Things we have been doing in Idaho

Kassie (Janelle's youngest)

Jared

Janelle's Birthday

Kassie with Curtis. She loves him, but he is as big as she is.

Papa reading stories to his grandkids.

Abby playing outside.

Abby in the snow in her skirt. I tried to tell her that it was not a good idea.

Jared playing out side.

Abby realizing that I am right and a skirt is not the best idea. She went back inside.

Jared pushing his truck all over the place. Jared's truck with rocks in it. He would pick them up and drop them off at the other end of the yard. He did this for about two hours.

Jared going to get more rocks.

Jared decided this would be a better way to move the rock. Don't worry he made sure he put on his seatbelt.

Spring Break

Last weekend was Mark's final Spring Break. He is graduating and done with school. Since we are doing this long distance thing and it being the last Spring Break every we thought we would do something fun. With our budget in mind we splurged and stayed in Salt Lake for a few days. Here are some pictures of the excitment.

Mark and Jared at Disney on Ice. I cannot believe how much they look alike.

Abby at Disney on Ice. She loved every minute of it. We went to the princess one.

Jared shopping with me at Gateway. Yes, he has on a leash. He wanted to be a dog that day. His dog name is Shaggy. It makes life really easy for me because I don't have a three year old running around. We both win when he wants to play puppy.

Abby showing off her big purchase. She is all girl and loves to shop. She will be a very interesting teenager.

Here is a picture of Curtis. He is getting so big. He is moble now. He rolls from one end of the room to the other. The other day I heard him cry so I went to pick him up. I couldn't see him. He rolled under the couch.

Matchbox 20

Last week Mark and I went to the Matchbox 20 concert. I have loved this band for 10 years and Mark was great to come with me. They were there with Alanis Morriset. It was a really fun night. Here are some pictures.

It was so much fun. I will put a video on it. Sorry all this is from my phone again. For who the band is I thought they put on a really good concert.

Living in Idaho

Sorry I have not been great at updating our blog. Since my last post we decided to move to Idaho. We are in the process of selling our house and it was too much with three kids in one room. Mark stayed in Utah to work and finish school. Yes, we are still happy and married. The week gets a little long but he comes up on weekend. It makes for a long commute but we hope our house will sell faster this way. Also, it is Mark's last bit of school so he is glad to have all week just to focus on school. He is doing so much better with us gone.

The kids love it here. We are living in my parents basement. It is about three times the space of our house. Abby told me that it is like a gym. We are going back to Utah tomorrow and Abby doesn't want to go back. Jared has so much fun running and playing. They both love to feed the horses and go to my parents office. They think it is great that they get to see Grandma and PaPa everyday. Curtis is getting use to my parents and is starting to recognize them.

Here are some pictures of the fun we have been having.

Jared got himself dressed to feed the horses. When I informed him that he was missing his pants he said that horses like underware. He went out to feed the horses dressed just like this. It was about 20 degrees outside.

This is Millie. She is Janelle's third. Abby and Jared get to see their cousins here all the time. They have enjoyed it because they don't get to see them that often.

My mom fixed Abby's hair last night. She put braids all over it. Abby loves the curly hair.

Here is my parents house that we are staying in. It gives us A LOT more room.

I will do better with updating. Sorry the pictures are not that great. I took them with my phone.

I Think I'm Poop-n

We have started to enter the world of potty training. Jared is three and I am sick of changing diapers. He was very determined not to loose his diapers.

Abby was trained in one day. We sat her on the potty all day long. We put the TV in front of her. She got all the drinks she wanted and all the salty food that she could ever want. We did a dance and a cheer when she went. When the day was over she could tell us when she wanted to go.

Jared we tried that and it didn't work. I told him that we would buy him a bike and he didn't care. We would sit him on the potty and he would sit for hour and nothing would happen. Then he would turn around and pee on my floor. I wasn't very consistent with him or we would have had better luck.

Finally I had it. Mark and my dad told me that he will get it if I would have him stand up. I bought him a stool to stand on and we were set.

Day 1
He woke up from his nap and we pulled off the diaper. Every five minutes I would make him stand and try. He drank two 8 oz sippy cups of milk and three 7 oz juice boxes and still didn't go. I knew that he was really had to go because he hadn't gone in 6 hours. I wasn't going to let him get down until he went. He was crying and I didn't give in. He was standing by the toilet naked with his cowboy boots on his feet because they hurt. He told me how bad his peep hurt. I told him just to let it out and he would feel better. One hour later he went. I won. I was surprised his bladder didn't burst. He did pee for ever.

Day 2
It was Sunday, and I couldn't let him know that we would let him go back to diapers. We got him ready for church. We put on his favorite underwear. Then I put on a plastic cloth diaper cover over it. Just to hold it in if we had an accident. We got up to try every ten minutes at church. Nothing. I took him to nursery and warned his teachers. I told them I would be back in a few to try again. One minute later his teacher brought him out. She told me that she pulled him onto her lap and asked him if he had to go. Jared told her yes. Then he peed on her. Jared won. He was back in a diaper for the rest of church. I have never been so embarrassed.

Day 3
I was a little angry with my loss the day before. It wouldn't happen today. He woke up and the pull-up came right off. We tried every 10 minutes. After about an hour Jared walked up to me and said, "Mom I peed on your floor." I said, "Oh no you had an accident." Jared said, "I guess I need a diaper.” Jared thought he won. I said, "Well, I guess you will have to stand by the toilet until you go again. It would be a lot easier if you went on your own then you could watch TV with Abby." I won!!! He didn't have and accident for the rest of the day. Later that day he stood by the toilet and said, '' Oh no, I think I'm Poop-n!" He sat down and went poop.

Since then we have had very little accidents. I don't have to change his diapers anymore. The freedoms of a house wife.

Jared's 3rd Birthday and Curtis' Baby Blessing

We had a full group. There were close to 50 people who were able to come.

Jared opening his presents.

Curtis in his blessing outfit.

Me with Curtis. Yes, I have brown hair now.


Jared with his cousin Jack. They were born one year and three days apart.

The kids excited to get the candy out of the pinata.

We had such a wonderful time. It was so great to have so many family and friends to join us.

Christmas

Papa and Curtis

Abby opening her stocking.

Curtis with his only toy. It really wasn't that impressive for him, as I am sure you can see.

Jared got a new cowboy outfit and a work bench. Towards the end he didn't want to open anything else up.

Abby helping Grandma open her new jacket.