2012 Family Pictures

My cousin Kade Schank took our family pictures and they turned out beautiful. It's really hard to take pictures with a baby and a 2 year-old, but totally worth it. These are the only professional pictures I've had taken of Greyson. The poor middle child inevitably gets neglected right? Here are some of my favorites and now I can finally hang some pictures in our home (that we've lived in for 10 months now).

Road Trip

So I'm a little crazy and decided it would be fun to take the kids on a road trip by myself. We drove like 1500 miles in 5 days and spent almost an entire day in the car. Luckily I had a lot of help and I have great kids. They did awesome in the car. Thank goodness for DVD players. They are lifesavers for sure. We left Wednesday afternoon and drove to Utah with my cousin Amy to see Grandma and Grandpa Adams and Uncle Garrett. Thursday we went to Temple Square and the City Creek Mall all afternoon. I promised Raegan we would go see the Temple which of course she kept calling a castle. We met up with Lisa and Adalynn, Jenny, Mason, and Logan, Scott, and we even got to see Heather and Whit for a little bit. It is so hard to take a picture of a 2 year old and a baby who can crawl. It's even harder to take a pictures of 3 kids under the age of 4 (we tried all 5 kids at one point but that didn't work at all). Grandma bribed them with some Coke which helped.

(don't worry, Grandma has a hold of his legs) Adalynn (almost 3), Mason (4), Raegan

Later that night we went and saw Aunt Whitney and Uncle Cody's new house (so nice) and then we went out to dinner to celebrate Grandma Adams' 50th (or was it her 30th) birthday. I forgot to take a picture though. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Friday we left for the second half of our trip and drove to Las Vegas with Garrett. I was so excited to see Jamie and Andy. We miss them a lot and they were so nice to let us crash there for the weekend. We met up with the Kelvington's and went to Cafe Rio (I so wish we had one in Reno - best deal for your money hands down) and Neilson's. The kids did not want to go to sleep that night after sleeping a lot in the car and did not sleep very long (Greyson woke at 5:45). But we were determined to have a good time so Saturday we went to the mall where we saw some bunnies and played on the escalator. Later we went and got lunch and played at the park. Then we went home and dyed Easter eggs. This was my favorite part of the trip. Raegan and Sammy are too cute. It took them a little while to get used to one another (Sammy: "Raegan, Stop Talking!") but then they played together great. Just like old times.

There are bunnies in there.

Remember last year when we died Easter Eggs. Well Raegan didn't disappoint this year either. She seriously loves to eat vinegar. And not just a little bit. She just kept dipping her finger in and licking it over and over again. I know, Ewww! On the trip home Uncle Garrett picked out some salt and vinegar chips. Raegan didn't eat a single one, but she did suck the salt and vinegar off each and every chip. Gross!

Greyson is such a good baby. Have I said that before? He and Reese were content to crawl around the house and kept themselves pretty entertained. Saturday night the kids were soooo tired. They were asleep at 8 and slept all night. Jamie and I even got to go to the grocery store by ourselves (doesn't happen often enough). And Sunday morning we stopped by Blake and Courtney's for a few minutes and played with their lizard Lorenzo. Raegan really like him. We got home to Fallon and had a wonderful Easter dinner and even a little egg hunt. It was great to finally see Daddy again. We missed him a lot. Overall it was a tiring trip, but totally worth it. Thanks to everyone for helping us out (especially you, Andy!). I'm so glad we went!

Boys...

Greyson is 100% boy (except he has a very girly scream). He is just so... active. And now he has the bumps and bruises to prove it. I remember Raegan always had little bruises on her head too, but not quite like Greyson's. His are very impressive. I'm pretty sure he's going to have at least one big bruise on his head at all times until he's 5 (or 18). And soon he'll start getting them in other places, probably his shins like Raegan.

Typical collection of bruises (probably 3 or 4 different ones). Most common causes I've seen are doors, cupboards, and Raegan of course.

Here he also has a small scratch on his nose and a good mark on his eye. Don't know where they came from though.

Here you can see the start of my favorite bruise so far. See the line down the middle of his forehead that looks like a vein. It's not. It's from walking along the bookshelf. He slipped and smacked face first into the vertical part. Ouch!

And here's what it looks like today. Man was it hard to get a picture of it. It's a pretty good bump though. It's even darker than that in real life. I'm just hoping the kid never breaks a bone. I'm not feeling particularly confindent.

Here are a few bonus pics. This one is just cool because I caught Raegan dropping the toy with my crappy camera.

Not a great picture of me, but I don't take very many of myself with the kids. Plus he's cute enough for the both of us.

Awesome Videos

Here is a short video of Raegan singing. I'm hoping all kids sing like this and it doesn't indicate that she has inherited my singing ability (or lack thereof). If so oh well, it's still super duper cute. Can you tell what song she's singing? Good for you if you can. She sings this song constantly and usually very very loudly. She also sings her ABC's, Ring Around the Rosie, and Itsy Bitsy Spider often. Recently she's also started to say prayers all by herself. Last week her bedtime prayer went like this: "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for Greyson, thank you for Raegan, thanks for Mom, thanks for Dad. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." It was awesome. I felt like a pretty good parent that night.

Greyson is fast. I mean really fast. It always surprises me how quickly he can get from one place to the other. I'm happy for him, but secretly dreading the day he can walk (which will probably be soon) because I'm sure he'll start running soon after that. He loves balls. This soccer ball is one of his favorites. I love how he chases it, catches it, then rolls it away and chases after it again. This little game keeps him very busy. As does following his sister around and playing with her toys. He now has 4 teeth and sleeps pretty well. I can't believe how big he is getting.

A New Stage

We have officially entered a new stage. The RAEGAN NO LONGER TAKES A NAP STAGE. While I certainly didn't expect this to come so soon (I have friends with 4 year olds who take regular naps) it's also not as bad as it sounds. Raegan is actually much happier, goes to bed SO much easier and usually sleeps 12 hours from 8 to 8. I have to remind myself at 4:30 in the afternoon that this is a better trade off. But I'm not going to lie the hour before Derek comes home is a little rough. Unfortunately, I find it a lot harder to get stuff done. Like blogging for instance. Ooops. I feel like all I do is clean up messes all day long. No more "I'll just get that done during nap time." SIGH. Or "I can't wait for quiet time to myself." Another SIGH. Fortunately, Raegan's getting better at playing by herself. She wishes I was playing with her at all hours of the day but that's not realistic. This has led to more mischievous behavior on her behalf. Here are the best incidents that I got a photo of over the past month. I'd say there's at least one of these a day. I've learned (after 4 or 5 times) to never leave Greyson alone in his high chair with open baby food nearby. Raegan loves to "help" feed him. Don't worry that's just ketchup in his hair. I honestly can't even remember how this one happened.

Some days when I need to keep Raegan out of my way for a while and tend to Greyson I let her take a bath. It's usually no big deal. She can play in there for a really long time. On this particular day she decided all her stuffed animals need a bath as well. Of course I didn't realize this until she came wandering in with an armful of dripping wet toys. (And then I made her put them back in the tub so I could text dad a picture).

Raegan also spends a lot of time coloring each day. She's always coloring on the table or chairs or walls or TV... no matter how many times I tell her we only color on paper. This doesn't actually bother me that much. Magic Erasers really are magic. However, I do have a problem when she colors on her brother's head. Another SIGH.

Poor poor Greyson. He's one cool guy though. Raegan's tough love doesn't really bother him that often. Most of the time he's laughing and loves the attention he gets from her. He's also really handsome don't you think. Check out those eyes.

And then there's this face. I swear she knows how to get away with murder just by making this face. Anyway this day she was supposed to be in her high chair eating lunch. Instead she threw the tray on the floor, climbed from the kitchen chair on to the computer desk on to the counter, where she grabbed the jar of pickles and took them all out and lined them up. Really.

Here she found the chalk marker. I wonder if it actually tastes good. Sure looks like it.

This was at Grandma Adams' house. I thought she was watching Mickey Mouse. She was and also playing with the butt paste.

And sometimes all this trouble making makes her tired and she'll fall asleep. Yep, she's actually sleeping here. Man, just writing this post makes me tired. I love this girl so much and having quiet evenings to myself again.

Did I mention this guy made it home safe and sound. See, I told you I've been terrible at blogging.