The Tall and Short of it

One of those Moments

2012-01-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

Sometimes being a mom is super hard. There's chores to be done, meals to be made, and a list of other things that consume our time (of course blogging is necessary :)). But yesterday was different. I was so productive and felt like my children were getting enough attention, too. It was so great when I asked Benson to put his coat away and it disappeared. Mind you, I couldn't find it when we needed it, he had REALLY put it away in the closet and who thinks to look where things really go? But they were being such good helpers. When Adam got home from school (post on that soon), we decided to see how much we could get done. it was a fun game. We made cookies, made dinner, cleaned up toys, worked on the laundry, and this picture barely does justice as to what happened. I had two loads of darks, one big, and one small so I was trying to find things to wash with the small one. I found a few things, but the brown towel would have put me just over the edge so I asked Adam to put it back in the bathroom and we would do a load of towels later. About 2 hours later I need to relieve myself, so I lift up the toilet seat and find this..

Yep! The towel that I had asked him to put away, he definitely stuffed into the toilet. And he politely closed the lid when he was done :)

It was one of those moments that I'm sure I could have freaked out and screamed and yelled, but instead I couldn't stop laughing. In fact, just typing this I'm laughing so hard because I think it's so funny. Yes, being a mom is hard. Staying home all day is hard. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I still have a lot to learn, but that's why I keep trying. I keep looking for things I can do to be a better mom, and laughing at this, well that's just a baby step, but a step is a step, and someday I might jusy\t make it to the top!

Since then

2012-01-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

Well, we left 2011 in the dust! We've had an interesting year, and just know that 2012 is going to be just as interesting! Here are some pictures of our holidays.

We made gingerbread houses with cousins (well, ate candy and hoped the houses would build themselves...), got new jammies and pillowcases for Christmas,

I just have to say. My boys are pillowcase kids. As long as they have their pillow they will sleep anywhere. Adam has had the same pillowcase since he was basically born. My mom made them new ones and they both went nuts! Adam's is Lightning McQueen to match his bed and Benson's has balls on it. Now they always ask for their pillows.

We went to Salt Lake to see Helaman's mission friends.

Tomaz was here from Brazil, and we met up with the Kimballs who have a little girl who is the boys' age. They were so cute at the fountains at Gateway, and the boys really loved Tomaz by the end of the day. It was great to see him again and catch up with everyone!

Of course there were birthdays, and Christmas, and many other things that happened, but I don't have pictures on my camera, and let's be honest. I don't want to post anything that I don't have pictures for!

In other good news, Adam has NO hearing loss, we took him in for a big test, so now we're good to start him in preschool in the district when he turns 3...next week...I can't believe it. Also next week, we find out if we're having a little boy or a little girl! Benson is convinced it's a girl and he tells me all the time. He'll give me a hug and say baby girl..So cute. So we'll of course have a post dedicated to that next Friday!

Halloween

2011-11-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

I'll admit. Halloween is my LEAST favorite holiday of the year. Well, Valentine's day is right up there too. Anyway, you can imagine my excitement when my boys didn't care to dress up, didn't care about the candy, they just plain didn't care. So we just had a normal day (after I spent all day Saturday making a costume that was worn just long enough to get these pictures). We did a trunk or treat Saturday night, but neither boy wanted to wear the costumes then either...ya, I'm a little bitter, but luckily I didn't pay a penny for either of them, and we put them on, took pictures, took them off and went about our business. They are really cute tho!

Benson re-used Adam's elephant from last year. This may have been the problem. Adam thought it was HIS costume, and he wanted to be an elephant. Well, Benson also wanted to be an elephant and NOT Mr. Potato Head. Enter brotherly-love! Benson LOVED having the hat on his head. He would walk around making his elephant sound until Adam tried to rip it off....

Adam was a Mr. Potato Head created from a brown pillowcase and some felt. Would have been super cute if I didn't have to cut such a massive hole for his head to fit through...Just love his pose. What a cutie.

Until next year when the boys will understand and want to dress up, I'm going to be really grateful that I didn't have to worry about it this year!

withdrawals

2011-10-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

This week I've started noticing a few things the boys seem to be missing. Just last night Benson walked around in his swimming floatees for a good twenty minutes. Every time we talk about animals at the zoo they want to go outside to go to the zoo. I guess they liked the things we did this summer. So last night while Benson was walking around in his floatees, Aunt Saryn called. Helaman told her what was going on and she said, "well, you should just put a pool in your kitchen." If you know Helaman, you know that when an idea is suggested, he runs with it...This comment sparked something in his head, and he went to all of our neighbors asking if they had a pool. Luckily one of them did, and this is what happened next...

The boys helping dad get it ready,

This is how we filled it with water...From the pan to the tote, to the pool

LOVING IT!!

They were even more crazy after we filmed this, but we used the other camera. This is what we do when we're going through Phoenix withdrawals. We bring it to Provo!!

The Moments that Matter Most

2011-09-13T19:53:00.001-07:00

Before you read my post, I want you to watch this video here

Now, if you can read through your tears, I want to share an experience with you. I attended my first Relief Society mid week activity in our new ward tonight, and it was called RSU (relief society university) Orientation. We each received a binder with papers in it and it was all organized like a college class would be. there was a syllabus, course requirements, and a graduation application. It was so much fun. The courses were the 8 items listed in the relief society handbook- homemaking, family history and temple work, compassionate service, health, etc. In each of the 'courses', you are invited to complete some of the tasks, and then you can apply for graduation based on how many you complete in each course. In one of them, it talks about coming up with a motto. it invites you to not watch tv for 4 weeks, there is one that talks about finding things in your life that are in excess, and cutting back so you can enjoy the finer things in life.

Well, I was contemplating how I could cut back, and I saw this video Helaman had sent me. And it made me really stop and think. Do I miss some of the moments that matter because I'm telling my kids no because I'm FB stalking someone I don't even know? Or am I trying so hard to get something done that I miss Adam saying his first word?

So I'm here saying right now. I am NOT going to miss a moment that matters because of things that can wait. Nothing is more important to me than my family, and I'm going to make all of the moments we have together matter!

"We prepare each day for eternal life. If we are not preparing for eternal life, we are preparing for something else, perhaps something far less."

Elder M Russell Ballard

the rocking horse

2011-08-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

Can I just say how excited I am for our new house?! The boys bedroom is right off of the kitchen, and they play SO well with their toys while I'm hard at work doing the boring stuff.. I'm always looking in and finding them doing silly things. Like today, Adam had the harmonica and he was humming into it, while they were both jumping on his bed... And they found hats and put them on then started dancing.

I posted pictures of this cute horse when Adam got it for his birthday, but he was kind of timid on it. He hadn't figured out how to ride it but now, now he knows. And he rides the horse til I get scared the horse will buck him off. Here's a cute video of him riding it...and Benson playing the harmonica in the background...

Thanks Grandpa for the awesome rocking horse. it's providing hours of entertainment!

10 things I'll miss

2011-07-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

The countdown to UT is now officially 4 days! We move back Friday, and I'm starting to wonder what it's going to be like! We don't know where we're moving for school, but we're getting excited to be close to family and friends. It's been a great summer. But there are AT LEAST 10 things I know I'll miss (in no particular order).

10- The furniture we've borrowed. This may seem odd, but I love it because everything matches!! The couches are comfy, we actually have a bed frame, and I love the artwork on our walls.

9-My maid service. Some ladies have been pretty crummy, but I LOVE the smell of Pine Sol and 409 when I walk into the house!

8- Our ward! It's been a fantastic ward, the spirit there is amazing. I loved the Enrichment activities I went to and I'm so excited to complete the Book of Mormon project they just introduced.

7- The zoo. I'm really going to miss being 3 minutes away from the zoo. I think the boys will miss it too. They light up when I ask them if they want to go.

6- Helaman's job. I don't know how Helaman feels, but I know that I'll miss the crazy parties they throw, and we're hoping we'll be able to party with them next year.

5- My industrial sized washer and dryer. It's just so great to only have to do two loads of laundry a week! I was doing 7 a week in Provo. I guess it could be that my boys don't wear clothes 65% of the time, but still. 2 loads a week? I'll miss that for sure!

4- The heat. Is this weird? Maybe... But I enjoy the sun, and I don't think it bothers me as much as it may other people.

3- Our gym. I've only been like 8 times, but still. Just knowing that it's there if I wanted to go is something I'll miss.

2- The friends I've made. We swim at least once a week, and try to rotate babysitting for dates. Such a great group of ladies.

1- the POOL!!! I LOVE that we can go swimming whenever we want to and that the boys will go with me. I'm definitely going to have a hard time not swimming a couple of times a week. Especially when there are 8 inches of snow on the ground in UT...Sure not looking forward to that right now!

Love the visitors

2011-07-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

We've had a pretty great week. We (I) have been to 4 baseball games, been swimming 3 times, been to the zoo, and loved every minute of it. Kaulin and Shaunie came on Wednesday and it's been so fun to have them here. I'll just upload a bunch of pictures, it's more fun that way.

We went swimming,

Went to the train park and rode the carousel and the train,

Went to the baseball games, (we didn't take any pictures on Friday because we were in the box, and didn't take our cameras. Big mistake. We won't be forgetting that tho).
The boys and I made it onto the jumbo tron again. There were like 15 of us, so it wasn't just the boys this time like it was last time, but I'd say that's a pretty good record for Adam and Benson!
This man was AWESOME! He was so funny- he's got a really deep scratchy voice, and he'd sing, "lemonade, lemonade, like grandma made." and "I got cotton candy, and you can have some, if you can afford it!" We sat in the sections that he worked Thursday and Saturday and it was really fun. I wish I could have got it on video, but I didn't.

Our farewell to Chase field for the 2011 season. It was a good week to spend at the ballpark. (And I found some garlic fries like the ones we had at Safeco. They are AMAZING. Except I will smell like garlic for over a week now. It was totally worth it!)

They gave out these hats Saturday night, and we brought them back and gave them to the boys. I think they like them :) And they say 'cheese' for everything!

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

2011-07-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

So it's kinda hot here. Ok, REALLY hot here. And since it starts getting hot before I wake up, we've stopped going to the zoo as much, and started swimming more. The boys LOVE it. And thank you so much Wal-Mart, for carrying Puddle Jumpers so that I can swim with both boys by myself!

Both boys will swim to get a ball or something else in the pool that they want. Now we'll just have to find a pool we can crash when we're back in UT!!

Utah again

2011-06-27T13:19:00.001-07:00

We went back to UT again for a family reunion and some parties, and I'm sure glad we did! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures at the reunion, or the parties, but I got some of the things in between! It really was a blast!

On our way back from Gooseberry we saw this Mater in Gunnison. It was a real truck that they had designed to look like Mater parked in front of a movie theater. Adam LOVED it. I wish I could have captured his face when he realized what it was.

This is grandpa's car. The boys really enjoyed the ride, and especially loved that you could see the sky while you were riding :)

I just had to throw this one on for smiles :)

Just a normal Thursday?

2011-06-17T08:01:00.001-07:00

Yesterday started pretty normal, we went to the zoo, watched some cartoons, played on the patio, and helped Benson take a good nap. So Adam and I made cookies. He's a big help.

We started by mixing the dough, then we rolled it in cinnamon and sugar, Adam put them on the cookie sheet

(I love the finger prints in these :)).

We only lost one cookie when he thought he needed to try and roll it like I was...Then we lost the cinnamon and sugar- my floor needed to be mopped anyway.But I would say the cookies turned out nicely!!!

Enrichment was at 6:30 so I got ready and ran off to that. Helaman decided to take the boys to the stake house to play some bball and about 45 minutes into enrichment I got the look...the LETS GO look. Adam found an ant hill and got attacked. I wish you could see the bites in the picture, but I couldn't get one to show just how many he had (At least 40). Luckily the bites didn't seem to itch too badly so we put some Benadryl cream on them and he went to bed.

(Love the pose? He's pretty good at striking this one for the camera)

He still has little bumps on his arm and ankles, but they're not puffy and swollen like they were last night.

Now for today? Bee stings, soap in eyes, more stitches? Pretty sure we're ready for whatever the day brings!

Sign

2011-06-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

We've been working with Adam trying to get him to talk for about a year now and the only thing that is semi-working is baby sign. He's saying a couple of words but nothing that will eliminate tantrums or screams because we don't understand what he wants. This is my new favorite that he does:

I LOVE YOU!

He will also say help, eat, please, more, thank you, all done, drink, again, and he's teaching Benson as he goes. So glad it's working!

the sea life aquarium

2011-06-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

We ventured out to the aquarium Saturday... and I'm so glad we did because the boys LOVED it!! I wish I would have had my camera out the whole time because these few pictures don't do it justice. Benson just wanted to play in the tanks, and Adam was telling us all about all of them (in his own little point and grunt way). There was a little pool where you could hold the star fish and crabs, there were these little bubbles so you could stand up "in" the tank, and Benson's favorite part was the walk-through tank where the fish swim under you, and by you. Such a neat day out (and I know it was good because when we left Helaman said, "Wow, that was a blast. We should blog about it").

Really the best part was the indoor play area for the kids. The boys played on this slide for seriously 30 minutes.

UTAH!

2011-06-02T16:15:00.001-07:00

We got to go back to Provo last week for what seemed like the craziest week of my life!! Luckily I got to do everything I wanted, and even a few things I didn't! The boys loved having so many people pay attention to them, they sure know how to show off for a crowd! Here are a few pictures of our trip!

Remember how last week Adam cut his head on the coffee table? Well he couldn't resist re-injuring it by hitting it on the kitchen chair...Silly kid. Back to the dr, and more strips were put on. It's healed now and looks fine.

I don't have a not-blurry picture...sorry

Matt graduated from high school and seminary. I was sure happy to be there!

And Kara left on her mission...What a neat experience. Her farewell was Sunday, then we dropped her off at the MTC on Wednesday. The two elders who helped her with her luggage were great. As we were walking away, they were carrying her things, and when she offered to help they said,"just relax, chill out!" I hope she remembers that through the tough times! She'll be a great missionary!

She would kill me if she ever saw this on here! :) haha

Adam and Benson each gave her a kiss

And the final activity I was there for was the state baseball tournament. I was SO glad I could be there to watch Matt play in his final season of high school ball. It's interesting because the majority of the kids on the varsity team have been playing together since they were 8!! And together they've managed to win 3 titles in a row! Yep, AWESOME! They lost to Snow Canyon and made their way through the rest of the losers bracket only to play Snow Canyon again. They had to beat them twice to win, and beat them, they did! Matt pitched the championship game, and the game was AWESOME! The boys play so well as a team and it is so fun to watch them. I was so sad the battery died in my camera that I didn't get any pictures, but I'm so happy for them!

Baseball!

2011-05-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

I'm still so excited about this! Last night we went to a diamondbacks game and found out that you can get a free ticket by showing a military ID. Well, I still have mine, so I showed it to the lady and she gave us 2 free tickets! I guess Helaman looks military or something...So as we were walking through security an older gentleman walked past us and gave us his tickets. For the 3rd ROW!! So we used our military tickets and you better believe we walked right down to the 3rd row and used his seats (The tickets he gave us were $120 each)!! Now let me back up. I've been an Atlanta Braves fan since I was probably 13. I would watch every game that was shown on TV, I could tell you the player stats, I was pretty much obsessed.

I idolized Chipper Jones, and wished so badly that I could play like him. So since then my dream has been to see a Braves game. Even though the roster has completely changed, and I don't really know the players anymore, I still needed to go to a Braves game. I went online last week and found the Braves were playing here and lost it. My dream was coming true. Then I get to sit on the 3rd row, less than 60 feet from Chipper Jones while he's playing 3rd base?!?!! FOR FREE?!?!!!Let me tell you, I was ECSTATIC!! So we enjoyed the game, and Benson even made it onto the big screen...Totally cool, the camera found him while he was dancing on Helaman's shoulders, then he found himself on the center field screen and stopped and pointed. ADORABLE. On the metro on the way home, a lady saw him and was like, "Hey, you're the kid who found himself on the big screen, huh? You're pretty cute!" Very cool. So, the only thing that would have made it better is if the Braves had won and I would have got the fly ball that the kid sitting in front of us got...Oh well, it was great, and I'll be crossing that off my bucket list!

shout out to this kid

2011-05-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

What a stud! He showed me again last night that I am supposed to be his mom. Last night at our sleep over (he and I slept on the floor in the living room so I could make sure he didn't pull his band-aid off), we had a good chat. We said prayers and I sat next to him and said "Adam, thank you for being so strong and teaching me how to be strong." He looked and me and said "uh" with a big smile. Sometimes I don't know if he understands me or not because he doesn't always react and he sure doesn't say words, but last night I knew he understood. I know that he was sent to me to teach me that I can do things that I never thought I could. My favorite thing about Adam is that he knows me. He knows when I'm stressed or just need a hug, and it's at those times that he will come up and give me a kiss, or pull my head down and smile really big for me. He knows. I just hope I can do the same for him when he needs it. Love you bud!

Museum and more zoo

2011-05-13T13:32:00.001-07:00

So we went with our friends to the Museum of Natural history in Mesa this week. I would definitely go again if the boys were older. There weren't really things for them to do besides play outside in the wood chips digging for fossils...But we fit 3 car seats in our friend's trailblazer,and I think my boys were ok with it, but poor Isabel, I think she was feeling crowded.

They had several dinosaurs, and that was about all we saw. It was worth it though to be in the air conditioned buildings.

Benson- what does a dinosaur say?

We have put our zoo membership to good use. I think I've been about 5 times since I got it two weeks ago...I have to make it worth 50 bucks! But the boys get SO excited when I ask them if we should go to the zoo. Today Adam decided he wanted to play with the goats. And the cows. How sweet is he?

(please ignore me in the video, i've been trying to compliment the boys more than discipline them. I

guess I better learn some new phrases! )

And here are some of us just doing what we do

adam totally thought he was super man, and was dancing for me.

the zoo and railroad park

2011-05-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

I have been much more ambitious this week than I have been probably in the last 2 years...I had a ton of things on my Phoenix to do list and I've started crossing them off. Or just putting a mark by the ones that I want to do again! :) The first thing we did was go to the zoo. I've never been an animal lover, but I was hoping that the boys would enjoy the zoo so much that we could go back every day...

This is how that ended... Benson fell asleep and Adam just wanted to drink..It wasn't so bad. In fact, I really enjoyed it, and plan to use it as my morning walk at least a couple of times a week. I guess the boys thought it was okay. There's another mom whose husband just started working with Helaman this week and she has an 18 month old girl so we teamed

up with her to check it out. Here's a picture of the petting zoo. (It was kind of like

seeing dogs. From a distance they're great, but as soon as they start making noises and coming after you, it's a little bit scary!) -ps, thanks gammy :) for the sunglasses, the boys love them :)

Then yesterday we went to the railroad park in Scottsdale. I'd heard about it but didn't really know what to expect. It was AWESOME! There's a playground, a mini train that you can ride around the park, a carousel, and a sweet display of trains in the museum. Literally the coolest train display I've ever seen.. I think the boys liked it more than the zoo. Adam got beat up pretty good, poor kid kept falling on his forehead-maybe I can get a picture of the bruises-but I definitely will be going there again.

Today is a go-to-the-pool kind of a day. I didn't get ready this morning so I figured why not go get sunburned? It's over 100 degrees out there anyway, why not take advantage?

Our new game

2011-04-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

We were playing on the patio today and Adam pressed his face up to the glass door and started making faces. I wish I could have caught the first face he made, but these are pretty good too!

Our home/away from home

2011-04-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

So on our way to Phoenix we got to stop in Mexico- Okay, on our way to Mexico we stopped in Phoenix, dropped our stuff off, and continued on. We stayed in a home just off the beach, it was an AMAZING view from the front door of the water. The boys started out a little bit nervous in the water, but by the end they didn't want to leave. The sunsets were amazing, and Benson started his own mariachi band. We had an easter egg hunt, and spent part of Easter at our house on the way back. We stopped and had to wave goodbye to our family for a few months.

tuff guys

2011-04-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

We went to the park just before leaving Provo and taught the boys how to hang from the monkey bars. They're getting pretty strong. And Helaman took Benson for a bike ride. Needless to say he loved it! :)

Adam's latest

2011-03-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

So I've been noticing lately that Adam doesn't always seem to be looking directly at me. One eye is slightly wandering. I suspected a lazy eye, so I took him to the eye doctor. Turns out he's not got one lazy eye, but he is cross-eyed. There's a different 'official' term for it, but I don't remember. Regardless, we went and got glasses for him today. I feel so bad making him wear them, but thought that the world may enjoy the step-by-step process getting him to wear them (the longest they've stayed on is about 1.75 minutes- just long enough for me to take him upstairs, show him himself in the mirror and walk back downstairs... oh well. I think he's pretty dang cute :)that's the 1st try....This is how he REALLY feels about it
This is how hard it was to get him to stay there...This is after we remembered we have Toy Story...This is about how long he left them on. Just long enough to hear the opening 20 seconds of Toy Story!! Better luck next time.. But doesn't he look so cute?

bridals/groomals

2011-02-15T07:14:00.000-08:00

Our cousin Janica took some bridals/groomals for us on Saturday. Yes, we have been married over 3 years, but I wanted to get some pictures of my dress since after scrapbooking our wedding I realized I didn't have many. Here is the link to the pictures that Janica took. Beware, they're AMAZING! :) Enjoy..
http://www.janicalarae.com/little-bit-olove-with-the-haynies/

Wrestling or Football?

2011-02-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

So Benson's a little bit aggressive. Okay, so Benson's a lot bit aggressive. So today I found a bear for him to fight so that he will stay away from Adam because Adam's a lover, not a fighter. Anyway, this is what Benson does with his bear... I think he'll be a wrestler/football player. What do you think?

Benson's new trick

2011-01-25T10:03:00.001-08:00

I know I say this every time my boys learn something new, but this is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Benson came up to me with a little cup and a huge grin. Next thing I know he's sucking the cup to his face. Check it out:I am still laughing over this. He does it for 30 seconds at a time. He may have bruises tomorrow, but I couldn't stop him, I think it's adorable!

Just since December

2011-01-20T13:24:00.000-08:00

Our lives aren't busy most of the year, but when The end of November comes around it gets pretty crazy. Benson's b-day, Christmas, Adam's b-day, there were family parties, doctors appointments, I started a job, school starts again, there was a car show, I could really go on all day. But here's a brief show of what we've been up to. Start- Benson's birthday: He's a pretty active kid, and he's been standing up on his own now for about 2 months. And he sure figured out how to unwrap things by himself. it was a good party.I thought Benson would dig into his cake. But he didn't, he just ate frosting from around the edges. I think it was because the frosting was NASTY. Goats milk doesn't make good frosting...
Here are a few pics of Christmas morning. The boys loved the presents that the other brother got, but they're pretty good about sharing them now.Adam had a really great birthday. We had friends and family over and had Superman cupcakes.

This is my favorite picture maybe ever. It's a little dark, but I hope you can see it ok. Dad and Adam. Priceless. Here's a picture of Adam at the car show. I think he's going to need a big truck when he grows up Adam got this really cute rocking horse from my dad for his birthday. He was pretty nervous to ride it at first but he LOVES it now. Benson found this orange in the trash and decided he wanted to eat it after I told him no...I guess he really wanted it.

quick pic

2011-01-19T13:29:00.000-08:00

Trent and Adam.

2010-12-13T13:05:00.002-08:00

I super updated the blog...3 posts in one day..Don't forget to scroll down and read them all!

Kara's Mission Call

2010-12-13T12:40:00.001-08:00

Kara opened her mission call yesterday and is going to the Brazil, Maceio mission. She leaves May 25, and reports directly the the Brazil MTC. Our family is so excited for her, and we hope she is too! Here are fun pictures of everyone who came to share the moment with her.

SLEDDING!

2010-12-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

Growing up my family would go to the cabin ALL the time. I decided it is something I want my kids to enjoy as much as they can. So on Saturday we packed up the snow gear and headed up the mountains. Adam loved it, Benson looked a lot like the kid on A Christmas Story and couldn't move because his coat is so big. Anyway, they loved it and I think they'll let us go again!

Benson's First Reaction

2010-12-13T12:18:00.001-08:00

These pictures make Benson look like he was hit by a train. Really, it was a shot of dairy. Ya, the poor guy's allergic to milk. Usually he just gets little hives around his mouth, but this time he got little blisters on the tops of his eyes, then it got way bad.
He looks like Will Smith in Hitch. Luckily no trips to the ER, no breathing issues, just confirmation that the poor guy is allergic to the greatest drink ever!

Halloween & Playing in the Leaves

2010-11-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

Halloween was so much fun this year. I loved getting the boys dressed up and thought their costumes were as cute as could be. We had an elephant and a super cute cowboy! Here are some of the pictures that were taken.

And Benson loved the leaves! Adam sure didn't, but that's okay because I always post pictures of Adam, so here are some cute ones of Bugs.
This is probably my favorite picture of the fall. Kara and I were scrapbooking and Benson found himself stuck in the bar stool. I told him to say cheese so he did!

He did it!!

2010-11-09T19:01:00.001-08:00

I know I was so excited about Adam taking four steps in the last post, but please notice how far he's walking in this one. He was SO excited to do it (I get a little bit frustrated because he won't walk with me, but as you can see he sure is loving walking to Helaman)! So great, here it comes! First it's Adam, then comes Benson! (Benson turns the light off halfway through. Sorry- not the best video)

He's so proud! And so's his dad! :)

Step by step

2010-10-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

Words can't express how excited I am to make this post. Adam is making such strides in his walking these days (pun intended). Everyday he does something new and I LOVE it! We've been trying to get him to walk for almost a year now, and last week he showed us all that it doesn't matter what we want him to do because he'll do what he wants when he wants to. So, here are pictures of him standing the first day he did it (which happened to be conference weekend so during the priesthood session we went to the new North Park in SF and played in the fountains. He loves water, what can I say?), and a movie of him taking some steps!

the grotto

2010-10-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

We hiked the grotto in Payson a couple of weeks ago.. I kind of left my camera in SF so I couldn't post anything...so sorry. Anyway, this hike can't even be classified as a hike, it's more properly classified as a beautiful river walk. There isn't much water left, we went the wrong time of year for that, but instead we got to see all of the foliage. Totally worth it for me and the boys seemed to enjoy it too. A little family picture I think this is my favorite picture of the day. He's looking at Helaman and Benson at the top of the waterfall and was scared for them...Can you tell I love this kid? And here you can see what he was looking at..

The mountain man

2010-08-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a sad day for me as I really thought He-man's beard was AWESOME! But, in hopes of maybe getting used to the BYU honor code again he decided to shave it off last week. He's no longer a mountain man, he's just your everyday clean-shaven boy. Here are pictures of the beard that he so proudly grew this summer.

Somersaults

2010-08-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

Adam's not walking yet-I'm starting to wish he were, but he loves to do somersaults. I'll find him bent over just waiting for me to come flip him. He sat for 2 minutes once and didn't make a sound. Just patiently waited for me to flip him. He's so chill. And Benson is a maniac!! Anyway, here's a video of Adam doing somersaults!

Brothers?

2010-08-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

I was going through all of the pictures I have of the boys trying to organize them, and I wanted to compare them at their different ages. I found one of Adam in a stroller about the same age I took this one of Benson. What do you think? Do they look alike?

Benson is moving!

2010-08-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

Benson is moving. And by moving I mean moving! He goes wherever he wants and gets there by worming it! :) He goes up and down until he gets where he wants. I wish we had more room for him to get around, but he'll be in heaven when he has a whole apartment to move around in! and I apologize for the low quality footage...I figure it still shows what he can do.

Denver

2010-08-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

We went to Denver last weekend. It was so much fun! We went to a Rockies game, Helaman and I went to the temple, we went to a nickel arcade, and just hung out. I wish this was a better picture, but it was raining SO hard on the way to the game. There was a point where there was at least 6 inches of water on the freeway. CRAZY!! Here are two of the boys at the game. Crazy- yes, that is blue sky above the stadium. Ten miles really does make that much difference! Here we are at the nickel arcade. Adam loved racing as long as I didn't touch the steering wheel. And here is his first time on the merry go round by himself. He didn't like it at first, but he warmed up to it towards the end. I'm so glad we went to Denver. It was a much needed vacation, and I hope the boys enjoyed it as much as I did.

loads of pictures!

2010-07-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

Seeing as it's been so long since I last posted, I'll just put some pictures up and you can write your own story. We haven't done much, the boys and I have gone up to the job site a few times since we got back from Utah to help, we went for a Sunday walk yesterday and saw lots of deer and found a bounce house (yes, in Lake City, within walking distance from our house...who knew?), and have just been enjoying the summer. It's getting tough-I've done just about everything there is to do by myself, but with the boys working 55 hours a week it's kinda hard to have time to do stuff as a whole family. But, we're heading to Denver Thursday after work!! YAY!! We're going to a Rockies game, going to the temple, gonna do some shopping, and swimming, and just relax from the day-to-day..If anyone knows anything really fun to do in Denver, leave me a comment and we'll fit it in...Sorry. here are the pictures!

This is what Helaman's been up to

2010-07-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

http://cmc-cathy.blogspot.com/

Check this out! This is the blog created by one of Helaman's co-workers. She's doing this job as kind of an internship for her degree here in Colorado. I wanted to post updated pictures myself, but she is doing a great job. Make sure and read it from oldest to newest to get the full experience!

The alpine job

2010-06-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

The boys and I went up to the job site yesterday. It's definitely a different road than I expected, and of course we got a flat tire on our way up there so we had to switch it for our spare. Anyway, it's SO beautiful up there. Literally on the top of the world, but in a little gully and the cabins sit up a little bit in the woods. I would go back for a camping trip for sure. So here are some pics..I didn't take pictures of the inside- Kathy, one of the assistants, is doing a blog of the transformation so as soon as I find out what that link is I'll post it so you can see, but it's definitely a good project! Lots of work can be done.

More, more, more

2010-06-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

I'm really bad at this game. I take tons of pictures, I just don't put them on here. And, my battery died so I didn't take any on Sunday or Monday, but I got some yesterday. I'm super bummed because I found a new park across the river today that has two baby swings on it so both boys got to swing at the same time and when I got to the park there were 8 deer crossing the street, and as I walked towards them they just kept going. I was 10 feet away from them and they didn't even care...I'm definitely going to have to get pictures of the fearless deer. Pics for today:1. We drove to lake San Cristobal. It's much larger than I thought and lots closer than I thought too. Probably freezing, but before summers over I will have jumped in and gone swimming in it!
2. I was trying to be artsy. Instead, it looks like Adam wants to eat that motor home. I would too, it's HUGE! The couple is from Daytona Beach, FL and it is a gigantic RV... A girl can dream...
3. Adam loves fruit snacks, and the boys love to fight over everything! If Benson has a toy, Adam wants it. So they spent about 10 minutes fighting over this wrapper. Adam usually wins but Benson puts up a good fight!

4. Adam sneezed twice so I started mimicking his sneeze and Benson was hysterical! He laughed so hard it was crazy! I think this is one of his more flattering photos! :)

Mission tomorrow: Back to the park with the deer, lots of pictures, and more smiles!

Check it out

2010-06-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

My sister and I have had a lot of fun lately making signature books for friends and family when they get married. Helaman is constantly telling me I need to make a website and team up with a bunch of photographers to include these books with their wedding packages, but I just love doing it so much that I haven't wanted to. Well, Kara decided that she's ready to get it going, so we've started a blog for them. We do baby books as well we just haven't put pictures of them on the blog. Keep checking back, we'll put new books up as often as we do them. In the meantime, if you're a photographer and would be willing to offer these books as part of a package, please comment (with your e-mail address), we'd love to work with you. If you're interested in a book, also leave a comment and we'll get in touch with you. This is something we LOVE doing and would love to make one for you or someone you know!

mkscrapbooks.blogspot.com

End of the week

2010-06-19T14:57:00.001-07:00

Well, we survived one week! But really it's been fun. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, it was a crazy day. Helaman woke up with the flu...So he went to work but didn't last the full day so he came home early! We didn't do much, he just slept, so I just hung out and waited for the day to pass. They all went to bed about 8. At about 10 Benson woke up choking and threw up about 5 times. It didn't worry me until he started gagging and having a hard time breathing. I was afraid it was an allergic reaction as it seemed that he was gagging on his tongue. (My tongue and throat swell when I have a reaction so I was scared). Well, I took him to the "Emergency Medical Center" (code for "hospital" in someone's house :)) and they said he had just aspirated the vomit. Meaning, when he threw up, he didn't know what to do with the extra spit, and it went back down his breathing tube. The doctor wasn't too worried about it, but he had me feed him and sent us back home. He said it could be the flu that Helaman had or that it could be that he didn't handle the ounce of formula that I gave him at all. Anyway, everyone is better today, there was a 50 mile race that started and ended here today so we went for a walk to downtown to watch people finish. I think the fastest finisher finished in 9 hours and 14 minutes. Pretty crazy considering you go up and down mountains each at 14,000 feet. Anyway, on to the pictures. Yesterday's walk we went to the post office then our normal loop around town.

Here's Benson in his cute hat!
On our way downtown today we found a bunch of caterpillars. We let Adam play with them...I thought he would freak out for sure, but he loved letting them crawl on his toes.

And Adam's favorite thing to do is swing in the kids swing! As soon as he sees the swing set his eyes light up and he gets SO excited!

On our way back from the park we met a lady who owns the 2nd oldest home in Lake City. She bought it from the original owner in the 70s for $1,300!!!It was the old school house, and she was amazed at the size and color of the boys' eyes. Her name was Collapee. We've decided that's the name of our next child if it's a girl...Just kidding!!

Day 2

2010-06-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

For today's adventure we went for a walk by the river. We didn't go very far as I wanted to save the rest of it for when Helaman can come with us. It was a lot of fun! Who needs a beach in California when you can go to the river and put your feet in the water... :)

New Challenge

2010-06-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I realized yesterday I might be in for it. Not because Helaman's gone about 13 hours a day or because the sun comes up at about 6 so the days seem extra long, or because I can't take my stroller into the stores in town because they're far too narrow, or if it's just because the boys are so small, or if it's because I can walk up and down each street in town and be back at the trailer in about 30 minutes....But because I am getting bored already...Day 3 and bored? Bad deal... Regardless of what will make it difficult, I've decided that I want to make it wonderful. I want so badly to look back on this experience and say how wonderful it was. In order to make the most of it, I'm going to take a picture of each of the boys everyday. I'll do my best to post everyday and hopefully have a neat experience to share, but even if I don't I hope I at least have an awesome picture. Then in the future we can look back at the pictures and remember the good times we had. Here are a few that summarize my feelings right now...Nap time- could it get much better?Every time I say something kind of down (especially "oh man"), Adam is right there to remind me I said it. Hopefully that alone will help me be more positive.

We're home!

2010-06-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

It's so great to finally be with Helaman in Lake City. We've spent weeks apart before but this time was especially difficult. I don't know if it's because I was jealous of where he was (normally he's in a tent :p), or if it's because I was ready to be in Lake City for the summer. I'm sure it was both, but we made it here yesterday. The ride out here wasn't too bad-we didn't have any vehicle malfunctions like we did when we moved the trailer out (we lost a wheel about 20 miles out of Grand Junction-yes, the entire wheel came off the axle), and it only took us 8.5 hours. Mapquest and Google said somewhere between 7.5 and 8, and even with 2 half hour stops we made it just like they said we would! The drive was great, and lake city is awesome. Except that it's raining here today like it rained in Provo last week. So we're just chilling in the trailer. I wanted to share some pictures out of our front door. It's SO beautiful! This is looking West. This is looking South And this is looking East. We are smack-dab in the middle of the mountains. Such a cute, quaint little town. We love it!

While the boys and I were in Utah, Benson started sitting up and is almost crawling. He wants to really bad. We gave him peas one day, and he figured out how to splatter them everywhere- it's as simple as spitting while the spoon full of peas is in your mouth..I just can't believe he's growing up so fast!

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

2010-06-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well, our adventure starts tomorrow. We leave for Lake City at 7 in the morning. Helaman will stay there and the boys and I will come here until the 13th. I can't believe it's here! We've been talking about it for a long time, and getting anxious for a long time, but we are officially into our 28 ft trailer and out of our apartment, starting this cool adventure. Here are the pictures in the trailer. this is where we're living! 28 feet of cramped, fun family living! See you all in September!

PICTURES!!

2010-05-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, I gave you the teaser, but here are the finals. I LOVE them, and fully recommend our photographer to everyone! Here are some more!

new pictures

2010-05-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

We had pictures taken of the boys this week. My old VTer took them and I LOVE them!! Here's the preview she posted, I'll post more when i get them but I love them SO much I can't wait that long!

http://www.jesseephotography.com/

Yeggybugs

2010-04-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

My sister used to call Ladybugs Yeggybugs when she was little. Since then, I have had a very hard time calling them Ladybugs. Anyway, There was a yeggybug crawling on our ceiling the other day so Helaman caught it and put it in a bowl. We worked SO hard trying to get Adam to just let it crawl on his hand. He did ok until he squished it between his fingers. He still thought it was alive so he kept trying to play with it more.

Here's another picture of Adam, our first trip to the park and his favorite toy-a ball!

And here's little LeBron. Well, kind of. We just think he's pretty cute in his Cavs (or Redmen) jersey and Nike tennis shoes.

Here's Benson -I don't take enough pictures of him (hence the reason you have to see me, too). He is getting so big, he rolls over from back to front-hasn't quite mastered front to back, and he HATES his stomach. My days are spent mostly just rolling him back over from stomach to back...

this is my monster

2010-03-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

Benson is growing up so fast. I can't believe it. He stood up in Helaman's hand about 8 times today. Adam did this once, in October. Yes, he was 9 months old before he would do it. Benson is now only 3 1/2 months old. The crazier part about it is that Benson loves it. He would cry until Helaman stood him up. Adam cries when you try to stand him up...They're going to be good for each other!
Here is the first go round...

This is the second go...

And this is Adam's one and only

I'm not ready for this!

2010-03-31T10:41:00.000-07:00

Adam has started climbing the stairs!! He took a really late nap yesterday and wasn't ready for bed until after midnight. Not cool, because Benson was ready at 9! Anyway, we told Adam it was time for bed so he crawled to the stairs and went up all 15! By himself! He's NEVER been close to the stairs before, and because we were so intrigued we recorded the whole thing. I had to do a reenactment for this video because it's way too much work to upload from our video camera, but here's this morning's trip up the stairs. He just knew how to do it. As long as he doesn't try to go down, I'm ok with it! Crazy kid!

This is For You Grandpa N!

2010-03-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

We love sports and hope our sons will enjoy them and participate in them. Now-we're open to basketball, golf, swimming, football, soccer-anything, really. But my dad is a little partial to baseball. When the boys were born, and for every birthday, he gives them a baseball. (and my grandma gives all of the kids a baseball or softball for Easter-something started by my grandpa).I think he's trying to push them to be baseball players, but who really knows... :) So, tonight we were playing with Adam's little 3 in 1 sports set and decided to try baseball. I think Adam liked it! :) He would not stop laughing and he kept pushing the bat out to hit it on his own. That didn't work so well, but he's getting it! Start 'em young, I guess! Sorry about the poor filmmaking, but I was trying to pitch and record at the same time.

family pictures

2010-03-12T12:01:00.002-08:00

We had family pictures with the Nelson family a couple weeks ago. They were done by Tom Garzand, a wonderful photographer in my parents' ward. It was an awesome shoot and they turned out SO great! Here's a couple for your viewing pleasure!

lots of pictures

2010-03-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

I don't have a lot to say other than we're moving to colorado this summer-helaman got an awesome internship/job as a project manager near Lake City. We're having a hard time finding somewhere to live-most of the condos there rent for around $1,000 a week, so we might be spending 3 months in a trailer. but it should be fun. Anyway, here are some pictures of what's been going on-mostly in the boys' lives since my last post.

we blessed Benson. Adam just loved playing on the chair with cousins

Adam discovered the dryer..and liked it until he tried to climb out and kept slipping back in..

play date with connor

we finished Grandma Nelson's quilt- quite the posterity!

we had a photo shoot! :) look how big Benson is getting!

we moved-and since we moved, Adam pulls himself up on EVERYTHING! And we LOVE it! Ya, we have to be careful what we leave within reach, but he's making progress!
We had family pictures taken just over a week ago-I'm excited and will definitely post them as soon as I get them.

Days gone by

2010-01-23T14:37:00.000-08:00

Well, Benson is 5 weeks old now, and is a great baby. He's started sleeping 5.5 hour stretches at night, which is wonderful, except that Adam wakes up and throws up about every morning around 6:30 or 7 and keeps me up the rest of the day. They're fun, here are some pictures we've taken the last little bit

.
We love these boys- and Benson is already starting to imitate his brother!! :) This is about 2 weeks ago.

This is the before and after the ride- Adam was so scared to get on with Grandpa, but you can see in the second picture that he absolutely loved it!

And this is our newest Star Trek imitator! Helaman loves to do this with the boys, and Adam's was funny- but Benson has the pointy ears to make this picture absolutely perfect! Benson's still pretty little- the nurse came to our house and weighed him this last week and he only weighed 9 lbs 14 oz. Not bad, but he was 8 lbs 10 oz when he was born. She said that's normal weight gain, but he's like his brother and just doesn't gain weight...

Birthday Party!!

2010-01-14T12:18:00.001-08:00

Adam's birthday party was probably much more fun for us than it was for Adam. He loves all of his new toys, but he taught us that he hates to be messy. He HATED the cake idea. It was neat to him until he touched it, then he just wanted to get down. And when he stuck his foot in it...No more cake! Maybe next year will be different. Here's the play by play.

Here's the final before he got into the tub. Didn't even take a bite of it!! Oh well. The rest of us thought it tasted pretty good! :)

Happy Birthday Adam!

2010-01-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

I just want to do a quick tribute to the cutest 1 year old ever! In his 1st year of life, he has been through so much. He is so strong, and though he's small, his heart is huge! Here's a little tribute to him and why we love him.
He joined us January 11, 2009. He was 5 days late, but when he decided to come, he was coming! After only 2.5 hours of labor, he was here (and I appreciated his speedy arrival)!Come February he had developed his love for Dad. As you can see, they're pretty good friends!
In March, Adam underwent his first surgery. They put a retainer in his mouth, and a chain through his gums. It was a very hard day for us all!In April we just hung out- Helaman was finishing school at Snow, and Adam was just trying to gain some weight. Didn't really happen! :)
May brought yet another surgery, this time was the lip repair. I probably cried more than he did. He proved once again that he has a high pain tolerance. And thank you to all the wonderful doctors who do incredible work!
June was just a fun month. Adam started sitting up and pretending he was going to crawl.. Still isn't- what a tease!
July meant no more nose stents- thank goodness! And just a lot of fun with family!
August brought our first trip to the Emergency Room following a tumble down the escalator in the stroller. Mom's heart broke, but all he needed was 5 stitches, and to pull a tooth!
We all know September means football! He was all ready for the game. He does love sports- we can't wait to take him to volleyball games this year.
First Halloween- he was the cutest lion in the land!
November was his final surgery for 2009 (and the dr. said it could be the last one he needs til he's 4)! The soft palate repair. this was by far the longest stay at the hospital, and bless his heart, he lost over a pound in the 4 days we were there! Here's to weight gain in 2010!
December brought a big change, a new brother! Adam is a great older brother and I know he will be in the future. He finally started to army crawl to get where he wants, and he'll stand up against things.

Adam, we love you!

Recent Happenings

2010-01-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

Both boys are asleep, so I have about 10 minutes to blog Christmas and all the fun things that have happened in the last little bit.

1st day at home
Adam had no idea what was going on. In fact, I still don't think he understands that he has to share with Benson. He loves that he gets to spend so much time with Dad, though. Benson is a good baby, he's already on a 3 hour schedule, and every other night he'll give me a 6 hour stretch! Hopefully soon we'll make that an every night sort of deal!

Surprise trip to Cedar
We made a quick trip to Cedar on the 23rd so the Haynies could meet Benson. And because all of the siblings were going to be in town for Christmas. We drove down early Wednesday, then came back Christmas Eve morning so Helaman could work. It was good to see everyone, and though it would have been neat to get a picture with everyone, we just got one with Grandma and the cousins.

Christmas
It's not every family that can say they had two kids celebrating their first Christmas together that aren't twins... We had to do matching onesies. Don't worry, Adam's is a 3-6 month, and Benson was almost too big for his 0-3. Oh well, that's what happens when dad is super tall and skinny! Adam had NO idea what was going on, except he loved to sit and look at the lights on the tree. Benson just slept. Adam did well to open one present Christmas morning, and then just wanted to roll around and play with his old toys. Santa treated them well, maybe next year will be a little bit more exciting.

Adam is crawling!
Well, as close to crawling as you can be without actually doing it. This is a little clip we took on Christmas, please turn off the volume before watching it (I swear, kids make parents act like fools! :)). But he is really fast at it now and will do it all over the house. Yay!

Adam is standing!
He loves to stand up against things. He won't pull himself up, but he loves it when he can just stand there and be like the big boys. He is getting more and more childlike (vs. babylike) everyday. I love watching him and seeing how fast he grows and learns new things!

Adam's goofy faces
He mimicks everything we do! It's unbelievable. But we love to make faces at him and see what he will come up with. He makes one with really squinty eyes, that is just hilarious, but I can't manage to get a picture of that one. So, this is one of my other favorites.

All the boys
This is my new favorite picture. Adam is so sweet with Benson. Whenever he starts crying, Adam will wiggle over to him on the floor and just watch him, expecting me to hurry over and make everything better. Already looking out for his little brother. So sweet.

So, Christmas break is now over, Helaman has started school, which means I'm flying solo most of the time. It's ok except for when both boys need to eat, and none of us have showered for about 3 days! :) We're getting the hang of it, and I'm afraid that before I know it I'll be wishing they were both this age again instead of making trouble!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2010-01-01T12:16:00.000-08:00

We wish you all a very happy new year!! We've had a very eventful 2009 and know that with two little ones we'll also have a very eventful 2010. Our holidays have been great, when I have more time I'll post more pictures.

On another happy note, we just found out that Helaman has been accepted into the Construction Management program at BYU for winter semester!! Congrats!!

Baby Haynie!!

2009-12-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

Baby Haynie was born this morning at 5:19. My water broke about 4:20, and we made it to the hospital around 5. I was already fully dilated, so I layed down and started pushing! He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and was 19.5 in long. The doctor showed up about 15 minutes after he was born :) He slept all day, and is wide awake for the night..figures! But he's an eater and we're excited! Love the boy.

Adam's first visit with Santa

2009-12-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

It was our ward Christmas party Wednesday, and we waited in line for an hour to sit on Santa's lap. But Adam LOVED it! In fact, he was making his 'get ready to talk' face and I had to take him away because there were still kids waiting. But I wanted to post this picture because it's so cute. Tonight we're going to see Cosmo-Santa and take pictures there too. More to come!(And a little note, this is Adam's first Christmas, and it will be the baby's too...Just a little something to think about! :))

What I Learned Yesterday

2009-12-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

I woke up yesterday feeling a little bit like this:

By the time I got up and looked around my house to see this:
and this:

I started feeling a little bit more like this:Not because I had let my chores back up a little bit over the holidays, but because I knew that this:(and no, that is not my belly)

was going to make me feel more like this:
than like this:And sure enough, it did!
So, I did my chores grudgingly yesterday wishing that somehow the list would disappear. But it didn't. And by the end of the day, I still wished I was here:
Getting one of these:
Instead of home feeling like one of these:
But until that day, I'm going to be grateful for my belly (be it large, stretched to the max, and uncomfortable), because I know that soon enough this:
will have one more of these:
FOREVER because of this:
And that is something I will never forget or regret. I love my family!!

Surgery #3

2009-11-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

Adam's third and final surgery for this year was on Monday the 2nd. They closed his soft palate to close the nasal and oral cavities. It was scheduled for noon, so he couldn't eat anything after midnight, nothing but clear liquids til 9. So we got to Primary's at 10:30, and they told us the O.R. was running an hour late. So we hung out in the playroom until they called us back. The surgery lasted just over an hour and a half, and Helaman had to go to school before he got out. So when I got to go back to post-op he was screaming! He was not very happy to be there, but we moved him to his room and the nurses took over. They put a tube in his left nostril to keep an airway open (called the trumpet), and they put a stitch through his tongue so that if he did have any troubles breathing and they needed to open the airway they could just tug on the stitch and insert the breathing tube. Definitely not cool.They told us we should be able to go home Tuesday. So Tuesday came, and he still didn't want to eat anything even after the tube and the stitch came out. They kept him on his IV fluids and we tried everything, but he wouldn't take it. He was playing, he was himself, just not eating anything. We stayed the night. Wednesday, same story. Except, he recognized his bottle and would reach for it.As soon as we actually put liquids in it he would stop drinking. Finally about 12:30-1ish our nurse decided to take him off the Tylenol with codeine and just give him Motrin to see if the narcotic was decreasing his appetite. Turns out, he really liked juice about 2 hours after they took him off the codeine and he started drinking! He had 7 oz of juice in one sitting, and two hours later he had 4 oz of milk! The nurses and I were literally dancing and screaming down the halway of our wing. We were stoked. Too bad the dr. already told us we had to stay one more night. But that's okay, because by 8:00 Thursday morning the nurse came in with the discharge papers, and we were out of there by 9:30! What was supposed to be an overnight stay turned into 3! But he's doing well, eating what he is supposed to be, and we're just happy that he's back to normal.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2009-10-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

News this week.

2009-10-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

Adam goes in on Monday for the surgery to close his soft palate. I have heard that this one is a little bit more difficult than the others simply because he will have to re-learn how to eat and talk and everything he's used to. When I went in last month to meet with his surgeon, he said that because the gap is still pretty wide back there we may have to just close the tissue then wait a year to close the muscle. I think that might be better for Adam-simply because the muscle control will be the same that he is used to. I don't know. I leave it up to the Dr.! But, the surgery is Monday, and he will be off solid foods for 2 weeks. Back to straight formula. Poor kid. But we don't want stitches to come out, so that's what we'll be doing. He is starting to worm around on the floor. He will get up like he's crawling and scoot backwards. He still won't lift himself up to crawl, but he's getting the movements down. I hope the arm restraints for this surgery won't take us back too far.Easy on the eclairs, bud!

P.S. Helaman and I are looking for a new place to live. Something a little closer to work and school. The commuting thing just isn't working out. If you have seen anything close to campus that's relatively cheap, please let us know. Our lease is up Dec. 1 so anytime after that is great.

He's growing up!

2009-10-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

Adam is so much fun! He's trying to crawl, he has so many teeth- I think he has more than the 5 that you can see, but he won't let me open his mouth long enough to look. He loves to shake his head 'no,' and if you're lucky, he will nod his head for you. But you have to be really lucky! :) And he'll stand up in Helaman's hand! He's been standing against things for about 3 weeks now but he wouldn't balance in Helaman's hand. He's got it down now! He's not feeling well today, so here's a tribute to Adam with pictures from the last month or so.

I think he's really a ganster! :)

He loves to eat with us! And he smiles ALL the time!

He may be a little bit scared...I would be too if I was that high off the ground!

Love you Adam!!

Family Vacation

2009-10-22T10:38:00.001-07:00

I'm due for a couple posts, I guess... Right before school started back up, my parents took our family on a vacation. We went to Denver and had a blast. Adam was the star of the trip seeing as 90% of the pictures taken included him! But we did so many fun things. We went bowling- and if I remember correctly, Adam bowled better for me than I did myself! The next day we went to Elitch Gardens-the old Six Flags, and lucky for me I didn't get to go on any of the rides, but everyone else did and loved them! Helaman proved that sometimes even though cell phones can break easily, his is indestructible. Yes, his fell out on the first roller coaster he went on, and landed on the cement. . . We went all day thinking that it was busted. Over, trash...Wait and see!
They went on the water ride like 5 times, what's a theme park without one!?! Anyway, Adam went on his first ride-- the merry-go-round. And I think he liked it. Too bad his smile doesn't quite match that of the horses! Helaman went to lost and found, and there was his phone...Still in one piece, and it still worked. Talk about lucky day! Nothing but a few scratches! The next day we went to WaterWorld. That was fun! And although it was very cold, it was still a blast! There was a little kid section for Adam to play on and he LOVED it. He went on the lazy river, and spent a lot of the day watching the chipmunks eat the trash people left on the ground. We spent a lot of time at the hotel, and went shopping, all in all, I'd say it was a great vacation!! Here are the pictures.

Go Cougars!

2009-09-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

Kendra invited us to the tailgate party before the BYU game today. Adam and I went and they painted his face to match Kendra's. After the tailgate I went to Smiths and this lady was SO sweet. She just kept saying how he must have the coolest aunt in the world for getting him ready for the football game like that and how she just loves to see little kids dressed up for the games (yes Kendra, that was you, and I'll give credit to Taryn too cuz she was there:)). Basically, I just think he is the cutest thing ever!!

More books!

2009-09-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

My mom is going to some baby showers this week and asked me to make her some books that the moms could just put pictures into. I made two identical books-for ease, of course :) I loved it! It didn't take me very long and was SUPER fun! Anyway, enjoy!

Adam's 1st real ER visit

2009-08-29T17:58:00.001-07:00

Adam and I had an interesting experience Friday morning. One I hope I NEVER have to re-live! It was Cali's wedding and I was searching through my closet trying to find something that fit. I have plenty of skirts that still fit, but no shirts. So, after trying on about 3 outfits I couldn't take it anymore. I decided to go to the mall and just buy a dress so I would have something that is guaranteed to fit me the rest of my pregnancy. I put Adam in his carrier in the truck and drove the 4 blocks to the mall. I put him in his stroller and on we went to Motherhood. I found a dress, bought it, and decided to go upstairs to get a necklace to match. Then I saw a sweet accessories store right next to Motherhood and decided I wanted to go there and see if it was cheaper. So, I put adam on the escalator then step on myself. But I got on two stairs above him instead of one. I decided to step down one, and at the exact time I decide this, Adam leans forward to look at something. Next thing I know the stroller is falling down the escalator, and his face is the first thing to hit. The stroller stops-it didn't go all the way to the bottom, so I am screaming picking it up with Adam still in it and run down the rest of the way, hurry and call helaman, get Adam out of the stroller, grap a diaper to soak up the blood that is streaming from Adams mouth, and in the meantime have time to curse the mothers at the bottom of the escalator with their kids who didn't so much as look at me, let alone ask if there was something they could do! (I'll go into that some other time when I have unlimited blog/soap box space). Anyway, Helaman comes, we run to the car, I call the Dr, he couldn't get us in for two more hours so we go to the ER. They instantly admit him, the dr comes and looks at him, and told us they were calling in the trauma team because they thought it would be much worse...The kid did just fall down the escalator!~ He looks at it, decides Adam needs 3 stitches on his cheek...(as seen below)
...and decides to call in a pediatric dentist because Adam has cut his bottom gum. I was very nervous that this would disrupt the prosthesis on his upper palate because he did fall on his face..Nothing happened to it at all! Anyway, after about 1.5 hours of waiting and screaming in the room, they gave Adam some tylenol and a local anesthetic to numb the pain, while we waited for the dentist. He came, they sedated him, the Dr. put the stitches in his cheek, and the dentist told us that his poor right tooth had been completely removed from his bone and had relocated into his gum/lower lip. It's a good thing the dentist came, or Adam would have a baby tooth in his lip forever! So he removed the tooth and gave him two little stitches in his gums. (as kind of seen here)
After 5 hours in the ER Adam lost a tooth, got his first stitches, a scrape on his leg and left as if nothing even happened. He had one more dose of Tylenol as a precaution, and refused to drink from a dropper, insisting that I let him chew his bottle as normal. He was chewing on his fingers, and just as happy as he was before. I don't know who this kid is, but I think he might be Superman!

Here's the scrape/bruise on his leg
And these are the clothes we were wearing and the diaper I used as a towel. I just can't believe that there were no other injuries besides the ones I have posted here. Not a bruise on his head, not a scrape on his arm. We are truly blessed! We even made it to Cali's reception that night!! What a trooper!

Cali's book!

2009-08-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

I finished Cali's signature book! I have had SO much fun doing it. The signatures will only be on the right side on the cream paper. She is having a photo booth, so there are envelopes to put the pictures of the guests from the reception in. An interesting concept, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. Here are the pages...

I have been thinking lately that I want to do these as an income maker-something I love that I can do from home. I guess I really just want projects. If you know anyone who is getting married in the near future that you think might be interested, please send them my way. I hope to have pricings and other options ready within the week that I can start marketing it and actually get it started. But I need your help!

Baby Boy!! Again...

2009-08-11T17:55:00.001-07:00

So we found out last Friday that there will be another male Haynie joining us. I really am excited, but I would like to just peek into the future to see if there are any girls waiting to join our family...I'd like one really bad! Anyway, when we went for the ultrasound, the technician was very, very thorough and went over EVERYTHING so many times! I wondered if he was really looking at my baby or if he was just reading a script because he totally could have written a 200 page explanation with how much he talked in the 50 minutes we were there. So the good news...No cleft...The bad news. I think I'm just as scared for this as I was when I found out Adam had a cleft! Now let me back up a little. Before the ultrasound I was praying and almost regretting my decision to have an ultrasound simply because I didn't know if I could handle hearing the news that this one had a cleft too. I loved Adam's, and we all remember how badly I didn't want to have his lip repaired, but I wanted to have the experience of a 'normal' baby. When the technician told us there was no cleft (and he told us! over, and over, and over, and over again!), I instantly had a wave of thoughts come to my head -what is it like to have a 'normal' baby? I'm going to have to learn how to breastfeed?! Can I handle learning how to deal with a 'normal' baby?- I could not believe how almost negative the news sounded to me at the time! Now that I've been thinking more about it, I'm still anxious/nervous for this new experience! I am grateful that it's a boy because we have the clothes, and they'll be best friends, and experiencing the same things at the same times. As for caring for this one...What's it going to be like not worrying if he's going to learn how to swallow his own saliva? I won't have to put a pillow under his mattress? I won't have to use special nipples for his bottle? Will it take 45 minutes to eat a bottle? I know it will be wonderful and I'm very excited, but I also feel completely unprepared!! But welcome to our family, little one!

Family Pictures

2009-08-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

No more stents!!!

2009-07-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

We went today for our 2nd follow up surgery for Adam's lip repair and the Doctor was so impressed! We love his new little face and can't believe how amazing it looks! But the best news we got today is that he is done with nose stents (even though every time I put them in this week he didn't even blink. Figures, when we're almost done)! And we scheduled his soft palate repair for October 29th! He has changed so much lately and I'm so glad he can finally sit on his own and keep himself entertained while I get other things done. Adam, we love you!

Solids? Hmm...

2009-07-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

Adam has been trying to eat solids for about a month now. Every attempt ends the same way-what I see as complete and utter failure. But he seems to enjoy it. This is him after eating Prunes and he loves them. But please note, this is about 4 bites after we started. Yes, it is possible to become this dirty after 4 bites! Because of his cleft, everything he eats and tries to swallow moves up into his nasal cavity and out his nose usually with a sneeze. Because he didn't learn how to suck, the motion he learned to eat was to use his tongue like a dog laps up its water-thus creating a huge mess all over everything in his range. He takes rice cereal a little bit better but I think that's because I can control the consistency. I learned that canned baby food has added Ascorbic Acid, but because of the added acidity when it moves into his nasal cavity it burns and that ends our attempt at solids! But I'm holding out hope that maybe someday he will successfully eat an entire serving of fruits, veggies, or cereal!

Summer fun

2009-07-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

With July came the Ellsworth Family Reunion at Gooseberry. Here are some pictures of our exciting week! Better watch out!Disclaimer- Helaman is NOT hitting Allie in the face- that's just one of those "perfect timing" kinda things!Adam is SO exhausted-he never falls asleep like this! :)

Popsicles!

2009-07-15T10:41:00.001-07:00

I found this picture of Adam and LOVE it! He thinks he's so cool if he can sit up and eat whatever we're eating. I only give in when it's fruit, or in this case, popsicles! And he really likes the banana ones. This picture was taken the night before his lip repair-crazy difference- but popsicles are definitely his favorite treat!

Update!!

2009-07-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Adam's lip has healed wonderfully, and we only have about 2 weeks left with the nose stents! When the doctor removed the stitch that was keeping them in his nose and told me it's my responsibility to make sure they stay in, I laughed! I literally had no idea how I was going to make that work. But Adam has been a good sport through it all, and after days of trying every technique in the book, we finally found one that works! He is rolling over now, talking up a storm, sleeping about 10 hours a night, and is so much fun to play with during the day that I almost hate to see him go to sleep...almost! This is Adam learning how to snowboard while we were packing in Ephraim...I'd say he's a natural-just ignore the look of sheer terror in his eyes!We went to the freedom festival on July 3, and let Adam enjoy all the sounds and people. He was so funny-when he heard the song "Poker Face," he got really stiff and started dancing. It was the cutest thing! This is him afterwards in the car. What a cutie!So in the last two months, we have moved from Ephraim to Provo, thrown a surprise party for Helaman's mom, been to a family reunion, Helaman has been gone five weeks restoring log cabins, he started school at the Y, and yes, found out I am pregnant. What a whirlwind of a couple of months. Here are some before and afters of the log cabin job Helaman did in New Mexico. Quite a project! And this is the least of the jobs they've completed this summer.
Before:...And after! It's something that Helaman seems to enjoy enough to leave me for half the summer to do it! :) But I'm grateful that he has found it, and really like his boss, Joe. I guess I'll let him go again if I have to!

2009-06-15T14:23:00.001-07:00

I have a lot more pictures to post but they're with Helaman in Spring City so a post with no pictures is going to have to do. Adam and I have been traveling all over staying with family while Helaman is off having fun restoring log cabins. We're in Cedar City right now, then we'll be back in our apartment in Provo for a couple of days until Helaman goes to Tooele for another 10 day job. It's getting kind of lonely, but Helaman is enjoying it. Adam is changing SO much! I remember posting about how much I was going to miss his cleft and how much I loved it, but because of the great work that was done, I hardly remember what it looked like. He is so happy, and sleeping his normal 9 hours a night! what a stud! He smiles at everything, and is so close to rolling over but when he hits his nose on the carpet he gets really frustrated and just cries. Only 5 more weeks of nose stints and arm bands!! We're halfway there!

Surgery #2

2009-05-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Adam's surgery went SO well!! Dr Morales said that his lip went really fast, but he had to spend most of the time on his nose. He got out of surgery at 10:00 Monday morning, and was off morphine by 3 pm, and was on 5 1/2 hour doses of Tylenol with Codeine until Tuesday morning and we switched him to normal Tylenol. He's been taking it about every 4.5 hours, but he's the calmest, sweetest thing. He laughs, and loves to play. He doesn't like his arm restraints but he's caught hold of his Logan's bow (the metal piece over his lip) several times and we can't get him to keep his hands out of his mouth! But we're so grateful that he recovered so well and is back to his normal self. The doctor did a fantastic job and we can't wait to see what it looks like when it's all healed and we can take the stints out of his nose, and the arm restraints off! We are so glad because the last surgery was a nightmare!! This one has been a breeze. We'd do it again anyday! Well, almost anyday. But these pictures are Monday right after surgery (thanks Kendra!) I'll post more as we get them transferred from the camera.

My sweet boy

2009-05-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

With only 6 more days until Adam's big surgery I just wanted to note how much I'm going to miss his huge smile that Helaman and I joke goes from "nose to ear." I didn't think I'd get this attached to it, but I'm having a really hard time accepting the fact that his lip will be one piece Monday. After seeing the good that the first surgery did over a month ago, I know that this one will be just as successful and beneficial, but change is hard, and I'm gonna miss it!

Graduation! / Mother's Day

2009-05-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

Helaman graduated from Snow College today...guess which one is him! ->

Sure is! The one with the umbrella hat. We were all shocked that he actually did it. It was raining, and he was the only graduate who saved his cap from the rain!!
This means that we will officially be moving to Provo in the fall so he can go to the Y. YAY!

Yesterday Helaman brought me an early mother's day present. He's been making it in his Cabinetmaking class, and it turned out great!!

It's a dresser/changing table. the top two "drawers" slide up and pull down to form the changing table. It's the greatest! It's solid knotty alder. It matches the crib, and will fit everything we need. I'm so excited, and grateful for Helaman and his talents.

2009-04-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

Last week was pretty eventful! Adam had a follow-up doctor's appointment where the surgeon said that his chain has been doing it's job very well and he wanted to move his next surgery date up. YAY! That is until he saw how skinny Adam still is. He said he has to gain more weight before we can do his surgery. Sad day! But this isn't my fault! He eats 5 ounces every three hours, and we've beefed up his formula so he gets 22 calories instead of just 20 (big deal.. That's what I said. Apparently it usually works). He is gaining, but it's slow going.
That was one incident. The next one proves he is 100% boy! Or I'm 100% stupid! I've kept a thing of Vicks VaporRub open in the top corner of his bed so that when he sleeps he can breathe. He's been super stuffy and it seemed to help. Friday morning he started crying so I did my normal routine-get up, get his bottle ready, then get him out of bed. But this time he's screaming. He had managed to rock the Vicks down, stick his hand in it, and rub it all over his head/face. I used a wipe to try and get it off, and I think it just made it burn more because he was not happy. But I thought I got it all off so I tried feeding him. That made him mad, so I got him in the tub. He LOVES the tub and after I got all the Vicks off his head he was totally content for 15 minutes just kicking like nothing even happened. Everything turned out ok, he didn't get any in his mouth so no trips to the doctor or anything, but what a stinker! And he's only 3 months old...What's going to happen when he's 3!?!

Girls weekend

2009-04-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

My sister volunteered to make a signing book for her friend who is getting married. My friend made one for me for my wedding and I love it, so we used it for ideas for the book we made. We scrapbooked for about 4 days-probably about 16 hours total to finish the book. It turned out AWESOME! These are some of my favorite spreads.

Haynie Look-alike Meter

2009-03-24T10:25:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

First Surgery

2009-03-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Adam had his first surgery March 16th. They pinned a prosthesis (essentially an orthodontic retainer) in his mouth, and put a chain from the front of his gums to the top of the prosthesis. The retainer will keep his jaw in place so it doesn't move, and make it easier to eat. The chain is to move the left side of his mouth even with the right. The appointment was at 1:00 so check in was at 11:30. We couldn't feed Adam formula after 5:00 that morning, then could only give him Pedialyte until 10-after that he had to fast. After we checked in at 11:30 he started to cry-scream, really until the anesthesiologist took him back. It was a 20 minute procedure and the doctor came in and said everything went great. He woke up after 40 minutes and we were able to leave at about 3:30. He slept for a while, but still hadn't eaten anything. We went to Wade and Eva's and Hugh and Lucy were there. Eva saved our lives with a medicine dropper so we could feed him. he was so hungry he ate 5 ounces in 10 minutes! Many thanks still to Eva for helping us get that figured out! His mouth still hurts when he eats and we have to use the dropper but it's getting better.

Date night

2009-03-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Helaman and I decided about 2 weeks ago that it was time we go on a date again. Seeing as we haven't since Adam was born. We went to Trafalga in Orem. They have this great date deal where you each of you can do three activities, get 10 arcade tokens, and get dippin' dots for $25! So we did the black light mini golf-which I should have won because I got 4 holes-in-one that bounced out...But I lost even after that! Then we got arcade tokens for our second activity and I got the high score on the basketball game, and we rode the 3-d rollercoaster. Super fun!! I highly recommend it to anyone in the area. We'll be going back soon to hit in the batting cages and do the bumper cars.

His future...golf?

2009-03-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Adam was born with incredibly long fingers. So long that the going joke at our house is that he will be throwing a curve ball by age 4 and palming a basketball by age 5. So today we tried to see if he would hold a ball. He got a baseball when he was born from Grandpa Nelson, but that was still a little too big. So, we got out a golf ball, and what do you know? It was perfect! He held it out from his head, then he brought it in close to him and it was super cute!

1st haircut!

2009-03-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

So I decided to give Adam a haircut last week... at 7 weeks.

His hair was growing in crazy, and falling out crazy, not to mention turning into a mullet and that's not acceptable! :) So I buzzed it. He was on Helaman's lap and let me take the trimmers right to his head. He loved it as he was content until I turned them off then he got fussy and was ready to be done

I love the cut, I think it makes him look like a man, and I was surprised at the amount of hair we got!

Blessing Day

2009-03-02T11:59:00.000-08:00

We blessed Adam March 1st and he was so good! Mom and Kara picked out the cutest outfit, and he woke up just in time to get it on, eat a bit, and go to church. The blessing was great, and he was very well-behaved. It makes me wonder if he knew what was going on and that he needed to be good. We had treats at our apartment afterward, and it's a good thing it was nice outside because not everyone fit inside. It made for some pretty squinty photos!

Bathing

2009-02-17T19:47:00.000-08:00

Adam HATED bathing for the longest time. Until I decided to get the water warmer-almost as warm as I like it, he screamed the whole time. We went to Cedar last week and took pictures of Trent and Adam in the tub. Trent fussing, and Adam having the time of his life. Adam took a 15 minute bath today. He fusses when you try to take him out he likes it that much. It gets to the point now that my back hurts so bad that I have to take him out.

New Year's Baby

2009-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

Adam was the first baby born unscheduled (not induced or c-section) at Gunnison Valley Hospital in 2009. Whoever thought that being born January 11th could entitle you to such a great title? But we won't complain, because we got enough gift certificates and cash to last us a while! Not to mention enough diapers to keep him and our next newborn outfitted for months! Labor was super fast-thank goodness! My water broke at 1:00, we got to the hospital about 1:40, I started pushing at about 3:50 and at 4:16 he was born. 7 pounds 12 ounces, and 20 3/4 inches long. No time for pain medicine until after, which is why in this family photo I look like I was completely high. (cuz I was!) The doctor ordered morphine right after, but I wish he wouldn't have because I don't remember moving from the delivery room to my hospital room or even Helaman coming in with Adam after they were done cleaning him up. We had a good time when we noticed that the hospital staff had misused a word on the packet asking us to "except" these gifts (instead of "accept"). Only in Sanpete county!

Ultrasounds

2009-02-17T13:04:00.000-08:00

So, at my 20 week ultrasound they determined that Adam was going to have a cleft lip and possibly palate. We didn't know what to think, and were anxious to find out the severity of it. So between seeing specialists and other doctors, we were able to have a lot of ultrasounds. They suggested we have one at 33 weeks so that we could try to determine if the hard and soft palates were involved, or if it was just his lip. They let us do the 4-D ultrasound which is fantastic! We actually saw what he looks like without seeing him for real. And now seeing Adam compared to the ultrasound picture, it's amazing how close it really was.

I did it!

2009-02-17T12:31:00.000-08:00

So I've finally given in and decided to update my blog since I've had it since September without putting anything on it. So, if I post more than one item on it in a year, bonus!