February In Idaho

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

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

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

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?

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

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!