We've had a fun winter and wanted to share some of our fun pictures.

The boys have found fun ways to entertain themselves. From playing swords to piggyback rides to sumo-pillow wresting.



We celebrated Christmas Eve in Logan this year and it was surprisingly so peaceful. Matt and Ethan decorated a cute gingerbread house which I was convinced would end up smashed into pieces all over the floor. But, surprisingly Ethan loved it. his favorite was the gingerbread door- don't ask me why-he's fascinated with doors for some reason. He like eating the candy but declared that the frosting was "ucky."

After eating a "yummy" dinner of ham and potatoes we settled in to watch the Luke 2 video and also another short video on Christ's life and death. Ethan was glued to the videos and we had to watch them a few times. It was so cute to see how concerned he was about Jesus' back, head, feet and hands.

Christmas morning, I can't lie, was slightly disappointing when Ethan was more excited about Jack's toy (which use to be his) than his new bike. He's warmed up to it though and goes cruising around the house.

All in all it was a wonderful holiday and as much as it is a relief to have the holidays coming to a close, I'm still kind of sad to see them go.

Pappy

Just a warning in advance: The following rambling is more for me- my final thoughts and feelings as my grandfather passed.


My grandpa died two days ago. He was 94 years old. Over the last few years not only had his health declined, but his mental capacity also. He didn't know who I was, who my husband was, who my kids were, who my mom was and on occassion who my dad was. My heart broke when I would hear about my grandmother calling my dad in great concern because "Pappy" was crying and she didn't know why and couldn't get him to stop. What would it be like to be a prisoner in not only your body but also your mind?

So although it was a very happy time for Pappy, I found it very hard to say good-bye. I said my goodbyes last friday- he opened his eyes for me. I stroked his hand. He looked so frail. Just a skeleton. With tears in my eyes and a quivering chin I urged him to go home.

The nurse saw him on Monday- his pulse was weaker, his extremities cooling, his kidneys had shut down. I raced down to Salt Lake- I wanted to be there when my dear grandpa was freed from his worn-out body. I found him just as the nurse described.

His pale, yellow skin was beginning to look more blue. The coolness in his extremities was spreading. His fingers had started to curl. His nail beds had lost their color. His pulses were hardly palpable. He took shallow, laborous breaths- painful to watch. Short inspirations with long drawn out expirations. He was using his stomach muscles to help him breathe- causing his abdomen and chest to look like they were doing the wave with every breath. I held my breath, his breathing has now turned erratic. He's getting closer.

I stroked his head. He doesn't look much like Pappy any more to me. Having gone now without food or drink he's much more frail. Skinny. Gaunt.

I slipped away for a few minutes. I heard the family start singing songs to him. "Families can be Together Forever." "I am a Child of God." And then some Christmas songs. While singing the line "Sleep in Heavenly Peace" from Silent Night Pappy took his last struggling breath. I raced back in the room- I was devastated- I missed it!! That was the joyous, but heart-wrenching moment that I wanted to experience with Pappy. That moment where his spirit was being summoned to the other side. That sweet moment when Pappy would be Pappy again. A Pappy who knew who we were. And knew who he was. And could walk, run and (knowing how Pappy is), get back to work.

And then Pappy took one last gasp of air...and he was gone.


This is a link to an article written in the Deseret News for our dear Pappy:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705350157/Elder-Royden-Glade-Derrick-dies.html

When the obituary is in the paper I'll post that link.

Maybe Jack did get some Derrick genes

I ran across this picture of me when I was a weee babe. I think Jack looks just like me as a babe- poor kid.

(do you love the wallpaper in the background- no wonder my mom was thrilled when she got to remodel our house after a grease fire)

BUSTED!!!

Things I've caught Ethan doing:

-sticking chex cereal in Jack's mouth
-sharing his favorite blanket with Jack because "Jack is cold"
-stealing Jack's toys
-reading books to Jack
-feeding Jack yogurt
-snuggling with Jack
-sticking his finger in Jack's mouth
-my all-time favorite: finding Ethan AND Jack not on the couch I left them, but on the OTHER couch that's on the OTHER wall. And even more amazing, I didn't hear one thud or one yelp- boy am I lucky! Otherwise, DFS might have shown up at my door. :)

Monsters, Crying and Thriller

So I was a little apprehensive for Halloween given that when I tried Ethan's costume on him a week and a half before Halloween he cried. And then he threw it out of his room. I found it quite odd considering I let him pick out his costume at Walmart. I was secretly hoping he would pick the Spiderman costume- who he happens to love- but Woody from Toy Story won out (is anyone surprised really?).

I tried conditioning him by having him wear it a few times before Halloween, but it only proved successful if he was bribed by his very favorite treat- Curious George fruit snacks. Luckily on Halloween he surprisingly didn't mind wearing the costume. I don't know what happended. THere he was one day throwing a huge fit- I felt like I was pinning him down for shots- and then he was fine about it. Go figure.

We had a fun holiday. Our Primary threw a party with a mad scientist room, fishing, Halloween stories and games. Ethan's favorite was a game where there were paper tombstones taped to the floor. Halloween music was played and when it stopped you stopped on the tombstone you happened to be standing on. If they called out the tombstone you were standing on you won a cupcake. I don't think Ethan cared at all about the cupcake, he just liked running around with all the kids and dancing to the music.


Trick-or-treating was so cute! Matt stayed home to make dinner with Jack and I took Ethan around our little cul-de-sac. Ethan liked to carry a piece of candy in his hand, and at every house he would reevaluate which piece he should carry. If you got a better piece of candy he'd switch. By the time we got to one of the final houses he had 3 pieces of candy in his hand- 2 tootsie rolls and a snickers. This house had a glow in the dark stick that Ethan didn't look at twice until I broke it so that it glowed. The 3 pieces of candy immediately flew into the bag and Ethan found his favorite item for the evening.

We finished off the night eating homemade egg rolls and ham fried rice while we watched Icabod Crane and the headless horseman. Ethan loved it!!!

Other notes of interest: I showed Ethan Thriller. Does that make me a bad mom? It's one of my favorites anytime, but especially for Halloween. As I'm watching it I'm thinking to myself "Am I actually showing my 2 year old thriller? What kind of mom am I? Is he going to be scarred for life? Will he have nightmares and wind up in my bed every night for the next 2 months?" Apparently that wasn't enough because I let him watch about 4 more times. He loved it. (of course I shielded his eyes for certain parts) In my defense I tried to lighten the mood of the music video. "Look at those silly costumes" I would say. "Aren't they funny looking." "Oh look, they're all dancing together, they must like each other."

Now Ethan goes to the computer and says "roar" indicating he wants to watch Thriller. My conscience got the better of me and I've stopped showing it to him- and he seems to forgotten about it. :) We've now replaced it with his new "monsters book"- Where the Wild Things Are- he loves it!!!

Best Buddies

I feel like I'm finally starting to adjust to 2 kids. I'm getting use to being sleep deprived ALL THE TIME unfortunately. Other fun adjustments: diaper duty x2; not only food all over my clothes from Ethan, now I have spit up (honestly, what's the point of wearing anything besides t-shirts); newborn congestion (poor thing); trying to feed a newborn while your toddler uses your body as a jungle gym; and never ending laundry (how many outfits can a baby go through in 1 day?)

Although I finally feel like maybe I'm getting the hang of things (I even put both kids to bed last week without any problems), I'm still terrified to leave the house with 2 kids. We have ventured out far enough to go on walks, to the park, friend's homes and church but that's about it. (Oh, I guess we did go to the zoo on saturday but I had my mom and 4 cousins to help out, so I figure that doesn't really count)

Here are some cute pictures of my 2 little boys- mischief in the making.



Ethan was watching a movie and I put Jackson on the couch to watch with him. Pretty soon Ethan had scooted himself right next to Jack (or "Dack" as Ethan says it). Adorable!!

Ethan's New Baby Brother

Much to my surprise I went into labor on Thursday, August 27th. I really had geared up for going full term so I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up at 6:00 am with contractions. To keep myself busy until I felt like it was time to head to the hospital I packed my bags and finished cleaning the house. Midge and Brent came up to watch Ethan and Matt and I headed to the hospital around 9:00. It was a great delivery- that is once I got my epidural. I only had to push through one contraction and little Jackson Brandon Lund was born at 11:47. He weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 19 in long- PERFECT!!! :)

Note of clarification: I know most of you probably think we named our little guy after Michael Jackson, and as tempting as that was it really isn't true. We just happened to love the name Jackson (or perhaps I loved the name Jackson and Matt conceded) Oh and I guess we should also clarify that no, he wasnt's named after Jackson on Hannah Montana either. :)

It feels weird to have another little kid. I feel like I'm having flash backs of Ethan. And I keep calling Jackson Ethan too. I'm not sure what Ethan thinks of having a little brother. He came up to the hospital on Thursday afternoon with Midge and Brent. At first he didn't show much interest in Jackson, or to me for that matter. But he slowly warmed up and pretty soon he was holding Jackson, patting him on his back, and giving him lots of kisses. Ethan was a good older brother trying to share his graham crackers and drink with him, but totally didn't understand as we tried to explain to him that babies only drink milk. We tested Etahn to see if he was willing to give up his coveted blanket, but he had no interest in sharing that. I think the real test will be if Ethan lets Jackson play with Woody or not. Any bets?

Cousin Camp at the Homestead

We spent last weekend up in Midway at The Homestead with my family. My grandma Tami arranged a family reunion up there and amazingly all of us were able to go (that includes 1 great-grandma, 2 grandparents, 7 parents- each with their spouses-and 16 little kiddos- a total of...let me get my calculator out...33 people)


(Tami with her great-grandkids)

We had so much fun hanging with family. And Ethan LOVED LOVED LOVED his cousins- especially


Derrick


Seth


and Braden

We had fun walking around the resort, swimming, feeding the goats, checking out the crater, playing "secret cousins," going down the alpine slide, fishing, a campfire with a REAL cowboy, tennis, playgrounds, yummy food, golfing, watching the ducks, geese and fish...







oh and the small fact of ETHAN'S SECOND BIRTHDAY!!!!

Really there was no better way to spend his birthday than with family. That's the best gift he got-spending the entire day with his cousins!!!



We decided to take Ethan down the alpine slide for his birthday- that is, Matt took Ethan down the alpine slide. Matt reported Ethan loved the lift up and was all game until they sat down on the slide. As they started Ethan got nervous turned around so he was hugging Matt and tried to get off the slide halfway down. All in all I think Ethan liked it- he was just a bit scared.



We also treated him to one of our favorite places- the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I let him pick out whatever he wanted...he chose an M&M carmel covered apple. Needless to say, he enjoyed the bright colors of the M&Ms and that was about it. He plucked a few off to eat but refused to eat the apple. :)



That night we celebrated with the family- all the cousins were so cute helping Ethan blow out his candles, open his presents, and of course (like all good cousins should do), give his toys a test run. I thought Ethan did a pretty good job sharing- except for his new coveted toy: A WOODY DOLL- Oh, I mean A WOODY ACTION FIGURE.





Matt reluctantly bought Ethan a Woody Action Figure inspired by the one at nursery that he carries around with him. Matt was very concerned about his little boy having a doll (coupled with the fact he loves the pink stroller at my mom's house and that Matt's mom shows him Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid). But Ethan picked out the toy himself and Matt gave in. (Side note: my family was extremely sensitive to Matt's uneasiness and referred to Woody as Ethan's "Woody Barbie Doll" and offered to buy him fairy paraphernalia next year)

Ethan loves Woody. He has carried him around with him everywhere he goes since he got him, including sleeping with him at night and during nap time. Here are some of our favorite things we've caught him doing:

1-Feeding Woody breakfast
2-Setting him on the ground and watching him- waiting for him to come to life
3-Trying to pull his arm off (like in the 2nd movie)
4-Sharing his coveted blanket with him
5-Tucking him in at night
6-Making him dance to music
7-Strapping him in in the grocery cart
8-Folding his arms for prayer




But our most favorite thing is the leverage Woody gives to us as parents. Because I can tell Ethan that Woody is ready to eat dinner and Ethan will come to the dinner table. Woody is ready for bed- Ethan will lay down. Woody needs to go inside- Ethan comes inside. It's AMAZING!!! And even better if we threaten to take Woody away, Ethan will do just about anything we ask. I'm sure this won't last long, so we figure we better live it up while we can!!!!

Camping Adventures

One of the benefits of where we live is that we are so close to Logan Canyon- which means easy access to camping. :) We've gone camping once with Matt's family and once with mine.

Despite a few blunders- 2 bed air mattresses with holes, 3 tubes for floating the canal with holes, a cousin falling in the fire (who by the way has leukemia and guillain barre syndrome- he amazingly has only one small 2nd-3rd degree burn on his calf), and Ethan falling in the river- WE ALL SURVIVED!!!! Matt broke out his dutch oven cooking and pancake making skills. Ethan's favorite was running around with his cousins and throwing rocks in the river. I liked floating the canal- once your body numbs up a bit it really is quite pleasant- especially in 100 degree weather.

Summer Lovin'

We've had lots of fun so far this summer and wanted to share some of it.


We went to the movie UP with my family at a special showing for Larry H. Miller employees. Not only did we get into the movie for free, they also provided free treats and drinks :) Ethan had never been to a theater before so naturally being the first time parents that we are, we had to take picture. Ethan enjoyed the movie although started to get ansy after the first half. My favorite was the next day when I caught Ethan trying to mimic the old man from the movie by using my curling iron as a cane.


About a week ago Ethan was really ticked off about going to bed. And I was really ticked off he wasn't going to bed. So I decided he could just cry and cry and cry if he wanted but I wasn't going to go in to save him. Pretty soon the crying got louder and sure enough there walked Ethan out of his room. He finally figured out how to climb out of his crib (which I'm still yet to see). So we quickly graduated him to a "big boy" bed that night. He actually has done really well and is very proud of his "big boy" bed. Next step- potty training!!! (based upon the inspiration of my sister Cyndee who has potty trained 4 kids- the oldest being approx 26 mo at the time she was finally potty trained-AMAZING!!)


FUN WALKS BY THE LOGAN RIVER!!





Monkey-ing around





Hiking for my birthday!!

Unfortunately yesterday I turned the ripe-old age of 28 (I'm definetely without question in my LATE 20s- SCARY!!). Every birthday since I've turned 25 has gotten more and more depressing. But we celebrated in style. We went on the Limber Pine hike up Logan Canyon in the morning, saw Angels and Demons (it was so exciting to see pictures of Rome), ate at Cafe Rio and culminated the evening with ice cream pie- one of my very most favorites!!

Matt decided to get me some new bed sheets for my birthday. I guess he figured the sheets we had (which are the same sheets we got when we were married 6 years ago) needed to be replaced. I thought the holes that had developed in them over the last few weeks were charming but Matt disagreed- go figure. He also got me a book about the Berlin Wall, which was one of my favorite things I learned about on our vacation.(I'm so excited to read it!!)

The best part of my birthday though was being able to spend the whole day with Matt and Ethan.

Our Little Garden

Matt and I feel highly ambitious attempting a garden this summer. Our neighbor's health unfortunately has gone a bit down hill and they are unable to use their garden this summer. So, a few of us in the ward are trying our best to develop some green thumbs.

I actually find it really fun to check in on our little garden. Hopefully that excitement keeps up through the season. We didn't plant much; just corn, onions and peas. (we figure if we can't grow anything in Logan, UT we're in REAL trouble)!! So, I thought I'd keep updated pictures on our blog to show off either our success or failure as gardeners :)

I took Ethan with me to plant our first corn circle. I thought he'd love digging in the dirt and getting dirty. WRONG!! He was a nightmare!! He was mostly entertained stomping through everyone elses gardens. I think we might get banned from gardening with them ever again. When I finally got to the planting portion I thought he'd be more interested because he could help me put ONE seed in each hole. He proceeded to dump an entire bag of corn and pea seeds in one hole. I looked at him, sighed, and then decided it would keep him entertained for atleast 5 minutes- which was entirely worth it to me. I tried to pick up as many of the seeds as I could find but I did notice this morning when I went to check on our garden that in that same area there are about 7 shoots coming up right together. I think I'll label that portion ETHAN'S GARDEN. (Ironically, it will probably put out the best corn and peas) :)

National Lampoons European Vacation: Lund Style

Bloopers:

1-Wrong driving turns in Munich
2-Driving for 1 1/2 hours in Berlin searching for Avis
3-Advice to future travelors: Make sure you have the money belt with you before you leave your hotel room and go out to eat
4-Gettling lost while trying to find the town of Rudesheim, Germany (who would have guessed there are 2 towns with the name Rudesheim within 30 miles)
5-Matt's burned shirt
6-Roundabouts (driving around and around and around...)
7-Our Venice hotel- aka- a hallway converted into a hotel room
8-Finding a hair in my food just as I finish my meal- YUM!!
9-Matt driving a stick (stalling the car 4...5...6 times)
10-Wait...my passport is in my maiden name (Germany almost became my new residence)

Favorite Foods:

1-Italian Gellato (need I say more!! We'd treat oursleves after lunch and dinner...mmm...gellato)
Favorite flavors: strawberry, kiwi, mixed berry, coconut
2-Italian panini
3-Doner Kababs (I don't think this would pass FDA regulations in the states)
4-Weiner Schnitzel
5-Wurst (similar to sausage)
6-Rittersport chocolate (we tried one new kind a day- our favorite: hazelnut)

Another reason I love Logan...

This morning on our walk Ethan and I saw 5 deer and 4 ducks just on our regular walking route. It made my whole day!!!

FARMER ETHAN

With spring in the air we've been so excited to celebrate Easter. We began the festivities on friday by going to Baby Animal Days. I think I may have enjoyed it a little more than Ethan. He loved all the bigger animals- the horses, cows, oxen, goats and sheep but the little ones didn't spark his interest. He loved to watch them, pet them and listen to them talk. We waited in line so he could hold a little chick- you would have thought I was trying to brush his teeth. He wasn't afraid of the chick, he just plain wasn't interested (luckily we still got a few good pictures)

Mainly I think he felt like a deprived child- we wouldn't buy him a balloon or pay to let him play in the inflatable slide (which I might add cost $2 for 5 minutes of fun- they must be making a fortune!!) He was really interested in riding a pony but once again his unexciting parents didn't want to wait in line just to have him scream his head off because HE DIDN'T ACTUALLY WANT to get on the pony. We did, however, let him climb in and out of the tepee all he wanted- which he did think was pretty dang cool. All in all I think he had a good time (I hope he did because his friend Carolyn-Kate invited him to go see the Hannah Montana movie that day-and he really wanted to go-but unfortunately we already had plans :) -so she invited him to see it with her next time)

Easter morning was fun. Matt and I prepared his little Easter basket the night before (which I have to admit I had fun going overboard on). My favorite was hiding plastic Easter eggs filled with candy throughout the house-in really none obvious places like on top of the coffee table and in one of the corners of the hallway. I felt like I went full out when I woke up to make cinnamon rolls for us. (Which to my amazement actually turned out quite edible- usually they end up just being rolls with a dash of cinnamon and sugar)

Ethan was mostly excited about the candy in his basket. I tried to force him to play with some of the other stuff we got him (like boring sidewalk chalk and a coloring book) but nothing could come close. I'll make sure to let the Easter Bunny know next year that IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CANDY!!