Crazy Change of Plans

It started last week when Andy's apartment went from being $300/month to $400 to $500 and then $550. The landlord Andy was working with kept changing his story and it seemed pretty fishy. We started brain storming and came up with some other options for him but in our rushed conversation, something in his voice caught my attention and I suddenly realized how miserable he was at the thought of moving to Yuma without his family. Andy and I were chatting during his lunchbreak and I think I realized that our family needed to move down to Yuma together about two minutes after he went back to work. I started contacting a couple of people I know in Yuma who I thought may be able to help me. I figured that pulling together something in less than two weeks was a longshot at best, but I should at least look into it. By the time Andy called me after work, I had promising information from both of my contacts. I asked Andy what he thought of us all moving down together and he was immediately on board with the idea.

One of the leads we had on a house was from my friend Crystal who was getting the info on the house across the street from her. It was our favorite of our options - the one we were hoping would come together for us. And it did. By 8:00 that night we had made a deal with the landlord and our move was set in motion. The picture above is not the house we will be living in, but a picture that Crystal sent me of a house like the one we will be living in.

It has been a crazy week since then. It is hard to believe that in five short days I will be driving away from my life as a Utah and into my future as an Arizona resident. There are lots of things I am looking forward to about Arizona and lots of things I will miss in Utah. What an adventure life can be.

A Day at the Zoo

On Friday Ammon, Peter and I went to the zoo with Peggy and her uncle, Graham. We met his niece and her daughter-in-law Nicki along with Nicki's three little girls. The zoo was crowded so it was slow going by the time we all got through the ticket line and even into the zoo. Ammon was adventurous and ran away on his own several times.

The first time I lost him it was just Graham, Peter and me waiting for the others at the playground. I pulled out the camera to get some picture and Graham offered to take a picture of Peter and me. (see picture posted above) In that 20 seconds it took, I lost sight of Ammon. Apparently Ammon decided that he should go find the train station. I was on my way to report him as missing when I found him wandering around trying to figure out where the train had gone to.

The second time we lost him was just after we got to the giraffe's. The day had warmed up and I had several people throwing stuff into the bottom of my stroller. The wheels were starting to rub against the side of the basket so I bent down to rearrange things. When I looked up Ammon was gone! I assumed he had gone ahead of us and into the building for the giraffes. I went in and didn't see him. Peggy followed quickly and I stayed downstairs to watch the doors while she went upstairs. I was so surprised when she came down without him. We had NO idea where he could be.

The five adults all split up looking for Ammon. Peggy was the one who actually found him. She had been calling his name and a zookeeper beckoned her over. Ammon had found his way in to where the zookeepers were taking care of the giraffe's and he was hanging out with them. It was probably a pretty fun little adventure for him, but the day was getting late enough, and I was getting tired enough of him running away that we decided to head home at that point. It was fun though, and I am glad we went.

Afternoon Outdoors

The other day Katy and Jeremiah were busy with some house building things so Mom and I had fun watching Kylie and Isaiah as well as Ammon and Peter. The afternoon weather was pretty nice so we spent a good portion of the day outside.

Ammon and Kylie had fun on the bikes while Peter and Isaiah played with the toys cars. It was a great afternoon! We love playing with cousins and are going to be sad about living far away from them.

Picnic in the Park

Earlier this week Katy noticed that we would have good (80 degree) weather for a day before a storm blew in bringing more snow. She took the initiative and organized a picnic in the park for us to enjoy the good weather before more of the white stuff frosted the air and covered the ground. It was quick because we were working around nap and school schedules, but it was fun to let the kids get out and enjoy the outdoors together.

Peter had never been on a swing before and he was absolutely delighted! I was amazed to hear his laughter - he is rarely that deeply excited about anything. He was adorable!

Ammon had a grea time too and enjoyed running around with Carolyn and Kylie. What a fun afternoon.

A Day in the Life of Ammon

Last week Katy called, and, as she often does, had a great idea for something fun to do with the kids. We took them to the Riverton Library for reading time. The stories were all themed around birds, and she read some cute ones. Between books, the librarian led them in some fun, more active rhymes and songs. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. One thing that I thought was so cute and unexpected was that both Peter and Isaiah got into the music and started dancing all on their own. It was a fun (although slightly tiring) morning.

In the afternoons Ammon goes to South Jordan Montessori. His classes are Monday - Thursday from 12:30 until 3:30. He LOVES it! He does all sorts of fun things there. Lately, he has been reading BOB books which are complete books full of three letter words that can be sounded out. It gives him a great sense of accomplishment to know that he can read an entire book all by himself. The other thing he has been particularly interested in lately has been music. They started a music class once a week and he seems to really enjoy it. When he has been angry or disapointed about things lately he has told me, "I need my music." I turn it on for him and he calms himself right down and decides to be happy again. It is really cute that a four year old has learned to self-medicate difficult emotions through music.

The picture above is Ammon and classmates waiting patiently as their parents pick them up in the cars.

Happy Birthday Peter!

I just can't believe that my baby boy is one year old now! It has been a fun year getting to know this little guy. I have felt strongly that he came into my life very specifically to get me through this year. It has been a transistional year with Andy's job changes, and Peter's calming influence and powerful spirit has helped me through a lot of the rough spots.

Peter is sweet. That is really the best way to describe him. He is mellow, mild, easy going - however you want to say it - it boils down to him just being a sweet heart.

He likes pizza, chicken, beef, cheerios and chocolate. He does not like most fruits or vegetables (very different than Ammon who did not like meat, but LOVED his peas and corn). Peter will eat cooked carrots, though, and even will chomp on an uncooked carrot every now and again.

Peter adores his big brother. They are starting to have more and more fun together. His eyes are always glowing when Ammon plays with Peter.

Peter is not walking yet, but he is an excellent crawler! He can stand up by himself really well - he just doesn't see the point in taking wobbling steps when he can jet around so quickly on his hands and knees.

The only thing he really knows how to sign is "done". He puts his hands in the air and says, "duh, duh". I really need to show him more Signing Time - I know he would catch on so quickly if I do.

Peter loves his water bottle but could care less about juice or milk. He mostly still likes to nurse and I personally don't think he eats enough regular food. We're going to have to work on that one.

I just love my precious boy and am so glad we had the chance to celebrate his little life. Thanks to all of you who came to his party!

Crazy Day!

It just seems like today has been crazy. This morning I went and bought some furniture on a killer sale at ShopKo, of all places. It was an ORDEAL! That place apparently had a lot of sales that people were interested in because it seemed like everytime I turned around someone was asking about a different sale item they were looking for. Also, when they put something on sale, I think they stock about 1 ea of that item. Every person who was looking for something was basically told that it was all out. And this was happening about four hours into the first day of the sale.

Like I said, I was there for furniture. And apparently, so were most of the other people there. Anyway, long story short, it took me a total of many phone calls last night and three trips to the store just to get someone who was able to tell me whether or not they had the pieces of furniture I wanted. I wanted 5 items - the bed, two night stands, and both dressers (not the mirror). I ended up with 4 of them, but not until after being told that they were all there, then that only 2 of the items were there, and then back to having all of them but one of the nightstands. It took me two trips with Peggy's explorer to get the boxes all home from the store. Fortunately for me David was home and able to help with the loading, transporting and unloading - including driving home with a box set on top of the explorer with nothing keeping it in place other than David's careful driving. What an adventure! I still need to see if I can track down my 5th piece, but I just didn't have a second to breathe for the rest of the day.

Lucky for me, my mom had the boys for the whole time of the furniture adventure. But, it took me a lot longer than she or I had expected. By the time I got home it was way past Peter's nap time so we got him into bed and then Ammon and worked on Peter's birthday cake for tomorrow. Ammon seemed really hyper today and wasn't the easiest to deal with while I was focused on everything BUT playing with and entertaining him.

By the time Peter woke up it was pretty much time to eat. After dinner I was ready to go to the store. I forgot to mention that the pudding I needed for the cake I was making turned out to be cook-and-serve instead of instant. Oh - and it was needed to cover the already sliced layer of bananas. Ooops. I hurried and covered the bananas with whipped cream so they wouldn't turn brown and then had to wait until later to get out to the store. So finally, after dinner I am ready to go but I can't find 1) my keys and 2) my son! Ammon had gone outside and disapeared. I honestly thought he must have gotten my keys and was waiting in the car for me. My back has been acting up again so Mom carried Peter out to the car for me so I could head out, but no keys and no Ammon. I went back inside to look for my keys - (probably not the right priority, I know) and I did find them downstairs on the table where I had left them. As I was headed back upstairs I heard the doorbell ring. I was pretty sure it was Ammon, but I was surprised that he actually was being delivered home from the neighbors because he had wondered all the way to the end of the street.

After he was sufficiently scolded and spanked and sent to his room etc etc, we finally piled into the car and headed to the store. It was there that I really started to realize that I had had it. Ammon was still hyper and I was just trying to survive. Nothing major happened at the store, it was just one of those days shopping that you wished you were anywhere else!

Once we got home I stuck them in a bath. Peter slept about 2 hours later than normal because I hade messed up his nap schedule by being gone this afternoon, and Ammon was so extra-hyper that I was hoping a bath would calm them down. I was expecting bed time to be a beast. I was pleasantly surprised, however. Both boys got out of the bath and went to bed (about 40 minutes later than normal) like angels! They have been sleeping blissfully ever since.

I, on the other hand, have been frantically trying to figure out how much pizza I need for Peter's party tomorrow. There are going to be 26 people + 4 - 2 + a possible 4 + a possible 2. So that makes 28 - 34 people. But 14 of the 34 or 12 of the 28 -30 are kids. Of the kids 4 of them are old enough to eat pizza, but are only 1 so they won't eat a ton. Anyway, how do you calculate that? I try to be conservative in my estimations and I suddenly panic that it's not nearly enough. Then I try again and am sure I am going to have half of it left over! Oh well, Andy called and helped and we figured out what to order and it's probably way too much, but it's what we're doing.

And now it's way past bed time, ShopKo is closed and I am realizing that I still only have one nightstand, that finding the other way going to be a longshot anyway, and that the sale ends tomorrow, but tomorrow I am single handedly throwing a pizza party for Peter, which is already sounding a little daunting! Aack! So I have no idea if I will get anymore chance to track it down tomorrow than I did today.

Thanks Andy!

What a nice surprise! Thanks so much for the pretty flowers. Ammon was thrilled to answer the door and see such an unexpected delivery. I have noticed them many times throughout my day and, as Ammon would say, they "make my heart happy". I love you!

I Love To See The Temple

Being a full time Mom AND Dad for the past 3 1/2 months has been a big job. I seriously LIVE for Peter's naps because that is the only reliable down time I get. Unfortunately, since the time change a few weeks ago, we have been hit and miss on our schedule. Tuesday was one of those days where nap time just never happened. And by midmorning I was seriously going out of my mind. Ammon has school at 12:30 and even though it is only two minutes away I loaded the boys into the car before noon. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but somehow the idea of Ammon and Peter both seatbelted and unable to touch me was very appealing.

I started driving, having no idea of where I was going when I started thinking about the temple. I might have been thinking of Katy's house - she has a triple temple view which is amazing! And then thinking about how I will be almost four hours from the nearest temple. I realized that while I am so close, I should take advantage and go see it. So that's where we went. Ammon was excited to see the temple and look up and learn about Moroni. We talked about what temples are for, who gets to go inside and what we do inside. I let the boys get out of the car and play on the grass for just a few minutes and before I knew it, I had a cute picture, a good experience, a much calmer demeaner, AND it was school time. Yay!

A Fun First

We were at the dinosaur museum the other day, and Peter had his first ice cream cone! What a lucky little boy - Ammon's first icecream cone was a cheap McDonald's vanilla cone. Peter had yummy strawberry icecream! As usual, Peter didn't seem any more excited than normal, but he kept a death grip on his cone and wouldn't let it leave his hands other than to slowly eat it. He loved it. Of course! Who doesn't LOVE icecream!