The Elder Family

Six Months Later

2010-02-25T07:34:00.005-07:00

I can't believe it has almost been six months since I last posted! We have just been super busy so this one might be long. Sorry. First off, we have been busy with house projects. I stained my cabinets and my mantle and our kitchen table dark. I really like it now! The only bad thing is with dark cabinets they show everything so I am washing them a lot more than I did my light ones. We took a little break for Christmas and then started our next project. I found out about this AWESOME sale on moulding last month. They were selling everything for $0.25-$0.50 a foot! We got molding to frame our windows, do headers on our doors, and new base for our upstairs (except the bedrooms). Eventually we will be putting hardwood floor in the main living areas and down the hall so we needed new base to put up over the flooring at who could pass up $0.30 a foot. We also got new ballisters and a railing to redo our stairway. Right now we just have a half wall between the stairs and the family room. We are going to rip that out and put in a railing. I'm so excited because it will open that room up so much. For all of the rest of my projects upstairs we need our hardwood floor done first. I keep saving and hopefully by the end of the summer we will have enough to buy it so by Christmas we'll have it done. That's my goal anyway. On all these projects when I say "we" it is mostly me. Ben and I have a deal that he only has to help for 10% off the project. He would rather higher it out than do it himself and I really enjoy doing it, so he helps when I can't do it all by myself.

Our next project is finishing the room downstairs that itsn't finished. We are making it an office. We organized the storage room with shelves and I sold and am still selling a bunch of stuff that we don't need anymore. In about a month or two it should be done.

Isaac- He had is first birthday in September so he is almost 18 months now. He is still such a snugglie boy. He doesn't talk much so we are teaching him sign language and he is picking it up pretty quick. He loves books and cars. Last week we moved him to a toddler bed and he is doing really well! The first night he went right to sleep. We have learned that if we keep his door shut he will stay in his bed, but as soon as you open it just a crack he wakes up and comes out. In the mornings he wakes up and gets toys to play with and takes them to his bed. When he is ready to get out he calls "MOM" (which is one of the only words he says and you can understand). Every morning there are new toys in his bed.

He loves to go for rides in the car and he likes the dishwasher. I think he likes hearing the water inside so he puts his ear up the the dishwasher to hear it. He is a cutie, but man can he get into trouble!!! He gets into way more things than Max ever did. He is definaltly a little tornado which is funny because he is so sweet and quiet you would never guess. My kitchen drawers are always empty and mostly down the stairs, my floors, walls, and doors are all drawn on with pencil (I try to keep the pens hidden). He has a fasination with plugging things in. At least once a week he will take the toaster out and plug it in the family room. He use to plug in my hand mixer and turn it on. It scared him a couple times so now I have it in a different place. He definatly keeps us on our toes!

Max- What can we say about Max. He is too smart for his own good! Because I tutor kids he wants to be tutored as well. I gave him some of the first grade math pages and he could do the math! They were the first of the year stuff, but still. He knows all the letters and sounds, he can count to 100 with some help. He has a leapster and one of the games he has does times tables and he was doing times tables the other day and getting them right! I thought this summer we would start reading. He loves books, especially Clifford and Arthur.

We got a Wii for Christmas and he loves to play it! It has made for good insentives. He has to be dressed, clean his room , and have his bed made before he plays. He is pretty good at making his bed all by himself. He has gotten very independent and wants to do almost everything himself. He says the funniest things. One day we were talking about what he wants to be when he grows up and he said he wanted to be a mom and a dad. I told him that he could just be a dad. He said okay and then said "I want to be a good boy with lots of pazzaz!" I laughed so hard. Another day I asked him to let the dogs in and he asked me "What does that entail?" I don't know where he comes up with these words!

Ben- He has been working a ton. I know that is the story of his life. He still works and Lakeview and McKay. We are trying really hard to get out of debt so he is working a lot to pay it off. We should be done in about a year and then he won't have to work so much. Ben turned 30 in December. We went up to Park City to the Westgate and left the boys with Tricia and Adam. It was so nice to have a weekend without kids and to be able to see Ben for an entire weekend. That never happens. Ben is starting a new business. I know that's what we always are doing. It is a rental business. He is just getting the website going so all his free time he is working on that.

Brooke- Well, I have been busy not only with house projects, but with my business. This August I started a business with my friend, then she got called the the Relief Society Presidency and doing the business was too hard so she gave me the business. Now the business is going really well! I make table displays for Multi Level Marketing consultants like Scentsy, Mary Kay, etc. I have had most of my success on eBay. I get an average of 5 orders a week. It's really nice to have the extra money and it sure does keep me busy. Ben is really good about helping me paint things and stuff. My website is http://www.ashiningdesign.com/ if you want to check it out. I am also tutoring. I haven't advertised in over a year and I stay full by word of mouth now. That is really nice. I have 4 kids that I am tutoring now. Last week I applied to work at Jet Blue Airlines as a work at home Reservation Agent. Tricia just got a job there and really likes it. I actually got the job there three years ago, but the boundry line was Centerville. They have since moved the line to Layton so I can work there now! I have been waiting since September for a job opening and finally there was one. I am guessing that I won't start until June.

Well, sorry this is so long. It's hard to cram in six months worth of stuff. I'll try to be better at staying up to date!

August

2009-10-07T08:48:00.003-06:00

August was spent getting ready for Tricia's wedding. We had tons of showers for her. We did take a time out and go to our favorite place in Park City, the Westgate Resort! We have been there twice now and we never want to leave. They have activities all day for the kids. Everything from magic shows to making ipod cases. They have four swimming pools. We mostly just swam. The boys loved it! All three of them! It was nice to just go somewhere and relax. It will be nice when the boys are a little older and can do things like the Alpine Slide and stuff. There was a miniture golf course by the Alpine Slide, but it was really lame so we didn't do it.
After Park City we stopped in Heber for lunch at this really cute train resturant. They had a train that you could sit and eat at. Then we went to Seven Peaks Waterpark. Max was so brave. He went down all the kid slides and Isaac loved being in the water. Their favorite part was the wave pool. Since we were so close we went to Tricia's house and she made us dinner.

July

2009-10-07T08:25:00.006-06:00

Of course July was jammed packed! We had our annual 4th of July festivities. We went to the parade, which Max loved!! Ben had to work so he wasn't able to stay for dinner or the fireworks, but he did come to the parade. Max loved the fireworks, but fell asleep about half way through. Now when we go to my mom's house and we get a blanket to sit on in the backyard he asks me if we can watch fireworks.The next week we went to Island Park with Ben's family. The boys loved camping. Max just asked me today if we could go camping again. We went to West Yellowstone and say the Bear and Wolf museum. It was kind of lame, but Max liked the bears. I was actually suprised how well the boys slept in the tent compaired to our last camping trip.

We also took Max to the Treehouse Museum in July. It was really neat. He liked all the little houses and all the hands on activities.

We took my friend Joan to the Oquirrah Mountain Temple Open House. It was really pretty. It was fun to see the difference in this temple and the Draper Temple. We went with Tricia and Adam too. We took the boys this time and pushed them through the temple in their double stroller. It was a little strange to be in the temple with a stroller. Luckily we fit through all the doorways. It was kind of fun because we know where all the elevator are now! The Celestial Room was my favorite. We went in the morning so the sun was shining right into the windows. The Celestial Room is all white so it made it just that much brighter! It was amazing.

The Parable of Dolly

2009-10-07T08:08:00.003-06:00

The end of June we bought a 2002 Dogde Durango. We got rid of the White Malibu. It was so nice to see that car go! (I think Ben was more excited because he gets to drive the Altima now). We bought it from the TNT Auction. It was a Police K-9 unit. The only way we could tell was it the title was from the Salt Lake Police Department and there was tons of dog hair in the back. We had to do a lot of repairs, but it was still worth it. About a week after we bought it we noticed that the headlights had about an inch of water inside of them. We thought this was weird, but didn't think anything of it. Then one night when I was at my mom's house one of the headlights burned out. The next day the boys and I went to Provo to visit Tricia. It was about 10:00 p.m. when I left. I got in the Durango (which we named Dolly) and turned on the headlights and nothing worked. I had no headlights and no brights. I very carefully left Tricia's apartment and headed home with only parking lights. Driving around the city was fine, but as soon as I got onto the freeway I couldn't see a thing and to make things worse it started to rain. It rained and rained and rained. I think it was the scarest I had been driving. Luckily the boys fell asleep before we even got on the freeway. I tried following cars and staying close to them, but the cars kept getting off the freeway or going places I didn't want to go. I couldn't see the lines on the road and I couldn't see when the road turned. Finally when I got close to Bountiful I called Ben. He was at work and had just gotten off so I told him to meet me at a gas station so I could follow him home. Once I had Ben to follow I was amazed at how calm I was. All of the fear and tention was gone and I finally had peace.

Here is what this experience taught me. In life if we don't have any direction or light of our own and try to life off of someone elses light or follow people that we don't know if they are trust worthly they will lead us to places we don't want to go. They may take us off of the straight and narrow path. When you don't have any light yourself you don't know which way to go, but when you follow the Christ's light you will be at peace and he will lead you safely home.

To finish the story, yes, I made it home safe. We found out the problem was the water in the headlights touched the hot lightblubs and broke them. We drained the water, fixed the wholes, replaced the bulbs and it works fine now.

Bad at Blogging

2009-10-07T08:06:00.002-06:00

I have been horrible at blogging. I am hoping by the end of this week to be all caught up. I started a new business and have been spending every change I get to work on the website. If you want to see it the web address is www.ashiningdesign.com. It's still not finished, but it's just about there.

A Full Week!

2009-06-06T15:38:00.014-06:00

This week has been filled with a lot of fun stuff. On Monday we left for Smith and Morehouse to go camping. We were excited for our first family camping/fishing trip with Isaac. We got up there and had dinner and right after Ben made a fabulous fire it started to rain and it rained until 1 in the morning. We had fun playing games in the tent. The next morning we woke up to things a little wet, but it was still looking like a great day. I made breakfast and then we went down to the resevior to go fishing. We didn't catch anything, but Max had fun casting and saying "Here fishy, fishy, fishy." We got back to our campsite and had lunch and then is started to rain again. It rained and rained and rained. I didn't have a lot of things for the boys to do in the tent so they started getting a little crabby and started bouncing off the walls. Finally at 6:00 we couldn't take it anymore so we packed up our stuff. About half way through packing up the rain stopped and the sun came out. I was tempted to stay, but Ben was done. He didn't want to go camping anymore and was just done. So we came home two days early.

It was a good thing that we came home early, though. On Wednesday morning I looked out our front window where we have a family of robins and the nest was gone. It had been inbetween our drain pipe and our house, but it was gone. I got Ben and we went outside and the nest had fallen. Ben picked up the nest and there was one baby bird by it so I ran inside and got a box to put it in. Then we started looking for the other three birds. We found two more of them for a total of three, but we couldn't find the last one. ( Later we found it, the neighbors cat got it.) We weren't sure what to do with these three baby birds so we called the Ogden Nature Center and asked them what we should do. They said that robins usually come back and to just put the nest in a box or something and put it back where it was and the mom should come back. We had a bucket from easter and put the nest and the baby birds in it and hung it from the drain pipe. Within a few seconds the mom came back and feed her babies. It was so awesome. Max loves checking on the baby birds now. We can see them from our front window. Last night in his prayers (he says them by himself now) he blessed the mama bird and the baby birds. It was really cute.

On Thursday we went to the zoo. Max really liked seeing all the animals. His favorite animal were the zebras. When we left he said he didn't want to go and I said that we couldn't sleep there and we needed to go home and he said he would sleep with the zebras. Isaac just looked around and didn't really react to anything, but he didn't cry, so that was something. When we went to see the giraffes Max said, "Oh, Grammy's favorite." My mom had told him that they were her favorite and he remembered. His favorite was the park. We made sure we did that at the end because he wouldn't have cared about any of the animals, he just loves playing at the park.

Friday we went to the Clearfield Aquatics Center. Max still loves swimming. They even have a really big water slide and Max wasn't scared to go down that. He is just a little fish. They have a shallow end that is only a foot deep and we had Isaac in a little tub chair. In the shallow end he could stand up. He was having so much fun jumping in the water. He is such a jumper. He bounces in his high chair, in your arms, in his walker. He loves to bounce. We are thinking about getting a pass since the boys loved it so much.

Well, Max is getting smarter every day. He can spell Isaac and Oli now. He has been writing his name with chalk everywhere, on my door, on the deck, on the sidewalk. He picks up everything we say. When I ask him if he wants lunch he usually says, "mmm, let's wait." because he is playing with something. It's fun because I can carry on a conversation with him.

Isaac is getting really close to crawling. He is starting to get fun and not so whiny, although he is whinning right now. Max is a good brother and plays with him. He still loves Max. His favorite new toys are cars. He sits and drives them around. It's really cute. He had his first two teeth come through last week too. He loves putting his tounge on his teeth so most the time he is sticking out his tounge.

Ben is still waiting to hear from jobs in California. I start summer tutoring next week. I am excited because I am already full for the summer. I am not sure if I want to open more times up yet or not. I'm already working 6 hours a week. I never guessed that tutoring would have been such a blessing to us. I am so glad that I can work, but be at my house and be home with my boys. I wouldn't want to miss out on everything they are doing. I am so glad that I have a husband who wants me to stay home and raise our children. I guess I am just feeling very grateful for all the blessing that I have in my life. Heavenly Father is sure looking out for us!

Catching Up

2009-05-25T10:24:00.004-06:00

We have had a lot of trips and things to catch up on. The beginning of May we went to San Francisco. Our friend gave us some buddy passes so we got to fly there. We got to the airport in time for our flight, but it was delayed by two hours so we decided to walk around and have some lunch. When we got back to our terminal the flight was moved up an hour and it had left without us. So we had to wait for the next flight. After six hours at the airport we finally got on the plane. Max was exhasted by now and while the plane was backing up he fell asleep and slept pretty much the entire flight. Isaac did pretty well too. We got to San Francisco and had to find our luggage because it was on the flight that we missed. Then we got on the BART and went into the city. By the time we got to our hotel it was 9:30. We left our house that morning at 8:30. It made for a very long day.

The next day we rented a car and drove around. Ben has applied for a lot of jobs in the Bay Area so we went to check out the areas that we want to move to. The city that we really liked was called Discovery Bay. It is a small town, population about 9,000. It was really cool. It has a river in the city and the houses are built right on the river so they all have docks in their back yards. We saw the schools and parks. There were tons of parks. We stopped and let Max get out and play for a while since it was a long drive. It is about 1 hour and 15 mins outside of San Francisco. We are now really excited to move there, now Ben just needs a job.
The next day we went back to San Francisco. Max played at the beach. He loved throwing the sand into the ocean until a big wave hit him and he fell in. Nothing like a wet, cold, sandy two year old. After we got him changed we walked the wharf and had to get Gharradelli sundaes. We are now addicted. I have learned to make their fudge sauce and make it about once a week because we have hot fudge sundaes every night.

Our flight left at 7:45 in the morning so we got up early and went to the airport. The shuttle from our hotel was late and we kept getting in the wrong lines. When we finally got in the right line there was no way we were going to make our flight, so yes we missed another flight. So seven hours later we got on another flight home.

As soon as we got home we missed it. We just wanted to go back. Hopefully Ben will get a job soon. A lot of the companies are highering from the inside, but they have to post the position for so many days and interview so many people. The good thing is if he does get an interview and he as to fly out there it is a pretty good chance that he is getting the job.

Last week was our anniversary. Five years goes by quick! We went up to Park City for two days. It was really fun to get away. Max went swimming for his first time. We went a few times last summer, but he didn't like it much. He had a life jacket on and at first he was really scared to let go of us, then he started to get a little more daring. By the end of the day he was jumping into the pool all by himself and swimming all by himself. He loved it. We were swimming for 6 hours. Now that is all he wants to do.

Max is getting so big. He knows how to spell Mom, Dad, Max, fox and in. He started to write his name today. He loves typing things on the computer. His new thing is he will only do things you tell him not to. So we say, "Don't pick up your toys, Don't get in the car, etc." He thinks it's so funny and really it is just annoying.

Isaac wants to crawl so bad. He can get around on his bum a little, but he just wants to do everything Max does. He is getting better with the crying as long as I am around. He doesn't like it when I leave him with Ben. I can't wait until he out grows that.

Tricia and I are starting a new business together. It is called Simple Things. She is doing a photography business and I will be doing my cards. I am working on the website right now, but I want to do a lot of things differently so I have been reading a lot of computer programming books. Let me tell you how interesting those are. I have to read them during the day or I fall asleep.

Enjoying Life

2009-04-28T22:11:00.003-06:00

Ben and I finally decided that we needed to get out and do something fun instead of doing the normal clean the house, mow the lawn, etc. Ben had the day off so we took the Frontrunner downtown. Max thought is was so cool to ride on the train. He loved looking out the window and seeing the mountains.

We went to the Gateway and had dinner at Applebee's. It was the first time that we went out to dinner with both the boys and Isaac was good. He had his baby food and then played until we left. Then we went to the Clark Planetarium.

Max's favorite part was seeing himself on the tv. They had a map of the United States and when you stood infront of it you could see yourself on the tv so you could tell the weather.

He also liked being on the moon and mars. It was really good to get out and do something in the warm weather. We've been stuck inside just a little too long. We'll have to do it again because Max keeps asking to go on a train again. On Sunday we are going to San Francisco for a few days. We are trying to get Max excited to fly on a plane, but all he wants to do is go on a train.

And then there was one!

2009-04-10T22:26:00.004-06:00

I am very happy to say that we only have one child in diapers!!!!! I can't tell you how exciting that is! We have been trying for the last two months to get Max potty trained. He would kind of go in his potty and then just didn't care if he went in his diaper. We tried a few times and after a few days gave up each time. Last week Max wanted to wear a pull up so I told him if he went in the potty then he could so he did and he has been great ever since. We are still working on going number two, but he does great even when we go out of the house. He is so proud of himself!

Max's latest thing is he LOVES to sing. We sing all the time. I am impressed how many words he remembers. He loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I have been teaching him his shapes and when we come to a diamond I have tried to teach him it is not a diamond, but a rhombus because when he gets into first grade he has to call it that and it really confused a lot of my students. Now when he sings the song he says, "like a rhombus in the sky" instead. It is funny that he made that connection. His new favorite movie is "Bolt". There is a pigeon in the movie that says, "oh, snap" and so he has started saying it too. It is so funny.

Isaac learned to roll over on my birthday. He is doing a little better about crying all the time, but he has had an ear infection for about a month now. It is getting better slowly, but he isn't sleeping through the night and doesn't take good naps so he is just tired all the time. He is getting really fun though, he started saying "dada" this week, which Ben really likes. He still just loves Max. Max likes to get into Isaac's crib with him and they both lay there and look at the mobile and spit at each other. It will be really fun when he gets older and they can really play together.

I am really enjoying staying at home and watching my boys grow up. There is no place I would rather be. There are the days that you feel so overwhelmed and you don't really get a break, but it is all worth it. I was listening to Dr. Laura the other day. She read an email that really made me start to think about how I acted as a mom and wife. The email was about a lady who loved being a stay at home mom and the thing she said that really hit me was she loved being able to serve her husband when he gets home because he had served her all day by working so she could stay home. I always knew that, but never really put it all together. It just opened my eyes to how to be a better mom and wife.

Las Vegas

2009-04-08T20:56:00.007-06:00

Ok, so it was a month ago, but we had a great vacation to Las Vegas. Max still talks about it. On the trip I finally realized the difference between a Family Trip and a Vacation. After a family trip you need a vacation! We had fun though. We drove straight through to Vegas, it was suprisingly not too bad with the two boys, even though I got a speeding ticket on the way down. I know, shocking! I think it was like my 11th ticket. I can't help that my car likes to drive fast.

We stayed at Sam's Town. It was pretty nice. The middle of the hotel had a walking park that had trails and a big waterfall. At night they have a show that has mechanical animals moving and a laser and water fountain show. It was pretty cool. Max really liked it. It was nice because most of the people that were there were retired and didn't mind our kids. It was funny, we got a lot of double takes with our two boys in the double stroller. There weren't a lot of little kids there. Ben was sick so the first day we just hung out and watched movies and went bowling. Our hotel had a 56 lane bowling alley in the basement. It was huge! Max was in HEAVEN! He loves loves loves bowling!

The next day we went to Hoover Dam. We went on the tour and Max was a little bored until we got to the top and could look down at the dam. He loved looking at the water. It was actually the second time he had been there. He was 9 months old the last time. I went there with my mom and sister on our way to California. My sister and I were a little disappointed that there wasn't a state line pained on the road like on the movie "Fools Rush In". When I went again this time I was still disappointed.

We spent the next day on the strip. It was fun, but we got really tired of trying to find what we were looking for in the casinos while pushing our double stroller. We went to Circus Circus to watch the Circus performance. It took us like 45 mintues to find out where it was and when we finally found it, it turned out really lame and Max didn't really like it. We then headed up to Mandalay Bay to the Aquarium. It was really cool. Max loved it. He loved looking for Dory, Nemo, and Crush. He also liked the jellies. After it took us forever to get through to the street. We went through the casinos which normally isn't a big deal, but when you need to find an elevator for our stroller it was hard. They put them in the weirdest places. We finally got to the M&M store. Max loved looking at all the "num nums". When we got out of the store it was getting dark and the lights came on. Max just liked looking at the bright "num nums".

On the way home a trip that usually takes 7 hours took us 11. Changing diapers in the car, letting the boys out to run and play, and stopping to eat just took a long time. We decided we are never taking two kids in diapers on a road trip again.

And the two years begin!

2009-03-06T21:45:00.004-07:00

Wednesday we took Ben, my brother (have to clarify) to the MTC. He is going to Portland, Oregon on his mission. It was such a great experience! We were able to have a family dinner the night before when he got set apart and then we all went down to the MTC the next day. We went over to my Grandma Meyers' house for a yummy breakfast before. It was so good to see how excited Ben was to go. I think it made it a little easier to watch him walk through the door at the MTC and know we won't see him again for 2 years. Max has been really cute. You ask him where Ben is and he says "on a mission" in a very proud voice.

Max is still crazy as ever. Today we were playing hide and seek and for the first time he wanted to hide so Isaac and I were in the kitchen counting and he ran off to hide. I counted to 10 and when I turned around he was covering his eyes in the middle of the family room. I tried not to laugh. I said "I wonder where Max went?" He then uncovered his eyes and shouted, "Found ME!" and came running towards me. I think it is so funny that kids think if they can't see you, you can't see them.

Isaac is getting a little better with the crying. He had his first taste of baby food, sweet potatoes, and really liked it. He was inhaling the spoon. I have found that if I try to make sure that he gets at least one good hour nap he seems to be happier. I think his problem is he is just tired. Max is really cute with him though. Yesterday I was getting Max's shoes and Max was sitting on my bed and Isaac was next to him crying. When I came into the room Max was giving Isaac a kiss on the forehead and saying "It's okay". What a sweetie! Isaac just lights up when Max is around. I am convinced that they were best friends in heaven and that is why they are brothers now. They both are just so cute with each other.

The Piano Project

2009-02-08T23:19:00.004-07:00

Well, about three weeks ago I got a crazy hair and decided to strip my piano and refinish it. I was definately crazy!! The piano is at least 55 years old. I found a signature inside it that had the date 12-4-52 so that is why I am guessing how old it is. It was given to us by Ben's mom and dad. It had been painted brown so the paint and the stain needed to be striped off. At first I was doing it by hand. Holy Cow! That took so long so then I borrowed some tools from my parents including a power disk sander. Ben got an attachment for his drill that worked really good too. He wasn't so happy that I dragged him into this project. Once we had striped and sanded the whole thing it we needed to stain it. My whole house was covered in dust. I filled my vacuum full! I am still cleaning up piano dust. The staining was the fun part. The hardest part was doing the legs and the music stand. The legs just took a long time because they had a lot of grooves in them. When I was doing the music stand I had to do most of it with a chisel. I missed and scrapped my hand really good. I have about a 3 inch scrap across the bottom of my thumb to my wrist. All for the beauty of the piano right! Well, I got the piano done, all except replacing the keys. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will get to that as well. Then it is on to making a piano bench to match it. ( We are using a chair right now.)

Well, the rest of the fam is doing good. We started potty training Max this week. It is going pretty well. He is kind of getting the hang of it. We have to use a lot of bribes though. His newest thing is he can make himself burp. The other day he was trying to burp and he couldn't so he said, "oh, lost it" then he finally burped and said, "got it". He is such a boy! He really likes Nemo. We have a book of fish and he looks at it all the time. He can name all kinds of fish. I think we might have to break down and get him a fish. If any of you know me, you know that is a big deal because I still have my fish phobia. We are going to Las Vegas in March and we are planning on going to the aquarium. I think he is really going to like it.

Isaac is still crying a lot. He is only happy when he is being held or sitting in his bumbo chair. He just doesn't like to lay down. He does like the tub. When he is really crabby we stick him in the tub and it calms him down. At least he sleeps good. He goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 7. I am really lucky that way.

We had the opportunity to go to the Draper Temple open house. It was so beautiful! We had such a great time. The next day my family went to the Salt Lake Temple and went on the session that my grandpa and grandpa were apart of. It was so great to be in the temple with them. It was only my second time in the Salt Lake temple and it is so beautiful. It made me want to find out more about it like what it looked like inside when it was built and what changes they have made throughout the years and stuff. I am sure that there have been amazing things that happened in the temple. I hope that someday I will be able to ask Heavenly Father. I did find some really cool pictures of the inside of the temple that were in James E. Talmage's book that was published in 1912. They were all in black and white, but still very cool. I will have to do more studying. Maybe someday I could be part of the cleaning crew and clean the whole temple so I can see everything! That would be awesome.

Joy in the Journey Now

2009-02-01T00:00:00.002-07:00

I attended Women's Conference today and it was just amazing! The theme was Finding Joy in the Journey Now. I had a few eye opening moments today that I thought I would share. I went to a class that was entitled Finding Joy in Parenting. During the class it reminded me of a precious moment I had with Max a few weeks ago. We have the late church schedule so before church Max and I made a tent in the living room out of our kitchen chairs and sheets. We got our pillows and blankets and cuddled up in the tent and watched his favorite, Finding Nemo. I thought of all the other things that I should or could be doing, the dishes, vacuuming, cleaning up the toys, etc. Then it came to me that Heavenly Father has given me a most precious spirit to teach and take care of. I only have one chance to teach him and create memories that he will have for the rest of his live. Then and there I decided that I wanted to give him the best experiences he can have on this earth. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to stay home and give my boys the experiences that will shape their lives forever.

One of the speakers at Women's Conference made a comment that stuck with me. She said that happiness is always inside us. It is an attribute that we all have. There are so many good things in our lives that bring out that joy we have within us. I think Max and Isaac bring the most out in my live. Another speaker talked about how our lives are filled with the noise of the world and it causes us to not feel as happy as we could. She named 10 different "noises" in our life. The on that stood out to me was "stuff" in general. The world wants us to have stuff. Stuff is what will make us happy. It made me think about that happy times in my life and it was always with the people I love most and times when the spirit was so strong.

I had another big leap as a mom today. We went down and visited Tricia in Provo and Max had a sleep over with his uncles and Tricia. It is the first time that he has sleep away from home, except for when I was in the hospital with Isaac. It was a very strange feeling leaving Tricia's house and not taking Max with me. It was a little sad, but I knew that he was in good hands with people who loved him. As I drove home and I was contemplating that happenings of the day I thought how Heavenly Father must feel when he has to send us to this earth. He knows that it is for our good. Some he sends down knowing they are going to people who will love them and then there are some he sends down knowing what a hard life they are going to live. I am sure that he has a hard time sending some of his choice spirits down to this earth knowing the trials that they will face. I felt very grateful knowing that Max was in good hands. I am sure that he will have a great time, again creating those experiences to enrich his little life.

I am so grateful for the little pieces of Heaven I get to enjoy every now and then. I just felt like I should share the little insights that I had today.

A little Gentleman

2009-01-16T21:59:00.004-07:00

I was so proud of my little Max today. I was getting home from my mom's house and was following the same routine when coming home by myself. I got Max out of the car and told him to go inside as I went around the car and got Isaac. I then went to go inside and there was Max. He had opened the door and was holding it open for me. What a cute kid! I guess I will keep him. Lately I wasn't so sure. He just really knows how to get on my nerves. He is back in a throwing mood and thinks he has to throw everything at me. He throws something at me and then says "Good catch".

He also has an obsession with iphones. I got really tired of him changing all my settings so I broke down and bought him a leapster. It was the best thing I ever did. He plays with it all the time and rarely asks for my phone. He still takes the laptop, puts it on his lap and say "Max itunes". What two year old know what itunes is? Honestly! Ben is starting to get a little worried about him because he loves wearing my shoes and carrying my purse around. 9 times out of 10 when you ask him what his favorite color is he says pink. He is so funny.

Isaac is growing and growing. He still spits up all the time and now cries about 85% of the time. We are doing better. I am just really glad that he is sleeping through the night. When he is not crying he does have a really cute laugh. When he smiles he crinkles his nose. It is really cute. He loves holding his hands and eating his fingers. We recently tried putting him in his walker and he really liked it.

We had a really good Christmas. Max did not like Santa at all. On Christmas morning I said, "Look at all the presents Santa brought us." Max went straight over to a 3 foot Santa we had by our fireplace, pushed it over and said "No Santa". He REALLY doesn't like Santa.

We have some really good news. We decided that we are not going to sell our house. We just thought we would see what happened, but we weren't really getting a lot of showings. We also didn't really like a lot of the houses out there. I am excited we are staying because I really like our ward and our neighborhood. School is finally over for Ben. He did really well. He now started a new job at the McKay Behavior Health Pediactrics department. He now has three jobs. He didn't like peds at first, but he is starting to get the hang of it. We don't see him very much, but when he is home he loves playing with his boys.

My card business is starting to pick up. I am just selling the cards on eBay. I just got an order for a girl's 16th birthday. Her birthday party will be on MTV's Sweet 16. I've never seen the show, but that is really cool! I am hoping that it will really help my business pick up. Tutoring is also going well. I just finished my new website if you want to check it out. It is http://www.eldertutoringworks.com/. I am totally full right now, which is great! I already have people signing up for summer tutoring as well. I never thought that I would be very adventurous and start my own businesses, but Ben has been really supportive. He has really given me courage to go out and do it. I am really grateful for all he does for our family. He works so much so I can stay home. I know that he would do anything for us. He is such a sweetheart. We couldn't love him more!

Family Pictures

2008-12-19T15:29:00.006-07:00

We went to Target and got our family pictures and Isaac's blessing pictures taken. They turned out really cute. It was the first time we got pictures of the boys together. Max usually wouldn't even get close to Isaac. He still wasn't that happy that day so he didn't smile much, but they are still cute.

Our Crazy Life!

2008-12-19T14:33:00.004-07:00

Things have been crazy around here the last few weeks. Ben has been studying a lot and is final finished with this semester of school. It is so nice to have a husband again. Now Ben is working a lot so he can go to school in the summer.

Isaac is growing tons! He is starting to smile and laugh. He is even starting to sleep through the night, well, some nights. He spits up A LOT just like Max did so he is on Previcid like Max was. It seems to help a little. He also has thrush on his tongue that we can't seem to get rid of. For a while he would cry and cry all the time, but he is starting to get better. Yesterday we had to take him to the doctor because he had a really bad cough. He got it from Max. We took Max to the doctor on Monday and he has croup and an ear infection. So when Isaac started coughing we got a little worried. The doctor did a chest x-ray and his lungs looked good. He just has an upper respitory infection. He seems to be doing better today. Max is doing better as well. He is on Amoxicillin and loves it. All day he asks for more pink medicine. Isaac still wants to be held all the time. He likes his swing for a while, but is much happier when he is being held.

Max is a crazy two year old! He is starting to talk a lot and sometimes in sentences. Ben still has a hard time understanding him, but I think because I am with him all the time I get most of what he says. He loves playing with the dogs and his cars. I find matchbox cars all over my house. His favorite movies right now are Cars and Finding Nemo. He wants everything Lightning McQueen. His latest thing is he wants to snuggle all the time. All day he says "snuggy mom". He is getting excited for Christmas. He is so funny, if you ask him what he wants for Christmas he says a Christmas tree. We do have one. He had fun decorating it, especially with his Lightning McQueen ornament. Every night he wants to sit by the tree with the fireplace on and have hot chocolate. He loves his nursery class. I think it's partly because Ben is in there with him. Every Sunday he can't wait to go to church. Last Sunday he was sick so he stayed home with Ben. All morning he kept asking me "church please". I had to sneak out because he wanted to come with Isaac and I to church. Max LOVES playing the Wii with my brothers. A few weeks ago we went up to a cabin at Bear Lake with my family and Max loved playing Rayman Rabbits on the Wii. He is so funny he shakes the controllers and sticks his little tongue out. His new favorite books are the Froggy books. I think they are really dumb, but he loves them. We have to read one every night. In the book the mom or dad always say, "FROOOGGGYY" and then Froggy says "WHAAT." When we read the book now I say the Froggy part and Max says "WHAAT". It is really cute. I need to get more books because I am really tired of the two books we have. Ebay is a great place to get them because they are really cheap.

I have been really busy with my tutoring business. I now have 6 kids that I am tutoring after school. I really enjoy it. It is a great way to keep teaching, but still stay home. It works out really well. Ben is home when I tutor so I have someone to watch the boys. If he does have to work my mom and Ben's mom are really good about helping out. It nice because I only work for about an hour a day and have Thursdays off. It's really cool I am starting to have teachers refer their students to me. I have got most of my clients from ksl.com.

We listed our house with a real estate agent about three weeks ago. We had a few people come and look at it, but the last two weeks have been really slow. I'm okay with that though. We are now thinking that we won't move. We wanted to move so we could put a basement apartment in our new house. We are kind of set up in this house to have an apartment, but we didn't have the money to put one in. Then last week I got a call from my lawyer. I am a part of a law suit against Wendy's. About two and a half years ago when I was still pregnant with Max I was at a teacher convension and Wendy's catered. Along with a bunch of other teachers, I got Ecoli. Luckily it wasn't too bad. But finally after over 2 years the lawsuit is being settled and I am going to get a few thousand for it. The plan is to use that money and change the basement into an apartment. It will be really sad because we are going to change the preschool into a kitchen. I know we aren't using that room, but I still don't really want to change it because it is so cute!

Well, that is about all that is going on right now. We are excited for Christmas and wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Halloween and Isaac's Blessing

2008-11-13T22:42:00.008-07:00

Things have been so crazy around our house I haven't had a change to breath! We all have been sick. Ben has been the worst. Isaac is now sick and is either crying or sleeping. On top of that we have decided to try and sell our house. If you know anyone that may be interested we have a website for our house (shocking I know). It is:

http://www.laytonrambler.blogspot.com/

Halloween was really fun. Max LOVED it. He dressed up like a monkey and Isaac was a bear. One of the first houses we went to someone pointed out that he had a banana in his pocket so every house after that he had to tell everyone that he had a banana. We just went trick or treating around our little circle and then went to Ben's mom's and my mom's house. Max was pretty tired after that and we had BOTH boys in bed by 8:30. It was really nice.

Isaac's blessing was really nice. We had a lot of family and friends come and support us. My mom made his tux. It is so cute. Really soon we need to get his pictures taken in it, but with him being sick I know he would just be crying. Max got a new suit for the blessing. He looked so cute. I tried to get a picture of them together, but Max does not like to get his picture taken.

Ben is almost done with this semester. He has Calculus and Chemistry. He studies all the time. My little card business is starting to go well. I have also started designing websites. I am doing a site for a dive shop and in return Ben and I are going to get scuba certified. I am excited, but a little scared since I am scared of fish. I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy Birthday Max!

2008-10-15T22:38:00.008-06:00

Today was Max's birthday. I can't believe he is already two and at the same time it seems like he should be older than that. Probably because he is just so big! We took him and Isaac to the doctor on Monday and Max was in the 140 percentile for his height! He wears 3T and 4T clothes! The doctor was also very impressed that Max knew all his colors, letters, and can count to 10. He is also suppose to have a vocabulary of 25 words. His vocabulary is more like 150 words and counting.

For Max's birthday we went to the zoo. He LOVED it! He wanted to see the monkeys. When we first got there, there was a peacock walking around and Max was scared of it. He kept hiding behind the stroller. Then we saw some turkeys and he wanted to look at the birds the whole time. We finally pulled him away from the turkeys and saw the monkeys. After every exhibit with monkeys as we were leaving Max would say "More Monkeys". He also liked the fish. There was a tank with trout in it and he wouldn't leave. He wanted to look at the fish. Finally we got him to go to the park at the zoo. There was a really big slide that he got really excited when he saw. He went to the top and then was scared to go down. He stood at the top and said "Mommy". So I went and helped him go down and that was all it took, he was hooked. He went down the slide for about 20 minutes before he got tired of it. He played around the other toys for a while then went back to the slide. He got really brave and went down head first and went a little fast and fell off the slide. He was fine, it just scared him and he was ready to go. We fed the ducks before we left and he really liked that. I think we are going to have to go to Barnes Park and feed the ducks now.

We had all our family over for dinner for his birthday. We had chicken nuggets (shaped like mickey mouse) and french fries. Max would eat "nugs" for every meal if he could. Every morning I ask him what he wants for breakfast and 9 times out of 10 he says "nugs". He got a lot of fun things. His favorite was 2 matchbox cars that looked like characters from the movie Cars. He LOVES them. He had to go to bed with them tonight. Then we had his puppy cake. He was so excited to have his puppy cake.

Isaac is doing well too. He has gained 14 oz. and grown 2 inches in the last 3 weeks! He is still really little though. The doctor was a little worried that he was a little yellow so we had to go to the hospital and get his levels checked. They were normal so he isn't jaundice. He is starting to sleep a little more during the night. He sleeps for about 4-5 hours. One time it was 6 hours and I was so happy. We are still trying to decide who he looks like. I think he looks like McKay and Tricia. He does make faces that are totally Ben.

Baby Isaac has arrived!

2008-10-01T22:09:00.005-06:00

Well, we have been really busy getting things ready for the new baby. Finally he came. He was born on September 24. We had to be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. It took them two hours to get all the paper work done and to get the IV in me and draw some blood. I had to be poked 6 different times before they got it all. Finally they got me started. I was only in labor for 6 hours. When I was dilated to about a 5 Ben said, "Maybe we should get serious about naming him." We were about an hour away from having a baby and he finally got serious! We still couldn't decide on a name though. My mom called to bring some lunch up to Ben and I was only dilated to a 5. When she got the hospital I was a 9 and was ready to deliver the little guy. Once the doctor came in I pushed 1 1/2 times and he was out. He was born at 2:39 p.m. and weighed 6 lbs exactly and was 18 1/2 inches long. He is so teeny.

When he was first born we thought he looked like a Charlie, but the older he got he looked like an Isaac. We went back and forth all night and finally the next morning we finalized it. We named him Isaac Kimball Elder. Max can't say Isaac so we have been calling him Baby Ike. Then we noticed that IKE is his initials as well. We thought that was pretty cool.

Max really likes him. Whenever he starts to cry Max goes to him and says "Baby Ike K" and he rubs his blanket. He likes to hold him and blow him kisses. He is a very protective older brother. It is really cute. He has also started to like binkies. He never wanted them, but now that Isaac has a binky he thinks he needs one too.

So far Isaac has been a really good baby. He sleeps a lot. He eats pretty good too. It has been nice to have Ben home to help out. He was work off for the next 2 weeks, but still has school in the mornings. It's not too bad because he is home by noon. So far having two kids isn't too bad. I am sure it will get harder when Isaac does more than just sleep and eat, but Max is a really good helper.

Tricia took some really cute pictures of Isaac on Sunday. When she gets them back to me I will post some more. Overall we are doing really good. It is so humbling to have another little spirit in our home. It is amazing how close to Heavenly Father you feel when you have a new baby in your home.

Oh, we will probably bless him in November, but we will let you know for sure.

The Party on the 4th of July

2008-07-31T23:10:00.010-06:00

I know the 4th of July was a little while ago, but I had to get these pictures from my mom. The 4th of July is such a party at our house. It all starts at the Kaysville Parade. This is Ben and Max while we were waiting for the parade to start. The first part of the parade is a normal parade and the people throw candy out. The second part of the parade is a water parade and everyone gets in a HUGE water fight. You can see all the water we had in the street. All those buckets and coolers are FULL of water for the water parade!

Max loved playing in the water! He would swirl his hands in the water and then throw his hands up in the air. You can see all the people in the street. This was the part of the parade that they threw candy.

Here the water parade has started! You can see my mom and dad. Oli has the shirt with the D on it. Ben (my brother) has one of the guns and Ben and I are on the other side of Ben trying to protect Max. My dad made those white water guns. They held tons of water. We had the buckets of water to suck up with the water guns and get the people on the floats.
Everyone with the guns would pick someone to get and then all ambush them. Everyone was soaked by the end!

After the parade we walked down to Grandma Lloyd's house (Ben's Grandma) and had waffles. They were so good!

My parents have a big party. They play Human Battleship. If you have never played it is way fun. You get a volleyball net and put sheets over it so you can't see the other side. Then you have a bucket of water balloons (this year we had water balls). There is a shooter for each side and the rest of the people lay down on the ground. Then the shooters throw the balloons over the net and try to hit people. If you get hit by the balloon, you are out.

We watched the fireworks at Davis High. My parents can see them really good from their backyard. My mom gets glow sticks for all the kids. This year they had about 100 people in their backyard. All the neighbors come over to see the fireworks. There were lots of kids so the whole backyard was full of lights. It was really cool.

We LOVE the 4th of July!

Silly Max

2008-07-08T00:01:00.002-06:00

When I get the pictures back I will write about the fourth, we had tons of fun. I just wanted to tell about how funny Max is. He has been so crabby today. He was throwing things and hitting everything. Welcome to the terrible two's. When I was having him get ready for bed he would only go to bed if he had two cinnamon rolls in his hands. I let him hold them for a little bit while I read him his new favorite book, "There's an animal strike at the zoo, it's true!" (We have to read it every night. He goes and finds it so we can read it.) Then when he was falling asleep I took the cinnamon rolls away. The funny thing is he doesn't even like them.

Jibber Jabber

2008-06-28T23:55:00.002-06:00

Max has started talking a lot. Every day he learns a new word. Yesterday we were at my mom's house and he was playing in the driveway. He laid down on his stomach and was looking at some ants. He then pointed to them and said "bugs". Today he was at my mother in laws house and heard the toilet flush and turned to me and said "potty". It is so fun to see how much they learn and how fast they do it. I had him say some of the words today that he can say. It's really funny, he still won't say "Mom". He calls me "da" and Ben "dada". The only time he will say mom is when he is talking about my phone. He LOVES my phone. I ask him to say mom and he won't, but he will say "Mom mone" (Mom's phone). He also has really started to like counting. He loves to line things up, cars, crackers, balls, and then point to them and count them except the only number he knows is 2. He says that over and over and points to things like he is counting them.

Today we moved Tricia down to Provo. She is going to school at Utah Valley University. She got a job at Zion's Bank so she moved down this summer and then will start school in the fall. It was fun to see where she lived and get her all unpacked. She will be up here every weekend for a little while because she is still working at a reception center in Layton.

I had a doctor's appointment this past week. Our baby is doing really well. He now weighs 1 lb 13 oz. Still needs some cooking, but doing well. He moves around a lot. I forgot how weird it was to have your stomach moving all the time. I think the reason you have to space your kids out is so you will forget what it is like to be pregnant. It is weird to think that in three months he will be here though. We still don't have a name picked out. Getting Ben to actually be serious is the problem. He really likes Eli the Comic Book Guy Elder. I don't know about that one.

Catching Up

2008-06-21T20:08:00.004-06:00

I know that it has been a while since I last updated. Things have been a little crazy with the end of school and things. I finished teaching at the end of May. It is really weird to be a stay at home mom. Even when I had the summers off I was still thinking about school and getting things ready for the next year. It is strange not having things I HAVE to get done by a certain time. I have been cleaning my house and selling things on Ebay. It has been really fun to be home with Max! The bad thing is he is getting really attached to me. I am starting to worry that when this baby comes he is going to have a really hard time. About two weeks ago we went to the doctor and had our 3D ultrasound. Our baby is doing really good. They even moved up the due date to October 3. We were able to see his little face. It was fun because with Max we only saw his back. He was stubborn even then! So far this pregnancy has gone TONS better than with Max. I haven't been that sick and most the time don't really feel pregnant. It's weird to think we only have three more months until he is born. We still haven't picked out a name yet. Ben is pretty picky. The ones that we have liked so far are: Isaac, Charles (Charly), Eli, and Bryson.

Max is doing really good. He is starting to talk a lot. He still signs a little, but talks more now. He is starting to pick out his own clothes. About a two weeks ago we moved him into his own room in a twin bed. It is the tree bed that I had growing up. I repainted it and it looks so much better. It needed a face lift. Max loves his bed. When it's time to go to bed he climbs in his bed and pulls his covers up and gets all snuggly. It is so cute. He still LOVES balls. Every time we go to the store he has to get a ball. He is getting SO tall. He is 20 months and is wearing 3T clothes!

Ben just got a new calling. He is in the nursery with Max. It is good because Max was having a really hard time being left without us. Ben said that last Sunday Max would take toys away from other kids and then hold it above his head. Because he's so tall, none of the kids could get the toy back. He is such a bully. Ben is still working at Lakeview, but he just got hired with Legacy Staffing. It's a nursing agency. He is picking up shifts at a lot of other hospitals and nursing homes now. It makes his schedule kind of crazy because it isn't consistent. He works a lot of nights so we don't see him very much.

Well, now that I am not working I hope that I will be better at blogging.

Max and his busy fingers

2008-04-13T10:08:00.004-06:00

On Tuesday we went to the doctor and found out that we are having a boy. The doctor said it is still a 20% chance of having a girl, but I kind of knew it was a boy all along. Ben is really excited. It will be fun for Max to have a little brother. The only problem we have now is picking a name. Boy names have not been our strength, so hopefully we can agree on something.

Well, Max has been particularly active this week. He has managed to fall under our underground tramp. He got all muddy, but he as okay. Then yesterday he got the phone and dialed 911111111111111. I thought because there were so many ones that it wouldn't work, but a few minutes later the police department called and wanted to make sure everything was okay. Let me tell you, I felt like mother of the year. He has now been band from the phone.

We are hoping that Ben's nursing agency will pick up soon. He has sent letters to all the nursing homes from Ogden to Sandy. Hopefully he will get some contracts so he can start hiring people. He is still going to school at the U and it would be really nice having some extra money come in while he is in school.

We now have 6 students enrolled in the preschool. We only need 24 more! We are going to be having an open house in May so hopefully we will get the majority of students signed up then. Other than that things are going really good. I have started packing up my classroom and selling things on Ebay. I didn't realize all the stuff that I have. It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 4 years.

We got a new puppy a few months ago and I am happy to report that she is just about house trained. She still has some accidents here and there, but she is doing really good. She is a maltese/pekingese puppy. We named her Tobie.

Finally Caved

2008-03-29T22:54:00.009-06:00

A lot of my friends have started blogs and I never thought I would, but here I am. It is a fun way to keep in touch with people and see what everyone is up to. I don't know how consistent I will be, but I will try to keep things up to date. So here is what has been happening lately.

BEN- He has been in school this semester. He has about two years until he gets his Bachlers and then it is on to his Masters. He is currently working in the psych ward at Lakeview Hospital and picking up shifts on other floors. He has also started his own nurse staffing agency and is working on getting contracts. He stays really busy.

BROOKE- I am still teaching part time, first grade at South Weber Elementary. I have a really good class this year. My teaching partner is wonderful! I don't know what I would do without her. My mom and I are getting things ready for the preschool we are starting this fall. Check out the website at www.alohalearningpreschool.com. We only have a few students, but hopefully will fill up by fall. I am also expecting our second baby. It is due October 7. I am sure he or she will be born in September or so because Max was 3 weeks early. We hopefully will find out what we are having in a week and a half.

MAX- He has started running! He runs everywhere. He loves to play outside, no matter the temperature. Once he gets outside it takes a while for him to want to come back in. He can say a lot of words now. His favorite words are ball and juice. Last Sunday was his first time in Nursery. He did really well and it was so nice to have him be happy at church.