Random Pictures and update

What a great few days we've had. Between the time off work, time with family over Thanksgiving, and some good R & R- its been a great week. Elijiah has been with his Dad for the holiday, but prior to him leaving we had a couple days with him. We finished the gingerbread house, and he completed his new lego toy. Wed. I took both kids in the jogging stroller to the store and we bought some stuff to make cookies and decorate. While we didnt find what we needed ,it was a great outing and the weather was perfect. Thursday we hit both Jonathans family and my dad and nancys, for turkey and stuffed ourselves! Friday I hate to say it, but we did hit the mall and we got some great deals! As Jonathans post below says, we had a date night and celebrated my birthday with a great meal and awful movie...why why why did Twilight have to suck??!!! Anyway Saturday and Sunday were spent with Jonathan studying every moment and us not getting out of our PJ's. Heaven I say!!(not the studying, but the doing nothing) Hope everyone had an equally relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving!

Tristan looking super cute in those PJs!

Gingerbread house making....

I just had to post this one of Elijiah- hes been asking me for a while now to get him a tie..so I went and got him one. I thought he looked so handsome all dressed for church! There was a glimpse however to him all grown up and working as a stock broker -or perhaps a church employee-white shirt, navy tie( ek!!!) Two adorable shots of my bugs...

Seriously Tristan makes the funniest faces! Jonathan taught him this weekend to blow bubbles with his drool, and to make a car motor sound. Its HILARIOUS!

This was the lego gift he got from Jonathans parents for his birthday. He spent the better part of one afternoon putting it together. He was so proud! He has been carefully carting it around with him and its now sitting next to his bed.

Could he look any cuter~???

Date night!

So Amber and I were able to have a date night Friday and although Twilight SUCKED ROTTEN EGGS to say the least, it was absolutely blissful to sit with my wife, have a quiet conversation over a fantastic meal, and just relax. My mom watched Tristan so I had her snap a shot of Amber and I. Amber ALWAYS says that I look miserable in all my photos but I really AM so very happy. I just hate smiling in pictures so the best you get, when I'm totally ecstatic is my tell-tale smirk. Anyway, I was cropping the photos and Amber and I decided to give me HER beautiful smile and to plant my smirk on her. FUNNY STUFF!!

On this day...

A new pair of lines may etch themselves onto the canvas beside your deep blue eyes...
Because once again, sacrifices were made so that another could rest.

A tentative child, fearful of all his new life throws his way, will be greeted with the warmest smile and a joyous "good morning handsome boy"...
Even though blissful rest was shattered by screams at midnight, one, 4, 5:30, and 6:20.

A heart will break as two of life's most precious loves are dropped off and goodbyes are said...
and one who dreamed of a job helping others will go where she never thought she would.

For 8 hours smiles and cheerful conversation will brighten the day of all around...
even though there's no work to do thanks to a bleak economy and a thief in the night.

After a long day's grind, Traffic will be braved and two grumpy boys will be gathered...

A wonderful home made meal will be prepared with one needy child slung round a shoulder
and another permanently grafted under foot...

An eternally disorganized house will be refreshed flawlessly...

A bottle will be lovingly fed amongst rocking...

Bathtime visits will sooth uncertainty...

And stories will be read...

Right before collapse, a body will finally fall to bed hoping for just a few hours of rest...

And adding insult to injury, another sleepless night may etch two more tiny lines...

And on this day, one remarkable angel will become immeasurably more beautiful to me...

Happy Birthday Amber-Lou

Our new Elliptical!!!

Emily(see blog roll) made a very nice comment about me seemingly being in shape so quickly after having Tristan...(so kind- thanks Emily!) But in all reality there wasnt any secret to my loosing the weight. Im not blessed like my friend Sarah who magically has the flattest stomach imaginable even after 4 kids- shes just genetically blessed. I on the other hand have to WORK for it. (I have to admit the whole baby #4 scares me as really it gets harder to loose the weight with each kid...but honey Ill do it- I want to ---really I do!! )

As anyone with a newborn will know, sleep is a commodity, and with a colicky child, almost non-existent, but I was determined to get my workouts in no matter what. Well honestly with having a spring baby, I had almost 6 months of time where once I put the kids down at night I would be able to go for a run. And in order to get in shape, one has to put in a workout 4-5 times a week minimum. So thats what I did. I lost the weight not because I am lucky, but I put in the time. Now my tummy still needs some help, but I am able to fit into my pre-prego clothes and I am happy about that.

Jonathan and I both have a gym membership which, with the exception of an occasional kickboxing class, neither one of us use it(so we canceled it). I hate that the kids are in daycare during the day, and it feels incredibly selfish to then take them to the gym daycare at night(which I wont do) so as the nights were getting shorter, I wasnt able to get a run in before it was getting dark. Jonathan and I started to discuss getting something we could use at home. I love to run- Jonathan not so much. He prefers the Elliptical. So because I am the wonderful wife I am, I compromised(haha) and we decided to splurge on this great machine. (happy birthday-Merry Christmas!) After doing many hours of research, some in store testing, and internet searching - we found an AMAZING steal on one. eBay my friends!! Gotta love it! So now instead of not working out-- I just head to the basement and do a quick 30 minute workout. While its not as satisfying as my outside run, it will keep me from gaining back all my weight this winter! Yea!!

Happy Birthday Noel!

I took some of these off Noels myspace page as I had to post these adorable photos...(hope you dont mind Noellie!) Noel was what 3?!
Noels first trip to the beach with her parents
such a girlie girl....
Noel and Chloe- I love this photo of them

Summer 2008

Again I cant believe its this time of year- when my first born is another year older....13!!!! Officially a teenager! With each year I sit and think back to the "day"(your birthday) and think about what I was doing hour by hour. As its only 8am - this is when I was in labor, but feeling blissful as I had an epidural by now, and all was well. As I was induced and you being almost 2 weeks early( due to a variety of things complications being just one factor)I went in the night before at 6pm and 12pm for drugs to get me started, and by 6am I was miserable and on my way to the hospital. Within just a few hours you were born a healthy 6lbs 3oz and 18 1/2 inches long. Wait wait- has 13 years really passed by this quickly? My goodness it really has...I dont feel older but this kid(YOU) will make me face my TRUE age(haha) Well Noellie I have to say that you are one amazing young woman. I wish I got to see you more, but so it goes being in different states, but how great it was to spend some time this summer with you. Your parents have done a remarkable job, raising you to be the wonderful girl you are, and Im so proud of all your accomplishments and who you are becoming. I hope you have a wonderful day today - Happy Birthday!!!!!

Gotta Love FACE BOOK!

Teresa and Hubby

I am really loving facebook! Its been a fun way to reconnect with people from my past and present and keep up with eachother( other than blogs J). Case in point- my best childhood friend- Teresa. She found me on facebook and it was so great catching up. We haven’t spoken to eachother for years and when we finally did talk and catch up on the phone last week, it was like walking down memory lane.
Teresa and I grew up on the same street in Cameron Park. When I wasn’t at the gym it seems all my waking hours were spent with this girl until we moved to Shingle Springs. This was the girl that I built forts with, rode our bikes around town, to the local Mormon church to ride down stairs and hop curbs. Our parents let us go anywhere our bikes could take us be that around the block or down Cameron Park Drive( OMG really? I cant believe that they did- think Highland Drive in SLC for comparisons…ek!) We were inseparable. In the summers we LIVED at eachothers houses and in eachothers pools. I cant think of any time NOT spent with Teresa. I went to church with her on occasion, went to church camp with her. She was the other half of my “tomboy” girlhood. And believe me, finding another girl that would rather climb trees and be adventurous was so great- I never was a dress up or play with dolls kinda girl.
Not only did we have tons of fun, but we got into lots of trouble too. One instance there was a piece of property next to our house that was sold and the new neighbors decided to start building. Well THIS didn’t sit well with Teresa or I, after all, we had spent many hours cutting down the Manzanita trees and building the coolest of forts. So we decided that we would get back at these folks for heaven forbid- building a house on their property! Lol. Once they poured the cement to house we walked around in it, put our hand prints in it etc. We thought we were pretty cool. Well this instance was my first REAL experience in LYING! The neighbors came over to my house asked my parents if I had done it and my dad confronted me at the dinner table. I of course lied about it doing it. Repeatedly. It wasn’t that I wasn’t willing to tell the truth, but being confronted publicly about it was humiliating. It was a lesson Ill never forget. Never confront a child- or anyone about something they’ve done in front of others. Anyway I kept denying it and my parents took me over to the property and put my hands down on the handprints in the cement- surprise! They matched! So I confessed. And I got grounded from playing with Teresa for a while.
The other thing that I remember clear as day was when we got in trouble for sneaking out of the house. Oh we did this often during our many sleep overs. We never did anything bad, we just walked around etc the neighborhood, on one occasion (ok maybe two) we did some tee peeing(sp?)..anyway no big deal. We were always out and about. Well we got dressed in our black attire, snuck out of her house and went about our business. When we got back to her house later on, all the doors had been locked including the windows and we weren’t able to get back into the house. So thinking we wouldn’t make much noise, went over to her younger sisters window and tapped lightly on it hoping she would wake up and let us in. Well we woke her up alright, but she thought we were burglars! She got her parents up, and boy were we in trouble. I remember Teresa being so mad at Christy for not looking to see who it was first. That was another time we were grounded from hanging out. However when my parents moved -Teresa and I didn’t see eachother much after that. I went to another middle school and we kinda drifted apart. We connected again during high school, but unless you are in the same classes or have the same lunch you didn’t see one another-this was the case with us.
Anyway all through high school we were friends but not as close as we were as kids. However she meant a great deal to me and I have often wondered what happened and what she was up to. Come to find out shes been married to a great guy now for about 5 years, just started nursing school and lives near our home town. Her son just started high school and shes doing fantastic. Who knows if we will see each other again, all I know is I am so glad she contacted me, and its great shes doing so well.

Elijiahs 6th Bday

Just a few snapshots of Elijiahs birthday celebration...it seems that our other camara that had photos of all the attendees- isnt working now( GRRR) so until we can figure it out, these were just a couple I had to post and share.(hopefully Ill be able to post more soon) The weekend was Khorys unfortunately, and while we seemed to have a MAJOR disagreement about how to celebrate the birth of our child, it ended up a good one for the boy. Elijiah went skiing with his dad Saturday morning, then was brought to our house for a nice family get together, then off to Grandmas while we the parents went to his school fundraiser that night. Sunday Khory and his family had something planned so he had a great birthday weekend. Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Elijiah insisted on wearing "comfy" clothes so of course he got out his old sweats- which not only DIDNT match but are several sizes too small....I figured it was HIS day so why not?

Now this soccer cake didnt turn out the way I wanted, but it was appreciated by Elijiah. Jonathan helped as I couldnt quite get the lines and shapes right, but in comparison to last years pirate cake, this was much easier!

My child. Such a funny one....

Elijiahs 6th bday letter

Elijiahs 6th Birthday Letter

Dear Elijiah,
6 years old! I can hardly believe another year has come and gone. I remember last years birthday like it was yesterday. The bowling alley, pirate cake…can it be that you are going to be 6?! As usual this time of year brings back so many memories of birthdays before, and the day you were born. I look back and think of all the things that have happened in your short life and marvel at the amazing boy you are turning into and how grateful I am to have you in our lives. This last year was full of events and fun times. You became a big brother and have been an amazing one at that. I think at first you were concerned about sharing me, after all you’ve had me to yourself for so long, BUT you quickly realized that there is more than enough to go around. You have helped Tristan with his baths, feeding, holding and playing, and he adores you. He lights up whenever you are around and bursts into laughter when you play with him. Its very cute to see him look around for you whenever you aren’t with us, and as you leave the car in the morning to go to school he often starts to cry when you are gone. Thank you Elijiah for being the loving brother I always knew you would be.
We had a great summer! Disneyland was awesome and you spent a lot of time with your sister Noel and how fun was that! She was so good to both you and Tristan and so patient with you specifically. You looked up to her and followed her around like a puppy, but she wasn’t complaining. I think she loved it. We went to the beach, went hiking, hung around the house and overall enjoyed the time we had. You officially learned how to swim, after all the swimming lessons it was Chloe who really got you in the pool and swimming comfortably without your lifejacket. Once you knew you were okay in the water, you took off showing us how you could swim from one end of Grandmas pool to the other and it was great to see you with your big smile accomplish something new. Fall came and with it the biggest change yet. STARTING kindergarten. You have often asked me why I enrolled you in Catholic school and so Ill explain again. As you have working parents its very difficult to make sure you are safe all day, and in a good place. The local elementary school has kindergarten only 3 hours a day and so I would have had to find a before school and after school day care for you that you could be bused back and forth. To be honest, your over protective mother isn’t comfortable with the idea of you having to take transportation several times a day and I was looking for a place you could stay all day. Most private schools have all day kindergartens so I started looking around. I talked with other parents, got recommendations from teachers, and everyone raved about Our lady of the Lourdes Catholic school. I have to admit that im still a bit concerned about what confusion you might experience being exposed to catholic theology, but the education is superior, and the school provides you a place where you can be all day. You are learning to read, develop incredible skills in regards to math, art, language, science and are at the top of your class in your center work. You started piano lessons as well and I think you are doing great. Jonathan works with you at home, and there is no problem getting you to practice. Practice time is “boy” time with Jonathan and you both love it.
This fall you also continued with your soccer and we switched you from Impact soccer to the Lions club with your Uncle Peter and your dad as your coaches. You started to play positions and you really liked being a defender. You love to play and you did an excellent job….this winter your dad is buying you another seasons pass up at Alta to ski, and I know you will continue right where you left off last year. You have great athletic talent but as always, you just have to have the confidence to try, and you always excel.
Oh Elijiah I cant tell you how much I love being your mom. You are such a joy in my life and you will never know how much I love you. Even on your days with your dad, I make an effort to pick you up from school to spend as much time as I can with you. Not seeing you for days on end makes me incredibly sad, but I always try and remember that you need your time with your dad too. We have all had one incredible year and Im so excited to see what next year will bring!

Happy Birthday Elijiah- may this next year be a great one!

Conversations with Elijiah

Im driving Elijiah to school the other day and the conversation goes something like this:
Elijiah- So Mom- how old do I have to be to have a girlfriend?
Me- 16! You cant date until you can drive!
Elijiah- Okay well how old do I have to be to kiss a girl??
Me- What?!!!!!!! Um 16!
Elijiah- Thats NOT FAIR! How old were you?
Me- Um(thinking to myself do I even want to answer this??) okay then how about 15?
Elijiah- Ok! I can kiss when im 15- thats good.
Me- Well Elijiah- you can always "like" girls, but you dont need to worry about "girlfriends" for a while...have FUN! Focus on sports, school, friends, family-girls-well they can get you in trouble if you worry too much about it.
Elijiah- silent for a while...Mom, you are right!
Me- thinking to myself...Ive got to write THAT one down...me being right- doesnt happen too often with THIS child!

Oh the Torture

3 migraines, 3 days, one ER visit. Such fun. It started on Sunday- took some meds and was fine by the middle of the night. I went to work fully expecting to be able to work through the day but somewhere around lunch time my head started to hurt and I thought that it might just be a normal headache. I drank some caffeine, and tried to get out of my office some. Well I left a bit early that day, drove to get Tristan, and by then it was getting worse. I took my medication at the daycare and proceeded to get Elijiah. By the time I was about 2 miles from home I was throwing up, having to stop the car several times to do so, and Elijiah was very worried. He even offered to get out of the car and walk home to get Jonathan for me. Such a sweet child however I declined his offer. Soon as I got home I was down for the count. I tried to get my medication in me a second time but continued to be sick so nothing would stay down. After several hours unknown to me, Jonathan called his mom to stay with the boys and he took me to the Emergency Room. Thankful for modern medicine--- by 10:30 that night I was feeling human again. I took a sick day yesterday and thought I would just rest up since I was feeling pretty crappy, but I either wasnt done, or I had a rebound, but another Migraine was in store for the evening. Thankfully my medication stayed down and I am pain free this am. I have to once again thank Cindy for coming to our aid. She has been our lifesaver in times of need and I dont know what I would do without her. The boys adore her and its so nice to know she was willing to spend the night, take the late night wakings with Tristan so I could get some sleep. Also a huge thank you to my devoted husband. I have never had someone take such good care of me before and to know he is my rock, and partner in all things, I am so grateful. Love you honey.

Tristan Sleeping? Maybe....maybe not

Jonathan and I have come off about a month of very little sleep. For a long while Tristan was still going down 6-6:30 at night but then getting up for GOOD around 3-4:30am. I adjusted. I started to go to bed by 8 or so and felt with at least 6 hours of sleep I was ok. THEN a few weeks ago he decided that he was going to get up every few hours each night. This started happening with him standing up in the crib, but then afraid to get him self down so we had to come in and put him back on his stomach and re-insert the plug. We adjusted again. It was okay because Tristan would immediately fall back asleep. Well about a week and half ago, these every 2-3 hour wake ups didnt result with immediate sleep. This began our demise. HOWEVER thankfully that seems to have passed and now, Tristan is back to his once a night wakings at around 4-5am. We are determined however to regain some control over our house and sleeping bygone it! So today we decided that we would let Tristan cry it out and no matter what, we werent going in the room.(we did peek through the crack in the door and got a good chuckle when he was trying to hold his blanket and comfort himself. I saw him slowly get to the sitting position and put his head in his lap still hysterical and thats when I stopped looking...) Well upon hearing quiet after a LONG time of CRYING and SCREAMING...I went into Tristans room and found him asleep. Sitting up- or shall I say - half sitting. I felt bad and put him on his stomach and had to post the photos...Priceless I say.

Apprehensive but hopeful...

I am very much of the same opinions as Amber on the election. I told Amber several times that I would vote for a Biden Romney ticket but alas, that wasn't an option nor would it EVER be an option. We're told quite frequently nowadays that "the righteous need not fear". Maybe I'm not as righteous as I should be but I have to admit that I'm nervous about this current administration and the overall direction of our nation. I think that Obama has great potential to champion change but I believe strongly that changing for the sake of change alone can be more harmful than helpful. Anyway, all we can do now is raise our little Bechtold family as best we can and pray that our nation's leaders will lead by at least a sliver of divine inspiration. And so I sit here with my fingers crossed hoping that great things happen over the next few years...

Undecided

This was an exciting election. I tend to stay out of politics for the very reason that no party ever really "speaks" to me. There are issues on either side that I agree/disagree with and therefore its often NOT the party that gets my vote, but the person. These two presidential candidates were great in my opinion. They got people thinking, and discussing. They got people to vote and in my mind both men earned my respect. However the true reason I couldnt vote this election year, was because there were things on either side that I was vehemently opposed to. Would I have been worried about McCain? Yes. Am I worried about Obama? Yes. However Im excited for what will happen over the next few years....

I......

I
I AM … going to be 32 in a few weeks
I WANT… to have one more baby, and adopt #4
I HAVE … a weight obsession. ( I have 5 pound threshold in either direction)
I KEEP … chapstick with me at all times. If I don’t have it ive been known to buy a new one, or go home for some…
I WISH I COULD … not work because I won the lottery or something, and dedicate myself to charitable endeavors
I HATE … mean/evil people, and my current wardrobe issues…
I FEAR … anything bad that could happen to my loved ones.
I HEAR … Tristans late night cries and cringe at the thought of getting up ONE more time
I DON’T THINK … I will ever stop loving the chunkiness of Tristans baby legs
I REGRET … not doing what I really wanted to in college the first time
I LOVE … the word”mom”, lazy days, and being married, sitting at the park on a gorgeous fall/spring day, and running
I AM NOT … a church every Sunday kinda gal, but have a strong testimony of my faith
I DANCE … with my kids in my arms or in the kitchen with Jonathan, gone are the days of my youth performing, or dancing in clubs.
I SING …only in the car, or to Tristan.
I NEVER … thought I would end up living in Salt Lake City
I RARELY … am without a book to read
I CRY WHEN I WATCH … videos of when Elijiah was a baby.
I AM NOT ALWAYS …happy with what I have. Im working on that….
I HATE THAT … ive become a worrier
I’M CONFUSED ABOUT …all things politics( too many lies, and half truths)
I NEED … a garage
I SHOULD …eat better, and grow a garden
I HOPE ...to live a long life and die in my sleep next to Jonathan! LOL

Private or not private?

Okay I originally took the blog private as I found out that someone I wouldnt want to have access - did.
But over the course of the month or so that this blog has been private, Ive been getting emails from close friends and family that dont have gmail, saying that they cant log in anymore. Now these people can get a gmail account, but choose not to yes I know. However Ive decided to open it back up, and stop obsessing about the one person. Afterall, this individual probably could care less about the blog. And besides if my close friends and family cant see my latest and greatest pictures of the boys, why do I have this blog anyway? LOL!

Halloween PRT II (Elijiah's School party)

As a working mom, Im not able to volunteer as I would like to at Elijiahs school. So I decided to help where I can and planning the class Halloween party was something I could do. I took most of Friday off, and me and a few other room moms put together some activities for the kids. We had skeleton making, witch hands, bean bag toss, and some punch with dry ice. The whole school did a parade and then a carnival afterwards. I have to say it was a lot of fun.

Do you see Elijiah? He is near the front in his knight costume...

The tin man with Elijiah is a girl named Sara. I guess Elijiah is with her a lot during the day and they tend to play together. I met up with her mom at the end of school one day and she mentioned that Elijiah wrote Sara a note with his number on it. I guess he asked for a "playdate" The number was shy one digit. We got a chuckle out of the fact that our kindergartners are asking eachother for "playdates" and exchanging numbers! Whats up with that!!???

Halloween 2008

We held off on carving pumpkins till the last minute, afterall its been so warm here that most of the carved pumpkins were wilting! I think Jonathan and Elijiah had a lot of fun with their pumpkins and they turned out great if I do say so myself!

I'm sure that Amber will want to write a full recap and we need to download some pics of Elijiah, but I wanted to post the couple images I got of Tristan and his little dragon costume! It was so funny - he seemed to LOVE being in the costume and started laughing and beeming at everyone that he saw whilst in the guise of the mighty Dracco!

***We had a trick o treat at work and Jonathan met me and the kids. We had a lot of fun and Elijiah scored a bunch of candy. YUMMY!