We're bad bloggers!

What can I say? I guess I should say that it isn't really a "we" issue with the blogging.... it's a "me" issue. I don't particularly know where all of my time goes, but between laundry and trying to tame the kiddos and keep the house somewhat clean and keep up with my new calling and help with preschool, there isn't much time left over for even changing my facebook status, so the blog goes by the wayside.

Life is good, but always busy. Ben and Sofia are growing like weeds. Ben alone has grown three inches in the past 7 months - we only know because we all cheered the day he hit 40 inches and could go on Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland. Sofia is talking more and more and some days that's a bad thing. She has a tendency to punish Ben and that leads to more arguements between the two. When they get along they are as cute as can be - it just doesn't usually last too long.

Charles is busy with work and trying to do some side jobs since there is so much uncertainty in the job market lately. I am the new Relief Society President in my ward, so I think that pretty much sums up what my life is about lately.

We are tring hard to keep our perspective and enjoy life as we live it. We hope you're all well too!

It's Like Cooking a Frog...

I hear that when you're trying to cook a frog the key is to put them in a pot of cold water, then turn on the heat. The frogs aclimate to the water as it warms and before they know it, they're dead from the heat. My question is, who tries to intentionally cook a frog? Yuk. But the purpose of this lovely metaphor is to illustrate the weather in Menifee. It has been surprisingly cool for Summer apart from the scorching 106 we had one day in July, but the temps get to about the low 90s by late afternoon and so lately I feel like a frog. It gets NICE at night - high 60s, low 70s, so we keep the windows open and the fans on and we actually have to sleep with blankets because it gets chilly, but by about 3:00 I feel like I was put in a cold pot and the water is slowly heating up around me. The breeze we get is nice, but sometimes I wonder if I should just go outside and come back in so the house feels cool again. It's like an Arizona swimming pool that has a Jacuzzi I think for that purpose alone.

The reason for talking about the heat is because it is the reason for a disastrous day at the ER last week. Everyone, but me, had diarrhea. Gross, I know. Thank goodness Ben can make it to the potty like a champ. We have no idea where it came from, possibly something in the water at swim lessons... no idea, really. So Sofia, had it all day Wednesday last week and started puking that night. I know, I know, but there is a point. So she woke up Thursday puking too and because of the heat I am concerned she might become dehydrated. The doctor's office isn't open and she's already puked three or four times and she retches every time she drinks anything, even water. So I call the 24-hour nurse line and they tell me I need to take her to the ER. Good news, a little pill made the vomitting stop and she was STARVING and thirsty. The bad news, it took 5 hours to get the pill. We got to the ER at 10 and made it home just before 5. Thank goodness Grandma and Papa came up to entertain Ben and thank goodness Fia was so mellow at the hospital because it was horrible. I am so glad our little girl is healthy and the sickness seems to have passed for everyone and glad I avoided it.

Swimming lessons were great. Sofia and I missed the last class because she was sick, so I missed the day I had determined would be picture day. We're going to the pool next weekend though, so I'll get some pictures of the awesome pool we go to. Benjamin starts preschool in just over a week with our first meeting next week. He is so excited, he wants to be on the varsity football team.

Life is great and we're having lots of fun. We're off to Chuck E. Cheese tonight and then we leave first thing tomorrow for a camping adventure! Yippee!

Updates long overdue...

First and foremost, here is a current picture of all of us, since it has been ages since we've updated pictures...



Life has been busy, it always is, and I always say that, but it's the truth, so there it is. The kiddos both start swimming lessons tonight and they run for 2 weeks, every Mon-Thur from 5:30-6, so our evenings will be a bit of a mess. The kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pool and the water though, so it should be fun and I know I'll rest a little easier when I know they both have learned some pool safety and swimming skills.

We've also been busy at the house painting and cleaning and furnishing. Craigslist has become our number one furniture shopping resource and so far it has paid off. We FINALLY have seating downstairs, which means yes, we finally have furniture downstairs. Don't laugh, we've learned another couple we used to know in Cardiff just moved up here and they have the same problem we do - too much house and not enough furniture. :) I'll work on taking some pictures so you can see our furni finds.

We also survived our first Sofia haircut. Ben and I were playing hockey in the loft when she comes out of the bathroom with scissors in hand complete with hair in-between the blades. We fixed it and it all went surprisingly well. She talks about it all of the time, so she still isn't over it, but we lived through it.

Benjamin is officially potty-trained and we rejoice that when we finally put our minds to it it was easier than we thought it would be. He makes us laugh every day with the silly things he says and does. He constantly turns his simple stories into songs that he cracks up singing and his laughter is contagious. He dreams that one day he will wake up to find that it has snowed ice cream and in a perfect world he would get to live at a sports park and play baseball, soccer, basketball and hockey everyday. He also likes to skateboard and he is a daredevil.

Sofia is still a girly-girl but also a bit of a tomboy. She tells us every morning that she dreamed about soccer but she loves play Ariel and sing - which is the most incredible thing ever. I had no idea that a child could be so out of tune, but she is. She also loves Dora the Explorer and wearing chapstick. She'll walk around the house with her hands on her hips and when she isn't the sweetest thing ever she is a ball of complete attitude. She is the sweet cuddly one and I wonder what I would ever have done without her.



Life is good, as you can see, busy and good. We love all of family and friends, especially the old friends we still get to see and the new friends that make our new home more comfortable.

** A BIG thank you to Carrie Elton for taking our pictures! If you ever need family pics for anything and you live in Utah, get in touch with Carrie!**

Sportacus Saving the Day!

Most of you have probably never heard of Lazy Town. I had never heard of Lazy Town and thought it was strictly BBC, but lo and behold, it was on Nick Jr. for a while and it has given Ben an answer to the perfect superhero - one who plays sports and owns every piece of sporting equipment there is and uses it to save kids who are in trouble. Here is our little sportacus.



It's acutally really cute when Sofia climbs somewhere and yells, "Sportacus, Help!" and Ben sometimes comes to her rescue. (Mostly he runs the other way)

Why, Why and Why?

You know how most kids hear something like, "pick up that toy," and ask, "Why?" then you answer and you hear, "Why?" and you keep hearing "Why?" as the response to everything that you've said and you start to question the intelligence of the little beast asking you. I have one of those kids now. In true toddler fashion, Benjamin's favorite question has become "Why?" - but like the smarty-pants that he is, his ABSOLUTE favorite question is, "Why, Why and Why?" It's like deep down he knows where the conversation is headed and just to make it more aggravating he asks why up front. It flusters me, honestly. Like my first repsonse would never fully answer his burning need to KNOW why his toys have to be put away, why he can't sleep with 3 or 4 baseball bats in his bed, why ice cream is not a good breakfast food and why it is unsafe to climb the banisters. However I will also say that besides policing his sister, this is really the only bad thing Benjamin does lately. He still doesn't understand that he doesn't NEED a hockey stick in every color, but for now he is willing to simply add things to his Christmas list and for that I am grateful.

Sofia is at the streaking stage that Ben was at last Summer. I guess I should have known that it was coming, but no one else had even heard of a kid ripping his own diaper off whenever he pooped, so I thought Ben was going to be the lone exception. I was wrong. So Sofia drops trow whenever she poops and it's gotten us thinking that we may have found another use for duct tape cuz really it's gross and we just had the carpets cleaned. She is a fighter and won't let Ben push her around which is a good thing, I guess, but it leads to LOTS of arguments where Sofia is yelling, "No Ben!" and pointing at him and Ben is shrieking and telling me that Sofia is saying a bad word. Yes, he thinks "no" is a bad word. It's frustrating, but then funny, so I guess every cloud really does have a silver lining.

Charles is working from home and thanks to a donated desk, he is no longer operating off of two saw horses and a sheet of MDF. I have almost finished unpacking the kids' stuff, Sofia's room is painted, her curtains are up and we are starting to hang things on the wall. I still have two boxes full of clothes in our bedroom that don't have anywhere to go because I can't figure out where my dresser will fit. Charles is helping to draw up plans to put some storage in the closet which will solve that problem. I am LOVING the upstairs laundry room because I used to not like taking the laundry downstairs and the kids ask to take a bath everyday because they say, "there is a pool in here!" (They are referring to the tub in the master bathroom.) I will post a picture of the outside of the house and will not bother you with the inside since there isn't any furniture downstairs and the pictures I have of the kids' rooms are stricly "before" pictures.

There isn't much else going on. We've spent the last two weekends back down in San Diego sharing with our friends some amazing times in their lives with a birthday, a baby blessing and a wedding. We're gearing up for what people up here call "the hot part of the year." Which we are told starts around Memorial Day and lasts until Thanksgiving. A Dad at the park told Charles the hottest he's seen it get is 113 in the summer - he claimed it "wasn't that bad." I will be breaking out the kiddie pool again and soaking, I think. Here are some pics to keep you entertained...


You've gotta love Yo Gabba Gabba for teaching kids to make a funny face!



It wouldn't be Easter without a bucket on your head!




Out new home. We LOVE guests!

Praises to Chuck E. Cheese!

A huge thank you to Chuck E. Cheese!!! I was a little nervous that Ben wanted his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, but it ended up being perfect. Since we're in the process of moving we needed a location away from home and this was AWESOME! The food was better than I remembered - not great, but better than I was expecting. The kids had a BLAST playing and we didn't have to set up or clean up a thing. We are so glad that there is CEC not too far from the new house!

Happy Happy Birthday Sofia Dear

Sofia is oficially 2!!! Can you believe it? We can't! Everyday she is saying more and more, including the announcement to Ben, "This is MY room!" She is sassy sometimes and sweet other times and we love her dearly. Here is a list of the things we love most about Sofia (and by "we", I mean me.)

1) The lady-like way she belches mid meal to make room for more food.
2) The way she runs at you full-speed to give you a hug.
3) When she pets my hair and snuggles with me.
4) That she's not afraid to poop in the potty.
5) That MEAT is her favorite food group.
6) That she can kick a soccer ball - hard!
7) Her sweet smile with spaced out teeth and all.
8) That she doesn't cry when she gets her shots.
9) That her belly-button can be an inny or an outie.
10) Her awesome dance moves.
11) That she balances like a gymnast or a dancer.
12) That she can climb as well as a 4-year old boy at the park.
13) That all dogs are named Bolt or Marley.
14) That she uses her stuffed piglet as a teether and a pillow.
15) That she sings "Yo Gabba Gabba" and primary songs all of the time.
16) When she says, "aw, cute" everytime she sees an animal.
17) Her soft curls.
18) The way she bounces and moves around when she runs.
19) That she holds her fork in one hand and eats with the other.
20) That she is the perfect combination of tomboy and girly girl.

Sofia has blessed our lives so much. She is so sweet and caring and loves making friends. She has been the best friend Ben could ever have asked for and she makes everyday a little more exciting. Happy Birthday fia. We love you!