Have you ever been there?

A few weeks ago Jake decided that he thought the boys would be easier to wrestle during church if we sat on the very back right pew. It has been going well for a few weeks and has been helping to make sacrament meeting less of a struggle. In fact Luke sits better than he did before...until yesterday. Jake went up on the stand to sing with the choir. They began a beautiful music number and Luke turned and looked at me and said, "Mama's turn." Meaning that he wanted me to go up and sing. I explained that it was just Daddy's turn. He seemed unsatisfied so he said, "Baby Ty's turn." Again I explained it was just Daddy. Then he said, "Luke's turn!!!" He turned around and bolted! I threw Ty into the arms of my friend sitting just the pew above and crouched and ran to catch up, but alas he made it to the stage before I could get him. I was so embarressed. Of course everyone laughed about it because most people have been there before.

Happy Birthday Grandma Ball

Oh, Grandma, how we miss you. You are one of the nicest and sweetest people I know. I love you so much and I really do miss you. I loved it when you came to see us last July. I treasure the times and memories we have shared. I will always remember how you used to let us choose your lipstick and comb your hair and pick out earrings to wear, and often wear some ourselves. Your house was always fun because we could open up as many cereal boxes as we wanted-which was a big deal at our house. Pick out special placemats, play in tons of dress-up clothes and play lots of old games. Now I see you loving our children and all of your great-grandchildren. I feel so privileged to be your granddaughter. I love you.

Bringing Beads to Brooklyn when she broke her leg.
July 2007, Decatur, IL
With Luke in the hospital

Pizza, Pizza!

Tonight I had a scrapbook party at my house with some friends and Jake graciously watched both boys while I was in the other room. He ordered some pizza for dinner. He was eating it on the couch watching March Madness and Luke asked him to watch a movie so he set his plate on the floor while we walked down the hall to our room...he was probably gone a minute. All of a sudden I heard him laughing so hard from the other room and calling for me. I walked in and Ty had ahold of the pizza and was clutching it with a death grip. He had crawled across the room (even though he was eating his own teething biscuit at the time-which was abandoned on the floor) and grabbed the pizza and went to town-cheese and all. His sleeves were covered in pizza sauce and his face with greesy cheese. It was so funny. Jake said that after that he was trying to feed Ty his baby food for dinner and he was very uninterested--well who wouldn't be, right? We all like a little pizza now and then.

Happy Birthday Evelyn!

This is our neice, Evelyn! She turns 1 today. Sad to say that we have never been able to see her and hold her and kiss her, but little Evelyn, we love you. Happy 1st Birthday. We hope it is memorable.

Avery, Easton, Collin and Zoe!!!

We had such a great time visiting the Deshler family for Easter. We had lots of laughs and so much fun. Luke would randomly scream, AveryEastonCollinZoe! He would string it together like one word. He LOVES them. They played "bad guys" in the basement in the dark with their Nerf gun sniper scopes, (they were protecting Queen Zoe) for hours. Of course they played Star Wars and all sorts of other games. He adores them all and would copy anything that he saw them doing. We caught them all downstairs playing Clue Jr. and he was sitting in a circle with them, quietly holding his paper and pencil pretending to write things down just like them. We had a glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt and they all had matching Easter clothes-not planned.

One morning Jake and I woke up and realized Luke had gotten up and we didn't know. We came upstairs and he was gone. He had gone with Heather to take the kids to school. He thought that was pretty cool, and we loved watching him spread his wings away from us. He loves his Aunt Heather too. In fact tonight when we got home he picked up my cell phone and was pretending to talk on it. We asked him who he was talking to...."Aunt He-He" he replied. He was so concerned when Uncle Reed left, and he kept reminding us all that "Uncle Weed went to work!" Ty thought that Zoe was SOOOO wonderful. He would just grin and grin at her. Heather took some great pics of our family -I am so retarded, I forgot my camera. I loved spending time with my sister-she is awesome and so funny. Hope everyone's holiday was great.

Okay after re-reading this, it is like I am spewing thoughts, just trying to make a quick post about our great weekend.

Easter Eggs!

We had so much fun last night dying Easter eggs. Luke keeps asking today to do it again. He doesn't get that it is a once a year thing. But it was fun. Check it out. Luke loved the Star Wars stuff. Not pictured here...Yoda, Darth Vader and R2D2.

Happy Birthday Syd!

Syd at Thanksgiving with Aunt Heather.

My neice Sydney turns two today. Wish we could be at her party, but we love you little Syd and are thinking of you. The fair skinned beauties have to stay together.

Kids say the darndest things...

Jake and I have been laughing as of late because of the things that Luke says.

Here are some of our favorites...mostly Star Wars related.

"Goodnight, Mama Qui-Gon" (we had been playing lightsabers-I was using the green one)

We were singing Old MacDonald Had A Farm, I always let him choose what animal is next so the other day I sang "Old MacDonald had a farm, e i e i o, and on that farm he had a......."
"lightsaber!" said Luke. So cute

Jake and Luke were playing outside with his lightsabers and Luke kept trying to go in the street. Jake kept saying no and to stay on the sidewalk. After a few rounds of this discussion Jake said again, "No, Luke, stay on the sidewalk." Luke paused and looked at him for a minute, and then with a lot of force jumped onto the sidewalk wielding his blue lightsaber and said, "Luke SIDEwalker!"

At Christmas time Jake was helping Luke get ready for church and was putting on his belt. Jake was teaching him the word belt, then Luke sang, "Jingle Belt, Jingle Belt."

Last night we were eating pork for the first time. We told him it came from a pig, so he said,
"oink, oink, ...help, help" then he ate it.

Anyway, we are loving all of these funny little moments, hope you do too.

I've been tagged

I was tagged by my friend, Natalie. So, here is a little info about my hubby and me...
What is his name? Larry Jacob Swensen.
How long have you been together? Married just over six years.
How long did you date? We dated for 5 months total with engagement! We were quick!
Who eats more? Currently me, and probably usually a toss up. I am still nursing-so consuming more calories...or at least that is my excuse and Jake is on a diet and doing a fantastic job at it. Already down 15 lbs.
Who said "I love you" first? I did. He said it right after.
Who is taller? Lets think about this...anyone who knows me knows it isn't a hard feat to be taller than me...so Jake.
Who is smarter? I'd say it's Jake. Really I think that is true. I am not saying that I am not smart, but at least in IQ tests and other standardized testing he scores a lot higher than me. But we both add something to the relationship and I don't think that it is unbalanced.
Who does the laundry? 95% me, and 5% Jake. I feel that it is mostly my responsibility because I am the one home.
Who sleeps on the right? When we were first married we didn't have set sides of the bed. We were constantly changing it, depending on who got up first. But now he always sleeps on the side next to the alarm clock, so the left.
Who does the dishes? Again me. But we have a nice little system of chores. I put up on our dry erase board the chores I need his help with. At first I thought that this seemed to bossy/elementary/silly. But hey, don't knock what works. This way I feel less stressed, he knows what I need-no guessing games. Everyone is happy.
Who pays the bills? Me.
Who mows the lawn? Jake does almost all the outside stuff.
Who cooks dinner? Jake hates to cook. So always me. But I don't mind. I love cooking dinner for my family. He has had to watch me evolve in the kitchen, but is always supportive and grateful for whatever I make. The great thing about Jake is that he could care less what we eat, even if it is cereal night because Mom has had it. Although, I do think that he is getting a little pickier-he says it is because I am getting better.
Who is more stubborn? I love this question, and babe, don't hate me. But HIM definitely. But he is really working on it. I have my stubborn side, believe you me, but, still its Jake.
Who kissed who first? That would be me. What can I say? I was not usually like that, but I couldn't resist his charm I guess. Plus he had been teasing me for weeks, his whole goal was to try and get me to kiss him first. He won. See, the stubborn thing.
Who proposed? Jake, at Temple Square, December 4, 2001. It was beautiful.
Who has more siblings? Jake beats me hands down. 8 to 3.
Who wears the pants? Well, we both wear pants..ha ha. I think that Jake and I are an equal partnership with various roles but the same goal. As strong willed as we both are, we truly care about the others happiness and well-being above all, and respect each others opinions as well. But I feel that he is the leader of our home, which he does well with love, respect and the guidance of our Heavenly Father.

I tag Caitlyn, Callie, Sarah, and Heidi....(Heather I didn't tag you because you hate it).

P.S. Callie and Caitlyn, when you are tagged you just highlight this post on my blog, right click, copy and paste into a new post on your blog. Then change my answers to yours.

Jake the Master!

It's official, Jake is done with school!! Whohoo!!!!! I couldn't be more excited for him. He has worked so hard all while having two kids, working full time, moving, taking care of me, taking care of a new house etc. etc. I don't think that I could have done what he did. He rarely complained and just went about it each day with a good attitude. I am so grateful that he made the sacrifice to do this for our family. He has set such a good example for our boys about the importance of education and working hard. Jake, I love you so much. Way to go!! Thank you.