Staycation- a lot of pictures from doing a lot of nothing

 I had a week off from work & it was lovely! No, we didn't do anything really fun or exciting, but it was nice to spend some much needed time at home! I did take quite a few pictures (which was a goal of mine... I noticed I'd been slacking a lot lately, especially taking pictures of Sterling- the kid's growing up too fast!), so here are some of the pictures I took from me Staycation: 

Chapter 1- At home

 where we spent most of my week off



I did a LOT of cleaning, & this was taken on the day I was washing all the bedding so please ignore the bare mattress (we're really not that white trash),  but I LOVE when they nap together!



Roman is obsessed with cars, so we spent a lot of time playing with them... he was particularly proud of this line up he did!

  

Sterling started sitting up on his own, & I was glad I had my photo taking resolution fresh in my mind so that I'd be sure to document it!

 These 2 were playing so cute together that I wanted to get a picture of them together, but this is what I got...



 Roman smiling, Sterling looking away.

 

Then Sterling smiling and Roman looking away.




And finally, both of them looking at me like I'm retarded. Gotta love it!
PS- I love that they look like brother's in this picture!



This is what my kitchen looks like most nights while I'm making dinner- Roman "helping" (but really just making a mess) and Sterling chewing on every cooking utensil in my jar.



But I wouldn't change any of it! I love when they hang out with me while I cook!



& who cares if I have to wash every spoon, EVERY night?! He's having a good time :)



Chapter 2- Outside

The one fun thing we did do was go to the zoo. Anthon only had a couple jobs since it was a down day, so he got to come too- YAY!



This was our first time seeing the orangutan exhibit, and it was a big hit, UNTIL....



Lovely, right?! & there wasn't a tight seal on the glass, so it started to run out on our side of the glass. Needless to say, we didn't hang out there much longer. Nasty primate!



This was the week before the lovely, cool weather hit, so it was pretty toasty! It was still fun to be outside together though... & we did hit up the splash pad, too.





I LOVE this picture!! Such handsome boys!

 PS- One other thing I did while on vacation was find a new home for our dog, Gunner. Anthon was kinda sad about it, but honestly we never played with the poor thing & Roman has literally been crying to go outside & play (but he couldn't with that GIANT dog back there). So, it's better for everyone! Gunner's with someone that has the time to play with him and Roman is able to go outside & play  (which he has, for several hours, every morning)!

 Chapter 3- Things of the Spirit

This week off of work really came about because I had 2 important events on consecutive Saturday's. Since I was taking 2 Saturday's off in a row, and I had a week of remaining vacation & no where else to put it, I just squished it between the 2 Saturday's.

The Saturday starting off my vacation was my brother Peter & his wife Kelly's sealing.



 It was beautiful & I'm so happy for them! They are 2 of my favorite people & I love them both dearly!

The Saturday ending my vacation was General Conference. This was the first year in a long time that I was able to watch all the sessions. I usually work on Saturday's & miss the morning and part of the afternoon session because of that. Last April I decided I wasn't going to miss any of the sessions any more, & I'm so glad I didn't!



Roman did really well with all 4 sessions... & the little printable coloring books helped a lot



LOVE this picture, too!! Such sweet guys!

I'm so thankful for a living prophet & the chance we had to listen to him & his apostles!

& that's the end of my "Staycation"... I can't wait til my next one!

Growin' like a weed

This little man is 4 months old already & is getting bigger every day. We pushed his well check up back because he was so sick, so once he was feeling better we went in... and then he got sick again! K, I'm just being dramatic. He had a fever for a few days again, but it was because of the immunizations. Still, Sterling+ fever= no fun or sleep. He was healthy otherwise- growing as he should. He weighed 14.5 lbs & was 26 in tall. They haven't been giving me percentages for his size (like ever), they just show me his growth curve. I kinda like it that way- comparing him to himself & what's normal for him rather than comparing him to the masses (which, it seems like everyone I talk to's kid is in the 90th something percentile, so you'd think by now the 90th percentile would become the norm, or 50th. I don't know, just a thought). Anyway, he's healthy & growing at a consistent rate. He's becoming more & more playful everyday & I love it! Granted, he still looks at me like I'm the biggest idiot sometimes, but I really enjoy all of his expressions. He's started rolling a lot. I don't see him do it very often, but I know he does! for example, when I run in the mornings I lay him on his little play mat, on his back with his head on the North side. When I turn around to get off the treadmill, he's on his belly facing south. Here's a video when I actually witnessed it ... Please ignore my creeper voice :) 

I am SO thankful for this little boy!! He has the sweetest presence about him & such a mature spirit- I think he came to teach me thing or two while I try to raise him ;).

I have to add a little shout out to Mr. Roman. He FINALLLY got a hair cut!! There's nothing I love  more than a clean cut little boy... even if he's making this face while I'm trying to capture how cute he looks with short hair! Roman has been pretty bipolar lately, but I hear that's kinda common in 2 year olds. One minute he'll be super sweet, obedient, & helpful the next minute he's a maniac, tearing the house apart. However, I'm going to focus on the 1st minute :). He frequently will come up to me, wrap his arms around my neck, give me a big, wet kiss on my cheek & say, "Mmmm! I wuv you, Mommy!" It seriously makes my day when he does it... and makes me forget any awful things he did minutes before :)

Annual Labor Day Camping Trip

Can I just start out by saying how impressed I am with Blogger's enhancements?!?! It's SO easy to upload/ edit pictures now... Hallelujah!

Anyway, onto our trip! We headed up to the mountains late Friday night & then headed up to the campsite (where all of Anthon's family was) Saturday morning. I think it's pretty common knowledge that I despise camping, but I honestly was trying to have a positive attitude this trip for Anthon's sake. He does things with me all the time that I'm sure he hates, so why shouldn't I do the same?  

 Well, the camping started out lovely... the weather was perfect, the mountain was beautiful, there were plenty of toys to keep the boys happy, & visiting with family is always fun for me!

Honestly, my favorite thing  about camping is the clothes... retarded, right?!?! You're suppose to wear whatever clothes- ones that can get destroyed. But I think it's so fun to get to dress the boys up in warm hats & hoodies... there's not much need for that here in Mesa.

Here we are all snuggled up by the fire... Day 1 was lovely!

 Day 2, on the other hand, was a little bit of a nightmare! There were bees everywhere... I mean swarming us constantly! Roman got stung on his nose (like up by his eye) :( & I was terrified that Sterling was going to get stung! Thankfully, he didn't! He did, however, get sick :( & was a fussy mess the entire day! If you know Sterling, you know he's a super chill baby that hardly ever makes a peep... the kid was crying, fussing, moaning all day long, so we knew something was up! We ended up leaving that night to head back home & I took him to the Dr. today. It turns out that the poor kid has a viral infection & has had a fever of like 102º... not fun! Today has probably been the TOUGHEST day of my "motherhood career"- Sterling being so sick & crying almost non-stop, then Roman burning his hand on my flat iron right before Sterling's appointment, then crying because his hand hurts the entire time we're at the Dr.'s office (talk about the eyes of judgement being on us non-stop while we were there!), then Sterling having to be catheterized to make sure he didn't have a bladder infection/ UTI because of his hypospadias- resulting in more discomfort & screaming, & the list goes on and on... on top of me being TOTALLY sleep deprived (I'll be honest, I've had several crying melt downs today)!! Yeah, like I said, it's been a T.O.U.G.H day.

Anyway, back to our trip... The 2nd day wasn't completely miserable, we went on a ride in the Articat as a family to the tree Anthon carved our initials in way back in high school, and we added Sterling to it :)

Here we are waiting for Anthon to carve Sterling's name... He is SO white! Doesn't he look like a little corpse when he sleeps?!? So sweet & creepy at the same time!

Here's me & my Roman boy... Gosh I love this rotten, beautiful kid!

& here's the finished product! This was my favorite part of the trip... Just the few minutes we spent together, taking pictures & doing this little tradition we've started!

Before we came back home, we stopped at Anthon's parents house to steel some fresh veggies from their garden.I'm SO sad I didn't get pictures of it, but Roman had a BLAST! He loved searching for the red tomatoes & pulling them off the vine, catching lady bugs, & finding big zucchini's to pick! We'll have to do it again the next time we're up there, & NOT forget my camera!

So in a nut shell, the trip would have been perfect minus the bees & sick baby, but there's always next year to have that perfect camping trip :)

PS- I didn't take a whole lot of pictures this trip, but if you want to see all of them you can check out the album on Facebook by clicking HERE

Nothing's new... but here's a lot of pictures

Like the title says, nothing is really new, but I thought I'd share some pictures of what "nothing new" looks like

Mr. Sterling has been growing like a weed! He really likes to sit up now, but can't do it unassisted, so he has a couple of chairs to choose from: The bouncy seat (which you can see from above, is pretty mesmerizing) or the Bumpo (which you can see below, he feels pretty spiffy sitting in).

He's been laughing up a storm too. Clapping his hands together & tickleing the little chub under his chin bring about the most chuckles :)
Onto this boy, Mr. Roman. He is becoming a terror. I guess it's to be expected- he is 2 & 1/2... and a boy. None-the-less, we do have a tender moment or two with him between the insane stunts he pulls almost constanly!
Like I've said before I'm sure, the bath is my favorite place to photograph him. He's stationary, clean, and there isn't a whole lot to distract him. I love his smile! Reminds me of how sweet he use to be, and gives me hope that he will be that sweet again :) BTW, anyone know how long the "terrible" ages last??He looks like he's on a mission in this picture & I love it! Of course, right after I snappd it, he pointed the squirt gun at me & shot my camera right in the lens. Awesome.

Onto Anthon! Poor man has been working out in this horrific heat all summer & has survived, so give him huge props for that! I honestly don't know how he does it... I barely survive walking to my car when it's 115º+! The only really new thing is he started school this week, but before we kissed him goodbye for the next 6 months, we went to the Aquarium together & had a blast!

Here they are in a couple tank bubbles... so fun to see the fish from an internal persective :)

As for me, nothing's new. Surprise. Work isn't completely horrible, Anthon's doing everything he can to better out lives & still loves me :), Sterling is as sweet as they come, & at the end of the day that's full of tantrums, drawing all over the house (& everything in it), climbing up & falling off of things, and all the other craziness that Roman does I'm still eternally thankful I get to be him mommy... So life is good.This was the view from our kitchen window the other night... I thought I'd share it
2 Nephi 31:20
"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men..."

My cup runneth over

Yesterday was SUCH a great day! Talk about getting a glimpse into eternity... I was so happy all day & so thankful for my family! Anthon gave Sterling the sweetest blessing at church- I honestly don't think there is anything more special than watching/ listening to a father bless his new baby! I'm SO incredibly thankful for Anthon and both our sons! I'm even more thankful for the Plan on Happiness that makes it possible for us to be together forever! We had a lot of friends and family come out to support us yesterday (sorry, I didn't take hardly any pictures), but thank you all who came! It was so fun to see/ visit with you & feel of your love.

K seriously, I can hardly stand how cute this kid is! He wore the same suit as Roman did for his blessing, & it's a good thing he was a month older than Roman was when we blessed him, otherwise the suit would've drowned him!Here's our best attempt at a family picture. Roman was really tired & cranky after church, so he was not cooperative, but Peter managed to snap one of him smiling :)
Sterling's Grandma Perkins, Great Grandma Longhurst, & Daddy. 4 Generations. These kinds of pictures are so neat to me cause my kids will be lucky if they get to have a picture with me & one of my parents!

Sterling is so serious for the majority of the time, but the sweetness just radiates off of him! He definitely brought a very special spirit with him into our home & I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to be his mother!

We were pretty tuckered out by the end of the afternoon. I love that Anthon took this. I don't get very many kandid shots of me with my kids, so when someone gets one I usually really like it!

Sterling's Blessing

We'll be blessing Sterling this fast Sunday, Aug. 7th at 9:00AM at our new ward building. The address is 10036 E. Brown Rd. Mesa 85207(North East corner of Brown & Crismon). I'm teaching that Sunday, so we'll have a luncheon after church is over at 12:30pm- Gotta gimme a couple minutes to get the food organized ;)- at our home: 632 N. 99th St. Mesa, AZ 85207 . Feel free to join us... just leave me a comment here (or under the "event" page on Facebook) saying how many people you're bringing so I know how much food to prepare.

Last trip of the summer...

We spent the last 5 days in Rocky Point. It was heaven! We did nothing. Absolutely nothing but spend time together on the beach... like I said before, heaven!

Now it's time to get back to reality. Which means back to work for me & back to school for Anthon... (sigh) Goodbye ocean- and freedom- till next year!

PS- blogger was being lame (as usual ) when I tried to upload pictures, so if you wanna see all the photos from our trip check out my album on Facebook by clicking HERE

10 Weeks & other fun things

Sterling will be 10 weeks tomorrow & is just as sweet as ever! We took him for his 2 month check up this past week and his Dr. said he's growing beautifully. He weighed 11.8 lbs & was 23.5 in. long which put his in the 50% for weight & 75% for height. He got the 2 month round of immunizations & was NOT a happy camper. I don't remember Roman having as had of a time with shots,but Sterling was grouchy for almost 3 days after the shots. He had a fever for 2 days and just cried all the time...the kid never cries normally, so I know he was feeling miserable! <--- I took this picture that afternoon & his expression resembles pretty much how his personality was :) Poor baby!I was worried for a minute that he'd never trust us again & he'd have a permanent scowl! But thankfully, he's acting like he feels better now & i actually smiling again! This picture is a more accurate representation of what is personality is normally like ... So sweet!! I love him!

Other fun things we've been up to.... Roman did swimming lessons for a few weeks & LOVED it! I've tried teaching him before & it goes great until I want him to do something he doesn't want to do & then we just hit a wall, so having someone else work with him on those things were very beneficial!Swimming always tuckers him out, & naps are fun for mom :)We went up to Show Low the past 2 weekends & while we were up there I set up the camera with the auto timer & snapped a family picture... turned out pretty cute, no??

Last, but not least, we finally found a car!! It's a 2005 Toyota Sienna... Yes, I'm totally rocking the minivan. Honestly though, I really like it!It's so convenient & has any feature I could ask for, plus more! I'm SO glad that the car shopping phase is over- it really was exhausting/ frustrating/ annoying - & we're in something that will function for our family!

Happenings this week

We'll start out with Father's Day... it was a nice, relaxing day. I made Anthon his favorite breakfast & got all the boys matching ties, as usual. We had a super chill day, with just us & that was really nice. I wanted to go to the cemetery to visit my dad's grave, but by the time we got around to getting up & going it was too late. That's ok though, I still thought about my dad- I don't need to be at his grave to do that :)Onto Mr. Sterling... I took him in for his 1 month check up (even though he's 7 weeks) & he's fit as a fiddle! He's finally starting to get some meat on his bones- he weighed 10lbs 3oz & was 22.5in long. Dr. says he's in the 90th percentile for height & 75th for weight- which is crazy to me cause he still seems so small! His little personality is starting to really shine- he still seems very sceptical about this whole mortality business, & I don't blame him :)
He started smiling & that has been SO fun to see a "lighter" side of him! He's usually so serious... I am seeing more & more resemblances between him & Roman- they're both miniature Anthons!In other exciting news- I started potty training Roman this week. The first couple of days were pretty frustrating, but by Wednesday he was going to the bathroom in the toilet by himself & hadn't had any accidents! Thankfully, the accidents he has had, haven't been too horrible!Hopefully, he'll keep progressing...I got this little chart at the dollar store & he LOVES it! He gets so excited to put stickers on it for each accomplishment he makes- I guess it's fun for him to chart his progress :). We've been telling him for a while that if he learns to use the potty we'd buy him a bicycle (which he has been desperate for since his 2nd birthday), so once he fills up his chart with stickers his daddy will take him to the store to pick out his very own bicycle (hopefully, by then he'll be fully trained)! I love watching Roman go through this stage in his life- he's so sweet & fun and I love watching his self confidence grow!!
These last 2 pictures were taken last night in the tub... my favorite location to shoot him :). These pictures sum up all my favorite features of his- I love that he has my dad's eyes, his little ears like his daddy's, the single freckle on his nose, his luscious lips, & his darling, little, gappy teeth... Man I LOVE this kid Last but not least, we sold me car. My lovely, stylish, comfortable, totally awesome Acadia- it's gone. Seriously though, I'm ok with it :) We got such a good deal when we bought it that we were able to sell it for practically the same price we paid for it 3 years ago. So, now we'll use the "equity" we made & try to find something else that will work for our family that we won't have a payment on- it probably won't be as lovely or stylish (we're leaning more towards a mini van of some sort), but it will be functional & more importantly, it won't have a payment attached to it! With Anthon's school load getting heavier he'll be cutting back on his hours at work & I'm hopefully starting the nursing program in January, so I won't be working at all- it'll be nice not to have the added stress of car payments when our budget decreases! So wish me luck on my hunt for a "new" car!