The Knecht Four . . . and More

Dear Mom

2012-01-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Today is my amazing mother's birthday. She's pretty fantastic.

Dear Mom,

Do you know how much I love you? Do you know that you're my hero? Well, I do, and you are.
Happy birthday today! I hope you're having a wonderful day. I hope this year will be even better than the last.
I was thinking about you today. Remembering all the things that I love so much about you. Here are a few, in no particular order:
You love to have fun. You're always game for a girl's night out, watching a chick flick, or getting a pedi. I love that about you.
You can do anything. I know, I've witnessed some of the amazing things you've done. I love that about you.
You are an amazing cook. The pies, desserts, dinners, Mexican food, basically anything you make is delicious. I love that about you.
When I was young and in high school you would let me stay home and have a "mental health" day, even if I wasn't really sick. I love that about you.
Another time when I was young you took me out, just me, for my birthday. That was a big deal. I love that about you.
When you come to visit me you're always willing to get Thai food. I love that about you.
When I need you, you come. No matter what. I love that about you.
When I had my first baby, you were there right next to me to comfort me. I love that about you.
You painted a beautiful portrait of my boys for me for Christmas. I love that about you.
You let me get married when I was 18 years old. You understood that it was the right thing. I love that about you.
When I was a little girl you put candy pees and carrots on my plate to try to fake me out. I love that about you.
When I need to know what to make for dinner, you always have a good idea. I love that about you.
You made the most beautiful wedding dress I could have ever wanted. I love that about you.
You and dad got married in the temple. I love that about you.
You take your temple covenants seriously. I love that about you.
You have always stayed firm in your faith. I love that about you.
You know that staying true to your beliefs will always get you where you want to go. I love that about you.
You have have always practiced what you've preached. I love that about you.
When I was a little girl you helped me learn to read from the pages of the Book of Mormon. I love that about you.
When I was a little girl you made me an amazing baptism dress. You let me pick out the pattern and the fabric. I love that about you.
When I was little I remember the first time you took me to the store to buy a Sunday dress. I was about 10 years old. I can't believe that you made all those dresses up to that point, and so many after. I love that about you.
When I was little you would put Tabasco sauce on my tongue when I said bad words. I love that about you.
You love being with my kids, and it shows. I love that about you.
When I was a baby you used to sing lullabies to me, and you still sing the same lullabies to my babies. I love that about you.
You love to do yoga. I love that about.
You laid most of the flooring in your home. I love that about you.
You serve everyone around you. I love that about you.
You're always checking in on people, making meals, or helping people out when they need it. I love that about you.
You're loyal. I love that about you.
You say that you're bad at math, but I don't know anyone who can calculate yardage better or quicker than you. I love that about you.
You're beautiful. I love that about you.
You're skinnier than me, and have cuter clothes. I love that about you.
You have a beautiful voice. You can pick out a harmony and sing it out. I love that about you.
You're not afraid to tell me to what to do. You're still my mom. I love that about you.
You've got some great dance moves. I love that about you.
I can talk to you about anything. I love that about you.
You always make time to talk to me when I need you. I love that about you.
Mom, you're the best. Thank you for being you. Happy Birthday!
I love you,
Stacy

Conversation with Ben

2012-01-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the following conversation with Ben. It was hilarious.

We were talking about nicknames.

Ben: "Wouldn't it be funny if I called Aunt Rachel, Aunt Hube?"
Then he laughed at his funny joke.
Me: "I think you should. I think she'd like it. What about your other aunts?"
Ben: "I would call Camille, Aunt Gomes. That's what I call her now. What's Katie's nickname?"
Me: "I think you could call her Aunt Little Kay. What about Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Gina?"
Ben: "I would call Aunt Lindsay, Aunt B." (chuckling to himself) "What's Aunt Gina's nickname?"
Me: "You could call her Aunt Gi-na-na-na." (pronounced He-na-na-na)
Ben: laughing
Ben: "You could call me Chuck, that's my nickname."
Me: "Ok, sounds good. What about Tom?"
Ben: "His nickname is GooToo."
Tom: "I'm not GooToo. I'm GooThree."

Me: Laughing hysterically at Tom. My boys crack me up.

Random

2011-12-15T16:41:00.001-07:00

Hi folks! I should be cleaning out my desk right now. (Ginger, I've got most of it done. I promise, you'd be totally proud.) I just have that left over stuff that I really don't know what to do with, ie, random cables, CD cases, basic desk junk.

Anyway, I digress. Sam and I recently purchased a new computer in efforts of saving all of our children's pictures and documents being eternally lost on our old computer. I'm the lucky one and got the super fun job of transferring said files and photos onto the new computer. While doing my lucky job I came across some real gems.
For your viewing pleasure:

The boys being so cute at our family reunion a couple years back.

Sam, sometime in the early 90's showing his moves.

Back off ladies, he's mine.

Ben, probably about 2 months old. He didn't really smile until he was about 18 months old. That's truth. I'm not making it up. Ask anyone of my sisters or sisters in law.

Ben about 6 months old.

Tom about 5 months old. Such a mellow baby.

The boys just before church in Rexburg, ID. They're about the same now when it comes to their excitement about church.

The last time a hat was ever too big for Tom.

Eliza in her big girl bath. She loves bath time.

She has the best blue eyes. It's the only thing about Eliza that looks anything like Sam.

This could be my all time favorite picture of Sam. Doesn't he look like he should grow up to be an accountant in this picture. Either that, or he's an Alex P. Keaton poser.

rocking out....and crawling.

2011-11-29T09:49:00.001-07:00

The boys have recently been watching "Sonic Underground" on our pirated Netflix.

We cancelled our account due to budget cut backs, and have been logging on to my parent's account. SHHHH don't tell.

Even though I think that "Sonic Underground" is a really lame cartoon, it has added some more entertainment value to our family. In the cartoon there are 3 main characters: Sonic, Manic, and Sonja. They are siblings lost a birth who find their way back together and form an awesome rock band. Ben is Sonic, Tom is Manic, and Eliza is Sonja (not pictured here). Manic plays the drums while Sonic plays the guitar and does the lead vocal. Enjoy......

In other news: my baby turned 6 months old on Nov. 18th. It's huge. I know this is so cliche, but where has the time gone? She is such a good baby. She is happy all the time. She loves to cuddle and laugh and smile. She sleeps through the night. Last night I put here to bed at 8pm and got her up this morning at 8:30am. She's a dream. She loves her brothers. She likes watching them and giggling at them.

She doesn't like solid food that much. I've been trying to transition her to eating one solid meal a day, but she's just not that interested.

She's mobile. She army crawls all over the place. When she's not army crawling she's rolling around the room. She doesn't like to stay in one place. I need to find a baby gate that will work with the steps that go downstairs.

She is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure!

PS. She's had a runny nose since September. We've dealt with 3 ear infections since then. What are your tips for keeping your baby healthy?

HALLOWEEN. . .and other stuff.

2011-11-03T13:02:00.000-06:00

This year Halloween was a lot of fun. The older the boys get, the more fun they have dressing up and going trick-or-treating. Ben started the day going to preschool and having his Halloween Program*. He was adorable as usual. His teacher, Mrs. King, does such a great job of making everything so fun.

Ben in his dragon costume, waiting for the program to start.

Mrs. King showing the witch's brew the kids made.

Ben and his class.

After preschool we got ready for our neighborhood trunk-or-treat. Not too many people came, but it was perfect for the boys. After trunk-or-treat we came home and had dinner. Sam and our wonderful neighbor Bill took the boys trick-or-treating.They came home with a lot of candy. Bill's wife Vivian brought over two carved pumpkins for the boys. One carved like a dragon and the other like a silly jack-o-lantern. Bill and Vivian also gave us two light-up pumkins (to the right of Ben). Bill and Vivian are the best neighbors ever! The boys loved all of the pumpkins.

Today was crazy hair day at preschool. Ben wanted his hair "spikey".

I had some left over black hair spray from Halloween, so we did some polka-dots too. Ben was super excited to go to school with his hair crazy.

*I'm working on posting the video from his program. My computer is having a hard time.

First Cold

2011-09-07T09:35:00.000-06:00

Today my baby girl woke up with a boogery nose. She didn't sleep well at all last night. I got up with her 3 times. She's obviously not feeling well, which means she has a cold. I'm so sad for her. But even though she's not feeling so hot she still smiles all the time. I love her for that. Here are a few pics from this morning.

Don't you love her dimples! They're the best!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

2011-08-31T16:18:00.000-06:00

This recipe is from a Relief Society activity in my mom's ward. She raved about how well the detergent works, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Double this recipe to make 5 gallons.

1 whole bar of Ivory Soap or 1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 c. Borax Powder (found on the laundry isle, ie 20 mule team borax)
1/2 c. Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (I found this by the laundry detergents at my local grocery, but if you can't find it there try a hardware store like Lowe's or Home Depot)
Bucket
Water

Instructions:
1.) Grate bar soap into large sauce pan. Use a cheese grater or food processor. (I put my soap in my blender and once it was chopped up small I added 2 of the 6 cups from the next step and blended it together.)
2.) Add 6 cups hot water and heat on med. high on stove until the soap melts and dissolves.
3.) Add Borax and Washing Soda. Stir until dissolved.
4.) Pour 4 cups hot tap water into bucket.
5.) Add soap mix to bucket and stir together.
6.) Add another 22 cups of hot water and stir until combined.
7.) Let soap cool and set up for 12-24 hours.
Use 1/2 cup per load.

Tips: You can essential oils for fragrance. You can also add a bit more Borax or Washing Soda (about 3/4 cup) if you want more cleaning power.
This works with front load washers as it doesn't create a lot of suds. Use 2 tablespoons. Add detergent right in with clothes.
Rather than use a 5 gallon bucket, before it gels up, you can pour into gallon jugs.

2011-07-28T17:10:00.000-06:00

11 years ago I married Sam Knecht in the Los Angeles LDS Temple for time and all eternity. There has never been any moment, not even a second, of the last 11 years that I wished I wasn't married to Sam. I am the luckiest girl in the world to be married to Sam Knecht. I love him even more today than I did 11 years ago. There are so many reasons to love him. I'd like to share 11 (in no particular order) of the infinite reasons that I love him:

1. Sam is the father of Ben.

It was so exciting and special to jump off into parenthood together with Ben as our first. Every little experience of becoming a parent was even better because it was with Sam.

2. Sam is the father of Tom.

When we found out I was pregnant with Tom we were stunned. We were a little scared about being the parents of two children so close in age. Sam moved on with courage and determination. Not once did he ever back down from changing a diaper or getting up in the middle of the night to soothe a crying baby. Becoming parents to 2 boys within 14 months of each other made us a stronger couple.

3. Sam is a "hands on" dad.

Sam loves doing activities with the kids. He's the pumpkin carver, cake decorator, toy picker-upper and wrestle master of our house. He can take just about any activity and turn into a fun time with our kids.

4. Sam loves the outdoors.

He loves to be playing outside or camping with our family.

5. Sam is extremely good looking.

Nuff said.

6. Sam is a very hard worker.

Not only does he provide for our growing family, he takes care of a lot of the work around the house. He would tell you that he's very lazy, but I know the truth, he's not. In college he only got 2 B's and all the rest A's on his report card and now that he's working to provide for us he generally works 10-12 hours a day 5 days a week. What's more, he's always willing and ready to pitch in immediately when he gets home from work.

(That's him shoveling snow in front of our house.)

7. Sam is the father of Eliza.

When we found out we were having a girl it took me a while to get excited. Sam had been hoping for a girl all along. Eliza is definitely daddy's little girl. It's one of the sweetest things to see Sam holding and lovingly caring for our daughter. I don't know what it is, but it's some how different from when the boys were babies.

8. Sam loves to travel.

Sam loves to explore and experience new places. It's so fun to be with him and learn new things about different places.

9. Sam married me in the Los Angeles LDS Temple.

Sam loved me enough to marry me for time and all eternity. He takes that very seriously and has always honored the covenants and commiments that he made on that day, July 28, 2000.

10. Sam has a great sense of humor.

Sam loves to laugh. He has one of the best laughs ever! He's really funny. He gets the joke. He loves being silly and having fun, but never at the expense of anyone else.

11. Sam is my man.

Some women say that they've "married the man of their dreams". I don't like that saying. I prefer to think that I've married the man of my reality. He's real. He's has a few tiny imperfections, but it's because of those imperfections that he can love me, his imperfect wife. He's my favorite person ever.

I love you Sam Knecht.

Family Fun . . . What a Blessing

2011-07-10T13:56:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday July 3, 2011 Sam blessed Eliza in church. It was a beautiful blessing. It was so nice to be surrounded by our family and friends on such a special occasion.

Here are a few pictures of Eliza in her blessing dress. Eliza's blessing dress is really special because it was made from the same fabric as my wedding dress and it was made in the same pattern that my blessing dress was made. My mom had always promised that should would make a replica of my blessing dress for my first baby girl because after I was blessed my mom put my blessing dress on display at the fabric store she was working at. The dress was subsequently stolen from the fabric store. Eliza's dress was beautiful. Thanks mom!

The wonderful thing about having a baby and then blessing her in church, was the arrival of family. Mine and Sam's families came for the big day. It was so nice to spend time with them. I'm sad that I didn't take more pictures, I didn't even get any of my family.

Here are a few of Grandma Knecht bathing Eliza. Grandma loves to bathe little babies in the sink. She's a good grandma.

These pictures are from the first Sunday we took Eliza to church. Don't my boys look so cute with my little girl. I love my little family!

I'm in love.

2011-06-13T08:58:00.000-06:00

My sis-in-laws were recently in town and while they were here the super talented Camille Knecht did a little photo shoot with Eliza. The pictures are magnificent. (Really Camille, you have a gift.)

Check some of the photos out here.

Have I told you lately how much I love my children, and especially the newest addition, Eliza? Well, I do. I love her. She's so much fun to have around. She makes the sleepless nights worth it.

Mom Eliza Jeans

2011-06-03T09:38:00.000-06:00

A few days before Eliza was born my mom came to help. What a blessing! She was here for 2 full weeks. It was so nice to have her love and support here in the house. There's nothing like having your mom's reassurance that you're doing the "mother thing" right.

Thanks mom for all your help. And thanks dad for letting her stay so long.

Here's a few little videos from last week. Tom found the camera and decided to be a film maker before I caught him.

Eliza being cute. She had the hiccups, like usual.

My lovely sis-in-law Katie has been here since Wednesday. It's been great, especially since Sam has been gone since Wednesday. Yesterday we went to Wheeler Farm to see the animals. It was great to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Brotherly love.

Tom was not afraid of any of the animals. He wanted to be up close and personal with all of them.

Ben and Tom talking to the goats.

Looking out the tree house window.

Katie bought Eliza some really cute onesies that actually fit her. So we played dress up and found some "mom jeans" for her to wear. Isn't she cute?

I love that she's already posing for the camera.

I kept thinking of the "mom jeans" skit from SNL all day.

Knock Knock, Pirate

2011-05-27T20:23:00.000-06:00

Tom is a funny boy. He loves to tell jokes. We tried to get him on video, but he all of a sudden didn't want to be funny. Here's the video:

Ben has been in the 3 year old preschool class at Mrs. King's. He's loved it. Today was his last day for the school year. In celebration of the school year Ben and his classmates had a Pirate Program to present to the parents. Ben was one of the main parts, Captain Braid Beard. The kids did a great job. Mrs. King has been such a fun teacher. Ben looks forward to being in her preschool again next fall.

Ben with his full costume on. Thanks to Granny, she made the shirt, vest, boot covers, beard, and bought him the parrot, hat, eye patch, and bandana. I provided the pants.

Waiting for the program to start.

Ben saying hi.

Ben and his class.

Ben and Mrs. King. (She loves to dress up. She's so much fun!)

Ben telling his pirate joke.

First Half of the Pirate Program

Second Half of the Pirate Program

Cuteness!

2011-05-25T18:49:00.000-06:00

I know she's not doing a lot in these videos, but she is being cute. Enjoy!

The Knecht Four ... and More.

2011-05-23T18:34:00.000-06:00

Introducing the "more" of our family, Eliza Jean Knecht. Eliza was born on Wednesday May 18th at 10:30pm.
Tuesday night I started having regular contractions at 7:00pm. I started practicing all of my hypnosis and decided to wait a couple of hours before going to the hospital. Around 9:00pm we went to the hospital and found out that I was still dilated to 2 cm and only 50% effaced. I was totally disappointed, but I knew that one way or another I would be having a baby in the next 24 hours because I was scheduled to be induced the next day. Sam and I decided to go home and get a good night's rest and try again in the morning.
The next morning we were called into the hospital for our induction. We got there at 10:00am, I was still only 2cm even after having contractions all night. They started me on pitocin around 10:30 and I started having harder contractions. The whole time I was still practicing my hypnosis. Unfortunately my body did not progress very quickly and at 2:00pm my doctor broke my water. I was about 3cm+ dilated at that time. They also increased the pitocin. After that hypnosis meant nothing. The contractions were so hard I could not handle the pain no matter how hard I tried. After about 30mins of contractions I demanded an epidural. I was given the epidural and then it was a waiting game. Finally at about 9:00pm my body was almost completely dilated and I started pushing. I pushed for just over an hour and was rewarded by giving birth to my beautiful baby girl at 10:30pm on the button.
She weighed 7lbs 2oz and was 20 inches long. For the first time I was able to have skin to skin contact and breast feeding almost immediately after delivery. Eliza has been a dream baby so far. She's happy all the time, loves to breast feed, burps easily, sleeps well consistently, and is very cute. I love my boys, but I never knew what it was like to have an "easy" baby until now. She's so happy and content all the time that sometimes I forget she's here. She rarely makes any fuss or cries. She's incredible!
Here are some pictures from the hospital. Enjoy!

Less than a week to go!

2011-05-13T12:02:00.000-06:00

Wow, I have less than one week left until my due date. Thank goodness! Yesterday I had my 39 week check. I'm still dilated to 2cm and 50% effaced. I was a little disapointed, but it's not surprising considering my previous birthing history. Everything else was great. Baby's heart beat sounded good, my blood pressure was great, and I still haven't gained any weight since about 4 weeks ago. Normally I would be a little concerned about the weight thing, but my doctor assures me that my belly is measuring just right. At my appointment my doctor asked if she could strip my membrane, and I agreed. She said that doing that little procedure will either put me into labor within 24 hours or not. So far I'm still pregnant.
I am ready to get this party started. I would love to go into labor tonight or tomorrow. That would be great for me. Now I just need to figure out how. :)
My doctor and I also discussed how long she would let me go over my due date. She says that the longest she'll let me go is 41 weeks before she would induce me. But she was willing to induce before if I wanted. She even suggested that if I haven't gone into labor by next Wed. that she would do it then. I don't like the idea of being induced. I've had the types of drugs that they administer to get things going and I don't like them. They hurt. But I'm really tired of being pregnant. I wouldn't be too worried about the whole induction thing if I was already 4-5 cm dilated and 80% effaced, but I'm not and that means that being induced would probably take a long time and involve a lot of drugs.
I have another doctor's appointment next Wed., so I guess if I haven't had the baby by then I might consider being induced. I don't know. We'll see. Let's just pray that I go into labor this weekend, OK? Thanks.

Dos Semanas Mas

2011-05-05T15:30:00.000-06:00

Today I'm 38 weeks pregnant. WooHoo! I had my check-up today. I haven't gained any weight in the last 2 weeks or so. My blood pressure was good. The baby is measuring right on track and her heart beat sounds great. I'm now dilated to about 2-3 cm and I'm still about 50% effaced. I'm making progress! My guess/ hope is that I'll go into labor next weekend, 13th, 14th, or 15th. I'd be plenty happy with that. Although I'd be happy if I went into labor before then too.

I'll keep you posted.

He's Curious Like a Cat

2011-05-01T09:48:00.000-06:00

I let Ben go out in the backyard this morning.
He came in and said, "That white stuff on the slide does not taste good."
Sam replied, "You mean snow?"
I turned and looked at Sam, thinking to myself, all of the snow has melted. What could it be?
Then I remembered Sam put weed and feed on the lawn last night.
Then I said to Ben, "Ben you just ate poison."
Ben, "Oh no! Is there some way you can get it out of me?"
Me, "Nope."

I have never known a boy more curious than my boy. It's a blessing and a curse.

37 weeks pregnant and I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

2011-04-27T13:21:00.001-06:00

Today I had my 37 week check-up. I've lost a pound since last week. Probably since I had the stomach flu over the weekend. The stomach and pregnancy are not a fun combo. Every time I would have a stomach cramp I would get a contraction.
Everything checked out great. The baby's heart beat was strong, my blood pressure was good, and my weight was fine too. The doctor checked my progress and I'm still dilated to 1 cm, but now I'm 50 % effaced. That's good news! I have another appointment a week from tomorrow.
3-4 weeks ago it felt like I would never be this close to my due date. Pregnancy is funny like that. It always seems like the due date is forever away, and then all of a sudden it's just around the corner. I guess that's how most highly anticipated events are.
I'm finally starting to make progress on the nursery. Sam fixed the changing table and moved it into Eliza's room. I've washed and folded all of the blankets and clothes. Now I just need to organize everything and put it all away. I'm close to having it done. Another couple of hours and it will be ready. I should probably pack a hospital bag and get the car seat set up too.

We've recently heard that Sam's grandpa is not doing well. He has congestive heart failure. Since I heard that grandpa was back in the hospital and not expected to recover and in light of the upcoming arrival of our new baby, it's made me reflect on the miracle of life and the Plan of Salvation that our loving Heavenly Father has blessed us with. I'm sure that most of the people who read my blog know that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes referred to as the Mormon church. I believe with all my heart that this life is only one stop on our eternal journey. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it is because of our Savior, Jesus Christ's everlasting atonement that my baby that is coming shortly, as well as my other children will be mine and Sam's forever. I also know that Grandpa Knecht, whenever he is done with this life, will be greeted by his eternal love Grandma Knecht. No other doctrine makes me more aware of our Heavenly Father and Savior's love for me than knowing that my Savior died for me and was resurrected so that I could return to live with Him and my family united in eternity. What a beautiful blessing.

If you're reading this blog and you don't know about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or you have questions about what we believe please feel free to leave me any questions you may have or check out the website: http://www.lds.org/.

36 down, 4 more to go.

2011-04-21T11:50:00.000-06:00

Today I am officially 36 weeks pregnant. The last 4 weeks are usually the hardest for me. I've been experiencing all of the normal aches and pains of pregnancy, but now all of those things seemed to be magnified.
I had another doctor's appointment today. Everything looked really good. Blood pressure, weight, baby's heart beat, amniotic fluid levels, they were all normal. My doctor checked to see if I had dilated at all and I am still anterior (baby's high up, cervix not effaced) and only dilated to 1 cm. Even though I've been having a lot of contrations/Braxton Hicks, I know from past experience not to expect my body to be fast at thinning and opening. I fully expect to go to my due date.
Little by little I'm trying to get things ready around the house. I've started gathering things for my hospital bag. I have not started anything in the nursery. I need to sort and wash clothes, organize the nursery, and clean things around the house.
I'm really looking forward to Eliza's arrival. I can't wait to see what she looks like, what personality type she'll be, and how she'll fit into our family. I'm really excited and curious to see how the boys will respond to having a new baby in our family. What an exciting time!

Pregnancy Update

2011-04-07T12:31:00.000-06:00

Today I am 34 weeks along. Yay! Only 6 weeks left. I had a doctor's appointment today and everything checked out great. The doctor was happy with my blood pressure and my weight. I've only gained 13 pounds since the beginning. I haven't even really started to retain water. Sometimes if I have some busy days back to back and I forget to stay well hydrated, then in the evening I'll notice that I've retained a little water. As long as I take it easy the next day and drink a lot of water then it all goes away and I'm back to normal.
Lately I've been having a lot of contractions. Most nights I have contractions off and on for about 2 hours or so. Nothing too crazy, but enough that it can sometimes be a little uncomfortable. I also have them during the day when I'm doing house work, walking up the stairs, and after bending over to help the boys.
My doctor asked if I wanted to be checked to see if my body had started to dilate, but I didn't want her to. She said that at this point if I went into labor she wouldn't try to stop me from delivering. I didn't want to be checked because #1. it's really uncomfortable, #2. I think I would be disappointed if I wasn't dilated, #3. I think I would worry too much if I was dilated. (I know that sounds crazy and contradicting, but I'm pregnant, I have every right to have crazy feelings.) It's better if I just let things take course on their own, and don't stress. I don't really think I'll be going into labor anytime soon. I'm sure that I'll probably go into labor sometime the week of May 15th.
I'm preparing for the labor and delivery a little differently this time. I've read the "HypnoBirthing" book, and "Hypnosis for a joyful pregnancy and pain-free labor and delivery". I've been practicing hypnosis with a couple of my own hypnosis scripts and some from the Hypnobabies program. I'm hoping to have a shorter labor this time around. Both of my labors with the boys were about 20 hours. I'm hoping that by being able to relax and hypnotize myself that I'll allow my body to open and thin more easily and quickly. With both of the boys' labors I labored without any interventions or pain meds for about 10 hours. I'd be really happy with having a 10 hour labor. I totally feel like I could do it naturally if it were 10 hours or less.
I'm really looking forward to the arrival of this little girl. We've decided to name her Eliza Jean. I don't really have anything ready for her yet. My parents and little sister are coming tomorrow, and I'm hoping to get a few things done with the help of my wonderful mom and sister.

Here's a picture that I took today of my pregnant belly. Do I look ready to pop? I don't really feel ready to pop, at least not yet.

I think I'll probably keep you posted if anything big changes. My next Dr.'s appt. is in 2 weeks. After that I'll be going to the Dr.'s every week.

The trouble with infomercials. . .

2011-03-30T15:06:00.000-06:00

Ben is a morning boy. He likes to wake up early, and once he's up he doesn't want to go back to sleep. This is good and bad. It's good because he's very pleasant in the morning. It's bad because sometimes other people in the house want to be left alone to sleep, namely me and Tom (Sam leaves for work really early before anyone is awake). To remedy his being up so early we realized that the TV is a great entertainer for him. So every night before Sam and I go to bed we make sure that the TV is set to a PBS channel so that Ben can watch age appropriate programs in the morning when he wakes up. He usually watches 1-2 programs before the rest of us wake up and start the morning. Last night Sam and I forgot to leave the TV tuned to PBS, and the results were hilarious and a little worrisome.

This morning Ben came into my bedroom after watching about 30 minutes of TV and asked,
"hey mom, do you want a Genie Bra?"
I was puzzled to say the least. I don't ever watch TV during the day, and maybe 3 out of 7 nights I'll sit down to watch about an hour with Sam before I go to bed. I had no clue what Ben was talking about. So I responded, "what do you mean, a Genie Bra?"
Ben, "Mom, you know, a Genie Bra. You wear it on your chest."
Immediately I tried changing the subject to something else. Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel super comfortable discussing ladie's undergarments with my 4 year old son.
So I got out of bed, put my glasses and slippers on, and we walked downstairs together. When we got down to the family room guess what was playing on the TV, an infomercial for the Genie Bra. My innocent little 4 year old son had watched an entire 30 minute segment about bras! That's just great.

Ben the Birthday Boy!

2011-03-13T22:13:00.000-06:00

Today was Ben's 4th birthday. I can't believe that 4 years have come and gone. I know that this is so cliche, but I really do feel like he was just a baby and that he's growing up so fast.

Ben is a very special boy. His favorite foods are cottage cheese, bread with cream cheese spread on it, any kind of cheese, any kind of plain bread/roll, apple sauce, sometimes pizza, ice cream, and cake. He can say the Pledge of Allegiance by himself. He can get himself dressed, make his own bed, pick up after himself, and sweep the kitchen floor. He loves to read books and have books read to him. He loves watching Scooby Doo movies. He goes to preschool twice a week and loves learning new things. He has a very good memory and knows a lot of songs by heart. He enjoys riding his bike and playing "monster" and "chase" with his friends. He loves animals and dinosaurs, and knows a lot about different species. He loves to help mom or dad cook and bake things. He's mentioned that he would like to be a chef.

He made me a mother. He makes we want to be better all the time. I love my Ben Boy and I couldn't imagine life without him.

Here's some pictures from his birthday party today.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the recorder. Don't be surprised if that ends up in Grandpa's suitcase after he stays with us next month. :)

Tom was excited to get some bubbles of his own from Chris and Gina.

Sam and I made this cake by following some directions we found online. Unfortunately the trunk started to break off by the time we were ready to eat it.

Tom actually blew out the candle the first time. I had to re-light it so Ben could have a turn.

Thanks to everyone for the gifts. Ben was so excited to open all of them. It was such a nice birthday.

Car for Sale

2011-02-03T12:50:00.001-07:00

Like I mentioned we're selling our '96 Ford Contour. It has 160k miles. We're asking $1200 OBO. It's listed here on KSL.com if you'd like to check out all of the details.

Update: Our car sold. Yay! Glad to have that done.

Oh boy...can I get a mop?

2011-01-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got our tax refund check. So we did what any rational thinking peoples would do, we went out to dinner. We were planning on going to Chuck-a-Rama. Those who really know and love me know that I don't really like buffet type places. I go because Sam loves it, my kids eat free, and they have cottage cheese. (Ben eats cottage cheese 1-3 times a day.) I digress. We did a drive by and Chuck-a-Rama was already really busy, so we went to Winger's. It was a nice meal. The boys were relatively well behaved and the food was good. As I was getting up I heard a funny sound and Sam trying to get my attention. Sam and Ben had just started to slide out from the booth when Ben vomited EVERYWHERE! Ben had been facing the back of the bench seat when Mount St. Helens exploded from within and unleashed its fury. Just then a waitress walks by and asks if we need a few extra napkins. A few, really?? We needed a beach blanket, a garden hose, and a mop. It was ridiculous. Sam took Ben to the car, and I cleaned up most of the aftermath.

It is never a dull moment with BS Knecht. That boy knows how to keep a party going.

Car for Sale

2011-01-25T08:55:00.001-07:00

I'm trying to sell our '96 Ford Contour for $1200 obo. It's not the prettiest car in the world (I'll post pictures later.), but it runs great. It is a 4 door GL model with a tape deck. It's the perfect little car to get from point A to point B. Sam used the car to drive to and from work and never had any issues with it. Let me know if you're interested.

Winter

2011-01-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else really done with winter? I am. I think it was almost a mistake to visit California for Christmas and New Years. I say almost, because we had a really great time. But on the other hand it makes me wonder why I live in Utah, otherwise known as the "frigid north". When we left our house in Sandy, UT on Dec. 23rd we turned our heater and water off. (We didn't realize what would happen, so don't judge.) We thought, oh this will be great, we'll save so much on utilities. What a mistake. When we got home on Jan 3rd at 6:00pm our house was a freezing cold 34 degrees. Our toilets were frozen solid and it took a while to get running water out of the sinks. Fortunately we have the nicest neighbors ever and they came to our rescue with space heaters and a heat gun to defrost our house. Finally by 9:00pm that night our house had warmed up to a balmy 65 degrees. Lesson learned.
But back to CA. While we were there it was beautiful. The sun shined most of the time and the highs were in the 60's. The kids were able to play outside, we even went to a park. I long for CA weather. Why did I ever think that UT was an acceptable place to raise my family? I need to be able to send my boys out in the yard on a daily basis to play.
Alright, enough complaining. I'm done for now.

We're so excited!

2011-01-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

Today I had my ultrasound and it confirmed my suspicions. We're having a girl!!!! When I first found out I was pregnant I was a little worried about the possibility of having a girl. I had just started to feel like I knew what I was doing with my boys. I was worried that I wouldn't know what to do with a girl. As this pregnancy progressed I realized more and more that this pregnancy was completely different from my previous pregnancies and the likelihood of having a girl became more and more evident. But now that I know for sure, I'm ecstatic, as is Sam. We both are looking forward to all of the differences a girl will bring into our home.
Here are all of the pregnancy stats: I'm due May 19th. I'm having a girl. This is my 3rd child. I feeling pretty good, with the exception of being tired. I'm not completely certain of a name yet. I'm so excited!

Thanksgiving Adventures

2010-11-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday afternoon Sam and I decided we should pack the kids up in the minivan and head on down to California. It was a last minute decision because Sam wasn't sure if he'd be working on Black Friday or not. Fortunately he didn't have to, so we made the trip.

We left American Fork (that's where Sam's office is located) at about 6:15pm and drove directly to Claremont. We arrived at about 2:30am Thanksgiving morning. We made pretty good time and had a pretty smooth trip. It was so nice to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Especially since every year my mom goes crazy and makes 8-10 different kind of pies, all homemade. She rocks!

After eating with my family we drove down to Chino to surprise Sam's family. They had no idea that we were in California. This is starting to be a really fun Knecht family game, surprising out of state relatives by showing up on their door steps. It really is the best, give it a try. We got to Casa de Knecht around 4:00pm and sent the boys to knock on the door while we hid by the garage. It was the highlight of the trip to see everyone's shocked expressions.  We had just had all of Sam's family here in UT a couple of weeks earlier, except for Lindsay and Rachel. It was especially great to see them. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out there. It was fabulous.

Saturday the boys, several of the boys' aunts, my mom, and I all went to see Tangled. We loved it. It was cute, funny, and not scary. (I'm kind of chicken, I don't do scary.) Then the boys went down to Chino with their aunts while I went shopping.

Sunday morning we left Claremont to drive back to Utah at 5:00am. I don't mess around when it comes to driving home. I like to leave early. We got into St. George at about 10:45 am local time and had to make a stop. The whole weekend Ben had been running a fever, but he was teething and getting in his molars, so I didn't think much of it. By Saturday night he was complaining of immese pain in his ear. By Sunday the pain was unbearable for him.  We stopped at an urgent care and sure enough, he has an ear infection. That delay took us about 3 hours. Just before 2:00pm we got back on the road.

The roads driving up past St. George were ridiculous. There was heavy snow, slushy/icy roads, tons of drivers, and too many accidents. After driving for almost 4 hours and only getting to Fillmore we decided to cut our losses and stay at a motel over night. I'm so glad we did. Although I wasn't in my bed last night, we were safe, and we slept well. I've never driven in such poor conditions. And that's saying a lot, because I've lived in Idaho and made it through the worst winter of my life Nov '07- Mar '08.

We finally got to our house around lunch time today. I felt so blessed as we pulled into the driveway in one piece.  There were a couple of times driving yesterday that I thought we were not going to make it home alive. Boy am I glad we did. We had such a great time visiting with our family, it made yesterday's drive almost worth it :)

Sunday Best!

2010-11-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up to about a foot of snow. It was beautiful.

This is our house and Sam's work truck. Fortunately my new minivan is parked in the garage.

This was the view from our front steps looking over our front yard. That's my wonderful husband, Sam, shoveling our sidewalk.

After church today we took pictures of the boys in their new Sunday clothes. Aren't they handsome! We could not convince Ben that his tie should go inside his vest. He kept it out all day.

I was proud of the boys for not jumping into the snow. They were sorely tempted.

It started snowing just as we were finishing and this was the last shot I got. I don't know if Tom got snow in his eye, or if he's trying to be Pop Eye.

Happy Sunday and Happy Birthday to Aunt Gina! We love you Aunt Gina!

I love my boys...

2010-11-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

This morning Tom was carrying as many toy tools around that he could manage. Then he came over to the table and attempted to get up in his chair while holding all of the tools. As I watched him struggle to get up I mentioned that he should put the tools down to get up on his chair easier. He looked up at me and said "I'm building the temple, mom." Then he took all his tools into the living room and started "working and building" on the couch, while repeating over and over "I'm building the temple." Of course I had to join in with my rendition of "Let's Build the Temple" (hand motions included). I didn't realize how much our trip to Temple Square last week really made an impression on him. He's so cute. I love my boys!

Fun Things

2010-11-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been busy and very fun. The first weekend of the month Sam's work paid for one night's stay, dinner, and game night at a beautiful resort in Park City. It was a really fun night to celebrate the completion of the latest project that Kiewit had been working on. Here are a couple of pictures of our room.

The hall way leading from the front door into our 1300 sq. ft. suite.

The living room area.

Looking back from the living room fire place into the kitchen area.

Our large and spacious bedroom, which also had it's own fire place and flat screen TV.

The huge bathroom, with walk-in shower and jetted tub.

The suite also included another full bathroom, several storage closets, private patio with hot tub, and washer and dryer. I was tempted to stay forever. It was luxurious.

Casey and Kylea were the super heroes of the weekend for taking care of the kids. Thanks guys!

The Wednesday after family came to town. Woo Hoo! Ginger and Katie flew in Wed. evening and came to our house. Thursday morning we played with Katie while Ginger went to visit family. Thursday afternoon Ginger came back and Sam and I took off for another get away. We went to a B&B in Midway called Johnson Mill. It was great. What a lucky break to have two seperate nights away within 1 week's time. Friday morning Sam and I went and bought a minivan on the way home from Midway. We found exactly what we were looking for, a Kia Sedona with about 70k miles for a really great price. It's so nice to finally have a vehicle that fits comfortably. I felt so cramped in our little put, put car. Friday afternoon Ginger, Katie, Tom and I all went to see the new exhibit at the South Visitors Center in Temple Square about the temple. It was fantastic. If you haven't seen it yet, it's definitely worth the drive up there. That evening we picked up Scott and Camille from the airport and we all went to dinner. Saturday morning we headed down to Provo to hang out as a family at Gina and Chris' place. It was such a nice time being all together, minus Rachel and Lindsay. (We missed you guys tons.) I love having family in town. It's the best. We always have such a great time being together. Thanks for coming guys!

Ben is funny.

2010-10-25T09:15:00.000-06:00

Most week day mornings the boys watch Super Why on PBS. It's a cute show. In the beginning of the opening sequence the main character introduces himself and then asks the viewers to say their names. This morning this is what I heard coming from the family room:

TV: "...and I'm Super Why, what's your name?"
Ben: "I'm Benjamin Spence Knecht. No, no, I mean, I'm Spiderman."

It made me laugh. He's got a great imagination. I love it!

Exciting News!

2010-10-18T09:06:00.000-06:00

I'm pregnant! I'm due sometime in May. Both Sam and I are really looking forward to our new addition.

Visiting with Shawna

2010-10-05T09:47:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I had the privilege of visiting my sister Shawna and her family in MapleValley, WA. It was the perfect weekend. Before this trip I had never been to visit Shawna in WA. Plus a bonus was that my mom was also visiting. It made for a great time.

On Friday one of the first places we visited was Pike's Place in Seattle. It's famous for its shops, fish markets, produce, and flower markets. It was a lot of fun to walk around and people watch.

On Saturday morning we went into Tacoma to see the Glass Museum. This is the view of the port area from the museum.

Here's my lovely mom and sister in front of the Glass Museum. Funky looking thing, right. It reminded me of the Tin Man's hat in Wizard of Oz.

This is the bridge that connects the glass museum to the rest of the city. It's really cool because along the way it's like an open exhibit.

These vases and sculptures are part of the open exhibit along the bridge. It was so cool to see all of these beautifully crafted glass pieces enclosed in plexy glass.

Josh (3), Sammy (8), Me, Clare (18 months), Jake (6)

Another really great part of the trip was being able to spend time with my nieces and nephews. It's been 2 1/2 years since Shawna and David moved to WA, and it's been 3 years since Sam and I moved from CA, so I haven't really had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with these cuties. Sometimes I feel like I hardly know the younger two. But they are all really sweet and cute kids. They're all funny and quirky in their own ways. It was so much fun to get to know them better.

These are the younger two, Josh and Clare. Josh is about 2 months younger than Ben, and Clare will turn 2 yrs old on Jan 1st. Josh loved flirting with me. He was always willing to give me a hug and a kiss. It was adorable. Clare is sassy and sweet. She loves baby dolls and necklaces. She's a girly girl. She also likes being held all the time.

Going to visit Shawna and here family was fantastic. Thanks, Shawna. You're the best.

National Museum Day and other stuff

2010-09-27T18:08:00.000-06:00

Saturday was National Musuem Day, so we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History and got in for FREE! We had a great time looking at all the neat fossils, minerals, and bugs.

Ben and Sam standing in front of Allosaurus, Utah's state fossil.

The museum has a fun show with this large puppet that tells about the recent discovery of a new kind of dino species found here in UT.

In other news, I've been trying to find some new ways to keep the boys entertained during the day in hopes there will be a little less arguing. Here is one of my most recent attempts; the table tent. They thought it was fun for about 20 mins, and then became disinterested.

I can tell already, it's going to be a long winter. If you have any suggestions for keeping two little boys busy with indoor activity please let me know. I'm already stocking up on ideas.

Remember when.....

2010-09-21T18:36:00.000-06:00

Remember when my boys were so little? They've grown so much lately. It's hard to imagine they used to be little babies.

This is Ben when he was about 6 months old in Rexburg, ID. Sam had just started school. We were all adjusting to being so far away from family. It was a tough time, but a really good time.

Ben used to sleep in this cute little "sleep bag". He'd just woken up from his nap and was spending time sitting next to daddy, while daddy was on the computer probably doing homework.

For some reason Ben loved to lay underneath the rocking chair. It was like his little fort. He would back his body up under the chair and sit there watching people. (This was about the time we found out that we were expecting Tom.) Ben was about 7 months old.

This is Tom back in Rexburg, ID. He's about 6 months old in this pic. Tom was such a different baby from Ben. Both were wonderful blessings, Tom was just a little easier to please.

Tom loves to wear hats. Even now he likes to wear his ball cap all over the place. Unfortunately this cute little Dodger hat didn't fit Tom for much longer. Welcome to the Knechts, Tom.

Tom loved playing on the floor in the middle of the room. I always had to put a lot of pillows around just in case Big Brother wanted to play too :)

I love being a mom. I love having these two beautiful boys. They are so much fun to be around. I can't believe how much they've grown.

Just one of those days.

2010-09-16T14:07:00.000-06:00

Today I've been kind of tired. I didn't sleep very well last night, and since I didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do I stayed in my pj's until 11:00am. Don't judge. It's just been one of those days. So finally around 1:00pm Ben piped up and said he was hungry (don't worry I fed them breakfast at 8:00am, it wasn't his first feeding for the day). So I peeled myself off the couch and got Ben some cottage cheese (he's in love with the stuff, he would eat it for every meal if possible) and I got Tom a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. Oh no, what have I done? Last night I bought 3 boxes of said cereal because it was on sale for less than a dollar a box. But now Tom is serioulsy in love with it. After he finished his first bowl he walked up to me with a very serious face and his arms folded across his chest and said, "I need more cereal mommy." Ok, that's fine because the bowl that I had given him was farely small. What would another bowl hurt? About 10 mins later, he comes up to me and has his little hands folded together and says, "I need more cereal, please, please, please. More mommy." He was totally begging. I can't really blame the kid, Cap'n Crunch is the best breakfast cereal ever known to man. So I obliged, with a warning that this was the last bowl for today. Wow. I guess I'll have to watch the Cap'n Crunch intake around here.

Once Upon a Time...

2010-09-15T20:57:00.000-06:00

At our house our bedtime routine goes as follows: bath or face washing, brush teeth, get jammies on, read at least 1 book, get into bed, Sam tells a story, and then prayers. One of my favorite parts of the ruitine is Sam's story telling. Tonight was an especially funny story. I'll try to recapture the essence for you.

Sam: Once upon a time there was a(n)__________. (he pauses for Ben to fill in the blank.)
Ben: an antelope.
Sam: Ok, an antelope. And did the antelope have big horns or small horns?
Ben: No, daddy. He had medium sized horns.
Sam: My bad, what was I thinking? OK, so this medium horned antelope had a friend who had a garden. The garden had a lot of weeds. So the antelope used it's medium sized horns to dig up all the weeds. (While Sam was saying this he started demonstrating, using his fingers along side his head as horns and putting his head down to the floor. It was epic.) This made his friend very happy, and they were best friend forever. The End.

Now you understand why I love Sam so much. He's awesome. Nuff said.

2nd installment (just because Grandma can't get enough)

2010-09-13T08:21:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more pics of our camping trip and stuff. Ben and Tom's Grandma wanted more pics, and she's one lady I like to keep happy. Here you go Ginger, I love you!

Ben hugging Tom, aka a choke hold.

Now you know where my children get their good looks :)

I have more pics of Tom because he's kind of a ham, and Ben has no patience to stand still for a pic.

Isn't he cute?

What did I tell you about being a ham...

Yes Tom, is there something you want to say?

Doesn't he look like such a big boy? Where did my baby go?

What did I tell you about laying down in random places.

Isn't he cute?

This is also how he sleeps. For some reason he really enjoys his arms against his head.

The End.

The Garden of Eatin'

2010-09-10T09:26:00.000-06:00

This year has been the first time that we've ever had a garden. I love to garden. It's a very relaxing and theraputic activity for me. Plus who doesn't love picking all the vegetables? This is what I picked just last night.

32 Tomatos, 14 peppers, 4 zucchinis

These are not the only veggies we have in our garden. We planted corn, butternut squash, pumpkins, lettuce, onions, cawliflower, zucchini, tomato, bell peppers, anaheim peppers, and green beans. It's been a lot of fun to care for all of these plants.

Bring on the fun!

2010-09-09T22:06:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday night was Sam's last night shift for work. For those of you who don't know, Sam was working 80 hour work weeks. He'd leave for work around 3pm and get home about 4:30am, then go to sleep until 1:00pm and do it all again. This was a normal ruitine for him 6 days a week for the past 6-8 weeks. Needless to say, we were ready for him to get a break. So once he got caught up on sleep, we got busy on some fun. Starting with Saturday, we went to Swiss Days in Midway, UT. It's a fun festival that celebrates Midway's Swiss heritage. We met Chris & Gina in the morning and got a place for the parade. The boys loved all the candy from the parade, but they weren't so excited about the loud motorcycles. After the parade we got some lunch and went home. It was a fun day.

On Monday, Labor Day, we had a BBQ. It was a lot of fun to have our Northern Knecht Clan and the Will & Amber Mickelson Family with us. It was great weather and a lot of fun. The kids loved playing on the swing set.

Tuesday morning we packed up the boys and drove to Moab, UT to go camping. We were really looking forward to this camping trip because it's the first time that we've gone on a real family vacation (driving to CA for holidays doesn't count). We got down to Moab and set up our camp site and immediately it started raining. None the less we still had a great time.

Ben, Sam, & Tom trying to stay dry.

Ben checking out our tent. You can see all the water drops on the tent.

The rainbow we saw at our campsite between showers.

After a good night's sleep we got up and went to Arches National Park. Because it had rained the night before and that morning, the weather was overcast and cool. It was perfect for our desert excursion.

Ben sometimes likes to lay down in random places.

Fiery Furnace

Delicate Arch

After we finished our tour of Arches we took a drive over to Dead Horse Point ("Utah's Grand Canyon"). The boys had a little nap on the drive over.

Dead Horse Point was amazing. I've never seen anything like this. You know how I feel about heights, I was terrified the whole time, yet I managed to get close enough to the edge to take a few pics.

That's the Colorado River down there.

The boys enjoyed climbing on the rocks near the picnic area.

After all of our site seeing we went back to our campsite had dinner and ice cream.

Then we got ready for bed.

We had such a great time, even with all the weather we experienced. We'll definitely make camping a family tradition.

Mommys, Daddys and Oh Nos!

2010-08-24T09:08:00.000-06:00

Tom is really doing well with his speech. He's trying so hard to talk like a big boy. He's absolutely adorable when he talks, actually he's absolutely adorable all the time. He most recently when talking adds an "s" to the end of as many words as possible. For instance he calls me mommys, he says Bens, he says nos (instead of no), and he says he wants to drink milks. You get the idea. It's so cute. He also has an aversion to consonants. For instance when he wished Rachel a "happy birthday" he actually said "a-ee ir-ay". When he says the word "outside" he actually says, "ow sigh". When he says Woody (from Toys Story) he says "Woowee". Did I mention he's adorable? If you'd like further proof just give us a call and ask him what Buzz says. He tries to say "to infinity and beyond." He'll also tell you what Woody says, "reach for the sky." I love my little mister.

*Photos courtesy of Camille Ann Photography.

Milken Joggin

2010-08-09T18:45:00.000-06:00

Ok, I know that this is a really weird thing, but it is what it is. A "milken joggin" is a piece that goes to the water sprinkler. You know the kind, for playing in and running through. We have this long water sprinkler that's shaped like a long snake and it wiggles around on the ground while shooting water all over the place. The "milken joggins" are these blue pieces of plastic that snap onto the snake water sprinkler to keep it weighted down to the ground. Weird right? He's a creative boy, what can I say!

Gootoo Globby . . .aka Tom.

2010-08-07T13:33:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite things about Ben is how silly he can be. Sometimes he likes to make up words; for instance he made up the word: milken joggin. It's the name for an object in our house. Lets see if you can guess what the meaning of milken joggin. (Those of you who may know, please don't spoil it for those who don't.) Ben has also made up a nickname for Tom, Gootoo Globby. It cracks me up. I have no idea where he gets these strange names/words, but I love them. He's so silly and I love him.

'06 Toyota Corolla S

2010-06-04T16:50:00.000-06:00

I'm shamelessly trying to sell my car. Please help me out. If you or someone you know is looking for a car please let me know. I'm selling my '06 Toyota Corolla Sport. It has 65500 miles, clean title, cruise control, power locks/windows, front wheel drive, 4 cylinder, 6 disc in dash CD, clean interior/exterior. We purchased the car brand new and have taken very good care of it. We have never had any issues with anything, and we've kept all of the maintenance records since the purchase date. You can also view my listing on ksl.com or at this link. Thanks for your help.

Tom's Birthday

2010-05-27T19:38:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures from our birthday celebration for Tom. We kept it pretty sweet and simple. After going out to dinner we got home and had cake and ice cream.

He loved being the birthday boy and getting all the attention. He's so cute.

A week or so after his birthday he got a big package in the mail. Grandma Ginger sent him this awesome picnic table.

Ben and Tom love this table. They love eating meals out here at the table. It's amazing how much better they eat when eating outside at this table. Thanks Grandma, we love you!!!

Happy Birthday Tom!

2010-05-11T17:10:00.000-06:00

Dear Tom,

2 years ago today you were born in Pomona, California. Yes, that means you are a California boy, you can thank me later. We were so excited to meet you. It was been a pleasure getting to know you. You've recently started saying words like more, please, outside, read book, one, two, Ben, Mom, Daddy. You love to play outside and dig in the dirt. You also have been known to put rocks up your nose and in your ears (it may be funny now, but it wasn't then). You love to sit in my lap and have me read you books. You also love to eat any kind of fruit, peanut butter & jelly, anything chocolate, and pizza. You have a great smile. You are such a sweet boy who loves to give Ben hugs and kisses.

I am so grateful that you are my boy. Thank you for being so sweet.

Love,

Mom

Dirt Magnet . . .aka Pig Pen

2010-04-19T12:23:00.000-06:00

We love our new house. We especially love our backyard. Tom especially loves playing in the dirt. He loves digging and dumping. When I say dumping, I mean dumping and showering himself in dirt. Here's the proof:

Isn't he cute. No, that's not a hitler mustache, it's dirty brown snot running down from his nose. I love him, and I love that he loves to play outside.

We're MOVING!!!!

2010-03-23T09:06:00.001-06:00

I'm so excited! We're moving this Saturday to a house. We'll be renting a 4 bed/2 bath in Sandy, UT. It has a great backyard, 2 car garage, and plenty of room for guests. I can't wait. Stay tuned for pictures.

Ben's Birthday

2010-03-17T12:33:00.001-06:00

Ben turned 3 on Sat. March 13, 2010. I can hardly believe that he's that old. He's been looking forward to his birthday for a long time. He can even tell you the date of his birthday. It's pretty cute.
Daddy took Ben on Trax, the light rail train, to the downtown Salt Lake City library. Ben had a blast riding on the train and spending time with daddy. Then later in the afternoon we had Aunt Gina & Uncle Chris, and Aunt (soon to be) Kylea & Uncle Casey over for a little party. It was great to see everyone and Ben loved being the center of attention.

Christmas, a little late.

2010-03-15T16:18:00.006-06:00

I know this is a little late, but better late than never, right? Christmas was a lot of fun this past year. It was the first time we weren't in California for Christmas. A few days before Christmas we went over to our friends the Reeves house and met Santa. Then we spent Christmas Eve going to Temple Square, Christmas morning with our own little family, and Christmas evening with Gina and Chris. It was a great way to spend time with each other.

This Santa was a little creepy. None of the kids wanted to sit on Santa's lap by themselves, so Sam and I had to hold the kids while sitting on Santa's lap. Creepy.

It's a Knecht family tradition to have Christmas breakfast before presents. We had a super yummy breakfast casarole and really yummy cinnamon rolls.
Our Christmas tree had soooo many presents under it. It was a site to behold. The boys were totally excited.

The boys went for the train set first.

Sam and Ben both gots hats. Aren't they cute. Ben's hat also make an elephant noise. He loves that hat.

The aftermath.

While we were at Gina and Chris' we built a ginger bread train. Ben enjoyed eating the icing.

It was a great Christmas with fun had by all!

2010-02-23T13:04:00.002-07:00

Ben: "I want to see daddy!!!" (in a whinning voice)
Me: "Where is daddy right now?" (trying to redirect him from whinning)
Ben: "Umm, daddy's at Sam's Club."
Me: "hahahahahaha!" (question: did he say that because his dad's name is Sam or because he wanted to go there and have pizza?)

Early morning, not so funny.

2010-02-23T08:34:00.003-07:00

We've made a few small changes that have had large affects on our lives here in our basement cave. First, we transitioned Tom's crib into a toddler bed. I'm not really sure what possessed me to do this. In my mind maybe I thought this would let the boys play in their bedroom a little longer in the morning before I'd have to come and get them. So really, I did it because I'm lazy and crazy tired in the mornings now that I work crazy hours on the weekends. Whatever the reason may be I did it. The second change, I took the child lock off of the inside of the boys' bedroom door. Now Ben can open the door at his own free will and get up at all times of the day. Again, at the time I thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately it's one of those things that once done you can't go back on. Shucks! Lets just say that I was awoken this morning by at little boy repeatedly flipping my bedroom light switch on and off very quickly at 7:00am. It was the weirdest thing waking up like that. For a second I thought I was 12 years old, and in my bed on Chapman Rd, Claremont CA. Then I realized that it wasn't my mom or an older sibling trying to wake me, it was my cute (almost) 3 year old boy. Then I also had the thought, this is my house and I'm kinda grown up and I should be able to sleep as long as I'd like. But alas, this is not true. Remember when your parents used to feed you that lie, "when you have your own house you can do. . .__________." (You fill in the blank.) I'm here to tell you that your parents as well as mine were lyers. (Sorry mom, I still love you. I mean no offense, but it's true.) If I really could do anything I'd like I'd eat Cap'n Crunch every morning without gaining a pound, sleep in until 9:00am, and have a self-cleaning house.

Life Happens...

2010-02-12T14:58:00.002-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted, and in efforts to keep everyone informed of what we're up to, here's an update.

At the end of November last year I completed a Certified Nurse's Assisting program. In December I took the state certification test and pasted. Woo Hoo! I'm officially a CNA. Then in January I started the job hunt, had several promising job offers, but in the end went with Sunrise Assisted Living. I started training at the end of January. I'll be regularly working Fri, Sat, and Sun nights from 10pm-6am. It's definitely a different schedule than I'm used to, but I'm slowly getting used to it.

At the end of January my wonderful mom came to watch the boys while Sam and I went to Pheonix. The company Sam works for, Kiewit, had an all expense paid weekend conference for employees and "guest". I was lucky enough to be Sam's "guest". It was great. It was so nice to get away from the kids for a whole weekend and not have to spend a dime, what a great combo. (Thanks mom for subjecting yourself to our craziness for 4 days. You're the best.)

During all this excitement and fun I've recently been reflecting on our financial situation. Sam and I have always been blessed financially. Not that we've ever been rich, but we have always had enough to meet our needs and pay our bills. We haven't always made the smartest choices on how to spend or save our money. This has really started to bother me. It's not really anyone's fault but our own. It's like that saying "If you aim for nothing you'll hit it every time", and that's exactly what we've done. We've purchased cars that we thought we "needed" and spent money on credit cards because the credit was available and the cash wasn't. Well, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of making payments on debts. So I'm telling you here and now, I'm done. I'm done spending money on non-essentials that keep me here in bondage to creditors. I'm starting a Total Money Makeover today!!!! I believe that the techniques in the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, can help me and Sam to realize our financial potential. It's not going to be easy, but I hope it will be worth it. So why am I telling you all about this? Why am I confessing our financial weaknesses to everyone in the world? I'm telling you all this stuff for a couple of reasons: a). When you invite me to something that costs money, or will involve us taking time off work, please don't be offended when I turn you down. b). We aren't looking for sympathy. We're just trying to be real about the money in our lives. We plan on being completely debt free in five years from now. That will take a lot of hard work, because as of January 2010 we had a combined total debt of over $73000 (student loans, credit cards, car), of which we've already paid off $6180. It's just the beginning, but I guess you've got to start somewhere, right?

The Knecht Four 2009

2009-12-30T10:41:00.003-07:00

A few thoughts on Christmas...

2009-12-22T12:36:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to share a few thoughts that I've had recently about this Christmas. This Christmas and holiday season is the first Christmas that we have been away from our family in California (except for the Christmas we spent in Italy, but that doesn't count because we didn't have any kids then). And I have to admit that I've had mixed emotions about being away from the majority of our family at this time of year. For me the holiday season revolves around family and the traditions that we take part in as a family. I'll certainly miss Christmas Eve dinner with my family and waking up Christmas morning at the Knecht's to a big yummy breakfast. Yet, I'm looking forward to creating our own traditions. I'm looking forward to morphing the fun and wonderful things that I've enjoyed in Christmas' past into Christmas' future.
Another thing that I was definitely concerned about was missing the feeling of being around family. The feeling that you know that your mom-in-law loves you because she put a tooth brush in your stocking, or your mom makes your favorite cinnamon rolls, or your aunt makes your favorite guacamole, or your dad-in-law passes out the presents one by one by pushing them across the carpet. But I have to say that I've felt that feeling even here in Utah, far, far, away. One of the reasons I've felt that feeling is the past couple of days we have received box after box. As of today we have received 12 boxes from our loved ones. I haven't even opened any of them, but just knowing they're here and that each one of those boxes is filled with the love and generosity of special people in our lives. What a blessing to know how much we are loved! I don't want you to think this is all about our family getting presents. It's not. It's knowing that people love us enough to think about us and to take the time and effort to show us that they were thinking of us.
I hope this make sense. Thanks for obliging me and reading my ramblings.
I hope you all know that we reciprocate your feelings. We think about all of our friends and family regularly. I am grateful for all of the great memories and traditions that we have to share. I'm grateful for the Christmas season when all of those great feelings and impressions can be relived and shared with one another. I hope you will enjoy your Christmas knowing that we love and miss all of you.

Penguin FHE

2009-12-07T20:50:00.004-07:00

I recently got this random "family" magazine in the mail. And no, it wasn't the Ensign or the Friend, although I do subscribe and I do really like those publications very much. I received a copy of Disney Family Magazine and to my surprise it had a lot of fun craft and food ideas to make with the boys. So for FHE tonight we decided to make a penguin family. You can find the supply list and instructions here.

Ben loved helping me glue the eyes and other parts onto the penguin. Tom loved throwing things down on the floor and eating the foam craft sheets. We had a great time.

Ben named his penguin Percy. Tom named his penguin Melvin.

The whole family.

Halloween Fun

2009-11-17T12:53:00.005-07:00

This was the first year since we've been married that Sam and I carved pumpkins. We've never really gotten into Halloween, but now that we have kids we're making an effort.

So this year the boys dressed as Tigger (Ben) and Winnie the Pooh (Tom). Their costumes make look kinda familiar, that's because Ben was Pooh last year and Tom was Tigger. This year Tom wore last year's Pooh costume, and some very nice friends gave us a new Tigger costume for Ben. Before we went trick or treating Gina and Chris came over to see the boys in their costumes.

Ben loved wearing his costume, but Tom was not excited about wearing his costume. After Gina and Chris left we went trick or treating with our friends the Reeves. First we started out at Jordan Landing, a large open air shopping mall, which was way too crowded. Then we went to the Reeves' neighborhood. Ben didn't really enjoy trick or treating, but Tom loved knocking on doors and seeing new people. A couple of times he tried walking into random houses, maybe he thought he was looking for a new family, I'm not really sure.

By the time we got home the boys were done being in costume, but we managed to get them to sit for a bit to take these picutres. They had so much fun. Ben keeps asking me if we can have Halloween again and go trick or treating.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-16T10:10:00.004-07:00

In October we were super lucky to have Grandma and Lindsey come and visit. While they were here we went to a pumpkin patch with the whole Utah gang. It was a blast.

Tom was not excited about sitting in this wagon. (That is a blow up turkey behind the boys. I guess I should have gotten him in the shot too, and not just its feet. Oh well.)

Tom wanted to take all of the pumpkins home. He kept trying to lift all of them up into our cart. It was hilarious to see him trying to heft a five pound pumpkin with his little boy muscles. He thinks he's SuperMan.

Here's my handsome big boy. When you ask him how old he is he'll tell you he's 3, even though he's only 2. He wants to be a big kid already.

Here we are at the beginning of the corn maze.

In the corn maze they had a bunch of these fun cut-outs. So of course we had to stop and take a few silly pictures.

Here we are close to the end of the maze. What a great looking group we made. :)

At the end of the maze they had some fun bouncers. Ben was not excited about jumping in the bounce house. He just held on to the rope on the sides and wouldn't jump. What a funny boy.

We had such a great time with our family. I think we'll make this a yearly experience.

Bathing Beauties

2009-11-15T16:10:00.003-07:00

Ben and Tom love taking baths. They love playing with all their bath toys, dumping water on each other, splashing each other, and just being silly.

Aren't their farmer tans cute? I love these boys. They're great.

Captain Batman Underpants

2009-11-13T10:41:00.004-07:00

Ok, I know it's been forever since I blogged last. So here are a few pictures taken in the last couple of months.
In the last part of August we started talking about potty training a little more. We bought a potty chair and got Ben some "big boy underwear". When we got the underwear for him he was really excited. And when I say excited, I mean excited to wear them, not excited to go potty on the toilet. That first night we got them he wanted to wear them to bed, but he wanted to be able to see them. So he put them on over his pajamas. He's so cute.

Maybe someday he'll actually wear them under his clothes, until then he'll be known as Captain Batman Underpants!

Fun day at Gardner Village

2009-08-21T12:23:00.004-06:00

Today Camille, Clarissa, me, and the boys all went to Gardner Village. Gardner Village is a fun little village filled with all kinds of trendy little shabby chic shops. They have a duck pond, petting zoo, and pony rides. After walking through all the shops we walked by the ponies, and to our surprise Ben actually wanted to ride a pony. I was shocked because he's usually kind of scared of trying new things. But he got up on the pony like a rock star. He even got to the point he could do it alone without me following next to him like a paranoid mother. It was a lot of fun.

After the pony ride we went to the little bakery they had there and had lunch. Tom was really enjoying his PB&J sandwich.

Wendy Brock saved my life!!!!!!

2009-08-20T09:48:00.003-06:00

That's right Wendy I'm talking to you (you will always have a special place in my heart). You may remember a previous blog post where I vented my woes of my troubling children. Wendy posted a comment about a book called Parenting with Love and Logic. This book has revolutionized my family and has helped me and Sam establish peace in our home. We went from yelling, crying, spanking, and losing control almost daily to loving each other and looking forward to spending quality time together. Before Love and Logic I dreaded Sam leaving me home alone with the boys each day and only looked forward to my kids napping in the afternoon. Ben (2 yrs old) was constantly hitting, biting, and taking toys from his brother Tom (1 yr old). After reading this book I've learned how to help Ben learn from the choices that he makes. The thing I love about this book is it makes sense. It's not all about punishing your kids, it's about teaching them to live with their choices and consequences. I recommend that every parent read this book. This book will help give you the tools to raise pleasant responsible children.
Ok I'm done preaching. Thanks again Wendy for the great advice.

What a day!

2009-07-16T22:18:00.004-06:00

For most of our married life Sam has been home by 6:00pm at the latest and always home on the weekends. I believe those days are over. We are entering a new and unknown world where Sam is no longer in charge of his waking hours, his work is the charge now.
Today Sam left the house at 6:45am and did not return until 10:00pm. 14.5 of those hours away from home were spent working. What does this mean for me and the boys? It means that mama's drinking again. And when I say drinking I mean Dr. Pepper. In fact, just today I went through a drive-thru on our way back from our morning outing to purchase a small Dr. Pepper. As we drove home I was planning out how I'd put the boys down for a nap and sit down in the peace and quiet to savor my DP. I was almost giddy with excitement. When I got into the house I started by changing Tom's diaper and whilst getting him ready for a nap I called to Ben, "Ben, why don't you come into the bedroom so mommy can change your diaper?" I heard no response. I should have known that the silence that returned was trouble. I kept calling as I finished with Tom. Then I went into the kitchen and "NOOOOOOO! What have you done?!?!?!?!" Ben had poured my DP all over the kitchen floor and was playing with the ice. My eyes went misty. Didn't he know that I really needed an hour of solitude with my DP? Wasn't my bedraggled appearance a dead give away that mama was two clicks away from crazy???
Don't worry, I know that you were all worried that the day ended horribly, but things resolved themselves. Gina and Chris picked-up a DP on their way over this afternoon, the boys went to bed at 7:00pm this evening (just having them asleep for the night almost cancels out anything bad they may have done during the day), and Sam finally came home. All is well in Zion.

Workin' at the car wash. . .

2009-07-11T13:37:00.003-06:00

When we were in California we went to Papa and Grandma Knecht's house and lo and behold a few of Ben's aunts were there too. Most of you know that in the Knecht household Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday, which means we wash all the cars (Grandma Knecht does not like going to church in a dirty car.). Ben of course wanted to get in on the action. He started out washing and then turned on his aunts and started spraying. It was hilarious.

Then the tables turned and his aunts started spraying him.

Beach Bliss

2009-07-08T17:03:00.006-06:00

While the boys and I visited California last month we were lucky enough to go to the beach with my cousin Jacquie and her two girls, Claire and Azure, my mom and my sister Clarissa. We had a great time. The weather was a little bit overcast, but still nice.

Ben loved digging in the sand.

Here's Tom and Claire. They're really close in age. Aren't they cute?

Here are all the kids playing around in the sand.

Tom was being so gross. He kept putting shovel-fulls of sand in his mouth. Disgusting! Then he'd spit it out and smile like he ws proud of his accomplishment. It was a fun morning.

Babies No Longer

2009-06-11T15:37:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I took the plung and threw all of the baby bottles away. This was kind of a big step for me. I really had to admit to myself that I no longer have any babies in my house, I have toddlers. Once I made the realization I was actually really happy. Don't get me wrong I love babies, but the thought of me having another one in the next year or so is kind of scary. Now if I could just get rid of having to buy and use diapers!

Home, Sweet Home

2009-06-10T13:15:00.009-06:00

I hope all of you know by now that we live in Taylorsville, Utah. It's about a 10-20 minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City. We live in a basement apartment of a 35 year old house. We like it a lot because although the appliances and bathroom are really outdated, it's really spacious. Here are a few pictures.

Here's the kitchen/laundry room/entry way. Our front door opens directly into the kitchen. The door you see on the right is to the bathroom. The doorway on the left is to the hall. You may have noticed, there in no dishwasher (I thought for sure that not having a dishwasher would really bother me, but I've been ok without it.)

This is our lovely bathroom. My sis-in-law Gina lovingly refers to it as "Hogwarts Castle" because of the ugly faux brick on the wall. I think it's more like shabby chic, emphasis on the shabby.

Next is the hall way. The door on the left is our bedroom and the door down the hall is to the boys' bedroom.

This is Sam and my bedroom. It's great because it's so large. You'll notice that our lovely red couch resides here in our bedroom because it wouldn't fit down the hall and tight turns into our living room. Oh well. It's been nice to have it in our room to rest and read on.

This is the boys room. (Don't mind the mess.) It's a good sized room. The door you see leeds to an oversized walk-in closet.

This is a view of our living room standing in the hallway. Our living room is so large that I wasn't able to get it in one shot. I love it. There's plenty of room for toys (as you can see all over the floor), TV watching and reading books. It's so nice in comparison to where we lived in Idaho. Our whole apartment in Idaho would almost completely fit into our living room here.

Here are a few more shots of the living room. Notice the wood burning stove, behind the rocker, that I keep wrapped up in cardboard so that the boys don't hurt themselves on it.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour of our place. Now that you know your way around you'll have to come and visit us. We'd love to see you.

Brownie Bliss

2009-06-09T16:14:00.005-06:00

Today the boys and I made brownies. I love brownies, but in effort to lose some pudge we made the "No Pudge Fudge Brownies" (lactose free version). They're delicious and if you haven't had the pleasure of eating these "healthy" brownies then you should give them a try.

Here's sir mix-a-lot, aka Ben.

Here are the boys helping me clean the dishes. You better believe every bit of chocolate on those spoons was gone when they were done with them.

Me and my chocolate covered boys.

HELP!!! I can't stand it any longer....

2009-05-28T12:04:00.002-06:00

I am at the end of my rope. Besides from sitting and crying I don't know what else to do. I have a 2 year old little boy who I don't really like being around. It's so frustrating for me. I want to be a happy mom who loves being with her kids, but most days it's really difficult. So I'm asking for advice. Here is an example of a common situation that is really difficult for me to deal with: This morning I went to the gym and left the boys in the play club at the gym while I worked out. It was great. They went right in and started playing immediately. After I was done I went to get them and found them content and happily playing. I picked up Tom, and he was happy to see me. I went to get Ben and he started a major melt down, screaming, kicking, and falling to the floor. What was I supposed to do???? I'm holding a 1 year old, who can't walk yet, how do I stop my 2 year from publicly making a scene and making me sooooo angry I just want to spank the heck out of him. Lately this kind of behavior is not uncommon. Whenever Tom picks up any toy Ben immediately walks up to Tom and takes the toy away and says to Tom "no it's mines, it's Ben's turn." Then when I ask Ben to give it back he yells at me "no I'm mad". I feel like yelling back, "YOU'RE MAD????? You don't even know what mad is." He's also started hitting and pushing Tom. It's like a power struggle all day long. If he's not tormenting his brother then he's whinning and yelling at me. The good times have become less frequent. (Don't get me wrong, I love this little boy and he is good some of the time. But when he's frustrating he's really frustrating.)
Please help me. I just want to know how to have a happy, loving, peaceful home. If you have any experience, or know of any good books let me know.

This is the Place Monument...now known as the Zoo.

2009-05-22T15:55:00.002-06:00

Today I wanted to get out of the house and take the boys somewhere fun, so naturally I thought of the zoo. I was out of the house by about 10:00am, which is a miracle in itself. Then when I got off the freeway I realized that I really didn't even know how to get there. That where Camille comes in. She was the hero, or shero if you prefer, of the morning. I called her and she navigated us to the beautiful Hogle Zoo in a heart beat, and she wasn't even in the car. Unfortunately when we got to the zoo at 10:30am it was already soooo packed that we couldn't even find a parking spot. I hate huge crowds, and I especially hate huge crowds when I'm alone with the boys. It's just a hassle, I don't think I need to explain my reasoning.

By this time Ben was asking to see the giraffes and elephants, so what did I do, I drove back down the street to the This is the Place Monument, told Ben that the elephants and giraffes were napping and took him to see the lovely petting zoo that they have there. It worked like a charm, I was still the super-mom of the day. Plus we were able to ride the train that they have roaming around in the park. It was great.
Sorry I didn't get any pictures. It's hard to take pictures when your hands are full of kids.

Happy Birthday Tom!

2009-05-20T15:25:00.008-06:00

Tom's birthday was May 11th. The Saturday before we had a family party with Uncle Chris & Aunt Gina, Uncle Casey, and Jesse, Brooke, and Leila. It was a lot of fun. It's so nice to live close to family again.

Here's Ben and Leila being cute.

Mommy and Tom blowing out the candle.

The boys enjoying their cupcakes.

The kids and all the presents.

Daddy and his boy.

Happy First Birthday Tom, we love you!

The Great Bendido!

2009-05-20T15:18:00.002-06:00

In our house wrestling is a common occurence. Here are a few shots of Ben, aka The Great Bendido, taking daddy down.

Thanks daddy for being such a great sport.

Happy Birthday Ben (Sorry it's a little late)!

2009-03-23T09:40:00.006-06:00

I can't believe it's happened, but it has. Ben turned 2 years old on March 13th. I know it's really cliche to say "they grow up so fast", but it really is true. Remember when he was so little and chubby.

Ben is a good boy, but he's very independent minded. He wants to do things his way and on his own...

...like rocking himself to sleep, doing his own workout, doing his own laundry, and feeding himself.

Now he's like a regular little man. Talking, walking/running, and climbing, he can do it all.

Here he is opening some of his b-day presents and eating his cake and ice cream.

Happy birthday Ben. I love you little man.

A Proud Day!

2009-02-28T11:14:00.003-07:00

I had been hoping for this day to come for quite some time. Some even said it wouldn't ever come, but I always believed it would. My boy Thomas has brought me so much joy by breaking through to the 100th percentile in head size (see documented proof below). In other words, Thomas has the biggest 10 month old head on earth. I have to stop typing now because my tears of joy are shorting out my keyboard.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T19:04:00.006-07:00

Today was a great day. This morning I made heart shaped pancakes for the boys for breakfast. I put red frosting on Ben's pancakes. He LOVED them.

I thought it was pretty funny how the bright red frosting looks like lipstick.

Tom liked his pancakes too (don't worry I didn't put frosting on his, I have limits).

After breakfast Chris and Gina came over (they've been in town since late Thursday night and left this evening). Ben and Tom had so much fun playing with Chris and Gina. It was awesome. We made some homemade play dough and went to town!

Hope you had a great day too!

We had house guests this past weekend, the terrible twos and roseola.

2009-02-09T08:40:00.004-07:00

This past weekend has been . . . interesting. Friday while getting Tom ready for bed we noticed that he was covered in a very suspicious looking rash. The next morning the rash had spread to cover his entire torso and head. It almost looked like chicken pox so I called the doctor and spoke with the nurse. After describing all of his symptoms she said it sounded like the chicken pox. I wasn't satisfied with that diagnosis, so I started researching online and found the answer . . . roseola. Needless to say Tom was pretty crabby.

Although he doesn't really look crabby. Isn't he cute.

Ben was also pretty crabby. It seems like he always takes it up a step on the scale of crabbiness when he sees that his parents are worn out and that Tom is getting a lot of our attention. Plus the "terrible twos" are here. Unfortunately the "terrible twos" are accompanied with phrases and words such as "what the heck", "annoying", "no way", "NO!!!", "darn it", "jungle book? jungle book???? jungle book jungle book jungle book jungle book jungle book jungle book!!!!!!!!". Thank you "terrible twos" for adding such lovely phrases and words to my sons vocab.

This picture pretty much speaks for its self.

Hey Everybody it's Family Night . . .

2009-02-03T13:54:00.005-07:00

Last night we had Family Home Evening. It started out like most FHE's at our house; we sing a few songs, talk about a picture from the Gospel Art Kit, have a family prayer and then we usually start bath time. Last night was a little different. It was hilarious. Ben is obsessed with elephants right now. Particularly the "jungle patrol" elephants from the Disney movie "The Jungle Book". So after our usual FHE we started singing the song from the elephants in the "Jungle Book" movie. You know the one: "hup, two, three, four, keep it up, two, three, four." Well Ben started marching and singing along all the while holding a little elephant figurine in his hand. After about 10-15 times through the whole song Sam started getting him ready for bath while still singing the song.

Closer and closer to bath time.

Just imagine Sam singing the elephant song and doing the elephant noise the whole time while Ben was marching and singing along. It was great. The whole time Ben was singing Tom was laying on the floor playing with his toys oblivious to his big brother.

We'll have to see what kind of a floor show we can cook up for next week.

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-08T09:22:00.002-07:00

It may not be December 21st, but winter has officially begun in the 'Burg. This morning I woke to go to the gym and went outside to start the car (for those of you who live in warmer climates, living here requires letting the car warm up for at least 5 mins before you drive) and when I got to the car it had 2-3 inches of fluffy, powder-like snow covering it. I have mixed emotions about the snow. It's kind of a love hate relationship. It really is beautiful and peaceful when it snows, but it's awful to drive in and taking the boys in and out of the car is no fun when it's snowing. I know my parking lot doesn't do it justice, but here's a picture from this morning.

Jackson, Wyoming 10/2008

2008-12-03T16:32:00.005-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. It always seems like I get really busy and neglect my blog, then I repent and have a bunch of pictures that I need to post. So here we go... a couple of months ago Sam and I took the boys on a day trip to Jackson, Wyoming. It's about an hour and a half drive from our apartment in Rexburg. Both Sam and I had never been there before. It was beautiful. The drive there was amazing. We drove through several little farming communities and parts of the Targhee National Forest.

Here's a pic of me and the boys at the famous town square with the antler arches.

Ben saw this huge stuffed buffalo and kept calling it a bear. He was pretty excited about it.

After we saw the buffalo Sam took Ben into a candy shop to get some gummy bears, which he loved. While Sam and Ben were in the candy shop Tom and I waited outside. While we were waiting Ed Harris (the famous actor) came up to Tom and kept saying how cute Tom was, and what a great smile Tom had, and what adorable cheeks Tom has. It was incredible. I've never really talked to a famous person before. It was really cool. By the way, he's a little shorter in person than I thought he'd be.

Public Service Annoucement

2008-10-31T09:24:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to tell everyone about this exciting thing I discovered. I hate cleaning the bathroom, but it has to get done. My least favorite part is scrubbing the shower. I have a fiberglass tub and shower surround and soap scum build up really easily and quickly. So I discovered that if I use a degreaser it cleans up so easy!!! It's incredible you hardly have to scrub and it gets it cleaner than Clorox Clean-up. (I know this totally sounds like an info-mercial, but I feel strongly about making things easier when you're cleaning.) The best degreaser and overall cleaner is Rinso WOW Degreaser. You can find it at the 99 Cent Only Store. (You know the chain store, not those random ghetto 99 cent stores.) Anyway, I felt like it was my duty to share this info. Everyone loves a clean bathroom, but no one likes putting in the time. If you're like me you'd rather spend your time doing better things. That's why you got to try this.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-21T18:53:00.002-06:00

Last month I decided to dress the boys up as Tigger and Pooh. I went to K-Mart and Walmart ('cause that's all we got here in the 'burg) and couldn't find either costume. So I did the next best thing, I called my mom, she always knows what to do. I asked her to look around at the local stores in her area for the costumes, and she couldn't find them either (except for really exspensive at the Disney Store). Being the kind,crafty, (in a good way, not like when you're clever and cunning) and all around awesome granny, she went ahead and made these costumes for the boys. Aren't they great! They look totally professional. Thanks mom, you're the best.

It's getting cold.

2008-10-16T11:51:00.002-06:00

The other day in the afternoon I was going stir crazy in the house, so I bundled up the boys and put them in the stroller for a walk. It was probably about 40 degrees or so outside, but I was desperate. We didn't really get too far because I felt bad about taking the boys out in such cold weather. How cold is too cold? I don't know, but since they're recovering from colds we only walked to the end of the street and back. Don't they look cute in their beanies, blankets, and jackets? Ben reminds me of the little brother from that movie "The Christmas Story".

Grandma's love was felt in Idaho.

2008-10-10T12:12:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Sam received a package from his parents' for his birthday. Enclosed was a card and Grandma's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Have you ever tasted heaven? Well if you've tried Ginger Knecht's cookies than you can reply in the affirmative. These cookies are bliss. Sam was nice enough to share them with me and Ben. Ben was loving them.
Thanks Grandma, you're the best!

Happy birthday to the most fabulous, handsome, super-terrific Sam ever!

2008-10-10T11:52:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday Sam!!!! I love you. You are such a wonderful husband and father. Thankyou for being so kind and compassionate. What would we do without you? Thanks for: changing lots of poopy diapers, dealing with me when I'm cranky, making us laugh, doing the "high laugh", always sharing your mom's worlds' best cookies, playing with the boys, letting me sleep in some mornings, getting me medicine when I need it, being a fantastic student, being really good looking, and most of all just being good. I hope the next 30 years will be just as good or better than the 30 you just finished.
Love, Stacy

Sunday Best

2008-10-06T09:31:00.002-06:00

My boys are so cute. Sam took these pictures a couple of weeks ago before church. Our ward doesn't start until 1:30pm, so we're usually ready in plenty of time before we have to walk over to church.

This is for the Newsies!

2008-09-29T13:26:00.004-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted lately. But I'm back in business now. I thought these pictures were cute. Tom loves smiling and being happy. He thought it was great when Sam put his hat on him. He's got a long way to go before he can fit into daddy's hat. Ben on the other hand . . .

Ben has recently found this little hat that he used to wear as an infant. We used to call it his "Newsie hat". His head is so big that the hat is like a little skull cap. I tried to take it off of him and he started throwing a fit. So I put it back on him and got these pics.

Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone . . . and other stuff.

2008-09-08T12:13:00.005-06:00

This morning I loaded the boys into the stroller for a walk. I gave Ben his sippy cup and his new puppy dog, which he got for being a good boy while we were at Target last weekend. We were all set, or so I thought. We started off and about an hour into our walk Ben starts yelling "puppy pleassssssse!!!!!! Mama, puppy, puppy pleasssssssse!!!!!". So I stop the stroller walk around to him and I see that he no longer has his puppy. A couple of thoughts went through my mind, "I can be a good mom and retrace my steps to see where he dropped it." or "tough luck buddy, you should have been more careful." Fortunate for Ben I was in a good mood. So back we went. I looked everywhere to no avail. When we got back to our apartment (an hour and a half later) what was sitting on our door step? The puppy. Well at least I burned a few more calories and Ben still has his puppy. The moral of the story, the puppy is not coming on the walk again.

This past weekend we introduced rice cereal to Tom. He was pretty cute sitting in the high chair. Now that he's in the high chair we've moved Ben to a booster seat. I think he likes it. He seems to be doing really well up to the table and using a plate. My boys are growing so much.

Ben is a pretty quick learner (hey it's my blog, and I can brag on my son if I want to), so we decided that he'd have fun learning the days of the week and the months. So I bought a calendar set and hung it. Every morning during breakfast we sing the months of the year (thankyou Katie) and we talk about the day of the week and the weather. I don't know if he's having fun, but I sure am.

Phi Slama Pajama

2008-09-03T21:51:00.006-06:00

Take a look at Ben's new threads. We've got to keep the boy warm during these unforgiving artic nights.

In unrelated news, Ben and I had a fun time coloring today. Check out one of his first masterpieces.

My Bouncer

2008-09-02T21:31:00.002-06:00

I love this picture because it's a very typical site at our house. Tom loves being in the bouncer and so I love the bouncer. I don't know what I'd do without this beautiful piece of equipment. Look how satisfied and content Tom is. He's such a good boy.

At the Park

2008-09-02T21:21:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite things to do with Ben is going to the park. He loves being outside. So I figure while we still have decent weather we better get out as much as possible. Porter Park is the closest park to our apartment so Sam and I decided to load up the boys and walk over. Tom stayed in his carseat the whole time, all bundled up and cozy. (He's had a cold since we left California, so I didn't want him out in the cold air too much.)

Ben loved being on the swings. We tried to get him to smile for the camera and this is what we got. Isn't that a great face.

Ben The Big Boy

2008-09-02T20:59:00.005-06:00

Since we've been back in Rexburg I realized that Ben needed a few essential pieces of clothing, long sleeve shirts, jeans, and "Big Boy Shoes". I had forgotten in my California naivete that in Rexburg fall actually starts in September and so does the weather. We have already experienced several cool blustery days, as well as a few rainy days. The little soft leather shoes that Ben has always worn won't hold up well in this type of weather. So I broke down and bought him some velcro Elmo shoes. He loves them. He can't wait to put them on and when he does he likes to tell you all about it. It's great.

Although he looks adorable there was a little part of me that was sad to see that my little boy was starting to look like a big kid. I don't know if I'd say that I miss the time when he was a baby, but I don't like the idea of him growing up and being too cool to kiss me whenever I want.

2008-08-31T21:13:00.002-06:00

I decided to start my own blog in efforts to keep people informed. So here it is. I'll be posting more soon, probably this week, once I get organized.