My 3 Year Old Boy

Happy 3rd Birthday to Marcus! That little guy, he makes me so happy! He can be such a stinker, and then melt my heart immediately afterwards; it's crazy!

We took his 3 year old pics, and in some his hair looks red. I swear it is not in the least bit red! It is blonde!


I dare say that he had a wonderful birthday. He is certainly loved and spoiled. We celebrated a week early with our families (due to our trip to Las Vegas). We love having our families over! It's fun to visit with everyone and we ate yummy homemade Cafe Rio with brownies and ice cream for dessert. Mmm mmm!




So when Mitch was a kid, he was obsessed with Transformers. I'm pretty sure he asked if we could give Marcus some Transformer toys for his first Christmas, and every Christmas/birthday since. This year we decided he was finally old enough and got him a couple of age appropriate Transformer toys for his birthday. Now he's constantly asking, "Do you want to pway Twansformers? Who you want to be?" It's hard to say no. :)

The boy is obsessed! Mitch is in heaven that his son loves something from his childhood so much, and they have spent hours playing Transformers and watching old Transformer cartoons. I have never seen Marcus so consumed by anything before, and it's been a couple of weeks now. I'm glad he found something he loves so much (even if it means that any time he gets another toy, his first questions is, "Does it transform?" Lol!).

His new smile.

We kept telling Marcus that when he turns three he would be a big boy and use the potty. While we were in Vegas he went on the potty a few times. Then the day after his real birthday, he woke up early and came in my room and said he wanted to use the potty. What?! Now it's one full week later and he's still wearing his underwear! How's that for being a thousand times easier than it was to potty train Layla?! I won't say that he's totally got it yet, he doesn't. We're still working on number 2 in the potty and making it there in time, every time, for number 1. But overall, I'd say he's doing awesome and I'm so happy! Layla has been such a help by encouraging him and cheering him on. She is such a sweet big sister!

He keeps saying, "I'm so pwoud of me! I a big boy!" in his cute little voice and it makes me smile. Love his little guts! I will never forget when he was sitting on the toilet and decided to "tuck it in" so his pee didn't go everywhere. (I always tell him to "tuck it in" but never said more than that.) So he tucked it in and closed his legs so you could no longer see his penis and said, "Where'd it go?" After opening his legs he said, "Oh, there it is! ..... What the heck is it?!" Bah ha, ha!!!! I laughed so hard! I told him it was a penis and that's where his pee come out of. He hasn't asked about it since so I guess he's satisfied with that explanation for now. Lol.

What else can I say about Marcus? He is a mamma's boy, for sure! He has warmed up to Mitch considerably, especially with their mutual love of Transformers, but he still loves his mamma. At bedtime he always says, "I want to cuddle wif my mommy!" and it melts my heart. It might be a little ridiculous, but someday he'll move out and get married and I'll remember how he loved his mamma and snuggled and kissed me when he was little!

He's still a joker and will do anything to get a laugh. I have no doubt that he will be the class clown in school. :/ He is genuinely funny, but also a stinker. Good thing his handsome face melts our hearts and gets him out of trouble at times!
 
I love my boy and I'm so happy I get to be his mamma!!!!!!

Las Vegas!

I am trying to be more spontaneous and live life more fully. You know, let loose a little every once in a while. So, I went on a road trip with my kids! Layla was off track, Mitch was out of town for work, and my mom had a work conference in Vegas, so I loaded up the car with the kids and we drove to Vegas to stay with my mom.

We made it there in good time and the kids were really good during the long drive. I was so impressed with them (and myself)! We spent the week swimming, seeing the sights, and hanging out in the hotel.

Walked around the Las Vegas LDS temple grounds.

Some things I want to remember:

Marcus seriously thought the palm trees were "giant pineapples" and got so excited every time we saw one. It still makes me laugh to think about it!

Layla was in awe over the "mermaid" we saw swimming in one of the casino's fish tanks. She was not distracted by the mermaid's nose plug, air hose, or goggles, ha, ha! I love Layla and her imagination! She is always thinking up "what if" scenarios; her imagination is vibrant and humorous!


Marcus thought the casino games were "games for wittle kids!" and painfully wanted to play them. I felt I could somewhat explain to Layla why it's smart to avoid gambling, but of course my lecture was lost on the barely three year old. Overall, it was pretty funny to see him stare at the "games" with longing in his eyes! If only he were older! ;)

Marcus was also amazed that he could watch TV and sleep in the same room at the hotel. He kept saying, "We can sweep AND watch TV!" Lol!

I took the kids, by myself, to Circus Circus to see the free show while my mom was in class. I figured it would be ghetto and slightly scary, so I brought my can of Mace with me. :) I never felt like I needed to use it, but let's just say it was pretty darn ghetto! The show was good though and the kids LOVED the clown. And nothing bad happened to us. 

Las Vegas has never been my favorite place. The shows can be good, but beyond that I think it is a gross, vile, ghetto city. That being said, I did have a fun time there with my kids and mom. We missed Mitch, but it was fun to have an adventure and live a little!

May 2016

Lots of things going on this month.

Mitch and I celebrated 9 years of marital bliss! We've had our ups and downs, our share of disagreements, as all married couples do, but I can still say that I know I was supposed to marry this amazing man and that he still impresses me with his wisdom, kindness, cute smile, pretty blue eyes, and all around goodness, even nine years later. He's pretty awesome and I feel lucky that he chose me. :) I love our life together and wouldn't trade it for anything!

To celebrate we went to eat sushi at a restaurant called Tsunami and it was delectable! We order several kinds of sushi and some Japanese tacos. The tacos were my favorite and tasted like an explosion of flavors in my mouth. Mmmm, now I'm drooling and want to go back. ;)

We were also going to go hit a bucket of balls, which would have been hilarious since we both suck at golfing, but I had a nasty sinus infection at the time and just wanted to go to bed. But at least we had a nice date that night.

Temple square and Memory Grove
over Memorial weekend.

My sinus infection brings me to other happenings in May. I went to an internist this month and had some blood work done. Long story short, I had bloodwork done last year for the same symptoms I'm having now (fatigue, unexplained weight gain, fatigue, oh, and did I mention I'm tired?), but they didn't do the blood work correctly for my thyroid or diabetes. So, I went to this new doctor, who is amazing, and she tested me correctly. It came back that my CRP was incredibly high and I am now taking a daily baby aspirin as CRP can indicate a risk for future heart disease. I was tested a second time, and my CRP level has decreased, but is still slightly high. Also, they found mono in my bloodwork; I do not have it currently, but have had it in the past (though I didn't know it and probably just thought it was a nasty case of tonsillitis). For some adults, mono can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome. Yippee. :/ I have a follow up appointment this week, but I'm thinking this sluggish feeling is something I'm going to have to get used to. Boo! On the other hand, I am incredibly grateful that I am not dealing with diabetes, thyroid issues, or anything more serious. This has been a good wakeup call for me to eat healthier, exercise more, and take better care of myself. I want to enjoy decades of married life with Mitch and I need to be healthy to do that!


Here's to better health!

And goofing off with my kiddos!

Marcus looked like a stripper while potty training and
playing dress up at the same time. ;)

More silly faces.

Just writing Chinese like it's no big deal.
She amazes me!

Playing at the museum.

 Still doing a lot of bike riding with the bike trailer. Marcus fell asleep last time we went!

 We went to the Heber Cemetary to put flowers on my relatives graves over Memorial weekend.

A 6 Year Old and Other Things

Layla turned 6! I can't believe it, and yet I can because she seems so grown up lately. She was spoiled rotten for a week straight! She had 12 friends over, yes, 12! It was so loud and crazy with 13 little girls over here, but she was in heaven. I am so happy that we live in an area with so many little friends for our kids!

She wanted a "pancakes and pajamas" party. We ate breakfast food like pancakes, chocolate milk, strawberries, whip cream, and yogurt parfaits (with yogurt and Fruity Pebbles cereal). We made cereal necklaces.

We also played "pin the number 6 on the balloon that doesn't have a 6 already on it" (Layla's idea). I didn't realize until I set it all up how much it resembles a game the devil would play at a birthday party! LOL.

The girls were hilarious when Layla opened her presents. They kept crowding around her, closer and closer, until I couldn't see Layla at all. They were all so excited and giggly!

The next day we had our families over for another party. I really should be better at taking pictures at the family parties as well! Of course Layla was spoiled again and she really loved all her gifts! We had a yummy dinner and enjoyed visiting with our families.


Mitch and I gave Layla a Hello Kitty digital watch for one of her birthday presents. For several days afterwards she felt the need to tell us the time. It was pretty funny/frustrating. ;) "Mom, it's 12:17," "Dad, it's 2:37," etc. On Sunday morning, trying to sleep in, and we hear, "Mom and Dad! It's 8:03, time to wake up!" Oh boy.

What can I say about Layla now that she's a six year old? I am amazed by her, every day, even six years later. How did I get to be her mom? She teaches me more than I could ever teach her about humility, kindness, patience, and a million other lessons I need to learn. Sometimes I feel like she is setting the example for ME, when it's supposed to be the other way around! I feel really, really blessed and humbled to be her mom. She is going to do amazing things with her life. Oh, and she's still such a smart girl! I can't even believe the spelling words she's bringing home in Kindergarten, how much Chinese she can speak, and the books she's reading. She's a whiz kid. I also love her goofy personality that is emerging more and more; she can really make me laugh with her witty comments!


Layla also had her two bottom teeth fall out ... kind of. They were loose, and then her new teeth grew in behind, not underneath, the baby teeth. Like a shark. She had two rows of teeth! It completely freaked me out. (I am so paranoid when it comes to teeth because I had braces for 5 years as a kid.) I decided to take her to the dentist so he could check it out and he said the baby teeth needed to come out, so he pulled them. I was glad because I couldn't have pulled them myself (I don't do blood in any form), but I was mad because I had to pay for something I could have done for free! Oh well. Now her new teeth are slowly moving forward, but there's not enough room for them, which will probably mean braces in the future. What do you do? At least orthodontists have figured out a thing or two since I had braces, and from what I'm told kids don't typically have braces for longer than two years now. That makes me feel a little bit better. :)


Marcus was such a sweet boy during all of Layla's birthday festivities! I thought he'd be upset that she was getting so much attention and so many gifts, but he really was sweet about it and would say things like, "Can I have a bawoon when it's my birfday, Mama?" He melts my heart. The other day at the grocery store the cashier gave Marcus a sucker. He asked for another one, "for my sister" and I totally thought he would just eat it too, but he asked me to put it in my purse to save for her. What a sweet guy!

Marcus has said a couple of funny things lately, but our favorite is when he prays. For a couple of weeks, every time he prayed he said, "Thank you that my mom changed my poopy bum, in the name of Jesus Christ poopy bum, amen." Slightly irreverent, but hilarious! When he wants to eat lunch outside he asks if we can have a "picpic" instead of picnic and I love it so I never correct him. Now if I could just get him potty trained ....

He keeps taking selfies on my phone.

Wanted to add a couple of pics of some of the things Mitch has done around the house lately. He made me this beautiful HOME sign. I told him what I wanted it to look like, bought the stain, and painted the letters, and he did the rest. It's even prettier up close. I should take an updated pic of it actually hanging on the wall instead of just sitting on the entertainment center.

Mitch also spent HOURS working on our entry way. He added all the molding, trim, and coving and I absolutely love how it turned out. My dad and brother, who are both talented at wood working, told Mitch that he did a great job for a rookie. ;) What can I say, Mitch is a jack of all trades. I knew I loved him!  We also got a new mirror, table, rug, and decor for the entryway. I spent way too much on the table, but I don't care because I love it. How's that for spoiled?


Speaking of Mitch, he is ridiculously busy at work. Like insanely busy. I can't wait until this proposal is done in a few months so I can actually hang out with him again! The upside is that he loves his job and they take good care of him. But if he was this busy all the time we'd be looking for a new job! Not to mention school. He's waiting to hear back on his proposal for his dissertation, then he has to take a week-long test, and then get started on writing the actual dissertation. Sounds like a lot of work to me! Just another reason why I think he's amazing. I can't wait until he graduates and I can hang a huge sign on the garage that says, "Congrats, Dr. Bott!" How cool will that be?

I haven't been feeling well lately. I finally went to an internist and had some blood work done. Turns out my Vitamin B12 is high, which could explain the numbness and tingling I've been having in my feet and hands. Also, my CRP is high (it should be 3 or less, and mine is 13.5), which means there could be inflammation in my heart. With all the heart disease on both sides of my family, I'm not shocked, just surprised to see something like that when I'm still so young and take pretty good care of myself. But, it does explain why I'm so tired, can't lose the weight I gained randomly, brain fog, and a few other minor symptoms. The doctor wants me to take aspirin and have my CRP re-tested in a few weeks. I guess this is the wake up call I need. Even though I eat healthy and exercise, I have to be extremely diligent since it's bound to affect me at some time. So, I'll have to tweak my diet somewhat and exercise more than what I currently do (which since my marathon hasn't been much). In the back of my mind I've always known this was coming, but it's overwhelming to think about how to eat a certain way and realize I have to change things in my life that are currently so comfortable and convenient. :/

No more Leatherby's caramel sauce for me. :(

Other than that, I'm loving life! I've been reading lots of books again (just finished A Tale of Two Cities) and enjoying more time outside. I even went running the other day and it felt so good! I was able to go on Layla's first Kindergarten field trip (thanks, Mom, for watching Marcus!) and we had a great time. She was tired and slightly grumpy at the end, but overall we had fun!

I'm looking forward to our summer vacations: Jackson Hole, Cape Cod, Bear Lake. Hoping to squeeze in another girls trip to Tuachan with Nicole and Oakley! I feel blessed and optimistic and happy!