New Old Dining Set

Yes I realize I am more than a little behind on blogging....yep...way more than a little. I will get caught up I swear....someday.

For now...simply because there is only one picture....and not much writing involved...I am posting on our "new" old dining room set. Two weeks ago Jason and I found this solid wood table with 6 chairs for a smokin good deal. With a little love, some paint and gorgeous fabric we now have a fantastic "new" table and chairs. We have wanted a new set since we bought our house, which was over 3 years ago. And, as we have had another child, we no longer fit at our old set. And forget about having people over dinner and working chairs around our old tiny table. We would end up with 2 tables in the dining room and still have kids at the bar. We are pumped to have this new addition to our home. I cannot wait to have out first family meal together.

Blue Bird

Today was.....an odd day. But there were some fun highlights. There was a power outage that lasted for most of the afternoon. Because there was no television or music going I noticed a lot of birds in our back yard and the park. When Jason came home for lunch he saw this beautiful Rocky Mountain Blue Bird. We pulled out the binoculars and Ethan and I spent almost an hour watching him and the robins and meadow larks hop around in the snow.

Jason had to head back to work and when he left he said, I wish we could get some pictures of him. So....I put on my brave face and ventured out into the snow camera in hand. As I mentioned the park was literally swarming with birds. Easily over a hundred birds were swooping and hopping around. As you may know, I have a pretty intense fear of birds. So going out to get some pictures was no small task. My heart was pumping as soon as I opened my back door. Luckily I was able to get pretty close without scaring the blue bird off or having a panick attack. I did jump a little when he suddenly took flight and flew right over my head. But Jason was really happy to see my pictures so it was totally worth it.

Daddy's Boy

Kellan Jack has reached his half birthday. 6 months old! Where does the time go? While the time seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye, I cannot imagine my life without this precious angel. I am addicted to his sweetness. When he takes a particularly long nap I find myself missing him and I have to talk myself out of waking him up just to hold him. Kellan is a happy little man. He loves to smile and coo and babble.

Most of all, Kellan loves his Daddy. He is without a doubt a daddy's boy. When he hears Jason's voice he turns to find him and gets a huge grin on his pudgy little face. He will turn from me and almost throw himself at Jason. And the best part about it is Jason is equally thrilled to see Kellan. I love to see Jason scoop Kellan up and plant a thousand kisses on Kellan's cheeks until they are booth giggling. The craziest thing is that Kellan will protest going to bed if he hasn't had enough time with Jason. If I put Kellan down before he gets to play with his daddy he will cry the second he hears Jason get home and start talking until he gets to see Jason. Kellan has started saying "dada" and I swear he knows exactly what he is saying. It is not just babble. He doesn't say it for the most part unless Jason is with him. Or he will quietly whisper it and look around. It is the craziest thing.

This baby fadora is seriously so stinking cute. I can't get enough of Kellan in hats. He is adorable.

During a field trip with Jase we learned that many species' babies are born with big eyes and short noses so they will be appealing to their mommas so they will take care of them. Kellan has this look down. Big blue eyes that turn down slightly at the ends and melt me instantly. And the cutest little button nose that crinkles in the middle when he giggles or when he gets upset. This is one thing he has gotten from me. I love his little nose crinkle.

Kellan is rolling more and more. And he is working on crawling. He tries to pull himself around, but hasn't quite figured it out. I am perfectly ok with this. I sort of like not having to chase him around just yet. He is also working hard on sitting by himself. He can, but isn't totally steady. He's a little tipsy. The funniest is when he bends over and his belly gets in his way and he has to take big gasps of air. He is thick. Kellan also has discovered his toes and they are his absolute favorite toy. He loves to pull on them and try to get them in his mouth. Kellan is also a thumb sucker. It is so sweet. For the most part he only sucks it when he is going to sleep but I love it. Someday I know it won't be so cute, but for now it isn't hurting a thing and I am content to let him soothe himself.

We love our little hunkin man! We call him Hunkin, because he was born just before Halloween and we had lots of pumpkin out. I was calling Kellan my little pumpkin and Ethan said, "No Mommy, he a hunkin." That's how Ethan says pumpkin. It just stuck. Sweet little hunkin man!

Date Night

This more of a journal post than anything else. And I have been meaning for days to get this done.....but life with 4 busy boys is, well, busy. So while 2 are off to school and 2 are still asleep I am getting this done!

I have the most incredible husband. A week and a half ago we had planned a date night to see Water for Elephants on its Friday opening. Jason and I both read the book, a rare thing as we have pretty different tastes in reading material.....shocker right?! And we were both excited, ok probably me more so, to see how the book would be adapted for the big screen. As Friday got closer, our date night seemed to get further out of reach.

As some of you may know, Jason has a pretty difficult job, to say the very least. And recently it has gone from difficult to at times highly dangerous. His clientele is a hard population to work with and the particular batch he has now can be quite violent. It seems Jason has come home beaten and broken more often than not of late. From scratches to bites, to broken bones, to near death experiences of narrowly escaping being thrown out of windows and off ledges.....as I said, it's been difficult.

Wednesday Jason was informed that a former client had been released from jail by a judge. Just released. No one was there to pick him up, he had no where to go and was just let loose on the streets. Without going into details, because frankly I don't have them, Jason is far too ethical to share those, the client was drunkenly returned to Jason's employers care. This client had been released from their care when he was put into jail, and they had no duty to him whatsoever. The man knew this and left the facility. A staff called Jason at 11:30 Wednesday night to tell Jason the client had left and was walking the streets again. Jason, being the person he is, jumped up grabbed his jacket and keys and took off into a thunder storm to find this man before he hurt someone. Of course I was less than thrilled with this plan. In fact I think my words were, "Jason you are not Dog the Bounty Hunter!" Jason kissed me and off he went into the night. This was probably the most scared I have been for my husband related to his work. I prayed nearly the entire time he was gone that he would make it home safely. Jason believes he was led to find this man by inspiration. I believe he is right. It was literally a search for a pin in a hay stack. By 2 a.m. Jason was home and the client was in responsible hands.

When we woke later that morning Jason told me he may be flying to Alaska to return the client to the Alaskan authorities. I try hard to be supportive of Jason in his career and for the largest part I am. This was asking a lot! This man is highly dangerous, violent and unpredictable. He has attacked Jason numerous times. And now Jason is going to fly with him for hours to Alaska. No way! At 11:15 the call came. Jason was going. He had 30 minutes to be to the airport. I cried, I complained, I tried to talk him out of it. I shouted, "You are not an air marshal! You are a counselor! This is not your job!" Jason calmly agreed with me. Then because Jason is the most selfless person I know said, "Victoria I have to go. If he goes alone, he will destroy some innocent person's life." How do you argue with that? I still cried and was unhappy about the whole thing and finally said, "Fine but you better be home for our date night." Truthfully I just wanted him home, but the date night part was to ease the tension and make light of my emotions.

Jason left the house at 11:20 a.m. Thursday he traveled to Idaho Falls to Salt Lake to Seattle to Fairbanks Alaska and back. Non-stop. During his travels his boss who set up the flights accidentally put the wrong name on Jason's tickets so he spent quite a lot of time proving to security at each check point who he was. Jason was right about the need for the man to be escorted. Had Jason not been with him every step of the way someone would have gotten hurt. Jason finally deposited this man to the authorities and turned to get back on a plane to fly home. When his boss offered a hotel for him in Fairbanks for a day or two Jason told her no.....he had to be home for date night. And sure enough! After 27 of hours of straight travel Jason made it home to me at 1:30 p.m. Friday.

And then stayed awake through the entire movie we caught at 7 that evening! What a man! I am so blessed he is mine!

Jason tells me he loves me every single day. And more importantly he shows me he loves me every single day. Jason is the perfect man for me. And I love him with my whole heart. Seeing the movie that night wasn't the most important thing. Had we missed the movie the world would have continued to spin, but my husband made me and our time together a priority above all else. There is no greater love on Earth.

YeeHaw!

Yeeeeehaaawww! The rodeo was in town last week, and we had so much fun! McDonald's was a sponsor again this year of the Mutton Bustin and Jase was drawn again to ride. In fact, Jase was even in the newspaper from the draw. It was the cutest picture of him. This year, we were totally prepared. We made Jase a huge sign to hold up for him while he rode. He loved it.

McDonald's also sponsored the exit gate. Wednesday night was Xtreme Bulls night. First bull through the exit gate bucked and kick a nice dent in the sign. First bull!!! They had 40 bulls on the show that first night. Luckily the sign held up.

Jase rode Thursday night. Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night. And of course Jase was tough enough. He was so excited to ride. I told him the prize if he won was a huge trophy. He wasn't really impressed. Then I told him last year the winner got a $1000. That changed his game face. He was pumped up!! Out of the gate.....here he goes!!!

Jase held on!!!

and on!

He held on for an 88 point ride! I couldn't believe it. He was awesome! The crowd went crazy for him. And Jase LOVED that Punkintown the Rodeo Clown came out and picked him up for the crowd. It may have been his favorite part of the whole experience. Jase took 3rd place on Thursday and so he qualified to ride again in Saturday Night's show. When they handed him his goody bag he opened it up, looked at me and said, "Where's my $1000?" I laughed. He is so funny. I explained he had to ride again. That brightened his outlook.

Saturday afternoon was the Exceptional Kids' Rodeo. McDonald's donated coupons and prizes for the participants. Mary, Jason and I went to watch. It was really neat to see all the children who have either a developmental delay or a physical ailment ride horses and get their pictures taken with the Rodeo Queens.

Because we were on the dirt Mary and I had Jason get a picture of us by our exit gate. It looked a little rough. Friday night a horse kicked a hole in the bottom. And some animal did it's business across our arches. So grody!

The announcer came over to us and thanked us for our participation and sponsorship. And of course we mentioned Jase riding in the finals...hehehe.

Saturday Jase was so excited to ride again. Check out his "city slicker" outfit. He wanted to shine up his look for the Saturday night crowd.

Ready to ride!!!

Saturday night Jase's sheep was a lot smaller. It's back was quite a thinner and it was a lot faster!!!

Jase rode for an 80 point ride Saturday night before biting the dust.

And he bit it hard. He had dirt in every fold of his city clothes.

But having the cute Rodeo Queen pick him up brought a huge smile to his face.

Jase was a little disappointed he didn't win his $1000 but he had a great experience. He showed so much strength and courage to even compete. And having all his own cheering section really built him up. Jase asked me before his ride on Saturday if he won would he be famous. I told him he was all ready famous. He was in the paper, on the news and on the radio. He was pretty pleased with himself. He was the poster child for Mutton Bustin this year.

To round out our rodeo week Jase rode with me in the sponsor truck on Saturday Night. Look at that cute face!! As reserved as Jase can be he is right at home in front of a crowd. I love that about him.....he's a little like his momma that way. Jase had a white knuckle grip on my hand and I barely got a few fingers out to wave at our section.

We had an awesome week together as a family. Coming together to support each other definitely brought us closer as a family. For the second week in a row I am so thankful again for my job. I have the most amazing opportunities and experiences. And being able to have my family with me while I "work" makes it all the more wonderful.

Medicine Ball

At March's Chamber of Commerce meeting my boss Mary and I passed by the Medicine Ball booth. Mary and I have worked a lot with the wonderful woman who spearheaded this fundraiser and she insisted that we attend. Mary, who is one of the most generous people I have had the pleasure to know, said she would love for Jason and I to attend. She said we deserved a fancy night out on the town. So the next day she bought us tickets, along with her and her husband Mike as well. Then Diana, my long time friend and store manager of McDonald's, who didn't want a good time to pass her by, found a hot date and joined us.

I had so much fun getting all hottied up for Jason. And he looked dang fine himself! *insert cat calls and whistling*

My mom watched the boys for us and was there to take our pictures before we left. Ahhh so cute! (Yes I had fun playing with the background on this one.)

I told Jason I needed to buy a dress. He, of course, told me I had plenty of dresses. I explained to him that I needed a fancy dress, something that didn't scream church clothes. Still confused he asked, "Like a prom dress?" Bless his heart. I suppose to most men there isn't much in between a Sunday dress and a prom dress. I think he was convinced I was going to come home with a ball gown.

Tuesday I gathered all 4 of my boys up with my mom and we headed to Idaho Falls for a little shopping. I was nervous about the experience to say the least. I thought, 4 boys + dress shopping = insanity. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun we all had. I think much of this was based on the fact that we got lucky and only had to visit one store. I let the boys pick out any dress they thought was pretty for me to try on. They came up with about 10 dresses in a wide variety of colors and styles. It was hilarious to hear Jase look at a dress shake his head and say, "Nope that one shows too much skin." Trying on dresses and showing my boys was about as close to playing Barbies with them as I will probably ever get and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. In the end we passed on the sequins orange, the pink chiffon and the blue cocktail dresses for this elegant black and white dress. Perfect! Fit my style beautifully.

I had planned on surprising Jason with my dress on Friday, but let's get real, that is not me at all. Two seconds after we got home from Idaho Falls I was trying it on for him. However he was gone while I was getting ready on Friday and so he was surprised with the whole vision when he came home. Jason told me he was going to have a hard time concentrating because he wasn't going to be able to take his eyes off of me. Ahhhhh, I melted. He is one amazing man!

Yes yes, who would be able to keep their eyes off of this! Hot! Hehehe!

We had a marvelous time! The dinner was great and we couldn't have asked for better company. We were all very silly and Mary joked she couldn't take us anywhere. Of course then Mary busted out some pretty fancy moves on the dance floor! It was awesome! We all also got our pictures taken there, just like prom....almost. I am sure the photographer thought we were crazy, but we got some fun shots. It really was a blast! It is wonderful to be blessed with the employers I have. Not only did they create a job for me that fit my needs and my strengths but they have always encouraged my personal and professional growth. Not to mention they are party animals and one heck of a good time!

Field Trip

Jase had a field trip to the Museum of Natural History at ISU last week (St. Patrick's Day....note all the green clad children). He was really excited to see all the bones and learn about dinosaurs. But mostly he was excited that I was going with him. I love how much he wants me to be around. Far too soon these days will be gone, so I am soaking them up while I can.

Our museum tour guide was very knowledgeable and was great at keeping the attention of the kids, not a small feat. She is kneeling next to a little dinosaur I cannot remember the real name, but it essentially was a mini triceratops. Jase thought it would have been a great pet. Sorry Copper.

The children were dying to touch something! Finally our guide pulled out a replica of a T-Rex toe nail they could touch. Side note...we measure how big a T-Rex could open his mouth and it was exactly as big as Jase is tall. The museum lady said Jase was perfect snack sized candy bar for the T-Rex.

Jase is such a cheeseball! Here we saw some of the few actual fossils on display, most at the museum are replicas. These were the remains of a Hagerman Horse. The state fossil for Idaho.

I tried to get this at the right angle so Jase would look like he had horns. These the horns from an ancient bison.

Jase was standing next to a painting of a mammoth on the wall. He didn't even reach his knee!

In the Discovery Center Jase was showing his Bengal Pride with this mask.

I was happy to be with Jase on this field trip. I love being apart of my children's education. It is so meaningful to see them excited about learning. Jaser is a smart little guy too! He amazes me constantly with all the things he knows. He really enjoyed the museum too. He wants to take Kaden now to "teach" him about dinosaur bones. So cute!

Latest Developments

Wow! Yet another month has flown by. And my tiny baby, who promised me he would stay tiny, has gone back on his word! Kellan is growing at record breaking speed. At least record breaking in this family. 2 weeks ago at his 4 month check up he weighed 16 lbs 7 oz. and is 28 3/4 inches long. He is the 82 percentile for both. Truth be told, I love it! I love having a strong growing boy! He has the softest, squishiest most kissable rolls!

Kellan is extremely sensitive to touch and very tactile. I try so hard to make sure my hands are warm when I pick him up or else he arcs his back and wiggles to try to get away. He loves to feel Jason's stubble on his face with his pudgy little hand, but doesn't like it on his own cheek. And Kellan is very ticklish. Nothing makes him giggle more than tickling his collar bone and shoulders. It's an odd place to be ticklish, but so cute.

Kellan loves music. We have music playing at our house nearly all the time and he truly enjoys listening to it. He isn't very discriminative as of yet, but I have noted that he prefers piano solos to full orchestras. He likes opera, especially high sopranos. The Cure and Erasure always get his attention. He wiggles more to Latin beats, thanks to Shakira. And I am 99 % positive he is a Poison fan. All in all I would say he is a well rounded connoisseur of music.

Kellan is rolling from his belly to his back as well. It is hilarious when he actually achieves it, because it absolutely takes him by surprise. Makes me giggle.

We all love Kellan so so much and have had so so much fun with him. The boys adore him. And I think Jason has an extra soft spot for his youngest son. I love nothing more than to watch the two of them playing when they don't know I am looking. Jason is so tender and sweet with Kellan, it melts my heart.

Last Saturday Jase wanted to take some pictures of Kellan and me. He did a great job!

Kellan has his first really real illness currently. He woke up Saturday morning absolutely miserable. He was burning up with fever, in pain and would not eat. We were pretty worried. I took him to his doctor and after a 2 hour visit the doctor ruled out viral meningitis and concluded he had an ear infection and the flu. As Kellan is super sensitive to touch and was in a lot of pain every movement made him scream. After a substantial dose of Motrin and an hour's worth of checks the doctor felt ok about sending us home. Poor sweet little Kellan. It broke my heart to see him hurting so. Jason and I spent Saturday holding, soothing and fighting Kellan's fever. Before Kellan went to bed for the night Jason gave him a priesthood blessing. I am truly grateful for my husband and how he honors his priesthood. I felt comforted by his words, and Kellan slept 13 hours straight last night. This morning I was shocked when he woke up still running a fever and feeling miserable. Thankfully with another dose of Motrin and antibiotic he took a 4 hour nap and woke up fever free. I can tell he is still hurting and he is pretty fussy, but hopefully on the mend. While we had to cancel all our weekend plans, I must say staying home and cuddling my precious baby with Jason was so nice. Even sick Kellan is an angel. A 17 lbs. 2 oz cuddly angel.

Geeky Stars

Oh Ethan....Ethan is by far my quirkiest son. I wanted to post about Ethan's blanket, because it cracks me up how attached he is to this completely random blanket. Oddly enough this blanket was the very first blanket I ever made. I made it when I found out I was pregnant with our first child, before I even knew the gender, and was due on the 4th of July. Hence the stars and stripes. A few months back Ethan was rummaging through the linen closet and found the old fleece blanket. He had just learned the star shape and brought me the blanket to show me the stars. I was so thrilled he had remembered the shape that I clapped and wrapped him up in the blanket and swung him in circles telling him how smart he was. This must have been more of a show than I realized at the time and made quite the impression on him, because the next day he started dragging the blanket around everywhere and calling it his Geeky Stars. This is entirely hilarious to me. He can say blanket or blankie perfectly fine, but he only refers to this blankie as his geeky. He drags his Geeky Stars around with him everywhere and HAS to have it to go to bed. We all but have to call Scotland Yard if his Geeky Stars is M.I.A. at bedtime. When it has to be laundered, which is quite frequently because that blanket gets FUNKY TOWN, he has to be the one to put it in the washing machine. As soon as the wash cycle is finished he takes it directly out of the washer. Parting with it to be washed AND dried is asking WAY too much. Luckily it is fleece and air dries pretty quickly. He's like my own little Linus running around the house with it over his head all day. I wonder how long he will have his Geeky Stars and if I will be packing it in his back pack for kindergarten someday. With Ethan you just never know!

Pinewood Derby

It is a time honored tradition for fathers and sons to labor over rectangular pieces of pine wood and craft aerodynamic racing machines. Or, thus I have learned. When we received Kaden's derby car kit box I opened it to find a piece of wood a few nails and some wheels. I turned it over a couple times and then looked at Jason and asked, "How the crap do you make a car out of this?" To which he replied, "How do you think?" After a moment of serious contemplation I responded pretty confidently, "With a chisel." Apparently that was a completely absurd answer based on the expression on Jason's face as he burst out laughing. After sticking my tongue out at him, I put the piece of wood back in the box and turned the entire project over to Jason and his Eagle scout expertise to help Kaden.

Which was a good move on my part. As it turns out there are all sorts of rules and guidelines you have to follow when building a derby car. Not to mention the use of extremely dangerous and loud power tools.

Jason took Kaden to his parent's house to build the derby car. First Kaden decided on a design. He wanted a car that looked like a pencil resting on two erasers. Together Jason and Kaden drew up the design on graph paper, measured the angles and marked the wood for cutting. Then out to the garage they went to saw away at the block of wood.

Kaden was very careful. Jason helped guide him and after a few cuts the pencil car took shape.

Then it was time to sand....the hand sanding lasted all of two minutes!

Then they were back in the garage were Jason whipped out his dad's belt sander. That got the job done in nothing flat! I like Jason's style....he doesn't mess around!
With the car all cut and sanded it was ready for paint. It took several coats of different colored paint before Kaden finally decided on just the right color for his pencil and the erasers.
Kaden was extremely proud of his finished product. After all the cutting the car only weighed in at 2.5 oz. It needed to be closer to 5 oz. so Jason drilled a hole from the back and added a lead weight thingy. According to our scale it was 4.9 oz. Perfect!
Nearly all of our scouts from the ward were at the Derby. It was a lot of fun to see them all together.

Jason and Kaden lined up to weigh in. It was all very official! I had no idea it was such a big deal. I have learned so much being Kaden's Wolf leader. I absolutely scouts!

Kaden's car weighed in at 4.9 oz. He could have added some more weight, but he wasn't worried about .1 oz.

Kaden took 3rd in every race he ran. I love that Kaden was just excited to be a participant. He wasn't crushed that he didn't win a race. In fact he was happy for his friends if they beat him. He said that next year he will work to build a faster car. He has such a great attitude!

Kaden's friend Gage won in the Wolf's group.

While Kaden's didn't win the race, he did receive the award for "Most Clever" derby car, which he was thrilled about!

I had heard horror stories about scouts crying and throwing fits when they didn't win. I had heard of dad's not allowing their boys to even touch their derby car at the event for fear they might scratch the paint or damage the axles. I had even heard of fights breaking out in the cultural hall between rival dads. From all that I heard I had concluded that the Derby had become more of a competition between fathers as opposed to an event for the scouts. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not the case in our ward. While a few small tears were shed, on the whole the scouts enjoyed themselves and displayed excellent sportsmanship. All though I was a tiny bit disappointed to not see at least one fanatical dad put on a show....maybe next year. hehehe