Kyle fell off the red chair and hit his head on the concrete floor when they were done---they had never had that happen and quickly gave him fruit snacks. If only that was the first time my climber had fallen on his head :)
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Family Photos 2010
A few weeks ago, we had our family photos taken. They also did Kyle's 2 year photos and a few individuals of Aiden. We loved the experience and the studio (and the price was amazing). They are here for your viewing pleasure.
Kyle fell off the red chair and hit his head on the concrete floor when they were done---they had never had that happen and quickly gave him fruit snacks. If only that was the first time my climber had fallen on his head :)
Kyle fell off the red chair and hit his head on the concrete floor when they were done---they had never had that happen and quickly gave him fruit snacks. If only that was the first time my climber had fallen on his head :)
R.I.P.
I bought a 2000 Volvo S40 right before I met Evan. From the moment that I drove it off the lot, it had problems. We both hated it. It wasn't designed for children and so the car seats were a pain in the butt. It was always just a pain.
On Tuesday, September 28th, it died. I was driving the kids up to Silver Lake which is up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We were several miles from the top, but most of the way up and the car literally died. I had about 30 seconds to get it off the road before it died. We came to find out that the engine had seized. There was no oil, it was overheated, and yet, no warning lights ever came on (another thing that was happening with the Volvo was that there was an electrical problem in the car).
We had been planning on getting a van in the spring, that day came sooner than expected. On Thursday, Evan and I walked into CarMax at 6:40pm and drove off with a new car at 9:00pm.
She's pretty, huh? This is our new 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan. We love her. She has stow-and-go seats (we can have the whole space in the back flat as the seats fold into the floor), but if the seats are up we have cargo space under them. It drives smoothly and wonderfully. It is just awesome.
I'd also like to point out here that Heavenly Father was really watching out for us and we were truly blessed to get this car when we did and how we did. It was our own family miracle that it all worked out so well.
The van is in the background, but I love how both of my boys have their backpacks---Kyle always wants to be like Evan.
This is Kyle in the new van---he found his beads and wore all of them (although he also wanted monkey to have some too). He was just being a cutie that day on the way to church.
P.S. We've hit the stage where monkey has to do what Kyle is doing, i.e., fold his arms for prayer, kneel for prayer, jump on the bed, sit on the couch for stories, etc. LOVE IT! Always makes me laugh.
On Tuesday, September 28th, it died. I was driving the kids up to Silver Lake which is up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We were several miles from the top, but most of the way up and the car literally died. I had about 30 seconds to get it off the road before it died. We came to find out that the engine had seized. There was no oil, it was overheated, and yet, no warning lights ever came on (another thing that was happening with the Volvo was that there was an electrical problem in the car).
We had been planning on getting a van in the spring, that day came sooner than expected. On Thursday, Evan and I walked into CarMax at 6:40pm and drove off with a new car at 9:00pm.
She's pretty, huh? This is our new 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan. We love her. She has stow-and-go seats (we can have the whole space in the back flat as the seats fold into the floor), but if the seats are up we have cargo space under them. It drives smoothly and wonderfully. It is just awesome.
I'd also like to point out here that Heavenly Father was really watching out for us and we were truly blessed to get this car when we did and how we did. It was our own family miracle that it all worked out so well.
The van is in the background, but I love how both of my boys have their backpacks---Kyle always wants to be like Evan.
This is Kyle in the new van---he found his beads and wore all of them (although he also wanted monkey to have some too). He was just being a cutie that day on the way to church.
P.S. We've hit the stage where monkey has to do what Kyle is doing, i.e., fold his arms for prayer, kneel for prayer, jump on the bed, sit on the couch for stories, etc. LOVE IT! Always makes me laugh.
Friday, October 15, 2010
And they Sleep....
I went to post this picture a long time ago, and though I uploaded it, I totally forgot that the post even existed until I went to edit another post and saw it.
I had Aiden on a Friday at noon. Kyle was with my in-laws and came to visit that evening, but was with them until Saturday at dinner. Then he came home to be with us. That night, Evan left me alone with both boys for 40 minutes while he went to do Elder's Quorum stuff. I had just had Aiden 30 hours ago. I did dishes and laundry while he was gone--but mostly tried to deal with an overly tired 2 year old who would not get off of the bouncy and constantly seemed to be threatening to smoother Aiden. It turned out okay cuz Aiden is still alive today.
Fast forward to Tuesday, Evan went back to work that day and I was left alone with the kids for 8 hours (usually it is 12---he took a short day). I thought that it would be bad and I would struggle to adjust. I only am finding the adjustment a little more difficult as Aiden gets older. This picture is a visual triumph of becoming a mother of two--I got them both to nap at the same time. Although, when I moved Kyle to his bed he woke up and didn't nap very well, but before I moved him I was able to pick up the house and put away laundry.
Recently, I saw a post from a dear friend of mine asking for advice for moving from a mother of one, to a mother of two. I have been pondering what I would like to say to her. I am still unsure, but I would just like everyone to know that they too can do it :)
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Amazingly Awesome Two
After Aiden was born, we had to adjust our routine. When you are awake three times in the middle of the night, you are not getting up before your two year old to get ready. So in came Go, Diego, Go! (In case you don't know, it is a kids show akin to Dora, the Explorer, as she is his cousin and she does make frequent camios on the show--but Diego loves animals and is an animal rescuer in the jungle who speaks Spanish). Thanks to Netflix that has all three season on play instantly, I was able to get a shower and sometimes on particularly difficult days I was able to feed Aiden in peace as well.
So when it came time to get ready for Kyle's second birthday the obvious theme choice was Diego. My sister and brother-in-law were kind enough to let us use their backyard and house for his party as we can't hold enough people at ours and don't have an outdoor setting. This is super late post, so keep in mind his 2 year party/birthday were September 12th. :) It was a small family party with both sides of our family being able to attend.
We did presents, Kyle got (not really part of his birthday funds, but just something else for him to open) his monkey costume for Halloween that we had bought the week previous at the Carter's outlet in Park City. By the way, love having a little child were they can be present when you buy them their gifts and it doesn't ruin the party in the least.
Both babies were present for the festivities and my mom.
Oliver is the one who will be responsible for teaching Kyle sports. Here he is playing with his new balls, particularly his "baseball" (the "k" sound is hard to make, give a 2 year old a break).
This is his cake, and I had to blow it out as his little puffs just don't do much. I made it, but more on that to come.
This is the dairy free, soy free cake and frosting that I made. The design was my friend's suggestion and although I looked everywhere for Diego toys, with the advent of Toy Story 3 you can't find them anywhere except online and I didn't have that much foresight. So there are two candles, the 2 and Diego, luckily we already had baby jaguar as a hand-me-down toy. But Zurchers did have the Diego sugar faces, cups, plates, napkins, those sorts of things (we also had blowers) in Diego theme.
This is the cake at the actual party, we had to transport it in close to 80 degree weather. In making the cake, I used coconut oil as a butter replacement. It works great because it is solid at 72 degrees and below and liquid above that. I did not consider that on the car ride over the oil would liquefy in the car and separate from the frosting. Puddles of oil started to pool on the cake and around the cake. It was disgusting and really upsetting to me. We put it in the fridge at Heidi's house, but it just turned the liquid oil into hard white pools around the cake. It seemed to only affect the frosting so the cake turned out fine and everyone told me not to worry it was fine. But the whole sides of frosting had slide down and the cake broke while coming out of the pan anyway, so it started to separate again without the frosting to hold it in place. When you spend hours making a cake--it just was horrible. Although no one besides me saw it that way. The cake tasted fine though, luckily. But here are the after pictures to show the effects of sun on coconut oil. Next year, no fancy cake, just a pinata.
This was sitting on his presents, eating pizza. He was pleased with his little perch.
He got a tool set from Mammi and Papa. He loved it. This is him several days later while watching his morning dose of Go, Diego, Go!
We just love two. It is Evan's favorite age so far, although he has loved every stage more than the last up to this point---Kyle has gotten so verbal and fun to play with. He is amazingly quick (show/tell him once and you'll regret it. For instance, how to climb to get your cell phone on the kitchen counter while you are feeding the baby---bad idea) and very sweet. But don't think he's not demanding, controlling, or exacting although I don't know where that comes from.
So when it came time to get ready for Kyle's second birthday the obvious theme choice was Diego. My sister and brother-in-law were kind enough to let us use their backyard and house for his party as we can't hold enough people at ours and don't have an outdoor setting. This is super late post, so keep in mind his 2 year party/birthday were September 12th. :) It was a small family party with both sides of our family being able to attend.
We did presents, Kyle got (not really part of his birthday funds, but just something else for him to open) his monkey costume for Halloween that we had bought the week previous at the Carter's outlet in Park City. By the way, love having a little child were they can be present when you buy them their gifts and it doesn't ruin the party in the least.
Both babies were present for the festivities and my mom.
Oliver is the one who will be responsible for teaching Kyle sports. Here he is playing with his new balls, particularly his "baseball" (the "k" sound is hard to make, give a 2 year old a break).
This is his cake, and I had to blow it out as his little puffs just don't do much. I made it, but more on that to come.
This is the dairy free, soy free cake and frosting that I made. The design was my friend's suggestion and although I looked everywhere for Diego toys, with the advent of Toy Story 3 you can't find them anywhere except online and I didn't have that much foresight. So there are two candles, the 2 and Diego, luckily we already had baby jaguar as a hand-me-down toy. But Zurchers did have the Diego sugar faces, cups, plates, napkins, those sorts of things (we also had blowers) in Diego theme.
This is the cake at the actual party, we had to transport it in close to 80 degree weather. In making the cake, I used coconut oil as a butter replacement. It works great because it is solid at 72 degrees and below and liquid above that. I did not consider that on the car ride over the oil would liquefy in the car and separate from the frosting. Puddles of oil started to pool on the cake and around the cake. It was disgusting and really upsetting to me. We put it in the fridge at Heidi's house, but it just turned the liquid oil into hard white pools around the cake. It seemed to only affect the frosting so the cake turned out fine and everyone told me not to worry it was fine. But the whole sides of frosting had slide down and the cake broke while coming out of the pan anyway, so it started to separate again without the frosting to hold it in place. When you spend hours making a cake--it just was horrible. Although no one besides me saw it that way. The cake tasted fine though, luckily. But here are the after pictures to show the effects of sun on coconut oil. Next year, no fancy cake, just a pinata.
This was sitting on his presents, eating pizza. He was pleased with his little perch.
He got a tool set from Mammi and Papa. He loved it. This is him several days later while watching his morning dose of Go, Diego, Go!
We just love two. It is Evan's favorite age so far, although he has loved every stage more than the last up to this point---Kyle has gotten so verbal and fun to play with. He is amazingly quick (show/tell him once and you'll regret it. For instance, how to climb to get your cell phone on the kitchen counter while you are feeding the baby---bad idea) and very sweet. But don't think he's not demanding, controlling, or exacting although I don't know where that comes from.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Aiden Dillon Young
So also, way back in August, when Aiden was six weeks old, he was given a name and a blessing by Evan. We did it in Evan's parent's house to accommodate some scheduling issues. It was very nice. That was the same living room in which Evan and I were married two and a half years ago. We had a small group of close friends come and enjoy this sacred experience with us. I also have to give a shout out to our good friend, Ami, who was willing to take notes at the last minute. Since neither Evan nor I could recall the words said a few short hours later, it was such a sweet thing to have them forever written down. I would recommend it.
This is of Evan and Chris after the blessing. Chris and Teresa live in Ohio and were unable to attend Kyle blessing because although they lived here they were in Guatemala. It worked out so wonderfully that they were vacationing here in Utah when we wanted to bless Aiden. Chris and Evan have known each other and been good friends since they were 11 back in Edmond, Oklahoma. I love this picture.
By the way, always have a 15 year old aunt to entertain the children. Always.
Grandpa & GG Young, with Mammi and Aiden. Mammi says that Aiden whispers his every want and desire to her. He often wants his Mammi, according to her. But in this case, he just wanted his bib and shoes off.
This is my sister, Oliver (her husband) and their sweet little 2 week old daughter, Addison. She is so stinkin' cute and a mini-Heidi.
Our first family photo where I am not two seconds post-partum. I know those are necessary photos, but not flattering for the mother (and sometimes not even the baby).
This is of Evan and Chris after the blessing. Chris and Teresa live in Ohio and were unable to attend Kyle blessing because although they lived here they were in Guatemala. It worked out so wonderfully that they were vacationing here in Utah when we wanted to bless Aiden. Chris and Evan have known each other and been good friends since they were 11 back in Edmond, Oklahoma. I love this picture.
By the way, always have a 15 year old aunt to entertain the children. Always.
Grandpa & GG Young, with Mammi and Aiden. Mammi says that Aiden whispers his every want and desire to her. He often wants his Mammi, according to her. But in this case, he just wanted his bib and shoes off.
This is my sister, Oliver (her husband) and their sweet little 2 week old daughter, Addison. She is so stinkin' cute and a mini-Heidi.
Our first family photo where I am not two seconds post-partum. I know those are necessary photos, but not flattering for the mother (and sometimes not even the baby).
Ohio
Way back in August, Evan, Kyle, Aiden and I took a week long vacation (*sigh*). Although anyone with children know that it is not really a vacation, but ours sure felt like one. Our best friends, Chris, Teresa, Halle (& as of the 6th baby Miles) were our fabulous hosts. We came to see them and to see THE Ohio State University where Chris is getting his ph.d. and Evan is thinking of going next year after finishing his associates.
I'm totally going to skip over the flying. My friend Ami said that it is never as bad as you imagined----WRONG! We weren't allowed to sit in the same row because we both had lap children and that put us over the limit on oxygen masks. Kyle never wanted the parent he was with or any of the things that we brought to keep him busy. A four week old baby does fit on the tray table when trying to change a blowout poopy diaper minutes before taxing to the runway. And never fear, you can traumatize a young teenage girl when you have to breastfeed your baby with your boob inches from her. Or how about, I only got two hours of sleep the night we left because we had to BE at the airport at 5:30 am--good morning 3:30 alarm.
The first few days we were there, Chris was off at a conference in Montreal. So the rest of us went to the Columbus Zoo. Awesome. This is the petting zoo--a little lame, only goats. But Kyle liked it.
The aquarium where you can touch all sorts of things.
See I was there, and so was Aiden. Kyle and Halle are such good friends. Kyle can actually look at this picture and tell you everyone in it. He loves to point out Teresa.
Halle got to ride on the carousel. Because Kyle spilled his apple juice all over himself and his stroller (sippy cup malfunction) and was without clothes so he was not allowed to go.
On Tuesday, we went bowling. A first for Kyle (he also played with play dough for the first time in Ohio. I'm such a bad mother). They make you pay the full $8 something for a child at this bowling alley. Very lame.
This was Aiden's experience of bowling.
We got to play with bumpers because of the kids. I got the high score of my life and Teresa did too. Evan did a lot of trash talking, but I beat him. Hahaha. Teresa quietly beat us all.
Wednesday, after Chris was back, we all went to a nearby lake. It was so warm and lovely. Kyle had never been to a zero entry body of water. He loved it. Mostly he stayed and played in the sand and his new word that day was "bucket." There were little fishes that kept bumping in to me and swimming around my legs. It was cut short before I could put Aiden's feet in the water by a lighting and rain storm.
This was Aiden's experience of the lake.
Thursday was our on-campus day. We saw the campus with Chris as a tour guide on Wednesday night, but we did all the advisor and such on Thursday. This is Evan with THE Ohio State University mascot. He told me I was horrible when I forced him to get this picture just like the other teenagers viewing the campus with their parents. I then promptly refused to do the same.
Friday we came home. It was really sad to leave. I love vacation. I love flying--not with lap kids though. But at least coming home was better, we had Chris and Teresa's help, a little more experience, and we sat across the aisle from each other (thanks Mom for that advice). It was such a lovely trip. Thanks for having us, Chris & Teresa. Sorry, Halle, about Kyle biting you twice on the last day, I swear that was a fluke.
P.S. When Chris and Teresa were here, Teresa told Halle she was coming to see Kyle. She said, "My friend, Kyle. Bite me." So much for kids forgetting. :)
I'm totally going to skip over the flying. My friend Ami said that it is never as bad as you imagined----WRONG! We weren't allowed to sit in the same row because we both had lap children and that put us over the limit on oxygen masks. Kyle never wanted the parent he was with or any of the things that we brought to keep him busy. A four week old baby does fit on the tray table when trying to change a blowout poopy diaper minutes before taxing to the runway. And never fear, you can traumatize a young teenage girl when you have to breastfeed your baby with your boob inches from her. Or how about, I only got two hours of sleep the night we left because we had to BE at the airport at 5:30 am--good morning 3:30 alarm.
The first few days we were there, Chris was off at a conference in Montreal. So the rest of us went to the Columbus Zoo. Awesome. This is the petting zoo--a little lame, only goats. But Kyle liked it.
The aquarium where you can touch all sorts of things.
See I was there, and so was Aiden. Kyle and Halle are such good friends. Kyle can actually look at this picture and tell you everyone in it. He loves to point out Teresa.
Halle got to ride on the carousel. Because Kyle spilled his apple juice all over himself and his stroller (sippy cup malfunction) and was without clothes so he was not allowed to go.
On Tuesday, we went bowling. A first for Kyle (he also played with play dough for the first time in Ohio. I'm such a bad mother). They make you pay the full $8 something for a child at this bowling alley. Very lame.
This was Aiden's experience of bowling.
We got to play with bumpers because of the kids. I got the high score of my life and Teresa did too. Evan did a lot of trash talking, but I beat him. Hahaha. Teresa quietly beat us all.
Wednesday, after Chris was back, we all went to a nearby lake. It was so warm and lovely. Kyle had never been to a zero entry body of water. He loved it. Mostly he stayed and played in the sand and his new word that day was "bucket." There were little fishes that kept bumping in to me and swimming around my legs. It was cut short before I could put Aiden's feet in the water by a lighting and rain storm.
This was Aiden's experience of the lake.
Thursday was our on-campus day. We saw the campus with Chris as a tour guide on Wednesday night, but we did all the advisor and such on Thursday. This is Evan with THE Ohio State University mascot. He told me I was horrible when I forced him to get this picture just like the other teenagers viewing the campus with their parents. I then promptly refused to do the same.
Friday we came home. It was really sad to leave. I love vacation. I love flying--not with lap kids though. But at least coming home was better, we had Chris and Teresa's help, a little more experience, and we sat across the aisle from each other (thanks Mom for that advice). It was such a lovely trip. Thanks for having us, Chris & Teresa. Sorry, Halle, about Kyle biting you twice on the last day, I swear that was a fluke.
P.S. When Chris and Teresa were here, Teresa told Halle she was coming to see Kyle. She said, "My friend, Kyle. Bite me." So much for kids forgetting. :)
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