My heart…

....belongs to Wyatt.




I feel like I haven’t posted about my sweet baby in sometime. Dax is so easy to post about. Every day Dax is learning new words and phrases and doing something crazy to make us laugh. He is wild and carefree and still oh so daring! He’s humorous and loving and he makes my heart melt when he looks at me with those big big eyes. I just love him.

But my Wyatt is no different.

He too is learning something new everyday and getting so big! He thankfully has conquered his crazy cat nap ways (cross your fingers) and he loves to spend his time hanging out on his belly. He evens sleeps on his stomach now too, one of my favorite things. I love seeing his little diaper bum up in the air! He rolls over in a blink of an eye and just today I laid him down and before I had put water in the pot on the stove, he was onto the tile, at least three complete rolls away. Dax gets such a thrill at making Wyatt laugh, but we don’t spoil it for Dax and tell him that Wyatt smiles, laughs and coo’s for anyone, or anything he can see. He truly is such a happy little guy.

I love his face. His chubby cheeks, his little nose. He has the biggest eyes that turn red when he’s tired and his lips make the perfect O shape when he’s talking. His hair is still super light and his eyes are a beautiful blue. He cries real tears now, but we don’t see those too often. When he’s awake, either he’s smiling or I’m smiling and I can just tell, this little guy is going to have my heart for a long, long time.

The Pool

Last week Dax started his first swimming lessons ever. You may think it’s a bit early to start swimming; it is only May. But, as the weather gets warmer and warmer, the pool is more and more refreshing. In fact, last Monday, on his first day of lessons, it was a whopping 108 outside!! I’m kinda a whimp when it comes to cold water, but even I wanted to get in the pool!

Dax was SUPER excited. The lessons are right around the corner from us, and there are 4 little boys in his class, one being his cousin Kruz. Miss Katie, their cute swim teacher, lead the boys straight to the water and Dax excitedly jumped onto the top step and played with the rings to wait for his turn. She taught them how to kick, pushed them under water and find the wall and how to monkey walk. Dax only swallowed a little water before he caught on to closing his mouth. The first day was a huge success! He was happy, energetic, loved splashing around and even said that swimming was so fun.

Then day two rolled around……

Tantrums flared, screaming started, he was jumping up and down and not in an excited way and yelling for me to come and get him. “I want out pwease mommy!” The pool is fenced in so all us moms sat on the bench and tried to ignore the screaming. Once one started panicking it was a chain reaction. They all looked like they were behind prison bars wondering why we were just sitting there and not moving to rescue them. At each turn Dax would go straight to Miss Katie and have his turn and do awesome, but as soon as he made it back to the step, the water works would start all over again.

Day three was a little better. Then day four and five were cancelled because of a crazy storm that rolled in. Yesterday was the first day back and I think he would have been fine, except the water felt like the ocean but without the waves from all the rain. Even Miss Katie was in a full wetsuit!! Dax was shivering from head to toe and had purple lips.

But, even with all those distractions and between all that screaming, he’s getting it. He’s flapping his arms and kicking his legs and you better believe he is closing his mouth. Every lesson he gets taken a little further back from the wall and some how he makes it there and finds it. He isn’t afraid to put his head in the water anymore and he isn’t afraid to jump to Miss Katie. At the end of each lesson, he gets a sucker. I think that makes it all worth it. And, as long as he is happy at the end, it makes me feel like it was all worth it putting him through that torture! I love to hear what he has to say as we drive home and his eyes are red from the chlorine and his nose is running and he is still taking big gasps from crying so hard.

When I showed Dax these pictures, here is what he said.....

“I a swim in the big big pool like a Dooooory! (Finding Nemo”) “I a do a monkey walk!”

“That water is so cold!” (and he shivers as he's sitting on my lap)

"I a close my mouff and reach for the whall"

"Dax crying." Why? "'Cause I swimmin' in the big big pool"

Yup, that about sums it up!

The Classics

Pictures are priceless. They bring back memories, put smiles of faces, remember the good ol’ days. Pictures are classic. There are the ones that will be your favorite for years down the road, that capture the moment, the personality, perfectly.

It’s almost guaranteed when you look through a baby’s album, there will be those traditional shots that will be captured in every single baby book you look in. For example, there will always be the first day of school shots. I know my mom has mine, and what a hoot it is to look at them! Most likely you’ll find pictures of the first steps, pictures of the child screaming with Santa Clause, pictures of a child running around in their diaper outside, pictures in the snow, in the pool, their first trip to Disneyland. You’ll most likely see pictures in the bath tub, in their Easter dress, at their school talent show, swinging on the swings, and learning to ride their bike. These are all classics. As a mom, you know you always take them, you don’t want to forget that memory.

Well, for me, for some reason, there is another category that is a classic. No matter how old Dax gets, I still have to pull out the camera for this one. I know one day he’ll outgrow it. It most definitely will not always be cute. In fact, I probably only have a few more years of this shot before it gets so NOT cute. But for right now, when he does this, when he looks this way, it always causes me to pull out the camera. I’m not exactly sure why. I’m not sure if it is the sly little smile, or the twinkle in his eye, or the joy you can tell he is getting out of looking this way. Either way, whatever it is, I love it!! See what I mean?

My mom has always told me that I was her piggiest eater. If there is one thing that Dax takes after me, it's that he is a piggy eater too...and to me, it's adorable! Next month, we'll start Wyatt on cereal and I'm sure I'll have a million pictures of his cute, messy face as well.

What shots of your kids can you never resist to take a picture of?

The Backyard

It has been a long time since I have been able to enjoy a backyard…...

Growing up, I was lucky enough to live in the same house in HB for the first 18 years of my life. When I was 4 or 5, although we lived a ½ mile from the ocean, my parents put in a pool. I spent so many summers swimming around watching my hair turn green. I use to pretend our little Jacuzzi attached to the pool was my own personal swim area. As I got older, we made up the craziest, funnest games to play. I can remember boys jumping from our roof into the pool. Something I never did, but witnessed many times. We always had end of the school year parties and end of the season sports parties. We had a HUGE light in the back that would light up our entire cul-de-sac and then the next morning we would find hundreds of June bugs dead in the water. Gross I know, but they just meant we spent the night swimming under the moon with great company.

My backyard had a little playhouse nestled in the corner that my dad and grandpa built. It had little pavers walking up to it, a door with a lock and cute little windows. When my mom would make curtains for our house, she would use the scraps to make curtains for the playhouse. And when pieces of furniture got too old or dingy for our house, they were moved to the playhouse. We loved re-decorating that playhouse. We didn’t too much care for the bugs that found their way inside, but overall it was a great place to run and play.

Every summer we had a great big garden with string beans, cherry tomatoes, squash, zucchini, corn on the cob, you name it. I spent so many hours sitting on the brick retaining wall picking weeds, and I’m sure a few occasional plants, and watering that garden. On the opposite side of the yard we had a huge area with raspberry bushes. We loved picking them and putting them straight in the pool to “wash them” off and right into our mouths. These raspberries made the best jam, malts and ice cream toppings.

My backyard was where the opossums fell into the trashcans, where we sat on lawn chairs and played cards on summer nights, where we took pictures before high school dances, where we would rinse off all the sand after being at the beach. It is full of so many memories. I am so grateful for those memories.

I didn’t realize how grateful I was for that backyard until now—10 years later. Since I left for college at 17, now 10 years later, this is the first time I have had the chance to enjoy a backyard. Between college dorms and apartments, married campus housing, basements and so forth, I have not had a backyard of my own to enjoy. Granted, our house in Utah did have a great big yard, there was just nothing fencing it in. That kinda defeats the purpose if you ask me.

Now finally, we have our backyard! And only recently have I learned how important it is for a little child to have a backyard so he can start having those memories about this house that I have of my first house. It is Dax’s favorite place to play. We spend at least an hour out there each afternoon. There’s nothing fancy about it. Grass, a sand box, his playhouse, some planters, and a little baby orange tree, but this is completely Dax’s territory. He has the freedom to throw, to run, to kick, to jump, anything he wants. The baby pool from last summer has been replaced by the 8 foot slip ‘n slide this summer. And maybe next summer that will be replaced by the blow up water slide at Costco. The activities in the backyard will keep changing as the kids keep growing. Whatever they are, I am so happy that we have a backyard. Dax may not remember the fun he had these first few years, but I know I will always remember how much I loved watching him play in the backyard.

The 'Scary' Quiet

Have you ever had one of those moments where your mind is telling you one thing, but your body is doing something completely different? That's happened to me....many a times. Almost daily.

Well, yesterday was no exception.

It was very quiet. You would think I would be rejoicing in the fact that I managed to get both boys down and successfully sleeping at the same time, and time that both were sleeping had past the horrible half-hour mark when Wyatt thinks he is ready to wake up and is rearing to go---this boy thrives on the cat nap. Happily, we had already had that kind of quiet earlier in the day where I took great advantage and sat on the couch and watched three television programs and ate a post-lunch lunch. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that, but since it doesn't happen as often as I'd like, I'm okay with it.

It was the other kind of quiet. The quiet when your 2 year old is awake and playing, you're in another room, and you can't hear them. The scary quiet. I run when this happens. Dax is anything but quiet. He crashes cars loud, yells "TIMMMMMBEEERRRRR" loud when building high high towers with his block, jumps off furniture loud, and sings songs loud. And usually it happens to be taking place right next to me. There aren't many times throughout the day that Dax isn't within an arms distance reach. I've mentioned this before. He doesn't need me playing with him or isn't shy and scared to be away from me, he's just the first born that follows his mom from room to room.

But, yesterday, this wasn't the case. I was in our bedroom and Dax was awake, and it was quiet. The TV wasn't on, he wasn't outside, and he was quiet. I wanted to move. I knew I needed to move. Every fiber told me to go check on him to see what he was up too. He's getting smarter these days...it is causing more trouble. But my body couldn't move. I knew I was going to pay for it later, but I could not move. I couldn't jinx those quiet, still, precious moments of peace.

It didn't last long. Five or ten minutes maybe and he came bounding into my room, "Hi mom, what are you doing?" I asked him the same thing and couldn't get any answer that made sense. I went to the front room where I knew he was playing, and found no evidence of foul play. Everything looked as it should be. Nothing was broken, nothing was cut, and nothing was drawn on the walls. I was feeling pretty good. But what had he been up to?

It wasn't until I downloaded my pictures off my camera from this weekend that I instantly realized what he had been up to.




What a crack up! He only took five pictures, and these are three of them. The funniest part is he turned on the camera, turned it onto himself, and got it to take black and white pictures. I can barely do that half the time! I was actually kinda impressed. If a camera can keep him quiet in another room for a few minutes, I'm all for it.

Needless to say, today's errands include a stop at Walgreens for a disposable camera just for Dax.

The Pecans

Yesterday we had our contest winning photo shoot with Mindy! We had so much fun! We met her in a beautiful custom home development right here in Queen Creek where lots for these homes costs more than our house! It was the perfect setting and the perfect atmosphere for pictures. There was a perfect office with great big wrought iron and wooden doors, stone walls, curvy paths lined with trees, a clock tower, bright green grass and rows of stunning flowers. Mindy was everything we expected and more!! She was so great with Dax and just let him dictate the pace and the style of the shoot. He didn’t really want to stay in one place too long and had a TON of…let’s call it, energy. How does that happen even with no nap? Mindy captured everything we had hoped! It was pretty difficult to get a shot of Dax and Wyatt together, especially with Dax having no interest in holding his brother and Wyatt not sitting up yet, but some how Mindy managed to capture the two of them in what might just be my favorite picture of the bunch. It is featured on her photography site’s home page. How cool is that? Check it out for yourself and let me know your favorites. I need help picking our 2 free 8 x 10’s.

Go to http://www.mindykiddphotography.com/ and enter the site. Click on CLIENTS and enter macgillivray for the password.

Thank you again Mindy for your time and talent! You are truly truly great at what you do! How did we wind up so lucky to win your fun contest?! We can't wait for the next one! :)

...brings May flowers

Happy May! Sadly, May flowers around our house means fake flowers. Dax loves to smell flowers but also has a little issue with jumping from one flower bush to the next like leap frog. Who knows where he comes up with these things. Wyatt wanted to eat these flowers anyway, so I guess it's a good thing they're fake. Wishing everyone happy wishes this month!

11th: Happy Mother's Day

17th: Happy Birthday Grandma Kreipl, Jennifer and Melody

26th: Happy Birthday Dad and Happy Memorial Day

27th: Happy Birthday Miki

Winners!

When Jamie and I were born, twins weren't all that common. People would stare wherever we went and there have been more than one time that someone has stopped us in the mall or at the library to ask if we have ever considered modeling. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, it was merely the fact that we were identical twins.

When we were younger my mom thought getting us into acting and modeling was a great idea. That didn't last long. Apparently when we would audition for commercials we would laugh when they asked us to cry and we would cry when they asked us to laugh. There was a frozen fish sticks commercial that used to be on TV all the time. The part we were auditioning for was for the two kids who were supposed to run downstairs to the basement and there they would see boxes of fish sticks popping out of the freezer. The camera would zoom in on the children's faces and there was supposed to be an expression of shock and surprise. We couldn't make that face. We didn't get the part.

Another time when I was probably 4 or 5 and I was in a room by myself sitting in a chair looking at 3 people behind a desk. They asked me if I liked Big Bird. I just giggled and acted shy and then eventually shook my head. The whole interview lasted about two in a half minutes. it doesn't take a brain scientist to figure out if I don't like Big Bird I'm not going to get the part in a Sesame Street commercial. That was the last straw. My mom got tired of driving us to LA, so she gave up on us. We always joke how if she would have persisted maybe we could have been the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson of TV. Oh well!

Something good did come of this (Mom, pay attention, this is for you!). For our portfolio my mom had a professional photographer come over and take some headshots of us. We wore red shirts with white floppy, cotton hats with red hearts on them. I L-O-V-E this picture. It makes me smile when I see it. i can remember the day, getting my hair curled, sitting on the brick wall..all of it. It is my most favorite picture of Jamie and I. The picture captures our personality, our love for each other, the happiness in our eyes and smile. I just love it.

Well, this is a long way of getting around to it, but we WON! Thanks to all you diligent voters, the boys won a classic photo session with an AMAZING professional photographer. It was a tight race between us an adorable little boy with a painted-on tiger face. As the clock crept closer and closer to midnight our trusty counters, Dave and Misti, let us know we were in the lead by about 11 votes....they even stayed up until 1 am Utah time just to make sure "picture #5" didn't swoop on us and take the lead at the last second. When Mindy went to declare the winner at midnight last night there was a glitch in her Internet and she wasn't able to view the results right at midnight. So, to be fair, she declared TWO winners. Either way, we're winners and the boys got over 190 votes! You guys are awesome!

The reason why I've been so adamant about winning this thing is so that maybe, just maybe, these pictures will capture all those things that I see in my favorite childhood picture. Hopefully these pictures will be something that the boys can look at when they get older and smile how I do when I look at mine.

I'm sure I will have some truly brilliant pictures to share with all of you when we have our photo shoot! Thanks everyone and thank you Mindy!

We're getting a TEMPLE!

The rumors have been swirling for awhile, but it's official now. Two new temples are being constructed in Arizona and 1 will be right here in Gilbert! Check this out!

LDS Church NewsPublished: Friday, Apr. 25, 2008 Plans to build two new temples in Arizona, one in the Gila Valley and the other in Gilbert, were announced by President Thomas S. Monson. This will bring the total number of temples to 134 already in operation or in the planning and construction phases."It is my personal priority to make sure members of the Church have access to the blessings of the temple," said President Monson. "It is here where members learn of their divine origin and destiny; where they are strengthened spiritually as individuals and as families. Temples are sanctuaries from the storms of life."There are currently two temples in Arizona: one in Mesa and another in Snowflake. The temples in the Gila Valley and Gilbert will bring the total number to four.The two new temples are the first to be announced by President Monson since he became president of the Church on Feb. 3.

We are so blessed! We have always lived so close to temples both in CA and in UT and have been so fortunate. We are thrilled to be the closest to this new Gilbert Arizona Temple than we have ever been to one of the Lord's houses. That's saying quite a lot when we've lived in Orem and would attend the Provo Temple and lived in Lehi and would attend to Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It's pretty spectacular and we can't wait!!

Circus

MacGillivray Bros.

CIRCUS

proudly presents a terrific duo of magnificent family productions touring the nation!

Starring Wyatt MacGillivray

and Ringmaster Dax MacGillivray

Watch as Dax holds the oinking stuffed pig and the Amazing Wyatt rolls over!

Well, he didn't quite make it all the way over...but he was so close. I can't believe my little guy is about to roll over. Dax was so proud of him. He was so encouring telling Wyatt to "come get the pigggggg-ie!" I really felt like I was watching a little show at the Circus with baby animals! They were both so cute. Just a little more training I guess and then we're hitting the road!!

Don't forget to keep voting for the boys @ http://bloggingwithmindy.blogspot.com/

Finalists!

My friend from college told me about her cousin who lives nearby who is a professional photographer. She was having a contest where you could win a FREE classic photo session and 2 FREE 8x10 prints. A photo from the session will also be showcased on her new photography homepage! To enter the contest you needed to email her a photo that you yourself have taken and must include 1-4 people. The free session will only include the person/people in the picture you submitted.

I have wanted so badly to get the boys pictures professionally taken now that Wyatt is smiling so I hurried and emailed her one of my few photos of the boys. Her children were going to choose the finalists and she posted them on her website this morning. Guess what??! Wyatt and Dax are picture number one.

The winner will be selected by an online blog poll This is here I need your help. Go to http://bloggingwithmindy.blogspot.com/ and vote for Dax and Wyatt. Only one vote per person per day. One the right hand side of the screen is the contest poll and make sure to click on "Picture 1". You don't have to have a blog or need to sign in to vote; it just takes one little click. I know there are tons of you who read our blog and don't leave comments, so go over and at least vote for the boys' picture.

And hurry, picture #3 is already kicking our butt!!

While you're there, check out her photography site, she's amazing!

Hopefully this time next week the boys will be winners!

Fishing

When I was younger, I loved taking weekend trips with my mom. She was always so fun and would plan a few overnighters for us just because. They wouldn’t be far, Palm Springs or San Diego, but I loved that one on one time (or in my case, being a twin, two on one time) with my mom. I will always have those memories because it meant so much to be doing something with my mom away from the normal day-to-day life. We grew closer, we bonded, we shared a new experience. I hope one say I will get to do the same things with my girls. But until I get a little girl, I will have to be the one to send off Austin and the boys for their weekend getaways.

A few weeks ago Austin asked if he could take Dax fishing. YIKES! A lot of you don’t know Dax and his personality, but I recently concluded, with the help of my sister Jamie, that Dax is definitely spirited. It’s the perfect way to describe him. He has boundless energy, is a total dare-devil, and is extremely passionate and determined (i.e stubborn). All this energy and liveliness makes him extremely accident prone. Fishing, with poles, hooks, lakes, boats and so forth, made me extremely nervous. But, I knew Austin was dying to take him, so I finally gave in, with a tiny prayer in my heart that all would return safely.

Austin's parents spend half the year in Utah and were headed back this week until October to avoid the blistering summer. I know Austin was just as excited to go fishing with his dad before he left as he was to take Dax for his first time. Those three all acted like little boys in a candy store the entire week leading up to the trip. Dax could not stop saying, “go fishin’ with my daddy and my bam-pa”. They took half a day cleaning out the pop up tent trailer, met at the grocery store in the wee hours of the morning before work to get food for the trip, and made a midnight trip to Wal-Mart to get Dax his very own Lightening McQueen fishing pole.

They left Friday afternoon and were coming back Saturday after lunch; a quick 24-hour trip. Poor Dax. I know if I ever send him away to camp or anywhere else, he’ll be so embarrassed of his mom. I packed 3 of his brightest shirts in his closest in case he wondered off, 5 pairs of socks in case his got wet, 12 diapers (that’s like packing 12 pairs of underwear for 1 day…come on!) and his favorite pillow and “numbers” book for bedtime just to name a few things that went into his over sized bag. I’m a little bit of a crazed overprotective mom, but luckily he’s too small to understand my madness.

I took to the night off with a tribute dinner at Red Lobster with my mom and Wyatt and toasted (our raspberry lemonades) to the boys gone fishing. Of course on Saturday we shopped.

The boys on the other hand…..

They headed out on the boat as soon as they set up “camp”. Dax sported a pink life vest and cast his Lightening McQueen rod, in it’s entirety, into the lake within the first 5 minutes. I think he was in charge of the net at that point. It got cold quick so they headed to shore and started the fire. They cooked their tin foil dinners and headed to bed for an early start in the morning. It sounded like Dax slept the best of all three of them, thanks to my great packing, because the two older boys froze! They headed back out on the boat until lunchtime when they decided to pack it in and head home. Sadly, they didn’t catch any fish! I wanted to see the classic picture of Dax holding up his very first fish, but no luck this time. Austin concluded that Dax probably scared all the fish away. Sure!

Even though no fish were caught, they all had a great time. Dax survived, but barely. He took a dive in the boat and hit his lip and cut it in two places. It bled like crazy and Austin asked his dad if he thought he needed stitches. Consensus: No. Then he fell out the tent trailer door and caught his foot in between the two small steps. He cried like crazy and Austin asked his dad if he thought his leg was broken. Consensus: No. Phewww!

I am so glad they made it all back in one piece. If there were no stitches and no broken bones, I call it a success, even if there were no fish to show for it. Dax will remember that he got to stay up late and look at the stars, roast marshmallows in the fire, sleep next to his dad in the great outdoors and spend the day on a boat. He loves his dad more than anything and I don't blame him. Austin truly is his hero. Dax is still talking about fishing with his dad and his bam-pa.....

The Day Has Come

My Wyatt is no longer a newborn.

I tried to deny it.

It all started Sunday at Church when I was holding him and half a dozen women stopped me in the hall and gushed at how big he was getting.

Really? You think? I was kinda surprised…shocked even. There’s no way he is that big…right?

I’m lucky. I get to see him every second of every day. And yes, he is obviously getting bigger, but isn’t he still my newborn? I’ve been in denial all week about it. How did this happen?

When did he start chuckling, making high-peeched squeals, and laughing?
When did he start opening his hands rather than them being in little fists all the time?
When did he start holding his head up while on his tummy, and better yet, laying it down rather than letting it fall?
When did he start grabbing at things and bringing them to his mouth?
When did he start taking an interest in toys and wave his arms?
When did he start holding his head sturdy when sitting on my lap?
When did he start cooing at himself when he catches a glimpse in front of the mirror?
When did he start recognizing my voice before he even saw me?

When did all this happen? I guess I came to the dark realization today when I was talking to my twin sister, Jamie, who doesn’t have the chance to see Wyatt as much as everyone else in my family, and I started our conversation off by saying, “He’s getting so big”.

Uggg. It’s so sad that this day has come. Wyatt is no longer my little newborn.

Melting

We're melting! 95 degrees today and we're melting. It's not even considered summer yet, and we're MELTING!!

Help.

I’m outta a Job….

….My job of being a mom.

Well, kinda. I still change countless diapers, fill up the Diego cup endless times a day with juice and water, get asked a thousand times a day “what are you doing, mama?” and read the same stories over a million times. But, my job as the entertaining, amusing, interesting MOM, has been taken over.

My “two boys” have truly discovered the benefit of having each other as brothers. This week I started using that phrase a ton and Dax has been repeating it all week long. My two boys no longer need me to make them laugh, make them smile, or tickle them. They have each other.

When Wyatt hears Dax’s voice his eyes light up and he smiles bigger than when anyone else talks to him. Wyatt follows Dax across the room, even though I am sure he gets dizzy watching him run from one corner to the next. Wyatt “talks” to Dax and tells him all his funny, and sometime, sad stories; not me.

Dax asks for Wyatt first thing in the morning. I can barely get a kiss out of him before he is running off wondering, “Where’d White-y go?” Dax shows Wyatt his ouies, brings him his toys to see, and definitely gets more hugs and kisses throughout the day than boring old me.

I am so thankful they have each other and love each other so much, but I am kinda jealous. I loved my job as the fun, exciting mom. I miss it. What do I get to do all day if I don’t get to tickle Wyatt because Dax is already doing it or if I don’t get to play cars with Dax because he’s lined them all up next to Wyatt? I miss the attention and miss being the center of their little worlds. I wonder, is this only a glimpse of what is to come?

I know these two may not always love sharing everything, especially as Wyatt gets older and more mobile. Who knows, this could just be a phase. Either way, I pray these two will always know the benefits of being brothers a being my “two boys”.
And if all else fails, they can still have me. Because according to Dax and the new phrase for today: “Mommy’s a boy”---followed by a mischievous laugh. Thanks bud, good to know!

Life

Last week a one of my closest friends from high school and Huntington Beach surprised me on my doorstep. We haven’t seen each other since my wedding day and have only recently been in touch through the blogging world. You can imagine my surprise when on a typical Thursday morning my doorbell rings and I opened the door to a face I haven’t seen in close to six in a half years…and her daughter!

My first reaction was total and complete shock. I was so excited to see her standing in front of me! Then complete horror set in!

It was 10:30 in the morning. I was showered, but that does not mean I was looking good. I had no make-up on and my hair was air-drying. With the AZ heat, that equals a hot frizzy mess. I was dressed, but that does not mean I had on a cute outfit. I was in shorts and a boring shirt from lets face it, a few years ago (there wasn’t much on the agenda that day, so what was the point?). I was at home, but that doesn’t mean the house was clean. There was a diaper next to the front door, toys scattered EVERYWHERE, Dax was running around with syrup on his face from breakfast, Wyatt was still in his pajamas waking up from a nap, the couch was pulled away from the wall because our home builders had been in the day before fixing the drywall, dishes were piling up, you could see mini hand prints all over the TV screen, dust bunnies along the baseboards, loads of laundry peeking out the door….the list goes on and on.
I could not have been more embarrassed to be visiting with my friend that I haven’t seen in all these years with me and my house looking the way we did.

We had a great visit and when she left, I kicked it into high gear. I needed the house to be back in tip-top shape. Who knew who would pop in next and I needed to be prepared! I am a firm believer that your house is a reflection of you. I stay pretty on top of my household chores. Laundry, dishes, toys picked up, floors swept; the basics. I try to have a clean house every night when Austin gets home, and if I can’t get it all finished, I just burn a candle and hope it smells like I was cleaning something.

This little visit got me to thinking….

So what if there is still food on the table from breakfast? Or if there are three spit up cloths on the floor because we went through so many making Wyatt laugh after he ate he couldn’t keep anything down? I want to be living, not cleaning! It reminded me of a quote….

I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn.I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children.I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.

That is exactly how I feel!

I want everyone who comes to my messy house to know that I spent an hour on my hands and knees in the grass looking for lizards rather than folding laundry, or that I couldn’t stop playing peek a boo with Wyatt for 45 minutes to clean the bathroom because he was smiling the entire time, that the mess on the counter was from when Dax pulled the chair up to help me beat the eggs for breakfast and most of them sloshed out of the bowl, that there is no point in making my bed in the morning because when the garage door opens when Austin gets home that is where Dax hides from him, that the majority of the dust bunnies are there because Dax runs around with the Swiffer being a "helper", that we ran outside in the grass in our bare feet chasing bubbles rather than loading the dishwasher.

Yes, all those things around the house eventually need to get done, and somehow they do (and if they don't just remember the candle trick), but for the time being, I want to enjoy these moments with my children and be an active part of their lives. All those other things can wait.

So if you drop by, and it looks like a bomb went off, just remember, this is our crazy life and we love living every single second!

April Showers!

Happy April! Even though we’re not planning on too much rain here this month, that’s still the theme! Wishing everyone a happy Spring and sending family member's birthday wishes and couples happy anniversaries'....and everything else going on this month in our growing family!!

1st: April Fool’s

2nd: Happy Birthday Taylor and Rockwell

5th: Happy Anniversary Mel and Gav

9th: Happy Anniversary Shanen and Josh

11th: Happy Birthday Chance

16th: Happy Birthday Lani and Shanen

18th: Happy Birthday Jayden

27th: Happy Birthday Gavin

Wishing & Hoping

Dax has been talking for a few months now. He adds new words to his vocabulary everyday, is talking in sentences and of course has his favorite phrases. This would include “Run fast like Night Night” (which is Lightening McQueen) followed by him running as fast as he can through the living room, and “Dax trys”, which basically means he is Mr. Independent and has to do everything for himself, to name just a few.

Since he has been talking, I would say there are two phrases that Austin and I have been really big on teaching him. “I love you” is the first one. We say this to him so many times a day it’s ridiculous and he has never ever said these words back. We get hugs and kisses and all those wonderful sentiments, but Dax has never said, “I love you” to either one of us. It’s almost heartbreaking how badly we want him to say these three little words. He’s talking in sentences, but he cannot, or will not, utter these words.
The other phrase has to do with his manners. We are BIG “please” and “thank you” people. We try and remind him to always say these things and we are to the point where he doesn’t even need us to prompt him any more. In the meantime, he has picked up on the phrase, “You’re welcome”. These are all great and we are so proud that he has manners. To set the standard even a little bit higher, when Dax asks for something, instead of whining or crying, like many 2 year olds do, we ask that he says, “May I have a (fill in the blank) please, daddy or mommy”. He sounds like a little robot when he asks this way, but we love our polite little robot!

With all this going on, no wonder this is how just two of our conversations went today.

Dax: “May I love juice, please, mama!”

And a little later…

Austin: “I love you Dax!”

Dax: “You’re welcome daddy!”

We laughed so hard. We love our little guy, we just hope one day in between being so polite he says it back to us!

I have a plan….and I need some help!

No, it’s not to turn Dax into a body builder.

Let me explain what a picture of my muscle-y son has to do with me having a plan.

Anyone with a toddler knows about the “toddler diet”, right? That very special diet that any 18 month old, two year old, and I am assuming three and four year old is on. The one where they can’t manage to sit at the table for two seconds to eat any worthwhile food, but twenty minutes later need a “snack” or “treat”. I have to say; we don’t battle Dax too much with his eating habits. He does really well most the time, and the time that he doesn’t, we just know that eventually, some day, he’ll be hungry and eat a sensible meal. It’s worked for us. He’s growing so we don’t make it a fight.

In fact, it’s kinda fun to try and figure out a way for him to eat when he is in one of these phases. The latest? Dax gets to choose any seat at the dinner table. Forget assigned seating. If he chooses to sit in daddy’s seat, no problem. He’s choosing to sit at the table so we’re happy. Well last night as Dax sat next to Austin in my chair, and I sat across the table, we were encouraging him to take some bites of chicken potpie. I told him how eating a good dinner would make him “healthy and strong”. I’ve used this phrase with him before, but tonight something clicked. Dax proceeded to take a big bite, jump out of his chair, do a jumping jack, then get back into his chair and flexed. What? Who taught you to flex? He learned jumping jacks from playing Simon Says with his cousin, but flexing? Where did this come from? The rest of the dinner proceeded with Dax delegating whose turn it was to flex and show how strong they were. Austin and I were cracking up, but we all got in a full meal.

Now, back to that chicken potpie. Austin hadn’t been feeling well so I had decided to make him some comfort food. As I went to turn on the oven for an hour, it dawned on me that those dreaded summer months are coming where no one in their right minds uses the oven for an hour. It’s WAY too hot. In the summer you resort to any other form of cooking besides the oven. Last summer included a lot of salads and any cool foods.

My plan for this summer….learn to BBQ.

Yup, that’s my plan. Learn to BBQ. Probably sounds so simple. For me, it’s a little intimidating. I know barbequing is probably fool proof, but I’m kinda scared. I don’t know what to make, how to make it, and what turns out good?? But, with Austin gone late so many nights, I need to figure it out!

The only time I have stood over an open BBQ and grilled was in Hawaii. There is this great restaurant on Oahu where you order your meat, it comes to you raw, you walk over to this massive barbeque and slap your meat right on it. Overhead is a huge board with all the different kinds of meat and the time you should cook it for on each side for whatever way you want it cook; rare, medium-rare and so forth. I NEED this board. I need it shrunk down and sent to me, or emailed or something. I need to figure out a way to cook in the summer, keep my little lightweight Dax “healthy and strong” and I need to get over this little fear called the BBQ.

My plan? Take on the BBQ! Now help me! What do you all make on that scary thing called the barbeque that I couldn't mess up??

Spring is Here!

I love the Spring time!! I love everything about it! The thing is, I am quickly realizing that there is no such thing as “spring” in AZ. In fact, there is no such things as “fall” either. In AZ there are only two seasons….Summer and cooler weather. I can’t even bring myself to call it a “winter”. Regardless, I'm not complaining and last week was the first day of Spring, and in Arizona, that means the first day of a very quickly approaching HOT summer!!

There are a few things that I have noticed that let’s me know that summer is quickly on it’s way. They all revolve around our wonderful Easter weekend! Here’s my list of things and a quick recap of our fun fun weekend!

1. MOWING THE LAWN
Saturday the day began early with Austin mowing the lawn. That’s the first indication that summer is fast approaching because it’s time to get up EARLY on Saturday morning to mow the lawn to escape the heat!

2. FLOWERS
Our cute friends dropped by a bouquet of freshly picked flowers when they borrowed our lawn mower because there’s busted. Even though people may think Arizona is all brown and desert-y, which in most cases it is, we do have some pretty extraordinary flowers that grow early in the year that really brighten up the streets and yards, and in my case, my kitchen table! I practically made Austin run to Home Depot right then and there to buy me some of those flowers to plant! They were beautiful!

3. SANDALS and SHORTS
If there is one thing I love, it’s wearing sandals. And the thing I love about sandals, is that my feet get tan. I noticed that I was sporting a little tan line on my toes and that Dax was too and it just made me smile. I love tan feet. And of course, jeans are no longer. It’s shorts from here on out. That was our attire Saturday as we got ready for the afternoon with my family.

4. PICNICS and BBQ’s
Last year we started a tradition of getting together the Saturday before Easter to play in the park, BBQ and have an egg hunt. Sunday’s are hard to gather everyone and this gives us all a nice chance to relax and play. So Saturday was our 2nd Annual Kreipl Easter Picnic. We met at the park right next to my house and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite traditions. The kids play in the sand, run around on the grass and play with all the toys brought by everyone. After dinner we have a huge egg hunt and everyone loves that!!

5. WATER BALLOONS
This year I thought it would be fun to fill up some water balloons and have a water balloon toss at the park. Me and Dax do this quite a bit in the backyard and he loves it, and with Saturday being such a gorgeous day, I thought all the other cousins would have fun too. I had each of the kids pick an adult to play with and everyone had so much fun! I think I’ll do that again next year!

6. EASTER SUNDAY
When you’ve slept with windows open and fans on the night before Easter Sunday, you know it’s going to be a pretty great day! I’m holding out turning on the actual air conditioner because there will be plenty of that in the months to come!
I stole an idea from Jamie about making Easter bunny footprints throughout the house with powdered sugar and told Dax that the Easter bunny had come. He ran to see the feet and thought it was a crack up. We have the whole thing on video. The Easter bunny left him a note in his room with clues of all sorts of things he did around the house while Dax was sleeping, and the last clue was that the Easter bunny went and played in “Dax’s house”. This is the little clubhouse that Santa brought Dax and he would sleep in the thing if he could. He loves it. He ran to check out his basket and didn’t come back in all morning.

7. SPRING FEVER
You’d think with Dax getting to play outside all the time, he wouldn’t have Spring Fever. He always gets to ride his bike outside, play at the park, roll around in the grass and eat lunch in “Dax’s house”, but for some reason, this weekend especially, he was in RARE form. Even more non stop than usual, even more spunkier than usual, even more full throttle than usual, and even more rambunctious then usual. You’d think that was impossible with how crazy he is most the time, but he was double his usual self this weekend. The only way I could get him to hold still for a picture in his Easter outfit was to play Simon Says. I bet you can guess what Simon said in this picture?? Does Dax’s Spring Fever explain why I didn’t get a picture of the boys together (or one of the whole family?)? But then again, maybe it wasn’t spring fever at all, maybe it was the handfuls of candy he started popping at 7:30am!!!

Spring is here, but we’re not fooled, we know that’s you SUMMER sneaking up on us way too soon!!