I'm in a New York state of mind!

The winner of the crazy hair contest is (insert drumroll)...... Rocky Rich!!!




Ruby and Coop decided that they wanted to go on a birthday trip to New York City. We left our house at 7am, drove part of the way, and hopped on a train. Rocky thought the train was the coolest thing ever!!! We took the train to Grand Central Station and hopped on the subway to see the Statue of Liberty. We planned on going over to the island until we saw "THE LINE". I swear it was the longest line I have EVER seen. We hopped on the Staten Island Ferry. No wait and we still got to see Lady Liberty. Rocky was in heaven!! He loved seeing all of the boats, helicopters, and birds. Cooper thought the boat was tipping and was convinced that we were all going to die. I went to sit by him and he freaked out because he thought I was the one making the boat move (he didn't seem to notice the 300 other people we were with). We hopped back on the subway up to the Rockefeller Center. Earlier that day I told Matt that we were going to run into someone we knew. Sure enough, we ran into some friends from Salt Lake. It is crazy that can happen in a city that big! I loved the beautiful gardens and the colorful flags at the Rockefeller Center. Our next stop was Time Square and yes, we did see The Naked Cowboy. The Empire State Building was a must for Cooper. We have been reading Percy Jackson, the ESB is a very important part of that book. It was so tall that you couldn't see the top of it when standing at the base. Our last stop was Central Park. The kids loved it! Rocky got to be Naked Cowboy Jr due to a blow out in central park. We hopped back on our train, and were home by 9pm!

Happy Birthday Ruby Girl

Safety first!




I have always wanted to be a mom as long as I can remember. Maybe because my own mom was so incredible, man I miss her. I can't believe it was 9 years ago I became a mom! Every time I think back to Ruby's birth, it chokes me up.

After going into preterm labor, I ended up getting induced, go figure! Ruby's delivery was the scariest experience I have ever gone through. I ended up having an emergency c-section. Her cord was wrapped so tight around her neck that she was getting strangled with each of my contractions. Once they cut me open, they discovered placental abruption. Either of these problems could have killed Rubes. I have never prayed that hard in all of my life. I was overwhelmed with the love I felt for this person I knew but had never formally met. I will never forget her first cry, she sounded like a mountain lion. My terror was quickly replaced with gratitude and relief when I found out she was absolutely perfect. She was mine!!!!

These last 9 years have been amazing. I had no idea how much joy, sorrow, laughter, frustration, etc.. I would feel as a parent. I am so blessed to be a mother, especially to my 3 little chickens.

I am so thankful for my Rubes. She keeps me toes and makes me want to be a better person. She is my sunshine. Here are 9 memories of her that make me smile:

1. I was dancing in front of the window and said that I better stop or people would think I was crazy. She said, “Mom, people already KNOW you are crazy!”

2. She used to call her forehead her twohead.
3. Ruby covered herself in mashed potatoes and told me it was sunscreen.
4. After she dropped her teddy bear in the toilet she told me he went swimming.
5. She won a $100 shopping spree down the candy isle!

6. I was telling someone that little girls get PMS just like their moms, she got very serious and said, “I do NOT have a penis!”

7. A stranger asked if she could give her a Popsicle because Ruby was so cute. The lady walked away and Ruby asked, “Do the ugly kids not get a Popsicle?”

8. She thought that we drank “skin milk”.

9. “Next time you make zucchini bread don’t put zucchini in it!"
   

Happy Birthday Rubes!

Rocky UNPLUGGED

Rocky LOVES his binki or PLUG! I have been dreading the whole weaning process so I have been putting it off. I had him down to just having his binki in bed for about a week. Then about a week ago I just decided to go cold turkey. His first nap he cried for about 10 minutes. That night I told him that Cooper doesn't have one, so he didn't need one. He didn't make a PEEP! I thought it was beginners luck. Nope!! He doesn't act like he misses it at all. The crazy thing, he is sleeping better! Why didn't I do this months ago? Now lets just hope potty training is that easy!

I was just called as a councilor in the Primary Presidency (I get to work with the kids at my church). I am really excited about it. We met for the first time last night. Thank heavens for my GPS, it was a 40 minute drive!!! I am amazed how big our ward boundaries are.

We have a week long spring break. It has been raining for most of it :(.

To think that I saw it on MULBERRY street!

I don't know which cracks me up more 1) Rocky being out for the count or 2) the way his pants are creeping up!



On Saturday mornings everyone piles into our bed to read stories. We read To Think that I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr. Suess. Turns out he was born just minutes from our home. We ventured up to Springfield to find his home, Mulberry Street and a sculpture garden with all of our favorite Suess characters. I LOVE Horton because of his character, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, an elephants faithful 100%." I am trying to be like him. I also love Max from the Grinch, we had a dog named Max. It was almost magical for me to be on Mulberry Street!

Rocky is getting weaned from his obsession, the BINKI! I forgot how nice is was to pop it in his mouth during sacrament meeting. I felt like I had wrestled a Tasmanian devil by the time the meeting was over. The happy ending to this story...NURSERY!! In my church, kids that are 18 months get to go learn/play/eat with other crazies their age. It must have been awesome for him because he crashed for 3 hours after. So happy to send him there, sad my baby is growing up just like the rest of them did.

General Conference

We have a long standing semiannual tradition in our family of making cinnamon rolls for General conference. It is one of my very favorite traditions aside from the fact that I ate like 6 of them! We had some friends from our church over. They were our very first guests. So much fun! I always think back to the people we have shared this tradition with in the past and miss them dearly. I was totally flattered to find out that some of them had made their own conference cinnamon rolls.

I loved listening to conference. The main thing that I got out of it was to look for opportunities to help those in need. I also loved Elder Scott's talk on marriage and the one on parenting. I love the way that conference recharges my batteries and gives me the boost I need to keep on keepin on.
I love holidays, and I love to mess around with my family so April Fools is right up my ally. These lovely cupcakes were actually meatloaf and mashed potatoes. My favorite was watching Coop try to drink the Jell-o in the glass, it freaked him out. We use all of our random holiday plates and napkins to really confuse things.
Rocky LOVEs to read. His favorite spot is right on the coffee table. He is such a CHUNK!!! That kid can eat more than anyone I know (including myself). I swear that all he thinks about is food. He is now 18 months. I am so in love that crazy kid (and his 2 sidekicks).
One of my favorite things to do is walk "all the way to Connecticut!" OK, it is only like a five minute walk from our house. Ruby has one foot in Connecticut and the other in Massachusetts (I just spelled both states correctly, thank you very much). I am amazed how many times each day we go back in forth. My friend said we really live in Connechusetts, that seems about right. Ruby changed the name to MOUSEchuesetts. Luckily we haven't seen anymore of the little critters or their poop, but I still can't relax.

I had my first GNO this weekend with some cute girls from my ward. I feel so blessed to have a place I can make instant friends. They have been so sweet and made us feel so welcome. We are so blessed to be here. We are 85% unpacked. It is nice to know were things are again. Now it is just those random things that I probably should have chucked (don't tell MATT that ;))

A series of random events.

Rocky mastered folding his arms this week. It is just about the cutest thing ever. When he wanted church to be over today, he folded his arms as if to say, "let's pray and get this show on the road!"
I have never had a baby who liked binkis. I think we are hosed, this definitely goes beyond like!
This is Rocky's biography. He LOVEs blueberries. FYI they usually look the same coming out as they do going in! Maybe that is TMI instead of FYI.
Just as we get things unpacked and organized, we make another mess! We have been to Ikea 3 times in 10 days! Unfortunately it is over an hour away. If I see one more Swedish meatball, I don't know that I can handle life as we know it!

Matt ran in the Holyoak St. Patrick's race, we ate garbage while he ran. The colorful musician is a Mummer or a merrymaker.

We made smores for the first and last time in our fireplace. Every Sunday evening, Coops white shirt is COVERED in something. This time it happened to be marshmallow covered gramma crackers!
Busted! Eating butter by the knive-fulls.

In other news, we caught 2 mice and haven't seen any since. Our kitchen is a minefield, I don't think they dare to come back. Let's just say seeing Mickey stuck to a glue trap doesn't give you a warm fuzzy feeling. Ruby thinks we are murderers, we are.

I am learning some new New England lingo. I asked a 14 year old if she liked to tend and she looked at me like I was an alien. She had absolutely no clue what I was talking about. I guess they babysit here. I was at Target and the lady asked me if I need a carriage. I looked at her like she was the alien this time. Why would I need a carriage? Turns out a carriage is a cart!

We are loving this great little community. Once again, I can't say how much we love having our own little space and being together as a family.

Welcome HOME!

You have no idea how excited we are to have our own little place!

This was a crazy winter for snow. There were 10-15 foot pile of snow from the snow plows all over the place. Most parking lots were limited to 1/2 of their capacity because of the enormous piles of snow. I know you Utahans are thinking, yea big deal, like I was until I saw it. I am really glad we missed it!

We stayed in the hotel four days and unloaded our trailer a week ago. It was a DISASTER! Somehow the divider, that held our stuff in, shifted in transit. When the trailer was delivered, they had propped crates and supports to hold the precarious pile. We were waiting for the whole pile to dump when we moved the supports, but because there was so much pressure, we couldn't budge the barrier. Matt climbed over and handed me stuff until we could release the supports. Not nearly as much fun as it sounds.

Unpacking the trailer was like a giant JENGA game. For the first few hours we feared for our lives each time we moved a box. Memories! I can't tell you how happy we were to be done unpacking that monster. You wouldn't believe this, but only 2 things were broken! Thank heavens!

We LOVE our neighborhood!!! I can't begin to say how much we love our school. My kids have come home happy all 7 days of it! Everyone has been so kind and welcoming.

I found our church about 20 minutes away. It looks like a great ward, people from all over the world. We met a darling family that invited us over for dinner. I have decided that she will be my new BFF :). It turns out there are 3 Mormon families in our town. That is very different from Utah! My kids are the only Mormons in the whole school.

I love that I can go anywhere in the world and find my church, it is the exact same set up, just different people. Three families brought us dinner this week. It is awesome having an instant support group.

Coop wants to go see Matt at work everyday. I can't blame him, it is pretty dang fun!

I love having my stuff again! Now I just need to get it all unpacked and organized. We left most of our furniture in Indiana and are starting over. Matt and I slept on the floor for the first few days. I am so excited to have a new bed! We went to Ikea twice this week, both times with not enough time, big mistake. We will be driving down again soon I am sure. It is funny to drive from the top of CT to the bottom in about an hour.

We have loved everything about this place and our new adventure except for one small thing. It really is small, and it might not be just one thing....

Our house that we are renting is pretty old. All of them are! I asked our landlord if they had ever had seen mice. She assured me that she hadn't. The day after I cleaned out all the cupboards and organized all of them (I even put my spices in alphabetical order), I noticed little tiny POOPS!! You have no idea how scared, violated, and disgusted I felt. I hope it is just Mickey and that he currently has X's over his sleepy little eyeballs. Aggh!!!