Bugslife

Something a little more fun

2012-02-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

When AnDee put her valentines cards together I handed her the little cards and told her to sign them... thinking Id get a bunch of scribbles. Instead I got this...

She makes me smile.

Last night I left the kids with Andrew while I went to play soccer. A few minutes after I left Andrew oh so kindly texted me a video of Pep. He was sitting, staring at the door and crying. Apparently when I left he crawled to the door and banged on it a few times. When he realized I wasn't coming back he just sat and stared... and cried. I feel like this act of kindness from Andrew was SO NOT FAIR. I don't leave my kids very often but I may never leave them again after that. ;)

Pep has taken up t.v. watching lately...

I know... Im a bad mom... but its Signing Time... its educational... right??

Sick Sick Sicko

2012-02-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

I dont do well with sick kids. I especially don't do well with fevers. I turn into a nervous wreck. Luckily Pep hasn't gotten the sickness.... yet (please bless he doesn't) The Bug on the other hand hasn't been doing so hot. She is super lethargic and sleepy. Her cough sounds like death and her face is like a leaky faucet. Her fever has been getting up to 103 and 103 is way too high for me. She has been the sweetest most cuddly, lovey girl in the whole world. Im really praying that it just runs its course and goes away. We don't want RSV...

As I mentioned Pep hasn't got it yet. While I remain hopeful, I know that chances are that he will get it too. One thing that siblings are really good at sharing is sickness. I just hope we can keep it under wraps.

Update on the Kiddos

2012-02-15T12:05:00.000-08:00

Pep's tooth had its neighbor come in! Wahoo! Now he officially has two teeth with which to chew delicious foods. He has learned a couple new tricks in the last few days. He is a clapper now and he loves to give bonks (head butts). He loves to tease his sister but he puts up with a lot from her so I don't blame him. He hates being fed by anyone but himself so this is what I have resorted to..

I take his baby food and freeze it in little dots. That way he can feed himself.

AnDee is growing like a crazy lady. She has grown a half an inch in the last 3 weeks which makes her officially over 3 feet tall... 3 feet and a half an inch to be exact. She is loving her gymnastics class twice a week and has really gotten in to the reading thing lately. Her Dad spoiled her on Valentines and got her a balance bike. (for you moms with little ones out there that haven't heard of them, you need to look in to them. they really work) She is as funny and sassy as always. Last night we were all in the car and Andrew and I were arguing (It was honestly a very playful argue... I promise) but she was having none of it. "Guys! you need to be nice to each other!" She said. She is really good at keeping EVERYONE in line.... even strangers.

Big head??

2012-02-09T18:26:00.000-08:00

AnDee was telling me all about how little Pep is the other day. "little tiny hands" she said as she patted them. "Little tiny feet" she said as she patted them. "Little belly"" she said as she patted his tummy. "Lit.... Big head" she said as she patted on the top of his big mellon.
In other news.... We went to the circus a few weeks ago. And in true Chantal fashion I am just now getting to blogging about it.
It was.... Entertaining? There were elephants and tigers and dogs that jumped over things. There were tiny little foreigners that soared through the air with the greatest of ease and they even had a fat lady that could keep a beach ball spinning with her feet. It was intense to say the least.
In the middle of the greatest show on earth, they had an intermission where they let the kids come down on the floor and ride the elephants or ponies and you could get your face painted or even have your picture taken with a bear! The bear was extremely keen on Raisin Bran. I watched him down the entire box in a matter of minutes. We unfortunately didn't have any cash with us so there were no elephant rides for the Naugles which AnDee was very disappointed about. She kept asking why we couldn't ride and I would tell her we didn't have any money to pay for it. "Mom! I know! Just ask someone!" she said. The girl has got a solution for everything. It was more than a little frustrating to her that I wasn't willing to ask all the strangers around us for money.
My opinion of the circus? Would I go back? ... Absolutely. While I wouldn't say it was "high quality" entertainment, there was absolutely no question that it was entertaining and I enjoyed it immensely... maybe not in the way they had intended but I was entertained none the less.
The only pictures we got were from our phones... and are extremely poor quality. Sorry??

Its hard to see but she is standing in front of the white tigers (in the cage back there) WHILE wearing her white tiger shirt that Uncle Dave gave her for Christmas. She is the definition of cool.

Every Day Life in Dar

2012-02-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

Now remember... this is every day life the way we saw it. I can't actually tell you what every day life is like for a native, cause Im not one :)

Please keep in mind that our camera was well... far less than amazing and that a lot of these pictures were taken while in the car and on the move. They are blurry and you can see the reflection of the window in most of them but you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Right? (I know... Im a dork)

This picture was taken on our very first day there. My parents had taken us on a drive to see the Changombe Chapel (which is the branch we eventually ended up attending and when I say "chapel" I actually mean run down apartment building that we met in for church) On our way back we came across this young man. He had been pulling a very heavy cart, much like the ones I will show pics of later, it was very hot and he passed out. There were quite a few people down the road watching him but no one seemed concerned. We stopped and my mom and Andrew got out to help. My mom splashed some water on his face and when he woke up to a white women hovering over him his eyes about popped out of his head. They moved him to the shade, gave him a bottle of water and we carried on.

This is the main part of the city

and this is the fish market. This place was so funny. We would go in there and we wouldn't even have to barter for ourselves. We would have so many people fighting over us they would barter with each other and the prices would get unbelievably low. I hated bartering so this was perfect for me.

this is what the main roads look like. (When the traffic was good. If we are being honest this is a very unrealistic picture. The roads were rarely this empty. Usually it was bumper to bumper and hours to travel more then a couple of miles. Ridiculous, thats what it was)

This is what the roads through the neighborhoods looked like. Imagine some of the roughest mountain roads you have ever been on... although this road doesn't seem too bad.. again, unrealistic for the most part.

Girls going to school...

A big sister playing mom with baby brother or sister...

We saw this EVERYWHERE. These guys would go around and pick up all the empty water bottles that everyone else would throw on the ground, stuff them in a huge bag and carry them on their heads to be recycled. I can't imagine this brought in loads of cash but at least it was something I suppose.

One of the ridiculously heavy carts I mentioned earlier

More recyclable stuff. I can't believe the loads these people would carry on bikes

This is what a lot of the houses in the city looked like

And this is what a lot of the more rural homes looked like

So when the traffic was bad (aka always) guys would walk up and down between the cars and try to sale you anything and everything under the sun.

Please pretend not to see my face in this one... So this ditch was right outside our compound and it had about an inch of scummy water running down it. I mean... it was really really gross water. These little boys made some nets and they would spend all day trying to catch the little minnows that were in the water. I like to tell myself that they didn't take them home to eat.... it was just something fun to do.

Some Maasi Mamas sitting on the side of the road making jewelry to sale

Yes, they really do carry just about everything on their heads. Seems painful.

Duka La Dawa... a drug addicts paradise. This is what we would call a pharmacy. Except there are no laws for any drugs there so... have a headache? How about some Lortab?

This picture is specifically for Brett. And yes... the ONLY reason we took it is because of his marvelous shirt.

This is the Happiness House of Cake. Need I say more?

Every where you look there are little shops like this selling all the crap that we americans like to send over there, thinking we are being so charitable. We even saw BYU and Jazz shirts quite a few times.

These are our primary kids

This was our baptismal font. (it may or may not be a dumpster they cleaned out and painted) It was quite humorous watching them try to get in and out of that thing, especially the chick that was trying to be modest.

These pics are more blurry than usual. This is because they are taken on a very old phone while trying to be extra sneaky. No pictures were allowed in the orphanage but we had to get a couple of these babies. This is were we spent a lot of our time.

Andrew and Agnus. We fell in love with this little lady. If there was any way in this world that we could have brought her home with us... we would have in a heart beat.

Im thinking the orphanage deserves its very own post, so be looking for these pics again with more details.

a boy and his tooth

2012-01-30T12:50:00.000-08:00

It finally happened! The tooth that has been sitting at the very edge of Peps gums has finally broken through! This was no ordinary up and down delay of the tooths arrival. This was, the tooth jumped on the train and made the trip all the way to the station and then refused to walk through the doors.... for approximately two weeks. Which made for a fairly unhappy baby at times and a frustrated Mama. Don't worry though the new tooth is soon to have a neighbor. Only problem is that this neighbor seems to have the same fear of walking through doors as the first tooth. We remain hopeful that he will conquer his fears soon though and that we will have two teeth with which to chew delicious foods!

If you look really closely you might be able to see our little tooth friend.

The tooth is among many first lately. Such as the first sled rides this year.... which equal Peps first sledding experience! Felicity and AnDee had a BLAST and they even got Aunt Gayle on board. And Buggy and I even got to go out... just the two of us and build a snowman together! Bet you can't guess what the snowman's name is?! (If you guessed Bonnie, you are totally right!)

The kids also both got their first hair cuts. I did them.... which was SUCH a bad idea. I did ok with AnDee just cut the very ends off but Im still sulking about what I did to Peps hair. I LOVED his hair. It made the perfect little mohawk and now its gone because of me :(

oh well... I still think he's cute.

I cut of at least a full two inches. so so sad

Remember how I was like 5 before my hair was this long and thick? Crazy.

Pep is getting EXTREMELlY active. He is starting to take a few steps on his own now and then but it is mostly just falling forward and trying to catch him self. He has been very successful with this though...

Its funny because this is in no way supposed to be a walking toy. Its just a little piano type deal but both of my kids have learned to walk on it. Its perfect cause it never tips over.

He has this habit of rubbing his eyes while eating his oatmeal before bed, which results in this...

Last week I was cooking dinner and had my back to the kids. AnDee was coloring and Pep was in his chair eating. Andrew was watching them so I wasn't too concerned with them. After a few minutes, without turning around, I reminded Buggy not to draw on her brother. Unexpectedly Andrew burst in to laughter at this reminder. why?...

It was too late. Thats right... Andrew had sat and watched AnDee color her brother. This picture by no means does justice to her artwork.

The little fatty has discovered a new trick. He has figured out that when he laughs his little soft pooh bear laugh... it makes mom laugh and when we are both laughing, he doesn't have to take his nap... at least until the laughter is over. So I will be holding him, rocking him to sleep and his eyes will roll in to the back of his head but suddenly a big fat grin will appear and his little laugh sneaks out. It gets me every time, I start laughing and when I start laughing his eyes pop open and he laughs even harder. The little stink, he knows how to manipulate me.

Speaking of "the little fatty" I think we are developing a future eating disorder in the kid. He has started shoving his fingers down his throat until he gags. Its only a matter of time before he start binging and purging. Maybe its time to lay off the fat jokes?

More funnies

2012-01-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were walking down the stairs (from my parents house to ours) When We got about half way down, out of no where AnDee yells back up the stairs "crocodile!" my mom laughed a little and said "see ya later alligator" to which AnDee replied "crocodile uncle Donald"
... Makes perfect sense to me.
We were in the kitchen last night making jello popcorn and AnDee decided it was time for some action so she came in and grabbed mine and Andrews hands "come on daddy! Let's play ring around the posies all fall on us bums"

I love listening to her just sit in her room and jabber away. She says the coolest things and the talking never stops. We went for a hike last Saturday (I know... It's January... Shouldn't it be too cold for that?) I had Pep on my back and Andrew was holding AnDee's hand and I could here her squeaky little voice going non-stop but couldn't make out what she was saying. I could hear Andrew however "what?"..."what?"... What AnDee" (sounding exasperated) "bug... You need to stop talking for a minute"
Ha! Have a little taste of my daily life, andrew! :)
She names everything Bonnie lately... Not sure where it came from but so far she has a tiger named Bonnie (who guards the dirty diapers on the porch) and two dolls named Bonnie... Actually the one dolls name is Honnie Bonnie. I think that's just her stripper name though. And most recently she has discovered her imaginary red dinasour... Named Bonnie.
FYI Red dinosaurs are nice but blue ones are mean. Steer clear of the blue ones.

kigamboni

2012-01-13T12:26:00.000-08:00

So I know this is really random... a post about our trip to africa 5 years ago. But like I said. I want to document it since I didn't do a good job of doing it while I was there. Luckily I do have some journal entries to help me get things as accurate as possible.

This post is about our trip to Kigamboni. Its a little "resort" we went to for an afternoon on the beach. But first lets start with the important things...

Meet Melkiory...

I literally can't even look at pics of him without getting teary eyed. He was our parents gardener.... but quickly became our best friend. His english was pretty poor but not nearly as poor as our swahili but it didn't even slow him down. He was so excited for anything and everything we could show him or teach him. He made exactly 30 dollars a month which was really good considering he only worked 3 or 4 days a week. Most of his pay check went to other family members like his sister or his uncle. Melkiory was baptized soon after we came home, he had gotten his own apartment and was doing really well for a while but a year or two later was got news that he wasn't doing so good.

Some background. Melkiory was born in Arusha which is a village not far from Mount Kilimanjaro. When he was just a boy his parents sent him to live with his Uncle in Dar Es Salam. When we met him he was about 25 and had been with his Uncle for most of his life.

Back to the bad news... We received word that he had stopped attending Church meetings and that no one had seen him in quite some time. Then out of the blue he showed up, looking like he had been beat up and saying crazy things about people chasing him and how he wasn't safe. The Elders there tried to talk him through it but with there lack of speaking his language fluently and him struggling with english all they really got out of the conversation was that his Uncle was abusive and always had been. Im not sure in what way or to what level but most of his life he had spent with a man who was severely mistreating him....

Thats the last we heard. I would give just about anything to go back and find him.

We miss him like crazy and worry about him all the time.

Got a little side tracked there... that actually had nothing to do with this post, other than I wanted to explain that we adored him.

Although he had spent most of his life in Dar (which is located on the coast) He had never been to the beach. So when we decided to take a trip to the beach for the day, we had to take him with us.

He. Was. A. Blast. He was so excited about everything! At first we really had to coax him in to the water (which is literally like 80 degrees. its crazy warm) but once he was in... we couldn't get him out. There were quite a few jellyfish in the water so we explained to him that they could really hurt him. We thought that would scare him out. Nope. Other than a few yelps of terror, it really did effect his fun. He dug in the sand, picked up seashells and played and played in the water. When my mom handed him what was equal to about $10 U.S. to go buy some seashells a man was selling on the beach and told him he could pick whatever ones he wanted... I though his eyes were going to pop out of his head! And then the panic hit... he was SO scared he wouldn't pick the right ones. Fortunately for him we didn't care as much as he thought we would :)

It was such a fun day. We built sand castles and swam and sat on a beach that trumped any beach I have ever seen... even in magazines... and to top it off... we were the only ones there.

We have SO many boat pictures. It was hard not to photograph them... they were just so gorgeous on that perfect water.

I could be wrong but I believe the man with the net is the one we got the seashells from. The other little guy has some sweet little boats he had carved.

uh... Andrew with an odd looking fruit? I have no idea what it was but Im pretty sure it was edible.

The "resort"

This pic was taken on the way out there. This is a totally normal thing there. Safety? whats that? Wouldn't want those chairs falling out.

a few missed pics

2012-01-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few pics we missed from Disneyland and a couple random ones that I can't think of anything clever to write about but wanted to post them anyway.

you can see by the look on her face that she didn't trust Tink any further than she could through her...

Russian??

Naugle Grandchildren..

Temple square

2012-01-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

We like to go to Temple Square every year on Christmas Day. It is such a blast on Christmas cause there is virtually no one else there and its just fun to have a quite night on the temple grounds but seeing as Christmas was on a Sunday this year we had to postpone it a couple days. It was still fun and not too overly crowded. It sure was cold though. We had to stop in the conference center to warm up a bit.

Sorry for the poor quality. Most pics were taken with the phone.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

Ok so when it actually comes down to New Years Eve.... we went to bed at the same time as we do every night. Actually thats not completely true. It was about an hour later than usual but only because the volume level was way too high to sleep.
This New Years Eve was spent with Andrews family again. This time we went to Bear River Lodge up in Christmas Meadows, Ut. Bet you didn't know there was a Christmas Meadows, Ut. We played in snow and on snowmobiles and drank lots and lots of "hocolate chocolate". AnDee loved loved loved the snow. Wish we could get some here at home. It was a good time for all.
and now, the pics...

Christmas Day

2012-01-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas was superb this year. The kids didn't wake up until 8:30 so we just got them dressed and headed to church at 9. When we got home we changed and Pep took a little nap while AnDee dug in to presents. When she saw the Dora play house that Santa brought she forgot all about the other presents. We practically had to force her to open the others. She made a haul though, despite my best efforts to keep it small and simple.
When Pep got up we got to dig through our stockings and Pep opened his presents. AnDee went once with Mom to get Pep a present and once with Dad.... we didn't know it but each time she got him rubber duckies for the tub. It worked out though because he loves them and he LOVES bath time.
I took basically no pictures but here are the two I did get.

We had breakfast and spent a few hours at Grandma Pams house and then came home and got a visit from Uncle Dyl and shortly after a visit from Nanny and Poppy. For days after Christmas, every time AnDee would see someone walk through our front door she would say something like "What did you bring?" or "you have presents?" Hopefully next year she won't be so greedy?? Probably not, but Im hopeful. She is a good kid though. She talked a lot about Jesus' birthday and how he was just a tiny tiny baby. :)

The Xavi boy

2012-01-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

First of all... for all of you who don't know this already. Xavi is not pronounced zay-vee like most people think. Its pronounced shaw-vee. I have to clarify this because... well I think zayvee is an ugly name and that is how most americans assume the name is said. When we blessed Pep and the Bishop was announcing him he called him "Josheph Zayvee" So when Andrew actually gave him his name our bishop was slightly embarrassed. Now he ALWAYS calls him Xavi (like its supposed to be said) anyway.... lets talk a little about this Xavi boy.
He is finally getting his first tooth. It hasn't popped through yet but at the ripe old age of 9 months he is working on it. Which is so good because he still loves food and teeth are of course just a tool for eating more of it.
He is an expert crawler now. Both up on his knees and down on his belly, army style. I can't believe how fast he can army crawl. Its unreal. He usually only crawls up on his knees if his pants are off. Apparently they get in the way?
He is pulling himself up on everything now days and loves to hold our fingers and walk. His feet are so little in comparison to the rest of him though... Im afraid that this may affect his ability to balance. Poor little tiny footed man.
He is sweet as can be and loves to laugh... which makes everyone else laugh because his laugh is so darn soft and cute.
He is in discovery mode. Anything that has a button or makes a noise, he figures it out... and then I hear that noise over and over and over again for at least 15 minutes.
I think his favorite activity right now is swinging.... well first eating and then swinging.
He loves anything with wheels. Cars, trucks, strollers, high chairs, whatever... as long as it has wheels, its golden
We love our little Xavi boy!

2012-01-10T17:39:00.000-08:00

Me: AnDee Lew, its time to clean up.
AnDee: I can't... Im too tired.
Me: Well you better hurry and clean up so we can go home and go to bed then.
AnDee: But I SOOOO sick
Me: I think you'll be ok.
(AnDee still stalling)
Me:AnDee... you can either choose to clean up the toys or you can choose to put your nose on the wall and THEN clean up the toys
AnDee: I can't mom... a dinosaur will get me.
Me: AnDee... this is your last chance.. clean up the toys.
(She slowly starts putting toys in the box)
Me: Oh Buggy! you're doing such a good job!
AnDee: You're doing such a good job.... sitting there watching me!
I know you are all thinking she said this innocently... like she was actually giving me a compliment... Nope. She said it just exactly the way a snotty 15 year old would do. I am so not prepared for her teenage years.

A couple weeks ago we had some friends over and AnDee's Uncle Dave was joking around and saying some slightly unintelligent things. My 2 year old waited for a break in the laughter and looked straight at him and said "Dave, you are SUCH a child"
uh... excuse me?

Other things she says that make me giggle:
See ya later crocodile
I am irritated
My oldest mommy (referring to her Great Grandmother)
Hocolate chocolate (hot chocolate)

Cowley Christmas Party

2011-12-28T18:37:00.000-08:00

So a few days after the Disneyland trip we had a Christmas party with the Cowley side. It was a blast for AnDee. She loves it when all her cousins get together. She even got to play outside with her crazy uncles Caleb and Phil. They took some of the kids to the park that is basically in Aunt Ambers backyard. Im pretty sure they had WAY more fun on the toys than the kids did. When AnDee came back she said to me "Mom, those guys are crazy" She couldn't be more right about that.
Santa came to the party and AnDee was super brave and for the very first time she walked up to him, all by herself and even exchanged a few words with him! Every time someone asked her this year what she wanted for Christmas she would tell them "a candy cane" She told Santa that 3 different times at 3 different locations and each time he wouldn't believe her. He would always say "A candy cane? Well what else do you want" and she would say "um... just a candy cane"
She is so easy to please.
The cousins exchanged gifts and AnDee got a barbie and Pep got a sweet hammer and a cow/ball thing that laughs and shakes. He couldn't have been happier. Seriously... I had no idea he would get so in to some toys. And, as expected, he loved the wrapping paper, the box, and especially the bow.

A day at the beach

2011-12-28T17:28:00.000-08:00

So while we were in California we got to spend a day at the beach. It was amazing because all the locals apparently thought it was far too cold to be out there but for us Utah natives, the weather seemed wonderful the sun was shining and the sand was actually even a little warm. AnDee could not have been happier. I think it was as good as Disneyland in her mind. She was SO excited and SO happy the entire time we were there. She was a little disappointed that we couldn't find any crabs though. She wanted to get in the water and swim so bad but it was a bit chilly for that... even for us Utahns. They were moving loads of sand up and down the beach so there were giant sand piles all over. This might have been the best gift anyone could have given Buggy.

Do you see how gorgeous this beach is.... and we are the only people in sight. (When I say "gorgeous" I am of course referring to as gorgeous as california beaches get.... I have yet to see a beach to compare to those in Zanzibar. *sigh*... Im going to make a promise.... I hereby make a vow to do some post of our africa trip. I know its old news but its old news that I want to remember... and that makes my heart ache every time I think about it. Oh how I miss it)

This was also a very educational trip to the beach. We learned how clouds are made. Do you see the cloud making machine in the background? Yup... thats how clouds are made....

Pep is just happy... happy at the beach.. happy at disneyland...happy everywhere. I love this cute little squish.

Im starting to think maybe a California-like climate might be a better option for our family. Seeing as it apparently doesn't snow in Utah anymore. I HATE cold without snow. Its just yucky and unpleasant. Give me snow or give me tropical... thats what I always say ;)

Remember that one time we went to Disneyland for Christmas?

2011-12-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

Thats right folks! We went to Disneyland for a few days a couple weeks before Christmas and can I just tell you that I LOVE Disneyland at Christmastime? We picked an awesome time to go too... although we did get one rainy day that wasn't overly warm, for the most part it was nice 60 degreeish weather with no lines for any of the rides. Amazing. We LOVED it.
We flew in to long beach and when the plane finally touched down and slowed down AnDee threw her arms in the air and yelled at the top of her lungs "We made it! WAHOO!" Seeing as the plane was tiny and there were only about 50 people on it... EVERYONE heard her, and everyone was laughing. She turned in to quite the social little thing. Talking to everyone, saying "excuse me" when accidentally pumping in to someone, and then turning to me and saying "mom I like him/her. She's nice to me" when they would reply.
When we stepped off the plane into the warm 70 degree (that day) Cali weather she looked up and said "Oh! Mom! Jungle trees!" She was SO excited about the palm trees (AKA jungle trees).
Disneyland was so magical for her. I loved seeing it through her eyes. She saw every princess and charecter you can imagine. The Christmas decorations were perfect. The rides amazing... unless they were dark... she didn't like the dark ones... except Pirates of the Caribbean which seems really weird that she would like that one but I took her on it directly after I took her on The Haunted Mansion ride... Which she HATED so I guess it made Pirates seem not so bad. Pep on the other hand was not a real fan of the drop offs in the darkness... he may have screamed a bit.
The Christmas Parade might have been her favorite part though. She sang and danced and clapped and waved through the entire thing. So. much. fun!
Pep was incredible. He ate, slept and played just like he would have if he were at home. We took him on all the rides he was allowed on and split up for the ones he wasn't. The plane ride there was a little rough on him but he slept on the way home. The only thing he really complained about was The World of Color show. I think it was just too loud and too close to bed time. AnDee wasn't a real fan of it either. She asked if we could leave... so we went on the little mermaid ride in stead.
I love that my kids are so easy going and happy. It was the best thing in the world to be able to go with just our little family and take things slow and do them at our own pace with just the four of us.
here are some pics of the our adventure!

The rainy day... you can't possible begin to imagine how happy this umbrella made her.

We could not get her to stop making this face when we were trying to take her picture...

But then I tried it out... and I realized why she was doing it. Not only do you look amazing while making this face... its just plain fun.

Fun in a box

2011-12-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

So like I said... the computer crashed so I have a lot of make up posts to do. Like this one.... Fun in a box. And if you look closely at Peps face you can tell that "fun" is an understatement :)

oh the exciting things we do in our house! We need summer back... or some snow... either way we need to get outside! The house is driving us all mad.

Fun in a box

2011-12-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

So like I said... the computer crashed so I have a lot of make up posts to do. Like this one.... Fun in a box. And if you look closely at Peps face you can tell that "fun" is an understatement :)

oh the exciting things we do in our house! We need summer back... or some snow... either way we need to get outside! The house is driving us all mad.

Family pics

2011-12-26T12:53:00.000-08:00

Ok so a few months ago we went and had family pics done and I'm just now getting around to posting them. I have an excuse though... our computer crashed so I had no way to upload the pics. Now it may or may not be true that the computer didn't crash until a couple months after the pictures where taken but why worry about those details? Anyway... Here are a few... Ok more than a few..

a little of this and a little of that

2011-11-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

I probably should do a bunch of separate posts for these things but Im much to much of a lazy blogger for that. So here you have it... another catch up post with a little bit of everything!
a few weeks ago Andrew and Buggy made a giant fort in the living room and watched movies and had a "sleep over" It has now become a weekend tradition. Of course two weekends ago it wasn't much of a party... AnDee was sick. She has never thrown up before but she made up for her lack of puking in one weekend. Everything that went down came right back up. The kid doesn't know how to slow down, she would be running around and playing one minute and the next she would be as white as a ghost, running a fever and barfing. Lovely. Luckily it only lasted a couple of days and she was back to normal... of course once she was feeling better, mom and dad got it. Good times!

yeah... I couldn't even walk to my front door without going through the fort.

At our house we have toys, we do I promise. But my children don't play with toys. Peps favorite "toys" right now are a Christmas bell and spoons. AnDee??? She will play with just about anything that isn't actually considered a toy... Tooth brushes, bowls, spatulas, dog leashes... last night was a storage bin. Doesn't Pep just look incredibly happy to be in that thing, he doesn't look scared outta his mind in the least.

AnDee has been going through a little defiant stage lately. She likes to push buttons and then throw a little fit when things don't work out to her liking. So needless to say we have had an exceptional amount of screaming in our house lately. The good part about this? Pep. The kid cracks me up. When Buggy starts in with the screaming he mimics her... like exactly... exactly the same pitch, everything. Then she get REAL mad and what does he do? He laughs. He thinks it is SO darn funny that he can make her that mad. Which also results in my laughter. Im scared to see what kind of tease he ends up being.

He is really getting around now with his army crawling but still hasn't quite got his belly off the floor, he does however like to get up on his toes in a push up position and just hold it there. Thats right, my 7 month old planks for fun. What a weirdo. He is also become quite the noisy little thing. I hear "Dadadadada" all day long. Its not fair that its so much easier for them to make the Da sound than it is the Mah sound. His kisses are the best and he is always true to character in that he is still the happiest kid I think Ive ever seen... especially when food is involved.

Despite AnDee testing her boundaries lately she is still a blast. I love hanging out with her and listening to her talk. Im not sure why but lately every time she sees something similar to a dot, such as a freckle or mole or even specs of pepper on a plate, she calls them coconuts. "Look mom! that lady has coconuts on her face!"

She has also been eating horrendous amounts of food lately. Which is so not like her. She has gone through two full packages of hotdogs by herself in the last 3 days. Gross right? Growth spurt? Im thinking its a definite.

Lastly I just wanted to post this one...

This is our Aunt Gayle. My kids ADORE this woman. Almost as much as I did/do. She is the best! She comes over a few days a week just to play with my kids. AnDee can be the grouchiest kid in the world and after two minutes with Aunt Gayle she is nothing but smiles. We are so grateful for such awesome people in our lives!

Muffin Maker

2011-11-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

Baking with AnDee is always such a clean experience. She LOVES it though so how could I ever deny her?

Spooky Halloween

2011-11-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

.. Or as Buggy would say.. "pokey Halloween!"
My little lawn gnomes where the cutest.

Especially with the goat. Yup. We took her to the trunk or treat on the goat cart. We even had our own parking stall

I had Pep in the front pack and it was cold so i had a blanket wrapped around him... Which happened to be brown and everyone thought it was part of his costume. They kept asking what he was supposed to be. I was nice to everyone but what I wanted to say was "he's a giant turd with a blue leaf stuck in it" (notice the leaf on the hat? its on the far side so its hard to see) but I didn't. I just nicely explained that it was a blanket, not a costume.

AnDee is in heaven when her cousins come. Nanny and Poppy had a halloween party for all the grandkids, not everyone could make it but we had a pretty good group with some darn cute kids. And Poppy only scared AnDee to death once with his creepy mask. Thanks Poppy??

It was a good night.

10 things I love about my Buggy girl

2011-10-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

1. You are very likely the most funny girl in the world
2. You are truly and genuinely sweet and if you can sense any sort of contention, it upsets you
3. You are too smart for your own good. Almost everyone who meets you for the first time thinks that you are at least 4 and it's not because you are big, it's because you have the vocabulary of a 17 year old
4. You have mad climbing skills. Papa is in the process of trying to figure out how to fix the hole you put in the roof of the two story playhouse.
5. You are fearless. Yesterday you got extremely mad at your dad for telling you you couldn't do a front flip off of a giant stack of wood in the backyard
6. Micheal Jackson has got nothing on your dance skills
7. You are so helpful. Most kids your age just make things harder but you honestly help, especially with your brother.
8. You love to make other people happy. When ever you see me get frustrated with something you always say "it's ok mom, just smile and you will be happy,"
9. Your favorite foods are fresh fruits and veggies. You love to go out and pick your own broccoli straight from the garden. Half the time you won't eat whatever I made for dinner cause you fill yourself up on broccoli and carrots. What more could a mother ask for?
10. You are my best friend. Nothing makes me more happy than hanging out with my girl.

Dear Pep Boy

2011-10-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks for being the happiest most easy going baby ever! You make things so easy for your mom. I love everything about you. I love your ginormous cheeks that appear to be eating your eyes (especially when you smile, they all but disappear) I love how you curl your toes up when you get excited. I love how you slide on your face when you try to scoot. I love that your hair is constantly sticking straight up. I love that you ALWAYS have a smile for me. I love that even when you are waking up you have a huge grin on your face. I love how much you love your sister. I love that you full on laugh when we change your diaper or let you roll around naked. I love that you cuddle and that you are taking your time and letting me enjoy your babyness. I love your chewbacca noise. I especially love your kisses, even if they can be a little painful. There honestly isn't one thing that I don't absolutely adore about you. Thanks for letting me be your Mama!

Fat Man

2011-10-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

This little guy...

Isn't so little. Today at his 6 month appointment, he weighed in at 17.1 lbs and 27 inches. His sister was well over a year old before she weighed that much. He is the BEST baby. He has had thrush the last week or so. They put him on some meds for it that caused major stomach problems I felt so bad, you could just see that he was miserable but even with that he has been smiling and for the most part a happy kid. He tries so hard to just be pleasant and I am so grateful for how sweet he is. He is just starting to scoot.... which is again, a world apart form his sister who had been crawling for a month and was well on her way to walking at this age. Im so glad he is taking things slower though, not because I don't want to have to chase him but because it felt like AnDee went straight from infant to toddler... there was no baby stage for her, so I am enjoying every minute of baby with "Peppy boy" as his sister so lovingly refers to him. He is such a ball of goo and carries such an awesome, calm, sweet spirit with him. Im totally addicted to him.

Lately...

2011-10-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

We have painted pumpkins???

Carved pumpkins....

And eaten pumpkins??

Ok so it's a squash not a pumpkin but still... What a weirdo.

She's a quick learner.

2011-10-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

We were leaving Andrews parents house the other night, AnDee was half way to the car when she turned around and said "Gramma? You do me a favor?"
"you bet! What do you need?"
"um... You give me some money and I just take it home"
"how much do you need?"
"um... Ten"
(I swear I don't ask people to give me money as a favor that often. I don't know where she got it)

We were walking on the canal last week and Buggy was getting all excited about throwing rocks off the "ridge" so I stopped her and said "AnDee, say Bridge"
"ridge!"
"no, ba-ba-ba Bridge!"
So she started "ba-ba-ba..." but then she walked up on a nice pile of dog doo doo. So it turned in to "ba-ba-ba Poop!"
Now everytime she learns a new word she starts with "ba-ba-ba" like "ba-ba-ba conference!"
It makes me giggle.

Peps hanging in there, despite the fact that his sister is so helpful (helping actually means hurting in most cases) but he has suffered no serious damage as of yet. He is getting fast hands and sticky fingers. He tries to snatch everything out of our hands that he can if he thinks it might be heading for our mouths. He loves food. Nothing makes him happier and so far he likes everything we have given him. Including pickles. He didn't even pull a funny face. He just looked up and stared longingly at the pickle. He's the best squishy baby ever!

7 years

2011-09-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I had our 7th anniversary on Sept 10th. How did we celebrate? We took the kids (including uncle Dave) to the State Fair. Wahoo! We know how to party! but seriously.. we love the Fair. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it. You will see the most entertaining people in the world. Including an old man that looks like a hippy Santa Clause herding a bunch of ducks around the Fair grounds. The best part about this is that he was just a spectator, he wasn't even actually a part of the Fair. Awesome.

Buggy got her face painted...

And so did Dave...

Pedofile??? ;)

AnDee had a BLAST with Dave. He is a sucker and she got him to take her down the GIANT yellow slide like 10 times.... thats like... a lot of money. Plus she got Mom and Dad to take her a couple times too. Spoiled. When I say 'giant' slide I don't mean the little sissy yellow slide that they have a strawberry days carnival. I mean like, by the time you get to the top you are woozy from how high up you are and the whole thing sways when the wind blows. Every time she would get to the bottom of the slide she would jump up and start doing her little excited dance... which looks an awful lot like an irish jig.

What about Pep, you ask? Well....

Seems about right doesn't it? The kid is too easy.

Sorry, zero pics of Andrew and I on our anniversay. I need to work on getting more pics of the two of us.

Little butter ball

2011-09-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

This child is next to perfect.

He sleeps good (as long as he is swaddled) he eats good (as if I needed to tell you that. The evidence is in his cheeks)and he is seriously the happiest kid I have ever seen. He has the cutest little pooh bear laugh and he smiles at anyone and/or anything that will look at him.
He has mastered rolling over in any direction and even pretends to scoot sometimes. But if we are being honest... He is in no hurry to be mobile. He just doesn't care. He jabbers constantly jabbers and his favorite thing TL say is "dadadada". He is completely calm, content and peaceful. I'm so grateful he is mine.

Buggy can do the monkey bars all by herself.... That is until I video tape it. In that case she belly flops into the woodchips... On camera. I couldn't help it. I was laughing a little until she said "ouch, that hurt." and then got right back up without a single tear... Then I was laughing so hard I was crying. Does this make me a bad mom? She is the coolest kid I have ever met! And she is one tough cookie!

Say it aint so

2011-09-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming to an end. I HATE that fact right now. I am SO not ready for it to be over. It feels like it just started. Don't get me wrong. I love automn just as much as the next person but Im not ready for cold. Not even close to ready. Every year at this time I have an extreme pull to the mountains which actually works out perfectly because I literally don't think that I have ever seen my children more happy than when they are in the mountains.... which makes me happy because well... no lies, I would live in the mountains, in a tent if I could figure out a way to do it. But sense I can't live there... we took a little day trip up to Tibble Fork with AnDee and Pep's Nanny

We did a lot of rock throwing..

we literally almost stepped on these cute little ducks before we realized they were ducks and not rocks...

We hiked and observed crazy amounts of animal tracks. I swear AnDee is like an indian tracker. She spotted every footprint that had been on that trail in the last 10 years.

well... not all of us hiked, some of us slept while others carried us...

But the sleeping sure did make for a happy baby!

All in all it was an excellent day!

I just had to throw this one in here. Buggy wouldn't look at me... so Nanny helped.

I am...

2011-09-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

Quite possibly the worst person ever. Last night I was asked by the young women of our ward to be a part of "a panel of mothers" as they called it. I was one of six or seven mothers, all coming from different lifestyles and all in different stages in our lives. They asked us to introduce ourselves one at a time. The first lady told us her name, that she was a single mother of 4 and a few other details about her particular situation. Next in line was an elderly woman. Let me just say that I ADORE this woman. She is absolutely incredible. As she started her introduction, this is what I heard "well... I'm a weirdo." I couldn't help it... A smidgen of a laugh came out.... But no one else was laughing. Why not? As she continued I figured it out. "he's been gone for about a year now..." WIDOW! WIDOW! Not weirdo. Kill me now. I just laughed at a woman when she told me she was a widow. Holy smokes. I'm going to H-E-Double barbie legs for that one.

A little info on the kiddos

2011-09-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Buggy has hit the "why" stage.
"let's go."
"why?"
"because we are going to be late"
"why?"
"because we are supposed to be there in 5 minutes"
"why?"
"because that's what time it starts"
"why?"
"if I hear you say 'why' one more time I'm going to pull my own hair out"
"why?"

She also likes to imitate the things she hears. Every time she hears a siren she runs to me yelling "mama! It's an ambulance!" and then she cups her hands around her mouth and makes a "woooooooo" sound.
She wants to whistle so badly but hasn't figured it out yet so she "toooot"s at everyone.
Yesterday she told me she has a sister so I asked her where her sister was "in your tummy." she said. Nice try, not happening for a while.
A few nights ago I woke up to "Mama. Mama" I finally gave in "what buggy"
"here" she said
Half asleep and off my guard I stuck my hand out for whatever it was she was giving me. And what was the awesome surprise? A booger. A BIG booger. So lovely.
She has been fairly sassy lately. Ok... Really sassy. After taking about all he could handle, her dad told her it was time to shut her mouth and be quiet for a while.
"no dad! That's not a good idea"
She recently learned how to spell her name and she likes to pretend she knows how to write it too.
She still loves broccoli and eats it raw, straight from the plant.
She has become the sidewalk chalk queen (Ill post pics later) and has learned how to draw a smiley face.
She is a blast! So hard to keep up with and yes... sometimes makes me want to pull my own hair out but I can't get enough of her!
Pep is the most chill, lovable kid EVER. He is always happy... as long as his tummy is full. He sleeps good and he is incredibly patient, especially with his sister, who tends to be slightly abusive.
He laughs at EVERYTHING. I take his diaper off, he laughs. I put his diaper on, he laughs. I change his clothes, he laughs. Buggy smacks him in the head, he laughs. I sneeze, he laughs.
He has the cutest little man voice. Its so deep.
He has a pouty lip like you have never seen before. Probable the saddest booboo lip in history.
He can't wear socks cause his feet are too little and his legs are too fat so the fat just pushes the socks down and they slip right off his little feet.
He loves t.v. and I HATE that he loves it.
He reminds me so much of his Uncle Caleb. I hope that stays true. I would love to have a kid like Caleb was.
His hair is really starting to come in and its crazy sticky-uppy. The best part is that there are like 8 random hairs that are 3 times longer than the rest.
He is so so much fun and such a cuddler. You can't hold him and be unhappy. Its impossible.

Anything is possible

2011-09-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

If this tub of goo can roll over...

Anything is possible. It only took him 5 months but he did it! He is
an expert roller over-er. Well... As long as it's rolling from his tummy to his back. He hasn't quite mastered the other direction yet.
He is always so pleased with himself when he does it though.

Total chaos.

2011-09-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

This post is totally random. Just odds and ends. A few pics I wanted to put up.
Let's start with this one...

This is the pool that I got AnDee in august. I'm cheap enough that I didn't want to pay full price for one so I waited until the end of the season and got it on clearance.

This is the cat that AnDee baptized in the pool that I bought her.

And this is the pool now...

Do you see why I only buy things when they are ridiculously cheap?

My kids are cute

In other news...

Andrew got stung by a bee. Bahahaha! He is going to LOVE me for posting this one

And I got/made new mocs. Oh how heart mocs. I'm pretty sure was an Indian in another life.

AnDee has started riding the horses by herself... despite my sheer terror

this one is kind of a big deal... AnDee went to her first movie in a theater! It was the new Winnie The Pooh. (I couldn't get her to stop playing with the vending machines for long enough to get a good picture, so this is what you get.)

At first she was terrified but then when she decided she wasn't going to die, she suddenly became too cool to sit by mom and dad. She moved up to the row in front of us and sat all by herself. I fear for her teenage years.

Uncle Dyl

2011-08-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

If you read my blog at all, you have more than likely heard me mention Uncle Dyl. We LOVE Uncle Dyl. He went camping with us again this last weekend and when we went to leave (in seperate vehicles) AnDee starting crying that she wanted "my Dyl"
Well here is a story about Dyl on our camping trip...
He went with us to Flaming Gorge in July too. There have been a lot of bear sightings up there recently and he caught wind that if he was sleeping in a tent he needed to be careful. So we let the dogs sleep in their kennel right outside of his tent to help keep the bears away. Well one night Dyl woke up to the dogs growling a little and whining. Suddenly he heard the door to their kennel bang open and the dogs took off. A few minutes later he could hear something outside his tent. Convinced the dogs high tailed it outta there to escape a bear he sat terrified alone in his tent just waiting for the beast to attack him. He sat as still as he could for over an hour listening to the thing circle his tent, over and over. Too afraid to move cause that would just make him more appealing to the bear!.... when he hears the beast whimper... "betty??" he says. And then he hears the banging of Betty's tail on the tent (her tail is ridiculous)
Yup... thats right... it was the dogs the entire time. They got cold and busted out of the kennel. He sat terrified in his tent for over and hour waiting to be eaten alive by Betty.
I told you that story to tell you this story...
Last weekend while we were camping Andrew was also hunting. Dyl and Andrew went out one night to see what they could see and they saw zero elk... not one... but they did see two bear. Two bear = Dyls terrifying memories of our last trip up there and the long night he spent hiding from the dogs.
That night we all went to bed. Andrew and I and the kids in the trailer, Dyl in his tent and AnDee's other favorite Uncle (she actually has 3 favorite uncles... none of which are ACTUALLY her uncle) Dave in his tent.

AnDee's 3 favorite "uncles"

We had been asleep for a few ours when I wake up to a banging noise. The only thing I can imagine it being is someone banging the dutch oven lid with a stick or something. Im not sure what it is but it is loud! and then I hear it...
"Dave?! Dave?!" Dyl is yelling at the top of his lungs and he sounds beyond angry.
"If you're messing with my tent I WILL KILL YOU!"
"What?" I hear Dave reply
"If that is you messing with my tent, you're DEAD"
"Im not doing anything to your tent"
"you promise its not you?"
"Yeah dude, I promise"
I hear a tent unzip and see some flashlights turn on. I catch a little more of the conversation... things like
"there is something out here dude. Hunter was growling and something has been messing with my tent for the last two hours. Im sleeping in the truck and I would suggest you do too"
and
"I can't stop shaking! Im freaking out so bad right now"
Every time I hear Dave reply I can sense he is trying his best not to laugh.
Soon things settle down and we all go back to sleep. When morning comes around Dyl staggers out of the truck looking like he is completely hung over. Of course I had to get the whole story from him cause I only caught part of it. So over breakfast this is what we got...
Before he had even fallen asleep something (of course after his bear sighting, he was convinced it was a bear) started playing with his tent. At first he thought it was Dave and/or Andrew just messing with him. So he thought he would ignore it and they would give up and go away. But after a significant amount of time he decided that couldn't be it. He was so scared that he didn't dare move and was even trying not to breath until the thing made a noise, so as to cover up his breathing noise with the things noise. After about an hour of that and praying it would go away he decided he need to get up and in position to "Bear Grills" it as he would put it. Which evidently means 'slit its throat with a pocket knife'? But in order to do that, he had to wait for it to make noise so he could move without it hearing him (just like the breathing) It took him well over 30 minutes to escape his sleeping bag, get in a sitting position and get the knife in his hand. Again... he sat in that position... waiting for the beast to come after him! Who knows how long he sat there before he decided he needed to act. So what did he do? What would anyone do in that position? He pulled out two poles from his cot and started banging them together (Hence the dutch oven noise I thought I was hearing) That is also when he started yelling at Dave.
We don't know what it was... coons? squirrels? bear? ok... lets be honest, it wasn't a bear.
He later admitted to us that he was "about ready to light his pants on fire"
uh.... what? Should I even ask?
"why would you light your pants on fire Dyl?" (And yes I am laughing to the point of tears at this point.)
"because bears are scared of fire"
duh! Lighting your pants on fire is the obvious way to scare a bear away.
He also told us he thought about taking his pocket knife, cutting a whole in his tent and making a run for the truck but he was scared it would be locked and then he would be stuck outside with the man eating creature. Because unzipping the door to the tent would take too much time. Slashing it with a knife makes much more sense.
Im pretty sure he will never go camping up there with us again. This morning I got a text from him saying "Im so happy to be going to sleep in a bear free environment" (he works graveyards so he was just going to bed)
"Well if a bear happens to make its way in to your house, don't hesitate to light your pants on fire" I replied
"Nah... Ill just cut a hole in my window and make a break for my truck"
I love this kid...

Because milk just isn't cutting it

2011-08-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

We went camping this last weekend. Back up to Flaming Gorge because... well.. I would live there if I could. Unfortunately I was a slacker and got no pictures other than these of Pep having his very first bite of solid food.
He got to eat a whole table spoons worth of banana.

It sure did make the kid happy

And of course his sister had to help.

AnDee's new friend

2011-08-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

So my nieghbors granddaughter came to visit a week or two ago and she has two boys that are pretty darn close to my kids in age. AnDee and her 2 year old Jonah hit it off like there was no tomorrow. They played every day and AnDee taught him all of the out of control reckless things I let her do. Im pretty sure his mom wasn't too happy about this but Jonah enjoyed it and so did AnDee.

lets make that 18 months....

2011-08-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

So I posted that my 4 month old is wearing 9 month clothing....

Yeah... lets just bump that up to 18 month. Good grief! Although I have decided that these 18 month outfits he has been wearing are freakishly small. When we took him in for his 4 month check up he only weighed 15 lbs and was 26 inches long. That only put him in the 85th percentile. What 18 month old only ways 15 lbs? Ok... maybe AnDee but he's not THAT big.... only a little big. But he is squishy and I find it completely adorable.

Remember?

2011-08-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

Remember how my almost 4 month old is wearing 9 month clothes? He is a giant.

yup that is a 9 month outfit

Remember how I sent AnDee to the bathroom by herself and this is how she came back?...

My kids are the greatest!

On a side note... AnDee got her very own rock climbing harness. We went to the quarry for the first time last Saturday and she is ridiculously good. I wish I had half the strength she does.

The Greatest Place on Earth

2011-07-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

Since I was 3 years old my family has taken a trip up to Flaming Gorge every year. Until the last two years this trip was held over the 4th of July but since we are all older now, with children of our own ( Which also means cousins for our children to play with) we have recently decided to push it back a week or so to avoid crowds.
This place is my idea of what heaven will be like :) A large majority of my best memories from growing up happened there. Every year when we go back its like going home. Its comfortable and safe and has a feeling about it that could never be replaced. I am truly at peace and in a state of totally happiness when I am there.
I will admit though that every year gets just a little harder. Now with two kids and one being an infant this year was a little more of a challenge. AnDee was a mad women climbing everything, trying to drive the four wheelers by herself, playing in mud puddles and picking wild flowers. She was an angel the entire time though. So happy, so easy to please.
We did lots of fishing (which with 13 kids and only about 4 adults who actually know how to fish...was quite overwhelming at times) we hiked, we swam, we rode 4-wheelers and motorcycles, we sat by camp fires and roasted marshmallows, we slept in trailers and tents. Speaking of sleep... I love that my kids are amazing and sleep all night, even when camping. It was 100% fun, 100% of the time. And! as a bonus, AnDee and Pep's Uncle Dyl came with us. *sigh* I want to go back. No seriously... I would live there if I could.
When we went for a hike to Taylor mountain lookout, AnDee decided she was a big kid and was going to hike the whole thing. She just about did too. She probably made 2 1/2-3 miles (uphill) before she finally got on someones shoulders... where she fell asleep within minutes. (note to self: nap time is not a great time for a hike)
So here are an overwhelming amount of pictures. Enjoy?

The first catch of the trip

Im pretty sure she is reeling in a marlin. look how intense she is!

This is what Pep and I looked like most of the trip

Fishin buddies

Papa teaching Billy the ways of fishing

Hiking to Taylor mountain look out

Dyl looking super intelligent in this giant rock chair

Climbing up the look out tower

The happy family

Amber being overly excited about the purple pinecones she got her dad to climb up the tree and get for her. Spoiled. :)
(if you look really closely you can see my dad in the trees. cracks me up)

Being a good aunt and holding the baby while his mom plays. Thanks Amber!

He slightly resembles and old man who has decided to retire on the beach in florida

Buggy eating her first smore. It was all over in her hair and on her face but her dad cleaned most of it up before I could get the picture taken.

The growly bear (no seriously, he growls a lot) We called this little bear suit "the sleep chamber" cause every time we put him in it he crashed.

What a blast. Cant wait until next year!

Words of Buggy

2011-07-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

Buggy likes to tell is "I not kiddin you!" when she is angry. As if there is some horrible consequence she has in store for us.
A few days ago our friend Mel stopped by with her new baby. AnDee walked up, looked in th car seat at the tiny little guy and said "aawwww! What's your Peps name?" apparently pep and baby mean the same thing?
Last week when she woke up in the morning she was sitting on the couch and I was on the floor with Pep. "mommy!" she said... Extremily forcefully I might add "put pep down and hold me!"
While we were camping my Sister asked AnDee if she was going to go on a mission when she grew up. Buggy responded with this... Let me just add that we have never had any conversation even similar to this and this answer was completely her own. I have no idea where it came from... "yup! I go on mission and teach people bout Jesus and the church!"
Also while we were camping she kept running around camp yelling "it's a wonderful day! It's a wonderful day!" camping definitely was wonderful. You'll get a post on that later.
This kid just kills me. She so funny, so cute and SO smart!

July 4th

2011-07-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Im always trying to catch up on my blog. I hate that Im always behind because by the time I get around to posting I have forgotten half of what I wanted to post about. Im such a slacker. anyway...
The 4th is always a blast. Hands down my favorite holiday. I love the summer fun. The hot (sometimes too hot?) weather, the summer food, the warm nights that are perfect for fireworks. I love the family getting together and cousins running crazy all over the yard. Its just so much fun! We tend to celebrate (as of the last few years since we have been pushing back our Flaming Gorge trip) The 4th at my parents house with my family, mostly because its my Dads birthday. Thats right, he is a "yanky doodle dandy" as my mom would say. Whatever that means...
AnDee tried to pretend that she was really excited about the fireworks. We sit on the front porch and light our own until the big ones at the junior high start. She didnt mind our own little personal firework show. Her and her cousin Felicity ran around all hopped up on sugar whilst Uncle Lance tried to light cars, himself and fireworks on fire. Sadly the fun came to a halt when the big firework show started. AnDee ended up hiding under her blanket on her dads lap and within minutes they were both asleep. As for Pep? Wide awake. Im pretty sure that was the best night of his little 3 month long life. He was totally fascinated by the fireworks. Good times.

I didnt even get a picture of my dad on his birthday. Im so lame.

No longer a baby

2011-07-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

Although it pains me to say it, Buggy is officially no longer a baby. This makes me want to cry a little (ok maybe a lot?) but at the same time I love it. I love watching her become a kid. I love watching her pretend to sell "pies" (a plate full of woodchips) to her friends in exchange for "money" (grass). I love it when she calls her cousins "annoying" (which, let's be honest, they can get a little annoying). I love it when she sings "a big fat lady sat upon my hat!!" at the top of her lungs. ( I love it when she sings anything but that one especially makes me laugh). I love it when she flashes her dazzling smile and says "sorry mom" because she thinks that if she says sorry, she can do whatever she wants. I love it when she kisses Pep and says "oh, you're ok little fat man". I love her mad rock climbing skills and how she can blow up a balloon by herself (how she acquired this kind of lung capacity, I have no idea). I love it when she bosses our dogs around and they actually listen. I love it when she tells her dad that it's her turn to drive the car. I love it when she hugs me and says "oh! I love you SOOO much!" and i love that when i say "i love you more" she says "i love you most!" I love all the little things she is learning although... Some of them I only love because it's her doing it. I don't actually always love the act itself.

Guess who?!

2011-06-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Guess who's potty trained?! Guess who potty trained in THREE days?!

This is how she looks all the time now. Apparently after you potty train, you dont need to wear pants anymore? She is just so darn proud of her big girl underwear. She is constantly trying to take her pants off.(yikes!) Im sure that one day she will be really happy that I posted this picture on the internet for all to see. hehe

She has done AMAZING! The first day we had more accidents than successful trips to the bathroom. The second day we had more success's than accidents and the third day we only had one accident! She even stays dry through the night and naps (well... if Im being honest there have been a couple of early morning accidents but with the amount of fluid she intakes before bed, its no wonder) and has been doing so for a week and a half now!

Im pretty positive that she could have been potty trained months ago but... Mom wasn't ready to take it on at that point. It was just too easy to potty train. Im pretty sure that because she was so easy.... Pep is gonna be like 8 before he stops peeing his pants. But.... until then, I will enjoy our success!

2011-06-26T17:35:00.000-07:00

We bought a trailer yesterday. We are all super excited to go camping!! I'm not a real fan of trailers myself. I'd rather tent it, but with babies it makes things easier. I especially like this one because it's toy hauler so the back opens completely and we have a screen that zips down over the opening so it's tent-like :)
Anyway.... I told you that to tell you this... AnDee fell asleep in the truck on our way to Spanish Fork to get the trailer. She woke up as soon as we arrived. When she wakes up her eyes always pop open and she instantly gets busy being awake. So her eyes pop open and she starts in stuttering (which she does sometimes. I think it worries her dad but I just find it completely adorable) "I I I I ... Um...Walmart scares me!"
You and I both, my dear. You and I both.

2011-06-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

So AnDee was determined to go to the store with her Nanny the other day. So of course my mom couldnt say no and ended up taking her with. On the way there a rather forceful driver cut my mom off. My mom began to mutter under her breath when AnDee asked "whats wrong Nanny?!"
Trying to cover up what she was actually doing she replied "oh nothing! Im just being a growly bear" followed by growling noises to prove her point.
My child's response? "Dont be weird Nanny." in total disgust. She wasnt buying it. Not even for a second.

P.S. how does my barely 2 year old know what "weird" means? Must say something about the nature of her parents?

Ride 'em Cowboy!

2011-06-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

AnDee had a blast at the rodeo! She loved all the animals, the little kids mutton bustin, the rodeo barbies with their pink chaps and bouncy hair and the super crazy cowboys on the crazy horses. She spent most of her time in the isle dancing and clapping. Pep on the other hand spent most of his time being irritated by all the noise. So Pep and I spent some time back behind the bleachers watching all the young fellows dressed up, pretending they actually knew something about being a "cowboy" and all the the young women in their questionable and mostly inappropriate clothing. Im not quite sure why the rodeo draws such dress? Im not amused by it, to say the least.
What I was impressed with?....

Andrew and I definitely do not dress the part but AnDee sure did... with her Gramma Naugle's help of course. Complete with wranglers and John Deer boots our little princess looked like she was born to barrel race! We might just have to try out the mutton bustin next year. With a get up like that she has a lot to live up to!

Lets not forget her brother.... he wasnt quite as happy about playing dress up but he was sporting the wranglers and pearl snaps like a champ!

Lets face it... He would have been all smiles if he was in a Barcelona jersey instead. The kid has no choice but to be a soccer player. He does carry the names of two of the best players ever to play the game, after all. No pressure. But it was fun to torture him a little.

Oh... and of course we all enjoyed our strawberries and cream that we wait ALL year for. Yum!

Strawberry Days!!!

2011-06-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

We kicked of Strawberry Days on Friday When we took Buggy to Huck Finn Day. It was a BLAST! We started off with a little fishing and Buggy caught her very first fish! She even reeled it in! She was SOOO proud of this enormous catch! She had to tell everyone about it!

We got a little overwhelmed with the amount of people at the fishing pond so we headed over to see what other fun things we could do. Buggy got her face painted by one of the Miss Pleasant Grove royalty. (Oooolala) She got to play in the bounce house and we went down the bouncy slide. We saw all sorts of cute animals and she got a few prizes and a balloon!!

This is how she was looking at the girl the entire time she was painting her face. I love my kid...

At the end before they drained the fishing pond they let all the kids get in and try to catch the fish with their hands. Of course the water was ICE cold and of course I couldn't get AnDee out of it. By far her favorite part of the day.

trying to catch up.... again

2011-06-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

I really struggle with the blogging thing. There is SO much I should be posting about and yet, by the time I get around to it... I have forgotten most of what I was going to talk about. So we will just start with what I do remember...
Pep's 8 week stats: ( yes, this was 2 weeks ago.)
23 1/2 inch tall-75th percentile
12.4 lbs-25th percentile
And I'm not sure how big his head is, I just know it's in the 50th percentile

We feel like he is huge cause he is growing so much faster than Buggy did but in all actuality he is pretty normal. We are working on getting his reflux under control but even with his food constantly coming up his throat he is still such a sweet and mellow baby. When he doesn't feel good he just puts himself to sleep. It's like he knows he doesn't have to deal with it when he is asleep. Speaking of sleep. He has been sleeping 8-8 1/2 hours straight at night for the last few weeks. He sleeps until about 6-6:30 in the morning and then eats and goes back to sleep for a couple hours. He is awesome! He is super super smiley and is starting to really figure out his voice. He makes all sorts if noises these days and loves to stand up. He thinks he's a real hot shot when he stands. He also loves to have the sun in his face. If he's crying... All we have to do is stick him in the sunshine so it's blaring right on his face and he's happy. He must have got that from me :) The poor kid is so easy going and quiet that he is easily forgotten. His sister tends to still the show. Our camera is full of pictures of AnDee with only a few of Pep. But my phone is full of pictures of Pep so I guess its even?
I just love holding this little guy. It not like it was with Buggy, where I just held her all day every day. Its actually a little difficult to find the time to just sit and hold him. So when I do... I cherish every second of it. He is such a cuddly baby and just a little lump. He is just fun to have in your arms. Im so blessed to be his Mom and I ADORE him!

Stress release

2011-06-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

After all the crud we went through with the flood and being sick and then the craziness of birthday parties and baby blessings we needed a break. Saying we needed a break is an understatement. We weren't functioning very well physically or mentally. So we took off for a couple days. We headed to park city the first night and stayed in an awesome hotel. We did some shopping at the outlets and just chilled at the hotel. The next day we headed to the zoo and met up with my sister Amber and her kids. The Zoo was insanely crowded but we just took our time and enjoyed.

We spent the rest of the day playing in the pool and relaxing. The next morning we got up and headed to temple square. I love temple square. It's so peaceful and quiet. Just totally relaxing. We went to the church headquarters building and went up to the observation deck and saw Salt Lake from above.
Remember how I said AnDee cant take a pic without posing anymore...

We have to catch her off guard to get one were she isnt squinching up her face or squatting with her hands on her knees. Silly girl

We then walked down to the gateway mall (can I tell you I love walking places? I enjoy a walk much more than a car ride) and let buggy play in the fountains and kinda just wandered around.

We didn't do anything we haven't done before. Nothing crazy or exciting, but it was probably the best trip we have ever taken as a family. So relaxing and fun and we got to just enjoy each other. I'm so glad we went.

Blessing our little Blessing

2011-06-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

So we blessed our little Pep in the 5th of June. Of course when the Bishop pronounced his middle name over the pulpit he said it wrong but who could blame him? When Andrew started the blessing the mike cut out... Nice. But he handled it amazingly well and the blessing was perfect.
We didn't get very many pics but here are a few..

This isnt a blessing picture, obviously but how could i not post a pic of my godfather baby?

On a happier note...

2011-06-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

After all the sickness and weird eye infections and junk...

and after I got caught up with the laundry and cleaning (well kind of, I still had about 3 more loads after all this)

we did have a much happier birthday party for the Bug. She got a trampoline for her birthday (insanely spoiled) so we filled it with balloons and let the kids go crazy in it. Of course the older kids were destructive and popped all the balloons in a matter of minutes. Fortunately we saw this coming and made sure we got Buggy in first and took some pictures.

We were only missing 3 of AnDee's cousins at the party. Even her cousins and Aunts and Uncles that live in Logan made it down!
We let all the kids make and launch bottle rockets. It was a blast and I think everyone had fun. I know AnDee did. (thank you uncle Caleb for helping launch all the rockets about 300 times. Seriously... Hours of launching)

I love this picture because of AnDee's hilarious cousin Jonas sitting with his legs crossed in the lawn chair.. the kid cracks me up.

This is AnDee's rocket that her and Uncle Stevie made.

She has started this thing where she cant just look normal i pics. She has to pose for everything

Notice Stevie's forehead. He hit himself with a fence post pounder. Thats right boys and girls, I said he hut HIMSELF in the head with a post pounder.

We had airplane and helicopter cupcakes for desert and Buggy got her own giant cupcake... which she licked all the frosting off of and ate none of the cake part... Of course.

She was spoiled by her friends and family at present time and her cousins and friends made sure to show her exactly how the presents they picked out for her worked ;)

It was a super fun day, We are so lucky to have such awesome friends and family to share it with!!!

Not a fan of goodbyes

2011-06-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

So last week AnDee's favorite "Uncle" left for school in Hawaii. We had a little going away party for him. AnDee still wasn't feeling great but, of course, she didn't let that slow her down. We had a fire in the fire pit and had tin foil dinners and roasted marshmallows.
We love Uncle Brett and miss him like crazy already. AnDee asks for him on a regular basis and I make sure I rub it in and make him feel bad for moving to Hawaii. :)
here are a few pics of the get together...

what an attractive group of people

uh....

this was their "funny face" pic

Love you Brett!!!

When it rains, it pours.

2011-06-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Buggy????
This is what I woke up to at 3:30 AM. Thank goodness for 3am baby feedings (never thought I would say that)

spreading a little further

Then is started coming through the door (It started with just the window) We didnt know it but a stream had formed under our stairwell and the water was actually shooting UP through the drain instead of going down.

Thats how deep the water was after it was sandbagged. who knows how bad it would have gotten if we didnt catch it when we did.

eventually we ended up sand bagging the hallway to try and keep it from getting to the bedrooms. It only got into one bedroom so I guess it kinda worked?

Thats how deep the water got in the stairwell. Almost waist deep.

Yeah... happy birthday? She woke up at 6 am to the sound of vacuums sucking up the swimming pool that had formed in our house.

This is how we got some of the water up. Andrew, Brett and Stevie would take the sand bags and push the water into the kitchen where Pam and I would suck it up with the vacuums

The sink hole where the stream started ...

We did manage to take a minute or two to remember AnDee's birthday. Poor kid.

And to top off the wonderful day, AnDee came down with a horrible cough that night. She was so congested the next night that she was turning blue from the lack of oxygen. We got her on an antibiotic and the doc said to watch her really close and be on alert for pneumonia. We spent the whole week sick. I got it the next day and Andrew got it that night. Pep started coughing soon after and I went into panic mode. An 8 week old with pneumonia? Scared me to death. But my prayers were answered and the cough only lasted a day for him. We got everyone healthy enough to at least function for the weekend. We through a going away party for Brett on thursday. Had Buggy's birthday party on Saturday and Pep was blessed on Sunday. I will post more on these events later. Now do you see why I needed a few minutes in the sunshine this morning?

A rare moment... In fact, the first time ever

2011-06-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

I'm currently sitting in the back yard soaking up the sun while both of my babies sleep in the stroller under the tree. I have SO much to do but really, after a nice long run (ok not so long but give me a break, my hips are still treating me rather poorly) how could I pass up this opportunity to sit and eat an orange,without a child in my arms or even screaming at me for that matter. After the last week and a half... I deserve it. You will be receiving an overload of make up posts here in the next little bit. Thanks to my world... And my computer... Crashing down around me. But for now??? The sun and this lawn chair are going to receive my full attention.

"look mommy! Beautiful!"

2011-05-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

So we had a bunch of friends over last weekend just hanging out and playing games. AnDee was lucky enough to have this little doll come to play too!

We were out talking and playing games and the girls were in the back playing. Buggy came walking up behind me saying "Look mommy! Beautiful!" over and over again until she finally got my full attention. What was beautiful? Her eye make up of course! She had taken a blue marker and drawn one line vertically down her right eyelid. No big deal right? Its washable. So i told her to put the markers away. She of course said she would and went on her way.... only to come back a few minutes later looking like this....

and from this photo you can see how brilliant she thought this was...

Uncle Dave wanted "pretties" too so Buggy gave him some blue make up too. Lucky for him it didn't really work

I say 'lucky for him' because when I went to wash it off the washable markers weren't all that washable. She had pink pot smoker eyes for a few days. To top it off she went to a carnival type party for Andrews work the next day and had a blue snow come that stained her mouth and and a good portion of her face blue. she was happy about that too.

I cant believe how much he has changed...

2011-05-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

1 Day

2 weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks

5 weeks (hehe)

I apologize for the couple of pics taken off my phone.

2011-05-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

Today we drove past a big truck pulling one of those tuff shed things that looked like a barn "look mama!" bug said "a pig house!!"

A couple of weeks ago I FINALLY got Buggy on camera singing the alphabet all the way through. She has been able to do it with out any mistakes for a few months now but every time I got the camera out she would pretend she didn't know it. One day I will post the video... if I ever get around to it ( I have no brain lately)

Pep and Bug's "Uncle Dyl" returned home from his mission last Tuesday. Dyl is a BLAST and is full of energy. So when he came over to see us for the first time he blew through the door screaming with excitement and scooped in me up in a big hug... That sufficiently scared the holy guacamole out of AnDee. She was literally shaking for 10 minutes... That was after she screamed and cried for about 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure her first impression of him was him screaming through her door and attacking her mom. I think it about broke Dylans heart. He left on his mission about 3 weeks before AnDee was born. He had been waiting 2 years to meet her and after the attack on her mom, she wouldn't even look at him. They are starting with baby steps though and she is warming up to him.

(Ill explain her lovely eye make up in another post)

AnDee and Pep have become best friends. He watches her like crazy and she can almost always get a smile out of him. She is SUPER protective of him and even stands guard and makes sure people wash their hands before they touch him. One of her favorite things to do is to hold her "baby brudder"and she LOVES to show him off to just about everyone she sees.

He is such a chill baby, which is exactly what I was praying for for nine months. I don't know if I could keep up with his crazy sister if he wasn't so patient.

Hipidy hip hip hop

2011-05-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

So I did it... I finally broke down and made an appointment with a physical therapist for my little hip problem. I was pretty sure they were gonna tell me it was all in my head and that I was perfectly fine.... Not so much. Turns out my SI joints like to dislocate and move in to positions they aren't supposed to. The good news is that it's a supposed to be a pretty easy injury to heal. If all goes well I'll only be in therapy for a month or so. The bad news is that it has cause my muscles in my back and legs to shorten in order to compensate so I have to retrain all my muscles. I will also probably have permanent damage and will have to do weird hip exercises all my life in order to keep my hips where they are supposed to be. All in all though... I'm so glad I went and I'm on my way to getting back to my old self. Oh and did I mention I love my PT? He told me I could play soccer while going through therapy. As soon as he said those words I knew he was the PT for me ;)
For those of you who don't know (cause I didn't) this is a SI joint...

I have now played two games and a couple of pick up games with friends. I suck and Im slow as all get out but it makes me happy.... after I get passed the frustration of my body not being capable of doing what my head is telling it to do ;)

To all my moms

2011-05-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

I have the best moms in the world! I say "moms" cause I have lots of them. I love them all and appreciate the fact that they have all played a huge role in making me the person I am. I hope that I can continue to grow into the person they would all want me to be because they are all amazing women and all want the best for me.
To my real mom. The one who birthed me. I love you! You are such a rock for me to rely on. I know without a doubt that I can come to you when ever for whatever and you will happily receive me with open arms and something good to eat. I was super lucky as a kid because not only am I the youngest in my family but there are 4 years between me and my closest sibling. I got LOTS of mom time. You took me everywhere. We really were/are best friends. You spoiled me and I loved every second of it! (who am I kidding? you still spoil me) You are so creative, so talented and so.... crazy. I love your craziness! I love that you would come outside and do back flips on the tramp with me and my friends. I love that you came to a soccer practice when I was about 12 and did a flip-throw in and my whole team was AMAZED! Thank you so so much for being the best mom ever. The perfect mom for me.
To my mom #2 (AKA: Gayle) I never had to spend a day of my life with only one mom. You have always been "Mama #2". You taught me how to paint, how to garden, how to eat peas and raspberries by the buckets full! You taught me to appreciate the things around me. To "stop and smell the roses" if you will. I wouldn't see the world.. especially nature the way I do without you. I love you. Thank you for opening my eyes to a world I could so easily have missed. Thank you for your example. Thank you for the awesome person you are.
To Pam. Im not good at expressing things... I don't call you mom, I don't say I love you, I am extremely reserved on most things when Im around you... except for my sassiness... it gets a little out of my control sometimes. But, I do love you and appreciate you. You are such a support to me and I always know you have my back, which is great when it comes to a certain opinionated person I married :) Thanks so much for loving us and being such a great Grandma!
To Mrs. Wendy Lee Pugh (Clark). I cant help it, I always sing your name to the tune of Winnie the Pooh. Its an old habit. You are an amazing women! You have always been such an example of kindness and charity. Im so glad I had the chance to basically live in your home for a few years of my childhood. You had more influence on me than you will probably ever know. When I sometimes needed a safe place to hide, for some reason you always let me hide at your house. Thank you for that. Thank you for introducing me to Les Mis, the oldies station and other fun things that I know my life would be void of without you. Thank you for letting me eat all your food and sleep on your floor. Thank you for raising such an awesome daughter. I needed her to help me through those years. I love you!

There are many more moms I should thank. My sisters for example, especially my sister Amber. She let me tag a long and feel cool because I was hanging out with teenagers when I was so little! She took me shopping when I was devastated about my brother leaving on his mission. She still has a 6th sense about me. She has concerns for me that no one else even thinks of. I have one awesome family and a ton of amazing mothers! For those of you that I didn't mention. I haven't forgotten you, I love you. You all have a special place in my heart and played an important role in my life! I am SO blessed!

Tip Toe Through The Tulips

2011-05-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point with Buggy's Nana. AnDee had a blast! I seriously had no idea how cool their childrens park was! for those of you who have children and have not been there, I highly recommend it.

So I guess in the summer they fill this with water and there are fountains for the kids to play in! we will be coming back to witness it.

The fish and the one lonely duck were probably the highlight of our adventure. Flowers are pretty but feeding fish? Much cooler!

Sorry, no pics of the Pep boy this time :(
Thanks Nana for going with us! Happy Mothers Day!
Happy Mothers Day to ALL the awesome women in our lives!

Big Sister and Baby Brother

2011-05-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

Buggy likes to tell everyone that she has a baby brother. She is in love with him... Thank goodness!!! I had this huge fear that she was going to be a holy terror. I heard all these awful stories of toddlers turning in to nightmares when the new baby arrived. Im happy to report that my toddler is most definitely not a nightmare. She is so good to help and be patient with mom when she is feeding or changing or doing whatever else is taking up her attention. She always has to know where "baby Jophes" (dyslexic?) is. She surprises me everyday with what a good big sister she is.
Baby Pep had his first check up last week and he weighed in at 7.07 lbs and 20 inches. Thats almost a pound and 2 inches of growth in two weeks!! Craziness! He is starting to be a lot more awake and alert and has started cooing and smiling. He is So much fun! He loves naps with his Dad and he is even considerate enough to let mom sleep a little at night! :)

AnDee is a nut at her gymnastics class. She decided that doing back flips on the rings would be a good idea. I don't even know how she knows how to do these things! She has also figured out how to climb the tree in our back yard. Should make for an interesting summer.

The other night she was in the tub and slapped her own bottom and said "Butt!!" Andrew told her that wasn't a nice word. "Bum!" was her reply. I honestly don't know where she gets this stuff. I dont teach her these things. She also sent my mom to her room the other day and told my dad that he needed my permission to go outside. Bossy? Maybe a little.

Easter and a few other things

2011-04-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

We had an Easter egg hunt at Nana and Poppy's house on Saturday. We were missing a few cousins but we still had lots of fun!

Good news!!! We no longer have a bili-baby! He's off the lights and doing great!

One of our really good friends returned home from her mission in New York last week. We had a surprise for her....

Thats right, she had no idea we were even expecting. It was super fun to see her reaction. Its good to have her home.

In other news.... Apparently the sun has been broken. The sun peaked out of the clouds today and AnDee got all excited. "Mama look!!!" She said "The sunshine is working!!"

So I asked her if it had been broken. She promptly replied that yes... it has indeed been broken. I would be really ok with it if we could get the sunshine up and running again. Im really missing it.

Catching up

2011-04-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

So I meant to post these before the baby but it never happened so youre getting them now.
Buggy got to wear her Easter dress a little early this year cause we didnt know if we would be able to actually make it out on Easter Sunday.

This is how Buggy and Dad spent most of conference weekend.

The day before Pep arrived we went to the zoo. Buggy got to do all the things that I have NEVER done at the zoo before. She got to ride the train (her favorite part of the entire trip) She got to ride the carousel and she got lots of money spent on her at the gift shop (Yeah... I had never even been in the gift shop before this trip. So spoiled)

she is still talking about the train ride... go figure.

Days 3 and 4

2011-04-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

3 days old. Yes... his cheeks take up most of his face :)

4 days old

And lets not forget his extremely stylish sister

Our poor little man is jaundice. We had to put him on lights yesterday :( yes... I did cry. But we are really hoping that his test will come back better today and we can get back to normal.

He has arrived!

2011-04-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

Joseph Xavi Naugle: 6 pounds 15 ounces, 18 inches. Born April 13th at 3:48 PM.
Yes.... He has a major cone head but I thank him for it. Labor was awesome! 4 hours from start to finish with maybe 5 or 6 pushes. So far he is a super easy baby. He eats well and sleeps well. We are just hoping that continues. His sister adores him and is of course super helpful. You will definitely be seeing more posts with lots more pictures!

9:20 pm

2011-04-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

Within one minute of 9:20 every night my daughter ASKS to go to bed. I started noticing that it was around the same time every night about a week or two ago, so I decided to start making real notes of it. I'm not kidding you when I tell you that every night at no earlier than 9:19 and no later than 9:21 my child says "I go to bed" she then gets up, finds her dad, gives him a hug, sometimes kisses the dogs good night, then walks straight back to her bed and lays down. Within ten minutes she is asleep. How many not even two year olds do that?! Talk about an internal clock! Amazing.
This makes me incredibly happy. You see as a kid I had the hardest time sleeping... For multiple reasons but let's just say that bed time was far from pleasant. I was always scared and upset when I went to bed. So, when we started figuring things out with Buggy, I vowed that sleeping/bed time would be a positive thing for her. I dare say at this point that my methods are working. She even asks for naps. I don't care what anyone says about my methods, they work perfectly for us and I'm not changing a thing! :)

Where does she get this stuff?

2011-04-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

I asked Buggy to pick up her toys and put them in the bucket. She stuck fingers in both ears and started singing at the top of her lungs. Where did she get that?!
We have two new additions to our family. That's right, more goats (I'll post pictures later) Buggy keeps pointing at them and telling me they are "nakey" and "need to get in the tub" I have no idea where this came from.

She calls Andrew beautiful on a regular basis

We were at play group and she started getting sassy with one of the other kids. She had previously told me that she wanted to go home and I told her we would leave in a few minutes. In response to her sassiness I made her look me in the eyes and said "we don't talk like that, it's not nice" she replied "yeah, go home and go to my room!". That's right, she was purposely
trying to get in to trouble so she could go home.

She talks like an African... Well at least a Tanzanian. She puts a 'y' at the end of everything. Hence the goats being "nakey".
I have one cool kid. And hopefully in the next week, I'll have two cool kids! ;)

some tidbits

2011-03-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

Apparently this is the new hip way to sit in the high chair. This is how she sits every time now.

AnDee's new favorite word: "Problem"
Example: "Mama, this is a probom"

AnDee's current favorite color: yellow
it doesn't matter what you point to or what color it is, if you ask AnDee Lew she will tell you it "Lellelow"
She always adds extra 'L's' to words that have 'L' in them. And I of course think it the cutest thing ever.

Today the goats were doing some highly inappropriate things. Fortunately for me, children are innocent. "look mama!" she said "They're dancing!!"

She is really beginning to love soccer (Yes!!!!!) she always tells me that "Dada and Dave are gonna play socca game". She even watches it on t.v. with us. :)

She recently suffered a couple of injuries to her left leg and foot. This causes her to walk exactly like Igor.

I sure do love my girl. My biggest fear about having this baby is having to spend 2 whole nights in the hospital without her. Makes me wanna cry just thinking about it.

The Pitster

2011-03-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

This is AnDee Lew on her very first ride on the pit bike

This is AnDee Lew today... about a year and a half later.

How did she get so darn big??

Is it inappropriate to....

2011-03-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

go out in public in your pajamas? Cause I totally went grocery shopping in my pj's this morning. Im tired... really tired. I have had a cold for over 3 weeks now and my body is just plain done. Everyone keeps saying "Only two more weeks! Your almost done!" I always respond. "Yeah, we are getting there!" but really Im thinking "Shut your big mouth before I punch you in the nose! If one more person reminds me that I have 2 more weeks of this crud, Im gonna lose it!" Its not just me that is sick, its my whole family. My poor baby wakes up at night coughing so hard she throws up. This doesn't seem very fair to me. God must be teaching me some kind of lesson?
Let me complain a little more.... first, some back ground on the subject.... About three years ago I was playing soccer (I know, weird huh?) in a co-ed game. Someone crossed the ball in front of the goal so of course I moved in for the finish when BAM! I giant mans, giant knee came crashing into my groin-al area. It hurt. Badly. I hobbled off the field and straight out the door so no one would see the tears of pain rearing their ugly heads. After a regained my composure I was ready to go back in and give it another try, I wasn't walking real well but Im not the sharpest tool when it comes to injuries and I had to prove that I was tough and could get back in there and redeem myself. I stepped on the field and within seconds the ball was passed to me. I stuck my foot out and trapped it... okay, that wasn't too painful... and then it happened. I tried to bring my leg back to swing at the ball to make a pass.... My leg didn't move. So I had to go with a forward motion... I might as well have hit the ball with my purse, it rolled a couple of feet and stopped. I was beaten and I knew it, so I hobbled off the field.
X-rays showed my hip was dislocated but in the night it had popped back in to the socket. I just needed some time to let the tendons and ligaments repair themselves and I was good to go. No big deal right? Except Chantal isn't capable of staying away from the soccer field for that long. I was back a few days later playing (but not well) I didn't feel too bad though. About two months later, SURPRISE!! We found out that AnDee Lew was on her way. This actually was superb news but not for my hips. You see when you are pregnant your body releases a hormone to relax all the muscles, tendons and ligaments to make room for the baby. This meant that I wasn't going to heal any time soon.
Lets just get to the point here... I played competitively until I was about 6 months along and then I played for fun with friends until about a week before I delivered. Bad Idea. I gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl ever and was back playing exactly 14 days later. Bad idea. I continued to play for months and months. Bad bad bad idea. It was to the point that I literally COULD NOT WALK after games. In fact one night I got stuck in the bath tub because I couldn't lift my leg up high enough to get out. I ended up ripping the towel rack off the wall trying to hoist myself up... and it didn't work. I had to crawl out head first and drag my lower body out. Good times, good times.
Now after all that, here is my complaint. My hips hurt. Like REALLY hurt. I have all these women tell me "I had hip pain in my pregnancy too" No no no. You don't understand, I have sciatica pain and I know how bad it hurts. Which it does, it hurts badly. Add that to hips that dislocate for no reason and a baby that is so low I have to walk around his head and it makes me want to cry... and I do, almost on a daily basis at this point.
It is for this reason I am asking for your prayers and some fasting wouldn't hurt either. Im starting a "Get Pep out" movement. Will you join me?!
Im am sincerely apologetic for this awful post. My complaining doesn't do me any good, I know but Im feeling really bad for myself today. So sorry

Singing??

2011-03-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight Andrew spent about a half an hour "singing" and playing the piano. His singing is really quite lovely... And high pitched... And his voice does a lot of cracking. At one point Buggy walked up to him, patted him on the back and asked "you ok Dada?" with much concern in her voice.
Andrew zones out a little when he plays the piano and he is really good at blocking out the outside world. Buggy has had a bit of a cold and as a result has started picking her nose (I know... Gross) well she picked her nose and had a nice big booger on her finger and was holding it out for her dad to clean off. He of course was too distracted to notice so she wiped it on his shirt but apparently she found it gross that she could see her nasty booger stuck to his shirt so she picked it off and whiped it on his arm.... It's probably still there.

Polite?

2011-03-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today I asked Buggy if baby Pep should come out and play now. "no thank you" she said. At least she was polite about it? She also informed us that when he does make his arrival he will be sporting pink hair and pink eyes. Sounds a little creepy to me but she acts like it's a good thing.

The truth

2011-03-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

If you don't want an honest answer, don't ask AnDee. She has become quite the little talker in the last little while. I mean whole sentences and entire conversations. It's almost scary cause I have no idea where she gets half of the stuff she says. Most people can catch the main idea of what she is saying and a lot of the time she is very clear on what she says but as mom I understand almost everything and I'm usually looked at to translate. At this point I'm glad I'm the translator cause that gives me the opportunity to edit. I think I'm going to be in trouble when everyone can understand everything she says.

Last night Andrew thought he would be funny and wear my robe, which happens to be huge and puffy and red. He was digging in the fridge for something and AnDee walked up behind him and said "grandma, I have some cheese please?" ... She calls it as she sees it. :)

takes after her dad

2011-03-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

Buggy looks just like her dad. Im pretty sure that a stranger would have no idea that I am her mother. The only thing she inherited from me is ONE blue eye. Sheesh! He couldn't even give me both eyes? :) In actuality I love that she has one blue eye and one green eye. How many people have that? Anyway.... This is Buggys hair...

CURLY!!! just like her dads. My hair??? Doesn't even have a real wave to it. This has caused a little trouble for me because I have NO clue how to do her hair. Poor kid, most of the time she looks like she doesn't have a mother, but rest assured that it isn't because I don't try. Today I got it to curl up pretty nicely, it was looking like I had actually done it. I have to be super motivational in order to get her to hold still for long enough for me to attempt to do it so I was telling her how beautiful she is. I asked her "Do you have the most beautiful hair in the world?" to which she replied "ummmm.... Maybe?"

I love this girl!

Packing

2011-03-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

Andrew and I took a concealed weapons class on Saturday to receive our concealed weapons license. Thats right, I am now packing. ;) In all actuality I have no intentions of carrying a gun, ever. Andrew thought it would be a good idea though with all the laws they have changed and are trying to change about owning guns. So we are sitting it this class for 3 hours and Im dying! Im bored, I hurt, Im hungry and I have to pee every 10 minutes. To top things off, we had some real creepers in the class. One of which wore a loaded hand gun shoved down his pants in to the class. Anyway...The instructor starts talking about the ins and outs of actually carrying a concealed hand gun and one of the real weirdos pipes up and asks.... "If someone breaks in to my house and I pull my gun on him and he gets scared and runs away... will I be in trouble if I shoot him in the back?" uh.... WHAT?!!!! why would you shoot someone in the back while they are running away? Can I leave now? I feel like Im in grave danger sitting in this classroom right now. Seriously! What is wrong with people?! And why are we giving creepers like that licenses to carry a loaded hand gun?! Not only carry a loaded hand gun but SECRETLY carry a loaded hand gun. Yikes!
Anyway.... That was a joyous way to spend way too much of my Saturday.
On a happier note... Its been a little warmer lately and so we have spent lots of time OUTSIDE!!! We love outside! AnDee has become the goat queen (Proud moment????) She can call her goats and they actually come when she calls. They love her, they run and play and chase each other all over the place. Odd... but cute. We cant wait for this storm to pass so we can get back outside in the sunshine!

Announcement

2011-03-02T08:08:00.001-08:00

As of yesterday I can officially say that I am having my baby next month! Wahoo!
That is all I have to say about that.

Dad got Buggy a present

2011-03-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

Well... actually two presents.

spoiled much? Mom has mixed feelings about the whole thing. Most of you know that I love animals and these little guys are so stinking cute! But they have to be bottle fed and will continue needing to be bottle fed until after I have the baby. Im pretty sure Andrew will be on his own with the feedings at that point. In the mean time, Ill enjoy their cuteness and continue to dress them to match AnDee? Its a coincidence I promise.

Buggys Papa's

2011-02-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

Buggy has finally reached the age where her grandpas are the coolest human beings on earth. Mostly I think it's because she can get either of them to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants and however she wants. Wrapped around her finger is an understatement. Either way though, she has a blast with them. She loves to play toys with Grandpa Naugle and she loves to feed the chickens with Papa Cowley. Papa Cowley also broke down and showed her where his super secret stash of candy is. Unfortunately Buggy didn't realize the secretness of it and revealed it to one of her cousins. I found the two of them playing in a giant pile of m&ms in the toy room.

Watching my mouth

2011-02-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

Buggy has started to copy everything we say. When I say "everything" what I actually mean is that she picks out all the not nice things we say to copy. In the last few days she has picked up "crap, retarded, and (my favorite) I beat you!" she tells me she's gonna beat me. Lovely. Having a copy cat really makes you rethink just how clean your mouth really is. I guess I should be happy she hasn't picked up any cuss words. I have to tell her all the time how naughty mama is for saying those things.

Single digits

2011-02-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

7 weeks. I have exactly 7 weeks left. Why oh why do the last weeks of pregnancy drag on so long? Actually, the truth is that I have very mixed emotions right now. I'm down to the last weeks, finally in the single digits. What a relief it will be to have my body back. What a joy it will be to have a new baby!! But.... This also means I only have 7 weeks left with just my baby girl. This makes me sad. Really sad. I hate that I'm counting down the weeks until this baby comes because that also means I'm wishing away some very precious moments with my little Bug. So I'm trying to slow down. Trying to enjoy and trying not to be anxious. I have decided that I really want to remember these last few weeks of being a Mom to just one so I'm going to be doing a lot of posting. A lot of what I post probably won't mean anything to anyone else but for my own emotional stability I think I need to write down the little things.
We took Bug to Cabelas on Monday to see the fish and all the animals. In true Buggy character she was amused by those things but when she saw the airplane (aka: cockie) hanging from the cealing, she was AMAZED. The rest of the day she obsessed over it. I love that my baby girl loves helicopters and airplanes. She is just cool. Her other obsessions come and go but not this one. I'm afraid airplanes and helicopters might be here to stay. I'm already dreaming of the coolest helicopter birthday party ever! I'm glad I don't have to dream up a princess party (knock on wood)

St. George

2011-02-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

We decided to spend our Valentines Day weekend in St. George. I tend to get a little bit of cabin fever this time of the year and was really wanting some sun. It was perfect! The mornings were a little cold but by the afternoons it was in the high 60's! We even got to go swimming in an outdoor pool (heated of course) and spent lots of time outside with no jackets!
The first night we were there Andrew was exhausted because he had gone in to work at 3 in the morning so we could get down there a little earlier. After he crashed at 6:30, AnDee and I had to find ways to entertain ourselves while stuck in the hotel room. Thank goodness for stickers.(caution: naked baby pic....and yes she is totally staring at herself in the mirror)

We didn't do a whole lot. Just relaxed and went with the flow. We spent a lot of time at the park and Buggy was in heaven!

We also hiked to the quarry that they got all the rock for the temple foundation. Buggy was awesome, she walked most of the way there and some of the way back. Probably about a mile and a half in all. Thats a long way for such little legs!
This was also fun because the airport was directly across from us so AnDee got to see all the "cockies" She is SOOOOO obsessed with airplanes and helicopters. She has been asking to go back since the second we left.

Please no comments about how gigantic I am... I already know, it doesn't need to be said.

We went to the temple on Sunday and to much to our pleasant surprise, the temple grounds were open as well as the visitors center so we spent a couple of hours there. It was the perfect sunday activity.

We decided to spend our last evening there back at the park where we found this guy...

We were there for at least a couple of hours and the entire time we were there this man clapped his own beat and sang songs. He couldn't hold a tune and often didn't know the words to the songs he was belting out but he improvised and either made up his own words or mumbled through them. He would stop in between songs and thank everyone and tell them who the artist was (it didn't seem to matter that everyone at the park was trying their best to pretend he wasn't there)

Needless to say, I was entertained and it definitely made me smile. What a happy little man :)

Today...

2011-02-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

AnDee Lew apologized to a drop of water after it dripped from the roof and landed on her head "Oh! Sorry!" she said :)
A few weeks ago we were on a walk with her Nana (yes in the freezing cold) and she asked to get out of her stroller and walk. When I set her down she took off running down the sidewalk. I finally got her attention and was in the process of explaining to her that she had to stay right by me or a car would get her when a huge diesel truck that was extremely loud came around the corner and scared the wee wee outta her. It couldn't have been more perfect timing. Is it bad that I was happy about this? Now every time a car comes down our road she runs screaming to me that the car is gonna get her. I feel like this is a very healthy fear. :)

The things she says

2011-02-04T19:55:00.000-08:00

The other day Andrew was in the bathroom. AnDee ran up and knocked on the door
"dada, potty on toilet"
"uh... Yup"
"oh!!! Big girl!!!"

Tonight she told me she was washing her hair with "shampoop"

Every time she burps she says "oops! Gooz mees!" (excuse me)

She likes to poke her babies in the eyes and then she tells me "oh baby said, she cry!"

When we read books if we finish the book or she thinks the book is too long she will say "Amen!" and push it shut.

She has also started to barter with me. We have a limit on get tv time and when it's up she will ask for "just one more mouse." (Mickey of course) while holding up her finger and looking oh so serious.

She entertains me and I love her for it!

Question for all you moms

2011-01-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

So for about a month AnDee (all on her own accord) has been going potty on the big potty every night but she isn't showing any interest during the day. Should I start putting her on a schedule and make her try to go every so often? I'm only hesitating because I'm having a baby in less than 3 months and I don't want to make a bunch of progress with it and have it all go down the toilet (pun totally intended) when the new kid comes in and disrupts her world. Advice please?

Today and I were not friends, but tonight and I? Different story.

2011-01-18T21:47:00.000-08:00

It's been one of those days. I woke up with a bad case of pregnant mom today. I was mean, I was grouchy and I was aware of every bit of it. I could not find the strength to shake it off however. As a result, my baby picked up on it and played her part. She was mean, she was grouchy and we both broke down into tears multiple times. I needed help, desperately. Lucky for me my husband is amazing. I had been wanting to go with my mom and my sister to hear Sister Julie Beck (general relief society pres.) speak but I wasn't very hopeful. Andrew has been working insane hours. He didn't get home until after 4 today and was planning on going back at 10pm to work graveyard, only to come home for a few hours and go back again. He needed sleep, badly. With no one to watch AnDee I just didn't think it was going to happen. Andrew, however made his mind up that he was going to make it work and sent me out the door. So here I was, feeling bad for myself and totally irritated and angry about... Well.... Everything. Did I really want to attend this meeting? I was in no mood to feel chastised for my weaknesses. Luckily, Sister Beck is truely inspired. There was not one moment that I felt that she was chastising me. Instead, from the moment she stood I was at peace. The anger was gone. The frustration was gone. Mean pregnant lady was gone and AnDee's mom was back. Every ounce of everything she said inspired and uplifted me.
Now, here I sit in my bed (at a quarter to 11 when I should be sleeping) with my all-too-convenient iPhone, blogging because I can't settle down enough to sleep. I'm just happy. So thank you Andrew and thank you Sister Beck for knowing what I needed
What most stood out from the meeting tonight? Well... Sister Beck opened it up for a bit of a question and answer type of deal. One sister stood and asked how to find herself. She explained that she has been trying to find ways to describe herself without using the words 'mother' or 'wife'. She felt like those things were taking away who SHE was. When sister Beck answered she said "you must never take away 'mother' it is who we are. That is the name we will go by in the eternities. We do not have children because it's a lifestyle. We have children because that is God's plan."
Being a mother has not taken anything away from me and the things it has taken, I can confidently wave goodbye to, knowing that 'mother'' is who I am and what an honor it is.

Her name is...

2011-01-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

AnDee knows her name. She has actually known it for a few days now but I forgot to put it in my last post. When you ask her "what's your name?" she says "name Annee!" translation: my name is AnDee. She also really likes to yell the last word of every sentence so it's actually more like "name ANNEE" it's also "... Eight, nine, TEN!" and "no mo jibber jabber jibber jabber on BED!" translation: no more monkeys jumping on the bed!
Oh and just in case you were wondering... She did indeed call my next door neighbor fat the other day. Nice.

A little update (warning: excessive bragging)

2011-01-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

AnDee is growing up so fast it's scary. No seriously, sometimes I panic a little if I think about it too much. Kinda like when you think to much about the end of the world... Yeah... Same idea. Anyway, as of late she has gone from being able to count to 6 on her own to 10. Except sometimes she skips five, why five gets forgotten, I'm not quite sure. She is a summersault maniac and we recently started taking her to a gymnastics class where she rocks everyones world with her ability to walk on the balance beam by herself. I'm pretty sure she is the youngest kid in the class but she puts those other kids to shame! (proud mother? Yes! Bragging much?.. Again, yes!!)
She has also taken up singing and it's always entertaining to listen/watch her sing. She is mastering her AbC's though which is yet again another amazing accomplishment :)
Coloring has become an obsession. One which mom isn't a real fan. She likes to sneak away with a marker or crayon and color on her toys, the walls, ect.
She is a chatter box and is constantly giving me lip! I'm not gonna lie though it mostly just cracks me up. She is a blast and I love love love being her mom! It's crazy to think she is already 19 months old! She is one cool cat!

Our little Pep

2011-01-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

So I have been debating about blogging about this. I don't know if everyone needs or even wants to hear about it but since I have decided to make a book out of my blog (a genius idea brought to my attention by Mindy. Thank you mindy!) it's kind of turned in to a bit of a journal for my little family and this is something I'd like to remember.
For those of you who remember, AnDee Lew wasn't given a name until she was about a day old. Andrew was determined he had to see her before we could even really discuss names. Luckily her name turned out to be quite meaningful. With this baby, the story was much the same. I would throw a name out and Andrew would all but ignore me. (drove me crazy!)
Well... Because I struggle a lot with more things than I like to admit, I am constantly praying for guidance, especially as a mom. For a long time the name Joseph kept lingering in my thoughts, but I kept pushing it out. You see the name doesn't bother me, it's just not really my style. But this name was haunting me! I couldn't get it out of my head and so I started to really think about the name itself. What does it mean? Joseph is a Hebrew name meaning: God will increase. Now let's go to the bible and list a couple of the men named Joseph. We have the Joseph of the Old Testament. The son of Jacob sold into Egypt by his brothers which led to his eventual saving of a nation through the gifts God had blessed him with. A good man? Yes. Would I want my son to be like this man? Most definitely.
Now we have the Joseph of the New Testament. Joseph, the husband of Mary and earthly father of our Savior. He was visited by a messenger from God and instructed to wed a woman who was a carrying a child that was not his. Without question he took the child upon himself. He was called of God to raise Jesus Christ!!! What a honor but what a responsibility! A good man? Undoubtedly. Would I want my son to be like this man. Nothing would make me more happy.
Now let's talk about another great Joseph. That is Joseph Smith. What 14 year old posseses such great faith and such wisdom? I would be so lost without this mans hard work and diligence. I, and so many others owe so much to him. His lifes work is as great as any, except for Christs. Truly a man of God. Was he a good man? One of the very best! Would I want my son to be like him? I could only hope!
So there it was... In my opinion some of the greatest men in the entire history of our world have carried the name Joseph. I should be honored to name my son after such powerful people.
Ok so... I was feeling... inspired?.... I guess more like instructed to name my baby boy Joseph. That didn't change the way Andrew felt about naming our children before their birth. I guess I would just have to wait until the little guy got here and then explain the situation to Andrew?
On our way home from our trip to Bear Lake for New Years Eve, Andrew and I were just discussing the bible and some things he and his brothers had talked about. I decided to just throw it out there,
"So I was thinking about the name Joseph"
"Oh yeah? What about it"
"Well I was just thinking about the men in history but especially in religious history named Joseph and I was just thinking that next to Jesus Christ it might be one of the strongest most important names there has ever been"
and then Andrew surprised me with this...
"Thats what you are going to name him, isn't it?"
I stammered a little
"Well.... I don't know. Is that what YOU are going to name him"
and here it was...
"Yup!"
So now I think he is messing with me. Maybe he just got sick of me throwing names at him so he was just trying to get me to give up?
"Whatever... I dont believe you"
"Why not?!"
"Cause you have been SOOO determined not to name him until he gets here"
"I know, but I am serious. That is supposed to be his name"
"Really? When did you decide this?"
"Last night. While I was talking to my brothers all the sudden I just knew that was his name." (Andrew had spent hours the night before discussing deep doctrine, that is way over my head, with his brothers)
So there it is. A name I never would have even considered on my own. Im not sure the purpose of it or even if there is a significant purpose but our little boy has a name and it is Joseph! We call him Pep. AnDee likes to squish baby Pep and tell him to come out. Mom is not ready for him to come out yet but at least I know who it is that will be coming when we are ready :)

We like to call him "THE ROCK"

2011-01-12T15:08:00.000-08:00

Have you ever met a young person you were totally impressed with? Like a teenager that made you think to yourself "this kid has really got it all together"?
Well if you haven't... Let me introduce you to this young man
Jacob Wendall Naugle

Jacob entered the MTC today and soon will be headed to Brazil for a couple of years. On our way home from his being set apart last night Andrew and I were discussing what makes Jake's situation different than the other missionaries we have been a part of sending off. This is the conclusion we came to..

Jake leaves one with total peace of mind. Never have I seen a 19 year old so solid in his faith and so ready to serve the Lord. Not only does he know the scriptures inside and out he is mature and totally capable of taking care of himself, physically as well as mentally, emotionally and spiritually. He truly is as solid as a rock. Don't get me wrong I have had some family members and friends go out that I knew would be amazing missionaries but with everyone of them there has been a little worry and a little sadness with sending them off. Not with Jake. He will be missed, especially by AnDee who has attached herself to him in the last few weeks (I think little ones have a sixth sense about future missionaries) but the excitement that radiated from him made it impossible to feel sad about his leaving. He is leaving with a testimony and wisdom that it takes most missionaries two years in the field to develop. He knows how to work and he loves the Gospel. This kid was born for this! I am excited but slightly intimidated to see the person he comes back as. Oh how I hope with everything in me that I can raise my children to have the faith and desire that Jake does. Good luck Jacob! Not that you will need it!

A little late

2011-01-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

I realize that we are now 8 days into the new year, but 2010 was a SUCH a great year for us. We have been super blessed with amazing health. We really haven't even had any major colds or anything (knock on wood) Andrew has done So well at work and in the last year and a half has received 2 major promotions. He is incredible. He has also been very successful in school. I don't know how he does it all. AnDee Lew is the smartest most healthy little girl in town. She is only 19 months old (yes I am bragging a little) and can count to 6 all on her own, can do a lot of the alphabet, knows more animal sounds and names than I did until we started working on them together, She kneels, folds her arms and "prays" all on her own. She says the most hilarious things and is constantly making me laugh. We are so lucky that on top of all this she is sweet and sensitive and just wants everyone to be happy.
This year we have also been blessed with the news that we are having a baby boy! This was such a miracle and brought lots of tears of joy.
I feel like I am rambling but my point is, we are so blessed and we are so grateful. Happy 2011! I realize how fortunate I am to say I am sad to see 2010 go. We have had so many friends and family who really struggled through last year.

For New Years Eve my brother was nice enough to let the Naugle family stay at his cabin up at Bear Lake. We thought this would be a last little trip with the entire fam before Jake leaves on his mission. We only spent a couple of days and it was FREEZING! ( I think the high we reached was about 9 degrees) but it was good to be there with everyone and we spent a lot of time discussing the gospel. I did however brave the cold a couple of times to take AnDee sledding. She is a nut. I swear she doesn't feel the cold.

here are a few random pics from the last week or so...

This one is my favorite. Really it should have its own post. This depicts AnDee almost perfectly, wearing Dads boots and carrying a dirty sock. Not to mention the fact that her onesie is filthy and that she had refused wearing any other clothes all day. She is the coolest.

I wish I had more pics of Andrew. Im pretty sure he sneaks on to the camera and deletes them.
I happy New Year to you all!

Christmas!

2010-12-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas was awesome this year! Totally chill. We got up somewhere between 8:30 and 9 a.m. and opened presents as a family. AnDee of course scored big time. Im actually quite embarrassed by the amount of stuff she got but she was awesome all day long, no whining about anything. I scored big time too! Andrew got me a fancy new camera... now if I could just learn how to use it ;)
After we did our own family thing, Nana and Papa (Cowley) came and we exchanged gifts and then we spent some time at Grandma and Grandpa's (Naugle) Where we had breakfast.
Sadly we took down our Christmas tree on Christmas day. I couldn't stand the amount of room it was taking up and now we had all these toys and junk piled up everywhere! Isn't it funny how it SO fun to put Christmas decorations up but after you get them all put away its is a HUGE relief?
Anyway... we spent a lot of time outside on Christmas (since it apparently doesn't really snow in Utah anymore... not that it would have stopped us from being outside if it did) playing with AnDee's "cocky" AKA: helicopter. My beautiful curly haired little girl is completely obssesed with helicopters and airplanes. I heart her! Anyway... here are a few pics! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas this year!
Opening presents with Grandma

Flying the "cocky" with Uncle Sam

Flying the cocky with Dada

She was the retriever. Every time it would land she would take off running to get it. Who needs a dog. (sorry hunter?)

Yup. Totally stepped in something "cucky" (sometimes i have a hard time telling the difference between that and "cocky")

Swinging with Dad

Chillin in her underwear. (she has a thing with being nude. Im lucky to keep a onesie on her)

Fat

2010-12-19T18:14:00.000-08:00

So a couple of days ago AnDee came to me and said "Mama fat!"
so I said "mama fat?"
AnDee: "uh huh!... Dada fat!
Me: "dada fat too?!"
AnDee: "uh huh! Yup! ... Betty fat!!"
Me: "Betty is fat too? ...Are you fat?"
AnDee: "nope!"

So there you have it folks... The whole family is fat, except for buggy. Sad thing is... I can't argue with her.

I just think she is the cutest!

2010-12-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

We had to get all dressed up for Aunt Heathers wedding, so we talked Aunt Jo in to taking some pics. Thanks Jo!

Oh Christmas tree!

2010-12-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

Every year we get a permit and go out and cut down our own Christmas tree. I LOVE this tradition! It is so much fun to go out and hike around in the snow. But this year we also bought an artificial tree because, lets just be honest, its easier to take care of and not as easily destroyed by AnDee. So we decided to still go out and cut down a tree but this year we gave it to a neighbor who has had an extremely hard year and otherwise probably wouldn't have a tree. It was a blast as usual, even though we spent a very significant amount of time being stuck or waiting for others who were stuck in the snow to get unstuck so we could get by. Its all part of the adventure. I love Christmas time and all that comes with it!

I love Andrews cheesiness in this one :)

apparently there was something on the camera lens? of course its exactly in the middle of the pictures.. oh well.

P.S. I LOVE my Christmas tree! It turned out perfect. Im hesitant to post pictures though because I know my cruddy camera will not do it justice.

Barca anyone???!!

2010-12-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

Ok I know Im mostly just talking to myself on this one because Ill be lucky if even one of you knows what Im talking about (Sara, you would be the one Im talking about) here but I cant help it, I have to share my love and excitement!
Xavi.... Best player in the world? Don't get me wrong, I ADORE Messi and I have to hand it to Christiano (even though I hate him and and his perfect tan) but scoring goals doesn't mean you are THE best player in the world. Where would Messi be without this man? Honestly. Xavi is THE ONLY MAN EVER to complete over 100 passes in one game! This means that those passes actually connected with the person they were meant for. Amazing?! More amazing than I can even explain and to top it off, he has done it 4 TIMES! I love this man. Truly, it is love.

I dont know if you watched the big match on monday but I sure did. And I may or may not have watched it again last night, and don't be surprised if you hear that I watch it again tonight. Yes, it was THAT good. Now for those of you who don't understand what I mean when I say "big match" let me explain. Barcelona FC and Real Madrid are considered to be the best teams in Spain. In my opinion they are easily the best teams in the world. The rivalry between these two teams is INSANE! A great majority of the men from these two teams also happen to play together on the Spain national team but that doesnt seem to stop them from trying to break each others legs. This was not a championship game or even a determining game at this point but more people watched this one game than watch the super bowl. That is what I mean by big. Football fans (by this I of course mean soccer) around the world gather at pubs, movie theaters, town squares, pretty much anywhere and everywhere, to watch this game. Not to mention that there is a bit of the past between the present manager of Real Madrid and the club of Barcelona, but we wont get into that.
Now, as you have probably figured out, I am a Barca fan. I literally dream about this team. That being said, I bet you can guess who ended up with the win. The experts were back and forth. Was it going to be Real or Barca with the win? Maybe a draw? HA! Draw nothing! My boy Xavi put in a goal in the first 10 minutes! This was HUGE for me (and him) because Xavi is not a goal scorer and therefor gets overlooked. Not in this match my friends! By the end of the first half we were up by two (thanks to a pretty little finish from Pedro) and I was sitting pretty comfortable but you never know what is going to happen when you have an entire half left. Then the real fun began. Real Madrid lost their heads and David Villa capitalized, two goals within 5 minutes of each other. We are up by 4! Game over! Oh but wait... here comes our little substitute Jeffren to put the icing on the cake and shove it up Christianos nose! Thats right 5-0!!!! Hahahaha! It still makes me giggle with complete giddiness. Again for those of you who don't understand, 5-0 in a soccer match is like.... 82-0 in a basketball game. Total humiliation. I loved every minute of it! Especially when Real started to pick fights because they felt so stupid. Ooops! Red Card for Sergio Ramos! BU-BYE!
Im sorry if you read this entire thing and didn't really care but I had to put this one in the records. Im just so darn happy!
P.S. I found this little beauty of a post and needed to share it as well. and yes, it is about the game so if you're bored of all the football talk, don't bother to read it.

As we said before, Barcelona's 5-0 domination of Real Madrid on Wednesday was a bit of madness. The combination of Jose Mourinho's worst ever defeat, Barca scoring with ease, 13 total bookings and Ronaldo and Ramos going around shoving people, the match begged us to ask that question we keep coming back to: What if it continued?

97' -- Bojan wins game of Rock, Paper, Scissors among Barca XI to decide who gets to score the team's 6th goal. Goalkeeper Victor Valdes calls dibs on the 7th.

101' -- Jose Mourinho realizes that his Special One power ring has been replaced with a common mood ring. It explodes.

108' -- Ronaldo regrets shoving Pep Guardiola earlier in the match. Wishes he spilled coffee on his outfit instead.

115' -- Mesut Ozil forgets that Mesut Ozil is at the game.

120' -- Sitting on the bench with one eye closed and his finger in his ear, David Villa scores his third goal.

123' -- Rafa Benitez laughs at Mourinho's misfortune, painfully shooting milk out of his nose as he does so. But he doesn't care. He doesn't care.

129' -- Back in the dressing room, Sergio Ramos shoves himself in the face just to see how it feels. He feels violated.

133' -- Xabi Alonso breaks out in a cold sweat, fearful that Nigel De Jong might show up at any time.

142' -- Lionel Messi only half-heartedly makes defenders look stupid as his mind drifts to the Shuttle Adventure Lego playset Pep promised him if Barca win. He decides he will fly it to the Lego moon and then walk really slow like he's actually there. He high-fives himself.

145' -- Gerard Pique spontaneously starts to bleed.

148' -- Jose Mourinho declares that this has all been a dream and none of it is real. He insists that it is all just a figment of everyone's collective imagination. Victor Valdes physically removes him from the stadium. Pep Guardiola defecates gold.

is it bad that my eyes are literally tearing up because of laughter? whoever wrote this is a genius!

2010-11-24T15:08:00.000-08:00

So Andrew thought I was joking when I asked him if I could start putting up Christmas decorations on the day after Halloween. I wasn't. But he thought it was a little much a little too early so we agreed I would wait until Thanksgiving day (which is a Cowley tradition) That was an awfully long wait for me! I mean we are talking 3 weeks! So this is how I kept myself busy in the meantime...

Thats right boys and girls! Chantal did crafty things!
Last year I wanted a candy tree SO bad but I couldn't find decorations anywhere and so, I set to work making gingerbread men (the edible ones) and such. And much to my surprise (or maybe not so much) my extremely well trained and well behaved dogs ate the majority of them before we ever got to Christmas. I have to be honest, beating the crud outta my dogs for eating my Christmas ornaments kinda killed the Christmas spirit for me. So this year I went out looking at Christmas decorations and guess what?! There are candy ornaments and decorations EVERYWHERE!!! UGH!!! What can I say, Im a trend setter ;) (PS. you can totally thank me for bringing back tie dye) but since Im not willing to pay upward of 5 flipping bucks for one stinking ornament, I decided to get crafty, these are the result of that craftiness (If you are not impressed or cant tell what they are supposed to be, please feel free to keep your mouth shut about it cause I spent WAY to much time working on these things. I would probably cry if someone said something negative about them)

here are some close ups...
The FELT gingerbread men. Pretty sure my dogs wont eat these ones.

Thats right... its a gumdrop ball... thats all

My giant peppermint candy! I heart styrofoam!

These are my favorites, mostly because they took the most work and I spent a lot if time messing up and readjusting. Who doesn't love giant gumdrops?! This picture does not do them justice.

The all wise Chinee

2010-11-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

So a week or so ago I got online and entered the info needed for the Chinee to tell me what gender this kid inside me is. They told me it was a boy... And they were right! We went today and saw the little fellow. I really didn't need the ultra sound to tell me either because if the all wise Chinee tell you something, you don't question it. Actually in reality I didn't need the chinese calendar to tell me either. At first I thought it was a girl but a week or two ago I had this moment where I just knew it was a boy. No doubt about it. So there we have it, we are going to be blessed with a baby boy in the spring! Speaking of blessings, we must be doing something right because we have been extremely taken care if lately. A few examples:
We just repainted our living room. We went to home depot and got our paint at the paint desk (where no one said anything about saving money)On our way to the check out a lady stopped us and asked if we had heard about the paint plan. Apparently if you check out at the service desk instead of the regular check out they will give you 10% off. Some how we ended up get more like 30% off! Blessing? Yes!
Example #2:
we also got a couple new chairs for the living room. Before we went to go get them we called to make sure they were still there. We were told there were three left so to come down and get them! When we got there, they actually only had one, that was out on the floor. They told us since it was their mistake they would give us the one on the floor (which was in perfect condition) for 20% off and if we would wait for a week to get the second one when the shipment came in they would give us 10% off. That saved us over $100. Blessing? Absolutely!
Example #3
we went to get a Christmas tree that was on sale. When we got to the check out line the checker on the next aisle over turned around and handed me a piece of paper saying "here, use this". It was a coupon that saved us an extra $20! Blessing? Most definitely!
Example #4
Andrew was leaving work a couple of days ago, frustrated by a situation that had been causing him problems for a very long time. As he was walking out the door a plant manager pulled him back in and offered him a promotion! Andrew is now a supervisor! Wahoo! Such a blessing on more than one level. He needed the change so badly!
Example #5
Our totally crazy and perfectly healthy little girl. Hands down the best thing that has ever happened to us! Now we get to add a brother! How lucky our we? Now we just need to find a way to show our gratitude and pay it forward.

Sugar? No. Honey Honey!

2010-11-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

So for those of you that dont know. We have honey bees. We actually harvested the honey a couple months ago but Im just now getting around to blogging about it.
This is the very first day we got the bees and Andrew is getting ready to put them in the box. Notice his socks tucked in to his pants. So stylish.

Here are a few of the bees (and it really is a few in comparison) a month or so after we put them in their new home.

and here is a couple of shots of us bottling it.

I tried to upload some video of some of the process, but it didnt work and I dont have the patients to try again. Sorry?

Anyway, it kind of a fun process and its funny how comfortable you get with bees. At least with honey bees, I still dont trust the rest of them.