Friday Letters

Dear Corbyn,

It seems you have grown up so much in the past few months. You can open doors, you talk more every day, you tell me what you want, you follow directions (most of the time), you drink your milk out of a cup with a straw, and you are learning that people (and animals) have names. You are also starting to refuse naps which isn't the most pleasant thing. But with that being the notable exception, I am liking grown-up Corbyn. Even if you are growing up, you will always be my baby boy. I love you!

Love,

Your mom

Dear Peyton,

Your dad and I decided it was time to sleep train you this week. Listening to you cry it out is hard because when you learned to sleep through the night before, we didn't have to go through this - you did it all on your own. Do me a favor and go back to sleeping through the night quickly! I love you always, but I love you just a little bit more when you aren't waking me up all through the night!

Love,

Your mom

Dear Rog,

It has been a stressful week for both of us. Work for you and lots of compassionate service stuff on top of getting ready for a baby shower for me. Thanks for putting up with your stressed wife! I love you!

Love, 

Your wife   

Weekend Happenings

Weekends are the best when they include...

Getting the high chair out of storage,



garage-cleaning parties,



sitting in the cart for the very first time,



breaking in new pajamas,





and taking blue cinnamon rolls to a Utah fan neighbor.

BYU vs. Hawaii

Last Friday BYU played Hawaii.

I spent a lot of time making blue and white striped cupcakes for our tailgate party.



Unfortunately they got a little banged up getting there.



But they still tasted great!



The game was finally at a Corby-friendly time (6:00), so the whole family got to come for the first half. Corby talked about going to the "hootball" game all day long. He was so excited that he refused to fall asleep at nap time.

I really wanted to get a good family picture, but as you can see, we weren't terribly successful.



This is the best we did. Poor Corby was so tired!



Grandma Lori took the kids home at half time and put them to bed while we enjoyed the second half. Hawaii is pretty awful, so we easily won. Final score: 47-0.

5 Months

Time is going far too quickly. 5 months, really? Where did my little baby girl go?

PJ at 5 months:

*Rolls over all the time from her back to her tummy (over her right shoulder). She can also roll from her tummy to her back, but she doesn't do it all that often and we've never actually seen her do it.
*Army crawls forward and backward when she is on her tummy.
*Is practially sitting up on her own.
*Has the chunkiest legs you will ever see.
*Has reverted back to waking up a few times a night.
*Still takes 3 naps a day - two that are 20-40 minutes long and one that is a little longer. We are making progress.
*Loves her baths - she kicks and splashes like crazy!
*Likes to pull her headband down and suck on it.
*Still loves jumping in her jumper and sitting in her Bumbo.
*Likes when I sing little songs to her.
*Lights up when we play peek-a-boo.





We sure love our little chunk!

Six on Saturday

1. On Tuesday I had a glimpse at what my life would be like if Corbyn and Peyton each had a twin. I watched one of my visiting teachee's kids for a few hours - Carver who is a few months older than Corbyn and MaKena who is a few months younger than Peyton. This time I took a picture of the older kids and not the younger ones. The boys were playing with each other while they had a fruit snack and it was just too cute.



2. The season premiere of NCIS was this week. Last season ended on a major cliff hanger, so we have been anticipating the return all summer long. We are very happy to have everything resolved and know that our favorite characters are ok!

3. On Wednesday I gave blood (something I do on a regular basis), but this time was unique because the first arm didn't work. She said I could be done or try the other arm. I elected to try the other arm because I was already there. I am glad I did, but I did feel completely ridiculous with both arms wrapped up.

4. This month for dinner group we decided to mix things up by going out to eat. We went to Pizzeria 712 and had a relaxing dinner with no kids!

5. Corbyn has been having a lot of trouble with Athlete's Foot this summer. We had it under control, but then he had another outbreak. After a few weeks of putting cream on his feet morning and night with no results, we finally decided we should throw away his shoes and get him new ones. He loves them and his feet are already looking a million times better! This picture is what I got when I told him to pose for me with his new shoes.



6. This week Rog tried Yoga for the first time. I just may have to pack up the kids and go spy on him one of these times because I would love to see what Rog doing Yoga looks like!

Weekend Highlights

*Finished a major internet shopping spree. (New fall/winter clothes for the kids and a few gifts for Mariah's baby shower coming up.)

*Tried out a new recipe - Chicken Enchilada Pasta. It might sound a little odd, but it was delicious. It will definitely be making a regular appearance at our dinner table!

*Nice evening walk to deliver invitations for Mariah's baby shower.

*Crafting while watching Friends.

*Watched our neighbor's kids for a few hours, so they could go to the morning session of the Brigham City temple dedication. (It was broadcast to all the stake centers in Utah and Idaho.) We had 5 kids for a few hours - one 3 year old, two 2 year olds, and two 5 month olds. The older kids played well together and the babies were good, so it really wasn't bad at all.

Their 5 month old is a few weeks older than Peyton. She is long, skinny, and has a full head of hair - quite the opposite of our bald chunk! I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures. Too bad I didn't get any of all 5 kids playing in our living room!





*Vacuuming upstairs. (Hadn't been done since Peyton was born - Yikes!)

*Attended the afternoon session of the temple dedication while Bill and Mariah watched our kids. Corbyn was NOT happy when Mariah was the one to get him out of his crib after his nap! (Not because it was Mariah, but because it wasn't mom or dad.)
  

Six on Saturday

1. Our garage door was broken for a few days this week - most annoying thing ever! Fortunately Rog was able to talk to a repairman on the phone and fix it himself this morning.

2. Peyton has become a little roller this week! Practically every time we put her on the ground she rolls right over. I think it's safe to say that just like Corbyn, her initial rolls from tummy to back were flukes, but her back to tummy rolls are the real deal.



3. On Tuesday night we had some friends from our ward, the Kramers, over for dinner. They have a little boy who is about 6 months older than Corbyn and a baby boy who is about 3 weeks younger than Peyton. He is completely adorable and, if you can believe it, even chubbier than Peyton - 18 pounds at 4 months!

4. My Romney-Ryan decal arrived this week. While I'm usually not that into politics, I really am rooting for Mitt. Ann Romney said in her Republican National Convention speech, "This man will not fail. This man will not let us down. This man will lift up America!" I really believe that. GO MITT!



5. On Thursday night BYU gave us another heartbreaking loss when we played Boise State. We scored in the final minutes, but rather than going for the extra point to tie it up and send us into overtime, we went for the win with a 2-point conversion and missed. Final score: 6-7. Boo.

6. Last night Rog and I were able to go on a date. We went to the Olive Garden for the Never-Ending Pasta Bowl and then to the mall where we each got a new shirt. Cailey watched our kids for us and while it was so nice to have a little one-on-one time together, we were sure glad to see these two cuties when we got home!

On Losing to Utah and Our Very Productive Weekend

Saturday was an incredibly busy day.

My morning was spent on a run without the running stroller (training for the Cougar Run) and cooking. We had BBQ Bacon Sliders for dinner, so I made World's Best Dinner Rolls (AMAZING, totally worth all the extra effort) and BBQ Sauce (eh, I think I'll stick to bottled in the future) from scratch.

Rog's morning was spent changing Meg's oil, washing both cars, and helping someone in our ward move with his little helper, Corbyn.



And Peyton rolled over from her back to her tummy for the first time. (Woot!)

While Corbyn was taking his nap, PJ and I ran errands (Wood Connection, Costco, and Kohls). We had dinner and Rog went to the adult session of stake conference while I stayed home and put the kids to bed.

Then we watched the BYU vs. Utah game across the lawn at the Petrosino's house with the kids on the cell phone baby monitor (i.e., we called Rog's phone from mine and put it on speakerphone).

Although we ended up losing (21-24) it was a much better game than last year when we got destroyed by Utah at home.

My favorite Facebook response to the game: "The 1958 BYU Baseball team opted to not play in the College World Series in order to not play on Sunday. The 2010 BYU Women's Rugby team chose to forfeit a quarterfinal game instead of playing on Sunday. And the 2012 BYU Football team chose to miss a field goal at 11:58 pm on a Saturday night to avoid playing on the Sabbath."

Obviously we didn't miss the field goal on purpose, but it was a funny way to look at it and it sure did make us feel better after a narrowly missed opportunity at taking the game into overtime. (Thanks Daniel!) FYI: BYU's official policy is to not schedule games on Sunday - they will finish games that start on Saturday and go into Sunday morning.

During the game I made this little craft.



To go with this little printable I made earlier in the week.



To complete my table for September.



We kept Sunday much more low key to recover from our busy Saturday. We went to our regional stake conference (Elder Oaks spoke) in the morning. And that evening we sat out on our lawn and enjoyed the beautiful evening with some neighbors.

Rog taught Corbyn how to roll down the hill which kept us all very entertained.

 

Aside from the BYU loss, it was a very productive and fun weekend!

Five on Friday

1. On Sunday morning while I was getting ready for church my straightener died. (Talk about the worst timing!) I was going to get a Chi because that is what I had before and it worked well, but while I was looking I noticed that the HSI got better reviews and was a few dollars cheaper. I'd never heard of that brand before, but I decided to give it a try. I've only used it once, but so far I like it just as much as my Chi and who doesn't love saving a couple dollars?!

2. Peyton has made great progress with sitting up this week. Now if only she would roll over again... I've been trying to leave her on the ground as much as possible (on her tummy and on her back), but it's hard because she loves her jumper and the bumbo so much more.



3. On Monday night after Corbyn went to bed I realized he only had 2 diapers left. Rog was making a Costco run on Tuesday, so I added diapers to the list. Of course Corbyn used both those diapers before noon, so he spent the rest of the day in one of Peyton's diapers. She's already wearing size 3 and Corbyn wears size 4, so it wasn't that big of a deal. It was just funny that our 4 month old and our 2 year old can both fit in the same size diaper!

4. Corbyn's favorite phrase of the week is, Watch this!" Not sure where he learned it, but it sure has been fun.



5. Glee is back!! Rex did some fancy thing (that I won't even try to pretend I understand) that allows us to record something at their house in Colorado and watch it on Rog's iPad here in Utah. Yay for not having to wait for it to show up on Hulu over a week later!

Camping and a Football Game

As soon as we got home from Yellowstone we had a packed weekend ahead of us.

Friday night was our ward fathers and sons campout. I was nervous about Corbyn going, but Rog really wanted to take him, so I let him.



He's only ever slept in his crib or a pack 'n play, so we didn't know how he would do in a tent. Rog let him stay up later than normal, but when he went to sleep he slept through the night! I'm glad they could have a fun boys night out!



While the boys were camping, Peyton and I went up to Salt Lake to have dinner with the Riries at Mimi's Cafe to celebrate the summer birthdays in our family. Peyton was ready for bed when we got home, so I had a quiet night at home. It was kind of nice, but also kind of weird. When I went to bed I felt like I hadn't talked for a very long time!



Saturday afternoon was another BYU home game. We played Weber State which was kind of a joke - more like a glorified practice. It was dang hot in the stadium, so at half time we went below the stands to cool off. While we were down there we got a snow cone that kept me cool enough to enjoy the second half! Woot! Final score: 45-13.



It was a fun weekend which only made it that much harder to go back to reality this week!