Crystal's Shower

My friend Sarah and I are in the midst of throwing a shower for my sister in law Crystal. I am really excited about it. We were going to try and make it a surprise, but then Crystals mom and husband both told me that she would be mad if I did that. I considered still throwing her a surprise shower, but decided against it. I feel like a super party planner, throwing my parents party last weekend, and Crystals party next weekend. Does anyone want to hire me? I make invitations too! But really...Crystal I love you, and you deserve this shower!

Anniversary Party

Last weekend my sister in law Crystal and I threw my parents a surprise 30th anniversary party. It was totally fun, all their friends came and it was very fulfilling to know that they were so surprised. It made all the work worth it. This is the invitation we sent out...

My parents had tons of fun, and thanked me profusely for the party.

DRY!

So Kasen just woke up and he was DRY!!!! Holy cow I am glowing I am so happy! Jeremy went in to get him and he told daddy "I want to go potty"...isn't that great? Jeremy put him down, Kasen walked into the bathroom pulled down his pants and 30 seconds later went pee pee!! How great is my kid? Today is a good day! Funny how I let PEE PEE determine whether I am having a good day or not. I guess thats the life of a mother of a potty training 2 year old!

Went on a HOT date....

Yesterday Kasen and I went to go see his first movie! I was really nervous during the day not knowing whether he was going to sit there and watch it, or be loud and crazy.

He is able to sit at home and watch a movie, but he can also talk when he wants to. Go get his juice, go potty, that sort of thing. So I wasn't sure how he would do without being able to do all those things.

I tried to tell him we were going to the movies. We were going to see a movie. He knows movies and loves them, but doesn't understand the concept of going to SEE a movie. When we pulled into the parking lot, he knew right away where we were and kept saying "go see movie" so I was happy that we made it that far. We got out of the car and started walking towards the theatre. Kasen told me he wanted to "go upstairs to see a movie" there are stairs in front of the ticket counters. We bought my ticket since Kasen isn't 3 yet, and I gave it to him. He handed it to the guy and got the stub. We went and got popcorn which he was super excited about and then we walked to the theatre. Still carrying that ticket in his hand. We walked in and he looked at the screen and said "WHOA! Big TV!" My parents have a 61" tv and he doesn't really realize that the one he has at home is huge as it is! We went and sat in the front row of the theatre section. Not the front front row. SO we could put our feet on the poles. Kasen STILL holding his ticket. We got a small popcorn to share so I got him a box to pour some for him to eat out of. Still holding his ticket. Like it was his ticket to Heaven or something. It was funny. He sat there and ate with popcorn in one hand and his ticket in the other. He got excited when the lights went off and the movie came on. They had a Shrek preview and Kasen was sooo excited about it! He thought that was the movie we were there to see. He was sad when it ended. "Shrek go?" "Shrek go" then they started an old fashioned Mickey Mouse show. He was excited about that too!!! He loves Mickey Mouse and wants to watch the clubhouse all day long. So, the movie finally came on and he just sat there. He ate his popcorn and watched. He did climb back and forth from his chair to my lap a couple times and with a half hour left he fell asleep in my arms....when the movie was over I knew he would have to go potty. So without telling him we got up and went STRAIGHT into the restroom. I tried to sit him ON the potty, but he wasn't havin that, he felt too unstable. So I stood him up and he wasn't tall enough. I knew he had to go so I wasn't going to give up. I picked him up and held him maybe like a foot off the ground and told him that I was holding him, he wouldn't fall and to go potty. He leaned forward in my arms and rested his hands on the toilet, gross I know...but I wanted him to be comfortable to go potty. So he started leaning even more forward then he already was and I looked and he fell asleep! lol...I woke him up, told him to go and he did. He watched as his pee pee made bubbles and I made a big deal out of the bubbles and he took a "daddy pee" the longest one I have seen him take since being on the potty. EVER! It was really funny!

Anyway, our first movie experience was great, and it will for sure happen again in a few weeks when Shrek comes out!

Potty Update

So this has been the hardest week EVER. Tons of emotions, from one extreme to the other. No, I am not pregnant. I am trying to potty train my 2.5 year old son. Monday started out with tantrums everytime I tried to put him on the toilet. Tuesday was the same way, still making accidents in his diaper. Wed was the worst of all!! Holding it while he was sitting on the potty til I gave up and then put his diaper back on then would pee in that. OR...he would go pee pee on the potty and then I Would give him his treat, and 10 minutes later he would wet himself. I understand there is a process that goes along with potty training and this is totally normal. BUT, that doesn't mean I have to like it!!!!! So Wed, I decided to go out and buy some of the COOL ALERT Pull Ups. Thinking that when he wet himself it would get cold and help him realize what was going on. Oh no, still wet himself and didn't even bother to tell me. That was the most frustrating part. What an annoying, frustrating process. lol...sorry this is more of a vent blog. So let's just skip to yesterday.

I am proud to announce that Kasen went poo poo in the potty for the first time yesterday. I think when I heard him grunting I might have scared him by saying..." Are you going poo poo?" He immediately jumped up from what he was "doing" and moved away. You can imagine the mess. I couldn't get mad at him though because he was actually trying to do what I was telling him to do ALL WEEK LONG! I was really proud, hopefully he will do a repeat today.

Also, I am proud to announce that Kasen didn't have a single accident yesterday in his pull ups. IN fact, he is starting to milk the system. He does this all by himself and then repeats the process. Well he did last night anyway. He would walk over to his potty chair, pull down his pull up, sit down and dribble. Cut off the stream, pull up his pull up then come get candy. Then that repeated about 5 times in a row, all the trouble for a single peanut butter M&M. LoL...isn't my kid cute? It was kind of annoying though. But I had to look at it positively. He knows when he needs to go potty, and is going all by himself!!! Which is a HUGE step in my eyes.

So I just wanted to vent and brag about my wonderful son who now goes pee pee and poo poo on the potty!

Oh wait! Another cute thing! When he dribbles, he calls it a "baby pee pee" and when its a long one, he calls it a "daddy pee pee" ....I have no idea where that came from. But I thought it was funny. Sometimes he will try to compromise and say in question looking at me..."a mommy one?" so I agree.

Who Wants to be Alone?

A few days ago after putting Kasen to bed, my family and I were watching some TV together. As it was time for my mom and dad to go to bed, my mom went to go up the stairs first. During the show, I kept telling Jeremy I thought I had heard Kasen come downstairs. He falls asleep in our bed watching a movie, then when we go up to bed, we carry him into his crib. So he could have easily gotten out of bed and come downstairs which he is known for. SO this time I told Jeremy I thought I had heard him, and Jeremy said I Didn't. So we kept watching the show... Anyway, back to my mom going up to bed. She came back around the corner to get me and just whispered and waved at me and told me to hurry. I thought Bailey had pooped in the floor or something and was trying to hide it from my dad. I had no idea what was going on. So I walked over to the stairs and this is what I found....

From my bed, he carried down...his blankie, bobby, tim, mickey AND dumbo! All of them! He wanted to be near us but knew that if he was seen, he would go straight in his crib. (his punishment for getting out of our bed after we tuck him in)...he didn't want to be alone. My heart just broke. It was so cute, but sad...He fell asleep on the stairs! What a sweetie! I love him!

Bayball

I have been searching Targets and Walmarts high and low for a plastic teeball set for Kasen. I knew that they were out there, he found one at a playgroup that we went to and fell in love with it. He did hold the bat wrong, and he did use a football instead of a baseball, but I just knew he

would love it if he had one.

After going to 3 Wal Marts and 2 Targets. I remembered that we have a Toys R Us. They carry toys. I forgot about that. So I was over in that shopping center the other day and I decided that I was going to go in and see. The people at Wal Mart were saying that these plastic teeball sets sell really fast and I would be lucky to find one. Well I proved them wrong when I walked into Toys R Us and found one RIGHT away. Best $12 I have spent in a long time.

I took it home to Kasen and showed it to him and he was THRILLED! He thanked me over and over again for the "surprise" that I promised him.

Jeremy is VERY serious about his sports and letting Kasen play them. Or should I say, making him play them. Kasen is willing though, so I guess 'letting him' is more appropriate. Jeremy took Kasen out to play with it and was telling him how to hold the bat, hot to hit the ball, how to keep contact with the ball when swinging, where to bring his arms back when he swings, so cute. I think Jeremy was just so excited that Kasen is at the age where he can start doing things that Jeremy likes. Jeremy at some points needed to be reminded that if he hounded his 2 year old son too much about what he was doing right and wrong, that it would be more a task, than something fun for father and son to do together. Also, at points, those who know Jeremy...know he is a kid at heart and likes to play with toys...well Kasen kept having to say "my turn daddy!!" way funny. I took a few pics and a video. I don't know how to do vidoes on here so I put it on my myspace. Here is the link if you want to check it out.... http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=39867279

Happy Sabbath!

Going to Nursery at church has always been hard for Kasen. He is 2.5 now and just started going on his own about 2 months ago. Its really cute because when I take him now, he goes and finds Brielle, holds her hand, holds my hand and the 3 of us walk to Nursery together holding hands. So cute. I open the door and they both just walk on in and start playing with toys and socializing with their friends. As much as their speech permits anyway. Well this past Sunday, the Nursery bully was there and boy did he do a lot of harm to many kids in there. Kasen was the first victim.

I was sitting in Sunday School when the a lady who was hepling out in Nursery came in and was looking all around the room. Just a reminder...I have been in this ward for 2.5 years now. So the helper, came in, I was sitting maybe 2 feet from the door, she started searching the room with her eyes, and then bends over and whispers in my ear. "Do you know who Brittany Bruce is?" I looked at her like uh? are you kidding me? "That's me..." and she looked at me and said "lucky guess" how lame! Anyway...so Kasen had a poopy diaper and I went to go change it and took Kasen back to Nursery.

THEN....no more than 10 minutes later the actual Nursery Leader came in and brought Kasen with her, I could hear him as soon as she opened the door crying "mommy, mommy" and she walked in with his sleeve rolled up and a wet paper towel covering his arm, up by his elbow. My eyes got huge and she bent down and told me that Kasen had been BIT and that he was upset and his arm hurt and that if I wanted to bring Kasen back when he calmed down that it wasn't a problem at all. Ok, first off...my kid got bit??? Second...bring him back? Bring him back to the kid who bit him? To what? Bite his other arm...riiiight. So Kasen did NOT want to go back to Nursery so he stayed with me the remainder of church. Towards the end of Relief Society I heard another kid SCREAMING out in the hall, and I saw the other Nursery leader walk by with a crying kid in her arms. I found out later, he too had been bit by the same kid that bit Kasen. Only he got bit on the bridge of the nose!!! Tell me how this is fair? After church was over, I found our friends and we were talking about what happened, and he said that his son had been scratched on his face and neck by the same kid that has now bitten 2 other kids. This is what I want to know, and still wonder about, and when I think about it, it still makes me mad!! Ok, so....tell me why 3 kids....THREE kids had to leave Nursery and got sit with their parents because they were hurt by the same kid, when the culprit stayed in Nursery to do more harm to others? If they would have just taken him out after he bit Kasen, then it would have spared 2 kids. I just don't get it. This kid is KNOWN for biting. So frustrating! This is Kasens bruise, a FULL set of teeth THROUGH a long sleeved shirt. Probably would have broken skin if he was wearing a short sleeved shirt. This is almost a week later....

SO the picture didn't turn out too well. You can see the bruising better in person. You might be able to see it a little below his freckle.

Oops my bad!

So since Kasen is getting older, and talking more I have noticed him copying things and picking up on things that I say. Which is fine, I don't think I say such horrible things that my 2 year old can't repeat, and if I do, I am VERY good about saying them when Kasen isn't around. But like I said, it's rare that I say anything Kasen can't hear. Kasen's little cousin Brielle has been doing this for a while and I have always wondered why Kasen never repeated what Jeremy and I said. Well apparently it's not that he didn't listen, he was just saving it for the right time.

The other day in the kitchen, Kasen was walking around and twirling and being silly while I was making dinner. He kept losing his balance and falling. On one of his attemps to stay standing he ran into the trash can in the kitchen and bumped his arm. He grabbed his arm, looked at it and said, "Oops! My bad!" Then went about his twirling business! I dropped the spoon, looked at Jeremy and said, "Did he just say what I Think he said?" Jeremy confirmed and I just started laughing. Of all the things he is going to repeat, OOPS MY BAD? How funny! I thought it was so dang cute I had to share!

Let's go fly a kite...

Yesterday the whole family (mom, dad, jeremy, kasen, zac, crystal and brielle and I) went to the park and played. Jeremy was trying to fly a kite that one of my dad's clients got for him. It was really funny watching jeremy run with a kite flying behind him. The wind wasn't consistant enough for the kite to STAY in the sky. It would fly for a few seconds and then fall. I was attacked by it a few times while trying to take some pictures of it.

While we were there, there was a birthday party going on and the little girl there was passing out bottles of bubbles. Kasen kept following around the girl with the bubbles and she got tired of it and so did her mom, so the mom started handing out bubbles to the kids who werent even there for the party or gathering. It was kinda funny. Jeremy and Zac were blowing bubbles for the Kasen and Brielle and I think honestly, they were having more fun than the kids were.

After about ten minutes of the daddy's playing with the bubbles, they gave em up so that the kids could finally play with them. Kasen got the hang of it pretty quickly. But he got his mouth a little too close a couple times. He was so proud of himself when he blew the bubbles. "I did it! Look, I did it!"

And of course, the camera was there and so was Jeremy. SO.....

And Crystal was there too, SO.....

and a good time was had by all!

Close-up

When Kasen and I went to the beach last week, I was zooming in trying to take pictures of him. I forgot to take the ZOOM off and took a picture of Kasen and I. This is what it turned out like. I am actually quite impressed with it. I like it a lot.

Mommy Son

I always treasure mommy son pictures because I am usually the one taking the pictures and no one ever offers to take pictures of Kasen and I. Well one night Sam and I went to Applebees and she took a picture of Kasen and I on HER camera. This was about 2 months ago, I just finally saw it this week and fell in love with it. How cute are WE? I can't remember the last time I was around someone that made me feel tan! :)

Easter Sunday

My parents were out of town for Easter, so my brother and his family invited us over to their house after church for dinner. We had HoneyBaked Ham and mashed potatoes and gravy and yummy rolls. Then Pecan pie after! Good food! Since they provided all the yummy food, we provided the egg hunt. We brought plastic eggs filled with yummy chocolate. There were 12 total so we split them up between Kasen and Brielle. I took video of Kasen kinding his eggs. He thought that was the funnest thing going around searching. Every time he found another one he would say "there's another egg"...when he found all 6 of his eggs, he put them down and started to open them all. "more nummys, more nummys" every time he opened one. It was so cute. He was so happy. It was just nice to be around family and spend time with them together. We normally see them every Sunday but it was different being at their house and remembering the real reason for Easter. Here are some pics:

I love to see the Temple...

Saturday we went to the Temple with Kasen and my friends Autumn's family. We have never been to the temple to just take pictures. Well since our sealing anyway...I am so glad we went. The spirit is just so strong even when you are outside walking around. I just felt so happy and giddy when I was there. It reminded me of how much I love to go IN the temple. But it was just really neat to be there with Kasen. He loved the flowers and kept wanting to pick them. They were so pretty and colorful and Kasen kept pointing out the different colors. Half the time he was wrong, but he is learning. It was neat for Jeremy and I to be there and reminisce about the day we were sealed. Brought back so many good memories and helped us realize that we can get through anything, if we just continue to love each other and stay close to the Lord. Here are some pics we took:

"Where'd my toes go?"

On Friday night my friend and her family came into town. We went to the beach with them since they don't get to see it too often in AZ where they live. I know I am a bad mom, this is the first time Kasen has ever really been to the beach. I am not that fond of going and neither is Jeremy so we just don't go. Kasen was freezing the whole time we were there. He wouldn't even move. If I took his hand and guided him he would go with me, but as soon as I let go of his hand, he stopped and just froze in place. He didn't know what to think of the sand. He finally took his "hip hops" off and walked around barefoot. At one point he got his toes buried under the sand and started to panic! "Where'd my toes go, where toes go mommy?" I tried to calm him down and let him know they were just under the sand and it was no big deal. Just to brush off the sand and he would see his toes. He did just that and said "THERE!!! There's my toes mommy!" It was really quite cute. Here are a few pictures of us at the beach. Autumns husband took Kasen out in the water up to his ankles. He wasn't so sure what to think about that either, but he would NOT leave until he put his feet in the water. So Bryant took him.

Pee pee on the Pot-tay!

Last night I decided I was tired of changing diapers. Kasen needed to be potty trained and that was that. He is always telling me when he has to go, or after he goes or brings me his diaper and wipes and tells me "diaper change mommy" so I know he is ready, he is just deathly afraid of the potty. So I sat him on the potty with much force and crying and pulled out the smarties and books and talked him through it. Eventually he calmed down but wouldn't go at all. I even got him juice and water to drink while he was sitting there hoping to speed the process. Eventually he didn't even want to get up. We sat there for 40 minutes with NO success. He was falling asleep. So we waited til this morning. After he drank his sippy cup of milk we went at it again. Sat him down and talked him through it, didn't take nearly as many smarties to get him to sit. PROGRESS! We sat there and read 3 books and about 10 minutes later he looked down at himself and started to giggle. He started peeing shortly after that. HE PEED ON THE POTTY! I couldn't believe it. We went STRAIGHT downstairs and got him a candy cane which is his candy of choice for going pee pee on the potty. I cannot tell you how proud I am of him! It was only one time, but it was a complete 180 from 2 days ago...soo....we are officially potty training. Here are a couple pics of him sitting on the potty, and eating his candy cane after he went. Oh and by the way, after he went he started clapping and saying "yaay Kasen!" LOL so cute!

Go, Diego, Go!!!

My mom and I went to Kohls today because they were having a sale on "nammies" as Kasen called them. We saw a lot that were cute, they were like $12 for 3&4 piece sets which is a pretty good deal. Kasen REALLY likes Diego a lot so we got him a 3 piece set. Pants, short sleeved and long sleeved shirt. Kasen was sleeping when we got home from Kohls so we waited til he woke up to give him his pj's. I gave him the Kohls bag with his two new pairs of nammies and a shirt we got him. He pulled out the first pair which was a baseball pair and was excited that he got new nammies. "new nammies, pants, shirt for me!" Then he got realized there was more in the the bag. His face broke out in the BIGGEST smile when he realized they were "go go" nammies. He immediately started reaching for the sky for me to take off the shirt he was wearing. He ran over to me and said "reach for sky mommy! reach for sky!!" We got them on and he had an ear to ear grin. You could tell he felt so dang cool wearing those nammies. He even posed for the camera with a smile, and for those of you who know, kasen just doesn't do that. You pull out the camera and the games begin. You have to chase him around to get a picture. NOT this time! Here are a couple pics of him. It's now 6:00 pm and he is dressed in his nammies for the rest of the night. Oh well, it's a lazy day!

Super Saturday!

This morning a couple of my friends...Amanda, and Crystal and I went to Mimis Cafe for breakfast. We decided to leave the kiddies at home and go as just us girls. Boy was that a good decision! It was so nice and peaceful. There were other kids around us talking, laughing and yelling, but we didn't care, they weren't our kids! We totally had a blast. We should do it again soon girls!

After breakfast I went to Old Navy and bought Kasen some new flip flops. His only other pair turned up missing and I really have NO IDEA where they went. We all searched everywhere. They are 2 pairs for $5 so I scrounged up some change and bought him 2 pairs. We has the most grateful little kid when I brought them home to him. He was so giddy and totally smiley and kept profusely thanking me for the flip flops. So sweet!

Jeremy and I got free tickets to go see a new movie out in the theatres called "The Peaceful Warrior" we took my friend Autumn and her Husband (they were on their honeymoon in san diego) to go see the movie with us. They movie itself was just ok, had a lot of good lessons, but to me it felt more like a motivational speaker, than a REAL movie. Jeremy rated it a 4 out of 10, and one of those points was because it was free. I gave it a 6 out of 10, and also one of my points was cause the movie was free. During the movie, Autumn was sitting next to me and she pulled out her phone and held it low in her lap just to see what time it was. She had it on silent so it made NO noises and she flipped it open QUICK. THEEEEE second she opened her phone, coming from a few rows back, some old lady yelled at her "TURN OFF YOUR PHONE!!!!!" She quickly and quietly shut her phone with her tail between her legs, just like a puppy dog. It was the funniest thing ever. All through the movie I kept thinking about the lady yelling at her and I couldn't stop laughing. That made the movie memorable.

Below is a picture of the two of us after the movie was over. We went to lunch afterwards.
Jeremy can't take a picture with his eyes open, for the life of him! So funny, but frustrating!Overall, I had a good day yesterday. With a few minor complications, it was good. Yaaaay!