Ammon, LeAnn, Kent & AddiLynn

Addy Laughing

2012-01-30T19:47:00.000-08:00

The best part of the video is from 40 seconds till the end.

I choose "d"

2012-01-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

When both kids are crying at the same time for an extended period, what do you do?
a) Cry yourself
b) Call Ammon at work to complain (not that he can do anything, it probably just makes him happy he is there and not here)
c) Institute early nap time for all involved.
d) All of the above

Uncle Lance Visits

2012-01-20T10:36:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of December, yes I know I am behind, Uncle Lance and Aunt Robin came into town. Robin was flying out to Washington for the weekend to be with her family and Lance got to stay with us.

Proof that Robin was here for a few minutes.

We took Lance to the children's museum in town. They had a special event where the kids got to meet Santa. While we waited for our turn to see Santa we just explored all the different activities. The boys seemed to like building things...

I love the concentration of Kent and Lance in this picture.

In the center of the museum they have a huge tree. You can either climb it with the stairs in the trunk or you can use the tower. They had a little game for the kids to play where they pretended they were Santa and took toys down the tower which was supposed to be the chimney. Since Kent tends to hurt himself, we took extra precautions by having Lance and Ammon take turns going down the tower. As you can see they were a little big...

I think I have mentioned before how much Kent loves helmets...

Trying to pull the sword out of the stone.

This was right after we sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" to get Santa to arrive...

A MOMS Club Christmas

2012-01-15T12:51:00.000-08:00

I attended a few of the Christmas MOMS club activities this December. I didn't get a whole lot of great pictures, but I thought I would at least document what we did with the few I got. First we went to the Christmas Village in downtown Ogden. They set up a bunch of little "playhouse" like houses that each have a window you can look in. All of them are themed different with tons of stuff to look at. If it wasn't so cold and rainy/snowy we would have probably enjoyed it a bit more. Mrs. Claus gave the kids the tour and then each kid got to sit on her lap for a goody bag. She was kind of a scary looking Mrs. Claus, nice enough but scary. To prove it to you here is a picture...

A pretty bad picture of what the houses looked like. They are actually really cute and clever.

Second, one of the girls in the club has her dad come as Santa and read "A Night Before Christmas" to the kids while they ate cookies and drank milk. It was a really cute activity. And of course no visit from Santa is complete without a chance to sit on his lap and tell him what you want for Christmas.

Addy perfectly content to sit on Stephanie's lap instead of Santa's.

In September 1984...

2012-01-14T18:20:00.000-08:00

two baby girls were born a day apart. In the fall of 2012 each of those girls had their own baby girl approximately 2 1/2 months apart.

Naptime

2012-01-13T14:13:00.000-08:00

My days of getting both kids to nap at the same time are gone. It started about a week ago. I was in denial until today when I finally admitted it to myself and began grieving the lose of my afternoon nap. I guess now I will just have to look forward to Saturdays when Ammon takes Addy duty during naptime. I can hardly wait the next 24 hours for that. Untill then, I am tired. But I guess who can say no to spending time with this girl while her older brother naps.

Random Kent

2012-01-07T17:15:00.001-08:00

Kent was throwing a tantrum in the kitchen after church one day because I wasn't getting him apple juice quick enough. I left the kitchen to let him calm down and came back to this. Obviously he was pretty worn out from nursery and no nap.

Trying to cut his own hair, good thing these aren't really scissors.

Family Pictures

2012-01-01T08:13:00.001-08:00

While we were home for our Thanksgiving vacation we had the opportunity to get family pictures taken. These are a few of our favorites. Now if only I could get on top of printing them and hanging them on our walls.

Preparing for Christmas

2011-12-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

We decorated the tree...

Kent made a necklace out of the tangled lights.

Ammon strung the lights on the tree while Addy supervised.

Kent couldn't wait to decorate and hung ornaments (too close together) before Ammon could get done with the lights.

We saw Santa and his reindeer...

Kent wants a motorcycle for Christmas.

Addy was a tad bit hungry at this point.

The Eastern Side

2011-12-11T09:17:00.000-08:00

After we were done in Tacoma, we hopped a flight to Pullman for a few days. Can I just tell you that flying into Pullman should be considered one of the biggest luxuries (thanks again Aspen for the buddy passes). It felt so good to land and know we were only 5 minutes from home, as opposed to an hour and a half when we fly into Spokane. However, that is beside the point. We had a ton of fun at home, which consisted of the boys playing (no surprise there), shopping, watching TV (barely because the kids were so loud you couldn't hear anything), sleeping, and eating. Here is the photo montage of our time there...

The boys developed a new fascination with Grandpa's hats. They would try to knock each others' hats off by hitting one bill with the other. Pretty hilarious for those of us watching. This is a picture of Cade so graciously putting Kent's hat back on after he knocked it off.

This is what we call a Grandpa sandwich

Keeping the boys quiet for a little bit is possible with a little bit of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

Sword fighting. I bought and then cut in half a pool noodle the last summer we were home. They were meant to be used as baseball bats, but alas we have two swords.

Kent officially played in the snow for the first time. He liked it, but got cold quickly. He is definitely his father's son. When Rachel asked Kent what the snow tasted like he replied, "Snowmen."

Riding the new member of the family

Naps with Grandpa

Much to Ammon's dismay, Kent likes to play with kitchen toys. These are mine from when I was growing up. Here the boys were having a tea party. Ammon is glad that these toys are 10 hours away in Washington.

The girls officially met each other.

Lastly, the boys thought it was pretty cool when Grandpa shone his flashlight through the boys' cheeks and they could see the light inside their mouths.

Mills Family Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T15:02:00.000-08:00

Ammon's mom had mentioned last year that this year she wanted to get everyone together for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Well that posses quite a problem when there are 22 people scattered over the western United States. The other problem is that only Ammon's brother Jason, who resides in Tacoma, has enough space to house us all and he has to work Thanksgiving. So in order to solve the problem I got the ball rolling to do Thanksgiving over Veteran's Day weekend since we live the farthest away and no plans had yet been established. The unfortunate thing, was still everyone couldn't make it. We had however, 19 of the 22, which I thought was pretty good. I want to thank Ammon's sister Aspen for her generosity in sharing with us buddy passes that allowed 6 of us to get there without putting in the 17 hour car ride.

We had a great time at Jason's. Their new house was amazing and I have a feeling this won't be the last time it is used for a family get together. We ate, we slept, we barely had to take care of Addy cause everyone else wanted a turn, we ate some more, and played a lot. The only downside was Ammon and I were sick with a miserable head cold that we unfortunately shared with everyone else. My philosophy is that it isn't a Mills family get together without sharing germs. Normally we are the ones that end up getting sick (last Thanksgiving for example), but this time we took our turn at starting it.

While in the Seattle area I was also able to see two of my high school friends; Auntie Sarah and Allie. I love to just sit and catch up, and we were able to do just that. I wish I would have taken pictures while they were there, but failed to pull out my camera.

Last, but certainly not least, we also had yet another broken bone while we were there. We had a baby gate at the top of the stairs to keep a few of the one year olds from falling down the stairs. It was very sufficient in doing just that, however, we didn't take in to account the two year old, Kent, who could almost climb over the gate. On Sunday night Kent was at the top of the stairs asking for help down. Ammon was on his way to get him when he got impatient and decided to take matters into his own hands. He started climbing over the gate when it gave way and sent him tumbling down the long flight of stairs. Luckily Ammon caught him before he reached the bottom, but not before the damage was done. We immediately could tell something was really hurt by the cry that exited our tiny boy's mouth. It is the same cry that we hear every time he is hurt seriously. He was holding the upper arm and elbow of his right arm, and I knew almost instantly that it must be his elbow that was broken, if not the upper arm too. In no more than 10 minutes, we were on our way to the children's hospital to get him looked at. I was just thankful we hadn't napped him that day because the only reason he stopping crying on the way (30 minutes) was because he fell asleep. When we arrived at the hospital and woke him back up the crying started again, but for this I am thankful. Having a crying child is one sure fire way to assure your trip to the ER is expedited. We were in and out in a little over and hour. Kent only needed a splint (which was pretty much a cast) for two weeks, and the doctor said we could even take it on and off as long as his elbow felt fine. I am grateful that all we came away with was a broken elbow. Ammon, having witnessed the fall, said by the way he fell it could have been a lot worse.

Now time for pictures...

When the grown boys (Ammon and his brothers) were using the TV to play video games, the kids resorted to watching cartoons on the iPad.

Ammon's mom brought bags and bags of used clothes from Jason's family over from Rosalia for us to go through. We found a few great hand me downs.

Our nephew Grayson in need of a bath.

Meeting Grandpa for the first time

We were getting pictures of all the grandkids and thought we would try for one with just our two, this is how it turned out.

All the grandkids, none of them turned out perfectly, but cute group of kids nonetheless.

An impromptu family picture, the kids were done by this point.

Daddy's little girl

I volunteered to put jam on the kids' rolls, little did I know I would be sitting at the kids' table for so long.

Late night stories with Cousin Ashley.

Kent, Grayson, and me.

Jason let Kent play in his cop car and push buttons to his little hearts content.

Our broken boy, look at the size of that splint.

Our Two-Month Old

2011-11-25T09:39:00.000-08:00

Well our little girl turned two-months old this past week. At her two-month well child visit she weighed 9 lbs 8 oz. We have a tiny one on our hands. However, she is going up in percentile, so that is good. She is still a little colicy, but we are managing. The doctor said she should outgrow it in the next month; I am not holding my breath. I swear Kent's colic lasted 6 months. She is currently eating the second most expensive formula on the market and I hope her expensive tastes don't follow her into her teenage years. We have been fortunate the the doctor's office has given us about $125 worth of formula for free, and they said the Enfamil rep will start delivering samples of Nutramigen to our door, gotta love that. At the first of the year our insurance will change and we hope we can get some of the cost covered by them.

More importantly, Addy is smiling like crazy and loves to talk to us (when she isn't fussy or sleeping of course). Recently our 5 o'clock feedings consist of 3 oz of formula then 45 minutes of bonding time between her and me. At first I would get irritated she wouldn't go back to sleep, but when that didn't get me anywhere, I started to simply enjoy the time with her. One day I will wish she talked to me more, so I should relish the conversations she has with me now. Speaking of feedings, she still wakes up 2-3 times a night, depending on when we go to bed. She normally eats about 11ish, then again at 2ish, and then again at 5ish. During the day it is worse, she gets hungry every 2 hours. I do my best to hold her off for 2 1/2 hours, but by that time she is pretty angry. I am just hopeful one day she will be eating every 3-4 hours. We love AddiLynn and can't imagine our family without her. Here is a picture we took on November 20th, he two month birthday!

It's about time...

2011-11-21T19:01:00.000-08:00

for a new post. We have been gone for about a week and a half on vacation and I fell behind during that time, but it was all worth it. I will report on our vacation next week, but as for now I just want to post a little bit of randomness.

We pulled out the Bumbo, although her head is still a little wobbly, she loved it.

Ammon had developed some multitasking skills himself. During nap time on Saturdays I nap with the kids while Ammon plays games. However if Addy is awake Ammon is on Daddy Duty. I came out one Saturday from my nap to find this, I was amazed. I guess nothing can come between Ammon and the small amount of time allotted to video games.

This was the kids one Sunday night about 6, I guess church was tiring.

I took Kent to the children's museum in town the other day, he loved riding the horses.

Sunday best

A Happy Halloween

2011-11-02T07:19:00.001-07:00

Before it gets to late I thought I would post about our Halloween. Ammon was in New Mexico last week so we did pumpkin carving a little early, the weekend before. Ammon's mom was in town which added to the fun. We only carved one pumpkin and that was enough. In fact one pumpkin made enough of a mess, I think we will just have a family pumpkin from now on, until the kids are old enough to do it themselves and clean up themselves (wishful thinking, right?). We all worked together...

Grandma cut the top off and roasted the pumpkin seeds. Kent made some much needed holes. And although there is no picture, I cleaned the pumpkin out, and...

Ammon carved.

The final product.

The next night we went to the ward party. The youth put on a little carnival for the kids and Kent thought that was really fun. The kids have also been wearing their Halloween shirts, that Auntie Sarah got them, all month. Kent asked to wear his "Halloween shirt" almost everyday. I would continually have to tell him it was dirty.

Don't mind Kent's smile, he is in the cheesy stage.

Our cute girl has started to smile.

Lastly, we actually trick-or-treated on Halloween night. Kent was in heaven. We dropped Addy off at my great-aunt's house and just trick-or-treated in her neighborhood. A lot of her neighbors are older and thought Kent was so cute they would give him handfuls of candy. Kent's bag was full in no time and Ammon and I were more than happy to be done. Although Addy didn't go with us we still put her in her lady bug costume. I recycled Kent's dog costume from last year since it still fit and we live in a different place. It was nice not to have to stress about getting him another costume. But don't worry I will let him be something different next year.

Our cute lady bug, you can tell she is thrilled.

Kent didn't want to sit by his sister, who was already cranky.

Then when we moved them together, Addy just flopped over. But hey, it was a good picture of Kent.

Kent trick-or-treating. Don't mind the one pant leg up and the unspotted bottom (the sweatshirt normally covers that area).

Happy about his loot.

Does your kid...

2011-10-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

find the need to always wear a helmet? I think we have talked about Kent wearing my bicycle helmet in the past, but really he does wear it a lot. See...

I let him play in the sink while I was doing the dishes. I thought it was better he make a mess where I was in the process of cleaning than in the place I had just cleaned, the living room.

Obviously holding AddiLynn requires a helmet, backwards of course.

Playing baseball, equipt with a "mitt" (be it an oven mitt), bat, and helmet (backwards again). Now I need to teach him that when you bat you don't field, and vice versa.

There are times when he is helmet free, thank goodness. But helmet or not he is always making us laugh and marvel at how much he is learning.

He told me he was making mac and cheese. Obviously he found the perfect pan(notice every other pan we own on the floor), put in his coins (noodles) and was stirring away with his golf club (spoon).

When I went in to get Addy some more PJ's this is how I found Kent; fast asleep with Big Puppy perched right on top of him.

Recently we have been water coloring. Most his pictures turn out black because he feels the need to put the brush in every color, from left to right ending with black, before he paints the paper.

1 Month

2011-10-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Our little girl turned one month old last week. She is still the light of our family. She has some colic/digestive issues that we are trying to work out, we think she is lactose intolerant (thank you dad), and I am currently cutting out dairy to see if that helps. I don't think I have ever craved a glass of milk this bad. I can't stomach soy milk, and although I like the taste of almond milk, it doesn't agree with her. We are contemplating switching her to formula, but are not quite ready to take the financial hit to our wallets. Here are a few pictures of our growing girl.

Fall Festivities

2011-10-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

I belong to a mom's club here in Ogden and that may seem silly, but it actually has been really good for Kent and I. The club has activities scheduled a few times a week at places around the valley. You can pick and choose what you want to attend. Kent has grown to enjoy being with other kids (which if you knew him before you know he was kind of a social recluse) and it helps me have some adult interaction with woman that are in the same time of life as me. I should really convince some of my friends at church to join too, that would make it perfect. This month we have had lots of fall activities to attend. We went to Dabb's fruit farm to meet Pumpkin Man and pick out a pumpkin. We went to Black Island Farms for a hayride, pumpkin patch picking, tractor train ride, and hay slides. And lastly, we went to Cold Trout Farms to feed the fish, go through a corn maze, and pick out a pumpkin. We really have had a fun October and can't wait to carve the FOUR pumpkins we've collected.

At Dabb's Fruit Farm waiting to get started

Kent's favorite part of Dabb's was the several barn kittens they had. He coulds have chased and petted them all day. Too bad we will never own a cat.

As you can see Kent was really tentative around Pumpkin Man.

Ammon took a few hours off of work to join us at Black Island Farms. I wasn't sure if I was ready to tackle an outing with the two kids. We always enjoy when he is with us.

Kent loved the slides.

And the teeter-totter.

This tractor train ride was so cute.

Kent showing us his carrot our hay ride driver picked out in the fields.

Kent having his pumpkin cut right off the vine.

Kent was really fascinated with the old farm equipment.

Feeding the trout. They would go crazy when you threw the food in, but it was hard to get a good picture of it.

My multitasking skills...

2011-10-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

come and go (see examples below).

Example 1: Good multitasking skills-Able to give two kids a bath at once

Example 2: Bad multitasking skills-Unable to nurse Addy and control Kent at the same time

As of Late-Lots of Pictures, A Little Text

2011-10-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

These pictures are not in any specific order, in fact they may be backwards in order. I am too lazy to switch them around.

Addy's first dress. Thank you Linda!

Kent is slowly growing a mullet, only because his mom and dad are too lazy/busy to cut it. Good thing Aunt Aubree is coming next week. Check out how curly his hair gets when it is long.

Kent hasn't really wanted much to do with Addy, but the other day when I was making his lunch I peeked around the corner to make sure he wasn't suffocating her and this is what I found; him trying to comfort her with a binky.

Addy loves her swing and in turn we LOVE her swing. Thank you Jessica and the McCain family.

In the cute outfit Auntie Sarah gave her. Notice the quilt in the background (it really is quilted on the front side). I made that my junior year of high school for my sewing class. I am glad I am getting use out of it now.

Kent is becoming more active and more creative day by day. He wanted to play the piano on the couch the other night.

Brotherly kisses

Wide-eyed

Feeding Addy every two hours in the middle of the night is really taking a toll on the boys. Funny how neither of them are present for any of those feedings.

Our sweet baby girl.

Again Kent being creative in his play. And yes Kent does run around in his diaper a lot, mostly at night.

Kent has a new obsession with football and must play with a helmet on like the players on TV, even if it is Mom's bike helmet.

Addy sleeps with her mouth open a lot, just like her mom.

Addy with Great-grandpa Larsen.

Coming home from the hospital.

Behind the Camera

2011-09-27T09:42:00.001-07:00

Since Kent is no longer the one in front of the camera the whole time, he thinks he needs to be behind it. I taught him how to use it the other day, here is his photo montage.

Ball

Part Mom, Part Baby Sister

We ended up with at least 6 that contained just the middle section of Addy

Hat

Family of Four

2011-09-22T09:51:00.001-07:00

AddiLynn, or Addy for short, has finally joined the world. After a long day Tuesday, she joined us at about 5 at night. She was only 7lbs and as tiny as ever, or at least for us. It wasn't the easiest birth; my epidural fell out, I hemorrhaged, and then spiked a fever. But our daughter is beautiful. She looks a lot like Kent did, however is has wavy, black hair. Here is the first picture of us as a family of four.

My parents have been lifesavers by taking care of Kent the whole time, we are currently waiting to be discharged from the hospital. He was pretty sure the first night that the baby was Rachel's. But I hear now he knows her name and that she belongs in our family. Take a look at his face in this picture...

Proud Dad

Proud Grandpa (the only thing that would make this picture more perfect is if Addy was dressed in Cougar gear, we will work on that)

Proud Grandma

Sweet Addy (she is so much more mild tempered than Kent ever was)

And just to document what Ammon did the whole time, he programmed. He successfully finished his first "App" for my brother to use in his church calling. What a smart guy!

Cousin Cade Came to Visit

2011-09-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Brett, Rachel, Cade, and McCall came down for Labor Day weekend to spend time with Rachel's family. We were lucky enough to spend a little time with them. The boys of course had a blast with one another. This was one of their main activities...

The tackle...

the pounce...

the pin...

and Uncle Brett helping with the payback.

This was also Ammon's first time meeting McCall. He was so sweet as he tried to get her to smile. Hopefully he is the same way with our little girl when she arrives.

New Car

2011-09-11T07:23:00.000-07:00

I know I mentioned this quite a while ago (July), but I thought I would post pictures of our new car. We bought it from my uncle who lives in Las Vegas and it couldn't have come at a better time, seeing as we will be adding one to our brood any day now. The extra space has come in very useful already and we don't even have the extra kid yet; it was the only vehicle big enough to take all 7 of us through Yellowstone in June. Although I am the one who drives it the majority of the time, Kent still calls it "Daddy's Truck". I have worked and worked with him to call it "Mommy's Car" but that title only occasionally slips out of his mouth. Now I just refer to it as the "Blue Car", seeing how Ammon drives the "White Car".

Kent loves to get up front with us whenever he can, which pretty much means when we are parked. Here he is peeking out of the sun roof.

I absolutely hate to switch my Washington license plates to Utah ones, so this time my compromise was to get me a set of Utah State University Aggie plates, aren't they beautiful! Oh and by the way we had just washed our car a few days before this picture was taken, it just got dirty quick.

Dear Dad, (#2)

2011-08-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Mom's friend Jessica came to visit. Last night they dragged me from store to store while they shopped for girl stuff. I wished you were there because it was miserable. I did get to stay up later than normal because I was going to sleep in your bed so Jessica could sleep in mine. Today we got to go to the beach. Mom even let me bring my shovel and buckets. Jessica and Mom tried building a sandcastle, but I would stomp of it every time. I loved the sand and I loved the water.

At the very end of our stay there the seagulls came back around. I chased them and chased them, but I never could catch them. I finally got tired and sat down. Mom thought this picture was cute.

Tonight Mom and Jessica decided they would put together baby sister's new swing. They wanted to prove they could do it without any men. Just between you and me, they struggled a little bit at the start, but alas baby sister has a swing, except I think it is better suited for my puppies and blankets, what do you think?

Come home soon,
Love Kent

Dear Dad, (#1)

2011-08-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

We are now half way through your 12 day absence and I thought I would let you know what Mom and I have been up to, besides watching episode after episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that is. As you know we of course spent the first few days up in Rexburg with Uncle Lance and Aunt Robin. The air conditioner was broken and it was very hot, although Mom complained a lot she somehow survived. On Sunday night we went to Uncle Jared and Aunt Jo's for dinner. Look what I got to do...

Uncle Jared took me for a ride on Aunt Jo's scooter or as I call it a "motorcycle". I wouldn't mind if you bought me one of those.

On Monday we went to the zoo in Idaho Falls. Here is my photo journal from there:

We started by feeding the ducks. All sorts of ducks were there, not just the common Mallards.

Then we got to feed and pet the goats. Man were they hungry.

I saw chickens.

Uncle Lance and I pretended we were chickens.

I decided I would pretend I was a monkey too. Uncle Lance had a hard time prying me off the fence.

We also visited Africa, I don't think I want to live there.

But I could get used to riding tigers around.

On Tuesday Mom and Uncle Lance took me to the coolest splash pad, much better than the one in Riverdale and South Ogden. This one had slides and you know I love a good slide.

Even though the water was cold, I went again and again. One time I even went on my belly and got a face full of water.

There was also a carnival going on in the park for the kids getting ready to go back to school. Uncle Lance and I got to play a few games.

I golfed. After a while I got frustrated that the noodle they gave me was not as sufficient as the clubs I have at home, so I decided I would just throw the balls through the holes. It worked a lot better.

I also got to make big bubbles with Mom.

And eat the popcorn the police department was giving away. This little puppy wanted to share with me.

Uncle Lance and I also ran through the firetrucks hose and went swinging on the swings. All in all it was a good and busy day. I was so hungry that during dinner at the restaurant I tried crayon. I don't suggest it, especially the red one. Wednesday was our last day there and we went bowling for my first time. Believe it or not I won. Mom was not to happy that baby sister was throwing off her balance, or at least that is what she claimed, I think she and Uncle Lance have just lost their game.

We have to get me a pair of those bowling shoes.

Just to prove I am not lying.

That afternoon we went back to the splash pad with Aunt Jo and Cousin Hattie.

Uncle Lance took me on the carousel there. When it stopped I said, "What's happening?"

I also felt the need to embarrass Mom and run around with my bucket on my head.

On Thursday Mom and I drove home. It is really hot in Ogden, almost 100 since we have been home. Mom says it is too hot to go outside so we stay inside and play. She built Puppy this...

and I through a fit because Puppy doesn't belong in a dog house. Mom thought she was pretty creative though.

We love and miss you Dad, please come home soon to play with me.

Love, Kent

This Might Make Ammon Cringe

2011-08-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

But I thought I would post it anyway for memory sake. When I went to school I got a new laptop, a graduation gift from my parents. Dell was a big manufacturer of PCs at the time, and one of their sub-quality computers fell into my hands. To give consumers a little credit, it was unknown at how horrible they were at this point. And to give Dell a little credit, my roommate's Dell outlived mine by a few years. I was however grateful to have a computer so I didn't have to do my school work at the computer lab. Within the first year or so it kicked the bucket, but since it was still under warranty I was privileged to spend countless, really countless, hours talking to someone in India who finally sent me a replacement. Towards the end of my senior year the battery stopped charging and it would only function plugged into a wall, not to mention it was incredibly slow. At this point in time my family made our switch to Macs and haven't gone back. I however kept this heavy Dell with me through my first year of teaching for my students to use, and then of course marrying a computer nerd you can't get rid of things like that. Kent inherited it as a "toy" or in other words it became Ammon's first attempt to familiarize his son with computers. It made the trip to Utah, but unfortunately it finally met its death.

Grandma Visits and We Visit

2011-08-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

The last week of July my mom flew in to stay with us for the week. My dad was attending a conference in Phoenix and we were more appealing to her than the weather there. As soon as we picked her up at the airport we drove south to St. George to visit her parents and Ammon's mom and grandpa. While there my mom, Ammon's mom, and I got to go to Tuacahn and see The Little Mermaid. It was really good, and worth the 90 degree weather we had to endure from 9-11 at night. We also spent a good deal of time shopping and enjoying the water features and carousel in downtown St. George.

Tell me you can't see the joy on that kids face.

And here again.

He ran so much back and forth down this "river sidewalk" his pants fell down.

Here are five of us "riding horses". We forced my grandma to ride, but by the look on her face you know she had fun.

We all spent a good deal of time watching Kent's first ride.

Ammon's grandpa, Kent, and Ammon.

Day 2 riding the carousel again, this time with Dad and Grandma Mills.

Watching Toy Story 3 with Grandma Mills and Dad. Look at how Ammon and Kent are sitting...I think they have some of the same DNA.

And last but not least, a stop at IKEA on the way home. Letting Kent push the cart was the only way to keep him entertained after 4 hours in the car.

Where did this come from?

2011-08-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

All of the sudden the other day Kent started busting out moves. We had never seen him dance like this before. We are unsure of whether we should be embarrassed/worry that our son can move his hips like this or whether we should just laugh? Right now we just laugh, we'll worry later.

A Little Randomness to the Mix

2011-08-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a few random pictures from the last month that I wanted to share:

This is the kitten that jumped up into our car one Saturday as we were about to leave. After about 30 minutes of trying to coax it out (I wouldn't let Ammon start the engine), Ammon finally was able to get his arm far enough down to grab it. It quickly ran to the horse pasture behind our apartment. Kent was concerned for the remainder of the day about the kitten, and still sometimes tries to look under the hood for random animals, most recently a coo-coo bird.

Ammon's dad was stuck in Evanston, WY for a few days and we were lucky enough to get a visit from him. How cute are the three of them reading a bedtime story.

We taught Kent to put away the silverware from the dishwasher, meaning we are one step closer to delegating all chores. He does really good sorting the utensils, only occasionally do you get a big fork or spoon when you want a little one.

Ever seen a green grape amongst red ones? How is that for random?

Kent calls my glasses "eyes" and constantly wants to wear them. When I tell him no he always goes and tracks down this headband and puts them on as his "eyes". He will wear them for hours and sometimes even begs to go outside and ride his bike with them. We think he looks like that guy from Star Trek with them on.

32 weeks, mind you this picture is in the morning, I seem to grow by inches by the time night rolls around.

4th of July and Pioneer Day

2011-08-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

When you live in the state of Utah during the month of July you don't only get one holiday with fireworks, you get two; you don't only get one holiday with parades, you get two; you don't only get one holiday...well you get it. Utah not only celebrates the 4th, but also the 24th, which so happens to be Pioneer Day, a state holiday celebrating the day in which the pioneers settled Utah. In fact I would sadly say this holiday is celebrated more than the 4th itself. This year was especially celebratory because aerial fireworks, which were once banned, were allowed. Let me tell you, Utah residents went crazy. Coming from Washington, they were not a big deal for us, but for everyone else I am pretty sure families spent hundreds lighting off personal fireworks that left the ground. The only time we minded it was when they were shot off in our parking lot past the legal cut off time of 10. This was also the first year that we introduced Kent to fireworks. He loved sparklers and the two little race cars we bought him for a few bucks. We had a BBQ with some friends for the 4th and actually celebrated pioneer day early with a ward activity that included snow cones (they were a hit) and a bike parade.

Ammon and Kent watching the race car zoom back and forth.

Kent thought it was fun to wave the sparkler at the weeds, good thing it's been a wet summer.

More sparkler fun

Our little cowboy

Pushing one of his girlfriends on his tractor

We hooked a rope up to his tractor so Ammon could pull him in the parade.

When Kent Can't Find the Ball...

2011-08-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

he improvises, with himself. This is how we found Kent one morning after we finished cleaning up breakfast. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Trip to Pullman #2

2011-08-05T15:37:00.001-07:00

Ammon left a day early from the family reunion to head to New Mexico for work, so I headed home with my parents. Even though I hate the long drives from this area to Pullman it was well worth it to not be alone forever and to meet my new niece. The first stop we made was to see the new, beautiful McCall Udy. They had just gotten home from the hospital. She doesn't look anything like Cade did as a newborn, I think she looks more like Brett's baby pictures. Regardless, she is loved. Kent enjoyed his time home playing with his best friend Cade, and I enjoyed him having a playmate.

This is what a picnic at the river and a Costco run does to the boys. I loved it cause I got to ride home with Rachel and leave Mom and Dad to the boy watching.

I am sure this is not the first time these two are going to make her mad.

McCall was not in the picture taking mood as you can see. One day she will love her aunt just as much as her brother does.

The boys reunited.

Grandma bought Cade a matching outfit and of course we had to get a picture taken of the two of them.

But this is what they would rather do.

While I was home my mom and I went through dozens of boxes of stuff from when we were kids. Mostly toys and books. I sanitized them and brought them in for the grandkids to play with. Kent loved my kitchen stuff and when not being supervised would cook in the real oven. (Dad I hope you are still grateful it was me cleaning the garage with mom and not you)

Wiley gets lots of extra attention when Kent and I are home, mostly in the name of treats where Kent is involved. Here Kent and him are cuddling in the morning.

Rachel and I made flower clips while we were home. Rachel put them in Kent's hair one night and took a picture to send to Ammon to spite him. Ammon is always teaching Cade to say "naughty" words, so this was a little payback. Ammon despises anything girly on his son.

Allen Udy Reunion-2011

2011-08-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

About every three years we have an Allen Udy reunion. Allen Udy is my great-grandpa. We have been having these since I was a little kid, and as the years go by the people keep multiplying, we are somewhere around 40 now. All the great-grandkids my age are starting to get married and a few of us are even bringing some great-great-grandkids along. This year we went to Island Park, ID/Yellowstone. It wasn't warm by any means, but we all ended up having a good time. We missed Brett and Rachel who were still in Pullman adding to the Allen Udy family tree, more on the cute addition later. Enjoy the photo journal of our time there.

Kent showing off his new hat Aunt Robin and Uncle Lance got him.

Time spent waiting for the disgusting bathrooms was always fun. This is my grandpa, grandma, aunt, and uncle showing their excitement.

We drove up a mountain until we reached the top, 10,000 feet in elevation. The view was amazing. (Uncle Marcus, Aunt Wanda, Mom, Dad, Me, Ammon, Grandma Udy, Grandpa Udy)

A short rest after shopping.

Kent shielding Grandpa from the rain.

Kent's first experience with a pinata. He is such a boy, stick a bat in his hands and he will enjoy hitting anything you let him.

Collecting the loot...his favorite...FRUIT SNACKS!

Family picture, if we look cold it was because we were.

Game time with Lance and Robin

This is half of the Udy clan, the rest got there that night. We doubled in size.

Kent spent plenty of time tagging along with Grandma. We took this picture from afar, they were playing "The Wheels on the Bus".

Kent with Grandma again.

My dad's family at the falls.

A pretty decent family picture. You can see the top of Kent's head. He spent a lot of time napping in the stroller.

Kent loves his grandma.

Not very often do Ammon and I get a picture of just the two of us, but here is number 1 for the day...

and number 2.

Happy Birthday Kent

2011-07-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

On the 11th of June our little guy turned two. We can hardly believe it, but we would rather have him be two when the new baby is born than one. We did not celebrate hardly at all (partly because Ammon was out of town), for which I feel bad, but Kent could care less. In the morning I took Kent to get breakfast, a doughnut with sprinkles and chocolate milk. He was content with that. I should have put two candles in his doughnut but didn't even think about it. I also took him to the Treehouse Museum here in town for a few hours and let him play around. On Sunday we let him open gifts from us, but didn't do a cake because he doesn't like cake. In the future we are going to have to find out what kind of dessert he would like better so we have something to serve. If you asked him right now he would say, "fruit snacks." Here is Kent on his special day and playing with his new toys, the video is hilarious (well at least to us), he is saying "swing-a-batta" if you can't understand. Thanks for the gifts everyone!

His new bath-time letters

The water table that he got from his Auntie Sarah has been a hit!

Puzzles and Toy Story 2 from Mom and Dad

Kent playing with his new t-ball set from Grandma and Bumpa

The start of blogging catch-up (Lance's Wedding Week)

2011-07-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

The thought of catching up our blog recently has made me panic, so I have just avoided it, thus causing the "catch-up" to get longer and longer. We have done so many fun things since I last blogged; took a trip to WA for my brother's wedding, bought a new car, celebrated Kent's birthday, had a family reunion, then Kent and I went back to WA because Ammon was leaving to New Mexico for a while, and then celebrated the 4th. Not to mention I have a few cute random pictures to share. I guess I will just start at the beginning and work my way through. It will probably take me a few weeks, so keep checking back.

The boys finally graduated to the "little kids' table".

The boys spend a lot of time playing together.

The boys each recieved a John Deere peddle car from Great-grandma/pa Udy. I loved the pictures of Kent trying to get in on all the action of putting them together. It showed his Udy blood coming through.

"The wheel goes here, right?"

We can't wait till his feet actually reach the peddles.

Here is the happy couple after coming out of the temple. If it looks like Lance is crying, he is. He was quite emotional (he always has been); he had waited for a long time for this day.

The group shot at the temple. Kent was quite the sour puss the morning, he just wanted his grandma.

Our attempt at a family picture, complete with an iTouch. We got a better one that night that I will post whenever I get a copy of the pictures.

There was a lot of waiting for the boys and when you don't want them to touch the lighted candles and petals, you pull out the iPad for entertainment.

The boys danced the night away.

This is pretty indicative of how we all felt at the end of the night. Thanks Lance and Robin for giving us a reason to celebrate!

Pregnancy and I...

2011-06-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

do not get along! That's all.

A Visit From Aunt Aubree and Cousin Keaton

2011-05-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we were privileged to get a visit from Ammon's sister Aubree and her little boy Keaton. Although it was only for two days, it was so nice to get a taste of family. You knew it was a special occasion because Ammon was willing to take Friday off to spend it with us, well most of Friday, he worked three hours in the morning. Friday was fun filled, we spent the day at Discovery Gateway, a children's museum in Salt Lake, gave Aubree her first taste of sweet pork salad (a Utah favorite), and spent the night enjoying the weather outside. Thanks for coming to visit Aubree! Now for the slew of pictures that were taken.

I think Ammon could have played at this ball and tube wall forever creating intricate pathways, Kent just thought putting a ball through two connected tubes was cool.

Both boys enjoyed this exhibit that had more balls and tubes with the added effect of suction.

Suprisingly Kent loved to play "house", or maybe he was just hungry.

Harvesting vegetables

Feeding a horse

Kent loved the water attractions.

Family picture in the playhouse

More balls and tubes

Kent could have pulled this dog around all day.

Group picture with the life flight helicopter

Playing with dad

Visiting Keaton in the little "birdhouse"

Ammon and I built a cage around Kent with the waffle blocks. He wasn't too fond of it, but we thought it was pretty neat.

Our little boy is growing up.

Kent loves the popcorn toy, and always wants to take it outside. I am sure it drives everyone around us crazy.

Aunt Aubree and Keaton enjoying a little drive.

This is how the boys ate breakfast; Keaton in the high chair, Kent on the table, both sets of eyes glued to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the computer.

Build-A-Bear (or a dog in our case)

2011-05-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

For Easter my parents gave Kent a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear in Salt Lake. We thought this would make a fun outing and took a trip down last month. You start by picking out what kind of animal you would like to stuff. Kent fell in love with the dogs.

We picked a jack russel terrier.

Kent pushed the pedal to help stuff it, then placed the heart inside. Putting the heart in was by far his favorite part, he even went back to grab a second heart to put in.

The dog has not been out of his sight since.

Plugged In/It's a Girl

2011-05-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

So I guess I should start this post by saying we found out last week we are having a little GIRL at the end of September. I am excited and Ammon is nervous. He had said, "I don't know what I am going to do with a girl." He is so funny and I am sure the little girl will have him wrapped around his little finger. Ammon let me buy one outfit at Gymboree on Friday, but when I asked to go into Old Navy he said no. He is so funny, but he knows me so well, I could spend a small fortune on girl clothes. He works hard for his money and I work equally hard not to spend it.

Next I just thought I would share a funny picture. This is how I found Ammon's headphones the other day. Little did we know music comes from doorknobs.

Hoppy Easter!

2011-05-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend ended up being different than what we expected. Lance was coming down from Rexburg and I was excited to take Kent to his first Easter egg hunt and then take Lance to Boondocks to play. Little did we know my appendix had other plans. Although I didn't get to do any of the planned activities, we did get to have my mom here for Easter which was a pleasant surprise. Ammon and Lance took Kent to the Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning, while Mom stayed home to help me out. Since they knew he would be slower than the other kids, they ran him to the end of the field to pick up eggs before the other kids got there. Little did they know the 8 or so eggs they collected each had a coupon for a free kid's meal at Sizzler. We had a pretty good laugh about that. Kent did score some fruit snacks, so he was happy.

On Sunday, we did get out of the house for a few hours to partake of Easter dinner with my great-aunt's family. We hope you all had a great Easter and were able to reflect on the reason in which we celebrate.

Yes I did wake Ammon up to take Kent to the Easter egg hunt (notice the hair).

Showing Uncle Lance his egg

With his basket

A common thing Easter weekend was waking Ammon and Lance up. They stayed up playing a game called Portal till the wee hours of the morning. I refused to let Kent suffer because they played. This picture says it all, "Uncle Lance, open your eyes, this is exciting!"

Kent loved the gold wrapping on the Rolos.

Beginning of checking out his Easter basket.

The aftermath of checking everything out.

Where to Start? (Long post feel free not to read)

2011-04-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

We have had quite the last few weeks around here. We finally got Kent casted again the Monday following my previous post. It was a traumatic experience for him as they did some x-rays again without me in the room. It was just him, the nurse, and the rad-tech, and you could hear him crying all the way down the hall. I decided to go to the bathroom during that time so I didn't have to hear him scream. They were so good with him and made it quick. His bone is growing back, but not enough yet. So now (just as expected) he is casted to his armpit. At least it is waterproof and comes off in about two weeks.

That same week on Wednesday I started to feel some abdominal pain around 10 in the morning. I thought it was just round ligament pain associated with pregnancy and went on with my day. As I laid down for my nap (yes I still nap everyday, and yes I know that won't last when I have another kid), I noticed I couldn't lay on either side because the pain was too bad. After I woke up my lower-right abdomen was tender to the touch. It went on throughout the evening, and since Ammon had to go out for some church meetings I decided to go to my great aunt's house while he was gone. On the way there I texted my friend Sarah who had had an appendicitis last year and asked her about the symptoms. They were very similar to what I was experiencing, although my pain was a little higher on my abdomen. After some research I found out that appendix pain in found higher in pregnant women. So at this time I was toying with the idea of having an appendicitis and called my mom to joke with her about flying down to take care of me. Little did we know that it did not end up being a joke at all. I got ready for bed that night and just as I laid down the pain got to the point where I knew I had to get it checked out. No longer was this just a "pregnancy pain".

So I bid farwell to Ammon who stayed home with Kent while he slept and drove myself to the hospital. It was okay going by myself because I knew the ER visit was going to be at least 6 hours and I didn't want to inconvenience anyone but myself. Plus, if it turned out being nothing, I wanted Ammon to be rested at work. However, after some blood work that showed an elevated white blood cell count, an ultrasound showing an inflamed appendix, and the pain they decided I needed surgery. At this time it was 1 in the morning and I called Ammon (it took two calls to get him coherent), my parents (who started making flight preperations for my mom), my grandma (to make sure it was okay to call her sister in the middle of the night), and my great aunt/grandma's sister (to come stay with Kent). I felt the worst about that last one - who calls their great aunt in the middle of the night to ask, "Would you might coming and sleeping on your great niece's couch and watching your great-great nephew?" As it turned out they were all more upset about the fact that I took myself to the hospital than they were about getting called in the middle of the night, but whatever.

I went into surgery at about 3 and don't remember anything really until much later that morning. I have recovered pretty well, just a little sore still. My mom just left today, and we would not have been able to do it without her. I can't lift Kent for 4 weeks, so we worked on training him to get in and out of his highchair and the car seat. Our only hiccup came with the stairs. The kid has no concept of stairs and feels as if he can just step off and fall to get to where he wants to go. And since we really don't want any more broken bones, we are currently stuck only going as far as the front door. Oh well.

This is the only picture I have to go with this post. It shows Kent's blue cast and bit of evidence that my mom was here - a blow up mattress and a grandkid favorite: the iPad.

What's Missing From These Pictures?

2011-04-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

Yep that's right, Kent! Kent decided that he was not getting enough attention while I was in Tai Pan the other day and decided to bide his time by working his lovely cast off. When it hit the floor I had originally thought he had knocked something off of a table that he could reach, but instead I looked down to see his cast. In disbelief I immediately tried to put it back on, but of course that wasn't happening, so I threw it in my purse, quickly checked out while making sure he didn't do anything stupid with his arm, and called Ammon to see how close he was to meeting us. Luckily Ammon was right outside the doors and we zipped over to the Layton Clinic (we were on our way to Salt Lake for the night and didn't want to head back north 30 minutes to solve our little problem) where they so nicely splinted it for us. We go in on Monday to get him recasted. This time it will be a full arm one he cannot pull off, not to mention blue because the red just isn't doing it for us.

#3

2011-04-04T16:06:00.001-07:00

Kent was laying on the couch Sunday morning, awake I might add, and decided in order to get off he was going to use the less than conventional way of rolling. Unfortunately his left arm caught most of his weight and broke under the pressure. I was in the shower when I heard the scream and knew that something was seriously hurt, but had no idea what. To be honest, I was glad this all happened under Ammon's watch because the last two breaks were under mine. Ammon finally got to experience the high-pitched cry that doesn't end for an hour or so. He was put in a short splint yesterday and today when we went in to get it casted it was still swollen so they put him in a full arm splint and we will go back next Monday to have it put in a hard cast. Kent has been vitamin D deficient in the past which can cause problems with calcium being absorbed, causing weak bones. We used to give him drops but stopped a few months ago, needless to say we stopped at the pharmacy on the way home and picked up the drops in hope they help in the future. He is supposed to get his vitamin D levels checked again at his 2 year appointment so hopefully we are in normal range by then. Until then however, his aunt Rachel suggests bubble wrap.

Here he is lounging Monday morning with his short splint. Don't ask me why he feels the need to pull his pajama pants up above his knees, that's a recent fetish.

Here he is after his full arm splint was put on. It is twice as thick as the first one in order to keep it more immobile. I just hope I can get his shirt off over the thing.

Ice Ice Baby

2011-04-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

The other day Ammon and I noticed the ice from our ice maker was starting to smell. We assume this happens when it has just been sitting there too long without being used. Lately we have been letting Kent play with ice cubes in the tub, if you haven't tried it you should. The elementary school teacher in me says it's a great way to introduce states of matter, but the mom in me just loves how it adds an extra minute or two to bath time. I asked Ammon to get Kent some ice the other day and instead of coming back with a stacking cup full he brought the whole container. Since I didn't want all the cubes in the tub causing it to go colder that much quicker, Ammon decided to dump them out in the sink and start our ice cube collection over again, remember they stank. So after Kent got out of the tub of course he felt the need to continue to play with ice in the sink. This was an even better activity then ice in the tub...they lasted that much longer. He scooped and dumped, and scooped and dumped, and scooped and dumped to his little heart's content.

The scoop +

The dump =

One happy kid

Cinder-fella

2011-03-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

We have had Kent's sippy cups for quite a while and the valves are getting weak, meaning that they tend to leak a little more, okay a lot more. Kent has figured out if he shakes it really hard it will shower the floor, his high chair, the couch, or him with milk or juice. The other day he covered part of the kitchen floor in drops of apple juice. I proceeded to hand him a a paper towel to clean up his mess, I couldn't help but think he looked like a male version of Cinderella on his hands and knees cleaning the floor. Which of course I could get used to in the future when he does a good enough job that I don't have to go over it again.

It wasn't quite the punishment I was hoping for because he was enjoying himself the entire time, we will have to work on that. The moral of the story is to just buy new sippy cups even though they cost a small fortune.

Happy Birthday Bumpa!

2011-03-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I don't do a public birthday "card" for everyone, but I ran across this classic picture of my dad and couldn't resist posting it here. We love you Bumpa!

Mischief

2011-03-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

Kent seems to be making a little more of his own fun these days, although Mom and Dad think it could be better classified as MISCHIEF!

Here you see the letter "I", Kent's pajamas, one of his hangers, and a box (which he got out of the garbage) all ready to be washed. He seems to be able to reach more and more things these days, even without his handy stool.

I put Kent down for a nap one day and I could hear him playing. This is not unusual and he eventually gets tired and climbs back into bed to fall asleep. This day his "playing" consisted of putting a few books and various train table toys under the door.

No Order

2011-03-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

Besides the fact that our home right now has "no order", the title really was meant for this post. I have a bunch of random pictures that I should post so when Kent looks back he doesn't feel like he was forgotten for the last few months. I know they are not great pictures, but proof nonetheless Kent is alive and well. Things are still about the same around here; Ammon is working and just finished training, I am still sick and have been back for fluids twice since my last post, and Kent has a fascination with any kind of duck, be it Donald, the duck on WordWorld, or ducks in a pond behind our apartment.

Here is Kent plugged into some show, this is what we do when we want to watch Castle and he wants to watch his own show.

We stopped by Fat Cats in downtown Ogden quite a while ago and put a quarter into a little merry-go-round for Kent, what a waste, he HATED it.

New skill: climbing in the toy box

Imitating Mom

and then discovering a cool new hat.

I was so excited last week when I found ducks in the little wet land behind our apartment, but I think Kent was more excited. We fed them "toast". I heard this dries up in the summer, but it will be a nice addition this Spring.

Fun really starts happening when Dad is home from work, this is a tower the two of them built this weekend. Kent is getting really good at stacking Duplos.

End of my blogging hiatus

2011-02-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Surely there would be a good reason for my lack of blogging the last few weeks, or a bad reason depending on how you look at it. I have been suffering from what some call morning sickness, but for some reason when I catch it, it is more like 24/7 sickness. Yes, baby #2 is on its way. I was hoping this pregnancy would be so much better than the first, but so far I am 0/2 on easy pregnancies and if I have anything to do with it I don't ever want to risk being 0/3. For about three weeks I have had continual nausea, and for the last two weeks have had trouble keeping food down. I called and requested a prescription of Zofran before my first appointment with the OBGYN and they gladly gave it to me after seeing my history. Bad news is that the Zofran isn't working, no matter how many mg I take however close together. Perhaps it is because it comes right back up after it goes down. We finally had to take me in for some IV therapy (something I had hoped to avoid this time around) this past week. We should have gone to the ER the night before, but wanting to save some money opted to wait it out until the next day when we could go into the office. After two nurses, three tries, one vein infiltrated, three hours, and two liters of fluid we were back at home. It looks as if this might be a weekly occurrence until the morning sickness is gone. The one silver lining to the past few weeks is that Ammon had yet to start work (a story for another time, he starts tomorrow). Ammon has done an amazing job taking care of Kent, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, grocery shopping, etc. Since I pretty much lay in bed all day he has picked up the slack beautifully. What a blessing it has been to have him home. As for the weeks to come, wish us luck, I have a feeling Kent and I will be spending a lot of time watching old Mickey Mouse cartoons on YouTube in bed. When I get enough energy I will scan in the current photo of baby #2.

Congratulations

2011-01-31T20:59:00.000-08:00

Dear Kent,
Congratulations, you are finally binky free and we are finally free of you sleeping with us through the night. It only took 7 nights of crying yourself to sleep, 7 naps crying yourself to sleep (not in your bed we might add, but on the floor right behind the door hoping we would come and get you), and a new bedtime routine that takes twice as long as we would have hoped, but it works so we will keep it. You now will get in your bed by yourself and not get out until about 6 o'clock in the morning when we still surrender and let you into our bed so we can get another hour of sleep. It truly is amazing how your little head loves our memory foam mattress, and we can't wait till we can get you one of your own. Until then we will hope your bed suffices and hope you keep sleeping in it. We love you, we love that you are binky free, and we love that you no longer kick us through the night.
Much Love,
Your Parents

Becoming such a big boy!

Furthermore, here is proof of how much Kent loves our bed, we often find him in it, a lot of times under the covers.

Welcome to F8

2011-01-30T19:14:00.001-08:00

Here is the tour, incomplete as our house is, I thought you still might enjoy to see our new homestead.

My cute door, thanks to Sarah for the adorable wreath

The hallway, I am eventually going to put a vinyl saying above my pictures, suggestions for sayings welcome.

A closer look at the decor

The kitchen from the entryway, complete with my "crap" (don't worry mom I moved all of my piles from your house/counter to mine)

The living room, the bare wall will eventually have more on it, suggestions are welcome

Another view of the living room with my family tree wall and incredibly small/old TV (look familiar college roommates?) and the digital antenna that gets us about 20 channels. Don't judge, when Ammon saves enough to get the 55" TV he wants I will post a picture of it, but don't expect that for about a year. We still need our family picture framed and put up under the tree. As you see we still have a long way to go before our home is complete, but we are getting there.

Kent's Room
(don't mind the out-of-place blanket over the toddler bed rail, we put it there after we found Kent's leg stuck up on the bed and his body on the ground)

This post is lacking a picture of our room because it has become the catch all, so sorry but I figured you didn't want to see piles of stuff.

You know you're in St. George when...

2011-01-22T08:54:00.000-08:00

your son wakes up requesting to go outside. This past week Ammon, Kent, and I had the opportunity to head south for the week to visit my grandparents as well as Ammon's. We are so lucky they both live within 5 minutes of each other, what are the chances. We also had the chance to drive a few more hours to visit my uncle Kent and his family for the afternoon. Kent's favorite part of the trip was the 6+ clocks that play music on the hour at my grandparent's house, playing outside, and visiting the animals at Ammon's grandpa's. We love our grandparents dearly and feel fortunate that we get to spend so much time with them.

The horse thought Kent looked pretty good.

He was constantly in Kent's face. At first Kent was unsure, then he would just laugh.

Playing on the tire swing

Intense game of Rummikub

Kent got a hold of my cousin's phone, Juicy case and all. This is what he looked like as he texted.

Sporting my grandma's cool shades

With Grandma and Pa Larsen

Since moving to Utah...

2011-01-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

we have unpacked all but 2 boxes
left the hall cluttered with stuff we are not sure what to do with
not put enough stuff up on the wall, when we do we will take pictures to give everyone a virtual tour
repacked 4+ boxes of young adult literature that was once my classroom library and put them in storage
enjoyed day in and day out as a family
put together a puzzle, something I love to do, but that we haven't done for a year or so and...

Kent has learned to do lots of new things and talks a lot more.

This is what Kent does when we are keeping an eye on him. We have since cleaned the closet, isn't the size of it amazing. The first thing Ammon said when he saw the size was, "Don't think you have to fill it." We'll see about that.

This is what Kent does when we are not keeping and eye on him.

Christmas x 3 (as I promised)

2011-01-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas started out on the 21st when we celebrated Christmas with my family. After presents we went out to breakfast at Tam's Place in Pullman. If you haven't been there you should really try it. Tam is amazing and completely doted on the two little boys. They thought she was great. That night we headed out to Colfax to celebrate "Christmas Eve" with Ammon's family. We then drove home to only go back the next morning for Mills family Christmas. His family is significantly larger than mine, there were 18 of us in total, we were only missing two. The kids were the highlight of Christmas, all the little girls were fun to watch as they opened their gifts and whoever else's presents they could get their hands on. This day was also our anniversary, which needless to say we had to celebrate on another day. The boys topped off the evening with a little Xbox 360. We took a break after this for a few days and then found ourselves celebrating the real Christmas Eve in my parents garage packing boxes...fun I know. We had a nontraditional Christmas Eve dinner of shrimp scampi on TV trays in the living room. Although it was different than any other Christmas Eve I have ever had, it was fun to do something different. Christmas was low key as well. There were only the 5 of us: my mom and dad, Ammon and I, and Kent. The big thrills came watching Mom and Dad open gifts from each other. They were both pretty spoiled. It was a very tiring and busy Christmas WEEK, but we loved spending so much time with family. We hope you all had a great Christmas season celebrating the birth of our Savior. Sorry for such a long post and so many pictures, it was a lot easier to do one post as opposed to 3.

The boys opening their gifts.

The boys on the "thinking chairs" Grandma and Grandpa got them, although they are supposed to be used for time outs, I think they ended up being more of a toy than anything. Kent is constantly using his to reach things otherwise out of reach.

Kent and Cade checking out Cade's big present, boy does that kid love basketball.

Grandma moving the show along by helping Kent open his present.

One of the big thrills of the day was putting matchbox cars in this soda box.

Reading a book still in its box.

The older Mills cousins decorating (and eating) cookies.

The girls helping Grandma open her KitchenAid mixer, she has been without one since her house burned down two years ago. She was so happy she was crying.

Cousin Keaton is not so sure if he likes Kent and Lacey playing with his toy.

Kent finding a new use for Grandpa's new tool box, a perfect place to hide Puppy and Blanket...

and then take a nap with them.

Happy 3 year anniversary to us!

The Barbie laptop was a big hit, go figure.

All the cousins lined up ready for stockings.

Playing with his new tractor

Listening to dad's music, the scar on his head was from falling on a dog food can in the garage "helping" me pack boxes.

These last two are the only pictures I got from Christmas #3. Here Kent is tired of all the celebrations and just happy to cuddle with Grandma.

Christmas Post

2011-01-08T14:49:00.000-08:00

I get slightly overwhelmed whenever I open my computer to write a Christmas post. Perhaps it is because we celebrated Christmas three times or that I have a billion pictures to sort through and decide which I would like to use. Regardless, it will get done so stay tuned.

Dear...

2011-01-06T20:49:00.000-08:00

Dear Pullman University 2nd Ward,
I miss you!
Love, LeAnn

Dear Apartment Dwellers,
Where do you put all your stuff? I am having a hard time finding a place for everything we seem to own.
Love, LeAnn

Dear Ammon,
I love the fact that you are not working for the month of January and that we get to spend so much time together, oh and that with all your new time you get the opportunity to help a lot more with Kent.
Love, LeAnn

Dear Mom, Dad, Lance, Robin, Rachel, Brett, and Cader Gator,
I miss you too! When is too soon to visit?
Love LeAnn

What Kent will miss the most....

2010-12-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

One of the things Kent will miss most about our move to Utah is the fact that his partner in crime is not making the move with us. Yes Kent loves his grandparents, aunts, and uncles, but not quite as much as Kent loves Cade. It makes me sad to think they won't be as close to one another for the next few years, but hopefully one day they can pick up where they left off.

Kent and Cade in their Christmas outfits.

Stealing food from Grandpa

Just a cute picture

Since we began the process of moving, the boys have discovered how fun boxes are to play in.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

2010-12-19T23:12:00.000-08:00

Because my Christmas cards are still on their way from Shutterfly, I thought I would post a preview to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I love this time of year and we are privileged to spend it with both our families.

Thank you Lance for bearing the cold to take a few pictures of us, you are amazing!

"He's graduated!"

2010-12-15T21:03:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was WSU's fall commencement and boy were we excited to have a graduate walking. Ammon finally graduated with his degree in computer science. It was nice to see him walk and it was nice that my family was willing to take care of Kent so I could see him walk. After sitting for 2 1/2 hours Kent had had enough and I sent him to the office, where my mom was working. We loved sharing the weekend with both our families and now for the pictures (thanks to Derek for being our personal photographer).

Right after walking in

"Good thing grandpa runs this place so we can run around the office with our soccer balls."

The final walk

Ammon on the big screen

Family picture

Ammon's proud parents

Our future techie

Santa Claus Came to Town

2010-12-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

This past Friday Pullman had its annual tree lighting ceremony downtown and Santa Claus showed up for the cause. Brett, Rachel, and I took the boys downtown to visit Santa and check out the tree. Kent didn't care for Santa, but he loved the miniature candy cane he was given.

Kent and I in front of Pullman's tree.

Kent and Cade with Santa.

We tried to pose the boys in front of the cougar, it didn't go so well. Kent looked like he had seen a real cougar and Cade was blinded by the light.

"No"

2010-11-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, the last two weeks have been rather snowy here in town, in fact another two inches and it would have set a record for the month of November. Not only was it snowy, some of the days it was super cold, in the single digits. Since Kent thought it was fun to stand at the window and say "no", which is his pronunciation of "snow", I thought it would be fun to send Kent out while Ammon shoveled off the back deck. It lasted all of a minute and he was taking off his gloves and wanting inside. I tried to teach him to eat it, throw it, etc. but he wanted nothing to do with it. I have since bought him boots, snow pants, and a sled in hopes he likes it better, but due to the flu we have yet to find out. I will report back when we know, but if he is anything like his dad he will still hate it. But he sure does look cute!

No idea of a title...

2010-11-27T20:44:00.000-08:00

I realized that I hadn't posted in a while so I thought I would I just share a few pictures we have taken that haven't been posted.

I will put in a little plug for Apple, my mom got an iPad for her birthday this year and the boys just love it. My mom and dad have put a few apps on it just for them. Over the course of the last few months they have excelled at using them. Anytime Kent sees someone using the iPad he goes over and says, "Up please."

This is the highchair Rachel rigged up for Kent at her house. I think after a few tries they switched out the toy toolbox for a soup pan.

Brett and Rachel let Kent play in a box with packing peanuts one day while at their house.

Kent obviously thought Wiley needed his Fisher-Price person for dinner.

His hair is getting too long to style, but I thought it looked cute anyway.

Anything you can do...I want to do too.

2010-11-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

If we would let Kent, he would follow Cade and Grandma, amongst others, around all day doing whatever they do. Here are a few pictures of Kent doing some activities with his best friends.

Cade and Kent's first taste of monkey bread. Boy were they happy campers.

Laundry basket wrestling

Kent reading with Grandma before bed, he would have slept with her if we would have let him. He threw a fit when we took him down to his own bed.

Wiley likes to ride in the car like the boys.

Kent was eating a late dinner and Cade wanted to join, so Kent preceded to feed him. Look how Kent's mouth is wide open while he is feeding Cade.

Both boys playing Wii with Grandpa. They both wanted to stand on the balance board, so Rachel put two magazines on the floor for them to stand on.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Brushing your teeth is sure a lot more fun when sitting on Mom/Aunt LeAnn.

Wedding Weekend

2010-11-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends from high school got married the weekend before Halloween to a kid I grew up with in my home ward. They have dated on and off since high school, but finally tied the knot in a beautiful wedding I was privileged to be a part off. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I had Kent with me most of the time and he seems to take precedence over my camera.

The beautiful bride, Sarah, and myself

My friend Lauren and me

Getting into the dress with her mom and maid on honor

Almost ready

The whole laundry basket was filled with toys to occupy Kent from 10-4, he did really well considering the circumstances.

Our Halloween

2010-11-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Since Kent was sick the week of Halloween he wasn't up for many festivities, that and we didn't want to share his germs. We kept him home from our playgroup Halloween party, our ward Halloween party, and Ammon's sister's Halloween party. Since I did spend a certain amount of time making his costume, he was dalmatian, we decided to take him to the mall and trick-or-treat on Friday night. I have never seen the mall so busy, I think all Pullman of Moscow were there. Rachel and I then took the boys out to Colton for a photo shoot this week since we coordinated their costumes, Cade was a fireman. I will also include some pictures of pumpkin carving which kept Kent's attention for 5 minutes. Sorry for the picture overload, this probably should have been two posts.

Nothing like a picture outside Ross on a bench.

Trick-or-Treat

LeAnn, Brett, a dalmatian and a firefighter

A worn out puppy!

He wanted to eat the guts.

Armed with a scoop

Family picture

The final product, Tux! For those of you who don't know he is the cute logo of Linux, a computer operating system.

"This is the way we wash our feet in the swimming pool."

2010-11-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of September Kent and I have been taking a parent/child swimming class with Rachel, Brett (when he is in town) and Cade. We start in the really shallow water singing songs and playing and then move into the deeper water to work on laying on back, kicking, paddling, jumping off the edge, etc. At first Kent loved it, but for the last few weeks he has not been so sure when we move to the deeper water. Regardless, I still take him, make him stay in the pool for the whole 30 minutes, and pass him off to the teacher, even if he cries, so she can put him underwater. I know that may sound mean, but I think it is never to early to teach him not to quit when the going gets tough, or something of the sort. Maybe I do it in hopes that he will love the water as much as his mom.

The teacher has us count to three before we let them jump off the edge. I hold up my fingers while I count, he just holds up one finger the whole time.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on his back

Ring Around the Rosie

Dunking Mom

Learning how to blow bubbles, he still can't do it.

A Break From The Fall Festivities

2010-10-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we had a happy 17 month old running around the house and by 1:30 am Wednesday morning we had a 17 month old gasping for breath. We immediately ran him to the ER to find out he had a bad case of croup accompanied by a high fever. One dose of oral steroids, 2 steroid breathing treatments, and 5 hours later we were released from the hospital with someone who did a lot of this...

this...

and this...

He is finally on the mend, with an occasional cough and fever. We are glad he is returning to his normal self. Although a lethargic baby is a breath of fresh air sometimes, a lethargic, whiny baby is not.

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Holidays around the Mills house are getting more fun as Kent gets older and we can do activities surrounding the holidays. A few weekends ago all the women in the family, Mom, Rachel, Robin, and myself took Cade and Kent to the pumpkin patch up at the WSU orchards. Although the pumpkins are not as cheap as they are in the stores, I guess you pay for the activity of picking more than you pay for the pumpkin. Although it was hot and Kent was ready for a nap (the reason why he is not smiling in any of the pictures) it was a lot of fun.

On our way...

Kent found the perfect pumpkin.

Helping Grandma find her pumpkin

Kent was the happiest when he was walking around in this cart.

Push and pull

Perhaps the most adorable picture of Cade helping. He was so proud of himself.

One extra pumpkin in the cart.

Mom and Kent

Before Ammon Deletes Them

2010-10-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, Kent was the first grandson on Ammon's side, with five girls preceding him. When we got together for dinner one night, three of them of course wanted to play dress up with Kent. Here is the finished product of which Ammon wishes to delete...

Also, Kent at times suffers from stranger anxiety so to ease the the anxiety Ammon's dad taped jelly beans (one of Kent's favorite treats) to his shirt. Pretty creative if you ask me, however I think he ate all but three of those jelly beans and that's a lot of jelly beans.

Boating and Bachloretting

2010-10-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in September Ammon and I had the opportunity to go to the west side for my friend's bachlorette party. We left early Friday morning in order to make it to American Lake for an afternoon of boating with Ammon's brother's family. I have always loved boating and although very cold on Friday, I still love boating. Neither of us have ever wake boarded before and after 10 or so tries we were both able to get up and stay up. I also was able to tube with my adorable nieces. On Saturday I left Kent and Ammon in Spanaway and drove north to spend the remainder of the weekend with my friends from high school. We always have a blast when we get together and this weekend was no different. We spent the afternoon at the wineries in Woodenville and the evening hanging out in the hotel. I wished I would have gotten more pictures of the group, but will have another opportunity in two weeks when my friend Sarah gets married.

LeAnn

Ammon and Kent

Ammon

Ammon and two of the three girls.

Kent and Me, notice the flowers on Kent's life jacket, that's what you get when all your older cousins are girls.

All the girls (Lauren, Kim, Lyndee, Amanda, Sarah the bride, and Tori)

LeAnn is going to hate me....

2010-09-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

Well I was looking through the pictures on my computer today and happened upon this one. I thought it was too funny not to share. You better read this post fast though because I'm sure LeAnn will be deleting it shortly...

Odds and Ends

2010-09-16T18:52:00.001-07:00

Whenever I do a blog post I look for pictures I can clump together into one event to blog about. When looking through iPhoto today I realized that I had a few odds and ends sitting in my photo library. Kent really has grown up a lot since we have been back in Washington. He has become a whole lot more independent and we love it (for the most part). Sorry I just finished uploading and there was more than I thought, 11 to be exact, don't feel obligated to look at all of them.

Helping Dad clean the car

In Utah our landlords let us borrow this tunnel for a few days, Kent loved crawling through it.

Kent with his birthday bike and new helmet.

Taking all of the kitchen towels out of the drawer

Drinking from the sprinkler

Kent has learned to love corn on the cob and can eat at least one and a half cobs himself. Ammon HATES to change his poopy diapers after he eats corn or watermelon.

One of Kent's new fascinations is the doggie door, he doesn't go through it but enjoys making faces at us inside.

My mom and dad brought home Slinkies for the boys from their trip to California, obviously they should be used with adult supervision.

We have a small pantry behind the door in the picture. It also contains Wiley's dog treats. Wiley will go in front of the door and whine when he wants one. Kent now thinks that if he does the same thing he will get something to eat too. I found a bag of chocolate chips inside and now give him one whenever he decides to "beg" for a treat.

Kent loves calculators, a future mathematician perhaps, here he is using one to cover his head...who know?

Kent discovered the box of straws we keep in one of the drawers, which he decided to dump all over the kitchen floor. This picture doesn't do the mess justice.

Thank you Clark!

2010-09-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

Lance's mission buddy Clark (I love that name, but can you imagine the crap I would get if I named our next kid Clark) drove all the way from Provo to take engagement pictures for Lance. And if he didn't have enough to do, he offered to get some pictures of Kent and Cade. We think he did a great job for dealing with two boys who never smile at the same time.

So having a cast during a photo shoot isn't my first choice, but we take what we can get.

Oh I forgot to mention the fact that Kent's happy demeanor didn't make it through the wardrobe change.

I know he is not my kid, but cute nonetheless.

Sweet little boy!

This was the only picture with both boys smiling, and yes we took over 100 of them together.

Normally Kent is the contemplative, serious one, but Cade was taking his turn.

Looking admirably at the wheat.

Group Date Night

2010-09-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Ammon and I had the chance to go on a group date with Brett and Rachel and my mom and dad. Lance and Robin were out of town but dearly missed. My aunt and uncle watched the boys so we could be kid free for a few hours. We started out the evening at one of our favorite local resturants, Sangria, then headed out to mini golf by the airport. It was fun to get away for a "real" date. I consider a "real" date to be more than one activity, not just a movie OR dinner, it has to be a movie AND dinner.

Great dinner

Ammon wins at everything, so a little distraction never hurts

This course is harder than it looks

Dad spent the whole night teasing Mom, Mom spent the whole night cheating.

Brett has a thing for smelling things, whether it is the food he is eating, Kent and Cousin Cade, or pine trees on the golf course.

The whole gang

I love Ammon

The girls

Amongst the wheat...

2010-08-29T21:09:00.001-07:00

there are lentils. Some of you might be aware that the Palouse is the lentil capital of the world. This kind of accomplishment calls for celebration, therefore Pullman throws a huge party one weekend in August every year. Friday night includes free lentil chili and a street festival, Saturday comes with a parade down Main Street and a party at the park. I have been going to the lentil festival for as long as I can remember, some years more involved than others. Once year my cheerleader friends asked me to dress up in the greyhound mascot costume for the parade another year I helped host visiting cities as a Jr. Miss. alternate. All in all I love lentils and the lentil festival. This was Kent's second year and he seemed to enjoy it, Ammon just enjoys the free cotton candy.

Thanks firefighters for the hat...

and helping letting me dress up!

In front of the lentil train, believe it or not I rode this train all over Washington and Canada representing Pullman and the National Lentil Festival.

Like father like son

Clapping at the parade

And for ol' time sake...

Stirring the lentil chili years ago as a Jr. Miss

With Tase T. Lentil

Best Buds!

2010-08-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched Cade while Rachel went to a meeting and Brett traveled to Philadelphia. It was my parents anniversary, Ammon had a meeting, Robin had homework, so for most of the night it was Lance and I entertaining the boys. After a messy dinner we put the boys in the pool I had filled up outside.

After the sun went down and the boys started to shiver, we moved the party into the bathtub.

After a flood to the bathroom floor and a few shampoo mohawks we wrapped the boys up like burritos and laughed when Cade repeated our demand of "Don't pee!"

We danced,

ate ice cream cones,

and finished the evening with some goodnight kisses.

I hope these two always have as much fun with each other as they did tonight.

Just a little off the back

2010-08-09T21:31:00.001-07:00

Ammon claims Kent has had a mullet for some time, but us living in Ogden did not allow for Ammon's sister to give him his first haircut, which was important to me. So two days after we got back in town we treated Kent to his first cut. I think we can sum it up by saying he HATED it, but we think he looks a lot more like a little man now. Thanks Aubree!

The suck did not act as a distraction like we had hoped.

How many people does it take?

Broken...AGAIN!

2010-08-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

It was Friday the 30th of July, Ammon was completing his last day of work while I was home tending to Kent's every need as well as cleaning the house in order to leave by 5 to begin our trip home (don't you love how women are multitaskers). It is about 9:00 in the morning and I thought I would grab a bowl of snacks for Kent and place him in front of the shower while I cleaned myself up a little. I figured the earlier I showered, the earlier I could have the bathroom cleaned and checked off the list of things to do. Well as we, I had Kent by the left hand, were walking out of the kitchen his legs gave way and he collapsed only to catch himself with his right hand and forehead. Of course he cried and cried and I attributed it to the fact that it was nearing nap time. Therefore I quickly rearranged my schedule and laid Kent and myself down for a nap. After he woke up I turned on Yo Gabba Gabba (yes the unbelievably obnoxious show on Nick Jr.) handed over the bowl of snacks from the prior shower attempt and jumped in the shower. After I was done Kent began to cry again and being the mother I am figured it was just lunch time. I fed him, or tried to feed him and as I was wiping his hand off he let out a yelp. I knew something was hurt I just wasn't sure what, his hand or arm. I tried to get him to climb the stairs, he wouldn't, tried to get him to crawl, he wouldn't until I took his blanket away and he went for it and collapsed as he put his right hand on the floor. So with a wet head and no makeup I headed down the street to InstaCare. The doctor checked him out, said he was 80% sure he had a buckle fracture in his arm, but instead made us wait 45 minutes for an X-ray to find out it was indeed broken. We came home with another blue cast and a frazzled mother who still had an apartment to clean. Our landlords were so kind to let me skip vacuuming the living room and mopping the kitchen floor and thanks to that we got out of Ogden at out scheduled 5 pm.

The cast only slowed him down for about 24 hours.

Not happy he can't swim in the pool without the cast cover on his arm.

Hot hot hot!

2010-07-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I was able to fly down to visit my grandparents in St. George. Ammon drove down Thursday to meet up with us since he had a 3 day weekend. Kent loved that Grandma had a fridge full of fruit and would feed him anytime he wanted. I loved the fact that every place down there has A/C so I didn't overheat. It was at least 100 degrees every day we were there. We also got to spend Saturday morning with Ammon's grandpa and wife.

As I mentioned before Kent could have any kind of fruit anytime he wanted. Here he was helping himself to handfuls of raspberries.

Since Kent didn't learn how to crawl until we moved to Utah and we don't have a dishwasher here, this is his first experience with one. He thought it was a great toy.

My cousin Rachel came up to visit us from Vegas. She read this book over and over to Kent.

We took Rachel to an indoor playground with blow up toys. Here is Kent on a dragon.

Ammon and Kent cooling off.

Ammon's great uncle Dan welded this dinosaur to put in the Pendleton Plantation's (that's what I call the land that Ammon's grandpa and brother live on) park.

Ammon's grandpa made this car out of 2 x 4s and wagon wheels and then made me drive it down his driveway. All I had was a stick for a brake.

Kent's first 4-wheel ride on the Pendleton Plantation.

No matter what everyone says, Kent does enjoy other people's company.

Playing in the pool with grandpa

We went swimming in Grandma and Grandpa's pool numerous times.

Kent and my Uncle Kent whom I named my little guy after. You will never meet a more generous man.

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears...Oh My!

2010-07-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

My college roommate Jamie, who also happens to be a distant cousin, called one day and invited Kent and I down to Hogle Zoo with her and her son Cohen. Cohen is about 4 months older than Kent. We had a blast! Not only was it good to be out of the house for the day, it was good to catch up with Jamie and meet her handsome little guy.

I thought I would throw an old picture of Jamie in here for fun. She is the one on the right. This picture was taken in London while we were visiting our other roommate Nicole over Spring Break. Nicole was doing an internship there for the semester.

Here is Kent and Cohen playing some African instruments. Actually I am not sure if the tambourine Kent is playing can be classified as African but it was in the basket with the others.

These two were the stars of the zoo. This is a mama elephant and her almost one year old baby named Zuri. The mama did all sorts of cool tricks, the baby just wanted to eat the whole time.

Cruising in the stroller. Right before this picture was taken they were holding hands, however as most moms know those perfect picture opportunities don't always last long.

Up close and personal with the giraffe.

The playground was a hit for the boys.

Riding a wild alligator

Kent looks a little frustrated with this caterpillar.

Happy to be in an egg.

Feeding the ducks. Both Cohen and Kent wanted to eat the duck food at first. Not many things gross me out, but that did.

Ten points to anyone who can tell me where else this slide resides besides Hogle Zoo.

"It's always fun when Grandpa comes..."

2010-06-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

My parents were able to come and spend a week with us a few weeks ago and I am barely just getting the time to post some pictures. We, you will have to ask my dad how he really felt about it, had fun shopping EVERYDAY and just spending time relaxing. The first day shopping my dad was chatting his mantra to himself on the way home, he repeated a few times, "I'm a trooper, I'm a trooper." And he really was, he would take care of Kent while my mom and I shopped till our hearts content. In all reality Kent was more attached to my mom than my dad, but we always seemed to have the camera out when Kent and him were hanging out together. My dad is a great grandpa and does a wonderful job making his grandsons laugh out loud.

Grandpa is determined to have both grandbabies walking by the time we get home in August. Cade started right after we left, but he better be careful what he wishes for!

Ammon and I have been teaching Kent to fold his arms. Of course he doesn't do it for us, we have to hold his arms there, but as you see Grandpa has the magic touch.

I throw this picture in so my mom doesn't feel bad, Kent adores her and she just cuddles him just like he wants. He would reach for her all the time even in his "I want Mom all the time" stage.

Tickle Monster

Grandpa's turn

Kent's turn

Shopping

Grandpa sat down shortly after the last picture and he was out

Big smiles

P.S. Yes my dad does own a lot of crimson, red, and maroon shirts, but that's what you get when you live in Cougar country and work in close affiliation with the athletic department. I promise he did change his clothes daily, there is a slight hue variation in his shirts.

Broken

2010-06-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday our family experienced our first broken bone of our married life. In fact I have never broken a bone and Ammon has only broken his nose while we were dating. However, Kent is another story. As you know he just turned one and not even a week after his birthday he experiences a torus fracture of his tibia, right below his knee. He was hanging on a bar at our gym class when he let go, I had a hold of his hands but was not able to break his fall well enough. His leg hit the mat at a weird angle and he let out a scream that instantly told me he was hurt. We thought he would be okay after a while, but continued to cry. My dad held his hands to see if he could walk on it, but he just limped. We decided to take him across the street to the instacare, and by the time we got there he would not even put pressure on it. I was sure he had just sprained his knee or something of the sort, but I was wrong. They put him in a soft splint for a few days and then gave him a hard cast on Thursday when we could get in to see the orthopedic surgeon. He has to be in the cast for 4 weeks and then continually x-rayed for the year to check on the development of his growth plates right below his break. He has been a trooper and is now just starting to get frustrated with not being able to move around. Maybe this will give him the motivation to learn how to crawl, only time will tell.

After instacare he got a sucker and he couldn't have been happier.

Getting casted

He was so good, he loved the nurses, and just sat and "read" his favorite book while his cast set.

Showing off his new cast

One Year

2010-06-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Kent's first birthday this past Friday and Saturday with a lot of family and friends. Instead of writing a lot, I will share a few pictures of the events. Hope you enjoy!

Beginning

Middle

End

Grandma Udy and the birthday boy

Grandma Mills with the birthday boy and cousin Keaton

Opening presents...thanks everyone!

He loves the toy his dad picked out for him at IKEA.

The cake Ammon and I made for the Saturday party. Kent reminds us of a monkey so the cake is very fitting.

Popping his new bubbles with his new shovel.

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate and capture the moment, I swear we had over 100 pictures of the events.

"Hi, hi, how do you do? Welcome to My Gym!"

2010-06-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

Kent and I found a little gym that caters to kids 0-12. Needing something to do on a regular basis we signed up for a mommy and me class. I have loved it thus far and think that it has helped Kent to be with other kids and adults while we are here. Also, I think Kent's gross motor skills have increased as well, although still not crawling, he is getting the hang of walking holding onto a hand, the wall, or various objects. Maybe those advances are not from the class entirely, but I have trouble thinking that it didn't help at least a little. We will return to My Gym when we move back to Utah in January. Here are some of the fun things Kent gets to do...

Roll in padded tubes

Rock back and forth

Play in the ball pit

Hang from the bars

Ride the zip-line

A "Finn" Distraction

2010-06-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Little did we know, but the furnished basement we are renting also came with a dog. The best kind of dog to have, one that neither has to be walked or poop picked up by us. It is great, Kent still gets to be around a dog and we have little to no responsibility. His name is Finn, he is a wirehaired griffin. He is still less than a year old, or in other words still a puppy. He LOVES to jump up on people as the many scraps to Kent's head can attest, needless to say we now enter through the house instead of the backyard. Regardless of his jumpiness he is rather nice to have around, take the following picture for example...

The other day I went shopping, or I guess that is something I do 4 out of 5 days of the week while Ammon is gone. However, to anyone but Ammon that is besides the point. I came home with a trunk full of groceries that needed to be taken inside. I had two options, take Kent in and leave him in the house while I unloaded the car which would result in an all out fit or leave Finn babysitting in the garage. I chose the later. I handed Kent a treat, sat him in front of Finn's kennel and went to town taking the groceries in. The two of them bonded quite nicely. Finn would never bite Kent's hands, but never hesitates to lick him, which leads me to the next picture...

The curl on top of Kent's head, you have to look closely, is courtesy of Finn. After a big drink of water Finn came over, sopping wet of course, and licked Kent right up side the head. Kent had drool dripping down between his eyes. After everything dried up a bit we noticed the little curl that was left, who know dog drool was really the best hair gel!

Road Trip

2010-05-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend Ammon had both Friday and Monday off, so we took advantage and went to visit our brothers in Rexburg. Our brothers happen to be friends as well, which when visiting is extremely convenient. I love killing two birds with one stone. We had a wonderful time with Jared, his wife Jo, Lance, and his fiance Robin. It was so nice to have other people to play with Kent, even when we were sitting right there, so that Ammon and I could have some time to rest without having to entertain him. Jared and Jo even babysat so that Ammon and I could make it to the temple. I have to say that the Rexburg Temple is one of the prettiest I have seen. Here are some pictures of our adventures to the "legit" bowling alley in Rexburg, Teton Lanes.

Aunt Robin and Kent

Gotta love Aunts and Uncles

Big smiles from Kent and Lance

"Thanks for the banana Aunt Jo, bowling makes me hungry."

Since in Utah life has been entertaining...

2010-05-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

Kent has grown leaps and bounds. Ammon has mercilessly been trying to get Kent to crawl, baiting him with Gerber Puffs. What Ammon calls crawling I would more call throwing a tantrum that results in small movements of the body in a forward direction. Needless to say he does make it across the room at least once a night through the tears. Kent loves to be where ever Mom is, whether it is doing the dishes or doing my hair and makeup. I try to do these things during his morning nap, but sometimes when that nap is cut short he ends up "helping". Here is what I mean...

He feels the need to put everything that is on the counter in the sink, which is why some of the stuff is out of his reach. Here he is chewing on a CLEAN Q-tip, prior to this picture he was "singing" to the boy in the mirror.

The other night as I was doing dishes I put him on the window sill to watch me do dishes. His feet could barely touch the water. But then he realized he could move, and into the sink he went. I had his pants off so they wouldn't get wet, but had no idea the shirt needed to come off and that I needed to put on a swim diaper.

Don't worry, I did not wash anymore dishes in this water after he entered...

...partly because of germs and partly because Huggies really are absorbent and I barely had any water left.

I have struggled a bit with this whole being home all day thing, and commend the efforts of the moms that can do it, however, I find myself needing to get out of the house once a day. Typically this is to go shopping, much to our budget's dismay, but I have also found a walk and playing with Kent in the sand table to be refreshing. On Tuesdays we even get to go to a place called My Gym for mommy and me gym classes, which I love because there are other mommies there for me to talk to. Now for your continued viewing pleasure, a few more pics...

Taking pictures of Kent is what I resorted to while taking Ammon's grandpa house shopping. He recently broke his hip so he moved rather slow. It took us three hours to tour 3 houses. Kent was really good considering.

The sand table the adorable 3 year old upstairs is so nice to share with Kent.

Tired after a night of crawling.

And lastly, my best friend ran the Ogden Marathon last weekend and we went to watch her cross the finish line. I did not actually end up seeing her cross because I had bent down to meet Kent's needs, but I did see her about 10 feet past the finish line. Regardless, she did great! Way to go Cole!

A hike to the "M" topped off with a little Steph's

2010-05-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Ammon had this Friday off and we took advantage of the cooler weather to hike to the "M" in Morgan, Utah. I have a soft place in my heart for Morgan. Not only did it provide us with a set of fun neighbors in Pullman, but it is also home of my first dream job teaching 6th grade at the middle school. Ammon and I first attempted the steep climb to the "M" when we lived there right after we were married. It was a little warmer than usual and we were not in shape. Needless to say, we made it maybe halfway and turned around. So, when I suggested the hike as today's events, Ammon was a little unsure - especially since one of us would be carrying an extra 20 lbs on our back (Kent plus the weight of the pack). But, I wanted to do the hike before it got too warm, and I figured that even if we didn't make it we would still get to treat ourselves to a Tangee at Steph's after. To make a long story short: we made it to the top, the view was beautiful, we barely made it to the car before it started raining, and Kent had his first taste of Steph's. Enjoy the pictures of our day.

Kent and Dad

Mom and Kent

Us at the top with the view, that pole to our right had some shirts and underwear attached to it. I am sure it is some kind of tradition.

A sleepy boy on the way down.

Steph's

Per Jess's request...

2010-05-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

So this post is extremely similar to the one prior, but I thought I would at least provide a theme...Kent's playmates. Right now I could kill for a playmate for Kent, because as he sits next to me he is screaming his head off. Perhaps he is vying for my undivided attention, or perhaps it is because he cut both of his naps short today (really short). I will go with the second reasoning and consider putting him back to bed within the next hour.

Kent and Cade tickle the ivories.

Their first of many baths together.

The swing will suffice when Cade is not around.

Easter photo shoot that didn't yield many print worthy pictures.

And last but not least, Kent's new cousin Keaton, who surely will be picked on by numerous times before his first birthday. He thought he was a pretty cool new toy last week.

A little of this, a little of that

2010-04-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

Ammon, Kent, and I are wrapping up our final weeks in Pullman before we make our summer move to Utah. We are planning on driving down the 7th of May and will return home the 1st week of August. We will miss our family on the Palouse but are excited to see our friends and family in Utah. Here are a few pictures taken over the last month...

Just hanging out in the sun on a deck that is in desperate need of painting.

I can never resist putting these two in the play pen together.

Getting into Grandma Udy's ribbon drawer.

In my cute suit Grandma Mills gave me for Easter.

Good Luck Charmers!

2010-04-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

I think these pictures are pretty self explanatory, although the reason there is two is because we couldn't get both the boys to smile at the camera in the same picture.