Chocolate makes us happy.

That's all.

Speaking of food:

Jay Alvin loves food. Any kind. (Except for baby food. He's decided that he's too good for pureed food.) Any how, the other day he and Leo were playing on a mattress on the floor. They had some goldfish crackers that got spilled onto the floor. When Jay Alvin went after them he ended up falling on his face, but he didn't let that stop him. He was shoving fish into his mouth before he even rolled over.

And yesterday he decided to take a nap like this.

(Which is totally unrelated to anything in this post.)

Leo loves ice cream. He would eat it all day long if I would let him. (I wonder where he gets that from?) This morning he rolled out of bed and said, "Mom. Dora?" (This is how we usually start the day.) I dragged myself out of bed and pulled up Dora on Netflix. I started a random episode and went back to bed. Well, the episode I chose just happened to be one where Dora and Boots go chasing after an ice cream truck. Within minutes Leo was in our room asking for ice cream. When I told him we were out of ice cream he informed me that I could get some from the truck. So I explained to him that all the ice cream trucks in Utah were hibernating for the winter, and that seemed to satisfy him. A few minutes later however he came running up to me (I was in the bathroom at this point) and told me that if I went across the lake I could find the truck. (Just then I heard Dora say, "Help us get across the lake and to Coney Island so we can find the ice cream truck.) How do you argue with that?

I didn't. I just got the boy some ice cream.

Sad Story

Walmart lost Leo's picture with Santa.

Huge sad face.

They told me, "Come back tomorrow. (Yesterday.) Santa will be here again."

So, even though it was Sunday, I dragged Leo back to sit on Santa's lap again.

But Santa had the flu that day.

*Sigh*

He won't be back again until after we're gone.

Sorry Leo.

P.S. If you want to shop for Christmas without the hassle of holiday crowds go to Walmart in Utah on Sunday morning. I think there were only 10 people there.

I love Walmart.

 I know some people refuse to shop there, but I'll never understand why. Everything you need is right there in one place. They have the lowest prices and they'll price match if they don't. And today, they had Santa. Now, I have never had any intention of taking my kids to see Santa. Every time I hear someone talk about it, it seems like a nightmare. I just don't care enough to stand in line and then pay a bunch of money for a picture of my kid crying on some strange man's lap. But today there was no line, Santa was incredibly nice, and the pictures were free. 

Yes that's right. 

FREE. 

I love Walmart.

Leo's picture will be posted soon. It took all of our shopping trip to convince him to sit on Santa's lap so his picture wasn't printed when we picked these up.

When Jay Alvin wants to be picked up he does this really adorable thing. He'll crawl up to you and bump his head into your leg. Then he'll just keep rocking back and forth on his hands and knees, bumping into you repeatedly, until you pick him up. If you're sitting in a chair he'll even bump up against the chair until you get him. We've been trying to get it on video for weeks, because he's starting to use other methods to get what he wants. Of course, as soon as we pull out the camera he won't do it. Well, this morning he started crawling towards Ty so I grabbed the camera and started filming. Only, instead of what he usually does he just crawled up to Ty and stopped in front of him. So Ty picked him up, moved him across the room and we tried again. This is what happened:

What a little stinker! He's totally laughing at us. Good thing he's so cute.

Oh, and I cut Leo's hair yesterday. No more pony tails.

Sometimes when I'm combing Leo's long, thick, blonde hair I just can't help myself. . .

Sorry son!

Today I am thankful that I have so much to be thankful for. 

As I was putting this adorable turkey on our wall I was reminded once again that we are so blessed.

(I emphasized adorable because Ty thinks it's obnoxious looking and he wants to punch it in the face every time he sees it. "It's the beady little eyes.")

Some of the feathers are a little silly, and quite a few are trivial, but one of the things I've been feeling extra grateful for is that I have a Heavenly Father who knows me, loves me, and has a plan for me.

I know this.

I've always known this.

But for some reason it often slips my mind.

This past year we have made a lot, and I really do mean a lot, of changes to our life plan.

There were many, many times when I felt like we had no idea what we were doing.

(Probably because we didn't.)

We had a vague end-goal in sight and I felt like we were stumbling blindly towards it.

These past few months though, things have really started to come together.

I'm starting to see how Heavenly Father guided us to make the choices that would lead us to this place.

If you would have told me 6 months ago that I would still be in Utah, not only now but for the next year, I probably would have killed myself.

But that's the plan and I just feel peace.

I'm so thankful.

Random

This is what Jay Alvin's hair looks like if you don't comb it right after he takes a bath:

Leo wishes he was a girl so he could wear headbands all the time.

We're letting him grow his hair out so he can see what it's like. (Actually, we're letting him grow it out because getting a haircut is super traumatic for him.)

Jay Alvin thinks he's big enough to walk. He's been pulling himself up on anything and everything. A few days ago he pulled himself up on my leg and then let go and stood there on his own for a few seconds.

He also gives kisses now. It's my current "favorite thing ever." Even though they're totally drool-filled, they're the best.

Leo is becoming a scooter-riding pro. His poor ankles are covered with bruises and scratches.

He loves to get dirty. On Saturday he dug a big hole in the front yard. (Don't worry. We filled it back in.)

I think it's funny when my kids eat dirt. I don't even try and stop them.

That's all.

We Had Visitors!!!

As you probably noticed in the Halloween pictures, Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler came to visit us. We had so much fun with them! We went to the park several times.

And to the Farmer's Market.

(Every time Leo saw them he would run to them and give them a big hug. It was incredibly cute and definitely made grandma and grandpa feel loved.)

We ate lots of good food.

And just had fun hanging out together.
Leo even got a new truck.
(Which he adores.)

We sure miss you guys!!!
Especially since we went from being totally entertained for an entire week to being totally on our own since you left. (Even Ty's been gone most of the time.)

Come back soon!

(Pretty please!!!)

Happy Halloween!

Last night we took Leo to the movies for the first time ever. He did so good and we had a lot of fun. We even got to leave Jay behind. We saw Toy Story 3 and loved it. 

(We were a little late so we didn't get to take a picture with the lights on.)

Ty's sister Krystal watched Jay Alvin for us while we were at the movie. We we got home I found these:

hidden around the house. Most of you know I'm terrified of spiders. I hate them more than anything, but I've really been trying not to pass my phobia on to my boys. I really try not to freak out in front of them when I see a spider, but there have been a few times when Leo's seen me screaming about one. This morning as I was getting out of the shower I could hear Leo saying, "Bug, mom. Bug." I thought he was talking about a fly or something so I just kept saying, "Oh yeah? Cool." When I got out of the bathroom he was staring at the plastic spider that was down between the stove and the heater. I pulled it out, told him it was just pretend and tried to get him to touch it. Yeah right. He wasn't having anything to do with that. So then I threw the spiders over toward Jay Alvin so Leo could watch Jay get them and see that it was okay. As soon as Jay started moving towards them Leo yelled, "Baby, stop! Don't! Spiders!" And ran over to protect his brother.

It took all morning, but he did eventually pick one up.

But he still keep his distance from them when he sees one.

After the movie we came home and had Leo try on his Buzz Lightyear costume. (Aunt Krystal brought it up from Arizona.) I thought he was going to be so excited about it. Especially since we had just seen the movie. He was not. I had to force his limp body into the costume and then he lay on the kitchen floor like this:

for a good three or four minutes. So I thought maybe he would be excited once he saw himself looking like Buzz. Into the bathroom we went. Again he was limp as a noodle and he refused to open his eyes and look in the mirror. Finally we just left him on the bathroom floor. A few minutes later he came out in full Buzz mode.

He kept showing me his wings and saying, "Look, mom. Fly." And then, of course, he didn't want to get out of the costume to go to sleep.

*Sigh*

(Thanks for letting us use the costume Julie!)

Lately Leo has decided that he needs a bottle. (Which is doubly aggravating because he refused to take a bottle as a baby.) Since we generally take them away from him when we catch him, he's started hiding them around the house. 

It's sweater-vest season.

I'm lovin' it!

(P.S. Now that Jay Alvin can crawl he thinks he's big enough to do things like stand at the piano. He's going to be climbing things in no time.)

Update

Jay Alvin

This boy is growing faster than we can track. Every day he's doing something new. He just started crawling and he is into everything. He doesn't like you to see him crawling though. Whenever we leave the room he'll start moving towards wherever we are, but as soon as we come and look at him he collapses on the ground and starts whining like, "It's too hard. I just can't make it." Also, any time we try and get pictures or video of him crawling he acts like it's really hard for him. He goes really slow and sits down every couple of inches. If there's something he wants, however, he can move lightning fast. And, even though he's only been crawling for about a week, he is dying to walk. He is constantly trying to pull himself up on whatever is available. It's so much fun having a mobile boy, but I don't love that he can get whatever he wants now. Every time I come back into a room I have to check his mouth to make sure he's not eating something he shouldn't. It's a lot harder to keep small things off the ground with Leo around. He doesn't seem to get the idea of choking to death. And speaking of Leo, Jay Alvin just loves him to death. He thinks Leo is so funny and loves to be doing whatever his big brother is doing. I can't wait until he's a little older and they can actually play together. So fun.

Leo

This boy is becoming quite the little helper. He especially loves to help me in the kitchen. Even though it makes a huge mess and takes twice as long to make anything with his help, I'm trying to remember that one day soon he won't want to help any more and I'll wish he would. (He's already starting to tell me "stop mom" when I sing to him or play with him when he doesn't want me to.) Leo is talking more and more every day. I'm constantly surprised by the things that come out of his mouth. He loves Jay Alvin and is constantly telling me what "my baby" is up to. The other day, after Ty had called Jay Alvin a stinker son, Leo said, "Mom, the baby is a stinker son." I guess we're going to have to watch what we say a little more closely. Leo still loves to play outside and runs everywhere he goes. Hopefully he'll keep that up so he can be a big-time track star and get a scholarship to the college of his choice. (No harm in planning ahead, right?) He loves trains, trucks, planes and tractors of any kind. There's a little train that you can ride around the Provo mall and Leo loves to watch it go by. In fact, the train conductor recognized him because he gets so excited and bought him some cotton candy the last time we were there. 

Me and Ty

I spend most of my time doing "mom" things like cleaning, entertaining boys and cooking. We're trying to take advantage of the last little bits of warm weather so we've been spending more time than usual outside. I also started taking advantage of the library again so I've been reading two or three books at a time for the last few weeks.

Ty joined the National Guard. So far he hasn't had to do much with that, but he's still going to BYU and will finish his last class in December.

Today I

*Washed and folded two loads of laundry.
*Cleaned the connections on our car battery (again) so we could get the car to start just one or two more times.
*Entertained 2 kids at the mall for over an hour while Ty got his eye exam.

*Cleaned poop out of two outfits.

*Played FrontierVille 3 times.

*Made a batch and a half of Greek Yogurt.

(Homemade is way better and way cheaper than store bought.)

*Ate cotton candy that a random stranger bought for my boys.

*Made lunch and dinner.
*Put boys down for naps.

*Checked blogs.

*Washed dishes.

(Don't worry. There are still plenty more to be washed.)

*Met a girl that (maybe) worked at the US Embassy in Israel at the same time as Ty.

*Spent more money than I should have buying skin care products from previously mentioned Israeli girl.
*Watched Dumbo four times in a row without stopping at Leo's request.

("Mommy, I watch effant?")

*Changed the sheets on Leo's bed.
*Spent approximately 20 minutes feeling like I hadn't done anything today and trying to figure out how to manage my time more wisely.

*Blogged.

Enlistment #2

This took place this morning:

I enlisted in the Utah National Guard, I will be 35L counter-intelligence agent. It was a 3 year commitment. I hope to eventually go to the Defense language Institute for Arabic, but that isn't a for sure thing, yet.

They weren't in the video, but Leo and Jay Alvin were there and were well behaved for the several hours that we were there. Kristen did the filming.

Laughing

Jay Alvin is an incredibly happy baby. He'll laugh at just about anything, except the camera. We've been trying to get his little laugh on tape for ages now and this morning we finally did it.

Enjoy!

I did laundry this morning. When I went to put a dryer sheet in the dryer I found this:

Also, Jay Alvin likes beans.

That's all.

Random

*When you comb Jay Alvin's hair straight back after a shower it naturally goes into a little faux hawk. It's pretty cute.

*This is Leo's new favorite spot in our house:

From here he can watch TV, oversee everything that his brother is doing and jump to me when he can get my attention.

*The construction in front of our house is finally coming to an end. Everyone is excited about this except for Leo. He's going to miss those trucks.

*Jay is really trying to figure out how to crawl. He mostly does it on the bed since he doesn't like the feel of his face against the carpet. 

*We decided to try the 3 day potty training method. I didn't even last a day. Leo is perfectly capable of, but totally unwilling to go in the toilet. It made me angry.

Ever since we gave up (after one day) Ty and I have made a big deal of going potty, getting a treat and eating it in front of Leo in a gloating manner. We enjoy it way too much and Leo still refuses to use the toilet.

*Even though he stinks at potty training he's getting better and better at playing with his brother. I love it!

*We've been taking advantage of the last bits of good weather.

*And last night I found Leo singing a made-up song and dancing by himself on the kitchen table.