Somewhat of an UPDATE

So I know that I am the worst blogger out there but hey at least I am going to try and update things a little bit.  We have been doing well.  The summer has been great.  It goes by way to fast though.
First of all our little boy isn't so little anymore.  He is turning into an amazing boy!  We celebrated his 2nd birthday in March.  It was fun we had the grandparents there and my sister, brother, and his wife.  I just can't believe Ethan is 2 1/2 now.  He is talking all the time now too.  I love hearing him say everything that I say.  I just need to be careful what I say:)  But I do love it.  It was funny because recently he has started saying "Oh Good night nurse!" "What the heck?" or "Oh my gosh!"  Yeah he has learned those all from me.  But it is cute coming from him.
He has also started wearing glasses.  He started wearing those in March as well.  He has done remarkably well with them.  I thought that it would be more of a hassle but it isn't.  He will ask for them if we forget to put them on in the morning.  He also looks adorable in them.  He looks like that little boy from the movie Stuart Little for those of you who have seen that, he is also in Jerry MaGuire(sp).
As for Ryan and I we are doing good.  We have run a few races this summer.  We ran the Wasatch Back relay together in June.  That was fun!  Our team finished in 27 hours and 30 min.  I think.  It was fun running that with Ryan.  In a week from this Saturday we are running another relay the Temple to Temple relay in Idaho.  It runs from the Rexburg Temple to the Idaho Falls Temple.  We are doing a two man team.  I will be running 17 miles and Ryan will be doing 19.  We will see how it goes, I am a little nervous, I haven't run that far before but ready or not it is coming!
The summer has also consisted of trips to Bear Lake, camping, going to the park, finishing the sprinkler system, hydroseeding, planting a garden, getting air conditioning, visiting family, and lots of time outside!  It has been fun, I am not sure if I am ready for it to end.  But I am excited for fall.  I think that fall is my favorite season, I don't like that winter comes after it though!
Anyways now for the pictures, mind you these pictures are from a long time ago, and I don't have any pictures of summer activities because I thought that our camera was broken but I'm crazy it just needed the right batteries! Yeah smart one on my part! Now I will be taking pictures like CRAZY! And maybe just maybe be better at posting pics because that is the best part about blogging!

He loves Lightning McQueen, I made this cake for his birthday!  It was fun to make it, a little stressful but I did it!

Picture of his glasses.  Little cutie!

He loves this bike.  He rides it all over the house!

Can you tell he loves Cars?  He is probably watching Cars in this picture all cozy!

Showing his binki.  

That is a quick update of us! I don't think I should promise to keep it update better because that will mean I will wait another seven months to update things.  So I will try to keep things up to date better and we will see how that goes!  Hopefully people still check up on us and haven't forgotten us!  We are still here and doing well!

Update!

 We had a huge snowstorm this last weekend and this is all the snow that Ryan and I had to shovel and it was taller than me so Ry had to take over because I couldn't throw the snow any higher!

 I actually love it when we get dumped on and get a ton of snow!  I know CRAZY!

 Ethan loved seeing the snow and watching it fall out his window the night before!

 He is getting so big it was hard to get him to smile.  He would say cheese but would forget to smile!

 He would smile when he got his ball and he wanted to make sure I got the ball in the picture!

 As you can see in this picture Ethan loves Basketball!  You will always see him with a ball in his hands!  I love it.

I know that I am the worst blogger.  I want to do better and I always say that but I honestly do.  I want to remember everything that I can and blogging helps me so this next post is a little bit of a journal entry so I am sorry that it will be a long post but this is mostly for myself so that I can remember the things that my little boy does now.
Ethan's birthday is in two weeks.  He will be two on March 13 and I can hardly believe it.  He is growing so fast and honestly I don't want him too.  I have enjoyed this stage so much and I love him so much.  He has changed my life in so many ways and I am thankful for that.  I never knew the love that a parent can have for a child but Ethan has brought so many wonderful things out of me.  I am still working on my patience but he is good with that because if I start to raise my voice at him he will look at me and say stop mommy!  And that just melts my heart.  He has a very tender heart and I am thankful that he teaches me how to be tender.  I also love how is very aware of peoples feelings.  If he can see that I am sad or hurt he will immediately come to me and give me a great big hug and kiss and I instantly feel better.  He is so wonderful! 
His favorite words that he loves to say are Mommy, Daddy, ball, dance, hoop, football, movie, blue (for Blues Clues), thank you, please, papa, mee mee, book, Jesus book, all the animal names, he loves singing songs, and there are more I can't think of everything now. 
He loves to dance, sing, his favorite songs are head shoulders knees and toes, snowman, wheels on the bus, popcorn popping, and a duck song that I sing to him.  
He loves to read books.  It is fun because we are trying to do better with family scripture study and he will grab his little scripture book that we got for him and sit there while Ryan and I read and just flip the pages looking at the pictures of Jesus and he will always point to him and say mommy Jesus.  I love hearing him say those things and that he can point out Jesus. It just shows me how pure and innocent their little hearts are.  
There are many other things that Ethan does that I will have to post in another post because this will be a novel if I keep going and going.  There is one thing that I do want to write about is how Ethan loves working out with me.  Whenever I do push ups he will be right there beside me doing them with me.  And whenever I go running on the treadmill he will come down there and point at the treadmill and say mommy run.  
It is so fun to see him starting to imitate everything that we say and he does repeat everything that we say so I do have to be very careful to what I am saying.  I can't believe how fast children learn.  
One night I was feeding him some spaghetti and I kept spilling it and I finally said Oh my gosh!  Ethan looked up at me and repeated it.  I started laughing because he sounded so cute saying it, and of course since I laughed he thought oh this makes mommy laugh so he kept saying it.  I finally had to put a stop to it.  But he did sound pretty cute.  
The other things that he says that are pretty funny is when he will toot, he will smile and say poop!  It is pretty funny and anytime he hears someone toot he will laugh and say Daddy poop! Or whoever does it.  Probably too much information but it is funny and these are things that I want to remember about my little guy!
His favorite foods are spaghetti, lasagna, mac and cheese, string cheese, fruit snacks, anything that has sugar, crackers, cookies, PIZZA (his favorite), grapes, oatmeal, toast, apple juice, milk, corn dogs, bananas, apples, carrots, marshmallows, anything chocolate he is like his mommy!  He is a picky eater! But if he is eating something he really likes he will eat a lot of it and just scarf it down!
I love being a mommy and I know that Ryan loves being a Daddy!  Being a parent is scary and hard but it is so rewarding at the same time.  Whenever you have that little one smile up at you and say mommy you know how wonderful being a parent is.  I love Ethan more and more each day.  He is the best thing that has happened in our lives!  What a blessing it is to have him in our home.  I am grateful that he has come to us.  These last two years have been full of so much, tiredness, frustrations, happiness, love, tender moments, that I wouldn't take them back for anything.  I can't wait to keep seeing him grow and see what he is going to become and the amazing things that he will do in his life.
Things are going good for us.  We are experiencing trials but I am glad that we have the Saviour and the church in our lives.  I know that we would be lost without those things.  No matter how hard life can be you have to strive to live your life so that you can have the blessings of the spirit in your home.  It makes all the difference!
As for a little update on Ryan and me we are doing the same old same old.  Ryan is still working in the evenings. Which is hard but I am not the only wife that doesn't have a husband home that much!  So I really can't complain.  He hurt his back in October when we were running and he keeps re-injuring it so right now it is bothering him hopefully we can get it figured out because he hasn't been able to do much exercising which I know is bothering him because he is such an active guy.  He has been doing basketball a couple mornings but he has to be really careful.  I am grateful that I have a very patient and loving husband.  I'm not that easy to live with!:) 
As far as I go I haven't has much change in my life.  I am still working only a couple hours a day which is just fine for me.  I enjoy being a stay at home mom!  It is hard and can be really challenging but I don't want to be anywhere else than in the home with my little boy!  I am still planning on running a half marathon again this summer.  My training is lacking a little bit the most I have run in one run is 7 miles.  I need to do better.  It is just hard because I hate running in the cold so I have just been on the treadmill which is boring!  Hopefully soon I can go outside and run!  I love my calling in Young Women.  The youth are amazing and I am so grateful to see how strong they are in the church it gives me so much comfort to see that!  And my little beehives love Ethan.  It is nice because I have free babysitters all of the time.  They are wonderful young women!
That is a little update on us it is a little bit long but I want to remember things for me!  

Thanksgiving!!!

 We had Thanksgiving at my parents new house in Idaho.  It isn't completely finished they finished their basement but the upstair levels aren't finished yet.  It is a beautiful home I can't wait until they are completely finished with it.  So we has our Thanksgiving in their basement kitchen.  It was the first time that they family has all been together for a very long time.  We all enjoyed it very much.

 While the parents were getting the gourmet dinner ready we put a movie on for the kids.  They were watching Carz.  That is Ethan's favorite movie.  It was just so cute that these three were sitting there watching it with Aunt Amy.  Ethan looks so tired I know he didn't really have a nap this day and it was getting late past his bedtime.  Poor little boy!

 This is what the guys were doing.  Playing Super Mario Bros. on the Wii.  They all loved playing that together.  It was entertaining watching them.  

 Here are the master chefs themselves.  My mom is making her amazing pies and my dad is working on the Turkey which was wonderful.  It had been way too long since I have had his turkey.  I loved it.  This is their kitchen downstairs.  It is absolutely beautiful there.  I almost want to move into just their basement.

 Here we are getting ready to sit down and enjoy the wonderful food that was prepared for us.

 Cute little McKenzie just woke up in time to chow down on the food.  Don't you just love those curls.  She really looks like her Daddy.

 Almost got everyone sitting down to eat the Turkey.  Ethan loved looking at all of the food.  But he is a picky eater so he didn't really eat that much food.  Which shocked me because who could resist this food?!

 Another view of our lovely Thanksgiving dinner.

 This is where the kids ate their dinner.  They are so cute!

 Ethan loves playing with his cousins.  It is fun to watch them interact!

This Thanksgiving was so much fun!  I loved spending time with my family.  We always just have a great time together and laugh and laugh and laugh some more.  

The time went way to fast and that Sunday when we drove home to Logan it was a blizzard we were grateful that we made it home safe.  

Now I can't wait for Christmas to be with family again.  It is going to be so much fun.  I love this time of year. Decorating my house is my favorite thing to do.  I know I probably go a little overboard but I just love filling up spaces with Christmas decorations.  

Life has been pretty good.  Just the same old same old.  Staying busy!  

Funny Boy!

He just looks so funny with his pants down like that.  It is even more entertaining to watch him try to walk around with them like that!

I'm sure he is wondering mom why aren't you coming over here to help me out you are just lauging at me.

Here he is walking back out into the living room after going into his bedroom to try to get them back on.  So funny.

Again he is trying to pull them up himself but he just can't quiet get it.  He is distracted watching his favorite movie too Cars.

He loves it when I take a picture of his face up close and then he likes to look at it and he laughs at himself.

This is is his attempt to get his pants back on.  Can't get it over his little diaper bum. 

Oops put the same picture up twice sorry about that!  I think he is trying to take them off and they won't come off around his foot.

So Eth is into this new thing now where he likes to take off his pajama pants.  It is so crazy.  He will just sit there and try to take off his pants.  Then he will get frustrated when he can't pull them back up and they get in the way when he tries to walk around.  It is hilarious to watch him though.  I just don't know why he thinks it is ok to take his pants off.  I always tell him no don't do that but he just looks at me and laughs when he does it.  Crazy boy.  I love it though he keeps my life entertaining that is for sure. 

Halloween!!!!!

We finally got him into his lion outfit and he just looked so cute! 

Had to get a picture of his tail

I loved Karina and Brian's costumes The BYU Angel and the U of U devil.  Love it

He is so cute.  I love this little boy!!

Family picture! 

Trying on his first costume which he wasn't to excited about!

So I don't know if anyone reads our blog anymore but I honestly want to be better with updating it.  We are alive and doing well! 
These are a few pics from our Halloween adventure.  I can't believe how fast this year has gone.  I can't believe how halloween just crept up on us.  I didn't even have a chance to think about what we should do for halloween.  My dear sweet friends here let me borrow some costumes for Ethan because I didn't even have one ready for him the week of Halloween.  What a horrible mother I am!!!  Ryan and I didn't even dress up and i really wanted to dress up this year.  I hope next year I can be more on top of it and get costumes together for us.  We first tried to put him in the frog costume and He didn't really like it so I managed to get the lion costume on him and he looked adorable in it.  Then I thought that if i had really thought about it I could  have dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and ryan could have been the tin man.  Because Ethan was definitely the cowardly lion.  He got pretty scraed at one house when we went trick or treating.  it was pretty funny!!  Luckily my sister in law caught it on tape.  If I could figure out how to put it on the blog I would but still haven't quite figured out everything with the blog. 
Anyways, we are doing good.  And honestly I hope my life can calm down a little bit so i can take more time for things that I  want to do like updating this blog more often.  Ethan is doing well he is getting so big.  I can't believe how fast kids grow.  It is sad to me.  I cleaned out all of his baby clothes I couldn't believe how small he was when he was born.  He was tiny!!!! 
He is starting to say more and more things and I love listneing to him talk to me.  Even though I can't understand him he is telling me something interesting.  He has the best personality.  He is laid back and very easy going.  he doesn't mind doing anything.  As long as he is with mommy!  He is a big mommy's boy and I don't mind because I know that this won't last forever so i will enjoy as long as it lasts.  I can't imagine life without this little boy.  It is busy but I enjoy every minute that I get with him.  He makes me laugh every single day.  Just the other day I was not very patient and Ethan just came up to me and smiled at me and gave me a huge hug!!  it just melted my heart.  he knows just what to do for me.  I love him so much. 
He started nursery in September and he is doing ok but like I said he is a momma's boy so leaving me is hard to do for him but he settles down after a little bit.  It is nice though because now i can listen in Sunday school and not have to be fighting a little boy all of the time. 
I am doing good.  I started my afterschool job which isn't bad because it is only 2 hours a day and I get to bring Ethan with me which he loves to be around the kids and play in the gym with them.  I feel like life is just busy and busy.  I can't believe how fast time flies.  It is already the holiday season which is my favorite time of year.  And for people who know me they know that I am a Christmas freak.  I am already starting to do crafts with Ethan for Christmas decorations.  I love this time of year and I love to decorate my house for the holidays.  I just wish I had so much money to spend it on decorations.  Maybe someday.  I am still running and doing that crazy Insanity program.  I love it though if anyone is considering doing they should because it is awesome.  it kicks butt but you feel great after doing it. 
Ryan is doing good.  He started a new job and is still doing insurance so he is staying busy.  it is hard because we don't get to see each other that much but I just have to realize that hopefully life won't be crazy forever!  He threw out his back about a month ago and he is still trying to recover from it.  We were running and it just gave out on him I felt bad because he pretty much couldn't do anything for about 5 days. 
That is what has been happening with us and I konw that I have been saying this but I hope that i can keep this updated more and more so that I don't have to do marathon posts.