Safekeeping

Lately Clayton and I have been talking about putting things away for safekeeping. I was putting laundry away and he was very interested in why I was putting certain items in drawers. So, over the past few weeks I have been explaining to him that we put special things in drawers, things that are important that we don't want to loose. "Safekeeping" has become a new buzzword around the house. Anyway, today I was putting his laundry away and I saw this:

This touched my heart because I know that even though he can't read this book yet, he feels that it is an important enough item to put away for safekeeping. I love how much he loves the Book of Mormon. He is such an amazing kid and, even though it doesn't look like much, this discovery reminds me what an amazing book this truly is! I hope I am as good an example to him as he is to me! I love you Clayton!

New lighting and other fun stuff!

Our house is really old and there are certain things that really date it. One of those things was our kitchen light. We had a nasty old ceiling fan in there. It was straight out of the 70's. My disgust of it was only increased when we realized that only one of the four lights worked. Needless to say that this made for a very dark and depressing kitchen. Well, Justin finally had it the other day! He went to change the only working light only to discover that that one was no longer working! AARGH! So he went to Home Depot and bought a beautiful new fan! (We have to have a fan because back east we do not have central air conditioning, so fans are a MUST for summer!) He then installed it BY HIMSELF! Who knew that I had such a handy husband!?! Clayton certainly was impressed. He kept saying, "It's so beautiful!" and "Daddy's fixing the light, I'll pay him fourteen dollars!" Anyway, it is so beautiful I had to share it!

He also bought under the cabinet lighting (which he also installed himself). So goodbye dark kitchen! It's so bright in there now, I love it!!!

So now we just need a new dining room light (that one is really dated too), and we are set! So hopefully in the next month or so we will have all our lighting updated (in the kitchen and dining room anyway).
Here are our new barstools. We got them with some Christmas money and I couldn't love them more. Clayton loves to sit at the bar and eat. It is so nice to have the extra seating. I also think they look really nice.

Finally, what would a post be without a picture of my handsome boys? This picture cracks me up! They were making each other laugh so hard here!! I love that they are getting old enough to be friends. Noah is getting his molars right now so he is kind of snotty and gross, but this pic is still one of my favorites right now!

Oh Noah!

Since my last couple of posts have been Clayton centered, I thought I needed to dedicate one to my adorable baby boy!

I love this face! Noah looks so innocent and sweet! This is an example of how deceiving looks can be! We have several nicknames for Noah, here are a few: "No No Noah", "Getinski", "Chaos", and "Destruction". That should give you a pretty good indication of where I am going here.
Don't get me wrong, Noah is a sweet boy. His smile melts my heart and this little guy definitely has me wrapped around his finger. He is loving and cuddly and happy. He is content most of the time to do whatever we are doing. He has such an easy-going personality and such a great sense of humor!
But now back to the "destruction" aspect. Here are a few examples of what I am talking about:
This is Justin's "Ghetto Blaster" from high school. This thing has lived many years and through many moves and falls. However, it will probably not survive Noah's toddler years.

Justin, Clayton, and I can clean up the basement several times a day. No matter how often we put the toys away, they always end up like this. It probably takes Noah about 2 minutes to make this mess. He sees a clean room as a personal challenge.

I was upstairs getting dressed for the day when I heard a small 'thud'. Since no one cried out, I let it go for the moment. A few seconds later, Clayton came upstairs (not unusual). Shortly after that I hear someone else coming up the stairs. Noah was so proud of himself! When I looked downstairs, this is what I saw!

This is Noah's new favorite seat in the house. It isn't destructive, but he usually bumps his head trying to get out of there (which is why his forhead always looks like a bruised banana).

Noah is such a great kid, but my house is a constant wreck these days. No matter how often I clean, it always looks like a demolition zone five minutes later. He makes messes wherever he goes. He also likes to chew on cords (yikes), eat things off the floor (eww), and basically play with anything he isn't supposed to. I sort of love how he refuses to be ignored. It's like his way of saying, "I'm here, and you will notice!" I just wish my house could stay clean for longer than a minute!

**Side note: he has a word now! He will wave and say "Hi"! It is sooooo cute! I will try to get a video of it, but of course, whenever I am filming him, all he does is sit and stare at me!

The Mouths of Babes!

I think that three is the best age! Clayton is so funny and cute. He has been saying and doing so many interesting things lately that I just thought I needed to post them! So here are just a few of Clayton's gems:

A while back, Justin was rough housing with Clayton. When Clayton decided he was done he said, "Daddy, relax. Be reverent!"

Clayton and I were driving in the car on the way to a birthday party one night. He was watching the moon and we were talking about how the sun had gone to bed and the moon was awake. When we were almost to the party, Clayton said to me, "Mom! The moon is following us!" I thought this was very observant and funny.

We are trying to teach Clayton that his name is Clayton Smith. However, whenever we say to him, "You are Clayton Smith" he responds with a very emphatic, "NO! Not Clayton Smith! I'm Clayton, JUST Clayton!" (By the way, Noah is also JUST Noah!)

Lately, whenever things don't happen the way he plans them he says, "Geez Louise!" The first time I heard him say it I almost couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard.

Whenever he prays, whether it's over dinner or at night, he always says, "Please bless Uncle Bubba on his mission in Honduras so he can be safe." This always brings a smile to my face and joy to my heart.

He gets excited to see Noah in the mornings or after naptime because, in his words, "Yay, Noah's awake. I can be LOUD!"

Last week, I called Justin "Babe". Clayton immediately came over to me and said, "Mommy, who is your babe?" I said, "Daddy is my babe." To which he responded, "Yeah your babe is upstairs." He then proceeded to call Justin "Babe" for the next little while.

He is a car afficianado. If we are driving down the street it is not uncommon to hear from the backseat, "Mom! I see a green Jetta! Do you see a green Jetta?" (He has a freakish knowledge of cars and can identify a surprising amount of them.)

The other day, we were at Costco. The second we walked in Clayton said to me, "Okay Mom, let's eat!" After we had sampled a few things he said, "Mom! This is a party!"

Last night, Clayton was in the bath and I was watching The Biggest Loser. Suddenly I heard water dripping down by our washer and dryer (which are located directly under the bathroom). Justin and I went to check on Clayton in the tub and he was dumping cupfuls of water out of the tub and onto the floor. When we asked him if he had done this he said (with a giant smile on his face), "Yeah, I'm making a big water mess!" It was hard to be angry at him when he owned it like that!

These are just a few of the things that have happened lately that have made me smile and realize just how blessed I am to have such a smart, funny, observant, and articulate son! I am so grateful for him and all the ways he makes me laugh during the day!

What is that bright light?

It's the SUN!!! Honestly, I can't remember the last time we had sunshine out here (yes, I'm dead serious). This week we have had unseasonably warm weather and sunshine! I think this is Heavenly Father's way of giving me a mid-winter boost. After living through two Vermont winters, I understand why people get seasonal depression. It is sad not to see the sun! Coming from Las Vegas, where you get sunshine 360 days out of the year, this came as quite a shock to my system! I love the sun, it makes me happy. Anyway, we had been shut-ins for about two weeks because the weather had been near or below zero (brrr). So imagine our joy when it got up to 65 degrees on Tuesday! We spent practically the whole afternoon outside. There was still snow on the ground so we were able to build a snowman, have a snowball fight, and make tracks (Clayton's favorite snow activity). The boys were bundled up - I am a bit overprotective - but I wore a t-shirt and gloves (I needed gloves to touch the snow). It was GREAT! Sadly, it rained on Wednesday so we didn't get to go outside, but by Thursday we were back outdoors! Clayton has missed his swingset so he spent at least an hour just swinging! Sadly, when we woke up this morning we realized that the snow is back. Anyway, we had a great couple of days of nice weather and I am glad that we took full advantage of it! Here are some pictures of our unexpected winter blessing:
Clayton was so excited because the snow on the deck had melted enough for him to ride his bike.

Here is Clayton making tracks all over the yard. He loves to make tracks in interesting patterns and then go up to the deck to admire his work.

This is Noah posing with our snowman. He loved being outside, but was having a difficult time walking in the snow (it was funny to watch though)!

Clayton let the snowman wear his hat. He was excited with the end result, but while we were building it he kept getting frustrated because he wanted to "throw the big snowballs"!

This is our snowman the next day! Can you believe how much the snow melted in just one day!?! Wow!

This is the backyard after most of the snow has melted. Actually this is only half of our backyard. This yard is the reason we bought the house. Every time I get frustrated with how old and small our house is, I look outside and think how blessed we are to have such an amazing yard! I wish we could play in it year round!

When did he get so big?

Clayton at 4 months

Clayton as a Sunbeam






He is so big! Clayton started Sunbeams yesterday.Maybe, as a parent, you always have a hard time accepting the fact that your kids are growing up and becoming more and more independent. Don't get me wrong, I love watching him grow, it's just hard sometimes to accept the fact that he isn't a baby anymore. He has opinions on everything, his own likes and dislikes, chooses what friends to play with, and has a great sense of humor. I am always trying to pinpoint exactly when all of this happened (I never can though). There is a book out there called "Let Me Hold You Longer", by Karen Kingsbury. It's a picture book narrated by a mother about her son growing up. I highly recommend it, especially when you are in a sentimental mood! It totally says what I am feeling right now. I know it may seem silly that I am feeling this way, but Sunbeams just seems like the first real "big kid" thing that he has done. I know that there are a lot of times in his life when I am going to feel sentimental and a little sad at how grown-up he is getting, but a part of me really misses the baby he used to be. That being said, I love who he is now and I love that he is old enough to be in Sunbeams. He had a rough first day. He wanted to run around the whole time like he was still in nursery. I think this is a tough transition. He will adjust though. It was great being able to see him in sharing time and I am excited to see him in the program at the end of the year! What a big kid!

Happy New Year!

Before I get into our rockin' New Year's Eve party description, here are a few pics of what the boys have been up to lately:

Clayton got a computer game for Christmas from Aunt Missy and Uncle Jared and he LOVES to play it. He can play it for hours all by himself, he doesn't need any help from Justin or me. In about a year he will be better than I am with computers! Scary thought!

Noah is such a monkey! He climbs on this table all day long. He gets so proud of himself too!

This same table has a piece cut out in the middle for storage. It is also Noah's favorite seat. Seriously, Justin and I are pulling him out of this table all day.

I love playing games. The boys got a couple "classics" for Christmas. This is us playing Don't Break The Ice. I love playing games as a family and I am really glad that Clayton seems to like it as much as I do. He asks to play games several times a day. I love it!

Okay, now on to New Year's Eve. I can't believe that it is 2008! Yikes! My ten year high school reunion is this year. Something about that makes me feel really old. Anyway, we rang in the new year with our friends, the Zinkes. It was such a great night. We started off with dinner. We (by "we" I mostly mean Rick and Vanessa) made the most delicious parmasan chicken topped with baby greens and a lemon vinagarette (fancy, I know). YUM! I would eat it every day. It was that good. Then we had a great night of games. I love to play games, I think they are so fun and such a great way to get to know people (even your spouse)! We played Speed Scrabble (a must), Mad Gab, and my new favorite game of 2008...Imaginiff! Seriously, if you don't own this game, go buy it. I don't want to sound nerdy, but I was kind of sad when we switched games. I could have played that one all night long. It was so funny! Then we watched a variety of NYC New Year's Eve shows and waited for the ball to drop. I didn't get to bed until 1:30 and Clayton decided to wake up at 6:45 this morning (yuck). But it was totally worth it! I haven't had such a fun New Year's Eve since I had kids. Usually I just go to bed early because I can't go anywhere and don't have anything keeping me awake. Yes, I am a dork. I am okay with that. This year was really fun though. We laughed so much. It was a great night and now I am all geared up for 2008! Here are a couple of random pics from New Year's Eve.

Me and the boys. Clayton is in the middle of saying "cheese", but Noah's face in this pic is so priceless that I just had to post it!

Justin and me. We were ready to PAR-TAY!!