First "I love yous"

Landon has been a little slow in the talking department. He is continuing to add words to his vocabulary but he is just a little slower compared to some of his little friends. He has been TRYING really hard to communicate the past month or so.

Right now he can say: Mama, Dada, Dal Dal, up, down, all done, socks, shoes, uh-oh, cereal (more like "eereal") owie, ba-ba (means drink), uh-huh, NO (all too often), Yay!, Yes, Bye-bye, all done.

He understands a whole lot more then he can say. If I tell him to go upstairs and find your blanket and your shoes he follows through no problem. Dallin was the same way and heaven knows he turned out JUST fine.

I took this video last week right after he said his very first "I love you." The one posted here is his 2nd or 3rd time saying it.

SO SWEET.

Valentines Wrap Up

*** Warning*** Very cheesy poem ahead:

Valentines is over

We had a lot of fun

We decorated cookies

and then we ate a ton!

We decked the house out

with hearts, flowers, and lights

We enjoyed having friends over

for a romantic Valentine night

We played games, had the men recite their poems,

and took pictures by our heart tree


Maybe we'll do it again next year....we'll just have to see!
(Thanks Janet for the great idea! It was a blast!)

To my Valentine

This LOVELY picture was from our 2nd official date (our first picture together ever). We went to a dance on the Heber Creeper around Valentines Day in 2000. I'm so skinny I look like I should blow away...and Nate's butt cut hairstyle is HOT!

Dear Mr. Super-Star(nes),

Rather than finding a card that best describes my feelings for you, I thought I would dedicate this blog to you instead.

This valentines will be the 9th we have spent together! Here are a few things that I LOVE about you:

-You get on the floor and play with the boys as soon as you get home from work

-You let me sleep in on Saturday mornings

-You are a hard and dedicated worker

-You teach our children to respect me

-You support me by giving me plenty of "girl" time.

-You don't complain about my time consuming calling.

-You make me laugh

-You set goals and accomplish them

-You value motherhood and womanhood

-You are passionate about getting healthy and fit (which is FANTASTIC....cause I want you around for a LONG time!)

-You put the Lord first

-You are my best friend

Happy Valentines Day! I love you!

-Your wifey

Learning new things

Isn't it an amazing experience to watch your children grow, learn, and develop new skills? Dallin loves to try to teach his brothers and friends learn how to write, read and do math problems. He gets SO excited when they can understand something that they didn't previously understand. (Future teacher maybe?? I don't know) Dallin has been working very hard on teaching Parker how to write his letters and some small words. Every day he pulls out the paper and crayons and tries to help him even though it frustrates Dallin to the MAX when Parker doesn't get it.

Well, yesterday Parker finally spelled his VERY first word all by himself. He came running up to me holding THIS piece of paper:

Gee...I'm just SO proud. Dallin thought it was the most awesome and hilarious thing ever when I showed it to him after he came home from school. Sigh.......boys.

A new Staci

I admit, I used to be one of those people who made fun of coupon clippers. When we first moved back to Boise I remember hanging out with some girls from my ward and all of them brought their ads and were comparing prices from store to store. I came home and told my husband I didn't think I would fit in well here at all. It was just too much work and too inconvenient to actually have to research and plan ahead so much.

Well, a couple of years have gone by since then and with the way the economy is (and with the encouragement of my friends) I decided that I need to do what I can to help my family and my husband out. I guess I have finally "come to the light" with this whole thing. And guess what...I actually really like it!

I have been easing into this process gradually. We went crazy at Albertsons diaper sale last month. The Pampers diapers came up to less than $5 a package. Last week's major steal was from Albertsons as well. I was able to get 4 bags of Goldfish crackers, a box of popcorn and a Healthy Choice Dinner for $1.96. It was kind of a rush getting a bag of groceries for next to nothing. I was also able to cut about $20 off of my usual grocery shopping bill just by planning my meals around what was on sale and using my coupons from online and in the newspaper. At night I have been dreaming about printing online coupons for the past week. Very strange...I know.

Nate thinks I have gone a little nuts but he's not complaining...its a new day baby!

P.S. Which way do you prefer to pronounce it “coo-pon” or “cue-pon”? Just wondering.

Much to "smile" about

First off.......ALL 3 of my boys went to the dentist and have all made it into the:(Cue the trumpets!) This is HUGE people. I almost wanted to tear up when the dentist told me that I was to be commended for having such well behaved, healthy toothed kids (not sure how to put that). I was thinking to myself....I wish you could see how "well behaved" these boys are as I chase them around the house BEGGING them to brush their teeth every night. I feel like such a NAG all the time but it seems all of the fighting and bribing has paid off. That, or they have just all been blessed with Nate's healthy and low maintenance pearly whites instead of my cavity prone, time consuming, thousands of dollars down the drain teeth. As I have said before...my teeth are evil and I hate them.
(And the only reason they were "well behaved" is because they were all mesmerized by the Sponge Bob Squarepants show playing from the flatscreen mounted into the ceiling.)

Another reason to smile....the SUN was out ALL day long today and the temperature made it up to 45 degrees or so. We played at the park for 3 full hours today soaking in as much vitamin D as we possible could!

O...and you can't help but SMILE when a cute little boy in a winter hat armed with a nerf gun chases you all around the house trying to shoot your with a sticky dart.

1st race of the year

Team CF (Nate's biking team) had their first race of the year today. It took place over at Boise Towne Square. It was a fund raising race for St. Alphonsus. When he first told me the race was in the mall I was picturing all of these crazy bike riders whizzing past Macy's and Gymboree trying to avoid all of the Saturday shoppers.

I was definitely wrong though...everyone had their bike's set up in trainers. Fans were blowing and the music was pumping. It was quite the event. The goal was to ride as fast and as far as possible in ONE hour's time.

Nate rode over 25 miles in 1 hour and ended up getting 2nd place in his heat for the individual award. (His good buddy Jared who is an incredible rider took first.) The entire Team CF took first place and all of the guys received some gift cards to a local bike store. All of us wives and kids had a great time cheering on our guys!

SHOPPING at the mall+ a HAPPY and FIT HUSBAND=a GREAT Saturday!

To my boys:

Today was a pretty typical day in our home. It was a beautiful SUNNY outside today even though it's still absolutely freezing out. We opened every window in the house to soak up as much sun as possible. After getting our Dallin off to school we ventured outside to the front yard to watch Parker attempt to skateboard for a good 30 minutes or so. Every so often he would say, "Mom...watch this" or "Check out my cool tricks." Landon ran around picking up bark and small rocks. He kept saying, "Snow mama" and pointed to the little bit of snow left over from the last storm.
We made eclairs for some friends today and my two little buddies wanted to help with each and every step. Landon was covered in chocolate frosting by the time we were finished. When I asked, "Who wants one?" Landon raised his little hand way up high and "Yaaaay!" (I love how he never says "Yeah" or "Yes" its always "Yaay.")
Then we all jumped in the car and went over to Dallin's school to surprise him. Dallin...you LOVE it when we come to get you. I don't blame you....30 minutes on a bus is a LONG time! I loved how when you saw me standing over by the bus your little eyes just LIT up and you came running over to me as fast as you possibly could. You gave me a huge hug right in front of your whole class. You said, "Mama....I was WISHING that you would come and get me today." I'm so glad that I was able to make one of your wishes come true my little man.
After going out to lunch with friends we came home and took out each and every toy in the toy box and played while we watched the Jungle Book.
Boys...will you ever know how much I love you? I hope you will. I know you will when you have children of your own.
My heart is full of gratitude today. I am grateful for your daddy who loves you and shoulders all of the financial responsibility in our home so I get to stay home and have days like this to spend with you. He is the love of my life, my best friend, my everything. I just want you to know how grateful I am for each day I have with each of you. I wouldn't want to be spending my days any other way.

More Parker "isms"

Good old Parks always keeps us laughing. Here are a few of the latest quotes:

1. "Mom....I am ONLY going to go to Preschool today if you let me drive."

2. "I hit my foot really hard and now it has a bad headache."

3. While gazing over towards the airport the other day he asks, "Hey Mom....when are the bad jets going to fly out of the sky and try to hit the good jets?" (What the heck is he talking about??)

4. "I don't have to eat my green beans becuase I already had some today in Primary." (Nice try kid.)

5. While saying his prayer the other night, "Please bless Daddy that he can work so we can have our house and bless that I won't grow up and have to go at work everyday." (Poor guy...stressing about the work force already)

Funny little guy.

A "picture perfect" day

Yesterday was GREAT! We started out by spending the morning with friends at Planet Kid:
I love taking the boys here to burn off all of their energy!

Then (after my awesome friends took Dal and Parks for me) I went to lunch with Heather, one of my great friends from Jr. High/High School at

where we enjoyed a little double date with the cutest little boys ever:

After lunch, I picked up all the boys and we all headed home for nice long nap. Usually I take advantage of the silence when everyone is asleep but I decided instead that snuggling up with my Parker would be much better use of my time!

Nate came home early and my mom came over to watch the kids so we went to

to do a session. We had a very wonderful time at the temple together. We were asked it we were there with a group of students from the BSU wards.....SWEET! Apparently we are still young enough looking to be mistaken for college kids!

Then my hot date and I went over to

to remedy our GROWLING stomachs!

A good day.....a really good day.

New Laundry Room

We're back in action! The camera charger finally came yesterday!
If you are anything like me you spend (what seems like) half of your life in the laundry room. My laundry room has always bugged me becuase it was so ugly and boring....not to mention cluttered.

I decided to change things up last week. Now it is a lovely HAPPY shade of yellow. Here is what it looks like now. I still need some more cute things to hang on the wall and put on my shelf up above the washerand dryer ...time for a trip over to Real Deals again! The vinyl says: The Laundry Room: Loads of Fun! Riiiiiiiiiiight.

Here is my homemade artwork on one of the walls. I just framed some cute fabric. Super cute and super inexpensive!

Next....I finished putting the pictures in my FAVORITE Christmas gift this year. I put this huge frame right at the top of the stairs with pictures of all my babies in there. It

turned out so priceless...I just love it!

I love to decorate....it de-stresses me for some strange reason.

ALSO...I have read a couple of great books over the past 2 weeks. The first one is:

Absolutely AWESOME! Is all have to say about that. Next is:

Everyone and their dog has already read this one but it is really fun!

Alright....gotta get back to my out of control children....Landon just spilled an entire bottle of my NEW Biosilk all over the bathroom floor. Ahhhhh......looks like I need to decorate something else...I feel the stress sinking in again already.

I'm still here

My battery charger for my camera has been MIA since Christmas....therefore, no pictures and no blogging. I've ordered a new charger and it should be here any day.

I'll be back soon!

In the meantime....we're just staying busy. Dallin is still off track so I've been busy breaking up fights and trying to keep everyone fed and entertained.

Now that the holidays are over, I'm looking forward to SPRING. Especially since the following picture is what Boise has looked like for the past 3 days...and will continue to look until sometime next week. I hate inversions.....I feel like I am in some sort of creepy horror movie 24/7.

Happydog

I came across this picture today while searching for cute laundry room ideas. (???)
I can't stop laughing! It's not even THAT funny.....I have a strange sense of humor.

Mr. Smarty Pants

Dallin is a very inquisitive guy. All day long he is asking why this and why that. Most of the time his questions have to deal with his workbook problems that he is doing CONSTANTLY. The kid has mastered double digit multiplication this week.....and he pretty much taught himself. Tonight while I was making dinner he says, "Mom...I need to speak with you about something." All my attention immediately turns to him. My mind starts racing as I'm attempting to forsee what he wants to know. His tone of voice gave me the impression that it was something VERY important. It was obviously something that was really weighing on his mind. He's only six...I'm hoping its not a Santa question, or a differences between girls and boys question, or even worse.... I sit down next to him preparing for some kind of in depth conversation.
Then he says, "Mom...I just don't really understand Labor day. What is it exactly?

THAT...I can handle.

RInging in the new year with a BANG, some BARF, and a FLAT!

Happy New Year! We definately had a memorable New Year's Eve. Things started out great. We met up with some friends over at a sushi resturant downtown. Nate is a huge sushi lover but I on the other hand have never really cared for it all that much. It's the whole seaweed taste that I'm not crazy about. I decided to play it safe and get the tempura prawns and veggies. I did eat one roll and I did try the little fish eggs that are sprinkled on the top.....gag. After dinner we headed over my my parent's house for the annual "Rock around the block" New Years experience. Every year we run around the block when the clock strikes 12 banging pots and pans screaming as my brother blares a siren from his car. It sounds obnoxious and dumb but it is so much fun and a lot of neighbors come out of their homes and cheer us on.

We were excited becuase Uncle James is now back from the mission and would be joining the family in this tradition that HE started years ago. While we were busy playing games and waiting for my brothers to return from snowboarding we recieved a call that they had a flat tire up at the ski resort. They put the spare on and continued down the mountain. About an hour later they called again to tell us that the spare time had gone flat as well. Dad and Robby jumped in the car to go and rescue them.

Meanwhile, Nate and I were having a great time rocking out to Guitar Hero World Tour when suddenly both of us felt sick to our stomachs. It literally hit both of us at the exact same time. I ran to the bathroom and threw up. After being pregnant 3 times throwing up isn't really a big deal to me anymore. Nathan fell onto the couch and fell asleep. (His cure-all) We're thinking it was my stupid prawns that made us sick since we later found out everybody else was just fine and that was the only thing that no one else tried.

Dad, James and everyone made it home about 30 seconds after midnight so they went ahead and ran around the block. Nate slept through the whole thing, I was too tired and sick, and the boys were all crying and upset about one thing or another. They were all exhausted since they usually go to bed by 7:00.

Needless to say, this wasn't the greatest start to a New Year but we're still hoping for the best! Happy 2009!