My Husband

What is his name? Kraig

How long have you been together? 3 years married
How long did you date? 2 months, 5 months engaged
How old his he? 29
Who eats more? He usually does
Who said i love you first? He did
Who is taller? He is
Who can sing better? Kraig. He tells me I scoop.
Who is smarter? It really depends on the subject. Cars, hunting, fixing stuff definitely go to Kraig Who does the laundry? I do. I'm a little neurotic about it.
Who pays the bills? I pay the bills with the money he makes.
Who sleeps on the right side? Looking at the bed or laying in the bed? Laying in the bed--I do.
Who mows the lawn? Kraig does, he loves yard work
Who cooks dinner? Usually it's me, but when Kraig has to work on a recipe, he takes the meal.
Who drives? Usually him if we're in the car together.
Who is more stubborn? Kraig says it's him
Who kissed who first? He kissed me. But I told him to kiss me :)
Who asked who out first? He asked me. We'd met water skiing, he hunted down my phone number and called to see if I wanted to go play racquetball.
Who proposed? Kraig. Twice.
Who has more friends? Well, we both have two. Andy and Josh :)
Who is more sensitive? I think I am probably more sensitive.
Who has more siblings? He does
Who wears the pants? Kraig says that I do and wondered why I even asked him that question because of course I know it's me :)

I read this on Squeaky's blog and she left the invite for anyone who wanted to be TAGGED to tag themselves. I leave that same invitation: If you want to TAG yourself, consider yourself TAGGED. I thought it was a fun little get to know Kraig through my eyes exercise

Our Anniversery

Kraig and I were married three years ago today. Here are a few highlights of our special day:

My Maid of Honor, Allison

Alli made the shawl for me as my 'something borrowed.'

Exiting the Bountiful Temple

Everyone from our ceremony.

My Family (I couldn't get a photo of the Webbs to upload)

Kraig's brothers and friends

The Passing of President Hinckley

Our Dear Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away last night at 7pm in his home with his family. Kraig and I were watching the news last night and Channel 9 reported it. Although we are sad to lose our dear prophet, we rejoice that he has completed his mission here on Earth and was called home to Our Father in Heaven. We add our prayers to the millions of other Church members--for the Hinckley family and for the 12 Apostles as a new Prophet is called.

We love you, President Hinckley.

A lesson at the park

It was a nice sunny day yesterday, so I took the kids on a walk to the park. There were about 5 10-11 year old girls there and true to pre-teen form, they were arguing back and forth across the playground. This is what I heard back and forth:


"Get out of my house!"
"Stop! I have a headache!"
"Didn't I tell you that I have a headache? Do you know what that means?"


As Andy and I quietly swung on the swings I felt really bad for these girls. It seems to me that these are statements that they probably hear over and over in their homes, and I thought to myself, "If Andy were at the park by himself, what would other mothers over hear him parroting from home?"

A work in progress

All of my free time this week has been dedicated to the Quiet Book. I must admit that I've become somewhat of a woman possessed. Everything I see becomes an idea for the quiet book.

I started off with something a little more simple--pages made of felt, but I decided if I was going to spend the time on this book, it needs to last through ALL of my children. Felt would definitely not last. So I switched the page material from felt to a heavy woven cotton. It's not quite a denim, but it's heavier than a khaki. I chose charcoal because it was on sale :) and because it seemed like a soothing color. I haven't done the front cover yet, but these are the 9 pages I DO have done:

ZIP--this will be on the back side of the front cover. One zips up, the other zips down. I didn't center it well on the scanner, but you get the idea.

MATCH--each of the shapes comes off; he'll have to match it back to the shape drawn on the cloth.

LACE--there's no shoelace yet, but this will lace up and have a bow. It's supposed to mimic lacing up and tying a shoe. My mother just happened to have an eyelet making tool AND all the eyelets in her craft room. Perfect!

BUTTON--each button is attached to a flap so that Andy (or whichever child) can lift and move it around to get each button attached. I did a small button on a light cotton to mimic buttoning his Sunday shirt.

SNAP--this little pocket has a small snap at the peak of the flap and will have a few foam balls inside that he can count or sort.

ALPHABET--pretty self explanatory

SEW--I need another shoelace here too. It's only attached to the backing at the top, so he can lift it and sew from both sides.

COUNT--also self explanatory

BUCKLE--I was going to do two sets of "D" clips (I found them for FREE in my mom's craft room), but Kraig suggested that I do a parachute clip, since those are the kinds of buckles on the grocery carts, strollers and booster seat.

So that's all I have right now. I hope to add a page with ribbons to braid and maybe something with photos/pictures like was suggested by Trish (Thanks, Trish!). Still a work in progress. I'll keep you posted.

PS--I love my scanner!

Sunday Quiet Book

I'm dedicating my free time this week to making a quiet book for the boys for sacrament meeting on Sundays. It's going to be full of fun 'little hands' activities to keep them occupied. I looked at a few different places (Deseret Book and Wal-mart) to see if there were something suitable--something pre-made or a pattern I could follow--and I was grossly disappointed. Everything was super cheezy or super cutesy, neither of which excited me for my boys. It was probably so disappointing because I already had ideas floating around my head of what activities I pictured the book to have. When I put my ideas down on paper this is what I came up with:

After I put my ideas down I realized that it was definitely something that I could do. My vision is that each activity page will help the boys a develop fine motor skill (zip, button, lace, buckle, Velcro, sew, snap, braid, feel) or refine a cognitive function (matching shapes, learning the alphabet and numbers, colors, etc). I'm really excited.

Does anyone have suggestions for other fun pages? Or tips from a book you've made?

Where do I begin?

We're up and running. I opted to not pay an extra $60 and have some Qwest serviceguy hook up my DSL, but do it myself instead and I'm so glad I saved the money. It was easy-breezy. Why pay someone else for something I can do myself?

How did I ever have the patience to blog with dial-up? Actually, I know. While my photos would upload (average time:10 minutes for 2 pictures), I would read my book. I got a lot of reading done while I was on the computer.

I must admit that it was a little nice not having the Internet for a few days. I took a nap while the kids were sleeping (usually my blog time). I finished some projects that have been on my to-do list for weeks/months. But the novelty wore off. I found myself wondering aimlessly around the house wondering what I could do to pass the time and it just became annoying that I'd lost my creativity. Does the computer really encompass me so much?

Here are a few highlights of what went on while I was disconnected:

Kraig's little sister is getting married in a few weeks. She's requested that all the nephews and nieces wear black pants and an olive, plum, navy, or cranberry shirt. I had a beastly time finding shirts for my boys (Kraig too. He's supposed to wear olive or navy to match the tie). We searched Kohls, Pennys, Men's Wearhouse, BabysRUs, etc, but found nothing for any of them. I finally found a shirt for Andy at TJmax, a shirt for Kraig at the thrift store (a $2.95 score!), and a vest for Josh at the children's consignment shop. All in olive green. They'll look darling (I'm wearing plum). I sewed these pants for the boys last weekend when Brenda came over for a birthday sewing party. I'm a little amazed at how good they came out. I'm always amazed when I sew something that looks like I bought it. Kraig tells me that I need to sew more often because the finished product always brings me such joy and accomplishment.

While I was sewing the pants, Brenda made Joshua a car seat blanket. It's so warm and cuddly; Joshy loves it. I think this picture makes him look like the flying nun.

We put Andrew in a 'big boy bed.' Really, we just took the front gate off of his crib so voila! it's a toddler bed. It was a little traumatic the first few nights/nap times, but he's pulled through like a champ. After one traumatic 'going down for a nap' scene, he woke up like this:

It looks like I beat him, but he just fell asleep on his hands. Cute boy.

Joshy's sitting up! He's really good now and can hold it for long periods of time without falling over.

Kraig grew a goatee. One morning during breakfast I noticed that all of my boys seemed to have grown them. Andy's: Ketchup; Joshy's: Rice cereal.

Joshua loves playing in his activity circle. Andy loves helping Josh play there. Andy loves letting his Snuggle Bear and Bob the Penguin play there too. Sometimes there's barely any room for Joshua.

Concourses of Angels Singing

We're getting HIGHSPEED! I hit my dial-up threshold and we weighed the pros and cons of upgrading (are there really any cons of upgrading) and dial-up was found wonton (isn't that a delicious chinese appitizer?).

I'm at the library right now (our dial up hasn't worked for over a week), but we should be connected by the end of the week. Trust me. You'll know when I can get back online.

The Sublte Nuances of Blogging

...which I still haven't figured out. For instance, I don't know if it had something to do with the template I used to use, but I could never get what was posted to look like what I typed. The spacing was always messed up, no matter how hard I'd try to correct it.

Usually I just blame all computer problems on my internet connection. The dial-up has got to go. I'm thinking about asking my next door neighbor if I can pay half her wireless bill and use her signal. That would be cheaper than getting our own and a lot less hastle. Unless someone else has some suggestions about good fast internet. I'm open for suggestions.

Christmas Recap

We had a wonderful holiday. It was a 'Rencher' year, so all of my siblings were able to come for Christmas. Cory, Creighton and the kids got here the Friday before Christmas and Robi and the kids flew in late Sunday night. There's a long-standing joke in our family that Robin is my Dad's favorite, so we surprised her at the airport with this sign:

She didn't know that anyone besides my parents would be there to pick her up, and the rest of us kids were banking on tears of joy at seeing our smiling faces, but no luck. We'll have to pull out all the stops next time.

We spent Christmas Eve together as a family and then Kraig and I came home and had a quiet and lovely Christmas morning with just our little family. Andy got a few new toys, some jammies, clothes, and games and Joshy got a new mattress for his crib. Not that exciting, I know. I didn't even wrap it. I considered buying him some diapers to put under the tree, but ended up needing to open the package before Christmas morning. Mom and Dad Webb gave us a little money to buy some things for the kids from them and so we bought doorway/stairway gates. :) Also not too exciting, but I'm so glad to have them! One of Kraig co-workers handed down this toy:

Joshy LOVES it! We used to have one with wheels for Andy, but knowing that our new home had stairs, it got left behind in Utah. This one is more engaging anyway and the price was right: FREE!

It was so fun to have everyone home. 2 years ago it was fun to have 3 babies under 3 months together for Christmas. This season it was a handful to have 3 two year-olds, but they had so much fun together. Andy asks me daily for Amanda and Emmalee (and Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Darren, Fuzzy, Adam, Aunt Cory...). I'm sad that ALL my sisters don't live close enough to play on a regular basis. My parents ate up the time with their grandkids, always telling us adults to 'go out and have fun and don't worry about the kids.' It was grand!

News Flash: Lack of blogging loses lurkers

Well, I think it's official. There was such a draught in my blog, that I've lost my faithful followers. Maybe it'll pick up again after the holidays...

Funny thing is I check my un-updated blog as often as I check my fellowbloggers blogs, with the hope, I guess, that something new will have been posted. No luck.

Now I'm FREEEEEE, Free Fallin'

Kraig turned 29 yesterday. We had a small celebration with just our little family last night after church. The boys gave him some pretend food so that they can practice cooking and grow up to be like Daddy (more of a gift for the boys than for Daddy, but they don't mind). Andy gave Kraig a chef's hat (he got one for himself too) because he likes to stand on a chair and cook breakfast with Kraig in the mornings. He's become very proficient at flipping pancakes and cracking eggs. I think that's pretty great for a two year old.

So during dinner I dropped the big birthday surprise: Sky Diving. Kraig was shocked, thought I was joking, and then started getting giddy, he was so excited. Here's the deal: There are two indoor skydiving facilities in the world--Denver and London. The one here in Denver happens to be about 2 minutes from my parents home. After a short 30 minute training, the diver walks into a wind tunnel and experiences 'falling' (looks more like levitating) for a few minutes. It was pretty great. If you look closely in the photos of Kraig, you can see the drool.

Happy Birthday, Babe! I love you!

When I was a little girl...

...I made pretend phone calls using a brush, shoe, banana, spatula, etc. and I think I called Baba, my blanket. My son looks like I've just interrupted a very important phone call with his agent, Harv, or that I'm some paparazzi sneaking out from behind a bush (Christmas tree) to get the $15,000 shot. What a kid.

PS--notice the pile of ornaments on the Christmas Tree directly above and to the right of his head. That's where every ornament we gave him to hang ended up.

Tree Shopping

We went out as a family on Tuesday to buy our Christmas tree. Andy was a big helper carrying the tree out to the car.

Last year we bought a tree at Kings, the local discount store in Heber. We paid $20, I think, and the poor tree was dead and dropping needles before we brought it in the house. Half the needles fell off when we were carrying it in the house, half when we had to move the tree to the kitchen because our landlords decided to put new carpet in during the holiday, and then half again before we took the tree out to the curb after New Years day. After that, every time I ran my vacuum I could smell the 'pineyness' from all the needles I had vacuumed up. Sad. Sad.

This year we sprung for the pricey tree of $30 from Home Depot. I didn't even know there were trees for sale there until reading it on Ashley's blog, but we were pleasantly surprised at how fresh the trees were. Now my home smells like pine all the time, not just when I run the vacuum.

The Party

Kraig's schedule has been crazy lately. We had a hard time deciding when to celebrate Andy's birthday and ended up choosing this morning, Sunday, before Kraig went to work.

Andy woke up before we got out of bed (like usual) and so while he was playing in his bed I decorated his chair and set out his presents. We got him out of bed while singing Happy Birthday, opened presents, and then he helped Kraig make pancakes (his choice, with a little urging from Mom) for breakfast. He loved his gifts and was excited about every package that he opened. He totally made out like a bandit--new game, new clothes, lots of books!

My boys' milestones:

The morning of Andy's birthday he woke up and since he's two now, we threw away the BINKY! Last night was his first time going to sleep without it. It was a little rough going, but he settled down after 20 minutes, which I thought was incredible. I was prepared for hours of screaming for his beloved friend and confidant.

Joshy ate solid foods for the first time yesterday (if you don't count the cheerio that Kraig sneaked to him). He'll be 5 months old this week. There was no real reason for waiting past 4 months, but he has not been sleeping well for the last few weeks and I reached my breaking point. So he got rice cereal before bed last night and hallelujah, it was a MUCH better night