Draper Temple

Yesterday we took the kids to the Draper Temple open house. I was so excited for a wonderful family event and a chance to teach my kids about temples and feeling the spirit. The temple was gorgeous and I loved feeling the spirit there. However, here is what my kids got out of the trip.

• Every time we went into a new room or hall the boys would say "1...2...3...4" as they pointed to pictures of Christ on the walls then they were keeping track of who could find the most pictures of him.
  
• As we walked by the baptismal font Luke said "mom it's a pool. Can I get in?" So I explained that it is where we do baptisms and they both said they wanted to get baptized in the temple. So I told them we don't get baptized there unless we're doing temple work. That didn't go over very well. We'll deal with this when they get older.
• In the sealing room they were talking about eternal families and I whispered to Claire that her daddy and I got married in a room just like that and she said in a rather loud voice "mama I'm going to marry you here too"
• When we walked into the Celestial room I was asking Tayson if he could feel the spirit and that this was similar to Heaven and I over heard Luke say "Dad, look it's a big shiny rocket" about the chandelier.
  
• On the bus ride over they told us that there would be cookies at the end - so they whole time the kids kept asking if it was over yet and if we could have cookies.
• Then as we were leaving and they could see the temple from the bus Tayson said "Mom, why is Moroni holding a gun?"
  

It looks like we'll be having a few Family Home Evenings on the temple.

Just some thoughts...

My kids crack me up...here are few gems from the past few days.

Yesterday at FHE the lesson was on being a Child of God and we went around the room saying each one of their names and that they were a Child of God. When we got to Claire we said "Claire is a child of God" and she said "No I not! I Claire Bear!!!"

Today Todd overheard Luke singing...."Old MacDonald had a farm E I E I dog poop"

Last night around 2:15 am Claire came in our bedroom and Todd was being so nice and telling her I was sleeping and she said "I don't like you...only mama" then crawled into bed with me with her silky blanket, sippy cup of water and a paper plate rattle (2 paper plates with beans inside it that she made in Nursery 2 weeks ago) apparently she was sleeping with it.

Tonight at dinner Claire kept saying "Fumbs up dude" and giving me a big thumbs up. I'm not sure why but it was so funny to me. She also does this fake laugh and sounded like she was laughing and crying we couldn't tell until she finished and was smiling.

I wish I could just walk around with a video camera to capture the moments. Of course it would have to be stealth or they wouldn't act normal (if you can say they are ever normal).

Eight Months

I can't believe my baby is already 8 months old. It has gone by so fast. She is a very active baby - she cruises along everything. The last few week she hasn't been sleeping very well - usually getting up once or twice at night to eat and some nights she won't go back to sleep unless I rock her for 30-45 minutes. I'm tired...but in the morning when I see her big toothless grin I can't be mad at her. She is such a happy baby. She eats great and is always hungry. She can down size 2 baby foods no problem and follows it up by chowing on finger foods (cheerio's or fruit puffs are her favorite).

I'm at the point right now where I'm trying to figure out if I should ween her or not. She really isn't ever full by just nursing and I usually end up giving her a bottle within an hour anyways. I feed her about 3 of the 5 bottles she gets during the day. At this point with Luke and Claire I just let nature take its course and weened them - but with Tayson I really worked hard to keep nursing him until finally right before he turned a year I finally gave in and stopped. I think Sophie would be perfectly happy if I just stopped but there is such a big part of me that is forcing this since she is my last.

Here are some things I will miss when she stops nursing:

• Her funny laugh cry she does when she knows it's coming or I switch sides. She is so excited.
• Knowing I'm giving her the healthiest thing I can do for her.
• Burning an extra 500 calories a day.
• When her little hand tickles my back and I'm not expecting it.
• The way she always pushes at my boobs like a puppy to get the milk to come out faster.
• When she growls while eating.
  
• The sweet looks she gives me.

And of course some things I won't miss:

• Being the only one who can get up to feed her in the night (early morning)
• Pumping at work
• Wearing nursing bras
  

The Screw

This morning I got in my car after our run (it was the last one in our training .... 10 miles!) and I had a v-mail from Todd. This is what it said...

"Hey Kath, call me when you get this or come home fast Claire put something up her nose and I think I need to take her to the doctor so come home fast."

I wasn't sure at this point if I should laugh or be worried so I called then hurried home. Claire spilt all of Todd's computer screws and somehow one ended up lodged way up her right nostril. My mom and dad got to our house just a few minutes after I did and my mom suggested we try to "blow it out" first. You can tell she had 10 kids...and that Danny loved to put things up noses (and not always his own!) So we plugged the other nostril opened her mouth and I blew in it as hard as I could (similar to CPR) - nothing but snot came out both times we tried. My parents took Tayson to soccer and they took Luke too so we could take a quick trip to the InstaCare with the girls.

2 hours (oh how I hate the Insta Care on a Saturday) after we got there we finally got in to see the doc and she couldn't find the screw in Claire's nose. Todd looked through the fancy light contraption and didn't see it anymore either. So off they went to get x-rays. Another half hour past and then we found out the screw was gone....just gone. It wasn't in her nose or anywhere in the 3 x-rays she got. We asked Claire if she knew where the screw was but she didn't...so it's just missing and we have no idea how it came out. But we both saw it up her nose so we know it was there. What a long day.



A few side notes:

1. When the doctor asked Claire what her name was she said "Claire Bear". She honestly thinks that's her full name and it is HILARIOUS to me.
2. The doctor told us that if she is "one of those kids" who likes to put stuff up her nose a few tips. One was the blow trick and the other was that sometimes kids will put stuff like paper up their nose and it will start to get all nasty and smell. So she said if our kids ever just really smell bad and a bath doesn't help that we should get their nose checked for foreign objects. Funny but good stuff to know.
   

Flashback Friday - The College Days

Tonight I get to go to dinner with KJ so I thought I would dedicate a flashback to her and the good times we had back in the 90's.....has it really been that long?

This was one of the many road trips we took during the BYU days. We drove down to Cali to Amy's house in Hacienda Heights. There are so many things about that trip that are hilarious and so many things that we have all chosen to forget (like playing board games....that didn't go so well).

Amy, Kati and I
How sweet are those outfits? Overalls, plaid and jean shirts....we rock!

Kati and I
We were completely soaked from the Jurassic Park ride

Matt, Kati, Mike, Me, Scott, Ryan and Amy
For some reason we felt the need to try on hats and take a picture

Oh the good days of college.

Signs of Spring

I love spring in Utah...it likes to trick you by coming and going for a while but it's always such a nice relief to know that the long, cold winter is over.

Here are a few signs I've seen in the past few days telling me it's spring:

• Tulip's are breaking the ground ready to show their beautiful faces
• My mom finally cut her rose bushes all the way back
  
• Goggle sunburns (you know the ones you get from spring skiing)
• Blue, blue, blue skies
• Kids bikes and razors laying around in yards
• Kids jumping on trampolines
  
• Muddy shoes
• 66 degree's on my car temperature gauge
• Forecast of snow for the weekend (it wouldn't be Spring without snow)
  

Hooray for spring!

Picture Tag

I got tagged by Jackee a few weeks ago...and I'm finally getting around to it.

Rules:
1. Go to the Document/My Pictures site on your computer.
2. Go to your sixth file.
3. Go to your sixth picture.
4. Blog about it.
5. Tag six people.


This is Tayson's first Christmas sitting by his stocking. He still has that little white puppy dog, Sophie wore those jammies this past Christmas, the black and white brochure in front of him was something for Todd and I from his mom. We all went to a dinner/theater and saw Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Which was a blast! We have read that book so many times, until just recently when Claire got all crazy on it and pulled off the text on the pages (I thought those books were child proof until Claire came along). The little STINKER!

Sophie looks so much like Tayson - except that he was a lot bigger than she is.

As for tagging people - I know most of you have already done this but if you haven't I tag you! It's fun to walk down memory lane.