Back to life, back to reality...

*Do you remember that song? I was thinking about it Saturday when Steve and I were headed back home from our little "Management retreat." This retreat was in San Diego. We stayed at the lovely Hotel del Coronado. Supposedly some of the hotel is haunted and Steve's boss really hyped it up but I'm sorry to say that I didn't have any ghost encounters. I did get a lovely pedicure and got my hair done at their Yamaguchi salon. I just love getting pampered, eating food that someone else prepared, sleepin in a bed someone else will make, using a bathroom someone else will clean. Ahhhh....its so liberating. And I actually got Steve to get a massage! I think he enjoyed it, though that man won't show enthusiasm to save his life (love you, hon). We went and saw a little play called "The Hit," which was really cute too. If you are in the San Diego area I recommend it. It was a great little trip. Many thanks to my parents for taking care of our little munchkins for us so we could go away for a little while. *On another note, we're heading off to the Rasmussens Reunion this week. I'm really looking forward to it. The last time we were at this cabin it was such a good time and Ethan was only three months old! I wish we could teleport ourselves though. I'm not looking forward to the drive, not gonna lie. *I'm reading Twilight now. I'm hooked. And Ev, Esme IS kind of a cute name now that I read it. Don't think Steve would go for it though. *The house next door is for sale. They are asking way too much for it, in my opinion, for this market. I'm really hoping a nice family moves in that we can make friends with. It would be too perfect if they had kids around the same ages....or maybe I should be hoping for cool teenage girls so I can have easy babysitters! Or a stay at mom like me so we can hang out, switch off errand days, etc. Either way, having some neighbor friends would be such a dream...Ha....a girl can dream right? *The park right by our house just re-opened. It is sooooo nice, I'm in love. What a difference it makes to have a nice park around the corner from us! I used to avoid that park because it was so nasty (I once found a used condom in the sand, DISGUSTING!!!) but now I can see us making it a weekly routine. So nice. *I hate potty training. Have I told you that lately? Ugh. I'm not a patient person. I need more patience. Luke, please accept my most sincere apologies for all the times I ran out of patience (and they are many). I really, REALLY do love you to pieces. I know potty training is harder for you than me and I know you're trying hard. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I can't wait until this is over, for both of our sakes. *I don't like going private on the blog thing. Its such a hassle. I feel caught between a rock and a hard place though. Protecting my family's identities or not having to sign in to read? Blah. Is it really a hazard to leave a blog public? Am I just being crazy? Jeni B. and Abby I didn't put you on the invitations because blogger said that blog authors already have access, I hope it was right. I didn't want to exclude you. I feel like no one reads my blog anymore....not like its a popularity contest right? haha....

The great ear ring debate

Now that we are on the verge of entering the world of all things girl some of our conversations have changed. One instance in particular relates to whether or not we will subject our dear little daughter to having a whole pierced in her ear. When Steve and I first embarked on our "journey" known as parenthood we discussed what "procedures" we would choose for our children when they were young. We always knew we would circumsize our boys, no question. The question of ear piercing came up and I said its the same as circumsizing, in my opinion. Now before you attack me with the reasons that ear piercing and circumsizing are not different just hear me out. I know piercing my daughter's ears has no known health benefits, I'm not equating ear piercing and circumsicion in that aspect. I just say, there is no question about it. My dad pierced my ears when I was a baby and both my sisters had their ear pierced as babies also. I think its a heck of a lot easier to pierce a baby's ears than to wait until my daughter is older and can remember the pain of the experience. Its also easier in upkeep too. Piercing my baby's ears gives me the control of taking care of them whereas having an older girl's ears pierced the care would be in her hands therefore leading to unnecessary infections and pain (believe me, I speak from experience, having pierced my ears multiple times in elementary school). Also, if I don't do it now who's to say she won't choose to do it behind my back? One of my most vivid memories of elementary school is going to the bathroom every recess for a month to pierce my good friend Amy's ears. Her parents would not allow it so we would pierce them for the day, she would remove the ear rings when she got home and we would have to repeat the process the following day. (All your perfect notions of me are vanishing in thin air aren't they? Well who am I to assume you even had any perfect notions of me to begin with...hehe) So, in case you were wondering, yes we will be piercing her ears before she is six months old. I won't judge you if you won't judge me.

All we need is just a little patience....

I am seriously devoid of this attribute and potty training is a bitter reminder of this fact. Grrrr... I just want to growl every time. Day three and I have a new mantra: "hang in there." Every ounce of my being wants to quit. Diapers are my security blanket right now. But I've heard that this is one of the unpardonable sins, to turn back once you've started. Grrrr.....

Pinatas and Angels

We have had a really exciting weekend. Friday the law firm threw a pool party to announce the winners of its "Biggest Loser" competition. We all stuffed ourselves with the delicious crepes, fruit and other goodies and played in the pool. Zane came sporting his new cowboy hat and I couldn't resist getting a pic but he never quite looked at me directly. There was too much else going on. The boys were so sad to leave. I had originally only planned on staying for like an hour so they could go home and nap but we ended up staying until almost 4pm. We still made the boys take a nap because we were going to see the Angels play that night (Mormon night with the Angels). This was our first pro baseball game together. Steve and I don't really care much for baseball but we all had a better time than we thought we would. Ethan and Luke would get up and dance everytime the music came on. I was sooo wishing that my phone had video capabilities....dang iphone.

Then Saturday morning I headed over to "work" at the Stake Primary activity and Ethan came a little later. Luke hung out with dad while we were gone. This led to another late nap but we had to squeeze it in because we had a wedding reception to go to that night. Again, the boys were dancing and having a ball at the reception. Congrats to Bricia and Tom!!!

We're still going strong with Father's Day and Steve's birthday tomorrow...so much fun packed into four days.

Oh, and I'll mention here that we are officially potty training Luke now. Today he actually asked to wear underwears so we're not turning back. He had one success and one accident while at church today. And I forgot to pack a change of clothes because we were running late so he spent the last hour of church in a diaper but no pants. Oh well. I'm crossing my fingers that this doesn't take all summer. Luke's got his brother cheering him on too. Its really cute to see Ethan get so excited for Luke when he goes. Could I be so lucky to have two potty trained boys before this little girl is born?

Father's Day

Walk a little Slower

"Walk a little slower daddy,"

said a little child so small.

"I'm following in your footsteps

and I don't want to fall." Sometimes your steps are very fast,

Sometimes they're hard to see;

So walk a little slower, Daddy,

For you are leading me. Someday when I'm all grown up,

You're what I want to be;

Then I will have a little child

Who'll want to follow me. And I would want to lead just right,

And know that I was true;

So, walk a little slower, Daddy,

For I must follow you."

I really like this poem. I think my boys have a great father. If they follow his example I know they will become good men. I also know they have a father in heaven that will guide them in life too. They can't go wrong with either of these wonderful men.

Life list

1. Happy Birthday, Ellie!!! It just cracks me up how obsessed she is with princesses. Whenever Ethan and Luke play with Ellie they usually, at one point, end up playing princess and prince and one boy will be seen walking around holding Ellie's hand or cuddling her because she is the princess. I heard she was given a Cinderella dress for her birthday by a friend. I can't wait to see her in it. Ellie makes a good princess....oh I remember those days. Is this what every little girls goes through at some point in her childhood? We went swimming at Ellie's new pool and had Snow White cake. Amerie made a cute swimsuit debut.

2. Ethan had his last Tball game. He and the dolphins played a great game. We were happy to have Mae, Clay and baby Zane come out and show their support. Zane is quite ready to be introduced to baseball don't you think?

3. A friend introduced me to the coolest beach accessory. I am in love with it. Its called the Umbrella Stand. For all you beach goers out there that have ever struggled with putting your umbrella in the sand and getting it to stay this is for you. It works for the park or wherever you'd be taking your umbrella for shade. Its seriously awesome. We went to the beach yesterday and I used it, its the yellow contraption in the picture. You can check it out here. Enough of that, isn't this one of the cutest tooshies you've ever seen? I hardly ever put the boys in their "sungas" (pronounced: soon-guhs) when I go to the beach because I think its a little indecent but my mom got them ready at her house (they had had a sleep over the night before) and, of course, she put them in these. She did just come back from Brasil so I guess she's keeping the memory alive. The boys didn't seem to mind but I know that soon enough they won't tolerate these anymore.

4. I don't like this crazy format post. I'm more of a center format kind of girl.

5. I just finished reading East of Eden by Steinbeck. I really enjoyed his writing style but never fell in love with the story. I found myself craving a good book club where we could analyze the book and I could be enlightened by others' thoughts and interpretations. I'm moving on to some lighter reading now. I have the book Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger on hold at the library. We'll see if its any good. If you don't know, she's the author that wrote Devil Wears Prada. If Mae and Clay would ever finish reading Twilight I might be able to read that one.....hehe. Speaking of holding books at the library, have you ever tried it? Its great. You request it online and they pull it and put your name on it. Makes library trips sooo much easier. One thing I'll warn you about putting on hold is the DVD "Firebusters." Ethan and Luke love that movie so much. Its all about firetrucks, firemen and everything involved. I still can't get the song out of my head...."my firetruck is hot...its really cookin!"

6. We inherited a treadmill from my grandparents. They moved to Texas and were getting rid of it. My grandfather said he only ever used it for walking on so its in pretty good condition. No bells or whistles but I'm happy with it. I really like having two machines to exercise on. I do 20 minutes on each and my work out just flies by. There's something about doing 40 minutes all in one place that gets old fast. Anyway, I've been trying to slowly build my running legs back up. I speed walk a minute or two then jog two or three minutes. It feels sooooo good afterward....nothing like some good therapy.

Box boys and Sunflower seeds

Ethan and Luke graduated to booster seats this weekend. I'm so excited about them, they are so much easier to move around. They had some fun playing with the boxes yesterday. First they were just hiding in them and laying in them but then Steve told them they could be robots and cut holes in the boxes. I personally like to call them box boys. Here are some of the pictures of our robots.

I really like this one of Luke.

Both robots.

Also, a few weeks ago Ethan and I planted some sunflower seeds in our backyard. We've been watering them and watching them grow. We planted two sizes, the smaller two-three foot and the large five-six foot. I think we planted about a dozen in one area of our yard. I'm really excited to see them. I think next I'll try getting some hydrangeas...maybe one day our yard won't be such a desolate place.

These are the biggest ones.