Bountiful Temple - July 12th 2008

Roly-poly- booga- lovey, and my stinker( my two boys)

Tristan is so adept at rolling around now that its quite astonishing. He will start at one of the crib to be found at the opposite end with his head in the middle. He will crunch up and roll from one side to the other, on his back and all around. Its really funny to see him move so much. Without crawling obviously I bet he could get across a room if he wanted from rolling around and scooting. I should mention that my two boys are very different...duh, but its fascinating to me to see it! Already there is distinct personality traits. Elijiah was a content baby. He went along with stuff, easy, mellow, a real cuddle bug and a chillllll baby. He slept tons ate tons, was a very happy baby always. He was slow to crawl, drooled all the time, walked when he was a year old....
Tristan has been very vocal from the moment he was born. In three short months I can tell he has an opinion about everything going on around him. He NEVER stops moving...he wants to stand up, sit up, not be left alone, not be left lying down. If he is in the car seat or bouncy chair, he flaps his arms and kicks his legs every moment. He is a mover and shaker. He smiles and lights up the room, then cries the next. He rarely cuddles except while feeding. He will tell you when he isnt happy and he rarely sleeps during the day still and eats here and there a full bottle. He has to be entertained and kept busy and interested or he will cry. He craves attention and heaven forbid you leave him on his own- he will only tolerate that for so long. Tristan is my demanding child and there is something about it that I love. Elijiah and Tristan are such different babies--- like night and day, and I am so excited to see how Tristans personality will play out as he gets older.
Elijiah has grown into a moody child, full of questions and is incredibly smart. He still is as sensitive and loving and affectionate, he still prefers to take a backseat and watch until he is comfortable. I have a feeling that Tristan will take life by the horns and go full speed ahead.
Oh how I love my boys. They bring such complete joy to my life. Im so exhausted, so tired, spent, but never have I felt so full and happy.

Chinese Ballet

If you have a few minutes take a look- the most amazing thing Ive seen in a long time...swan lake will never be the same for me.

Flashback

So an old high school friend( garian) emailed this picture the other day...its quite funny to me. I never think I change much over the years,( just a few more wrinkles :) but when I saw this ...well I dont even recognize myself( whats with the dark hair???). I was 16-17yrs old? We were on our way to some school dance-I had to post for nostalgic purposes.

Kids- Hiking

I put Noel on a plane today and it was incredibly sad. I miss her already. Its an easy thing to separate one self from the situation when you dont have day to day interaction. However over the last week spending so much time with her brought back the "what ifs" to some degree. She is such an incredible young woman. Being 12 is a hard age and I see all the stuff that a pre-teen goes through and Im super impressed with who she is and what shes becoming. Noel was the best "big-sis" to Elijiah and Tristan. Willing to play for hours with Elijiah, helping with the baby, wanting to hang with me and Jonathan. We talked for hours and it was wonderful. Elijiah was a different kid with Noel around. He was happy, and cooperative...it was interesting to watch. Jonathan and Noel TOTALLY bonded and Im grateful that Jonathan unconditionally accepts my past in our present. He remarked time and time again what a sweetheart she is and that meant so much to me. It was remarkable to be "mom" to all three of my kids even if it was for a short while.

There are few things that I like about living in Utah. But one thing I do like, is spending time in the mountains. I took advantage of my few days off from work and took the gang up big cottonwood canyon for a hike...isnt it beautiful????!!!!

Blog book

As time went on I decided that this blog is mainly for our family---to collect thoughts, pictures etc and so I would try out the "blog" book thing each year. So in June when my 1 year anniversary hit I went about editing and trying to put the thing together. It was intimidating...you have so many choices, formatting, background and on and on. I hate to scrapbook, and this was some project!!!! When I downloaded my blog, I had over 400 pages, and during some editing I got it to the low 300's. All in all it was an experiment and I had no idea how it would turn out. I am happy to report it far exceeded my expectations! I love it! I will definately be doing the "book" each year. Ivve included some pics for all you people interested in seeing how it would look. It cost me around 80$ to do it, and the pictures dont do it justice!

Disneyland Trip

So much blogging to catch up on but so little time- brief re-cap- We started out Tuesday driving to LA and arrived later that day. The rest of the group joined us shortly there after and the fun began. My mom, step dad, brother, Noel, her parents and her sister. Fun Fun. We hit Disneyland for two days( and saw the most incredible fireworks- hopefully will be able to post the video of it here soon). We then went down to San Diego and spent a few days with my grandparents which was great. Saturday we went to the beach for a few hours, but the weather was overcast and cloudy. Sunday we started the long drive home. Tristan never loved the car, and its gotten worse...he will cry and arch his back everytime we get in the car( I cant blame him- he doesnt know that he will only be in there for a short while vs 12 hours)sigh.

Noel is still here with me for the next few days and we are having a lot of fun...

Sleeping...
My kids so cute..
the bunch on space mountain all having fun...except Elijiah I think!

Chloe Noel and Elijiah

Family Picture..do you see a theme with Elijah and his facial expressions??!!

Mom, John and Noel

Layne and Brook

The castle - looking pretty

My handsome hubby!

Grandpa and Tristan

Beach- not so sunny afterall!

Trying to get cute for the pic----

Look at Elijiahs face...so typical of 70% of the trip