Join Me!

Hey there! If you didn't already know...
~ I'm a wife, a mother, a recent college graduate, and I'm a Mormon~

What are you doing this weekend? Join me! This weekend, church members and others, gather world wide to receive inspiration and instruction from church leaders. The four general sessions will be held on Saturday March 31st and Sunday April 1st at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. mountain daylight time. (For us east coasters, that is 12pm and 4pm :)  

Watch it with me at this link:  General Conference LIVE this Saturday and Sunday  See you there!

10 things

A few things that are making me smile lately:

1. Kyler saying "un dooo feeee!!" (1..2..3) whenever he wants to be thrown in the air.

2.  Jared getting battle wounds on his hands from tickling me.

3. Schrammah reading Kyler a pop-out "Wheels on the Bus" book...and Kyler pulled one of the wheels off of the bus.

4. Everyone feeling better, and finally getting back in our routine of going to the gym.

5. Sitting in between my boys at church.

6. Getting new shoes and perfume!

7. Watching Kyler chase Jared around the kitchen.

8. Jared doing a somersault of embarrassment when I informed him that he sent MY MOM a text message that he thought he sent to ME.

9. Eating homemade hummus.

10. Jared finishing working the 3rd shift.

A Bra for Bauer.

A few months ago I took Bauer on a walk. I tied his leash to the stroller, because it's easier to have both hands free. After our walk, I got Kyler out, and left Bauer tied to the stroller while I poured fresh water into his bowl. Apparently Bauer was REALLY thirsty, because he bolted for the water (still tied up) and the stroller flew across the room, and landed on top of him (woops, my bad). Luckily, I was holding Kyler while this happened.

 I definitely learned my lesson about not keeping Bauer tied to the stroller, but Bauer is still terrified of it. Whenever we go on walks... he pulls on his leash to get as far away from the stroller as possible. Understandably so, but it makes it nearly impossible for me to enjoy walks when I'm always struggling to make Bauer walk normally next to me while pushing the stroller too.

Soooo.....we got him a doggy bra (as I like to call it) and he transformed over night into the perfect walking companion. All for just 12 bucks! We put it on him whenever we go on walks, and I love it. He walks right by my side, and doesn't pull away from the stroller!

Here is the bra-stylin' dog:

Here are a few more pics from this week:
 Jared took me to The Hunger Games in theaters on Friday. It was the first movie we've been to this year!  Neither of us were really into the books...but it was fun nonetheless to go on a date without the lil one (as cute as he is).... AND it was also fun to feel all cool and hip seeing the big movie on opening day. hah.

 

Our lil Ky-Dizzle thinks hats are hilarious:

 Hope you all have a great week!

Slowly but SURELY.

Slowly, but surely, we are making progress concerning decisions about our future (jobs...schooling...places to live..etc) We are still a ways out from knowing exactly what it will be, but things are falling into place, and we are narrowing down our options! We will let you all know, as soon as we reach our decision.

Also "slowly but surely" I am SURVIVING at being a widow at night while Jared works the graveyard shift. Only 3 nights left! I hate being alone at night, but somehow, It hasn't been as bad as I expected. Every night he has been gone, my old roomates, cousins, and even friends I haven't talked to in forever, have all chipped in, in keeping me company by emailing me and chatting with me online, and most of them didn't have any idea, that Jared was gone, and that their company, was EXACTLY what I needed. Special thanks to all of my friends for making me feel so loved :)

I know I always repost pictures from facebok, sorrry, but a lot of my family (including my own husband hah) dont have a facebook, so i'm posting it up here too! Kyler's top two teeth are finally starting to show:

 

He loves that chair. It spins around and he always gets the hugest smile and says "Eeeeeeee!" I love him.

 ps he is 16 months old now!

Why Not Beautiful? Look and See.

  As Jared and I were driving past uptown Charlotte today, I noticed how in the past week, everything turned green outside, and all the trees bloomed pretty white/purple flowers. It was absolutely beautiful! I wondered why couldn't the pretty spring flowers just stay on the trees like that forever?  I thought about it, and realized that not only would we not appreciate the beauty of spring flowers if we enjoyed them all of the time, but also that maybe each month of the year (even "ugly" cold wet winter months) are beautiful too, and I had just never noticed before. I read this article, and thought it kind of went along with my thoughts today:

"Why did Heavenly Father make me so plain? I thought, as I looked in the mirror. I picked up the note I had to deliver and headed out into the cold wind. That morning in church my friend had given a talk about Esther, the Jewish maiden who was so beautiful that the king had chosen her to be his queen. Her beauty had also allowed her to save her people from destruction. I figured that the Lord had made her beautiful for that very purpose. If a beautiful woman can accomplish things that are impossible for a plain girl, why aren’t we all as beautiful as Esther? I wondered. 

Does Heavenly Father love some of his daughters more and reward them with beauty?

I delivered my note and started back home, still thinking about Esther and feeling more and more depressed. After all, what could a plain girl like me have come to accomplish? I thought.

The cold air stung my cheeks, and I shoved my hands deeper into my jacket. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the snow sparkle in the sunlight. I looked up and noticed that the sky was a deep, clear blue. The trees stood tall and strong along the road. Suddenly I was amazed by the incredible beauty of the day. I looked around for someone to share it with, but none of my neighbors were in their yards enjoying the weather. In fact, the street was empty.

 It wasn’t a wonderful summer morning or a crisp fall afternoon or even a quiet winter night, but this day was beautiful in its own way. And I began to understand about Esther and beauty.

Sameness is clearly not beauty to the Lord—just look at the Earth. The Lord didn’t decide that one climate, flower, tree, or animal was the most beautiful and make it over and over again. He made desert canyons, forest meadows, oceans, plains, and peaks. And I believe he is pleased with each of them. A God who makes lizards and koala bears must love diversity and understand the virtue of differing strengths.

If the eyes of the world can’t see my beauty right now, the Lord knows where it is. And who knows? There may be something that needs doing that only I can accomplish. Like Esther, I might have come to the kingdom for just such a time as this."-- (Diane L. Mangum)

Does the majority of the world have eyes to see what true beauty is? Look for the beautiful in life. Live your life to your best ability, and nothing is more beautiful than that.

Darth Vader Baby

Last week we took Kyler to Chucky Cheeses for the first time! He was a little intimidated by Chuck at first, but by the end of dinner, Kyler waved hello to him (his first time every waving hello!)

Jared is working the graveyard shift at the hospital for the next two weeks. BOOO. There is no way I will be getting any sleep between him being gone, and Kyler being sick. So I guess the whole fam is going to be running low on sleep for the next while.

Kyler has been sick with Croup. He sounds like Darth Vader when he breaths, and a barking seal when he coughs. It's kinda funny in a sick kind of way. (haha get it?) I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person that ever laughs at my jokes. The other day I was taking Kyler's temperature under his armpit, and Jared informed me that rectal temperatures on babies are much more accurate, and then he said:

"Hey Char, what's the difference between a regular thermometer and a rectal thermometer?"

I said: "I dunno...the shape?"

and he said: "Wrong....the taste, duh."

I about DIED laughing. Why are his jokes always so funny?! Anyways, today was the third day that Kyler has been sick, so we decided it was time for him to get some fresh air outside in the beautiful weather. At the park I whipped out my handy-dandy sanitation wipes and hand sanitizer, and gave the swings a sanitation bath, before putting Kyler in. After about 5 seconds of swinging, Kyler put his arms up in the air and said: "Done?"  I NEVER thought I would EVER hear that word come out of Kyler's mouth while swinging. Poor lil kid, he definitely must still be feeling sick yet, is still somehow managing to keep his sense of humor. Here he is helping us cook dinner, by taking all of the pots and pans out of the cupboards:

Note to self: WASH THAT POT before using it again :)

Eavesdropping on us

Char: 

"Hey Jared....Kyler found your tooth brush and is USING it!"

"How was work?"

"Kyler come back!!!"

"Ky, are you Hungry? Thirsty? Sleepy?"

"Jare, wanna watch America Idol with me? Please?!?"

"The floors need cleaning...AGAIN and I just vacuumed this morning!"

 "Can you take out Kyler's poopy diapers?"

"I love our little boy so much."

Jared:  

"Muahh ha ha. Hey Char, Kyler is about to put YOUR toothbrush in the toilet."

"Kyler is playing the the dog's food and water bowls...AGAIN!"

"Bauer, you are such a good dog, you are my buddy."

"What's for dinner?"

"Give me five Kyler!" 

"Finally, I can relax without having to worry about having to study."

"Wanna get a Redbox tonight?"

 Kyler:

" Uh oh!"

"DaDa"

"Yeah!"

"Ju Ju" (juice)

"DaDa!!!"

"Crack Crack" (cracker)

"Dada"

"Deedus" (Jesus)

My Garbage Disposal Wouldn't Eat It

I found an Orange Chicken Recipe on Pinterest, that looked DELICIOUS.

I had all of the ingredients, plus, its a crock pot meal, which I love, because then it is ready to eat whenever Jared gets home from work, and I get home from babysitting.

I followed the recipe COMPLETELY, and it even smelled yummy!

After I took a teeeny bite, I was horrified that the meal I had made was actually quite repulsive. I knew it was bad when Jared started gagging, and couldn't keep it down. (made me cry a little... but not too much because it actually did taste disgusting. Nobody could have paid me to take another bite)

Anyways, we decided to let Kyler try it, because he really does eat anything, and I didn't want the meal to go to complete waste. We caught his reaction on video. I will show it to you in a minute, but let me first let me give you a little background on my garbage disposal of a child. Literally.

The other night I threw away a chocolate chip cookie, because it was old, and had been sitting out on a plate on the counter uncovered, which made it about as hard as a diamond.  Kyler woke up the next morning. I got him dressed, and then went to my own room to get dressed for the day.  As I descended down the stairs, I saw my little boy peering up at me with chocolate smeared all over his cheeks, and the biggest goober grin on his face. His chubby little hands were clutching a half eaten chocolate chip cookie. THE old-stale chocolate chip cookie I had thrown away the night before. He was so proud of himself for finding his OWN breakfast without me.

He must've walked by the trashcan, saw the cookie, and thought 

"OoooOOOooo!! Don't mind if I do!"

hahaha  Anyways, here is what my garbage disposal of a child thought of the Pinterest Orange Chicken:

My favorite part was the "uh oh!" he said after he spit it out. Needless to say, last night ended in us going OUT for dinner.

ps, In my own defense, I'm really not a bad cook, I promise!!! It was just a bad recipe!  (How many times have you heard a bad cook say that before? awww :( )

Naughty Toddler Moment #2

Remember THIS awesome "noticing silence" mommy moment?? 

Well, here is another one of those.

Jared and I were sitting in the living room, watching a show together. Kyler was running around playing with his toys, when all of the sudden it got real quiet. No pitter patter steps on the wood floors....no clanking of his toys....or little toddler jibber jabber words....

  

We paused the TV and said "Kyler?!??"

......... no response........

Jared and I looked at each other, and said the same thing "Uh oh. He is up to no good!"

Here is the no good he was up to: 

Not only was he playing with the dog's food, putting it in the water bowl, and squishing it with his fingers, and splashing water EVERYWHERE...buuuut he had also found his stuffed animal puppy and was making it eat and drink our dog's food and water as well!

Hmmmm guilty or not guilty?

Jared and I couldn't help but laugh, he looked SOOO guilty.

I love little moments like these. You might think I'm crazy for saying that, but I really do!

Jared and I are so lucky to have this little guy in our lives. He brings so much joy and happiness! 

Cheesy/Awkward moments...

We just got back from a concert performed by Fading Point, a singing group from SVU. Kyler was the biggest fan in the crowd (he kept clapping the whole time, even in the middle of songs). He was quite entertained, for the first 10 minutes anyway, and then he wanted to run around...so Jared ended up taking him outside to play. While Jared was gone, the group started singing "I'm Yours" by Jack Johnson, which is mine and Jared's "song" because it was the song that was playing on the radio when we started "officially dating".  So anyways, while that song was playing, I was wishing Jared was there to listen to it with me, when Jared appeared out of thin air, grabbed my hand and lead me to the back of the auditorium to dance with me. 

Come on, say it with me: "awwwww!!!" haha We are so cheesy I love it.

After the concert was over an elderly man approached me and said: "You did such a good job singing! I really enjoyed the show." I hadn't noticed earlier, but I kinda resembled one of the singers (same size/hair color) and I was even wearing practically the same outfit that she was performing in. I just kinda smiled at the old man, and nodded my head. Hahaaa... awkward. what-do-ya-do?

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My parents have been visiting their beach house for the last while (besides coming back on weekends for church)

 
While they have been gone, me- Jared-and-Kyler have been babysitting their house:

The house is kinda big for the three of us, and because Jared has been working so much lately, it's pretty much just been me and Kyler home during the day, but heyy, I'm not complaining about having a huge house all to ourselves. It's been fun! We just rotate rooms whenever we get bored. Kyler has toys in practically every room, so he is staying thoroughly entertained, and I don't have to worry about bothering anyone with my cute but oh so noisy/messy toddler.

Special thanks to my wonderful parents, for letting us stay at their house rent free! Love you guys!!