Alaina

Oh, boy.

So, I used to put Alaina in her crib for time out sometimes (we weren't getting the full effect from the time outs elsewhere in the house because she would just keep getting up). But then when she woke up in the mornings or from naps she started saying, "I stop it whiny!!" and that made me feel bad. So I started just putting her in her room and letting the isolation be the time out even though she has all her toys.

Yeah. So much for that. I just put her in timeout (and right before I closed the door she stuck her tongue out and razzed at me. Nice. Stinker) and within about 30 seconds I hear, "Got it! OUT!!!" and she waltzes out of her room all proud and smiling. Great. Just what I need. As if it wasn't bad enough that she's turning into a little snot, now she can open doors. Nothing is safe now...

See, like this! She's hiding in this tent, naked, sneaking crackers!! Never a dull moment!

Oh, and the other day, I totally shot my self in the foot because she needed to wash her hands but I was nursing Landon and instead of asking her to wait or interrupting Landon's meal, I said, "Go push the chair up to the sink and wash them yourself. DOH!!!" Now she uses that technique to get ANYTHING off the counters that she wants. Oh man! This little 2 year old is giving me a run for my money! She is into EVERYTHING!!!!

At least she's potty trained. Gotta be super grateful for that one! I think I'd be even more of a crazy person if I had to change TWO babies' poopy butts!

Wonderful Church Meeting

Church today was so great! It was fast and testimony meeting, which means that, rather than having speakers lined up and armed and ready with carefully prepared talks, any member of the congregation is welcome to come up and bear their testimony of the Gospel. Today the meeting was particularly wonderful and the Spirit there was so strong! Feeling that Spirit is something I really need in my life as the mother of 4 young kids. I need my spiritual bucket refilled as often as possible. Motherhood is draining.

The members today who really spoke to me were, first, a friend and neighbor who followed up three of her children and said that she and her husband had tried as various times to encourage their kids to bear their testimonies in church and that she realized that she needed to be an example of that. She said, "It's SCARY up here! I'm shaking like no other!" SO TRUE!! I HATE public speaking and it's worse if I'm trying to speak about something near and dear to me like my love, faith, and knowledge of my Savior. She went on to say that even though it's scary, if she wants to encourage her kids to do it, she needs to be an example. And then she said that her kids were being such a great example to her today by coming up and sharing their sweet testimonies. I felt very much like she was talking to me and she was setting such a good example for me. I am terrified of bearing my testimony. I think I've only done it once or twice in Sacrament meeting ever. Brice tries to encourage me but I just can't! It's too scary.

Next, another friend and neighbor went up. I've gotten to know this sister through visiting teaching. Visiting teaching is a program we use to check up on each other and make sure the needs of our congregation are being met. The bishop can't visit and care for each member himself, so we delegate. Each of us are assigned a companion to go with and asked to visit a few other sisters each month to share a gospel message and make sure they are doing okay emotionally, spiritually, financially, etc. (the men in the ward do the same thing, but they visit and share a message with the whole family). I've had this sister as one of my visiting teaching ladies for over a year now. She is from Ecuador and her English is coming along but it isn't perfect. She is a dear woman with a soft, gentle, joyful, and loving spirit about her. Today she got up and started to speak. But quickly she realized that what she wanted to say was too important to her to struggle with the language. She changed over to Spanish. I caught some of it and Brice clued me in on what I missed. She said that her father had passed away last week (she told me a few weeks ago that he had cancer and wasn't expected to live much longer). She talked about what a great man he was; that when he learned of the gospel he said he would follow the Lord with all his might, mind, and strength and that he did so until his dying day. He was a great example to her and she is going to miss him but that she knows that through the plan of salvation she can be with him again. Hers was a testimony of strength and power; she knows the Lord and she knows that through Him, she will see her father again.

Waiting on the stand to go next after her was a friend of ours whom Brice has gone to school with since he started the engineering program and our two families have become close friends. They moved into our neighborhood last year with our encouragement and we love having them so close. This friend served a mission in Panama and speaks Spanish. When he got up to speak, he shared with the congregation who didn't understand Spanish what the sister before him has said. He told us that she had testified with strength that the plan of salvation and the Gospel are true. He told us that she had shared what a great man that her father was. Then he added his own testimony of the plan of salvation and the truthfulness of the gospel to hers with an equal measure of power and strength. He testified that this is the true and living gospel--living because we have prophets on the earth today to lead and to guide us in the ways of the Lord.

I was in awe at the workings of our Lord. There are many people in our ward who speak Spanish and I'm sure a lot of the congregation understood our sweet sister's testimony, and surely everyone felt her sweet spirit, but for those who didn't understand, it would have been a powerful and special testimony to miss. I felt like the hand of God was so very much in the room and in the hearts of the people, giving our sweet sister the courage to say what she wanted to say in the best way she could and then, especially, in prompting our friend to be there at just the right time to translate for our Spanish-speaking sister. It was a beautiful thing to witness. And I add my witness and testimony to theirs that the Gospel is true, the plan of salvation is real, that Christ lives, and He atoned for our sins because He knows us and loves us and He wants us to be able to return to live with God again, pure and spotless before Him. I have a very strong testimony that the Lord knows me individually. I'm not just another one of those people down there, muddling through. He knows my struggles, my trials, my successes, my heart. He has proven it to me time and time again. He has worked mighty miracles in my life. I see them and I witness that it is the hand of God in my life, protecting me and my family, lending me breath from day to day, my rock and my strength, without whom I would falter and fail and not know which way to turn. The Gospel gives my life direction and purpose. It brings me everlasting and eternal joy. I know these things to be true in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Landon's first haircut and 6 month stats

Landon's hair has been getting a bit crazy. He's always had a lot of hair but most of what he was born with has fallen out to be replaced with new growth. Except for the long weird stuff he had on top that gets kinda greasy when he hasn't had a bath in a day or so:

I've been debating whether or not to cut it for a while. Jesse's fiancé suggested I wait until after they came out so she could see it. It was perfect because by the time she got here, I was SO ready to give that boy a haircut! The long stuff on top was just looking ridiculous. I mean, he's still cute as a button, but it was just so... well, you'll see.

The ones in PJ's were taken at Thanksgiving. My sister got a new camera and she has a TON of great pictures on it! The pj ones I stole from her blog. In fact, she has a ton of great pics up right now that are recent. If you check her blog now, I suggest scrolling through the whole page because it's filled with great pictures. If you get to it later, most of them are on her "Thanksgiving" post.

So here's before:

With Aunt Kyle:

See? Adorable. But check out after:

I'm SOOOO glad I cut it! He looks so handsome! I just cut it a day or two ago, so I'll post more of him as I take them.

Oh yeah. And stats.

Length: 26 5/8 inches
Weight: 15lbs. 4 oz.
Head circumference: 41.6 cm
Long and lean!

Landon can sit unassisted for a little while and is starting to be able to predict where he's going to fall and put a hand out to stop himself. But still he falls often. He's starting to get those knees up underneath to get into a crawling position. He can scoot all over the place. He rolls over occasionally. He can hold things in both hands and pass a toy from one hand to the other. Makes vowel sounds but no consonants yet. He is a happy and healthy baby and we love having him in our family!

Except for sometimes at 3 am when he just wants to scream for an hour for no apparent reason. Other than that, he's a piece of cake and sweet as pie!

On the fly

Okay, I really just need to get caught up fast so that I can blog as I go. I keep not blogging because I have way too much to catch up on. It would be like 12 posts to get it all done. So instead of procrastinating indefinitely, I'll just fly through the last few months and give you my favorite pictures and the stories that go with them. Then maybe I can do a better job of staying relatively current (yeah, right).

So here goes in no particular order:

Landon thinks Alaina is hilarious (she is) and Alaina loves making him laugh.

Landon is the happiest little guy. He is full of smiles (Raelin calls him Mr. Smiles) and such a content and mellow kid. So grateful for that!

Raelin's been taking more and more of an interest in sports as time goes by. She is a natural athlete and she's super fast! For her birthday this year, Brice and I made her soccer goals. We even made the nets! You can learn anything on youtube!

Alaina is a total ham and she has the best smile and a contagious laugh. She is a joy to be around.

Handsome boy ready for church. Love this suit!! (and the comb over)Halloween. From left to right, Landon (a bone), Alaina (a dog), Ryker (a pirate), Raelin (a witch), Liam (a polar bear), and Russell (a monkey).

I usually like to make the kids' costumes, but this year I was content to just make one thing for each of them. Bet you can't guess what I made!

I made Ryker's dread locks! They turned out so COOL! Wool yarn, braided, thrown in the washer and then sewn to a red strip of cloth. Easy and awesome!

And I made Raelin's hat! I had some silky black fabric on hand leftover from my sister's wedding (they were table cloths or something) a few years back and I got some interfacing and there you have it! Tease out the hair and put on a witchy dress and she's ready to go!

Picking pumpkins. I love pictures of pumpkin picking because the colors are always so great. Wish my camera batteries hadn't started to die... I'd have taken more.

On top of the world! I'm standing at my full height to take this picture. The hay bales were stacked super high! Alaina loved it!

And here's my amazingly gorgeous husband. I just love his manly swagger. Mmmhm! I could watch that all day. Oh sorry. TMI? I digress.

Okay, but really though, he is quite amazing. Look at this playhouse he built this fall! He's just the greatest and I'm so proud of him and all his hard work. He can do the most amazing things!

More of Mr. Smiles! Love that happy face! He has the greatest laugh too. Ooh! I think I might have a video of it! I'll have to check.

Most of the time, for Christmas, I make things for extended family and we buy things for the kids. This year, I decided to make things for the kids and mostly buy things for family. So I made the kids a bunch of stuff. My favorite by far are these monsters. They are SO cute! I love them. I want one.

I also made the kids these cute frogs (among other things that I don't have pictures of yet).

Ryker has wanted a remote control helicopter for a year and a half now. We... Er, SANTA got it for him this year! He loves it! I think Brice and I like it just as much as he does. It's a cool toy!

Alaina got a dolly and a crib and a stroller. She loves dollies and set about right away to take Dolly for a walk and put her to bed. Such a good little momma! She loves her present!

Raelin got a really cool doll house (one that I even like because all the furniture is fixed--less mess!) but I don't have a good picture of it. She's got her thumb in her mouth in each one. Blah. I'll have to get some of her playing with it when she gets back from California--we let her go out for a week with her aunt and uncle to visit family.

My brother Jesse and his fiancé Carmen came out from California for Christmas and it was GREAT to hang out with them! They came over a lot and we got to play play play! The kids love them--Carmen, besides being beautiful, reads stories and listens to stories (she has the patience of a saint!) and Uncle Jesse is the coolest because he plays blocks with the kids and helped them build this awesome snowman. I've never seen such a cool snowman!

True to a little brother's nature, Jesse convinced Raelin to throw snowballs at me when I was trying to take their pictures.

Ryker's wrestling stance. Brice loves to teach the kids wrestling moves and they are getting pretty good! Now they just have to learn that jumping on Daddy, knees first is against the rules. Ouch!

Christmas tree shopping. The colors were great this day and I love these pictures!

Alaina, however, wouldn't let me get a good picture of her. She kept running away and hiding every time she saw me. Every picture is either blurry or she's exited the frame.

The kids got to see Santa at our church party (which was an amazing party! EVERYONE was there!)

Alaina was terrified! She didn't want to go but then Brice asked her if she wanted candy--always a sure-fire way to get her to do anything. So she consented to sit on his lap, but as soon as she was there, she freaked! But then she saw the candy canes. She stopped crying, reached over and grabbed a candy cane, and then resumed crying. So cute, funny, and sad all at the same time!

I gave Landon a bath, left to dress him, came back to drain the water, and found this:

Okay, well that about sums it up! There are lots more pictures and I'm sure tons of stories I'm missing, but so goes life. These are my favorites and if I think of anything else worth sharing, I'll be sure to post it! (uh huh. Because clearly, I have SO much extra time on my hands!)

Busy, busy! My new business!!

Sorry I haven't been the most diligent blogger lately. I'm sure you all have been missing me desperately. Or maybe enjoying my silence so you can get other things done besides reading my long-winded ramblings. Whichever the case, I have been busy as a bee at my sewing machine. I've been making things for my kids (mostly baby things) for a long time and I've tried selling things here or there but just haven't come upon the right thing to really try to make a business of it. Until now.

I'd been using cloth diapers with Alaina for about 6 months before she was potty trained (yes, she is fully potty trained and has been since she was 20 months old! LOVE IT!). When Landon was born I couldn't use Alaina's cloth diapers on him because they were too big. I thought I'd just wait until he was big enough or something, but I was just really HATING putting him in disposables. Weird, huh. Well, one reason would be expected by anyone who knows me well: I hated spending the money. But I was surprised that I was bothered on an environmental level also. I'm not usually the "greenest" person around. I try not to abuse the earth, but I don't go out of my way to save it either. But as you look around at cloth diapers, you will inevitably come across statistics on the impact of disposable diapers on the environment. I guess I was feeling like, since I didn't mind doing diaper laundry and all that, I would really rather not contribute THAT much garbage to the landfills. Diapers are a HUGE contributer to the trash we generate in this country. Anyway, I looked around at diapers and just wasn't finding anything I liked enough to want to spend money on. The kind we'd had for Alaina was bothersome because you had to snap in a liner and separate things as you washed and rinsing was kind of a pain. I was sure there had to be a better idea. I finally found something I liked but I didn't want to spend that much money. I'm a tightwad; what can I say? So I started doing some research and found all the things I'd need (some if it was quite a challenge!) and I started making my own diapers. I've been liking them so much and liking making them that I thought maybe I'd make them to sell. I think that this business idea might actually go somewhere if I want it to because the materials are obscure and hard to find. Lots of the other things I've made wouldn't go anywhere, in part, because I live in Utah and everyone is crafty or has friends or family who is and they can just make their own baby stuff. So I'm going to give this a go. I've filled one order so far and I've made enough for Landon to have him in cloth full time and I've made 2 for Alaina for nighttime. I LOVE them!! And they are virtually leak-proof; way better than disposables in that regard for sure!

If any of you use cloth diapers and want to try mine out, I sell them to friends and family at a discount. And I'd appreciate it if you would spread the word to anyone you know who uses cloth diapers. Thanks! Here's the site:

MonkeyDoDiapers.blogspot.com