New Mess

Just when I thought he was done playing with the dog dishes...he discovered how to climb in and REALLY get into it. I had to move the water dish b/c he decided to use it to clean the floor. After I moved it he found the hole he could climb in. He thought it was great...until he couldn't get out. :)

These pics were taken just before we left for Idaho. Those pics are next.

My Easter Bunny

Yes, I'm back from Idaho.

Yes, it's been awhile since I've blogged.

Yes, I have many many pictures to blog.

Yes, I will be spending hours in the next few days blogging...but until then...I HAD to share with everyone what the Easter Bunny brought me.

The Bug and I got back home late Saturday night after a VERY LONG day of flying. Shayne picked us up at the Kenai Airport and after putting The Bug to bed (wasn't hard, he fell asleep in the car...it was a VERY LONG day of flying) Shayne showed me what the Easter Bunny had been working on at our house.

I was sooooo excited! This is the "utility" room at our house. It has our furnace and hot water heater...and now it has shelves for storage!!

For anyone who's been in our home, they know there is ZERO storage area. No closets. No drawers. No little nooks. Nothing.

Welcome to a typical old Alaskan home. They are weird...I mean unique. :)

So for me...THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL!! Shayne quickly organized what was already in there, but I have BIG plans for this room. My kitchen is going to LOVE this room, b/c it means I can empty some cupboards in the kitchen and put the things on the counters in those cupboards.

I am seriously so incredibly excited about this room.

The Easter Bunny worked very hard while I was gone. And...he did a phenomenal job!!

I love the Easter Bunny...

A Lot.

I know...I know...

It's been awhile since I've posted...and for me that's just craziness. I've become the blogging queen the last few months. However, I think I've taken 5 pics of my kid since the last post...again...Craziness!

I do have good reason. I'm insane.

For whatever reason I volunteered to help coordinate the boys & girls Regions Basketball Tournament that was held at Skyview this year. This was a HUGE endeavor! For the last 3 months, I've been writing letters to get sponsor money, going business to business to get advertisement money, and helping to coordinate all the concessions and hospitality room "stuff".

The tournament was held March 4-6th and I spent about 15 hours a day at the gym during those three days. Shayne watched The Bug most of the time, but he had games some of the time, so during those times I had him on my back in the backpack. The poor kid took naps in the backpack, had lunch in the backpack, and just chilled in the backpack, while I worked concessions and ran back and forth to the hospitality room.

It was craziness for three days. It is such a good thing he is such a good boy. He very seldom complained. And...he became such a daddy's boy...which his daddy was LOVING!

On Friday, I told Shayne that The Bug couldn't do another 10-12 hour day at the gym, so Karen Jones watched him for a few hours so he could take a real nap and play with toys and not be in the backpack or in the gym. She was a life saver for us that day!

Saturday was even more hectic, b/c The Bug decided to wake up at 3:00 in the morning with a very high fever, and if you've read past posts, you know he can have seizures if his temp gets too high. So, we were up for over an hour cooling him off, waiting for the medication to kick in so we could put him back to bed. He ended up taking a four hour nap later that day, while either Shayne & I stayed with him at home. He didn't have a cold and we ran him into the ER real fast just to have one of the Doc's peek in his ear's and they were fine. He did however, pop through his two bottom eye teeth the next day. Ya...all that fevering for teeth. Sheesh!

Shayne had to fly to Vegas late Saturday night for 5 day ER conference. I was supposed to fly to Idaho to visit family and attend KayCee's wedding the following Monday night, but I was flying on a buddy/standby pass and it didn't work out on Monday. The flights were too full. So we tried on Tuesday, but with the 15" of snow we had received over about 3 days it created avalanches on the road to Anchorage so the road was closed. It didn't matter anyway, the flights were full...again. So, Shayne told me to just wait until he got home and then we would both fly to Idaho for KayCee's wedding on the 20th...on the buddy passes.

But...that isn't working either...the flights are all full. So, now I've purchased a ticket with flyer miles and The Bug and I are flying down to Idaho by ourselves on Saturday, the 20th, just in time for KayCee's wedding. Shayne isn't able to go for lots of reasons...and that's sad for me. I'll be down there for about 2 weeks, spending time with both of our families, which will be fun. Shayne being here in Alaska...NOT fun, at least for me.

But...it is what it is.

So, that's why I haven't posted in almost a month. I've been a little preoccupied. (Did I mention that The Bug also woke up this morning at 1am and started throwing up every 20 minutes until 3am? Then woke up again around 7am and threw up again? Ya...been a fun day for me!)

But...the basketball tournament was a HUGE success! And...IT'S OVER!!!

The Bug didn't throw up at all after 7:30 this morning...Another success!

And...it's been getting up into the high 40's...so our snow is melting!

I love tender mercies.

So...that's our story for the last month. Hopefully, I'll take some fun pics while in Idaho and post them when I get back.

If not...I'm sure Shayne will be fishing while I'm gone...he should have some good pics to post. :)

Shayne's Boys

Saturday, Feb. 13th was Senior night at Skyview High School. Normally, I wouldn't post pics of senior night, but this one was different...especially for Shayne.

These are Shayne's boys. These three boys were freshman the year Shayne started coaching at Skyview. He was their C-team coach. He was their first high school coach, and they were his first group of basketball boys. He then moved up to be their JV coach...and even though they are all playing Varsity this year...he's still their "coach". Skyview has, unfortunately, had 3 different head coaches in 4 years. But...Shayne has been part of the coaching staff for all four of those years, so he's been the one consistent thing for those boys. As a result...these boys love Shayne, and Shayne loves them.

For Senior night, they recognized these three boys, and they each wrote up a little diddy about their basketball experiences. Shayne was mentioned in every single one of those boys' write up. The head coach this year, also asked Shayne to write up a little something about these boys, b/c he knew how much he loved these boys. It was pretty cool to hear it all that night.

Shayne was pretty choked up during the whole thing, and had been dreading this night for the entire season. This might be shocking to some of you, but it just shows you how much he loves coaching and how much time and emotion he puts into these boys.

I got choked up too, b/c these group of boys are pretty dang amazing. Cameron (blond in the middle) always makes sure to come out and play ball with The Bug while he's doing his pre-game warm up, and always gives "five" whenever he sees us. Joe (shortest, far right) is The Bug's unofficial "godfather". Seriously...demanded to be the godfather, even though we explained we don't have those in the LDS church. He stops by our house to just chat, and hangs out with The Bug as well. We are good friends with his family as well. Chad (tallest, far left) has always been the quiet polite one, with wicked elbows under the basket.

Anyway...a really good group of kids. We are sad to see them go, but know they will do great things.

The last two pics are of The Bug playing with the head coaches little boy, Eli. I don't get to watch much of the game, but I'm entertained by The Bug interacting with the people around us. He's pretty much the most adorable toddler you've ever seen at a basketball game. The purple "Jordan" outfit might help, but still...adorable!

Brush Teeth

Last Sunday I was attempting to get ready for church but The Bug wanted some attention. So, I grabbed him and put him in the sink to chill for a bit. He promptly grabbed dad's toothbrush (I obviously thought grabbing dad's was better than mom's), and then just chilled in the sink. I told Shayne to grab the camera and while Shayne was taking some pics...he managed to turn on the water and soak his pants. Shocking huh? You think we would have pulled him out of the sink BEFORE he turned on the water, but when you have photo opportunities like that you have to take them. :)

In one of the pics he's signing "Brush Teeth". His version of it anyway. :)

Notice the hair cut? Ya...a little short.

He had these beautiful curls that I was loving, but they were getting a little long. So, we decided to cut it. Shayne thought he needed a much shorter haircut and put a #7 guard on instead of a #8, like normal. I am not a big fan. Our poor child has a big head as it is...now with this short hair cut it looks ginormous!

Shayne thinks it looks great...but have you seen Shayne's hair? Ya...me neither! :)

I'm just grateful for the saying, "The only difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is two weeks."

Fun Pics

These are just some fun pics from the first part of February.

I just love the first picture. It shows such a sweet expression and is indicative of our Bug's sweet personality (most of the time anyway).

The second shows how much he loves his daddy. Seriously...gets so excited to see his daddy. He was getting tired and was about ready for a nap. So, while Shayne was checking his email, The Bug decided he wanted to hang out with dad. So, that's what they did...just hung out. I love little moments like that.

The last pics are The Bug with his first bowl and spatula of brownie batter. I'm not normally one to let him have a lot of sugar. It's my weakness (insert: addiction), so I'm trying really hard for him to not be quite so dependent on sugar. However...this is one thing you can't deprive your children of--right? He was in seventh heaven. LOVED the chocolate brownie batter...as evidence from the batter all over his face.

The one thing that made me feel better about all the sugar, is he's not very adept at using the spatula to get the batter out of the bowl, so he pretty much only got what was on the spatula. He loved the whole "idea" of having the bowl though.

Have I mentioned I love toddlers?!

Saying Prayers

Folding his arms to say a prayer

It amazes me every day how observant toddlers are, and how quickly they learn new things. I had tried to show him how to fold his arms when a prayer was being said a few months ago, but he had no desire nor attention span to do it. Then, on New Year's Day when we were at Swanson's for dinner, we were getting ready to say a prayer and while I'm holding him he just all of the sudden folds his arms! It was so funny.

Anyway...now he LOVES to say prayers. He folds his arms for prayers in church, and at home. In fact, we have to say the "food" prayer about 3 or 4 times for each meal. Sometimes after we've said the first prayer and he wants to say another one, he'll fold his arms and start this little mumble sound like he's praying. It is the cutest thing ever. If you say "prayer" he immediately folds his arms for prayer...and he'll leave them folded until he hears the word "amen".

The other thing he's been doing for about 1 1/2 months now, is saying "Jesus" when he sees a picture of him. I can't describe what it sounds like, but it is unmistakably the word "Jesus". And...he can look at any picture of Him and know it's Jesus. Seriously, I'm amazed.

I would love to take credit for all of this, but I can't. He pretty much came to Shayne and I like this.

Really, he did. We are so lucky. :)

The other pics are of him loving a pair of my gloves. He was very into them for about a week. He would ask to put them on, and then walk around for about half an hour playing with them on. Sometimes he would find my beanie and put that on too. So, here's this little munchkin walking around with my pink beanie and lime green gloves. Pretty comical.

I love toddlers!!