Five

Yep, we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary on Friday, October 23rd, although from the space between us in the picture below you'd think we had known each other five days :)

Tyler's sister Breann and her husband Tony came and watched the kids for the weekend while Tyler and I escaped to Seaside, Oregon. (Bre and Tony's report here.) We found a great hotel, Rivertide Suites, which we liked so much we took our picture with it below. If you're going to Seaside anytime soon, check it out.

We had lunch at a charming restaurant right off the beach front Promanade and then snagged some salt water taffy to take back to the kids...

But my favorite activity of all was walking the beach with my best friend. The only bummer to our trip is that I got sick last week and wasn't feeling so great even by Friday, so I basically layed around a lot Friday and Saturday morning recuperating. Tyler took great care of me, getting me whatever I needed/wanted, and wouldn't let me even start feeling bad that I had tainted our weekend away by getting sick. He is truly the kindest, most sincere, loving, and handsomest man I know! Seriously, how could I not love this guy with my whole heart???

It's hard to believe that in the last five years we went from this young couple riding bikes on the Provo Trail....

To the happiest, "my cheeks hurt because I can't stop smiling" couple ever married at the Mount Timpanogos Temple!

We've had a few diplomas on the way...

But by far the most fun and most challenging additions to the last five years would be this:

and this.

I've loved the last five years of my life and I love my husband. The end.

It Won't Be Like This For Long

Last night I ran to the store after dinner, and when I returned this is what I found on the couch:

This is actually a pretty common occurrence, especially on nights when I work and it's just Tyler home with the kiddos. Lydia loves to "rest her eyes" with her daddy, and I love to see the two of them snuggled up together sleeping peacefully. Seeing the two of them last night made me think of this song:

My thoughts exactly.

Happiness is....

...seeing the look of complete pride and joy on Luke's face when realized he could climb up and stand on top of the toilet. I must add that he had a pair of underwear around his neck at the time, since he puts anything he finds over his head and/or around his neck. If only I would have had a camera to capture the moment. This will have to suffice.

Sadness is what Luke experienced after I took him out of the bathroom and shut the door because he kept climbing up on the toilet any time I put him down. Even after he fell off the toilet. Twice.

Signs

First off, I know I've been posting a lot lately, but don't expect the trend to continue. I'm sure I'll soon revert back to once every two or three weeks. Just thought I'd throw that out there; the pressure of frequent blog posting is too much for me!

Lydia has been terrified of fighter jets ever since the Hillsboro Air Show, which was at least six weeks ago. The Thunderbirds flew right over our house (I believe they were F-15 bombers) and were super duper loud, like shake the windows loud. Lydia happened to be asleep the first time they made a pass by our house and she bolted out of her room, ran screaming to me and collapsed into the fetal position at my feet, covering her ears. I then had to spend 45 minutes with my hands over her ears as they practiced their passes over our house. She cried at least half of that 45 minutes even though I was holding her. She was traumatized, to say the least.

Fast forward to the present. Lydia would start talking about the fighter jets and how they came in her room and were loud every morning when I opened her door. She would talk about them as were were in the car running errands. She talked about them at the dinner table. I decided I'd had enough with the fighter jet preoccupation. I borrowed a little trick from my parents, which they used to banish my childhood nemesis from bothering me (my preoccupation was with big blue monsters from California, not fighter jets.) With Lydia dictating, I made a sign and stuck it on her door.

The morning after we put the sign up, I went to get her out of bed and she said, "Mom! The fighter jets didn't come! They saw my sign and they stayed away!" (Probably from repulsion of the hideous artwork :) Needless to say, I was overjoyed that it seemed to work. We're several days out from the posting of the sign, and while there have been random mentions of fighter jets, it's nowhere near the level it used to be. Thank goodness for Sharpies, pink construction paper, and a great idea from Grandma and Grandpa!

Deals of the Week

I love getting a great deal on something. When you find something you like, and it's super cheap, it's like a double bonus!!! It's too bad that I don't play the lottery because I'm feeling lucky this week. Here are my finds:

1. Bar stools for the island. I found these at Goodwill for between $5-$9 each. Considering that one new bar stool at Freddy's is $30, I was pretty happy to find these. I even managed to strap Luke's high chair fairly securely onto one!

2. These adorable shoes for Luke. I found these at Goodwill for $3, and they appeared to have never been worn before and made by some fancy-schmancy French company. (Of course, Luke scuffed them up in the first 10 minutes of wearing them.) I got home and looked up the label, and these babies sell for $55-65 a pair. Again, getting something that I love for an amazing price makes me love them even more!!!

#3. Our corner entertainment center, which I have been on the lookout for for months. It was basically impossible for us to find an entertainment center that would fit in the corner and still house a TV large enough for Tyler's liking that didn't cost an arm and a leg. My sister-in-law Melissa was going to build us one, but I saw this pop up on Craigslist two days ago--custom built out of maple, never been used, would fit in our corner like a glove and house the size of TV we want. What's more, the lovely older couple selling it had received it as a donation for their foundation fundraiser auction and it didn't sell, so they were selling it for an AMAZING price just to get it out of their garage. I can't tell you how happy I am about this find!!!

Now, does anyone know where I can get a great deal on a 46" flat screen TV? Lydia is tired of dancing in the TV space to entertain us!

My Project is Done! (almost)

For the last several weeks I've been working on a home improvement project. My sister-in-law Melissa gave me the idea to build a kitchen island/bar in our breakfast nook to give me more counter and cupboard space. I had fun figuring out how to do it and I learned a lot of what NOT to do on my next project. Here's what I started with and what I ended up with!

I bought a table off Craigslist for $30, took it apart, and sanded it down for the counter top, instead of paying $300 for a real butcher-block counter top.

I bought two separate base cabinets that were pretty inexpensive and scuff sanded them, then primed them with spray primer.

After screwing the cabinets together, I tried to get an idea of what the finished product would look like.

Painting the cabinets to match my kitchen cabinets. Lydia loved to "help" me. Notice the ketchup bottle--that was the "paint" she wanted to use. We settled on giving her a few paper plates and some blue glue stick to paint the plates with.

The lucky recipient of the new bar/island.

A few views of the finished product. I haven't added the hardware yet, and eventually it'll be repositioned a bit once we finish a few more home improvement projects and move some rooms around, but you get the general idea.

I still have to clean out the bottom of the cabinets (as well as the garage, tools, my house.....)

I'm happy it's done and Tyler is happy that the garage will be back to normal! I think it will work well for what we need. I just have to find bar stools now and it'll be ready to use! Lydia and Luke have already initiated it by spilling milk on the cabinets and smearing nectarine on the counter top. Nice!!!

Happy Belated Birthday Luke!!!

Luke turned one on September 14^th. Yes, I realize that was over two weeks ago, but I figured you all might enjoy a few tidbits from his birthday celebration even though it’s belated. We had cupcakes that evening, and as you can see in the progression of pictures, although he didn’t really eat much of his cupcake he made a pretty good mess like a little one-year-old boy should.

Here's Luke's reaction after he'd had some time to play with his food.

Lastly, Luke's favorite birthday present, his big-boy car seat.

He enjoyed riding front-facing on our trip to Pendleton a few days after his birthday. We went to the Pendleton Round-Up rodeo, which was very fun, and my parents came up from Fruitland so the kids got to have both sets of grandparents there to spoil them. For some reason I failed to take any pictures while we were there, so you'll just have to take my word that it was a great trip. The kids were sad to say goodbye to their grandmas and grandpas and return home with their grouchy, mean parents!

I love my little man. He has a smile that lights up the whole room. He is very loving and still cuddles with me when he's tired, which I enjoy very much. Every evening when Tyler walks through the door Luke gets a huge smile on his face and runs to his daddy, hugging his legs. He loves to jibber-jabber all day long. He can say a few words now: mom, uh-oh, go, dog, car, and just yesterday he started saying daddy. (Granted, you have to be familiar with his jabbering to pick out the words, but they are there.) He routinely tries to kill himself or maim his body in some way, but I love his energy and his happy disposition. Happy one year Lukey-Dukey!!!