Driving to the Mountains

Rusty loves the mountains; he is home there! We used to drive up four-wheeling often when we were dating and first married, but haven't done so for a long time. (We almost died sliding off an icy cliff there while Christmas tree hunting about 6 years ago on some back roads and I haven't been real anxious to return since. It was traumatic!) Well, Rusty's been wanting to take the boys up on a drive and I was more than willing now that the snow and ice are gone. And drive we did-- out past Enumclaw and Greenwater on Hwy 410, to some back roads where we used to go. Beautiful Sunday afternoon-- 3 boys squished in the back seat of the truck:

(This is the zoned-out look I get when I try to get their attention away from their movie to look at the camera; I promise they really were having fun-- ignore Hunter's mean face, Mason sticking his tongue out, and Cole's shades!)

What a beautiful drive:


And what trip would be complete without boys (of all sizes) throwing rocks (of all sizes) into the river.


Love my boys!

I think I soon will have a walker!

Happy Easter!

Mason, Hunter, & Cole
April 2010

Enjoying Easter loot with Uncle Toby and Cousin Ryder

Hunter's turns 1!

I cannot believe that my baby is now 1!! I know as moms, we always say this, but: Where has the time gone? Seriously! It is passing much too quickly this time around--

I mean, a year ago I was here:


And then he was here:


I blink my eyes, and now this:


Isn't he adorable???
But, please make the growing stop!!!

Glancing back thru old photos, here are some first birthday memories:
Cole (Aug 2006) enjoying his chocolate cake:


Mason (Jan 2008) getting ready to pounce on his b-day cake!


What a blessed mom I am-- 3 wonderfully happy, healthy and adorable boys!

I love our dear Prophet, President Monson.

What a blessing it is to have General Conference. I was very uplifted and inspired from this morning's session and I'm excited for tomorrow's. And to celebrate the resurrection with Easter Sunday and my baby's 1st birthday, too. Much to be grateful for!

Mason-- a snuggler??

Mason is typically a very independent 3 year old and is not one to snuggle and want to be held excessively, until recently. A few weeks ago he had three accidents all in a matter of an hour or less-- falling off the swing on his head, falling on his forehead on the concrete, and another falling one where elbows and knees where scraped up. It was a rough day and he got beat up! He was pretty sensitive about his owies afterwards and has since asked to be held or carried often-- resulting in lots of snuggle time with him that I don't often get. I'm trying to take advantage of it -- fearing he will go back to his independent-don't-try-to-snuggle-me-too-much self. Why can't he just stay little and want to be snuggled all the time??? That would be okay with me.

Hunter- March 2010

Just open the dishwasher and this one comes running (er, crawling) right over. It seems like his favorite place to be these days, meaning I must be doing a lot of dishes!

How Cole views himself.

Needing a nap-- Part 2

It happened again, just like a few weeks ago...
One minute Mason was playing and chatting and then the next-- face down on the wood floor. We need a nap-- even at 5pm!

Haircuts

Rusty's the haircutter in our family. I'm usually glad he does it, but this last time has me wondering cuz....
Someone has been sportin' a mohawk recently that is usually spiked the highest on sunday of all days. Is that irreverent???


And a haircut for this one too...


This guy though barely has any hair to begin with. But I'm sure he'll catch up. The other two started out this same way-- cute, but mostly bald!

Happy B-Day, Daddy!

What to do...? Needing a nap- part 1

My 3 yr old Mason really needs a nap still, but most days refuses. And I hate trying to push the issue because he is very stubborn! So each day it is a wrestle-- force the nap or skip the nap. What to do? If he does finally settle down and give in to some quiet time, it is usually so late in the afternoon that a nap just has him up late at night. So, we usually have a few tough hours of needing a nap (conveniently around when I'm fixing dinner), but not always getting one. This was the case yesterday where I opted to skip the hassle of getting him to nap and just hoping bedtime would be a little earlier. So much for that idea because when I walked out of the room to tend to Hunter and returned a few minutes later, this is what I found:

Konked out on the wood floor. Seriously? He must have been so tired-- he didn't even make it to the couch or a rug a foot away, or anything even remotely soft! I opted not to move him (it was late afternoon and I didn't want him sleeping too long), but this nap lasted for a good hour or more-- long enough to make bedtime a struggle. Fun stuff.

Guess Who's Got Glasses....

We finally got to pick up Cole's glasses (last Sat. Jan 23rd), and so far-- he is loving them and we are too. I think he is super cute with them! We've been waiting on them for a little over a month (do you know how long that is for a 4 yr old who asks "when can we get my glasses?" constantly?). The day was long awaited! I didn't really have any clues that he might need them (no comments about struggling to see, no squinting eyes, etc. that I have often heard could be signs). But I did have a lingering thought about just needing to get his eyes checked, so I finally made an appointment early Dec. 09, if nothing else than to ease my mind about it. I am very grateful for those nagging thoughts because after a few appts and having his eyes dialated, it was determined that Cole actually struggles a lot-- he is far-sighted and has a prescription of +7.0. From what I understand, he sees better far away, but the issue is more that the muscle in his eye strains to compensate and works hard trying to bring things into focus. Having him in glasses will help his eyes get a break and not be so tired (especially toward the end of the day when he's tired or when he's working on homework or other close-up things that require focusing). I guess him needing glasses shouldn't be a huge surprise knowing that both Rusty and I wear contacts/glasses, so all of our kids are probably doomed to follow suit. We just feel grateful to have figured this out so early on and we're told that his eyes can do well to improve so his prescription can lessen as time goes on. Rusty worries that kids will make fun of Cole (Rusty had thick glasses as a child), but glasses are so common and even fashionable these days that I don't really have that concern. And for now, Cole loves them, so we're just hoping that continues and it's not just the novelty of something new.

Sunday after church 1/17/10

Dec 2009 Family Photos