So last week me and the boys were running some errands. I was on the phone when we pulled into the Smiths parking lot, so I just turned off the car and finished my phone call. When I was done, I just got out of the car, got the boys out and locked the doors. Now, I have a keyless remote. . .but it's broken. Not just a dead battery here folks, it's really broken. So I'm in the habit of opening the front door and manually locking the doors. Ancient, I know. . .but it's my life. So, I go about my business, shopping blah blah blah and then as we're back out at the car I begin searching for my keys. . .DUH!!! I left them in the ignition when I turned the car off, and now, YEP, they're locked in the car. Brilliant. AND it's raining. . .AND it's naptime. So I head back into Smiths to see if they have anybody that can help me, and luckily the Bountiful Police Department still will come and help you unlock your door for free. So we wait inside the doors for 20 minutes for the cop to show up. He eventually does show up, thank goodness. . .we're minutes away, right. Wrong. At least it's stopped raining. We go out to the car and the Slim Jim the cop has is too short? What? He jimmys and jimmys and jimmys that Slim Jim and nothing happens. He starts telling me that he doesn't have a great 'Slim Jim Kit' and that other cops have better ones, and so he's going to call one of them. My keys are locked in the car, and the cop has to call for BACKUP!!! True story folks. In the meantime, Cohen is just running around our car jumping in all the puddles. Why not? As you know, he is the ultimate copycat, and after a few minutes of watching the cop shove that Slim Jim down the crack of the door he discovers a popsicle stick on the ground and starts putting into all of the cracks in the car, between the doors and windows and stuff. It was really funny. So anyhow, the backup cop finally gets there, and he has the job down in like 10 seconds flat. What an adventure huh?! I'm just glad we were in Bountiful and not somewhere else where we would have had to call a locksmith and pay $50 or something ridiculous.
Evan is starting to develop this sorta cute, sometimes annoying eating habit. He eats just fine for a minute or so, and then he wants to hold the spoon, and try to scoop his own food. Now, I really do want him to learn to feed himself, but when he actually happens to get a scoopful, and then spreads it ALL over his face in about .01 seconds, it makes a big ol' mess. I try to get the bowl empty and then let him scoop away. I've also resorted to using 2 spoons, one for me and one for him. If I'm not in a hurry, it's cute. If I'm in a hurry. . .annoying!!!
I tried to take a picture of Cohen and Evan's thighs together so you can see just how fat Evan's are. The picture's not that great but you get the idea.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!! It makes me laugh every time I see it. 
So, this is kinda sick, but really funny too. . .so if you've got a weak stomach, stop reading this post right away.
Yesterday we hear Cohen playing in the bathroom, which isn't necessarily weird, he plays all over, wherever, whenever, just as long as he's out of our hair we don't always pay attention. Anyhow, after a while, we hear him giggle. . .and then again, a really good giggle, like something is really funny, not just some mild laugh. . .so Jared goes into the bathroom to see what he's up to. I can hardly describe the scene he comes upon. Cohen is standing in front of the toilet, having already unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper, is taking big handfuls of said T.P. and is dipping them into the toilet water, then throwing his T.P. wad across the room onto the wall. . .if you were ever wondering, a huge handful of toilet paper that has just been soaked in toilet water sticks really well to a wall!!!! There are all of these drippy wads of toilet paper stuck all over the wall!!! And toilet water is streaming down, down, down the wall onto the floor below. Hence the 2 year old giggling. Hilarious eh?! Too bad we were too sicked out to think to take a picture. Silly us, we just cleaned it all up right away. Disgusting.
This morning we were outside playing in the sandbox. Cohen is having a bit of a hard time understanding the concept of not throwing sand AT his brother. I can see the fun in it, but he doesn't quite get that sand could get in Evans eye. . .blah blah blah. So, he figures out an ingenious way around the rule. . .he dumps a big shovelful of sand right on top of Evans head. And not just some little sissy shovelful. . .we've got a BIG digging shovel, yeah, a shovelful from THAT shovel. I turn around to find a PILE of sand on Evans head. A PILE!!!! Like a little pointed hat!! Of sand!!
Evan is doing great at crawling. He still mostly pushes with that crazy right leg, but sometimes he goes on both knees! He is going UP the stairs now too. He can make it all the way up from downstairs. I still stand behind him when he does the big stairs because sometimes he likes to take a break by either sitting in the middle of a stair, or standing up with his hands on the wall and looking behind him. Neither of which are safe. . .obviously. He's not really into going backwards down the stairs yet. I kinda have to force him to practice, but he's got to get it someday, right?
So heres a cute little story. Jessie called the other day to tell me that Janessa announced to her that she wanted to go and see her boyfriend. Jessie asked her who that was and she said "Baby Evan." And we always thought she was in love with Cohen. . .
Cohen Loves Broccoli!!!
Cohen has this funny little antic that we find ourselves repeating and laughing at every day. Instead of saying 'yes' to things, he says 'OK' in this cutest little voice. . .and it doesn't always fit the question you've asked or the affirmation you are looking for. For example: he asks for something, you don't quite understand so you repeat what you think he's asked for, if you are correct he says 'OK'. . .like "Cacker." "You want a cracker?" "OK". . .like you were the one who had suggested it in the first place and he was merely going along with your suggestion. Also when you ask an actual yes/no question. . ."Are you poopy?" "OK". . .what?!! So funny!!
So the best news is that Evan started crawling!!! He's not a pro yet, still a beginner, but he's deciding to go somewhere, and then slowly making his way!! What an exciting day for a tired, but more buff mother! (He weighs 23 1/2 lbs already by the way) So, he's been close to crawling for a few weeks now, going from sitting to being on all fours, but he either has just pushed himself back onto his bum, or has given up and flopped onto his belly where he DOESN'T like to be. We've tried a few different motivators, cheese, toys, crackers, etc. but nothing has motivated him quite enough to get moving. A few days ago I was sitting with him at the kitchen table and he was reaching for Riley's dog food a few feet away. Now, anybody who knows me just has to deal with the disgusting fact that I don't freak out when my kids eat dog food. . .deal with it. So I finally put 2 and 2 together and pick up the dog dish and the baby and take them to the living room. I put baby at one end, dog food at the other, and a few short minutes later have taught my baby to crawl!! Just like that!! A bowl of dog food teaches my son to crawl!! But here's the catch, it's sort of lop-sided, kinda gimpy. He rolls forward from sitting and gets on both hands, but on his right knee and left foot. That foot does all of the forward motion, and the knee leg sort of just drags behind. At least it's really cute, right?! So he's crawling more and more every day and we'll see what develops from this one leg/one knee approach he's taken. Maybe he'll lose all of the fat in his left leg, and keep it all in his right. That would be tragic.
This is Evan after he 'tasted' an easter egg!!
Saturday we were outside mowing the lawn and doing lots of yard work. Cohen insisted on helping me push the lawnmower, which was really cute but slowed my progress a bit. But who am I to stop a boy from wanting to learn to mow the lawn? After all, he's going to be doing it all by himself sooner or later, so I might as well let him do it while he wants to, right?
So, for documentation purposes I need to write this down so we'll always remember. Cohen says "Eh-an" for Evan. It took me a while to figure out he was saying Evan because it would come in the middle of some other unintelligible babble, but once I figured out thats what he was saying, I've realized that he actually says it quite a bit! He's doing his best at learning to be nice, and not hit, or bite, or kick, or push, and some days are harder than others, but he's a good big brother.
We went to Jace's 2nd birthday party last week. 
Cohen is such a stud at sports!!! I mean honestly!!
So, I've realized that my posts are really boring, and I'm trying to get over it, honestly who will ever want to read this stuff? Probably just me years from now. Anyhow, I just have a few things to write about so that when I am reading this years from now, I'll remember when and how stuff happened in my childrens lives. . .
Cohen started using the potty!!! He went in it for the first time last Sunday, twice, and has gone a few times since as well!! He's not always interested in going, but when he's already naked and in the bath, he'll get out and go. I don't know where the happy medium is because now when I try and get him to go in the potty, once he has his pants off he wants to take a bath!! Now, taking a bath AND going potty takes ALOT more of my time than simply going potty does, so I don't know if I can only encourage the potty training when I have enough time to let him take a bath, or if I'll be able to distract him away from the bath after the potty-going with some delicious candy or stickers or something. The first time he went, Jared dumped the pee in the sink. . .forgetting that Cohen is the ultimate copy-cat (oh yea, and that it was THE SINK!!!). I come back in the bathroom a few minutes later to find Cohen attempting to dump another pot full of pee into the sink all by himself!!! Wow, what a good kid, hu?!!! AAAHHHH!!!! Thank goodness for Clorox disinfecting wipes, hu?! So, now we dump the pee in the toilet. S-M-R-T, I am so smart. . .
Evan is getting really close to crawling. He's pushing backwards with his arms, and if you pull his legs up underneath him he'll at least be up on all fours for a few seconds. I really need to take some pictures of his chubby little legs before he loses them. I measured them the other day, and they are 30 centimeters around. . .Cohens are only 28!! I've always said that Evans were bigger, but I wasn't sure if they actually were or if they just looked bigger because he's shorter. Nope, they are actually bigger! He's so cute though. People are always commenting on how beautiful his eyes are, strangers at the park, at the store, anywhere. He really is a beautiful baby.
So I need to write these down before I forget them.
A few weeks ago, Jared and the boys were sitting on the kitchen floor playing with each other, just making funny sounds and faces and such, and Evan would crack up at Cohen when he would do something, and then when Jared would do something funny, Evan would look at him like he was crazy, and then look back at Cohen to do something funny! It was hilarious to watch this little baby think his big brother was the coolest, and think his dad was a nerd!!
Cohen gives a mean zerbert!! Man!! The other day I was blowing raspberries on Evans tummy, and of course that looks interesting and fun to a 2 year old, so he comes over and joins in on the fun. I don't know how he was doing it, but he was giving the best ones I've heard in a long time. Nice and low and gross. Jared and I were laughing so hard! It's just like a boy to know how to make gross sounds right away, isn't it?!!
We had the annual Easter Egg Hunt in Grandma's back yard last Saturday. Josie brought some plastic eggs that were shaped like footballs, soccer balls, and baseballs. Cohen found one of the footballs, picked it up, yelled, “Hike”, sat it on the ground and with a resounding kick sent candy eggs scattering all over the yard. What a cute kid.
Cohen had his first real phone conversation today with Grandma Ward. He usually just listens to the other person talk and he smiles, and I've gotten him to 'roar' at them a time or two, but today he was actually talking back to Grandma and didn't want to give the phone back to me!! It was so cute! He kept the phone for a good 2 minutes before he finally got distracted by Riley barking at the neighbors to give the phone back to me. Every time I had tried to take it back or tell him it was my turn, he backed farther away from me and said "Mine!" or "My turn!" He's growing up so fast.
Last weekend we took a trip to Vegas (finally) for Jared's 10-ish Year High School Reunion. We had a lot of fun hanging out with his old friends, and with Oma, Papa, and Kelli. Oma and Papa's house is all torn up because they are in the middle of a complete remodel. It's coming together though, and it's going to be beautiful once it's all done. It may take a few more months, but they'll get there!! They want to give us the blue sectional from the TV room, we'll just have to see if there is any possible way for us to go down and get it. We got there late Thursday night and went straight to bed. Friday we went to lunch with Chris at Thai BBQ. . .YUM!!! Honestly some of the best food on earth. It's pretty greasy, but so good!! 
Then we went to LVA for a tour of the school. They have a big new theater, and some of the old rooms have been updated or changed. It was fun to walk around with all of these old friends and hear all of the crazy stories that they remembered. Jared and some friends had spray painted their names in a storage room backstage, and they were still there!! After all these years nobody has painted over them or anything. Crazy. 
Saturday morning we went fishing at a park close by. Jared caught 2 little fish that we just let go when we were done because they were so small. But nobody else was catching anything, so he was pretty lucky.
It was Cohen's first fishing outing with Papa, and I'm sure there will be many more to come. He was mostly interested in the ducks and playing with the kid with a football, but a good first fishing lesson for a 2 year old nonetheless!! 
Saturday there was a get together at Rachel Benke Roberts house. Not too many people came, but she had some crazy old videos that we watched. . .SO FUNNY!!! Oh gosh, I was laughing over and over at these old videos. There are some of me somewhere, so I can't make too much fun of them, but WOW!! Rachel is such a sweet girl, it was good to finally meet her last weekend.
Saturday night was the 'official' reunion and it was too expensive, but fun. We must be getting old because we went to the 'after party' but only stayed about 10 minutes before deciding we were tired, and it was too loud, so we just left. Are we really that old?! I mean, we're turning 30 this year, but geez, you think we could stay up late once in a while!!
Sunday we went to Thai BBQ again because Adam invited everyone for lunch. Same yummy greasy food. 
After that we went back home to spend the afternoon with the family, and we left at about 8:00 that night so the kids would sleep the whole drive rather than me having to squish in the backseat in between their carseats for 6 hours!! I was pretty sleepy by they time we pulled in our garage, but the kids slept the whole time and that was worth it!!
Missy from across the street had been taking care of Riley and she wasn't expecting us home until Monday night. Her mom, Sherri had come and let Riley in and locked up the house on Sunday night. She left the living room light and the porch lights on. I guess she got up around 4am to let their dog out to go to the bathroom because she saw that all the lights were turned off at our house and thought that someone had come over and robbed us, and killed Riley and the whole bit. She had scared herself to bits, and had called the cops to come check it out, so we woke up just after 4 to Sherri and 2 cops coming up our stairs into the living room!! It was pretty funny.
Evan is rolling over now, from front to back but not the other way. He just doesn't really care about getting from here to there unless he's on his feet. He cut the first of his top two teeth while we were in Vegas and the other one is about to come through anytime. We are walking outside a lot now that the weather is getting warmer. Cohen loves to be outside, and he's getting pretty good at hitting a big bouncy ball with the bat almost every time. He can't hit a baseball sized ball, but he's good at getting the big one!! I can't wait until next summer when we can put him on a soccer team or something. He's gonna love it.