A BAD MOM? POSSIBLY...

I definately get the award for worst mom of the day! Boston is apparently a little sick today and a LITTLE needy as well. After hearing hours of wanting to be held and crying/whining, well my patience can only go so far especially when I'm husbandless! Anyway, tonight I let Stella out to go potty and when I let her back in Boston ran over to help open the door. The problem is that he LOVES to stand in the back door and just open and close it over and OVER and OVER again no matter HOW cold and no matter HOW sick he is! So I was trying to hurry before he got over to get the door shut when I look down while I'm in the process of slamming the sliding door (yes you have to slam it because of the ice build up) and see these tiny fingers in the door jam...

It was too late...
They got SMASHED!

I felt HORRIBLE! My poor little man was sitting there as red faced as can be with snot dripping down his face (gross, I know, but come on the little man was in PAIN) and these little RED fingers throbbing in agony! Talk about your child's pain making you want to cry while you're trying to figure out how to take your child's pain away!

The good thing is, it's bedtime and I'm in timeout!

A FORT?

Yes, this is what you get when you're bored, it's cold outside and you're trying to entertain a 20 month old boy (yes, he's 20 MONTHS)!

We built it.

Boston LOVED it and played.

Then a few minutes later got REALLY excited...

And down came the fort!

Well it was a nice try and lasted from start to finish about 10 minutes of our day!

Oh! Before I forget that I have this picture, I had to post how cute Boston looks sporting his daddy's hat. Yes, he too supports SOURCE (he must know what brings him all his toys)!

WHO WOULD THINK...

A washing machine would draw this much interest everytime it gets put to use:

OPERATION P90X BEGINS!

Today is our official start date with p90x! I thought I'd be confident enough to post my "BEFORE" pics but as it turns out I'm not! No worries, I'm saving you all from bending over and throwing up! Let's just say I'm looking forward to my transformation over the next 90 days!

Kent didn't want me to post his "BEFORE" pics either but he said I could post this pic of him looking oh so ready to get "PUMPED UP!"

By the way, the snow finally stopped about 2 hours ago, yes that's more than 24 hours worth of snow we got which resulted in about 2 feet+ of snow. Also it's SOOO foggy outside I can't see our neighbor's house across the street!
Frustrating?
Yes!

A POST FOR PAPA!

IT WILL NEVER END....

I mean NEVER! These past few weeks we haven't had a BIT of snow! I wouldn't call everyday that we've had a perfect sunny day by all means, but in my head I was thinking "Maybe by Feb we'll be hitting the 50's & 60's!" All our snow was beginning to FINALLY melt. We went from 5 ft to about 3 ft and in our backyard we were starting to see the ground again!! But sure enough, just as I was getting my hopes up, I woke up this morning to another snow fall and it hasn't stopped yet! I'm pretty sure we have almost a foot and it's not over yet....
Why has January been so long?
I'm over it!

THE CHURCH SPEAKS OUT

Kristin just emailed me this link to watch an ABC News clip done with Elder Ballard and Elder Cook on polygamy, prop 8, and temples that I thought I'd share. It was a good clip I just wish it would've been longer so they could speak more on these issues!

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6616644

A FEW BITS OF RANDOMNESS

• I've mentioned in a previous post Kent and mine's argument over the temp of the house. I will be the first to admit that we're very weird in our relationship. I'm cold during the day and want the heat UP while he wants it to stay DOWN. When we get in the car, I'm bundled up in a coat and long sleeves FREEZING with the heater on FULL blast until Kent in his short sleeves NO coat (he waits to put it on until AFTER he gets out of the car) drops the hint to turn down the heat by unrolling the window and sticking his head out for cold air! Then at night, we are total opposite, I sleep with the quilt that Kent HATES because he says it doesn't keep him warm enough. I point the fan directly on me on me while Kent pulls up the down comforter and stays bundled up all night with which I HATE having on me because I break out in a sweat in the middle of the night if the slightest bit of down is on me! Weird I know, it can't be explained. So I walk into the bedroom a few days ago and this is how Kent made the bed:

• On another note, I have a problem. We have been enforcing timeout much more since we've been here in Utah when we bought our "timeout chair." Well lately Boston has been SCREAMING as loud as he can then when I look at him, he's starts smiling. This drives me NUTS! So the timeout chair has had to come into action a few times. Boston screamed one evening and I gave him his warning. He then followed it up with another LOUD scream to which I responded, "Okay, let's go sit in timeout!" I guess in my head I'm thinking he'd be somewhat upset about this but instead he just marched right on over to timeout with a smirk on his face. I set the timer and I looked over to this:

YEP! That's a smile on his face!! He was sitting swinging his feet and smiling....some good THAT does! Although I will say, since this incident, we haven't used the timeout chair ONE TIME for screaming! Maybe it worked?

• Last bit of randomness for today is to brag on my husband for a second. He's been SOO great lately with Boston and I just wanted to give him a quick shout out! They are always playing together and Kent has been so good about taking care of him while I've been gone for most of the day a few times as well as taking care of laundry and cleaning! The other day I heard Kent trying to sing some primary songs (kinda butchering them but hey, he was trying) out of a little book my Grandma Bennett had made for Boston. I go in and Boston and Kent are laying on the floor looking at the pictures while Kent was trying to sing the songs! SWEET DAD! Boston LOVES his Dad and seriously copies EVERYTHING he does! The funniest is when Kent lays on the floor throwing balls up and catching them and Boston will hurry, grab a ball, and lay down beside Kent and try to do the same (even though he struggles at making it go straight up and come straight down...it's okay though sometimes his daddy isn't that good at it either=)).

P.S. If you look closely at this picture, you will notice that Boston has NO snow pants! I guess I was CRAZY to think we could purchase his snow gear AFTER Christmas but I guess they decide to put out all the spring clothes in January(?) and there is absolutely NO snow pants or snow coats around! A little crazy and a little annoying, yes I know!

I'M SICK OF IT!!!

This cold is about DRIVING me nuts! I'm freezing ALL the time! For the first week it was fun to watch all the snow fall daily but now I'm ready for it all to be gone! Yes, we haven't had snow in a week but living up here and having 5 feet of snow to melt away takes awhile and on top of THAT it's still bone chilling COLD!!!!! Kent and I had an argument last night because he wants to keep the heat on 68 to keep our bill from being too high! If I had it MY way, it'd be at 70-72! So I told him we'd keep it at 69 during the day and turn it to 68 a night. Apparently he feels ONE degree is going to make THAT much of a difference and I'm sure too that one degree isn't going to make the house THAT much warmer but still....I woke up this morning and the heat was turned to 69=) I love that guy!

So because of all this coldness I'm ready to head to Houston for the summer and I'm okay with heading down early!!!! I already feel like January has really been an accumulation of TWO months and it's STILL the middle of the month! Why does cold weather seem to go by SOOO slow and warm sunny weather seems like it goes by like THAT! I'm ready to lay in the sun, swim in the pool, wear shorts and flip-flops, eat a snowcone, crank up the AC, and sit on the porch grilling hamburgers and steaks! April can't get here fast enough! Kent and I need to take a vaca for a month to Mexico in the meantime...

AHHH!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS GRANDMA JEAN & GRANDPA BOB!

This year for Christmas my grandparents asked us to do acts of service instead of giving gifts. So of course we had to honor their wishes and get to work! So this post is mainly for them.

A few days before Christmas we headed down to the Baton Rouge Food Bank. Since hurricane Gustav hit there has been a shortage of food in Louisiana. I don't remember exactly how the whole process happened but the church ended up donating $25,000 worth of food to the food bank. So where do we come in? They needed help getting it all sorted and boxed up to give to other churches in the area who need to give to their needy. The one church that has food coming from us is a church called Bethany who had really given our church a difficult time when the temple was coming in to be built. Maybe one day they can welcome us and realize we're not such a threat as they seem to feel....kill 'em with kindess! I just thought that little piece of info was interesting...

So here are a few pictures of us going to work. It really was a fun morning and I can't BELIEVE how many families will be getting food. I can't remember how many boxes we did but I know it was over 200! Why is it that when you are serving others you always feel happier and you seem to forget all about yourself?!?

Please excuse the no makeup, just rolled out of bed look!

On another note, I needed to add that my dad took all the boys down to the Sugar Bowl this year. Who was playing? ALABAMA VS. UTAH!!! Give you some history for those of you who don't know, but LSU's former coach Nick Sabin left LSU for a better offer in the NFL for the Dolphins even though he was treated like a GOD at LSU. Long story short, he blew as an NFL coach and is now back coaching at Alabama. So, all LSU fans officially DESPISE this man so much so that you found my dad (THE BIGGEST BYU FAN ALIVE) sporting THIS gear to the bowl game:

Okay, I can't blame it ALL on Sabin (although we DEFINATELY were ALL pulling for Utah) because my brother-in-law Brandon is a HUGE HUGE HUGE Utah fan so I guess you can say my dad was supporting the fam! I know he'll KILL me for posting this photo for fear that some of his BYU buddies will see but I can't resist! Sorry dad!

The good news is UTAH WON and the boys had a GREAT time! Kent said it was the BEST football game he'd ever been too! Dad took them out to Nicky Brennan's for an early dinner where Kent OF COURSE came back and BRAGGED about how it was the most delicous steak he'd ever tasted, WHATEVER!

Luckily, all the girls decided we'd get a sitter and have a girl's night out on daddy! We got oh so delicious food (maybe not QUITE as good as the boys but it was still pretty dang good) and saw MARLEY AND ME which I CRIED and CRIED in! All my thoughts of getting rid of Stella have now made me feel aweful and made me LOVE her SOO MUCH MORE....and possibly made me want to get another one...shh!!!!! GO SEE IT!

Thanks mom and dad for the great evening for us ALL!

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

I know this isn't the BEST shot of the show for the night at the Richardson's for New Years but it kinda shows the professional show we get every year! We always go out for GREAT food and company every New Years. They cook up some MEAN jambalaya (along with a million other delicious things) that I miss so much since being away from Louisiana. You just don't get that kinda stuff up north! Anyway, it was a great night to end 2008 and start 2009!

Char Char just taking it all in

Boston might have had a little TOO much to drink

Huh? I'm okay mom!

Waiting for the firework show! That's Sophie asleep in Kristin's arms not Charlie, he's not THAT big! Boston started out a little uneasy from the loud popping of the fireworks but he calmed down once it stayed consistent.

We were planning on going home that evening to finish off some fireworks at my parents house but because of the 24 hour flu bug that was hitting everyone in the house and probably because of our old age we fell asleep before midnight...well I guess I fell asleep after we watched the DVRed Chik-fil-a Bowl where LSU put the smack down on George Tech!!! I don't know how late everyone else stayed up, all I know is I woke up around 1:15 am asleep on the game room floor with no one else around. APPARENTLY SOMEONE FORGOT TO WAKE HIS WIFE UP TO GO TO BED! Okay, okay, he said he tried but the flu was just starting to hit me and he said I didn't want to move. Plus I can't be too mad at the guy because I decided to go get comfy in my bed and I ended up waking up again around 2:45 feeling the need to vomit and it was one of those INSTANT feelings where I didn't have time to make to the toilet. Basically it kinda came out all over the floor. I know this is gross but Kent said he woke up to the splatter of my throw up on the floor and rushed to my aid and cleaned it all up. WHAT A GUY! Okay, enough of that. I'm starting to feel nauseous remembering it!

Anyway, so I didn't finish ringing in the New Year too well but earlier in the evening it was GREAT!!! Thanks Richardson's for a great time!

As for my New Year's Resolution, well this year I decided on just one. There are MANY things I need to work on but if I focus on this specific one, hopefully everything else will fall into place behind it. Before I list this years, I'm proud to say that after going back and looking at last year's resolutions, I actually fulfilled them....kinda:

1. Save more spend less.
2. Lose the remaining pregnancy weight and get back to my weight when I first got married.
3. Cook more and eat out less.

I slacked a little in the getting back to my weight when we first got married but I will say I lost all my pregnancy weight and then a few extra pounds. Maybe it was just all that muscle I gained at the gym....anyway, no worries because plan P90X is in motion (a post for another day)!

So on to my resolution for this year, it's probably a little more personal but since I actually wrote my resolutions down last year, I'm pretty sure it helped so that's why I'm doing it again.

2009 NEW YEARS RESOLUTION:

*WORK ON MYSELF*-this comes in a lot of different aspects that I'm not going to expound on but I will say that I've learned that you can't be totally happy in life unless you are happy with yourself. Yeah...that's probably all I want to say about that.

HAPPY 2009 EVERYONE!!!

THE LITTLE THNGS THAT MAKE US LAUGH!

I know I have lots more posts to catch up, but I had to post this before I forget:

We're sitting in Stake Conference yesterday at church and Boston was sitting on the ground pulling anything and everything out of my purse (Yes, I've learned to get over my OCDness and allow him to rummage through it during times where I need him to stay quiet, it still stresses me out but I try not to pay much attention, yes I have problems). So he's pulling things out and naming everything he's pulling out, "Bup!"-cup, "Ish" while moving his mouth like a fish-goldfish, actually they were Whales but you get the point, etc. I am kind of tuning him out as I was trying to pay attention and get SOMETHING from the meeting. Kent starts tapping my shoulder and I look at him and he's laughing and tells me to look at Boston. I look down and Boston is pulling out the diapers and saying "POO POO! POO POO!" This just cracked us up because he was just sitting there in his own little world naming things and so seriouly saying, "POO POO! POO POO!" The funny thing is that one of his first words was DIAPER and so he knows what it is and how to say it but apparently he's picked up on us saying, "Boston, are you poo poo?" and now he relates diaper to poo poo! It's probably more fun for him to say anyway...! Maybe this is one of those things that only us parents find funny but I sure do love that little guy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS.....

Of course we couldn't resist heading back home to Louisiana for a southern Christmas with warm weather spent with family and friends! We were gone for 2 1/2 weeks which although seems like I long time, we stay busy doing something EVERY day we're home! Plus, I had to take advantage of this Christmas being home because I don't know if Kent is going to open his wallet and let me go home next year...although trust me, I'll be pushing for it until it happens (shhh...!)

My parents had to buy a new tree this year (they go artificial) and guessed on the height their old tree was when they got this one. When they started putting it together, they figured out they were off by a few feet....TOO TALL! We had a huge tree like this before back in KY and my mom swore she'd never get a tree that tall again! Well here it is! My mom also feels that now that she had to spend the money on another tree, she has to be in this house for 8 more years to get her use out of it....that's my mom!!! We'll see if that happens...

We started off Christmas Eve with the opening of ONE present-PAJAMAS!! This tradition will be something I continue with my family FOREVER!!!

The girls loved their pj's, Boston didn't move (maybe he was disappointed it wasn't a toy?) and Charlie cared more about the yummy tags!

We can never leave out ourselves from the PJ tradition!

Kent does NOT wear pajama pants and tried to veto this tradition for him in the beginning but his smart wife told him since he wears basketball shorts to bed every night, that's what I'd get him for his Christmas pajamas. He was SOLD on the idea and I'm pretty sure this is something he looks forward to EVERY Christmas Eve!

Every Christmas Eve the Hooper's do their Christmas. This year, Hillary decided to take the load of Christmas Eve off Carol and held the celebration at her house. The food was delicious and the company even better.

Jerry gave us, "Total Money Makeover"...

As well as Leslie...

And Hillary and John...

Neal and Gwen....

And even Jeff! Are you trying to tell us all something? No really, I do appreciate this gift. Kent has been a total financial guru lately and as been totally ontop of our budget every month (why this makes me totally attracted to him, I can't explain) and this is DEFINATELY going to make it that much better, although I might get another lecture about my spending...I don't care what he says though, I HAVE improved!

One of my TOP favorite gifts this year is from Hillary, "The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition!" I was SOO excited to get this. I heard about it only a few days earlier and wanted to buy it for our family. Well, Hillary took care of it for me and I'll have it to start next year's Christmas festivities! Thanks Hillary!

When we were finished at Hillary's, we came home to everyone at my parent's house watching White Christmas (LOVE this movie). One of these years I'm going to sit Kent down and make him watch it start to finish. Somehow he's avoided it all these years...Also, notice that I'm still holding Elf on the Shelf and also, I think dad and I are the only ones wanting to look at the camera for this pic...

Christmas morning was spent at my parents house seeing what Santa brought the kids and opening a few presents for ourselves.

Dad, were you getting a little bored?

You could give Kent a million dollars yet he'd still be MUCH happier getting an XBOX game! He played this game an free minute he got. His goal was to finish before we left Louisiana, which he did, which I was TOTALLY fine with! I'd rather him be glued to the XBOX there when others are around then at home when I'm tired of talking to myself all day!

Boston's TOP 3 PRESENTS:

His ball pit thanks to his Auntie Kristin and Uncle Chad

He LOVED playing with the girls in the ball pit although anytime Charlie entered the mix, he'd get SOOOO upset! Can we say that maybe he feels a little threatened?!

Boston's new suitcase or as he says, "ba pack, ba pack!"

This little toy where you place all the balls on top and hit them with a hammer (or if you get impatient like Boston you hit with your hands) and they roll through a maze thing to the bottom.

We of course had my dad's famous Christmas Day breakfast which we only get once a year (thanks for using the 3rd bag of hash browns) which is always SOOO delicious. We stopped by Carol's for a little while then hurried back to my parents house for a fantastic Christmas dinner. It was a busy day but well worth every minute!

Overall, this Christmas was great! I LOVE spending time with family, I never want the time to end. But eventually we have to all get back to our normal lives and allow my parents to get their sanity back (you know you miss us!). We hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas too!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!