A little bit of this and that

Not much to report actually. Just wanted to give a little update for posterities sake. I got my third blog book in the mail the other day. It was from 2009. It was so fun to go back and look at all the pictures and read what I had written about our life, the kids, what was going on then. Made me want to keep up with my blog even more. I think I do a pretty good job, but I know I miss stories I would like to remember.

This weekend was Conference weekend and while I do love listening to conference and hearing from our leaders, I must say it can be a tough weekend. Kids get cabin fever, we get cabin fever. By the end of the Sunday session I just can't sit and watch anymore TV. I mean, seriously, how often do you sit and watch 8 hours of TV in one weekend? It's a lot. I'm very glad I can go back and watch and re-watch it because honestly I missed a lot this weekend. We had a bit of a family emergency on Saturday and so I spent from about noon-8pm on Saturday helping my brother out. His son, Kamron fell off a stationary bike and got a bad gash in his head. Cracked his skull and had to go to the ER. Luckily everything is okay now and he is probably home or going to be home soon. They kept him overnight for observation. Paul and I watched their twin girls so Heather and Tyler could be with Kamron at the hospital. Their girls are just adorable and so sweet and so good, but I was definitely counting my lucky stars that I don't have twins or triplets. Three little one year olds is a lot to take care of. I did get to watch the morning session though and really loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk about not gossiping or thinking badly of others. I also liked the talk about the difference between the "gospel" and the "church".  Can't remember who gave it.

I feel like my girls are getting so big lately. I already don't see them as much it seems. They are at school all day and then they come home, do homework and then run out back to play or up to their rooms. I know it will only get worse as they get older. I'm finding that I have to make time to sit and chat with them. And I'm realizing more and more how important dinner time and mommy/daughter dates are. It's crazy how fast time seems to go sometimes.

Brandon is getting ready to have his FOURTH birthday. I can't even believe it. I seriously feel like we were just having Leah's fourth birthday. He doesn't seem like he should be that old. We're just going to have a simple party at home with a few of his little buddies. Nothing major this year. We'll do a big ole party next year when he turns five. He's very excited about his birthday though. I think watching the girls have their parties gets him all geared up for his. He's been telling me what he wants for his bday for months now. Most of the list includes guns, swords, lightsabers, action figures and such. I think he'll have a good time.

And now to little Carter. That boy continues to melt my heart daily. He says and does the cutest things. He's starting to mimic our words more and more. I just love his little voice. So sweet sounding. Tonight Ashlyn spilled her lemonade on the floor at dinner time. Carter jumped right up and got a napkin to help clean up the mess. He loves to sit in our laps and play on the Ipad or with our phones. He walks around all day asking for "Bubba" (a character from the app Paul helped with). That and he loves to play with "Club Caveman" (paul's new app), and another app called "Freefall Spelling" where you put letters to words in the right box to spell the word. Then you get rewarded by getting a fish in your fishtank. It's pretty cute. And who knows, maybe it'll make him a great speller some day. He can be quite difficult at times too though. He goes up and down with getting to bed easily. Tonight I spent almost 45 minutes getting him to bed. Quite excessive for a now 17 month old. He wants me to just rock him until he is fast asleep. And while I would love to do that and may someday look back and wish I just did, I just can't bring myself to. I guess I've learned from experience that rocking a baby to sleep every night just makes it take longer and longer to get him down. I do always rock him for a little bit and snuggle with him some, but then I lay him down. Sometimes he'll stay down and fuss for just a few minutes before drifting off. Other times he cries and cries and stands at the edge of his crib reaching out for me. I usually sit on the ottoman to the rocker. I want him to know I'm there, but I try not to give him any attention. It seems to work the best for him (I feel like I've tried all avenues). It just still takes a while some nights. It makes it hard for us to go out on dates at night. We seriously haven't had a sitter get him to bed ever I don't think. We tried a few times, but when it didn't work for our poor sitters, we just adjusted our date times and make sure we are home in time to put him down. I know he will grow out of it eventually though, so we are okay with it. Right now it's more important to me that he feels like we are there for him.

Anyway, I'm rambling on and on. I need to get to bed. I've been going to a 6 am spin class on Monday mornings and if I'm not in bed by 10 I just can't pull myself up at 5:30. Wish me luck!

Spring break is upon us and we have a fun week planned.