Free at last!!

Words cannot describe my feelings on the day that Dan graduated. Extreme happiness, anxiety, fear, joy, and even a little saddness somehow creeped in there. Our whole marriage so far had been "once Dan graduates, we can...", and now the day was here. No more classes that took up more time than a full-time job (ceramics 2 and 3), no more teachers who tell you on the first day of class that only 10% were going to pass (Organic Chemestry), no more assignments that had nothing, whatsoever, to do with the class (Art Seminar), no more winters that last 8 months of the year and get to -30, no more Rexburg cops, and sadly, no more friends. As much as I loved the idea of getting the heck out of Idaho, I had forgotten that leaving Idaho meant saying good-bye to the people who made life there more than tolerable. When Dan and I first got married, I hated it in Idaho. No hint of a joke there at all. Then, we met Rachel and Bryce. The next semester we had them, Preston and Jenny, and Aaron and Lindsay. And let's not forget Sam. The friendships Dan and I formed at BYU-I are some of the best that I've ever had, and I can honestly say that I wish our time there wasn't over so we could still get together and kick the boy's rears in Hand and Foot or Settler's of Catan instead of being across the country from each other living in the "real world".

Happy Easter (really late...)

I know these are really late!!! Most of the next few posts will probably be late... I am such a slacker when it comes to blogging. I try not to be, but things are pretty busy around here...12 people in one house. Craziness!! It has been a lot of fun, tho. Jayden loved Easter!! Especially the fact that no one, no matter how much we begged, kept their baskets off the floor. Jayden had his first taste of chocolate, jelly beans, peeps, and all other candy. Jelly beans are his favorite. In fact, one night we were getting ready for bed and he wanted NOTHING to do with me. I was a little hurt, so trying to mask it, I joked, "Hey, Jay, give Mommy a hug and I'll give you a jelly bean." Bad idea. He flew to me!! He gave me the biggest hug, slopped a huge kiss on my lips, then pointed to the Easter basket and said something must have meant jelly bean. I could not believe it. After he ate the jelly bean, he grabbed his toothbrush and let us finish putting him to bed. He is too smart sometimes.

"Brudders"

Jayden and Benjamin are the best of buds. In this picture, Benji decided that since Jay was driving, he needed some added protection... :) The other day, Lecia was having a Young Women's presidency meeting at her house. One of her counselors brought her little boy with her. This little boy was not exactly nice to Jayden. Anything Jay did, it was bad, and Jayden wasn't allowed to play with anything, even his own toys. So, after a few minutes of this, Benji stepped between this little boy and Jayden, with his hands on his hips and a very stern look on his face, and said: "You be nice to Jayden!! He's my brudder!!!" It took everything to not cry at that! After that, Benji was Jayden's protector from this little boy. Jayden is such a sweet little boy, and it was breaking my heart to see this little boy be mean to him. Benjamin stepping in like that to make sure that my little baby was treated with the sweetness and love that he deserves overwhelmed me with gratitude and love towards the friendship that they have. He may drive me nuts at some times, but it was so awesome to see him claim Jayden as his "brudder", not nephew.

Watch Out!!

Jayden and Benji have found a new and hilarious game. First, Benji helps Jay onto his little bike. Then, Benji pushes Jayden around the house, both of them squealing with delight. I was a little slow in taking this picture...Benji decided that he didn't want to be in it and ran out just in time. But, I thought it would be cute to post it. Jayden LOVES to find things to ride on. Mommy, Daddy, his friend David (5 days younger than Jay), the vacuum, his Tonka Truck from Grandma and Grandpa, and now a bike. He is so active and all over the place! Dan and I get our exercise when we decide to take Jayden for a walk without the stroller. It is funny on campus, because he can already tell the difference between the cute girls and the not-so-cute girls (Dan is so proud), and he will full on chase the cute ones. It takes us about an hour to get across campus with Jay walking as opposed to the 5 minutes it would normally take us. I love how much he is learning!! Every morning after breakfast, he walks around and finds his shoes. Then he brings them to us, saying "Shoe? Shoe?" and sits down and puts his feet up. That is his way of telling us he's ready to go outside and play!

Easter Fun

Jayden , Dan, and I thought it would be fun to send Megan and Rylee each an Easter Basket, so we did! Jay helped put the baskets together. He put the eggs in, then took them out, spread the grass all over the floor, hid candy around the house, and all in all was the best little Easter Bunny I could ask for. I'm still finding candy in random places around the house. About a month ago, Dan and I found those little Book of Mormon Hidden Treasures books, and Jay absolutely loves it. It keeps him quiet (relatively) in Sacrament meeting, and we read it every night before bedtime. He loves opening the flaps and "reading" to us. We thought it would be a fun addition to the other families, as well. Happy Easter, everyone!!

Dirt Devil

This little boy LOVES to be outside. We went down to Utah this weekend, and there is a park near Grandma and Grandpa Richardson's house. We walked to the park, and Jay just loved playing in the dirt. That was all that he did! Uncles Josh and Jimmy went back to the house to find dump trucks and shovels and buckets, and OH BOY!!! At first Jay didn't know what to do with all of those goods, but after some good uncles showed him the ropes, he was on his way to building castles and burying himself.

Oatmeal Bath?

Gone are the days of Mommy or Daddy spoon-feeding the child... He WILL NOT eat if we try to feed him. So, "Hello" to cleaning food off of every surface of my kitchen and sometimes the walls of the hallway. "Hello" to baths at least 3 times a day. "Hello" to the extra 3 loads of laundry a week for the times Mommy or Daddy forgets to strip him down before meal-time. "Hello" to finding food in bizarre places on my child's body... "Good-bye" to any sanity I thought I had left...

Flip-Flop Fun!!

Jayden decided to help Mommy and Daddy clean out their closet this morning...He found his new favorite toys: Mommy's flip-flops. They made great wings, flippers, snow-shoes, and somehow, hats. They kept him occupied for about an hour. It is amazing the things that he finds fun...I would never have imagined that putting flip-flops on my arms and running down the hallway making car-engine noises would be the most fun I would ever experience.

Risky Business...

Every Sunday after church we get home, shed the church clothes, eat lunch, then take a nap. As we were chasing Jay down to do our nap-time routine, he found his sunglasses. It was hilarious watching him try to outrun us with them on!! Dan decided to put his sunglasses on, too, and Jayden ran up to him and hugged him. My boys are just so darn cute sometimes!!

Go Uncle Scott!!!

It has been very difficult not being able to actively take part in Scott's wrestling career, and even more so now that I know I probably won't be there next year. I was having a particularly hard time this morning, and it didn't help that I was just sitting there dwelling on it. Jayden helped me see things the way I ought to see them... Lately, he's been learning how to color with crayons and markers (washable...I'm not stupid....). I was sitting there, wishing that I could be there in Texas, cheering Scott on, with Jay in a cute little warrior mascott outfit like Scotty back in the day. I then started thinking of the late nights I could have spent with Mom working on some sort of insane, but necessary, project that HAD to be done before weigh-ins in the morning, and how we would have writer's cramp and how I would end up massaging her shoulder and arm at least once during the next day. Jay came in, and gave me this look like, "Mom, you can do something. We have internet. DUH!" So, out came the markers and paper. Dan made a headress, and Jay and I worked on our signs...We have videos on the process, also, in which Jayden is MUCH happier than he appears in these picures. Long story short, we miss you Uncle Scotty, but we still support you TONS and TONS!!! GOOD LUCK AND DO GREAT!!! LOVE YA LOTS!!!

Jay's Birthday

These are the pictures of Jay's first experience with cake. We had videos, but they were too long to upload. He LOVED the red icing. It got ALL over. In fact, I'm still finding traces of it in the kitchen... As you can see, the theme of the party was Superman. We put an action figure on the big cake, and Jay loves running around the house with it making flying noises. All in all, it was a great party with lots of free entertainment from the little guy. (Btw, the earth on the big cake was actually cake!!)

Jayden's Little Sibling

Jayden wanted to share with everyone that he is going to be a big brother! His new little brother or sister is expected to be here on September 13th. He is very excited about the new baby. We like to go upstairs to Ethan's house (he's 4 months old) to learn how to treat little babies. He adores Ethan, so I'm sure things will go well. Jayden also has an Aunt, two Great Aunts, and two of his daddy's cousins expecting new babies this summer, so he will have plenty of practice before getting his own little baby.

Ice Cream/ Clean Freak

Jay loved ice cream, despite the first encounter... He also can't stand a messy face!!

Details on Helper

Dan and I were frantically trying to get our house clean yesterday b/c I I had a lapse of insanity and invited some friends over. I was NOT feeling well, and the house was a disaster. So, Dan took the kitchen, and I took the living room. I went into the other room, and Jay was just a-walking behind me. I grabbed a dust-rag, and Jayden kept up and grabbed another dust rag. I turned around and looked at him, and he was just a-walkin' and talkin' behind me. I started dusting the top of the entertainment center, and Jay pushed himself in front of me and started "dusting" the shelf in front of him. I yelled for Dan to bring the camera to show our little clean-freak at work!! Notice that once he noticed the camera he had to smile and laugh, and make a show.

Mommy's Little Helper

What's been happening....

Well, as most of you know, I've been spending the last week helping Dan's parent's out by staying with the kids while they went to pick up Andrew from Penn. What a week this has been!!! I went from one child (who I thought was bouncing off the walls) to seven!! Talk about a difference!! This experience has been so good for Jayden and I, though. Jayden got to play lots and lots with his uncles. He has discovered, however, that when someone takes a toy away from him he can get it back. We had a little problem with him starting to hit and saying mean things (sounds?), but a few minutes in Mommy's lap telling him to be nice to his friends and explaining why we don't hit has nipped that one (for the time being). Jayden has increased his vocabulary during this week. He says: more ("mo"), banana ("bana"), no, yeah, bye-bye (with the hand waving like crazy), Jayden ("Jada"), Mommy, Dada, Grandma ("rrrmMAA") Angel ("Ah-ah" This was his favorite part of his Nativity scene), Bottle ("Bado") and Benji ("En"...this was one of the hardest to figure out...It finally clicked when Jayden was crawling behind Benji, screaming "EN!!! EN!!" and trying to get his attention. Benji turned around and said "No, my name is BENJI!" and Jay just smiled, sat down, pointed, and said "En!" triumphantly.) He can sign milk/come here. It is the same thing to me, but to him I guess there is a huge difference. He gets so frustrated when I pick him up and don't give him milk, or when I offer him milk and don't pick him up. He waves hello and bye-bye, and we are working on car, please, thankyou, and eat. He can point to "Jayden's ear" and "Mommy's ear". He just trys to pull anyone else's ear off. Jay has (finally) joined the population of walkers!! He had been walking a little bit before the hospital trip, but he decided that it wasn't worth it afterwards. When we came down for Christmas, he realized that walking was the thing to do. At first, he would only walk to Uncle Benji. Then he started walking to Uncles Jimmy, Josh, and Aaron. Then to Grandma Richardson, and finally to me. I've started trying to get Jay to take his sippy-cup more often. He has no problem taking juice, water, pedialyte, or cow's milk, but if I try to put his formula in it, he makes a face and pushes it away. All in all, we've had a great time this week. We've learned a lot, and made new friends! Pictures and videos will be following as soon as Dan and I hook back up. (Yeah...the seven kids were by MYSELF!!! Dan was at back up at school!!!)

Christmas '06

Is that a puzzled look...or a give it back look?















Look Ma...Im a manger



















Happy Holidays
















Apple sauce and the hospital















1st time sledding
















Dan's eye after getting sick

Brushing the Tooth!!

Since Jay has a tooth, now, I went out and bought him a toothbrush and toothpaste. He wasn't too wild about the idea at first, but he warmed up to it...I had to chase him down to get the toothbrush back.

Cheerio Fun

Jayden discovered a new and exciting game today...Dump the Cheerios. The rules are: Jayden dumps the Cheerios, and Mommy picks them up. If Jayden can keep dumping the Cheerios before Mommy puts the last one in, he is winning. He is a funny kid. When Daddy first gave Jayden the cup of Cheerios, Jay was holding his balloon with both hands. He looked at each hand, determined that both we occupied, and bent over to eat his Cheerios like a puppy. He stopped before we got the camera out. Oh, can you see his tooth??

Sleepy Lion

I was going to wait and post Halloween pictures when of I got the pics from Lecia of Benji and Jay together, but I decided that the world needed to see Jay's full costume before it gets too late. He made it to two houses before he passed out. I mean it. Passed out. Normally he is a light sleeper, but no matter how much we talked to him or stirred him, he did not wake up. Until we got home, that is... As you can see, he LOVED to play with his candy. Also, his friend, Ethan, from upstairs, gave him a few Trick or Treat toys. So, Mommy and Daddy got candy to eat, and Jayden got candy to play with and some toys!! We loved Halloween!!