cold

Ruth insisted on a walk, it was so cold!

Those Germans...

At 1:56 you can see one of Ruth's favorite faces for strangers. This is Katie's favorite new song.

Halloween Crafts and Kids

Peter Pan

Hand-painted blocks (my favorite part are the monster hands)

Kitty costume spoiler

Home-made sugar cookies (yes I made them from scratch; it took a few batches but they finally started looking like owls and cats and bats!)

Felt covered tin cans (I especially love the monster's hair and Dracula's tie, the ghost and mummy didn't turn out as cute as I hoped)

Ruth cooking in the dress we got in a Halloween package from Gma. Laws

Happiness Is...

Well, John Lennon said that it was a warm gun. I don't know what that means.


I find happiness in a job well done (baby food made and neatly placed in mini tupperwares). An orderly home (no more leaves in the yard...for the time being). Happy kids. Doing something I didn't think I was capable of doing (losing 5 more pounds...currently down to 180). Fullfilling an obligation (planning activities for Relief Society). Meeting with friends (last Thursday's girl night at Shirlaine's). Reading scriptures and having Family Home Evening. And cooking a meal for my husband that he can't stop raving about.

Potty Time

It is both a verb and a noun: potty. It must be confusing to an almost 2 year old to have her mother say, "Go potty on the potty!" Nevertheless, she is doing great. We started on Monday...without a little potty. That did not go well. I gave up half way through the day, put a diaper on her an went to the store as soon as Brad got home to purchase her a little potty, which she LOVES. I also bought star stickers and skittles. I made her a sticker chart so we could put the stickers up everytime she went but we soon found that she preffered them on her hand.


I did a lot of reading about potty training, and got advice from my two experienced sister-in-laws...well almost nothing anyone had to say applied to Ruth. The main thing I read and heard was NEVER go back to diapers once you start potty training. Well, that's just not practical for us. I would go insane if I didn't leave the house for two weeks. So when we all want to go out we put her in a diaper. When we come home she's in panties, then for bed she's back in a diaper. Surprisingly, she holds it while we're out: on walks, at the grocery store, or out to dinner.


Our best day for potty training was Friday when she had one accident and three successes! And today she pooed for the first time! She is so proud of herself and LOVES the dance parties we have once she's done. Here she is strutting her stuff after success #3 yesterday.



So we started out really rough at the beginning of this week, but things are going much smoother now. The turning point was when I decided it didn't matter how long it took for her to become totally potty trained. She's still really young so it doesn't matter if it takes 6 months. Luckily she's really taken to it and finds great joy in going on the potty.

In other news Brad took us to the corn maze and dinner last night. It was such a nice family outing.

The Dog, Ruth, Will, and Green Beans

We got rid of the dog. After trying to get rid of her a couple months ago, we reformed and gave it a good go. And we realized that we are not dog people. One day on Craigslist got her a really great home with a nice guy and and a new puppy pal. She was really happy and really like this guy so we feel like we did the best we could for her.

Things we would still have if we had never gotten the dog: 30 crayons, a teddy bear, sprinklers that were not dug up, a black leash, a pair of Ruth panties, a pair of Will's socks, a plastic mixing bowl, several binkies, building blocks without teeth marks and about $300.


Ruth "started" potty training today...I was not properly prepared because she HATES sitting on the normal toilet. I had her drink a ton of apple juice so she would have to pee a bunch and she just held it all morning. Around noon I put her diaper back on because she had been freaking out for an hour (because she had to pee and was holding it, I didn't know...don't judge). The second her diaper was on she filled it up. So I'm going to the store as soon as Brad gets home so I can get her a little training potty thing so she'll be more comfortable.

Will above has lighter eyes and his ears stick out more. Ruth below has the same eyebrows, chin, and hair-do.

Will LOVES food. He got the biggest smile on his face when he tasted green beans for the first time. I also love making baby food. I forgot how much I liked it. First of all it's cheaper than buying baby food, it doesn't take any effort (boil the veggies until they are WAY over-cooked then blend them up with the water you boiled them in and put in containers to freeze), and you can get your baby used to the seasonings and foods you eat as a family.

Rain is Falling All Around

So it wasn't really rain, it was the sprinklers...but Ruth had fun either way.

It's Finally Fall!

Some random pictures and thoughts that I like

I just got home from volleyball

Brad just went to work

The kids are both asleep in their respective beds (which means Will is FINALLY not in MY bed)



Boudicca has stopped barking because I took her a teddy bear to keep her company (we just bought her a crate so she can be a nearly always inside doggy: she LOVES it)

And I've been thinking about conference (our church's general conference was last weekend):



Brad made a disc of all the sessions as well as some older talks by apostles and prophets so we could listen to it in the car. To and from volleyball I was listening to a talk by President Benson, which was brought up twice in this last conference. It's all about following the prophet and the power that our living prophet has.



One of the things that really stuck out to me was that he said that the world wishes that the world wishes the prophets were dead or would mind their own business. At first this made me laugh. Then I realized that I need to be better at knowing what the living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, tells us and then act on it.


I've also been working on not being ashamed of who I am, the Church I belong to, and the things I do that may seem strange to others because of my desire to be a good LDS person. I haven't discussed much in the way of spiritual things on my blog because I was worried someone would think it was weird, or not sure that it was the right venue to bare my soul. I have realized that it was partially because I was ashamed. I have a testimony that we have a living Prophet who receives inspiration to help lead and guide the people of the world. I am not ashamed to say that I go to church, I am part of an organization called Relief Society, I participate in sacred ordinances in the Lord's temple, and I am sealed to my family for eternity. I believe in Christ; that he died so that I can repent of my sins and live with Heavenly Father again. These are my basic beliefs. If you want to learn more about what Mormons believe, either ask me, a missionary or go to mormon.org.

This is who I am, Katie; a mommy, a Mormon, a married woman.

Stud Muffin

DSC28119b_pp.jpg | Steve Lents Photography

When did my little brother grow up? It's weird to realize this guy is my little Matt-man!

What do we do during naptime?

Pre-naptime (notice the awesome headboard Brad made):

Ruth is sleeping:

Will is sleeping:

Boudicca is sleeping:

(This is just a cute pic of the kids before bedtime)

This is what we do during naptime:

slice potatoes...

shred cheese, and pull out the home-made tomatillo salsa (YUM)....

fry the potatoes and then broil them with cheese on top, then smother them with tomatillo salsa...and then be really, really happy with the amazing snack your husband came home from work to make you!

2 funnies

Bumper Sticker: I Buy it Where I Make it! (insert picture of the US.)

That's a great sentiment, but this guy obviously doesn't know who makes Nissan's!

Sign in Smith's Grocery store: "Eggs" on Aisle 7.

I don't think I'll buy their "eggs" any more!

At this very moment

Will is sleeping in his swing (thank heavens). He's been super cranky for three days now with his two bottom teeth coming in.

Ruth is giggling in the living room because she's playing with the dog.

And I am sitting at the desk in my pajamas because Shirlaine and I went on a walk with the kids and the dog this morning, so I showered and was too tired to try and look good today.

Last night I went to play volleyball at the stake center and had a blast, it was a stake wide relief society thing...5 of the 6 people who showed up were from my ward. I'm going to make that a weekly thing because it was SO fun to play volleyball again, to be away from the kiddos for a while and to laugh with other women. The big joke last night was that we sounded more like we were having babies than playing volleyball with all the grunting...and one of the girls kept saying, "Here she comes, here she comes" when someone was about to spike the ball.

And lastly, I am back down to pre-vacation weight, which is 185, hooray!!! I'm back on track and feeling super motivated to continue the exercise and good eating.

This Boy and This Girl

This boy has a tooth! It's coming through on the bottom, his bottom right. Today was also his first "real" food meal. He didn't make too much of a mess and figured out how to work his tongue pretty quickly. He is just adorable and we love him. He's also working on rolling over every day now and is pretty good at that too.


This girl took a while to be interested in speaking English, but her vocabulary has exploded the past few weeks. She now has over 100 individual words she says, the most impressive among them being helicopter and elephant. She also uses phrases like, "There we go," "I'll be back," and "Where are you?" and a few others. She has also mastered sulking and screaming. One of the funniest things she does is tell inanimate objects to "stop it!" Case in point, the other day her straw was not cooperating with her and she told it several times to "STOP IT!"

What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

So, I guess I'm breaking that rule! Brad had to go to Vegas for a work conference, so the kids and I drove down with him so we could have a little family vacation when he wasn't in classes.

The first thing we did as soon as we rolled into town was go to Ceasar's Palace to eat at Bobby Flay's restaurant, the Mesa Grill.


It definitely lived up to our expectations and set the mood for the rest of our trip. We ate our favorite thing of the entire trip there, it was called queso fundido. But what made this appetizer better than the queso fundido we ate at the Border Grill in our hotel was that it was melted GOAT CHEESE with peppers...oh heavens it was amazing. The other fundido we had was melted mexican cheeses with sausage and other things in it, also good, but not as good.

Monday we went to the zoo. Ruth loved looking into the fish pond, but especially loved all the birds they had. Several peacocks roamed the grounds along with a couple chickens. Then they had an emu, two ostriches, tons of macaws and parrots and a raven. When we were leaving the zoo, we said "bye" to the birds, and one of the macaws said "bye" back to us!

The other great part about this zoo is their chimp named Terry. He came right out of his bed when we walked up and sat right next to the window so we could see him. He kept thumping the window with his knuckles. It was really amazing to watch him move and see how human-like he really was.

Brad's company paid for us to stay at Mandalay Bay, which has an AMAZING pool/beach complex. The kids and I went swimming/splashing every day. I just kept Will in the Bjorn and held Ruth's hand or let her splash around by herself.

The first day took some getting used to the water, but once she was comfortable with her surroundings we spent hours out there.

The other thing we did was walk the strip. Here we are in the New York, New York hotel in front of a jelly bean replica of the Statue of Liberty!

And here we are in front of the Bellagio watching a really great water show.

The main experience Brad and I had in Las Vegas was the food. We love food. We watch the Food Network religiously. So being in Vegas was a great opportunity to go to some restaurants of chefs we've been watching on TV. Other than the Mesa Grill we went to Lupo which is one of Wolfgang Puck's restaurants. It was INCREDIBLE. We had clams for the first time and became totally addicted. Then Brad had the green lasagna made with fresh pasta, which neither of us had had before. And I had a lamb sirloin steak with white beans, YOWZA. We also went to the 4 Kegs which was a place recommended on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. We felt really lucky to be able to eat such amazing food, even if it cost us an arm and a leg, it was worth it! We were also really lucky that the kids were angels when we were at these nice restaurants!

The only down side to this vacation was that all this indulgent eating of cheesey, rich, meals and chocolatey desserts meant I gained weight, I'm back to 190. I was pretty upset about that for a while. But since there's nothing I can do about having gained the weight back, I just have to get over it and start up my routine again. I just have to get re-motivated to exercise and eat smaller portions again (which I'm finding to be difficult after going on vacation and having no inhibitions about spending money or counting calories!).

Oh, I forgot to mention the other negative thing that happened. When we were heading back to our hotel from the zoo we got pulled over by a cop. We got a ticket for not having our plates properly registered, oops! We were told that if someone else pulled us over for this same offense that we could get arrested! That meant that all the things I had planned for us to do, like go to the children's museum, go to SkyZone, see the Temple, among a few others would not be happening because we didn't want to risk jail time! Luckily we made it home and to the DMV without incident and were able to entertain ourselves with the awesome pool and restaurants in our hotel.