So Precious

Halley has started doing this way cute thing, especially when it's close to bedtime. We put her binky in because she's all upset. She'll sit there for a minute to calm down, and then she gets all happy and smiley and spits in out. She'll ooo and ahhh and smile for a minute, and then she cries again, and we start all over. I caught this cute video tonight while the boys were in the tub.
I am all alone tonight because Wes has to do CQ. I asked him what that stands for, and he didn't know. I decided to use this amazing thing - the internet - and found out it means "charge of quarters." Basically, he has to sit up, awake, all night with the sergeant on duty. Luckily he gets tomorrow off to sleep a little. However, that means he misses his classes. The military is so weird. I guess they gotta do what they gotta do though, right?
I guess I am just lonely. :) I can't believe I made it for so long without him. He is so wonderful!
Hey, at least it gave me time to do the blog. Cool!

A Special Visit

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile. We had Wes' parents here last weekend, and we were busy having fun! It was so nice to have family here again. I have really missed everyone, and it was so nice to be with Dave and Rhenda again. We got really close to them while we lived there, especially while Wes was at basic training. They really helped me get through that whole thing.
Anyway, so on to the pictures and videos! The sad story is that we took a lot of the pictures from the weekend on Dave and Rhenda's camera so I don't have as many as I'd like, but, they are sending me a CD with all the pictures from their camera so maybe in a week or so I'll post some more.
First of all, the weather - man was it crazy! We had a huge warm spell this past weekend. It was up in the 90s which very rarely happens here. Then, on Sunday and Monday we were back down in the 60s with a freezing cold breeze. Crazy, huh? Anyway, so we got this way cute little shorts outfit for Halley that I was afraid she'd never be able to wear because it's never quite warm enough. Well, we put it on her when it was so hot, and she looked so cute.
One of the days it was so warm we headed out to what we call the "rock beach." We were hoping to find some hermit crabs and sea stars. We found THOUSANDS of hermit crabs (that's what all the boys are looking at), but no sea stars. Rhenda also found this wierd shell thing. We aren't quite sure what it's called, but it was alive.

It was low tide so the boys, Wes, and Rhenda all hiked out to this, well, let's see, I guess you'd call it a rock beach. Wes got this cute video of the boys out there, and a cute picture of Bradley doing "thumbs up."
Later that night I looked outside as we were putting the boys to bed and saw a beautiful sunset over the ocean. I see those quite often, and have meant to take pictures so many times, but this time I finally did. Can you believe that is the view from our house?
The boys had so much fun with Mamo and Grumpy here. It was so good for them. They miss everyone in Utah a lot. I really enjoyed the visit too. I could actually take a shower without worrying about the kids! :) We are looking forward to my family coming next week for the 4th.

A Few Pictures

Here is a cute picture of Halley. She loves to sleep. She is so good about falling asleep when she's tired - as long as she isn't in her crib. She'll sleep for hours in her car seat or on the couch, but she seems to wake up every half hour or so in her crib. Grrr . . . By the way, this outfit is size 6 mos. Crazy, huh?
This is one of Bradley giving Halley a bottle.
He loves to be a big brother, and he is really good at it.:) This was a cute moment. Wes and I were sitting and talking and realized the boys were being kind of quiet. We looked around the corner, and they were both sitting reading books together. I love it when they do that!!

California Definitely Stinks

Ha ha ha . . . Wes is funny! He wanted me to put that for the title of this post. This is a video of one of our furry little friends that comes at night to visit our garbage can and recycling bin. You can see it running up the hill in front of our house. Wes wanted to get a closer shot, but he didn't want to take a tomato juice bath.
Tonight he was standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes, and a raccoon came and was opening our garbage can! There are so many little animals running around at night here. And on post, there are tons of deer just standing around all the time. Crazy!

Cute Smiles

This is the cutest video of Halley smiling that we have so far. This doesn't nearly do her "cuteness" justice though. It's hard to capture the feeling of how adorable and happy she is with a video. We were trying to get her to make some noise too. She does her cute "oooohhh" face and coos and gurgles. It's so precious. She just melts my heart. I told Wes I didn't want to post this one because she has yellow on, not pink, and she's wearing old pajamas that Connor wore so I don't think she looks "girlie" enough, but you get the idea. She is dang cute!

Sorry.

Ok, so I am completely exhausted tonight. I took a couple videos of Halley this week, and we also took a way cute video of the boys dancing to "Funky Town," but I am too lazy to wait for them to download and do an extensive post. So, any of you who are checking this regularly will have to wait. Sorry! I will try to get it done tomorrow.
Love to all!

So, Wes and I both got weighed today, and guess what! I have lost 4 lbs., and Wes has lost 5. Now, this is a huge milestone for me because I broke a barrier that I haven't been able to break since before I was pregnant with Connor. Hooray for eating healthy! Is anyone sick of me talking about this? Let me know if you are. I just am so excited!

I forgot to mention . . .

I forgot to mention that we have our webcam set up now so we can chat with people and they can see us. We have our account set up on Windows Live Messenger. We talked with Wes' sister and her husband who are in Jordan - yah, the one clear across the world - on Saturday, and it was awesome. The boys loved it. They were so excited to see the people they love and miss so much.
So, anyway, if you want to see us, I think we can just chat with you even if you don't have a webcam. However, I know the boys would like it a lot more if they could see anyone we were talking to. My friend got ours for us at Walmart. They are only like $20- $30.
Let us know, and we can schedule a time to "talk."

And another one . . .

More of the Biker Dude!

Biker Dude

More Pictures!

Halley has been smiling a lot. I finally got a pretty good picture of it. She is so cute. She loves to go "ooooo" with her mouth. She plays that game with Wes all the time. We are having so much fun with her. I figured out tonight why it's easier to be a parent the second and third time around. It's because I know that all the hard phases that we go through with the newborn stuff will end. I think with Bradley I thought he would never sleep through the night and that he would always be nursing every two hours, etc., etc. Now, with Halley I can handle some of that hard stuff a little better because I know it won't always be this way.
Another update - we got some betta fish for the boys. When we gave away our fish before Wes left for basic training we promised the boys that when we got to California we'd get them their own fishies. Well, we were actually kind of hoping they'd forget, but they kept bringing it up. Anyway, so Bradley calls his "Little Fish," and Connor calls his either "Big Fish" or "Colorful Fish." It's kind of fun to have little pets around, and they are pretty low maintenance.

I also want to let everyone know how our first week of healthy dinners from our new recipe book went. We actually loved it! Well, I did. I feel so much better about myself when I eat healthy, and it wasn't that difficult. I though the food was great. I guess I should just speak for myself though. The thing that amazes me the most is that we didn't eat a whole lot of meat. In fact, if we had followed the menu perfectly (we ate out once or twice :), we would have only eaten red meat once! I am now a huge fan of this lady - Zonya. I loved the recipes. They are pretty simple and taste great! OK, so that's my story. The true test will be if we lose any weight. Of course, we are still trying to get rid of some of our chocolate and stuff so it might take awhile for our healthy eating habits to take effect. :)

OK, so I keep thinking about how fast Halley is growing. I feel like she is so big now. It's nice to look at this picture of Wes' hand on her and realize that she is still just a little baby.

One more really cute story that I am sure Wes won't want me to put on here. We were driving the other night and listening to a CD that my sister and her then boyfriend made for us for our honeymoon. It has that song "Just Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Vassar on it. Wes hasn't ever really listened to the words, and he did this time. He got all teary-eyed and reached over and grabbed my hand. It was so adorable. We are both so happy to be together, and despite how hard things are, it is so nice to have each other and know we're in the right place doing the right thing. Some days may not seem like "paradise," but I think we both really recognize how much we love each other now that we've spent some time apart.

And that's that. I fulfilled my Sunday blogging goal!

Riding a Bike!

So, we don't actually have a video camera, but we tried out the video feature on our camera, and it works pretty well. Today the boys tried to learn how to ride their bikes they got for Christmas today. Well, Bradley succeeded. Connor decided it wasn't worth the effort.

We tried a few different methods with Bradley, and what ended up working was taping his feet to the pedals with electrical tape. Funny, huh? So, I can't decide which one to post, and I'm not sure if these will work, but I'm going to post all three :). Wes didn't know the camera recorded sound or he would have been saying more.

We had a very productive weekend. The kids are all three sick so we didn't go out and do anything, but we accomplished something we have been wanting to do for oh, let's see, about five years. Yah, we actually went through all the junk we have been moving from place to place. In every house or apartment we have lived in we have had a "junk room." It's basically the place we throw everything that we don't know what to do with. Anyway, so yesterday and today we went through all those things and, as my dad says, "We put it away, threw it away, or put it in a box to give away." Cool, huh? We are so proud of ourselves. Our storage room is organized and so are all the other rooms in the house.

Everyone give us a pat on our backs! :)

By the way . . .

Ok, so it is now 11:54 pm. Wes came in to sit with me about a half hour ago, and he has to get up at 4:00 am!!! He is such a sweetheart.
My new goal is to post pictures EVERY Sunday night so I don't end up going through a thousand pictures and posting so much. I know you're all going to get bored! Speaking of which, there really are about a hundred more cute pictures I could have posted. I think my kids are probably the cutest kids in the world! :)
So there, I accomplished my goal and kept my promise. It is 11:57 pm - not Monday yet!
Love to all!

Wes & Me

Wes and I are doing really well. We are very happy to be together. It's so weird to think back and realize that we were apart for so long. Wes is doing really well in school. He keeps saying he could be doing much better if he would study more. He basically just does the homework every night, but he is still getting in the 90's on all his tests and quizzes. He just got called to be the 2nd counselor in the YM presidency, and I know that's going to take more of his time, but he will do fine! I am very proud of him. I could not ask for a better husband!

I am having lots of fun meeting new people! In fact, I have met so many people we are having a hard time deciding when we can invite all of them over for dinner sometime. Every week we go to the park on Wednesday morning. It's called Park Day, and all the moms just sit around and talk while the kids play. It's awesome! I just got called to teach relief society which should be challenging and very exciting.

Also, I have undertaken a new passion. I have decided we are truly going to eat healthier. I found a website - zonya.com - that has lots of healthy and easy recipe ideas. I found one of her cookbooks on ebay for $5. So, on Saturday I went shopping and got a bunch of essentials and food for the week! I am excited to try out some healthy recipes. Wes and I both really want to lose weight and eat better. I am still keeping up with exercising, but I don't think it's enough to shed any pounds. We'll let you know how it goes. I am most concerned about if the boys will eat any of it, but we shall see . . .

I am actually very happy here. I miss Utah and all the people there A LOT, but this is a wonderful place full of amazing people!

Halley

Halley changes every day. She is so much more aware and alert now. She almost always smiles when she wakes up and right after she eats. She has also laughed a couple times. We have tried to get some good pictures of her smiling, but they never work out. Wes says that when she smiles she uses all the energy in her whole body- and it's true! You can really feel her happiness. It's amazing.
When my parents and grandma were here we all decided it's very possible that she could be a red head. Her hair has really changed. I, of course, wouldn't mind if it ended up red! :)

She is a very special little girl. She has been such a blessing. She is sleeping eight hours already, and we finally got her bedroom all cleaned out yesterday so I think we'll be putting her in the crib soon. She has been sleeping in a laundry basket on the floor by our bed. :) She is really scrunched in there, but I am having a hard time letting her grow up so it'll probably be at least a couple more days before I'm ready for that.

Her big brothers love to give her hugs and kisses and soft pats. They are very good to help with getting her binky and finding diapers and clothes for her. All of us absolutely adore her!

Connor

Connor is also growing fast. He is only a couple inches shorter than Bradley and weighs about a pound and half less. Every time we go out in public I get asked if they are twins. It's a bummer because there are no more hand-me-downs for him. We're having to buy doubles of everything!

Connor loves books and numbers. He also loves to do anything and everything Bradley does. He really misses everyone out in Utah. He talks about everyone out there all the time. He tells me all the time that he wants to go back and live at Mamo and Grumpy's house - that's what the boys call Wes' parents.

Connor has gotten a lot closer to Wes the past few weeks. He even asked us to sing the "Happy Family" song with Daddy and Connor the other night. That means that Daddy is definitely on his "A" list.

Every week when we ask Connor what he learned about in nursery he says, "Snacks." I think that must be the most important thing he does in there. :)

Connor has so much energy. He has been waking up at 6:15 am every morning, and he just goes all day long. He definitely keeps us on our toes.

Bradley

Bradley is starting to read. He loves to get letters from family back home. He is a sponge. He soaks up everything we and others teach him, but he never gets rung out - he retains all of it. Oh, here is a funny story. He loves to type on the computer, and he was playing around and typed a bunch of commas. I told him what they were, and a little while later he said to me, "Mom, I typed some commissaries." Now, for those of you who don't know - the commissary is the grocery store for military personnel and their families. He couldn't remember the word for comma, and he has heard us talking about the commissary a lot so that's what he called them. Anyway, it was funny! He is a wonderful little boy, and we just love to watch him learn. He is saying the prayer in primary next Sunday, and that is a little emotional for me. I cannot believe he is growing up so fast. Wes asked if we can come listen to his prayer, and he said, "No, I only want my primary teachers and the primary kids there!" Ahhh . . . I guess I'll have to stand at the door.

I can follow through - and I do procrastinate!

So, I made that promise forgetting that we actually had a lot of stuff going on this weekend. But, I am still going to keep my promise - even though it is after 10 on Sunday night! We had a birthday party for one of the boys' new little friends yesterday, and tonight we had a family over who just moved here from Utah. Wes knew Mark from his unit before he left for basic training. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time this weekend getting ready for that.

As I type my computer is downloading over 250 photos for me to go through! Yikes. This is going to be a long night . . . good thing Wes has lots of studying to do. :) This picture is of him buried in the sand up to his knees.

We had a lot of fun with my parents and Grandma here. Mostly we just hung out which was awesome because normally we just eat dinner with our families and leave, but we got to spend all day with everyone and eat all our meals together. We did go to the beach on Memorial Day. We played in the sand and flew kites and had a blast! Connor and Bradley got in the water! It was so much fun to have some of my family here. It made me really miss all the other people we love!

We also celebrated my mom's um . . . 29th birthday. (Look at Bradley's hands if you want to really know how old she is. :)