Family Pictures

So we had family pictures taken before we left town and they just came in the mail today reminding me that I hadn't blogged them yet.. so.. here they are!

Here are my adorable boys, Kevin give baby a kiss!

Here are our 5 year anniversary pictures, I cropped them in to show how cute we are! (and to hide our bellies)

Cameron was posing the whole time.. he was absolutely adorable, but to get him and Kevin to both smile at the same time.. I'm not sure that will ever happen.

Here is our best family picture.. and one of us trying to get the kids minds off the camera.

And here is Kevin is all his glory! ya have to love that personality!

lots of stuff...

So now that we have the internet, I have caught up on my unread emails, read some 100 posts in my reader...(glad to hear you are all doing so well and having so much fun!) and now I don't know what to post on my blog!.. We packed up and left the house... a lot later than we thought.. I didn't realize how much junk we had and how much was never going to fit into the uhaul... and got on the road, it was a two day drive and those were to very full days... I would say that we drove atleast 15 hours a day.. we usually didn't stop until after 2:00am, we got a lot better time once the kids were asleep and all that jazz. So we drove for two days, pulled in Oklahoma about midnight and stayed at a great friends house (thanks guys!) then we picked out which little house we would be renting the next day and unloaded the u-haul with ward members that night( thank good ness the church is wherever you go!).. and we have been unpacking ever since.. Does it ever end?!? We have been adding stuff to the D.I./ goodwill like crazy! we own far to much junk! so we have been switching out license plates, getting a new bank accounts, switching our drivers licenses, getting a P.O. box, switching electricity, water/sewer/garbage... blah blah blah, we still need to switch over health insurance but other than that we are good. We found the local wal-mart and basically make a trip everyday to try and get ourselves organized.. Did I mention I hate moving! We love it here... we miss Jerome and our friends.. (Kevin has finally stopped asking to go home and is now calling this place "my home". he even says bye bye house when we pull out of the drive way... (it made me so sad when he was having a hard time understanding we weren't going back.. and we pulled out of Jerome so late we never got to take a family picture in front of our house! Sad ;( Tyler starts work next week and classes start the week after that. I am taking an intitute class this fall for mommies.. seriously excited about that! It is a class where mommies take their kids.. screaming and all and get to go listen to institute... and it's free! This ward has some great enrichment actvities I plan on partaking of...the finish your project once a month, a bookclub and best of all, I am canning apples that me and a great friend went and picked for free!( at 7:00 in the morning might I add) I am out nothing, except time.. So Tyler will get to have his apples on his waffles and pancakes and I get to do more food storage! woohoo! oh Did I meantion that it is crazy hot hear? 109 during the day and in the 80s at night! and the bugs are mondo big buddy... we saw this spider that could have eatin me... ok so I was told it was a banana spider and harmless but it was big enought to eat me! Other than Cameron getting his 6th tooth on the 2nd of August.. its the bottom 2nd to the left.. i think.... that is all that has occured with us...But I must go.. the boys need their momma! And I think tyler wants me to do something about it!

just so ya know...

we are still alive and kicking here in Oklahoma... we still have the same phones but don't get any service in our rental house... and no Internet until Wednesday.. when we will also get a land line...it will be nice to update ya'll on everything here... including the 109 degree heat! its a smoker! well love and miss ya'll lots... but we wanted to let you know we are still here!

Our Story...5 years into it!

Well I'm starting to think of how horrible my (real) journal writing has been So I figured while I am so good at blogging (hehehe) I should just post our story here and print it off later. Besides, we have been married 5 years today!

Tyler and I met on a Sunday night in October 2002, my freshman year in college, his sophomore (the year after his mission). Our student ward at BYUI was having sweet swap and his apartment came to mine for "sweets" I walked in my apartment with my then boyfriend and found Tyler holding hands with my roommate Tanya (it was the first night they had met too). We all got introduced and I really didn't think very highly of Tyler after that night... funny I know. Well Tyler somehow became a fixture in our apartment, my roommate helped with that. (they went on a few dates) And when I got dumped around Thanksgiving Tyler started calling more.

Our first date was to McDonalds for breakfast after a 7+ hour long conversation (it lasted all night) on the phone. McDonalds breakfast is now kind of "our thing" We hid our relationship for a couple of months, why I am not sure. Our first kiss was right before Christmas at his Brother's in Salt Lake, and he was the first to say I love you. We discussed our Valentines days a couple of days ago and we both agree that our first Valentines Day was the one we put the most effort in to. I bought him a ton of stuff, a giant Care Bear, a CD, a box of turtles, etc. (and for me that says something.. I hate spending money) and he woke me up early to dance and take me out to breakfast, made me a CD and took me to meet his family in Salt Lake. Long road trip- come to think of it that was our second raod trip and we have been traveling ever since! We got engaged April 11 in a park in Rexburg and we said goodbye two weeks later after finals on the 25th. He went home to California and I went home to Washington.- If that wasn't the longest summer of my life! We were married July 17 in the Jordan River Temple and then went to school year round (we knew kids wouldn't wait and we wanted to get as much done as possible before they came) starting that fall until we graduated in December 2005. So we knew each other 9 months when we got married, we probably only dated 7 of those months, we were engaged for 3 of them.

We had our first child Kevin, September 8 during our last semester. Tyler was student teaching and I only had 12 credits that semester, half were online. After graduation Tyler started his Masters online and we started looking for teaching jobs for the fall. We found one in Jerome, it was his dream job. He taught Spanish and Biology and coached football and wrestling. We bought our first house here in October of 2006. He earned his Masters July of 2007. He taught for two years. We had our second child Cameron, in September 2007. Our boys are almost exactly two years apart and a lot of fun. Kevin and his strong personality and never ending energy keeps us up and running and Cameron is turning into one great kid. After a short bit of colic (a couple of months ago I would have called it eternity) he is really growing up to be fun. He is crawling, pulling himself up, walking along things and learning to balance not holding on and enjoying his brother more and more. They love to wrestle! Kevin, has handled this big brother thing wonderfully. Cameron is "his baby" and Kevin threatens Cameron with smooches and hugs everyday! And that brings us to the present, a family of four, moving to Oklahoma for Tyler's PhD. Where we will be after the next 5 years, who knows?

Cameron's 9 month pics

Here are Cameron's 9 month pictures, and yes I Realize I am posting these a little late, but life sure has been busy!






My adorable baby boy is growing up so fast!

This weekend!

So this weekend was busy! We drove off to my parents house Friday morning and hung out in Washington all Weekend! My parents babysat for a long time on Saturday becuase.... we bought.. a van! That is right, Tyler traded in his beloved manly toyota 4-Runner for a van... he was heart borken, says his manhood has been taken away.. but really we both love it... It is a 2007 Hyundia Entorage and barely (now that we drove it home) has 16,000 miles on it. We got a good deal and it has a great warrenty so we are happy. We can fit the whole famly in, including the dogs and still have room to breath.. something that never happened in the 4-runner or the altima. (we still have the altima so Tyler can get back and forth to school) We get better gas mileage and basically are spoiled rotton. Don't worry I will post pictures, of Tylers 4-runner and the new van, I will try and get all three colors in one picture. The color is called Meadow green grey. And usually it just looks blue but then you will see grey and once in a while you will see the green... its pretty cool!

Bear Lake Wardle Reunion 2008

So here are some of my favorite pictures from our Family vacation at Bear Lake. It was with all of Tyler's family and there were plenty of us! We stayed in in this cabin with 14 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms and had a blast! The adults got to talk after kids bed time, ATV's the beach, jet skis, horses and a whole lot of family... and it was the best reunion since I joined the family... (almost 5 years now!)


Here is Cameron showing his 5 teeth!

Here we are in front of the fireworks (can't keep Kevin from watching them) and our 4th of July picture.


Family Jet ski picture

Have I ever told you how cute my kids are? (as they eat sand)


Here is everybody(us back left)... Here is Grandma and Grandpa with the 22 grandkids



Here is our family pic..

Here we are 4 wheeling.. no one could believe I wanted to take Cameron with us but he loved it! right up until he fell asleep...

Kevin got to go horseback riding for a little bit.. and loved it.. He talked about for DAYS!!

Tyler and Kevin coming back from swimming, our Family beach pic.
Most of the grandkids on the water weinie... Kevin is in the middle in orange. Me and the boys on the beach.



The siblings, and spouses... Our couple picture.. with my new "sassy" hair!


Grandma made All the grandkids these shirts that say "K.I.D.S.- Kousins In Different States" its their "club" and yes that is Kevin screaming on the left.

Tagged

Tag-
3 Joys:
1. Cuddling or napping with my kids
2. Cuddling or napping with my husband
3. Having real conversation with my two year old (I love that he is talking so well and actually understands me!)
3 Fears:
1. Having a family member die.
2. Not being prepeared for something I should be (Hence my Emergency Prepardness hobby!)
3. Not being able to protect my kids when they need me to.
3 Goals:
1. Loose the baby wieght! 22.5 lbs by next July (very reasonable)
2. Support my husband through his PHD without being a burden
3. Keep a postive attitude (stop being so negative)

I tag anyone who wants to!

Emergency Preparedness

I have gotton a request to answer emergency pprepardness questions so if you have any questions leave them on my blog or email me. Here was my first request.

"Okay, for your first "emergency preparedness" quest...I need to know what to do with strawberries (besides the usual freezer jam). Can you just freeze strawberries, or do they get mushy? Any recipes I should try?"

Well as for recipies the first one we always make with fresh strawberries is kinda like a strawberry short cake. You make 1 white cake mix in a regualr 9 x 13 pan, let it cool. Then you mix 8 oz softened cream cheese and 2 C. Powdered sugar, fold in 1 1/2 C. cool whip and 1 tsp. vanillla. Spread on top of cake. Then make 1 pkg Strawberry Danish dessert (top shelf-by the jello at wal-mart) according to the "fruit glaze" add 1 pkg sliced strawberries and pour over top, refridgerate and devour! It is heavenly and becuase it has strawberries I swear it is healthy! :) (this recipie is just one of the reasons why one day I hope to add 52 cake mixes to my food storage, I have so many recipies with cake mix in them!)

As for freezing strawberries yes you can! If you only want to make one thing of freezer jam now but know you will run out later, put just enough strawberries in a gallon size plastic bag for another batch- then freeze, so in January when you run out you can just pull out one bag and make a whole nother batch (thanks Saunya for the tip!) Think, you could keep enough for a few bathches!

As for freezing strawberries just to eat (think on top of yogurt, icecream, in your cereal, to eat plain or for the recipie above.) Cut the tops off and cut in half. Freeze away! I once heard a rumor that if you don't wash them before you freeze them the don't become as mushy, but I have never tried it. I personally just rinse in cold water before I freeze. I have also read that if you add sugar to your strawberries they keep their texture and flavor better than if frozen plain. As for me, who think strawberries have enough sugar, I leave them plain.

I hope that helped, if you have any other questions or need clarification let me know!

I also wanted to share the church's website on what families can do to prepare themselves for a pandemic. Very interesting stuff, if nothing else... just check out what the reverse quarentine is and figure out what it would take to do it!

http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,8041-1-4414-1,00.html

We're back!

That is right we have been gone for over a week on family vacation with Tylers family! There are 6 siblings, all are married and all have atleast 2 kids. (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2,) for a total of 22 grandkids, 12 kids and then Grandma and Grandpa. Talk about a blast! we have a lot of pictures to upload and plenty of memories to keep forever. Kevin and Cameron got to go to the beach (twice) Kevin rode on the Jet Ski, they both rode ATV's, Kevin got to ride a horse, they shot of fireworks and spent lots of time with cousins! Cameron even got two more teeth while we were gone for a total of 5! We are even starting a weight loss program to see if we can as a family loose weight! I am very excited to see where I will be by the next reunion! Pictures of my new hair do, the kids and answers to the strawberry question come next!

Needed: icecream recipies

So me and Tyler are on a hunt for the best homemade ice cream recipe. We are in in charge of making some ice cream for the Wardle reunion this summer and we have already tried two of them, (Ben and Jerry's is pretty good) anybody have any great ones? I made homemade mini waffle cones to put on top and we are planning on getting cookies and candy for toppings, cherries, chocolate, snickers, etc. So if any of you have any great recipes let me know.. and we will try them out!

Woohoo!

Cameron walked! Yes, he was holding on to the walker, but seriously he took like 8 steps! (he probly would have taken more but Kevin kinda threw him on the floor) He has been walking along things for a while but this is real movement! He is one big boy! Growing so fast! He didn't do it walking towards Mom, for that he just dropped to the floor and crawled to me, for the 8 steps, he was walking for.... Daddy!

Some Random Cute Pictures

So I finally emptied the camera, I had some 400 pitures on it, dating back to to May, here are some of the cute ones!

The day after swimming lessons ended Kevin asked to "play in the water in the pool"- This was the closest I could get them to sitting still.

Me and the boys.

Grandma and the boys (ahh Kevin loves Grandma)

The boys enjoying the cockpit. Grandpa sharing contraband with Cameron.

Cameron enjoying the boat. Kevin was telling me about the Train on the shore line.

It is so much easier to throw them in together! Here they are enjoying the mess they made in Kevin's room. They own way to many toys!

Here is Cameron covered in Licorice on Grandpa's boat . Here is Grandpa thinking, it sure is a lot quieter out here without all the Grandkids... ;)

Three Toofers!

That is right, Cameron who had been trying to get his top left tooth through for a couple of weeks now finally got it through! He has three teeth and a slight biting problem... don't get too close! He got this tooth way earlier than I had planned, Kevin didn't get his third tooth unti he was 11 months old!

Swimming Lessons

So Kevin ended swimming lessons and was a very brave kid (more like fearless) He was the only kid is his class to jump off the diving board with no problem,(again! again!) he had no idea that it was supposed to be scary.(All the older kids kept saying.. "hes a baby huh" and kevin would give them dirty looks and jump off faster then them. I just told them "he just little") Now he can kick, use his arms, blow bubbles and all that jazz no problem. He loves to jump in the water and basically wants to go swimming non-stop. Just look...

He's flying!
Too bad we won't be here for any of the other sessions. I hope they have swim lessons in Oklahoma! Maybe he will swim in the lake at the Wardle Reunion?

One great week, weekend and Fathers Day.

So this past week was the first week of Kevins swim lessons...He did great. One day he was the only kid that showed up in any of the classes because it was so cold! but he got in (so did I!) and we went swimming, all over the pool.. (come on, no one else was there!) but one day he was sitting on the side of the pool, kicking his feet in the water and his instructor (Hi Dani!) said you wanna jump to me? then proceeded to tell him to wait until she got to him, well I think he has stopped listening by then because I heard Splash! and when I looked down I see Kevin kicking as hard as he could to get back to the surface in 4 foot water... He came out and was fine he hadn't swallowed any water or anything... Brave kid! Scared me to death, I think I took 2 years off my life :) Other than that he kicks, uses his arms every once in a while and even talks to the fishes (blows bubbles) he likes to jump off the side (usually once he has distracted me into looking the other direction) he doesn't really care to go under water but is working on it. Everyday, he asks to swim in the water in the pool, about a thousand times.

So we had to go pick up our Dog, Oso at my parents house where he had spent the last week. He is a totally different dog, he is so calm now, Kevin can't even get him to go crazy now... I am kinda sad we are getting rid of him now... (don't tell Ty) So we drove to Washinton Friday morning and went sailing on my Dads much bigger newer boat.. it was so much fun!! the boys both did great (until they got hungry). But we got pictures (post later) and basically hung out all afternoon. Saturday my Dad and Tyler spent the day taking the boat out of the water so my Dad could get some work done on it before they take it out to the San Juans. Sunday was a very nice relaxed Fathers day, we had a big breakfast and then the "dads" took naps and we left for home in the late afternoon, it was a very great day spent with the family!

Happy Fathers Day to both Granpa's and Tyler, Hope you enjoyed your day! And thanks for all you have done and do for us!!!

He updated!

So if you would like to see pictures of the father/son campout with Tyler and Kevin see here.

If you want to see about our wonderful day of fling kites outside see here!

What a weekend!

So it all started with 2 hours of sleep thurdsay night, that is right we stayed up late packing and then got out of town about 4:30am to get to Salt Lake but I have to say we were a light load. We didn't have Kevin, He went with Uncle Ken to Wahsington to visit Grandma and Grandpa. But I will get to that later. Me Tyler and Cameron had a long day of flights on Friday and ended up in Oklahoma City about 5:00 that evening, got the remtal car and drove another hour to Perkins... our soon to be home... It was a long day to say the least. We then got in the car (thanks to Lori for babysitting) and went driving around town to see what houses were on the market that we had been staring at over the internet for months. We were to be up te next morning and spend the whole day house hunting with the realtor and we wanted to see what we were in for. On Saturday, the first half of the day we spent looking in Perkins, small town outside of Stillwater (where the college actually is) the second half was spent in Stillwater. We saw one that smelled like smoke (that means a lot of painting and cleaning to be done) one that was cute but didn't have a garage cause they had turned it into a 4th bedroom, a few (4) that all had the exact same floor plan and one that was in the country on 3/4 of an acre, that was gorgeouse but out of our price range... Tyler wanted it. Then in Stillwater we saw some really pretty, newer houses that we would love to own but they weren't in the right ward. Then we saw some that werein the right ward. So Me and Ty sat down and picked our top 3. Two of them are in Perkins and the othe one is in Stillwater. All in the true ward ;) We had a blast other than looking for houses, for one I got semi used to the humidity (I am gonna go through a lot of water taking 3 showers a day) We played with our friend John and Lori, and their kids, ate icecream, checked out the local eateries (Braums) I also ate Sonic (which I have yet to do in Jerome) the 1st sonic ever is still in Stillwater, and I even got a a language lesson in Oklahoman, I don't think I will every be able to pronounce there town names correctly. So the last night we were there I again got 2 hours of sleep. We stayed up laughing and talking until like 1am and had to get up at 3:30 to get to the airport on time. All in all Cameron travelled well, slept alot on the planes, was a lot of fun to pay attention to while I didn't have to worry if Kevin was runing away or not.( I had forgotten how easy life was with one kid) As for Kevin, we had brought the webcam and laptop so we could get on and say Hi to him, everytime we called him, my parents asked if he wanted to talk to us he said no and continued on playing. He didn't miss us at all! Grandma even started to potty train, the grandma way, everytime he would go peepee on the potty she would get him a toy, something I just don't have the budget or the stomache to do at home. He is going on the toilet really well he just won't go Number 2 on the toilet yet (not even for grandma) But Saturday night we finally did see him on the webcam and that only lasted a couple of minutes until he decieded he would rather go take a bath. He was perfectly fine with out us! Which really was nice not to worry about him but really, he could have missed me a little! So I realize that all this came out really sporatic but that is really how it was, it was so much fun, as me and Tyler drove back we talked aobut how we can't wait to move and get on with it! I think school will be hard and that I will always wish to see Tyler more than I get to but it really willl be a very exciting ride! Well I better go, Cameron is needing his Mommy (atleast one of my kids still needs Mom)