Maybe it's PMS....

who knows. But today it feels like my kids have been the kids from you know where. It doesn't help that Hallie took a half hour nap, it doesn't help either of us. She's been grouchy, whiney, snotty, back talking, etc all morning and I couldn't wait for nap time to come so I could finally take a shower and cozy up in my bed with my book for 2 hours. I got the shower, and about 5 minutes with my book before she staggered in to my room sleepy eyed wanting more water. Then that was it. I sent her back to bed, and she was back in 5 minutes for something else. I turned on a movie in her room for her (the movie that SHE requested) and she was back in 5 minutes again telling me that it was too scary. We changed the movie, then she was back in 5 minutes more telling me Chase was awake. Nevermind the fact that she went into his bedroom and WOKE HIM UP!!! So she sat in time out for 5 minutes. Then she continue over and over and over again to find some new way to torture/hurt Chase. She takes away his toys, knocks him over, slams his fingers in the door when he's trying to get into my room. Then that was it for me, she went back to time out for 10 minutes (until I wasn't fuming mad anymore). When I go to get her out of time out she sitting there with a smile on her face, totally unfased by her extra long time out. She actually kind of looked like she enjoyed it! I am probably overreacting due to being a hormonal crazy person today, but I want to go lay in my bed and cry right now. Or sleep for a REALLY long time. Then wake up to well behaved little angels who always listen to me and don't ask me "why" over and over and over again. *sigh*

Bath time baby.

We had a really great memorial day. Beach, Pool, BBQ, what more can I say? It was awesome.

Ode to my laundry.

I am so sick of seeing this image ALL OVER my house. It makes me crazy. Just as I finally finish folding/hanging up/putting away all the clean laundry, a new pile is appearing somewhere else in house. The pile usually starts out on the couch in my living room, where it continues to grow all throughout the laundry day. Then, if it's not folded right away (it is very rarely folded the same day it is all washed) it tends to get moved to my bed because we have friends coming over. Then.....it gets moved back to the couch when we go to bed that night so there is a place for us to sleep. The next day I'm picking up pieces of the clean laundry from off the floor all day long because Chase is grabbing it off the couch piece by piece then carrying it around with him through the house. Finally, it gets moved to the bed in the spare room so that it is out of everybody's way and can be dug through in order to find what we need out of it. Then, Matt moves it back onto the couch to make statement (a HUGE hint that he's sick of digging through a pile of clean laundry to find underwear, socks, towels, etc.). At this point I usually, FINALLY, give in to my most hated chore and fold the laundry while watching a good show on T.V. Will this nasty cycle ever end?

We know how to have a good time.

Have you ever made a whole batch of cookie dough just so you could eat a few spoonfuls, then put the batter in a bowl in the fridge for later eating enjoyment? Never even bother to turn on the oven? I just did that. And I'm glad I did.

Happy Mothers Day!

Just wanted to wish both of our Moms a Happy Mothers Day. We love you both!

I also wanted to take a few minutes to write about my Mom. It's funny, because considering that we mixed like oil and water when I was a teenager....to this day I couldn't get by without her. She is one of the first people I call with good news, bad news, funny stories, when I need parenting help, when I'm bored, or when I just need a little encouragement. She has been and still is endless in her devotion to teach not only me, but all of my siblings, to always live a virtuous, honest life. I live in fear of how I'm going to get two children to go down the right path in life.....and she has been successful with 8 so far. I've never seen anyone so quick to jump in and help ANYONE (stranger, friend, or family) when they are in need. She is truely the most selfless person I know (sometimes a little too selfless....take a little time for you Mom!). When it comes to being a good Mom and teaching my children I want to be just like her (although I do feel that the never ending grounding may have been a little extreme :) ). Thank you for being my Mom and one of my best friends. Happy mothers day!

How it started....

In December of 2003 I was living at my grandma Mimi's house and not really sure what to do with my life. Byu-Idaho had not exactly worked out for me (turns out a combination of throwing water balloons and being signed in on a roll when you're not there equals getting kicked out of college....oops) so I was left with a kind of confused feeling as to what to do next. I knew I wanted to serve a mission for our church, but turning mission papers in was still 6 months away from me. So, my friend Kelly King (who was just about to go back for her second semester at BYU-Hawaii) called me one day and I was telling her how I didn't know what to do with my life when she had a great idea! She told me to come out to Hawaii and just live there for a semester. She told me that Hawaii would make me "pensive", so I started thinking about it. Later that night I was talking to Mimi and out of no where she was like "why don't you move out to Hawaii with Kelly?" She had had no idea about my conversation with kelly earlier that day. So that's all I needed, two people in one day telling me to move to Hawaii....I started looking at plane tickets.

When I left I had two stand-by tickets (one for going there and one for the way home), enough money for one month rent (in an awesome house on a cliff right over the ocean), and enough money for one months worth of food. I knew if I didn't get a job out there right away, then my stay in Hawaii would only be one month long. I was really lucky and got a job at a hospital right away doing medical billing and making 12 bucks and hour (which was a ton compared to everyone else's minimum wage of 5 buck an hour).

So here's the whole the point of my little "look back".....about one week after I got out to Hawaii, I met a guy named Matt. Turned out one of my roommates (who was actually not a roommate, just visiting one of my roommates) was Matt's ex-girlfriend and they were still friends. So he came over to our house almost everyday to hang out with her and was forming attachments with all of my other roomates. I obviously noticed Matt (he IS really good looking) but didn't pay much attention to him because he seemed to have a thing for just about every girl that lived in our house. :) So one day, about two weeks after I had been in Hawaii, Matt asked me if I wanted to come to his house and burn CD's before a super bowl party he was having. I went and we had a really good time, until a girl he had been dating (that I had no idea about) showed up. She was from Thai Land and spoke almost no English. Apparently Matt didn't need verbal communication. :) Sooooo, Matt quickly ended things with this girl and from that day forward we were together 24/7.

We did so many fun things and I was so glad that I was in Hawaii. Both of us just thought is was kind of casual and had our own set of plans for after that semester was over. When he left at the end of that semester to go home and work, I felt sick. I missed him SO much. I had never missed a guy before, so this was new to me. Turns out he felt the same way. We ended up dating for a year half (with a few short lived break ups on the way) and then got married in the Los Angeles Temple on May 8, 2004.

That was four years ago today and still the best decision I ever made. Two kids, one college degree (and one cosmetology degree), many jobs, many apartments, and one signing up with the air force later, we are ridiculously happy. We have our little bumps in the road along the way, but all in all, things are perfect. Matt takes such good care of us and loves us to pieces. Hallie, Chase and I feel the same way about him. It's also a plus that I still find Matt to be really hot. I really feel that a series of event in both our lives lead us to a place where we could meet and go from there. We fit together perfectly and I know we can accomplish some great things together. I love you Matt! Happy anniversary.

Check out this sweet picture of a bunch of sting rays that went swimming past us on the beach last week. They were just cruising along right by the shore line. Matt and Hallie chased them way down the beach taking pictures of them. Sweet right? Life for us is really good these days. We find out where we are going to be stationed in about 3 more weeks. We can't wait! We're so anxious to either start looking into buying a house, or looking into getting visas. It's kind of crazy to think that some random group of men I don't know get to pick what my future is going to be and where I'm going to be living for the next for years. That we don't really get a say in it. And if we don't like it, then tough. Although, the five places that we could be going....we'd be happy about any of them. All for different reasons. We are either going to: Georgia, Oklahoma, Alaska, Japan, or Germany.
The kids are both doing really good. Hallie has been spending a lot of time in "time-out" lately. She seems to be testing her limits worse than ever. The biggest problem is, sometimes I think she's smarter than we are. I'm constantly second guessing myself and if I'm taking the best route in dealing with her naughtiness (which is exactly what she wants ) :) She's been totally out of diapers (except for when she's sleeping) for quite a few weeks now. Very VERY few accidents. She is a little too fascinated with her fluids leaving her body though. I caught her running her finger through the stream of pee that was going into the toilet the other day. A few days later, she came out of the bathroom with her panties to get my help putting them back, when she put her hands on my face to steady herself while she stepped in....they were soaking wet. I immediately pulled away from her and asked her why her hands were wet, and she told me she had had them in the potty. Nice.
Chase is just the most amazing little thing ever. He walks along all of the furniture (I've even caught him free standing a couple of times) and puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. He loves to follow Hallie around and play in her bedroom with her. He's so stinkin cute (people stop me everywhere I go to tell me how cute he is), but it's kind of in a cute little Yoda kind of way. :) He says "Mama" and "Dada" and babbles a lot. He's totally turning into a Mama's boy. We had a babysitter the other night and he cried the whole time we were gone (totally unlike him to EVER cry). Whenever he gets hurt he whines and cries and crawls to me as fast as he can. I have to admit, I kind of like it. He love the beach and seems to have no fear of the water. He is constantly trying to crawls as fast as he can...straight into the waves. Makes me a nervous wreck.
Anyways, life for us is really good. I have no complaints. We're really blessed to live where we do in such a comfy, nice home.

A very good day........