Melis and Cody come for a visit!

We had the pleasure of having Corey's brother Cody and his wife and daughter come for a visit. It was such a treat to have them here. They were here for few days and it was a blast. It was full of laughing, and eating, and wanting to put our children up for adoption because they were so naughty (especially Conner.) But I am obviously joking because we love them both so much.

Here are Conner, Kennady and Melissa right after they got here. Conner grabbed Kennady the minute she walked thru the door and wouldn't let go of her hand all day. Here they are shorty after arriving reading with Melissa.

Dancing at Texas Roadhouse.
My son is FILLED with personality.
All of us. So happy to be together again.

Choo Choo train at South Towne Mall. What a great idea.
We took them to "our" breakfast lodge in the canyon. It had snowed the night before so it was cozy by the fire, and Melis and I got hot chocolate. YUM.

Conner looks like he is about to push the straw up Corey's nose. That's awkward.

Warm my heart.

Oh these two little sillies. Melissa and I were talking about how fast they are growing up. Kinda sad. But man they are turning out to be so wonderful.

Okay are you ready?

Helmet head #1

(don't forget to notice the head massager on her knee. That's awkward.)

Helmet head #2. Is it just me or is this the picture of the year. Ya it is. Gotta love Cody.
Helmet head #3. I am deeply sorry Chris, I know you will HATE me for posting this picture. But its just soooo funny.
Conner was excited to show Kennady his nerf Tommy Gun and Rifle.
Conner and Kennady were born the same week so we decided to have a mini birthday party for them while they were here. Thanks to Kennady for Hungry Hippos, Conner adores it. And thanks Nana Sylvia for the extra dart guns, even tho you are far away you know the kind of stuff he likes, and don't worry, a boy can never have enough dart guns right?
An incredible train set for Conner from Chris.
Last day...saying good bye.

We love these guys so much. (ps Conner and Kennady look nothing alike right? Kennady looks JUST like Melissa and Conner is a total Kunz.)

The boys are a little protective of their bodies after an afternoon of brutal dart gun wars.

I love these brothers. They are so wonderful and they love each other so much. They really are the best of friends and when they are together its like they are kids again. Care free.

We loved having you here, come again soon! Miss you!

March

Making faces for the camera, Conner loves to make this crusty face and I was doing it with him, but of course he turned away from the camera. So enjoy my beautiful expression.

I love this picture. Conner wanted everyone (well, these four) to sit on Tommy's love sac together.

Conner helping Juleen cook, he loves this. She always lets him wear an apron so he feels like he is a true helper!

This is Kage, one of Conner's idols who happens to live right across the street. (Look for story about this family in upcoming post.)

6 year wedding anniversary

We had a wonderful 6 year anniversary. We went to The Roof for dinner as we have for the most of our past anniversaries. We then went to see a movie (Ghost Writer) which was excellent. We then went home and indulged in our favorite guilty pleasure...Pralines and Cream from Baskin Robbins.
My mom and dad were so kind as to take Conner for the night, it was the weirdest thing to come home after our date and have the house quiet. There was no one to take care of, no one to force to go to bed, it was...just weird. It's kind of funny but Corey and I both woke up the next morning having slept better than we could remember sleeping in a long time! That silly Conner really stresses us out... but I can't lie, I missed him, even tho it was just one night! :) The next morning we went to our favorite little breakfast place to get my Blueberry Pancakces. Its waayy up in the Big Cottonwood Canyon, we have only been there a few times but man it was to die for.

Here we are at the Roof.

Goofing off before the movie starts.

Here we are at the cabin/restaurant where we had breakfast...can you say blueberry pancakes by the fire? It doesn't get much better than that right? (I wasn't able to get any good pictures, so here is the Cor man with a very weird look on his face.)

Best attempt at a pic of both of us.

See ya next year!

Happy 6 years

1 letter changed our lives forever!

1 year of writing, 9 months of long distance dating, 10 months dating after that, and now 6 years of marriage. It was worth the wait! Happy Anniversary! I love you Corey!

Picture of the Year

Conner is a lot of things...SHY is not one of them!!!

So the picture is the important part.

But, the story behind it is that Conner went with my parents to a Talent Show for my dad's ward where he is a bishop. It is a student ward at the University of Utah and my Dad said to have Conner bring his guitar. So at the end of the show Conner got up in front of 80 U of U students and played his guitar and sang his favorite song, " Vultures" by John Mayer. Of course everyone was amazed. We wish there was video of him doing it but it happened so fast my mom couldn't get the video camera out fast enough to catch it. Thankfully we have this FANTASTIC picture.

February stuff

Last Sunday was the first SUNNY day we had seen in a loonnng time. Because our church doesn't start untill 1:00 (a terrible burden to place on anyone, 1:00 church should be banned, especially when you have a child who takes a nap at 1:00!!!) we decided to go up to the ski hills and show Conner people skiing and enjoy the sun. It was BEAUTIFUL up there. Just stunning. Corey thought it would be great to show Conner the skiers because he had watched the Olympics with us for the past few weeks and loved it.

He was so excited to be up there and it looked like his heart was going to break in two when we told him it was time to head back home so Corey let him get out and pretend he was skiing. He would run down this little snow hill and jump into Corey's arms. We can't wait to take him {real} skiing next year.
These pictures don't really depict how sunny it was...but trust me it was :)

Two peas in a pod

Dinner with some friends we haven't seen in way too long. JP and Steph Dillier. Steph is having a baby in May and we couldn't be happier for them. It was fun to talk to Steph because she is right at that part during your pregnancy where you're just starting to feel like crap haha :) it brought back many memories!

These are cherished friends we have had since we were married. Corey and JP served together on their missions and ironically they lived just down the road from us when we lived in an apartment our first year of marriage. Now they live just down the block from where we are living now. We are looking forward to abusing their friendship by using their pool all Summer! :)

Valentines Day 2010. Here is the wild child making valentines for people. I LOVE Valentines Day. It very well could be my favorite holiday. I know a lot of people think its pointless, but I love it. This year it was on a Sunday (how dumb is that?) so Corey and I celebrated on Monday. We went to dinner and a movie. Corey has always been very understanding and attentive to my love for Valentine's Day. He always makes it very special. I am so lucky to have two handsome valentines!


This was the funnest night. My best friend Ashlely needed me to watch her son Jace for a while and I told her to just let me keep him all evening until she got off work. I was able to say this almost selfishly because these two are BEST FRIENDS. Conner adores Jace. Honestly I don't think I have heard Conner laugh so much in a long time. All night long Conner was laughing and bouncing off the walls because he was so happy. They ate dinner, played in the play room, colored, took a bath, and then got on their pajamas and watched a movie and had snacks.
By the end of the night they were both doing everything they could to keep their eyes open, but they were unwilling to let their time together end. I don't know how I got so lucky as to have my best friend's little boy be my son's best friend!

Hardly keeping their eyes open.

February 2010

I haven't posted much lately. Life is just so hectic. I want to however keep up with my blog for personal reasons! Corey arranged for my blog to be made into books and gave it to me for Christmas. We both cried. It was so precious to see all of our memories as we flipped through the pages, from Conner's birth to now!
Next Christmas he will get me another volume and I need to make sure to fill it with all the things that I want to preserve about our little family. These books are safety deposit box worthy!!!! At least to us :)

Conner is in the process of getting his LAST TOOTH. HIS BOTTOM TWO YEAR MOLAR. The others have all come thru and this is the LAST ONE. I am actually toying around with the idea of having a party in celebration once it pops thru since this will be such a huge time of gladness! Conner getting teeth has been sheer misery. I hear some parents look in their kids mouths and say, "wow, you got a tooth!" Then there is me, going thru torture waiting two months for one tooth to finally come thru and relieve him. He literally becomes a different person when he is getting a tooth. Then when it comes thru our delightful Conner is back. He woke up four times last night. As you can imagine I'm not such a happy camper right now.
So basically what I am trying to say is that life right now is kinda sucky. But we always get thru it, as I am sure we will this time.

So...while we are on the subject of teeth...remember on our Christmas post when I showed a picture of Conner's scraped up face from sledding on Christmas Eve? Well guess what...

HE BROKE THE ROOT OF HIS FRONT TOOTH. My beautiful son now has a grey tooth. I am afraid parents will think I, like don't brush my kids teeth or something, or that perhaps I let him suck on a bottle all night or something!
Owell. At least it is his baby tooth and the truth is, this is not going to be the last time something like this happens. This kid is wild, and I expect a lot of bumps and bruises.

A reminder of the unfortunate incident!

The unfortunate result

Conner asks to take a bath three times a day because he has learned how to swim under water across the tub. It's drying out his skin BAD. So I've had to say no and it makes him so sad. Its pretty funny. I got him these goggles but they bug him so he doesn't use them! I am so impressed, there is no way in the world I would be able to hold my breath under the water at the age of 2 1/2. He amazes me every day. I counted yesterday and he can hold his breath under water for 10 whole seconds!

I am happy to announce Conner is POTTY TRAINED. Halleulia! One difficult milestone accomplished. Go Conner!

I still haven't had the guts to let him sleep in underwear, so we will still have to work towards that, but for the most part we are there!!! YIPEE.

Con's potty chart.

Moving on, one of my very dearest friends moved...again...

Ariane and I met in High School, became best friends in AP English, and from Senior year of Highschool through freshman year of college we were inseparable. Without going into a lot of weepy details, she has been a wonderful friend whom I have been thru a lot with. You know, graduation, boys, falling in love, falling out of love, heart breaks and heart aches, driving around in the car singing at the tops of our lungs, laying out all Summer long, and going to all the Walgreens in town looking at make up- just for fun! haha :)

Anyways, she moved after our freshman year of college to go back to Brazil and we didn't see each other again till last Christmas, about 8 years later (due to immigration issues). She has been here in Salt Lake for a little over a year, and altho we certainly didn't spend enough time together it was wonderful to have her here. Now she has left to move to Canada, again due to immigration issues. At least this time she will be able to come back to Salt Lake to visit when she can, and perhaps sometime I can even go visit her! (It would at least be a lot easier than me going to Brazil.)

Well, other than all that we are just hanging out, totally and completely desperate for Summer. Every day I think about sitting at Murray pool basking in the sun, eating snacks and talking with girlfriends.

Why I don't move to somewhere much warmer than Utah I don't know...

xoxo

The day after Christmas

The day after Christmas.

Here are Corey and Conner enjoying Conner's little race track. You know how it is with men, they really buy things THEY want and claim its for their little boy. :)

Next, sledding. I just want you all to be proud of me for getting all bundled up and heading out for sledding. I am NOT a fan of doing pretty much anything in the cold. But if I was going to do it I knew I had to do it right, go thru all the old winter clothes and end up looking ridiculous. Was your family like that? We had a bag when I was little filled with all the winer clothes which happened to be like DECADES old. I'm talking the 70s, and bundle up in everything you could find.

Tommy and Juleen and Conner.

The man.

My two year old insists on going down adult sized hills BY HIMSELF.

"I can do it ALL.BY.MY.SELF." As he says.

But here is the funny part, Conner wasn't down with walking back up the hill so he wanted Corey to carry him, and this is the way it ended up happening. Everyone thought it was hilarious and Conner totally loved it. So funny.

Just us dorks!

Other dorks.