Let the Summer begin

Kendal got her first battle wounds this past week as can be seen in the picture(across her nose and next to her mouth). Layla (our dog) is a great dog - she's very loving and gentle - but can get extremely excited when she knows we're going to be going outside to play - she watches our every move very intently and when she sees any of us putting on shoes she starts freakin out - well she ran downstairs getting ready to go play and Kendal happened to be on the floor on her play mat and Layla stepped right onto her face. Needless to say Jared "disciplined" Layla and I comforted my screaming Kendal. The great thing about kids is that they're happy moments later and it seems they forget traumatic experiences rather quickly. A lesson all of us adults can learn.


Our daily mid-morning activity lately has been playing with sidewalk chalk on the back patio. The canvas is wiped away clean with each rainfall and we are able to express our creativity once again through the amazing art form of sidewalk chalk. Images of Elmo, balloons, airplanes and the alphabet emerge along with kites and fruit and ice cream cones. What would a true summer be like without sidewalk chalk?



This week we also started off the summer by going to a local berry farm and picking our very own strawberries. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Talen caught on quickly to picking them off the bush and as soon as he figured out that he could eat them well the activity got much more exciting and messy. We picked about 3 pounds or so and later made strawberry bread and cut them up as a topping for ice cream. Talen's finger tips and nails were completely stained with juice, his face was covered in it and even the soles of his shoes were red, he worked hard and ate hard. I definitely recommend this activity - it was well worth the drive and the expenses. We'll probably go back before the season is over.

Just goofin around

Talen just runnin around behind our apartment playing with bubbles and havin a good old time. I thought this face was priceless.







Thanks for the umbrella and flowers mom and dad - our back patio is now like a summer oasis - we love it!



We've been planning a camping trip to the beach and weather just isn't cooperating for this upcoming week - so we're probably going to plan it for next week when we are guaranteed sunshine. Anyway we bought these squirt guns like 8 for a buck - for the beach - and Talen was just too curious to wait until we go to the beach to play with them - so Jared wipped them out and now he can't stop playing with them - the funny thing about them is that he doesn't have the coordination to really point the gun at something and shoot - and his thumb is the only limb strong enough to push the trigger - so usually just ends up

pointing the gun at his mouth and shoots water into his mouth - he also loves to give one of us the gun so we can spray water into his mouth and all over his face and his hair and his shirt etc. He just loves it - so these are just pics of him being silly and playing around with his new found favorite 0.15 cent toy.



This is a picture of Mommy squirting water into Talen's mouth while taking a picture at the same time - I'm so talented at multi-tasking : )



I just thought this picture of Kenny was so expressive and beautiful - I'm sure to anyone she's just a baby - but to me she's like a superstar - I'm always oohing and ahhing over every little thing she does, it's completely pathetic - anyway she's sitting in this cute little camping chair we bought at walmart this week for the beach - each of the kids got one and they are perfect.

Softball with the Elders quorum

Mid week Jared had softball game with the elders quorum against the young men in our ward. Jared and I both thought for sure that the young men would win - ya know because they're young and full of energy - but surprisingly the old fat fogies won(no offense honey). I love this picture of Jared because he looks so focused and intense and his legs look pretty buff too. "Honey you should have played professional softball." I don't even know if softball is a professional sport - anyway he did really well and it was fun to be there and play.





Talen was up way passed his bed time due to the softball game but it didn't even phase him - he was running all around the school grounds, playing on the park and throwing his ball around and talking to all the young men and he kept running onto the softball field during the game while I was taking pictures and the umpire had to keep on grabbing him and giving him back to me - probably wishing I would focus more on controlling my wired toddler instead of taking pictures of the game :)


Go Jared Go - make it to first base...












Talen loved trying to throw the ball into the hoop - but he definitely needed Daddy's help - and even Daddy wasn't tall enough to guarantee the ball would make it into the hoop -


Jared is such a good father. I'm so grateful for him and all his hard work and for giving his family so much time and attention - Jared is definitely Talen's favorite parent. In the morning Talen is our alarm clock and he wobbles into our room after he's woken up and comes to the side of the bed he thinks daddy is on (we switch sides on a regular basis because we both wake up now and again with back pain- so he never knows where we're at as far as sides go) and if he comes to the side that I'm on he immediately turns around and goes to the other side to see Daddy - sometimes it hurts my feelings but then I realize that I can just roll over and go back to sleep and that Jared has to wake up and give him attention - that makes me feel better : ) anyway - just wanted to give a shout out to my sweetheart and say publicly that he's a great father and husband. I don't know what any of us would do without you!

A Juicy Mango

Talen's been getting a lot better with singing and recognizing melodies and different artists - and this is just a cute clip of him singing this silly phrase from a song from the musical "Once on this Island" - Jared had just got back from grocery shopping and had purchased some mango's and that's what lead us to this song. Definitely a must-see!

BBQ at Nehrings

We had a great time at the Nehrings this past Friday and stayed up way too late. Here are some pictures to enjoy from the night.

Josh was sweet enough to share Lilli's tricycle with Talen and push him around on it. It was probably his favorite thing he did all night next to jumping out of the tree.

Here's a picture of Talen, Lilli and Josh and Isabella. The Nehring girls are so cute and Talen talks about them all the time. He loves to play with them and loves to play with all their toys. They play really cute together.

My first time holding baby Carter (Ashlee and Christian Hansens' baby) You'd think I would have held him long before now but my arms are usually preoccupied with Talen or Kendal - he's a sweet sweet baby.

Ashlee and Christian posing for the photo. You guys are sexy.

Who would have thought that Talen's favorite toy was going to be the pink baby stroller. He pushed this thing around the yard forever that night. Don't ask Jared how he feels about it : ) it's bad enough that he likes to play with my makeup too.

Thanks for having us over Stacy and Josh - it was so much fun and the food was great!

Daddy's home for the summer!

So the week was actually pretty busy but i kept forgetting to take my camera with me whenever I would leave the house. So this weeks pics aren't that interesting : ( . We've finally hit spring/summer weather here in Virginia where you can finally put the jackets away (hopefully) and where when it's not raining it's pretty nice outside. So in this pic Kendal is sporting one of her summer outfits that Grandma Hansen bought (thanks mom) and it is cute. She's also sporting the bed head look and her sexy arms.

The past couple of weeks Talen's been fighting this horrible runny nose and i'm starting to think that it's not a little cold - but maybe allergies. I think the word "boogers" was the most frequently mentioned word in our house this week. I remember some friends of mine back in Provo had a 2 year old daughter whose nose was constantly running - and it kinda grossed Jared and I out because she always had boogers everywhere - well this week Jared commented on Talen's boogers and said, "maybe it just comes with the age," I hope he's wrong : )

In addition to all the nasal fluid we are also enjoying incredible amounts of drool. When I took Kendal to the doctor a few weeks ago they said that she could teethe from 4 months all the way up until 7 to 9 months and that she will want to explore everything with her mouth. So this drool thing is just something that we're gong to have to get used to for awhile. Aside from the drool she's pretty cute. The dress she's modeling in this pic I purchased at old navy this week. I went to buy something for myself and ended up buying stuff for her too. They have the best summer clothes for babies and for some reason dressing her is a hobby and past-time of mine.

Talen is hitting the terrible two's a little earlier than we would like (won't be two until June 15th). He's been constantly and deliberately disobeying us, ignoring us, throwing tantrums and getting into everything - much more than he ever has... and look at that face. That face screams pure mischief. That's his face all day long these days. You can just see his brain workin up some evil plan. I think one day this past week I put him on time out at least 8 or 9 times - in the same day. They work for him but I'm beginning to think he's going to stop caring about them real quick and then I'm going to have to be much more creative with my disciplining techniques. He's keeping me busy and testing my patience everyday - when he was a little baby I used to be sad to put him to bed - I just wanted to hold him and cuddle him all the time - now when evening approaches I can't wait to put this kid to bed and get a little break to mentally prepare for the next day. Now that Jared is home for the summer i think I will be able to stay sane - thank goodness for summer.

This is what I did all week

I sat down this week to make a card for my mom and for my mother-in- law - and this little innocent craft turned into a 2 day project that went from 2 cards to 10 cards.

I decided to make them stationary for mother's day instead of one happy mother's day card along with a few homemade magnets with the kids pictures in them.

I was just having so much fun that I just went crazy on it and I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Each mom got 5 cards with 5 envelopes to match each individual card. I then made a little holder by folding a piece of card stock, punching some holes and adding eyelets, ribbon, and a decorative front.

It turned out to be one of my most favorite personal projects ever. I'll probably sit down this week and make a bunch for myself now for a belated mother's day gift.

Kendals weekly highlights

Kendal started to practice sitting up all by herself - she is super strong and she's doing well. She lasted all by herself for probably 2 or 3 minutes before plopping over onto her side. She also spent her week sitting by Talen on the couch watching cartoons - he loves to hold her hands as can be seen in the picture. She also spent her time looking really really cute in her bumbo. She's my gorgeous girl and I'm lucky to have her. One really cool thing that happened this last week is her interest in toys sky-rocketed - all of the sudden she's grabbing everything in front of her and almost demanding toys - and when she drops them she screams like she had just dropped her last meal or something - so it's pretty fun to see her developing and learning more about the world around her. She had a checkup about a week ago and she weighed 15 pounds 8 ounces - she's in the 75th percentile for her weight, 50th for her height and 10th for the size of her head. They said that she's looking great. Both of my kids have had small heads throughout their lives and I'm hoping that doesn't mean that they're going to have small brain capacity : ) - below is a cute little clip of Kendal playing with toys - probably only interesting for grandparents to watch.

Talen's weekly highlights

Talen got his first big boy scratch - he's just barely learning to walk and run
in flip flops and he was playing outside on the pavement chasing after a ball
and ker-splat - he scuffed up his knees and his elbow pretty good - it took three days of band aids and first aid cream on his elbow scratch for it to form a scab - so it's healing now - but at the time is was quite traumatic for him and even a sucker wouldn't cheer him up.




He also go to ride on the handlebars of Jared's bike for the second time this
week - one of his most favorite activities ever. When Jared did it for the first time a few days previously I was about to have a heart attack - but I held it in and decided to trust the father of my children; amazingly enough, Talen had an awesome time and now he begs and begs whenever he sees the bike to "ride da bike...pease?"


I tell him that I don't dare do it and that he'll have to wait until daddy gets home. Now Jared can't wait to get him his very own power-wheel.











He also had Peanut butter and jelly one day and got jelly all over his face. For some reason he likes to open up the sandwich and lick off all the jam by itself which usually involves dipping his fingers in it and then eating the jelly off of his fingers. Then he rubs his fingers all over his face and in his hair on on his shirt - well you get the picture. Before I know it we've got one sticky mess.

Spoiled on Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to me! I honestly didn't expect much for mother's day - for some reason I don't even think of myself as like a real mother yet - it just doesn't occur to me - that yeah - all I do is hang out with my two kids all day - Anyway - Saturday night Jared brought me home some cute flowers to start the spoiling, then he rented a movie that he knew I would like, and that he knew he wouldn't like. Then Sunday morning he let me sleep in until like 9:30 - got up with the kids at like 7:30 - then he brought me my presents in bed - (had Talen help) "Talen" got me some blue comfy work-out shorts, "Kendal" got me the adorable pink shirt I'm wearing in the picture below and Jared got me swiss chocolate. And as if I wasn't feeling like a queen by now - he then made me an amazing breakfast of strawberry stuffed french toast, hash browns, sausage and orange juice. I asked him why he was spoiling me so much - I felt like it was my birthday or something - (I was just totally blown away -seriously not expecting anything) and he said - "well everyone has a birthday but not everyone is the mother of my children." Ohhhh how cute was that?!


And then in addition to all of that, he designed this amazingly sweet card on the computer with the kids' feet and hand prints - actual size - using the scanner. I just couldn't believe how much work he put into making me feel appreciated and loved - it was all just what I needed and I'm so grateful for him and the great dad that he is. So thanks babe - you're the best.


Pictured here is a close up of the card Jared designed - it was funny because Wednesday night when I went to a movie with "girls night out" girls - Jared worked on this card and put stamp ink on the kids' hands and feet. He tried to scrub their hands and feet clean of ink so I wouldn't notice, but the next morning when I showered with both of them I saw all of these ink stains all over their hands and feet. I was really concerned and confused. I kept asking Jared what the heck he did to them while I was gone and he just kept avoiding the question and after I continued to ask he finally gave in and told me that it had to do with mother's day and to stop asking questions - so anywho - that was my mother's day and I felt like a queen.

Visit from the folks

So I know were like supposed to post stuff that happens during the current week but I wanted to post some stuff about my parent's visit a couple of weeks ago - so sorry for the backwards time travel. It was good to have them here. My favorite thing we did was planting flowers on my back deck/porch/patio area place (I don't know what to call it) I've never had flowers of my own that actually lasted longer than 3 days - and my parents love to plant flowers and they know a lot more about it than I do. I was grateful for their expertise. They also bought us this great patio umbrella so that me and the kids can play out there in the sunshine without having to actually be in the heat of it. So now I love my patio and it's because of the bright beautiful flowers and the cool umbrella that I've been wanting for like forever.

We went to the Children's Museum for a day while they were here and that was a lot of fun. I definitely feel like a kid when I'm there - and I just want to get down and play with whatever Talen is playing with - I ride the scooters with him - and I paint with him and play in the water with him -MyI dad kept rolling his eyes at me because I was wanting to do everything that Talen was doing - I thought that was funny - All I could think to say was, "your just jealous."

We also went to Maymont for a day and I think I burned about a gazillion calories that day walking the 100 acre Park. We went to the petting zoo and then walked through all the gardens and then took a tour of the Maymont house - which I have to say was not the best activity to take a almost two - year old to who was on the verge of having a pure exhaustion melt down due to his lack of nap - which I'm sure we can all relate to - it was quite boring for him - he kept laying on the floor of whatever room was currently being toured - wouldn't recommend it unless earlier in the day - but even then I probably wouldn't recommend it - no strollers allowed or food -talk about a double negative - you want me to hold my 2 year old and my 4 month old and keep them both happy listening some boring blabber - and I can't bring them food to keep them quiet? Not a kid friendly kind of activity. We also went to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens - which I have to admit was pretty awesome. I was not the most enthusiastic about it - when my mom kept bringing it up - but I'm actually glad we went - it was beautiful - their cafe had really good food - and the children's garden was super fun. So thanks mom, for suggesting it - I'm sure we'll back to it later this summer.

Every night while my parents were here they helped us put Talen and Kendal to bed - which I think was some of the sweeter times of the visit. It seems during the day that I can never find time to read to Talen or Kendal - for some reason I find it more important to do dishes and fold laundry and clean rooms and make beds and I think I need to stop and remember that I will never have these years again with him or her and to remind myself that chores can wait and that spending quality time of just sitting down on the floor and playing and reading books will be of great value to me and to my kids. The reason I brought this up is because at night time before bed we always read to Talen for sometimes 30 minutes and let him pick out the books and I just love this part of my day because he loves books and loves picking books and he's so animated and completely adorable when he gets read to - it's like he's absorbing it all and it's like the books are helping him to make sense of the world. This photo was taken the last night they were here and I know that this reading time they spent with him was special and I'm glad they were able to do it. Overall we had a great time and I'm glad they got to see my new haven here in a place that I have grown to love.

Girls night out!

Thanks to the recent pressure from like everyone I know I've finally started a blog for all to enjoy. When I moved here I was terrified that I wouldn't have a social life and that I wouldn't be able to find any friends who were in my similar situation - husband in school, a couple of kids, no life, and moving to a new place where you don't know anyone - then I met Ashlee and Stacey and all the other amazing girls in our ward -which then lead me to girls night out and meeting all the amazing girls that come to that activity. What a blessing it's been in my life to meet all of these amazing girls - and feel connected to something, while enjoying the fun of creating things that are beautiful (our crafts). It's ultimately because of the church - that connects us all - without we wouldn't have been able to find each other and have this social and fun connection that everyone needs in order to survive. So you guys are awesome and always look forward to hangin.