update!

We are still here. I have become a pretty bad blogger since we moved home. Part of the reason I started this blog was for my family to get updates while we were far away. Since we see them so often now I have slacked off a bit. Things are still going great. We are loving our new house. I would love to show pictures but since we have a public blog I am always a bit more worried to display all info over the internet. You will have to take my word for it that it is cute! We are settled and have a few projects we are wanting to start on now to spruce up the place. Our neighborhood and ward are great and we feel right at home!! We have been keeping busy with trips to bear lake, family weddings/showers/birthday parties all the things we had a long break from when we weren't here. John has been enjoying mountain biking again now that he has more buddies to go with and I ran the Salt Lake Half Marathon randomly with 10 days notice (fun, but I am sure I can do better if I train next time!) Lizzy started preschool last week and "seems" to like it. I also started her in gymnastics and on her first day was moved up from the 3 year old class to the 5 year old class. Some of you can imagine that I was glowing with pride over that one. I was shocked to see how brave she is and how quick she was catching on. Tommy is picking up words like crazy and is obsessed with airplanes and trucks (don't worry he still loves to push his baby stroller, he isn't all crazy boy yet but he is getting there). Tommy is becoming so sweet and fun, he has really started to break out of his shell a bit and become a little boy! (no pictures of him this time, but I will add some next time) He and Lizzy have become great friends lately. They entertain eachother so much more now that I am feeling like I have extra time on my hands since that they don't always require me to play with them (although i feel like I play referee all day to difuse whose turn it is). It is nice, I guess having them so close together has its perks too!!

lazy days at grandma's comes to an end!

We have really tried to take advantage of our time living with my parents! I have had more "lazy" days than I have had in a long time. We are closing on a house tomorrow morning and moving in this weekend so I know my "lazy" days are coming to an end! We are very excited about our new house and it is still in the same neighborhood that both John and I grew up in. We are ready to have our own place again as well as I think my parents are ready to have their place Tommy-free for a while. (He has done some serious damage in a not so baby-proof home-sorry mom!) Many updates to come when we get settled and start this new chapter of our lives!
This is the place monument horse ride.

Hogle Zoo and a cheesy grin!!

Bear Lake

Since we have been in Utah I think I have spent more than 2 weeks up at our Bear Lake cabin because my kids absolutely LOVE the place!! It was so nice to sit at the lake reading my book all day while the kids rolled in the sand and splashed in the water all day! John and I have made up for lots of missed water ski runs the last 5 years and loved having access to our boat again! (I have to admit being up at Bear Lake helped me to stop missing DC atleast a little)

"Hello goat, you don't scare me...too bad mom didn't stop screaming in time to take a picture when I grabbed both your horns and tried to take you to the ground. I wonder what is in your mouth?"
"Oh just teeth...cool!!"

My big 3 year old!!

I have really slacked on updating my blog considering it is now JULY and I am blogging about Lizzy's 3rd birthday in May! However, I didn't slack on the birthday festivities. She had 2 parties one before we left DC (3 days before) and one here at grandma's. Yes, I made 2 cakes with different themes (Dora and princess...both her choice obviously). I think she had a great time. As always it was hard for me to let her get a year older. I am so proud of my 3 year old. Part of me can't believe she is already 3 and the other part of me can't remember my life without her! I do have to throw a plug in for future birthday party ideas...Since we were moving and the weather was bad outside in DC we had the party in an empty family room and made tunnels and slides out of cardboard boxes and filled the room with balloons. We had a room full of very happy 3 year olds and it was very simple and cheap! Sorry to all the adults who ate on the floor during all the chaos!

New pics!!! Overload-beware

Before we left DC I had to take advantage of my best buddy Abby's amazing photography skills! She was so sweet and PATIENT to deal with our crazy kids and I think she did a great job! Now the problem is what to print?? We are here in utah and looking for a new house and trying to make this home again!! Sorry about the overload I just can't decide which I like more?

Let the Crazy Begin!!

Well...where do I begin on the update. John talked to the CEO of his company about options to let us spend a little more time in Utah this next year to be with my parents right now! Long story short John's job is amazing and they are relocating us there for atleast a year-18 months. At that point we are going to reevaluate and make sure this situation will work out for the company. To explain a bit of what kind of job John has that will let us do this, he works for a company that buys distressed commercial properities all over the country. We happen to be located in DC but John covers properties all over the East coast and manages them from DC. They don't even actually own properties in DC. So, he occasionally travels to his sites and that won't change, he will just manage them from Utah....atleast for now!! So, we are MOVING!!! What a blessing to be able to be in Utah right now. I do have to admit that I am SO SO SO sad to leave my home here in DC. It has been a wonderful 5 years here where we started our little family and grew as a couple. I feel very scared to go back to Utah (I never thought I wouldn't feel like Utah is my home). I hope that we will be able to find wonderful friends and endless supply of fun activites that we have here. Although, we have been so busy packing with short notice we had to do a few of our favorite things in DC...one more time (hold it together...no tears!!)This is on our bike ride from Alexandria to Mt. Vernon (20 somethin' miles and I only crashed once...I am not great on a bike.)

This is the Baltimore Orioles vs. Yankees baseball game!

Our favorite run from Gravelly Point (Where the airplanes land at DCA) across the bridge to the mall (kids always get to ride the overpriced carousel). The picture of the kids on the horses looks like they were all miserable so I had to throw in the other one of Lizzy dancing right before she rode it to prove they are fans.

We also forgot our camera as John and I rode our 1980 rollerblades to see all the monuments one night (the ONLY way to tour dc). We have had tons of fun last nights with all of our great friends here. We are really going to miss everyone but we MIGHT be back!!

And...we are all exhuasted especially poor little Liz who decided that this was the month to be done with naps and I NEEDED the break to pack!! AHHH!! She fell asleep on the floor one afternoon!

Well the craziness isn't near over. I still have about 30% of the house still to pack in 5 days, lizzy's birthday party this weekend, throwing my best buddy Abby a shower this weekend, peds appointments for the kids, and when we get to Utah a house to find! Wish me luck!! I'm Utah bound in 5 days!!!

This is the post I was working on when life was pretty much typical. We celebrated John's 29th birthday and I made him my first raspberry cheescake (he has been begging for me to learn).

Me and the kids have been passing the time as usual...lots of tea parties!

Lizzy and her best buddies started ballet class!

I invented a "real" double stroller and have decided this is the way to get around for us. yes, I have been getting strange looks!

And Lizzy has been loving her swimming lessons! Then we recieved a phone call that I have always dreaded. My (53 year old) Dad was going in for surgery to have a brain tumor removed and I jumped on a plane hours later to join my family in Salt Lake!

It is interesting how much your life can change instantly and priorities change when things like this happen. My dad's surgery went great and he recovered very quickly leaving a crazy new hairdo, however the news we have now isn't great. He has the fasted growing and most aggressive form of brain cancer and is now undergoing chemo/radiation for the next 6 weeks and then we will see what lies ahead. My dad is an incredibly strong and optimisic person and I think he will put up a heck of a fight!! I spent nearly 2 weeks with my family and we had a great time together even with the bad news. I loved watching how much my kids adore their grandparents. I just returned home today and it is wierd to try to jump back into my routine tomorrow morning like nothing has changed because so much has! I will be returning to Utah May 20 to be with my family during the next phase of this. He is going to need his privacy for the next few weeks to recover from chemo and doesn't need my kids driving him nuts right now. Until then I can do nothing but go back to my routine with a changed perspective on the value of life and a constant prayer for a miracle. He has started a new blog for himself to keep friends, family, and tons of missionaries (he was NYNY South Mission president 2003-2006...Most of the comments are from them) updated on his status. jeffreymorrow.blogspot.com.

Ofcourse this hat was purchased for my Dad by John and I think he looks rather handsome!

"Tommy put the duck down!"

My friend Abby just sent some fun pictures she took for us when we were downtown! We had so much fun enjoying the weather and feeding the birds! This is a momentous picture! I have been trying to get one where both kids are looking at the camera and we finally got it. I will just have to paste John in and we will have it!! Thanks Abby! Next time we are downtown feeding the birds I want to get a picture of her little Sadie kicking the ducks. I've never seen anything so funny. Between Tom trying to pick them up, Sadie trying to kick them, and Lizzy throwing handfuls of Abby's food at them, I was afraid one of the birds was going to get hurt. We were laughing so hard and no animals were harmed at our expense..yet(until next week)!



This is usually what I have to do to get Tommy to look at the camera. Physically hold his face still. Look at the chub on this guy!! I can't stop sqeezing his face it is so squishy!! Tommy say "CHEEEEESE"

Teaching our kids the Utah way in Virginia!

John has been working really hard on teaching Lizzy the Utah Fight song. It is still in the learning process and obviously not complete but I think it is so cute to hear her singing this all the time. Go Utes!(And, yes we are brainwashing our child and we are happy with her loyalty to the Utes). I know it is hard to understand the words to the song if you aren't a Ute so bear with us! ( For the record if, for some reason Lizzy marries a guy from you know where, this will be shown at their wedding!!)
We also froze our butts off at a park/barn. And I thought this tractor was suitable to prepare Tom for this summer up at my cabin at Bear Lake. I will still never get over John's face when we were dating and he saw me driving my grandpa's tractor for the first time. Good times! I have a little white trash in the blood and I am passing it down proudly! Just to go along with the picture Tommy was also making the sound "roooar" to drive the tractor. (all boy)

Spring, winter, or both in DC!

We have had some fun lately. DC turned into hollywood over the inauguration. Everyone was here. It was crazy. We unfortunately didn't go down to the inauguration becasue we have little kids and it was too crowded and not very safe for them. But we did go down MLK day, day before, just to see the set-up. It was crazy to see all the news and people already waiting for the following day. I have never seen so many port-a-pottys in my life. I do think this is a great city!

We had our first snow!!

DC Building Museum

Fun with cousins!! We love this! Poor Tom, is the only boy with the 3 monkeys and this is it for cousins on both sides...so far!!
Our favorite hike at Great Falls!

Ofcourse, our favorite place...National Zoo!! This is Lizzy and her favorite buddies Sadie Cannon and Moriah Mecham. Isn't it a small world in DC that my kids friends are girls whose parents grew up miles from my house! Love it!! Not the best picture of the 3. Moriah looks very uncomfortable in front, Sadie, although smiling, has her eyes closed, and Lizzy's hair looks homeless. but we take what we can get with these three.

What is for dinner at your house??

A few days ago I went just about as far as I hope I ever have to, to save my child. We have a 3 level townhouse and there isn't a bathroom in the basement. I use the basement as the kids playroom so I think there should be some potty access for Lizzy down there. So I put a little training potty in the back of the room. She is really good these days about just going when she needs to and she doesn't need my help anymore. However, I do ask that when she uses the downstairs potty she tell me so I can empty it immediatly. Well one day Tom, Lizzy, and I were playing in the toy room when tom came around the corner smelling like he needed a diaper change. I checked his diaper and it was CLEAR!! So I wondered, huh?? Where is the smell coming from? And then....I looked up!! To my disgust my son had a mouthful of poo! Thats right everybody...not a smear, a mouthful!! I screamed and began sticking my hand in his mouth and scooped out Lizzy's poo from his mouth. I was completely freaking out!! I have done some sick things in my life (remember I am a nurse) but this was by far the top of the list. The little guy was upset that I was removing his little "snack" because taking food away from Thomas is like pulling a dog's tail when they are eating. You just don't do that! This was a great time for the lesson about not eating poo...I guess we should have had it a bit earlier. As I got him mostly cleaned up I walked around the corner to the laundry room where I was greeted by poo hand prints all over the walls and rubbed on the tires of Lizzy's bike and my stroller. It was the worst smell and ALL OVER! I was so angry as I spent the remaining hours of the day disinfecting the basement, removing the port-a-potty, and praying that Tom wasn't going to die from Jiardia. Tom was fine but his binki the next day was thrown away because it smelled so bad. Talk about poo breath!! ugh! (Just for the record the picture above is not of him eating poo. What kind of crazy mom do you think I am to say "Oh, are you eating poo...let me get my camera"...seriously!! He is eating a banana!!)

Where does she come up with this stuff??

I couldn't decide if I should post this. 2 reasons...One, it is long, and two it is slightly weird that my daughter dances like this. All reasons aside I couldn't resist letting you all in on the unexpected dancing of my daughter. I have never seen her pull out these moves, I was a bit shocked! Where does she learn this stuff? Keep your eyes on her and wait through a bit of the boring stuff at the beginning and you will get a good laugh. I did!

WWF All day!!

This has been an everyday scene around our house lately. Who says Tommy needs a brother? What starts out as a hug...Turns into a full wrestling match. It looks like Tommy is getting killed but he is actually a scrappy little guy. They actually likes this!

Tommy looks tired but I don't think it will be much longer that he will be able to take the lead. It is so fun watching these two little guys being best friends these days. And don't worry I cut Tommy's hair right after I saw this picture. I would hate for people to mistake this for a girl fight.

I know, I am sick of Christmas posts too...Sorry!

Is it too late to blog about Christmas?? I know I am getting behind. Christmas morning was really fun!! The kids were so cute this year and loved everything about Christmas! BOTH kids loved sitting on Santa's lap this year...I actually thought a picture with tears would've been cute but happy kids are always nice too!

Christmas morning was quiet and great. The kids opened a toy, played with it and when they were bored we opened another. The kids are becoming more the same and play with the same toys now. Lizzy doesn't get why Tommy now gets toys that she would also like and quickly tells him Santa gave this to me Tom..while taking away his new toy and finds him and old "baby" toy and says "here you go buddy". Here is Lizzy with her new microwave (Thanks Mom).

This picture is hard to tell what is going on. This is the first toy that Tommy identifies as HIS. My mom got him "tickle me cookie monster" and he LOVES it. As does Lizzy (ofcourse). It has been quite the source of tension around the house as Lizzy carries it around and thinks it is hers while Tom follows her in tears.

This is Lizzy's new bike!! (Thanks Grandpa Lee). Notice the passanger in the back (dumb cookie monster). See what I mean... While I took this picture Tommy was wigging right out on the sidewalk cause his dumb cookie monster was on her bike. I had no idea what his problem was until quite a bit later. Big sisters can be mean!! All in all great Christmas!!

All I want for Christmas...

All a two year old needs for christmas is a balloon and a grandpa. See what I mean. (We can do the balloon, but the grandpa might be hard this year!)We decided to stay home again for Christmas this year. I know that we are awful friends and children but we enjoyed our little quiet family Christmas last year since we just had Thomas a few weeks earlier so we are doing it again. This year we have spent November and December with family visiting so we decided to be lame (and poor) one more time a stick around here. I am just hoping for a tiny bit of snow this year. That was my biggest complaint last year so this time that is my "christmas wish". So as sad for us as you might be this was our choice. We love Christmas morning with our kids and letting them get bigger presents we don't have to worry about shipping home (thanks grandparents) and not having them sick the whole holiday from the dirty 5 hour flight home. Even though we miss our families we are one of the few families out here sticking around and doing our own family traditions. I say "good for us" my mom says "we suck" (not really her words but you get the point). One other selfish decision I made this year was NO CHRISTMAS CARD this year. What?? How dare I do such a thing you ask?? Well if my public blog for the world to view on a monthly bases isn't enough of an update than my other excuse is we can't get a family picture without one of our kids crying or picking their noses. So I baged the whole idea and it has been quite nice to just enjoy christmas time with a little less obligation and more family. So Merry Christmas to everyone and consider this you lame card. However, everytime I recieve another cute one in the mail my guilt gets larger for slacking on this but I still love to get them!

This is one of Lizzy's preschool groups. They are quite characters. Lizzy has really enjoyed preschool this year.

We went to the lights at the temple this weekend. This picture doesn't due justice to the scenery but we really enjoyed walking around the temple grounds.


Tommy transformed into a little smurf and ran around like crazy through the lights. While Lizzy found romance in the Christmas spirit. Both seemed to enjoy the night.

Lizzy had her ballet recital this weekend and it was so cute. We didn't get the best pictures of the event (rookie parents) but this was her right before we left. She was so brave on the big stage and I was laughing so hard at her twirling and jumping around (And ofcourse she waved at me on stage the whole time...there is always one kid who does that and this time it was mine!). She was also pretty proud of herself!!