Toddler + photo = crazy mom!

Here is a picture of Jonathan at his one year pictures sitting, and holding his favorite Maisy book in the red chair. It is now a year later, and time for the 2 year old picture session. I have to say that there is a major bonus to having your good friends be your photographer...they love your child and are willing to do three....yes I said three different photo sessions because your child is being a stinker and not cooperating...what..so...ever! grrrrr. The next picture is in the same red chair...can you even believe how much he has grown in one year? Holy moly! (this is a rough cut picture because they hurried and printed it off for me on their computer and I scanned it into mine...the more "professional" ones will be printed later)
And for this last one...I clapped my hands and shouted with glee when I saw this. Carol actually captured Jonathan's smile! They were playing peek-a-boo around a tree. Phew! It is nice to have those pictures done. Maybe when he is three, it'll only take ONE photo session to get a good picture. :)

Football-Game 2

Nathan had another exciting football game. He was movin and groovin...and jukin and jivin...it was just really fun to watch. Here is my favorite highlight of the day. Nathan is #30 (Trents number was always 31...pretty cool)

Touchdown! That...was....awesome!! This next video is a great catch...which at this age, no other team does. It is rare that we have a quarterback that can throw so well in 4th grade, and then a kid (my kid! yeah!) that can catch so well. They call him "sticky fingers". At the beginning of the year each player picks out a nickname that they want to be called. Nathan picked T.D. short for touchdown...thank heavens he is living up to his nickname for never having played football before! WAY fun!!!

In this next one...Nathan runs all the way across the field to make this tackle. Some of the kids on the team told Trent, "Your sons got some wheels!" (meaning he is very fast in kid lingo)

End score 27-6. Winning is fun, but I find myself when we start getting too far ahead I want the other team to score, so we all feel warm and fuzzy. Guess my competitive heart isn't so hard and crusted anymore. :)

I still got it goin on!

Each year as I get older and wider....um...I mean wiser...I wonder if "I still got it goin on". There is one thing that I do each summer to make sure that I am still movin and groovin. I figure if I can still do this one activity, I am OK. Those extra pounds that accumulate each year have not hindered my ability to perform. The second that I am not able to accomplish this task...it is time to re-evaluate and figure out what changes I need to make for the coming year...possibly a fat farm admittance. :) What might this task be that could possibly evaluate my whole year and what is to become of my future? Take a looksie and you'll see something profound and life changing in this video. Make sure you are sitting down to take it all in.

Yeah...I still got it going on. If I can still hoist my body up out of the water being pulled by a boat, and actually enjoy it? It is all good. Hand me another brownie for I have proven myself worthy. It doesn't matter that for a week I literally felt as if I shredded every...single...muscle...in my body. But hey....that's what ibuprofen is for right? Bring...it...on!

Nathan the waterskiing whizz

Watching Nathan learn to water ski this summer brought back memories of when I was his age learning to water ski. Boy oh boy, was it quite the process. Back then, we had training ski's that my dad held the end of the rope in the boat so if I fell down he could let go of the rope so I wouldn't be dragged all over the lake. Well...let's just say that my dad was not the best at remembering to let go of the rope after I fell down. I drank a ton of the American Falls Reservoir while learning to ski, and that water is nasty. *shiver*

The videos downloaded wierd and I can't figure out how to move them around...so Nathan's first try is actually the second video down. He almost got up on his first try! And then it went downhill from there. A week later, we went out again and he gave it another go around. Those are the next videos. Enjoy!

Getting closer.....

7 attempts later...we have a winner! Good job Nathan!

Idaho Boatin...gotta love it!

Me and the boys made our annual trek to Idaho this summer. We had a great time. This post is dedicated to our boating adventures! I absolutely loved boating while we were growing up. Here are a bunch of pictures...My brother Rob wakeboarding

Wipe-out!

Brayden learning how to ski....he's up

and then he's down

My sister in law Sue...ummm...yeah...need I say more?

Aaron showing off in the Air-chair

Aaron wipin out in style

Justin wakeboarding

Rob and Justin and Da boat!

Jonathan "loving" the rocks on his feet

Jordan all decked out for tubing...Aaron along for the ride

Nathan and Aaron...getting ready to hold on for dear life. Nathan ended up with a bloody lip at the end of this ride. Good times.....Goooood times.

I "heart" Garage Sales

I have never been much of a garage saler type of gal. I have seen many "professional" garage salers in my neighborhood. I have always wondered what makes them get up early every Friday morning to go and scrounge the neighborhoods for sales so they can dig through someone's "junk" (the really serious ones check the newspaper beforehand!). Well my friends, I am not quite the "professional" garage saler, but my oponions have changed. My friend Robin has introduced me to this secret world of goodness and delight. There is nothing quite as thrilling as going to a garage sale and finding a kid treasure that is only 25 cents. "You'll sell me the whole bin of hot wheels cars for 5 bucks?" You bet. "Every book is only 50 cents each?" Hook me up! "My goodness...kids clothes for a quarter each?" Back my car up and I'll buy the whole table. Wow...I am no longer blind....for now I see. Garage Sales are a gift from heaven. I hit the jackpot one day last week and now Jonathan's (and part of Nathans) christmas is complete...all for under 20 bucks. I am feeling the garage sale love people. Here is a video of one of my purchases. I've already gotten my money's worth out of it. Five bucks for endless hours of entertainment? Priceless people...absolutely priceless!

Marriage on the horizon

Trent's dad has been dating a gal for a few weeks now, and he informed us last week that they are getting married. pause...shock... Wow...that is so...well...so.....fast. I swear it just feels like we just finished planning Brenda's funeral, and now we are on to a wedding. (it's only been 5 months) Sheesh!. Talk about switching gears. Her name is Debbie, and she is a really nice gal. (her ring is gorgeous!) We got together tonight with 4 of Debbies kids (youngest one just graduated highschool) to have dinner and meet each other. It was really odd/hard for me to be over at Brenda's house and not have her there with us, and to have another woman there. It's just....different. Not necessarily bad....just different. Her kids are a crack up and very nice, we did a lot of laughing. I found myself having to hold back a gush of tears several times throughout the night. It was just hard not having Brenda there, and I am still grieving. Just two days before Chris introduced us to Debbie, Nathan had my family go to Peach Tree, the restaurant that he went with grandma to, two days before she died for their "grandma" day. He ate the same meal, and we laughed and talked about Brenda. It was a special time. He wanted to play Five Crowns tonight like we always did with grandma, and he even asked to spend the night and play games with Gramps, but Chris and Debbie had some things they needed to do. I felt so bad for Nathan. He got in the van and mentioned how that was the first time in a long time (since Brenda died) that he wanted to spend the night and he probably wouldn't be able to for a very long time. (school starts this week)

Debbie's family seems to be tickled pink that she is remarrying. She has been divorced for 5 years, so they have had five years to prepare...we have had five months. We are excited for Chris, and we don't want him to be alone, and we are happy that he has found someone so great. He is blissfully happy and can think of nothing else other then spending every waking moment being with her, they are so huggy and kissy. He can not wait to get married. They had to push the wedding back to October 10th so her family can come to town. It has been an interesting experience watching a parent go through the dating process...there are some real "special" women out there...yikes!! I pray that I never have to go through that experience of having to date again. I think I'd rather be alone...at least for a good long while. Trent is so awesome...how would I ever find anyone as awesome as him? :)

*deep breath* Life is truly an emotional rollercoaster isn't it? I am so emotional tonight...thus typing this at 1:00 am. At least I had a good long gut wrenching sobbing session...that is good for the soul every now and then right? :) I am contemplating cleaning my carpets while everyone sleeps...might as well do something useful right?

Talking Toddlers...a time bomb

joy riding through the garden

Jonathan turned two in June, and since then he has taken off with talking. He went to saying a few words, and animal sounds to complete sentences. It is so amazing...he has also started repeating everything I say. Huh...never a good thing. I never realized how many times I call people an "idiot" while I am driving. Now I am painfully aware when Jonathan repeats it in the same excited tone. "ID-iot!" A while back I went to a drive thru to get a Coke (I KNOW! Sinner I am...headache coming on...give me the caffeine!). Now any time I get a drink, Jonathan says..."Coke mama?" "Want coke mama?" I especially love it when he talks about it at church...all the time. Nothing like being in sacrament meeting and the little water trays come and Jonathan spits out that little ditty, in such a loud voice. humbling...very humbling.

So...we went to his 2 year old checkup last week, and the doctor is listening to his heartbeat and Jonathan says, "Annie hit me!" (as he slaps his own face for emphasis) And then he repeats it, "Annie HIT me!!" The doctor proceeds to look concerned and ask me who Annie was. Annie is his friend who is 18 months old. We chuckled, but I find myself wondering when the Social services are going to swing by to check out if Annie really is an 18 month old or not.

This stage has been really fun. It is always interesting to see how he puts words together to make a sentence. I sure love this kid...even if he tattles on me for drinking bad things and saying somewhat bad words. :)