McArthur

Snaggletooth

2011-12-12T06:31:00.000-08:00

Jerzi's teeth have always came in way later than other kids. So when her top teeth finally started coming in, we started noticed a bump kind of to the side but up on top of her front tooth. Well for awhile we thought it was the tooth that was supposed to come in right next to the front tooth, that was just growing in crooked. But then those two lateral teeth just outside of the the 2 front teeth came in, basically at the same time. So we were left wondering what the heck this bump was. It was there for a few months, without ever breaking through the gums. Then one day it broke through and of course it was another tooth, turned sideways. Poor Jerz. She had what we call a snaggletooth.

We took her to a pediatric dentist and they said she has an extra front tooth. Sweet huh? They told us to bring her in after she turned 2 years old (so they can give her gas), to pull it out. So here she is on the way to the dentist to get it yanked out. Poor thing, she has no idea what's about to happen to her.

(Sorry, not a real good picture of it)

The dentist told me that after they give her the gas, Jerzi will be nice and relaxed and mellow as they do the extraction. But after giving her the gas, I would have to leave the room because too many parents can't handle watching.

I'd like to say that things went really smooth after that, and she did so good throughout the whole thing. But that would be a lie. She was terrible! She was freaking out when they put the gas mask on her, screaming, kicking, banging her head against the chair, trying to pry their hands off her and the mask. The dentist kept saying to me "Ok, in just a second she should start calming down."

She never did. She just kept on keepin on. They didn't tell me to leave like they said they were gonna do, instead they had me hold down her arms and legs. One assistant was holding down her head. Another assistant was holding down her shoulders. All the while, the dentist was poking, sawing, burning and pulling. Jerz screamed and fought the ENTIRE time, and kept yelling out "Hurting me! Momma, hurting me!" It was the worst thing ever. She kept looking at me like, why aren't you helping me? The dentist kept assuring me that they weren't hurting her, that she was numb, but I'm not sure I believe it. They did get it out though, and according to the dentist, "everything went great, and she should have a beautiful smile."

Here's an after photo, one week after she got it taken out, when her gums had healed up a little bit. I'm a little sad I didn't take a pic right after it got taken out. She looked a little like she was a crack head, with missing teeth, black stuff (dried blood, or burned gums, I'm not sure which) on and between her teeth. Hopefully now, the rest of her teeth will start growing in, and will grow in normal.

Yabba Dabba Doo!

2011-11-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

McArthurs. Meet the McArthurs.

We're the modern stone age family.

From the town of Bedrock, we're a page right out of history!

For Halloween this year, we dressed up as the Flinstones.

Wanna meet the family?

Fred
(Notice the juice box in his hand? Someone had a huge cooler, and gave drinks out instead of candy. Awesome huh?!)

Wilma

Bamm Bamm

Pebbles

When I was trying to decide what Jete and Jerz could be for Halloween, I read on the internet how some people made Flinstone costumes in like 3 hours, right before a Halloween party. I thought that would be a cute idea and fairly easy to make. I also know that I usually take longer than anyone to do anything, so I figured it would take me a lot longer than 3 hours. Plus I'm definitely not what one would call a seamstress. I don't know how to use patterns, so I just had to make them up as I was going. Well, after working on them for one week straight, I finished them right in time for our ward trunk or treat. So I was pretty happy that we were all able to fit in them and that people recognized that we were dressed as the Flinstones.

They had all sorts of games set up for the kids at the church for the Halloween party, like bowling, fishing, mini golf, a cakewalk, etc. They also had a little costume parade for all the primary kids and handed out awards after it.... and Little Miss Jerzi girl won an award. Yay!

The actual trunk or treat was a little ridiculous. There was so much candy. We didn't even go to all the trunks cuz their candy buckets were too full. So Jeter and Jerzi sat in our trunk and started chowing down while Had passed out candy to the same kids that were making their rounds for the 3rd and 4th time. I did love seeing how creative some of the people were that decorated their trunks though. Some people really get into it. It was awesome. Not us. I didn't even think about decorating ours. Woops.

Bamm Bamm and Pebbles....they're showing us their muscles.

Me and Had decided that we were going to dress up to take the kids around trick or treating. It was fun. And what I really loved was that we got to just go out in our costumes, and I didn't have to make the costumes to fit over a big puffy coat or snowsuit.

I mainly just put this picture on here cuz it's so crazy to see green bushes and trees instead of bare bushes and trees with no leaves on them, or covered in snow on Halloween.

Gotta love Texas weather!

I totally remember doing this as a little kid....

dumping out all my candy and just being sooo excited.

Now I just look at all the candybars that they got and get excited. :)

Halloween is GREAT!

Birthday Girl!

2011-11-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again, where things get a little crazy in my house. Our sweet little Jerzi girl had a birthday on Oct. 27th! She's officially two now, even though people have asked us if she is 2, 3, and 4 for quite some time. Now when we answer them, maybe they won't feel as sheepish when we say she's 2, instead of 1. So we have her birthday on the 27th, Halloween the 31st, Had's birthday on Nov. 8th, and mine on Nov. 14th. So for almost 3 weeks straight we are partying it up, and eating a whole lotta crap. For some reason I take it upon myself to do things that don't necessarily need to be done for all these occasions, like making all of our Halloween costumes, making cakes that I have no clue how, etc. but it's fun once I get them done, and hopefully someday they will be appreciated. :)

Some things I want to remember about Jerzi right now:

-She's still very emotional: cries (more like screams) at the drop of a hat, laughs at anything, gets so excited over the littlest things.

-She loves pink

-She loves to play with Jeter, but always ends up crying

-She always hears the tiniest little noises, like background noises that nobody would ever notice, and looks at us and says "Noise?"

-She loves to look at the moon

-She is the best airplane spotter I've ever seen

-She already had to get her crib converted to a toddler bed a few months ago because she was climbing in and out of it in the middle of the night. Then when she started opening her door and wandering around the house at night, we had to figure out a new method to keep her in. We put the crib back together, but dropped her mattress clear down to the floor, so she can't climb out. So far it's working, she's only climbed out once.

-She thinks she can do anything Jeter can do, and she always tries.

-She loves dirtbikes, football, and baseball right now.

-Whenever she sees football on tv, she yells out "DOE (go) DUUUCKS!!!

-Whenever anyone mentions baseball, she pretends she's swinging a bat and yells, "Hit hard!"

-She loves to dress up and "accessorize" herself with her bracelets, rings, leg warmers, tights, hats and shoes. When she was getting out of her bed in the middle of the night, she'd go get in her closet and start putting on all her crap, all in the pitch black. So at 3 in the morning, I would have to take off all that stuff before putting her back to bed.

-She loves to wear Jete's football jersey's and basketball shorts all the time.

-She has to do everything herself. She has to feed herself, put on her own clothes, get in the car and in her carseat by herself, jump into her crib by herself, etc. Then she freaks out if she's having a hard time with any of them. It makes for some fun times at our house. :)

-She can count to 13

-She's a big time Momma's girl

-She loves meat, noodles, pancakes, waffles, and french toast

-She is usually a really good girl and sits there nice and still for me to do her hair

-She wants baseball cleats for Christmas

-She loves to say prayers

-She amazes us with the things she understands

-She had a hard time going to nursery at first, now she goes without a problem, and she loves singing the primary songs.

Jeter wouldn't let me take a picture without him in it too. She looks bugged. haha

So before Jerzi's birthday, Jete asked her what kind of cake she wanted. He told her "Mom can make you any kind of cake you want." So glad he has faith in me. She answered Jete by saying she wanted a pink helmet. I kind of just blew it off, cuz she's just obsessed with helmets right now. But then when we started asking her what she wanted for her birthday, she answered the same way every time....a pink helmet cake.

Yeah.

I had no idea how to make it, but Had of course, kept encouraging it. So I somewhat figured out how to make her a pink Ducks helmet cake for her birthday.
DOE DUCKS!!!

She loved it, and was so excited when she saw it, so I'm glad I made it for her, even if it took me a lot longer than a regular cake would have. :)

Happy Birthday to our sweet, little, kissy face, Jerzi girl!

We love you!!!

Beach Day In October!

2011-10-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

So the other day I got a few picture texts sent to my phone.
They were of The Beautiful Rexburg, Idaho; sent because they wanted us to see that it was snowing there.
I couldn't help but laugh, cuz I happened to get them when we were hangin out at the beach.

As much as I love Rexburg, I'm glad I'm in Houston right now! It's finally cool enough that we can hang out outside without sweating our brains out.

We were all pretty excited to be there!

Our friends Daniel, Amanda and their kids came to visit us from Cleveland. It was so much fun having them here!

Jeter and Madilyn played like crazy, and ran around like maniacs all over the beach. Jete acted like he's never seen sand or water before. He started rolling around in it, making "sand angels", and splashing and crashing the waves. Here's the sand castle they built, only I think they turned it into a volcano instead of a castle.

Jerzi loved the waves, and wanted to run out in them by herself, but they kept knocking her over. Then she would get all grossed out when she got the water in her mouth cuz of the salt. She would try to wipe it out, and then get sand in her mouth. It's rough being little. I think this is right after she got a little mouthful of water.

I loved looking at the cute beach houses that lined the shore. How fun would that be to stay in one of these for a week and go surfing, lay out, go running along the beach, and build sand castles every day? One day, I'm gonna take a vacation like this.

Life isn't always peachy for us though. Especially for this little boy.

We went to Wal Mart one day and Jete saw those little swing sets out in front of the store. So he ran over to the swing, climbed on up, and started swinging. Next thing I know, he is falling out backwards, head first, onto the concrete.... and I watched it all happen, but couldn't manage to move my legs to catch him. I felt horrible for him. He let out a huge wail of a screaming cry, that I'm sure everyone in the parking lot heard. I tried to calm him down, or at least get him to stop crying so loud and then I felt his head. There was an instant ginormous goose egg!

So for those of you at home keeping track of how many goose eggs this poor little boy conjures up......add one more to the list!

It was hard to get a good picture of this. It looked and felt a lot bigger than this in real life.

Here's what the top of it looked like.

And I just wanted to throw these last ones of Jerzi in for the family. So here's what her hair normally looks like....... curly, wavy, out of controllish.

Well, I straightened it the other day. Look how long it is!
Someone asked me if she was 4 years old last week.

HAHA

Nope, just 1.

Jeter's playin for the Red Sox?

2011-10-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

It was just a little ironic that when we signed Jeter up for t-ball this year, they put him on the Red Sox team. I'm pretty sure that whoever made up the teams thought that they were being pretty funny. Oh well, I guess that's what we get.

He gets to play though, and we're all so excited for that. He's too young to play any other sport here right now, and he definitely needs something. So Jeter playin for the Red Sox is gonna have to fly.

Jete's 1st t-ball game

Ooh, check out his intensity!

Little Jeter man up to bat!

What?!!! And he's stealing 2nd folks! Look at him go!

Ok, there's not really stealing in t-ball, but it looks like he is. Love this pic.

He stops on 3rd to pose for the camera.

Playin 2nd base.

(It was kinda funny they had him playing 2nd. That's the position me and Had both played in high school.)

Jerzi cried a bunch of times during the game. She kept saying to me that she wanted to go hit the ball too. Aww, made me so proud! HAHA She calmed down after she discovered the announcer's box though. She loved to climb up there and play in it.

(She picked out her own outfit this day, which I normally don't let her do. But she was freakin out cuz she wanted to wear a jersey too, cuz Jete was. And of course she had to wear a hat too. Even though her entire apparel came out of Jete's closet, I figured oh well, I'm probs the only one that cares anyway.)

My little tomboy

Good game Rays! Neither of us got anybody out. :)

Hangin out with his new friends after the game.

These three boys are faster than any of the other kids on the team, and are all very competitive. The coach always has these three race each other in practice. It's so interesting to watch how these 3 just gravitated towards each other, and see them become friends based on that.

My favorite pic!

Huh?.........

"Mom!!! We get treats after the game! Are these really mine? Do I get to eat these myself?"

Yes Jete, it's all yours.

"This is so cool!!!"

Look who won the game ball!

My thoughts on t-ball so far:

I was super excited for him to play. Then I accidentally signed myself up to be the team mom, so that took away a little of the excitement for me. The league is intense, and serious, which is a good thing, I guess. They have games and practices like 3 times a week. But the coach gets mad at the kids for playing in the dirt, won't let them be by their friends cuz they'll talk too much, and expects them to know everything already. Jete is having fun most of the time though, and is showing us that he is coachable, so it's all good. I'm a little sad that nothing too funny has happened yet. It's too serious for that. I remember hearing lots of people's funny stories about their kids in t-ball. Mainly my sister's.....I start to laugh just thinking about them. I'm pretty sure we won't get to experience those kinds of things, but oh well. I think Jete is having fun (mostly) and Jerzi is starting to love sports too! Life is good.

Go Sox!

GO DUCKS!!!

2011-09-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

First off, we got visitors!!! Yay for that! Melissa, Brayden and Diana came out to see us for a few days. We mainly just hung out, ate a lot of good food, (played the wii a little too much) until Friday, then drove up to Dallas, where we met John. Ya gotta know that whenever you're with John, you always see more than what we have planned. This time was the Stockyards. It was a cool old little place that reminded me of Jackson Hole, WY.

Jete and Jerzi were both too chicken to ride (sit on) this Longhorn, so we forced Jerzi to get on with me. Ya gotta take advantage of opportunities, right?

The kids got to ride these little horses/ponies, (I don't know what they are). But I guess they weren't as scary as that big ol ugly hot, salivating Longhorn, cuz they loved the ride. Someday, hopefully we will be able to get our own horses, so we can go on real horse rides. That's my plan. :)

Onto the real reason we went to Dallas!

We went to a Ducks game!!!
WOOT WOOT!!!

Our car ride over to the game. In case you can't tell, we're Ducks fans. (John bought us all Ducks shirts to wear. Soo nice!) It was fun to walk around before the game and see all the tailgaters, and get heckled at. My personal favorite was the people that were walking around with a duck (stuffed animal) on a leash, pretending it is dead. I also loved when we just walk past random people and they high five you cuz you're wearing "their" team. I couldn't stop smiling and laughing at it all. I love the football atmosphere.

They were playing at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. It was so amazing, and HUGE!
I couldn't get it in one picture, that's how big it is. So that is two pics combined.

The Oregon Ducks vs. LSU Tigers
AGGHHHH! So exciting!!!

Both teams ranked in the top 5, people were calling it the game of the year!
Plus, look at this stadium! So awesome!

Here's the gang gettin stoked to go inside.

They played Kenny Chesney's "The Boys of Fall" while they were warming up. I love this song. I can't even explain how excited for the game I was while I was listening to this song.... and I love football!

Pure happiness!

Had and Jete, excited to be here!

So the Ducks always have sweet uniforms.

I love to see what uniforms they're wearing each game. I didn't know how cool their gloves were though until I came to the game. When you put your hands together to make the "O", the O has wings. LOVE IT!!!

I loved seeing this, and all the O's people were holding up and yelling out.

These LSU players must not have got the memo...

only one person is supposed to fake an injury at a time.

To be honest, I wasn't very excited to take the kids with us, mainly for selfish reasons. It would be hard to pay attention to the game, I might have to leave with one of them and miss the game, they would be a distraction to others all around us...., ya know, things like that. But they were pretty good, especially considering how long the game was and that it was way past their bed times. They both got into the game. Jerz kept yelling out "DOE DUCKS!!" She still yells it out in our house all the time, or whenever she sees football on tv. We love it. I'm sure it was a little hard, and a little annoying for everyone that we went with though, for them to be there and climbing around (So I'm sorry to all of you). But everyone was so nice and helpful with them.

We kept them busy with snacks, treats, and pop.

And when that got old, we started passing them around.

Game Day was there, and set up right in front of us.

Although the game didn't turn out how we wanted, it was a
pretty dang awesome experience! Thank you so much John and Melissa!

Love and Hate

2011-09-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

This post has been a long time comin. Yes, we have moved! Awhile ago in fact....at the end of May. We now live in Texas, and it's so hot my clothes feel like they melt to me. And they basically do really melt to you if you're outside longer than oh, say, 3 or 4 minutes. We've been having some fun times sweating our guts out.

Well, peeps have asked to see pics of my house, and I took a pic, then I was informed not to put them on here. So sorry, you don't get to see it. But I love it. I was so excited to move here, and to be in a house!!! I knew there were gonna be advantages and disadvantages to having a house, but as far as I was concerned, the advantages far outway the disadvantages! (We're just renting.) Since we've been here I've come up with a list of things I have loved about being in a house, and being here in Texas. But everything's not always roses. So I've also made a small list of things I've hated so far. :) But first I've got to start with when we first got here.

We arrived to find our house had LOTS of things that didn't work. That kinda bugged me, but our landlord was willing to fix all of it, so it was fine. I was fine, and loving our new house. Until I was in our kitchen, standing there, admiring it. I got a faint glimpse of an awful smell.

I started sniffing around. (I'm a hound dog according to Had.) The closer I got to one whole wall, the stronger the smell.

I sniffed out our cupboards, the microwave, our oven, the floor, everything. I could smell it everywhere, but nothing was stronger than any other place. So I came to the conclusion we had a dead animal in the wall. That's the only logical explanation.

Had, of course, couldn't smell anything, or pretended not to, I'm not sure which.
I told him we had to have something done about it. It wreaked! And he was like, "There's nothing to do if it's in the wall. You're just gonna have to deal with it."
I really don't do well with smells!

I was so sad. All the sudden, I wasn't excited about our house anymore. I didn't want to cook, or even go into our kitchen that I was so excited about.

Well, to make a long story a tad shorter, our microwave was one of the appliances that didn't work when we got there. So when the guy came to replace it, he pulled it out of the wall, and lo and behold....

THREE DEAD BIRDS were sitting on the vent of the microwave!
I wanted to throw up. It was so gross. There were feathers everywhere, and the smell was wretched! The guy that pulled it out felt really bad that he let me see it, probably because I kept dry heaving. They kept asking me if I was gonna be ok. I was so disgusted and yet so relieved that the smell was going to be gone!

Well, we found out how they got in there. There is a vent outside on the back wall of our house that a bird kept flying around. So we already had suspiscions. Had took off the cover, and pulled out armfuls of nesty crap. I again wanted to puke. There were 4 baby eggs in there, and the nest was packed into this vent farther than Had could reach his arm in there, with a wire hanger all pulled apart and streched out. The vent lead all the way across the ceiling of our kitchen, and right down to the vent of the microwave. Sick!

Here's the vent/big hole in the wall where the nest was, and part of the nest that Had dug out.

Here's Jete, sweating in the sun with the egg he just "accidentally" broke .

A look at the disgustingness!

(The guy who pulled the microwave out of the wall told us to leave it on the curb and by morning someone would have picked it up. Sure enough, the next morning we look out there, and its gone. Dead birds and all!)

So that was definitely the #1 thing I didn't love when I got here.

#2. Cockroaches!

I have only seen one in my house, and it was this one.

They're huge, and it freaked me out. There better not be any more!

#3. Poor Had!

A few days before his residency started, Hadley's stomach/side started hurting really bad. When it got to the point that he could barely walk, and when he did, had to walk all doubled over, he went to the ER. They immediately took him back and got him set up to get his appendix taken out. I felt so bad and hated that I wasn't with him at the hospital until after the surgery, because I had to take our kids to the only peeps that we knew, which lived one hour away. It was rough. (We were very grateful to have those friends here though that took our kids for us while we spent the night in the hospital. Thank you Tyson and Lauren!)

#4. Lizards!
I used to think lizards were kinda cool. I thought they were even a little bit cute, for a fast, scaley little rodent/creature anway. Turns out they're all over here. One came into our house when the front door got opened. I tried to trap it so that I could take him back outside, and I accidentally squished it to the wall. I felt bad. I still kinda liked them. A couple more came in our front door. Then they started getting a little on my nerves. And now I'm paranoid about our front door. Every time I open it I have to put up a baracaid in case there are any lizards just waiting to come in.

Then one day, I lost all my affection for these slimy, creepy little things.

I got in the shower that day, and when I grabbed the shampoo bottle, a lizard came scurrying out from behind it. Yeah, I freaked just a little! I hurried and grabbed a little toy cup that was in there and put it over him, so I could finish showering. Well, I accidentally cut off a little part of his tail with the cup. And I may have accidentally suffocated him. I don't know which one did the damage, but when I got out of the shower, I went to take him outside, and he didn't move. I think he was still alive, but not doing so good. Don't ask me how he got into my shower. It's on the second floor. I thought it was a fluke. Then a couple weeks ago, Had was showering and he yells out to me, "Hey, I got a friend in here showering with me!" Sick! I now hate lizards! How in the world do they get in my shower?

That little thing at the top is part of his tail I cut off.

On to happier thoughts.....
I love my house. For the first couple months we were here, I just kept walking everywhere in our house, going from room to room and smiling. My kids have room to run and play, I have room to put stuff away, and I have an awesome kitchen. We have lived in an apartment for the past 7 years, and those tiny kitchens are no fun, so this is a dream compared to them.

Another thing I love about being in a house...
my kids get to play in our own yard, with our own toys. I can go back in our back yard with them, with my swimming suit on and play in the water with them. It makes me happy to see them have so much fun with each other!

They love to play on this little waterslide. This is usually how it ends up any time Jerzi's on the slide. She starts at the top, cautiously moving down as slow as she possibly can. Jete gets too impatient and heads down right after her, then it knocks Jerzi onto her face at the bottom of the pool. Good thing she laughs about it.

Our backyard isn't awesome. It has tons of weeds, and very little to no grass, but hey, its a backyard, which is better than what we've had before. And the kids can still have fun in it, so I'm happy.

I also love that its so hot that we all want to be in the pool, and that its still hot outside at nights so we can go out when Had gets home.

Havin fun in the sun!

Another thing that I love about our house is that our street isn't very busy, and that our kids can play in the road with all the other neighbor kids. I love that Jete can give Jerz rides down the road and back on his Harley, and that she loves it!

I love being in a house so we can have sweet things like an ice cream truck/van come to our neighborhood.

Jete and Jerz got snow cones from the ice cream van and thought it was the coolest thing ever. It made me happy to just be able to get it for them. I have a very distinct childhood memory of the snow cone truck coming down our street, blaring its music. It would send me and all my siblings into a little frenzy trying to scrounge up our change so that we could buy one. Many times it would go by, and either none of us would get one, or maybe one or two kids would get one if they were lucky enough to find a quarter. Summer days with snow cones are the best!

Last one, even though I could name so many more....
I love that our neighborhood has kids that Jete and Jerzi can play with. I love that they think up crazy things to do to keep cool in this blazing heat.

Seeing them like this just makes me smile.

More of Idaho

2011-08-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

John and Melissa took us fishin while we were in Idaho. John loved teaching Jete how to catch fish.

First you have to find a good fishin hole.
Then put on some good bait.
Next, cast your line out.
And then sit back, and wait.

Walahhh! It's as easy as that.

Jete catches a fish.
(When Jete saw the fish flippin around out of the water after it was caught, he wasn't sure what to think.)

John's tricks must've worked. Cuz it really was as easy as that. We caught fish like crazy!

Cookin up our dinner.

One might wonder what Jerzi was doing this whole time....
gettin some lovin, of course!

Crazy Jete enjoyin the life of a fisherman.

Girls in the bushes......
hmmm, wonder what they're doing. :)

The kids were laughing like crazy, having a good ol' time on the boat ride back to the pickup.

That's right, I take pictures while Maycee and Jete hold the boat at the dock for us. :)

Miss Jerzi girl and her little diva self, waiting for the pickup.

We also got to hang out with our good friends for a little bit while we were there. Jeter and Cole were so excited to play with each other, even though they only get to see each other like once a year. They're only a few weeks apart and are sure to get into trouble when they're with each other. I came out to check on them and this is what I see.
After I told them to leave the girls alone, they both instantly turned on each other. So funny!

My mom took us to the zoo in Idaho Falls. The kids always love the zoo and have a good time.

Good thing they don't care about the wreaky stench that came from these animals, especially the penguins. Wow! Those are some stinky things.

The crew

Playin around in the gift shop.

Jerzi was super shy the whole time we were in Idaho, and really had a hard time warming up to anybody. But Grandma McArthur was her best friend after she pushed her on the swings. She followed her everywhere, and begged her for more "wing".

I mentioned in an earlier post that we went to the sand dunes for Jete and Maycee's birthday party. It was fun to watch how different Jete and Jerzi both reacted to the sand since it was something new for both of them.

Jete dove right in and started rolling down the hills and scooping it up.
Jerz on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with it, but I did finally get her to touch it...
with one finger.

We got to hang with my cute neice and nephew. It makes me so sad that we don't get to be around them more. Our kids are really close in age and they would have tons of fun together.

Jerzi's messy cake face.

I took Jerzi out on a little ride with just us two, where she could relax and not have to worry about others talking to her or grabbing her. She became herself again and was having so much fun. She wouldn't stop smiling. I missed her being like this while we were there.
(She was seriously so shy almost the whole two weeks we were there.)

We were constantly just going going going while we were in Idaho, so it was good to just go out for a ride with each of my kids by ourselves for a little bit.

And last but not least, there's no way I could leave out this next little adventure, even though I wasn't actually there for it. While we went through the temple with Rob and Kenzie, Broc and Sam took our kids out to a little race track, and took pictures for me too. Jete has not stopped talking about it since. He had so much fun! It was like his dream come true.

I think Broc took him around first....

Then they let him drive by himself!
He's so pumped!

You probably can't tell on here, but close up you can see the look of concentration on his face.
I love it!

Ridin with the "big boys."

Up over hills.

Now that he's feeling confident in his driving skills, of course he starts doing tricks...
look, one hand! Go Jete! :)

Even Jerzi got in on a little ridin action.

And a big sucker too. Ahh, what fun!

There is so much more that I want to write about, or put pictures on here about, but it's already getting too long, and too many pics. Our Idaho trip was so much fun and I just want to say that I seriously think I have the best families ever. Everyone was so awesome and were so good to us. We had a blast while we were there, and it was all thanks to the best grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Thank you so much for everything and for all the time you spent with us. We will never forget it!

Kenzcat and Robdogg got married!

2011-08-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

Which means....Idaho trip for us!!!

Even though it was Hadley's own sister getting married, he couldn't come with us because he just barely started his residency program and couldn't take any time off. So it was just me and the kids. Last time I flew by myself with my kids was probably one of the worst experiences ever and I swore I would never do that again. But then when you have a family member get married...how do you not go if you have the chance? You better believe I prayed like crazy that my kids would be good on the plane, and nothing would go wrong. My prayers were answered and they were gems, and everything went as smoothly as I've ever had any flight go. It was awesome!

Then we got to Idaho.

It was awesome as well.

I love Idaho in the summer, and we haven't been there in the summer for 3 years. So I was so excited. We got to do so much, and everyone was so nice to us. My kids loved it, and now Jete says when we move again, he wants to move to Idaho.

The Newlyweds! YAY!!!

Kenzie is probably one of the cutest girls I know. She is just as gorgeous on the inside as she is on the out. I love her. I'm so excited for her and Rob to be married, and for us to have another person added to our fam.

Hangin out waiting for them to come out of the temple.

These next few pics are some of my favorites from that day.

Blayne and Kenz.
(He was so proud, I loved to watch it.)

Kenz and her "protectors".

Brayden carryin the train on Kenz's dress. It just kinda reminds me of their relationship and how close they are. I loved it. :)

The Reception Pics

First we got the boys in the family

(minus Had and John)

Then there's the girls

And all the cute kids

The little cuties runnin around the reception.

Jete and his pal Jevteen
(In case you can't tell, Jete has a huge goose egg in the middle of his forehead.)

Havin fun

My own (sometimes) sweet little munchkins.

Cuttin the cake

While we were in Idaho, we got to spend a lot of time with all three families, and we loved every second of it. Every night when I would put Jete down for bed he would say, "Mom, I don't want to go to sleep, I'm just having too much fun here."

We went for a walk with a bunch of my fam. Jete wanted us to all race...a lot.

We stopped at this pond over by my parents house, so Bud could show us his muscles. HAHA Not really, but he is kissing his muscles in this picture. Nice.
One minute we were throwing rocks in the pond, next minute we look over and Jete had dropped his pants and was seeing how far he could pee into it. Gotta love boys!

Bird and Jerzi havin some bonding time.

Jerz showin us her skills on the tricycle

(She is only one year old, even though she looks like she's three in this pic.)

Grandma Fuller showed Jete how to find strawberries.

Jeter and Maycee loved this big blow-up waterslide thing and played for hours on it. It was so weird for me to just let him play outside for hours, without me having to be out there with him. I know bad things can happen anywhere, including Rexburg, but its so different coming from Cleveland or Houston, where there's so much bad stuff going on all the time, and I am always worrying. No worries here. I love Rexburg!

John, Melissa, and the fam all took us on a little 4-wheeler ride up in the mountains. I love the mountains and I love to ride in them. And I want our kids to love them too. That has been one of the sad things about living away from there....my kids don't get to experience things like this. So I was super excited to take them.

Ready to ride!

Looks like I didn't have to do very much convincing for them to like it.

We lit a fire and roasted hot dogs and had smores. My kids were in heaven, and loved every second of it. Yay! Looks like we'll have to live somewhere with mountains!

We went to Rexburg's new water park with Leslie and Ashton. The kids liked it, but

as usual, the wind was blowing a little bit, so they got cold. (Plus, they're used to 100* scorching weather everyday.) They came and curled up in their towels to get warm and fell asleep. Too much playing!

It was such a beautiful day though! I love to see blue skies and big puffy clouds. I didn't realize how much I would miss stuff like that from living in Cleveland.

(Notice the kids in the bottom of the pic.)

I still have tons of pics, and stuff I want to document about our trip, so more will be coming soon.

Jete Jete turns four!

2011-07-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

We got to go home to Idaho for Kenzie's (Hadley's little sister) wedding for a couple of weeks. It was tons of fun, and I think we played just about every minute while we were there, but that will be another post. Right now I want to talk about Jeter, cuz he's my little birthday boy.

We were lucky to be around family, so close to his birthday (we flew back to Texas on the 19th and his birthday is on the 20th), and everyone spoiled him.

First he had a birthday party at Grandpa and Grandma McArthur's. I told him we were going to his birthday party and he was like, "Yay!!! I'm four now!"

Well... not quite yet, little dude.

I explained to him how it wasn't his real birthday yet, so he's not actually 4 for a few more day, but we were just celebrating it that day cuz we wouldn't be with them on his real birthday.
He seemed to get it, and I didn't think anything of it.

We had ice cream sundaes and the kids thought it was the coolest thing ever to get to make their own, and put all the sprinkles and candy they wanted on it.

When we said it was time to open presents, he said, "No! Those aren't mine. It's not my birthday yet."

Woopsies. I guess I did too much explaining. HAHA We finally convinced him that they were his and he gets to open them, and then he LOVED it and thought it was the greatest day ever.

Then we had another birthday party for him and Maycee (Had's little sister), with the Pococks and Crapos out at the sand dunes. He had a monster truck cake, which he couldn't stop talking about, got to play in the sand for hours, along with rides on the four wheelers and razors. He was one happy little boy.

Grandpa and Grandma Fuller gave him some fun little birthday presents that he could play with on the plane ride home. So his birthday lasted a long time.
Well, we got back from Texas, and the next morning was his actual birthday. He didn't seem very excited. So I tried to help out the situation by telling him he gets a special birthday breakfast where I would make him anything he wants. He chose pancakes. But not just any pancakes.
Dirt bike pancakes.
What in the? How in the?
Sweet Jete. Sweet request. I had no idea what to do. But I wanted him to feel special, so I tried my hardest. (By the way, Jerzi requested a helmet. Awesome.)

I let him pick out what kind of cake he wanted me to make.
Here it is in all its glory.....

A bowling cake!
HAHA

I figured we can just have a little bowling themed birthday, and go bowling as a family. Cute right?
Well....that's not quite how the story went. We didn't have any eggs when I went to make the cake, so instead of going to the store, then making a cake, we decided to just stay and hang out together, and play with Jete's new presents for the rest of the night, and I would make his cake the next day. It was really fun, and we loved being back together as a family.
However, when we asked Jete how old he was, he responded,
"I'm still three."
"No, Jete, you're four now remember, today is your birthday."
"No I'm still three!" he said getting ticked, with tears starting to form in his eyes.
"Jete, you turned four today, why do you keep saying you're still three?"
"Cuz I don't have a birthday cake to make me turn four."

Oh man, we did bad. It made me so sad.
But eventually the cake got made, and he loved his bowling cake. (Had on the other hand couldn't figure out why I agreed to Jete's request for a bowling cake. He said I should have helped change his mind.) And now Jeter is finally four!

Now I want to hurry and write a few things about my little Jeter boy that I want to remember. Feel free to ignore all this.

-Jeter is a sweet little boy, most of the time. Sometimes he says to me, "Mom, I'm trying to be good so you'll be happy."
-His favorite game to play is "Beat Jete"
-He observes things very intently, and pays attention to the littlest details.
-He loves people. When we were in Idaho, he told me a few times, "Mom, I just love everybody here." Then he went on to name everyone that we had visited.
-He loves to "work". He informed me that he doesn't like my kind of work though (referring to cleaning), only Daddy's (referring to working with tools, and working outside).
-He loves four wheelers, dirt bikes, motorcycles, and monster trucks. In fact, he's kind of obsessed with them.

-He is very competitive. Everything is a race. And if he's not gonna win the race, then "it wasn't really a race." Oh dear. I know.... it's our own faults. HAHA

-He gives us hand signs every night before he goes to bed. (Hi, Love you, pork and beans, peace out)

-He is out of control. He flips and flails his body as if nothing hurts him, and he gets more bonks and bruises than I've ever seen any other kid his age.

-He is very daring and is always trying to climb to the highest thing and then jump off.

-He has a hard time walking anywhere. He always wants to run.
-He likes to be around older kids.

-Every kid that is outside playing is his "friend".
-His favorite movies are Bolt and Sandlot.

-He has a hard time playing by himself. He wants someone (usually me) to play with him or to be there, just watching him play.

-He finally likes the water, and wants to go swimming all the time. He lets Had launch him up in the air and go flying into the pool.

-He is always happy.
-He gets crazy hyper when he gets tired.

-His favorite foods are steak and bacon.

-He is a good sharer.

-When he gets hurt he wants to watch a movie.

-He still doesn't eat potatoes. (We told them that they will make him get bigger and stronger.) He told us that he doesn't need to eat them because Linds told him that she wants him to stay little forever.

-He constantly tries to do new tricks on his Harley, fourwheeler, and bike.

-He is a great big brother to Jerzi. He loves her so much. He is always giving her hugs and kisses on her forehead, and has to give her hugs before bed each night.

Jeter has been so much fun to have in our family. He's always wild and crazy, and every day he says something or does something that cracks us up. We love him so much.

Happy Birthday Jete Jete!

If He Can Learn It At Four.....

2011-07-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

So I was upset at Jeter yesterday for not listening to me. I started getting mad at him, and giving him a little lecture on how he needs to listen to me and blah blah blah. As I was talking, he was looking at me with these scared, sad puppy dog eyes, like..."Am I gonna get in trouble? Please don't get mad at me" look.

In the middle of my rambling, he gets this cute little grin on his face and his eyes change to the look he gives me when he's just thought up a great idea. Then he interrupts me and says,

"Mommy, you look so cute today!"

Oh you sneaky little devil!

It totally worked though. I couldn't be mad at him anymore. Instead I laughed out loud at him and thought about how funny it was that he thought that up all by himelf.

Then it got me thinking..... if he is four years old and figured out what to say to girls when they're upset, how come it takes other boys so long to learn it? (boys in general Had, of course I'm not talking about you here.)

Before Graduation (continuation part 3)

2011-07-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

Even though graduation and moving to Texas were happening on the same day, we managed to put aside the stress and anxiety we were feeling (mainly Had), and have a little fun.

CAMPING

The week before Hadley graduated, a bunch of us 4th years decided we should go up to the lovely

John Johnson Farm (church history site where Joseph Smith was pulled out of bed, and tarred and feathered) to go camping. It had been raining every day, so we knew it was gonna be muddy, and rainy, but decided that it would be a fun little adventure anyway.

Notice the mud around the fire pit. It's not just wet, hard, packed-in dirt. It was the kind that was gooey and sloshy, where you sink an inch with every step. Yeah, we had a few (or a lot) of kids get stuck and fall in it.

We roasted hot dogs, and the kids ate them up like a champ. Jeter never usually eats his hot dog with a bun, but he tried it that night, and loved it.

Jerzi, wow, have I mentioned before how this girl can eat?!!

She ate her entire hot dog with the bun, half of my hot dog, chips, watermelon and drink.

This is her, opening up for more, cuz I can't get it tore up fast enough. (She didn't have any molars at the time, so she ate all this with mainly just her gums.)

Let the note burning begin!

(If you want to see how excited these guys are to burn their notes, just go ahead and double click on this pic. A little happy I'd say!)

Jete thought roastin marshmallows was pretty cool.

Then he tried smores and he hasn't stopped asking for them since that night. He was pretty excited to try these after watching Sandlot. He totally told us how to make them from watching that show. HAHA

"First you take the gram...."

One of the main reasons we decided to have a camp out...

to burn their white coats!

When they first started podiatry school, they got a short white coat. They have been wearing these coats for the past 4 years. Now that they are officially doctors, they get to wear a long white coat, so they were super excited to burn these, and all that they represent.

It took the flames all but about 5 seconds to catch hold of all those nasty chemicals that have been caking on them for all of this time, and the flames were huge!

They loved every second of it!

Jeter and his buddy Gabe.

They were inseperable that weekend, and wow, oh so muddy!

(They are both wearing shoes, the mud just blends into the ground)

While those two were doing boy things like playing in the mud and catching frogs.....

we caught Gabe's little brother trying to put the moves on Jerzi back behind the cars.
When I went back there, he was trying to hold her hand. This better not be a sign of things to come!

We put the kids to bed and went out by the fire and hung out and talked till like 2 in the morning. When we went back in the tent, Jerzi woke up from the zippers opening and stands up and says, "Hi Daddy". Well, Had's a sucker for that, so instead of laying her back down, he decides to have a little conversation with her. So then she's up and fully awake, and wants to play. Finally I put the pillows over our heads so she couldn't see us, so she continued to have a conversation with herself. Then an owl started hooting, and she mimicked him for awhile. It was super cute, and super hard to not laugh at her and let her know that we were awake and listening to her. Anyway, the next morning, she was a little wiped out. So while Had and the others went and cooked us breakfast, I was on Jerzi duty, just relaxing, listening to the sound of rain hit the tent.

Crazy kids!

DINNER CRUISE

We got to go on a little dinner cruise on Lake Erie with Had's graduating class a few days before graduation. Most of us LDS peeps referred to it as the Booze Cruise, cuz it was free alcohol for everyone. For us though, it was one last night out together in Cleveland, without kids, with some of our really good friends.

Here's most of our group of guys that all started this podiatry journey together.

And the wives that survived it!

Aww, we're gonna miss everyone so much!

Great night out on the lake.

We even won a giftcard to Starbucks! Wohoo!!!

The class of 2011!

Continued.... (part 2)

2011-06-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

See, I told ya I was behind. These are from the month of April.

BIRD

My little sister Bird (aka Jamie, for those of you that might think I really have a sister named Bird) came out to visit us in Cleveland and it was so fun to have her! We took her to Kalahari, a giant indoor waterpark, and good time was had by all. (Well maybs Had didn't have quite as much of a good time as we did. He very nicely volunteered to watch the kids while me and Bird went on all the adult rides.)

This is inside one of the cute little bamboo huts that have slides down to the kiddie pools.

Bird and Jerzi splashin around through the fountains

Jete liked the water a lot more than last year when we went.

This is a big improvement for Jete. All the times that we've been to this place, he wouldn't ride down any of the slides that had water splashing him in the face. This time he went on everything, and loved it all.

This is Jete's "I'm pretty cool" face. For real. I wish the life jacket wasn't blocking it. He puts his tongue down below his bottom teeth and to the side whenever he thinks he's being cool. He was walking along the pool on his hands, backwards, and was so proud of himself. HAHA Way to go Jete!

Bird was just so happy to be with us. :)

We also went to Kirtland while she was here.

My cousin Lydia got married.....in Rexburg, Idaho. Bird missed it and the reception cuz she had came out to our house in Cleveland. So we were so excited to find out that her husband was from Columbus (kind of near there) and they were having a reception there. So me and Bird got in the car the night before she had to go home, and drove for about 2 1/2 hours to get there.

We definitely were happy that we went. It was unlike any reception that we'd ever been to, and we were laughing the whole time. I won't go into all the details, but there was a scary gorilla man, vampire teeth, silly string, and pies....in the face. HAHA So funny! It was so good to see my aunt and uncle and cousin again. I hardly ever get to see any extended relatives since we've been in Ohio, so it was fun to catch up.

Me, Uncle Steve and Aunt Myrna made Bird go up with "All the Single Ladies" (that song was playing while they did this) to catch the boquet. Bird wasn't too excited but we thought it was the goods. She didn't even attempt to get it.

Here's my cousin and her new hubby, dancing together, as a swarm of people came and tied them together with a rope, silly stringed them into a cocoon-like web. After I took this pic, someone came running through and put a pie in his face!

EASTER

I couldn't leave out Easter. It was fun to celebrate it this year.
We made Easter Egg rice krispie treats. Jete and Jerz were so excited about the sprinkles on them, I don't know if they ever even took one bite of the actual rice krispie part.

We dyed Easter eggs. Both kids really got into this and loved it.

Then they discovered that we had more stuff than just the dye.

Jete painted....

and Jerz found the stickers.

She didn't want to dye eggs anymore after she found these. Instead, she ended up taking off all the stickers from the paper, and putting them on her arms and belly.

Every year, me and Had have a contest about who's egg is going to be the coolest. (Are you surprised?) I'm pretty sure mine wins every year :) and here I am showing him this egg is gonna be THE #1.

We also made Easter sugar cookies. Ok, when I say we, I mean me. I made them, they ate them, about as fast as I could frost them.

(That's not saying too much though I guess, cuz I do things a little bit slow sometimes.)

We had an easter egg hunt for the kids in our house when they woke up Sunday morning.

Look at these cute little Easter baskets my mother in law sent the kids. So cute!

Jete couldn't hold still long enough for any kind of normal picture, too excited!

Easter Sunday!

What a cute, sweet little boy he is....

HA! Did he trick you?

This is what this little punky is really like!

P.S. He will only wear his tie to church like this, outside his vest. Awesome.

Even though they can be punks, we love them to pieces.

Catchin Up (part 1)

2011-06-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

For some reason, blogger was being retarded and not letting me post things, or save things after I'd get it all put on, so I kinda quit blogging for awhile. And Had was home for the last couple months before we moved to Texas, so I didn't want to sit down and blog when we could be PLAYING!!!Now that we're in Texas, things have settled down, and I got my old internet back, I need to blog again. I want to be able to look back on what we've done and what are lives were like so I need to do some updates. It's gonna be long, with lots of pictures, cuz that's how I do things. :)

Like I said, Had got to be home with us for the last few months before we moved, with not really any schooling, or homework or anything to do (just a few dumb classes every other morning), so we hung out a lot, watched a lot of movies, and just enjoyed time as a "big happy family" as Jete says.

Here are some pics of what we have been up to the last few months:

Dressin up, playin cowboys.

This is the only thing that Jete would ever dress up as. His little friends that are girls always wanted him to play dress up with them, and dress up as princesses. He never would.

Whew!

We (mainly me) spent lots of time sledding and pulling the kids out around the apartments. Jete and Jerzi both loved the snow this winter and would play in it all day long if I would let them. Too bad we don't have a 4 wheeler to pull them on, cuz after a little while, my back would be hurting and their sled riding would be over.

Hangin out in our jammies, playin playdough

This is one of Had's contraptions.
The kids loved it until Jete pulled Jerz into the wall when he turned around.
Game over.

Jete got a new bike for Christmas and he was dying to ride it.
Finally the snow melted, and we tested it out. Dang, he looks so big and grown up...ridin
that big bike all by himself. We crossed the big road, and rode on the bike trail
down to the park. He did so good! I really can't believe how big he is getting,
and the things that he can do. The bad thing is now he thinks he can
go wherever, whenever, and by himself. Yikes!

Last year we went to a huge indoor carnival that came here, and Jete loved it then,
so we told a few more of our friends about it this year and decided to all go together.
These 3 little munchkins, and us 3 have spent a lot of time together over the past 4 years.
Sad that we're not all together anymore. Our husbands came too, but they must have been too cool for a picture.

Riding one of the crazy kid roller coasters.
Well....at least Jete liked the ride. He was laughing throughout the whole ride.

I think all the other kids were either screaming to get off, or crying. HAHA

I had another pic right here of Jerzi on her favorie ride, a HUGE slide.

I don't know what happened to it. It's gone. But she loved it!

More rides!

Had was able to play in a podiatry basketball tournament,where they play against all the other podiatry schools in the country.

It was all fun and games, until someone got their head split open.

Luckily it was in the last game. He took an elbow to the eye, and started bleeding like crazy. I looked up at him as he was walking off the court, and blood was dripping all down his face. I so wish I would have got a picture of that, but at the time I was a little more worried about what happened and if he was ok. He wiped it off, put on a couple of bandaids, and went back in the game to finish the game. By the time the game got over, and a couple different attempts of bandaids, a crowd gathered as they started to perform "surgery".

Look at all those dr. hands going to work.

Everyone was so excited that they actually got to work on somebody. Meanwhile, I was stickin my camera right in everyone's way cuz I wanted some cool pics, and I knew Had would too. :)

Turns out it was bleeding too much when they did it. We got home, Had said, "This looks terrible!" He ripped the dermabond stuff out, and said, "Cin, come fix me."

I glued it together, and it looked lots better.

I found the situation kind of funny.

Even though he had all those dr's workin on him,

the one that's not a dr. fixed him up right. :)

His basketball team ended up taking 3rd.

So the girls tournament was going on at the same time as the boys, in the same gym. These girls are who I played ball with for the last 4 years, and it was a little rough for me being at these tournament games. I wanted to play so bad! (They made a new rule that no spouse of students can play.) I tried to watch my girls team, and watch Had's team, and watch Jete and Jerzi at the same time. Rough I tell ya. But I'm so glad I got to play with them all during my time in Ohio. It definitely made our time there better for me, getting to do something that I love.

Alright, that's all for now, until my next post where I continue to play catch up.

Dr. McArthur!

2011-06-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

The day finally came!!! It seems like it took forever for this day to come, and yet it all went by so fast. Had is officially Hadley McArthur, DPM. We're so proud of him and all that he's accomplished the last 7 years. (He got accepted to podiatry school a year early so he didn't have to graduate from BYU-Idaho, otherwise it would have been 8 years of school.) He worked so hard to be a good student, father and husband, and graduated with high honors (he might be a tid bit mad that I told that but he deserves to be bragged about). He also made sure that he spent time with us every day. I honestly don't know how he did it. I am so proud of him and love him so much!

His graduation was held at the Palace Theatre. Lots of cool plays are held here, like Les Mis, Wicked, etc., but we didn't ever go to any of them due to Had's lack of interest. :( The building is gorgeous and I was excited to have his graduation there.

Up on the balcony, waiting to start walking in.

We felt very lucky to have his dad and Leslie come for his graduation. He had 8 other family members flying in (Mom, John, Grandma, Grandpa, Broc, Sam, Jake, and Jevin), but due to the weather in Denver, they weren't going to make it here until after he already graduated. So his grandparents and Broc and Sam turned around and drove home. The other four kind of had to continue on because they were going to be helping us move to Houston that day. So they missed graduation (but I called his mom during graduation and put the phone on speaker so she could here them announce his name).

They ended up getting here that night about midnight. So Blayne and Les helped us load the whole truck, right after graduation, along with the missionaries and a few others from our ward we grabbed at the last second. It was fun to have Blayne and Les there and spend some time with them before we moved.

Here's Had walking in to the graduation march song.

Getting congratulated. Getting hooded.

ALL GRADUATED!

WAHOO!!!

It was so awesome and even a little emotional for me to see Had accomplish something
so great. I'm SOOO proud of him!

I think Jete was just as excited as I was. We explained to him that Daddy graduating meant that he didn't have to go to school ever again. To Jete, that means that he gets to have his Daddy home with him. These next three years of residency is gonna be a rude awakening for him.

The proud parents. It was so cute to watch Blayne. He seriously was so proud of Had, and beaming the whole day. I was so happy that he got to be there. I heard him say "This is the best day of my life." I think for him to say that truly shows the love of a father for his son, and how he wants the best for him.

Jete was pretty proud too....
or just likes to cheese it.

Grumpy Gus, with his diploma

An inside look at the foyer of this beautiful building

The Diploma!

The piece of paper that he gets after all those years of studying, homework, notes, tests, no sleep, stress, and anxiety. So excited to be done! We're sure gonna miss all of our friends that we made in Cleveland but we're excited to move on and start this new chapter in our lives.

Yeehaw!

2011-04-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

March was a stressful, crazy, and exciting month! Had took his second part boards, the match came out (if we match, it tells us where we will be going for residency for the next 3 years), and also found out the results of his boards. He came home from taking the big test, and felt very nervous and afraid. The results finally came back:

PASS

Whew!!!

The night before the match came out: very little sleep, and a few bad dreams.

Morning the match came out: lots of nervousness, excitement, and ignoring our kids.

The match was finally posted, we clicked the link: slight fear (there was nothing that says we matched anywhere!) Then we saw another link to click on. The results:

MATCHED Residency Program:

HOUSTON, TEXAS

Sooo excited to be going to Houston for the next 3 years!!! Well, I am anyway. Hadley doesn't know anything about the program except that it is "supposed to be good". We're banking on that. I'll take sunshine over rain and snow any day! I am so proud of Had!!! He has done so awesome throughout the last 4 years of school. I know that he's gonna be awesome wherever we're at. I am so grateful for him and all the hard work he has put into this. I can't even explain it. He is pretty much amazing.

Well, if we're gonna live in Texas....

the kids gotta have some boots!

After that crazy month, we needed a little fun and laughter. Me and Jete checked out an April Fool's book at the library. It was a cute little book about kids playing pranks on each other at school. So we decided we wanted to play pranks on Daddy. We talked about them and planned a few good ones for him.

When April 1st came, Jeter was sitting up to the table when Had came home from school. He looks up at him and says "Hi Daddy." Then adds nonchalantly, "Hey your shoe is untied."

Had looks down and says "No, I don't think so Jete."

Jete says matter of factly, without one hint of a smile, "Yeah look, your shoe is untied."

Had looks down again, lifts up one pant leg, then the other, and says, "Jete no sir, look. What are you talking about?"

Jete cheeses it at him and yells, "Gotcha! April Fools!!!"

It was pretty good acting for a 3 year old, I must say. Had couldn't stop laughing. There were a couple other tricks that Jete did too, but mainly it was fun to see him get so excited to trick Daddy, and Daddy get nervous waiting for the next trick.

I also played a trick...on everybody.

Had went upstairs to take a nap. The kids actually kept themselves busy for once in their lives, so it was the perfect opportunity to make dinner AND dessert.

DINNER= Mashed potatoes and gravy, chicken nuggets, and veggies

DRINK= Crystal Light

DESSERT= Cupcakes

Or so it seems.....

Mashed potatoes= vanilla ice cream

Gravy= caramel sauce

Peas and carrots= orange and green tootsie rolls

Nuggets= some sort of pineapple apple crisp stuff

Crystal Light= water with food coloring in it

Cupcakes= meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top

Had was suspicious that I was doing some sort of prank for dinner. So when I put his dinner plate in front of him, he just went along with it for the kids. Then he leans over and whispers to me, "I'm so confused. I swear I smelled real food cooking." I just laughed.

Then when they got done eating their "dinner" (which Jete absoloutely LOVED), I brought out the cupcakes. Had looked even more confused, and Jete looked like he had died and gone to heaven. Had started eating one and figured it out fast. Jete took a big bite and looked disgusted. Good ol Jerzi girl just kept eating everything that was put in front of her. HAHA

The real prank for Had was the crystal light. We already had some real crystal light made in a pitcher in the fridge. So I poured that out, and filled the pitcher with water. I used food coloring to match it to the same color as the real stuff. Oh man it was funny to watch him take a drink. Turns out I kinda like April Fool's Day.

February In Idaho

2011-04-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

We went to Idaho for the month of February. We enjoyed ourselves...a lot! Hadley had a month off and so we just went and hung out and did things we wanted to do. We didn't have to rush around everywhere, we didn't have to be at any certain place at any certain time. And we were there long enough that our kids actually got use to people, and excited to see them. We got to do a lot of fun stuff, a little work, a lot of play, and also had a lot of time to just hang out and relax and do nothing. It was fabulous!

We were also very lucky to be able to have this cute little house all to ourselves... the whole time we were there, thanks to John and Melissa. They had it all stocked and ready to go for us by the time we got there. Yes, they are amazing, and we are so grateful!

(That may or may not be Had trying to show me a full moon in the window.)

With no tv in the house, we were thinkin we would need to get creative so we wouldn't get bored. Well, we put the kids to bed around 8 or 9, and if you know me and Had, neither of us are creative. So we went to bed early, a lot. It was nice. We got lots of sleep. We also played lots of games on the Itouch, and talked a lot. Jete and Jerzi liked to cuddle up and watch little shows on Had's computer in the mornings.

My sister that lives/lived in Cairo, Egypt got evacuated and came to Idaho about the same time we did. So it worked out quite nicely to get to hang out with her and her kids. :) Also my other sister and her little family came over from Boise to spend some time with all of us too. So what do ya do with a bunch of wild little kids that are hungry and cooped up inside?

Take 'em to Artic Circle and let 'em run wild!

We got to take the kids bowling, with their grandparents and great grandparents. Jete loved it. Jerzi liked it for a little bit, mut mainly wanted to run wild.

I got to go on a tour of the new building they built up at BYU-Idaho. It's ginormous! It was pretty cool to see their indoor track and all those basketball courts. I would have been in heaven if they had this done when I went to school there. The auditorium thing was HUGE too. Wow, that building is cool!

While we were there, it was my dad and three of my nephew's birthdays. So we had a big birthday bash. A couple of real nice sisters decided that they wanted to get a little gift for every grandkid there, so nobody would feel left out. Nice huh? We played games, ate cake, and the kids attacked Uncle Bud with balloons.

We also got the chance to stay in this cute, cozy cabin in Island Park with one of my sister's that lives in Utah and her family. It was so much fun getting to spend time with them and their kids. We had a blast eating, playing hide and seek in the dark with all their kids, talking, laughing, relaxing, and of course the boys got in a little snowmobiling too.

Look how deep the snow was!

Jete thought it was so cool that the snow was taller than he was.

We also happened to be home for the superbowl this year, and so we had the complete party with lots of family, food, and fun. Good times!

We go to a cabin in Island Park every year at Christmas time with Had's mom and John. But we didn't go home for Christmas this year, and they ended up not getting a cabin this year either....

so president's weekend was the perfect time to go so the whole family could come.

We stayed in this beauty!

(I forgot to take a picture of it, so I got this off the internet. Just imagine tons and tons of snow all around it.)

The kids loved sledding while we were there. The whole time we were in Idaho, Jerzi always wanted to be outside. By the time everyone else wanted to come in, she would get all feisty cuz she wanted to stay out longer.

Here's Jeter sportin his new helmet. Him and Jerzi both became obsessed with helmets and snowmobiles while we were there.

For the very first time, we left our kids overnight. We were a little nervous since we've never done it before, but we felt like we needed some time together. This was the perfect opportunity, finally being around family. We went up to the cabin 2 days before everyone else, and Melissa and John watched our kids for us. We were so excited and planned a bunch of things.

Then I got sick.

I felt like crap, my skin hurt, head ached, and I could NOT get warm!

I knew we wouldn't get this chance again for a long time, so I was willing to tough it out so that we could still go do our fun things, but Had said no. He was so sweet to me. He assured me "We'll still go do our fun things, but right now you need to rest." So we basically just cuddled, slept, watched a lot of movies, and drank lots of hot chocolate.

And by the time everyone got up to the cabin, I was feeling much better!

So for some reason, one of the things that we wanted to do and thought would be real fun, was to go x-country skiing. So we put the kids down for a nap and took off.

Super fun. HAHA

Ok, so we mainly just laughed a lot because it wasn't very fun at all.

Had tried to write H+C in the snow, but he ran out of "juice".

He found a little hill that he thought would be fun to ski down, and not have to work.

Turns out, nope.

So the whole time we were skiing, Had kept looking for snowmobilers and yelling out, "HELP" the entire time. When were almost back to the cabin, we saw his mom, John, and Broc on the snowmobiles, so we latched on.

As much as I didn't want to admit, this was way funner than going x-country skiing.

We were able to have so much fun with everyone while we were home. We got to do lots of fun things. But I feel like nothing compares to the little moments like this, because we don't get them often, when we get to spend time with family.

Memory Lane

2011-03-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile, and I have a lot of things to post about... and so it makes me not want to do any of it. So I'm putting those posts off some more, and putting something on here that happened a little while ago, but every time I see these pictures of my poor little Jerzi girl, it makes me feel so sad for her....and it brings back vivid memories of my own childhood days. So I want to have these to remember.

Jerzi got pink eye in January. It was rough. Had was in Texas for interviews, so I had to deal with it myself. Jerzi would wake up with her eye totally glued shut like this, with crap oozing and hardening all around it.

It was so sad to see her like this. Fortunately for me, my parents gave me some responsibilities when I was little. Haha When I was in 4th and 5th grade, me and my younger sister Keri had to get my little sisters ready and take them to the babysitters (she lived a few blocks away and through a field). My youngest sister had pink eye for what seemed like forever and so every morning when we would get her out of bed, her eyes would be glued shut. We would have to get a warm wet wash cloth and "gently" wipe them until it was all cleared out of her eyes.

We never did it gently.

We were always in a huge hurry. (I know, weird right?) And we would wipe them so hard and fast we basically had it down to an art. She would cry but she would cry if we did it gently too, so might as well do it fast. (Looking back on this now we laugh at what we did, and the fact that we even took her to the babysitters with pink eye, and walked them (or ran) through a field... and for some reason it seemed like they never had shoes on. Oh, if our mom only knew....)

Anyway,

I learned what to do, and when my own child got the dreaded pink eye,

I wiped her eyes gently.

She screamed, and I wanted to cry for her.

Her eye was so swollen...

and red, and goopey!

One thing I've learned SINCE my childhood....

you can take them to the doctor and get a prescription,

clears it right up!

(This doctor was fabulous, and gave her and Jete both a hand balloon and made their day.)

Boy vs. Girl

2011-01-20T12:56:00.000-08:00

I've been noticing a big difference in Jeter and Jerzi lately. I can't decide if it's just their personality, or if it's because one's a boy and one's a girl. Anyway, it inspired me to post some of the differences between boys and girls that I think are so fun, well... sometimes.

GIRLS

My little Jerzi girl can cast a mean glare!

(Ignore me and my non make-up'd face)

I love that I have a little girl that loves to clean!
Each time I change her diaper, she has to have a wipe for herself so she can go around cleaning up after............Jete and Had. :)
(I can't wait till she gets a little older and I can give her more jobs)

I get to do her hair lots of different ways.
Here's a couple of the latest

STRAIGHTENED

(LOTS OF FUN TWISTS)

She sits there and lets me teach her how to play the piano.
Ok, ok, I don't really teach her yet, but she likes to play, and looks like a natural up to the piano, with better posture than me.

I don't really love this HUGE difference between them. Jerzi throws major fits all the time. She'll throw herself out of your arms if you're not ready for it. She slams her head into things (walls, floors, couches, chairs, etc.) when she's mad and then looks at you when it hurts like you did it to her. She is sooo full of emotion. You can definitely tell if this girl is happy, sad, mad, shy etc.

(JETER NEVER REALLY THREW ANY TANTRUMS AT ALL, SO THIS IS VERY NEW TO US!)

One of my favorite things about girls.....
There's so many cute clothes and accessories for girls,

and I love to dress her up!

BOYS
Jeter has been so boy that it's ridiculous. He loves all things boy-ish.

Had was gone to Texas for just about 2 weeks for interviews. While he was gone, the big BCS National Championship football game was played. I was really sad that Had wasn't going to be here to watch it with me. It's just not as fun to watch a big game by yourself! Especially, when the Oregon Ducks, who I've grown accustom to like, thanks to Had's fam, are finally in it.

Luckily I have a little boy, that was very excited to have a "football party" with his mommy.

Together we made a football field with coconut, food coloring, and frosting. We got some of his little toy men to be the football players, and some football oreo cookies to be the ball.

Before the game started I said to him, "Oh man, I almost forgot to put on my Ducks shirt!" So I ran upstairs and put it on, and when I came down he said,"So now do we gotta start quackin?"

I laughed and said, "sure do".

So we went around the room quacking until the kickoff, then settled down to watch the game and ate our football oreos, drank some sparkling cider (because that has come to be the "party drink" in our house), and played a little football with our handmade football game.

I love that Jete loves sports!

There was a fumble on the field!

Jeter loves electronics. And as much as I don't really like him playing them, it's funny how young they learn to love them.

Jete loves cars, trucks, monster trucks, BIG pick ups, and motorcycles.
Here he is having what he calls
"The HUGE huge, biggest race of all". These big races happen quite often and I am always invited to come to the HUGE race.

Ok, so it's no lie,
I really do like dressing up this kid too.

There's so much more but it would take me forever to write about all of them so I'll just say that it is so much fun having a boy and a girl, and seeing how different they are, and how different you act with them.

We feel so lucky to be able to have one of each!

Partyin It Up

2011-01-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

Some of our friends were having a New Year's Eve party and asked us to come. We thought about it, and wanted to real bad, but we didn't know what to do with our kids.....well, Jerzi anyway. She goes to bed at 8. And she's not much fun after that. Jete would stay up as long as we let him.

We didn't want to just sit around and do nothing though. So we decided to put a party together at the last minute and have people come over to our house so we could still put Jerzi to bed. :)

Genius, I know.

We all made appetizers and desserts that were all t-totally scrumptious and ate like crazy.

At my family's last big get together (Fuller Fest) this summer, they played a bunch of "Minute To Win It" games. Well, me and Had didn't get to go to the big Fest. After I saw their pictures from it and how much fun they had, I was so sad I missed it. I've been wanting to do them ever since.

New Year's Eve party= perfect opportunity!

The Bag Game

(not a minute to win it game, but super fun)

(I don't really know what this game is called, but one end of the table is lifted up.)

We ate, talked, played games, and laughed like crazy. Jerzi ate with us and then went to bed at 8. Jeter and some of his little friends played some of the games with us, then they watched a movie, while we kept on keepin on. It was tons of fun! We sat and waited for the ball to drop,with our drinks of sparkling ciders. We waited, and counted down, cheered, kissed, and then realized we were watching the wrong channel. We didn't actually watch the ball drop, just counted down with some other peeps, in a different city.

Everyone left around 1, and me, Had, and Jete went to bed around 2!

Such a fun night. Thanks to everyone that came.

We had tons of fun with you!!!

To have fun or to not have fun?

2011-01-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

That's the question I asked myself when we got Christmas packages in the mail.

I must have had a Christmas Spirit mood goin on, cuz I chose FUN!!!
Jeter and Jerzi played with this box full of styrofoam forever, way longer than any present anyone could ever give them.

"It's snowing!"

That's right baby, run!

Yep, he dumped the whole box out.

"Mom look, I'm a snowman!"

I was questioning my decision making skills after we were still cleaning up styrofoam the next day. The important thing here...we, I mean they, had fun.

Our own little Christmas

2011-01-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

For the first time since we've been married, we actually stayed at our own place for Christmas this year. At first I was really sad that we weren't gonna be able to come home, but as it sank into my head a little more each day, and as we convinced ourselves that it would be fun to be out here by ourselves, we actually got pretty excited for it. Me and Had went shopping for the kids together, and picked out presents that we were sure they would go crazy over. This alone, got us very excited. We were like 2 little kids that couldn't wait till Christmas morning either. We talked with Jete about it every day and reminded him that he had to be a good boy so he wouldn't be on the naughty list. It usually worked.....for the next five minutes. Then he would forget and go back to tackling, teasing, kicking Jerzi, or doing some sort of punkishness. My sister that lives in Egypt made us this cute advent calendar and filled it with presents from there. Jete loved it and first thing every morning (and sometimes after naps) he would ask if he could open another present. He was super excited for Christmas to come and sometimes he would start crying. When we asked him what was wrong he would say "I just want to open some presents".

Don't worry, we also talked to him about the real meaning of Christmas, and taught him about the Christmas story. He was excited to celebrate Jesus' birthday and asked if we could make a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Ok, so a typical Christmas Eve in Idaho usually consists of me going into town a few times to get the last odds and ends and that I've forgotten, or that others have forgotten. Had is usually out in the woodshop finishing up the homemade gift that "we" have to make one of my siblings each year. Then we usually have a couple Christmas Eve parties to go to later in the day. I usually love the craziness and excitement of this day, but it is tiring and busy. This year was SO different. For starters, I had my Christmas shopping done a few weeks before Christmas. (I know, you people that know me well aren't believing me, but it's true.) I made my sister's present this year, and got it sent to her so she got it before Christmas. (Shocking, I know!) We spent Christmas Eve at our house, hanging out with each other. I made home made rolls, and the whole family made candy cane cookies. Then that night, we went to our friend's house for a delicious Christmas Eve dinner. We stuffed ourselves, Jete tried to play in the snow, and we came home and put the kids to bed early and me and Had cuddled on the couch and watched a movie. It felt so weird and fun and like...our own little Christmas.

CHRISTMAS DAY

What we would have been doing Christmas Day in Idaho: We would have stayed with one of our parents, woke up our kids too early for them to be excited about anything, opened presents, and then rush over to the next parents house, opened presents, and then over to the next parents house. Then we usually repeat that process throughout the day (minus the opening presents part) because we didn't actually get to spend time seeing or visiting with anyone earlier. Jete and Jerzi probs would have skipped their naps that day, and maybe a meal or two because there's no time when you're running from house to house. Jete and Jerzi wouldn't have got to actually play with any of their presents because we have to ship it back out to Ohio. And when there's a ton of other neices and nephews around, all their toys either get mixed up, taken, broken or lost before they even know it's gone. At the end of the day, we're all glad its over.

Instead our Christmas Day went a little like this: We slept in until Jerzi woke up, around 8ish. We played with her in our bed until Jete woke up about 15 minutes later. He came and crawled in with us and we laughed and played for a little. Then Had said to Jete, "Jete should we go check and see if Santa came last night?" Jete's eyes lit up (he had totally forgotten that it was Christmas Day) as he realized what had happened that night and he dashed out of our room to head downstairs. We went and opened presents, ate stocking candy, played with presents, then ate breakfast. We lounged around all morning, playing with ALL the fun new toys and games, then ate lunch, and we all took a nap. We hung out in our pj's all day, tried watching the Lakes but gave up on them, our house was a disaster, and we all just loved it. We ate leftovers from our Christmas Eve dinner and watched our new movie "Despicable Me" together. It was such a fun relaxing day!

Here's Jerzi, loving her presents. (She really was excited about those boots. She wouldn't put them down.)

Here she is playing with her new doggie and wearing those cute little shoes. She is obessesed with shoes and wore them all morning. She loved her new babies too. They were giving her kisses in this picture.

So Jete asked Santa for 2 things for Christmas. A real dirt bike and a monster truck. Santa left the monster truck and 2 little dirt bikes sitting out on the couch, and Jete didn't even notice them. Instead he went right over to the bike and said, "I see a big bike.... that has training wheels! I think I can ride that." Then he went over to Jerzi's present that Santa left her and said, "Oh man, I really wanted Jerzi to get this for Christmas." Either he's very thoughtful, or he wanted to play with it himself. I'm not really sure which it was. Either way, it was funny to me.

Here's Jete, loving his presents.

And here's our giant mess!

Turns out having our own little Christmas wasn't too shabby after all.

(The next week though was super boring and uneventful. Had was back at work, and I was at home with the kids, just doing what we do. Meanwhile, our families were all at home, getting together and having fun. We wished we were back home for that week.) We love and missed you all!

Happy Happy Birthday Baby

2010-12-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

Jerzi is one year old!!!

(Ok, so really she is 14 months now, because i'm that slow at updating.)

I know it's Christmas time, but I really wanted to hurry and post this before I posted about Christmas stuff. Her birthday is Oct. 27th. Hadley was in Pittsburgh for her real birthday, so we celebrated it a few days late.

She loved the cake... and the candle. She wouldn't put it down, the whole time she ate.

She was one happy, messy little girl.

One thing about Jerzi....she already has a few things that she love, love, loves! For some weird reason, she LOVES babies. Don't ask me how or why, cuz we didn't even have one in our house. We don't know where she got this love for them from, but it's true. She got a baby (actually 2) for her birthday, and she was so excited! I don't remember Jete getting as excited over things at one year old as Jerzi does. It was so fun to watch her.

She knew just what to do with it too. I really don't know how she knew how to do this stuff.
It's really weird to me. Talk about they're born with it, geesh!

Here she is in love with her two new babies.

The balloons and babies were a hit! Yay!!!

For her birthday, we carved pumpkins. Well....me, Had, and Jete all carved one, but she wanted to play with her babies and balloons.

[I'd show all of the finished pumpkins, but someone carved something a little inappropriate that I don't want my little neices and nephews to see (if you know Had, you can guess what he carved). Needless to say, we got a lot of strange looks from people walking past when they were out on our doorstep.]

We are all so happy to have Jerzi in our lives. Jete now has a partner in crime, and always wants to know where she is. He loves playing on his bed with her, and always asks if she can sleep in his bed with him. It's fun to watch them play together. Jete has loved Jerzi from when she was first born.

Nothing has changed. He still loves her so much and most of the time wants to do everything with her.

We can't imagine our life without either of these two!

Things I want to remember about Jerzi at 12 months:

*She loves food-she eats anything and everything.

*She loves books-she goes and picks out the book she wants, then brings it to us to read to her.

*She climbs up on the couch by herself, and gets so proud of herself that she can do this.

*She likes hot cheetohs.

*Her daddy says "she's definitely a girl" because she is happy and smiling one minute, and crying or throwing a fit the next.

*She loves shoes and boots- she wants to wear all of ours, and tries to put them on and when she can't get them on, cries until we help her.

*Started walking at 10 months.

*Only has her 2 bottom teeth.

*She can say a few words- hot, night-night, brush, hi, pretty, balloon.

*When she waves to anyone, she turns her hand backwards and waves to herself.

*She loves babies, dogs, and footballs.

*She loves those little knit/cottony receiving blankets, and loves having them touch her face.

*She has to have 2 binkies to go to sleep. One is for her mouth, and the other one is in her hand, and she pulls one out and puts the other in, and keeps switching them until she finally falls asleep.

*As soon as I get her out of her crib, she wants to go find Jete.

*She figured out how to ride Jete's 4-wheeler by herself, and loves it.

*She goes to bed at 8 P.M. and gets up around 7:30 A.M.

*She takes a morning and afternoon nap.

*She has the best, squishiest, poky out little bum ever.

*She likes to drive Jete's cars around, making brmmmm noises.

*She is very feisty

*If you have something she wants, she comes and slaps you (I'm trying real hard to stop this, but nothing seems to work)

*She throws big tantrums, like throws her head back on the floor, and kicks her feet.

*Although she loves food, she doesn't eat very good when other people feed her. She just wants her mommy. :)

*She wakes up from the tiniest sounds.

*She loves her coat. She goes to the closet and cries for it.

*She is really shy when she gets around others. She buries her chin in her chest and does what we call her "shy face" when people talk to her.

I can't even describe how much I love this girl. It's been so fun to have her and watch her grow and learn new things. She is so fun and I love seeing her big personality come out of this tiny little body.

We love you Jerz!

Tis The Season To Be Jolly

2010-12-14T11:46:00.000-08:00

I know there are probably tons of people out there that love this time of year, but I really, really LOVE it! Everything that has to do with this time of year makes me so happy. I just feel really happy and blessed, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite things (my computer is having issues so I have no pictures, and no updates for now).

Things that I love:

Listening and singing along to Christmas music
Going to the stores and watching the hustle and bustle of everyone trying to find gifts.
Seeing decorated Christmas trees
Driving around looking at Christmas lights
Watching all the cheesey Falalala Lifetime Christmas movies while I fold clothes
Winter storms
Drinking hot chocolate
Cuddling with Had under a blanket while watching a Christmas movie
Even though I'm done with school, and Had is basically done with school, I still get excited when I hear that schools are being canceled
Wrapping Christmas presents secretly
Taking a walk outside at night when everything is white with snow and the sky is so light
Making (and eating) Christmas goodies
That Jeter is old enough that I can threaten that Santa won't bring him toys if he's naughty
Christmas shopping for kids
Nativity Scenes
Christmas Parties (to an extent)
Spending time with family
Decorating for Christmas
Teaching Jete about Baby Jesus and the real Christmas story
Watching huge snow flakes fall
Being snowed in
Seeing the "giving spirit" in people
Reading Christmas books
Watching Jerzi's eyes light up every morning when I bring her downstairs and she sees the Christmas tree
Making gingerbread houses
Making paper snowflakes
Hearing little kids say what kind of a present they would give to Jesus.

I know there are tons more things that I love about this season, but these are just the ones off the top of my head. I am sad that we're not going to be able to go home and spend time with our families for Christmas this year, but I'm also really excited to have our own Christmas and start are own traditions. It has already been so fun and I have been able to enjoy all this stuff a lot more instead of just running from place to place. I love my husband and my sweet kids more than ever and I'm very grateful to have them with me. I'm especially grateful for the Savior and what he's done for me and for the chance we have to celebrate his birth.

Big Bad Biker Babes

2010-11-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

For Halloween, Jeter said he wanted to be a bull rider again. I told him NO. :) I know, i'm mean, but how boring is that? He was that last year. He said to me, "Well then i guess i'll just be nothing." He kept saying how he wants to be nothing, and that he just wants to ride his motorcycle. So I thought of this great idea. He could be a biker dude, and ride his motorcycle around to trick or treat, putting the candy in his saddlebags. Jerzi could be his biker chick. It was gonna be so cute. After I told him about it, he was really excited and told everyone he was gonna be a Narley (Harley) Dude, and Jerz was gonna be his biker chick.

Then when the night came, they both foiled my plans. After I spent hours making their costumes, and talking it up so Jete would be excited to wear it, he let me get him dressed. We went to the church for the trunk or treat. Jerzi wouldn't get on the motorcycle with Jete. She wanted to be on it by herself. She doesn't know how to steer, so Jete rode it by himself. He rode to like three trunks, then got off and said he's done. When I tried to convince him to get back on so he could get more candy, he said, "No, I only want a few pieces of candy Mom." I asked him what his deal was, and he said, "I don't like everyone seeing me and laughing and telling me I look cute." Poor Jete.
Needless to say, I had to dress him up again a different day to take pictures in his leathers.

The Harley Dude and The Biker Babe

Grandpas and Grandmas, they are ready to ride with ya!

Biker butts, drive me nuts!
Oh how I love those little bummies.

Jerzi wasn't shy or afraid of people seeing her. She knew just what to do and dove right in to get her some goods.

Hurry and end October!

2010-10-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

This post is for you Had. This is what we've been doing since you've been in Pittsburgh this month. We all miss you so much and sometimes have a hard time coming up with things to do. Other times, we laugh and play a lot and have fun together. But every day, we think about you and miss you like crazy!

The kids fingerpainted a picture for you!

We've built lincoln log houses.

I get sick of making them the same food all the time, so we had to take a little trip to McDonald's. (Jeter really loved it, he just likes to pull faces for the camera.) As you can see, Jerzi ate her own Happy Meal, at 11 months. :) She still loves food, and out-eats Jete!

We go for walks and pick out our favorite trees.

We dance like crazy.
(I love that he turned around to tweedle his little bummy for me.)

This is all Jete's doings. He combed his hair out, got it all puffy, then stuck the pick in it and came and showed me "how cool" he was.

Meet Little Man

Since you've been gone, Jete discovered his new best friend. (He's had this dog for about 2 years now, and has always liked it, but now it's his "best friend".) He finally decided to give him a name-Little Man. He goes everywhere with Jete now. He wants to watch shows with Jete. He wants snacks like Jete. He has to go potty, and even says prayers and folds his arms with Jete. He really is his best friend. Good ol' Little Man!

Here's a pic of the sweet little Jerz-meister, as Jete calls her now. She's walking all over the place, and has a mean little temper, but man, when she smiles....it's all i can do to not kiss her little face off.

Jete is getting more daring, if that can happen. He's doing tricks off his dresser onto his bed now. Here's his favorite- Suupermaaaan! He wants to do a flip off of it, but I'm not willing to let him do that yet.

He loves giving rides to his friends on his motorcycle, and he still wants to ride it every day.

We also have been playin the piano and singin all the primary songs. Jete loves for me to tell him the stories about the pictures in the songbook, and Jerzi just loves to play and here the "music."

We do lots more, (and we do lots less somedays), but I left out some stuff for a reason. I didn't show you pics of the tantrums Jerzi has, or when Jete makes me so frustrated cuz he won't eat any of his meals. I didn't put pics of the crying and screaming either of them do, or the dirty dishes in the sink, or the piles of laundry that need done. I didn't post pictures of my receipts from the money we've spent, or me without any makeup, or actually getting dressed for reals. We just want to make sure that you stay excited to come home to see us! We love you!!!

More Summer Stuff

2010-10-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

I used to think there was nothing like running in the rain. Until now.

We planned to go on a bike ride one day with some of our friends. We saw that there was a chance of showers, but there was a chance of showers all day, and it still hadn't rained by the evening. So we headed off. We stopped at this lake for a little break and noticed dark storm clouds in the distance. Instead of continuing on like we had planned, we decided we should probs turn around and head back, so we could make it home before we got soaked. About 20 seconds after we got on our bikes, it started pouring. We were still a good 4 miles away from home. So we just pedaled faster, and trekked it through the pouring rain, with our 4 kids in tow. I was a little worried about Jeter, cuz he hates getting his face wet, but he did good. In fact all four kids acted like it didn't even phase them. I think Jerzi LOVED it. She was smiling the whole time. We all couldn't stop laughing as we rode down the trail, and tried to look at each other through the rain streaming down our eyes and faces. We got tons of weird looks from people in their cars. It was such a fun ride though. We loved it!

What do you know? It stopped raining as soon as we got home!

BERRY PICKIN
There are u-pick farms all over out here, and I decided to pack up the kids and go to one and pick raspberries. All my hard-workin, berry-pickin days at Sonderegger's when i was younger paid off. HAHA It was fun to just go and pick as many as i wanted, and let the kids eat a few too. Ok, so Jerzi ate a little more than a few. It really was a good thing that i picked fast, cuz she ate them fast. She ate tons!!! Well, I was excited to get all these berries so i could make raspberry jam. These two little munchkins were there to help me every step of this process.

They helped pick.
(even if it was out of my bowl)

We played and had fun.
(the most important part)

We cooled off with a little ice cream treat.

We all took turns mashing the berries.

The finished product. Delish!

Summer Memories

2010-10-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Summer is officially over. I'm kinda sad about it. I love just about everything about summer, except for sweating after I just get out of the shower so my make up sweats off and my hair goes flatter than it already is, and well... that's about it. As soon as football starts, it seems like it instantly has to get cold so that it will be nice and fun to go to the games and freeze as you watch them. And that's what happened here. It went from 90 degrees one day, to 58 the next. Bam, instantly FALL! I do love the fall in Ohio though. I love the trees, the crunchy leaves, all the football to watch, the good smelling autumny scenty's, and of course to me it means my basketball season is starting. YEAHHH!!! So now that it's getting colder outside, and I switch my temperature thing in my house from heat, to A.C. and back to heat in the same day, I feel like all the things we did this summer happened so long ago. We had lots of fun and I haven't posted about any of it. So here's a quick (or not so quick) recap of why I love summer.

First I gotta start with Little Miss Jerzi Girl. Her personality came out more this summer and she has got a little attitude. It's hilarious to watch her try and get her way. But she is also one of the biggest cheesers ever. She is always smiling. I love it and can't get enough of her squishy little cheeks.

Jeter has also gotten more of a little attitude this summer, sometimes good, sometimes bad. His dancing always makes me laugh though and realize how much I love this little man.

Jerzi's first sparkler

Playing with other girls

Jete was so excited to watch fireworks this year, he went and sat in his seat before everybody else sat down and started screamin and cheering for them to start. I love to see him get excited!

4th of July parties

Karaoke night

Eatin popsicles on a hot day

Parades, cute little bummies, and more parades

Playin catch

Watching these two play together has gotta be right up there with when Had comes home from work. I love it!

1st tooth
(I know you can't see it. She won't let me take a picture to show it.)

Ridin a Harley through Amish country. I was tryin to sneak pictures of them all along our ride. The country is sooo pretty out there, and it's crazy to see their buggies drivin down the roads.

Jeter loved his motorcycle ride, but once again, didn't love me takin pictures of him, so his hand came up to block.

Jete had to get a new helmet after a cop stopped them and told them that his little borrowed pedal bike helmet wouldn't work. Oopsies :) Haha

We thought Jete wasn't going to get a motorcycle, but Had's aunt did some searchin.... and she found one! So Grandma Pocock got it and had it shipped to our house. Man, he was one excited little dude. He has now informed me "now I need a dirt bike and I'll be really happy." (This kid is way too spoiled!)

Loads of swimmin

4 wheeler rides and pretending to be monster trucks spinning cookies in the kitchen.

We got a lot of visitors over the past month too, so those posts will come later, but for now I'll say goodbye to summer but I'm keepin my flip flops out until there's snow on the ground.

N.Y. Part 2

2010-09-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

This park I took the kids to in New York gets its own post because it was by far the cutest park I've ever seen. It was called The Story Garden. I might as well have been another kid in there cuz me and Jete were both running around from one spot to the next to see what other cool things they had. At each little spot, they had some form of a mailbox with little books in them, and a place that you could sit down and read the books. I have a ton more pictures of this place. I just couldn't help but taking a picture at every little spot. We all loved it, and were sad that Had couldn't come with us cuz of work.

At Peter Rabbit's Garden, those are actually real plants growing, and they really got to water them. Jete LOVED this, and spent most of his time here!

Jerzi, however, loved the flowerpot and playing in/eating the dirt.

Jete, Jerzi and the 3 Bears

Jete wanted the frog to read to him too.

This is where Jete decided he knew how to rock climb. He wouldn't ever even try it before, which is kinda weird cuz he loves climbing and jumping off everything. Anyways, so he tried it, and I was nervous and stood right behind him. I tried to tell him where to grab and where to put his feet but he said, "Mom, I can do it, leave me along [alone]!

New York in June

2010-08-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

We went to Johnson City, New York for the month of June for Had's externship. Despite the fact that all four of us were in a one bedroom apartment for the month (it was free, so we can't really complain), it rained a whole lot, and we only had one car, we still managed to enjoy our time there. We became friends with some of the other residents and their families, and spent a lot of time hanging out with them. We had weiner roasts, dinners, games, and went to the strawberry fest with them. They were all so nice to us and made us feel very welcome. I also got to take the kids to do a few fun things around that area while Had was busy workin away. Just as a warning, i have tons of pictures so i might have to do a few more posts than this to document all the ones that i want to.

I can't remember what this place is called, but it was THE CUTEST children's museum. It had the funnest little things and I was wishing that I didn't have Jerzi in my arms so that I could have had an excuse to go play all the stuff with Jete. He loved it and would have played in there for hours. The grocery store was the coolest. It had everything regular grocery stores have, just miniaturized.

Jete and Jerzi started actually playing together this month. It was so fun to watch them interact with each other. They both loved to copy each other. I also straightened Jerzi's hair for the first time.

One of the girls that I met there was super nice and let me borrow her running stroller so I could go running with both kids. (Thanks again Heather!)

Top pic: before the run
Bottom pic: after the run

My friend Angie and her husband (from Cleveland) moved to Johnson City the same month that we were there, so we got to hang out with them a few times. They lived right across from a lake, so we went with them one day to it and played. It was super fun! We played in the sand and built this cool sand castle, HAHA while Had and Marshall went sailing.

They also have kayaks, and let us take them out on the lake. I was kinda scared to go, cuz if you lean to a side, they tip over. But I was real careful and didn't fall in, so then of course I loved it. Now I want kayaks of our own. Had was a lot more brave than me and he took Jete with him. Had warned him that he couldn't move or they would tip over. That was the stillest I've every seen Jete sit before in his life. They never tipped either.

Jete thought those little logs in the right picture were crocodiles. :)

The Aaronic Priesthood Restoration site wasn't too far away from where we were living.

The Susquehanna River
We took a little walk back through the woods and it opened up to the river. So pretty!

Birthday Boy

2010-07-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

Last week was Jeter's birthday. He is 3 years old now! I can't hardly believe it. He has been so much fun and such a handful, but we wouldn't want it any other way. He gets into mischief, does naughty things all the time, but is so sweet, hilarious, and lovable. We can't even hardly get mad at the kid because he makes us laugh when we're supposed to be mad. He has the sweetest smile and he really does make everything better when he apologizes. Some of the things he loves and we want to remember about him right now:

He loves playing outside
He likes to get dirty now :)
He says he's super fast like Dash (boy on Incredibles)
He wants to go everywhere with his Daddy
He loves pretending to go to work, school, and the beach
He loves to ride his bike
Loves playing with friends (which include a range of 3-14 year olds)
Loves to come crawl in bed with Mommy and Daddy during the night
He loves monster trucks, all kinds of games, and all sports
Loves playing tag
Loves motorcycles
Favorite food is steak
Loves meats
Loves going to parks
Always has to have a snack before bed
Loves his naps (he tells us he's really tired and that he needs a nap)
Loves to draw, color, paint, and do his homework(draw in his notebook)
When he doesn't want to do something that we ask, he says, "I don't understand, I'm just a little boy."
Plays rough with everything, including his little sister.
He has a "big dance" that he does just for Mommy and Jerzi.

A look back:

Newborn

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!
He was so excited to open some of his presents. He got a new powertools workshop so he can "work".

When we lived in New York for a month, Jeter got to ride one of these while we were there and he fell in love with it. But what he actually wanted was a battery powered motorcycle-and thought he was getting one for his b-day. Well, no such luck, so we hoped this would take his mind off of the motorcycle. We thought our plan worked as he opened up all his presents. He was happy and loving life. Then after Had went to work, Jete said to me, "Mommy is that all of my presents?" I said yes and he said, "No, what about my motorcycle?" Oh i felt so bad and felt like crying. But he actually does love his little car and goes to all sorts of make believe places, and takes Jerzi for rides in it all the time. And now, no mention of the motorcycle. :)

We had a picnic at a park with some of his friends and had cake and ice cream.

This is usually the response i get whenever i ask him to look at the camera, or to say cheese, and that's why i don't have any good pictures of him.
Jeter wanted a monster truck cake for his birthday this year. He loves monster trucks right now and loves to watch them on TV. Since i never really watch them and had no clue what a monster truck course looked like, Had came up with a plan of how he wanted me to make the cake. So in case you can't tell, that's a monster truck course with Jete's favorite monster truck Gravedigger, and Maximum Destruction on it, getting ready to race.

Jete was so excited about his cake (along with a couple of his friends) and thought that it was a real course, so we let him and his friends drive the course and smash the cars and go over the jumps. It was so fun making this day special for him. We love to see him so happy and excited over such simple things. Happy Birthday Jeter-boy! We love you!!!

Seattle in May

2010-07-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

Ignore the fact that it's now July and I'm posting about May. We just got back a couple weeks ago from our 2 month long excursion from one end of the country to the other, and I've gotten things unpacked, we've settled into our old routines, and pics downloaded to the computer now.

For the month of May we went out to Seattle (Lake Forest Park), Washington and stayed with Hadley's Aunt Jill and Uncle Mike and their family while Had did an externship there. We couldn't have asked for nicer hosts than them. They were great and it was fun getting to spend time with them and getting to know them better. I just want to write about some of the things we did and how we spent our month for journaling purposes, so feel free to ignore all the writing.

Had spent most of the days working, so me and the kids spent most of the days with Jill and Addy, while their boys were at school. We played outside when it wasn't raining and this is one thing that was love at first sight for Jeter. He rode this thing just about everyday. And when he didn't get to ride it because it had rained the whole day, he would tell me at the end of the day, "Oh no Mommy, I gotta go ride the motorcycle. I haven't even rode it today!" He loved it and made a little race track for himself. Then he would beg us to come race him. We would run beside him. Fun times. It was a pretty fast little bugger too, it has a turbo button and it can haul going down their hill. (He now wants one for his birthday and they don't make these anymore.)

We also got to be there while their boy Jake got baptized. It was cool to get to be to such a special event for him, especially since we miss all sorts of things like that living away from family. Had's grandma and grandpa were able to come to it as well, so we got to see even more family.

This family that we stayed with is a very sporty, active family. On the weekends, all three of their kids had baseball games, and we went from one kid's game to another. It gave us a glimpse of what our life will most likely be like in the near future. I loved it! I was bad at taking pictures but i did get one when we were leaving the baseball field. Both kids were happy as can be!

There's a lake right by their house with a trail that goes all around it. I went running on it a few times and we took the kids out for a walk around it one night. Mike and Jill took us out on their boat one day too. It was so beautiful. I could get used to living next to a lake real easy.

Our sweet little girl, found her tongue this month.

Daddy and Jerzi playing while Jete plays on the toys

Of course on our walk back home it started to rain.

A few other things we did that i don't have pictures for, but are still noteworthy....

-drove to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to watch Kenzie, Had's little sister, play in her state softball tournament.
-stayed in a house on the lake in Coeur d'Alene with Had's family
-got to see his Mom and Dad and and their families
-got to go running/work out at Jill's gym (thanks again Jill for the VIP pass)
-see the Washington Huskies campus where Mike coaches
-eat at a great little Mexican restaurant, Todo Mexico
-play baseball and basketball with the kids
-beat Had and Jake in a 2 on 2 game of basketball
-watched Biggest Loser, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and the NBA playoffs with their fam (with a big thanks to their DVR)
-helped Mike and Jill move from one house to another (we weren't too much help though. Had was gone all day, and I had two little munchkins to try and keep out of the way.)

It was a good month and we just want to say thanks again Mike and Jill for letting us come crash your place for a month so we didn't have to be apart for the whole month. You guys were a huge blessing to us!

A Few Recommendations for Happiness

2010-06-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

This past week i have learned (or relearned) a few things that make me happy and thought that i should share them with you all.

1)Take away all the toys and play with your kids. Now that we're in New York, without hardly any toys or anything to do, both Jeter and Jerzi's personalities are coming out more and more. I can't believe how Jete's imagination just started growing like crazy. I am loving playing with these two and seeing what new things they do each day.

2)Lindt Lindor Truffles. Oh man, these are freaking good!

3)Go out for a run, preferably in the rain. It makes you feel amazing!

4)If you want your baby to sleep through the night, let them cry it out. If you think you're too tired and that it will be easier to just hurry and get up, feed her, and go back to sleep, I promise, it will be worth it in a few days when you get a full night sleep without waking up once. Yay for sleeping through the night again, finally!

5)If your 2 year old asks you for something to eat, don't ignore him. He'll find a way to get it without your help.

Exhibit A:

6)Four people living in a one bedroom apartment is not going to kill you, like i once thought.
(But i wouldn't recommend it.)

7)Plan a vacation. Even if it's not gonna happen for awhile, it will still put a smile on your face.

Cleveland Carnival

2010-05-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

When we were in Cleveland for the month of April, we went to some sort of Cleveland Carnival/Fair thing with some of our friends. It had a tiger show, all sorts of rides, and peeps trying to get you to play their dumb games. Our friend only lost like 30 bucks trying to win a huge stuffed tiger that was too big to even put in his house. HAHA We did make friends with one of those dudes cuz he liked Jeter's name. He gave Jete and Jerzi free stuffed animals. Jete was a little scared at first to go on any rides, but after we forced him to go on a couple, he loved it. We had to drag him out of the place when it was closing. Jerzi even liked it and got to go on a ride.

One Month: Done

2010-04-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hadley is going on externships this whole year off and on, for a month at a time. He had an externship in Denver for the month of March, so we all packed into the car and drove across the country. We dropped him off and me and the kids went on to Idaho for the whole month. Wow! One month being away from each other was the hardest thing ever. At least I got to be with family. Poor Had only had one little TV in a big empty house to himself.

We definitely hated being away from him, but we did manage to have some fun too. :) I was terrible at taking pictures while we were home, so here are just a few random ones that don't even come close to depicting our month in the good ol' west. And oh, how I love the west!

Jete's teachin Jerzi how to play games on Linz's itouch. What a good big brother.

Some of my sisters were able to come visit while I was there, and we had a fun weekend together. Here we are right before we got busted from the security guy. He told us we couldn't take pictures in the mall, and after we told him we were doing a scavenger hunt, he told us we couldn't do that in there either. Who knew? HAHA We didn't want that to ruin our fun, so we went ahead and did it anyways. We just had to be sneaky about it and make sure to hide from all "securidads". Good times.

Grandpa Pocock with Jerzi and her cousin Deegan

Jete and Cole, his twin separated at birth, got to play together a few times. They're only a couple weeks apart and they really do act just like each other, right down to them shaking their little booty as they eat. Don't ask me what Jete is doing in this picture. I tell them to say cheese and Cole smiles, Kallie busts out a pose, and Jete does that. haha

Little Miss Jerzi Girl started eating solids while we were there! I wanted to wait until we got back so Had could be there, but I couldn't handle her getting up every two hours in the night, especially since Jete was also waking up a few times each night too. I was exhausted pretty much the whole month.

Getting ready for church (mainly i just like the outfit) :)

We got to spend a lot of time with family. My sister came over from Boise and stayed with us for a week so her little girl Saylor and Jeter got to play a lot together, and cause a lot of mischief. Sorry about all the mini beads that will never come out of your carpet Mom. Just think, now it shimmers. :) We also went and stayed with one of my sisters and her family in Utah. Jete loves his "new friends" or cousins as some peeps call them, and can't stop talking about them. It was fun to just chill for a week with them. We visited a lot with Had's family too. I think both kids loved being in Idaho cuz there was always someone there to entertain them. It was a pretty good trip, then Had made it even better by surprising us and coming home a day early. We stayed there for another week with him, then made the long drive back to Cleveland.

We made it back to Cleveland in about 4 days, and the day after we got home, it was sunny and warm. Then I won that one award, Mom of the Year..........

Oh wait, nope! Poor little guy. Sorry Jeter!
He was so excited to play outside since it was cold in Idaho the whole time. I let him play outside the whole day.

Naughty and Nice

2010-02-22T12:38:00.000-08:00

NICE
Jerzi will be 4 months old this week! I can't believe it. It has gone by super fast and she is getting sweeter and cuter I feel like by the second. A few things about our sweet little girl:

-She laughs out loud now (3 months)
-She can roll over
-She has stopped screaming when we put her in her carseat. She can actually fall asleep in the car now.
-She smiles like crazy if you look at her.
-She loves attention.
-She weighs about 14 lbs.
-She still gets big "scared" eyes when Jete comes near her. (Usually because he's running at her. He loves to scare her and make her jump.)
-She's had 3 colds and 3 ear infections in her short little 4 month life.
-She loves to give us kisses/eat our faces and Jete thinks its the greatest thing ever. He sticks his face and head in hers all the time cuz "she wants to give me tisses Mommy."
-If she doesn't have her binky in her mouth, she sucks on her first knuckle.
-She loves to cuddle with Mommy to take naps. (If i actually get to lay down and take one.)
She's so sweet and we can't get enough of this girl.

She hasn't lost any of her hair, it's still dark, thick, and growing! Yes, i do love it.

Dressing her is more fun than i imagined it would be. Little girls clothes are so stinkin cute! I look forward to this every day. She is a very good girl to just lay there while i try outfits on her and mix and match stuff.

Here she is wearing her first pigtails at 3 months. (I'm sure i could have put them in before that, i felt it might be a little cruel though.)

She loves to talk. She's got a lot to say, and we love listening to her babble.
She also smiles like crazy now, but stops as soon as i go to take her picture. She must be a McArthur! This is as close to a smile as i could get. She's talking to me right here. :)

She's got loads of hair. I want to do it in all sorts of cute ways but she's too wiggly. Her 3 piggies were pretty cute and fun though.

She's got the cutest blue eyes, to go along with her brother's and Daddy's.

NAUGHTY
Very Naughty

Then there's Jeter. He's 2 1/2. Need I say more?

This happened in the amount of time it took me to get Jerzi dressed. Yep, every article of clothing out of his dresser! This is his "Aww crap, she caught me" face. I was taking a picture and sending it to Had to show him what the little punk did, and what he was missing out on. I go downstairs and find....

that Jete found my hot glue gun, plugged it in, and started shooting it. When i caught him with that, took the picture (cuz my camera was already in my hand from the last disaster) he jetted off to the bathroom, and locked himself in. By the time i grabbed a toothpick to unlock the door and come back to open it, he was letting himself out, with a funny look on his face. I scanned the bathroom real quick to look for damage. All that i saw was a new tube of toothpaste...then noticed a big ol' squeeze out of it. Minty fresh breath for Jete! :)

So another thing about Jete, he hates the cold/snow. I ask him each day if he wants to go play outside, go sledding, or build a snowman. Every time he tells me no and that he doesn't like the snow. Well one day I asked him and he finally said that he wanted to go sledding. I was super excited and we got him all bundled up. I was laughing my head off as i was dressing him cuz he looked like the kid on The Christmas Story with his snowsuit, and walked like him too. His gloves were to big and he kept telling me that they fit, but his fingers weren't in any of the finger holes. Turns out his boots are too small too. Anyways, so i finally got him all dressed and we walk out to our garage to get the sled, and as soon as we get to the garage, he says, "No, No, No, I'm done! I wanna go in."

He wasn't happy about having the wind blow on his face. HAHA

I told him to get in the sled so i could at least pull him back to the door. I got the old "talk to the hand" response.

He sat and waited by the door until i came to open it for him. All that bundling up so we could take a walk out to the garage (about 50 feet away) and back. Plus, check out that cute bummy. HAHA LOVE IT!!!

Most of the time Jete is pretty naughty. He's started telling us no (more like yelling it), doesn't go to bed good anymore, doesn't listen to us, and doesn't like when we pay attention to Jerzi and not him. It's a hard stage, but he can be pretty sweet sometimes too i guess. When Jerzi is crying he says, "Here Mommy, I'll hold her." He gives the best kisses and hugs, and tells me he loves me all the time. He tells Had that he misses him all the time, and is always trying to give Jerzi his toys. He's full of energy and is always making me laugh with the funny things he says.

We love these two little munchkins so much!

Competition? Bring it on!

2010-02-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

Hadley's school hosted a 3 on 3 coed basketball tournament. Wahoo! We love playing with each other, and haven't really done that since we lived in Idaho. It was an all day tournament, and we just had one sub....just the way we like it. :) (I never want to sub out, hehe). Anyways, we got our team together, and we actually were a little worried that this was a tournament that we might not win. We played some good teams too, but not to worry, with 4 people on one team that are just as competitive as me and Had, we came out the champions!

Our team (they forgot to order me a shirt, how rude) undefeated

Little Rascals = domination

Had shoots...... he scores.

Had tryin to set a pick for me,.....yeah, i left to soon.

Our fan club!

Christmas Vacation: the conclusion

2010-02-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

I really want to be done posting about Christmas, but we can't leave out the most important part....our family and friends. As much as we love being out here in Ohio, and on our own, we miss our family like crazy. We felt really lucky to be able to come home again this year and spend time with our families and friends. These pics are all things that remind us of what we love at home, and why we miss it.

Jeter getting to spend time and develop a relationship with his aunts and uncles.

Hangin out in our matching Ducks gear to watch the big football game together.

Having good aunts and uncles take my kids outside to play in the snow.

Doggie piles, always love the doggie piles, especially seeing the person on the bottom's veins pop out. HAHA

Taking the kids to have some fun!

Hangin out and being able to relax with my own little family, and not having to worry about school, housework, projects, etc.

Family picking on each other :)

Uncles, aunts, and cousins excited to see our baby for the first time.

There's of course lots more things that we love and miss, but we just want all of you to know that we love and miss you so much! We wish we could be there more often!

Christmas Vacation: Part 3, Brayden's Wedding

2010-02-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

Hadley's brother got married while we were home. We were lucky to be able to attend the wedding. (Funny story: Had almost didn't make it into his brother's wedding because something was wrong with his temple recommend. The funny part, I almost didn't make it into my brother's wedding a year and a half ago because an issue with my recommend. Yikes!) Anyways, we're excited to get to know Diana and have her be in our family now!

The Happy/Excited couple

Grandpa Pocock and Jeter, looking bored before it even started. :)

The cute kidlets stopped runnin to pose for a picture.

These two were so funny to watch. Both of them were acting like they owned the place. I love the one of them dancing. They're only 2 years old and they acted like they know more about dancing than i do. Ok, lets be honest, they probably do.

My super cute sister in-law and super cute baby.

Christmas Vacation: Part 2, Jerzi's Blessing

2010-01-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

While we were home, we got to bless our sweet little Jerzi. We blessed her and our nephew Deegan on the same day, 2 days after Christmas, so all of our families were able to make it (sort of). We got ready for church at Had's dad's house. I got Jerzi fed right before we left so she would be happy and content throughout the blessing, and hopefully the meeting too. Then we got to church and Hadley blessed her and gave an awesome blessing and she was just as sweet as can be and didn't cry or poop all over her clothes like Jeter did. She just smiled at everyone as she was passed around to all the different people during the meeting. Usually on a special day like this, something is bound to go wrong, so we were pretty excited and happy that everything was going so good, and smoothly.

That is until we heard about this!!! Our poor little nephews were playing around at my parents house before church started, and they collided and both ended up in the E.R. One got stitches and one got staples. How sad huh?

So here's some promised pics for those that had other matters to attend to.

Christmas Vacation: Part 1

2010-01-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enough to get to go home again for Christmas. Hadley got just about a 2 1/2 week break. So after some rough plane rides/layovers/missing our connecting flights due to weather, we finally made it to Rexburg, where we got to spend time with family and friends. It was a nice vacation and we got to do a little bit of everything while we were there. We got to eat a lot of good food, bless Jerzi, go to Had's brother's wedding, go running, go on a date, go shopping, play basketball (only Had got to, :( i guess the tournament wasn't for girls), get family pics (a lot of them), go on a sleigh ride, watch football and basketball, and hang out with friends and family.
We're always crazy busy, but that's what we've come to expect and love about the Christmas season. It wouldn't feel like Christmas if we weren't running from house to house and party to party. The kids were good and loved all the attention they got. It was hard for us to get Jeter to leave each house cuz he LOVED playing with his aunts, uncles, and cousins. Meanwhile, Jerzi was learning some bad habits, like having to be held to fall asleep. Anyways, we had a lot going on, so I have a lot of pictures. So these pics are mainly Christmas pictures. More to come.

Jete got to sit on Santa's lap. He didn't cry, but he also didn't change his face expression the whole time he was up there. He told Santa he wanted a green truck. Poor little Jerzi didn't get to sit on his lap. She was sleeping, and I was not about to wake her up. She had an ear infection at the time, and wasn't the happiest baby.

Here's a bunch of the grandkids posing with Santa at the famous Crapo shrimp dinner party.

I just had to post a pic of Jerzi so she doesn't feel left out that she's not in any of the pictures. Plus, I love the outfit. haha

We spent Christmas Eve at Had's Dad's house. A tradition we have is to open up pajamas that night. So here's a pic of all of us in our matching jammies.

Ashton and Jete couldn't stop tackling each other long enough to look at the camera. Wow were they sweaty after all their running and tackling in those fleece pajamas.

Awe, how cute are we?

I had to put up a pic of this, because well...this is what Jete was doing the entire vacation...Picking his nose!!! HAHA We couldn't get him to stop. At one point, I overheard Ashton saying to Jete, "Jete you have to stop! There's no more boogies up there."

Christmas morning. We let him sleep in this year so he would actually enjoy opening his presents and it worked! He loved it. When he got done opening all of them, he turns to us and says, "I need more!" He got spoiled rotten, and that's his reply. Nice.

They definitely learn....somethin

2010-01-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Last week for Family Home Evening, we were teaching Jete about the Word of Wisdom. We taught him how you need to eat good foods to keep you healthy, and how your not supposed to eat and drink some things. Some of the things we talked about not drinking were coffee, tea, and alcohol. When we got done with the lesson, Had was quizzing him to see if he understood any of it. Their conversation went something like this:
Had: Are we supposed to drink coffee and tea?
Jete: Nooo
Had: Are we supposed to drink water and milk?
Jete: Yeah
Had: Are we supposed to drink pop?
Jete: Yeaaah!!! (with a big grin on his face)

About a half hour later,
Had: Jete, what are we not supposed to drink?
Jete: Don't drink pee!!!

HAHA Well, I'm glad he's learning something from our Family Home Evening Lessons.

Thanksgiving in Vegas

2010-01-14T12:11:00.001-08:00

Yes, i know we just had Christmas and New Years but i never posted about Thanksgiving, and it was WONDERFUL! And so i must.

We went to Las Begas (as Jete calls it) and Had's parents rented a house to stay in for the whole family. I think there were 16 of us staying here. This house was awesome, and we had so much fun just hangin out and relaxing there!

We (Ok, everyone else but me. I was feeding my baby every second.) cooked Thanksgiving dinner there at the house, and it was scrumptious! We had it all, turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, and everything, along with way too many pies that we never finished cuz we were all too full.

The house had a hot tub and a swimming pool and every night we would go out and hang out in the pools. Nothin like goin swimmin outside in November.

This picture makes me laugh. The whole time we were there Maycer was so excited to play with Jeter, she picked him up and carried him everywhere. He didn't seem to mind. He was in heaven having her undivided attention.

One of the days all 16 of us packed up and went on a ride. Even the two new little babies came along. The first ride that Had took Jete on was in the razor. Well, they got stuck. When he tried to get out, he was spinning the tires and sprayed sand all over them. Jete got a little scared from that little incident, so he didn't really love the rest of the rides. In fact, he still talks about it today, getting stuck in the sand and getting sprayed all over. But he loves his own little battery powered four wheeler now more than ever. He tries to do wheelies on it, he puts pillows down to ride over bumps, and I've even caught him trying to side-hill.

The infamous Razor

All the boys on a ride with Vegas in the background

Crazy Broc and Brayden jumped this thing over and over again! I think their wives were about to have a heart attack. That little canyon isn't so little in real life.

The whole fam (minus John, he's taking the picture)

Thank you so much John and Melissa. We had such a fun time and we loved every second of it!

5 Weeks

2009-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

I better update a little about Jerzi, so I can look back and remember things about her. At 5 weeks old, she is a pretty good baby, except she struggles eating. She is constantly needing to burp and has a hard time actually eating anything, without having to stop and puke/burp, or fall asleep. It makes for long drawn out feedings but she's so sweet. We love to kiss her chubby cheeks. She is always trying to hold her head up, and she does pretty good, but then all of the sudden she'll just slam it down into our shoulders or Had's scruffy chin. She sleeps pretty good at nights, waking up to eat once or twice, then goes right back to sleep. We love having her around, even though it's way hard to get all of us ready to go somewhere. Had keeps saying there's no way we can have more kids cuz it will take me too long to get all of us ready and i will never leave the house if we do. Please tell me, all you people with more than 2 kids, that it gets easier. :) (Her hair isn't even long enough for me to do it yet either. I don't know what takes me so long. Crap!)

At 5 days old, she was already holding up her own bottle! :)

She loves having baths, especially when she's getting her hair washed. She just relaxes and gets all calm. Mainly what I love is seeing her in her cute little bathrobes and towels, and smelling her right after she gets all lotioned up.

Here is her first day going to church. I love dressing her up already. (Maybe that's what takes me so long to get her ready.) :)

I had to post this picture cuz there's a cute little story behind it. I got her all ready for church one day, and brought her downstairs where Had and Jete were. As soon as Jete looked at her his eyes lit up and he said, "Mommy, Jerzi looks like a princess!" We didn't even know that he knew about princesses.

Jeter loves Jerzi to death. He always wants to be right next to her or in her face and is constantly telling her "You so cute" in a little high pitch baby voice. He also thinks that when she's flailing her arms all over the place, that if he snuggles in real close to her and gets right in their line of fire, that she's trying to get him, or tickle him. He laughs like crazy when she "gets him". Usually i don't think to take pictures of this cuz i'm usually telling him to not get so close, but i did get a few that were pretty cute before he smothered her. Here's some of my faves of these two.

I want a cool talent!

2009-11-20T07:53:00.000-08:00

I must say that I have some talented friends. My friend Randee took pictures of Jerzi the other day and although she was being a little punk and not cooperating, and pooped all over me and the carpet with that lovely yellow staining poop, Randee still managed to get some way cute pics. This one is my favorite.

One of my other friends, Sheridan, made this cute, cute cake for us when we came home from the hospital. Look at those cute little basketball shoes! I love it and i didn't want to cut into it at all cuz it was so cute. Pretty soon Had was like "Cin, do you want to just sit it on a shelf for decoration?" And Jete asked me every day if he could have some of Jerzi's birthday cake, so we finally cut it (actually Had did cuz i didn't want to ruin it) and the cake tasted so good too.

Thanks again Sheridan and Randee. You guys are amazing!!!

Halloween Pics

2009-11-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

Even though Halloween has come and gone, I wanted to post pics so i could look back on them later. We got home from the hospital 2 days before Halloween, so i didn't really get anything for Jerzi to dress up as. I wanted to still dress her up a little, so we got a cute little Halloween beany for her to wear, and it ended up being too big, so here she is as a little...... Halloween ballerina? I don't know, it was the closest thing that she had to looking like she was dressed up. My friend made the outfit for her, and my sister in-law made her halloween bow.

When i asked Jete what he wanted to be for Halloween, he said "A bull rider!!!" in a rough, growly voice. So his Grandma's went to work. Grandma Pocock sent him the cute little outfit (and cowboy boots that he wouldn't wear),

and Grandma Fuller whipped up this bull (out of a shoe box and fabric) for him to ride so he looked more like a bull rider. He was one cute little bull rider. He was a stinker though and wouldn't hold the bull so we couldn't get any good pictures.

Gettin ready to go out trick or treatin with our new family of four. Ok, so we didn't really take Jerzi out. My mom stayed home with her while we took Jete.

We didn't get good pics of Jeter in his full blown costume, but the day he opened the package with all the bull ridin gear in it, he turned into a little bull rider. It was hilarious. He was posing like crazy for me. Here are some of my faves.

The tough cowboy

The cheeser

The sexy cowboy

The bull rider, ridin his bull

Pumpkin Carving

2009-11-11T09:05:00.000-08:00

We carved pumpkins before Halloween, and before we had our sweet little baby, but I had to put pics of her up for everyone. So now here's what we did with Grandma Fuller the night before we went to the hospital to have the new babe. Jete was excited at first to carve them and to get the guts out of the pumpkin. Then he realized that it was staying on his hands and he started hating it and freaking out. He hates having his hands dirty!

Then we gave him a spoon to dig it out with and what do ya know?......Happy again!!!

Here's our lovely pumpkins. We're very creative in this family. HAHA
Mine is on the left, my mom's/Jeter's in the middle, and Had's on the right.

Our last family picture of just us three.

She's here!!!

2009-11-03T10:41:00.001-08:00

The day finally came, we had our baby girl!!! We had her on Oct. 27th at 4:29 p.m. She weighed 8.1 lbs. and was 20 inches long- which is funny cuz that's exactly what Jeter weighed and measured. We are so excited to have her here and in our family. She's a really good baby so far. She mainly just sleeps and we have to force her to wake up and eat. I am loving having a girl and getting her dressed each day. I feel like i need to take a picture of her in every outfit and every pair of pajamas cuz she looks so cute in all this girl stuff. I'm doomed!

Jerzi Raye McArthur

Oh and the whole labor, delivery, and aftermath all went pretty good except for the fact that I felt EVERYTHING!!! It hurt like crap and i wanted to cry but she came fast so that part was good. I only had to push for like 15 minutes with her, compared to 3 hours with Jeter. I am feeling way better than i did after i had Jeter too. I can stand up, sit down, and walk around without feeling like i want to die.

Here's the proud Daddy, already snuggling with his baby girl. He's also doomed. HAHA

Here we are getting ready to go home from the hospital. We felt really bad cuz Jete couldn't come up there at all. They wouldn't allow any visitors under the age of 18 in the hospital because of the flu and H1N1 viruses going around, so Jete never got to see her until we got home. Luckily my mom was able to come out and help us. Thanks again Mom!

Jeter was excited to finally see her when we brought her in the door. It only lasted about 5 or 10 minutes, then he pretty much ignored her for the rest of the day. Now he's always wanting to hold her, feed her, and touch her. He hasn't figured out what "Soft" means yet. He is pretty cute with her though. He comes up to her and says "So cute, baby Jerzi." And he's always kissing her fingers and toes. He loves how little they are. He kisses them and says, "cute little fingers, cute little toes." He wants to be around her a lot. I can tell this is gonna be dangerous. After like 2 days of being home, I took my eye off him for like one minute, and then caught him jumping in her bed while she was in there! As soon as i saw him, he smiled and said, "Jumpin with baby Jerzi." Yikes!