Animals, animals, and more animals...

We took our first trip to the zoo here in Albuquerque and loved it. Hyrum and William had a great time. Hyrum tells us that his favorite animals were the "big gorilla" and the "polar bears". Here are some fun videos to show you why they were his favorites.

Hyrum put his hand up on the glass and the gorilla tapped the glass with his hand. They played this game back and forth several times, but our camera wouldn't capture it all. Hyrum wasn't sure what to expect at first, but soon caught onto the game and found a new friend.

This was for sure the highlight of the day. This polar bear was so playful

I've been trying to post a video of Hyrum talking to the gorillas, "gorilla-style" but it won't work so here's just some still photos of our fun day.

I LOVE My Hyrum!

I just posted a blog about my frustrations with Hyrum not taking naps anymore and now I'm feeling guilty for making Hyrum seem like a "criminal". I love my Hyrum so much and want to share some of the things he does that puts a smile on my face.


1. He finds joy in the simple things of life.

2. He is silly and sometimes crazy; always laughing and having fun. (How can you not smile when you see a face like this?)

3. He can entertain himself for hours with a pair of black gloves and a bicycle helmet.

4. He wants to be just like his dad.

5. He loves being a big brother.

Oh, life would be so dull without Hyrum!

I need help...and quick!

Ok, so here's the trauma as of late. Last week Hyrum decided that he didn't need naps anymore. He absolutely refused to sleep. He would cry (which quickly turned to screaming) and would wake William up from his nap, leaving me with two tired and cranky kids for the rest of the day. On sunday we tried to put Hyrum down for a nap. This time William was not napping at the same time so we thought we'd let him "cry it out" (or as our pediatritian says, "rearrange his expectations"). Well, that didn't go over so well because Hyrum learned that he could easily climb out of his crib. I can't contain him anymore and I just don't know what to do. Today we tried putting him in the corner for time-out each time he got out of bed, but time-out just doesn't work for him. I can't give up naptime because he gets so cranky and it's just chaos in our house (it makes me think I'm going crazy sometimes) So, I need advice from all of you who have been in this situation before; what do I do?

All About William

Our little William has grown so much in the past few months; I thought it would be fun to share all that he's been up to. As of today it is official that he crawls!!! He has been able to crawl for awhile now, but has chosen to scoot on his stomach because it's much faster. Well, today he has crawled everywhere and there is no stopping him. This is a video clip of him crawling for the first time.

He also can pull himself up to anything and everything. He loves the new freedom this brings. I'm realizing that a toddler proofed house is not necessarily a baby proofed house. Just tonight he pulled open the drawer underneath the oven and closed it again with his hand still in it. It took off a layer of skin (luckily it was a thin layer and it didn't bleed, but it looks icky). William (and Hyrum) definitely keep me on my toes.

Another recent development for William is table food....yum yum! He loves to eat as you can see in the pictures below. He eats cheerios, puffed rice, pretzels, cooked carrots, peas, corn, scrambled egg yolks, pancakes, yogurt, macaroni and cheese, bread (oh, he loves bread), gummy bears (thanks to his daddy who gave him his first taste of sugar tonight during family home evening treat) and anything else he can get his hands on-rocks, toilet paper, wood chips, fingers (watch out). So far he shows no signs of food allergies, hurray! (Hyrum continues to be allergic to milk and eggs)

Aside from crawling and eating, William loves to do whatever Hyrum is doing. He plays blocks, cars, ball and piano with his big brother. It is so fun to watch him as he tries to do what Hyrum does. William is full of love and gives hugs and kisses always when I seem to need them most. He is such a delight to have in our home.

Parenting Payoff

Do you ever have those times when you wonder if your kids are listening to anything you are saying? I often feel this way during family night when I'm giving the lesson. Hyrum's two-year-old attention span is only about 2 minutes. During that whole two-minute segment of time it seems as if all he is concerned about is the "home evening treat" at the end. On monday night we went through our usual routine for family night and, as usual, during the lesson I didn't think that Hyrum was listening at all. Well this morning he proved me wrong. I was sitting at the kitchen table reading my scriptures while Hyrum ate breakfast when the following conversation ocurred.

Hyrum: "Mommy, what you reading about?"
Me: "I'm reading in the Book of Mormon about Jesus when he came to visit the Nephites in America. Do you remember our family home evening lesson when we talked about Jesus coming to visit the children. He blessed them and prayed with them?"
Hyrum: "And angels came down!"
Me: "Yes, and angels came down to be with them."
Hyrum: "They were yellow."
Me: "You're right, in the book they looked yellow, but angels wear white like we do in the temple."
Hyrum: "oh!"

I could hardly believe it when Hyrum talked about the angles. During our family home evening lesson we were reading from the children's scripture stories about Christ blessing the children and I read one sentance about angels coming down. I didn't pause to talk about it or wait for Hyrum to make a comment, I just kept on reading. At the end we re-emphasized a couple of points from the story, but never once did I mention the angels again. That means that Hyrum was actually listening the whole time! This was just one moment of many when I stop and say to myself, "I LOVE BEING A MOM!"

Summer Vacation

Here's our summer vacation in a nutshell...

Beautiful Redfish Lake surrounded by the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho

Family photo at the lake...smile!

We didn't get too far with Hyrum paddling, but he sure had fun helping.

He even got to watch Daddy catch 2 fish while out in the canoe.

William was a trooper to wear the life jacket the whole time.

I bought this wet suit for Hyrum 50% off at Savers (that made it about $3) knowing that the water at Redfish Lake would be really cold. It sure was cute on him, but it didn't help with getting him in the water. He barely even got his feet wet. Oh well, he still enjoyed throwing rocks, twigs, sand, shoes, hats (anything he could get his hands on) into the water.

Yummy food...

Sound sleeping (at least for Hyrum, maybe not the rest of us with William cutting his 1st tooth)...

And lots of time for playing!

We love Redfish Lake!!! There are so many memories for me here. My dad grew up coming to this lake, so naturally he raised us kids with vacations to Redfish Lake, and hopefully now we can continue the tradition by taking our family for years to come.

We hope you are all enjoying your summers!

4th of July Fun

We had a great 4th of July together as a family. In the morning we went to the ward breakfast and primary bike parade. Hyrum had so much fun on his little tricycle. He can't quite reach the pedals, but that didn't slow him down.

Proud little "winner"!

Later in the evening we had some friends over for a barbecue and then we topped the night off with some fireworks. William went to bed before the fireworks started so he missed out on the fun, but Hyrum was able to enjoy them. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the sparklers. I think he actually enjoyed the ice cream truck that drove by more than he did waving the sparkler around. It was fun to watch Dave help him. It was even more fun to watch Dave turn into a little kid again as he lit the fireworks. Oh how I love being a wife and mother!

I feel blessed to have such a wonderful family and today, especially, I have felt great gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy as a family in this country. It's hard to imagine what life would be like under other circumstances. We're grateful for those who have fought and who continue to fight so valiantly to defend our freedoms. We will be eternally indebted unto them.