What a difference a week makes!

Here he is...our newly potty-trained boy!!!! Yea for Ryan!!!I have been pretty reluctant to potty train Ryan because he has a very strong well and I have very little patience. LUCKILY, I have a fabulous friend named DERUCHETTE who let me crash her house last Tuesday for Opening Ceremonies of Potty Time. It was so great because Cleod had someone to play with, Deruchette held Grant whenever he was tired, and I got to focus on Ryan. He sat on the toilet every 10 minutes until 3pm! Seriously, it was stressful. When he finally peed the lightbulb went on and he has had only about 5 accidents in 7 days. Today and yesterday we accident free and he's been dry every morning but one. He is really great at telling me when he needs to go so I don't have to remind him anymore! He's amazing. Oh, the photo is Ryan with his tiny ice cream cone. He and Cleod get one when he poops in the toilet. It's crazy exciting at our house!

Had to add this. He looks like he's singing! Grant's talented. (And 7 months old as of yesterday!)

My baby's got rhythm

Yesterday when Silas got home from work he was hanging with Grant and started making noises...and TA DA...Grant can dance!! Enjoy!

Garden

We are very excited this year to get our yard going...we put in grass a couple of weeks ago and on Friday and Saturday we put a little garden in our backyard. Silas built a box out of 2x10s. It's 3.5 feet by 8 feet. Here it is in the garage with the boys:So then we put it in the back and filled it with topsoil and compost. (The cinder blocks are blocking our neighbors dog from digging under the fence. Seriously.) Next year we are going to make another box where the cinder blocks are and I am going to try to grow raspberries and or grapes.
There's a great place called Ladybug Nursery here in Cedar near the SUU farm. Cleod and I went on a little date to purchase our plants. We got regular tomato plants and 6 grape tomato plants, a green pepper plant, 6 mixed pepper plants, 2 strawberries, 1 pumpkin and some red onions. We'll see how it goes...

Our little vacation...

We are in Provo visiting Silas's sister Kizzie and her family for a few days for our vacation. We've had a really good time and we've seen some cool things.

Saturday we went to The Living Aquarium in Sandy, UT. It's a little smaller than I thought, but it had some neat things. Cleod was excited to see the piranhas. He tried to touch the sting rays, but couldn't reach them. I touched one though. :) The boys also really enjoyed the jelly fish and the cloud fish.Sunday, Mother's Day, was good. Grant was sick though, so I stayed home from church to be with him. It was very mother-ish.

Monday we went to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. It was pretty fun. It was a really nice day. There were lots of cool primates and Ryan was super excited about the giraffes.
Here's Silas with each of his 3 boys at Elephant Encounter.
Yesterday, all of us minus Andy who was working, went to Thanksgiving Point. Silas took Cleod to the Museum of Ancient Life (pictures below) while Kizzie and I took the little boys to Farm Country, which is like a mini zoo. I really enjoyed it and Silas was almost more excited than Cleod about the dinosaur museum.

Update...

So ever since my last post, the one where I accepted that my life was crazy, I have had a ridiculous time with my children and have not felt like blogging. So here's the last few weeks:

Easter...we joined the Warby clan and attended their annual easter egg hunt in Parowan. It was tons of fun. Here are the kids, minus Grant who was asleep in the house, and the daddies.
Easter Sunday we hung out at home and the boys dyed eggs. We had hung out with our friends Friday and most of Sat so we didn't dye eggs until Sunday. I only boiled 6 eggs and I am glad I did. This is a classic example of the craziness of boys. Within 1 minute of finishing, they SMASHED all 6 eggs. If you look carefully, you can see 4 in the carton still and one on each side of the carton...the beginning of the murders of half a dozen Easter eggs. So sad.
I got the high chair out for Grant so that he would feel like a big boy and eat. He doesn't like solid foods. He gags himself, and after about 5 bites he doesn't open his month and tries to hit the spoon away. Yes, he is only months old, but he's a crazy boy too.
Grant started sitting up. I love it. This is my favorite stage: sitting up but not crawling yet. I am scared for the crawling this time because we have 3 floors. There will be lots of gate action in a few months.
I have been spending a lot of time in the back yard leveling out the dirt. Here's Ryan with my gloves. He loves gloves.
Leksi Warby turned 2 on May 2nd so we went to here party. My boys always think they need to help open other people's presents. She was SO cute and excited about her gifts.
Also on the 2nd, a bunch of my family was in town. RJ and Rachel drove out from Kansas with their 5 kids and Dane and Ang came from California. They came so that Pop, my grandpa, could meet their babies: Rex and Parker. Luckily for me, Pop lives in St. George so I got to see them too! And mom came up from Vegas. It was a lovely afternoon.

Here's Ryan with baby Rex. Ever since Rex was born, Ryan has been asking when he would see
baby Rex and so I had to have a picture of them.
Last, but not least...TA DA...we got sod yesterday. It's beautiful and it makes me feel HAPPY! We have more work to do to get it looking how we'd like, but one thing at a time. Yesterday it was sod...the next step is a lawnmower. HEHE.

Oh yeah, Silas finished this semester on May 1st. HURRAY! We have 3 weeks til he starts summer school.

Ah-ha moment

So I love Yoga. LOVE it...but I forgot how much I loved it until yesterday. Before getting pregnant with Grant last year, I was going to yoga twice a week. At my gym there is this beautiful lady who teaches the Wednesday and Friday yoga and I love it. It's tough but relaxing.

Yesterday I had an AH-HA moment while relaxing at the end of our yoga class. We always end class lying in savasana, or corpse pose. She was telling us to let the peace and happiness that we need in through our palms. I know, it sounds a little silly, but I was so needing this. The last week or so I have been yelling my brains out at my boys.

See, I have a theory. Boys are crazy. Wait, that it not a theory that's a fact. They are born crazy and no matter what you do they stay crazy. My boys are rough and loud and crazy!!! They are also sweet and thoughtful and helpful, but not as often and it's easier to focus on the negative...

So I'm lying there thinking about accepting the peace I need in my life and then I thought, "I have three boys and they are going to be rough and loud and crazy. I accept that this is my life." Then I quickly accepted that I needed peace and happiness to get through this time in my life without teaching my children that all mommy can do is yell.

It's only been 24 hours and I still have lost my temper a few times, but not as badly and I am enjoying their craziness a little bit more. It's part of them and I love them. Mainly, I wait my kids to have a happy childhood with a happy mommy.

I am recommitting to be a good, happy mom and to roll with the punches...and the kicking and the toy throwing and the play fighting that always ends in someone getting hurt. I am also recommitting myself to go to yoga twice a week. :)

Conference Weekend at the Warby's

So, this last Saturday and Sunday was General Conference and we went to our friend's house Saturday morning. We spent the night and made it a little stay-cation as my cousin Jana put it. The kids were noisy and we didn't get to hear all of Conference, but it was great to start some traditions with Cleod and Kianna (who's almost 4). They found each speaker's picture from the last conference Ensign and they get treats if they heard words like family, temple, scriptures, etc. Here's a photo with the group minus Silas and me.
Kianna asked to hold Grant ALL WEEKEND. It is really cute how much she wants to help out with him.

Ryan and Leksi are so funny. When they were sitting next to each other Ryan looked at her and said, "I love you, Leksi." It's pretty great to have friends who have kids the same age as ours.

My big baby in a Jumparoo.

Ryan dressed up a lot this weekend. Shoes are his favorite and he walked around in these beauties a lot. He also got a skirt on a few times. :)

We made S'MORES while the Daddys were at the Priesthood session on Saturday night. It was super fun! Here's my goregous friend Deruchette. She's blowing out her shmallow that had just caught on fire.

Cleod and Ryan, melting shmallows.

Kianna does not like being messy. Melted marshmallows are not her thing.

Grant got ahold of a s'more and enjoyed it.

Ryan's favorite song is "We Thank Thee of God for a Prophet" and was in awe when the Tabernacle Choir was singing it during the slide show of Pres. Monson.

We basically had an awesome weekend, listening to the Prophet's voice, playing games, eating yummy food and enjoying the company of our friends.