"I want to ride my bicycle!"

This spring I told Aiden if he learned how to petal his three-wheeler I’d buy him a bike. Well he did it so we headed over to Wal-mart to pick up a bike. He tried the bike out for size in the store and realized that pedaling the bike was a little trickier and soon lost interest. Besides all his friends had scooters so we decided to go with that and he has had fun all summer long with it.



He has gotten really good with it and I’m impressed with the tricks he shows me. Now that the summer is almost over he did get his bike and I have to say is a natural on it! He brought it home, jumped on and took off. I struggle every night trying to get him off! He’s been pretty good about following the helmet rule although periodically mentions so and so isn’t wearing one. I quickly remind him that I’m not their mom and that those are our rules and he is pretty good with it.

(Yes that is the baby crying in the background! He was gasy and nothing was helping so we decided to try sitting outside, he did calm down! :))

Aiden-isms!



One morning I was taking Aiden to school and a truck passed me and merged into my lane and Aiden said “Mom you are driving too slow!!”

Aiden’s teacher, Miss Amanda, told me she asked Aiden what his baby brother’s name was and he responded back “Spiderman!” She asked multiple times and got the same response each time.

I bought Aiden an Obi Wan action figure as a reward, I was teasing him when we got in the car and asked if I could play with it, he gave me a funny look and said “No, but you can play with the box.”

Aiden refers to everything in the past as “Yesterday!” He said to me this morning “Mom, do you remember yesterday when I was hiding behind your chair and the policeman came?” This happened a few months ago when Aiden hid from us one morning – we tore the house apart searching from him (except behind this chair) and I called the police when I couldn’t find him!

I can’t sleep until the kids are asleep, so after bed time stories I’ll check in on Aiden 30 mins or so later to make sure he is asleep, last night when I checked in on him he was still awake. I was holding baby Michael and Aiden wanted to kiss him goodnight, he leaned over and whispered in his ear “I hope you are a Jedi!”

I make Aiden wash his hands every time he’s done playing with Maggie. I always make him let me smell his hands when he’s done washing to make sure he’s used soap. Saturday he came in and said “mom I don’t have to wash my hands, smell them! Maggie washed them for me!”

Aiden is a social butterfly, as soon as he gets home he wants to play with his friends, he’ll say “Can I play with Spencer Mom? Can I, Can I, Please can I?”

Aiden is trying to understand family relations and he frequently asks me “Mom, is Bear my sister?” because he keeps forgetting the term is Cousin!!

I never knew that there was so much drama among 3 year old boys –Aiden will come home and say “Charlie’s my best friend!” then the next day he’ll say “Charlie’s not my friend anymore”. According to his teacher all the boys get into fights each day about who is who’s friend.

We call it puppy love!



Having a new puppy is an adventure even if it is vicarious. It is very similar to having a new baby really. For the first few weeks Maggie was up all hours of the night. It was rather comical to see how tired Sam was being up with his “baby”. Maggie kept him up a lot more than Michael ever kept us up. Luckily she is sleeping through the night now… mostly…

I thought that I’d take her for walks in the morning and get some exercise in. Who knew a puppy had to be leash trained?! I put her on her leash and she sat down, I had to pull her like a mule. I got maybe 2 feet at best and said to heck with that! Sam has been working with her everyday and she’s getting better on the leash although she still chews on it.



It is so funny to hear Sam talk about his walks with Maggie, he said she wanders and has a hard time focusing…. That sounds just like going for walks with Aiden!! She also gets tired sometimes and he has to carry her home!!! LOL!!



Aiden absolutely loves Maggie. He does get competitive with her though. When Sam takes them to the park together Aiden always wins at getting the Frisbee and has a hard time letting Maggie have a turn. They have a lot of fun running around and wrestling each other and it is so fun to watch!



Tomorrow Maggie starts obedience school – Sam will be taking Aiden to class with him to work with Maggie, I am hoping that they will teach Aiden to be obedient too!!

Bubble Toes!



One of Michael’s favorite things is bath time! It really doesn’t matter how upset he is or why, if you put him in the bath it calms him right down. He loves to move his legs and arms all around in the water although he hasn’t quite figured out how to make a splash. I sing silly bath songs to him and he laughs and coos. It’s so fun!

Baby milestones!!



It is amazing how fast our darling baby boy is growing and changing, they don’t stay newborn very long! At 4 weeks baby Michael had already grown 4 inches making him 22.5 inches long!! I don’t have a baby scale but he is between 9-10lbs according to my best guess. He is already holding his head up, cooing, and smiling. One of the cutest things he does is laugh in his sleep! I’ve been trying to get it on camera but I haven’t been quick enough on the draw. Everyone always comments on his hair too! It doesn’t matter what we do with it or how much product we stick in it is stands straight up!

I’m doing great too! You are forced to recover a lot faster when you have other kids! Within 2 weeks I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight!! However I’ve continued to eat like I’m 9mo pregnant and have gained 3lbs, yikes!! I officially start work back on Monday and am very sad to leave my baby!! It’s also been great to be home with Aiden in the afternoons. I will miss that time terribly but you do what you have to do.

I love to see the temple…..



This past month Michael was able to take out his own temple endowment. This has been an incredible blessing for our family and such a testimony builder for me to watch my husband progress in the church. Almost my entire family happened to be in town and it was an amazing feeling to see everyone together in the temple and especially the celestial room. It was overwhelming to me to greet Michael in the celestial room, the spirit was very strong and it was a confirmation to me that we are well on our way to being an eternal family.

This year we were also able to attend the Draper and Oquirrh mountain temple dedications. Both dedications were incredible testimony builders for me. At the closing of the Oquirrh mountain temple dedication we sang “The spirit of God like a fire is burning” and that is truly how it felt. I was overcome with emotion and had to fight back tears. I know that Thomas S. Monson has been ordained of God to lead this church. I am so grateful for temples and for temple work. I look forward to spending the eternities with my family.

Baby’s first weeks:

There’s nothing like bringing home a new baby! It is so fun and unnerving at the same time. The first week we brought baby Michael home Aiden happened to be on summer break so we got acclimated to the changes right away. Luckily, Michael took 2 weeks off work to help me!! Our ward members and neighbors also brought us meals and took Aiden to play with their kids to give us a break which was extremely helpful.



Baby Michael has been a perfect angel. He never cries unless he is hurting or extremely hungry. He also only wakes up twice a night – Aiden is getting up more at night than the baby! Michael and I have been sharing the night shift – I do the feedings and he does the changing.



At baby’s 2 week appointment he was 7 lbs 15 oz and 21.5 inches long. He is eating great and growing fast! The doctor said he was absolutely perfect and we agree! He is already smiling and tries to talk – it is oh so cute!!



We still aren’t sure what we are calling him – I thought we’d call him Davey but it hasn’t really stuck. I’ve been calling him Beauty and Bebe, Michael and Aiden mostly just call him baby. He is an absolute doll and we love having him in our family!