Snips, Snails & Me

2011 Catch Up - Teacher Christmas Gifts

2012-01-15T20:44:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have had a chance to make cards or do anything creative, but when Jack was in kindergarten, I kind of went a little overboard making his teacher handmade gifts. Since Sam has the same teacher, I felt a bit of pressure to make something cute. Not to mention the fact that my kids have the greatest teachers, and I really did want to do something special for them.

I made them these cute card sets (8 each) with matching boxes. I used empty envelope boxes and covered them in the same paper that I used for the cards. I included a bag of kisses and wrapped them all up in a cute gift bag.

I love the way they turned out!

2011 Catch Up - Christmas Card Pictures

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

A Christmas card photo shoot with the Wiricks
narrated by Angela Wirick

It’s December 14, my Christmas cards have been done for a week or so, but I have not taken a picture of the kids yet. Since we live in Northern Idaho, it gets dark by 4:00, but today is the day. I will take a fun picture of the boys as soon as Jack and Sam get home from school. It has been a little crazy this year, so there are no matching outfits. They each have a nice dark coat which will be perfect for the chilly outside shot. Logan even took a nap – this is going to be awesome.

We start at the front porch, and I get a few ok shots in, but then I realize that there are garbage cans behind the boys which I don’t want to photoshop out – Logan is whining about playing in the snow. I cannot get all three turkeys to look at me and smile! It is starting to get dark – I have to hurry. I get a case of the rage and tell my kids that Christmas is cancelled. The neighbor is outside and just heard me freak out at the boys, because they will not look at me and smile – at least no one is naked!

Maybe it will be nicer in the backyard. I can sit them on the deck railing. I take several shots before I realize that my settings are screwed up and they are all blurry. Not a big deal since Logan is now screaming about playing in the snow, and the boys still won’t look at me and smile.

Maybe just one more shot here on the step. Jack and Sam get their Christmas restored. Logan is a dead man! I give up completely because there is no way Logan is going to act normal, and it is now completely dark outside at 4:00 p.m. I pout and grumble for the rest of the evening.

Christmas card photo shoot - take two (12/17). We just left a nice ward Christmas brunch. Kids look pretty cute. It is warm outside. I want to go to this park; small problem - I don’t know what it is called and I don’t really know where it is. We went there once for scouts. Tyler is not able to read my mind to see what I am picturing. Hopefully he will be more helpful at the shoot. Success – we find the park.
It might be fun to start at this cute wood fence. This isn’t going as I expected. The kids really want to climb this fence, Logan still will not look at me and smile – whoops, the sun is in their eyes.

And then an airplane flies by.

Maybe if I move them to the corner where Jack can keep his arms around Logan… Another fail!

Over to the rocks – Logan decides to smile. Seriously?!? He looks like he is constipated.

Here is a cool wall, too bad Logan wants to get up so that he can climb the hill behind the wall.

I tell Logan to put his hands on Jack and Sam’s necks. He decides that I just gave him permission to pinch them on the neck. This is also the time where Jack becomes a double amputee (hands), but I don’t notice this until I am home editing the photos.

Maybe we can get some cute pictures on this bridge – Not so much. Logan sees a bug, rock, stick, who knows.

Down by the water... OK, what was I thinking? I did not get one shot with them looking at me. Then Tyler my lovely assistant goes bonkers and Jack begs me to use this photo for the Christmas cards.

Finally, a really nice spot where we can see the river in the background; too bad Logan does not want to sit still.

I tell Sam to hold on to his shirt.

Logan fights. Sam Persists

And this is as good as it gets folks! I give up, 2 out of 3 aint bad. The scenery is beautiful, and it is a good thing I only attempt this once a year.

In case you are curious, I took a total of 164 shots, and I still had to use one where Logan had his tongue out!

2011 Catch Up - The first Snow

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

We got our first (and pretty much last) snow while Grandpa and Grandma Wirick were here for Thanksgiving. I was working while they all played out in the snow. They had so much fun. Grandpa pulled Logan and Sam around in a sled, and Grandma helped Jack with the snowman. They had already played in the backyard and made the cutest snow dog family. We used the darling snowman set that Kierste sent us a few years back. I was most excited about that part. Logan would not wear a hat, but look at those beautiful rosy cheeks!

2011 Catch Up - Halloween

2012-01-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween was an extravaganza this year! Long before Halloween, we told Logan that he got to be a chicken, and this resulted in various conversations throughout each day where Logan would say, "I be a chicken for Halloween?" He was thrilled and excited, and has not gotten over this. When we asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he replied, "I be a chicken for Halloween!" When he realized that people were going to give him candy, this quickly became the happiest day of his life!

We started the Halloween fun on October 28th. There was a carnival at Jack's school. The kids got to dress up, and I volunteered to help at the bounce house. It was fun. Sam dressed up as Mario. The store bought mustache was too itchy, so I painted one on him. He is easy to impress and was certain that it was amazing. At the carnival, there were 5 or 6 other Marios and one Luigi. I would watch Sam walk over to Luigi and just stand by him with the biggest grin ever. He would not speak to the kid, but loved standing next to him to complete his costume. It totally cracked me up.

Jack was dressed up as either Obi Won or Anakin depending on how he had me do his hair and what color of lightsaber he was carrying. These boys of mine come up with the funniest things!

On the 29th, we had a trunk or treat at the church. Tons of candy! On the 30th we carved our pumpkins. We didn't make it to a big pumpkin patch this year, but we got pumpkins from scouts, the carnival, and our garden. They were very thick skinned and difficult to carve, so they turned out, how should I say this, different than I would have planned if I could control the universe of pumpkin carving. Tyler got out the power tools and had a blast. I spent several days cleaning up pumpkin dust. You can see that they are very happy with the results.

On the 31st, they trick or treated their hearts out and came home with very full bags of candy. I stayed home and passed out treats, and Logan came home half way through to get warm.

I was really glad when the Halloween Extravaganza was over.

2011 Catch Up - September/Silverwood

2012-01-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

Jack reads a ton of hours during the school year to earn a ticket to Silverwood. This summer went by way to quickly, so we went on the very last week possible! The weather was perfect, and the kids had a blast. Sam was just too short to ride the big rides, and Logan was finally big enough to ride the little rides with his brothers. Tyler and I always divide up and one goes and rides coasters with Jack while the other stays with the kids and lets them ride the kid rides. There are a few fun ones like the log ride that we can all do together. Sam was really funny this year. He loved everything, and he would make new friends at each ride. Logan got scared a few times, but enjoyed most of it. We even ran into some friends from the ward and the kids got to ride some rides with them. By the end, Logan was completely wiped out and Sam and Logan were both zonked before we even got out of the parking lot.

Jack was a great sport - he rode all of the little kid rides with his brothers.

This baby roller coaster was Logan's favorite. We rode it over and over again!

Sam and Coen getting ready to fly in the helicopter.

Tyler trying to convince Sam that is OK that he lifted him up in front of himself, so that he got most of the water from the log ride.

How can this be comfortable?

That's it for September - bring on October!

2011 Catch Up - September/First Day of School

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Jack was an old pro and very excited for his first day of 4th grade. His teacher is Mrs. Graybill. She is fabulous and it has been a great year for him so far. He has already participated in cross country and special choir. He is getting all As, and thriving.

I had to let the kids do a silly pose before I could get them to pose nicely. They are such goofballs!

Sam started Kindergarten. It was hard to believe that he had already gotten so big. He was ready and very excited about it all. We were thrilled to get Mrs. Sevedge who was also Jack's teacher. She is amazing and we love her. She loves my kids and gives them the best kindergarten experience imaginable. In Post Falls (the city we live in), all of the kindergarten kids go to one school called the kindercenter. It is so fun to see them every day, just as excited as the day before, with their giant backpacks flopping around on their backs. They laugh and hug and chase each other until the doors are open. Sam goes to the afternoon session and then rides the bus home to the elementary school. Jack picks him up from the bus and they walk home together. Sam is also doing great and continues to test right at the top. He can read and write, and he does it all with a grin.

2011 Catch Up - September/Labor Day Weekend

2012-01-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

Before I start blogging about 2012, I have to get caught up a little. I have some great pictures and activities that I have to record - starting with a really fun visit from my parents over labor day weekend. It was extra special because they brought Jake with them. We had a lot of fun. We spent time at the Spokane River (swimming), Riverfront Park in Spokane, "The Lake", and hanging out having a blast. Here are some pictures that I love.

The first group is from Riverfront Park. The kids love this place. There was a food festival going on the weekend we were there, so the boys got free slinkys from one of the vendors. They then spent the whole time at the red wagon posing with the slinkys and begging me to take pictures. The park also has this great old Carrousel that only cost $1, plus you can grab rings as you go around. We also rode the gondola over the river, and watched an iMax show about elephants.

On to the beach! Jake wanted to swim in the lake and go fishing, so we made this trip a "2-fer". The double stroller came in handy to pack everything down to the lake.

This is why you need to come visit us in the summer. The lakes are gorgeous and warm enough to swim in. The boys dared Tyler and I to jump off the pier and we did. We spent the rest of the trip jumping off with the boys and swimming in with them. Logan loves the water is totally fearless. It was really good that we had 4 adults to keep track of him. We met an extra little boy (green shorts) that hung out with Jack and Jake the whole time. We really played hard with a water balls, tonka trucks, tubes, kick boards, swimming, fishing, climbing, and FUN!

Out another hotel window

2011-12-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

Out of town again. This is the view from my hotel window. Can you guess where I am? I am in sunny Yuma Arizona. I am spending a week here going to meetings on the Marine base. It is in the 70s, but there is a cool wind, so it doesn't feel as warm as I expected. Still a lot warmer than what I left. My Aunt and Uncle (Sandra, Don) are here, so we are going to meet up for dinner later tonight. I am looking forward to seeing them. I talked to the boys yesterday and they were doing great. Logan is staying with the Taggarts during the day and is always excited to go to "My Kate's house!" Good news is that he knows that when it is time to go to the Taggarts, he has to wear pants. Hopefully he remembers to keep his clothes on! Sam and Jack are going to the GAP program at their schools. Jack loved it and Sam said that no one was mean to him. I am scheduled to get home on Friday, but I am going to try to get home Thursday night. Somehow, this whole Christmas thing needs to happen. I really need an assistant!

A week of Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T11:44:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. First of all, I took a week of vacation time - and I actually didn't work during my vacation. A new world record for me! Tyler had the brilliant idea of taking me away for a few days, just the two of us. Sadly we have never done this since Jack was born. That is 9 1/2 years folks. His parents were coming for Thanksgiving and were happy to watch the kids overnight so we could run away. We stayed at the Northern Quest Casino in Spokane and enjoyed some great meals, fun shopping, a movie, and some much needed non-kid time. It was all Tyler's idea and it was amazing! I even got to play around on pinterest and find some ideas for my Thanksgiving table. We also went grocery shopping (a luxury without kids) to get all of the Thanksgiving fixin's.

When we got back, it was time to start cooking. Judy (Tyler's mom) and Jack were great helpers. Jack wanted to do it all, so he made cranberry sauce, dips, helped with stuffing, sweet potatoes and rolls. When we were done cooking, Jack also helped me with my centerpiece, boxes, and place cards. Judy also helped with food prep and Steve (Tyler's dad) helped gather up chairs and get stuff ready for the big day. While Tyler was not working, he was on Logan duty (full time job).

Thanksgiving morning was stress free as I finished up the prep until the sink clogged and overflowed. Tyler and Steve fixed it up fast and it only put be behind a little bit. Our friends the Rahlfs came for dinner. They have three kids and another on the way. Ashley brought the most beautiful rainbow jello that I have ever seen and it was so yummy. Seriously people, I can't make regular jello, so I was VERY impressed. The food turned out great, and it was just a wonderful meal with family and friends. Everyone cleaned up dishes and let me take a rest - very nice. I looked through some ads to see if there was any reason to get up early the next morning. Answer - NO.

Later that evening we had the 9th annual Wirick pie night. This Tyler's favorite tradition that we started while we were living in Nebraska (law school days). He got so excited that he posted it on facebook. I was a little worried that we would not have enough room for everyone, but it turned out great. In attendance were the Rahlfs, Wiricks, Taggarts, Olsens, Nick (attorney from Tyler's office) and girlfriend, Zobels, Calkins. That makes 16 adults and 21 kids. I think there about 15 pies plus other goodies. We sent the kids to play in the basement and had a great time visiting. The pie was awesome, and I was exhausted!

On Friday, I spent the day putting up my Christmas decorations, we ran a few errands/shopped a little, and we got a babysitter so that the grown ups could go to dinner out at the Cedars. The Wirick's left Saturday morning and Tyler and I spend Saturday cleaning up the pine needles in the yard left by the last storm and hanging Christmas lights.

Here are some pics of he Thanksgiving festivities (I forgot to take pictures of people, my focus was definitely getting it all ready to go. The people were cute too :) )...

Too bad I had to go back to work on Monday.

A future in show business

2011-10-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

I took Logan to Kiddie Kandids this weekend to get some pictures. I knew that this was not going to be fun, so Tyler kept Jack and Sam and Logan and I went alone. We went shopping first and picked out a cute new outfit. Then we went to get his pics.
This is when the miracle occurred. Instead of being his naughty little self, he turned on this whole other personality. The lady would ask him if he could put his foot up, and he would say "yes!" and then pose and smile. He did this for every pose she asked him to do. He put his hands in his pockets, folded his arms, crossed his feet, and even turned sideways and looked back at the camera. He was charming and darling. The pictures turned out amazing. I bought the CD, so I can post some of them here on my blog.

Here are a few things I want to remember about Logan at this age.

He calls school buses "school cars". He calls people he likes "my" Sammy or "my" Kate. When he runs, he makes fists and really runs with as much gusto as possible. When he wants to make me happy, he sings happy birthday to me. He loves cars, airplanes, and "cycles". He loves Lion King and Dumbo. He loves to dance. He can climb anything. He is really good with a cell phone and iPad. He randomly yells out "slug bug blue". He calls band aids "ouch stickers". When his nose runs, he freaks out and tells me, "I bleed, I bleed." We have friends with boys named Greyson, Easton, and Noah. He has a Noah's arc book, but he calls Noah, "Easton". When I am not watching he sings along with the television; he is awesome at Elmo's world.

Embarrassing

2011-10-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

It is embarrassing each time your neighbor rings the doorbell and when you answer, she is standing there with your 2 year old, because he was playing in the front yard close to the street.

It is way more embarrassing when your neighbor brings home your two year old and he is naked! At least, he had a cute little Pottery Barn elephant towel hanging on his head. Even if it does say Sam across the back - he doesn't know.

I think I am going to run her over a Mother of the Year recommendation form to fill out and send in for me.

THREE BOYS!!!! REALLY!!!!

Jakes Baptism

2011-09-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

Jack and I flew to Utah to attend Jake's baptism. You can read about it here. Jack and Jake are BEST friends, and I was so excited to find cheap flights and Angela planned this on a prefect weekend. My sister Karen was there with her darling baby Lily, and my brother Dave just moved back to Utah with his family. That meant that all 5 of us kids were there at the same time. Jack loved the airplane ride and talked to me all about his theories of flight. He was also thrilled to fly through storms and see lightening. He even got to buy something at the gift shop in Phoenix (cheap flights = strange routes).

Jack spoke at the baptism and it was really cute. He told me that he really felt the spirit and that he learned something new when he gave the talk. I left on Sunday night, but Jack got to stay in Utah with Grandma and Grandpa until the following Thursday. Then Jake, Jack and my parents drove up here to visit us for 5 days. We had a great time, and that will be the next thing I blog about.

Here is Jack's talk:
Jack Wirick

Talk on Baptism for Jacob Ballard

8/27/2011
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are baptized when we reach the age of eight. Our prophets teach us that the age eight is important because this is when we become accountable and responsible for our actions.

Baptism is important because our Heavenly Father commanded us to do this. When we are baptized we receive many blessings from our Heavenly Father. Through repentance and baptism, our sins are washed away. The person being baptized must go all the way into the water. This is called being baptized by immersion. The person who baptizes must be someone who has the priesthood authority.

Being baptized is a special time of our lives. We covenant with the Lord to serve him and keep his commandments. We covenant to remember Jesus and to try to be like him. When we do that, he promises to send the Holy Ghost to help us.

A covenant is a promise we make with our Heavenly Father. When we make covenants, we show our love for God and promise to obey him.

Each time you take the sacrament, you will be reminded of the covenant or promise you made when you were baptized. As you follow Jesus’ teachings, you will be keeping your promise.

You will also be an example to those around you. When people know you are a member of the church, they expect you to behave well. When I was at scout camp, a leader there saw my CTR ring. She told me a story about when her son was a boy about 50 years ago. He collected toy cars. He went to a shop to buy parts for his cars and when he went to pay, he realized that he did not have enough money. The man at the counter told him that he could take the parts and come back later. He went home and told his mom, and then returned with the money. The man at the counter was not a member of the church, he told him that he saw his CTR ring and knew that he would make the right choice. Also at scout camp this year, someone from our council came up to our group of boys and asked if we were Mormons. When we said yes, he asked if someone would be able to say the prayer for the next opening ceremony. All of the boys in our group were willing and able to do this. Most of the boys at our scout camp would not have been comfortable praying in public. You never know when someone is watching you and when you can set an example or share your testimony.

Being baptized and having the Holy Ghost has helped me in my life and made me happy. I am proud of you for making the choice to be baptized.

Scout Camp

2011-09-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

I love Camp Easton! I have been helping out there for the last 5 years when I can. Last year Tyler went with the kids, but this year I couldn't miss it. There was a jungle theme and our boys were cobras. We had a fun cheer and skit. The water front activities at Camp E are the greatest! The boys also love the BB guns and archery. I just love listening to their funny conversations and being outside with them where they can run and play and be stinky little boys. I also enjoy bribing them with cookies and candy.

Other activities include: songs, skits, geo-caching, hikes, cooking, fire starting, stories, games, relay races, swimming, fishing, canoing, and much more!

Tyler, Isaac, Elijah, Jack, Zach, Gavin, and Jarett

Catching up - Sam's B-day

2011-09-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of catching up to do with my blog. August was a big month. Starting with Sammy D's 5th birthday. This was the first year that Sam got excited. He asked me every day for a few months how many days there were until his b-day. He would make sure I had things on his list. It made me just as excited as he was and also it guaranteed that I would go a bit overboard with presents out of pure giddiness. Here are some fun pics from his special day.

I let my kids have friend parties on the birthdays with multiples of 5, so this year I was in big trouble, because pulling off a b-day part was just not in the cards. Luckily, Sam is the most laid back kid ever and was thrilled with my idea of inviting Rachel and Kate along with his brothers to the bounce house for a special party. Here are some fun pictures from the bounce house. I love their red faces, they all ran and bounced for a solid hour. Kate was funny, she always wanted to hold Sam's hand or slide together. Sam just happily did as he was told. After the bounce house, we came home and ate Kung Fu Panda cupcakes and opened a preset. Sam was very excited to get his own Lego set.

Bonus story about Sam and Kate. A few days ago, Sam asked me if I had a crush on Daddy. I told him that I had a huge crush on daddy which made him grin. I asked him what a crush was and he said it means that you love someone and you want to marry them. I asked him if he had a crush on anyone and he said that he had a crush on Kate. I asked him when that happened, and he told me that Kate told him that he had a crush on her, so he did. He said he has a crush on me too. Then he walked away.

It was way too quiet!

2011-09-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Every mother knows that feeling of dread when you know that something must be wrong, because it is just way too quiet. This is what I just found. The bottle of hairspray is completely empty. The mirror is also coated with hairspray. His hair is not wet from water. Isn't he pretty? He is very proud of himself, and told me that he is ready to go to school.

My terrible awful flight to Denver

2011-09-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

I am on my way home from DC; I am sitting at the Denver airport right now waiting to board my flight to Spokane. The flight to Denver was packed, and I was all the way in the back in a window seat. The guy next to me smelled BAD. He leaned into me the whole trip. His elbow was digging into me. I was trapped. To make matters worse, we were delayed and sat on the ground for almost an hour. I did my best to ignore the smells, the space violation, and enjoy my book and then... He pulled out a giant sausage and a plastic knife and started slicing off pieces of disgusting meat product and chomped away. I nearly lost my mind and my lunch!

For those of you who know me, you can understand that being that close to a log of meat would be enough to send me into hysterics. I can't stand the smell of it, and the sound of him chewing. Oh my! I thought I would die. (At least he left his shoes on. What if I had to see his feet too? I seriously might have been on the news. Lady goes phyco on airplane...)

I was in DC to meet with the US Marine Corps who are implenting our software. I flew in Wednesday night, had meetings on Thursday, and returned Thursday night. Every single one of my flights were delayed. It was a long 48 hours and it took me a few days to recover. I didn't get a chance to see anything but the inside of a hotel and an office.

While visiting with my clients, most of whom work at the Pentagon, we all were drawn back to our memories of 9/11. When I got home, I had an email from my nephew interviewing me about 9/11. I thought I would share for those of you that did not know my experience on that day.
1.Where were you on September 11, 2001? Boston Massachusetts and Washington DC
2.What were you doing on that day? I was leaving Boston to go to Washington DC to meet with the Air Force and SAP (business trip). I was on an American Airlines flight that was only one gate away from the flight that was the first to hit the twin towers. I left within 20 minutes of the flight and we were in the air when it happened. When we landed in DC, we still did not know what had happened. We were lucky to get our luggage and get out of the airport. The airports were later evacuated and people had to leave their luggage. We (a collegue and I) found out while we were listening to the radio in a cab on our way to the hotel. We drove past the pentagon and only 10 minutes or so later, it was hit. We were stuck in DC for the rest of the week. We had meetings in the Reagan building the next day, but we had to evacuate after a bomb threat. When planes finally started to fly again, I was only able to get to Phoenix, AZ and Tyler drove from Utah to pick me up. I could not wait several more days to get to SLC. I wanted to get home.
3.What is your most vivid memory of that day or the days that followed? I never felt like I was in danger, because I would find out what happened after I was safe, but I couldn't get my cell phone to work, and it was scary not to be able to get a hold of my family to tell them I was OK. It was 4 hours until I was able to call my husband. I had to stop watching the news. It was too upsetting to watch what had happened over and over again.
4.Did you visit any of the above sites prior to September 11? Yes, I had been to the pentagon several times, visited the twin towers once earlier that year, and had been to Pennsylvania several times.
5.Describe what it was like. Have you visited any of the memorials that have been erected since that day? I love being in the pentagon. It is very formal compared to other military bases. Almost everyone who works there is in uniform. Even the guys who get coffee for the generals are officers. It is really easy to get lost in the pentagon. I only spent a few minutes at the twin towers, but it was amazing. I have never been back to NYC, but I have been to the Pentagon several times since. It is the same. I just left Washington this week. We met off-site, but the people I met with were all working at the Pentagon when 9/11 occurred. We talked about the experience and the people they knew that were killed that day.
6.What feelings did you feel when you visited them? Being at the pentagon 10 years after 9/11 was actually kind of scary for me. I was glad that my flight home was on 9/8 this time. I would not feel comfortable flying on 9/11/11.
7.What feelings did you experience on that day and over the days that followed? I felt very alone stuck in DC without my family, but when I would go to the lobby of the hotel, we were all there watching the news together and it felt like we all knew each other. The people that worked at the hotel were amazing and tried to help us with anything we needed. I wanted to go home so badly, and I got really sick. There was only one restaurant in walking distance of my hotel, and I didn't have a rental car. It was a little Chinese restaurant, but the owner made me chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. A few weeks later, I found out that I was pregnant which was why I was so sick. The other people I had travelled with were in another hotel across town. I was also frustrated, because I had only planned to be away from home for two days, so I ran out of clothes and underwear. I had to wash in the sink and I wore my PJs a lot that week.
8.What feelings do you experience when you think about the attacks today? It makes me angry to think that a lot of people like me went to work that day and while I was lucky to be safe, they were not and they had to leave their families. The only difference between us was that my plane had less fuel.
9.Did you personally know anyone who was affected by the attacks? Yes, several of my clients work at the Pentagon and were in the office during the attack. They were injured, but not killed. One of my clients lost his friend who he drove to work with every day.
10.Do you do anything to commemorate this day (hang a flag, say a prayer, volunteer, etc.)? Nothing formal, but I always think about what happened on the anniversary.
11.How did you feel when the American government found Osama bin Ladin? I don’t like war or violence, so I don't believe in celebrating the death of any human being. I don't agree with what Osama bin Ladin stood for or did, but I worry about what it means for humanity to celebrate the death of a person, and I worry about the effects this has had on the Muslim people who live in America. I hate racism in all forms. I don’t like it when people justify hate and racism with the events of 9/11.
12.In the ten years since September 11, how has your life changed? Professionally, I was traveling several weeks a month back in 2001. It was hard for me to travel after the attacks; I would get really anxious. I slowed down a lot. It caused a logistics problem for me and my company because, as contractors, it became very difficult to get onto a military site. For the rest of 2001, we were very limited in our visits. To this day, we do not have the same clearance that we had. It also became so much more difficult to travel with the added security, even though I understand the need. Personally, I have had 3 children, lived in 3 different states, and put my husband through law school. I don’t know how to explain 9/11 to my kids. I worry about the world that they are growing up in.

A visit to Shriners, and finally a diagnosis

2011-08-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Our long awaited Shriner's appointment was yesterday. Sam, Tyler, and I went to Spokane and left the other boys with a babysitter. We can not remember when or if ever we have both spent that much time alone with Sam. He is a lot of fun to have on his own. He was pretty nervous about going to the doctor, so he was a bit silly.

When we pulled into the parking garage, he asked if this is the place where they are going to shine his feet. It took a minute to figure out that he thought we were going to "Shiners" hospital. We all laughed and laughed about that.

Sam has had issues with his ankles, feet, and legs since birth. When he still wasn't walking at 18 months, he ended up going to physical therapy and wearing orthotics until he was 2. They worked wonders. Since then, we have noticed that his feet are turning in more and more when he runs, he still sits in a W, and he is not keeping up with other kids his age. We have been to physical therapists, doctors, surgeons, etc with differing opinions as to what should be done. They ranged from nothing, orthotics, physical therapy to surgery. Our pediatrician finally recommended that we go to Shriner's to get the answers once and for all. I was very nervous, but it is hard watching him struggle to keep up with kids his age, and he is turning in his feet and knees more and more which is bringing comments from outsiders - lovely.

The official diagnosis is femoral antiversion. The best explanation I found is on the Johns Hopkins website. Basically, his thighbones are rotated inward which makes his knees knock and toes point in when he walks and runs. It also explains why he sits in a "W" rather than criss-cross. The doctor said that it might correct itself, but that in some patients it does not. They will evaluate him when he is 8 or 9 if it is causing an interruption in his life. At that point, they can do surgery where the bone is cut, rotated, and set. We are praying for the auto correction option. We have to go back in 6 months for a repeat xray of his right foot, because his arch is higher than his left, and they want to make sure that does not change. He was also diagnosed with loose ligaments which makes his ankles bend all over the place. He will probably be a clumsy little boy all growing up.

This does not answer any questions as to why he was delayed in walking as an infant, as it was primarily caused by low core muscle strength which is typically neurological. She said we could see a neurologist and a geneticist to test for syndromes and such, but that the outcome would not affect the way we treat him moving forward. Since he is maintaining a normal life, there seems to be no reason to go through extra tests that may never show anything.

For now, the doctor said that the best treatment is to let him be a normal 5 year old.

We are grateful to have some answers, and I feel very blessed that this is not something serious. Being at Shriner's is a humbling experience. It makes me re-evaluate challenges in my life and just to be thankful for what I have.

Jack's coolest day of his life

2011-08-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

Jack just completed a two and half week science camp. It was something he looked forward to all summer long, and it did not disappoint. When I picked him up on Monday, he was outside experimenting with all of the gadgets that the Science Bus had to offer. One of them was a robot named Disco. He was amazed that Disco knew his name, and commented on his Austin shirt. He asked Disco if he had ever met R2D2 and said if he ever does to tell him hello. I only had my phone, so the picture is not that great.

During his time in camp, he made gak, a compass, a weather vain, anemometer, two boats that they raced, miniature rocket, and regular sized rocket which they launched on the final day. They also learned about magnets and polarity, and all sorts of chemical reactions. On the last few days, the Science Bus came with all sorts of cool things to play with, and the robot. When I picked him up, he said it was probably the coolest day of his whole life. He wasn't sure which was his favorite, the robot or watching them dip things like hot dogs into liquid nitrogen and throwing them on the ground to watch them shatter. He was also very excited that his regular size rocket had several successful launches. He worked very hard on it. Here are some great quotes from the last few weeks:

(acting like I must be a complete idiot) It's an anemometer, it measures wind speed. (eyes roll)
According to my calculations...
I am pretty sure I figured out how to change the polarity of a magnet (insert long theory)
I am not a farmer, but I know a thing or two about crops.
It seems like the smartest kids I know are all going to science camp. (I told him that some of the other kids might not think it would be very fun) His response: They are soooo wrong.
His nightly prayers: Please bless that my rocket will have a successful launch. Please bless that my rocket cone will not get damaged today.
Mom, I didn't want to give Disco a high-five, because he is made of metal, but I realized that he was just holding his hand up; not hurting people.
Mom, I really want a robot, can we go to Walmart.
Do you think some day, people will have robots in their houses?
I don't think you should stop at Sonic on the way home again today, you stopped drinking coke, but you are still too addicted to sugar.

Amazingly, this was offered by the school district and totally free. I had to send him with a notebook, an empty two liter bottle, duct tape, cereal box, and some stickers.

A Wirick Weekend

2011-07-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

Last week for family night, we came up with a plan for our summer including fun activities we could do together on the weekends. Tyler had to file a case by Midnight on Saturday, so we had to work around his schedule, but we were able to fit in a movie night (Cars 2 with Jack, Sam, and Mom). It was 3d and we were the only ones in the theater; probably because the movie started at 9:30 at night. The kids stayed up until midnight. Tyler and Logan hung out at home and went to bed on time. After Tyler had finished his work Saturday, we went to Green Bluff Washington to pick strawberries. Green bluff is a cool area with a coop of farms. We go there to pick pumpkins, peaches, and now strawberries. We will keep our ears open for other fun foods that we can get fresh from the farms. The farm we ended up at this time was Knapp's.

The drive to the farms is beautiful. There are rolling hills planted with all sorts of great things. The farms are off-set with the beautiful Ponderosa pines found in this area. It smells wonderful. The actual picking went fast, because I had to remind the boys that we could only eat so many strawberries. Tyler was the funniest; he could hardly stand to leave any behind. Each boy had a different personality for picking. Tyler = pick one, eat one, grin, keep head down and keep picking. Jack = pick one strawberry from each bush, bounce through the field, declare over and over that he had the most strawberries. Sam = look in other peoples buckets to find the best strawberries, and steal them for your own. Logan = pick and taste, as soon as mom isn't holding on, take off running through the fields as fast as possible. None of them would stop and let me take a cute picture. They also LOVED riding the golf carts back to the barn.

Once we were done picking, we stopped to get the big boy's a haircut. Jack's was growing out, and Sam decided he wanted to get a haircut like Jack's. He looks so much different to me.

A day in the office

2011-07-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

I love working from home! I went to the backyard to take a call without interruptions, and it was too nice to leave. I am in my pjs at 2:15 working from my back deck. I can hear birds, squirrels, and the boats down on the river. Blessings to the creators of the wireless network!

How many more days until we aren't in Utah?

2011-06-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

We have been in Utah since last Friday. Sam has asked me several times each day, "How many more days until we aren't in Utah?" He really doesn't want to go back. Good news for Sam, we got to stay four extra days. When we come to Utah, I always schedule a day in the office in SLC. It is good to see people face to face. While I was there, I found out that I needed to make a quick trip to DC the following Tuesday. We had planned on going home on Saturday.

I will back up a little bit, as soon as we got here, Tyler received an email from the court saying that he needed to appear on Monday, so we spent the first day of the trip scrambling to change flights home, so he could be in court. He went to his 20 year high school reunion Friday and Saturday, and then flew home on Sunday. He had court Monday (surprise) and Tuesday (planned). Then he missed his flight Tuesday night and ended up coming back here Wednesday just in time to take me out for my B-day. Hooray!

OK, back to the DC plans. We were trying to get things worked out, and it seemed crazy to drive home Saturday just to unpack and fly out Monday morning, so we figured out a way to stay in Utah. Tyler is going to work, and my mom will help him with the kids. I will fly out tomorrow (Monday), give my presentation Tuesday morning, and fly back home Tuesday afternoon. We will wake up Wednesday and make the long drive back to Post Falls. Sound fun?

It has been a lot of fun being here with my family. Here are some highlights. Cousin sleep overs! Bike rides, crafts with Lucy (b-day), B-day lunch at Sonora, B-day dinner at Taste of India, toe nails painted with glitter by Angela, white trash BBQ at Steve's :), more Sonora, X-men, movie with the cousins, playing with cousins a lot, aquarium in SLC, planetarium, boyscout office visit with Grandpa, new iPad, shopping, hanging out with grown-ups, meeting people from Tyler's mission, playing pig with Gracie, Rachel, and Lucy, winning every game of pig by shooting from the foul line, waterfall spotting, sunshine!, team Ballard shirts, Father's day dinner with the whole Ballard clan, and more...

I better get to sleep. Early morning, early flight.

A road trip with Jack

2011-05-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to take Jack on a quick road trip to Utah. It was a sad occasion, my Uncle Clark passed away and I wanted to be with my family for the funeral. When I looked at my options for getting to Utah, I decided that I wanted to rent a car and take Jack with me. It has been a long time since I have had time to spend a block of alone time with him.

For 4 years, Jack and I spent every waking hour together, mostly just the two of us while Tyler was in law school and then his first year of working at a law firm. I miss that time. He is so much fun. He loves to talk and sing and play. He has great ideas and loves to hypothesize. When I asked him if he was interested, he was all in and very excited.

We planned it all out. Jack packed all by himself. He used b-day money to buy a new Lego set to put together while on the road, and we stocked up on snacks and treats. He picked out some movies. Tyler even loaded up his i-touch with music and games. Jack was thrilled about that.

In the car, he immediately started chatting. He wanted to know how close we were to Montana...Idaho....Utah. He loved talking about the scenery and trees. He kept a look out for lightening and storms to drive through. We had some very sweet talks about death and funerals. He told me he loved me about a million times. He did get bored with me a few times and asked if he could get in the other car with Grandma and Grandpa. I told him that it would be even more fun when he is big enough to sit up front rather than hollering from front to back.

We made it to Utah in time to go to the viewing. It was so nice to see my family. We went to my parents after the viewing. We found out the Jake got hit by a car. This became the focus of Jack's universe. I had to tell him over and over again that Jake was OK. He told me it was the worst news he had ever heard in his whole life. We were dead tired! We went back to the Wiricks and slept. In the morning we got ready for the funeral. Jack told me that I did not have to have a talk with him about how to behave, because he already knew that and he would never be bad at a funeral. He was great, and tried to be a good example to all of the cousins. It was a beautiful service. Jack was so cute with Aunt Kay. He told her that she could come live with us if she needed to. He was very concerned to see her cry. We had a side trip to the scout shop to get him his bear gear. He told the guy at the counter that, "My Grandpa loves scouts even more and he collects scout patches. He is in this store ALL of the time."

After the funeral and luncheon, we stopped at Walmart to get some gifts for Jake. Jack wanted to get him a new bike. We settled on a star wars guy. I bought Angela (Jake's mom) a Pepsi and some chocolate. Then we went to visit him. Jake told Jack that he insisted on him sleeping over. Jack told him that he couldn't sleep over, but he would stay as long as he needed him to. I told Jack he could sleep over after Angela said it was OK. He was thrilled. Jack and Jake hung out, played, and watched movies. I asked Jack what he did, and he said that they mostly just talked. He couldn't tell me about what - I wish I could have been a fly on the wall. Jake and Jack have great conversations!

I have to add that I did eat at Sonora Grill. Only once, but I couldn't let the trip go by without a stop. I am never disappointed! I am looking forward to a longer trip to Utah in June. We will be there from 6/10 - 6/17 to attend Tyler's 20 year reunion. Then staying later for some fun time. If anyone out there wants to meet up in Utah, let me know!

p.s. If you are confused. My brother married an awesome lady named Angela, and they have an awesome boy named Jake. I am also named Angela and I have an awesome boy named Jack. You can imagine how much fun this is when we are all together. To make it more confusing, most of our family calls us both Angie, but in our other lives we go by Angela. Even better, she is now Angela Ballard, and all growing up I was Angela Ballard, so I still answer to this even though I shouldn't.

Another hotel room...

2011-05-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

I find myself sitting in another hotel room with a few hours to spare, so I figured I would update my blog. Here is a view of downtown Austin from my room

So much has happened this spring that I have not written about. Logan turned 2 in March. My baby is officially not a baby. He loved having us sing happy birthday to him, and enjoyed his cake very much. We had a low key party at home.

Jack had his first pinewood derby! He took 3rd place in the ward and got to go to the district race. He ended up taking 8th overall, and he and Tyler had a blast! Jack named his car blue lightening. It sits on a trophy stand in his bedroom where he admires it regularly.

Jack and Sam are both playing soccer. I have some pictures on my other camera. The weather has been miserable. Sam has struggled with the cold. The 4 year olds do not practice. They show up every Saturday. They spend the first 20 minutes practicing with their coach. They run a lap and do jumping jacks. Then they practice dribbling the ball and kicking it into the goal. Then the two teams play a game. Sam likes to run the opposite way of the ball. When people laugh, he keeps on running and showing off. He will not get in and kick the ball. He eventually gives up and comes to sit on my lap. Sometimes he cries. Last week was his final game (halleluja!). It was a beautiful warm day. He played the whole game without any tears. His team did really well, and he even kicked the ball once or twice. He still mainly stayed out of the way of everyone else. He just ran behind everyone and grinned the whole time. After the game was over he told me how much he loved soccer and asked if he could play it at home. We also just registered Sam for kindergarten. When we arrived, they took him away for screening. He was not having that, but luckily I knew the screener from church and told him it was ok to go talk to my friend. He was able to answer all of the questions and write his name, so they said he was good to go. He barely makes the cut off date. We went through all of the steps to get him registered. His favorite part was buying a school shirt. He put it right on. Then on the way out he told me, "I do not want to go to that school. And if you don't come with me, I am never going." GREAT. He hasn't really talked about it since and I am not going to bring it up for a while.

Jack turned 9 on mother's day. We had a fun day. We went to Red Lobster on Saturday for a combined celebration. We taught Logan how to say, "Happy Birthday". He was really cute saying, Happy Birthday Gack. He also would say Happy Mother's Day. He often calls me Daddy-Mommy. It was pretty funny when he would say, "Happy Mother's Day Daddy Mommy." He is also really really good at saying, Stop it Sammy! Or Sammy, no hit! Or Sammy Mean! He loves to be outside and running around. It is a good thing the weather is finally warming up, because all three of my boys have cabin fever! Jack was also the mayor in a cute school play (Suessical the Musical - Horton Hears a Who scene). He has his first piano recital this weekend. We are very excited for that too.

Tyler is all moved into his new office. It is really nice, and he is really happy with the way it turned out. We are both staying busy with work, church, and chasing after the kids. That was a great distraction, now I must get dressed up and ready to go to a banquet and award ceremony. I would much rather crawl into bed and watch a good movie on Netflix!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2011-04-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

I don't think that there is a particularly busy season in the world of software development, but it feels like I am in one now. The main product that I am responsible has a 6 month release cycle, and we are completing a major release right now. It will be out for beta testing within the next few weeks. This means that I am daily reviewing bugs found by our QA team and determining if they must be fixed prior to the release, or if they can wait for future releases. It takes a mixture of experience, judgement, and luck. It also means that I have a whole team in SLC waiting for me to answer my emails. I am making a lot of friends this week (sarcasm!)

On top of the new release we also just completed our User's Conference. It was in Tuscon AZ this year. I was responsible for 6 or 7 breakout sessions and I also got to give the main presentation at one of the general sessions. It was a live demo of our new release. This is always a bit scary since everything could go wrong quickly. Nothing did and it was an amazing conference. I enjoyed the warm weather and the sun. Oh the blessed sun!!!!

This week I am in Denver participating in Leadership Transformation training. It is nice to be the one listening rather than teaching this, but also challenging keeping up with everything going on back in the office. I really do love my job. I work with amazing people and get to do some pretty cool things. The hardest part is being away from my family. I am preparing for another conference in Austin in a few weeks, and then I hope to hold of on travel for a bit. There is another trip to Europe coming up in September which might be too hard to pass up if the opportunity arises...

Tyler did awesome with the kids last week. Our friend Donna was amazing and watched the two little boys for us. This week, they are starting a new daycare. Sam had a bad first day and poor Tyler had to drop him off today anyway. He was sad, but they worked things out. I am also missing Jack's first pinewood derby. Tyler is going to take pictures and I am sure that Jack will call with a play by play description of his night.

Some of the other things going on...Tyler is moving to a different (SOOO nice) office space, phone will be installed Thursday and he has to be out of his old office by the end of the month. Jack and Sam are playing soccer. I will have to take some pictures and post about it - not to give it all away, but Sam is just as funny as I expected. Jack is getting ready for his first piano recital, and he is taking an after school drama class. He got picked for a pretty big part and we are excited to see how it turns out. Our pediatrician is referring Sam to Shriner's to get his legs checked out, but I have no idea when that will be. Logan continues to wreak havoc with toothpaste, diaper cream, markers, food, and anything else that he can get into. He also started climbing out of his crib which is really messing with our schedule and my sanity.

As busy as we are, I am sure grateful for my life. I am a lucky lady!

He makes me laugh!

2011-03-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Sam: Mom, can I have my lunch now, I am starving!
Me: Sure, what do you want.
Sam: A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Me: That will be 4 kisses. One for the bread, one for the peanut butter, one for the jelly, and one for the other bread.
Sam: (wrinkles his nose) I'll just have a jelly sandwich.
Me: That will be 3 kisses.
Sam: Do I have to do it now, sigh?
Me: Yep!
Sam: OK.

Then he gets his famous little eye twinkle, puckers up and gives me three big ones!

And the Oscar goes to...

2011-03-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

Samuel David Wirick, for his convincing performance of, "I think my foot got broken." Last night, right before we were supposed to go to a friend's house to celebrate a cute boy's 2 year old birthday, Sam running at full speed, tripped on a rug and crashed to the floor. He screamed and cried and told me he hurt his foot. It was a pretty loud bang when he fell, so I loved him and babied him for a bit. I let him leave without putting shoes on and carried him around that night. There is not mark, it is not swollen (a tiny bit, but seriously?!?). He can bend it, wiggle his toes, and it seems tender only when I press on the top of his foot. I knew with every ounce of my being that this was a huge overreaction on his part.

Fast forward to 12 am. Sam is screaming in the hallway. His foot hurts. I got him calmed down, and back to bed. This happened every two hours for the rest of the night. This added some doubt to my conviction of his total wellness. Sam refused to walk all day long, and would not bear weight on his foot. I finally decided to call the doctor. They set us an appointment for tomorrow. They said that with foot injuries, you can never be sure. I told Tyler and we tried to work out an arrangement for the car. (By the way, the prism has died and cannot be brought to life without an engine replacement. -So not what we need right now!) Looking at my schedule, I could rearrange 3 meetings to open up an hour to take him in, but Tyler has to be in court and will need to have a vehicle to drive him there. There is no way we can make it work, so I just decided to take him to the instant care tonight.

If your kid will not bear weight on their foot, your kid will receive x-rays; even in the doctor cannot find anything wrong with the foot. If he is charming and flirts with the technician, he will get extra stickers a sucker and be allowed back to the computer to view his x-rays. I wanted to point out that this was not doing me any favors for future fake injuries, but he was REALLY charming!

The official diagnosis: Sam has a sore foot. He needs Tylenol for the pain, and that will be $300 please! I knew it, but I really didn't want to be the mom who ignored a broken foot and caused her child unneeded pain and suffering. He still wont walk. The kid knows how to stay in character. I might call Disney to see if they need a new star!

What's up at the Wiricks?

2011-02-15T15:38:00.000-08:00

This blog thing can get frustrating. When something happens, I swear to myself I will blog about it. Then I think that I will wait until I get pictures, and then I realize I haven't blogged about anything that I wanted to blog about. Working full time plus busy callings, Tyler's business, and 3 naughty boys doesn't help. Here's what's been going on at the Wiricks!

Tyler is really busy! He goes to work every day and never ever sluffs his High Council responsibilities. :)

Jack has been taking skiing lessons on Saturdays. Two weeks ago, he had a good fall that landed him in the ER. The ski patrol gave him a cardboard box splint which he called the "box of shame". The doctors in the ER thought that it was great and wrote Box of Shame on his box with marker. Nothing was broken, but he was pretty bruised. He got all bandaged up and given a set of crutches to walk on for a week. I have never seen a more delighted boy. He loved the attention. It was scary to watch him as he cannot walk in a straight line minus crutches. I also notices that he used them to point more than walk, so I told him it was time to give them up. He was sad, but agreed. My real reason for retiring the crutches was to save my walls. Sam and Logan could not go a minute without using them as guns or banging them on the walls. Good news, Jack is fully recovered. We spent the weekend making the coolest valentines box ever. It was a robot - the kids in class told him that if there was a contest, he would win. He enjoyed valentines day and wrote me this cute poem:

Mom

Smart, honest

caring, amusing, loving

Most hard working

Parent

He also came into my room laughing hysterically as he tried to shove a conversation heart in my mouth. I made him show me first. It said, Team Jacob. He thought it was hysterical. He also wants to know what the deal is with Justin "Beaver", cuz the girls at school keep talking about him. Jack is too funny!

Sam is my buddy. Every day at lunch I look forward to asking him what he wants to eat. Here are some of his answers: a turkey and cheese sandwich with peanut butter and jelly, a turkey and cheese sandwich with no cheese, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with just peanut butter. Sam is going to the orthopedic specialist next week to have some tests done. (Tyler will be taking him by himself!) He will probably be scheduled for an MRI to look at the anatomy of his hips and pelvis. Results will determine if he needs surgery, physical therapy, orthotics, or all three. Keep him in your prayers. I am signing him up for soccer this spring too, and I am hoping he can keep up with the other kids. Time will tell, I guess.

Logan - does anyone need a 2 year old, because I am exhausted? He requires constant supervision. Here is a demonstration of what happens when Tyler and I tried to have a 5 minute talk without keeping our eyes on him.

Isn't he darling! He also screams MINE at the top of his lungs and dumps his bowl of milk out after breakfast every morning. He is sweet too. He stood at the window waving at Jack this morning saying, "bye buddy!" He has also fallen in love with Woody from Toy Story. He begs for Woody fruit snacks and carries around a Woody doll. It is all pretty cute when you can get through the naughty.

I am just trying to keep my head above water. I had a trip to Utah in January. I just flew in for the day to attend meetings in SLC. I have more meetings next week, so Logan and I are flying to Utah on Saturday and spending some extra time with family. I have more trips coming up: March/Seattle, April/Tucson, and May/Austin.

What Jack knows about MLK Day

2011-01-18T08:38:00.000-08:00

I had Oprah on yesterday afternoon. In commemoration of MLK day, she was exploring past shows where racism was discussed. Jack walked in and this was our conversation:

J - "Mom, what exactly is racism?"
M - Some long description which more details than he probably needed.
J - "That is not good! I thought Martin Luther King took care of that a long time ago."

Strange School Lunch Requests

2011-01-14T12:13:00.000-08:00

Jack had a doctor's appointment earlier this week and the doctor was concerned that he had not gained any weight in a year - he has dropped from the 50% to the 20% for his age. He has only grown taller and skinnier. She asked us to pump him up a bit with additional calories. The problem is the kid doesn't stop moving and is not very hungry, so we are going to have to get creative. He went shopping with Tyler yesterday and picked out some foods. He also announced earlier this week that he was sick of turkey and cheese sandwiches in his lunch. I told Tyler to switch it up and make some PB and J's. Apparently this is not what Jack had in mind. This morning, Tyler went to work early, so I made his lunch. I tried to convince him to eat school lunch, "Meatloaf Cupcakes". He informed me that he didn't think that school lunch meatloaf would be good like Grandma Gloria's. He asked me to pack whole wheat crackers, A-LOT of smoked salmon, pineapple, and some fruit roll ups. Where did this kid come from? That was definitely the strangest lunch I have ever packed. I am glad he wanted healthy food, but there are no extra calories in what he chose. Maybe when he comes home I will feed him a stick of butter :)

Christmas Highlights

2011-01-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Here are some highlights:

Christmas Eve - The kids did not get to bed until after midnight on Christmas Eve because of all the excitement. Christmas Eve with friends, funniest nativity recreation directed by the funniest 10 year old in town. A note to Santa asking him how thick his suit is. Oatmeal spread out all over the front yard for the reindeer. Jack wonders if there are any wild reindeer that fly. Christmas books with Dad, new super hero PJs, Sam spends most of the night grumpy and crying, doesn't understand why he cannot open all of his presents. I am up past 2 am wrapping. Logan runs to the tree every time we get out the camera and poses for a picture just so we will show it to him on the camera display.

Christmas Morning - Kids are amazed at the presents under the tree. Logan opens his first gift (A dinosaur flashlight that roars) and doesn't want anything else. What he does open becomes a stand for his dinosaur. All wishes and dreams come true when the Wirick's join the current decade and finally get a Wii. Kids play with race tracks all morning, and Wii all afternoon. I pack for the trip to Utah. Tyler is sick in bed, tries to help pack between nausea. Kids figure out that the Zhu Zhu pets can ride down the fisher price race track and enjoy that until bed time.

Day after Christmas - 10 hour drive to Utah. We beat the storm out of town and have a great/safe drive. DVD player saves the trip and keeps kids mesmerized. Sam asks if we are in Utah every half hour. Sam confuses the word Montana with September and keeps asking us if we are still in September - every half hour. Sam starts singing, "All I want for Christmas is my Grandma!" No tears or major issues on the trip, and we make it to Utah by dinner time and early enough to meet our new darling Lilly (My sister Karen's new baby).

While in Utah - FHE at Temple Square with cousin Jake. Note to self: 4 little boys at temple square/not such a good idea, it sounds like this, "Jack, Jake, Sam, Logan stop that, get over here, be quiet, your going to get lost, get back here, keep your hands off of each other..." Their favorite part was touching the temple. Cute. Whitney cousins Christmas party, Wirick family party, date with Tyler (love the movie True Grit - a must see), temple with Tyler (thanks grandparents for babysitting), lots of Sonora grill - seriously yummy!, more Christmas presents, visiting with our parents, a horse drawn sleigh ride to see the elk at Hardware Ranch, the storm of the century that really wasn't :), a little bit of work (good thing we have cell phones and laptops), traditional birthday crafts with my nieces Gracie and Rachel, Jack's mandated reading - getting started on Harry Potter, the Ballard cousin (little kids) New Years party at Emily's, spending time with Karen, Tyson, and Lilly, and finally - Lilly's baby blessing. Things I missed - spending more time visiting with my sister's in law and my brothers; everyone was so busy. We didn't see any friends this year.

The drive back - The weather was pretty good until the Monida pass. It was a bit scary for a little while. The kids want to move to Utah and they miss Grandma. The kids were ornery! At one point, Jack demanded that we turn around and go back to a town where he could get something to eat. He could not wait 20 more minutes to the next town, and he didn't want anything from the cooler or bag of snacks. Jack finally finished his reading assignment, and most of his homework. Sam required benedryl for a runny nose - a few hours of peace. Logan napped pretty good on the way home. I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" out loud while Tyler drove. One of our favorite things to do. Picked Charlie up from boarding. We got home by 5 pm, so I helped Jack finish his homework, I got unpacked and put the Christmas decorations away. I am still trying to get caught up with the laundry.

Now we are back to work, school, and church responsibilities. Back to cold cereal and Little Caesar's pizza for dinner when things get to much to handle. Back to reality!

Santa Time...

2010-12-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

We took our annual trip to the mall to sit on Santa's lap. I love this, because I never know what is going to happen. This year all three boys were fine. Logan was not scared at all. He did escape Tyler at one point and ended up running all the way into JC Penny. Then Sam followed and we had two kids running through the mall. Yes - we are those parents. Jack was very serious, I started giving him tips and he said, "I know mom, talk loud, look him in the eye, and tell him what I want." His list was a bit long and very expensive. Sam was really quiet but cute. Logan sat on his lap when it was time for pics. Next we need to work on getting them all to look at the camera at the same time. But as far as Santa pics go, this one turned out pretty cute.

Pie Night!

2010-12-07T10:56:00.001-08:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at our home. Our friends the Horner's came over, and everything was YUMMY. Jack made darling name cards for each guest. I was so busy with the food that I forgot to take pictures of the spread this year. Trust me, it was great.

Later that night we invited several families over for pie night. We started this tradition while Tyler was in law school in Nebraska. It is a fun way for everyone to enjoy their family dinner, but still get together. It also allows us to try little slices of a whole bunch of different pies and desserts. This is Tyler's favorite holiday of the whole year! Here are some pics from our evening.

Jack was upset that I would not let him wear this for Thanksgiving dinner. He felt like this homemade Squanto costume was totally appropriate. I am so mean!

Charlie was also horrified that I made him dress up in a silly sweater. See him cringe and put his tail between his legs.

Logan loves Charlie! He is reading him stories and giving him loves. We also noticed that the dog is getting very fat because Logan is constantly feeding him.

During the prep, Logan discovered the candy dishes that I was getting ready to put out for the guests. He has no problems getting himself up on the counter and quickly helped himself to the chocolate. He screamed and screamed when we took him off and moved the candy where he could not reach it. Once the party started, he spent most of the time finding the various candy dishes and either helping himself or making friends with the closest available push over. Sam was a bit sneakier, but he snagged several handfuls too.

Here are all of the yummy pies and desserts! The unofficial theme of the night is "more pie than any human should possibly eat", or "eat till you puke".

Round One for Jack!

Soooooo Coooooold!

2010-11-23T21:40:00.000-08:00

When every other word out of the weatherman's mouth is Arctic, you know you are in for it. We are expecting/experiencing record low temperatures this week. There are a couple feet of snow on the ground, school was cancelled because of the high winds, and Jack is in heaven. The kid stays outside in the snow for hours at a time. Sam has been a trooper and can stay out for almost an hour at a time. Jack was thrilled with his really cool invention today. He took a round sled and used it to slide down the slide on our swing set. I think it is a good thing I have insurance!
But this is the real reason I am blogging tonight! Jack came in from retrieving said sled with a bleeding tongue and lots of tears. He quickly explained that he put his tongue on something metal and it stuck and he had to pull it off and now he is bleeding. I am sorry, I am a horrible mom, but I laughed my head off - almost peed my pants. He was not impressed with my lack of sympathy. He also would have loved it if I wrapped his tongue in a gauze bandage just like they did on The Christmas Story movie, but I made him take a few sips of water and that was it. I asked him if he knew it would stick, and he said he didn't. He later confessed to Tyler that he knew it would stick, but not that bad. He also was unable to eat any salad with dinner because the ranch dressing hurt his tongue. I let him get away with that, because I was still laughing every time I looked at him. I should get credit for only asking him once if someone double dog dared him to do it.

Coming to you from Dayton Ohio

2010-11-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

Another business trip, another hotel room...It seems that is the only time I have lately to blog. I have very cute pictures of the boys in their Halloween costumes on my computer at home. Never got a chance to blog them. Sorry, just imagine a cute Jack the Army boy (face paint of course), Sam the Superman (sprayed black hair with a little curl in front), and Logan the darling dancing elephant. Something about the costume made him dance. Doesn't that sound cute? I also have pictures of the pumpkin patch, petting zoo, and carving pumpkins.

Oh, by the way it was Tyler's birthday on the 7th too and I made him another delicious apple pie. Happy Birthday Tyler, maybe I will get you a present by Christmas :) I would list 38 reasons why I love you, but I really don't have time for that either. I could totally do it though. I have known you now for 23 years - can you believe it?!?

I am really looking forward to a week off for Thanksgiving!

Germany!

2010-11-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

It is my last day in Germany; I decided to blog before I get home and forget all that I have done. This is my trip report.

The purpose of my trip is to provide training to our US Army customers working in the Army bases here in Europe. We had about 40 customers from about 18 different facilities in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy... Typically our customers travel to out annual users conferences for this training, but it is not cost effective to send so many users from over sees to the US, so they planned this conference to allow those customers to get some the training they missed. For a regular conference, we send 20 or so people from our company to put it on. For this training conference, I travelled with one other colleague named Paul. Paul and I have known each other since 2000. He was one of my star students, so I hired him as a trainer and I used to be his boss. When I left the training position, he took my position. We have been friends all along. He and his family live in Warner Robins Georgia. Paul has been to Germany several times, so I was very glad he was coming with me; it was like having a free driver and tour guide.
I arrived in Heidelberg Germany on Monday morning after a full day of exhausting travel. My hotel was in the countryside right outside of Heidelberg. All of the leaves are in full color change, and the hillsides were gorgeous with changing leaves, old farm houses, and castles. The weather was perfect. It was comfortable outside in a sweater. It is very strange to be in Germany. It is not something I had ever considered before. I cant stop looking out of my window.

Tuesday morning - Ate a lot of free breakfast consisting of fresh breads, cheeses, yogurt, fruit, and juice. (I will miss this bread). We went to the room where the conference would take place. We tested our Internet connections, and made sure all of the final touches on our presentations were ready. Then we went to Heidelberg to see the sites. We went to the castle and crossed the bridge over the Neckar river. I took about 150 pictures of all the cool architecture. I think I might have enough to make a book of pictures of the doors and windows of Heidelberg. We ate at a great little German restaurant. I ordered a dish that was translated into English as: spicy vegetarian flat bread served with goat cheese and Mediterranean vegetables. When it came out, I couldn't stop laughing. I had managed to order pizza off of a German menu.

I also had fun in the Christmas store and bought a few souvenirs. We met Juliet, our point of contact in Europe, for dinner. She lives in Mannheim, and took us to her city. She took us to a Turkish restaurant in the "Turk Town" area of the city. The menu was in German with no translation. Juliet tried to translate, but was having a hard time explaining, so she had us look at the pictures inside the restaurant. I learned a very important German word that night, chicken. It helped me on several later menus when I could not figure out what to order.

Wednesday - Our training conference started. I had 3 50-minute presentations. Paul taught a 3 hour class on report writing. For dinner, we went with the Army Headquarters contact, Pete, to a Greek restaurant. It was the funniest restaurant of the trip. Each booth had sheep skins stapled to the wood. There was one old Greek man running the whole show. He had one cook. It was packed. He basically yelled at us in German to order. Luckily, Pete speaks Greek, none of us speak German. Pete was able to order us chicken :) in Greek and that is all we knew. He tried to order himself a Greek item and ended up with a German lasagna with gravy. Our chicken was excellent - grilled with yummy Greek spices and served with french fries and a really yucky German salad. At the end to make up for the horrible treatment he gave us all a free shot of Oso. Neither Paul nor I drink, so sadly it went to waste. Pete did take a nip of his before leaving. We took his word that it was very good. He wouldn't take my credit card and yelled at me to pay with Euros. I don't know how I am going to sort out my expense report.

Thursday - 2nd day of training conference. I had 5 50-minute presentations. Paul had 2 50-minute presentations. Juliet arranged for all that wanted to participate to go to a Spanish restaurant in Mannheim. This restaurant has flamenco dancers who perform on a small stage. About 2o of us participated. The menu was in Spanish with German subtitles. I could figure out the foods in Spanish. I ordered an amazing grilled salmon dish. The Europeans are so laid back. We were at the restaurant for 4 hours. They just drank a little, ate a little, and talked and laughed and enjoyed the dancing. I was dying! I had to pack, and work, and talk to my family. I thought about how little time we spend eating our dinner. I decided that I am in too much of a hurry and it would be good if I slowed down every once in a while. I really enjoyed visiting with our foreign customers. They asked us a lot of interesting questions about the US government, geography, schools, etc. You could tell they were trying to make sense of things they had read or heard about the US. They are such generous, laid back, and kind people. I loved learning a bit about them. They did not share much though, because they kept asking us question. The funniest was asking us to explain different US phrases like "pulling your leg" and "your name is mud".

Friday - last day of conference. We had a wrap up, but ended early. Our customers presented with the most beautiful handmade rose leis. Paul and I drove to Frankfurt. That is where I am right now. We are staying in a high rise hotel right in down town. This is an amazing city. Very big, and modern. After we checked in, we walked to the down town shopping area. We found a urban fusion restaurant. We have a policy about only eating at a restaurant where the menu has English subtitles if there is no one with us to translate, but we were hungry and this place looked good. There were enough words that we could pick out by now like pizza, pita, chicken!, curry, etc. I ordered a chicken curry dish and it was amazing. I did accidentally eat a mushroom instead of a piece of chicken, but I didn't die. :) We are taking it easy tonight and eating at the hotel. My flight leaves in the morning. I am ready to get home to my kids. My in laws were nice enough to stay with them, so Tyler could work. I got to talk to them on the phone today and they seem to be in good spirits.

***I arrived home safely on Saturday afternoon. I am finally feeling back to normal. I had to wait and post this in the US, because my spell check was in German and I was too embarrassed to post without it. After running it this morning, I am glad that I didn't post!

Conclusion:

I actually like Germany. I am pleasantly surprised by this, and it makes me want to see more of Europe. My instincts are much better than when I travelled overseas back in 2000. I guess I grew up a bit in the last 10 years.

I cannot read, understand, or speak German. I should not even try to say the words I see written on signs. It feels like my brain can pronounce them, but when I speak them it sounds ridiculous.

I am an American! I enjoy quick and convenient things. I like alarm clocks in my hotel rooms, and TV that I can understand. I will try to slow down when I eat, but 4 hours is way too long for a dinner out!

Cross Country

2010-10-22T12:53:00.000-07:00

I love Jack's elementary school. They have such fun programs. During the fall, the kids can participate in cross country. They practice on Tuesday and Thursday after school. At the end of the season, they have a track meet against another elementary school (each grade races separately). They have one more huge track meet at the high school against all of the schools in the district. I only had my camera at the first meet. Here is a play by play.

The starting line up

half way around the course

Sprinting towards the finish line (love the grasping of heart)

A happy finisher! (They get cookies)

In reality, Jack finishes right in the middle of the group. In Jack's estimation, he is pretty close to winning. "Probably 4th or 6th". I love Jack - he is such a positive kid, and he gives everything he has to everything he does.

Jack is also taking piano lessons right now, and is pretty good. He loves it, so that helps a lot. We have a great teacher that comes to our house which helps me out a lot. He is also loving scouts and is busy every night with homework. He is always interested in adding activities, but I am hesitant to overload him. Right now he wants to take a martial arts class. We'll see what is next for Jack!

Sam's Surgery

2010-10-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

After Sam's scary penicillin allergy our doc sent us to see an Ear Nose Throat doctor. He checked out both Jack and Sam. While Jack's tonsils were on the larger size, Sam's were gigantic and causing him to mouth breath, so we scheduled him for a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy on Oct 14th.

The kids had the funniest reactions. Jack was very jealous that Sam got to have surgery and he didn't, and Sam was excited to go to the "blue hospital" where he was "borned". When we got to the hospital, Sam was darling. He was all grins and enjoyed having mom all to himself. He was polite and quiet and practiced using the mask on himself and his dragon named "drag-o". All the nurses gathered for his enactment of how he would fall asleep after he got the gas. When they gave him the meds to relax him, he was absolutely hysterical. He got all glazed and was amazed by my hair. He decided that his surgery doll was a Super Dentist that was saving the world. More nurses gathered to enjoy the fun. He went right back and had no problems breathing in the mask. He really wanted to blow up the purple balloon for the doc.

Surgery went great, and he was very calm in recovery. He ate his applesauce, and drank some juice and they sent us home with the normal warnings.
And then the fun begins... Carrying him into the house from the car, he tells me that he feels like he is going to throw up. I put him on the counter in the bathroom and run to get a bowl. I come back and he is a black puddle of blood. Scary. I lay him down, and give him his meds. He throws up another bowl full of red blood. After several repeats, I call the doctor. I try to explain the amount of blood, and that his nose is bleeding and wont stop. We try everything he says and it continues, so he tells us to go to the ER. Luckily I handed Sam a barf bag, because he threw up two more times on the way and in the lobby. He was pale, and tired, and miserable. They gave him some anti-nausea meds and and IV full of fluids. He stopped throwing up, and the clots were able to form on his adenoids. If he would have bled one more time, he would have had to go back to surgery for more cauterization. They moved us to peds and we got to sleep overnight. Sam was very very mad about that. I had told him he didn't have to sleep overnight at the hospital. I lied, and I learned a lesson about not promising things that I cannot control. He is doing fine now. Still pretty drained and whiny! They said his voice would change, but now he sounds like Mickey Mouse. I wonder if it will change back.

I handled this all surprisingly well, because this is just the way things have been going for me lately. If you are close to me and start to have bad luck, sorry it is probably just me.

3rd Grade

2010-09-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

A little late for the first day of school post, but better late than never. Jack LOVES 3rd grade. He was a bit nervous, because he thought the homework was going to be really really hard. I had a talk with him about the workbooks he had done this summer - they were 3rd grade level, and they weren't hard. Good ol' Jack came back to me and quickly agreed that he is very smart and very good at things like math, spelling, and science. He was a little disappointed that none of his friends were in his class, but got over that quickly too - he can still play with them at recess.

He was most excited about his shirt. If you can't read it, it says "homework does not compute". He thinks that this is hilarious and likes to look in the mirror. He came home from the first day very excited. His teacher has a ton of incentives that he is all over. The rules were similar to what he was used to, so he felt like he would be ok with them. He has three pages of homework each day, and he comes up with a lot of "strategies" for completing his work. I get to hear detailed explanations of his strategies as I correct his work. I think his teacher must talk about strategy. He also reports to me every person in class who got in trouble that day and lets me know that he has yet to even receive a warning. He thinks that he is the best behaved kid in class, and might get student of the month, because he is really "displaying all of the character traits." He also started cross country, and after the first practice I asked him how he did. He said, "I did great, I ran until I couldn't." I would love to know if that meant, a few yards, half way, almost to the end? I didn't press him for that information. I want him to always think he is doing great.

Jack is also working very hard to earn his wolf badge in scouts. We only have a few more things to pass off.

Sam is in preschool. I am not sure why I didn't take pictures. Maybe later this week, and then I will post about his adventures. They are many!

The last hurrah

2010-09-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

We always try to do something fun the last weekend of the summer before school starts. This year, we had free passes to Silver Wood (local amusement park). Before we could go, Jack and I went to a baptism of his good friends Zach and Savannah (twins). On the way home, the fire fighters were in the street collecting money for Jerry's Kids. I told Jack to roll down his window. We were in the prism which does not have automatic windows. Jack looked at me like I spoke a different language and asked, "How do I do that?" Am I seriously getting old enough that kids don't know how to roll down a window? Once we got home from the baptism and made a quick change, we loaded up in the car for a fun trip!

When we got into the gates, Sam looks at me and says, "Mom, just drop me off in the kid's area." He was totally serious as if it as OK to just drop my 4 year old off to play on his own. For a while, we stuck together while Jack and one of the grownups rode a big ride. Jack is fearless and wants to ride every thing possible. Here are some fun pictures of him and Tyler on the Panic Plunge. He was not nervous at all.

Then we moved to the kids area where we all rode the elephants. This is the first ride for Logan. He LOVED it. The lady yelled at me to make him sit down, but I couldn't keep him in his seat. He wanted to push the green button that made us go up high. I also love that Jack was just as happy to ride the kid's rides with Sam. He is such a cute big brother.

After a round on the kids rides and some lunch, we split up. Tyler went with Jack for a while, and I hung out with the kids. Sam was hilarious. He would get in line, and then make a friend. He would spend the whole time in line making plans with his "friend". They would discuss which color they were going to ride and what their "mission" was going to be. If he saw a baby, he would tell me that it was Logan's friend. Logan was so good in his stroller. He didn't take a nap, and didn't melt down once. We stayed until closing (10:30 pm). As soon as Sam and Logan got into the car, they were zonked out.

Tyler switched with me, so that I could ride some with Jack. I love rides too, and I can ride almost anything. Age has made me a bit queasy on the round and round rides, so I only ride a few of them. Coasters are my favorite. It is so fun standing in line with Jack. We have awesome conversations about anything that pops into his head. Plus he holds my hand and thanks me over and over again. I like him at this age. I like that he likes me.

Today (Monday/Labor Day) we got a bonus fun day. What do you do for fun when you are married to a total geek and live with three dirty little boys? You go digging for garnets. Tyler did not explain this to me very well, so I was not prepared. He said we would get "a little dirty". When do we not get a little dirty? I dressed the boys in their cute outfits and off we went.

To find garnets, you first dig holes from a big pile of dirt, clay, and rocks and put what you dig into buckets. You can have two buckets per person. I figured 1 bucket per person was plenty.

After your buckets are full (and very heavy), you go to a sifting area where you sit on dirty buckets and sift out the sand. Our four buckets yielded one full (and very very heavy) bucket of rocks. Then you go to a washing area and clean your rocks to see if any of them are garnets. Seriously, a little dirty Tyler?!? This is also the spot where you ask each other 5000 times, "Is this one?" I loved that they all kept asking me like I had ever done this before." I just said sure to every question. When you find the garnets, you put them in to a baggy.

After a couple of hours of this, you think phew our bucket is empty and we have some garnets in a baggy. Lets go to a cute restaurant and eat something, but that is when your geeky husband and his prodigy decide that you definitely need to go dig some more. So off you go to fill another bucket, which actually ends up being two buckets. Then repeat the steps and now we have more garnets in our baggy. This time, I found some large ones that got praise from the bored forest service guy who stands around and answers the question, "Is this one?" When you are done, you take the baggy to the forest service desk. They shamefully go through your bag and pick out the rocks that apparently are not garnets, and weigh those that are. We came away with 4 oz. This, I was told, is pretty good. The limit is 5 lbs per person. They assured me that no one ever gets the limit. Jack was pretty happy with his bag. He is going to use them to start his rock collection for one of his cub scout requirements. I will put the bag next to the other bag of rocks and the box of fossils that we keep in his closet. Hint to Tyler, NO MORE ROCKS!

After garnet hunting we were going to go to Paul Bunyan Day's (or as Sam says, Small Onion's Days) in St Maries Idaho, but we were "a little dirty", and it was all shut down. We ended up driving home and grabbing some dinner on the road, so that we could get Jack in bed on time. Tomorrow I will take the traditional pictures of him standing on our porch in his darling school outfit going off to 3rd grade. We had a great summer, and we will miss the freedom!

P.S. To the locals that read my blog, garnet hunting season ended today. Sorry, you will have to wait until next year. Also, you will not get a little dirty. People were wearing rain gear and boots. Additionaly, if you tell your four year old to stay out of the muddy puddles, people will laugh at you.

Out of town - again.

2010-08-25T18:33:00.001-07:00

I guess this post will be about me and not the kids. That doesn't happen very often. I am in a hotel in Orlando Florida missing my cute family and getting ready to go home. At the same time, I am enjoying myself very much. Every year, my company throws a user's conference. Earlier this year, I received a promotion to product manager and my career - life has changed a lot since then! For this conference, I have given 6 different presentations in 4 days. One in front of the entire group (~250 people). I have gotten reacquainted with customers and colleagues that I spent a lot of time back in the day before I had kids and stopped traveling. I have also met a lot of people that I have only spoken to over the phone for the last few years. I am very lucky to have some of the greatest people to work with. My new job as product manager means that I am responsible for determining the future road map for our product. It means that I have to listen to my customers and then decide what will be best for all of us. I have spent many years of my career taking the customer requirements - creating a design document and then working with programmers to develop the software to the requirement of the users, but I was never the one that decided which features to include. It is scary to be in this position, but it is also really exciting. I love working with people who have a passion for their jobs and are dedicated to protecting their employees and the environment. Also, the hotel is amazing! There are alligators in the pond outside of my room in a giant atrium. Crazy! I also found out today that I get to go to Germany the first week of November. I will be getting a new passport as soon as I go home.

The best part is that tomorrow my brother David and his family are coming from Tampa to visit me. I cannot wait to see them and meet their little baby Lucas for the first time. It is also wonderful that my parents flew out to CdA last weekend to spend this week with my family. It is much easier to relax and concentrate here when I know they are home taking care of my boys (including Tyler). Apparently, mom made them meatloaf and it was the best thing they had ever eaten. Definitely not one of the meals that I make; I still do not eat hamburger and have not since I was 11 years old. We don't usually have it at our house, but Tyler had a client that gave him 20 lbs as a thank you. It has been fun teasing him about what he will get next - chickens, pigs?

I will be home Friday - my boys better get ready for lots of hugs and kisses. I miss them!

Happy Birthday to Sam!

2010-08-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

Sam turned 4 on the 15th. This was a fun birthday year; Sam asked every day for several weeks, "what day is it today?" He was very excited. As excited as he was, he could not tell us what he wanted for his birthday presents. He could only provide general instructions like, "I want that star wars guy, and that star wars be-hicle (vehicle)." Tyler's parents came, and we decided that we would just take him to Toys R Us and let him show us what he liked. Then he went to the car with grandma; grandpa, Jack, and I stayed behind and picked out some of the items. He also wanted everything spiderman. I decorated the kitchen table, and he was so cute and excited when he woke up. He about burst when he saw his presents all wrapped up and waiting. He kept picking them up and asking me, "Is this one my star wars guy?" He would go through the whole list of items that he saw at Toys R Us. After church, we opened presents, sang, and had cake. He was so excited about everything he opened. It was a lot of fun to watch him concentrate on opening. I love this picture of him with his tongue hanging out. That is such a "Ballard" thing.
I am also glad that he was thrilled with his spiderman cake. I get off pretty easy when all he needs is a spiderman candle to be thrilled with his cake.

Then we went for a drive to explore a new area. We found people picking huckleberries, so we joined the fun. We picked enough to make a home made huckleberry cobbler. Sam sat on a stump and ate huckleberries. Jack was all business and picked his purple little fingers off. Logan enjoyed being carried in the back pack and loved getting a huckleberry popped into his mouth every once in a while. For dinner, Sam requested pasta bake. I also made chicken parmesan and everyone gobbled up dinner.

I don't know where the time has gone, I still think of Sam still as my baby. He is getting all lanky and grown up. I miss his chubby hands and feet. Luckily, his cheeks are still soft and squishy, and oh that grin...! He also tells me that I am beautiful almost every day. I love my Sam!

It also must be documented that this is the 3rd year in a row that he got to his cake before it was served and used his fingers to get a little taste!

Are you kidding me?!?

2010-08-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

It has been crazy around here. I got back from my trip to Alabama and then my brother Steve and his family came to visit the next week. We had so much fun, and I planned to post all about it, but Emily posted today and she did a great job. If you want to read about it, click here.

After they left, I had the busiest week of my whole life. I had several deadlines at work, a busy YW week, swimming lessons, scouts, and everything else that comes along with 3 little boys. I ended up working until swimming lessons almost every night, then staying up late to get everything else done. That would have been enough, but Sam started throwing up and had a fever - again. Being the best mom on the planet, I gave him Tylenol and made him go to swimming lessons. In my defense, what was I supposed to do with him while the other two had swimming lessons and swimming lessons are expensive! Don't worry I still feel guilty. Then Sam stuck his tongue out at me (in a totally darling way, not a naughty way :) cuz that is what kind of kid he is cuz I am such a great mom). It was covered in a white crust. So gross! From experience, I knew that Sam had a nasty strep infection and needed antibiotics. I took him into the instant care, they did a rapid strep test, and sure enough it was strep. We picked up the yucky pink medicine and started the fun. He felt better after the first dose, so we went about our daily routine. This consisted of me realizing at 2:30 in the afternoon that no one had eaten and asking Jack to feed them lunch. Nice.

Fast Forward to Tuesday. Work has calmed down, and things are almost back to normal when I notice that Sam has some spots on his belly as he got out of the pool. I called his pediatrician and scheduled an appointment for the next morning. When he woke up, he looked like this.

We rushed in and guess who is allergic to penicillin. He has had it several times without a reaction, and he had 8 out of 10 days worth of medicine, but from now on - penicillin is forbidden! I kept him home from swimming lessons last night; can you imagine what you would think if a kid got into the pool looking like this? The dilemma is what to do today. It is the last day, and Tyler is in Canada. Do I take him and risk the stares? Should I make a t-shirt that says, "I am not contagious!"? Or do I skip it all together and go the grand opening of Hobby Lobby?

The Great Goggle Debacle!

2010-08-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

Maybe, I should buy this poor kid some goggles. The problem is that I hate goggles. They never fit right, so the kids spend the whole time at swimming lessons adjusting their goggles instead of learning how to swim. The rubber piece breaks off, so you have to tie them with knots. Then they don't adjust properly, they are too loose, or too tight. All of these problems trigger whining.

This year, I have deflected the goggle request, but the other kid in Jack's classes has goggles. Oh the horror! Yesterday about a 1/2 hour before we left for lessons, Jack came up with a brilliant plan. I am pretty proud of myself. Instead of telling him that there was no way this was going to work, I took his directions, tied his knots, and almost kept a straight face. When he saw me smiling he said, "You are going to take a picture of this and put it on your blog aren't you?" Yes goofball, I am! After the bottles failed, he found a second alternative. A battery package was a lot closer to the proper shape, but alas it did not keep water out of his eyes. Then he asked Tyler to buy him goggles. Tyler said no, and he cried. Good times!

Poor Tyler

2010-07-21T19:00:00.002-07:00

This week I am on a business trip in Huntsville Alabama. I thought I had everything taken care of back home. - Day care arranged, lists made for each day, laundry done, etc. On Monday morning I dropped the kids off at the day care. Cried for a minute, because it is the longest I have been away from my baby. Pulled myself together and got to the airport. Spent the next 10 hours on three different flights, and arrived safely in Huntsville. I was tired, but I woke up the next day early so we could meet with the folks at Redstone Arsenal. Then I got the first text from Tyler. "It said, Sam has a fever." Instead of following my perfect plans that were left behind, Tyler had to cancel his full day of appointments to stay home with a sick kid. Today, Sam was fine, so Tyler sent the kids to day care and worked hard to make up for his lost day. Then tonight, I get a text that says, "Logan just puked all over the van." I guess Tyler is getting a dose of the reality of single parenting. I feel so bad that I am not there to take care of my sick babies, but I know Tyler has it all under control. He HAS to be in court tomorrow, so hopefully all kids will be fine and able to go to day care. So much for my super organizational skills making everything run smoothly while I am gone. :)

Here in Alabama, it is 100 degrees with 75% humidity. My hair is UGLY, my makeup lasts only a few hours until I sweat it off, and today I got chewed out by a lady who thinks we "lied" about her in a meeting. I will be glad to go home tomorrow night even thought I don't get in until midnight. I have one more meeting at NASA Marshall Space Flight center in the morning - I don't anticipate any yelling, but you never know... I can't believe I used to travel like this all of the time. It is a lot of work, and I am exhausted.

Our trip to Utah

2010-07-15T13:06:00.001-07:00

This will be a fairly long post highlighting all of the fun we had in Utah over the 4th of July.

We made the LONG (11hr) drive with out any incident. I found out that Jack can ask questions about volcanos and thunder storms for several hours without a break, and Tyler can answer them all. We dropped Tyler off in Idaho Falls where he joined his dad and brother for their annual fishing trip. They ended up in the Island Park/Yellowstone area. Here are a few pictures of their trip.

On June 27th, we had the privilege of baptising Jack. He was very excited and very prepared for this day. I held it together even though I was so overwhelmed I wanted to cry and cry. Jack brings me so much joy and pleasure, and I am so happy that he made the decision go be baptised. After the baptism, we had brownie sundaes at my parent's home. Yummy!

The very next day was our 15th anniversary. We are normally big losers when it comes to anniversaries, but figured we better at least go out for our 15th. We ate at Rickenbackers which is another of my brother Steve's restaurants. It is a great steakhouse with a fantastic view. If you are in Ogden and want a nice sit down dinner, it is yummy. Make sure you try the butternut squash ravioli appetizer. I got sidetracked by food... The real story is that to my surprise, Tyler pulled out a jewelry box. Never a bad thing! He gave me this beautiful anniversary ring that I love. I was floored! He was so nervous, like he was asking me to marry him or something. It was very cute, and I love love love the ring.

The next big item on the agenda was a trip to Lagoon. It was a lot of fun. Jack is fearless and loves all of the rides. He was big enough to ride everything this year, so he did. Tyler was able to come which was a real treat. We all loved the ride called Wicked. It is amazing! Sam liked all of the kid rides and had fun hanging out with his cousin Lucy. They made up stories for each ride, like we are going to Costco in our spaceships... We were there from open to close. My mom took all of us, and it was a blast to hang out with her all day. Thanks Mom! I didn't take a ton of pictures, but these three are a perfect representation of the day: all of the kids enjoying their time together, Jack showing exactly how he felt about riding the "baby" rides with Sam (never complained!), and what happens when you make a 3 year old hang out from open to close.Finally, the 3rd of July celebrations. We went to the North Ogden Cherry Day Parade (took no pictures!), and some of us went to Cherry Days at the park (reliving our childhood). Then we had a slip and slide and water balloon games at my moms before we had a yummy dinner that she prepared for us - this makes it even yummier. As soon as it was dark, my pyro brother Mike and his lovely assistant Steve put on our annual fire works show :) It was a blast, and I was horrible taking pics that day. This the only picture of the evening worth posting. Happy 4th from Adam!And if anyone is counting, I ate at Sonora Grill 4 times - I was there for 9 days. Totally wish I would have gone back at least one more time.

I must end with the quote of the trip. This was a conversation in the van when I took Jack, Jake, and Lucy to Michaels to pick out their crafts.

Jake, "Jack! Your getting baptized on Sunday, there are firework stands everywhere, this is freaking me out!"

Muffled voices about Jake giving Jack a swirly...

Lucy, "Jake, I am seriously going to tell your mom, seriously!"

Jake, "Lucy, you don't understand! Jack wants a swirly! I wont get in trouble."

Jack, "Do you guys know how thunderstorms are formed?"

Lucy, "No, and I don't want to." (Coke might or might not have spit out my nose!)

Jake, "Lucy! Shut up, I totally want to hear this."

Jack gives his explanation.

Jake, "Jack, how do you know all of this stuff."

Jack, "I read it in books, mostly non-fiction."

And then they start talking about Star Wars. Hilarious kids! Jack also gave the cousins a lesson about Venus Fly Traps, but his "Science" lessons were not as intense as they were during our Yellowstone trip.

Congrats to those who made it through this entire post!!!

On our way...

2010-06-23T14:21:00.001-07:00

We leave first thing in the morning for our annual 4th of July trip to Utah. The kids are very excited; Sam is so excited that he can't wear a shirt. ~I don't get it either, but he is half naked right now and seems to be very happy about it. He tried to convince me that his shorts were making him cold, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

If any of my Utah friends want to meet up for lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks, let me know. I know this place...

Here are a few of the fun items on the agenda: Tyler fishing in Montana, Jack's baptism, Lagoon, Crafts with Lucy and Jake (b-days), 15th anniversary, Ballard family 4th of July extravaganza, COUSINS, Grandmas and Grandpas, catching up with friends, and so much more!

A girl in the house

2010-06-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

It is the time of year when all the young people 14 - 18 years old go on "trek". I find trek to be a funny Mormon phenomenon. I think that our pioneer ancestors are looking down saying, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS??? Are you crazy? You have cars! It's OK for girls to wear pants! We did this so you didn't have to!" :) That is why I have not and never foresee being asked in the future to be a "ma" on trek. I do have several wonderfully obedient, serving, humble friends that are gladly dressed like pioneers trekking through the desert as we speak. One of those friends asked us if their 8 year old daughter, Rachel, could come stay with us when they were gone. Rachel has been Jack's best friend since he was 4, so we happily said yes.

Having a girl around has been so strange. She listens to me when I tell her something. She actually does what I ask...the first time. She wants to play with the baby all of the time. When I ask the boys, "Where's Logan?" He could be sitting on their head, and they would have no idea. When I ask her where Logan is, she knows. She put him there, and she is keeping him entertained. She can hardly stand it when he naps. She keeps getting him out of his crib. That part is pretty funny. Jack just looks at me and says, "I don't know why, she just did it." Rachel likes everything I feed her. She doesn't ask me for anything. Instead, she quietly says, "Jack I need to tell you something." They leave and I hear whispers. Then Jack comes and says, "Mom, can Rachel, I mean we, get Logan out of his crib?" She makes up fantastic games where Jack and Sam are exterminators and she is a Walmart employee who sells them their gear. She lets Jack tell her all about the critters he is exterminating. She is so patient with Sam and makes sure he is included in everything. They didn't even watch TV today! Plus when Jack does some obnoxious boy thing, I catch her rolling her eyes at him.

The best part is that she has several different pairs of shoes packed in a ziploc bag and bracelets and earrings to match each outfit all packed into a darling pink suitcase. I watched her go through them this morning trying to decide which ones to wear. It is kind of nice having another girl around. Tomorrow she will go back to her family and things will be back to their loud, crazy, normal self again. No one will be wearing bracelets, and no one will know where Logan is!

Yellowstone!

2010-06-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

Back in 1999, the Ballard family took a family vacation to Yellowstone after attending a family wedding in Jackson Hole. We had so much fun together. My brother Mike and I were the only married kids, and this was the first time we had vacationed together since any of us were married. This is my scrapbook page from back then. (Love the old school scrapbook pages!)

Fast forward to 2010...we decided to do it again. You can read my sister in laws post for details and more pics. This time we had Mom and Dad, Me + 3 (Tyler had to stay home), Mike + 4, Steve + 6, and Karen +1. We were missing David and his family. They were definitely in our thoughts throughout the trip. Love you guys! If you add this all up it equals 10 adults and 10 little kids all under 10 years old. Here is a pic of some of us.

Tyler couldn't go because he had a trial during the trip that he couldn't get out of, but I thought I could handle it on my own. My family would be there to help. The drive over was great. Jack is an amazing car traveler and he takes care of the other two for me. Our DVD player broke before we were at the end of the street, so we did make a pit stop to Walmart to purchase another one. It was the only way I could do this on my own.

The first day of our trip was rainy and cold! We were so wet, and it was hard on the little ones. I volunteered to take the little kids back to my cabin while the other adults and bigger kids enjoyed a few more attractions. On the drive home, this is what happened:

I carried each of them into the cabin where they all woke up. I fed them cookies and played with them until the rest of our group came back. Gretchen (girlie in the blue and pink jacket) is so much fun. She loves to "babysit" She wanted to bath Logan and Myckaleigh as soon as we arrived. We just loved them and held them instead, because the cabins did not have bath tubs. I had fun holding both Logan and Mychaleigh at the same time; neither of them liked me holding the other alone.

Jack and Jake didn't mind the rain at all. They were having fun in their rain ponchos.

The next day was beautiful. We hiked a lot, saw lots of buffalo, elk, and even a coyote. When we saw the coyote, Sam said, "Mom are we in Africa?" I carried Logan in my Kelty pack and several adults tried to keep track of Sam. Sam was a little difficult. He would take of running and wanted to be carried a lot. This picture is a perfect representation of Sam on our Yellowstone trip.

Here is a fun picture of me with all three of my boys. I need to remember to get in front of the camera every once in a while. I definitely like taking the pictures better than being in them, but this is a fun picture of all of us.

I am so glad my family planned this trip, and that I was able to go. I love them all, and I think we travel together very well. I can't wait to see them all over the 4th.

I will finish with a few great quotes from the trip:

Jack: "I don't need to get out to see the buffalo unless they are going to head butt."

Jack: "Wow that Yellowstone movie was really good, I didn't pay attention at all last time."
Jack: "Can I have a pocket knife?" repeated 5000 times until I gave in!

Jack: "Do you see this spear? I am pretty sure it was made by Indians." Holding a freshly sharpened stick probably used for some hot dog roasting the night before.

Jack: "Those Elk are probably domesticated, Buffalo are herbivores, Bears are carnivores, fish are intelligent, and every other fact he knows about animals." Repeated throughout the whole trip. Seriously, I sat through a lecture about the mating habits of cuddle fish. I can't wait for him to ask me what mating is. Maybe he already knows. UGHH.

Jack: "I am glad it is non toxic, or I would probably be dead by now." After he bit a hole into a glow stick and got it in his eyes and nose.

Sam: "Mom, what is that!?!" Pointing to the phone booth. An older couple stopped to listen to me try to explain it to Jack and Sam. They were laughing their heads off.

Sam: "Can I go to Grandma's cabinet?" He called our cabins cabinets. It was really cute.

Sam: "Carry ME!!!"

Sam: "My legs hurt! Give me tylenel!"

Sam: "But what about our friends?" I would say what friends, and he would answer, "You know our cousins!"

Sam: "Where are we going?" "But we already went to Yellowstone!"

Sam: The second we got into the car to leave, "I really miss Grandma."

A little perspective

2010-06-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

I am having a guilty day. Beating myself up over working too much and not keeping up with the house work or the kids. I can't remember the last night that I cooked dinner. During lunch, I asked Sam why mommy works. He said, "because she wants to!" I asked him what does mommy get for working. He said, "Stickers!" I told him that mommy gets money for work, not stickers. I asked him what we bought with money. He said, "Toys". We talked about using money to buy food, pay for our house, clothes, and other needs. Then I asked him if it was important for mommy to work, and he said yes. I guess to Sam, he doesn't even know that a non-working mommy is even an option. He was pretty confused by the whole conversation.

A bit later, he came running to me with his stickers. He wanted to know what color I wanted. He told me if I keep going potty, I can get lots of stickers and then Grandma Gloria will take me shopping to buy some new pajamas. He loves talking about Grandma Gloria being my mom. He thinks of the funniest things.

The best part of talking to him today was when he told me the rules. He said, "I love you mommy." I said, "I love you!" He said, "No, when I say I love you mommy, you have to say I love you too." I know that this bothers him, so I like to answer in all different ways of saying that I love him, but he will not accept anything until I say, "I love you too". Then he told me, "You are my best Mom." and I told him that he was my best Sam. Then he smiled and crawled into bed for a nap. No more guilt trip. I am his best mom...and that is enough.

Eating Crab Legs with Jack

2010-06-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

When Tyler and I were a young married couple, we went to Red Lobster for dinner. I was just getting more adventurous in my eating habits - no more ordering cheese sandwiches off of the kids menu. Next to our table was a young family with several little kids 12 and under. Instead of ordering Mac and Cheese or chicken fingers, those kids were eating crab legs. I told Tyler that I hoped some day that I would have kids that would eat crab lets.

Last night, we were once again driving around running errands during dinner time discussing our options for eating on the road. Jack piped up and asked if we could go to Red Lobster and get crab legs. Not a quick McD run, but I couldn't refuse. I wondered if he would really eat them, or if he was just excited about the thought of eating them. He had tasted mine before, and was certain that he loved crab legs. They had them on the kids menu - who knew?

First thing to come to the table was his very own "crackers". He played with them, practicing on his nose and finger. When the crab legs came, he was thrilled. I gave him a few lessons and he just went to town. It was hilarious. He examined each leg, and gave commentary on what the crab probably used "those spikes for". He informed me that "the claws were mainly used for feeding, not attacking. However, they will use the claws for protection if needed." He wanted to know if he was eating a girl crab or boy crab. I won't share Tyler's recommendations for finding out (those of you who know Tyler, can guess). He also devoured his garlic mashed potatoes. Sam enjoyed his chicken fingers and then at the very end of the meal, said "Mom, I want lobster now." He meant crab, but it was all gone. Maybe next time...

On our way out, we made the stop at the lobster tank. The boys were going nuts. Logan was squealing. The lady at the door decided to take out a lobster an let the boys touch it. They were all over that. She actually knew a lot about lobsters and Jack asked tons of questions. He put his finger right into its little pinchers to see what it felt like. Sam wanted her take out another one and refused to leave. They both would like a pet lobster now.

For the record, I have eaten wonderful seafood at nice seafood restaurants all over the country, and I know that Red Lobster is not anything like that, but without a coast we take what we can get!

So much to blog, so little time!

2010-05-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have had a chance to sit down and blog. Lucky for me it is Mother's day, so Tyler is making yummy spicy Asian noodles for dinner right now. My cute little boys have been really good to me, and I can't wait to see what goodies they have in store. For my own little mother's day gift to myself, I dressed them up in their Easter outfits for church. I love them! They make me smile, a lot.

Yesterday we celebrated Jack's birthday. He turned 8. One thing to know about Jack is that some how his birthday always turns into a week long extravaganza. He enjoys every detail and loves traditions. Jack is a kid who loves life and is so grateful for everything you give him. He makes it easy to spoil him. Grandma and Grandpa Wirick came up for a surprise visit, so we enjoyed the day with them. We had a fun party at Chuck E. Cheese. Tonight we have friends coming over for cake and ice cream. Here is a picture of him modeling his new cub scout neckerchief. Where has the time gone. I cannot believe my baby boy Jack is 8 years old.

I am also very excited to announce that Logan T. Wirick is walking! He is a maniac on two legs. He goes from drawer to shelf unloading it as fast as he can. He also says, hi, thank you, peek a boo, uh oh, dada, mama, Gack (Jack), Charlie and num num num. He will play peek a boo, patty cake, and so big on demand. If Sam or Jack is on the ground, he likes to climb all over them. He misses nothing that is going on in the house. I have to watch him all of the time to make sure he has not swallowed legos, star wars toys, dog food, etc. Here is a picture of him showing off his mad skills.Lastly, it is spring soccer season. Do you know how miserable that is up here in the Northwest? When I signed Jack up, I didn't consider that I would be sitting out in the rain and cold trying to hold a baby and an umbrella. However, he has enjoyed it and it is fun watching him improve each week. This week was nice weather, so we all went to the game. Sam insisted on wearing his soccer outfit too. It was too cute to resist; actually Sam is almost always too cute to resist. It is that smile that gets me. The cleats he wore are about two sizes too big, but he tromped around in them all day long. Look at how proud he is.Here are a few shots of Jack in action. He usually plays forward or goalie. He has a healthy dose of self-esteem that one. I will say no more :)

For a laugh...Sam said he learned about ears today in sunbeams. I asked him what he could hear with his ears. Jack and Sam both answered. "Farts!" I am such a proud mommy.

Are you going to put this on the blog?

2010-04-05T12:05:00.001-07:00

Jack ran upstairs to show me his latest origami creation... After a lot of praise, he said, "Mom, get the camera; are you going to put this on the blog?" So here you go folks; this is Jack's Easter Bunny impression. I really wish I would have taken a picture of Tyler wearing the bunny ears - that was funny (read: big head, little ears :))!

We had a lovely Easter. Tyler was out of town until Saturday afternoon; we watched conference, and met Tyler after the Priesthood session for dinner. Bad planning on my part. We got home around 9 pm and forced Sam to wake up and paint Easter eggs. Normally we do this on Friday, but Tyler wasn't home and me + 3 boys painting Easter eggs = one to four people crying. The Easter bunny did a great job hiding eggs and delivering more candy than any human should eat. We are all surprised that Sam did not throw up.

Changing subjects... Does anyone have one of these?

A kid who can find a marker after you think you have hidden all of the markers. A boy that looks at you and grins proudly displaying his art work while you are trying to discipline him. A boy who doesn't want you to miss anything and proudly lifts his shirt to show you there is more.

A boy who does all of this while you are literally 4 feet away from him working away enjoying his good behavior - yeah right.

Move forward 10 minutes after these pictures. Sam starts screaming that his eyes hurt. I look over and there is black smeared all over his face. I told him to stop rubbing his eyes, because he was rubbing marker in them. I ran him to the bathroom and wiped his eyes with a cold rag. 20 minutes later, he is still screaming. The best part is that he is screaming, "I can't see, I can't see!", but he wont open his eyes. I keep telling him, "Open your eyes.", but he keeps screaming that he can't see. Every once in a while, he yells, "I need Tylenol!" It is really hard not to laugh at him right now.

Don't worry about us. I called Tyler; he is coming home for lunch, and he is bringing me a coke. I will survive!

Party Time

2010-03-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

It is a big day for our Logan! I cannot believe that he is actually a year old. The time has zoomed by. I will warn you that this will be a long post with lots and lots of pictures... When Jack had his first birthday, I made a cake from the Martha Stewart Baby magazine. Big mistake - I learned that 1) I don't like making cakes, 2) I am not very good at it, and 3) I felt like I had to make fancy cakes for my other kids, so I made a deal with myself that I would make a "fancy" cake for their 1st birthday, but not the rest. I had not decided on a theme for Logan's party until I saw a Martha Stewart kit to make these cute balloons in the clearance aisle at Walmart. They were too cute to pass up, so I decided that Logan's would have a barn yard babies party.
I also saw the 1st b-day shirt on clearance and had to get one. Totally not something that I would normally buy. He wore it all day long. It was clean all day long, and then he found and ate a crayon or two 1/2 hour before his party. Of course I had not taken pictures yet, so that is why the neck is a beautiful yellow-y/orange-y/slobbery mess.

The barnyard animals inspired this cute piggy cake. This will be the last of my "fancy" cakes! This will also probably be my only pink cake which was very upsetting to Sam. He let me know several times that he did not like pink and that I should make it a blue and green pig.

I found some cute plates, cups, and other party stuff. We also invited our friends the Anderson's over to share in Logan's day. I was too dumb and tired to take pictures of them. I hate it when I do that, but my point is that I decided they would not like to eat a cake that Logan had put his hands in, so I also made Logan his very own mini cake. Here is the spread.

Before we ate cake, we let him open his presents. He got a few cute toys and some very cute outfits. Jack came shopping with me and picked out the mailbox in the picture. Logan loved it as much as Jack thought he would. Logan also loved the tissue paper and his giant ball.

Then we all sang Happy Birthday for the billionth time today (Sam sang it all day long and even spent a long time pretending that it was his birthday). Logan likes to be sung to.

We quickly traded the piggy cake with his own cake, and here are the action shots you have all been waiting for with play by play commentary by the proud mama.

1) Logan is not so sure about this strange item placed in front of him, plus everyone is staring and he has several cameras pointed at his face.

2) He tries a little lick of frosting, but still does not trust that anything good will come from this.

3) Mom gives him a bite of the chocolate. The genetic preference for chocolate is STRONG.

4) Ohhhh, he gets it now. The classic 1 year old cake smash!

5) But wait, is this a trick? Did anyone really think that a whole chocolate cake would be enough to keep Logan in his high chair. Do not estimate Logan's desire to remove himself from a highchair!!!! (and oh crap...I forgot his darling hat, but I think it is too late for re-staging. I will stick it on now and pretend like it was there the whole time)

6) Yes, there are more, but trust me it will be worth it. Sam gets into the game. He tortures Logan with a party blower. Logan tries to kick Sam out of the way (do you hear quite music playing "Love at Home" how about "Kindness begins with me"?).7) This is my only child to actually crawl on top of his high chair and put his feet into his cake!

8) I decided we were done with the cake, and put it on the table. Logan decided that we were not done with the cake. This is the last picture I got before we stripped him and put him into a bathtub of water that was quickly filled with soggy floating cake. YUMMY! Logan remained in a giddy sweet sugar high for the rest of our evening while Jack and Sam acted like maniacs to get some attention placed back on them (lovely).

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy. I love you!

Cute Dad...

2010-03-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Sam got all giddy and told me that his dad was coming home and taking him to lunch. I called Tyler to find out if he knew about that. Sam had told him to come home and take him to lunch, but Tyler had not agreed to his plan, but he didn't actually tell him no either. Instead of telling him no, Tyler decided that he could come home and take him to lunch. Sam was very excited!

When Tyler arrived he asked Sam where he wanted to go - fully expecting him to say McDonalds. Surprisingly, he did not want McDonalds. He wanted, "a taco from a place that sells hamburgers like Subway." Wow, what do you do with that? I guess they settled on Subway and had a great time. I love that Tyler took time to do this, and Sam was thrilled to get some time with his dad.

Because he loves me, he also took Logan. We are having an issue with Logan lately. He will not sit in a highchair or a shopping cart. He instantly turns around and stands up. It does not matter how tight you have the little seat belt tightened. We have one of those insert/cover things that has shoulder straps, but he just pulls up until he and the cover are free. It is annoying and scary, because as soon as he is standing, he starts plotting an escape usually over the back of the chair, or at home onto the tray. Feeding him lately has not been very much fun. I am kind of sorry that I asked Tyler to take Logan with them.

Later that night, I had to go to young womens. Tyler decided (all on his own) to make the kids green scrambled eggs and green french toast for dinner. Jack invited his friend Isaac over. As soon as Tyler put the food on Sam's plate, he started bawling. He would not eat the green food. Jack and Isaac tried to convince him, but he would not even taste it. He ended up with a bowl of cereal for dinner. I asked him this morning if he had green eggs and french toast for dinner. He pulled a perfect pouty face and said, "No, I don't yike that green stuff." Jack however thinks his dad is pretty cool for thinking of such a great idea for St. Patricks day.

Off to DC

2010-03-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

I am getting ready to board my flight to DC. Just going on a quick business trip. Sam asked me if it was time for my field trip to Washington NBC. It is hard to leave those cute boys behind. Even if it is only for a few days.

We live here!

2010-03-07T13:04:00.001-08:00

We spent a wonderful Saturday morning hiking Tubbs hill in Coeur d'Alene. This is about 7 miles from our house. It has been a while since I have been there, and it helped me remember why we love this place. I wish I had a tape recorder to capture all of the things Jack and Sam said. Jack packed 3 plastic bags (because I wouldn't let him have 5) in his pocket in case, "you know we find some bugs or a scorpion that we want to look at and enjoy for a while before we put them back..." He didn't find cool bugs or a scorpion, but he is pretty sure he found some dinosaur teeth or maybe they are just rocks, some petrified wood (also maybe a rock), an arrow head (probably just another rock), and a fossil (yep, you guessed it another rock). Sam won the contest of hilarity when he crouched down and gasped. Then he said, "Mom look what I found. It is a leaf!" or later when he got all serious, held out his hand, and said, "well, this is a rock." How about when he said, those are not dogs mom, they are "wolf pups". My favorite is when he told Tyler and me that we were super heroes because we saved him and Jack from falling. He also exclaimed that the last time he had been there was when I was in his tummy. (the kid hears everything!) They also loved exploring caves (or cracks in rocks, but there might have been a bear - maybe... or a squirrel, but probably just a rock). Some how I got to carry all of the dinosaur teeth, fossils, arrow head, and HEAVY rocks back to the car in my back pack. One baggy was used to keep a tiny buttercup flower - that ended up in my back pack too. Logan loved riding in the Kelty pack, and was apparently very comfortable.

We were not ready to head back home, so we decided to have a yummy lunch at Dockside. We turned our head for a minute to get Logan settled in his high chair, and when we turned around, this is what we found. Luckily, Tyler and I had snagged a piece of bread for ourselves already.

Jack spent his time waiting for our lunch sketching a picture of the lake. He was very serious about it. A good thing, since there was no more bread!

The family consensus is that we need to hike a lot more often. Jack has requested a weekly trip to Tubbs hill.

Congrats to Sonora!!!

2010-03-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

I am so excited for my brother Steve (and family). His restaurant, The Sonora Grill, has been voted best Mexican restaurant in Utah. Check out the article here. Congratulations Steve!

Now any of you reading this blog that are anywhere near Ogden Utah you need to go eat at Sonora grill. (The drive from SLC is worth it!) You no longer need to take my word for it.

It is hard to recommend a dish since they are all so yummy. My favorite is the Achiote Salmon. The guacamole is amazing, and if you just need a taco - check out Taco Tuesdays! Seriously guys even if Steve did not own this restaurant it would still be my favorite.

You can see how beautiful it is on the website. It is a fun place for a grown up date, but also very kid friendly. Jack craves it all of the time. Jack is also very excited for Steve's success. He told me that this is what I should write on the blog. (It sounds even better if you picture Jack talking in a deep "grown up" voice and standing on his tip toes to show how tall Steve really is.) "Hi, my name is Uncle Steve Ballard. I have the best Mexican restaurant in Utah and the world. You should eat there."

Also, if you are looking for a great place to have a party or business meeting Sonora does a great job. I hosted a work meeting there and it is still the talk of the office. They have a fantastic meeting room with all the hook ups for presentations. He has even done weddings and high school reunions.

Here are some pictures of our family having a yummy dinner! P.S. we don't always wear matching clothes. We went to dinner after having family pictures done.

The cousins demonstrating that the tortilla chips are bigger than their heads!

The girlies. Layla showing that the salsa is so delicious, that you cannot stop eating - even for pictures!

Gretchen is a HAPPY girl when she is at Sonora! She likes drinking her soda as much as she likes drinking the salsa (I'm not kidding).

Milestones

2010-02-26T10:42:00.000-08:00

It has been a big month for the boys. Here are some pictures of a few of their milestones.

#1 Jack's tooth finally fell out. He had been sure that it would fall out every day for a few months. Before I even had a chance to post this picture, he lost the exact tooth on the opposite side. The tooth fairy has been busy at our house.

#2 "Where's Logan?" I say this about 100 times a day. The kid loves to hide under beds, in drawers, etc. On this night he had pulled out his toy box and climbed right in to play. We watched him play like this for almost 1/2 hour.
#3 I couldn't stand Logan's baby mullet or the long hair growing over his ears any longer, so we took Logan in for his first haircut with Jenna at the Hair Zoo. She is awesome and all of my boys love to get their hair cut at her shop. Here are some before, during, and after shots. The after shot is not very good, but his hair looks so cute. He looks like a little man now. Our baby times are flying by as we get closer and closer to Logan's first birthday.

He's a Keeper!

2010-02-17T15:51:00.001-08:00

You can buy happiness, sometimes...

2010-02-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

This little boy was having a bad day. He didn't know why and neither did I. While at Target, I wandered past a stuffed Yoda. The very same Yoda I searched for but never found for Christmas. The Yoda that slipped away and has bothered me ever since. I drove Sam in his shopping cart with his sad eyes and his sniffy nose to an aisle all by ourselves and showed him something special that I was going to buy him. He was so excited. He hugged and kissed Yoda and plopped him next to him in the front of the cart. He did not let go all night long and he never stopped smiling. After his bath he insisted on wearing his Star Wars - Clone Wars p.j.s and carried around his Star Wars blanket. I asked him if I could take a picture, and he was thrilled to comply. Now that is a happy kid. Total cost $19.99. So worth it!

Penske + Boys = Happy

2010-02-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Our first week back in our old ward was an exciting one for Jack. The primary announced an activity where the kids were to make a car out of a card board box. They would bring the car to the church on Saturday and watch a movie. It was just like a drive in movie. Jack was THRILLED with this idea. He came home from church and spent several hours making these plans for a Penske truck just like the one we used to move up here. When I saw his plans, I had to laugh. In this way, Jack is just like me! I also sketch my plans before I start any of my projects. We both also enjoy lists and charts. It is fun to watch him pick up some of my tendencies. Here is a picture of the plans. My favorite part is the supply list ("ordinary box", yellow spray paint)
These plans hung on the fridge for a few weeks, then last weekend we constructed our master piece. I quickly took control of Jack's project with a few sketches of my own. I informed him that he better get used to his crazy mother taking over things. I mean, he will soon be a cubscout and if you think he gets to earn all of those things on his own, you are crazy. His poor face fell, and I told him I was just kidding (kind of). We actually worked together and he was very open to my suggestions as long as I followed the "plans". We were a little crunched for time, so it was not very extravagant. Jack loved it!!! We made it a double seater, so I did not have to make another car with Sam. Here are some pictures.

While Jack and I were building the car, Sam and Logan enjoyed an empty box that we had used for "parts".
The boys had a lot of fun at the activity. They had popcorn and watched a movie. When I arrived to pick them up, Jack had begged for some tape and was in another room "making some repairs". He also informed me that EVERYONE asked if they could climb in the back (of course it opened up), but he did not let them, because it would break the truck. An ordinary box sure can make a little boy happy.

Embracing Change

2010-01-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

Here are words that have been used to describe me:

Control Freak

Type A

Red Personality

Bossy

and I am sure that are many more that people use under their breath. I have known all of this for a very long time, and I have learned to use my "freakiness" to my benefit. I understand my limitations and try to grow in those areas. I have used my strengths to do all sorts of good things, and I laugh at myself A LOT. While it is true that I have to write grocery trips on my calendar, I will not go to the store without a list, and the thought of my husband surprising me with an unplanned get away gives me anxiety to the point of wanting to puke... I have made some improvements lately. I let Jack pick out his own clothes, comb his hair, and walk to school with his friends. I even let him make mistakes on his homework and turn them in if he does not want my help. These were big steps for me, and I didn't die.

I actually like changes, as long as I can plan and somewhat control said changes. So when my husband's dream-job turned out to be anything but a dream, and we were faced with sudden, huge, seemingly unmanageable changes I was sure that my head might actually explode. Instead, I have been able to stay calm, breath, and adapt. Who knew? Here is a quick update on what is going on in our lives right now.

I went back to work full-time. For those of you reading this that have no idea what I do, I am a business analyst for a software company out of SLC/Denver. I have been working from home since Tyler went to law school (almost 8 years). I had been part time since Sam was born (3 years). I am now working 8 hours every day.

We gave our renters notice, moved out of our rental in Meridian ID and moved back into our house in Post Falls ID.

Jack had to change schools again this year. He is extremely resilient - luckily he got that from his dad. He has found all of his old friends and is so happy to be back.

Tyler is starting his own firm up here in Coeur D' Alene Idaho and also in the process of getting licensed in Utah and opening up a firm in Ogden. When everything is up and running, he will be commuting between the two a lot. We may even get to move to Utah when the market is such that we can sell our home up here. In the mean time, we are enjoying the space, the beautiful trees, and being back by our friends. I can't wait to pop into my favorite scrapbook store and start staying up 'til midnight with those crazy ladies.

Logan turned 9 and 10 months during this time and is ever changing. He is so close to walking - letting go of furniture and propelling himself forward. He just needs his legs to catch up with him. He has 4 teeth and is still very busy. He is a little boy on a mission. A very naughty mission. Still darling and still loves his mommy! I cannot believe he is almost a year old.

Sam had to leave his beloved pre-school. He keeps asking me if Shelly (his teacher) is here yet. He also pretends to call his friends on the phone and it is breaking my heart. The move has been the hardest on him, but he is starting to come around. I will find him something here soon, so he can get back in school. He is very smart and really enjoys learning. He loves to "read". He has memorized several books that he will "read" to us at bed-time. He still talks in a cute little boy voice, and I love listening to him say things like, "Mom, I yike yogan's yizard."

Confession

2010-01-05T20:52:00.001-08:00

I am eating Ben and Jerry's Fudge Brownie ice cream while I watch the Biggest Looser. Do you see a problem with that? It is a big problem for me. For some reason, me watching Biggest Looser = me eating crappy junk food. To make me feel worse, my mom told me once how much she loves the Biggest Looser and that she used to do the treadmill while she watched. Seriously??? I wish that was the effect it had on me.

p.s. I am out of ice cream, please send more chocolate.

Traditions

2009-12-24T13:53:00.000-08:00

I loved reading Kierste's and Andee's family traditions; it is fun to see how many are the same as ours. Here is a list of our family traditions during the holidays.

1. Putting up the decorations the day after Thanksgiving, or as soon as possible after Thanksgiving.

2. Planning and making handmade Christmas cards. Crazy, too much work, but I love it.

3. Taking 5 million pictures that look like this.

just to get one that looks like this and can be included in the Christmas card.

4. If we are in Utah, Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving with the girls to see how close we can get to being done in one day.

5. Visiting Santa. I love the horrible pictures we end up with most years. If at least one kid isn't crying, why bother. When we lived up North, we also took a yearly cruise to the North Pole to see Santa. It was a family favorite!

6. Advent calendars. We have a beaded tree ornament, and a felt Christmas tree that is as close to the one my Mom has that I could find. We also have a new one from my mom that has scriptures for each day.

7. Christmas books every night. If you need a fantastic book for Older kids and adults alike, check out my SIL's blog. The Red Ranger Came Calling is mine and Tyler's absolute favorite. Jack liked it this year too. We have a great collection, because my mom gives a new wonderful Christmas book every year. We love that!

8. On Christmas Eve, we open a new pair of PJs (Ballard tradition) and a new ornament for each of us every year. We also have all of the ornaments that Tyler got every year of his life with his parents. It has been a fun tradition to adopt from his family.

9. Christmas Morning, we have pull-aparts and juice. Yummy

10. After Christmas we go to Utah to visit our family. We always have a Ballard/Edwards party with my mom's sister's family. This party is full of traditions that have been going on since we were kids. Some we still do, and some we just remember. This party used to be the Whitney Party on Christmas day at my Grandparent's house. We always ate and opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa. Aunt Sandra used to make the girls night gowns and matching doll night gowns. They were amazing and now she does it for the little girls. I am as excited to see them open them as they are. Grandpa also gave us an envelope from the bank with a little money in it, and Grandma gave us each a box of orange sticks. We would wait for a call from my Aunts Barbara and Gayleen when they lived in Florida and we would pass around the phone and visit. When I was a little girl, this was my favorite part. I felt so grown up talking "long distance". Funny how cell phones have changed that concept. We would also get boxes from Barbara from Florida. One year we all got Florida t-shirts. They were our favorite shirts that year. Then we play the game where you wrap presents up really tight with lots of duct tape and newspapers and roll dice to get a chance to open them up fast before the next person rolls a double or seven or 11. At the end we have a few rounds where you are allowed to steal presents from each other. This game was fun when we were kids and still just as much fun. Our gifts are all $5 but there always seems to be something that everyone fights for. For fun, we have a separate game for the kids, so that they don't cry when Uncle Don or one of the other grown ups steal their gifts. We spend the rest of the night visiting. Our family has grown to include lots and lots of little grand kids. I like to imagine what Grandpa and Grandma Whitney would think to see how their family has grown so much. I am so grateful to my mom and Aunt Sandra for continuing this party. It is a really big part of my holiday memories. We are having this party in the church gym this year, because we have grown so much - we definitely would not fit in Grandma's living room anymore.

11. While we are in Utah, Tyler's family also has a family party with his brother, sister and their families. Luckily his brother has a few girls, because the rest of the grand kids are all boys. This party can get silly and loud. The favorite game for the kids is digging through a big bag full of newspaper and wrapping paper to get toys and treats. We are still changing this party around to find our favorite traditions. We went bowling last year and are going to try that again this year.

I love the holidays. Hope all is well with all of you. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all of that stuff!

Pillow Talk

2009-12-21T11:55:00.001-08:00

Sam crawled into bed with me. His hair was all messy, he had puppy breath, and he put his hands on my cheeks and said, "I wuv you mommy. I don't want you to get buried in the temple."

Guess the teacher in nursery needs to make sure the kids know she is saying married and not buried. Man when he is not being naughty, he sure can be sweet.

fla la la la la

2009-12-17T15:52:00.000-08:00

For family night this week, we went and saw Santa at the mall. It happened to be pet night and I swear the dogs people brought were the size of horses. The kids loved it. I could not believe that Sam was not nervous at all, and Logan didn't cry either. Jack colored Santa a picture and brought paper and a pencil to ask for his autograph. I have given up having all three boys smile at the same time. This was the best we got and I love it. It shows what it is really like - Jack not looking straight ahead pulling strange faces, Sam not smiling pulling strange faces, and Logan not being sure if he wants to laugh or cry. Perfect!

Today was the 2nd grade Christmas program at school. Tyler is on a plane to Nebraska, so I took Logan and Sam all by myself. (Please send chocolate) We actually sat next to some friends, so they helped hold Logan and keep him busy while I held onto Sam. It was standing room only, and I was lucky to get one seat for all of us. Jack was darling. He waved and smiled before it started, but he was very serious when the program began. He sang with all of his heart and looked so handsome up there with the other kids. It was an interesting program with Christmas numbers from all over the world. They had drums and maracas. It was fun to watch the kids getting into the beat. The 5th grade orchestra also played. They were very excited too. Sam liked the music, and Logan ate his sock. Good times. Sorry it is a bad picture, I didn't bring my good camera.

Cannons and things

2009-12-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

Jack really likes to donate things to charity this year. He picked out a great gift for Toys for Tots, and begs for money to put into the red kettles. Now if only, he could use his own money and not all of mine... Maybe next year.

The reason for the post is this gem. Tyler gave Jack and Sam each a quarter to put in the kettle. We were walking to the van when Jack said, "Why do those bell ringer people give all of the needy people cannons and things?" Tyler looked at me puzzled and I started figuring it all out. See to a 7 year old, the logical meaning of Salvation Army would be an Army that helps the needy people save themselves from war. I quickly explain to Tyler, and we tried really hard not to laugh at Jack. Tyler explained the other meaning of salvation and I explained the type of help that was given with the donations gathered. Jack's response was given with great disappointment, "you mean it has nothing to do with wars?" Luckily, the Marines are out in uniform gathering toys for tots. He knows all about Marines and after donating his toy to a Marine that looked like he was 14 and half my size, Jack says, "Mom, Marines are tough!" Gotta love little boys.

Too Soon!

2009-11-20T08:09:00.000-08:00

Look what the little monkey figured out this week. Doesn't he look so proud of himself? I am not ready for this. He also found the dog dishes and had a little snack - GROSS! I have some serious baby proofing to do this weekend. Logan will be 8 months old on the 24th. He is way ahead of any of my other babies as far as mobility is concerned. He is very independent and wants to be down to get into his own trouble as long as he can see me. He does not like to be left in a room alone and will follow me out as quickly as he can. It's like having two puppy dogs in the house right now.

Please ignore the snotty nose. Logan and Sam both have little colds this week. So far, nothing serious.

Apart from the snot, how fun is waking up to this little guy!?! Even if I did get in at 3 am after watching New Moon with 35, way too old to be so excited when a teenage boy takes of his shirt, women in my ward. I will have to make another post on my Twilight experience soon. It has definitely been memorable.

Global Warnings

2009-11-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

You know when you pick your kids up from school and ask them what they did today, and they tell you that they can't remember. Well sometimes Jack remembers and this is what he has shared so far this week.

Mom trees make air...giggle giggle
Homework is made of trees...giggle giggle giggle
Homework causes global warnings! laughing so hard he snorts.

(learning about Pilgrims)
It was so fun today, we had a play.
My part was awesome.
We got to make up our parts, well the other boys made it up, but I didn't argue because I loved my part.
(what was your part)
I got to hold this guy down while three other Pilgrims shot him.

Did you know Marijuana was a plant that grows in fields or houses and stuff?
It is a drug and it is really bad like that crystal meth stuff.
(that's right Jack, so if anyone ever tries to give you a plant or pills or anything like that you should not accept them)
What if it is a Venus Fly Trap?
Mom, if someone gives me a Venus Fly Trap, can I please have it?
(sure)
What if someone comes into my room and they touch it because they don't know it is a Venus Fly Trap then it bites their finger off? That would be cool. Hmmm, I wonder how it swallows the finger.
(so glad he got so much out of his health class, hope he doesn't accept Marijuana from someone who tells him it is a Venus Fly Trap)

Fun, Cold Weekend

2009-11-15T14:08:00.001-08:00

I think Jack prayed in the snow. He has been waiting and waiting for snow. Finally Friday night it came. When we woke up on Saturday there was a dusting of snow covering everything and it was COLD! We had some friends from Post Falls come down to visit us, so that they could go to the Boise State/University of Idaho football game. Tyler was sad to cancel his fishing trip that was planned with a friend from the ward, but his brilliant wife suggested he take Dan fishing before the game. They left at 7 am - did I mention that it was COLD. They fished for several hours and then bundled up for the football game at 1:00. While the men-folk were gone, Cyndi, her daughter Summer, the little monsters, and I went to the Craft Warehouse to find a project. We had fun being creative and catching up. Cyndi left 4 of her 5 kids at home with their Grandma. Dan and Cyndi have great kids that I miss very much. I got to know each of them in primary and scouts. Each have provided me with memories that I will never forget. She has a Sam who used to tell me about a rock band that he was starting. I think he was in 3rd grade at the time, and he wondered how much I would pay to come see him. Then he showed me his notebook of the songs he wrote and sang them all to me. Melody (Jack's age) talked to me like we are best friends, we shared lots of secrets, and I loved it. Jarom and I had great talks during hikes at scout camp, and Cayson tricked me out of chocolate for going potty even though in reality he was totally potty trained. Miss those guys!

When Tyler and Dan returned from the game, they were cold and tired, but grinning ear to ear to tell us all about their fishing adventures. I figured I would post their bragging pictures for all to see. We sure had fun, and we love visitors. hint hint

Dan

Best Parenting Advice Ever...

2009-11-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Feel free to pass this along to your friends.

Do you have too many toys in your house? Are you tired of your kids leaving their toys all over the floor? Well I have a solution for you!

Buy one of these

After a few weeks of tears, your children will start picking up the toys that they would like to keep and only those they don't care about will remain on the floor.

When your children are in tears over a toy that has been consumed or at least terribly chewed up, you will have the opportunity to have deep meaningful conversations with them. They go something like this.

"Wow, you are right, Superman is dead. That is so cool; Charlie's teeth must be made of kryptonite."
or

"No, you don't need to throw that star wars toy away; it looks like he really was in the Clone Wars now. He must have survived a great battle with the droid army."

(Your kids will think you are so cool, because you are up on all of their interests.)

You can also teach them about science.

"I guess this is one more theory to add to how the dinosaurs became extinct."

"Yes, I can see your striped underwear in Charlie's poop. I guess a dog his size cannot digest a whole pair of underwear."

And apparently, your kids will also learn how to give service. (bonus)

Don't walk, RUN to your nearest pet shop and pick up one of these invaluable parenting tools!

Stay tuned for my next post on how to "antique" your new furniture.

Happy Birthday Tyler

2009-11-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

It was Tyler's birthday on Saturday. His parents came to town for the weekend and we had lots of fun. Tyler and I even got to have a date on Friday with NO KIDS. We went to a Thai restaurant, so that Tyler could have sushi and other yummy things.

On Saturday we opened presents, ate at Red Robin with the whole family, and then came home for homemade apple pie. It was fun to have Tyler's Boise Aunts and Uncle come join us. Too bad, I did not think to take a picture of everyone. I did take a picture of Tyler and the boys while he was opening presents. Can you tell how excited Jack and Sam get when someone has a birthday? I also took a picture of the pie. Tyler requests my homemade apple pie every year instead of a cake. I keep making it because he tells me over and over again how wonderful it is and it makes me feel all happy and domestic.

Thanks for being such a great husband and dad - we love you!

Big Mama

2009-11-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

I definitely have developed a thick skin by being the mother of little boys. Even when the comments are innocent, sometimes they still leave a little bruise.

Sam: "You my big sister."
Me: "I'm not your sister, I am your mom."
Sam: "You my Big Mama, and you Logan's Big Mama too."

Jack said something about caffeine, and I told him that it had been a whole week since I had any caffeine. His reply...
"Oh, that is why you have been so grumpy."
NICE!!!!
He then came up with an idea. He said that I could have a sticker chart and every time I didn't drink Coke, I could put a sticker on the chart. When I had it filled out, I could get a prize. I asked him what the prize was and he said, a great big Coke. He was a little concerned that he might not have the money to buy me that Coke though.

p.s. I really was grumpy, but only for one day.

Proud Primary Moment

2009-11-02T07:23:00.001-08:00

For sharing time, the kids were playing charades. Their topic was how they could serve their family. The kids had already acted out reading to a sibling, playing Legos with a brother, raking leaves, etc. There was time for one more kid, and Sister K picked Jack W's stick. I stiffened, a little nervous and a little excited to see what he would do. If nothing else, I knew he would put his all into the acting out part. Then in what seemed to be slow motion, Jack started softly barking like a dog, squatted down and made a grunting noise, and then acted out shoveling up dog poop. Not once, not twice, but over and over again. I was laughing so hard, out of embarrassment, that I had tears streaming down my face. All of the adults were looking at me. One of the little girls in my class started copying him. I had to tell her to stop, and that it was not funny.

You have to love Sister K though, she keeps a straight face and a with a smile says, "Wow Jack, that is a big responsibility. Children, when you have a dog they have to go to the bathroom outside, and if you don't clean it up then you can't play outside can you? Jack serves his family by cleaning up after the dog so that they can play in their back yard."

Jack goes back to his seat and continues with the sound effects even though I am sure lasers were shooting out of my eyes across the room into his brain!

Seriously people, can't we cancel church the day after Halloween? I have never seen 100 kids in the same room with a sugar high. It was NOT FUN!

Pumpkin Patches - a look back

2009-10-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Our family went to the pumpkin patch last weekend. This has become a tradition that Jack looks forward to all year long. He loves thinking about the corn mazes, figuring out what kind of pumpkin he will find, and planning how he will carve it. I thought it would be fun to put together some pictures of him with his pumpkins over the last 8 years. (note: We didn't go to the pumpkin patch when he was 7 mo - 2002, and for some reason we missed it in 2007.)

I did not get a really cute picture of the kids all together, but here is one just so you can see how cute they were that day.

Just that kind of boy...

2009-10-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Logan is seven months old today, but this post is dedicated to Sam who has thoroughly "entertained" me over these last seven months. No wonder I am so tired, but how can anyone resist that grin!
He is a...
1. Binkie Stealing
2. Cowboy Hat Wearing
3. Crib Climbing
4. Pants-less Puddle Making
5. Tail Swinging (We bought this for our trip to Yellowstone, because I kept having visions of Sam falling into a geyser. Sam loved it, because he could swing the tail.)
6. Fully Clothed Sneaky Swimming
7. Baby Swinging
8. Baby Hat Wearing
9. Stroller Hiding
10. Light saber Fighting (He has three real light sabers, but apparently Lincoln Logs are just as good)
11. Box Playing (again, why do we buy real toys?)
12. Marker Stealing
kind of boy!

The October Incident

2009-10-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

This year marks the 15th anniversary of what Tyler and I have always referred to as the October Incident. As soon as the air starts to cool, and there are signs of autumn all around, I can not help but remember this day in our dating history. Here's the story. Tyler had been home from his mission since December of 93/going to Weber State, and I was attending Dixie College for the 3rd year. (Yes I had already graduated and it was a two year school back then. I was just too scared to go to a big girl school at that time. Whole other story!) The Sadie Hawkins dance was just around the corner and since I was a member of the student council I had to go. At this time, the missionary I had sent off was due home in March of 95 and I was not really interested in dating. Kierste (BFF) and I were discussing our options and had planned to ask out some of our friend Matt's roommates. Kierste ended up asking Rick and they lived happily ever after - another story. A few weeks before the dance Tyler told me that he was coming down to SUU in Cedar and wondered if he could stop in. It was perfect - I told him that he had to come to the dance with me. A little history on Tyler and me. We met when we were in Junior High. I was 14 and he was 15. This is what we looked like.

We "went together" then dated until my Junior year and Tyler's Senior year. Tyler has been my best friend for a long time. I wrote to him on his mission and spent a lot of time with him when he came home, but nothing ever seemed to happen, so I figured we were just friends. I figured I could introduce him to Kierste and set them up.

Tyler agreed to go to the dance with me and I was relieved that I didn't have to ask anyone else. The night started out normally. We were happy to see each other and didn't stop talking. Then we got to the dance and innocently enough we held hands to go out to the dance floor. And that is when it happened. Electricity! Years of feelings came rushing back to both of us. We spent all night talking. We kissed for the first time after many years, and then Tyler went home. Poor Kierste and Cathi had to listen to me cry and dissect every minute of the night. By Thanksgiving we had said I love you, by Christmas we had talked about marriage, and on January 14th we got engage. I moved home after Spring Semester. We were married the next June. Our own happily ever after.

Sadie Hawkins 10/15/1994

3 hours

2009-09-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

In three hours I am loading these boys into the van

and driving them to Utah where we are going to visit these people.

(sorry if you aren't in the pic - it is the one that has the most people in it)

and I am going to eat here as much as possible!

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

Six Months Old Logan Boy!

2009-09-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it; Logan is six months old today. Logan is a sweet little social thing. He loves to be on the ground exploring everything around him. He rolls from front to back and back to front, and he just started sitting up and crawling a little bit. He has funny old man hair with some pretty bad cowlicks. I still can't decide what color his hair is going to be. He loves oatmeal cereal, and sweet potatoes. He loves to talk and squeal, and he is very ticklish. He is pretty intense and can go from totally happy to a magnificent temper tantrum in 2.2 seconds. He is a fantastic sleeper and eater. I can not imagine my life with out this sweet little boy. When I left the room this morning, he started to whine ma ma ma ma. That is the first time I have heard him make an M sound. Life is good.

A little note about this shirt. When Logan was born, Sam made up this song. - Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Yogan is Super Duper. We have called Logan Super Duper ever since. Both Sam and Logan have this shirt, and when Logan wears it, Sam has to wear it also.

Love Mom

2009-09-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Sam, No, I will not leave that baby at the zoo. Some day I hope you will understand. And P.S. That baby's name is Logan!

Dear Jack, I know that it is NOT FAIR that when you are at school I took Sam to McDonalds/bought him a treat/bought him a toy.

Dear Sam, Stop telling Jack and Dad that we went to McDonalds to get a coke and a cookie.

Dear Weight Watchers, I don't care how many points is in a McD's cookie and a coke. Some things are necessary.

Dear Tyler, yes I am serious please stop by Little Caesars to pick up some cheese pizzas. No I don't want to know how many times we have had Little Caesars this week/month/year, and hey guess what is not hot and ready at our house - dinner!

Dear Logan, I am sorry that I fed you peas. I don't like them either. Hope you are happier with squash next week.

Dear Jack, No I will not give you a prize to go potty, you have been potty trained for 4 years now, and yes I know it is not fair.

Dear Sam, I will buy you a CAR if you will stop pooping in your pull ups!

Love,
Mom
XOXOXOXO

I hate shopping carts!

2009-09-06T13:41:00.001-07:00

It's true, I hate shopping carts. There is not a design of shopping cart that works for me now that I have three kids. Let me explain... A standard configuration goes like this. The baby's car seat is in the front, Sam is in the back, and Jack is walking beside. This starts out OK with just a few "Jack, don't touch that, Jack keep up, Jack stop hanging on the cart" warnings, but I can live with that. Then the groceries start to pile up on top of Sam until I hear Sam's famous phrase, "Mom, I stuck!" Good thing I was already planning to buy the bread he was sitting on and the box of cereal he opened. The only thing I can do at this point is remove him and let him walk. - Disaster. He is far too easily distracted by shiny things.

Speaking of being distracted by shiny things, we had Stake Conference last week. We had two ladies in the front translating the meeting into sign language. I found this very distracting and started day dreaming. I convinced myself that I could understand everything they were signing. Then I realized that it was because I could hear the speaker. On that note, Jack told me that he has a new talent. He can translate Chinese. He learned this when he walked past a sign at a Chinese restaurant that said Open. Underneath it there was Chinese writing. He determined that the Chinese writing said Open. He also said that the Chinese writing underneath the fortune cookie wrapper said fortune cooking. I told him that it might say, "Sugar for dumb American." He said, "Mom you do not know how to translate Chinese."

OK back to shopping carts. I decided that it would be easier if I carried the baby in my Moby wrap and put Sam in the front seat with the seat belt. This causes another problem - he can reach the baby with both his feet and hands, and would not stop touching, patting, and otherwise annoying both of us. Sam loves the car version of a grocery cart, but gets bored half way through and sticks hands and other body parts out the windows and dashboard. Knocks over groceries and always ends up with something that he has swiped from the shelf that I do not discover until checking out. When I saw the giant cart with the two seats in front, I thought my problems had been solved. This way the baby's seat fits in the front and the two boys can sit on their own little seats facing each other. Our trip started off OK until the boys starting arguing about something. Then Sam hauled off and punched Jack in the face. This is what follows. (By the way, I had promised treats for good behavior.)

Jack - Mom, Sam hit me in the face.
Sam - unusually quiet will not look at me.
Me - Sam, you cannot hit Jack in the face. You guys have not been good on this grocery trip and we will not be getting a treat this time. (trust me, the hitting in the face was just the last straw.)
Jack - starts bawling and saying I want a treat over and over again.
Sam - starts bawling and saying I want a treat over and over again.
Logan - has been crying for several minutes anyways.

I take the walk of shame up to the checkout stand, pay for my groceries, try not to make eye contact with other parents, and swear that I will never take three kids grocery shopping by myself again.

I hate shopping carts!

First Day of School 2009

2009-09-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

It is a big year for the Wiricks! Jack is in second grade at Prospect Elementary. His teacher's name is Mrs. Palmerton. He had a great first day yesterday. He knows 3 kids in his class, and he is very excited to sit next a girl who speaks Spanish and English. He gets to earn pretend money that he can use to buy prizes from his teacher and he thinks that will be very cool. He said that 2nd grade is going to be awesome. He also left his folder at school, so our very first day of returned assignments - big fat F. He doesn't think he will get in trouble. I tried to brace him for it, so if it happens he doesn't cry.

Sam started preschool today. We had an open house yesterday; we went together and found his cubby and met the other kids. They are all from our ward, and his teacher is Miss Shelly who is also in our ward. She has been teaching preschool from her home for a long time. Everyone raves about her. Sam has been begging to go to school like Jack, so I was happy to find something that works with our schedule. He is the youngest in his class; it will be fun to see how much he picks up. Today he was picked up by Jenna's mom - apparently carpooling is almost as exciting as going to school. He gave me a quick hug and ran to the car. He was not worried about leaving me at all. When he got back, he ran up the drive way, grinning his Sammy grin, and gave me a big hug. Then he told me everything he did: play with play dough, color, play, snacks, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was surprised to know that she feeds them lunch (I should read the paper work more thoroughly). He even had a dry pull-up and went potty as soon as he got home. Before school, I told him that I needed to take his picture outside. He was thrilled to be "yike Jack". You can see that he is not bashful for the camera. He pulled out some great poses. The final pose was his "fire power" pose from Night at the Museum. What a cheeser. He also convinced me that he had to have a new backpack for school and insisted that he wear his "preschool pants" today instead of shorts.

I am looking forward to a drama-free, happy, peaceful, and fun year. I will let you all know how that goes. :)

Not to be out done by his big brothers, Logan figured out how to roll from back to front today on a flat surface. Guess where I found him...Under my bed. Goodbye days of laying him on a blanket and walking away for a few minutes, I will miss you.

A conversation with Jack

2009-08-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry for a double post today, but I want to make sure I share the conversation I had with Jack yesterday. There was a commercial on TV about how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll in a tootsie pop. I said, "That is a commercial from when I was a little girl." Jack responded, "Oh, that is why it looks like it is from the olden days." I stood speechless, so he continues..."Wait, so they have really had that commercial for like 198 days." Still not sure what to say, so he keeps on going... "Weren't you born in 1950?" OK, I had a response to that. I told him no, I was born in 1974. He says, "oh yeah right, 1950 was when the dinosaurs were on the earth." I was almost in a puddle laughing so hard. I told him that 1950 was about the time Grandma was born. He said, oh cool and walks away. I am still pretty shocked to know that I lived in the olden days.

One more funny thing from Jack... At back to school night last night he asked his teacher if they were going to have field trips. She said yes, they have one in the fall and one later in the year. He responds, "Oh last year I didn't get to go on a field trip because I didn't get here until Obama became the president." I was about to explain, but she understood completely and said, "Oh did you move in late last year?" Isn't that funny that he remembers the time of our move because of Obama taking office. One of the first school activities he had here was a little booklet about Obama's childhood and background. He was really into the elections last year and asked me a lot of questions. I am just hoping he doesn't end up being my little Alex P. Keaton. (How many of you get that? :))

Mommy Fun Fridays

2009-08-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

Last summer we started a fun tradition called Mommy Fun Fridays. We made a darling flower pot with popsicle stick flowers that had ideas for activities that we could do on Fridays. It was so fun that we continued it this year. I was a little too busy for a cute flower pot, so we put our ideas on slips of papers in a Ziploc bag - I was the only one disappointed with the lack of cuteness. Some Fridays didn't work out because of summer camp, swimming lessons, or vacations. Sometimes we had to cancel because of bad behavior, but today was the last Mommy Fun Friday of 2009. Jack was determined to make it work out. He woke right up and made his bed, cleaned up toys, got dressed, helped Sam get bathed and dressed, and was generally sweet to everyone in the house. Instead of drawing out the bag I gave him a choice of what he wanted to do. We had to finish last minute school shopping for lunches and the final odds and ends, so whatever we did had to allow for a trip to Walmart. He decided that he wanted to go shopping and then go to McDonalds and play for a "long time". Going "in" to McDonalds is a big deal, because I usually avoid it at all costs. It was packed today, so we had to eat in the regular dining room. Both boys ate every bite of their lunch and waited very patiently while I put the decals onto their Lego Racers. Luckily, the play area cleared out a bit, so we moved in. I let the kids play for 45 minutes. That is a LONG time for me (I had a Coke to make myself feel better). I made them use Purel and Jack told me that, "Dad never makes me do this, and I don't get sick!" After 45 minutes, my boys came right over and got their shoes on without any fits. It was like a dream... Then Jack suggested we walk across the street to Baskin Robins. Being the funnest mommy around today, I agreed and tried to look the other way while they ate their gross bubble gum ice cream (I had a chocolate/peanut butter ice cream cone to make myself feel better). I say gross, because seriously - it is disgusting to watch them spit out each piece of gum onto a napkin so that they can chew it later. They were pink from forehead to chin. We are home now, so I can do some of my Friday chores. Jack is watching TV, Logan is sleeping, and Sam is trying to nap. Here is a list of some of the other Mommy Fun Fridays this year:

Discovery Center

Picnic at the park

Splash Park

Craft (they got to pick a kids crafts from Michaels and we came home and did them together)

Swimming

McDonalds play land

Tonight, Tyler is going to take the boys camping. It might just be in the back yard, but they are going to figure something out. Jack said, "I would prefer to go to the woods." Tyler is going to do the best he can depending on when he gets home from work tonight. I love the last weekend before school starts. It is so exciting!

Cereal Time

2009-08-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

On Monday Logan and Sam had a doctor's appointment. Jack got to stay home with Morgan the babysitter all by himself - LUCKY. Sam had his 3 year old check up. He loved all of the attention he got from Dr. Lanuza. She asked him draw a circle and he did it proudly and said, "I draw you a twi-angle?" She said sure and he drew her a very extensive drawing that might have/kinda resembled a triangle. She also had him run up and down the hall, jump over her papers, and hop on one foot. He really felt like he was getting away with something and did all of this with the biggest grin I have ever seen. He got a clean bill of health and she said that his feet are totally normal. She expects no future need for any intervention. I was relieved. He also got a shot which he calls "Shoots". He was very brave, because he was going to get a spider man band aid. He remains in the 60% for weight and 75% for height. He is old enough now that they do not have to measure his head - enough said.

Logan was there for his 4 month check up even though he was really 4 1/2 months. He was also in the 60% for weight and 75% for height. A proud moment for the Wiricks - Logan's head is only in the 60%. It is so good to be on the charts :). She was very impressed with his development. He is very social and is rolling from stomach to back. Normal stuff for a 4 month old except that he has learned how to caterpillar crawl and can get all over his room if I put him on the floor. His reflux is controlled well by his meds and he will continue with them until a re-evaluation at 9 months. She cleared him to start cereal which is the real inspiration for this blog entry. I was so excited, because Jack and Sam loved their cereal. Guess what Logan thinks of it.

Nap Strike!

2009-08-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Sam is on a nap strike, and nothing I do has been succesful in getting him to nap or even to have some quiet time in his room. When I tell him it is time for a nap he says, "I no yike-a to take a nap." The other day he was playing in the living room while I worked and it got way too quiet. I went to investigate and this is what I found. He really still needs to take a nap!

I have a blog!

2009-08-15T16:26:00.001-07:00

Today is a great day to start a blog. I was having a hard time thinking of something to write -especially since I am just giving into peer pressure, so that I can be as cool as my sisters in law. Sam took care of everything for me. While I was hiding out at the computer, he was working on creating a fantastic blog entry introduction for himself and our family. Today is his 3rd birthday. He requested a Ben-10 cake, and I came up with a lame idea that thrills him and makes Martha Stewart cry. As I typed, he came to me screaming and with a very dirty face. I thought he ate dirt, but when I followed him into the kitchen, it was obvious that eating dirt was not the crime that had been committed today. I guess he liked his cake. It looks like 3 will not be a whole different than 2. Pray for me!

p.s. It is official, I have a blog and I don't know how I feel about it.