If I try to think of a title for this post it will never get written. Same with pictures. Unfortunately those will have to come at a much later time. A lot has been going on with our family lately and we've been pretty busy. Here's an effort to play a bit of catch up. Kyle ran his Spartan race and got an excellent time in my opinion. The obstacles and challenges were HARD but he did all of them and didn't get any penalties. (For example if you couldn't climb over the rope wall they made you do 100 push ups instead.) Basically, he rocked it! No surprise there. He's been busy with school and if I haven't said it already we are THRILLED that he will have his Master's Degree completed in about a month! It's been a long hard road mostly for him, but it has definitely been hard on us all to not have him around as often due to studying or his class nights. Glad to have it over and done with soon. He's been busy with his new calling and life has gotten a little more hectic there, but all around we can't complain. We are doing well. Not too much new with me...busy with my calling also, but loving every minute of being involved in the lives of these amazing youth. I think about them often and just love each one of them to pieces. Other than that I just spend my days finding new ways to entertain the two (and sometimes a third adopted) little men in my life. I love planning our days and getting Chase excited about going or doing different things. We've gone to the zoo a lot lately, and our favorite public pool. Their favorite lately is going to the park and playing hide and seek with a football (kind of like an Easter Egg hunt). Chase is still loving pre-school. I love hearing about his day when I pick him up, he just chatters non stop about all the things he learned and I really enjoy doing his homework with him and watching his little mind in action. He has a wonderful teacher whom he adores and he's learning a lot. When we're driving over to preschool he likes to sing the Sid the Science kid song that goes, "I love me mom (uh huh) my mom is cool (uh huh) but now it's time for having fun at school!" He starts soccer league this week. His first practice is on Wednesday and first game on Saturday. He also has the father and son's camp out this weekend which he is uncontrollably excited about. Landon is talking more and more clearly every week. He will repeat pretty much everything we ask him to and says an array of words on his own. His favorite words right now are: no, amen, ball, thank you, Dodger, no no Dodger, Chase, Landon, ni-night, please, look, and mommy and daddy. He is the ultimate in mischief. I have to keep a CONSTANT eye on him and there is not much that will keep him interested while I get other things done. So when I get ready in the morning Landon goes either in the empty bath tub with some toys where he's always right there with me or in the sink right in front of me while I get ready. I've learned that it's much easier to be proactive like this than it is to come out after getting dressed to find his "surprises". He is tons of fun though and our family really would not be the same without him. He definitely adds a lot of spice and variety. We are also new Honda Odyssey owners (yay)! I LOVE it despite the mini van aspect. That's about it for our family! We're doing pretty well and looking forward to summer! We can't wait for some fun adventures...

My little "son"shines

*Just a warning. This is definitely a journal entry and is probably going to get pretty gushy and long.* It really is incredible how much you can grow to love your children more and more with time. I know that sounds super corny, but I think back when Chase was born holding that brand newborn baby and being absolutely head over heels in love. The momma bear in me was born and I swore I would never let a single thing or person harm my beautiful baby. I didn't think I could possibly love TWO kids the same amount. I thought for sure I'd have a favorite and in fact I was very afraid I would. But then Landon came along and proved me more than wrong. Sometimes I feel that indeed my heart just might explode and sometimes I think it does a little when those uncontrollable tears come streaming out of my eyes just thinking about my precious boys. I.love.these.boys. I hope they know it. Chase is growing up so fast in such a short amount of time. He is like a miniature version of Kyle. So responsible, worried, and striving for perfection. I often have to say to him, "Hey! Who's the mommy?" He says back authoritatively, "You are!" to which I say, "OK then let me be." He is my biggest helper and will jump at the chance to do anything I ask him to do just saying, "OK mommy". He's always impressing me. He loves drawing, writing, and coloring and I often come into the garage to find the floor covered in Chase originals, or a variety of alphabet letters, or stick figures of our family. He's intuitive and has a memory like nothing I've ever seen. He's always reminding me of things I told him or something he saw on TV or learned in school. Landon is full of energy and love. He is curious and likes to watch people, observe, and try the world on for size. He likes being independent, but is by far much more dependent than Chase ever was. He makes me feel very needed:) He can snuggle for a good hour or more and there are times when I will do just that with him. I know there will come a day when I would give anything to hold that sweet smelling, fluffy dark haired, little toddler close just one more time. More than anything though, they are such great examples to me. They make me want to try harder, learn more, and be better in everything I do. I loved Sister Jean A Stevens talk in General Conference about children and following their examples and developing the divine attributes they exemplify daily. I loved when she said, "These precious children of God come to us with believing hearts. They are full of faith and receptive to feelings of the Spirit. They exemplify humility, obedience, and love. They are often the first to love and the first to forgive." I just thought of my sweet children when I heard that and how I could pin point examples from our day to day events of them exemplifying each of those qualities. These children coming into the world today are incredible. I feel blessed beyond belief to have the two precious princes that were sent to our family.It makes those hard days seem not so bad when I see these two sweet boys for who they really are, how Heavenly Father sees them.

Suns Game

Landon cheering on the Suns!

The boys jumping on Kyle while we watched the warm up

Chase and me

The warm up

In front of US airways arena by the giant basketball

Last night we took the boys to their very first Phoenix Suns game! The Suns played the Utah Jazz in a really close game. It was neck and neck the entire time. I don't think either team led by more than 5 or 6 points during the entire game. I will admit that I really am not much of a sports fanatic, much to Kyle's great disappointment. I DO really, honestly ENJOY watching live basketball games though. I can watch it on tv and not be completely bored out of my mind, but live baskeball is probably the only sport that I would pay more to watch live. I (shamefully) become a whole other person when I'm watching a live NBA game. Let's just say Kyle couldn't stop staring at me and just smiling or laughing. I don't know what was wrong with him! The game was SO close and he was as calm as...a Hindu cow (I don't know?)??? He was calm! At any rate, we had a great time. The boys had a blast and we (the Suns) WON! Yes!! Go Suns!!! Final score 101 to 102 SUNS! Here are some of our pictures from the night.

Playdough

We have been on a play dough kick lately around our house. I found this AWESOME recipe for play dough a couple weeks ago on one of my favorite sites, HowDoesShe. It makes the softest, squishiest play dough that lasts forever! Seriously. The boys left one of the bags out and opened for almost the whole day one time and it's still super squishy! The boys love that they can actually help me make it too. I let them dump in the ingredients and help stir then we all knead it together when the dough cools.Chase was so proud of his play dough that he asked to take it to pre-school for show and tell. His teacher said he was so excited telling all his friends how he helped make it and letting them all squish it. So here's the recipe for those who are interested:

Super Soft Play Dough

1 cup flour

1 cup water

1/4 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 Tb vegetable oil

4 drops of your favorite food coloring

Dump all ingredients into a med. pot and stir constantly over med. heat until it forms one big glob. Take off heat and put the glob on some wax paper. When cool knead the dough until it's nice and soft. Enjoy!!!

Kudos to Kyle

My.husband.rocks. I'm not going to lie...he's pretty amazing. Whatever job he does, he does it WELL. So I have to brag him up a little bit because, well, that's what I do! His boss recently got a letter from one of the VP's in the company whom Kyle had assisted and this is what it read:

Description of your achievement
Kyle White recently was assigned to assist with an employee expense reimbursement issue. He exceeded all expectations – quick to respond, thorough in his follow-up, and set the appropriate expectations so that we could handle our situation with ease. I was extremely impressed by Kyle’s ownership spirit. When we asked him a question that was out of scope, he did a little research and went beyond offering a blanket response that may have missed the mark.

The end result of Kyle’s judgment and professionalism – our employees were able to resolve important reimbursement issues in a timely, efficient manner. This is critical to all employees and their leaders, and your team’s support in delivering is appreciated.

I’m not blown away often but really was by Kyle’s customer service.

Pretty impressive. They even gave him a Wii fit bundle for his recognition! We are so proud to call him ours around this house, and we love him for all the hard work he does to support our family. But really we're mostly just grateful he has a job! Good job honey!!!