Spiderman! Spiderman! Does whatever a spider can,

Landon found a few old halloween costumes and dress up clothes of his cousins and i couldn't get him to take off this spiderman costume if my life depended on it. He was sooo stinkin funny. He even did karate rolls and kicks. He kept admiring his huge muscles. I'm still laughing about it.

What swine flu looks like

I'm posting things a little backwards, i know. I just keep finding pictures and i wan't to share.

Landon was feeling a little sick (cold sick, not flu sick) around Halloween and we weren't going to take him to our ward Halloween party. Nick and his mom were trying to come up with a costume where he could where a mask so he could go and this is what they came up with.

I'm sure if you looked under a microscope at the swine flu this is what you'd see.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. The first half of the day we spent with the Collins and for some reason i don't have any pictures from that. I think it's because Jeff had his camera out and did a pretty thorough job capturing the day. I did however manage to document the last half of the day. We drove down to Pyuallup to spend the evening with Karina's family in their beautiful new home. It went something like this: Ate food (relish tray), looked at black friday ads, ate more food (the feast), watched movies, ate more food (dessert).

We have so much to be grateful for this year, most especially family.

Mom's gravy... yum...

The feast...

The fam...

Nick was determined to finish his turkey

The aftermath...

Just had to add this one in there cuase he's so dang cute and getting busier everyday

It wasn't all fun though, Landon would not eat all day. Sometimes he's just not interested in eating much so i didn't think much of it. On the way home he threw up all over. It was awful. We had to stop in Kent to clean him up which was miserable trying to strip him down in the back seat on a cold night. Luckily we were in the middle of moving so i had some extra jammies in the car. Poor baby.

What's with the twisting?

So i guess my babies have this thing with twisting and turning while i change their diapers. What's the deal? I think they think it's funny. Landon did it when he was baby and now Grant is following closely in his footsteps. It's not just looking around twisting either this is like the bending backward and arching the back kind of twisting. You'd think that giving him a toy to play with would distract him, maybe for a second. Then, back to twisting. It's kind like a sport. My goal is to get the darn diaper on as quickly as possible and Grant's goal is to turn completely around and start crawling away. Yes, i said crawling... at almost six months. I know, i'm in for it. It's payback for my younger years i'm sure. Luckily, so far team Mom is winning! Can you just see me warming up before each diaper change? Doing my stretches... Good times...

Trials always seem to come in multiples

Life can be stressful. That's just how it is. Your stressed, it passes (usually), your stressed again and so on. Doesn't it just seem like trials seem to come in multiples. Well, it's been our turn and i'm not sure we're finished. I don't want to complain. We have SOOOOO many blessings that we're grateful for. Here's a little of what life has thrown at us these last two months.

Nick was told often by his manager that he'd probably be layed off simply because his manager didn't like him. It got to the point where nick was feeling so harrassed by how inappropriate his manager was being he went to HR. So, he made the plan to go back to school, which i fully support. Getting adjusted to a school schedule, studying, and homework has been a little stressful. I know (hope) we'll get used to it soon once we figure it all out. The really stressful part of it all is how to feed our family and pay the rent. We know he'll find something it's just hard waiting.

Landon has thrown us for a loop. First i must say that i love him! He is so smart, funny, and loving. He really is. It's just that at times this other side comes out. I often wonder if this is really my child acting like this or if some substitute has filled in for the moment. I think he's acting out because of all that is going on in our life as well as a severe lack of sleep. i'm not sure. I have felt at times that i'm failing as a mother. All i've ever wanted to be is a good mom. I read everything i can find and am constantly asking for advice but nothing seems to work so far. After having a wonderful chat with Karina today i've realized i'm not a bad mother. I'm honestly trying my best. Hopefully we'll get past this sooner rather than later. i just hope that either way Landon will grow up knowing that his mom loved him no matter what.

The most trying thing to happen was last week when my mom had a stroke. She's had small stroke's before but nothing like this. When she got to the hospitol she had bleeding in her brain on the right side which caused peralysis on the left side of her body. It was difficult for the whole family. Especially my siblings who live far away. Elaina flew in from Utah the next morning but Lorin wasn't able to. We kept him updated by phone. The bleeding stopped and they moved her out of the ICU the next day. She was doing so well, that the day after that they moved her to the rehab center. I know that all the prayers that were being said for her made all the difference. I definately gained a stronger testimony of prayer through all of this. Tomorrow it will have been a week and she is doing so well. So well in fact she'll be coming home tomorrow. Yay!! We are so excited! There is still a long road ahead but she's pretty amazing. I just love her!!

I know we grow after going through trials but that doesn't really make it any easier to go through them. I guess its nice to know this too shall pass. I really don't think it's coinsidence that quite a few conference talks in the last year have focused on trials or hard times. Don't we all have something at some point? My next post is going to have to be 50 things i'm grateful for.

Daddy and Landon at the Zoo

After Grant was born Nick was so great. He and Landon had a special day at the zoo, along with uncle Timmy. I have no idea what animal this is but Landon says its a goat.
According to Landon this is a Pontopotomus

When i asked him what his favorite animal was that he saw he said the Girraffe

I don't think he got a nap that day, can you tell?

Landon says this is a quenguin

the nest...

Of course you have to get in the nest... Nick and Landon acutally fit inside as well but the pictures turned out a little blurry. I'll just leave that up to your imagination.

I swear this same monkey was hiding under a burlap bag when we went to the Zoo later in the summer. He must be shy.

He must have thought he was on Safari.

He loves Kangaroos

This was such a great day for everyone. They had so much fun on their manly outing and grant and i got to sleep and clean.

First day of School!

Friday was Nick's last day of work and today was his First day of school. It's a little scary to think about how we're going to live but you know what? We're not the first people to go to school while having a family. There are so many resources out there. I just know things will work out. He also had his first day on the job doing video conferencing for EVCC and Western U. Next step, find another job. It seems like a lot to have a family, work, and go to school but there is so much variety to a day it should be exciting. Nick has been fun to watch as school has been approaching. He's already read part way through both his chemistry and his trig book. What a geek!! Isn't it great? I really love to see him so excited about something other than how to defeat the other alliances in his computer games. I'm sure there will be some of that still but a little balance is a good thing.
Landon got to start school today with Mom. He's been just as excited as Dad. Everytime Dad got school supplies he needed to as well. He sat pretty well at his activity table while we talked about ABC's, the weather, and the days of the week, we colored, did flash cards, played, and read books. What a full morning! What fun! i just wonder how he'll react as we keep doing it and he realizes we're not really playing school but we're really going to be learning things everday. I think he'll be game, i'll keep you posted.
Grant didn't know what to think about school today. At first he was totally in to it watching Landon and I. Then he realized the attention wasn't being directed at him and decided to let us know how he felt about that. It'll be interesting to see how i can do school with Landon while entertaining the peanut.