Blackout!

Yesterday wasn't a bad day at all. It was windy all day but other than that is was really warm outside. I came home around 5:30pm and bathed the boys. Then I made dinner and realized the wind was getting really bad. I checked outside and saw how bad it had got. I took the boys upstairs to bed and the lights would flicker. I didn't think the electricity would go out. I put the boys to bed and went into my room to pump. I was sitting on the floor talking to Ben who was on his way home from work and he told me it was getting really bad outside. That's when the electricity went out. I was completely scared. I had already been on edge because of the sounds the wind was making through our doors and windows. I didn't know what to do. I used my cell phone to go find a flashlight and then on my way downstairs to find some candles the flashlight went out. I was soooo scared. I'm ridiculous. I stayed on the phone with Ben because it made me feel safer! I was able to light a tea light candle because that was all I had. I was than realizing how unprepared I was. I was able to find some batteries for the flashlight so that helped a little more. I just waited around until Ben got home. It was actually really nice to sit around and talk to Ben without the distractions of a TV or computer. Here are some pictures and video of Keaton who didn't seem to mind sitting in the dark!

Keaton sitting in a blackout from jaclyn on Vimeo.

Happy Valentines Day!

I absolutely HATE that Valentines Day was on a Monday. It made it really hard for me to be able to get the boys gifts. I went to Wal-Mart at midnight on Sunday night to get them their balloons and gifts. They were completely wiped out but I found some things for them. I bought them 2 balloons, a Valentines Day book and 2 ring pops. It was really fun to have them wake up Monday morning and see their presents. They loved it! Valentines was pretty stressful for me. I hurried and got ready for the day and packed the two boys bags for the night because they spent the night with my brother and sister down in Provo. I headed down to Provo where I met up with my brother for lunch. Then I drove over to campus to get Ben's gift. After leaving campus I went over to Victoria's Secret for Ben's other gift! :) Then I went to my sister Holly's house so I could feed Keaton. While I was there I tried calling Texas Roadhouse to give a take out order. I felt like I was calling into a radio show to win something. I kept getting a busy signal. I called like 15 times before I finally got through. She immediately put me on hold. I was on hold for about 6 min. before she got back on and asked how she could help. I told her I needed to place a take out order so she then transferred me. I was on hold for 15 min.! It was ridiculous. I finally was able to give my order and she told me it would be done in 30 min. I wasn't able to leave Provo until almost 6pm. So I called Ben who was right close to our home and asked him to go pick up the food. He said he would and I headed home to set up the house. I was doing everything I could think of and realized how long it had been. It was 7 already. I called Ben and said, "Where are you?" He proceeded to tell me that they had somehow given our order to someone else and they were going to have to remake it. I said that is unacceptable and to tell them we get it for free. So that's what happened, Ben told them it should have been done an hour before and that we should get it for free. So in the long run it was worth a free meal! He came home and I had the dinner table set up really nice. We watched a movie I had rented which I would never recommend. It was called The Romantics. It was awful! We had a really nice quiet night in. I was so grateful to my sister Holly and brother Andre' for watching the boys and keeping them over night! I love you guys!

Brian Head

This last weekend Ben and I went to the cabin. We were the only ones there plus Belmont. It was a nice weekend away, however I wish I had felt better. I was deathly sick. The boys had a lot of fun though. We got there late Friday night and talked by the fire. Then we all went to bed. We got up the next morning and Belmont made us all breakfast. His usual, pancakes, eggs and bacon. It was delicious! Then Belmont and Ben took the boys skiing. They had a lot of fun. Ethan wanted to go a second time but Ben said it was way too hard to go again. So I took the boys back home while Ben and Belmont stayed and went skiing and snowboarding. Later that afternoon we watched the BYU vs. Utah basketball game and lounged around. Belmont left that night back to Vegas and our little family stayed and had dinner and cleaned the cabin. We left early the next morning. It was a short weekend but it's always nice to get away for a little bit.

Aidan skiing with Grandpa Belmont from jaclyn on Vimeo.

Ethan skiing with Grandpa Belmont from jaclyn on Vimeo.

Dinosaur Museum

I think I have mentioned that every Monday the Dinosaur Museum has family nights where they have extra activities going on with a theme. We went on the 7th of February and it was Cupid's Valentine Mask-querade. The night did not start out well. First of all a blizzard had just begun outside when we got there. That was a sign of what was about to come. We got there 10 minutes before it started so we were just walking around the lobby waiting for the booths to be set up. In that short amount of time I lost Aidan. He had wandered off. I didn't panic at first because I was sure he was close by. I started to look for him and began to yell his name. After a few minutes started to pass I began to panic. I was frantically looking everywhere. In the gift shop, the bathrooms all over the lobby and I even quickly ran through the museum yelling his name. I came back out to the lobby and told some workers that I had lost my son and I began to bawl! They asked me a few questions about him and told me it was going to be okay that they would find him. They told me to stay put. I just stood there crying, making a huge scene I'm sure! Then out of nowhere after a few minutes a worker came walking out with Aidan. Aidan was gone a total of ten minutes. He was totally laughing until he saw me crying and when I took him by the arm he stopped his laughing. I wanted to ring his neck! Instead I just hugged him and told him to never do that to me again! By this point I just wanted to leave. I was so embarrassed. But I didn't. I stuck it out and let them participate in the activities. So from these pictures you could never tell the traumatic experience I just had.

Roxanne's 24th Birthday

So my younger sister Roxanne turned 24 a few weeks ago. She always says to me if I were like you then I would have been married already with a child. What she should realize is, she isn't me and I adore her for who she is. I look up to Roxy in so many ways. She came out to live in Utah in January of 2007 and that was one of the best presents I could have ever received. I had been away from home for 6 years already before any family decided to come out here. Roxy decided to start attending aesthetician school at Dallas Roberts. She completed her schooling and became a licensed Aesthetician. She then started attending UVU and will now be graduating this April with a Bachelors in marketing. She already has a grown up job at Pinnacle Quality Insight in SLC as their new marketing director. I will be honest, I hate it but that's me being selfish. We just really miss her because we don't ever get to see her anymore. I love my Roxy Pants more than she will ever know. I am so proud of her and everything she has accomplished in her life. She is so dedicated to what's important, she is loving, kind, thoughtful, super smart and is a great friend and sister! She has been so fun to have out here. Roxanne has had a lot of trials in her life and I thank Heavenly Father for where she is now and how she has turned those trials into learning experiences. She is the best Aunt to my boys. She really loves them so much and probably takes more pictures of them than I do as their mother. I am grateful for her support of me as a mother of three and I just want her to know that I love her dearly!

Keaton is four months old!

This is so sad…my baby is getting bigger and bigger and I can't do anything about it. Anybody who knows me knows that I don't like the baby stage! So this is weird that I am sad about it. I think it has to do with the fact that Keaton is unlike any baby I have ever had. He is the EASIEST! He has been such a joy in my life. Keaton is the HAPPIEST baby in the world. He never cries unless one of the boys hurts him which is understandable. I just love cuddling with him and loving on him! Here is his schedule and has been since he was about 2 months old: he wakes up between 10 and 10:30 and sometimes I have to wake him up. I change him and feed him a bottle. He is awake for an hour and a half and goes back to bed for an hour and a half. I wake him up after the hour and a half and change him and feed him. I do this until 8:30 when I bathe him and put him to bed. I then wake him up at 10-10:30pm to feed him one last time and put him straight back to bed. He then sleeps until 10-10:30 the next morning. Could I ask for a better baby? I think not! He is so content. Right after I feed him I lay him on the floor and he just rolls all over the place and coos and doesn't cry until it's time for him to take a nap. It's like clock work for him…it's amazing! Keaton has such big smiles! I love watching him interact with people because he is so friendly with everyone. I am not nursing anymore because he won't but I am still pumping which does suck but at least it's cheaper than formula. He is strictly on a breastmilk diet. The doctor told me I could start introducing cereal if I wanted to but I figure he is doing so well with out it so why ruin a good thing. Here are his stats:

Weight: 15.7 lbs.--57%
Height: 26.3 in.--84%
Head Cir.: 16.8 in.--53%

Aidan is four!

Aidan turned four on December 27th and he had a great birthday with all the family in Reno! He just saw the doctor and looks really good. Although the doctor did ask how Aidan's diet was and I just laughed. I am in shock everyday that he hasn't just blown away. The child rarely eats and if he eats this is what his diet does consist of…Trix, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, quesadillas, and mac 'n cheese. The doctor was like you really need to get him to eat some veggies, obviously you can't force feed him but make sure it is always available. The little scoundrel dry heaves by just smelling vegetables. I was having some vegetable lasagna I made for lunch and he left the kitchen with his hot dog on a plate and said he couldn't take the smell anymore. He's slightly dramatic. He proceeded to go sit in our front coat closet to get away from the smell.

Aidan is a cute little boy who has a little bit of an attitude sometimes. He can be really sweet and talks in his little quiet, sometimes whiny voice, when he wants something. Lately his definition of sharing is when his is all gone and he tells Ethan to "share" with him with what Ethan has left of his. Aidan can be a big help with Keaton when he wants to be. :) Aidan still LOVES all his cartoons in the morning. His favorite shows right now in the morning are Diego, Max and Ruby, Bubble Guppies and Umizoomies in that order. Aidan is loving preschool and loves his teacher Mrs. Noble. I am having a really hard time with him recognizing his letters though. If I ask him to show me a certain letter he can't for the most part point out which one it is. He can with some but not many. However, he can tell me the sound that particular letter makes which I think is weird. He is really good at counting but then again has a hard time recognizing what number is what. He knows all his shapes and colors which is good. He is really good at memorizing books that we read and likes to read them to Ethan and me.

Aidan has so much energy and so it's been hard this winter like every winter to come up with things to do inside to get his energy out. He really likes when we go to the dinosaur museum and to Chik-fil-a. He loves going over to friends houses to play which I have tried to be more conscientious of because it's important to him. It's hard to believe he is already four. Ben and I love him so much and love watching him grow and mature as the years go on!

Weight: 36 lbs.--48%
Length: 41 in.--57%