sticking out, with a cute little grin. We all love her very much!

As for my little man, he continues to make me smile everyday. I wouldn't say he is suffering from "Terrible-Two's" but definitely the "Trying-Two's". We have good days and not so good days but overall he is still my little Sunshine. He is a very good brother. He loves giving "Ry-ry" kisses and his favorite thing to do lately is to put a blanket on her and tell me she is cold. Here are a few fun stories:

The other night at about 6:00, Parker took a bath- baths are Parker's very favorite thing right now. Between getting Parker out of the bath, dried and dressed, making dinner and trying to keep Rylan happy, I forgot to drain the tub. At about 8:00, Parker went into our room, after about 10 minutes of hearing and seeing nothing of him, Tyler went in to see what he was up to and this is what he found.....

My friend Jessica gave Parker this cute costume she made for her son when he was this age. Parker loves it and has been wearing it all day. I think he makes an awfully cute Superman :)

We bought Parker his first bike yesterday. Tyler spent some time today helping him ride it. He is pretty good!

Well, everyone warned me that having 2 kids was going to be hard. It is at times but it is also so wonderful and fulfilling to see your two little kids interact. I am very excited to watch them grow up together!

Rylan

2010-08-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

Our little girl is here! Rylan Esther Pooley was born this morning at 10:27 am weighing 6lbs 11oz- our tiny little peanut:) I just sent Tyler home to spend the night with Parker and I am sitting in the hospital with Ry on a pillow next to me, watching her sleep. I figured I better write this all down because I know once I get home and back to reality, life will be too crazy to sit down and blog!

So here are the details for anyone curious. I thought my labor with Parker was pretty darn easy as far as laboring goes but this time around was like a dream come true! I was in labor for a total of 3 hours, I felt about 20 minutes of contractions before getting my epidural, I pushed 1 and 1/2 times and out she came! I literally had to hold her in for about ten minutes making sure the doctor would get there in time! I had my first contraction about 7:30 am. At about 10:15 am I called my mom from the hospital to let her know I was dilated to a 5 1/2 and everything was looking good. FIVE minutes later my nurse said- "I'm going to check you again because she's acting like she's ready to come!" I had gone from a 5 1/2 to an 8 in FIVE minutes! I frantically called my mom (who was trying to get there with my family and Parker for the grand finale) and told her to DRIVE FAST! Not even 10 minutes and 1 and 1/2 pushes later, I was holding my beautiful little girl!

My labor and delivery nurse was amazing! Dr. Lowder didn't tease me too much (he is quite the jokester) And Tyler and I really enjoyed the whole experience. And Tyler was of course a wonderful labor coach through the whole thing. It was fast but flawless. And I am in love!

We were glad Tyler's mom and sisters were able to meet her before they move to Rexburg tomorrow. We will miss having them around to spoil the kids!

Parker was not quite sure what to think when he got there and met his new little sister. He and Grandma watched the nurses weigh and assess her and then he was ready to go back to playing with Kristen and Jake. I am sure he will grow to love her. Tyler is already so wrapped around her tiny little finger! I know he is nervous about having a girl but he is already showing a promising future as her daddy :) I sure am missing my boys tonight though and I am looking forward to being home with our little family of four :) Now I am going to sleep!

Many more pictures to come!

Need some advice...

2010-08-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Ok this is for all of you A+ moms out there who have perfect children on perfect schedules- which seems to be every mom but me :) Parker has never been a good sleeper. He has been sleeping in his "big boy" toddler bed for about two months now and has weeks where he will sleep through the night like a charm and then he'll have weeks where he wakes up 1-3 times a night. Right now, of course right as the baby is about to arrive and keep me up all night anyway, Parker wakes up once a night EVERY night! Then I have to go lay next to him in bed in order to get him back to sleep which can take anywhere from 5 to 30 min. So I am looking for some coaching from all you moms on ways I can get him consistently sleeping through the night. I am not sure I can wake up with two kids every night and still keep my sanity :) Feel free to leave comments!

Water!

2010-08-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

Here is what we have been up to since my last post...

1. We moved! Got it all done in 2 1/2 days. Thanks to our families for all of the help packing, cleaning, loading and unloading.

2. My wonderful friends threw a baby shower for me :) It was a ton of fun and I got lots of fun girly stuff! Thanks to everyone who came and especially Valerie, Laura, Mom and Kristen for doing all the work!

3. Water! We have living in the water. In the last week we went to the wate

r park twice, we went boating, we played in the sprinklers, and we went to the primary activity that had swimming, water balloons, a giant inflatable water slide and a slip and slide. In addition, I, mostly by myself, consumed an entire Costco 35 pack of water bottles in one week! What can I say, I am a thirsty pregnant woman :) And we love the water!

4. My Grandma came to visit from California. We enjoyed spending time with her and are so glad she was able to visit! She came along for our boating outing and it was a blast!

Boating!

Wish I could take credit for this awesome picture of Tyler wake boarding but I was driving the boat and my mom was behind the camera. Yep... that's my husband :)

Jake tried wake boarding for the first time and did great! He got up for a few seconds and can't wait to go again!

Parker and his aunt Kristen

Control Freak!

2010-07-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

There is something that I have learned about myself, several times through out life... I am a control freak. I don't try to control others, I just hate when I feel like things in my own life are out of my control! I hate being patient enough to wait and see things work out on their own. So as you can imagine, Heavenly Father, quite often, has to teach me how to be patient and have faith that HE is in control, not me. Lately I have been experiencing one of these lessons and it was not a pretty sight :) I was freaking out to the point that I was literally sending myself into labor. But if I would have just calmed down and realized once again that I can't control everything and that He knows exactly what he is doing, I could have saved myself a lot of distress. We now have a new house to move into next week, Tyler is finally getting paid for all the hard work he has been doing this summer, and despite my crazy body stressing itself into labor, our baby is still in there and healthy! I see that Heavenly Father irons out our lives for us- even if it's at the very last minute :) And once again, I am humbled. Thank goodness he is in control and not me!

Good thing I have these guys (and little girl not pictured) to save me from myself :)

And here is the 8 month belly! Only four weeks to go!

PaRkEr'S BiRtHdAy PaRtY!!

2010-07-13T18:57:00.001-07:00

Our Birthday Boy!

We decided to throw Parker a birthday party a little early this year because the end of July might be a little crazy for us as we prepare to move and make room for the baby, etc. His actual birthday is July 20 but we celebrated with family and friends on Saturday. We invited everyone to the little park just up the street from our house. It was perfect because the park is small and fenced in so the kids could run around all they wanted and the parents could enjoy visiting while keeping and eye on the kiddos. It was so fun! My mom brought a bunch of fun water toys and squirt guns, needles to say all the kids, both toddlers and the older kids, enjoyed getting wet.

I stayed up until 1:00 am the night before making these lovely soccer ball cupcakes. I thought they were appropriate because Parker loves soccer and he has spent a lot of time watching the World Cup with us lately.

Parker spent a lot of time on the swings! Between swings and any form of water (including the sprinklers that came on later that day) he was in Heaven!

He also insisted that he have one of his balloons at all times that day!

Playing on the playground with another balloon :)

Having so much fun with his daddy!!

Blowing out his 2 candles! He blew them out all by himself... I was impressed.

Yummy! Unfortunately he wasn't that interested in the cupcakes I slaved over, so no fun pictures of him covered in frosting.

Opening presents.... he got lots of great stuff, including a lifetime supply of bubbles- which is awesome because he LOVES bubbles!!

Chillin'... starting to get worn out from all the fun.

And this is where he ended his afternoon, crashed on our bed holding on to... balloons!!

Thank you to all our family and friends who made Parker feel so special at his party. We are so blessed and had so much fun with all of you! Once again I took 135 pictures at the party and we have a bunch of cute ones of all our friends and family. I will put them on Facebook so check them out!

Happy 4th of July!!

2010-07-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

Independence day is one of my very favorite holidays! I love it! I love all things patriotic, then add summertime, BBQ's, fireworks and fun and I am a happy girl :) So I took about a million pictures this weekend. Here is what we did:

Saturday, July 3rd:

My little cousin Carly was baptized Saturday morning in Twin Falls so we spent the day in Twin with my Aunt, Uncle, Cousins and Grandma. We were very excited for Carly on her big day, unfortunately she was sick so she spent the rest of the day in bed :( But the rest of the family had a blast....

Blowing bubbles

Playing games

Spending time with the family

Watching my dad, uncle Doug, Tyler, Jake and my cousin Kaden set off their illegal fireworks

Sunday July 4th:

(back at home) I made red, white and blue pancakes for breakfast

We went out to Tyler's parents' house

And enjoyed.... you guessed it, more fireworks!

And no trip to Grandma and Grandpa Pooley's would be complete with out some trampoline time

We also played a really fun game of baseball that I didn't get pictures of. But Tyler was the home run champ... way to go hubby!

Then Tyler, Parker, Isaac and I went downtown to watch the Boise firework show. We found a great spot on top of a BSU parking garage. We set up our chairs in the back of the truck and enjoyed the show! Parker loved them!

We are so grateful to live in this beautiful, free country. Sometimes I think people get too caught up in politics and arguing and forget how very blessed we are to be Americans!! Thank you to the men and women who fight to protect our freedoms and especially to the families who give up their moms, dads, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters to fight for our home. We are especially grateful to our brother-in-law Denver, who is in the military! God bless America!

How did this happen???

2010-06-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

As July approaches so very quickly, I can't help but wonder how two years could have flown by so fast! Especially after spending the other day sorting through the 4,000 pictures (yes literally 4,000 pictures- I'm a little obsessed with the camera) on our computer and finding these:

How does this

(shortly after birth)

Turn into this

(On his first birthday)

And then turn into this

(Memorial Day)

The little stinker gets cuter everyday! And I can't believe I'm going to have a two-year-old on my hands pretty soon. But this new two-year-old personality is pretty fun, nothing "terrible" about it.... yet!

On another note, I've been thinking about trials. We all have them, right? We have been faced with some lately and even though I think I've said the phrase "I'm giving up!" several times these past couple weeks, I know this too shall pass. And to be quite honest I am thankful for these trials because I know I can handle them. I would take these over other trials any day. I feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband who is full of faith and can help drag me through the rough times (yes sometimes he has to drag me, ha ha) and to have such wonderful parents to support us and help as much as they can without impeding on our learning experience. And of course for the adorable boy who keeps me smiling all day long and a beautiful little spirit headed to our family in just a few weeks ( 7 1/2 to be exact :) Life is great and our Savior is with us every step of the way. All that is left to do is endure and enjoy.

Father's Day

2010-06-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

Three posts in one day! This one is extra special because it's about Father's Day! And I am so blessed to have an amazing dad and an amazing daddy to my children!

Here are some of the reasons Parker loves his Daddy:

He is a great example to him

He loves Mommy and Parker very much!

He works very hard to take care of us

He is never too busy or too tired to play with Parker

He loves to teach parker new things

He loves to play soccer and and football with Parker in our living room

He lets Parker play his guitar with him

He gives Parker blessings when he is sick (which has been a lot lately)

He eats pop-cicles on the porch with us

He entertains and chases after Parker all of church so Mom can do her calling

He watches Playhouse Disney in our room in the mornings with Parker while he gets ready for work

He is just so much fun and shows us and tells us he loves us every day!

WE LOVE YOU DADDY!!

Parker is blessed with wonderful Grandpas as well! Here is where Parker ended up Father's Day night:

Crashed in my dad's arms in the rocking chair. I am especially thankful for my dad this year because not only has he been a wonderful father to me all my life, he is also a wonderful father to Tyler. They get along really well and spend a lot of time together golfing and talking about politics, etc. They even went on a road trip together. He is also a wonderful Grandpa to Parker. We love him very much!

And Grandpa Pooley always has a special treat for Parker when we go to visit Tyler at work. You can tell he loves Parker so much and Parker loves to see him! We are grateful for his love too!

Happy Father's Day to our wonderful Dads!

Odds and Ends

2010-06-21T16:22:00.001-07:00

Just a few random thoughts:

1. My new favorite word of Parker's is Pop-cicle. However, he does not pronounce it even remotely close to pop-cicle. It is Poqu-a-ways. It took me a while to figure out what he was saying but I figured it out when he went to our freezer and pointed asking to eat a poqu-a-way outside. So dang cute! The other night he even said it in his sleep. Melt my heart like a popcicle :)

2. Yesterday marked two months left til my due date. Yay! I can't decide if I want these last two months to go by fast or slow. I can't wait to get her here so I can meet her and see her beautiful little face. On the other hand... I am nowhere near ready for her. We have all of the essential baby stuff from Parker but we have no girly clothes, blankets, etc. Plus I am not sure I am mentally and physically prepared for having two children- but that may never happen so bring it on!

3. We do have the blanket for baby's crib- It's the one I made- my big sewing project I mentioned earlier. I finally took a picture. All of you seamstresses out there would laugh at my work if you could see it up close but I think it will keep her warm which is all a blanket is intended for right?

4. Parker has his very own bed! We set it up last night and he slept in it all night long! Woo hoo! Here's to hoping every night from here on out goes that well. My Grandma is making him an adorable quilt with animals on it to go on his bed so when that gets here I'll have to post a picture.

5. I got to go to the temple with my mom Saturday morning. We went really early but it was so great to spend time in the temple with her. We both felt we needed a special trip and special it was. I love her and I love the temple!

6. The unknown: Our lease in this house is up in August- not great timing on our part considering our baby is due in August as well. So now we are faced with the decision of WHAT NEXT? Big question because it could be answered in so many different ways: see if we can extend our lease, move out but stay in Eagle, look into buying a house, move far away and start a new adventure. Who knows? But you can bet I'll be losing a lot of much needed sleep the next few months over it.

Montana

2010-06-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Tyler had some work to do in Montana a couple weeks ago so Parker and I decided to go along for an adventure. Our adventure consisted of a total of 24 hours in the car over the space of three days! It was a lot of driving but we saw some pretty scenery and had tons of fun just enjoying time together. Here is what the trip consisted of:

Day 1: We drove to Idaho Falls, visited my Grandma and Grandpa Rice, then went to my uncle and aunt's house for dinner and visited with them and my Grandma Tetley. Stayed the night in their basement- my cousin even gave up her room for us which was so nice!

Parker enjoying Aunt Missie's Ribs! Yum- the kid loves ribs!

Day 2: Got some donuts for breakfast and headed for Montana. Drove through Island Park, ID- very beautiful! Drove through Bozeman, MT- rainy but very green and pretty. Kept driving and driving and driving until we reached Hobson, MT, one of the smallest towns I've ever been to. It had two restaurants/bars, one of which Tyler is appraising, a library, a school, a post office, a general store and some houses... There wasn't even a gas station or anywhere to use the restroom.

After Hobson we drove to the county offices in Stanford, MT. Then we drove all the way back to Bozeman (3 hrs or so) back to the hotel. We ate dinner, swam in the pool at our hotel and slept!

Day 3: We decided to take the long way home so we could drive through Yellowstone and Jackson Hole, WY.

We hoped to see some fun wildlife in Yellowstone.

Turns out, all we saw was a bunch of these....

Not too exciting but we did see some beautiful scenery such as this:

Plus I was entertained by these two:

And we had a lot of fun exploring.

Between Yellowstone and Jackson we saw these:

The Teton Mountains. Very pretty!

In Jackson Hole we stopped and ate dinner at Sidewinders. It was so good! Then we drove aaaaaalllll the way back to Eagle. Little Parker was such a trooper. He was content riding around, looking at books, playing with his cars, singing some songs and watching movies the whole way. We are glad we went on the adventure with Dad!

24

2010-06-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

So I turned 24 on May 30... getting so old :) That isn't the exciting part though, the really exciting part is that I had a fantastic weekend with my family! And on top of that, Kim Lewis, now Kim Hawkes, my best friend for as long as I can remember, came to visit with her family from Logan. We were so excited to have them! Parker and Kim's little boy Caiden got along really well and Tyler and her husband Greg get along great too so it was a blast. My sister Kristen, Kim, and I have so many fun memories growing up together and we could spend hours talking (and we did! Stayed up til 4:30 am the first night!) I loved having both of my sisters for my birthday :) Tyler, my family, and Kim's family made this birthday extra special and I am so grateful for them.

Kim and I and our silly boys!

Parker and his new buddy Caiden

Another birthday celebration... Tyler's sister Chelsea finally had her baby girl Lucy. She is adorable and we are super happy for their family!

Baby Lucy

Lately:

2010-05-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here is what we've been up to lately:

On the only nice day we've had in about two weeks, we went on a walk with Aunt Kristen, Aunt Chelsea and Peyton to feed the ducks.

Then... crummy weather (rain, rain and more rain) along with Parker's case of croup has equaled a whole lot of this:

But today, despite more rain and still not feeling very good, we had a lot of fun eating watermelon!

Or in Parker's case, throwing "melon" all over the kitchen with the melon baller.

What a fun, sticky mess for Mommy :) Worth it!

And lastly, we have been waiting around for Tyler's sister Chelsea to have her baby!!

Groceries

2010-05-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

I learned the other night that men and grocery stores do no mix. We had to make a quick run to the store before bed because we were out of whole milk for Parker (and that is an emergency at bed time!!) and dog food. Tyler thought we should all go. If I had gone alone I would have walked out of the store with milk and dog food. Here is what we ended up with when we got home:

THREE bags of bulk candy

6 pack of Henry Weinhards root beer

Cherry Coke

Cheerios

Bacon (I thought I was the one with weird pregnancy cravings)

Tortilla chips

Bean dip

Oranges

A watermelon

Milk

Dog food

Can you tell my husband didn't grow up with much sugar around the house?

It made for an entertaining trip to the store! Love you Babe ;)

Change...

2010-05-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's because the seasons are having such a hard time changing from winter/yucky spring to beautiful spring/ summer, but I feel like I need a change. Maybe a big change. I know I have a lot of change coming in August but I feel like we are missing out on something right now.

Maybe some fresh new wind will blow our direction... I guess we will see.

Little Things

2010-05-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

I am not a good journal keeper. I wish I was because I love reading the few journal entries I have. So my blog is now the closest thing I have to a journal so I am going to try to write more often about little things going on... probably won't be of much interest to anyone reading but it's more for me, sorry :) So here are a few little things for the week:

1. My favorite thing lately is Parker's "sneaky kisses". Once Parker came and started giving me lots of kisses and Tyler started tickling him and saying, "Hey, quit kissing on my wife!". It has now turned into a game. Whenever I'm sitting next to Tyler, Parker will come sit on my lap and start kissing all over my face, the whole time watching Tyler out of the corner of his eye, waiting for him to react. Then when Tyler does the usual, "Hey, who do you think you are kissing on my wife like that", Parker's kisses turn into hilarious giggles. He'll do this over and over. It is one of those moments when you realize how wonderful your life is. I love it!

2. The other day the baby had several episodes of hiccups. I would notice it every once in a while though out the day. Parker and I were goofing off and he was laughing so hard he ended up with the hiccups. At the same time he got the hiccups, the baby suddenly started in with the hiccups as well. It was pretty funny listening to Parker with the hiccups and then feeling the baby's little hiccups inside of me.

3. Last night we had a fun little FHE. We decided to go golfing. By we I mean Tyler went golfing and Parker and I drove the cart and cheered him on! I'm sure the other golfers on the course appreciated us being there but every one was really nice and thought it was funny to see Parker out on the course. Tyler of course helped Parker make a few puts... normally I would say something here about Parker being the next Tiger Woods but I am disgusted with that man so let's hope he turns out more like Phil Mickelson, or more like Grandpa Doug, or like his daddy! We got off the course just in time for a crazy thunder storm to roll in. Then we had a yummy dinner, our FHE lesson on budgeting- my favorite ha ha- and some sherbet for dessert. Fun night!

4. Last week we had and FHE lesson on drawing on the powers of Heaven. So I have been working really hard over the week to make my prayers sincere and really ponder and look for answers. The funny thing is that Satan seems to be working really hard to ruin my hard work! It seems like the opposite of everything I'm praying for is showing up in my life. At first I was really down about it until I realized obviously Satan was going to see me working harder than I have in a very long time to be in tune with the Spirit and obviously he wasn't going to let it be easy. So here is to week two... I'm not giving up that easy!

5. Last week my sister-in-law and I decided to take on some sewing projects. I finished a cute little brown and pink blanket for the baby and I learned that sewing isn't that difficult, but sewing well, is another story! My blanket resembles a blanket but if you look too closely at it you will see the proof that it was made by a rookie. Never the less, I am proud of my first big sewing project and I will post a picture when I finish adding the flowers I plan on adding. We'll see how it goes!

That's it for little things this week. I wish I had pictures to break up all of the writing. I totally understand if no one reads any of this- like I said it's more for me and my poor journal keeping.

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

I love my mom and I love being a mom! So Mother's Day is all around a wonderful day! I feel so lucky!

I have a wonderful mom who despite owning and running a huge pre-school, still finds time to make her family feel important to her. She literally spends every ounce of energy she has every day and never lets a day go by with out doing something nice for her family. She has shown us so much love and support and I am very thankful for her!

Tyler's mom is also a very loving and generous mother. I feel very lucky to get along so well with my mother-in-law. Plus she raised a pretty amazing son whom I was lucky enough to marry so I am very grateful for her as well!

I'm sure I sound like a broken record- every other blog post is about how much I love my family and being a wife and mother but I can't help it! Motherhood is the most amazing thing in the world. And it's true what mother's say, you can't understand the love a mother has for her children until you have a child yourself. I never thought I could love a messy, poopy, trouble-making little boy as much as I do. It is incredible! I am so thankful for the experiences I have been blessed with as a wife and mother. I love my little family !!

So to celebrate this great holiday Tyler and Parker took me to dinner Saturday night. I LOVE shrimp and seafood- I'm even allergic to shrimp but I love it so much I ignore the puffy lips and swollen fingers afterward- so we went to Red Lobster. Then Sunday my dad made us steak and yep... more shrimp! His dinner was even better than Red Lobster! Needless to say I had my fill of shrimp. Then we spent the rest of Sunday enjoying time with Tyler's family playing on the tramp and chasing the kids around. It was a very full day and full of great moms. To all of the wonderful mothers I know, especially my mom,....

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Parker's Big Day

2010-05-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

I know that this is insignificant to just about everyone but Tyler and I but Parker had a big day yesterday. First of all, when I got Parker out of the tub yesterday morning before church, Parker informed me he needed to go "potty". We bought him his own little potty a month or so ago but besides playing with the seat cushion, he has shown very little interest in it. So we were pretty excited when he sat on his potty and peed! Woo hoo! Now if we can get him to use it more frequently we will be excited.

In addition to the potty usage, Parker finally stayed in nursery for the full 2 hours! Tyler stayed in there for a little while and then left and Parker stayed until Tyler went and got him after church. YAY! The usual Sunday consists of Tyler dropping Parker off while I run off to Primary. Then the nursery leaders bringing Parker to Tyler no more than 10 minutes after he leaves. Then Tyler spends most of his Sunday chasing Parker in the halls or trying to get him to go back to nursery. I would love to help but I run around like crazy during those last 2 hours so poor Tyler hasn't had a real day at church in a couple months. So keep it up Parker, we're so proud of you!

Girl's Trip (+ Parker)

2010-04-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Parker and I took a fun little trip with my mom and sister down to Salt Lake for my sister's best friend's wedding. It was a short trip but we had a lot of fun! We did some shopping at the Gateway mall, ate some yummy food, swam in the pool at the hotel, and enjoyed spending time on temple square and celebrating Jessica's (my sister's friend) special day. Kristen, Parker and I had some time to kill during the sealing so we had a fun little photo shoot on temple square. I have way too much fun with my new camera... these pictures are just a few of the 165 we took that day :)

Parker and Aunt Kristen admiring the Christus Statue. Parker loved this statue. He kept saying "Jesus, Jesus!" And we left he said "Bye-bye Jesus". It was so cute.

Such a neat place.

Parker's grumpy pictures- he had just woken up and was not thrilled to have tons of pictures taken.

Having fun with Grandma.

Smelling the pretty flowers. Temple square is so pretty in the spring!

Parker of course getting some attention from the ladies. Who can resist him? :)

And my beautiful sister! She looked so pretty! I'm so excited to have her back for the summer.

Anyway, I was grateful to have a fun little get away with my mom and sister. And Parker loved all of the spoiling that went on. We needed some girly time and it was a blast.

Belly Kisses

2010-04-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this is a normal 2nd-time mommy feeling but lately I have just wanted to stop time and keep Parker at this age forever. I think having another baby makes me realize how fast time goes by. It feels like just yesterday I was pregnant with him and now here he is almost 2 years old and running around, telling me stories and just as cute as can be. I am also a little worried that I won't get to enjoy as much time with him once our baby gets here and it makes me want to soak in these last few months of just me and him time. Now all of you moms with more than one kid can reassure me that you still have plenty of time with your older kids and I know it won't change too much, it's mostly just my pregnancy hormones making me feel this way I'm sure.

Anyway, my favorite thing Parker does lately is give his sister kisses. Every day he'll run up to me, pull up my shirt exposing my rapidly-growing belly (yeah we really have to watch out in public.. yikes!) and give it a kiss. Or if we ask him where his sister is, he'll do the same thing. We are excited for him to be a big brother because he already seems to love her so much (even though I'm not sure he really understands what's in my belly but who knows?) He is just my cute little boy and I am very thankful for the happiness he brings to our family.

2010-04-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

Through out this pregnancy I have had absolutely no clue whether I was having a boy or a girl. Some days it was a boy, some days it was a girl... but it drove me crazy! I even made my doctor schedule me a week and half early so I could find out at exactly 20 weeks- what can I say I am a very impatient person. Well, I got my answer, and it was actually about 5 minutes before my ultrasound even began. We were sitting in our room waiting for my doctor to come in and do the ultrasound and I asked Parker if he thought he was getting a brother or a sister. He smiled and joyfully replied... " SISTER!!". Right then, I knew it was a girl and little Parker knew because he was hanging out with his sister just a couple of short years ago. So we are excited to meet this little girl whom Parker is so excited about!

Another funny story about our little girl. When I was pregnant with Parker, on the day we had our 20 week ultrasound, Tyler was headed home and decided to pick up an oder man who was hitch hiking (I was not excited to hear about him picking up strangers but it's something he does every once in a while due to his generous nature). Anyway, Hitch Hiker Joe (can't remember his actual name so that's what we call him) asked Tyler if he was a father. Tyler said that he was headed to his first baby's ultrasound as they speak. Joe looked at him and said "It's a girl... if not this baby then the next one and I see her being lots of trouble for you" or something like that. So along with the shock of having a girl (we've always thought we'd have all boys ha ha) we also have the fear of how much trouble this little girl is going to be- we mostly agree that the trouble will be that she will be able to get away with anything because she'll have her daddy wrapped around her little finger. We are looking forward to a new adventure with Parker and his little sister!

Tender Mercies

2010-03-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

I have always had a strong testimony of church callings. I feel like we are called to serve where we can learn the most! I have also seen the blessings of visiting teaching callings. It would be easy for the Relief Society presidency to throw together a random list of who visits who but I know that these woman are divinely inspired when making these assignments. Unfortunately I haven't been visited by visiting teachers in probably almost 2 years.... but today I was awarded a tender little mercy, I met my new visiting teacher today at church and in addition to her introducing herself and making plans to visit me (YAY!!!!) I then learned through talking to her that she is a nurse on the St. Luke's mother-baby floor! What are the odds that I'd get the woman in the ward with my dream job as a visiting teacher! So even though working as a nurse is pretty low on my priority list right now... Im just having way too much fun with Parker at home, it is still nice to know that I will have a friend who can be a resource or just some one I can relate to in the future. Neat neat!

On the subject of callings, I love my new calling! Primary is so much fun, even though I'm the secretary and have lots of busy work to run around to on Sundays. Kids have the best testimonies. I love to hear their answers during sharing time and listen to them give their talks and scriptures and sing all of my favorite primary songs. Last Sunday, me and the 2nd counselor turned to each other after the kids finished singing the song Child's Prayer and we both had tears streaming down our cheeks. The Spirit is so strong in that room full of kids! I also love the women in the presidency and think this is going to be a great learning opportunity for me.

Tyler is loving scouts. He has been building rockets and all of this fun crazy stuff and I think it is a perfect calling for him right now. He gets to be a kid again! Then he comes home and shows Parker and I what he taught the scouts. He also spoke in Sacrament meeting today and did an amazing job! I am lucky to have such a great husband who knows how to have fun and be a spiritual leader as well.

Now if we could just get Parker to stay in nursery we'd be set. He did sit through the entire Sacrament meeting today though which was so nice for a change!

Three Years!!

2010-03-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our third anniversary!! And such a happy and wonderful three years it has been- not to mention a fast three years it has been. Time flies when you're loving life! I am very grateful for my wonderful husband. He keeps me sane even when Im on the very brink of total insanity... ha ha an almost 2 year old and two crazy puppies can do that to you. But I consider myself so darn lucky because not only do I have an amazing, fun-loving husband who would do anything for me, I have a little boy at home with me all day that is exactly like him- personality, looks, etc- so I've got double the love. I'm so happy I get to spend eternity with my wonderful hubby. Love you Babe!

Ok enough of the mushy stuff- we wanted to celebrate by doing some sealings at the temple but the only session they had was at 8 which was too late for Parker with Grandma, so we went and saw Alice in Wonderland... I'm not recommending it- it was just plain weird and we are a little sad that the first movie we've seen in the theater in a very long time was that one but we still had lots of fun. And we made up for it by going to Lock Stock and Barrel for dinner. Best prime rib and lobster I have ever eaten and we spent all of dinner laughing. Anyway, being married is great!

In other news, only a week and a half left til we find out what baby #2 is so if you want to guess do it before April 5th. I am the most impatient person ever! With Parker I just knew I was having a boy and this time I have no idea so it's driving my crazy and I can't wait!

His Bite is Worse than his Quack

2010-03-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

Good thing I have two hunting dogs because I have a new little enemy! Here's the story:

The last couple of days have been beautiful- sunny skies and 55* weather! We love it! Anyway, since it has been such nice weather, Parker and I have been going on bike rides again. There are some cute little walking/bike paths and duck ponds across the street that we like to ride on. The other day we stopped to look at the ducks and Parker got very excited when all the ducks came out of the pond and waddled up to our bike. So today I thought it would be fun to bring some bread to feed them... Chelsea and Peyton decided to join us so we stopped, unloaded the boys and started tossing bread to the beasts... I mean ducks... who then turned into beasts fighting over the bread and coming a little too close for comfort. The boys thought it was great and kept chucking the bread to the ravenous monsters, Chelsea and I were getting a little nervous. I had a hot dog bun in my hand so I tore a piece off and handed it to Parker to throw, in the meantime I had taken my eyes off of the big male duck right in front of me. In that second the duck pounced grabbing a huge chunk of the bun. It startled me but I swung at it and it fluttered off a ways... not a minute later the same duck attacked again. This time he wasn't so smooth and rather than grabbing the bun he bit down on my finger! Now for not having any teeth, a duck bite hurts! I just about kicked the duck back into the pond and decided to stick to bike riding for a while.

Good Luck Elder Pooley

2010-03-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

Tyler's brother Jay heads off to the MTC this week. He will be serving his mission in Porto Allegre, Brazil. We are so excited for him and can't wait to read his letters about the work he does in Brazil. He is going to bring the gospel to so many people and we are so proud of him. Good luck Elder Pooley! We'll miss you!

Just the Kid I needed Today!

2010-02-24T11:44:00.000-08:00

So lately life has been stressful. I guess I had this picture perfect idea of what my life would be like once I finally graduated school and didn't have to stress about leaving Parker and taking tests and having dying patients, and life since graduation hasn't really slowed down or de-stressed at all. But I guess that is just life and even though it wears us down we can find lots of reasons to smile!

My reason to smile today is this little kiddo!

This morning was a rough one but by lunch time this kid had me feeling like life was wonderful again. Here are a couple funny stories I had to write down.

1. Parker insisted on helping me make his Mac-n-Cheese for lunch. He was so excited to pour things in and mix it together. Then he ate two helpings!

2. After eating so much I thought he deserved some dessert so I asked him if he wanted a cookie and he pumped one arm into the air and yelled "Yay, Cookie!" Like he just won a new car or something. Then when I gave him the cookie he looked at it, kind of confused, and then gets all excited again and yells "Ooooh, Cookie!"

3. So I was sitting next to him while he ate his cookie and I asked him if he wanted a brother or a sister, his response... "TIGER! Raaaaaar!" So apparently he is hoping I give birth to tiger.

4. And as I am sitting here blogging he is sitting next to me with his toy lap top typing away. What a cute boy.

Pooley Family Expanding

2010-02-17T11:51:00.000-08:00

How cute is this little baby???

Well we figured since we made such a cute little boy the first time that we would go ahead and have another cute little baby... Yes, that is right, we are having another baby!! Baby #2 is due August 20th. We had our first doctor's appointment yesterday (finally!) and heard the heart beat and saw his/her little face. Because I'm already 13+ weeks, the baby actually looked like a baby with a cute little baby face profile and cute little hands and feet. We are pretty excited! So that is our big news for now, we will keep you all updated on the fun stuff. Now it is time to prepare for another Pooley... what am I getting myself into ;)

Catch Up

2010-01-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

Well now that January is just about over, I figured I should catch up on our eventful end to last year. December was a very big month for us! I'll spare you all the details....

We graduated! Finally :) Tyler finished his Master's of Business Administration and I got my nursing degree, soon to be an RN as soon as I take (and pass hopefully) the NCLEX test. Wish me luck!

Tyler celebrated another birthday... he would be happy with me if I omitted his age so I'll just say he's getting older ;) Happy Birthday Babe!

We had a WoNdErFuL Christmas with both families! We are so lucky and feel so blessed by their love!

My Grandpa Tetley passed away. It was a sad ordeal but we were blessed with the opportunity to see all of my Dad's side of the family including my aunt, uncle and cousins from California that I haven't seen since before Tyler and I were married. It was really good to see them all. This picture is of all the cousins on my dad's side.

Lastly, if any of my 4th ward friends are wondering why we have gone inactive, we made the very hard decision to leave the awesome BSU married student ward and start going to our family ward out in Eagle. We are really going to miss all of our fabulous friends there but we felt like it was time to move on and take that giant leap.... into the family ward! Wish us luck :)

Well, that is all for now but stay tuned because we may have some exciting announcements in the near future... maybe??

Cosmo and Hailey

2009-12-23T23:06:00.001-08:00

So a lot has happened in the weeks following Thanksgiving, so much so, that I'm not sure where to start. We got puppies, we graduated college, decorated for Christmas, and suffered the loss of my Grandpa Tetley after he passed away. SInce I don't have the pictures from graduation yet, this post will focus on the happiness/ craziness of having a 17 month old and two 8 week old puppies. Oh so much fun!

To start the story off- Tyler and I are CRAZY! We never seem to do anything normally. We had planned and prepared to get parker ONE puppy for Christmas and yet here I find myself chasing two around the house. Basically we ran across these puppies in the usual "American Kennel Club" selling location outside Walmart on a very cold and blistery Saturday afternoon. They were the only two left and they were shivering uncontrollably. We immediately fell in love but we were trying to wait until it got closer to Christmas before actually buying, so we drove away. About a minute down the road, we started feeling really sorry for those poor shivering puppies so we turned around an bought both to rescue them! We got a 2-for-1 kind of deal and they are papered, pure-bred yellow labs, one boy who became Cosmo (after BYU's mascot) and one girl, Hailey (after Hailey, Idaho).

They love to chase Parker around the house.

And Parker loves to sit in their kennel- I promise I did not put him in there :)

Parker thinks we bought him a couple of really warm and soft pillows.

The rest of these pictures are from one of my favorite moments! Parker insisted we go outside in the snow one morning. His jacket was in the dryer after being washed, so I dressed him in one of Jake's hand-me down, and way too big for Parker might I add, BYU sweat shirt. It made a nice little snuggie along with mittens and snow boots. Then I spent a half hour playing with Parker and the puppies in the snow. It was so funny! And I couldn't get any of them to come inside despite the chilly weather and snow that was still falling. It was a blast.

Family Pictures

2009-12-13T16:51:00.000-08:00

My friend Suzie took some awesome pictures for us last week and I just wanted to thank her one more time! Check out her blog to see more of her great work! Suzettekoskellaphotography.blogspot.com

A Lot To Be Thankful For

2009-12-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

One thing is for sure... we have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! We have been blessed with so much. I personally am so grateful for my family- my wonderful husband and my adorable little boy as well as my mom and dad and brother and sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles... Love you guys all so much! I am also thankful for all of Tyler's family and their love! Most importantly I am thankful for the true gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Without the Savior, the atonement and eternal families, I would be lost in this world! And from that knowledge comes so many more blessing and if I were to list them all you would all stop reading right about now because it would go on forever!

To celebrate Thanksgiving this year we went to my grandparent's in Idaho Falls and enjoyed lots of great food! And of course we had our annual Turkey Bowl- our family football game. My dad, Jake, Tyler and I played against Kristen, my uncle and my cousins Kaden and Skylar.... and the Pooligans (Pooleys+Milligans) WON!! Nice work team! Tyler and I have also initiated the tradition of taking Kristen, Jake and my cousins to a movie- This year we wanted to see Christmas Carol but is was sold out :( so we saw Planet 51 and honestly it wasn't too impressive but we still had fun!

Here are some pictures:

Parker helping mommy make pre-Thanksgiving treats before we left for IF.

"Here Dad, have some of my turkey!"

Thankful for my husband!

Having too much fun with Aunt Kristen

My sister and cousin Skylar

My little cousins Carly and Kami- they are so fun!

The Rice Women- Mom, Aunt Andrea and Grandma!

Yum Yum at the kid's table

Carly loves Parker and pretty much followed him around the whole time we were there. I think he enjoyed the attention!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Love Tyler, Natalie and Parker

Way To Go Husband!

2009-11-20T12:38:00.001-08:00

Well first of all in Pooley news, Tyler is now officially licensed as an appraiser! YYYAAAAYYY! He took his final test and passed with flying colors! We are so proud of him and thankful for how hard he works to take care of us. We are very lucky to have him! Not to mention how much fun we have with him. WE LOVE YOU BABE!! Parker and I made a congratulatory sign with streamers... unfortunately 3 of the 5 streamers were missing just 5 minutes after I hung the sign up... Wonder what little boy ran off with them? Who knows?

In other exciting Pooley news, Jay, Tyler's brother, received his mission call and will be serving in the Porto Allegre (sp?) Brazil mission. We are so excited for him! He leaves in March- Way to go Jay!

Halloween was lots of fun. We were very busy both Friday and Saturday. Friday Parker and I went to Grandma Milligan's preschool for her awesome halloween party! Parker had so much fun running around to all the activities with all of the little kids. Then we picked up Tyler and went to our ward Halloween party which was also fun!

Our little peter PARKER (yes that is where we got his name).

Unfortunately Tyler and I didn't have time to dress up before the party but Parker made up for us :)

Hanging out with our friends Laura and Jack

Tyler's family came to our house on Halloween for some dinner and trick-or-treating. It was so fun to take Parker around our neighborhood for his first time trick-or-treating- he loved it! Julia, Isaac, and Cece had a lot of fun too and were dressed up in great costumes.

A couple weeks ago my roommate from BYU and great friend Laura came to visit with her little baby Rachel. It was so fun to see them! We are thankful they braved the long drive from Provo to come hang out with our crazy family. Love you guys!

And here is my little rug rat! He is still the funniest little thing- changing so much everyday! He is full of new words and faces. He loves to show-off. He has a lot of his dad's performing personality in him- he likes to drag his little guitar out and strum it while dancing and singing, such a little rock star.

As for me... I have been working on my preceptorship on the postpartum floor at St. Lukes and I LOVE it! It is so much fun, not to mention I get to hang out with babies all day :) I love it because for the most part you are surrounded by happiness- new mom's and little spirits who were just in the presence of our Heavenly Father. It is neat to be a part of that everyday. I think I have decided that I would love to do this as a nurse, unfortunately finding a part time job in this area is almost impossible so I am just soaking up every minute of it and looking forward to graduating and spending all my free time with Parker! We will see what the future holds...

Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins!

2009-10-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

We spent a full day carving pumpkins with our families. We had so much fun! Here are some pictures from the adventures:

Parker is very excited about "pumpas"

Tyler became the designated carver

Isaac, Julia and Cece cleaning out their pumpkins... Eeew!

Parker wanted to help his Aunt Cece out.

Pumpkin guts fight. He totally deserved that one!

Parker playing with Boots, that is the friendliest cat I've ever seen. He loves Parker and even lets Parker pick him up and carry him around, which he does all the time!

We can't even carve pumpkins with out our BYU pride shining through. Tyler was the amazing artist behind our Cosmo pumpkin and Jake and I worked on the Y pumpkin.

Parker loves Grandpa Milligan's BBQ ribs! Yum!

Jake and Tyler doing the dirty work.

Even my mom and dad wanted in on the fun.

Parker stirring up the pumpkin guts.

You probably can't tell that I really love Halloween can you? I already have two posts on the holiday and that probably won't be the last. It is such a fun holiday!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

I love pumpkin patches. Growing up in California, my family went every year to Bishop's pumpkin farm in Wheatland, Ca. It was my favorite place in the whole world! And it had amazing food, carmel apples, cookies, etc... It brings back such happy memories and every fall I wish I could go back. So, I decided that I want pumpkin patches (even though I have yet to find one as cool as Bishop's) to be a family tradition of ours. Here are a few pictures from our pumpkin patch visit to Linder Farms this year.

Petting zoo

My boys

The hay ride- it was too bright :)

Parker and Tyler showing off their pumpkin

"Don't worry Mom and Dad, I got these pumpkins!"

Couldn't get him to smile unfortunately.

It was so cute to see Parker get excited and toddle around looking at the pumpkins. He now points at the ones we brought home and says "Bumbin". Melts my heart!

After the pumpkin patch we watched another sad BYU game with my family and some of their friends. We still love out cougars!

Fall is my favorite season!!

It's been a while...

2009-10-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well life is flying by and I've been so busy that my fun little hobbies like blogging have been neglected but today I'm being lazy and thought I would give brief update. Here are some random pictures over the last 2 months:

My Talented Husband

Our ward had a talent show and luckily I have a very talented husband to make up for my lack of talent. He and his friend Phil were the MC's for the night and they also performed a song. Tyler did an awesome job harmonizing and playing the guitar. We were so proud! Good job Babe!

Parker also got a chance to show off that night. Afterward we let all the little boys in the ward get up on stage and show off. It was pretty hilarious.

My future rockstar :)

College football has been a big part of our lives! BYU is doing well after an unfortunate loss to Florida state but we don't talk about that game. We have enjoyed watching lots of games with our friends the Dornons and the Stierers. And of course we always need a little rivalry with the Boise State fans. Here is Parker with his Cousin Peyton sporting their teams. (The shirts are way too big because they are hand-me-downs from my brother).

Touchdown!! Both boys know the sign for touchdown and if you say it they both but their arms up, I think Peyton was a little camera shy this time.

Lastly, Tyler has transformed his home "office" into a home recording studio. He has like 10 guitars and all the tech stuff for recording so he has been spending some time playing around in there. He had a few guys over to "jam" one night and Parker decided he wanted to join the band, so he drug his own little guitar in the room with them, sat down and started playing with them. I think it was one of Tyler's proudest moment as a father. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture but I did take this one later.

Anyway, that's about it. I have been working at St. Als for my clinicals and I have loved it! I have seen some really hard things that have made me so thankful for the Gospel and the Plan of Happiness- to know that when this life ends I will be with my family again and with my Heavenly Father. It has also made me so grateful for a wonderful husband who I know would sit by my bed and hold my hand if I were sick like some of the people I have seen. I'm also thankful for a healthy family! Watching people fight terminal illness, car accidents or even swine flu, brings a lot of things into perspective and I am thankful I know what this life is all about!

BYU Football and Fall fun!

2009-09-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

First of all... BYU beat Oklahoma! The game was kinda crazy, and I was really crazy! For those of you who don't know us very well, we are huge BYU football fans having both gone to BYU. I get a little crazy when the games get close, pacing, yelling, hyperventilating, etc. I must say however, I have found some one a little more obsessed, our friend Chad is even crazier- didn't think it was possible. So we had fun watching the game with Chad and his wife and the Collins. And we won which of course was the best part! GO COUGS!!!

Fall is my favorite season for a lot of reasons! We are looking forward to a fun filled season! Here is some of the fun we've been having:

(PS- for my family that has requested pictures of our house, I haven't taken any pictures of the house yet- sorry- but all these pics are around our house so you can see a little bit of it.)

Parker enjoying ribs! He is not a big eater lately but he can finish off a rib or two- YUM!

My boys mowing the lawn. Parker likes to follow Tyler around when he mows the lawn. I think Tyler is excited for when Parker is big enough to mow the lawn for him, ha ha.

We have four apple trees in our back yard. Parker likes to pick and eat them.

We have a Park just up the street from us. Last night we went and played with Tyler's siblings and Parker's little cousins. It was so fun!

Parker LOVES the slide! He likes to go down by himself with Dad catching him at the bottom.

Sliding down on his back.

Trying to climb back up.

Weeeee!

Swinging on the swings with Dad

I am really looking forward to spending more time at that park. Especially now that the weather is cooling down. I love Fall!

End of Summer

2009-09-08T08:15:00.001-07:00

Sadly it looks like summer is over. We really enjoyed this summer together! We had a lot of adventures as a family of three. We went to San Diego for three weeks in June, we did lots of boating, went to Roaring Springs Water Park 5 or 6 times, and did lots of swimming! We will miss the warm weather and all the free time but we are excited for Fall! Here is how we spent our last week of summer.

Swimming....

Swimming.....

And more swimming! Thanks Milligans for Parker's awesome pool!

Birthday Overload!!

2009-08-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

Parker is ONE!! And we love this little one-year-old more than we ever thought possible. We have a hard time resisting this adorable face and we are so grateful for the joy he brings our family.

So like I said before Parker had 4 birthdays, 3 parties, 3 cakes, and lots of presents. We spent his actual birthday on July 20th with Tyler's parents in Jackson Hole. Tyler and his dad had some work to do there so Parker, Deanna, and I went along for the ride and we made a pretty fun trip out of it. The drive was beautiful and I know Parker enjoyed being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks for the fun trip Pooleys!

Parker was very excited in the hotel on his birthday morning!

We went to dinner to celebrate that night and Parker got some ice cream!

We got Parker a guitar for his birthday because he loves Tyler's guitar and is always trying to play with it. Now he has his own and they can jam together.

After we got home from Jackson Hole the next day, my parents had a cake for him to enjoy! He loves chocolate!!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Milligan, Aunt Kris and Uncle Jake!

A few days later, we had a big family party with both my family and Tyler's family including great grandparents. It was so fun! Parker is so lucky to have a big family and they all love him very much!

Lastly, we threw him one more party so he could invite his baby and non-baby friends from our ward. We had his sweet inflatable pool, a volleyball game and a water balloon fight.

My friend Brittany made this awesome cake for the party- Thank you Brittany!!

Thank you to everyone who made Parker's first birthday so special for him. We love you all!

2009-08-20T12:04:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite things about sumer is boating! We have been lucky this year to have had a lot of opportunities to take the boat out! Tyler has been rockin' on the wake board as always, clearing the wake and attempting tricks- we need a tower so he can really show off! And I am making up for last summer since I was prego and not able to wakeboard at all, trying to catch some air with Tyler's coaching and learning to switch feet. Parker enjoys boating too! He wasn't very fond of the chilly water and his big life jacket at first but by the 2nd or 3rd outing, he has turned into a little fish, he loves swimming and being rocked to sleep on the boat. We have had a lot of fun with our friends and hope to get out a couple more times before fall brings the cool weather! Here are just a few fun pictures:

Thanks to everyone who comes with us for making it so much fun!

Too Busy

2009-08-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

I looked at my blog for the first time in a month and realized I haven't had time to write about some big things... so until I find time for details, here are the high points:

1. Parker turned one!!! His birthday was July 20th and he had 3 birthday cakes! It was so fun and I can't believe how fast 1 year has been.

2. We moved! Well we are still in the process but we left our loved 1st apartment in downtown Boise for a great house out in Eagle, ID where our parents live and where Tyler works. It was time for more room because...

3. I'm not pregnant!! Ha ha sorry, I thought I needed one more high point and being pregnant would be a fun one to add but I'm not pregnant.

As you can imagine, 3 birthday parties and moving, as well as house sitting and other odds and ends of life have kept me busy. More details and pictures (especially of the birthday boy) to come soon!

Camp Out

2009-07-12T16:13:00.001-07:00

First of all we had an awesome 4th of July! Unfortunately we didn't get very many pictures so I don't have much to post for one of my favorite holidays. But we enjoyed boating and lunch with Tyler's family at Black Canyon, then we enjoyed yummy ribs with my family. After that we had a BBQ with some friends and then our both our families came to our side of town to enjoy the fire works (they launch the fireworks from the park that is just across the street from our place!). It was such a fun day!

This weekend we had a blast at our ward's cam out activity. The camp site was on a beach up at Lucky Peak. We brought up the boat and everyone enjoyed boating, eating, sitting around the camp fire, getting dirty and all that fun stuff.

Dad and Parker enjoying camping out.

Parker and Jack seeing what kind of trouble they can get into in the wilderness.

Mom and Parker excited to go out on the boat!

Our friends the Meyers

Early morning, it was a little chilly. I have to confess that we didn't stay the night at the camp site- we went back to our apartment because Parker is not the best sleeper when he's away from home but we came back up at 7:30 in the morning so it was like we slept there. Ha ha.

Trying to figure out how to get comfortable in that darn life jacket.

Hanging out at the dock. Silly boy!

My handsome husband.

Our tubing adventure:

Some couples in our ward, including our Bishop and his wife competed in a tubing competition where we had to come up with some creative stunt on the tube. It was pretty intense.

Here we are getting flung way too fast to be doing any tricks!

The air plane. Not sure how I got talked into that one.

We were celebrating still being alive with a kiss as they pulled us back into the boat.

The activity was so much fun. Thanks for all the hard work Johnson family!

Families are Forever

2009-06-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

I'm so grateful to be sealed to my family! There is nothing better in this life than knowing I get to be with them forever!

Parker's First Trip to the Ocean

2009-06-15T19:37:00.001-07:00

We love the beach! It is probably our favorite part of the trip! Parker wasn't so sure about the waves crashing towards him but after a while he loved it and would drag me into the water. He has also been testing out his legs, walking along the beach all on his own. Tyler did some body surfing. He was basically a little dot amongst the waves for a while. He enjoyed that. And I enjoy just being at the beach in general! So fun! We've been to three different beaches so far: Ocean Beach, Mission Beach and Coronado Beach on Coronado Island. I think Coronado is our favorite but we loved them all.

Ocean Beach

"I wanna come too Dad!"

Toes in the sand...

Tyler making his way out to body surf.

Mission Beach

Loving the sunshine!

We just happened to be in San Diego the same week as our friends the Emery's. We met up with Valerie and her family at the beach and had lots of fun with them! Here Parker is playing with his buddy Carter.

My sun glasses never seem to fit right.. ha ha.

Enjoying the water.

Coronado Island is a fun little tourist Island. I loved it! It was so clean and cute with beautiful beaches and houses. We brought our bikes over to the island and rode around for a while which was a blast. We love our bike rides and riding along the beach was awesome! Then we decided to play on the beach for a bit.

Our flip flops after rescuing them from a wave that swept them away. I thought it was kind of a cute picture.

My boys watching the waves come in.

Parker and I walking along the shore.

Parker walking all by himself in the sand and water.

My handsome hubby. I love him!

Coronado was probably the most fun we've had so far and we plan on going back another night. Maybe when we are old and rich (ha ha) we'll have a vacation home there... I wouldn't mind that! :)

Dogs at the Zoo

2009-06-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

We spent a lot of time checking out all the cool animals at the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park. They were both huge and we were very worn out after hiking, climbing, strolling and walking around. Parker loved all the animals, he thinks they are all strange varieties of dogs. Every animal we came to he would point and say "dog!". It was pretty funny.

San Diego Zoo

We wanted a picture with the San Diego Zoo sign above us but apparently the guy taking the picture for us didn't realize that's what we were attempting. Oh well.

Hippo Smooches!

Tyler and the Panda

Getting ready for the sea lion show. Parker fell asleep in his stroller but as soon as the show started he woke right up and started dancing to the music!

Here he is clapping for the "dog" also known as a sea lion. Ha ha.

The Jaguar! He was so close. We saw the tigers this close too! They seemed to like Parker... or thought he looked like a tasty snack, YIKES!

Wild Animal Park

Petting a deer in the petting zoo. Parker didn't want to leave the petting zoo!

You can't really tell but this is a baby cheetah! They were sooo little and cute! Unfortunately this was the best picture I could get.

On the carousel at the park. Parker was excited about his new gorilla friend.

The Pool...

We have been swimming at our condo complex quite a bit. The water is pretty darn cold but Parker and Tyler don't seem to mind. They love it! It takes me a little longer to get in but once I'm in there we have lots of fun.

San Diego Adventures

2009-06-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the adventures we've had so far being here in San Diego. We left on Friday, a lot later than we had expected because Tyler had some work to finish up, and drove 10 hours to Las Vegas. About 30 minutes into the drive we ran into a crazy rain and hail storm. So crazy that everyone, except Tyler of course, was pulling over to the side of the freeway because it was near impossible to see where you were going! Luckily it only lasted about 5 minutes and we made it all the way to Vegas in safety. We didn't get there until 2 in the morning... but we got there in one piece!

Here we are at 2 am in our Stratosphere hotel room. Parker woke up when I pulled him out of the car and was wired for about 30 minutes until he finally crashed again. He was such a good trooper on our crazy long drive.

We of course had to find the temple the next day before leaving for San Diego.

Another temple picture to add to our collection.

Parker enjoying his very first In-n-Out french fry! He loved it... good thing because he'll be eating a lot of them for the next 2 weeks! (PS- I realize that Parker is in a very girly car seat- we borrowed his cousin Libby's seat because he hates his rear-facing infant seat these days... especially on long trips)

We made it to San Diego and have enjoyed swimming in our condo's pool exploring this HUGE city. We got to go to a Padres game last night. It was so fun. I think Parker enjoyed it the most! We realized it only takes a few bites of cotton candy to keep him energized for an entire baseball game!

We had awesome seats!!!

Parker danced, cheered, and made friends with a whole row of Army guys sitting behind us. I think they payed more attention to him than the game!

It was Tyler and Parker's first Major League game! And it was so fun!

We love baseball!!

Birthday Party

2009-06-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

My husband and our families planned an awesome surprise birthday party for me. It was a lot of fun! Tyler's family decorated their house with luau decorations and made some yummy hawaiian chicken sandwiches on the BBQ. I am very grateful for all the work they did to make it a great day. Unfortunately some of my pictures won't load, so I only have a few to post, but they are good ones! Thanks to everyone for the fun cards and presents!

Parker driving.... YIKES!

My sister Kristen, sorry Sis, I had to post it.. I love this picture!

Enjoying the tasty food!

I will try to get those other pictures up because there are lots of fun ones!

May Stuff....

2009-06-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

Lots of pictures:

First of all, I had a great birthday on Saturday and want to thank my wonderful husband for making me feel special with my surprise party! So thoughtful and thanks to all those who came or thought of me that day. I will have pictures soon!

Parker has a new face. He loves making everyone laugh with this one. We call it his scowl or "zoolander" face. He has a hard time making it because a grin has a tendency to take over as soon as he tries to scowl.

Ha ha!

Our little drummer boy. He loves any and every musical instrument so far.

Rockin' out with Dad!

We got to visit my Grandparents in Idaho Falls which was so fun. They got out a special baby swing for him out in their yard. He loved it.

Swinging with Mom

Woo hoo, so fun!

Relaxing with Dad

We love Grandma (Great-Grandma in Parker's case) She is so good to us!

We have spent a lot of time with Chelsea and Peyton and have had lots of fun!

Parker and his cousin Peyton at Chelsea and Eric's BBQ after a long day of swimming and bike riding.

My Grandma Milligan came for a visit too! So we got to spend a few days with her as well!

We love you Grandma!

Dad in charge of dinner and the result....
That's what happens when you have cookies for dinner.

Lastly....

Singing in the grocery store just before my birthday surprise.

We also had lots of fun at Jack's birthday party on Friday! Happy Birthday Jack!

And May is gone... time just goes by too quickly!

Popsicles and Bike Rides

2009-05-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a crazy 96 degrees! We are so excited for warm weather and we squeezed in every fun summer activity we could, even though the warm weather is here to stay for a while. In the morning we went on a walk with our walking buddies and then played outside for a few minutes.

Then we cooled down with a yummy popsicle! Parker ate a whole one by himself!

Later in the afternoon (unfortunately it was the hottest part of the day) we went on an adventurous bike ride with Chelsea and Peyton. It was hot but the boys had a lot of fun cruising around and we kept their heads and clothes saturated with cool water. We road over to Merrill Park in Eagle to checked out the Veteran Memorial Field. Then we road along the river for a while. It was so fun! Parker loves being outside and it was his first time riding on the bike and he really enjoyed it. He held on to his little handle bars and kicked his little feet while singing and blabbering the whole way!

Here we are in the field of flags.

Chelsea and Peyton. Chelsea was smart and wore her bathing suit unlike me who wore a black t-shirt in the insane heat!

Later that night we went out to my parent's pre school to help them build a garden for the kids to plant in. Parker loved playing with all the cool stuff Grandma has at her awesome preschool. After that Tyler, Parker and I went on another bike ride through out the neighborhood. It was about 8pm so it had cooled off nicely and we really enjoyed it! Here are some pictures of Parker on our 2nd ride.

So much fun in one day and there is plenty of summer fun to come!