I'm so glad when daddy comes home!!!

Because then the children follow him around and I get to watch them have a blast :) These boys always have more fun when their daddy gets involved in their games which is one of the reasons why the weekend is my favorite part of the week.

It started with a good game of chess
I think they decided it was a draw
Then they made some goodies
Then Hyrum friend Ella came over
All in all a good time for the boys :)

If I want to know just how much my kids love me

All I have to do is lie on the floor and pretend I am asleep :) Tonight while the boys were giggling and tickling me I decided to pretend I had fallen asleep to see how they would react. Almost immediately I was leaped upon by a Prince Charming (AKA Hyrum) who proceeded to kiss me repeatedly. That was followed by my other Knight in Shining Armor who held my hand while telling me that "mommy not sleepy! Mommy wake up." As I lied on the floor loving the attention both kids apparently got a little desperate and both jumped on top of me and started slapping my face and screaming "MOMMY GET UP!!!! YOU NOT SLEEPY!!!! GET UP!!!!!" Needless to say I awoke from my 'nap' shortly. I learned a little lesson from these kids. They are very aware of me and if anything seems to be wrong with me it concerns and then scares them. These kids love me with all of their sweet hearts and I must say that those feelings are reciprocated. I have to admit that both reactions were very touching to me. I love being the center of my children worlds and the person who they look to for security. What a blessing these children are.

Who wouldn't want to be a princess with such princes around. :)


These pictures were taken while the boys helped their daddy work on his bike. The boys love handing daddy his tools.

So I have had a little bit of writers block lately. I have had funny things to document but for some reason as soon as I get on my blog I realize I don't feel like writing at the moment. But in the spirit of Blogging Sunday I am going to try to have a go.

There has been alot going on in this household. Michael is almost done with his first semester at BYU and I am so EXCITED! Man sometimes I feel like I am competing with work, church and school but poor Michael is doing a marvelous job making sure he puts quality family time as a priority. I don't know how his head does not explode with everything he has taken on. He also has decided he is going off of sugar with me which has resulted in him dropping 12 pounds. Men's metabolism make me envious. What I would trade to just drop off my unwanted weight!

(By the way this is is such a GREAT picture of Michael. Lucky me I married such a looker :)

I am pretending I am super woman these days. It's not that I have a ton more work added onto my daily load, but for some reason I haven't quite figured out how to juggle everything that has been going on for awhile-Like staying sane with two growing boys in the house. On top of my kids I also am trying (and failing miserably) to keep our apartment in order, have food on the table and keep my physical body in check with exercise. When did time start flying by?
MD is verbally exploding. That has been fun for the most part (Except when we are walking outside hand in hand and he lets out a yell screaming "Mommy STOP HURTING ME!" and man do I get some looks! First off I was NOT hurting that little kid-that is what he says when he doesn't want me to hold his hand anymore but try explaining that to the women staring at me horrified. But one HUGE perk to understanding MD is that I am now getting a glimpse into the little world he lives in. The other evening we spent a good amount of time playing a make believe game where he opened an imaginary door and invited me in. Then we go on a car ride (I have to drive even in his imagination) and drive to town. This game is very real to him. So real that when his daddy tried to get in on the fun by kicking the imaginary door down, it sent MD into hysterics. Finally he was calmed down when him and his daddy rebuilt this door together. I love seeing into his imagination. It is amazing to realize that my little newborn sweetheart is turning into a child with thoughts of his own.Hyrum is a monkey. For some reason he reminds me of those monkeys that tease the alligator in the old nursery song. He is a bundle of disobedient energy that blows through a room leaving destruction, laughter and anger in it's wake. This child is SO funny to watch though not so fun to discipline. Even Michael has noticed that Hyrum is much more disobedient then he used to be. I think he just noticed because most of the time the boys run to do what Michael says immediately. (another thing I am envious about!) Hyrum is a good friend though and seems to be willing to play with anyone. He is very social and would prefer for me to hang back and let him do his thing.

I am not sure why they like getting on these shelves but I thought it was funny. They were having a grand old time until I decided to pull out the camera. Nothing spoils their fun like mommy trying to document it :)
And I just ran across this picture. I don't remember taking it but I thought it was funny. Another kill joy for the kids is bedroom time. But look at their room in this picture and you get a good idea what they do to the rest of the house :)

This one is to Hyrum

Hyrum has been such an interesting kid to watch/raise. He was the perfect baby-Calm, happy, great sleeper and eater. He seldom cried and always made me feel like I was the most wonderful person in the world.

Well he has had almost 2 years to get that out of his system. He is my adventurous, impulsive, and hyper child who likes to keep everyone and everything stirred up. His favorite game involves him stealing something from MD-wave it around enthusiastically in front of MD's face then run down the hall laughing with MD screaming behind him.

Some of his favorite things are:
*"El-laa's Hows" (Ella's house. She is this fun girl Hyrums age who we do playdates with. This is also his first crush and He has since informed me when asking who his best friend was that it was Ella. He also told me when asking if he liked her that no he did NOT like her-He LOVED her)
*"Eh-moh!" (Elmo)
*"bahhs!" (Balls)*Old MacDonald's farm with frogs on it
*"dine-sars-RAWRR!!!" (dinosaurs)
*Oh-meal" (Oatmeal-That is his favorite choice for breakfast)
*He loves pointing out facial features

I have realized that not only has Hyrum realized he is our baby-he completely lives it up. He is SO disobedient and has a very "I'm so cute how can you punish me" attitude. When we do end up punishing him his attitude changes quickly into a "how could you break my heart like that!" sobs. He is a world class flirt. He loves almost any woman who walks by and if you happen to ever sit behind you he will flirt with you as long as you make eye contact with him.I love this kid and I love the way he keeps things light and enjoyable. He is just like his Grandpa and even laughs like him-A big booming laugh that spreads to everyone within earshot. Man I love this kid.

Rex Lee Run 10K

First I want to say that the race was SO MUCH EASIER then I had expected. There was a bit of an uphill part but it was right at the beginning when I was so pumped with adrenaline that by the time I started to feel winded it leveled out. Then I ran downhill for a couple of miles. I felt so good at the end of it and felt so pumped it made me excited to try a half marathon!

The race was on Saturday the 13th and it was suppose to storm but luckily the rain held off until they were handing out the awards :)

Right before we left for the race. Funny lighting-not so flattering a picture and I will admit that night I had barely gotten any sleep and had had a hard time eating because of nerves!

After I finished the race in 47 minutes and 26 seconds!
With the boys
And in case anyone wondered how the kids occupied themselves during the race: They pushed an empty stroller around and ran up and down some hills :)
And the best part of the run-Having my family there to watch me finish it. It was such a sweet feeling seeing my husband at the end and seeing how proud he was of me for running the race.

Oh the Wonderful Things my Children can do...

The big one for tonight is that they cleaned up their room without help :)

These kids did most/all of the work (I did help them a little with their beds-BUT A VERY LITTLE!) These boys seemed to enjoy it once they realized they were not going to get out of cleaning it, and they were very excited to show their daddy the finished room.This is MD's "Ta-DA!" pose
Likewise for Hyrum


A fun fact about MD: He is very big into picking out his own clothes these days. So what you see most of the time is what he picked :)

Why bother with two beds

When the kids obviously prefer one :)

Michael Dunn aka King of the Universe

My little/huge child is right on his way to being a three year old next month-THREE!!!! That means he is technically old enough for primary though he won't be going until next year (Thank goodness!) While he looks like a primary child he sure does not act like one! Michael walked by nursery last Sunday to find MD yelling at a nursery leader who was patiently trying to read a book "NO!!!! Go Back!!! GO BBBAAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!" Needless to say Michael stepped in and saved the poor newly married man who has no idea how to handle MD's aggression. Also that same Sunday MD was popping bubbles when some some child got annoyed with MD's ability to pop every one before he could-so this boy shoved MD. MD teetered for a second before responding with a gigantic shove that sent the boy flying and screaming.

Also it has brought my kid up to a new level of frustration with my inability to accept his new regime. "Mommy that's MINE!!! That's my yogurt!!! That's my banana!!!! That's my diaper!!!! That's my Blocks!!!"and on and on and on.

He has brought a new level of intelligence that obviously is above heads above mine. This is the conversation we had the other day
Me: "Michael if you could go outside what would you do?"
MD:" I build a snowman"
ME: "But there is no snow-so if we stayed inside what would you do?"
MD:"I play with blocks"
ME: "What would you build with those blocks?"
MD: (said with a very duh look) "I BUILD A SNOWMAN!!!!"

It also has brought a sense of independence. MD will not poop in the toilet. For awhile we really pushed him but it seemed to be such a stress to him that we realized it was not worth the battle-nor the stress it was bringing to our little boy, So we issued a cease and dismiss with the training until MD was more ready to handle it (I am hoping it is before primary :) But some of what we had stressed over and over seems to have stuck-and that is: We don't poop in our diapers. So now MD being the responsible almost 3 year old that he is takes the poop out of his diaper when he poops and tries to flush it down the toilet. This results in poop falling onto the floor, him stepping in it, realizing that the poop is on the floor so he tries to scrape it up with his fingers and wipe it onto the toilet. But poop on his fingers grosses him out so he goes and tries to wash them in the bathtub. Then he sits on the toilet because that is what you do when you go to the bathroom. What results is a horrible nasty mess all over the bathroom that is ten times worse to clean up then changing a poopy diaper. And this happens on a regular basis. I say serves me right and props to MD for trying to take responsibility for himself.

This stage in MDs life is so confusing to me. Most of the time I am at a loss on how to best handle the situations he brings up. He is not a horrible child-He is a sweet child realizing he has agency and loves to act on it. I am just not clued in on the correct way to handle it-and that brings about most of our problems. MD has always had to have some sort of control over his life and since I usually get in the way of that it makes MD very frustrated.

MD is so unique. I love that fact about him even if it means I don't have any clue as to how to parent him. He loves to help me with my "chores" and anytime he sees me doing any of them he drops what he is doing and immediately comes to help. He loves to play by himself and will spend 30 minutes to an hour working on one project or another, but always has to show me what he has done. I love that he needs me to validate him. I am his best friend and the one person he wants around him always. He is quick to forgive. When I make him mad or frustrated it usually is quickly forgotten and he comes to me to help or to play. His communication level has exploded and we are having conversations. I never realized that my baby boy would become my friend and the person I talk to throughout the day. I love this child who has taught me from day one that even though I am not a perfect mother he chooses me and loves me for the way I am.

And so my headstrong, independent, world class singing angel of mine-I love you and while I laugh about all the funny things you are doing I wouldn't trade them for anything. I want you forever-poop smeared bathrooms and all :)