2011 happenings

Well, many things have gone down in 2011 already. Me and the kids went to Aunt Tanya and Uncle Ryan's for a month to help with the birth of baby Clara. Unfortunately she didn't have the baby before we left (not for a week later!). We had a blast hanging out with Calvin and helping Aunt Tanya and Uncle Ryan. I even got to help paint the basement. So sad we didn't get to see Clara Isabelle before she was born but hopefully we'll get to see her soon. I didn't get any pictures because I left the camera with Darren. I'll upload what I got from Tanya. Poor Darren had to be at home going to school for 3 weeks while we were away. Tanya got me addicted to the food network. I've learned a lot from 'The Worst Cooks in America'. I even made a very nice looking meal for Valentines day from the tips I've learned from the show.

Alivia is saying tons of words like dog, shoe, coat, meow meow. You have to catch them the first time though because she won't say it again. She is doing the cutest mischievous laugh right now. When I get out of the car to get her out of her car seat she opens her mouth as big as it will go and laughs out loud. Makes me giggle every time! Ammon and Alivia are starting to play really well together. Ammon still goes running and screaming away from Alivia some times. He gets scared of her at times when she chases him but he know how to get back at her. Today he was blowing on her tummy and making her laugh. They are so much fun! All Ammon can think of is cars, cars, cars. "Watch cars"! "Watch Cars"! "Watch cars mom"! "Watch cars"! Finally I give in and let him watch it. The first thing he says when he gets out of bed is (in a whisper) "Eat mom". "get out of bed mom", "eat". "get out of bed mom" "eat". Finally I get up. "watch cars"! "watch cars mom". "Eat". "watch cars mom".

Our ward started a stroller boot camp that I've been going to. It's great times! Love the women in our new ward. They are so much fun and very good company.

T's 2011 Goals

So, I was reading my friend Andrea's blog and she has inspired me to work harder at improving myself and set some goals for 2011. I know that if I will do some spiritual things for myself that I will feel better about myself and get more accomplished during the day/week/year. Here are the goals I am setting for 2011:

Spiritual Goals

• Read the scriptures or ensign every morning at 4:45 a.m
• Say morning and evening prayers every day
• Take time to ponder
• Read the ensign completely each month
• Write in my journal every Sunday or at least once a week

Physical Goals

• Do yoga or some kind of exercise 5 days a week at 5:15 a.m.
  
• Do not eat after 8 p.m.
• Go to bed by 9:30 every night except Sunday (I have to work at 10:45 p.m. every Sunday so that is not a possibility)
• Run a 5K with Tessa this summer
• Lose 10 more lbs
  

Mental Goals

• Read 'Unlikely Truths of Motherhood' by Katie Van Dyke
• Learn something new about the FLEX system each Friday
• Read 4 books that interest me this year (that will almost be more than I've read in my entire life and so this is a good goal for me)...1 book that I am thinking of is the biography on President Monson and that will probably take me all year.
  

Family Goals

• Pay off credit cards
• Get $3,000 in savings
• Get Ammon potty trained by 2 1/2 (Feb 2011)
• Do some kind of physical and mental activity with the kids every day
• Increase our food storage each month
• Find a way to develop some patience (more prayers throughout the day)
• Go on a date each week with Darren

Talent Goals

• Make 7 cards a month
• Dance at least once a week
• Play my clarinet and drum once a week

Now, having written all of these goals I need to go make me a schedule! I'm excited for this new year! Wish me luck!

Dance Dance Dance

My kids love to dance. It's nice to have more room for them to play around. Alivia had already been spinning and spinning before I took this so she was very dizzy already.

Alivia's 3rd Birthday party

Everyone wanted to celebrate with Alivia so we had the Johnson party, a party on her birthday with Auntie Tessa and our cousin Tucker and than a 3rd party at Thanksgiving time when we were with Mima Goodall. The above is Alivia digging in to her pudding pie. She was way excited!


I don't think she got any in her mouth after that first bite, the rest went all over her tray and face.
This was our attempt at a birthday cake. We had so much pie and junk during Thanksgiving that we didn't feel like we needed to make a cake and so we just got Alivia some reese's peanut butter cups.
She got some great presents from everyone! Very cute outfits from Grandma and Grandpa and the cutest tutu from Aunt Tanya. Tessa made her a warm beanie that she wears every day and Aunt Krista made the cutest hair flowers for her. She won't keep them in her hair but maybe some day :). She also got the cutest dress from Auntie Tessa. Can't wait for it to fit her.
We missed Grandpa (he's in Afghanistan still). He will be coming home in a few weeks for the new year. Love you lots Alivia girl!

This is Love

Before I forgot,I wanted to post an act of Love by Ammon boy. We went down to Utah County for the Stone family Santa party last weekend and we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Stingers. We went to sacrament meeting with them and Ammon wanted to be by papa. Ammon came back over by me and got the tissues out of the diaper bag and wanted one. I opened them for him and he took one out. I thought he just wanted to blow his nose or rip it up like usual. (Grandpa has been having a hard time controlling his slobber with his mouth and so he has to wipe his mouth a lot. ) Ammon went over to papa and wiped his chin and wiped his nose several times for him. Then he would hand the tissue to Grandma and then grab it again and wipe Grandpas chin. It was so adorable.

Happy Birthday Alivia Girl!

Alivia is one years old today, November 21st. Where has this year gone? I can't believe how quickly she has grown. She's been walking about 6-10 steps at a time for a few weeks now. We celebrated her birthday while we were at the Johnson's a few weeks ago and the kids had so much fun with the cousins. We're celebrating again today (with pudding pie) and then we will celebrate when we go up to the Goodall's for Thanksgiving too. She is loved by so much family! All of the cousins just love getting together as you can see.
Alivia just loves Boss man! She gave him hugs and pocked his eyes and gave him kisses and he just sat there and took it all. He's such a cute little man!
Like my other little munchkin, Alivia LOVES to climb the stairs and climb up on boxes or the toilet etc etc etc. She will go up the stairs and then throw her arms up in the air while she's standing on the edge of the stair. It freaks me out and she thinks it is so funny. Ammon has taught her how to fly down the stairs on her tummy really fast. I don't worry about her falling too often unless Ammon is around. He loves to 'help' little sister go up and down the stairs. He will push her little bum and say 'go baby, go!'
Alivia got the cutest little baby doll (not a quiet little thing, but it is cute) from Aunt Natalie and Aunt Sherri. Every time Bailey would find it she would bring it to Alivia to hold.
Alivia just chillin' with Gramps. She is a very relaxed baby most of the time. She is either on the go or chillin'.
Bo is getting so big. He was Ammon's size when Darren and I got married. I think he is enjoying having someone little to be buddies with and wrestle around with. Ammon had so much fun playing with kids non stop. He never gets this much attention at home.
Alivia is 3 months older than Boston but yet he's starting to out grow her. I think he weighs more than her. Aren't they the cutest little things!
Gracie trying to give Ammon a horsey ride. He kept spilling over on his head but they both were having a great time. Luckily nobody got hurt.
This is the first time I have ever let Alivia try to feed herself. The spoon didn't last long but she loved using her hands! She smacks her lips together and says 'ohhhh' when she gets excited or loves the food. These were baby food bananas that she was eating. What a mess! She loved every minute though. Last night I had a plate with some crumbs on it and she wanted desperately to have the plate. I gave it to her and she started licking the crumbs off like a little puppy. I tried taking it away from her and she started huffing and puffing through her nose and staring at me like she was about to charge. It was so hilarious!
Aunt Megan held her first cupcake for her while I took a picture. Alivia grabbed a marshmallow, looked at it, and then stuck it to Megans shirt. Oops!
Here is the hideous cake that I created. Didn't look great but it tasted delicious. My idea was to have a cupcake tower but there were no toothpicks in the house and so they wouldn't stay in place and so we had fun decorating with marshmallows. I usually don't like marshmallows but they were delicious with the cake and frosting. Don't ask me what it is. It's just a blob of sugar.
Yesterday was Alivia's first encounter with snow (since she's been mobile). Darren came running down the stairs, picked her up and took her outside. He was so excited to show her the first snow storm. She's got a very cute daddy!
Loves from Gracie. She just adores the babies.
Some of the munchkins.

This is Alivia's outfit from grandma. She is so cute in purple and I love the little vest.
Ammon is getting potty trained (he will only use the big potty) and so Alivia wants to be a part. She mostly likes to stand in this little potty but will occasionally just chill on it for awhile.
Her favorite present was the tissue paper. Bethy and her boyfriend Trevor were playing with her presents.
Of course she has her thumb in her mouth, and I wish I could get rid of the red eyes. Alivia has been a wonderful addition to our family. She makes us laugh with her fun personality. She loves her big brother and watches everything he does. She's always smiling and getting into things. Her favorite things to do are, eat paper, eat food, eat wood, eat rocks, flush the toilet, eat books, eat dirt, splash in the toilet etc. She loves to crawl and climb and make a mess. She will stand on Ammon's bed and pull all of the books off the book shelf. I will pick them up and then she does it again and again and again. You would think I would learn to put them somewhere else. Alivia doesn't sleep much. She does takes naps but they are not more than 1-2 hours once a day. I am lucky if she will nap twice. She doesn't like to be sang to (by mom at least) and will only fall asleep at night with mom or dad laying next to her in our bed. She's starting to dance more.
Alivia likes to sing at church. She doesn't like to be dressed but doesn't mind her diaper being changed. She is very tender hearted. She loves to give Ammon hugs and kisses and pats on the back. She is a go getter. She will find a way to get whatever she wants. Most of the time she eats Ammon's food from his tray before he can. Today she grabbed the entire sacrament water tray and dumped in out. Both me and the young man were trying to pry to out of her hands and she still managed to grab all the cups. I was so embarrassed but there was nothing I could do. We all love you Alivia girl! We can't wait to continue to get to know you for many more years and hope you have a wonderful 2nd year of your life!

Cheese!

I haven't uploaded pictures for awhile so I thought I would just do a collage. As you can see, Alivia has the cutest smile with her three teeth. Now she's getting her second top tooth (with the Johnson gap) and it is so cute. Ammon and Alivia play very well together. Last night when we were trying to take pictures of their Halloween costumes Ammon was not amused. He layed on the ground with his head down and then I put Alivia on his back. All of a sudden it was play time and he smiled for us. Grandma and Grandpa Great Goodall came down for the weekend a few weeks ago and we got some pictures with them. The lower left picture of Ammon was yesterday when we were going to go trick or treating at the mall and I went downstairs where Ammon was waiting for me and he was asleep snuggling with Dad's big boots. Alivia took two steps on her own a few times in a row at Auntie Tessa's house on Halloween. She gets so excited to walk and LOVES climbing the stairs! Ammon has taught her how to slide down the stairs really fast. She still takes awhile but they will go up and slide down, up and slide down, up and slide down, up and slide down ...etc etc etc. One of their favorite things to play on is an exercise ramp that my dad made me. I prop it up against the stairs and they slide down it and roll the cars and balls down it. This keeps them entertained for hours!

Family Update

Well, I don't have any new pictures downloaded to my computer yet but just wanted to let everyone know that we're doing well. Darren got a part-time job that is helping out. He is working for a lady down on the 'island' doing things around her house. He worked on her sprinkler system all day on Saturday and I think she wants him to paint her house etc. I don't know how that will work in the SNOW (yes, it's snowing right now) but she seems to have plenty for him to do to keep him busy. We are very grateful for the jobs that we have right now. The kids are doing great. They were both up at 3:30 a.m. the other day (of course because I had somewhere to be at 9) and didn't go back to sleep until 7:30. Needless to say they were both still asleep at 9 so I was late for our Relief Society activity, but other than messing with my sleeping patterns they are very good kids and bring me much joy each day! Alivia is talking more and more and giggles all the time. She is starting to climb up on chairs and up on Ammon's bed. She also loves to climb the stairs because she knows she's not suppose to. I can't believe she's going to be 1 next month! It just blows my mind. Ammon is still as crazy as can be. We're trying to potty training thing. He does really well until I forget to put him on the potty or I get busy working. He still loves being outside. We've been looking for a place with a fenced back yard but when reality hits we realize we're just going to be here in this apartment for another 2 years. It doesn't hurt to look though. I'm trying to balance work and home and relief society secretary. I feel a little crazy but I'm starting to get into a schedule. Darren is constantly picking up on things that I've left half done or am too tired to do. I appreciate that he gets the kids ready for bed and makes dinner more than 75% of the time. I don't know what I'd do without his help. He's doing well in his classes and is looking forward to the cold weather (he he). From what I hear dad is doing well in Afghanistan. He's doing some traveling to work in different areas on different projects. Mom just got surgery on her hands (again) and is doing well.

Dad in Afghanistan

Dad left for Afghanistan yesterday. He has been gone for over a week. He had several classes to attend to first and then he left last night at 10 pm Eastern time (I believe) for Afghanistan. He'll be there for 6 months! I can't imagine being gone for so long. I am proud of him for going and serving there. I know that his services and talents are appreciated and so badly needed there. Although we all want to be selfish and keep him here with us at home (where we know he is safe), he is doing a good thing. I hope he knows how much I love him. I know that my dad would do anything for me and I hope he knows that I would also do anything for him. Sometimes as a child I feel like there isn't much that I can do to repay my parents for everything that they do for me. How do you express gratitude for the many countless hours of service and love, the sleepless nights and the sacrifices that they have made so that you can live a better life? I believe it was Elder Holland that spoke today in Conference about his parents that sacrificed their time and money so that he could serve a mission and go to college. My parents have done the same for me so many times in my life. They spend their time and their money serving their family and the people in the church and I am so grateful for their examples. I love you dad and I pray every day that you will return home to us safely!

Cutest Baby La La

Ammon calls Alivia 'La La' because he can't say Alivia yet. It is so cute to hear him but he'll only say it for me when we're saying prayers. You'll have to excuse the red eyes. I can't figure out how to edit these and then upload the edited version. Anyway, Alivia is sanding on her own (no hands) now and is using the furniture to crawl everywhere. I believe I am going to have two climbers on my hands. Mom bought her this cute little skirt outfit and it is so adorable on her! Thanks mom!


Alivia is teething and so a cold can of 'Dew' was feeling great to her. No, we don't feed our children Mt. Dew. I would have to hurt someone real bad if they gave my child Mt. Dew!
Oh, just pulling apart the movies. I love VHS because the kids can't ruin them as easily as the DVD's. Yes, they are a pain to rewind but that's o.k. with me!
Buddies just hanging out. Most of the time Ammon gets bugged when Alivia touches him but there are a few special moments during the day when they will interact and play together. They will give each other hugs and sometimes Ammon will just lay on Alivia or Alivia with climb on top of Ammon like he's just part of the floor and they will have a good time together. I cherish those moments when they are giggling at each other. It makes all the tough times worth it!
So, I cleaned the room and then the kids found the box of business cards 'AGAIN'! This was the third time I had picked these up within a matter of minutes. Guess I wasn't too smart about where I would place them. Every time I thought they were out of reach but apparently not. This was seriously a matter of minutes from a clean room to a disaster. When Ammon gets really hyper he will just start going nuts and spread out anything and everything he can found all over the floor. He especially loves doing this to blocks, cards, domino's or anything that might be difficult for mama to pick up.

Kids were sick for several days but they are both feeling better and acting themselves again.