Link's 1st Birthday!

I know, this was like two weeks ago, but at least I'm finally getting it posted. Anyway, my little Linkers is now a one year old. Time goes by so fast. Here are some pictures from our little celebration.

Time to open presents.

This kid made a haul. Thanks to everyone who got him a gift. He loves it all.

Here's the birthday cake!

Blow out the candle!

First bite.

Tasty!

Time to get cleaned up.

Happy Birthday Link!

Easter and Other Activities

I haven't posted in a while, so this may be a long one.

Last month Trisha and her kids came for Spring Break. We spent a little of that time playing in Utah. We took the kids to Hogle Zoo one day. Corgin and Grant got to ride in the jeep stroller.

They all had fun looking at the animals.

Link stayed bundled up since it was a little chilly that day.


On the elephant statue.

On the rhino.

On the tigers.

And on the gorilla. When we were looking at the gorillas, which were inside that day, one of them took some interest in Linkoln. The zookeeper there said that it was highly unusual behavior for that gorilla, but he definitely had to check out the baby. We thought that was interesting.

The next day we took the kids to Chuck E Cheeses. We all had lots of fun. Here is Corgin with all the loot he won.

Link slept through some of the fun.

Ali, Grant, and Corgin.

Say "Chuck E Cheeeeeese!"

Just a random picture of Linkoln eating a banana, but how could I not post it when he is smiling so big and cute?!

We decorated eggs one night as a family. Corgin had lots of fun and put on all the stickers for their faces. He got pretty creative. We also talked about the Resurrection. Then we watched Tangled. It was a great night.

Here he is with all the eggs.

Saturday morning we were able to go to an Easter egg hunt with my parents ward. The weather was beautiful so we were glad to have some sunshine and no wind.

Corgin struggled a little with the egg behind the bush, but he finally was victorious and had his candy-filled egg to show it.

Then Saturday night we had a get together for my Grandpa's 80th birthday. We played outside on the playground, had an excellent dinner, and watched a slide show with pictures from my Grandpa's life. It was a good time. This is a picture we got of all the great-grandkids, except the three month old, that were there that night. We are still missing a few. They all had lots of fun playing together.

Then came Easter morning. Link was very excited to check everything out.

Corgin was still a little tired from playing so hard the day before, that it took him a while to get going.

He finally decided that he was ready to find his basket.

Here he is with the goods!

Both boys had fun finding out all the goodies that were left for them.

Daddy had to show Corgin how to work his new nerf gun.

My happy boy!

In their new church clothes.

I had to take pictures with my phone, so sorry some are blurry.

I sure do love them!!!

After church we had a ham dinner and an egg hunt outside. Lots of fun!

Here are a few things that made me smile. When Clint got Corgin all ready for church, he told Corgin that he was going to be one of the most handsome boys there. Corgin said, "no dad, you are." Then later that night, I was trying on my formal dresses (I had to make sure they would fit since Clint is taking me on a cruise next month) and Corgin kept telling me, "Mommy, you are a princess." He's just so stinkin' sweet. I hope he never grows out of that.

Up next, Linker's 1st Birthday!

LiNk is WalkiNg!!!

where does the time go? link is almost 11 months old and he is walking around and acting way too grown up. here are a few videos and pictures.

today, corgin told clint with the saddest little voice, "i wish i was a superhero. then i could be superman and i could wear that thing on my back that flaps in the wind." what a funny kid.

link gives the biggest kisses. he makes a muah sound and holds onto my ears or hair and gives the biggest, most slobbery kisses. he mostly kisses his grandpa brent, but occasionally mom or dad will get some kisses.

driving in town today over an overpass, and corgin says from the back seat, "wahoo, wahoo" the whole way down the hill.

things i'll miss when corgin no longer does it: he says "i amn't" instead of "i am not" or "i'm not" (i think its funny), he calls hamburger helper "handy helper" and he has started singing around the house, especially to link. i love it.

being a mom is the best! (well, most days)

There may be some of you that might think my kids are perfect since most of my posts are about all the cute and perfect things they do, but I'm here to tell you that they're not.

Corgin and Link like to go into their rooms and play. Lately, when they are playing in Linkoln's room Corgin has made a habit of pulling out all the diapers and stuff that I have in the closet. He's done this about six times and I've tried making him clean it up, time outs, spankings, and a combination of all of the above to keep him from doing it again. But it keeps happening. Well, the boys disappeared into the bedrooms to play today. After a little while Corgin came out with the baby lotion and asked to have some. I asked him to put it away. He usually does what he's told. About 10 minutes later I get a whiff of baby lotion. I decided I better go check things out.

I walked into Link's room and saw RED! Corgin had got out all the diapers and things from the closet again. He had scattered wipes everywhere. And the worst, he had taken the pump off the lotion and it was EVERYWHERE. On the window, on the windowsill, on the crib, on some toys, on the carpet, on the glider ottoman, I mean everywhere. The front of Link's shirt was just soaked with it. Corgin knew he was in trouble too because as soon as he saw me he said, "We'll clean it up, Mom, we'll clean it up!" I think Corgin suffers from the terrible threes, because he was a good little two year old, but now he is getting to be not as obedient and he gets into everything. He is still in his room (probably playing) because I can't look at him with out wanting to growl. It's not the mess that makes me upset, it's him not listening and obeying after he's gotten in trouble for the same thing so many times. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get your children to listen and not repeat the same thing over and over? I could definitely use some.

Well, I'm done venting. On a completely separate note, Link is starting to take steps without holding on to something or someone for balance. It won't be long before he's walking. Then who knows what trouble my two boys will cause! I don't want to think about it; it scares me.

Winter Vacation 2011

We took our yearly trip to Driggs this last week. We had tons of fun and have lots of pictures to show it! Jake and Maddie weren't able to come the whole time, but we were glad to see them for a couple days. We also want to thank my Uncle Brad and Aunt Joanna for letting us use their cabin and my parents who paid for almost everything we did. A BIG THANKS to you guys. We had a great time.

Last Tuesday we headed out. Corgin had a good time watching his movie on the couple hour drive.

We were suprised that he kept his headphones on the whole time.

When we got to the cabin we had to try on Corgin's skis. He had fun walking around in them and getting the feel.


Link had fun playing with his toys.

Such a happy boy!

Wednesday was my birthday. We went shopping and later we went to dinner and then had some cake and ice cream. My cousin, Marilyn, lives close by, so she and her family came to dinner and came and had cake with us. She made this cake for me. She did an awesome job. It's looks great and it tasted great too.

Thursday we took Corgin up to the ski hill to try out his new skis. He did so good, but he got worn out quickly. We decided that maybe nap time is not a good time to learn to ski.

I started with helping him get his balance and held him up between my skis, but soon he was asking to do it himself. Here he is going by himself, I'm just holding the harness to control his speed.

Friday Clint and I went skiing and my parents took the boys to Jackson Hole to see the elk and other animals on the elk refuge. We didn't get any pictures that day. It was nice to be able to have a day to spend with my honey.

Then on Saturday we went to Green Canyon hot springs. There is an indoor swimming pool that is kept at 96 degrees and then there is one in a greenhouse like thing that they keep at 105 degrees. It is perfect for kids because the shallow area is huge in the pool and the whole hot pool is shallow. Corgin told us that swimming was his favorite part of our vacation. I didn't get any pictures of us at the pool, but we did have lots of fun swimming. Corgin kept going back and forth between the two pools. My parents were in the hot one and then we were in the other one, so he would go see them then come see us. Link had fun too and liked crawling around on the stairs and splashing like crazy.

Swimming wore out both the boys so they just sat with Grandma Merri and let her rock them.

Jake, Maddie, and Tytan came up Saturday night. The boys always have lots of fun playing together.

More playing in the morning.

Sunday we all went to Jackson. We went to Ripley's Believe It or Not! and walked around the cool exhibits. Then we went out to the elk refuge. Corgin loved to stick his head out the window and look at all the animals.

We saw sheep, deer, coyotes, elk (obviously), and a wolf. The wolf was too far away to get a picture of, but it was about the same size as the sheep it was stalking up on the ridge. It was cool to see.

When we got home, the boys got back to playing some more.

Link is a bit of a bully to his cousin Tytan.

And Corgin is definitely the leader of the pack.

Jake and Maddie left Monday morning, and we headed up to the slopes again. We brought Corgin for a little bit so he could ski some more.

He got to ride up the Shosone chair lift and he thought that was the funnest thing. He didn't want to ski near as much as he wanted to ride the lift. He was getting pretty good and didn't want to go when we told him he had to.

But it was time to go because he was getting worn out and would just go limp and we would have to haul him around. That gets a little tiring.

Here are a few video clips of Corgin skiing. In the first one he did a somersault, but according to him he did a flip. He got up with a smile. In the second one he is going all by himself. He did so good.

Clint took Corgin back to the cabin and my mom and I skiied for a while. When he got back my mom did a few runs with us and then she left. We did a few more runs and called it a day. We went to dinner for Valentine's Day prime rib (parents and kids included) and then came home the next day.

It was a great vacation and we had lots of fun. Can't wait to do it again next year when Luke will be home from his mission so all of us can be there. It will be awesome. Thanks again to my aunt and uncle and my parents.