Celebrity Halloween 2010

Last night we took the kids to the ward trunk or treat at our church. I wasn't sure if I was going to take them out tonight because we didn't get home from church until 4pm, they were already tired, and Brian was going to be gone studying so he wouldn't be home to go with us. I decided to bite the bullet and went out with my neighbor Cheryl and her kids. We walked over to another one of our friends house, Marisa, and headed out to trick or treat. The first house we went to was Thomas Keller's house - the famous chef who owns French Laundry - look him up. I was pleasantly surprised by how much the kids got into the trick or treating. I still thought Evan would be a little young to appreciate it, but he was walking ahead of me and taking himself to each door, ringing the bell, and doing the deal. At one house, the lady said "what do you say?" - (i.e..trick or treat) and Evan responded with a stern, "fill it up" - it was awesome and embarrassing all at the same time. Last night the boys were both Spiderman and tonight Evan was Iron Man and Owen was probably the cutest blue monster I have ever seen. His costume had a little tail on the back and when he walked it would wag - there is nothing cuter than a baby in a costume. Owen was actually going from to each door and saying trick or treat AND thank you - progress!

These are the moments....

I am writing this blog post mostly for my husband - so if you need to be spared the sap, read on or skip over this post. Brian likes to read our blog while he is at school and look at the pictures of our sweet little boys. On Friday afternoon, Evan wanted me to take pictures of him sitting on the steps wearing his skeleton/pirate shirt. Coincidentally, as I was taking his pictures, his dad came home and I was able to capture the picture of him running down the stairs and jumping up on Brian and giving him a hug right as he came in the door. I like to think that Brian is different. While some dads are okay with leaving every day from 9am - 5pm, and sometimes even enjoy being gone for those hours, Brian is different. He genuinely loves spending time with the kids and hates leaving them. This week is going to be especially hard. Brian has his block exams which means four tests between Monday and Friday and endless hours of studying. I know that it is hard on Brian to be away from the kids for so many hours and basically be MIA for an entire week, but hopefully he will look at this blog post from day to day and remember that Friday is just around the corner and Evan will be waiting on the steps again. You can do it Brian - good luck on your tests, we love you.

Why I Love Having Little Boys

My heart aches to have a baby girl one day, but for now - I LOVE having little boys. It is hard to explain, but the relationship between a mom and her little boy is so sweet. Every week when I get ready for church Evan tells me that I am a princess, this never gets old. Yesterday, he told me that I was a princess and then told me to take a break from putting on my make up and hold his hand so he could spin me around....(heart melting). My little Owen is a bright eyed boy that is tough as nails but sweet as can be. While leaping through the air to land on the couch, he will usually sneak in a hug or lay on my lap for 3 seconds - and I love it. I say this because I was talking to my sister today about babies, and future babies, and she made me laugh. I am impulsive by nature, and TMI, if it wasn't for a temporarily permanent form of birth control, I would probably want to have another baby right now just because I love my two that I have so much. BUT I can't be impulsive, so I am going to wait until Owen is probably a little over three years old before going for number three. Right now, it is crazy and enjoyable. I love watching my boys run around the park together and actually play 20 percent of the time and only fight 80 percent:) They ride in their red wagon every day together to the park or around the block and we talk about pumpkins and skeletons while Evan points out where the shade is (he is still amazed when he isn't "hot" in Vegas). Life is busy, and sometimes lonely, but it is good.

While I am writing this blog, I am sitting on the couch next to Brian who is studying and occasionally checking my heart beat. He is studying the heart tonight. I am not always a fan of being his patient/guinea pig, but I'll take whatever attention I can get these days:) Brian got a 100 percent on a biochemistry test last week and a 90 percent on an Anatomy exam so I guess if the long hours of studying is paying off, I'll take the lack of attention for a bit/a long bit:)

This past weekend we went down to the strip after eating In N Out burger - which is becoming our Friday night routine. We took the boys to the Shark Reef Aquarium which was really fun. I felt like we reached a milestone in their ages that night. Although we brought the stroller, both of the boys got down and walked through the aquarium and actually stayed with us the whole time/didn't try to run off - it was a beautiful moment. This might sound lame, but anyone who has kids knows how frustrating it is to have one child enjoy something and the other one running no where in the opposite direction and having to chase them the whole time. Having both kids enjoy the same activity was awesome. There was one part where it looks like you are in a ship that has wrecked and the floor is cut out/covered by glass so that you can see the fish below you. Owen was convinced it was an open hole and when I tried to pull him on to it to stand with me he threw his legs up in the air so he wouldn't go over board - it was really funny. Evan enjoyed seeing the Starfish and said "Look Mom, it's star chicken" - his favorite menu item at Carls Jr. See the pictures below.






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White Coat Ceremony

I am a little embarrassed about how long it has been since I have last blogged. Maybe it has been because there is nothing to blog about or possibly I am just too busy to blog? Whatever the reason - it has been less than a month so I am not throwing in the towel on blogging just yet!

Today marks an important day. Not only is it now LESS than one month until I get to go home for a visit BUT Brian had his white coat ceremony today. The white coat ceremony is kind of interesting. It is a little bit like graduating backwards. Although he has years left before he is officially a doctor, he gets a white coat. Maybe it is motivation for the med students to stick it out because they have a jacket with their name already embroidered on it - if that is not motivation, I don't know what is:)

Brian's white coat ceremony was held at the Bally's Hotel and Casino on the strip. Brian had to go down early so this was the first time that I had to go down to the strip by myself with two kids. I don't think going down to the strip by myself would seem like such a big deal, but with two kids, it is a whole different ball game. Luckily, I found a steal of a deal on a sit and stand stroller this weekend and that purchase came more than handy to cart the kids around and get into the casino/the ceremony. I didn't think the kids would make it, but they did surprisingly well. Although we do have many more years to go, it was fun to see Brian sitting on the stage in his white coat...it means we are one step closer to the real thing.

Here are some photos from today....