This Fall Conner and his friend Jace took their first soccer class.

By the end of the season it got very chilly.
Conner and swoop at the U of U book store.

Ashley and I took the boys to find their halloween costumes. They wanted to be Batman and Robin.



Me and Juleen at the store.

Conner LOVES to play chase around our kitchen/living room. This happens nearly every day when I am attempting to get him ready and out the door for school or church. I usually get really frustrated and then start laughing because he loves it so much and thinks he is so funny.

A flower from our garden this Summer.

Me and my buddy.
Chris and Corey thought of a great idea. Take Conner to a climbing wall place. Truly it was a blast to watch Conner try it out. Anything to get out some of the energy this kid is infested with.

Chris and Con

Say goodbye!

GOODBYE.GOODBYE.GOODBYE.GOODBYE.GOODBYE.GOODBYE.GOODBYE.GOODBYE.

I have neglected to post one of the most important events of our year...THE BINKY POST. Corey and I had hashed and re-hashed the dilemma of the binky all year. We tried several things, we talked to him about it A LOT, saying he was getting too big to sleep with a binky, reminding him that his friend Jace doesn't use a binky, and even bribed him with ANYTHING he wanted! (For example..the big buzz light year that costs like 100$ or finally his first bike.)
He would act like he was willing to get rid of it but then he would get in bed and after about five or ten minuets we would hear the cute little voice, "Mommy, I can't sleep without my nigh-nigh."
Corey and I debated on whether to just say tough and let him have a fit for a week or wait till he was willing to give it up himself.
I thought that it might be more successful if he were to decide for himself that he wanted to get rid of it. He is the most persistent person I have ever met in my life and I had a strong feeling that our best bet would be if we could help him make the decision himself.
I decided to wait till pre-school started in the Fall and tell him they don't let kids go to pre-school unless they give their binkie's away. My friend Ashley even offered to have Conner over to her house for a sleep over honoring him and throwing away his binky, it was to be a Buzz Light Year theme. Tell me I don't have the most wonderful friend in the world.
Well our family was registered for a week at Aspen Grove in July and I wasn't intending to go, but I had a bright idea, if he wanted to go there and spend time with his cousins then he would need to go without a binky. I thought it would be a great opportunity because we would be away from home for a week, with tons of distractions and I would be there with him if he couldn't sleep and could help him.
So the decision was made, Corey was proud of me for taking on the challenge since he would stay in Salt Lake to work. I must admit I was SCARED. That dumb plastic thing a.k.a binky has been such a wonderful thing for us. He has always taken such comfort in it. Sleeping 12 hours a night, and three hour naps in the day...Never fighting us on going to bed...any time he was hurt he would calm down immediately with his blanket and binky.
So Corey and I spoke to Conner about it before we went and he was naturally all gung-ho for it, but the first night was HARD. He had never slept a single night without it since he was born.
He was up until about 1:30 a.m. and finally fell asleep...I was so proud, but of course he then woke up at 6:00 a.m.
I was so exhausted, but so happy to have not given in. I cheered and told him how proud I was of him.
The rest of the week was the same, but worse because he was so tired. Every night he begged and pleaded for his binky. The third night he even came over to me and handed me his Buzz and asked if I had "a receipt" because he wanted to return it to the store for his binky. I felt so bad, but we had made it thru this much it would be awful to not stick to it.
He continued to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and go to sleep very, very late.
Long story short my ever persistent child continued to ask for his binky EVERY SINGLE NIGHT AND DAY for two months. Not even exaggerating.
Life was not fun because I was so accustomed to him taking naps and sleeping till 8:30 each morning.
He has almost entirely quit naps, and has continued to wake early in the morning. So I wish I could say it was the best decision ever, but I don't feel that way. I do however feel good that I don't have to worry about when I will take it away anymore and I don't have to worry about his teeth being pushed out. I have already noticed a big difference in his teeth, they had indeed been pushed out from it and have gone back into place. Today is October 9th and he hasn't asked for it at all for a couple weeks.

I brought this stuffed Buzz light year to give Conner something to sleep with.
(This is also the item which he thought we could return for his binky. )

It was hard for us to be away from Corey all week, but he came up in the evenings for dinner and left around bedtime so we got to spend some time with him.

My mom came up one night to hang out/help me out :)

And finally a well deserved reward. Very deserved. We are so proud of our Conner. He did something HARD. There is nothing he valued more than his binky and he was strong enough to give it up. We were delighted to reward him with his first ever BIKE. (With matching Helmet of course.) We wanted him to SEE us paying for it so he knew that nothing great is just handed to us, it comes from much hard work and sacrifice.


We Finally Said GOODBYE!

Summers end

Oh so much has happened. Here is an update. Corey is working hard at his new job at AdvancedMD. He sells medical software to doctors and it has been a real change for us. Corey came from knowing everything there is to know about auto-glass, mortgages, and real estate, to knowing nothing about medical or software sales. He is now doing BOTH. It has been extremely challenging for him to learn this new stuff but if anyone can do it it is him...
The Summer was fun, Conner took not just one, but two swimming lesson sessions (two weeks each.) He was so great in the first one that my mom insisted on paying for him to do a second one. It was really worth every cent. He is so good at swimming its shocking. By the end he had all the swimming teachers wrapped around his little finger too. Big surprise right? Not.
Conner also took a little club t-ball session. It was really fun BUT, he kept wanting to tackle people. Funny for everyone else to watch and not so funny for me. I have nightmares of parents wanting to fight me because my son hurt their kid.
It appears football might be his game. Corey played football as well as did his dad. Not to mention that football is really the only sport he ever sees because that is what Corey watches and he also goes to all of the U of U games. Oh and did I mention that he pulled down his pants twice right in the middle of the outfield to take a pee? Ya, he did that.
Again, funny to all the other parents, not so much for me. If I have to paint a positive spin on this, it is that Conner is CONFIDANT. Never embarrassed. Good thing and bad thing. :)
Now before you say, wow Conner is SPOILED. Swimming lessons, t-ball etc. Remember that Conner is three little boys in one body. The ENERGY this kid has shocks me, amazes me, exhausts me, and frustrates me!
I knew that I had to start him in some activities that would let him expend some of his energy.
It is now Fall, and we are notably sad about that. No more pool days or swimming lessons. I don't mean to be a downer, but man, the end of Summer signifies almost some kind of death to me. But, there are indeed positives about Fall. The sky is so beautiful and blue in the afternoon, perfect for taking a walk. Conner started pre-school at Rainbow Connection. Oh hallelujah, happy day, and every other happy word. He has truly reached a point where he needs more than I can give him. More socializing with kids as well as more direction from someone other than me. He has also started soccer class. (Again, a physical outlet is an absolute necessity right now.)
Conner's current interests (or should I say obsessions) are SUPER HEROS. He has batman and robin, superman, spiderman, hulk, and quite literally every other super hero you can think of. I am not kidding you when Conner was a baby and I would walk around the toy stores I would look at the action figures isle in a sense of disgust, "WHY?" "Why do people buy these things? You can't do anything with them. They're just little figures."
Well my life now revolves around them. Every time he deserves a reward it's a superhero. Or if I have something I really need to get done on some days and I need him occupied, give him a new super hero and he is good for five hours.
Last week he earned a big reward for getting all of his reward stars on his chart for two weeks. You know what he chose? A Batman Cave/house thing where all his super heros can live and play.
I will take a picture and post soon. Oh and while I am on it do you want to know what is the other bain of my existence? Not just super heros, but ARMY MEN. You know what I am talking about, the little green army guys. Another "toy" that makes NO sense to me. Yet every single day I am asked by beautiful blue eyes to play army men. "Play army men?" I wonder if he can hear the groan inside of me every time he asks. I try to play for like five minutes but truly, honestly and truly HOW THE HECK DO YOU PLAY ARMY MEN? Like, pick one up and say, "Hey I'm gonna get you," to one of the other army men? Ya and then what? Because my son expects me to do it forEVER. I last about five minutes and then hurt his feelings as I tell him I can't play anymore.
Why can't he let me read to him, draw and color with him, paint with him, play a game with him like memory or Candy Land...BUT NOOOOOO. It has to be SUPER HEROS or Army Men.
Can anyone reading this tell me I am not alone in my total avoidance in playing anything that requires me to use my imagination or a pretend "mean guy/good guy" voice?
And secondly can anyone tell me how to freaking "PLAY" army men? Because it certainly makes no sense to me.
Here are gazillions of pictures from the past few months. You can see why it has taken me a long time to post, too many pictures and too little time!


Connerisms: Conner was being a little too noisy in church and my mom was sitting with us because I had to play the piano for the primary program and she wanted to come hear me. Well he was getting giggly and my mom said, "Honey be quiet." And he said, "ACTUALLY, WE DON'T USE THE WORD QUIET IN OUR CHURCH."
It surely won't surprise you that the whole front row in front of us burst out laughing.

Conner came into our bed in the middle of the night and rolled all over me making it so I got no sleep. The next night I said, "Now Conner you cannot come into our bed in the night, because it makes it so I can't sleep." Conner responds, "Well, I can't sleep when you come into my bed either!" Right Conner, since I come sleep in your crib/toddler bed all the time. Paaalleeease!

Conner was complaining of an "owie" and I went up and touched it as I was sympathizing with him and he immediately pulls away from me and says in a very condoning tone, "Mom, don't you know that little kids don't like their owies touched?"

T-Ball!

Drummin'

Corey put Conner in the tree, Conner jumped to Corey, Corey was then pretty much incopacitated for two weeks, we thought his neck was broken because he couldn't move it and the pain was soooo bad.

Conner and his swimming teachers. Tyler on the left, Conner in the middle, Rachelle on the right. These lessons were at the Sports Mall and let me tell you it was the best thing we have ever done for him.

Super Hero lifeguard. Very intense.

Life guard on duty

Oh yea so I was leaning over Conner to help him brush his teeth one night and he didn't like that much. He jolted his head up and hit me right in the chin with his head. My teeth preceeded to go right thru (ENTIRELY) my lip. You can even see all the brusing at the bottom of my lip. Ya, teeth. alll. the. way. thru. lip. Black and blue and swollen for over a week. You should have seen the looks I got. Once the swelling went down it looked normal except the brusing went from bad to worse. COMPLETE BLACK. It looked as tho I had either gotten a pretty gnarly tatoo on my lip, or had stupidly been sucking on a ink pen and it leaked on me.

Dave Concert was great, black lip not so great. Felt reeeealy ugly but it is ok because Dave never ended up wanting to get together after the concert anyways. :) haha.

Dave Concert was wonderful... absolutely wonderful. As always.

Aspen Grove 6

 

Aspen Grove 5

 

Aspen Grove 4

 

Aspen Grove 3

Here are James and Conner at frontier night. They had their faces painted like dragons.

 

Aspen Grove 2

 

Aspen Grove 1

Water Frolics! So fun. Especially as I got to watch Conner play with his cousins and I stood on the side lines talking to my aunt Patty enjoying NOT getting wet. There are dozens of games you play with your family or your group...most include freezing cold water but some dont. Did our team win? I don't know but it was fun.

 

Granite Vaults with Monson Family

We had the honor of visiting the Granite Vaults with my Monson side of the family a few weeks ago. I have never been there before and it was a real treat. It was especially fun to be around all of my family since we are never all around at the same time these days. I am proud that Conner lasted quite well in an environment where he had to be on his best behavior.

Summer

Tommy's Birthday...

Conner and Juleen in our backyard...Summer nights...how I am going to miss those.

Ash and the kids stopped by to wish Tommy a happy birthday, Tommy and Ash are buddies too because long, long ago I worked at an Early Intervention Company DDI Vantage, and then I got Tommy to go work there, and then as I was about to quit I told Ash to go apply and she worked there with Tommy for a while!

Love this picture

SWIMMING LESSONS AT THE SPORTS MALL.

If I had ato rate our Summer activities from 1-10 I would say that Conner's swimming lessons were the number 1 funnest thing we did all summer.

A day out with our friend's the Pollocks. We started by taking the kids to the water fountains at Temple Square.

We then went to IHOP for breakfast and then to see "Despicable Me" (Fantastic movie...)

Here is my hero Ash, entertaining the kids while we waited for the show to start. I think she was teaching them a song.

A new tradition, after a movie the kids all go down to the front and dance during the music playing during credits. They loved it.

And then after the movie we went to a little BBQ with the Rohdes. Here is Princess Mylee lounging in the pool.

So this was so funny, Parker (aka BOBO as the kids all call him) and Larvin got into one of those who can throw the other into the pool fights.

Conner lurrrvs Larv

Fireworks at our house at the end...

Lighting the fireworks

Here is Linny, Ashley's sister and her boyfriend Dustin.