Uncle Jordan

My brother hooked one of his favorite mission companions up with one of his really good friends and guess what? They got married! Woo-hoo for the newlyweds and woo-hoo for us because that meant Jordan came back to Sac-town and we got to spend a day with him!

Jordan and my parents came to Stanford for the day and boy did we have fun! He got to meet Evie for the first time and I think it was love at first sight! Everett is such a gem of a baby and Jordan loved getting to love on him!

Talmage adored all the attention he received from his Uncle Jordan. They made up a secret handshake where they slap each others hands and then run their fingers through their hair. T ate it up. So cute.

He also thought it was so fun to ride on Uncle Jordan's shoulders. Days later, he is still talking about how he "wuvs to pway with Uncle Jordan at da park." Needless to say, Jordan won him over!

Mema is so good with the boys and they love her to pieces. Here she is flirting with Evie, who is definitely flirting right back!

The funniest part of the day just might have been when my dad found this "baby" carrot and demanded a refund. The look on his face was priceless (and I'm so glad I caught it!) In the running for hilarious comments was when Jordan was teaching us where a jack rabbit got it's name (it's a rabbit that looks like a donkey), and that it was a better alternative than calling it a bunny - @$&. It was so dang funny!

After a long day of playing in Stanford we headed to SF for a food truck night market. The car trip there was super stressful (screaming baby, lots of traffic, SF crazy roads, etc) but once we started eating the trip was SO worth it! We had korean bbq, empanadas, green thai curry, lumpia, cilantro/chicken dumplings and strawberry nutella creme brulee. Holy goodness!

T chowed down on kettle corn and Ev, well, he might not have been thrilled by the whole thing but he was a pretty good sport.

Me and my brother. Don't tell him I told you but I am definitely bending over so he can be taller than me! I love that kid.

It was so-so-SO much fun to have family in town and to spend the day with them. I am one lucky girl.

Before we left I risked my life (kind of) and climbed a ladder so I could take a picture of the market. This is only half of the place, but you get the idea. When I got down Talmage was sobbing because he was so scared I was going to hurt myself on the ladder--cute kid!

Thanks for visiting us Uncle Jordan...please come back again. Soon. Really soon.

Read More

Ponds. Puddles.

Duck Pond:

First-rain-of-the-season puddle:

Gettin' comfy at the duck pond:

Happy-to-be-in-froggie-boots smile after jumping in the first-rain-of-the-season puddle:

Read More

Conference @ Home

We went back to Sacramento to watch General Conference with my family and it was awesome! If you want to know how much we liked it, just look at Evie's ginormously cute smile and that should tell ya. Yep...it was great.

T and Ev spent a good majority of their time laying in front of the TV soaking in the messages. (Uh hmm, I wish. Most of the time T was bouncing off the walls and Ev was a little testy. But that's a cute idea, huh?)

Oh yeah, and sometimes Ev slept while I watched. And once again, I'm shocked that this baby just sleeps and sleeps wherever and whenever he wants. So awesomely weird and different.

In between conference sessions on Saturday we went to a craft fair held at my old high school. We saw some really cute stuff and I felt super inspired to make it. Actually I felt super inspired to call my sister and have her make it for me. Cause she's talented like that.

During the priesthood session my mom and I had a girls night and went to Leatherby's and ate approximately a gallon of ice cream each. DELISH. I love that place. Oh yeah, my two boys kind of crashed the girls night!

He could not have been more excited about this ice cream business.

On Sunday the house was full with families from my parents ward, missionaries and crazy kids. We ate cinnamon rolls (my moms. amazing. yum.), watched conference, and had really good discussion about what we had learned. Oh yeah, and T pretty much followed Elder Verde around all day long. Overall, this conference made me want to be a better wife, mom, friend and disciple. The speakers answered questions I had, and helped me know how to improve. I love General Conference.

Read More

2L

When Jim and I taught primary (the 5 year olds) while we still lived it Utah one of the boys asked Jim what he did. I still remember the boys face when Jim told him that he was a student. "You still go to school," the boy said. "You must not be very smart!" At that point Jim was just finishing up his undergrad. I wonder what that little boy would say now, three years later, as Jim starts yet another year of school!

Here he is, in all of his first day of school glory! I'd like to think that his peace sign really was him saying that he's a 2L (second year law student) and not him saying peace out, stop taking my picture. I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Talmage loves his Daddy a lot, a lot and had a rough time seeing Jim leave (especially since Jim's been traveling a lot these last few weeks. Everytime Jim walks out the door T says, "No Daddy, don't go to da train station. I want you." Talk about major heartbreak.) The morning was sad, but I kept telling T that Daddy was at his first day at a new law school. As soon as Jim came home T ran to him and said, "Daddy, did you have a good first day of waw (law) school?" It was adorable.

As for me and the boys, we are also adjusting to life again. We are learning a new routine and have had a pretty good first couple of days. I'm continuing to learn more about my children and how to handle them. T has been giving me a really rough time about naps lately. He doesn't think he needs one, but by about 2 pm it's apparent in his behavior that he does. I've tried laying down with him, sitting in his room, reading books, singing songs, white noise, rewards, punishments, etc. but nothing has worked. He is my willful child and this was a full blown battle of wills--and the problem is I can't force him to go to sleep. It was causing a contentious spirit in our home and I didn't like it at all. Today I switched my approach and it worked (for today at least...I'll let you know about tomorrow). Instead of nap time we had quiet time. Still in his room. Still on his bed. Still lights out. But he could play with puzzles. "I don't want a nap," he said. "You don't have to take a nap T, it's just quiet time," I said. He seemed shocked that I wasn't trying to force him to sleep. Pleasantly shocked. He thought he had won. Ha! He played quietly with his puzzles and less than 30 minutes later it was totally silent in his room. Yep...he fell asleep! And took a long, peaceful nap. Hallelujah!

This little one, now he's an angel. He has such a mild personality compared to his brother and just makes loving everything about him so easy. And PS--do you see how he fell asleep all by himself? I didn't know babies could even do that before he came into my life! But he does. And he also likes to be snuggled and kissed. A lot. He smiles and coos and flirts like crazy with me, and almost anyone who gives him the time of day. I. Love. Him.

Anyway, here's to another year of law school!

Read More

Our last weekend

Last weekend was our last weekend before school, and we took advantage of every last minute. We don't often get Daddy all to ourselves (and as of yesterday he has rekindled his romance with the law library) so we made sure to pack the weekend with fun family activities.

We went on a walk on Friday and ended up in the quad at Stanford. People were playing ultimate frisbee, others were picnicing, and T brought his "treats" to play with. We brought snacks and a blanket. We sat and laughed and cooed at Everett Knight. T and Daddy ran around the lawn until they were both sweaty and tired. We came home and all four of us took a nap. Heaven!

On Saturday we went with our ward on a ferry trip to Alameda. A member of our ward owns a ferry (yeah, you read that right...a GINORMOUS ferry...owns it...crazy) and let the whole ward go for a little spin! T was thrilled to get to go on a boat ride, and loved seeing all of the other boats in the water. It was definitely a San Fran day (chill-y!), but we had a blast.

Only picture I took of our 3+ hours in Alameda. Those two so love each other. Talmage is a rockstar of a big brother and Evie adores everything T does. It's adorable!

Our camera was about to die but we managed to get one picture of the family on the ferry on our way back to San Fran. By this time T was in desparate need of a nap and my hair was out of control, but that's life! The trip was fun. We loved meeting lots of people in our new ward and we loved spending time together.

After church on Sunday we decided to take a stroll around campus. We do this almost every Sunday because it's so beautiful and we love to explore new parts of the university. This last Sunday we were surprised by a little rainstorm. Without a second thought, Talmage started singing, "If all the raindrops..." and opening his mouth to catch the drops. Wow, I love that kid!

Last weekend was great...now it's time to get back to work!

Read More

Happy Hollow

With only a few days left before James starts school again, we are trying to make the most of our family time and do lots of fun things. On Tuesday we decided to check out Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose. For you Sacramento folks, this is like a mixture of the Sacramento Zoo, Fairytale Town and Funderland all wrapped up into one amazing park. We had a blast together and might even get a season pass to this awesome place!

T and me, ready for the adventure to begin!

James and I tell T a story everynight as a part of his bedtime routine. His story is always about Doug the Dragon and the adventure T and Ev go on with him. Well, here is T on the carousel riding none other than Doug the Dragon!

The petting zoo. He was actually really brave with the animals.

By far the best part of the day for T was the car ride. I kid you not, he went on this ride at least 10 times. He really loved being in the fire truck (because of the bells on the fire trucks) but he would settle for the police car too!

The AWESOME park area.

T was oober brave and climbed across the rope bridge. It was incredibly high and he was incredibly adventurous.

The zoo was small, but perfect for a two-year-old. He especially loved to see the monkeys and the macaw's. He tried to speak to them both in their own languages! He really is growing up.

Everett was a saint of a baby. He was either sleeping peacefully in his stroller...

...or he was smiling and being cute. I love that kid an awful lot!

Anyway, Happy Hollow got a perfect 10 in our book. Hopefully we'll be visiting their again sometime soon!

Read More

Thumb-sucker?

The jury's still out on this one.

He takes a binkie, but he definitely prefers his thumb.

It's funny because I don't think he understands that his thumb is connected to his body because he'll drop his hand and then sob hysterically because he's lost his thumb. When we put his thumb back up to his face he sucks away as happy as can be.

It's really cute. Too cute probably!

PS--The jury's also still out on his eye color. They are still looking awfully blue. But a really dark, almost gray blue. They are gorgeous!

Read More