Team Boden

monterey

2012-01-29T10:11:00.000-08:00

my insanely beautiful friend Lydia lives in California.They live inland, but close enough to Monterey that they take frequent trips to my old stomping grounds. And as if to taunt me, she posts the most beautiful photos of my beloved city.

So I stole some of them!

busy

2012-01-23T07:56:00.000-08:00

i'd give you three guesses as to why i haven't been blogging.....but you'll probably only need one.

that's right :)

i'm quilting. and knitting. and crocheting. and sewing.

just when i thought i had some down time after finishing all the handmade christmas gifts, the world decided to put me right back to work. so many people are having babies right now which means i have so many quilts and blankets to make. luckily this is my passion and i love it.

downtown adventure

2011-11-22T08:21:00.001-08:00

in all the years i've spent living in utah i think i've been downtime no more than 5 times. i was searching for a yarn shop and found one downtown so payton and i decided to make an adventure out of it. we walked through temple square, rode trax, ate lunch.

i might go back there one day.

they were power rangers

2011-11-03T07:42:00.001-07:00

worth it

2011-10-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

the fourth time he got out of bed to come say good night to me i was a little annoyed. but i didn't show it.

he gave me a big squeeze then put his nose right up to mine and sweetly whispered, "you're my best friend."

then he ran off into his room and promptly fell asleep.

granny has skills

2011-10-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

nate and my sister often tell me that although i'm a young lively 29-year-old, i'm much like an 80-year-old granny when it comes to my hobbies. apparently baking, sewing and quilting are qualities attributed to grandma's.

i guess they have their point.

one of my goals in life is to be as talented as my grandma.

and after we spent some time at her house in august i came home with a whole list of things she can do that i want to do. and she specifically told me that if i want to be a real quilter i need to learn to hand quilt. so i accepted that challenge and took on two projects that are blowing my mind in a totally amazing way. the obvious first choice for me was called "grandmother's flower garden". it's done completely by hand. each little piece is barely bigger than a quarter. it's semi-slow work, but the effect is soooooo beautiful.

the other quilt i started is done part by hand, and part by machine. i remember seeing one at my grandma's house when i was little and always thought that it was far to complicated for me to try. it involves a lot of folding, pinning & patience. the work is tedious but the end result is so incredible.

he struck again...

2011-10-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

the iphone photo phantom took some more secret photos. it looks like he's figuring the phone out. instead of using the regular camera he got into some of my photo apps and started using filters. way to go little man!

grilled cheese

2011-09-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

winter is going to sneak up on us any time here in utah. i don't like winter. especially in utah. i'll be publicly cursing the cold weather until may. then about the end of june i'll start complaining about the ridiculous heat.

it's a vicious cycle.

anyway.

the one thing i do absolutely look forward to is all the soups that i get to make. and along with that goes the obvious comfort food....grilled cheese sandwiches :) i wandered over to "a beautiful mess" and my mouth started watering when i saw this picture.

click on the picture to go to a beautiful mess

this bothers me

2011-09-23T09:16:00.001-07:00

have you taken a good look at the picture? did you instantly notice what i noticed?

"price reducded"

"reducded"

"reducDED"

COME ON!!!

self-portraits

2011-09-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

i have 1,030 pictures on my iphone.

572 of those photos are some variation of this......

they are like little phantoms. i never know when they have the phone, i just find millions of self-portraits.

whatever makes 'em happy :)

I love chickens

2011-09-10T10:19:00.001-07:00

in n out

2011-09-07T08:09:00.001-07:00

they just built another in n out burger in utah. it boggles my mind when i see cars filling up the parking lot waiting for an unreasonable amount of time in the drive thru for some in n out food. since the food is only mediocre the only reason that comes to mind is that utahns so badly want to feel like they're in california so they flock to this place.

i was driving by one day and saw how unbusy this location was at the time so i decided i was going to go in to give in n out one more chance to impress me. i think you can tell by the look on mr. p's face how unimpressed we were.

vogue

2011-08-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

my husband knows how to get a laugh out of me.

i don't know if i'm just easily entertained or he's incredibly funny. maybe it's both.

either way, this dude strikes the funniest poses for my benefit. he'll want to die if he ever finds out that i posted one of his pictures, but i'm pretty sure he isn't one the two regulars who read my blog so i'm gonna cross my fingers and hope he never sees it.

this photo is one of many photos that i took up in idaho. he was rolling around in the grass and posing against the tree and the garage. each one funnier than the next. i'll keep the funniest ones for myself, but i'm gonna share this little gem with ya'll.

hope you think it's as funny as i did

:)

another year

2011-08-26T08:49:00.001-07:00

this guy is back in school. am i the worst mother in the world if i feel relieved that he's back in school? it's not like i don't like having him around. he's my baby and i love having him around. but, i feel a little less insane when there's only one shortee who's always hungry trailing behind me all day long than when i have two shortee's who are always hungry trailing behind me all day long.

was that a run-on sentence or what?

weekend action: iphone edition

2011-08-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

we had a spectacular weekend.

one of my oldest and dearest friends was sealed in the temple and i had the privilege of being there.

we spent the weekend in idaho at my grandma's and i got to see two siblings and their families. i rarely see them so it was a treat.

we also got lots of quality time in with my grandma. she stayed up with us until about 11:30 one night while we asked her all kinds of questions about her life. we looked at the most amazing collection of photos and learned so much about her that we didn't know.

it was definitely my favorite weekend of the entire summer :)

the pictures aren't great.....

2011-08-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

.....but the concert was!

any josh groban fans reading my blog?????

i've never been a groban fan per-se, but i've always recognized and respected his incredible talant. so on saturday when one of my besties told me she got free tickets and invited me to go i wasn't sure if i should say 'yes' or 'no'. i went back and forth with it for about 30 minutes. i'd already had a 'girls night' with my sister during the week to see a movie, so i kinda felt guilty leaving my family for another girls night. even though nate was telling me to go, i had myself convinced that he'd be mad at me if i did.

so i sad no.

then about two seconds later i called my friend right back and said yes!!

thank goodness i did.

it was me and my besties out on the town leaving our children behind and living it up! I only knew two of the songs (and one of them was a Neil Diamond cover), but the music was amazing and the company was great.

thank goodness for a friend who got free tickets at the last minute.........from her ex-husband!!!!

the guys

2011-08-09T11:27:00.001-07:00

I tried so hard to get those boys to smile and look handsome for a picture, but this is the best that I could get. Crappy picture or not, they're a handsome bunch.

{baby on a quilt}

2011-08-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

remember that quilt i made for my nephew max? well his mom sent me pictures of him playing gleefully on the quilt and i couldn't pass up the chance to show the world the pictures.

belated 4th

2011-07-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

we had a belated 4th of july this year. we had our fireworks and everything, but my hunk of a husband went and hurt his back at the gym just hours before we were going to head out for the planned festivities. utah changed its fireworks laws so people have been setting off fireworks late into the night for the past month. we joined them a couple nights ago and finally set off ours.

can you believe that my boys have never seen sparklers before?? jackson was all over them, but i couldn't get payton to hold one. he was convinced it would light him on fire. hopefully i can convince him next year that he won't combust from holding a sparkler.

happy mr. p

2011-07-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

i took these photos of mr. p months ago then promptly forgot about them. it was a nice little surprise coming across them again yesterday. to me, the general feeling in each one of these pictures is "happy".

this happy little moment caught on camera instantly makes me happy as well.

{a baby quilt}

2011-07-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

In case you're wondering, Maximilien is my newest little nephew.

He's almost 6 months old but I just met him and his beautiful hair for the first time this month. Benoit, Maria & Max live in Paris so we'll probably only get to see him once a year.

Since Max won't get regular hugs from his Auntie I wanted to make sure I gave him something warm to cuddle up in that will stay with him for years to come.

I actually made two quilts for this little man. Although the first one was beautiful, it just didn't seem like the right quilt for him, so days before they got to the US I started on another quilt that I thought would be more fitting for Prince Maximilien.

devil woman

2011-07-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

i haven't been around much lately.

and that's a good thing.

because if you'd been around me lately you'd have seen my grumpy alter ego that doesn't like people and doesn't care about people.

i think it was just the culmination of a million things at once. i'm pretty sure it started when my air conditioner went out. am i the only one who turns into a beast when it's too hot??? my personality literally changes when it's too hot.

i think the other thing is something only a military wife can understand. maybe not though. my husband was gone for almost two years. that's a long time. i didn't realize until he got home how comfortable i was with him being gone. not in a bad way. i'm not saying i'm not happy having him home. i'm incredibly happy to have him back. it's just become very apparent how independent i got and how important MY schedule became to my general attitude. i got used to sleeping alone. so did he. it's weird sharing a bed again.

it's been a time of a lot of adjustments for our little family. and i wasn't prepared for it so i found myself getting angry at everything. my kids were probably thinking "who's this devil woman who's taken over my mom's body". okay, i haven't been that bad. but still, i haven't been my happy cheery self either and kids are sensitive to that.

but it's funny how the small things get you out of your funk. i always expect this grand amazing event or epiphany but it's always the little things. i was sitting by the pool for the boys morning swimming lessons and jackson was just sitting on the grass playing quietly with his toys. he was alternating between playing with his batman toys and looking up at the clouds daydreaming. he was just so sweet sitting there and having that opportunity to observe him brought that sense of pride and amazement. he's mine. i made him. what else in life could possibly bring me more happiness than those two little boys who drive me so crazy sometimes?

birthday

2011-07-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

i asked these two turds for something very important for my birthday.

i wanted quiet.

i knew that was a lot to ask of these guys. so instead of telling them to be quiet all day long i just asked them not to fight. i also asked them to speak kindly to each other and keep a smile on their face all day long.

guess what they did....

they found a way to fight, with smiles on their faces, and with kind voices.

don't let these pictures fool you. they are legitimately fighting.

and i was legitimately pissed.

guy stuff

2011-07-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

going to the park with dad isn't just about fun play time. he enforces his strict physical fitness requirements making sure the boys use good form on the monkey bars, push him on the swings to strengthen their core, push-ups for arm strength and a few laps across the field to build up their endurance.

he even had them call him "drill sergeant"..................

just kidding!!!! he doesn't have strict physical guidelines for the boys :) they just really like doing man stuff now that dad is home. today at the store jackson actually told me that i need to figure out how to have a little girl so that i can hang out with her so they can do more guy stuff.

Lessons

2011-06-28T09:09:00.001-07:00

signing the boys up for swimming lessons is the best decision I've made in a long time. some teenager plays with them and gets all the energy out if them while I spend the first two hours of my morning soaking up the sun.

buffalo

2011-06-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

generally when there's a traffic jam in yellowstone it's because people see a herd of elk or buffalo off in the distance so they're eagerly finding a place to pull over so they can take lots of pictures.

we got stuck in quite a traffic jam on saturday. we were just creeping along for at least an hour. traffic was backed up for miles and i got a real kick out of it when we found the reason. three buffalo were just casually making their way down the road.

i think they were headed to old faithful.

yellowstone

2011-06-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

we took a day trip to yellowstone. that place is a-may-zing. one day just doesn't do it justice. next time i want to camp out for a week. i couldn't pick just a few of the random pictures that i took, so prepare for "operation yellowstone picture overload"

most of the pictures are small so feel free to click on them to get a better look if you so desire :)

UFO

2011-06-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

Crazy things happen up in Blackfoot, Idaho. Get a load of the UFO I saw!

Wasatch

2011-06-24T15:43:00.001-07:00

the boys stayed a few nights at my parents house so nate and I got a few well deserved nights to ourselves. nate didn't realize how much he missed the wasatch front until he was back in front of it. we took a relaxing drive up the canyon and enjoyed the beautiful scenery without being distracted by the boys.

thomas

2011-06-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago i took the boys up to heber to see thomas. payton was amazed that thomas came all the way from sodor just to let us go for a ride.

payton loved it.

jackson thought it was pretty cool.

for me it was anti-climactic.

'91

2011-06-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

it finally happened........

jackson asked me a question about my childhood and said "in the olden days"

since nate is home i took the opportunity to spend a little alone time with jackson. we went out for an evening snow cone and talked while we enjoyed our treat. he was impressed with the many size choices that this snow shack had to offer. since it was a special occasion i let him get a bigger size than usual.

then it happened

"mom? in the olden days when you were a kid did they have that many sizes to choose from?"

i actually thought back to the olden days in the summer of '91 when my dad put a snow shack in front of the local grocery store and me and all my siblings worked there for the summer. i told jackson that back then there was only one size and they actually were served in paper cones.

it totally blew his mind.

yes...

2011-06-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

....i am posting yet another picture of payton sleeping. i'm just trying to understand how this is comfortable??

for real

2011-06-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

now that dad is home we're having fun again!!

superman

2011-06-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

mr. payton loves to wear a cape to take milo for walks. maybe he thinks he needs super powers to be able to walk that huge 4.5 lb. chihuahua.

2011-06-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOODNESS

there is no way i could possibly describe how happy we are to have nate home.

it seemed like this day would never come. but come it did and it was glorious!

{finally}

2011-06-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

first grade is over.

summer is finally here.

nate is almost home.

i can breathe again.....

:)

2011-06-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

we went on a nice family walk today. it was so warm and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. days like these give me a nice break from my melancholy.

the heat left me with two rosy-cheeked little munchers and a tired little chihuahua. loads of fun.

grrrrrr

2011-06-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

what was once a beautiful pot of orange gerber daisies is now this...

i found the little culprit and almost punched him in his tiny little face.

Clothing Optional

2011-06-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

People may judge me when they see my son running all around town in his jammies. But what do you do? Getting him to wear clothes is a fight every day. The kid loves jammies. He likes to be comfortable.

His need for being comfortable is evolving in a way that I don't care too much for.

When I manage to get him to wear real clothes for an outing he takes them off within seconds of us walking through the door and puts on jammies. Recently though, he just takes off his pants and his underoos and tries walking around the house with his shirt being the one and only thing on his body.

Just when I put a stop to that he took it a step further.

Two nights ago I went in to check on the boys after they'd fallen asleep and he'd taken ALL his clothes off. He attempted to sleep that way again last night too! I got in there and put his jammies back on and he just slept right through it.

Let's hope this phase goes by quickly.

bieber

2011-05-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

i already posted this picture on facebook, but it's just too cute to not post on here as well.

jackson has been growing his hair out for a few months. i really try to let him decide how he wants to fix his hair. there a many days when when shows up at school with his hair combed straight back and he looks like a grandpa. for some reason he really likes that look.

i have to admit i was taken back when the subject of his most recent hair-do came up. he wants to shave his head when school gets out, but it was getting so shaggy that i at least had to trim around the edges. after it was cut he said.............

"mom, can you fix my hair like justin bieber?"

it COMPLETELY shocked me to hear that phrase. i have never ever heard him say that name before so i didn't think he knew who he was.

i was a good sport about the whole thing. i did the biebster hair-do the best that i could. if you asked me, i'd say he's way cuter than justin bieber. but that's just me.

{medium sized munchkin}

2011-05-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

i love watching my medium sized munchkin play baseball

i'm also newly obsessed with animating my photos. deal with it, world.

{little munchkin}

2011-05-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

i love watching my little munchkin play t-ball

sick weekend

2011-05-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

i was sick this weekend.

but saturday was the first time the sun shined in a week so i had to take my boys to their baseball games on saturday. i needed sun. then i also met a lady at the park in the hopes that she'd buy my dog. i haven't heard back from her, so i guess she bought that darn min pin she was going to look at after looking at milo.

booo

i guess i was more tired that i thought i was. i laid down on the couch at about 6:00 to rest a little bit and fell asleep. my boys had the run of the house and the dog was left outside on the patio. i woke up at 4 a.m. freezing cold because i'd left the sliding door open. milo was shivering in his bed on the patio, and my little boys were asleep in their beds.

in the morning i asked jackson why he didn't wake me up. he said, "i don't know. you were sleeping so me and payton just watched a movie and went to bed."

i love those kids. and i can't wait until they have two parents at home to take care of them. just think how great it would've been if my husband had been home. i could've went to sleep in my bed and he could've taken care of the boys.

oh well. you do what you have to do.

speaking of my husband though, check out the stache that he was rocking before christmas.

{baby quilt}

2011-05-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

my friend was super excited to find out that after having two boys she's having a GIRL this time! i wanted to make an extra special quilt for baby girl to have when she comes into this world.

clocks

2011-05-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

did you know that i'm kinda obsessed with being on time. i'm not saying i'm always on time, but i generally am. and if i find myself running late i get really anxious and paranoid. i grew up being taught that "on time is 10 minutes early". i love my mom for teaching me that.

did you also know that i love clocks. like, i literally LOVE them. so the big question is........do i love clocks because i love being on time, or do i love being on time because i love clocks?

it's a real head-scratcher isn't it?

i realized my love for clocks when my mom gave me two of her antique clocks.

when my parents sold the home i grew up in they had all of us kids go through and claim the things we wanted to inherit. i only chose three things. my first choice and the most obvious one was the piano. the other two things were the clocks. after i got married i finally had them in my possession. that's when the obsession was realized and now my house has a clock any place i can fit one. it's tastefully done. i promise you, it looks good.

i think some husbands would think this kind of thing was dumb. but i'm pleased to say that my sweet husband embraces my weird habits and collections. he even sent me a clock for mothers day.

i'm trying not to push my luck with this whole thing though. there is a cuckoo clock that i really really want. it's the exact model that my grandmother has had in her house since i've been alive. he may have a problem with this clock because it chimes all-the-time. i love the chiming.

i think he might dislike it.

stick a fork in me......i'm done

2011-05-05T23:06:00.000-07:00

i literally feel like i'm married to my phone. my lover-on-the-side is the computer. that's the only contact i have with my husband. have i mentioned that i don't like to talk on the phone? so can you imagine how hard it is to despise one of the only forms of contact you have with your lover?

i am so done with this thing.

the weird thing is that the closer he gets to coming home the more depressed i get and the more i lose my mind. not because i'm nervous about him coming home. just because i want him home now!

don't worry about me though. fleetwood mac is getting me through. and on the subject of fleetwood mac...super huge shout-out to glee for introducing a whole new generation to one of my most favorite albums ever. if you don't have "rumours" go to itunes and download it now.

on a side note, if anyone is wanting a dog that resembles a large rat, let me know. i love milo. he's adorable and sweet and cute, but if i'm being honest i kinda want to punt him like a football. i'm just a little too overwhelmed at the moment to give him the love that he needs.

jackson

2011-04-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

jackson is a little missionary in training. and I can't take very much credit for this because he's usually the one reminding me to have f.h.e. he gets up in the morning, gets dressed, then urges us to hurry up so we can get to church on time. when i haven't heard from him in a while i'll usually find him off reading his scriptures. it just comes naturally to him.

he also seems to find the cutest ways to bring Jesus into conversations. he has an adorable friend who is originally from the middle east. he is a different religion so he isn't familiar with Jesus. they were playing mario brothers and discussing the various worlds in the game. then jackson said, "actually we're in Jesus' world because he created the world." then they continued playing and after a while jackson's friend said, "look! you're Jesus!" jackson replied saying, "no. i'm not Jesus. i don't have girl hair and i didn't die for the sins of the world."

birthday, baseball, harry potter

2011-04-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

I would've posted pictures of Payton's first T-Ball game on Tuesday, his 4th birthday on Wednesday, and Jackson's first Machine-pitch baseball game.........but I can't find the charger for my camera.

So, sad for you guys that you don't get to see all that.

On a happier note, we bought Harry Potter 7.1 today. I've already watched twice. Gonna watch it a third time here in a few minutes. Remember over the summer when I got so excited about seeing the HP 7.1 trailer for the first time. Time sure flies by doesn't it?

cuttin'

2011-04-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

i was convinced that girls were the only ones who cut their own hair. jackson never tried to cut his hair. he did cut a couple of his shirts. but never his beautiful blond hair. so i was really surprised when i discovered payton had snuck off and given himself a haircut. i found him before he caused too much damage, but i was so sad to have to cut his adorable hair at all.

i thought maybe since he saw his mom cutting hair all the time he wanted to try it himself, but word on the street is that boys experiment with their hair just as much as girls do. so i guess it was inevitable.

needless to say, i have hidden all the scissors.

turtles & tigers

2011-04-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

the beautiful, yet sporadic spring weather that we've been having lately brought us to the zoo. we found our dream pet. a giant turtle. i know it wouldn't be a fun pet, but how cool would it be to have a ginormous yard turtle?

the tiger was in rare form! usually when we get there the tigers are sleeping the day away. this guy was pacing around the cage then came down right up by the glass for a little dip in the water. he was trying to get a barrel that was in the pond but was too chicken to get in there far enough. what a wuss!

Is she still complaining?

2011-03-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

Is it lame that I left California 18 months ago but still cry when I see pictures of the California Coast? Before I lived in Monterey I could appreciate winter even though I didn't care too much for it. After living on the Central Coast I just go through the changing seasons here in Utah like a zombie. What I wouldn't give for some sea mist and salty air.

I know I'm a complainer, but California ruined me man. I gotta get back there!

{photo courtesy of pugly pixel}

What do we do all day?

2011-03-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

I found this over at Team Boo. It gave me a chance to say OH SNAP and it reminded me that I'm not lazy because I'm at home every day. I'm on duty 24/7 fool!

{poop}

2011-03-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Payton~

I love your squishy cheeks and your chubby little toes. I love that you'll randomly come hug me and tell me you like me. I love that you sneak into my bed at night. I love the smirk on your face when you're being defiant.

I love everything about you, except for the fact that you're almost FOUR and I'm still wiping your butt.

Honestly.

I've never known a human being that poops as often as you do. You've been potty trained forever.

It was cute the first few times you yelled out, "MOM, CAN YOU WIPE MY BUTT?!" But now it happens 8 times a day. Can we be done with this?

Love
Mommy

Control

2011-03-07T20:41:00.000-08:00

Like all mothers, there are times when I feel like I have no control over my kids or my life. I have a very specific routine for those times when I feel like the worst mother in the world. I feed and bathe my kids, give them a big hug, put them to bed, put on my jammies, get under my heated blanket, then I watch "Toddlers and Tiaras". It's a freak show that always brings me out of my funk.

Example:

Tom Hanks made the most amazing spoof of this show. It is totally worth it to watch this entire clip. I laughed so hard I peed my pants. No Joke!

Sleepin' Babies

2011-01-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

I am fascinated by the sleeping habits of my boys. I love that they are so close that they like to sleep with each other. Even on nights when I say they have to sleep in their own beds, Jackson still sneaks down into Payton's bed and I find them like this.

It's as if they fell asleep talking to each other.

I found them like this last night. They're cuddling. They're actually cuddling.

Sharing a pillow. Look at those cute little faces. And yes, that is a Santa hat on Jackson's head. I think he was pretending to be Santa to make Payton laugh.

2011-01-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

Payton is now officially a Sunbeam.

Although, according to him, he's a Snowbean.

{Christmas}

2011-01-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

Nate was able to come home for Christmas! We were so busy having fun that the only time I got the camera out was when we went to the temple for the Christmas lights.

We had a great time, and now he's back "over there".

We miss you babe!

bigger than my body gives me credit for

2010-12-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

mom. do i really need to wear this ridiculous sweater that you made for me? i'm working hard to establish my street cred as the tough guy in the neighborhood and walking around in these feminine sweaters is not helping display my masculinity.

i'm so embarrassed. don't look at me.

Cry-Fest 2010

2010-11-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

I've decided that I didn't just buy Milo out of a spur-of-the-moment need for something fuzzy to sit in my lap in the evenings while I read.

On Saturday my parents came into town and I offered to let them take both my boys back up to their house for a few days. I was planning on heading up there today for Thanksgiving so I thought it would be nice to have some alone time so I could get some big projects done.

I've sent Jackson to Grandma's house plenty of times before, but I've never sent Payton there before. Payton is always my little partner in crime. I thought I could handle 3 nights without my boys. I was already lonely by Sunday morning....

Yesterday I was preparing for my trip up to Idaho to see my boys and spend the holiday. I kept feeling uneasy about the trip so I checked the weather report and saw that there is a blizzard in eastern idaho (where my parents live) and when its done there it will head to SLC.

So unless I want to try my luck driving through a blizzard I'm going to be spending a few more days alone. Luckily I have my sweet, fury little Milo to fill a teeny tiny part of the void that I feel without my kids here with me.

So even though I'll be able to spend Thanksgiving a good friend, I'm still re-naming this holiday "Cry-Fest 2010" since I won't be with my babies.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Pirate

2010-11-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

I'm glad I'm not the only one that falls asleep with their eye patch on.

puppy love

2010-11-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed how after someone has a baby that's all they can talk about for like 6 months afterward??

Well you can expect that with me.

But I'm not talking about a baby.

I'm talking about my puppy.

{I ♥ milo}

{photoshop}

2010-11-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

I have two obsessions lately. One is the photos I took of the ocean while living in California. The other is editing said photos in Photoshop. I've pretty much edited all the photos worth editing.

Now guess what I'm doing with my free time??

I'm going through facebook finding other peoples photos of the ocean and editing them for my own pleasure.

On my cousins' facebook page I found some pictures from his trip to Florida and thought I'd brighten them up a little bit.

This is why Photoshop is the best thing in the world:

Welcome!

2010-11-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

The Boden Family added a member to its ranks this week!

Milo T. Ruffscowitz is our sweety little ShiChi (Shih Tzu/Chihuahua).

I've been wanting a dog for about a year now and frequently found myself on KSL looking at the puppy ads. I saw so many adorable little puppies, but never found one that I just had to have. Finally on Sunday I saw a picture of this little guy and fell in love.

Mister Milo is the perfect addition to our little family!

Food

2010-10-31T19:01:00.000-07:00

I do my best cooking when I'm sick.

I'm just a picky eater in general, but when I'm not feeling well I'm a REALLY picky eater. When I'm sick there are only a few things that sound good to me. Chicken Noodle Soup. Roast Chicken. Stuffing. Mashed Potatoes. Potato Soup. Fresh Bread.

You know, all the good stuff that you eat when you go to Grandma's house.

But it can't be soup from a can, chicken from the store, instant mashed potatoes or Rhodes Frozen Bread. It has to be the real thing. Noodles made from scratch. Homemade stuffing shoved inside your chicken and roasted in your oven so your whole house smells. Real bread mixed in your mixer and set aside to rise for two hours.

I'm sick today, so of course that's what I spent my day doing. Roasting a chicken.

And there's a pie in the oven right now.

it finally happened

2010-10-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Remember back in January when I excitedly proclaimed that Jackson had his first loose tooth?? Well here we are 9 months later and that tooth has finally come out!!!

I was too chicken to really pull the tooth hard so unfortunately he ended up walking around for a few days looking all snaggle-toothed and weird.

But after my sister really loosened the tooth up for me I gathered the courage to pull it. Since we'd tried many times before and I'd scream every time I tried to pull the tooth I got Jackson pretty scared about the whole situation. I had to take drastic measures in order to get that tooth out. Bribery didn't work so the next option was sneak attack. I called him into my bathroom and when he walked around the corner I put him in a headlock and yanked his tooth out before he even knew what happened.

Daddy.......

2010-09-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

{superhero poster courtesy of The Paper Tray}

Maggots in the Coffee Pot

2010-09-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

When I don't feel like cleaning up my house in the evening I watch this show.
{watch to the end of the clip and try not to throw up}

It makes you want to clean every nook and cranny of your house doesn't it?

Pre-Schooler

2010-09-08T21:26:00.001-07:00

kissin' cousins

2010-09-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

Jackson and his cousin Paige are the same age and they are really good friends. We went up to visit her this weekend and when we pulled up to the house Paige came running out to us and tackled Jackson when he got out of the car. They were tied at the hip the whole weekend.

On Saturday Paige came down and handed me this picture.

I thought she made it for me, her dear old Aunty. I saw the hearts between the two people I assumed were me and her. So I told her I loved it and asked her to tell me about it. She said, "I made it for Jackson, but he said he'd only keep it if I stopped kissing him."

When I looked closer I did notice that the two people at the bottom of the picture were her and Jackson. Then I laughed because she clearly wanted to keep kissing Jackson since she chose to give the picture to me instead.

I love these kids.

{BSU}

2010-09-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

AMAZING season opener Broncos!!!

Take us all the way to the BCS Championship!!

ocean

2010-09-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

i find myself looking through my monterey pictures all the time.

i.miss.the.ocean.

before he left

2010-09-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

Spider Encounter

2010-08-29T19:26:00.001-07:00

I think big disgusting spiders seek me out. They must be attracted to the screaming and jumping up and down that I do when I see them. Remember the really disgusting spider I encountered in Monterey??? This one was a little bit more dramatic.

In my cleaning one day I took the garbage bag out of the can, then left the can sitting around (call me lazy if you want to). Then instead of putting a new bag in the can I decided to pick up some of the toys that were laying around and put them in the can until I was un-lazy enough to put them back in their proper place. Then to further prove my laziness the can sat out for a couple days (while we used the bathroom garbage can to throw stuff away....lovely, I know). So one morning Jackson and I were standing in the kitchen. He says "Is that a spider?" and I say "Is that one of your toy spiders or a real spider". I realize it's a HUGE real spider and instantly start screaming. Then of course Jackson starts screaming. So I'm frozen and have no idea what to do. It was surrounded by toys so I didn't have a good smashing radius.

So after about 20 minutes of dry heaving I finally decide to take pictures of it, then to run the whole can outside. I debated about what to do next. Should I call my home teachers? Should I find a neighbor?

No.

I saran wrapped the top of the garbage can to trap the bugger in. Then I taped all around it just to be safe. After I was confident that he was trapped I went to target and bought bug spray. Once I got home I cut a hole in the saran wrap, sprayed the bug spray and sealed the hole with another layer of saran wrap.

I'm sure at this point you're thinking that after the spider shriveled up and died I dumped everything out, cleaned up the toys and went on with life.

Well if that's what you think of me then you're totally wrong. I threw the whole thing away. Can. Toys. Spider. Everything.

Post Script: I feel like I have spiders all over me.

birthmonth

2010-08-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

Instead of celebrating Jackson's 'birthday' it's really like we've been celebrating his "birthmonth". When Nate came home for a few days at the beginning of the month we celebrated Jackson's birthday with him, then again at my brother's house a couple weeks ago. So instead of doing a big party I just decided to have Jackson's best bud/cousin come over for the night.

We spent two surprisingly fun hours at Chuck E Cheese. I didn't know until it was too late the battery in my camera was dead, so it was pretty lucky that good ol' Chuck E had a photo booth.

Aren't they just the cutest?

First Grade

2010-08-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

Jackson officially started 1st grade!

It was an exciting morning. We went to his friend Izac's house in the morning so we could all walk to school together. The boys were so excited that they ran the whole way there. We couldn't keep up with them.

The three boys (Jackson, Braxton & Izac) were all in the same class last year and the cute little McKenna was in the other afternoon class. Me and the other mothers of these cute kids are besties, so naturally the kids are on a semi-bestie basis. (I love this picture because Payton looks so cute there in the corner of the picture.)

After school Jackson ran to me, hugged me, then jumped up and down while he told me that "first grade is awesome!"

Payton really missed Jackson, and I think deep down inside Jackson missed Payton too. I think this picture says it.

School

2010-08-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

So Jackson starts school on Tuesday. In the past when I thought about my babies going to school I thought it would just be so dang heart-wrenchingly painful that I'd just sit and look at the clock and wait impatiently for the moment that I could go pick them up. But here we are, less than 48 hours away from Jackson going to ALL DAY school and I'm sitting here giddy as a school girl.

Payton will also be starting pre-school. In order to prepare him for when I go back to school full-time I'm putting him in ALL DAY pre-school 3 days a week. This will be a little harder since he and I are bff's and totally tied at the hip, but I'm so freaking excited.

While they're in school I can just be a real person. I'll go to the grocery store and hear nothing but the voices in my head and the distant bumblings of the other customers (I don't really hear voices in my head...). I'll be able to go to Target (my happy place) without emotional breakdowns about Transformers. I'll get to spend time with my girlfriends without worrying about taking a baby to the bathroom or wiping a runny nose. I'll be able to clean my house and not have a child follow right behind me and make a huge mess again. I'll get to go to the gym and not have to rush through the workout because I have a child in the nursery. I can workout for 3 hours if I want to. I won't, but I can, and that's the whole point.

Oh the possibilities!!

Hide your kids, Hide your wife

2010-08-04T13:13:00.001-07:00

I usually don't watch the news because it usually depresses me or makes me angry somehow, but this little clip is the kind of news I like to watch.

Then someone out there that is far more creative than I could ever hope to be turned it into a song.

{WORD}

adventures at target

2010-08-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

95% of the time my kids are wonderful. they are sweet and nice and a joy to be around. the other 5% of the the time i wonder where my kids went and how they got replaced with devil children.

tonight i was that lady that every one stares and and secretly judges because it seems like i have no control over my kids. after trying to reason with them i resorted to the usual discipline tactics. those failed and things escalated to threats. once i realized that wouldn't work i just decided to ignore them.

the people at target sure got a show.

payton was screaming about candy. jackson was going crazy because i wouldn't buy him a transformer (and seriously, this kid has a million transformers. i've never seen a kid with more transformers). when he realized whining wouldn't work he started crying and yelling stuff like this, "you just want me to be sad and to cry and to not be happy. you just want to be a mean mommy. you never want me to be happy. you like to see me cry about not getting transformers. you never ever want me to be happy again. and i won't ever be happy again until you buy me a transformer. you just want to save money and not buy me more toys."

if i weren't so angry i would've totally laughed at him like i'm laughing right now.

when i wouldn't reply to his complaints about his happiness he started screaming "MOMMY!" over and over again and when that didn't work he started hitting me. for reals!!! he was literally punching me in the back.

so needless to say. my boys had a very early bedtime tonight. the sun wasn't even beginning to set when they got tucked into bed. i'd be lying if i said that this evening wasn't relaxing. i got to sit in my chair and relax in silence.

it was priceless.

taps

2010-07-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

My cousin passed away two weeks ago and we just had his funeral on Saturday. Funerals are always so hard, but this one really got me. Not just because he was my cousin and he was so wonderful, but because he was also a soldier and got military honors at his funeral. I burst into tears when I saw the American Flag draped across his casket, but surprisingly I kept my composure during the funeral. I thought the worst was over but at the burial he was honored with a 21 gun salute and taps. I couldn't contain my emotion at that point.

Not only was I overcome with sadness for my dear cousin, but I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility that I could be in this same spot again anytime in the next year since I just sent my husband and am about to send another brother to war in the middle east. Between my husband, 3 brothers and 1 sister-in-law our family has been in Iraq going on 8 times. After a while you start to wonder if your luck has run out and one of your loved ones might come home in a casket.

Please support the troops and pray for our soldiers!

Buddy

2010-07-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

When my husband left I confessed to one of my girlfriends that although I was sad that he was leaving, I was excited for Payton to share my bed with me again.

{He's just so cute and cuddly}

Pure Vanilla. From Mexico

2010-07-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

Since my husband is gone I went to my parents house this year for my birthday. My dad also invited my other siblings over for the weekend to celebrate my birthday and go to his ward father and sons camp-out. There just happens to be 10 grandsons in the family.

My brother Jacob was there and loves me for so many reasons. #1) He loves to listen to me play the piano #2) I give his wife and daughter beautiful hair-dos #3) I'm funny #4) He thinks I'm a wonderful baker.

It seems that every time we're in the same house I end up finding all the ingredients for cookies or a cake or some other treat neatly placed out on the counter and he's got a big smile on his face like a little boy waiting for Christmas.

My birthday present from him this year was another one of those not-so-subtle hints that he'd like me to do some baking for him.

He travels a lot for his job and recently found himself very close to the Mexico border. He brought me a little souvenir from his trip that could be used to make him many little treats.

I feel like I'm buying a lot of Vanilla when I buy the 8 oz. bottle of Imitation Vanilla.

But he went all out and bought me 32 oz. of pure vanilla.

And I feel super cool because not only is it pure vanilla. But it's pure vanilla From Mexico.

eclipse-ish

2010-07-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

since yesterday was my 28th birthday i had a girls night with my mom and my sister. We went out for buffalo wings and saw eclipse. I find the best thing to do when going to watching any movie from "the twilight saga" is to go with absolutely no expectations at all, then you'll really find that you enjoyed yourself!

for real though, the part that really excited me about the whole eclipse experience was the harry potter trailer!!!!!! Yeah I've already seen it like 29 times, but I can't get enough of harry potter. if he were a real live person i would stalk him. i would be his biggest fan and i would beg him to have babies with me. that's how much i love harry potter. i've read all 7 books at least 10 times each, but really probably more.

after we watched the movie i went home, went to bed, then got out my ipod touch and watched the harry potter trailer in bed for another twenty minutes. i get chills every time. then i fell asleep and had harry potter dreams. he's my dream lover.

so, who wants to see it with me when it finally comes out in theatres?!?!?!?!

{Goodbye}

2010-07-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

My husband got deployed a week ago. I'm not supposed to say much about his deployment. In all honesty, I don't even know where he's going. I mean, I know the country, but I don't know what part he'll be in or what he'll be doing. (And that's not because I don't pay attention, it's because he can't tell me)

It's really comforting sending your husband off to war when you have absolutely no idea what's going on!

In a weird way it's been a relief to have him go. Not because I want him over there, but because it just feels like we've been waiting for this and working towards it for the last three years of our lives and now he's finally going and we can get it out of the way.

I only took a few pictures while we waited for their plane to arrive. One with Jackson, Payton and some of the nieces and nephews. And the last one is Nate with his Mom and 3 of his sisters.

Good Luck Nate! We're proud of you!

Just complaining

2010-07-04T22:25:00.000-07:00

My computer is G-A-Y

Not in a homosexual way, just in a "I'm a crappy PC and I freeze up all the time and won't let any programs open because I'm a loser" kind of way.

I was sitting down at my good ol' lame face computer to edit pictures of my husbands departure for all of you to see and once again it's pulling the same crap as usual. I'm about ready to throw the thing over the balcony and wash my hands of it. But, I'll wait to do that until I can buy a MacBook Pro

{Apple rules all}

Family Photos

2010-07-03T23:56:00.000-07:00

Before Nate left on his deployment my dear friend Natalie took some cute family pictures of us.

Enjoy!

Dental Disaster

2010-05-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

I did the most horrible thing tonight that I'm still seriously crying about!!!

Payton has a cute little monkey towel that he loves to put on after the bath so he can look at himself in the mirror. I guess I wrapped him pretty tight tonight :( I took him in my room so he could look in the full length mirror and I walked out of the room to get his pajamas. I just assumed that he'd stay in there and wait for me. About 3 seconds after I walked away I heard something fall hard on the floor and then Payton was screaming.

The poor little tyke had tripped on the edge of the towel and fell. His face slammed into the floor with full force since his hands were TRAPPED IN THE TOWEL!!!! Not only did he bust his gums open in multiple spots, but one of his front teeth was literally pushed halfway back up into his gums.

I've been beating myself up all evening because of it.

But he did do something really cute. After we got him cleaned up and calmed down we let him sit down and watch his favorite movie. He was sitting there sniffling while watching he show, then in his cute little voice he said, "Mom, can I have my scriptures?" He's carried them around all night. He even took them to bed with him. How nice that his scriptures bring him comfort even though he can't read them.

J & P

2010-04-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

There was a continuous flow of spontaneous hugs as they couldn't contain their excitement to be at Chuckie Cheese.

Jerseylicious

2010-04-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

Nate got hooked on what I thought was the most ridiculous show. I could not believe he was watching it because he only watches "manly" stuff. The show is called "Jerseylicious" and it's the funniest show I've ever seen in my life!!! It's all about a bunch of big haired, overly makeup-ed jersey girls workin' in a salon and the "drama" is hilaaaaaarious. If you have the Style Network I highly recommend this show. And I can say this because I went to beauty school for a short time in Utah, but these jersey girls are strikingly similar to the stereotypical Utah girl with the huge hair, massive amounts of make-up and insane overcompensation with the attitude.

We love it!!!!

{spring has sprung}

2010-04-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

Utah has been delivering some amazing weather lately. And we've been soaking up every minute of it.

T-Ball

2010-04-19T06:36:00.000-07:00

Mr. J has started T-Ball! I never realized how entertaining it would be to watch 5 year-olds attempt to play baseball. Once the ball is hit all the kids on the team race to get the ball and pile on top of each other, forgetting that they need to throw it to first. And on a few occasions even the batter would race to the ball instead of running to first.

This is a fun age. We're having a blast over here!!

{3}

2010-04-12T23:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Mr. Payton!!

We couldn't imagine life without you!

Surgery

2010-04-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Payton got his Tonsils and Adenoids removed last week. Since last Wednesday my life has been a blur of sleeplessness and the screaming of a miserable child. He's FINALLY starting to resemble his normal self. I'm praying that no one else in my family ever has to have their Tonsils removed. It's awful.

Luckily Jackson is such a good loving brother. He's been so patient with his grumpy little brother. He was practicing his letters by himself on his little dry-erase board last week and when he was done I found this.....

{TRANSLATION: I hope you feel better To Payton}

He's always thinking of his little brother. I've never known another little boy that's as sweet as Jackson.

Please Help!!!!

2010-03-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

I had a super talented room-mate in college who is an amazing singer!!!

She's entered into a contest and needs 6,000 views of her youtube video by the end of the week to enter the next phase of the contest.

Please view it.

Multiple times.

And tell your friends!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xjE4juv76k

those guys

2010-03-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

he thinks he's got huge muscles

he thinks he can charm anyone

they're best friends

and i can't get enough of them

Baby Quilts

2010-02-21T22:12:00.000-08:00

In an effort to keep myself busy I decided to start quilting again.

My desire to start quilting came at just the right time becuase I also just found out that I'm going to have another little nephew in a few months.

I decided to mix things up this time and make some burp cloths to match the blanket.

Now I'm making quilts for no one in particular. I'm making them just to make them now.

Phones

2010-02-19T00:13:00.000-08:00

Curse you cell phones and my dependence on you!!!

For the first time EVER I really lost my cell phone. I wouldn't have been too worried about it but I don't have a home phone number so my cell is the only way I can communicate with Nate in Arizona. And of course I don't have any numbers written down. THEY'RE ALL IN MY CELL PHONE!!!

So after an annoyingly long wait at the Verizon store they were able to give me the exact model that I had before for the wonderful price of 80 freaking dollars (I got the last one FREE). And now even though I have a phone again who am I gonna call? I have no phone numbers people!

Stupid cell phones. I'm seriously considering getting rid of my cell phone and going back to a regular land-line and getting a phone with a cord. That way there's no way I'll lose my phone ever again!

I bought them for you

2010-02-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

My husband has been in Arizona since October so I was pleasantly surprised to have these beautiful flowers delivered today.

They were sitting on the table next to Payton while he ate his snack. He looked at me and said, "Mommy, these flowers are beautiful. I bought them for you!"

I thought that was pretty smooth for a two year old.

So......Happy Valentines Day to all of you!

Dancing Fool!

2010-02-08T10:12:00.001-08:00

Jackson has great dance moves. Not "SO-YOU-THINK-YOU-CAN-DANCE" moves. Skinny uncoordinated white kid moves.

I know what your gonna think when you see him with his shirt off. My mom's reaction to him nudie when we moved back from Cali was the best. "HE LOOKS LIKE A HOLOCAUST VICTIM!"

I assure you. He's healthy. He eats all the time. He's just really skinny.

Jackson has an announcement

2010-01-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

Sickness

2010-01-28T22:52:00.000-08:00

Payton and I are suffering from Bronchitis/Walking Pneumonia. So needless to say things haven't been too fun around here.

I'm so lucky to have Jackson around while Nate is gone. He is amazingly helpful. For a 5 year old kid he can do a lot of things to make my life easier while I'm sick. If he could cook dinner and do the dishes I'd be in heaven.