Kid Stuff

I'm writing this random blog post for the sole reason that I do not want to forget! These kiddos are growing up right in front of me and I know I'm going to forget all of this funny stuff.

Hannah adds "ed" to the end of her words. It's not "jumped" - it's "jump-Ed." Dad "lett-Ed" me go outside. Grandma "fix-Ed" my hair. I "eat-Ed" my noodles. I'll have to add more after I hear her say them, it's funny! "Annie (Grandpa's dog) scratch-Ed me."

Immediately before bed, whenever Hannah has a clean nightgown to wear (she doesn't do this with regular jammies, only nightgowns) she carefully takes out her hair so it is "long", puts on her "bednight hair-band" (a silver, sparkly headband) and to top it all off, applies pink lipgloss. Right before bed and prayer. Then she shows Shawn, and waits for him to tell her how beautiful she looks. I love it.

Chance keeps telling me that he doesn't want to grow up, and that he wishes he could be a kid forever. In fact, he wishes he could go back to when he was two years old. I think he's brilliant. Most kids are dying to get big, but he's smart enough to realize just how good he has it.

Chance asked me how come daddy doesn't wear his wedding ring. I didn't have an answer. Shawn got out of the habit of wearing it when he was working in the shop and didn't want to have his finger ripped off while working on the machinery. Chance said that dad had better start wearing his ring because some girl might think he's cute and ask him out on a date. Then he commented how good dad is looking with his shirt off lately. (This is immediately following our trip to the gym.) ??? Then Chance proceeds to tell me how he wants big muscles and is going to avoid sugar and eat lots of protein. He then reads aloud every ingredient listed on his "Muscle Milk" and commends himself for choosing chocolate milk that is so very low in sugar. I'm not sure when he became so fascinated in food labels, but it's been over a year.

I'll have to keep posting these cute little things as they occur so I don't forget. My kids make me laugh every single day, I am so lucky.

Boys Will (Definitely) Be Boys...
Chance said something to me the other day that really scared me. "Mom, from now on, I'm going to hide my dirty underwear and then see how long it takes you to find them." This was in response to me finding a pair of his underwear in the cupboard underneath the bathroom sink. What is wrong with boys?

CrossFit - kill me now...

My hubby has been doing this exercise program for a few months now called CrossFit. He has had amazing results! I'm so proud of him. He will be embarrassed that I am sharing this, but he has lost like 15% bodyfat and he can jump and run like a teenager! I couldn't believe how he could play basketball in his Alumni tournament a few weeks ago. VERY impressive. So anyway, the teacher/trainer is our good friend, Lindsay Hassell. If you don't know Lindsay, he has muscles on top of his muscles. Then he has muscles on top of those. And he's scary. Okay, not scary all of the time, just when he yells...

So anyway, last Saturday was my first attempt at CrossFit. And I threw up. Literally. I barely made it to the bathroom. I have never worked out so hard in my life! I walked upstairs and sat in the daycare room with Chance. I was so MAD. Am I really that big of a wimp? I throw up at the gym? That's not the Natalie I know!

As embarrassed as I was (and still am) I have continued to go to CrossFit. My goal is this: Do NOT, under any circumstance, throw up again! And I have achieved this goal in my one week CrossFit attendance. Yay for me! My legs are like rubber and are tender to the touch -- walking up and down stairs is a definite chore. But I can do this! And as motivation, I keep one of Lindsay's old sayings in my head to keep me going:

"Pain is weakness leaving the body."

See, told ya he's scary...

Blogging Maniac...

My recommitment to blogging has come in an effort to eventually pull these memories into some sort of memory or history book. As I am more prone to sit at a computer and write out my thoughts rather than make notations into a journal or diary, I've decided to make Blogger my family history outlet. It is, admittedly, a little strange that this history I am creating is online for the world to see! Fortunately (or unfortunately!) I don't have many juicy secrets to hide, so it doesn't bother me too much!

Last night around 7:30 I was looking for Chance. The TV was on and he was not sitting in front of it, which is quite unordinary. I noticed that our front door was cracked open, so I opened it and looked outside for him. There he was - standing on the curb of our front yard, head tilted upward, gazing from side to side at the sky. I asked him what the heck he was doing. He said, "Oh, just enjoying nature and the fresh air." Then he breaks into this big grin. Is that really what he was doing? I guess I'll never know. As I'm smelling the fumes from the cars zooming along our busy street, I politely asked him to "enjoy nature" in the backyard where he's less likely to be kidnapped or run over! He is such a funny kid.

Yesterday morning, I awoke and began to step out of bed. To my complete surprise, I almost stepped on Hannah, who was sleeping at the foot of my bed! When she woke up, I asked her why she was sleeping on my floor. She replied, "I woke up and my dollies on my bed were STARING at me and it was FREAKING me out!" I burst out laughing. She has like five billion dolls sitting at the foot of her bed and they really are staring right at her! I had to take a picture of what she saw when she woke up in the middle of the night. I must admit, it freaked me out a little bit as well.

General Conference Ramblings...

the fam -- San Diego temple

I just love General Conference. It is so nice to hear our church leaders reassure all of us that our Savior is aware of each of us and loves us all. I need to hear that from those wonderful men twice a year! It gives me such a peaceful, happy, warm feeling.

I need to re-read Elder Richard G. Scott's talk from the Saturday session. Did anyone else catch it? He spoke of the temple and eternal families, but there was so much depth to it that I am sure I missed a lot of points that I will catch later on while reviewing his words on paper. Elder Nelson spoke immediately following Elder Scott, and I noticed that Elder Nelson had tears sparkling in his eyes. I felt so calm and humble inside, knowing that I and Elder Nelson had both felt the strong spirit coming from Elder Scott's words.

I had the impression from this conference that our lives could be a lot worse than we are all complaining about. President Monson's story of the woman buring each of her four children along her journey brought tears to my eyes. I thought, here we are as members of the church, feeling sorry for ourselves because we have lost money or lost our jobs due to the economy -- but have any of us buried each of our children due to starvation and cold? Here in the United States, I doubt it. We are a little TOO well-taken care of. I'll speak for myself when I say I am spoiled rotten in comparison!!

The good news is this: things aren't that bad. We are going to survive. Life is good. Enjoy! Let's put smiles on our faces! Our Father in Heaven loves each of us, and is aware of each of our struggles. I'm so grateful for Him and all that he has done and continues to do for me and my family.

Sorry for the testimony bearing, it's just been one of those emotional weeks... :)

our baby girl...

I am seriously behind in the blogging department! I'll never catch up, but I thought I'd at least give it a shot by posting a major event...

Hannah had her 4th birthday while we were in California. I didn't want to haul all of her presents with us, so I just brought one that I knew she'd love - a Sleeping Beauty costume. She loves to dress up while pretending that Shawn is the prince. I like when he is around because he thinks it's hillarious and will always play along. If he's not home and if Chance is out playing, then I am the lucky one who gets to be the prince!

It is so fun to see Shawn with his little girl. There is such a special bond between the two of them. He is so cute and patient with her. I can't believe she is growing up so fast! I started thinking about the day that she'll leave me and go to school and I began to tear up! It honestly feels like yesterday that she was a newborn. I remember rocking her to sleep, not minding too much that I was up in the middle of the night because it finally just the two of us -- that didn't happen much with Chance running around wild! Ah, how time flies.