a few things, and EVerett's bedroom

John has been gone for three weeks and gets ot come home TONIGHT!!! He was back east doing some seriously hard core military training (He doesn't like me to be too specific on the blog, you know security...the world wide web and all) so I'll just say, he passed the training which basically means he's as tough as nails and we are SO prooud of him!!! As part of the training he wasn't aloud to have a phone with him so I didn't even get to talk to him, TORTURE! I know for him the past 3 weeks was truly hell, and so I feel bad complaining about being lonely and bored and sick and...lonely, when he hasn't had a decent bed to speak of, or a decent meal, or a warm place to be, so I will just share the highlights of what we've been doing to keep busy while he's been away :)

I know he's in these photos haha, but we just bought a 2 year pass to the living planet aquarium, it's so awesome, we've been a few more times since we took these photo's, it's so nice to have someplace fun to take everett that he really get's into...he laughs and screams and giggles the whole time we are there, it's not a huge facility, no where near the Oregon coast or Monterey aquariums, but that's okay (they building a bigger facility even closer to us to open up next year :) they have river otters that are super active and fun to watch, and hilarious penguins that swim and dive and play with each other (my total fav) and other fish and and a huge sea turtle, and petting sting rays, and everett loves it all!!! It was hard to get him to stay still for a photo!

We went to visit Emily in Las Vegas! It was such a treat to get to see her family for more than an hour here or there, we pretty much relaxed and played with the kids, it so nice to break up the ho-hum winter days being bored and lonely, and catch up with Em, and get to know her kiddos better. She is due with her third baby in what 3, 4 weeks now? CRAZY!

We played at the park by their house, the sunshine was sooooo nice! Carly let me put princess braids in her hair (I LOVE doing little girls hair!!! and she was my little girfriend!)

We made a bazillion hair bows and flowers for Carly and the new little miss

We had a DANCE party to tucker the kids out befoer bed, carly didn't want to wear her pink tutu, but Everett did, and it looks so cute on him right? Am I horrible?

monkey see, monkey do...this pic cracks me up!

Emily was so good to me, taking me out for yogurt and cafe rio, we even got to do a smidge of shopping! Thanks for a FUN couple days Em, and for the photos! :)

This has nothing to do with what we've been up to, it's just that this morning everett was being so funny all naked with just his diaper and hat on, and then I was in a picture taking mood so I decided to document his cute room...I know it's untidy, but we cleaned and vacuumed it last night, but the little bugger can't let his books stay on the shelves, not when he wants us to read every. single. one. right . now! :)

His curtains, I love, made them from a $4 ripped sheet from Pottery Barn that I picked up at downeast clearance center (I had some leftover fabric and made him some pj bottoms out of, they are soooo cute and comfy because of the high thread count :) Nice.

The dresser was a $10 yard sale score that we stripped, sanded and stained last August/September in the midst of all our projects :) It matches his bed perfectly, we also refinished the little chair in the corner to match.

His canvas animals, you've seen them before, but not in his room, aren't they cute? I have one more to do that will have the lyrics of a song on it...someday! (The helicopter is a recent addition, daddy hung it up because everett loves that thing sooo much! He's starting to get into cars and trains but especially things that fly, helicopters and airplanes! You can also see the book caddy I made for his crib, the front pockets have clear plastic so I can put pictures of Jesus in them, Everett loves to point out Jesus, ("Sheeshutch!"), at home and at church :)

This is the little reading area, the bookshelves are actually spice racks from ikea (like $3 a piece!) we stained to match everything else, I LOOOVE them and so does everett, he chooses tons of books to read every day...

(he begs to wear a hat all the time, this one is so cute, but he especially loves the ones he can put on and take off himself ;)

sometimes he reads the books all on his own

which is pretty darn endearing, sometimes he reads them to me, and lots of times daddy and I read to him.

Anyway, how's all that for random? I'll post more updates soon, pregnancy, home stuff, Everett funnies etc :)

Baby Shower for Jenni!

Tonight was Jenni's baby shower! I helped Steph put it on, but she did MOST of the work :) It was awesome!

Lots of friends

Emily even came from VEGAS! (And I am ticked because somehow I lost the photo I took of Jenni and Emily, belly to belly, in case you don't know, they are both expecting baby girls, 10 DAYS APART! How cute is that?! It really was a cute pic, I'm hoping the one we took with Em's camera turned out well!

We played games, this is Jenni showing off her mad artistic skills drawing a rubber duck...

No. It's not a placenta!

Baby Woodmansee was SHOWERED with lots and lots of goodies! (Aunt Stephie made her 12 skirts! One to match each month's onesie (below)! I made her a sassy hooter hider and sling :)

Now for the pretty details of the party...These onesies (Stephs idea, but I got to do the grunt work on these beauties!) each have a number on them for baby to wear on each month birthday and have her photo taken! SUCH a GENUS IDEA!!! I'm gonna have to do this for this next little bundle I'm expecting! Then you can make an album, or just compare how much she has grown month by month! SOOOO CUTE!

The food table, Steph also made that DARLING diaper cake!

It all turned out so cute!

Jarom and Michael artistically arranged the streamers, and Steph adn Jarom made the pom-poms out of tulle!!! They are so cute and Jenni can use them to decorate the baby's nursery!!! CUTE!

Gifts

Steph also had this CUTE idea instead of a game, to write wishes for the baby, they were so sweet, something she will treasure when she gets big!

Steph also made these DARLING onesie cookies as party favors, aren't they so cute?!

Kelly made these oreo's and chocolate cake :)

Steph made Jenni's favorite cupcakes :)

croissant sandwiches

I made these YUMMY bean dips, they were a big hit, and a definite party keeper! I got the idea off of pinterest (from the blog: the girl who ate everything)

Also made raspberry lemonade, it was delish!

what would a party be without fancy looking water? John thought I was so silly to make the water bottles cute, but..they are SO CUTE right? I cut out the scallop circles and onesies with my cricut, quick as a wink!

All in all it was a FUN PARTY, Jenni is going to be a GREAT mom, I have absolutely no doubt, and we are all excited to mee the new little miss!!! Congratulations Jenni and Michael, this little baby is one very loved little miss!

PREGNANT!!!

So, I'm pregnant! YAAAAAAAYYYY!!!! my family already knows, but for those of you who aren't related by blood, we're expecting another little one in our family, around the beginning of August!

We are soooo excited!

I'm totally feeling like this one is a girl, because I've been sick {BLECH} and I wasn't at ALL with Everett, I have LOTS of cravings, the other night we had JUST finished dinner (like minutes before) and I told john I was having a dilemma, I was craving a jamba juice smoothie, a hot fudge sundae with whipped cream and nuts, ice cream with berries, chocolate cake with ganache frosting, nachos, plain chips and salsa, and a quesadilla...I ended up making chocolate chip cookies... I know I know, that doesn't "mean" anything but, I just have a feeling...On that same note though, I keep thinking about how wonderful it will be if Everett has a little brother, he'll be so cute with a sister, but I really want him to have a brother that's close to him too...so honestly I want a boy, and a girl. :) John wants a boy, a buddy for Everett, but obviously we're both just really excited about adding to our family, we'll be stoked either way! Actually, John wants us to wait to find out...no way. Maybe once I have had a boy and a girl, I won't be so anxious about finding out, who knows.

Okay so I am 12 weeks today, but that's a story. I went into the Dr when I thought I was 12 weeks along, I was super pumped, the first trimester just flies by, but when they did an ultrasound, the little gummi bear was measuring at 9 weeks...so instead of being due July 27, I am now die August 13th!!! I LOST THREE WEEKS! BOOOOOOO...three weeks is like FOREVER in a pregnancy, especially at the beginning! So, now I am finally 12 weeks for reals :)

It's true what they say about your body and your second baby. I'm already showing. I can still wear pants just fine, but I have a GUT, doesn't look like a preggers belly unless I'm wearing a dress, then it's kinda cute...otherwise, I just look like I ate too many donuts, you know, like a muffin top...depressing a bit because my neighbor and good friend is something like 24 ish weeks, and she is BARELY starting to show...she's SUPER tall though, I just keep telling myself, this is just how my body reacts to pregnancy, EMBRACE THIS BELLY! :) So I'm working on it:) I'm actually looking forward to having a REAL pregnant belly so I can wear tighter fitted shirts and look cute, instead of wearing the same loose shirts with a cardigan to hide my not so pregnant looking bulge ;)

I really can't complain though, the nausea is pretty much a gonner, and already I love this little baby growing inside of me, such a little miracle! I feel SO extremely blessed to be able to carry this little one!

We told our parents over for Christmas in a really cute way, I made them a brag book (which I was already doing for their gifts anyway) with a page for each grandchild with photos etc, and then I left a page blank after the last grandbaby, on that page I put a post-it note that said "Grandbaby number 10, ETA August 2012" When my parents flipped through the book, they were ooh-ing and Awe-ing at every page, and then BAM, the page with the post-it! My mom screamed and Dad, didn't really scream, but I he just laughed in an excited kind-of way. It was really fun telling them that way, but it was THE HARDEST SECRET I have ever had to keep! We were at my parents house for an entire WEEK before Christmas Day, and I had been sick and super tired, I wanted to explain myself, I wanted to TALK about the new baby coming etc etc etc, but I was good and I waited, although every night I would beg John, PLEASE can we give them this present early?! He wouldn't budge! I literally couldn't sleep Christmas Eve because I was so excited to tell everyone! (I didn't even tell STEPH!!!) When we got back to Utah we did the same thing with Johns mom! It was so exciting!

I can't stop thinking about summer, I am so sick of winter, I want it to be WARM, and nice, I want to go CAMPING, and eat SNO-CONES, and sit on the balcony in the evening, and have BBQ's, and eat corn on the cob and cold watermelon, I wanna go swimming (I'm sure I'll look like SHAMU, but I have no shame :) Anyway, that's about it for now, we're really excited!!

By the way, any of you mom's out there ever bought a pregnancy pillow? The kind that sort of wraps arounds your body, supports your head, back, knees and stomach...thinking about getting one, any advice?

Also, I cannot WAIT to see Everett be a big brother, he is SO cute with baby Evelyn, always whispering to her in her carseat and calling her Bay-by...he touches her so soft, it's so tender, I cannot wait!

18 Months old

Everett's Stats at 18 months:

Height: 34 inches tall (90th percentile)

Weight: 24 lbs and 15 oz (35th percentile)

Head: 50.1 cm (95th percentile)

he is a tall and skinny little string bean!

You know these days they recommend rear facing car seats until the child is two, but we just switched him to front facing and at the doctors office he asked if he was still rear facing and I said no, we just switched him, and the doctor said, well, yeah with how tall he is you really don't have a choice! (Our thoughts exactly! He hated being scrunched into that infant seat!)
Johns sister Jenni made him this darling fox hat for Christmas, it fits him so weel, and he likes to wear it! When it's cold outside, like running from the car to grocery store, he says "hat?" cute :)

I love this (above) photo so much, but he looks so old! I haven't recorded nearly enough of what this little boy is like, so here goes!

Everett is an awesome sleeper! He always has been, these days he goes to bed around 8:30 or 9, and his bedtime routine is pretty fun, it takes about a half hour to brush teeth, read books, wrestle on mom and dad's bed for a bit, read a few verses out of the book of mormon and have prayers. He hates saying goodnight, but he tries hard to butter us up with lots of kisses and hugs after prayers. we love it.

He usually wakes up sometime between 8:30 and 9 every morning (which is awesome, giving mom some time to get ready for the day before he's up!) he usually cries for a second, but I leave him in bed till he's in a good mood, usually a few minutes and he'll start singing to himself, reading his books in bed, throwing his stuffed animals out of the crib, and generally jibber jabbing to himself until I come get him. When I do, he is so happy to see me! I love it! he usually can't climb into my arms fast enough! (Except this week he started sleeping with a pillow, and the next morning when I went to get him, he layed back down, head on his pillow to show me how neat it was! LOl :) Then he gets a diaper change and day clothes on, he says the names of all of his clothes and we get him dressed, Shirt: sert, pants: Pont with a big emphasis on the t at the end lol, socks: gok, or sometimes gots, diaper: bipah, shoes: Seew

Then we have breakfast, he waits patiently (ish) in his highchair while I fix us something, he really likes eggs with cheese, toast, oatmeal with yogurt, or peanut butter and Jelly sandwich (a new favorite), he also likes to share cereal with mom or dad. At meal time he knows we don't eat till we say prayers, so like today, I gave him his toast, but he didn't eat it till I came over, when I noticed he didn't eat it, I thought he was being picky and didn't want it, till I noticed his arms were folded and his eyebrows raised looking at me waiting to bless the breakfast (which we had actually already done when we had our fruit!) Sweet baby! Then he ate up all his toast. When he sees me bringing his bowl or plate of food for a meal, he immediately folds his arms. Then, almost before the prayer is quite done he yells "MEN!!!!" (amen) and then gives a kiss. It's awesome.
He really likes to follow me around and mimic what I do, typical for a toddler, but it's cute, mostly;) He always needs to be helping cook, stir, taste what we're cooking in the kitchen, I started letting him help me mix dry ingredients when we make cookies etc, he loves it, and loves licking the beaters from the cookie dough or cake batter he says "goo-kee" (cookie) and "gochlit" or "Gok-it"(chocolate) and wants it all the time! He knows where we keep the chocolate in the cupboard and he's always reaching for it and begging me to get him some.
He says so many words, too many to count or write, but he literally learns new ones every day, and it's so exciting for us to discover another word that he knows! He knows all his animal sounds and some of the names, points out every "Goggie"(which could also be a cow or a horse or a cat, they all fit into the doggie category)
He LOOOOVEs when daddy comes home, John always calls me when he's on his way home(he works 5 min from home) so I know abouyt when he'll be coming through the door, and when it gets close to time, I get Everett all psyched up and we hide under a blanket just before he walks in, then when we hear the door open, everett can hardly contain his excitement, he squales under the blanket, and John (who also adores this welcome home) drops to all fours and comes "sniffing" around for us, he always sniffs right in everett's ear over the blanket and it's almost too much excitement and anticipation for him to handle, he just shrieks with delight, and john rips the blanket off and we all scream and hug and wrestle for a minute. It's wonderful.
He loves to play puzzles, reads tons of books, with us and by himself(in his little recliner chair, it's so hilarious and cute) he loves to play swords, he'll turn anything into a sword, loves to help us load the dishwasher, he can actually put the soap cube in, close the latch (almost) close the dishwasher door, and push the buttons to get it to start! It's awesome! He also helps with the laundry, putting items in the washer or dryer, he's really cute, we have both front loaders, and he takes the pile one by one and puts it in and each time he says "iiiin". He likes to help me scrub the floor too, I give him a rag and he helps me wipe it dry after I mop. He likes to throw things in the garbage, he likes to get the mail, he likes to get into my make-up drawer and hand me things (or walk off with them!). He loves blocks, building towers and knocking them over, he'll play anything if mom or dad is at all interested in it, he likes taking things apart and trying to get them back together, like his Mr Potato Head, he also loves to get out the pots and pans, tupperware, and his little cups and plates. he likes to stack them and unstack them.
He LOVES to dance! He has been a dancing fool for well over 6 months now, but what never ceases to get us to giggle is that EVERY time we watch a tv show, when the beginning of the show comes on and plays the theme song AND at the end when they roll the credits and play music, his face lights up, and he stops what he is doing, climbs off the couch, or comes over from the kitchen, or from the toys and really busts a move! He gets his little arms a swingin and his knees a bouncing and his bum a bobbin, it's hilarious! It makes him so happy! I know all babies love to dance, but nothing stops this kid when he hears music! we were babysitting the James lance kids and we had a dance party, he danced for 45 minutes straight! Far outlasting any of the older kids! His latest funny trick is that he'll put his head to the floor and raise his hands behind him and shake his little bum! It's hilarious!
At church he started going to nursery, the first time he waltzed in like he owned the joint, didn't even look back! But then he got sick :( and wanted nothing to do with any adults other than mom and dad...but then last week, he screamed the first 10 minutes, and then his teacher said he was fine and happy :) On the same note, he still sings the hymns, and just started raising his hand during the sustainings! He looks so proud of himself! LOL!!! He also points to any picture of Christ and says "Shee-jis!" (Jesus).

He is such a tender heart! If he falls and hurts himself, he might cry for a minute, but he get's over it pretty quick, but if his feelings get hurt, he really wails, and for a long time! One day we were driving in the car and he was whiny and we were trying to talk and John jokingly hollered to Everett "hey kid, knock it off!" well, Everett didn't sense his joking and cried and cried, he was so offended! Also, if he thinks he hurt one of us, he cries too! Like he's been into pulling my hair lately, and I tried saying no, I even tried pulling his back, but he just thought it was a game, so then I pretended to cry, and he was in tears in no time, poor kid! He is just so tender!

All in all, I adore this little boy. Every day I feel so blessed to call him my own. He is so sweet and so stinkin cute, he is cracking us up at every turn. Don't get me wrong, life with a toddler is also a challenge, the whole part about him not being able to say what he wants and me not being able to read his mind and figure it out, and keeping him out of trouble and out of harms way is a challenge, but its's true what they say about motherhood, it is the greatest role a woman could ever hope to play. It is it's own reward. I love this little boy! At least once a day I wish he could stay little forever, but then I think about how excited I am for his next stage!