Christmas!

Christmas was a lot of fun this year! It was the first year Scott kind of understood what was going on and Kati was So much fun to watch! Last year she just slept (give her a break, she was about six weeks old last Christmas!). Here are the kids opening their stockings.

The video on the left below is Scott opening the first gift I got him (in like September!). I went to the dollar store and found 2 pair of boxing gloves for $5 each! We'd just come from San Antonio and Scott's uncles have boxing gloves. He is SO fun to watch when he boxes! My favorite part is what Scott says after Josh opens his pair first and I say, "Daddy is faster because he has more experience." The second video (on the right) is of us opening Kati's babydoll. She LOVES it!

The video on the right (below) is Scottie opening a present from my parents. He doesn't think too much of it (too many cars and Toy Story items), but I love how he reacts when Josh shows some interest! The first video, on the left, I LOVE!! Kati is such a girl which is so fun because I'm really not very girly. I may do womanly things, like craft, sew, paint, draw... all that jazz, but Kati is girly! Pink, babies, frilly... all girl! Right after she opened her baby, I started singing "Rock a bye baby!" and she started doing this:

I got Josh a TomTom navigation for Christmas. He was never expecting it and I caught it on camera. Not the big screaming, waving hands and yelling, kind of reaction, but now I know what he does when he's truly surprised! The second video is on the way to Twin Falls, Idaho. We went to visit Josh's grandpa and grandma; our children's great grandparents, who did not have family in town for Christmas for the first time in a long time. Scott kept talking about great grandpa and then, all of the sudden, we realized he wasn't saying "Great Grandpa." Check it out!

Well, as you can see, we had a great Christmas and hope everyone has a wonderful upcoming New Year's! I can't believe it's almost 2010!!

Dancing with the Snowmen

We bought this dancing snowman duo at BigLots for my family this Christmas. Sadly, they spent most of their time in my house in the pantry because my kids love them WAY too much! If they were real snowmen, I would've melted them with my blowdryer months ago. Although cute, their song can get rather annoying on the eightieth repeat! A couple days before my brothers took them to Texas, we decided to bring 'em out for one last hoorah and Kati started dancing to them as well as figured out how to turn them on herself. Enjoy!

Christmas is coming...

The goose is getting fat! Never really understood how that was supposed to apply to our day, maybe it isn't at all. Who knows!
Anyways, just wanted to throw a real update out there: no whining, no crazy videos, no blah! Ok, maybe some blah...
We are still here in Rexburg, Idaho. Coming up on our fourth year, Josh will finally be graduating this next April! We are SO excited! Although our attempt to secure a job in San Antonio hasn't been working out very well, I think it's for the best. Not that we not live in SA, but that we are hitting snags. I think the Lord knows that feel better about what He wants once I realize I can't have or shouldn't have what I want. I always do what we feel is best and what we feel the Lord has in store for us and what He wants us to do, but there are times, like when I knew we needed to wait a little while to start our family, or when we got the letter of approval to come to Rexburg, that I just HATE the idea!!
So we are hitting snags in our desire to live in San Antonio and be near my family and some great friends! It's breaking my heart (as well as my parents') but it is starting to open my eyes to new possibilities. Don't get me wrong. I want to live near family! That means San Antonio or the Twin Falls area of Idaho. And I hate Idaho. Twin Falls rocks! Idaho doesn't. The End.
But if we can't live near family, I want to look into places where I have a lot of friends. Two major areas come to mind: Dallas, Texas, HATE it... LOVE the people I know there! or the Washington, TriCities area. Some of our BEST friends from Rexburg are moving to the Washington area. Mel and Galen have even offered us to stay with them while we find somewhere to live; preferably next door to them!
Long story short: I am feeling much better. This may sound strange to all you Mormon's out there who feel it is completely necessary to pray about every little thing, but I have always found that my answers come most often before I even need to pray about it. I prayed to know the man I should marry starting around 12 years old when I started Young Women's. So, it came as no shock to me when, suddenly, I knew Josh was the one. Never had to pray about it. I just knew and it's been the 1st best decision of my life. (My children were my 2nd best decisions!... in case you were wondering!)
I knew that BYUI was the best place for our family which was evidenced by the fact that we knew we were supposed to start a family down in San Antonio but had NO idea how we would afford it, then found out we were pregnant with Scott the day we moved in up here and we were so poor we qualified for Medicaid! Things like that are the proof to me that, just sometimes, I can feel that the Lord and my ideas are on the same path.
It's been very difficult for me to try to swallow the idea of not being around family. It was a possibility we never thought we'd have to face; USAA seemed so intent on hiring Josh. Now, we do realize that it takes more time and effort than once so we are persevering with them. They are the best choice for us so far;... since they're the only ones we really know all about.
But the Lord knew that I needed some humbling. Sometimes things I want and things He needs for us aren't the same. Who knows. Maybe things will work out to where we can live in San Antonio and raise our children near their grandparents (well, one set) and all will be well; no more psychotic snow storms and snow until June, and no more crappy driving and lack of Super-WalMart-ness. Maybe this is just a test for me. Most likely, it is. That always seems to be what is happening.
Initially, my first thought when Josh told me he'd been denied by USAA (after the "Yeah, right. You're joking... right?" thought) was "Ok, maybe I AM supposed to go to school while we're here." A thought I've been putting off since we moved in because 1. I was pregnant and have very painful pregnancies and 2. I knew that my place was in the home and to support Josh in school and 3. I really REALLY don't want to go back to school. School and I don't mesh. Somehow I got through grade school in the top 11% (mainly from all my free 100s with the millions of choir classes I took!) without really trying and things worked out just fine. But college kicked my trash. It was a serious ego deflater and self esteem basher. Why would I WANT to subject myself to that again? We'll see.
Who knows what's in store for us. All I know is that I'm ok with whatever comes. Will my heart break into a million pieces if we aren't meant to live in San Antonio? No. Will it break because I can't live near my family? YES! A million times over! But hey, Washington is where we've always wanted to end up. Why not start there too? And, Twin Falls is right next door! Josh's family is JUST as great!

To Work or Not to Work?

I'm starting to get depressed because we don't know where we'll be after graduation in April. We've decided to wait to try for baby #3 until after we find out where we're going; that way we can learn about insurance and all that jazz. It seemed a definite thing for Josh to be working at USAA since they loved him so much, but it's taken so long to hear back from them that my outlook is not positive. There were a few people who got offers from BYUI and it seemed to take USAA a little longer than normal to get their offers together, but I just feel wierd about it, like maybe we aren't supposed to work there.
The thing that scares me the most is that, if we aren't supposed to be at USAA, where are we supposed to be?! What do we do? I'm sure most of my BYUI friends have felt this, but we've just been so certain of USAA that I've never had to really worry. They flew Josh down a month ago tomorrow to interview and "get to know the campus" (even though he worked there for 8 months!). There were so many people who took interest in him and wanted to try to get him in their teams... I just don't know what to do now.
We're in limbo again. I hate this!
Anyways, sorry to whine... I just feel lost. I'm positive lots of you understand how I feel. Advice?!

Random Videos: Snow, Prayers... etc...

Here are a few videos from the last few weeks. The first is from the first big snowfall in Rexburg a few weeks ago (the first where it didn't melt). It's still sitting in our parking lot. There's just been more added to it. The second is of a time about two weeks ago when the kids were sitting on the couch sharing popcorn and just being cute. Kati had some cute pigtails in and I'd just painted her toenails! Boring to some, but must haves for posterity! P.S. Didn't realize Scott was naked in this video until later.

These next two videos are fun! The first: Kati found a 9 volt battery under the couch and decided to taste it. Well, those of you with siblings or best friends who liked to dare you (or parents like us) know what happens when you place a 9 volt on your tongue. Enjoy.

The second is last night when Kaitlyn learned to fold her arms for prayer. ADORABLE.

Crazy Climber!

Kaitlyn has learned how to climb on things. It's my fault, I know. I decided to wash the couch cushion covers the other day and she took that opportunity to learn to climb up onto the couch. Thought she was pretty hot stuff. 'Too bad' the couch was about a foot lower than normal without the cushions so she can't do it anymore,... but she did learn how to climb up to and into a few other things because of that experience. Scott has also been getting jealous of my taking so many pictures of Kati recently, so he likes to steal the show sometimes too!

Enjoy!

Yeah yeah... More Thanksgiving!

I'm sure everyone is writing about their Thanksgiving experiences, and so am I! I really am truly thankful for family today. It was SO awesome to have Josh's family in town. Everyone was here minus his older sister (we missed you, Rach!). We ate at Josh's brother, Adam's, place. His wife, Leesh's, parents were there. Made me really miss my parentals.
The thing that stunk about today was that Josh and I weren't able to spend Thanksgiving dinner together. Scott woke up in the middle of the night with a very high fever (didn't check it then because it was 1:00am) and it didn't want to go down with ibuprofen very long during the day. The highest it reached was 104.3! My poor baby! Needless to say, we kept him from family and our nephew, Brennon. Don't want anyone else getting sick. I do think I'm coming down with it, though. Not fun. I'm just grateful that Josh will be home for three more days.
Almost made me want to forgo the sales in the morning.
I said almost.
But, I am very thankful for so much today. Just not germs.

New Moon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edward = Muy delicioso!
Taylor Lautner's Abs = Mas mas delicioso!!
My heart broke with Bella's and I nearly cried when Edward broke up with her. My favorite part of that scene is when he kisses her forehead goodbye. The look on his face... my heart broke for them both.
Your heart mends along with hers as her relationship with Taylor... I mean, Jacob... errupts. And then breaks all over again when he tells her to go away... even though he's so yummy even Kristen couldn't stop looking at his body during the scene! So funny!
The movie was incredible. 10 times better than Twilight. There was actually color. There was real acting! The fact that these are all the same actors makes me want Chris Weitz to go back and remake Twilight because he obviously helped their acting skills come out better.
Your heart skips just like Bella's does when she sees Edward again after months of his absense and then it breaks for Jacob when she tells him he loves her... but chooses Edward any day.
I want to go again every day for the next seven months until Eclipse comes out!

Twilight Night Pictures!

So last night was A BLAST! I am definitely throwing an "Eclipse" party next summer! It was so wonderful and there was a great turnout! I never thought nine women could fit in my small living room around a card table and play a boardgame, but somehow we did! One minor note: The Twilight boardgame = WAY more confusing than you ever thought it could be! It was still a lot of fun though!
I'm not going to post a huge slew of pictures here, but I will link my picasawebsite picture album for you to take a gander at and PLEASE do! If not just to see Allison sucking on my candy coated cups! (I have extras for you, by the way, Allison!)
We will definitely have to get girl's night together more often because about five of us were up until 4:00am just talking! We never got around to pressing play on the bluray player to actually get around to watching Twilight. Oh well, I let Kathryn borrow it. She's never seen it!
I'm so glad I did this and I'm SO glad that it turned into WAY more than I was initially planning on. Thank you to Kathryn R, Allison V, Chrystina T (for all your help too!), Caitlyn J, Haylee M, Nancy O, Heather F, and Sarah D!! It was a wonderful night. I can't wait to do it again sometime soon!!!

LINK TO PICTURES

Twilight Party!

Yes, that is correct. I am throwing a "Twilight" party on Wednesday around 9:00pm in honor of "New Moon's" release this Friday!! Everyone is invited! We will be having vampire cupcakes, drinking blood (yummy!), playing pin the kiss on Edward!, opening my new "Twilight" board game, and watching "Twilight" on bluray on my rather large TV! If you can come, please comment on this post so I can know how much food to make!
YAY!!! 4 days and counting!

Family Pictures

Halloween wasn't just for dressing up in costumes. We went to Idaho Falls as a family earlier that day and took some family pictures. We haven't taken a formal family picture since I was six months pregnant with Kaitlyn. Now here we are eighteen months later finally taking another one! I really do like this picture. The only thing I hate is not only Kati's crazy face, but the fact that they stuck me behind Josh like a big looming monster! Other than that, I do like it a lot better than I did when we first had them taken!

Kati got some individuals done first since it was also her twelve month photo shoot. She didn't really understand what was going on but she finally smiled once we sat her on Scott. She was actually bouncing up and down on his back! Scott was jealous that Kati was getting all the attention so we let him take a few shots too. We doubted that we would get any because we're taking him back in March to get his three year pictures taken, but we actually really liked this one! His hands are in the way because he was playing peek-a-boo with the photographer!

I found this dress at DI the night before for $1.00!! Who can beat that?! Most of the individuals weren't very good, so this is the best we got. I think it's ironic that she's holding her lovey since some of our favorites from Scott's first year shoot was him holding Tuxedo!

After our family shoot, we decided to try Kati again since she was getting the hang of it. This is the best smile we could get. Not her greatest, but still adorable!!

Kati's Birthday!

My baby girl turned a year old yesterday. I was very nostalgic about it. Don't really know why. I know I wasn't like this when Scott turned a year old. I think, though, that, since I was already pregnant with Kaitlyn when Scott turned 1, I didn't get all weepy (ironically) because I knew there was another baby on the way and he was gonna have to grow up soon if I was going to be sane.

So, with no baby on the way anytime in the next few months, I got a little weepy and sad about my baby girl turning 1. We had a fun/VERY stressful day! Not only was it Kati's birthday and we were having a party at our place, it was also our ward's Fall Activity: a potato bar, salad bar, and get to know you games... which we were in charge of. AH!

We left our activity early to get back to our place in time for family to get here and not be waiting on our doorstep for an hour!

BUT first! The haul!

We got 2 boxes in one day from GrandParents. Grandma & GrandBuddy sent Kati two ADORABLE pair of shoes, some VERY cute earrings and two books (which she LOVES!). Grandma and Grandpa Zoom (Wickern!) sent Kati some earrings, a very cute (and tiny!) bracelet, and some way cute clothes! The only problem is that two of the pairs of pants are really tight! so we'll be taking them back and getting larger sizes.

Here's the cake I made Kati. I wanted to put duckies on it because she LOVES rubber ducks, but, because of the ward party, I didn't have the time I wanted. I realized right after I finished that I should have made her cake into a lake and placed a bunch of her duckies on it! Oh well... there's always birthday number 2!!

Tried to get pictures of Kati with everyone... but didn't. I know. Sue me. I'm a slacker. But here's Kati with Auntie Hannie! She's wearing one of the jackets Grandma Wickern sent her!

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Kati! Happy Birthday to you!"

Kati ripped the frosting off the top of her cake and ate the cake first. Crazy girl.

Auntie Hannie with Cousins Alisha and Afton!

Uncle Will and Uncle Stephen being WIERDOS! Haha! They didn't realize that the other was making a funny face until after the picture.

Here's Aunt Alisha and baby cousin Brennon! I can't believe how big he is getting!

Scott loved the party and the cake... but didn't quite understand why he couldn't have any of the toys Kati was getting! He did help her open her presents though. He's such a big boy!!

She finally figured out that the frosting was pretty good. I used a new frosting "recipe" which was FABULOUS! I think she enjoyed it. What do you think?!

I wanted to share this video because it shows what a crazy little girl we have! Kaitlyn has been saying "Dada!" for a long time and I keep trying to get her to say "Mama!" but she won't. I realized the other day that she says "dada" because she thinks it's funny that I go so crazy when she does!

This is just a little peek into not only her crazy let's-tease-mommy side, but also the slight sugar high she had on Saturday right after the cake!! Enjoy!!

Another Halloween Post

I'm sure I'm like the millionth Halloween Post this weekend, but everyone's gotta do it! We had a fun day on Saturday. In the morning we went down to Idaho Falls and took some family pictures. We haven't had a formal family photo shoot since I was six months pregnant with Kaitlyn and she'll be a year old on Saturday the 7th. SO... it's been a while. Although I'm not too happy with how I look in the pictures and that Kaitlyn didn't smile (I think she's actually yawning in the picture we liked the best), they turned out really well.

We also got some individuals of Kati for her first birthday (first time we've ever gotten pictures of her formally) and, since Scott was jealous that Kati got a turn and not him, we took a couple of him too and then a few of the two of them together. Kaitlyn would NOT smile her normal huge faced piggy squished smile. Kind of sad, but normal. I'm just glad she wasn't screaming.

We got a couple cute ones once we finally pulled out the secret weapon: lovey blanket.

After family pictures (which will be ready for us to pick up on Friday) we went to Target and walked around looking at fun stuff including Christmas. I can't believe Christmas is already up. BUT... it makes sense. Time goes by so quickly sometimes that I can see Christmas just jumping up on us since it's already November and Kati will be a year old in FIVE DAYS!

We got Kati a cute little baby to put in her stocking and had to deal with a brother who hadn't had a nap and had decided to scream in every store we went to.

We came home and started to get ready for our complex Trunk-or-Treat. For those who don't know, a trunk-or-treat is when we all line up our cars around the complex and decorate the trunks. The complex provided chili and hot chocolate and then people from the complex signed up to bring cinnamon rolls and cookies and brownies and such. After we all ate, the kids start walking around the trick-or-treating to the trunks of the cars. It's nice because then you don't have to worry about kids coming around to your house and not being ready. There's a set time and it all gets over with. We also don't care if they come around two or three times, so the kids get a HAUL! Kaitlyn fell asleep while we were eating so luckily we only got one haul from Scott. I also didn't realize how much candy we bought to give away. There were parents that kept telling me "Oh, they only need one piece" and I was saying, "OH please! I DO NOT want to take all this home!"

Anyways, here are some pictures of our little cow and chicken. Josh and I went as cowboy/farmers. We don't have as many pictures of Scott because he was having WAY too much fun running around with all the other kids. Thanks to my friend, Jackie, for getting a few great pictures of Kaitlyn and sending them in to me!

Enjoy!

Playing Outside

Scott, Kati, William, Stephen, and I went outside today to play in the chilly weather. Just wanted to share some pictures! Since Scott first watched "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" he's decided that he IS a dinosaur and now roars and stomps around. Kati is loving walking around. Notice her white Sunday shoes in the picture... I couldn't find her other tennis shoe and I was asking her where it was and she brought me her white Sunday shoes. I asked her if she wanted her "pretty" shoes and she started clapping! I couldn't resist! If we tell Kati that something is pretty she won't take it off. I started doing that when she would try to take her headbands off. "No, Kati! It's pretty!" and she leaves them alone.
In fact, this last Sunday, Grandpa Zoom came to church with us and Kati's headband kept coming off. Josh put it on her head rambo style (right across the top of her eyes) and told her how pretty she was. She was so proud of herself. She kept looking up at me with this dark blue headband right above her eyes thinkin' she was all that!
What a little character!

One of "those" moms

I've always wanted to be one of those moms whose home is always clean, makes homemade bread, jam, candies, pies, cookies, sweets, and anything else homemade, takes homemade casseroles to people in need, is at the temple every week and is babysitting other people's children while they go every other day, sews all of her children's clothes, halloween costumes, prom dresses, and baby blessing outfits (and does it cheaper than storebought), makes her own thank you cards and actually gives them out!, is thin and sexy, has everything in place, and never needs to ask anyone to do anything because they're so perfect they do it without asking!
So, when does that begin!? I find that all I do is try try try and I turn around and it's just dirty again. I know that there are times when you need to accept the position you are in and realize that not everything is going to be clean when you have a two and a half year old boy running around taking the toys out you just put back in and an almost one year old angel faced little girl who already tattles on her brother by crying whenever he's near her and grabs things out of the garbage to eat (I swear I feed her!). I know that I am not at a place in my life where I can go to the temple every week or even every month sometimes. I realize that sewing everyone's clothing, though thoroughly enjoyable, is not practical anymore now that fabric is so expensive. I know that, even though I work so hard to get the word out and to let everyone know, no matter how hard I work on projects to sell no one will ever buy them because, for some reason, my prices are "too high for Rexburg." Well, I'm sorry, person who decides that I should give my crafts away for free, but I hate you!

Wow. This sounds a lot more hostile than I was intending.

I was just thinking. I know that there are some things that I truly want for my life that I will not be able to have for a long time: a house to raise my children, a dog to run through our huge backyard and roll in the mud with them, time with my husband longer than a few hours a day (and shame on you, facebook commenter who tells me, "such is the life. you chose to not have your husband when you chose to let him go back to school.")... I am just ready to be through this crazy, stressful time in my life. I am NOT ready for my children to grow up. I want to bathe in every moment they give me. Every hug they offer. Every sweet kiss Scott gives Kati while he hugs her head and says, "Hi, Kati. I wub yoo." But I want to do it when Josh has a job and has more time to be with us because he isn't in school and I want to be in a house near family so my children can know their uncles (all 9+ of them) and aunts (all 4 so far!) and cousins (Brennon! we will miss you when we move!) and grandma's (Gramma Wickern and Gramma "Wederhotes") and Grampa Zoom and GranBuddy!

UGH to you, person I want to be but cannot be yet because I am a mother of young children.
And I love it more than anyone else I could possibly ever be, besides wife.
Because I would rather be stuck here in this wasteland of cold chilly misery with my two amazing children and my handsome, smart, sexy, fabulous husband, than in a warm home ten minutes from my mother with a great job and alone... except with my dog, of course.

And that is all.

*steps down from soapbox*

Crazy Hair

Kati's hair is getting SO LONG! I can't believe it! She was already born with more than Scott had on his first birthday, so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise to me, but it still it! I was looking through pictures from a few months ago and she has already grown like three times as much hair just since moving back to Idaho!

Anyways, we've had her hair in pigtails for the last few days but we finally took them out permanently last night.

She has the funniest hair!

Twin Falls

We found out that Josh's Grandparents and his mom were visiting Josh's Dad and brother, Matt, this past Sunday so we decided to skip out on Stake Conference (I know... so sue us; we figured family we haven't seen in a while were more important) and take a trip to Twin Falls.

It was wonderful! It's only been a few months since we moved from San Antonio and, after having been there for eight months, you'd think we'd be fine on our own again. I had no idea how great it would be to see my mother-in-love again!

Josh's grandparents were also able to see their third great-grandchild, baby Brennon; Josh's brother, Adam's, son who is almost three months old. Dianna, my MIL hadn't seen him either so it was great to be able to witness that!

Every time I'm around family I'm always blown away by how much they love my children. Having not grown up around family that really cares to see you, it's still a little awesome for me to realize just how many people love my children simply because they are our children.

Here are a few pictures from the trip. Adam and Leesh got most of them, but there were just a few I couldn't resist.

Scott is spoiled ROTTEN by his aunts, uncles, and grandma and grandpa EVERY time we get together! Here he is after a blue raspberry dumdum. Notice that there's already another one in his hand! Little booger-snot!

My sister-in-love, Alisha, with her son, my FIRST nephew, Brennon James!

Here's Kati with her Great-Grandma Deason! Grandma Wickern is trying to get them both to look at the camera, but she's so pretty they wouldn't stop looking at her!