potty training 101

Wow where has time gone! These last few weeks have been crazy trying to get ready for Christmas.

I had this brilliant idea as a last attempt at training Hayden, to have Kimball come over a couple days and play. Hayden absolutely adores Kimball! So since Kimball is potty trained I thought it would help to have Hayden see him go potty too.

Well to my surprise I am actually seeing progress! The first day Hayden just wanted to go potty when Kimball would go. Over the next couple days Hayden has been telling me when he needs to go with some reminders. Well just yesterday Hayden has been taking himself!!! And I sit here today at preschool and could hear someone saying Hayden was in the bathroom. He actually took himself while at school!!!!

I am so proud of him. In all the attempts of potty training I have never seen such success with him! I really hope we are on our way to be officially potty trained!!!

Having Kimball over has also done another potty training wonder! Last night Carston was signaling that he wanted something. When we finally figured out what he wanted we are still shocked! He wanted the bathroom light on and then ran over to the toilet and hit the toilet and say "pee pee" Then he started backing up to it trying to sit down. So we took his clothes and diaper off and sat him on the toilet so he could "pee pee". Now he didn't actually go but he was so proud of himself!!!

Who would have thought all I needed was a little Kimball to train both my kids! Emily you can make a lot of money with that kid!!! LOL!

When you are a man sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room

NACHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We had a lot of fun dressing the boys up this year with Hayden as Nacho Libre and Carston as Esqueleto. Everyone got a great kick out of the two of them!

HAYDEN'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

Today was Hayden's first day of pre-school. I have to say I am proud of myself for not crying. But then again he was going to be with my mom so I wouldn't have to worry anyways. It will take us a some time to get adjusted to a schedule. We don't usually get up for the day until 8 and head right out the door for crossing guard.

So today I woke Hayden up at 7:30 so we could eat and get dressed, so that we were ready to go after I got done with crossing guard. For the most part things went smooth. He was really excited and I just crossed my fingers that he would not poop or pee in his diaper while he was there.

Well when I picked him up he had both pooped and peed so much that his pants were all wet. (((SIGH))) Will my child ever be potty trained?? I got to tell ya it is so frustrating. He will be four this month and still is not showing any signs of improvement or interest in it. But I can just keep hoping and praying right?

Well when he got in the car I asked him how his day was. He told me that "he ate a sticky thing and drank juice." Then I asked him what his teachers name was, and if it was miss Aly? He then said "um I think my teacher is just Nana." How cute is that!

Well good job my big boy, I can't believe you have started pre-school!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Over the weekend I took the boys to the greatest pumpkin patch ever! It was down by the district on 11800 south and 3600 west. It is run by two teenage boys who are earning money towards their missions. My kids had the best time! They had atleast 10 tractors that the kids could sit and play on, along with a mini corn maze! My kids also enjoyed pushing aroung and riding in the mini wheel barrows. The pumpkins were cheap too! So if you haven't gone yet this year go check this one out!

Hayden's Quilt

I am so excited about this quilt I can hardly stand it!!! I have had the material for awhile but have not had the time and guidance to complete it until this last weekend. I absolutely love it!

I wish I knew enough about sewing to just be able to pull out my sewing machine and plunk out anything I wanted. Instead I buy material and it sits until my mom has time to instruct me. I hope someday I will be as good at sewing that I am at scrapbooking.

But for now enjoy!

Taking Back Sunday

I have wanted to sit down now for a couple days and write about the overwhelming feelings and blessings I have encountered recently.

To start off, a couple of weeks ago I taught the lesson in Relief Society and chose the topic of prayer first off because that is what lesson my mom taught and it would be easy for me to just copy it right?? Well I had been thinking about that topic in the weeks before my lesson and realized more than anything I needed to teach this lesson for myself. There has been such a need for prayer in my home for many reasons. Most importantly for myself. I felt as though if I had a prayer before my day began that I would be able to cope and deal with the things that each day brings. Especially to help me as I parent Hayden. The extra blessing that prayer brings to help me be patient with him. Secondly my children need to be taught to pray. And if we don't do it with them how can they learn?
Over the weeks I have made a valiant effort to have a morning prayer and it has helped ease my day. And I am sure that as the days turn to weeks, and the weeks to months, the spirit will be so strong in our home and our children will learn the importance of prayer.
Thirdly, as many of you know my husband was going to be changing shifts and working the entire night. This would mean I would be home alone the whole night and a parent by myself most the day. I have had great fear for this day for quite some time now. I felt as though I didn't understand why I had been dealt this card and wasn't sure how I would cope with the trials it would bring. This change was going to coming faster than I knew it and prayer has been much needed to get me through the days and nights to come.

Well you may ask why "Taking Back Sunday?" I wasn't sure the title was the appropriate use for the saying, but the more I thought about it I felt as though the meaning I took away from it made sense. Sunday was the first day Rick started the dreaded graveyard shift. And to my surprise there was little anxiety throughout my day as the hour got closer to him leaving. I felt calm about the whole thing. When it was time for bed I had a few tears, and woke a lot during the night. I was worried this was how it was going to be. The morning he came home I didn't know how our schedule for the day would be.
The Lord has heard and answered my prayers. I entitled this post taking back Sunday, because I am not so sure I would take back Sunday and not have him work the graveyard shift. I feel at ease with the shift he has been given and know that I will be comforted for the next months. I am sure there will be both some good and bad days. But the Lord will help me through it. And so far the shift has really worked quite well with our lives as I thought there was no way possible for it to.

I am so thankful for prayer it has helped me a lot these past few weeks. And my testimony of prayer will get stronger as the time goes by. It has helped me have a positive attitude about many things other than Rick's schedule. It has helped me realise I need to be a better neighbor and friend. I will continue to make an effort to have prayer throughout my day and hope that my spirit can brighten others.

Lake Powell

Two weeks ago, Rick and I were invited to go along with his Sgt. and a couple other people from his work to Lake Powell. We had a great time! We left both boys behind with my mom for almost 5 days! I didn't think I would be able to handle leaving them behind, especially Carston, who was not totally weaned from breast feeding. But I called to check on them as often as I could, and each time they were doing well.

I had several embarrassing moments on this trip. For one I brushed my teeth with A&D ointment by mistake when grabbing what I thought was toothpaste in the dark. I will forever be made fun of for that! Lets see....I think the most embarrassing for me was early in the morning I was extremely engorged from not nursing and I was asking Rick to help me out with that. And that's pretty much all I am going to share about that story on my blog. But Rick's Sgt heard our entire conversation and was laughing hysterically!

Well now after you have hopefully had a good laugh here are some photos of our trip!

Bounceback

On Wednesday Rick and I had the opportunity to bounceback to Lagoon with his Sgt. and his wife. Our day was filled with fun and some embarassing moments.

We spent the majority of the day, when it was really hot, at Lagoona Beach until his Sgt. wife could come. We enjoyed several water slides, but our favorite was the one you go on that just keeps dumping you into different pools before going down the next one. One of the times we went down his Sgt. went first and then me then Rick. His Sgt was already waiting at the bottom when I came down. Right when I hit the water my tube popped and sank me. TOTALLY EMBARRASSING!! He just laughed at me and shortly after Rick came down and laughed some more at me. I was so embarrassed that I had popped my tube I made Rick carry it to return it.

Then one of the times we rode wicked my hat flew off. This normally wouldn't be so bad except that I borrowed Tylynn's hat. Well as it turns out we rode on wicked probably four more times each time checking to see if they had gone out to collect lost items. Don't worry Tylynn I got your hat back!

At the end of the night we decided to ride the Samurai. They had closed the lines and were only going to allow those to ride that were already in line before shutting down. When we got off we noticed that there was still a very small group to ride and asked if we could stay on and ride one more time since they had to run it anyway. I think this was the biggest mistake of my night. I got off the ride so dizzy and sick to my stomach I was sure I would puke. When we got home I thought I would take a bath to see if that would help my dizziness and especially since I had been swimming most the day. Don't ask me why but I decided to bath in the dark and didn't have my glasses on. When I stood up to get out of the tub I was so dizzy, I slipped and fell and hit my head on the toilet and cut my shoulder on who knows what as if I was in a drunken stooper. It is pretty funny now, but it really hurt.

Carston took a tumble

As we all know Carston loves to go up and down the stairs like a big boy. And today he wasn't so big. He took a tumble to the bottom and hit the railing at the end. As a result he split his eyebrow open. We got him into the doctor and they glued it shut. They said the gash wasn't so bad that it needed stitches, but also that is wasn't just a cut. I am glad we glued it instead of having to stitch it up. My poor guy!

A day at Lagoon

For Fathers Day I gave Rick two tickets to Lagoon. We had the opportunity to go just Monday with my good friend Sassy and her husband. We had such a great time! I swore up and down that I would not ride Wicked. And as it turns out I rode it four times!

About half way through our day we ran into Ricks Sergeant and his family. So we decided to meet up with them later in the day and were able enjoy a few rides together.

The whole day was just pure fun. It was so nice to get to spend time with just each other and to be able to just hang out and let go for awhile. We look forward to bouncing back maybe next week.