Catching up.......

Well, have a much to long hiatus of posting, I've decided to finally break down and get going again. I've actually thought about it quite a bit the last few months, just never sat down to get started going again.

We are absolutely loving it back at home on the foothills of the Wasatch Front. Dorothy really and truly had it right, there IS no place like home. The snows been great, and it's so beautiful here. Although Tom kept saying how cold our house is. But really it's just a typical northern Utah winter and he has become some sort of southern bird. And Madeline mentioned the other day that having snow isn't as much fun as she thought it'd be. Nevertheless, we have had fun and enjoyed some pretty big snow days and rather large snow drifts as evident in our picture.

Madeline is doing well in school. She has some great friends and seems to have adjusted most of the time. Logan also is in a preschool that he loves. When I say it's time for school he says, preschool one or preschool two? (one is AZ preschool, and two is UT preschool clever boy) But he and Madie have both talked about how even though they are having so much fun, they want to go back to Arizona.

Luke is my little firefly. You just can't help but grin from ear to ear when you watch him. He always has on the cutest little smile. He zips around the room, playing with toys and entertaining himself. Yesterday at Walmart we were waiting in line and Luke was being absolute adorable, laughing and flirting with this cute little girl behind us. There was a rather grough and tough looking man behind here and he was actually laughing out loud at how cute and funny Luke was. Logan dotes on him. And now Luke with even instigate some mugging with Logan himself and lay his head on Logan's shoulder or but Logan's hand on his cheek.

Although I loved the people in Arizona dearly, I didn't realize how much I would miss them. We have moved many times and this one has been the saddest to leave such great friends behind. Frequently when I am out and about shopping I think I see one of my friends and remember they live far away.

Tom is currently rather bored at work, poor guy. Because he opened the clinic, they are just now building up a patient load. The first month he saw 17 patients. Now he sees about 3-5 a day. I can't remember a single book he has read for pleasure since we've been married. (besides two Lance Armstrong books) Since beginning work he has read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and he's just finishing the Bourne trilogy. That's a lot of reading for someone who doesn't usually like it. I have to say it's nice right now though. He leaves for work late, unless there's a patient first thing but usually there isn't. Then he comes home for lunch, and frequently comes home early at the end of the day. I have to say it's a lovely change since his crazy working hours in Arizona. I'm soaking it all up while I can because I'm sure he'll be busy again soon enough.

Me, I'm having a ball. I've been working pretty hard on the house. I've only got two bathrooms and a hallway left to do. Well, and Madie's room but that's going to wait until next fall maybe. Then we can get going on a large garden and updating the yard. We were able to start two weeks ago, it was lovely weather. Then Mother Nature played an early April fools day joke and snowed us in once again. (it's alright, gives me a bit more time to finish up inside before I get bogged down in the yard)

When I'm not doing house and kid stuff, we are out visiting family as much as we can. We have 6 1/2 years of visiting to make up for and I'm doing it as fast as I can. I'm pretty darn lucky, I have the best in-laws in the world. Brothers and sisters included. We only live 1/2 mile from Tom's parents and I wouldn't mind living right across the street. They are wonderful and we love being with them again.

MIA...

So I've been out of commission for a bit. So sorry for the delay. Between moving, Madie's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Madie's baptism, and remodeling I've been a wee bit busy. Plus the battery in our camera was dead and I just got around to finding the battery recharger on Friday. Yeah! It was very nice but I'm happy to be settling down finally to a normal routine for a bit. Plus I got a big fancy new quilting frame for Christmas that I've been dieing to try out!

The house is great. It's been lots of fun painting and getting all set up. I finally have a couple of rooms some what finished so I can show them off. First is the kitchen/dining room. We painted the walls green and did a cream vanetian plaster on one wall. In the front room we painted. There is pergo through most of the upstairs. We went to a nice carpet store and picked out a remnant carpet we loved and had it bound. Then we put padding underneath so it's nice and soft. It's great because we can take it out when we are sick of it or move.

That's all for now. Soon I'll have more pics. We are putting carpet in the basement and getting drapes in our bedroom so I'll be able to post more soon. Oh, here is a lovely view of our house in the evening with all of our lights and the beautiful snow outside. We've had tons of fun in the snow. And have been very cold. Tom keeps trying to convince me that our house is cold, but really, it's just Utah in the winter. He even had more insulation installed in the attic and got some quotes on new windows. (a bit too pricey for now, maybe next year)

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Christmas was great. It was wonderful to be home and to see and share it with all of the family. Luckily, we had all of our family parties before Christmas Eve so we were able to relax and enjoy Christmas Eve and Day at our leasure. We had Susan and Jerry over for ham on Christmas Eve. And then we went to their house Christmas Day. The kids loved their presents and played and played. One of my favorite things is Rock Band. It's been a lot of fun. The kids try to play it and do pretty well on the easier songs. It's really cute. When playing the drums they just hit the right drum about 50 gazillion times trying to get it right. Madie even picks up the mic and sings. It's great practice for her reading too!

New Years Eve we went to our friends house and playing Rock Band 'till midnight. It was fun to hang out with them. They only live about 5 or 6 houses away on the block below us. Tom has been friends with Tom (also) since at least high school I think. I really like his wife Karen and some of our kids are the same age.

Well, I should go to bed. Need to get on a better schedule, new years goals and all that. Happy New Year!

Love Always,
Amber

Finally, I'm back online

One summer when I was in high school, I rented Gone With the Wind. It's a classic and I wanted to see what all the hubbub was about. When it was finished I distinctly remember calling my mother at work and complaining that I had just wasted 3 hours of my life and I wanted them back. I would have gladly turned off the movie at any time but I kept thinking that somehow Scarlett would get it together and figure it out. I mean, if she didn't, why did everyone love this movie so much? And at the very end her husband gets fed up with her and leaves. Suddenly she realizes that she truly loved him all along. Just as you think she's about to take off after him she says,"I'm going to Tera (or however you spell it)." What??!!? Are you kidding me? I was NOT impressed

So we are happily nestled all snug in our beds. At long last. Most of the boxes are empty. (Although Tom has constructed some towering monument in the garage defying me to give away even one) Moving is painful. You think that this being my 12th move in 10 years I would know that. I remember. But we are all healthy and happy to be in our new home. We actually got to put up Christmas decorations today and tomorrow we will decorate the tree! The kids are settling in well. Madie likes her class and teacher. There are some very nice kids right down the street to play with. There are also a couple that are Logan's and Luke's ages also. Plus you just can't beat living 2 blocks from your sister. Stacy got married one month after me and we lived a block apart for six months. It is one of my favorite times. We always talk about it. Once we went over to watch Armaggedon at their house. Stacy had these enormously cool (that is enormous AND cool) glasses. She dared Tom to drink an entire glass of water. Can't turn that down. She then challenged him to a second glass. (shot's for Mormon's?) So the whole movie poor Tom had to get up and keep going to the bathroom. Then the climax of the movie came. You know, the one where Bruce Willis sends Ben Affleck back to Earth to take care of his daughter so he can die to save the Earth? Yeah that one. Well if you know me at all I'm a crybaby at best. Well, this movie was my all time worst. I sobbed. And sobbed. It was as if Bart DeGiorgio was on the moon and saving the planet for me. (yes, I'm more than a little embarassed when it is brought up but given that it's discussed in it's entirity at least 2 to 3 times a year I've learned to put on a brave face and laugh at me too).
So a short story made long, living so close to Stacy now is like a continuation of the fun times that we had before. Only now we get to add in the kids which makes it that much better. (psst Robbie. If you move to North Ogden we promist to hang out all day and Holly will be home all evenings and weekends! Just think about it, we need her to complete the carebear dreams!)
Madie and I were driving to pick up my nephew Parker for school. Looking out over Ogden valley it was breathtaking. So I was recounting to Madeline all of the things that make the foothills of Benlomond the best place on Earth. This, is home. No matter where we've lived, we always called this home. We never went to Utah for vacation, we went HOME for vacation. And there is some beautiful and healing about being at home again. And now I know why Scarlett O'Hara went to Tara. Because when her life was a mess, and she needed stability, time to heal and pick herself up go, she went home. Because that is what being home does for you.
So I still don't like the movie. But I can understand it

sweet dreams....

This morning at the crazy hour of 5:30 am, Logan yelled out for his dad. I lept up to investigate. As I entered my son's room, I hear him sweetly singing his ABC's, in his sleep. It was the cutest thing. He is learning so much at school, and he really loves to sing. (his current favorite song is Real Gone by Billy Ray Cyrus and he calls it the Lightning McQueen song. He also loves Whatever, Cotton Eyed Joe, Time is Running Out (Muse), and Ice Queen (Within Temptation) He's the guitar, Madie's the drummer, and I'm the vocalist. Unless it's Real Gone and then you better not make a peep because it's all him baby). He's also doing pretty good at writing. He can do his name. These are his very first papers that he did a preschool a couple of weeks ago. Not to shabby for a boy who just barely turned 4.

xoxo always,
Amber

Tyer Tuesdays....smurfs, ladybugs, and James Bond

They had the very best toys. Coleco Vision. Which included such addicting games as Lady Bug, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Smurfs, and James Bond. There was a drawer in the sewing room filled with treasures. One was an old checkbook. I loved playing with it and writing out pretend checks. Mom's old barbie doll with the pink plastic ski's. She had those old plastic eyelashes, the ones that were part of the mold for her head. And curly dark hair. Once I tried to curl her hair a little bit more with the curling iron and she suffered a severe case of alopecia forever more. In the closet was a puppet on strings that refused to be untangled. A thin clear plastic oval that contained water, and blue and white sand inside that swirled and made cool designs as you moved it around. An oversized stuffed alligator that eventually came home with us. I remeber having left some toys out during one visit. Expecting them to still be in the same place when we returned I was surprised to find them put away. Instead of simply assuming that grandma had cleaned up, I imagined that she must has some other grandkids that I wasn't related to and didn't know about that visited her when I wasn't there. (not that she had another family or anything, I just didn't understand about genetics and such I guess.)

So now I will remember to keep a few important toys from my children. So that their own kids and play with and love them as much as I loved playing with toys at your house too.
xoxo love always, Amber

Thoughts on potting training

Thoughts on potting training. When potty training Madeline, she would pee in her underwear. So I took them off, and she walked around in a darling little shirt, with her cute little bum cheeks hanging out the backside. We put the potting training toilet in the front room so we could have quick access. It worked like a charm. I think she may have had only one or two accidents. After two weeks of that, we put on the panties and she was good to go. A few months later we started on the night time training and it went very well. Although I did feel bad waking her up in the middle of the night to go potty. Especially since it was in the winter in West Virginia and we had one meezily little heater in the bathroom. It was the only vent in the entire upstairs. Still, I think she may have wet the bed only once or twice. Potty training was such a breeze. Oh how naive I was.

Logan helped dispelled my confidence and ability to easily and calmly train my child to use the potty. He is 4 and has no desire to use the toilet. He will if we remind him, every hour. Left to his own devices he has more important things to do. Which includes pretty much anything and everything outside of the bathroom. Two nights I accidentally forgot to put a pull-up on him at bedtime. I woke up in the morning to a perfectly dry son. I am proud to report that it has been over 2 weeks and not one single bed wetting accident to date. I wish I could say as much about the day. Never-the-less, I keep hoping that one of these days the light will turn on and he will suddenly say "mom, I have to go potty!".

One thing Logan does very well is sing children's songs. He sings them so well that when we sing them, we sing them his way. Fast like lightening. It is funny. And we laugh and laugh and then sing some more. I really love my son.
xoxo,
Amber

So tonight my children and I were eating our lovely dinner, (actually it was terrible, really really terrible. I didn't even make the kids eat ONE bite of fish it was so bad) and watching an old Newhart episode. It's one where some grandma lady gets thrown in jail. So my daughter Madeline turns to me and asks, "mom, has anyone in your family ever been to jail or broken out of jail before?" To which I reply a resounding "no.". "Neither do I" she replies and I burst out laughing because she and I are in the same family. Kids are so cute.

Luke's latest move is to throw both arms straight up in the air and shout with glee. He does it many times a day. It is adorable. I would show you but my dear husband is in Utah with both the camera and my camcorder fixing up the new digs for our arrival in a few weeks. Wish I was there too.

Originally Tom and I had planned on making a little trip out of moving home. We were going to take some "scenic" route and do a mini vacation/moving home trip. Well, his schedule became so that it was just a moving home trip. And one day last week I had a moment of terrifying enlightenment. We were driving home in a Subaru wagon with a newly potty trained four year old (and I use potty trained loosely here, it really means taking him to the toilet once an hour and teasing/begging/bribing him to go potty), a still-nursing 11 month old, and not one but TWO Siamese cats that HATE THE CAR. Seriously, they cry for hours on end. And so do we. So I calmly sat down with my husband and begged him to let me fly the kids home. I would gladly fly for 1 hour and 40 minutes all alone with three children than take a drive like that anytime. We would probably not make it. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make it.

Tonight we watched my favorite Baby Einstein. For those of you who don't know we love all things Baby Einstein. Seriously, it's the bomb. Madeline who's 7 still watches it when it's on. And I don't even count it as tv time because it's classical music (mostly) and images. Which is great because no matter how many times we've seen it (not in a row of course but over the years), I'm not sick of it. I'd have burn any other movie by now after that many viewings. So the point was that we are watching my favorite one, Baby Einstein Santa. I love Christmas. And Thanksgiving. And snow. And I get to be home. Alleluia amen.
xoxo always, Amber

Tyer Tuesdays....better than the zoo.

I think that the animals came because they knew how fun it was to be at the Tyer house. For a while there was a chicken that made a home somewhere in the scrub oak. She had free run of the grounds, and Gramps would get fresh eggs for breakfast. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. There was some rusted out car next to the shed. Never even noticed it until some cat decided that it was the perfect spot to have some baby kittens. I'm pretty sure I remeber rumor of a skunk that stopped by temporarily too. But my favorite one was a particularly spunky racoon. One of the special nights we got to stay at their house, a racoon that had been visiting decided to come indoors for a bit. He found gramps' lighter and scurried under a bed. I remember peeking under it with gramps and you could see the tiny sparks as he was playing with the lighter. Not a good combo. Don't really remember how they got him out, guess that wasn't the fun part.

At the back of their house was this awesome covered deck. There was an apple tree that grew right next to it, and some vines that grew around the railing. It always felt a little like a hint of a cool jungle oasis there. And in the dusk of the summer day there would be a faint blue glow on the tiles, a soft melodic electric hum, that is until the bug zapper went zap and then the soft hum continued. Funny thing, I actually love the sound of bug zappers. It reminds me of summer evenings with gramps and grandma. (I know insects aren't animals but figured that this was as good as any time to reminisce about them too.)

xoxo always,
Amber

Happy Birthday to you!

Today is a very special day. It is the 4th birthday of my first son. Logan was born in Marion Ohio. Tom did his OB rotation the last month of my pregnancy. So for my weekly appointment he was always there because he was doing his rotation with our OB. It was an exciting time. I couldn't wait to see my new baby boy, and I loved seeing my handsome husband working at the doctor's office.

I am a very large pregnant woman. One of the patients that Tom saw after me told him, "I just saw a pregnant woman in the waiting room and she was huge!". She also said I was wearing a black top and had to keep pulling it down. He told her I was having my baby in 2 days, but didn't say I was his wife. He didn't want her to feel embarrassed that she was talking about his wife. I don't get offended about my pregnant weight, I really, truly am that huge.

Logan's birth was a very special one for me. I love kids, and babies. All of them. So I was so very thrilled to be having another of my very own. I have very large babies so c-sections are required. I was nervous, and a little scared. (After you've had one baby you know too much about what's coming next. And yes, you so quickly forget how hard it really is, until the day of the delivery when you're having your next when it all comes back to you so clearly) Tom, the love of my live, was by my side. When they placed all 9 lbs 7 oz of him in my arms, an overwhelming feeling of love and peace came over me. Love for my son, love for my husband, and also the love that my Heavenly Father has for me. It was one of the times in my life that I have felt that Heaven is so much closer than we ever know.

Happy Birthday son, I love you with all my heart.

xoxo always,
Amber

Extra, extra ....read all about it!

So we have some really REALLY big news!!! Are you ready?

No, not that. (I wish!)

We get to move HOME!!! We will officially be Utahns as of Thursday November 13th!(Although in our hearts we were never anything else BUT Utahns!)

So Tom's last shift is a swing shift on Nov 11th. He'll come home and sleep. The moving truck will pack us up on Wednesday and we'll hit the road. Probably spend the night in Moab and be home on Thursday. Can't think of a better birthday present for my little girl's 8th birthday than that. So get ready to have some good old Baker fun 'cause we're coming home for good. Alleluia Amen.

xoxo always,
Amber