Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Today is my Grandma Doty’s birthday(my Mom’s Mom).  So I wanted to say Happy Birthday Grandma!!! I love you so much and I’m so excited to come visit you later this month with the boys!!

Her name is Marie Doty and she is an awesome grandma! I lived with and around my grandparents for the first 3 years of my life. We lived in Marina, CA (it’s by Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, CA) most of the time, I think. My family moved to Sacramento when I was little still and stayed there until I was 10 or 11. My parent’s got a divorce when I was 10 so we moved in with my grandparents again shortly after that. They were living in Pacific Grove by then in a house that we all loved! We would always go there every Christmas because Sacramento was about 3 hours from P.G. Grandma loved to do puzzles so we would always help her do those. And every night before going to bed we would have a bowl of cereal. I usually had grapenuts or honeycombs, something my mom didn’t usually buy. They had a plum tree in their backyard that we loved to climb and swing on. It had a swing attached to it.  Grandma’s garden was always so pretty. I loved playing in their backyard. I remember grandma would get so mad when the deer would come and eat her plants. Their house was so much fun and I miss it and being there with them so much!! About 6-7 months after Mark and I got married they sold their house to move down to southern CA to be closer to their kids. Mark and I were living in Sacramento at the time so we were able to go visit them the weekend before they moved. I was sad they were selling the house I practically grew up in, but at least I still have the memories.

Anyway, I kind of went off on a tangent there…I love you grandma and am so thankful for the example you have set for me throughout the years. Happy Birthday!!

This is my grandma with Brynnan the last time she came to visit. This was when he was about 8 months old I think. It’s the only picture I could find. I know it’s not the best one, but I’ll have some more to share in August after our trip!:)

If you wanna be a pirate!

Last wednesday the boys and I went to our wards weekly playgroup. It was a pirate theme and there was a bouncy castle, sandbox, and little kiddie pool to play with. The boys had so much fun! I did too! It was nice to visit with everyone and get to know them better. I’m starting to get most of the ladies names down and now I just need to work on remembering their kids’ names!

Jonas playing around the sand box.

Jonas loved playing by the sand box, but never would get in it. I thought that was funny.

Brynnan loved this mower toy! At one point a little girl was playing with it after her left it and he came to me and said “That’s mine, Mommy!” LOL

Here I am pushing Brynnan on the swing.

Such a cutie!

The boys swinging together.

Brynnan and Jonas both got into the little pool, but it was pretty cold so it didn’t last very long. Jonas got dressed again, but Brynnan wanted to stay in his swim shorts. He did go back and play around the pool with the kids. They had water guns and water balloons. It was a lot of fun! This week we’re going to the Fire Station so hopefully can remember my camera this time! I blognapped these photos from the playgroup blog.

A Funny and Useful Tip

We have a hornets nest outside in our backyard. Today I was outside in the garage cleaning up and it was out and about and freaking me out. I decided to look up how to kill them. I found a couple of “How-To” videos and this one in particular I thought was pretty funny, but useful:) Although, I don’t have wasps, I wonder if this would work.

Playing Catch Up

Today seems like a good day to play catch up!:) I can’t believe it’s already Thursday! It feels like the week just started! Here are some random pictures from last month. I forgot about them so here they are now:)

Jonas will sometimes ask me to take pictures of him and he’ll act really silly. This was during lunch on June 16th.

I have no idea what he’s doing, but it’s pretty cute and funny!:)

And here’s Brynnan posing for me. So sweet!

Now that’s a cute pose of Jonas!:)

As you all know we’ve been having problems with our dishwasher. Well, about 2 or 3 weeks ago I was running it during naptime and I went to check on the kids and stepped in a puddle of water! AGH! So later that night Mark decided to run it again and see what was going on. He laid on the ground and watched the dishwasher as it ran, the whole time! I was surprised at how gungho he was about fixing it himself! He has become quite the handy man since we moved in! I LOVE it!:)

I thought this was a cool picture.

My funny guy:)

Of course Brynnan had to get down and help out!

Mark has been really awesome about taking care of our house. He mows the lawn every Saturday. Whenever we have a problem he’ll research it online to see if he can figure it out first. The garage door broke one night. It opened up, but wouldn’t shut when I went to close it. He tried searching all over and got the model # and then looked it up on Google. He couldn’t figure it out that night so we closed it manually. The next morning he woke up and figured it all out before going to work. YAY!:)

Well, I have a ton of photography work I need to do so I’ll play more catch up later.

Poop in the Playroom

No, I’m not potty training my kids and they decided to poop in the playroom. I kind of wish that was what happened though! Mark woke up early this morning, I think 5:20 or so. He took Lilac out to go to the bathroom (outside) and she didn’t go, at all. He thought that was weird. A bit later he came in to the bedroom and asked me to get up. As soon as I got downstairs I could smell the present Lilac left us! And it was FRESH!!! Sure enough, there was poop in about 6 different places, scattered around the toys the boys didn’t pick up yesterday. Luckily, it was only on a few of them! Mark stepped further into the room and realized that she had gone pee too!!!! It was on their Cars mat so that was easy to clean, we just stuck it in the washer. I sprayed down the room and cleaned it up. I even sprayed Odoban and air freshener, but I can still smell it!! ARGH!! I brought a candle warmer downstairs now so hopefully that will help clear the smell. I don’t know why she would’ve gone downstairs!! We keep a blue tarp upstairs in the bathroom for this reason and the first or second night she went poop in there so I don’t know why she would’ve come downstairs to go this morning. It’s very frustrating! Especially since she doesn’t understand that she did something wrong. *SIGH*

And here she is, so proud of herself!

The Jonas Funnies

It’s been a while since I posted about the funny things Jonas says so I thought I’d share with you today. Every morning he will ask me, “Mommy, what time is it?” I will tell him what time it is and he will then ask, “What’s the temperature outside?” (The first time he asked this it really surprised me. Isn’t it so cute he asks that question?! LOL) If we’re upstairs I will tell him I don’t know or guess and if I’m by the computer I’ll let him know the temp. Then he will sometimes ask, “What’s for dinner, Mommy?” I always hesitate when he asks this question because sometimes, most times, he’ll protest whatever I say unless it’s burritos or spaghetti. I usually will reply with, “I don’t know yet.” In that case he will continually ask that question throughout the day until I eventually tell him and he has a fit!:P *SIGH* I hope he’ll learn to love eating whatever we make for dinner, someday!

Learning to Walk Again

I thought it would be fun to post a few videos I’ve taken over the last month of Jonas and his green cast and without a cast.

This video is him walking about a week after he got the cast put on:

He got the green cast taken off 2 weeks ago, almost, Tuesday, June 23rd. We went to the guy that does his braces here in town. He took off the cast and fitted his feet for braces. I actually remembered to bring an extra shoe and sock, but forgot my camera and even my phone, so no pictures this time.

We’ve been going to see Bruce for about 2 years or more so he knows us pretty well. Jonas loves going to their office because if he’s good he gets to pick out some candy. I don’t mean the little pieces! I mean big candy bars! The boys love it! They always pick out the same thing; Twix bars:)

I’m glad that Bruce was able to take his cast off because I’ve made so many trips to Boise with just the kids lately that it was nice to get something done in town!:)

Jonas walked out of the office with me and he was a little shaky, but did a great job! He held onto my hands for support. I was so amazed at how well he started walking after I set him down. Of course he complained about it and didn’t want to walk, but he did it and I was so proud of him! He continues to amaze me every day! It will take a couple weeks to get his braces back, which will be good to help him work on his muscles in that leg.

The kids and I went on a quick 2 day trip to Mark’s parents house (June 24th-26th) because our Sister in Law was there with her kids for the week and they’ve never met Brynnan. Jonas was about one month old the last time they saw him! Mark couldn’t come because of work:P We got there Wednesday night and Jonas had fun running around with his 3 cousins and Brynnan just having a good time. It was so great to see him walking and running with them!! Here’s a couple pictures (more will come of that trip someday, LOL!):

Running all on his own! Look at that perfectly straight right leg!!!:) I wish I would’ve taken a before picture of his foot!

And this is a video of him walking last Saturday morning, 4 days after his cast was taken off:

His foot is perfectly staight and just looks amazing! It’s still hard for him to walk sometimes. I think once he gets his braces on he’ll feel more confident and won’t complain so much. Isn’t it just great the amazing things doctors can do these days?!! I’m very thankful for all their hard work. And I’m thankful for how brave and strong Jonas is. I love you Jonas!!

Meet Lilac

We’ve only told 2 people about this so I know most of you will be surprised. We bought a dog!:)

I took this video at about 12:45pm today.

Every Saturday the Humane Society in Idaho Falls brings dogs that are in Foster care in the area to the Petco down the street from us. Mark went to wal-mart for me and decided to go by before coming home “just to look”. We do this every now and then because the kids love going to see the dogs.

Well, he called me and told me there was a really cute collie mix that was 8 months old. He thought I would think she was really cute. I didn’t think anything of it until he got home and showed me the pictures of her he took with his cell phone (don’t those cheap cell phone cameras come in handy when you least expect it?! LOL). She was pretty cute, but you couldn’t really get a good look at her so I decided to go to the Petco by myself. Mark took her for a walk outside when he was there and so I decided to do the same thing. She was really friendly to everyone in and outside the store. She would go up to everyone she saw and lick them and rub against them. She loved the attention. When I put her back in the cage she was so sad! There were a couple dogs walking by and so she started barking because I’m sure she thought it wasn’t fair for them to be out and her to be trapped! Poor girl!

I talked with the ladies about her and they said we could take her on trial for 2 weeks to see if we like her and she likes us. If it ends up not working out we can return her and get our money back, which is nice. I called Mark and we discussed it for quite a while. We both really liked her and so we decided to get her:) We didn’t want to bring her home right away since we hadn’t prepared the kids or didn’t even have any dog food and everything else you need! So the foster lady said she could bring her back on Monday morning and I could pick her up then. I filled out all the paper work and paid for her and everything. It felt wierd leaving empty handed, but I’m sure it would’ve been even more wierd leaving with her!

When I got home we made a list of everything we need for a dog and Mark went shopping again at Wal-Mart! He went back 2 more times later that day. We were trying to fix the locks on the fence in the backyard and whatever he kept buying wouldn’t work. Finally, he got the right stuff and we finished putting it together this morning before I picked her up.

When the boys woke up from their nap we showed them all the dog stuff and talked to them about getting a dog. They were excited!

So finally this morning came and we went to pick her up. The foster lady gave me some information about her and a book about dogs. I was reading up about how to train a dog. She pulls on the leash so we’ll have to teach her basic commands. I’ve never trained a dog before so we’ll see how this goes:)

Anyway, she’s a real sweet girl and we all love her so far. Poor Mark had to go to work and couldn’t stay home and play with us, but we’ll play after work too! I think we tired her out because after I took the video she fell asleep:)

Here are some pictures of her:

Just adorable, right?!:)

How funny is this?! It was naptime for the kids and I knew they wouldn’t settle down to take a nap in their room so I put on a movie and the boys laid down on the floor with Lilac. I love that she’s sleeping, but the boys aren’t!:P

Jonas’ Cast Review

I know I’m really behind on posting about how the trip to Boise went and Jonas’ new cast (especially since now he doesn’t have a cast on at all! LOL) so here’s some of that info now:)

The boys and I went over to stay with Mark’s parents on Memorial Day. Brynnan stayed with Mark’s mom while Jonas and I went to see Dr. Showalter on Tuesday May 26th. Jonas really did NOT want to go to the doctor’s office. He kept saying he didn’t want to go and he cried for at least half of the 45 minute drive to the office. When we got there he said he wanted Daddy to come with him, but I explained that Daddy was at home and couldn’t come. Can you guess who he asked for next? Not Papa, but Uncle Ian! Uncle Ian is his favorite Uncle because, other than the fact he’s really the only one Jonas has been around, Ian also played video games with him at Thanksgiving last year! Jonas always talks about Uncle Ian and playing games and going to see Uncle Ian. It’s so cute! So I called Ian 3 times and he never answered. Jonas was really sad, but once we got called back to the room he forgot about it.

The nurse used the little pizza cutter looking thing to take off the old blue cast. He was afraid because it was kind of loud. These pictures aren’t the best quality because I forgot my camera and so I used my cell phone:P

Oh, man!! Look at that Face!!

This part always makes me nervous. There’s nothing between Jonas’ leg and the scissors and I know they use special scissors and they do this all the time, but it still makes me nervous!!

Here it comes!

There’s his leg! If you look closely you can see the scar from the surgery. The Dr. cut his tendon back there so his foot would be more flexible. There’s also a pin in his foot by his big toe, which you can’t see. The Dr. took that out before they put on the new cast. Jonas was afraid to put his leg down on the table so he held it up like this the whole time we were there! LOL

Watching the Dr. get ready to put the new cast on.

Another picture of his leg without the cast. You can kind of see the pin in his foot.

Trying to cheer him up, which wasn’t working well at all!

He got to choose what color he wanted his new cast to be. He had been talking about getting a new green cast for weeks so there was no hesitation on his part! Not even when there were 2 greens to pick from, he pointed and that was that:)

Dr. Showalter is the one on the right and his nurse is putting the cast on. I’ve only talked with her on the phone so it was nice to finally meet her!

Almost done!

And there it is:)

And there it is in all it’s bright green glory:)

Dr. Showalter said his foot is looking really good and he wanted Jonas to start walking on it and putting full pressure on it. So we started working on that. It was really hard on all of us. He got so used to being carried around everywhere that he didn’t want to do anything himself. Eventually, he started walking a lot more on it. He would wake up in the morning and we would have him walk out of his room to get us. He’s such a tough little guy. We’re so proud of him!

Afterward, we met up with Lynn, Mark’s mom, and Brynnan at Burger King for dinner. There was a playground area so of course Brynnan wanted to play more than eat. Jonas was okay with just eating:)

Here’s my little monkey!:)

The Walk

As most of you know, my friend, Megann Heath’s, daughter, Lainey, has type 1 diaptes. She is such a cute little girl! I’ve loved watching her grown over the last 3 years. She’s so full of love and energy everyone just falls in love with her.

Isn’t she so cute?:)

You can read about their journey the last 2 years on Lainey’s Blog. Megann and Dustin are incredible parents! The things they’ve been through with both their girls and the way they’ve handled it all is just amazing to me.

This year they’re participating in the JDRF Walk (Juvenile Diabete Research Foundation) here in Idaho Falls, again. If you head over to Lainey’s blog there is a link on the right side where you can check out her JDRF website or mine. You can give donations and/or join their team. Please help out this great cause in raising money to find a cure for this disease!

If you can participate in the walk it will be held at Snake River Landing on Saturday September 12th. I hope you can come and help us out!:)

P.S. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!:)