New Basement = Room to Camp!

Carli and Eli are loving the new basement . . . and all the new room to play that it provides. The past two weekends they've loved "camping" in the basement. They were able to watch a movie from the door of the tent and then lay down and go to sleep when they got tired. What could be better than that?

Once again, WAY TO GO on the new basement, DAD!

Fossils

Yesterday I was reading and I came across a quote I really loved, so I wrote it down on a piece of paper and taped it to the fridge. Here's the conversation I had with Eli about it this morning.

Eli: "Mom, what is that paper for?"

Me: "I was reading a talk from General Conference yesterday and one of the Apostles said something I really liked so I wrote it down."

Eli: "What does it say?"

Me: "It says 'The simple secret is this: Put your trust in the Lord, do your best, and then leave the rest to him.' Elder Wirthlin said that. He's one of the apostles."

Eli: (pauses for a second) He's a fossil? I want to see a fossil!

hee, hee...

Lu...Eli?

The other night Eli went to sleep in our bed because Sammy was having a hard time going to sleep. He always falls asleep in the funniest positions!



As I was sorting through the pictures I uploaded, I double-taked at this one because I think Eli is the spittin' image of me in this pose! People have always told us that Eli looks like me and Carli looks like Ben... but I always considered that a matter of coloring... Carli with the light hair and Eli with the dark. BUT, in this picture, if you cover up all but the face, it could be me laying there on the bed. Crazy . . . but fun too. There is something special about looking at your kids' faces and seeing yourself.

Good Pics!

I am loving the new camera we got for Christmas! It takes such beautiful pictures . . . we are so blessed to be able to document our lives with it. I have always been sad that my early life wasn't more well documented, with only a few pictures of me from infancy until my teen years. I am so glad that our kids will have and retain so many memories because of the awesome technology that we have.

(And it doesn't hurt that Sammy's such a good poser!)

Mr. Marathon

In the past year or so, Ben has really come to enjoy running (who knew that that chubby kid would grow up to be a runner?? And yes, Ben was a chubby kid!). As he started getting better and better and being able to run farther and farther, he decided that he would like to train for a marathon.

His training started a few weeks ago and he has registered for a marathon in Brookings, South Dakota on May 16th. He'll be deployed to Japan for March and April, so he'll be able to train out there with no distraction from us. I have no doubt that he'll do well and be super prepared for the race. The other day he ran three miles in 22 minutes! That's only 7 1/2 minutes a mile! That is crazy fast if you ask me! I'm proud of him and I can't wait to see him cross the finish line.

Indoor S'mores

A couple of weeks ago we had s'mores for our Family Home Evening treat and they were a huge hit! Ben and I hadn't had s'mores for such a long time, and Eli and Carli were thrilled with being able to use the propane burner to roast the marshmallows. It was so much fun, it's now become a weekly tradition. So if the next time you see me I've got chocolate and marshmallow smeared around my mouth, you'll know why!

YUM!

Taco Tongue!

Anybody else heard of "taco tongue"? I had always heard that this was a genetic trait... one you either had or didn't have. Carli has been trying to do this for over a year now, and until now has not been successful. One day last week she came to me, ecstatic, and showed me her taco tongue. Either she didn't understand how to do it in the first place, or the genetic thing is a myth--what do you think?

Sammy's Milestones

Walking! Sammy was a super early crawler and he became very proficient at it. He has been able to walk for some time now, but didn't really feel the need. Last week though, he finally just stood up and did it and now he's zooming around all over the place. Yay for Sammy!

Climbing! Sammy is able to climb on and into pretty much anything. This is how Ben found him the other day. His mission in life is now to get on the table, the piano, the computer desk, the toilet... anything he can climb onto and get in trouble for. Needless to say, the bathroom doors are now locked!

Eating! Sammy is now at the point that he doesn't want me to feed him anymore. I gave him a spoon a couple of weeks back and now he has to have one at each meal. He does pretty well with cereal and other bite-size foods. I still feed him sometimes because I can't stand the mess! There's no way I'm giving him a spoon and a bowl of spaghetti! (Maybe when it gets warm outside--I'll put him on the deck and let him have at it!)