Photo Tag!

Most people hate being tagged, but it makes me feel special! Thanks Katrina.

Instructions: go to My pictures and open the 4th folder 4th picture and explain then tag 4 friends. Here we go.


Ok, so not the most exciting picture, and yes I did think of cheating and picking a different one but I didn't. This is of Ethan this summer at Randall's work party. His work put on a big carnival at Thanksgiving Point. Ethan was playing one of the many games to win a prize. Ethan is the greatest boy and so fun. He loves to be clean and organized. He is very particular about how he looks. He likes to have his picture taken, and each morning he tells me how he wants to have his hair combed. The spikey look that he usually sports is called "Ethan" after himself since he has had sticky uppy hair since birth. Connor is named after a buddy of his in Arizona and it is the traditional combed and parted hair to the side. This is the look he has currently taken on as the regular do. The Wheely is named after a character he used to watch on rolie polie olie years ago and is is the fauhawk. Ethan is a very sweet, kind boy and we love him. I just have to post one more picture to help describe him. The other day I asked him to clean his room and when I went up to check on his progress he very proudly threw open his closet doors to reveal that "he made outfits". He had hung his clothing in outfits and on display for the following few days. Nuff said???


I tag: Maria, Jordan, Julie, hmm...Who actually reads this? Brittney!

don't leave yet...updated blog posts below.

all things Conference

This weekend was a good one. I just loved that it was cold and rainy on Saturday. It made me just want to hunker down and stay inside all day. We did get over to Macey's for the case lot sale mid session and found some great deals. We really enjoyed listening to the talks and topics. I love how the leaders address the here and now and encourage us to go forward even when things are challenging. I look forward to conference each year to take inventory on what things I am currently doing well, and what many things I can change and improve upon. I enjoy hearing from such sweet and humble men and women. It is amazing to me how educated and successful they each are, while at the same time so very humble in their stewardship.

When Randall left for the Priesthood session the party began. My Mom came over to spend the evening and we made good use of our time. First we decorated a haunted gingerbread house. As always I have a hard time at first just letting the kids go crazy, knowing it won't turn out how it looks on the box. I was amazed at what a great and creative job they did, mostly by themselves. It was a good reminder that they are capable and it's good for me to step back and encourage from a far and let them take pride in their "masterpiece" For the most part I love the ages and stages of my kids right now. We certainly have our days were I need a break, but most recently I am trying my best to slow down, be more patient, and enjoy the crazy and creative moments. It's so great to see them concentrate so hard on something and then be so pleased with their accomplishment.

After the gingerbread house we made carmel corn. Then Mom and I watched a movie while the kids watched theirs. I feel so great when I do fun things with the kids. I'm sad to think that my children have stored memories of me losing my patience, not always being kind and not always doing fun things. I'm glad that we took the time to do these fun things in hopes that my children are also storing away many of the good times and fun things that we do together.

My mom told me of a time when she was probably in 1st grade and she was given the assignment to color a flower. She chose green and colored both the stem and flower green. When her teacher saw her completed flower, instead of praise and adoration at her creativity, the teacher scolded her for doing it "wrong". The teacher asked my mother if "she had ever seen a green flower". After the scolding my mother was given a 2nd flower to color "correctly". While it makes me sad that my Mom now many, many years later remembers this negative experience, I'm grateful that I can choose not to have that perspective in molding and teaching my children. I want to do my best to make sure that I encourage my children in their strengths and weaknesses and always praise them adequately, even more so if they choose to color the petals of a flower "green". I'm glad that I just let go and that in the process of decorating the children's haunted mansion a happy memory was made, and in the end their mansion looked even better than the picture on the box.

Gardner Village- This is the place!

If you have never graced your presence with such a place as Gardner Village, then boy are you behind the times. Especially when the witches are out. Yes, every year the witches come out and they are a site to be seen. I think my favorite is "witchy poo" a lovely and curvacious witch reading the funnies, while doing her business if you know what i mean.:) Every year we take the kids up to have some lunch and see the sites. This year we got smart and went up the last weekend of September to beat the crowds and by golly we did just that! It was a perfect, beautiful, fall day. The weather delightful the food oh so yummy what could be better? Well food in my tummy...so we did just that. We had lunch at the "Naborhood Bakery" saw the sites and even indulged in a carmel apple from the sweets shop. You can't have fall, and Gardner Village without a carmel apple. In fact my cute mom bought the kids each their very own apple. She said "kids have to share all the time, let's give them their own". She's right. I spend so much time making sure that my kids don't act or get spoiled and that they use their manners, etc, etc. that sometimes I forget what great kids they are and that a whole entire carmel apple to themselves would be quite a treat indeed. Boy did they think they were in heaven. Granted Anna really only ate the carmel and left her apple for me, but it's all good. We had a grand time and have pictures to prove it.

3 cute kids

Beware of the "sceery" witch

Can you say future male model? Sweet pose Ethan

Who is this lady anyway?

Camel apples for everyone


Note: If you are now craving a carmel apple then I know I have succeeded!

Kate's so great!

Kate just seems to be getting older by the minute, and I hate it. Yes, it's fun to see her learn and do new things but I realize each day that these small and precious moments are very quickly fleeting. She is still not walking (except around furniture, or holding on to walls etc.) and that's ok with me. I will get to keep her small just a little longer. Just yesterday my sis in law said to me "once she walks, your baby is gone". She is so fun and we enjoy her so much. We are all anxious to see our Kate in the morning and I've even had to get after Anna several times for awaking Kate in the morning just because "she wanted to see her".
Kate now goes up and down stairs

"tries to feed herself"

She's even driving!

school, death, (deaf) and doggies

We have been so busy lately. Not with anything all that new or exciting just taking kids to and from school etc. I somehow thought that when the kids started school that there would be more time but that is not the case. I do feel like when I have less time I actually tend to use my time more wisely. Anna loves school and wishes that she could go everyday. She also wishes she could ride the bus, but then says that she is "too shy to ride the bus". When school first started Ethan was not too keen on doing his work. Even when held back from recess to finish he chose not to. I was pretty worried that if we couldn't motivate him now what would we do later. After much discussion of what his responsibilities were he still did not seem overly concerned and felt that his work was boring and "takes too long". One night after having yet another discussion I told Ethan that he was going to have to go hungry that night because I just didn't feel like making dinner. I told him that "it takes too long". With that and the promise of a sticker chart he has done his work everyday, even before recess. He's such a funny boy.

In the car the other day Ethan asked me "Mom do know what death means?"
me: What does it mean
Ethan: it means you can't hear.
Me: Oh...you mean deaf?

After he understood the difference he went on to tell me that people who can't hear with their ears, listen with their eyes. Which is funny since Ethan often will say to me "so...it sounds like you're folding some laundry" He always says sounds like instead of looks like and for some reason it just cracks me up.

On another note...Kate is saying some real words and it is so much fun. Her first word was tickle, She says tickle tickle tickle. Her second word was doggy. She is in love with anything that moves and calls dogs, cats, rabbits anything doggy. you can ask her what a doggy says and she says woof woof. She blows kisses and waves and says bye only she says it like she a southern gal. Just yesterday she said uh,oh after she dropped something from the table. We wanted her to say it again but since then she will only say it if it is actually in context, like something has dropped. She is such a cute patoot and we love her. Needless to say with her love of all things doggy, she is going to be a pink poodle dog for Halloween. Good times at the Wilson house.

I'm grateful...

-It's Friday
-My kids are playing nicely
-I have pumpkin chocolate chip muffins in the oven
-It's almost fall
-I've already been to the gym today
-Tomorrow's Saturday
-I had a new nephew born this week
-I have already decorated for fall/Halloween
-I live so close to Target, Costco, and Roberts for that matter
-I have a great, handsome, hardworking husband
-That my kids were playing nicely
-That "The Office" is just one week away from a new season
-My laundry is done(but not yet folded and put away)

I love fall(sigh), all the cinnamon and spice makes me feel so nice.

First Day of School/Trauma!

Anna was so excited to finally get her turn to go to school. She started August 26th a day ahead of Ethan so she thought that was pretty great. She doesn't really need a backpack, but isn't that part of the fun of going to school-all the new gear? Not surprisingly she picked out a pink, princess backpack and loves it. I really like the preschool she is attending and it is just one street East of Ethan's school so also very convenient. Anna of course is very shy and hesitant to jump right in which always is so baffling to me since she is such a little spit fire at home. I thought it might be hard to leave her, but she entered with confidence and I left without tears. We are happy that she gets to have her school time and I am happy that I get a little time with just 2 kids at home with one usually napping.


Ethan started Kindergarten August 27th just 2 days before he turned 6. Yes I am one of those mothers who holds their child back so they can be the biggest and the best at everything :) Ethan was more than excited to get to school and when I offered to take him the first day(for my sake more than his) he enthusiastically denied my offer. I was quite surprised with how emotional I felt watching him ride away. Placing my trust in a stranger driving a bus kind of tipped the scale and made me realize all the more that he is getting older and more independent.

So when it was time for him to come home I arrived at the bus stop 20 minutes early just to make sure that should they arrive early I would be ready and waiting. The bus finally came and the children excitedly piled off. More and more children came and I kept waiting and watching, with camera ready mind you, so when the bus emptied and closed it's doors and drove away and Ethan hadn't ever come off... I began to PANIC!!! Where's Ethan??? At school? Another bus? With a friend who's parent may have picked him up? I wanted to cry and yell for help but knew I needed to stay calm until he was found. I rushed home to use the phone(no I don't have a cell phone, can you imagine...gasp here) I called the school and there was no answer. My fear only was 100x magnified at this point. I called the bus depot and practically yelled/cried into the phone "my son is in kindergarten and he didn't get off the bus" I was met with, "please hold". It was then that I saw a friend of mine coming down the street, so I frantically waved her over for nothing more than mere support at that point. Thankfully she said she was driving down her street(where we used to live) and the bus driver just happened to open her doors and asked my friend if she knew the last boy on her bus, and by sheer miracle she knew Ethan and told the driver where to take him. The bus soon came down my street with Ethan. I ran to the bus ready now to completely start bawling. I jumped on the bus prepared to cradle my poor scared son when Ethan slowly and very calmly walks down the aisle and says to me "Mom everything is fine, just fine. I didn't get "stolden" or anything and proceeded to jump off the bus. I was speechless. I of course then played 20 questions with the bus driver trying to find out what had happened. My visions of the best 1st day ever were quickly replaced with me just trying to calm myself down. I could hardly ask Ethan how his first day had gone. I was so grateful that in our family prayers that morning we specifically prayed that the children would be particularly watched over and kept safe. Wow, were my prayers answered. And, in the end everything was fine, just fine.

A picture of Ethan getting on the bus...not off!