A Toddler's Right of Passage

Why is it that every toddler does this, like it's
an inborn instinct or something.
1. Take whatever powdery substance you can find, that mom hasn't put out of reach. Sometimes she'll leave the diaper bag out, or you can try the bottom shelf of the pantry if you can get the door open. Baby powder is popular, and so is flour, but in this case it was pancake mix.
2. Then take a moist substance. Desitin works the best, but you can use water, or drool is always handy.
3. Mix thouroughly and spread around the room and all over yourself . Try to really get it caked into the carpet or your clothes and hair.
4. Wait for Mom to find you, and when she does, make sure you're looking your cutest so that she will run and grab the camera, instead of kill you on the spot.

Years Ago

20 Years Ago:
1. I was just starting eigth grade at American Fork Junior High. Joe was in 6th grade in Manti. He was way to young for me then.
2. I had just met Katherine, who is the friend that I've been friends with longer than any of my other friends.
3. I had just got my very first boyfriend, - The kind you go "steady" with, and pass notes to in the hall, and talk to by your locker, and maybe call on the phone once if you're brave enough, but that's all.

10 Years Ago:
1. Joe and I had just started dating again after a year of just being friends - It took us less then 5 months to get married.
2. I was living in Alpine UT, working and going to BYU. Joe was living in Manti UT and going to Snow College. It was quite the commute for dating.
3. I had just started a new job at Heritage School (for delinquent youth). I was the inventory clerk. A disgusting part of my job was any time we got a new kid I had to thouroughly go through all their belongings, searching for contraband, and inventory everything they had. Not everyone had the best hygeine, not everyone brought washed clothes. Don't worry, I wore gloves.

5 Years Ago:
1. We were living in South Korea, and I think we had just got our van shipped over, and didn't have to take a taxi anymore.
2. I was sticky. Let me explain - It was extremely hot and humid there in the summer, more so than I had ever experienced before. We had a few fans in our little apartment up on the ninth floor, but it wasn't quite enough. I constantly felt like I had just spilled hot orange juice all over myself - sticky.
3. We spent a lot of time walking, walking, walking, taking in all the sights (and smells) of Korea. Even with our car, there was a lot of walking.

3 years Ago:
1. We had just had our third child, Madelyn, and we were enjoying her immensely.
2. I was extremely busy, having just been called as the Young Women's president in our ward.
3. I think that's when I started a statistics class through independent study. It took me almost a year to get it done.

1 Year Ago:
1. I was the new primary pianist, and things slowed down.
2. I was starting a second year of babysitting for my friend Missy.
3. I had to pay back financial aid because I had taken another class through independent study, and never finished it.

This Year So Far:
1. I've lost 35 lbs. since December, and Joe lost 40 something. Weight Watchers, in case you're wondering.
2. We bought our very first living room furniture. Until then, we had used a 2nd-hand set that my sister gave us when we got married.
3. Joe and I recently got new callings. I'm the Releif Society secretary, and he's the Elder's Quorum president

Yesterday:
1. We went to our Stake Center, an hour and a half away, because this weekend was stake conference, and the priesthood session and adult evening session were there.
2. I stayed with the kids in the nursery while Joe went to the priesthood session. And then they had babysitting during the adult session, so we both got to go to that. It is usually my favorite session of stake conference because I don't have to wrestle with kids.
3. We got dinner at Taco Bell and ate it in the car. I got the chicken supreme burrito from the fresco menu.

Today:
1. I wrestled with Alex during Stake Conference.
2. We got the kids all bathed and figured out what they're wearing tomorrow
3. I'll probably read some Orson Scott Card.

Tomorrow:
1. First day of school for the kids, so that means we have to get up early.
2. I start babysitting for Missy again while she finishes up her final semester of school.
3. I have to finish the grocery shopping.

Next Year:
1. We will still be living in Texas.
2. We will seriously be getting our house ready to sell.
3. We will take another trip to Utah in the summer and remind ourselves why we want to move there and become poor college students while Joe gets his masters degree.

Yep, They're Funny

One of the best things about being a mom and dad is that our kids make us laugh. They also make us want to pull our hair out sometimes, so the laughing part really helps with that. Here are a few of the things that have made us laugh recently.

Madelyn loves icecream, like most kids, but she will never eat the cone. I've talked her into taking a nibble a time or two, but that's it. Of course it's imperative that the icecream itself not go to waste, so she gets as much out of the cone as she can with her tongue, and then moves onto the finger, and ends by tipping up the cone like a glass, trying to get every last drop. Why do we still get her a cone instead of a cup? I don't know...I don't know.

We usually give our kids a heads up, like if we're at the park and it's almost time to go, we'll say, "You have 5 more minutes." Or if it's almost time for bed, we'll let them know they have 10 more minutes before they have to go to bed. Or if they're taking turns on the computer, I'll say, "You have 2 more minutes." You get the idea. Well, Madelyn has adopted this heads up system for her own purposes. Whenever we tell her to do something now, she'll automatically say, "Two more minutes."

Cora and JT both lost a tooth in the last couple of weeks. The difference: JT - He never even told us he had a loose tooth to begin with. We were in the car driving home from our trip to Utah, and Cora suddenly screams bloody murder, "JT just pulled out his tooth!" We look back and JT is bleeding all over and nonchalantly holding up his tooth. He just kept tugging on it until it came out; no big deal. Cora - We knew that she had a loose tooth because it had been loose FOREVER! It was literally hanging by a single strand, but she refused to pull it out. She would totally freak out if we threatened to pull it out for her. She would chew on the side of her mouth to avoid it. And it's not like this was her first loose tooth. She already lost 4. I guess gravity or something finally made it fall out. Don't worry, she's fine.

Alex has taken a few steps, and he's finally showing interest in walking now, but for the most part he still crawls. Anytime he's crawling on a surface that he doesn't like the feel of, he does the ape crawl, up on his hands and feet with his bum up in the air. It's just funny to watch.

Our kids are very animated when they're watching movies sometimes. They like to act out the scenes. Here they are acting out the car chase scene in "National Treasure". Madelyn is driving and telling Cora and JT to buckle up. Cora and JT are getting tossed around the backseat as the car is driving crazy down the road. Cora is saying, "Step on it!", and JT is saying "Look out!"
Whenever I hear the expression "kids say the darndest things" I think of JT. We've heard some great JTisms lately. Here's a few.

1) He was saying a prayer and said "...Please don't laugh during the prayer. Please don't throw anyone off a cliff..."

2) We were in the store and I mentioned that we were going to go to the toy aisle. JT said, "The toy aisle? Are you kidding me, that's my favorite aisle!"

3) I was tellng JT that it's nice to wear a clean pair of underwear everyday so we can be fresh. JT said, "Fresh? Fresh is a glass of orange jucie. You're weird mom."

4) And I had to add one from when he was little. I told him not to touch the stove because it was Hot. He grabbed onto my leg, gave it a hug, and said, "Thanks mom. You saved my life!"

Things I miss about Utah

Well, we just came back from a two week trip to Utah. It was great. It was rejuvinating. We have lived many places, but Utah always feels like home. I was once again reminded of all the reasons I love Utah so much, and here they are (in no particular order).

1. FAMILY

We miss our families very much. The kids love spending time with their Grandparents and Cousins. Both families have grown so much.

Here are the cousins on the Liddell side

and the Petersen side

Madelyn turned 3 years old in July, and we had a birthday party for her with all the cousins from both sides.

We went to the zoo,

and we went swimming, and we played baseball, and we ate good food, and had so much fun with our families. We love you all!

2. FRIENDS

We had a great night with our friends the Packers and the Dukes (who we know from Texas). It was good to catch up, and to know they are doing good. We didn't really have time to see our other friends this trip. Two weeks just wasn't enough. So for all my friends in Utah (who I miss VERY much) that I didn't get to see, know that I love you, and I will make more of an effort next time we're in Utah. I also have great friends here in Texas. Unfortunately, most of them are in the military, like us, and will be gone before we are. I will miss them very much when they leave.

3. MOUNTAINS

I get tired of all the flatness in Texas. I LOVE the mountains. We spent as much time as we could in the mountains, and the rest of the time just looking at them. You can see them wherever you are - your front porch or yard, driving down the street, everywhere! I love that.

We always drive through Moab, where the Arches are. The only one you can see really good from the road is Wilson arch.

I love the red colors of the mountains there.


4. CLIMATE

I am from Utah. I do not like Humidity. Granted, there are many places with much worse humidity than where we live, but I still don't like it. I love the dry air in Utah. Love it. I also miss having four distinct seasons - Fall (beautifully colored leaves, Indian summers and/or crisp, cool air.), Winter (even crisper air, snow and the silence it brings), Spring (flower buds, blossoming trees, the smell of rain (and yes, it smells better in Utah), and mild days), and Summer (warm (and hot) days, and green everywhere) That's 4! And guess what makes all four seasons even better - Dry Air! This leads to the next one...

5. OUTDOORS

Because of the climate in Utah, I like to be outside all the time. I'm not outside as much in Texas. So on our trip we spent a lot of time outdoors and it was great.

6. TEMPLES

We are lucky to be three hours away from a temple in Texas. I know that most people are further away from a temple than we are. But it is just nice to have so many temples in Utah, to be able to easily go there whenever you want, even if it's just too walk around the grounds with the kids. We were able to do that during our trip, and the kids really enjoyed it.

We also went to the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, and I think the kids could have spent the whole day there if we'd had time. There are a lot of church history sites and a lot of pioneer heritage in Utah that I want my children to know and see.

7. GRASS

The grass in Utah is deliciously soft. You want to walk on it with your bare feet, lay down and roll around in it. No tough, pokey grass. No ants.



8. GARDENS
The heat here in Texas is not kind to gardens. In Utah you can have your garden out in the full sun, and it will thrive. It's easier to garden there, I think. Here's my mother-in-laws garden. Isn't it "embarrassing"?

9. FIREWORKS

In Utah you can do fireworks right in front of your house on the road. Real fireworks, not party favors. And you don't have to worry about your neighbors calling the cops on you (Yes, that happened to us last year in Texas because we didn't know it was illegal). The 24th of July in Utah is Pioneer Day, a state holiday, to celebrate the settling of the Mormon pioneers in Utah. We celebrated with everyone else, had a BBQ, and watched fireworks at a neighbors house and the kids got sparklers.

10. FRY SAUCE

Okay, this is a dumb one, but I love fry sauce. Of course, if you've never lived in or around Utah, you might have no idea what this is. It's a condiment for french fries made of ketchup, mayo, and other seasonings. Yummy. I had to get some while I was there.

Well, there are other things I love about Utah, but that pretty much covers our trip. I just don't know how anyone couldn't love Utah. I can't wait to move back. There are many things that I'll miss about Texas when we leave, but I'll save that post for when we move.

Summer Rain

There are not many things that are funner than playing in the rain. I loved it, my kids love it - who doesn't love it? Well......I don't know if Joe liked riding his bike home in it, but I think it looks fun:)

Our gutter fills up really fast - it makes a great wading pool.

Is anybody worried about what kind of germs I might be exposing them to?

Singing in the Rain!

Cora's Gallery

Cora wanted to be sure that her artistic endeavors were included on our blog, so here are some of the pictures that she took at the Water Lily and Rose garden. As stated in an earlier post, when Cora grows up she wants to be and artist and a teacher.

Independence Weekend

What a glorious 4th of July. We were lucky enough to have Bert (Joe's brother) and Adreann come to visit us with their three kids and dog. We stayed pretty busy, but it was one of the most relaxing weekends we've had in a long time. It almost felt like we were on vacation. The first night we went down to the river and watched a great fireworks show, while listening to a free pops concert by the Community Band and Symphony.

At the beginning of the show we got a fly-by from four T-37s, and we were just a few yards away from where they shot off a replica 1861 three-inch ordnance rifle and a Coehorn mortar courtesy of our town's fort artillery group (and No, I did not take any of these pictures to the right). It was extremely loud, but the kids loved it. Thousands of people were sitting everywhere along the river on the grass with blankets and lawn chairs. We picked a place on the sidewalk, which was great with the nice thick blankets we brought, and we were as close as we could be to the fireworks display. We were all impressed, children and adults alike. If you're really bored you can watch a part of it here on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d31EXvNYF0

Of course, we had better seats then whoever filmed this, and you might want to skip to the second half of the video to get to the best part of it. Anyway, the next day we went swimming at the rec camp, and then had a BBQ in our backyard - Sanpete Turkey, yummmmmmy! For those of you who aren't from, or married to someone from Sanpete county, UT, here's a link to a recipe. As Tim would say, "it's delish." http://sanpete.com/downloads/Turkey_Recipe.pdf The next day we went swimming on base, and later we went to the Water Lily garden and Rose garden here in town. My kids love going here, and always want to walk around FOREVER. Every time we go they complain that we haven't stayed long enough. And it's not like this place has ice cream or roller coasters - it's just a garden. But it is beautiful, and here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Alas, the weekend ended, and everyone had to go home. And now we're looking forward to our real summer vacation, when we get to go to Utah in two weeks.