harry potter

It took us a couple weeks to watch all 7 Harry Potter movies, but we were determined to say goodbye to Harry Potter with a bang. We got off to a rough start when it took us three nights to watch the first movie because we kept falling asleep. Then it took us a couple more weeks to find a babysitter. But we did! A perfect evening full of sushi and the final Harry Potter. I loved the books and I think the movies are amazing. I am excited to read the books again when Thatcher is old enough.

We love you Harry (and I really do love you Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint)!

weekends away

Thanks goodness for the cabin. We have spent every weekend there we can. A couple weekends ago I spent Friday there with the boys, then Ty came down after work and we had a very relaxing evening and Saturday just enjoying being outside and not needing to do anything.

At the beginning of August we spent a night at a hotel in Sedona. We went out to dinner and got ice cream, went swimming, and had a nice time. On Saturday we went to a torturous time share presentations where we were bullied but didn't give in to buying a time share.

A couple weeks ago we went down to pick blackberries and eat dinner. As you can see, it was a very messy dinner. The boys got two baths in an hour. I think that was a record.

It is so nice to be able to get away on the weekends. It saves me!

ragamuffins

I never thought I would be the kind of mom that lets her kids run around in their pajamas, or in bare feet on the road, or with snotty noses, or with dirty faces, or in underwear and spiderman snowboots in the middle of the summer, or with messy hair, or completely naked...but I am kind of one of those moms (sometimes). So many times Ty and look at each other and laugh because we feel so white trash. We should probably do something about it...but usually is doesn't seem worth the effort or the fight.

touch a truck

This is the third year in a row we have gone to "touch-a-truck" and I love it. There was a garbage truck, tractors, police motorcycle, fire truck, army trucks, a helicopter, a limousine, and more. This year, however, the boys weren't so sure. Thatcher has since talked a lot about the different cars we saw, how he got to sit in a fancy car (limousine), how he got to drive a tractor, and how we saw a helicopter land...but the whole time we were there he and James were a little apprehensive and stone-faced. We had a good time though and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the creek at the cabin.

things going our way

This week I wrote out a note card with our financial goals on it in order of priority. #1 was to sell Ty's honda. And close to the top of the list was to get hired as a step instructor to wipe our our gym bill and to bring in a little extra cash.

That afternoon I sold Ty's honda for $1600.00 (much more than we thought we would get for it). Then the next day the group fitness director who has been training me (Laurie) said that a Monday and Wednesday step class has opened up and she wants me in there ASAP. I will start team teaching first of August and then hopefully have an official job in September. I was so excited.

Now we just need to get out of our house, move to Gilbert, pay off student loans, and we will really be in business.

canopy

This weekend Thatcher and I were talking while sitting underneath the new canopy at the cabin. He pointed up and asked me, "What is that?" and I said, "a canopy." He then asked me, "So I can't pee on it?". It totally made sense and it cracked me up. I love my kid.

my personal update

I have had a few notable things happen in the last little while but no pictures to document it, so here is my update:

- Last week my old mission companion Jodi Crick and her husband Dan Arrieus (who was in the MTC with me and then served in the same mission with us) and their two kids came and visited for the afternoon. They drove quite a ways and it was so great to see them. We reminisced about the mission, looked at old pictures, and caught up on life. They have two little girls and Thatcher had fun with them.

- Last weekend, Ty and I left the boys with a friend here in Flagstaff and then went to Phoenix to see the law firm that Ty's law firm just merged with. Davis Miles is in a beautiful huge building on the Tempe town lake and it was pretty impressive. We took a tour with the rest of the Flagstaff office, I ate a cookie and read a book while the employees got a training, and then we walked over to a restaurant for a very nice dinner with all the partners. We got to know a bunch of new faces and everyone was very friendly. A number of them recognized Ty's name and talked about how he was going to be moving down to the valley in November. Ty spent the evening sitting next to Mark Lassiter who will most likely be the attorney Ty will work with and we left the dinner feeling excited and hopeful about Ty's future in Phoenix and with this law firm. We will see! Ty and I spent the rest of the evening swimming on the roof of our hotel, drinking daquiris at the bar, and walking along Tempe Town lake. We stayed up till midnight and woke up at 8:30. It was so much fun to have that freedom, fun things to do, and the opportunity to sleep in!

The next morning we ate breakfast at IHOP and drove back to our kids who needed us (Thatcher had stayed up till 1:00am because he was homesick for me and Ty...not at all what I was expecting from Thatcher).

That night we celebrated Samantha Pickup's birthday at the cabin with her family and the Mungers. As soon as James saw the water he started to climb in so we stripped him down and let him go for it. It made for a crazy weekend, but a fun one too!

- My list of projects to do is getting longer and my list of completed projects is getting shorter, but a few things in the last month I was able to put together my first real blog book from my blog from last year. It took a lot of time, it is 240 something pages long (a little excessive, I know), but I love it! For now it combines my journal, scrapbook, and blog. Someday maybe I will come up with a better family history keeping system, but for now I think this is the best for me. I also put together a wall collage above my mom's computer. I wanted to help the space look better and considering I didn't want to spend even a penny on it, I think it turned out pretty cute. The only other project I have tackled recently is canning. I have now made 3 batches of freezer jam, 12 quarts of peaches, and 1 quart of salsa. My mom gave me so many jars that I am determined to use them and learn how to can, or throw them away. So far, it has been a pretty positive experience. We will see if/when I am ready to move onto harder things.

- My goal to be teaching step classes by the end of the year might become a reality. The whole process of training has taken a lot longer than I thought it would, but if all goes according to plan, hopefully I will have a job teaching step by the time we move to Phoenix (getting pregnant, our trip to Switzerland, and then moving could easily ruin those plans). If I don't get hired and certified before we move, I don't know if anything will come of this time invested in learning to become a step teacher. I still really want to do it, but my desire and drive to do it has waned recently. I have been wanting to just walk, run, and do home exercise videos for a while, but have been holding on the the gym membership in hopes of becoming a step teacher. We will see.

- Relief Society has been keeping me busy with meals, visits, befriending new members, babysitting, planning the monthly additional meetings, and I taught a Relief Society lesson in July about how incredible we are as LDS women. I love my calling even though I feel like I am never doing enough, but super busy at the same time.

- I feel like between April 29th and June 17th we are inundated with events every year. It starts with my birthday, Mother's day, then Ty's brithday, our wedding anniversay, Father's day, and Thatcher's birthday. This year Easter was right before my birthday. It really felt like for two months straight we were celebrating. Ty and I went to a cool mountain biking film showing to celebrate our anniversary (because I am a cool wife like that), and Ty got spoiled on Father's Day and his birthday. I love celebrating...but after Father's day I was ready to take a break. I am glad that the next time any one in our family is going to receive a gift is Christmas.

- We have been trying to have a baby for a few months now and am wondering what the timing is going to be with that. I felt the spirit so strongly a long time ago that our family was ready for it and it took a couple months to actually act on that prompting. Since I acted on the prompting and took my IUD out, James has been harder than ever, Switzerland has been closer than ever, and our lives have felt more uncertain than ever (the house and moving situation occupy my thoughts constantly). I have been questioning what I really felt and what the Lord would have us do. Who knows 9 months from now we could have a baby girl and be living in Gilbert with our townhouse behind us...or we could be here in Flagstaff, with no baby, still wondering what our future holds for us.

my Thatcher

he really is asleep in this picture...poor kid, some days it isn't worth fighting for a nap and then this happens

I love this picture of Thatcher 'boating'. He wanted the boat to go in the water because that is where boats go.

Oh how I love this little boy. He is creative, smart, disciplined, and so much fun. He has his emotional breakdowns here and there, and he has told me a number of times this week that either me or Ty have made him sad, but for the most part he is just a happy, obedient, well rounded kid. Thatcher and I went on a date to Cars 2 a couple weeks ago and had fun being in the theater and eating cookie dough. He always ends up in our bed by morning and is happy there. He is the greatest independent player and is teaching James how to entertain himself and play pretend. They get into trouble together sometimes, but usually Thatcher will come and tell me if James is getting into something he shouldn't. His dad just gave him a handsome haircut and more than every before, I feel like my baby is turning into a big boy. Thatcher is very sensitive and gets beat up on by James quite a bit (as shown by the bite marks on his back). He loves his family and his friends and still goes through phases of being completely obsessed by one of the Pixar movies. The last few days we have been back on Incredibles.

Thatcher understands that he is now three and he is good at telling people how old he is. He doesn't like losing his mom or his dad and if he ever finds himself alone will come find us and tell us how he lost one of us. He is getting better at pedaling on his Lightning McQueen bike and still loves exploring in the dirt outside.

The first prayer we asked Thatcher to say completely on his own he thanked Heavenly Father for dancing, for his present from Brooklyn, for his family, and for Jesus. I don't know where 'dancing' came from, but the rest was perfect.

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, we love our Thatcher. He is growing up so fast and I am doing my best to enjoy him at this fun age.

James at 18.5 months

It is crazy thinking that when Thatcher was this same age, I had a newborn baby James. I can't imagine doing that right now with how much James keeps me busy. We are going through an interesting stage right now. At the doctor's, nursery, and the gym daycare James is a saint. He is right on schedule developmentally, and he is nice, happy, and sweet. He has the most charming little grin and loves to make friends. He is quick to catch on to concepts and games and likes to be a part of what older kids are doing. However...when I am around (which is most of the time) his more aggressive side comes out. We are going through a biting, hitting, fit-throwing phase and I don't quite know what to do about it. Thatcher has a couple bite marks on his body and is learning to run away from James as soon as it looks like he is going to chomp. When he is cute is is so cute and when he is hard he is so hard. Every morning I go to get James wondering which personality I am going to get. This morning it was a happy, snuggly, talking James. We snuggled and read a book as he talked to me about his pig, his blanket, and his car. Then he got really excited as he told me about going downstairs and eating.

James has started to go to nursery which is huge for me. It has been a long three years since Ty and I have had the last two hours of church with no kids.

At James's 18 month appointment his stats were consistent with what they have always been: chubby, a little on the short side, and a huge hed (off the charts). He is walking everywhere (he likes to pretend that he can jump), he loves reading books (on his own terms), he is obsessed with cars and balls, he likes to sing and dance, he is saying a lot of words...more than I can remember right now (wiggle car, hold, please, thank you, milk, mom, cher for Thatcher, socks, shoe, teeth, kay, josh, nana, papa, peepee, bird, buzz, bug, bite, bike, banana, cracker, horse, potty, choo for train, outside, inside, sorry, bath, water, truck, cup, thank you, he has a word for dog that doesn't sound anything like dog, and the other words he has been saying for a long time), and he can be the sweetest more loving little boy. He likes to wave goodbye to his pee pee when I put a diaper on him, he likes to sit on the potty (which has resulted in one pooping success), he likes to help in the kitchen, he likes to crawl up on the counter, he LOVES to eat, he likes to play at the library and drink out of the drinking fountain while Thatcher goes to story time, and he loves swimming...he is a little fish and is perfectly content whenever we go. James is good at coloring, loves to take baths, is good at giving hugs when he has done something naughty, loves sitting on the couch to watch a show with his brother and a blanket over the two of them, is a good sleeper and napper, likes to put Thatcher's underpants on over his diaper, is very observant, loves being outside, loves finding the "choo choo" wherever we are in town, still loves his pig more than I have ever seen anything loved before, is good at folding his arms for prayers but not at keeping them folded, likes to bang his head on anything when he gets upset, is good at playing make believe (he likes to cook and eat pretend food), is a daredevil (yesterday he was climbing up onto the arm of the couch, reaching his arms out to the side, saying, "go", and then falling flat on his face onto the couch cushions and laughing hysterically), and is the greatest blessing. He really is. Even though this phase is hard, I know it is just a phase, and all the fun sweet memories remind me that there is so much more to him than the rough times. The poor kid is getting his 4 canine teeth in and he gets his schedule thrown off because of our crazy schedule more often than not. Hopefully by the time we get to Switzerland his teeth will be in and he can find his inner-angel.

ps- I love that all the random pictures I have of James from the last two months are of him being completely covered in some sort of food

the big parade

On the 4th of July, Ty's law firm had a float in the Flagstaff Parade. The boys got to help put the float together and then sit on it. Ty said they had fun even though it was hot and James slept through most of it. They got to see a good part of the parade before their float even left, then I got pictures of them towards the end of the parade route. After the parade, the law firm hosted a bbq where Thatcher went on an intense bug hunt and got a lady bug.

That afternoon (after canning 12 quarts of peaches and making 3 cobblers...I got a little in over my head) we headed down to the cabin where we had a water balloon fight and a wonderful dinner with all the Ridings. We were home and in bed before the fireworks probably started, but it was a good 4th.

boating

We got invited to go boating with some friends and we had a great time. Thatcher was so excited to be on a boat (I had just taken him to see Cars 2 and in the movie a car turns into a boat. He kept asking me where the boats tires were, he was so confused.) and James was excited to be going fast. Ty and I both took our turn wake boarding and then we got to go out on the tube as well. James wasn't so sure about the whole experience, but Thatcher had so much fun he didn't want it to end. The evening ended with hot dogs and Thatcher running in the water with Tresten.

Naylor Family Reunion

Kaylynn stayed with us for 9 days before Cathy, Shayla, and Quincy joined us. When they got here we spent an evening at the cabin watching a movie, went swimming at the hotel, and then joined up with the family reunion that was just minutes outside of Flagstaff. It was hot and dirty, but the kids had a blast. They got super filthy (Thatcher dumped a pile of dirt on James's head so even his scalp and hair were dirty), went crazy for the zip line, had an adventure on the horses with Nanny and aunt Kay and Thatcher even ended up with a collection of dinosaurs after the auction.