It's a...

BOY!

Six Years Ago Today...

Pardon the Post Drought...

Ok, so a month ago our camera died... and apparently I can't post without pics - ha ha

So, in the meantime, please enjoy this HILARIOUS skit by Conan O'Brien entitled "A Song for the Mormons" - it just cracks me up!

In Loving Memory

Gram holding Colton at 6 weeks

My dear, sweet, Great-Grandma Wike passed away yesterday at the age of 96. She lived such a wonderful and full life. I love her so much! I'm so grateful that Colton got a chance to get to know her too. How many kids can say they knew their Great-Great Grandma?

On Sunday we went to her house and said goodbye. While I knew her passing was for the best and definitely her time, I wasn't prepared at how emotional it was to say that last goodbye. This did give us a wonderful opportunity to teach Colton a little about our purpose here on this Earth and what happens when we die. I am so grateful for the plan of salvation and for my knowledge of it. I can't imagine going through all the ups and downs of this life without an understanding of why.

Some of my favorite memories of Grandma Wike are going to her house once a week all through my childhood and eating lunch with her. (And with my Great-Great Grandma Francom - she didn't pass until I was 5). She always lived in the same house and some of my earliest memories are actually driving in the car on the way to her house. She made the BEST Fried Chicken! Also, she was a Grandma in every sense of the word... you could almost get away with murder while at her house!

We Love You Grandma Wike!

4 Generations

Halloween 2009

This year was so much fun with Colton! He's the perfect age to enjoy Halloween, without being too scared. Of course this year he went as Thomas so we dressed up Seth as "Sir Topham Hat"... however a few people thought he was Abraham Lincoln - Ha Ha

Seth is such a good sport... always letting me dress him up!
Hanging out at the Trunk or Treat


My entry for the pumpkin carving contest (not the best pic)

My 4th Annual "Colton Pumpkin"... I wasn't very happy with how it turned out. My sister, Emily and another guy from our ward thought it was Barack O'Bama! Ha Ha

Excuse the poor lighting... but hearing Colton's voice is so cute!

The Joys of the Unknown

“A testimony is to be found in the bearing of it. Somewhere in your quest for spiritual knowledge, there is that ‘leap of faith,’ as the philosophers call it. It is the moment when you have gone to the edge of the light and step into the darkness to discover that the way is lighted ahead for just a footstep or two.” -- President Boyd K. Packer

I love this quote and have been thinking about it a lot lately, not in relation to a testimony but in relation to having faith in the Lord and His timing. We feel kind of like we're in limbo right now... our way forward is only lighted in terms of months right now and while that is not how I prefer things (I like to plan ahead) I know that I have no control over it. Heavenly Father does and I know that he is aware of us and our needs. Seth received a blessing from my dad a few weeks ago. In that blessing he was told that Heavenly Father was aware of him and his family and that it takes time to "get all the right things into place" for a job for Seth.

While work for Seth might be up in the air and our finances are down to the bare minimum there is one thing we know for certain... come May 2010 we'll be welcoming another child into our home! Yes, I/we were shocked... after all this time and we got pregnant on our own??? Of course we are thrilled and then the all-day sickness started setting in - still happy just wish I could be more excited through the throwing up! I know it's taboo to tell people during the first trimester but it's hard to hide it when it feels like you suddenly dropped off the face of the world.

Hopefully this post will also get me back into blogging again - at least on the good days :)

He Did What?!

It's taken me 3 days to be able to post this... 2 days to think it was funny and 1 day to procrastinate.

Sunday was Stake Conference in our new stake. Our ward was assigned the 9am session so Seth left an hour early to get us seats in the chapel (we hoped). Colton does so much better when we're sitting in pews; he's more contained. Unfortunately there were no more seats (even at 8:00) so we were sitting in the first overflow area - 2 rows behind the big aisle.

About 30 min or so into the conference Colton slipped between the chairs in front of us and stood in the aisle way of the chapel. I got up to get him and instead of just going out the side door he ran all the way across the back part of the chapel. At that point he could see me coming so he took off down the side aisle, headed straight for the stand. Of course I'm still in the back (feeling mortified) and I realized that if he saw me coming he would probably keep going - So I hid behind the entrance-way and peeked around the corner just in time to see him running across the front aisle (in front of the speaker). He turned the corner to come back up the aisle (towards where we were sitting) and about half-way up I came out from my hiding place to snatch him up. He took one look at me and raced back towards the stand and to my SHOCK and HORROR ran up onto the stage/stand. There was a youth choir sitting up there and he managed to get a few rows into the choir loft. He found a pretty young girl and then sat on her lap!

I had no choice but to walk up onto the stand and get him down. As I was walking up all I could think was "Don't trip!" My face was about as red as it could get. Oh and the speaker (during this whole time) was speaking about teaching our families in our homes i.e. family home evening, family scripture time etc... I had to sit on the stand, next to the speakers, in order to get close enough to him and the young woman had to carry him over a few rows to hand him to me.

Needless to say we walked straight out the side door and if I had had my keys with me we probably would have kept walking all the way to the car. I was so mad I couldn't speak and I'm sure Colton could sense it so he just looked up at me and said, "Sorry mommy." I'm sure that nothing I said sank in and if given the chance he'd do it again.

All I could think was Queen Creek North Stake, meet Colton Traeger! You'll get to know him pretty well while we're living here and yes things like this seem to happen a lot when Colton is around.

Well, the rest of conference was pretty smooth. The Stake President got up to give the final talk and much to my dismay spoke about "the little boy and his mother who had to get him down from the stage..." I can't remember much after that - I was hoping that no one knew who we were or where we were sitting. He did mention though that he was the same way as a child except for that his clothes probably had grass stains on it from wrestling in the grass after church. He thanked all the parents for bringing their children :)

In case you're wondering Colton was not harmed after church, but only because another speaker asked us to "leave conference better than we came!"

First Day of School!

I can't believe I'm typing this... We just sent Colton off for his first day of school (pre-school) and on a BUS no less! AAGHH! He's only 3! As soon as the bus pulled away I started bawling! Good thing Seth was here to comfort me!

One thing that helped, though, was that Colton was VERY excited to ride the bus. When the bus pulled up he RAN to it (while we're yelling to not run into the street!) And, of course, here are a gazillion pictures of it all!He walked right outside and sat down on the sidewalk to wait for the busAt one point, he got tired of waiting so he just started walking down the sidewalk!

Now I can't wait for him to come home and tell me all about his fun day!

We're Alive!

Barely!

Ha Ha - Actually we're doing just fine everyone is happy and healthy... July was a crazy month and it has spilled over into August. We had 4 family birthday's to celebrate, (Yeah, October is a good month to get pregnant in for our family) 2 Road Trips and LOTS of MOVING details to get straight. We're officially moving out on Wednesday (8/12) - we're moving in with my mom. (Yes, it's a good thing :))

Here's some pictures of our recent adventures:

4th of July

For the 4th we took a day trip to Willow Springs and enjoyed some fishing with my sister's family and my dad.

Colton really enjoyed fishing and just being outdoors - he's all boy!

The men relaxing! (While the women kept the kids out of the water!)

When it started to rain we decided to head home and on our way back we stopped at a lookout point and Christopher Creek

Colton - about to throw a rock at me!

Maddie's Birthday
We celebrated Maddie's 6th Birthday at my dad's.

Take a deep breath!

Watching Lane

My sister-in-law Anna is a real-life nurse now so we got to watch Lane a few days a week. Colton is so cute with Lane - it gives me hope that he'll be nice to a brother or a sister (no, not yet)

Colton's Birthday

Colton, actullay made it to his 3rd birthday without one trip to the ER! I really didn't think that was going to be possible, but he did it! Since December, he's been fascinated with trains. So I found some wood track (that worked with what he had already) on Craig's List and refinished them so that they all looked the same (and you can tell his apart).

The night before I set it up and put a blanket over it so it would be a surprise.
Believe it or not, this isn't even all of the track - I was able to get all of these pieces for less than 20 bucks! (I love a good deal!)

We celebrated his Birthday at my sister's house so all the kids could use their BIG water slide. They had a lot of fun and Colton LOVED all of his presents!My Birthday

I spent a few days at my mom's to get things ready for our move-in and Seth and Colton were going to meet me there on my birthday. To my surprise, though when I arrived at my mom's I found a cleaning crew there! My sister-in-law, Stacy, paid to have the house cleaned so that I wouldn't have to do anything but relax for the 2 days I was there all by myself! My mom felt bad for leaving me on my birthday. I told her, "I am a 32 year mother with a husband and 3 year old son. What does anyone in that position want for their birthday? PEACE and QUIET!" It was the best!While they were alone, Seth took Colton on the light rail in downtown Phoenix! He LOVED IT!

Saying Goodbyes

With our move to Queen Creek, we won't be going to the same Speech and Occupational Therapists, so this was his last week with Miss Brandy and Miss Pam. They were so wonderful for Colton and for Seth and I. Colton's been with Brandy for over a year now - before he could even talk! He's made so much progress with their help!

Miss Brandy (Colton looks so panged in this picture because he wanted me to leave - even he needs some "alone time")

Miss Pam

Finally, we said goodbye to the Sunburst ward today. Specifically to Colton's nursery leader, Sister Seamans. She's been so good to Colton and we look forward to meeting up with her at the Mesa Temple so she and Colton can hang out!

Then & Now

We got to take a day trip to visit the Grand Canyon yesterday. Yes, it was my first time to "visit" the Grand Canyon - how shocking for a native Arizonan! It was beautiful - very breathtaking - and of course now I want to go back so we can do some of the hikes.


The reason, though for our trip was not just to see the Grand Canyon, but more importantly to meet up with a family from Toronto. We got very close to the Ardelean Family while we were in Toronto and when we heard they were going to the Grand Canyon, we knew we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them. So, we headed out at 6 in the morning and got back last night around 8:30. Yes, it was a long day but very well worth it!

Here's a picture with the Ardelean family on our last Sunday at church:


And here we are almost 2 years later:

(From L-R: Colton, Seth, Becky, Christine, Andre, Kalan & Dragos)

The great thing was that it didn't feel like any time had passed at all - except for how much taller Dragos and Kalan are.

Colton also did great with the drive and all the stopping and "looking" - we couldn't have asked for a better trip!

Happy Father's Day

One more thing...

Today was just one of those days with Colton. He was either whining about not getting something he wanted, or he was trying to do things to get in trouble... yep, just an average day with Colton. (Oh and we've been working on potty-training so he was totally naked at this point).

Well, I'm a little embarassed to admit it, but around 5pm when I had absolutely had it, I looked at him and said, "That's it Colton, I'm going to spank your buns!" and then I added, "Are you trying to make me spank you?" At this point, he's got his hands covering his bum and he looks at me and says, "No, I trying to hide my buns."

Oh, I just started laughing and he ran around the room with hands on his bum screaming, "Hide my buns! Hide my buns! Hide my buns!"

Diamond Backs Game!

Thanks to our brother-in-law, Lincoln, we got to take Colton to his first baseball game! I wish I could have captured the look on his face as we walked in -- he was in awe! The seats were great! 3rd row in the right field. Thankfully we brought enough snacks and treats to keep Colton in his seat through the 5th inning!
All the boys! Seth is holding Lane, Anna and Lincoln's six month old son.

Swimming Lessons

Well, after a rough start... 7 days to be exact -- Colton finally likes swimming lessons! Somehow I pictured it going a lot smoother than it did, but with only 2 lessons left, he finally did it all without crying.

The problem, we found out, had nothing to do with the lesson part, it was having to hold on to the wall while the teacher took the other kids (one at a time) out into the water to practice by themselves. Colton H-A-T-E-D that part. All he would do was cry and occasionally pull himself up and out of the pool.

But, we kept going back everyday and I would sit as close to the pool as I could (about 25 ft away) and CRINGE for a half an hour. The funny part was that he didn't cry when we would get to the pool or even as we waited for his class to start - not until he had to hold on to the side. (Which, by the way, I can totally understand - but he needed to learn, right?)Each day as we waited for class to start I would ask him if he could laugh or blow bubbles instead of crying and he would just look at me and say, "No, mommy, I cry" -- like that's just how it's going to be so you better get used to it.

I'm glad we didn't quit since the second to last day he got in like normal, but this time not one peep! I think he was actually LAUGHING during part of it. I made sure it wasn't a fluke - sure enough the next day he was loving it again. So, I signed him up for two more sessions.Oh this kid of ours! We should know by now that nothing new is easy, but it's usually worth it!

Answered Prayers

Throughout the whole process of deciding on school, moving back to Arizona, being in school and now graduating without a job, we know that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. There has never been a doubt that this is where we needed to be. Before coming to Thunderbird, we prayed and felt good about the decision and even though we didn't know how the economy was going to end up, Heavenly Father did. So, even now, without a job, there are no doubts.

The great thing is that we've come by this faith through many other past experiences. Deciding to serve a mission, where to go to school, if Seth/Becky was the right one to marry, moving to Toronto, etc... All of these decisions came from prayer and while they might not have been easy, we know we are much happier than we would have otherwise been. We've been able to have so many wonderful experiences that we would not have had without exercising faith in our Father in Heaven.

We are so excited for our friends that have found jobs. We know that we'll find a job too -- Heavenly Father will answer our prayers; in His own time and in His own way.