Est. 2000

Pictures have now been added!! Yay!! How exciting for all you blog subscribers!!

The last week of July I was finally able to go to Hawaii with Jared. The other 'wives' came too, Allison and Michelle - not Jared's other wives, but the wives of David and Ross. . .ha. The boys had to work most of the time that we were there, so us girls just hung out on the beach, and by the pool, and in our rooms, and in the pool, and at Matsumoto's, and well, wherever we felt like it. People keep asking "What did you do in Hawaii?" and my best answer is, "Nothing." Honestly, it was everything an actual vacation is supposed to be. No children, no commitments, a good book, the beach, great breezy weather, good friends, GREAT food, and my great husband. We just took it easy and RELAXED!!! Wow, I don't know that I'll ever be lucky enough to have such a great trip ever again in my life, but I loved it!!!

This is Jared and I eating at the Luau at the PCC.


Besides just sitting around basking in the sun, we did do a few touristy things. We hiked up through the botanical gardens to Waimea Falls, but tragically there were no falls. Apparently it's just the end of the dry season, so the falls were just trickling down the mountain, but it was beautiful anyways. All of the flowers and trees over there are so amazing. I just loved seeing each new thing!! On Saturday Jared and I went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. AMAZING!!! This is the thing to do if you go to Oahu. It is a fish sanctuary, and there are so many amazing kinds of fish. After we had been in the water a while, we got to where we felt like we were just seeing the same fish over and over again, and then some crazy new type would swim in front of us!! We were inches away from these huge turtles, and countless types of tropical fish. Pictures couldn't do it justice. Honestly, if I ever go to Hawaii again, I would love to do this again.

OK, this is a hideous picture of the both of us, but the only one we took at Hanauma Bay. If you look close, you can see the snorkel mask indentation on my forehead!!

Doesn't jared look excited?!!! He's going to be so happy
that I posted this picture!!

Cohen is learning how to pray.  Every night for dinner, we ask him if he wants to say the prayer, and if he does then Jared helps him.  It goes a little like this:

Before I get started, let me just say that JARED IS 30 TODAY!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!! Ok, so I'm only 10 weeks behind him, but for the next ten weeks, he's in his 30's and I'm still in my 20's!! He's in Navuoo today, and I really wish I could be with him there. I wanted to make a big fuss and have a big party, but alas, he is out of town for his birthday, AGAIN!! I really love him a lot and miss him terribly. He's such a great husband and an awesome dad. I'm really happy (and jealous) that he is where he is, I only wish I could be with him. So, instead of a party, he just got a few mushy texts from me, and a box of snacks that went to Palmyra because he was supposed to be there for a few more days. . .and so the box is in New York and he's in Nauvoo. . .go figure. I love you Jared!!!! Happy Birthday!!!



So, I haven't posted in a few weeks, and a hundred things have happened that I've thought to myself "Write about that next time you blog. . ." and of course I've forgotten all of it!! Oh well, let me just upload some pictures and we'll have a nice little 'lets have lots of pictures and not too many words' post. . .because we've had some fun, but nothing that makes a real good story, you know. . .

This is at the 4th of July parade in Centerville. It was supposed to be the hottest day of the year, up to 110 or something outrageous, but there were lots of clouds, and it was still hot, but not 'it's so hot, who cares about a parade, lets go home' kind of hot. The kids loved it and Evan was a perfectly sticky dirty mess by the end of it. Oh, and the laundry needed to be done, so this was our best attempt at patriotic clothing as well. . .
The other kids in the picture are Cohens best friend Janessa, and Jessie's cousins boy Taylor who we go swimming with.



This is my favorite picture from the parade. . .so patriotic don't you think? You can just see how passionate Cohen is about waving that American Flag. Funny!



After the parade they had a little carnival with those blow-up slides and stuff. Janessa was too chicken to go, so Jessie and Jim pushed Evan around in his stroller while Cohen and I went through this little obstacle course a few times. It was FUN!! Cohen needed me to help him the first few times, but then crawled right up this thing on his own after that!



Here we are about to go down the big slide at the end. . .



Later that day we went to my moms for a BBQ before going to Rob and Josie's for fireworks. You'll notice that all of our 'red,white, and blue' clothing must have gone in the laundry because it all got so sticky and gross at the parade. The best we could do after that was camo. . .patriotic in a different way, right? Evan's shirt has one little stripe of camo on it, so it counts!!



Here's a video of Cohen and Evan jumping at Grandma's house. It's cute, and funny. . .poor little Evan. . .



Here's the boys all ready for church on Sunday. So cute. Some of you may be wondering "Hey, didn't we see Cohen in that outfit that Evan is wearing just like. . .3 months ago?" Well friends, the answer is yes. . .Evan is a tubber. . .and thats not a real word but you get exactly what I mean.



This is the Hamper Monster. . .one of our favorite pastimes lately.

OK, somebody buy me a hide-a-key box RIGHT NOW!!! I haven't locked the keys in the car for 10 years, and now I've done it twice in three weeks!!! DUH!!! And I thought the last story was exciting.
So, I take the kids with me down to Salt Lake to pick up the wall mount for our new TV (that's a whole different story) which I had found on the KSl classifieds for $37 rather than in the store for $100+. I'm such a great shopper, I know. Not so great at not locking my keys in. . .So, I get to where I'm going, I think, and Cohen has fallen dead asleep. I figured that since we drove about 30 minutes there, if he just kept sleeping and slept the 30 minutes home too, that would be a half decent nap and would be better than waking him up because he's a power-napper, so to him 30 minutes is as good as 3 hours. It's at this old house thats been turned into a business, and there are trees all around the small parking lot, and only one other car in the parking lot. I figured it belonged to the guy I was meeting. Now I had the thought to just call the guy and have him bring the dang thing out since I was paying him cash anyhow and we could just do all of our business in the parking lot. But if I had done that, I wouldn't have this highly entertaining story to tell, now would I? So the thoughts in my head go like this: "I don't want to wake up Cohen. There is NOBODY else here. It's a pretty secluded spot. We're even parked in the shade. I will HONESTLY be 2 seconds. I'll just run in and tell the guy to bring it out real quick because my kid is asleep in the car. OK, leave the air conditioner on at least." So I leave the keys in the ignition and leave the a/c on and get out of the car to get Evan. I pull him out of the car and then say to myself "Well, you should lock the doors, lock him IN, just in case. . ." which I do. You can guess my next thought. IDIOT!!!!! So I call the guy and tell him to come on out cuz I just locked my kid and keys in the car. . .and we end up doing business in the parking lot anyways. Too bad I wasn't even at the right place and he had to walk across the street to get to me, hu?!
I take a moment to knock on the window to try and wake Cohen up, but then I realize that he doesn't know how to unlock the door, or open it on his own, and he's also strapped into his carseat and so wouldn't be able to reach the handle anyways. I decide to leave him sleeping.

Now, I finally get up my courage and call 911 to admit what a bad mother I am. It goes a little something like this:
911: 911 Emergency, do you need police, fire department, or ambulance?
Me: Um. . .probably police. I've locked my sleeping 2 year old son in the car.
911: What address are you at?
Me: Blah blah blah. . .
911: Is the car running?
Me: No, but the air conditioner is on (like that makes me not so lame)
911: OK, well it's policy to send the fire department out in a case like this, so they'll be on their way.
Great, like a police car isn't inconspicuous enough.

So, about 4 minutes late the fire truck pulls up, three guys get out, lugging all of their paramedic gear with them. . .oh, and this really long skinny pole and a wooden wedge that unlocks the car in about 20 seconds. . .much quicker than a cop with a slim jim thats not long enough, just so you know. Cohen sleeps through all of this, until they open his door and wake him up to ask him if he's OK, consequently dashing all of my good intentions to keep him asleep until we get home. Again, DUH!!!



Just then a cop pulls up to give me a lecture on locking my kids in the car, even if I don't lock the keys in, and even if it's just going to be 2 seconds because 'he saw the same kind of thing in Tampa Florida where the mom was going to be gone just 2 seconds, and some crack-head broke the window and drove off with her 2 kids. . .blah blah blah.' OK, first of all we're in Holladay, not Tampa. . .so after making one lame excuse I stood there and took my lecture like a good girl, and thanked him, and said 'yes, sir' and all that. Firemen are so much more laid back and friendly than cops are. . .

By now, Cohen has noticed the 'beep' (thats Cohen for fire truck) and of course wants to get out. Poor kid has been through so much and doesn't even know it, plus I want to get a few photos of the experience, so I get him out of the car. We go take some nice pictures with the firemen and firetruck, and then strap everybody back in and get on our way.



So, the good thing about all of this is that I locked Cohen in the car as well as the keys, because if I had only locked the keys in I would probably have had to call a locksmith and payed $50 to get them out again. But 'lucky' for me, I had locked my firstborn in there, so I got my keys back for free. . .

Just nominate me for the "Mother of the Year Award" right?!!

Here's a few cute pictures of the boys lately.

Evan must have wiggled around a lot before falling asleep!!


Cohen and Riley. . .look at poor Riley's face, like 'Please save me!!'


Cohen praying with the cast during Nauvoo Pageant rehearsals


Cohen loves to spray the hose, this one was pointed at Jared.


Apparently I didn't put the lid back on the Cetaphil before I came upstairs. . .I was wondering why it was so quiet!

So, last Sunday was Fathers Day and Cohen ended up giving Jared the best gift. It was awesome. A little background: on Mothers Day during sacrament meeting, all of the primary kids went up to the front and sang their little mothers day tribute. Cohen was fascinated, and when they were all walking back down to their seats he kept saying "My turn? My turn?" He got really upset that we wouldn't let him go up there, and I think we even ended up taking him out in the foyer because he was so mad. Anyhow, come sacrament meeting on Fathers Day. . .and the primary kids start filing their way up to the front again, which catches Cohen's attention and I can see that he wants to follow them. Well, he is such a copycat nowadays, especially of older kids, so I just knew that he'd go up there and do what everybody else was doing. So I ask him if he wants to go up there with them and he says "Uh-huh." Mind you, he's not quite 2 1/2 yet, and he won't actually go to Sunbeams until he's almost 4 because he has a February birthday. So, I scoot him out of the bench, and he follows all of the kids up there. Our ward has the biggest primary ever, so nobody really knows everybody, so one of the leaders sees that he's the shortest person up there and helps scooch him up to the very front. Perfect!! They start singing, and Cohen looks around and sees that everybody is singing, and he starts singing along!! For both songs!! I wish I had a picture or a video of his little face up there, it was priceless! You would have never known that he wasn't supposed to be up there because he was singing probably more than the real sunbeams!! We didn't run into any trouble until it was time to come down from the stand. All the kids start filing down, and I hope that he'll once again just follow the crowd. He starts to, but then realizes that they are all leaving and decides that he's not quite ready to go down yet. He turns the other way, discovers the little step stool thats there for kids to give their testimonies and pushes it back right next to the bishop and climbs up and sits down!! He was just going to sit up on the stand as the 3rd counselor for the rest of the meeting! Jared had to go get him of course, and one of the primary leaders sees him, picks him up and hands him to Jared. Jared had to walk straight out into the hall because Cohen started screaming. It was so funny! And priceless!! Honestly I would give almost anything to have a picture of it.