balloon chasers

This morning we were going to get up early and watch the hot air balloons take off, but like usual we stayed up way too late and could not get up on time. Conrad got me up and I let Katie sleep. Me and Conrad saw some balloons pretty close out the window and he was so excited. So I grabbed him and we took off on the scooter and started to chase them. There was one not too far from the house and we got right under it and Conrad was shouting "Hello!" at the people in it. Soon we spotted another and then another and they were getting farther and farther away from the house. I had no shoes and Conrad had no pants so I am sure we looked crazy. Finally we made a big loop and ended up by the house again. There was one super close to the house and it started to land in the grass by the church. Conrad and I went and got Katie and told her to come look and then we took off and watched them land. Conrad was right next to the basket looking straight up into the balloon and the guy turned the burner on and he took off screaming across the grass! But it was really fun Balloon Chasing with Conrad on the scooter! After the balloon chasing we had a special breakfast, it was delicious as you can see.

Grandpa and Grandma's house was really fun. A lot of cousins came and there was a lot of food. I even grilled the burgers and brats. Then we all jumped in the pool and the kids lined up to have me throw them. Katie was busy playing card games and talking and Conrad floated around being his crazy self. After I got out I played cards with every one and Jill showed us a really fun game. Then we played wiffle ball. As things were winding down Josh and I thought that things were too quiet so we threw Ashlee in the pool. Then Brenda wanted to get Lindsey so I went and helped her, and then we pushed Brenda in right after her! It was pretty fun and everyone else was careful around us. The 4th of July with family and food is always the best (especially Grandpa's homemade ice cream! Can't get enough of it!)

Rans

broken promises

So I got talked into doing this cleanse by Brenda, where I didn't eat a dang thing for 10 days! All I could have was this drink with fresh lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. I was told that if I was to do this that I would have a 2 pound mucus poop in a few days. That sounded pretty interesting. There is always a little book with these things, and the book said that the first three days would be the hardest. I breezed through the first three days so I was thinking to myself that this would be a piece of cake, then it got really bad and I would dream of food and my taste buds longed for some real flavor! Day 6 and still no mucus poop. But I had gotten that far and maybe it would come soon on day 7 I was sneaky and grabbed a piece of Emily's chicken. "i'll just chew it up and spit it out, it won't count" when I put the chicken in my mouth and began to chew the only way I can describe it was that I had a brain orgasm. My mind thought it was over! But then I spit it out and the bliss along with the chicken, went into the trash! Finally the ten days passed. We were supposed to get our bodies ready for food again by drinking orange juice all day the 11th day. It was heavenly to have that juice! But by noon we all just said to heck with it and pigged out big time. Brenda went down hard and was sure that we were all going to follow but we held strong. I will never give up food for that long again, unless there was none in which case I would just die.

thanks a lot Master Cleanser! No mucus poo!

Rans

eye infection #2

While we were at Strawberry Ransom's tear duct was starting to hurt again. When we got home he took some Benadryl hoping that would make it go away like it had in the past. We went to my parents house to watch a movie outside, but his eye was not getting any better so I called the after hours eye doctor and got a prescription for him and a hot pack for his eye. It was nice that we knew what to do this time instead of spending hours in the ER!

Today we spent the day resting because his eye is still throbbing and I can hardly move because my skin is so tight on my legs and shoulders from my sunburn I got at Strawberry. -Katie

strawberry

We went to Strawberry Lake to swim , catch fish, and relax. After going to Blackriver and catching hundreds of fish, lake fishing is just plain boring. It was really windy and the water was ice cold so swimming was out of the question. Everyone was sitting by the lake bored, so I walked and found a spot for us that was shielded from the wind and had a spot that Conrad could play in some shallow water. After a few casts I got sick of regular fishing and I put some bacon on the spinner and tried to get some crawdads. Once I pulled a few up Brenda and Emily started going for it too. Before long we had a whole bucket of them! Katie and Larry were watching and Conrad was trying to help us as much as he could without falling in. I started to feel my eye hurt and I knew that I was getting one of those stupid infections so I knew that we had to get home soon. And poor Katie's shoulders got sooooo burnt! We had a lot of fun and we got a big kick out of Emily when she jumped in the freezng cold water. She is crazy!

Rans

sick days

I was at work on Monday night when Ransom called to tell me that Conrad threw up. I quickly grabbed my stuff and came home. He had never thrown up before and I think it freaked him out. You never would have guessed he was sick because he would run around like his usual crazy self and then suddenly he would throw up, cry for a few minutes, and then was running around again. I was lucky enough to be thrown up on a few times, but luckily Ransom was home to take care of Conrad while I showered! I hope it's at least another couple years before he throws up again.

Conrad was mostly better on Tuesday, but I stayed home with him just to be sure. When I went to bed that night I started feeling gross, but I thought I was just being paranoid. At 3am it was my turn to throw up. I threw up until 8 that night and it has never hurt so bad to throw up. Ransom was nice enough to take off work so that he could help take care of Conrad and I. I had my fingers crossed all day that I would feel better because Lindsey and I had tickets to go to the Backstreet Boys concert, 7th row on the floor. Unfortunately, I had to miss it. Today is much better, just working on getting some strength back and an appetite! -Katie

never ever again

My sisters and I have been going through our houses and getting rid of things we don't use anymore so that we could do a yard sale. It was soooooo slow and HOT. I was miserable and had horrible heartburn so they let me sneak inside a lot. The best part was the slushies. We have all vowed that we will never have enough stuff to get rid of at once so that we never have to do a yard sale again! We each walked away with $43.70 and that definitely wasn't worth the effort we put into it.

In the afternoon we surprised our dad and took him to get a massage. While we were waiting I saw that baby gap was having a clearance sale. I grabbed Kels and she helped me spend every last penny I earned on the cutest baby girl clothes. Didn't mean to do that, but the clothes were so cute I couldn't resist. I learned very quickly that I cannot be trusted in that store! -Katie

relief

When I had my 20 week ultrasound they told me I would need to come back and be rechecked at 28 weeks to see if the placenta was in the way of the birth canal or if it had moved. That kind of freaked me out, but she said it was nothing to worry about. At my next appointment I asked the nurse what would happen if the placenta was in the way. She said it was nothing serious, but I would have to have a c-section. As it got closer to my appointment I was getting more and more nervous because I really didn't want to have a c-section, but grateful that this had been my biggest problem the whole pregnancy. Luckily at my appointment we learned that everything is normal and no need for a c-section! I was so relieved. -Katie

a new hobby

Ransom was bored at work one day because they are no longer allowed to watch movies while waiting for calls. He decided he would try reading a book. He has always claimed he is not much of a reader, but he chose a Michael Crichton book and has not stopped reading since. It is weird to see him bring a book home and read it. While reading Jurassic Park and Lost World he would fill me in on everything that was different from the movie (which was most of it) and has rented a couple of his books that were turned into movies to see the differences. After a couple trips to DI he has a growing selection of Michael Crichton books to choose from! -Katie

ring around the rosie

Conrad loves to do ring around the rosie. The only problem is you don't have time to sing the song because he just likes the falling part! -Katie

1 down, countless more to do

I love to make things so my wishlist of things to do is way longer than I possibly have time for. I was at DI buying some frames when I saw some kid size hangers. I've been wanting to buy hangers for a few years, but could never bring myself to spend money on them. I bought over 50 of them for less than $4. I was so happy! I took them home, washed them all, and then made some closet dividers for the new babies clothes. With two kids in one room it will definitely save some space to get some stuff hung up! -Katie

dinner, hair cut, and a movie

Every time I see Ashlee she asks me when we are going to watch Young Victoria. I decided we should invite Ashlee and Paul over for dinner so we could finally watch it. Ransom has been complaining that he needs a hair cut for weeks now so Ash was nice enough to bring her haircutting supplies and give him and Conrad a hair cut. Conrad does not like getting his hair cut and right now he has a cold. I held him while he screamed and Ash cut his hair. After I was covered in snot and hair. It was pretty gross. Conrad was pretty crazy during the movie so it was hard to hear a lot of it so I definitely think I need to watch it again sometime! It was fun to be able to spend some time with Ash and Paul.

-Katie

sunday naps

Nothing makes me grumpier than when there is no time for a Sunday nap! -Katie

wood blocks

Ransom is nice enough to cut wood and other misc. things that I need for kits at Pebbles. While he was in school he learned how to tell me that he didn't have time. When it was finals week he told me that as soon as he was out of school for the summer that he couldn't tell me no anymore. I don't think he knew what he was saying because we have a lot of catch up to do! This is batch 1 of 3. He is such a sweetheart and doesn't complain. I'm so lucky to have him! -Katie

sympathy pain

This morning I cut my finger and Ransom bandaged it up. As soon as Conrad saw he started saying "owie" and needed his bandaged too. He kept having me kiss it better and he would kiss it better. I think his will heal in no time! -Katie

His hand is the tan one, mine is the pasty white one!

heater vents

Whenever Conrad hears the heater turn on he runs to the vent, lays down, and asks for his blanket. Sometimes he will lay on it when it's not on and he gets so sad that I can't turn it on for him. Tonight the warm air put him right to sleep. -Katie

craft time with Abby

While everyone went up to the Salt Lake store to paint, I recruited Abby to stay with me and Conrad. Abby HATES making decisions. She claims that we have no idea what it does to her brain! I told her I would decide what we ate if she decided the activity. After giving her all day to think about it she finally decided that she wanted to craft. We ran and grabbed the supplies we needed, got our food, and then started crafting. We learned how to make rosettes and put them on headbands and we are working on a pillow for our rooms. It was so fun to hang out with Abby and do a craft that was not related to work at all! -Katie

"madagascar" dance

Whenever we put "Po" (Kung Fu Panda) in for Conrad he stands up during the previews, waiting for Madagascar 2. As soon as the music starts he gets so excited and starts copying their moves. It never gets old watching him shake his hips! -Katie

Picking Dandelions

Ransom came up to me the other day and said he had a plan. Everyday we have to pick all of the dandelions while they are yellow and feed them to Gus before they have a chance to spread their seeds everywhere. So everyday we go out and pick dandelions and the next day there are just as many if not more to pick. So far it feels like the dandelions are winning, but we haven't given up yet! -Katie

Conrad thinks all he needs are shoes to go outside and so

sometimes I give in and let him win that battle.

painting

Conrad could not wait to go to the "big slide" and "swing" today, but it kept raining off and on so I decided to distract him and get some paint out. He had fun telling me what colors he wanted to use next and he loved it when I taught him to dip his hand in the paint. After a few pictures I thought it would be fun to make some handprint art. When Ransom got home I recruited him to help decorate the pictures while I worked on some projects for Pebbles. I am so lucky that I have a husband who will humor me!

Ransom even cut the seaweed by hand!

After I hung up the new artwork in some frames I got on a kick of finishing up some projects. I bought a growth chart over a year ago and we still hadn't hung it up so today was the day to FINALLY do that! I can't believe how tall my little Conrad is. -Katie

bird

As I was getting ready to go to work I heard a loud thud at the window. I looked outside and I saw a bird laying there, shaking while opening and closing it's beak. I was so sad and didn't want Conrad to see it. I called Ransom to see if he had any ideas of how to help the bird, but he said there was nothing I could do. When Conrad looked out the window he was so excited to see the bird that he went right to the door and tried to get outside. He was so happy that the bird was not flying away from him. When I asked him if he wanted a picture with the bird, he went right by it and smiled. He kept telling the bird "mere car car" (which means come here to the car). It was so sad and cute.

When Ransom was done at school I made him stop off and check on the bird before he went into work. He blew on it's face and it seemed to snap out of it. When we got home that night the bird wasn't there so I think it lived and flew off somewhere! I knew Ransom wasn't going to school to be an EMT for nothing! -Katie

It's a Girl!

Today was one of the longest days of my life. I woke up so excited, wondering if we were having a boy or girl. Suddenly I got a thought that I would go to my appointment and they would tell me that my baby was dead. I was a mess for the rest of the day.

We finally headed to our appointment, along with my mom and dad (it was fun to have them there). I was so nervous as I stared at the screen waiting to see our baby. When the ultrasound lady told us that the baby was kicking like crazy I felt so relieved and so incredibly happy. When we found out it was a girl the first thing Ransom said was that he was going to have to get a second job because he knows how crazy I am about girly things (this was of course after he said that there was no hardware, but my mom kept looking for it). I will have to learn how to have some self control! We could not be happier and feel more blessed to have a healthy baby. -Katie

picnic at the park

Conrad loves riding bikes, so we thought he might like having his own little bike instead of being pulled in a bike trailer. First we went to Toys-R-Us and looked for a good little bike. There was just one that we liked and it was like $65 but it was the only one that was cool enough so we got it. For some reason that is beyond me I decided that I wanted a big scooter so Katie said that we should go Taylor Bike Shop and see if they had one. So we went to check it out. They didn't have a scooter but they had a bike for Conrad that was way cooler and was $20 less! Anyways the real story is that Sunday after church we decided to go have dinner at the park and let Conrad test out his new bike. He was so excited that it was hard to get him to pay attention to where he was going. but he loves it. And he looks cute in that little helmet. So we had a good time a the park. The End. Ransom

sun"bean"

The other day Conrad starting jumping up like you do when you sing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam". I started singing the song and sure enough he knew just what to do. He only likes the sunbeam part so you pretty much have to skip the rest of the song. It looks like he must have learned the song in nursery.

Conrad loves nursery. It took at least 6 months of me or Ransom staying in nursery with him, but one Sunday he was fine with letting us go. It is so hard now to sit through sacrament (not that it has ever really been easy!) because he is always trying to go to nursery, he knows right where it is. When it is time to go to nursery he leads the way. Once he gets close to the door he slows down and starts covering his face like he is shy. We just shove him in and he finds a toy to play with. When it's time to pick him up he is his usual hyper self. They always say he was good. I hope that's true! -Katie

piggy

Before Ransom and I even met, Lindsey and I were walking around Target. We have a fettish for tacky things. I usually am not into tutus and jewels, but it was just perfectly tacky that I had to have it! Luckily after I married Ransom he let me keep it!

Most parents are worried that their kid will put change in their mouth if it's laying around. As soon as Conrad sees change he gets a huge grin on his face, says "piggy" and runs to our room. We save our piggy change up and buy the bigger "luxurious" things we need that usually don't fit into our budget. This last time the change went to buy Conrad's big boy bed and we had $10 to spare! Hopefully this will teach Conrad to be better at saving money than I was when I was younger. -Katie

The Popper Toy

My mom was so excited when she won Conrad a pink popper toy. He LOVES it! He is constantly asking for "more". When he counts he will only say 9, even if you ask him to say 2. -Katie

What were we thinking?

We were at my cousin Chelsea's shower just enjoying the yummy food. Suddenly Abby decided that we needed to all eat jelly beans because none of us liked them. It wasn't too bad so she decided that we should all eat a Good and Plenty. I thought that was gross enough, but she wasn't satisfied. She said she would eat an olive with an m&m in the center and a carrot dipped in chocolate and I could eat whatever one tasted better. I reluctantly agreed. It was clear that the carrot was way better than the olive, but somehow me and Lindsey got stuck eating the olive. We made her put a pillow mint in her olive while we ate the m&m one. She said it was better than the m&m. Then my mom came over and decided she wanted to make us a yummy treat. She decided to put a pickle in an eclair. I gagged half of it down and just couldn't finish it. I swear I tried to say no to everything after the Good and Plenty, but Abby somehow got us to eat it every time. The three of us left feeling pretty sick! -Katie

thank you

Thank you Grandma Bigelow for the Valentine's package. Conrad LOVED the gifts!

"I need"

Whenever Conrad wants anything you can expect to hear "I need" come from him. It's amazing how many times one little boy thinks he needs something in a day. For Christmas Conrad got some Lego Duplos from my parents. My sisters and I loved playing with legos growing up so I was pretty excited to have some in my house!

Pretty much every morning Conrad comes out of his room with his legos. On the front of the tupper is a picture of a plane. He always points at it and out comes, "I need". I build him his plane that he destroys quickly and we repeat that until I am sick of building it. When I'm not building the plane, he is building tall towers. He yells "mama" for me to look and we say "wow" together. He loves to show me every addition he makes to his tower. I now have over $300 of Lego Duplos in my cart so that we can add windows, doors, and anything else you can imagine to our creations. The hard part is convincing Ransom that I "need" that many legos! -Katie

Parenting

I've always known that I wanted to raise good, honest, sweet, kind, hardworking, amazing kids. I just don't know how to do it! I struggle to know what Conrad can understand, what is normal 2 year old behavior, what do I need to worry about, and the list goes on and on. I finally decided to get some help. I've watched the Supernanny show a few times and I love the way she disciplines and how she finds the reason for the bad behavior. I ordered a couple of her books on amazon and they finally came in the mail the other day. I've only read a few pages, but I'm so excited to learn a little more about how to be a parent. I can definitely tell this will help Ransom and I with the frustrations we have. We were so lucky to get Conrad because I think he is naturally good so now we will know how to hopefully keep him that way and be the parents he deserves! -Katie

Diapers

We have found too many of these laying around the house lately. Conrad has definitely learned how to take his diaper off. Most the time he will take off one side and coming running in saying, "ewww". One night Conrad came and laid by Ransom and when Ransom woke up in the morning he noticed Conrad didn't have a diaper on, but luckily no accident! -Katie

EMT - Basic

Ransom took a Basic EMT class last summer for firefighting. He had to practice a lot and my mom was definitely his best patient! He passed his practical exam after the class, but had to schedule the written part of the test on his own. He finally scheduled it right after Christmas and passed! The other day all these goodies came in the mail for him. I am so proud of him! Next summer he gets to take the next level of EMT class and then start Paramedic school in the fall. -Katie

Big Boy Bed

I've been looking on ksl a lot for a bed for Conrad. I wanted a bed that had drawers and shelves because one day there will be 2 kids in one room so we need all the storage we can get! I've found a few that I've liked, but they've always sold before we could do anything about it. On Thursday night I was looking at ksl and I found a bed for $65 that included a mattress. It was in their guest room so it was rarely used which made me feel good about the mattress. Ransom told me to call, but I told him it was 9:30 so we should probably wait until tomorrow so he called. The lady said it was first come first serve. Ransom quickly started calling people with trucks so he could get it that night. His uncle Kevin was nice enough to let him borrow his truck and his cousins (Tanner and Courtney) were nice enough to go with him to help get it. By the time he got home I think it was around midnight. I'm so lucky to have Ransom!

We still need to buy sheets and I'm in the process of making him a dinosaur quilt that will hopefully get done in his lifetime! We were hoping he would sleep through the whole night in his bed, but as usual he woke up in the middle of the night to come into bed with us. I am such a deep sleeper that I don't even know he is in bed with us until I wake up in the morning and he's usually right by me. Last night I actually heard him coming and took him back to his bed and fell asleep with him for a little bit. It was so much nicer sleeping on a twin than a baby mattress! He's just been sleeping on the baby mattress on his floor so it just feels so nice to have him on a bed and especially a bed that didn't break the bank! Even if he doesn't like sleeping on it, he loved to have me watch him jump on it all day yesterday. -Katie

He kept covering his face because the flash was too bright.

After he would say "eyes". It was pretty cute!

Looking out the Window

I was making fresh lemonade for Lindsey's birthday dinner and I noticed Conrad staring out the window (we have our blinds down on our front windows except for a a foot at the bottom because he loves to watch Ransom come home from work) and talking a lot of jibberish. He would be so happy and then he would look puzzled and frustrated. He came and grabbed me to look with him. It happened to be a little construction vehicle that our neighbors across the street had working at their house. He loved watching it move, but the second it would stop he would look at me so sad. Sometimes it would go out of sight for a little bit and he would freak out with lots of jibberish (later that night I found out he was trying to say "where is it?"). When it came back he would open his mouth like he does when he is so excited.

We sat there watching it for at least 30 minutes until it was gone. It took him a while, but I finally got him distracted with a bunny book and then got him to take his nap. As soon as he woke up from his nap he went right back to the window looking for it. I wonder how long it will take before he forgets about it completely! I don't think I've ever seen anything capture his attention for this long. -Katie

Baby's First Picture

I remember when I was pregnant with Conrad and getting my first ultrasound. I wasn't ready for this new step in life and was having a rough time. I remember taking one look at the baby on the screen and I fell in love. That one little picture made me feel so much better. I knew I had no idea how to be a mom and take care of a baby, but I knew I loved that baby.

Today we went for my first visit to the doctor. I made sure Ransom could be there because I knew they would do an ultrasound. I had fears of them telling me that there was no baby or that there were 2 (Ransom kept telling me we were having twins - scared me to death!). I was so happy to see that 1 little tiny baby on the screen. I love this baby too. There is something so special about being able to see the tiny baby growing inside of you. I have many fears of being the mother of 2, but I have my little picture to look at to put a smile on my face whenever I need it.

I am officially due Sept. 6, Labor Day. My doctor told me that was a very fitting day to have a baby. I am starting to show a lot sooner than I would like or as my mom tells me, "Wow you really are getting thick". In 10 more weeks we get to find out if we are having a boy or girl! I can't wait so I can start buying fabric for all the projects I want to make and will hopefully finish a few of them! -Katie

Ok it's my turn to write about today. I was really excited to see our new little one so I took a half day and went with Katie to the doctor. I pretty much just chased Conrad around for an hour and then the ultrasound lady wanted to do the world's shortest ultrasound! But it was awesome to see that tiny little person and it's perfectly healthy. I was very happy and I am proud of Katie. -Rans

our little baby at 10 weeks

Handprints

For Christmas we went to Color Me Mine with Conrad to make cookie jars for our parents. Most people looked at us like we were crazy for bringing a child in there and I don't blame them! Conrad was happy painting water on a pot for a little bit but as always he moved on quickly to running around. Ransom and I took turns painting while the other one went outside with him to let him get some energy out. We painted his hands and put his handprints all around the jar. At first he didn't like it, but soon kept saying "more". He loved it!

Well he loved it so much that when my family came over to help paint he put his hand in the paint and put a handprint on the wall. A couple days later he was eating chicken nuggets with ketchup. Next time I saw him he had covered his hands in ketchup and put handprints on his shirt. I think we accidentally started a bad thing! -Katie

Thanks Becky for the shirt. We love it!

Conrad has some news to share. . .

It's still pretty early, but my due date is Sept. 5. My family knows I am a bad liar so I had to spill the beans before they figured it out first! We couldn't be more excited for baby #2! -Katie

"Monner" Jammies

Conrad is starting to get opinionated on what he should wear. Whenever he picks out his jammies he yells "monner" before he sees any of his options. He definitely knows what he likes! -Katie