Just WOW

Today is our 1st wedding anniversary, so be prepared for some serious cheesiness in this post.

I just have to say that I am in complete awe of my husband.  He is truly the best person I know and I love all of him with all of me.  To say that I lucked out in the partner department would be an understatement....I have someone who always puts his family first, who isn't critical of me, who is happy to do his part (and mine sometimes), who supports me, and who loves me unconditionally.  He is a really great person to have by my side through life, but he is also just a really great person. 

So thank you for picking me!  Thank you for being patient, kind, understanding, and for making life just plain FUN!  When we went on our first date 9 years ago today, I knew you were special because you knew who Bill Curtis was just from his voice, but I never could have imagined the places we'd go.  I wouldn't be the person I am today without you because you have taught me so much about life.  We are battle tested and we are an indestructible force, so here's to tomorrow.  You and our boys are my whole world!  I LOVE YOU!

First Week Of Summer

We had a really great Father's Day weekend and I'm planning to do a post about it, but the pictures aren't uploaded yet, so you are getting a post about last week.

Archer is really good at getting his hands to his mouth now and loudly sucking on them is his favorite pastime.  He also loves to make a monotone noise as he's falling asleep....it's pretty loud and it cracks me up.  He is still as smiley as ever and I'm loving every second of being his mommy!

We visited Farm Country with Brian's Mom.  It would have been a lot more fun if Austen wasn't being a little stinker.  It was kind of a quick trip, but he was super excited to use the quarters from his piggy bank to buy food for the animals.

He also loved riding the pony, but it was a little too slow for him.  He kept telling him to giddy up.

No wonder Austen prefers a bath from Daddy over Mommy.  Daddy goes all out....big tub, bubbles, and a movie.  I'm more of a get in, get clean, and get out bath giver.

Some other things that have made my week great and I feel the need to share:

Shutterfly photo books are my new favorite thing!  No more scrapbooking ever!

Also, chicken cordon bleu casserole from the tasty kitchen blog is so easy and yummy!  If you make it, add half the salt, half the butter, and use really thin swiss cheese slices.  Biggest Loser roasted Parmesan cauliflower is another new recipe I tried, and it was so yummy.  Just google it to find the recipe and try it immediately...best side dish ever!

Be Careful What You Wish For

I have been wanting to move for about two years now.  Our neighborhood is in a great location, but it's full of old people......and I'm not kidding.  We are probably the youngest couple in the whole subdivision which is saying a lot for Utah.  I want Austen to have friends he can go ride bikes with and get into trouble with.  Well, we finally found some.  Austen has befriended a 6 year old and a 5 year old and they are now inseparable!  Brian calls them the three musketeers which is very fitting.  They terrorize the neighborhood on their bikes.

Anyway, I was loving that Austen finally had friends to play with, but then I started learning that having friends brings a whole new set of issues to deal with.

First of all the dirt.....two extra boys in and out of the house all day requires a lot of vacuuming.

Secondly, the food......they play hard and they need a lot of snacks throughout the day. ( I tried to give them a sliced up cucumber one day and one of the boys had never even heard of a cucumber.)

Third, Austen never wants to run errands or go anywhere because he just wants to hang out with friends all day everyday.  Getting this kid to run to the grocery store with me is suddenly a huge battle.

Fourth, they are noisy and wake up the baby constantly....not to mention trying to breastfeed with three boys running around is difficult.

Oh well, it's worth it just to see how happy it makes Austen.  He wakes up first thing in the morning and wants to go play.  When I tell him it's time to come home to eat, he'll tell me not to give him too much because he doesn't want to "waste time eating" (his exact words).  Sometimes he'll just run in, grab a cold hot dog, and be off again.  He needs a bath every night because he comes home so dirty and he is so exhausted he falls asleep in seconds, but he is loving every second of it and that makes it all worth it!

The boys wanted to play in the sprinklers, so Austen turned them on....by himself.

Hero Worship

Archer is for sure obsessed with his big brother and I have to say Austen is a GREAT big brother!

Their first bath together....Austen loved it and now he doesn't want to take one alone because he says it's too lonely.

 Austen loves to entertain Archer and Archer just smiles at him the whole time.

 Look at that smile!

 It's so cute to see them interact.....I'm going to save this picture and show it to them in a few years when I can't get them to quit fighting.

2 Months Old?!?!

Or, I could have just titled this post "picture overload".

Archer is already two months old.  Time goes way too fast!  We are having a blast with this little guy, he is so much fun and super mellow.  He sleeps great (still only 3-4 hour stretches at night, but I'll take it) and smiles all the time at everything.

His favorite book is his colors book.

His favorite thing to do is sit outside.

His favorite position to sleep in is on Mommy's chest, but he sleeps great in his bassinet or swing too.

He has discovered his hands and loves to suck on them and rub his eyes (he rubs his eyes a lot and it's cute....minus the scratches he gets).

I took him to the Dr yesterday and brace yourself for his stats......Head measures in the 30th percentile, length 40th and weight 97th.  He weighed in at a whopping 14lbs 11oz.  I guess I can quit worrying about milk supply.

I took a lot of two month pictures...these were before the shots.  He got three shots and one oral vaccine and he was not happy last night.  Poor guy had a low grade fever and wanted to snuggle all night.

 He got bored of Mom taking pictures and decided to try and sleep.

 But would still smile at me when I talked to him.

 I LOVE those chunky legs.....we worked hard for those!

A Little Tree Trimming

Austen took it upon himself to trim the neighbors tree that hangs over into our yard.

I love the things this kid thinks of.....he has me laughing all day long!

A Fun Three Day Weekend

Memorial weekend was a blast!  We had a fun filled weekend that I did not want to be over.
On Saturday we went to Austen's favorite place, the Children's Museum.  We were there for over three hours and even though that seems like forever, we could have stayed longer but I needed to eat.  We grabbed lunch at Jason's Deli and then headed over the the sand park where Austen and Daddy dug a hole so deep that Austen fit inside it up to his chest while standing up!

Here's the boys playing around at the museum.  Archer was so good the whole time....he just watched all the happenings and napped.

Austen was hoarding all the fake grocery's in the little store.  It was so funny!  He filled up his shopping cart and then dumped it in the big bins that aren't even meant for kids to play with.  The bins are supposed to be for the workers when they clean up.

He LOVED this helicopter so much that Brian has been looking into taking him for a real helicopter ride.

This part was awesome.....they have a green screen where you can pretend to be a weatherman.  Austen loved seeing himself on tv and was saying the most hilarious stuff.

This is a wind tunnel thing that you can put paper in and watch it fly around.....he could have watched it all day.

And of course Brian paid the $2 to put Austen in the hurricane wind simulator.  I guess it was loud in there because he kept plugging his ears.

On Sunday we hung out (that was the day we made Austen sick) and just relaxed.  Monday Austen and Brian went to the lake and fished on a boat.  Austen caught two fish and absolutely LOVED it!  He wants to go fishing everyday now.

In other news, Austen is feeling great on his new diet, but gluten free bread is SCARY!  I think we might just not give him bread.  And Archer slept for 6 solid hours last night!  I feel like a new woman.  It's amazing what sleep can do for your patience levels.