Twilight - the Movie!

(I had to post something - and we've been under the weather around here - ENJOY!)

I Think I'm Going to be Sick!

That game was just awful! I mean I HATE the Sterns and I HATE that Popovich keeps pulling out the "hack-a-Shaq" - come on already Pop and play basketball!!!!!!! BUT the Suns lost that one all on their own! How can we play this badly in the playoffs?! We scored 35 points in the 1st quarter and then we just crapped out! No points from Barbosa AND Hill?! We cannot play for only one half and hope to win the game! If I wasn't logging the game, I would've stopped watching!

Ok, I'm starting to feel better now...

It takes 4 wins (not 2). I still believe the Suns have it in them to do this - I hope this fires them up!

I know this series isn't over!

(I bet some of you didn't realize how into Basketball I can get?)

Our Week in Pictures

4 Moms + 7 Kids + 4 Strollers = 1 Exciting Time at the Zoo!

Thank you Chava and Beth for having Wendy and I (and our kiddies) as your guests! It was a great adventure and nice to see the zoo one more time before it really heats up!

Colton has become obsessed with fixing things! Here he is working on the stroller (trying to figure out how the break works - yeah he figured it out pretty quick!) One time I came in and he was on his back looking up at it, just like a mechanic would do... he is definitely smarter than we realize!

Emily and my mom (along with the kids) came out to see us on Friday. We went swimming and had a great time! Here is Parker doing an amazing cannonball (which yes, I did teach him how to do correctly) :)

Isn't being a kid during the summer the best?!

This week we also learned that Colton really likes baseball - at least the bat and ball anyways! Thanks to my friend Brianne (who blogged about this idea awhile ago), I knew the best way to make a homemade tee was from a milk jug. Here is Colton perfecting his swing.

Here's a video that Seth took of Colton setting up the "tee" - in it you can see why we have to keep the bat up sometimes.

Yesterday, I was trying to keep Colton up a little later than usual so that when he went down for his nap it would be during the Suns game so that both Seth and I could watch it together (see this post regarding our TV situation).

I gave him a cookie after lunch so that he would stay up a little longer... this is what I found 5 minutes later:

I was laughing so hard! I put him right down to bed and I'm happy to report that he slept until halfway through the 4th quarter of the game! Woo-Hoo! At which point we all went over to the club house to finish watching the game... Wasn't it a heartbreaker though? AGH! At one point I screamed and hit the couch (I was so into the game) and Colton looked right at me and did the same thing! It was pretty funny - they are always watching us!

How much can be fit into one weekend?

A LOT!

It was such a BUSY weekend that I needed all of yesterday just to recuperate (well as much as you can with Colton). We celebrated 2 Birthdays, attended 2 baby blessings, played in a Basketball tournament, and gave a presentation to potential Thunderbird students!











Here we are, rooting on Daddy. His team lost in the second round, but the good news is that they played well and were good sports!



Colton and I left Seth's BBall game to go to Mesa for my Great-Grandmother's 94th Birthday!

My Grandma Wike is so great, I have so many wonderful memories of her and playing at her house when I was growing up! Unfortunately, because of her age she forgets who I am (she tried to introduce me to my uncle Gary at the party - he's known me for 30 years!) but I still love her so much. She always says that her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren are her pride and joy. I know that we feel the same way about her too!

From Grandma's party we rushed back to Glendale and Seth and I gave a presentation to some potential Thunderbird students on "Family Life" at T-Bird... we don't have any pictures, but you can probably imagine what Colton was doing while I was giving my part of the presentation. I reassured these guys that Colton did not go to classes!

On Sunday, we drove to Phoenix for Cooper's baby Blessing. It was great. He slept through most of it but I'm sure Claire will tell him all about it when he's older. Here's the Traeger Family (minus Erin and Ben - we missed you Erin and Ben!)

We left the Luncheon and rushed to Queen Creek to make it for Kinsley's blessing. By this point Colton had had enough! We made it through the blessing and decided that we wouldn't torture him further by making him sit through another sacrament meeting so we went back to my mom's to wait for everyone there. (I'm sad though because I missed my mom and my sister bear their testimonies!) I think we were all so tired at this point that I forgot to take any more pics so I stole these from my sister's blog.


It was also my nephew, Austin's, 3rd Birthday so we celebrated after the blessing. Here he is blowing out the candles... isn't he funny!?

We made it back to Glendale later that night. Dragging our tired feet up the sidewalk but we realized how grateful we are for our families and to be living closer to them, but we also realized that if we stay in Arizona (or return in a few years) we better live more centrally located!!

Then & Now

My friend Jen took pictures of my nieces and nephews on Wednesday... I swiped this one from her blog (http://pettyphotography.blogspot.com/). It's hard to believe that this girl here sleeping peacefully and happy...

... is this same 3 pound 6 ounce baby here:

It was such a scary time for our family. I am so grateful that both Emily and Kinsley have recovered and are doing so well!
Love you MeMe!

I still *DISLIKE* the Jazz...

But very cute to see our Prophet enjoying a date with his wife!

Drastic Times...

Call for Drastic Measures!

Now you see it... Now you don't!

Colton has become obsessed with the TV. Not watching the TV (except for Curious George), but with turning it off and on. He can turn it on and off from the actual power button on the TV, from the power cord switch, by unplugging it directly and, if he could reach it, by the remote control. You can see all of his hand smudges in the picture! Morning noon and night, if we were at home he wanted to be playing with it. One time (seriously only once) I picked him up and let him turn on the VCR (on top of the TV) so he then became obsessed with the all of the VCR buttons and wanted us to hold him up there so that he could play with all of them. It was really starting to get out of control... No matter what I did to turn it off, he knew how to turn it back on.

So, after our long weekend (see previous post) and then subsequent rest, Seth and I decided to move the TV to our bedroom. We did this while Colton was visiting Grandma and Grandpa, so he still has no idea it's in our room - we've been VERY careful not to leave our bedroom door open, or even let him close to the bedroom because if he knows it is in there, he will cry by the door FOREVER! ha ha This is actual footage of his tantrum about 10 min after coming back from Grandma's (this one is pretty mild too - Right Claire? - but it'll also give you an idea of how he throws his tantrums now)

Stay tuned to see if this helps!

Sleep Deprivation!

"Sleep deprivation is a general lack of the necessary amount of sleep. This may occur as a result of sleep disorders, active choice or deliberate inducement such as in interrogation or for torture." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/)


Colton, actively decided, that he no longer needed to sleep.

(Quick Background - since 5 months of age Colton has gone to bed at 7pm and sleeps until 7am or later, with only a few occurences a month - of needing to get up in the middle of the night, usually for a quick sippy cup of milk before he'd go back to bed)

So, last Monday night we found it a little odd that he cried and wouldn't go to sleep until around 8 or 8:15... must just be a freak thing. Tuesday same thing, only he cried until 8:30... maybe he's just needing it darker in his room. Wednesday (put a blanket over his window) still didn't fall asleep until closer to 9. Thursday around 8:30 Seth went into the room to calm him down and he threw up all over Seth and himself. Aahaa! This must be it, this is the reason he's not sleeping, he's sick... Friday morning comes and of course he acts totally well and fine, but since he's done this before I know better and he only gets toast and white grape juice mixed with water for the whole day. And, my mom comes out to visit to keep us company so that we don't go crazy being stuck inside all day. Friday night he again does not fall asleep until 9 or so. However, this night he wakes up again at 1am and stays up until 3:30. I'm exhausted, at this point. He seems to be eating normal again, having his milk and keeping everything down so why won't he sleep! Seth was gone all morning on Saturday so I took Colton to the library to see if we could get some "Curious George" DVD's (the only thing he'll watch on tv - stay tuned for a seperate post regarding the TV). On the way home he fell asleep so I took him straight from the car to his crib and he slept for 3 hours! Allright, this must be it now, he must be willing to sleep again, right? WRONG! Saturday night was the longest night... he never even went to sleep at all until 3 in the morning (we tried everything - things we swore we'd never do like letting him sleep with us and taking him for a drive to get him to fall asleep - but nothing worked!) and then he promptly woke up at 7am! You've got to be kidding me!? At this point I felt like I was losing my mind (I don't do well without sleep) -- THANK HEAVENS FOR MOTHERS! My darling mother came and "kidnapped" Colton so that Seth and I could get a break. She took him until Monday afternoon. In the 24 hours that she had him I got about 18 hours of much needed sleep!

Seth and I (with the clarity that comes from sleep) decided that as much as we hated to do it, it was time to get a "big boy bed" (or at least a "big boy mattress") since his crib could no longer contain him and it was getting dangerous with him climbing out all of the time (or just hanging out on the railing). We also realized that our little boy was testing us big time and we were failing - so we needed to go back and pretend like he was 5 months old all over again and start from the beginning. I took the rest of the week off from work so that we could do this together and so that I wouldn't be stressed out from lack of sleep. I also took him to the doctor this morning and they confirmed that he is just fine - no ear infections, strep throat or new teeth trying to come through!

So, here we are, the second night and I'm happy to report that he only cried for 15 min before falling asleep (it took him over an hour last night and an hour today for his nap). He's not in his bed though, but on the floor by the door (I can see his little hand under the door still) - but we'll take what we can get!

We are so grateful to my mom for coming and taking him (even though I was reluctant) and for my Dad and Emily for helping out. Sunday night they emailed us this picture so that we would know he was allright and doing just fine.


Isn't he such a cutie?