Burrito Man

Here he is in all his glory.  Burrito man stands at 6'1".  He is made up of delicious refried beans (alas the brown face), lettuce, tortilla, and sprinkled with taco seasoning.   He is wrapped in foil to keep warm and looks pretty good to me :) 

Burrito man is now for hire.  He prefers large parties and special occasions.  $15 an hour.  Hire Burrito Man today. A delicious addition to any occasion.

Photo Tag

This is the tag from Shannon's blog....
Here are the rules: You have to post the 4th picture in the 4th folder in your pictures folder. Then give a brief description before you tag a few others.

Our computer is a mess right now because I've been working so much on my website. There are pictures all over the place and we don't really have a specified "picture folder" on our mac. So here is a picture I came across that had the number 4 in the file name. Close enough, right? Anyways, it's a picture from when Rowan was born :) Good memories.

I tag Natalie, Sara, Danielle, and Jer

Pre-Halloween

We've done all sorts of fun Halloween stuff this last week. On the 17th we went to Barnyard Boo at the farm at Thanksgiving Point. It was fun but we didn't stay very long. They had games for kids and we dressed the boys up in their costumes. Chandler is a dragon again this year. He didn't really have a preference so he is wearing the same costume as last year. If he really cared, we would have gotten him something different. Rowan is wearing Chan's costume from his first Halloween. A cute cubby lion :)

My mom came down this last Friday to spend the day with the boys and me. We went to an aerobics class in the morning, and then went to lunch and shopping. Chandler got to pick out his birthday present from Puppy & Grandpa Nielson and he picked a Little Einstein's Laptop. Thanks! That evening we went to Avry's for a birthday/Halloween party. It was my oldest brother Jason's birthday. Avry had all sorts of cute decorations and we had yummy homemade chili and rolls, salad, and cupcakes. Jason brought his own birthday cake, a chocolate cheesecake, which was incredible. (Happy Birthday Jason!) We went to the pumpkin walk in Syracuse and a little haunted house and then went back to carve pumpkins at Avry's. I forgot my camera, alas no pictures of this exciting night. Hopefully I can get Avry to e-mail me some so that I can post them.

Last night we went to the Halloween Carnival at the Lehi Legacy Center. They had games, trick or treating, a spook alley, movie, and dinner. It was pretty fun and best of all, it only cost $3 to get in. (We only had to pay for Chandler.) I think Rowan and Chandler were the only kids there not dressed up, oops. They did have cute little matching Halloween shirts though.

So we are a week out from Halloween and have already celebrated 3 times. Me - I've celebrated way more than 3 times. I keep buying Halloween candy and it keeps disappearing so I have to buy more. Imagine that......

Working the Camera....

Some funny pictures of Rowan tonight - he was totally cheesing it up. I don't think he could scrunch his face up any more if he tried. Makes me just want to pinch his cheeks and kiss him :)

Fun Facts - October

Chandler

*Current favorite show is Thomas. I don't really like watching it but he likes it, so I guess that's what matters.

*Thinks that just because it is dark when he gets up in the morning that he can get up during the middle of the night and party. Last night I woke up and all of the lights were on. He was in Rowan's room standing on the rocking chair trying to get Rowan "up for the day" too. Did I mention this was at 3 AM?

*He thinks because there was snow on the ground the other day that Santa is coming. Anytime thinks of snow, he talks to himself and says, "Snow, oh fun - Santa Clause!"

*Loves to tease his little brother but can also be very nice.

*Is definitely taking after his mom in the candy department. Sometimes he will come up to me and say, "I need chocolate."

*When we get home, he wants to open the door and then holds out his hand to "present" our home to us.

*Always comes up to give us hugs and says, "awwww..."

Rowan

* Is crawling all over the place more quickly now

*Pulls up on furniture, then lets go to test his balance. He can stand unassisted for about 5 seconds. It's only a matter of time before he will be cruising along the furniture. Since he is pulling up, he pulls up in his crib and bounces up and down when you come to get him out. It's so cute to see his little face peeking up over the crib.

*Is still as mellow as ever

*Working on two more teeth on the bottom, I think they will be through in the next week or two

*Has another cold and ear infection That's 3 ear infections in 1 month. We are on our 3rd round of antibiotics

*Sleeping is getting better. He is sleeping 3-5 hour stretches now. He still gets up 2-3 times a night, but that's MUCH better than 5 or 6.

*Babbles a ton and likes to say, "Da da da da!"

*Weighed in at 19 lbs 6 oz a week ago at the dr.'s office, but I'm not sure how long he is. He is getting way too big for his infant seat but I'm trying to postpone buying a new carseat.

*

Reader's Digest Widgets

Reader's Digest has a bunch of fun new widgets you can add to your blog, myspace page, facebook, and many others. I went to visit the page and realized they had a fun word power game. In this game you are given a word that you may or may not be familiar with. You are then given 4 choices and have to choose what you think the correct answer is. For example, did you know that interim means temporary? I had heard of the word before but didn't know the actual definition. Guess I know it now! There is also a word scramble where you can unscramble various words. The widget is towards the bottom of my sidebar if you want to give it a try. They also have other widgets like the daily laugh, prop my photo, and even a cool toolbar. These are great for those of you who are always looking for new widgets!RD Laughs Main is where you can go to get the the daily laugh. And I know you want all of these cool widgets for yourself, right? If so, simply go to ReadersDigest.com Widgets and grab all the ones you want!  Some other resources and places to visit at the readers digest site include Stand-up Videos and Funny Cartoons

Introducing...

My new informational site! - Baby Shower Savvy. If you read my babes and kids blog, you'd know that I was wanting to open an online store. After really discussing it with Marshall and thinking it over, I decided that I had no idea how I was going to get a good amount of traffic to my site. After doing more research, I decided to do an informational site to gain traffic and then eventually do an online store. It's been fun building it so far, but stressful at the same time. It's still in the beginning stages as I only have just over 20 pages on it right now. My focus is to provide a free resource for baby showers.  I want others to be able to save time and money and still throw a great baby shower. Anyways, if you could pass the site onto anyone who is having or throwing a baby shower, that would be great! And if you have any ideas, input, stories, or pictures from your baby shower or a baby shower you have attended that I could add, that would be great as well. Thanks for checking it out!

Diego Underwear

I'm all for getting Chandler potty trained. Although I keep having to resign myself to the fact that he isn't quite ready. He'll be 3 in a couple weeks and is not even close. We've gotten him potty books, let him run around naked, sit in the potty for long periods of time and he just doesn't get it. I'm not pushing him, but he has shown interest and likes to go sit on the toilet. Last night while we were in Target we decided to get some big boy underwear to see if it would inspire this little guy. He is really into Diego right now so that's what he picked out. Last night when I got the underwear out of the package I noticed on the package that it said, "Do not iron." I started laughing at the thought of someone ironing toddler boy's underwear. Marshall's sarcastic comment, "Well I'm sure we could iron them so we could put them in a frame on his wall. I'm sure that would inspire him." We both laughed hard at that one.
Today I changed his diaper and we decided to give the underwear a go. He seemed pretty excited and ran for the potty. He sat down on his little chair and I proceeded to explain to him that he needed to pull his underwear down. He thought he had to completely take them off. Whatever. A few minutes later he stood up and said, "I did it!" Of course he didn't do anything. I tried to put the underwear on him and he started screaming. We finally got them on and he went and sat on his potty chair again. I think he thinks if he is wearing underwear he has to sit on the toilet. Yeah, he's just a LITTLE confused. We finally got to the point where he realized he could go play with his underwear on. Just then Marshall and I got into a conversation about what happens if he poops in these "cute" little underwear. After discussing who would clean up the first accident, we put a diaper back on him.
If that wasn't enough, I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back Chandler was holding this little bear who was wearing his underwear. I asked Marshall where he got the bear. He said it was my build a bear that used to be dressed like a missionary. He gave it to me before his mission. Now my poor missionary bear is wearing Chandler's underwear. Of course Marshall would think to do that. Giving him some different inspiration, lol.
Please tell me that there are LOTS of you reading that didn't have your child potty trained until age 4 :) I think we're headed that way. I'm tired of diapers.......sigh. At least I'm getting a little comical relief from all of it though.

Happiness is Pets

What a cute site and a great idea.  Happiness is Pets is a site that will help your family find the perfect puppy. Their newest location is in Chicago. The idea behind it is special playrooms where you can play with different puppies to find your perfect match. Once you have picked out a puppy, they also offer a full line of food, toys, and supplies. They also offer free obedience lessons and a payment plan to help you pay for your puppy.

Lipgloss

I love lipgloss. I can't help it, it's sort of an addiction I developed at a very young age. It didn't help that I had an older sister who loves it too. It all started with a Vanilla Lip Smacker on Christmas morning when I was 4 or 5. Good old Bonne Bell. It was in my stocking and I remember feeling so excited to get it. After eating a little bit of it, (remember I was young ;) ), I decided it didn't taste as good as it smelled. I remember rubbing my lips together and the smooth, slick feel. I also loved the smell, alas my attempt to eat it.

I only loved it more as I got older. I remember asking Marshall if he liked girls who wore lip gloss when we were sophomores. He said, "Uh...I guess..."
That was enough for me - I liked lipgloss more because I liked Marshall.

I remember many times trying to talk my mom into buying some on an excursion to the store. Even though I had 30 tubes at home, I wanted more. Guess this might be more of a hoarding problem?

To this day I love lipgloss. I am particular to the C.O. Bigelow Mentha Shine you can get at Bath and Body works. Mint, fresh breath, the shine and a cool feeling on your lips - you can't get much better than that. Goldie & Liplicious are also yummy ones from Bath & Body. 99% of the time, if you ask me I have a tube of lip gloss in my pocket and 5 more in my purse.

Chandler also loves lip gloss, loves to wear it that is. I'm sure he'll grow out of it when he realizes it isn't too cool. I keep a basket on our dresser with lip glosses & chapstick. I've caught Chandler many times applying it to his lips and cheeks. I'm 100% sure he won't appreciate knowing this when he is older.

So what inspired this post? Today I got 3 free Beauty Rush lip glosses in the mail from Victoria's secret. Cherry Bomb, Sugar High, & Strawberry Fizz. Yes, I am in heaven with my yummy new glosses and shiny lips.
Any other lip gloss lovers? What is your favorite......is it one I am just going to "have" to try?

Hemisphere Travel Education

Hemisphere Travel Education is a site where student groups can plan educational tours all over the globe.  I think something like this is a priceless learning experience for students.  In looking around the site, I think it is very easy to navigate.  They have a lot of different options and I began looking at different tours.  Since Marshall spent 2 years in France I decided to look at that location.  With this group you visit 18 different sites and attractions, 3 museuems, have a night cruise, and  17 other off site locations.  Seems incredible.  I also noticed that they will customize a tour to your group.  How nice.  student group travel is a wonderful way to go, and this site seems great for students and teachers who are looking to expand their education through hands on traveling.

FHE

Tonight for FHE we talked about how we are a children of God. Chandler has been learning I am a Child of God and knows the first verse really well now. Although I am thinking he only knows one note when it comes to singing, lol. Adorable still the same....

Lap Band Website

Journey lite is a site which helps you find if a lap band is right for you.  This site will help you make an educated decision and then help you along the way.   If it is right for you, they will help you get insurance approval and even help you find a surgeon.  Pretty cool if you are looking into doing this.  lap band tampa is where you can go to find out more.

Crawling & Hippo Teeth

We can officially say that Rowan is crawling now. I have to laugh at his "style" though. He really doesn't care too much about it and takes his sweet time. Sometimes if something is too far away, he doesn't even attempt to get it, he just sits there. Sooooo different than Chandler. Chandler started crawling at 7 1/2 months when we went to Oregon to visit Jeralee & her family. Jer can attest that he was into everything and was Mr. Speed Crawler. I totally love that Rowan will just sit and be mellow. That's so different from Chan. I'm secretly hoping he's over a year old before he starts walking. Chan was 10 months and while it was fun to encourage him at the time, we haven't stopped chasing him since.


I also finally got a good picture of his little hippo teeth. I'm sure they will grow together when he gets more teeth, but I love the huge gap he has right now.


And lastly, a picture I tried to take of the boys today. The lighting is horrible, but oh well. Row's hair was getting way long in the front so I trimmed it up just a little bit. It's still out of control.