An update

I can't believe how fast time flies! We're all settled into our house and life has started becoming normal again. H1N1 came with a vengeance and is finally now out of our home. We all absolutely love our new home! The people who sold us the home were more than generous and left us a lawn mower, rakes (including a child's plastic rake), and other various yard equipment we've already put to use! Many other items like the snow blower and shovels will be put to use soon enough.

Isaac and Gavin love their playroom in the basement and it was like Christmas when we opened the boxes of toys! None of the toys had been unpacked in almost a year and that was a tremendous blessing in disguise so we could actually unpack without "help". Gav is bound and determined to explore everything. He still crawls backwards 90% of the time, but he's finally figured out how to move forward.

We took the boys to the town's Halloween parade today. I didn't even think of bringing a trick or treat bucket for Isaac and regretted that when they started throwing out candy. I put out the diaper bag and let him use that instead. After every piece of candy he claimed he carefully closed the diaper bag and made sure no one touched his candy. After the parade I tried to secretly rummage through the bag and found a kit kat... I tried to quietly eat it and was caught. Isaac said, "Mom did you take a piece of my candy? I don't think that was a good idea." Woops!

After the parade we drove to a farm 45 minutes away in Illinois to pick out some pumpkins and see their famous pumpkin cannon. We told Isaac he could have whatever pumpkin he wanted. He walked throughout the pumpkin patch and examined the pumpkins. Finally he found a little tiny sugar pumpkin and decided that would be the one he took home. We got another sugar pumpkin for Gav and Brett picked out two enormous pumpkins for us. Brett and Isaac loved the pumpkin cannon. It was a large pressurized cannon that would shoot pumpkins out. They let people pull the lever to shoot out the pumpkin. Isaac got the chance and thought it was so great.

We're loving the Midwest and think it is so beautiful. The colors of the trees are amazing! We have lots of new pics and would love to share them with you. I decided though since this is a public blog I am going to post my pictures on facebook. If anyone would like to view them and is currently not a friend on facebook, please add me and then you can see them all!

Never leave a child unattended...

After a night of minimal sleep thanks to Gavin... I turned on cartoons for Isaac when he woke up. I fell back asleep and became oblivious to my surroundings. Isaac remembered that I made banana bread last night and that I promised he could have a piece in the morning. This is what I woke up to find.

My sweet little Isaac was even thoughtful enough to feed some to his brother. What a good brother!

Brett's Graduation

It's taken me about 3 weeks to get this post up because right after we got home from Phoenix we drove to Salt Lake. We're so burned out on traveling! Since July we have taken 3 trips to Vegas, 2 indirect flights to Moline, IL, 1 flight to Fort Worth, 18 hours driving to Phoenix and back, 8 hours driving to SLC and back, and next month we'll attempt the 20 hour drive to our new home. We've decided that we're not going ANYWHERE for a long time!

Brett's graduation was really awesome. Really hot (113 Record Heat!) but really awesome. It was great seeing friends and family. It almost seemed unreal watching Brett walk across the stage. These last few years have flown by so fast! It feels great to be done... for now. Brett joked right after graduation that he might as well start on his doctorate... Ha Ha Brett. Very funny.

And the verdict is...

Brett, Gavin and I had a very interesting time in Fort Worth. To start, we underestimated how busy the Las Vegas airport would be at 4:30 AM. I can't believe how early people get up to fly! We managed to make our flight without a minute to spare. After we got our rental car... of course we got lost!!! Brett and I agreed that the $10 for the GPS would have probably saved us that much in wasted gas. It was fun though and we saw lots of the city. We had a wonderful steak dinner in the historic Fort Worth area. It was seriously one of the best steaks I'd ever tasted. They offered Brett a position and we stewed about it for a few days. We decided that we really liked the Quad Cities better and Brett accepted their offer.

We're really excited to get the show on the road and get situated. Our camera is still MIA so I still have no new pics. Gavin is losing his hair rapidly though and I am very dissapointed. I loved his auburn curls. Hopefully it grows back in curly. He's getting more and more mobile by the day. He can roll over both ways, scoot backwards, and is trying his hardest to scoot forward. Gav is a talker too and always has something to say. Isaac is starting to play with Gavin and has started to give him attention. Gavin thinks Isaac is very interesting and loves to watch him play. I think they are going to be great buddies.

Lessons Learned

The only traveling Brett and I have done in the last 3 years has been between Phoenix, St George, and SLC to visit the fam. Last Thursday Brett, Gavin and I flew out to the Quad Cities IA/IL for a job interview. I do admit that I am very much a cheapskate and generally cut costs every possible corner. United Airlines now charges $15 to check a bag. I'm not impressed. To get around that I packed as little as I could so we could just do a carry on each. I packed 2 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, and took 1 pair of sandles to wear while we were there...

Mistake #1. I knew there was a "chance" of rain, but didn't think much of it.

The "chance" of rain was more like a downpour of almost 2 inches. My one pair of leather sandles got soaked and didn't dry for almost 24 hours...

Mistake #2. Taking only 2 pairs of shorts.

Friday afternoon Gavin got a little carsick and threw up all over me. Twice. Brett decided to wash them for me while I cleaned Gavin up and the humidity kept them from drying the rest of the trip.

Saturday morning on the first leg of our journey home Gavin had a blowout... on my white shorts... Beautiful brightly colored baby poop.

The moral of the story is always pack in excess when traveling w/ kids. I've learned my lesson the hard way and have seen the light.

Overall it was a good trip and we were very impressed with the area. Next week we're heading out to Fort Worth and we'll see how it compares... stay tuned!

Small Town Fun

It's been a long time since I have spent the 4th of July in a small town. I had forgotten how much fun it is! Back in the good old days my neighbor would set off dynamite in the early hours of the morning to wake everyone up. We heard a couple test rounds Friday evening, but unfortunately none in the morning. We went down to the park at noon where everyone was gathered for water activities. The older kids had a slip 'n' slide and a bunch of fun water games. Isaac had a blast playing with a kiddie pool filled with balls. Then the fire department got out the massive fire hose and turned it on full blast. Brett, Isaac, Brady, and Ayda joined out in the fun and were under the "rain". The kids had a great time.

We tried to get Isaac ready for fireworks by watching them on YouTube. He was really excited until it started to get dark at the park. He got really nervous and scared. About half way through them he finally relaxed and enjoyed the show. I think the best part for Brett and I was leaving the kids on the blankets with the grandparents for a couple minutes... so we could go line dance! I think it's probably been about 10 years since I've line danced and it felt like it. By the end I was pretty wiped out. It was a great workout! Brett was giving it his all to impress the 14-15 yr old boys he teaches at church. They got a huge kick out of watching him dance.

Gavin has started sleeping through the night and I am counting my blessings. He got weighed the other day and was a little over 13 lbs. I thought that was huge considering his cousin Toren who is 5 months older is only 15 lbs. Turns out that I'm just used to being around tiny kids. Gavin was only in the 50th percentile.

Isaac has found a love for reading and is obsessed with Curious George, Clifford, and Little Critter books. We introduced him to Green Eggs and Ham on Friday and he can't get enough of it. I love reading to him and seeing him soak up the stories. His favorite place in the world is still Grandpa Josie's house and he asks all the time when we can go there again.

I don't have anything exciting going on... just trying to keep Isaac out of trouble. It's a full time job!

Gavin's Blessing

We finally blessed our chunky little one a few weeks ago. It was very memorable because he cried the entire time. I was very impressed with Brett because he was able to keep his composure the entire time and gave him a beautiful blessing. Gavin has been a bit of a crier and exercised his lungs a bit more than I was used to. He just struggled like crazy at meal time and would eat a little and then arch his back and cry and eat a little more and do the same thing over and over until we had both had enough. FINALLY I think I have discovered the culprit because after changing my diet and taking out all dairy products, we have a happy little baby again. It definitely isn't easy watching the others eat ice cream and quesadillas in front of me, but it is absolutely worth the difference in Gavin's demeanor.

I just had to add this picture because of his funky hair. It almost reminds me of a mini Conan O'Brien!

Also, since it's Father's day... Happy fathers day Brett. Brett has so much fun with his "mini me". Isaac always wants to be just like his dad and is absolutely 100% obsessed with golf because of his dad. Brett has introduced Isaac to the putting green and plethera of putters and the golf store and every day Isaac asks to go to the golf store. I think these two are going to be quite the pair. Brett's also a great dad to little Gavin. He loves to make Gavin laugh and loves to cuddle. He was even so nice the other night that he took the 3:00 AM shift so I could get some sleep. What a wonderful husband I have!