way back when {Easter edition}

4.18 {Monday}
--Today I got to take Julie to her follow up therapy appointment.  Grayson was absolutely ecstatic because he got to go play at Treyce's house.  Becca offered to watch both boys, but I thought it better not to totally overwhelm her, so Bex came with me and Jewels.  He was really good & is easy to have around.  We chatted the whole way over, chilled in the waiting room while she did therapy {Beckham literally sat right there playing with the blind cord the entire hour!}, and ran a couple errands afterward.

It was nice to have time to chat & I just love that girl.  She is frustratingly independent, but I am just enough of a pushy friend, that I break her down on occasion & make her hang out with me! (:  We had a good time and when we stopped to pick Grayson up, I had to laugh out loud.  Treyce was crashed on the floor dressed as a lion and Grayson was running around dressed as a fireman.  I'm sure he about wet his pants when he saw that costume as he is completely and fanatically obsessed with fireman & all things fire related.  His excitement only grew when Becca told him he could take it home and keep it.  He said in a high pitched voice, "I can borrow it to take it & show my dad?!"  She told him again he could keep it forever & he was just giddy.  Totally cute.

Grateful for sweet friends.  We ran to Julie's after we were done and shopped in her storage room.  She was gifting about twelve boxes of Honey bunches of Oats to Zac because he loves them & her family wasn't going through them.  She is WAY too generous with us all the time.  After we got home for good, Beckham got to enjoy his first peep & he was a definite fan.  Love these boys!  Good day. 

4.19 {Tuesday}
--Woke up to a sweet boy by my bedside telling me he needed to go potty & get his firesuit on.  Sweet sleepy kid.  Another sweet boy spent most of the day undressed & running around in a diaper since we were home all day & didn't get out of jammies-or at least not out of them & into real clothes!  Got some work done, some playing done, and lots of whining done on the parts of two boys. Life, right?

4.20 {Wednesday}
--Wow, today was a driving day for me.  I was all over the country!  Taylor came to sit with the boys early this morning so I could run payroll over to Caldwell to our regional manager.  Zac needed to be in the tractor {since we finally had a dry day}, so I offered to do it.  I enjoy time in the car as I've recently started listening to a Christian station called AirOne and love a lot of the music & the words to the songs, especially, as well as the car is the place I most often receive personal revelation & talk with God anyway, so it's a good place for me.  {More on this to come, hopefully... someday}

Hurried home right after I dropped it and grabbed the boys from home.  Took them over to Grandma Wendy's & left again.  I went to Becca's friend Nikki's house in Nyssa.  She styled my hair super cute for my photoshoot with Amber, which is where I headed next.  Got to Fruitland, loved on the girls a minute & changed my clothes, and we headed out to scout a spot for a few headshots in Payette & Ontario.  For my new website launch, I wanted a recent picture to use so people could relate to me right now.  Amber is the best for that.  Not only is she a talented photographer {and she really really is}, she has been my best friend so long it's not even the least bit weird to act totally crazy with her.  She captures me for real.  And we tend to laugh...a lot.  It went quickly-mainly because it was freezing!, and we headed back for a diet soda & for me to head back to my boys.  {by the way, another big thank you to Nikki for the awesome hair-do, and thanks & a shout out to Denise for the darling necklace!}  More pics to come when they are edited & my website is revealed!...kinda excited about this, by the way. 

Got back home, picked up my sweeties, and headed home for a nap for Beckham.  Got lots done and some quality time in with Grayson while Bex was in bed.  Zac got home at 6 to be fun daddy while I headed out again to Meridian for a coach meeting at Tony & Brenda's house.  It was a great & informational meeting and I absolutely adore those two and am so grateful they are a part of my life.  They encourage me, teach me, and have such a great relationship that I admire.  Headed home and got back after Gray was in bed, but got to love on Bex and put him in bed.  Wow, lots of time on the road & got LOTS done today.

4.21 {Thursday}
--Today was a major work catch up day for me.  Although I do a lot of work on a daily basis when me and the boys are home, it's hard for me to even have a semi intelligent phone conversation when they are running all over, requiring my attention/focus/time, so I try & save most of it for when I have a real work day.  Today was that day.  Taylor picked them up at 9 and I worked like crazy till it was time to pick them up at 2.  My dad stopped by randomly in the middle of it all to see the boys-who weren't here-and it was nice to chat with him for a few minutes.  I sure like him, value his opinion, and love unexepected visits from him.

4.22 {Friday}
--This morning I had a major mommy meltdown.  I totally lost it {only to Zac} and just proclaimed that I should not be a mom & wondered why Heavenly Father sent these kids to me, when I'm obviously going to screw them up.  I felt in that moment that I was a completely ineffective, incompetent mother and that my kids don't have a chance.  I seriously have no idea what I'm doing or what works & doesn't.  I was bawling in our room and Zac just hugged me, reassured me that I'm doing the best I can, and I was able to compose myself.

A few minutes later I was cleaning and Grayson said, "You are mean!" This was the fourth or so time he'd told me that & it was only 10 AM, so I just made a snap decision {we've been searching out different ways to discipline because spanking isn't effective with him & time outs only work with certain things}, grabbed the soap {Mango Margarita flavor from Bath & Body works}, and pushed some foam onto my hand.  I told him I was going to put soap in his mouth and that every time he said mean words or naughty things to me or anyone else, he would get soap in his mouth & have to keep it there for five seconds.  I pried his mouth open and smeared that soap all over his mouth.  He screamed as if I'd beat him senseless and I waited a few seconds and then took a washcloth and washed it out & let him rinse.  He was pretty upset about it, but a knock on the door got us both smiling.  He opened it to Amber & girls and the first thing out of his mouth was, "My mom put soap in my mouth!"  Haha.  He had a few rough moments in the minutes right after they got here, but Amber left the girls here while she went to do a photoshoot & things went smoothly at that point.  Bex went down for a nap and Wren slept on my chest-love that baby.  Gray and Ella played outside & ate lunch & watched a movie inside afterward.  They are cute little friends & have the funniest conversations.

 
He was much more aware of the words he used all day, so soap is our go-to punishment now.  I made sure to explain that anyone watching him {Grandma's, aunts, etc.} could also use the soap tactic.

Today is my sweet bigger younger brother's birthday!  Happy day to my only blood brother, Lancey pants!  I love this guy so much.  I have always loved him, but it just grows as we get older & I see him as a husband and a dad.  He is one of the most tender men I know and completely in tune with the people around him.  He is thoughtful & will call me to check on me if I've been sick or if one of my boys isn't feeling well.  He is inclusive-he never wants people to feel left out.  He is an initiater.  Zac and I are often homebodies because it feels like we work so much & sometimes we just want to be together, so we become hermit-like.  Lance invites us to dinner, to hang out, to anything social they are doing, and doesn't get offended when we can't, he just keeps inviting.  He makes me laugh hard.  He tells me he loves me.  He is an incredible uncle & my boys adore him.  I love watching him with Kelsey and Jaeger and although I knew growing up he'd be an incredible grown-up man, it's so enjoyable watching that unfold.  Love you Lancey-happy 26th!

Tonight Beckham fell asleep in Zac's arms while watching car videos with him.  {Z got to test drive a Porsche 911 this week while our Acura was being serviced, so he's been pretty infatuated with them ever since-the boys & I have seen our fair share of Porsche videos this week as well}.  Love all three of my boys.

4.23 {Saturday}
--Today was an exciting one full of fun.  The Easter bunny visits our house on Saturday, along with all the other crazy stuff we do, so the kids woke up & came out to see what he'd left behind.  The Easter bunny was generous this year & even remembered Mom & Dad! (:  Because our boys both have winter birthdays, I think an Easter tradition might be to receive something to be used at summertime...we'll see.  The boys got candy, peeps, books, a shopping cart {Bex}, and a trike {Grayson}.  Needless to say, they were excited.

Gray hasn't really been exposed to many riding things that you don't just use your legs to push, so the trike is perfect for him.  He had the peddling down within a couple minutes and rode it around the kitchen.

We had Zac all to ourselves the entire day, which I was absolutely giddy about, and we got everyone ready & headed to Cow Hollow park for the big Egg hunt.  This was our first year taking Grayson and I loved it.  Totally impressed with Jewels-who put it all together with her 4H group-and everything about it.  She had it roped off by age groups so the little kids don't get plowed over and there were tons of eggs & candy treats all over the place.  Zac took Beckham to the under 2 age group area and I stayed with Grayson in the 2&3 area.  He was so funny!  He would see a piece of candy or an egg, look at it, look up at me as if asking if it was okay, and another kid would grab it before he could decide!  Once he got the hang of it, he did better & started finding things.  He was pretty picky though & mostly got things he knew he liked.  He helped Jaeger a bit and had Jaeger grab things for his bucket {crazy kid!}, loved seeing old friends like Paisley who was visiting, and scoping out the loot with Amity.  Rock & Zac visited for a bit afterward and then we took a potty break at Grandma Cleaver's.

 We headed up to the dam after that to see the crazy amount of water we've gotten.  There was tons of water flowing over the Glory hole and it was awesome to see that.  Grayson is anxious about stuff like that {much like his daddy}, so he said, "I'll just wait by the car & watch from up here."  Haha!  I held him and took him down to the fence to see it, but he was more content watching up higher.  We walked over and saw the water pouring out of the dam too & he thought that "waterfall" was pretty cool.  Beckham is just happy to be outside and they both did great on the way there & back.  It was nice to get out as a family & enjoy the beautiful day!

When we got home we took advantage of having Zac here and the boys played like crazy with him.  We all rested a bit, read for leisure!, watched a show, and then I had to get to work in the kitchen because I was making resurrection rolls for the primary kids.  Grayson was a huge helper and placed each marshmallow in the rolls before baking.  They were an adventure...I couldn't find white marshmallow's, so we got strawberry & the first batch I hadn't made sure the seals were pointed down, so marshmallows were exploding everywhere.  Pretty crazy!  The other batches turned out okay though and the guys liked how they tasted too.

While the last batch was cooking, Zac pulled out the xbox controllers and put in a car racing game and let Grayson play with him.  It was pretty cute and Grayson liked doing that with his dad.  Beckham just played & roamed around-got pretty grumpy toward the end of the night-and we finally got Grayson in bed & kept getting ready for Sunday.  I took a quick break and went to see Doll & her date before they left for prom.  She is a real life doll & I adore her-her date was super sweet too!  Got home to Bex asleep on daddy again-he was definitely worn out.  A very full & very good day!

4.24 {Sunday}
--Today was a beautiful Easter day.  The morning just went phenomenally-in fact I can't remember a Sunday that peaceful & smooth in a long time-and it made the day start out so well.  I turned on some nice Sunday music and the boys were happy, everyone was cheerful while getting ready, everyone got breakfast {unheard of most Sunday's}, and we were out the door with five minutes to spare. (:  We got to church & it was totally packed because there was also a missionary farewell.  We sat in the gym which is hard for the boys because they want to run around, but they both did really well.  Primary went awesome.  Julie had a great sharing time & the older kids amazed me yet again with their knowledge of the Savior and the gospel.  I did a little mini presentation about the resurrection rolls & shared my testimony with the kids & we handed the rolls out for them to take home {they are extremely sticky!}.  I think most the kids thought it was neat, but I heard of a few kids who asked their moms in total seriousness, "is this blood?" of the pink goo left from the marshmallows...oh dear! (:

My testimony is this: I KNOW without a doubt that my Savior lives.  I know He loves me.  I know He died for me and my sins, that He knows every pain & happiness I experience.  I know He cares about the daily struggles of my life.  I know He believes in me.  I know I have a loving Father in Heaven who voluntarily gave His Son-knowing how hard it would be-so I could live with Him and my entire family again.  I know the gospel is true.  I know that the covenants I made in the temple are for real.  That I'm not with my husband "till death do us part," but for eternity.  And that knowledge brings me joy.  I'm thankful to have a temple close enough we can attend often & that my husband takes me there.  I have a testimony of the power of prayer, the blessings of having a priesthood holder in our home, and I love having a living Prophet who receives direct revelation for our lives.  I know he's a prophet when he speaks and know that anyone-who has a relationship with Christ-would do well to abide by the counsel he gives because it is all for our good and our growth in becoming like Christ.  I get so happy and excited everytime I think of the Resurrection.  Since having children-especially boys-Mary's position has been one I love to ponder on.  I an in awe of the joy she must have felt upon realizing He was risen.  That He lived.  I am blessed to live in this time and to raise children whom I love.  I've questioned as to why Heavenly Father would trust me with them many times, but I know there is a reason and I have faith that He knew what He was doing by sending them to me.  (:  I am grateful for a Redeemer who offers me Redemption.  Every single day.  And I'm trying my hardest to live a life that is pleasing to Him and His Father.

After church we headed home & changed clothes to head back to Grami's house for an Easter lunch.  Mom always does amazingly at those types of things & this time was no exception.  She even had an Easter basket for our family that was filled with goodies-so sweet.  Both sets of grandparents were there, along with all the sibs and Kelsey's sister Kambria & her family.  It was a beautiful afternoon with wonderful sunshine & we spent a while outside watching Grayson scarily drive the gator.  He got about an inch close to running Beckham over & when Beckham was in the back, he was rocking back & forth and I was chasing them and laughing so hard I thought I'd fall over.  Love those boys.  He gave Jaeger & Owen rides & they all loved hunting for eggs together.  Grayson reminded me so much of me when I was that age {I've seen videos of myself hunting eggs at age 3-even his voice sounds similar}.

I'm training Zac to take pictures with me in them when he has the camera so I'm not always behind the scenes or taking self portraits to get in the picture & Amber worked her magic on the tall photo for me.

We stayed for a while and headed to Cleaver's around 4:30.  Em & fam and Chels & fam were there which was fun. Grayson refers to his cousins as his "friends" and was ecstatic that they were going to be there.  Zachary and Madelyn entertained him the entire time & he laughed and ran around like a crazy man.  Beckham was content going up and down the one stair in their house and being fed by whoever would give him bites of stuff.  We got home around 8, put the kiddos in bed, and snuggled into bed ourselves. 

Week two Potty Summary:
Lots of successful pees & poops, NO accidents all week!, Woke up dry EVERY morning this week, and did great with all our car trips to & from places, being in different houses, telling different people when he needed to go, etc.  Still insists on taking his undies & pants completely off when he goes, and sits on the toilet for both duties, but I'm pretty confident in saying he's successfully day trained & we can address those things with time.  With that said, I'm sure there will be accidents, but I am so proud of him for doing so well & can say that potty training with kid #1 has been a rather enjoyable & quick experience.  It was all him though, so congratulations to Grayson!