Tom Cruise. Star Wars Kid.

Here is a little video I did for fun.

Park It.

Weston has been very into playing with cars these days. He has slowly amassed quite a collection too. His new favorite thing to do with them is to "park" them in the piano. This is what my piano looks like by the end of a typical day. I think it's so funny because apparently Ian says fitting the cars between the black keys like that is exactly something he would have done as a kid.
Fun thing #2 to do with cars? Line them up to make them look like a choo choo train, of course! Weston seriously was entertained for about 45 minutes putting this together. He was very proud of himself too. He asked me to take this picture of him with his cars.
Last weekend was my old roommate, Lisa's, wedding. It was so fun to attend her sealing and remember all the amazing things that happened on my own wedding day. It was fun to have that to think about the day before my own 5 year anniversary. Aren't they such a beautiful couple?!?
That night we went to the reception and brought the kids. They were both pretty well behaved, the hall was absolutely gorgeous and the good was amazing. The reception was actually at a garden center, so there were TONS of plants and little waterfalls and stuff. Really pretty. So congrats to Lisa and Ryan. I was glad I could be a part of your day.
Also last weekend Ian was working on leaf clean up in our backyard and Weston got to "help." Leaves are a nightmare at our house because we have 9 mature trees on our little .16 acre lot. As you can see it's a big job. I think Ian has already filled 20 bags with leaves. Luckily our city does a leaf clean-up program and provides big leaf bags and allows you to drop off the filled bags at designated sites. Anyway, I thought this picture was too funny of Weston trying to play baseball in all those leaves and wearing his cowboy hat. I love that kid.
Well, the holidays are officially upon us. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am excited to eat me some turkey and mashed potatoes. I am also going to be making my first pie ever to contribute to dinner at my Auntie B's house. I'll let you know how the pie making goes. We will be busting out the Christmas decorations this weekend and lighting the house. Yay! I can't wait. Everyone have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Has It Been That Long?

It was over 5 years ago that Ian and I met and fell in love. Long story short, we met at ward prayer in our BYU ward in the summer of 2003. We spent every waking minute together that whole summer. In August we got engaged in Portland, OR.
We got married November 22, 2003 in the Los Angeles temple. It was a fabulous day. So fun and exciting. We were so happy that we could become a family that day and know that we would never have to leave each other again.
Since we have been married we have had the good, the bad, and the amazing. I will highlight some of the wonderful, fun times.

We saw Jimmy Eat World from the front row at the McKay Events Center. Amazing.
We played lots of Settlers and Cities and Knights with our wonderful friends from BYU in Provo.
We spent a really fun weekend in Vegas for my best friend's 21st birthday.
We saw lots of BYU football games, but this one we got to watch from the 2nd row! It was so cool.
Towards the end of our college days Ian was invited to do an internship with an ad agency in New York City, so we packed up and sealed up our apartment in Provo to go and sublet a teeny tiny apartment in midtown Manhattan. We were there for 3 months. It was such a great experience. We had plenty of time to do all the tourist sites. We also enjoyed feeling kind of like real New Yorkers. Here we are at Madison Square Garden watching a women's basketball game.
The iconic picture from the top of the Empire State Building.
When we first got to New York we found out that we were expecting our first baby! Let me just mention that the smells of NYC are not my most fond memories of that time.

At the end of 2005 we both graduated from BYU and moved up to Murray where we could be closer to Ian's "grown up" job in Sandy. He has been working at Verite ever since. A month later Weston was born. Parenthood changed our marriage, but in a good way.
On Weston's 1st birthday we put an offer on a house and moved in by the end of the month. We LOVE having our own place, but have definitely seen the down sides to home-ownership. Here is a picture of me and Weston playing the piano in our house.
Summer of 2007 we found out we were pregnant with baby #2. Davin was born in March 2008. Here is our first full family picture. I actually don't have a more recent one of all 4 of us.
To celebrate our big 5 year anniversary we stayed at the Hilton in downtown Salt Lake. Our anniversary was on the same day as the big BYU v. Utah game, so our romantic dinner was at the Skybox sports grill at the Gateway. If we had won it would have been perfect. It was still a blast watching the game on a HUGE screen and getting to eat dinner at the same time. Here we are at Skybox.
Us in our hotel room before we headed back to real life.**
Looking back, we have had a pretty busy 5 years. It has been quite the ride. I am so glad that Ian wanted to marry me. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful guy by my side through everything. He already does such a great job, but continues to try harder to make me happy. He is a fabulous daddy. It is so fun to watch him with our boys. He works hard to provide us with our home and all the things that go with it, including allowing me to stay home with our kids. Here's to 50+ more years!

**Thanks for staying with the boys Aly! We SO appreciate it. :)

Two Little Men and a Mommy

I spend my days with my two little men. They are so adorable and we have a lot of fun. I have been staying home a little more often than normal since our household cut back to one car. Not by choice, of course, but we are making it work. I usually still have a car because Ian carpools to work. Also, I have been babysitting a newborn one day a week. I don't go on any outings when I have three kids.

Today Ian had to drive to work, which meant an entire day homebound. It actually was pretty nice. We got a slower start to the day and did baths, I had time to exercise and shower while Dav took a morning nap. When Davin woke up we headed to the park, taking advantage of the sunshine and relatively warm temperatures. I forgot to get the stroller out of the car, so I put Davin in the Snugli and headed out. We had such a great time. We were the only ones there, so we had all the playground stuff to ourselves and we took turns going on the slide. As we were walking home I thought how wonderful it was to just hang with my boys with no pressures of needing to be anywhere. Just playing.

The rest of the day I managed to have a picnic lunch with Weston while watching Sesame Street, make cookies, mop the bathroom floors, and tidy things up. We spent the evening after dinner playing too. It was a fun, hands on mommy day. It felt good.

Here are the many faces of Davin. He is such a doll. Now if he could just take a nap for more than an hour I would be in baby heaven.

Davin always gets really fussy in the evenings, mainly because he is tired since he doesn't nap well. I try to keep him up until at least 7:30. Tonight I started getting him ready for bed then realized he seemed perfectly happy to be naked. When Weston saw that Dav got to have naked play time he wanted to strip down too, so I let him play in the crib with Dav. It was so cute.

I love these little men. If only every day could be as fun, whine free and playful as today was. I know they won't though, so I'll keep these pictures on file to remind myself how great mommy-hood is when I just relax and let the day take shape.

Contacts

Ok, awhile back (I have no idea how long ago) I swear I read on someone's blog that they found the cheapest place to get glasses and contacts. It's that time of year again for me to get my year's supply of contacts. I also need an eye exam. So, whoever posted that back in the day, PLEASE PLEASE come forward and re-tell me the info. Anyone?

Swimmer's High

Today was the big day: my first Master's swim meet. I haven't swam competitively in a meet since my Junior year of high school, 8+ years ago. I was a little nervous and really excited. We got a slow start to the morning and left a little bit late only to get almost to the freeway and realize that we forgot Davin's bottle and the camera. So we got there a little later than planned, but the meet was running a little late too, so it was fine. I got in and warmed up and practiced starts to make sure my new goggles would stay on.

I swam in the second event, the 50 backstroke. This was MY event in high school. I was second in our league in high school in this event. It went great. I felt good, and my time was about what I was expecting. I swam it in 42 seconds. In high school I swam it in about 35, but hey, it's been awhile, so I thought 42 was pretty good.

I had a short break then I swam my second event, the 100 IM (one lap each of fly, back, breast and free). I had never raced this event before, so I had no idea what to expect. It went ok. I think I could have done it faster, but I was pretty happy with my time of 1:33. They were experiencing some computer issues, so we all ended up having to get up on the blocks and back down twice before we finally got started. Here is a pic of me waiting to get up and take my mark, then of me diving in. I am in the blue suit in the middle (right under the diving board. The 100 IM was a fun race and I will definitely do it again.
Ian and the boys came to cheer me on. They were amazing and stuck it out, staying until the end. It ran a little long. We got there at 8:15 and didn't leave until almost 1pm. Ian stayed with the little men while I swam and hung out on deck with my team buddies. Here is my wonderful, supportive hubby. Love him!
This is my cheering section. Davin was more interested in eating the sign than cheering, really, but he was certainly cute. Weston made friends with the other kids, ate snacks and listened to daddy's ipod. Davin just hung out and watched all the action, ate a bottle and even took a little nap. What good, sweet boys I have.
**That other sign Dav has says "Team Shan". Thanks for making me signs Ian. :)
After a colossally long break the meet got started back up and I swam the 100 freestyle. It was a pretty fun race. I didn't know my time when I registered, so I just put 1:28. I actually swam it in 1:20. Go me. If you click on the picture to make it big you can see my name and my time, place and lane. Their computer system was pretty cool.
My last event was the 100 back. I was pretty tired by then, but it still went well. I came in on 1:30. I actually liked this race because I was in lane 1 closest to the deck, so I could see my team standing on the side cheering for me. It definitely gave me a boost and helped me pick up the pace at the end.

So my first Master's meet was a great experience. I was glad that the universe aligned for me yesterday so that I could buy a new suit that fit better than my other ones and goggles that weren't broken. I had fun chatting with my friends and cheering them on. I also had fun sitting with my family during downtimes. I am so glad that they came. After the meet we went to lunch at (where else?) McDonalds. Weston is finally brave/strong enough to climb all through the playplace, so it's a lot more fun for him. I am feeling a little sick from eating a big mac right after swimming. Probably not the best choice. Oh well.

I am really happy about finding this swim team class and getting to participate so much. I especially appreciate Ian for being so supportive of me and my swimming. He gets up with the kids when I go to class in the mornings and was excited about the meet too. I am planning on doing 3 more meets this year.

You know the phrase "runner's high"? Well, I loathe running, so that never happens for me, but there is a theory that I learned about in one of my rec therapy classes called Flow. Read on if you are interested in why recreation can be so absorbing.

With Flow the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi names the feeling of complete and energized focus in an activity, with a high level of enjoyment and fulfillment. As Csikszentmihalyi sees it, the components of a Flow producing activity are:

• We are up to the activity.
• We are able to concentrate on the activity.
• The activity has clear goals.
• The activity has direct feedback.
• We feel that we control the activity.
• Our worries and concerns disappear.
• Our subjective experience of time is altered.

Not all of these components need to be present together for Flow to be experienced.

I definitely experienced some flow today. I love that feeling of being so involved in what you are doing and feeling challenged, but capable enough that you lose all sense of time.

What activities give you a sense of FLOW?

Gratitude

I realize that I am a little late weighing in on the election, but I decided that this ecard says exactly what I think about the outcome.
I hope that the collective "we" (I didn't actually vote for Obama, but still) have made a good choice and that Obama really is capable of bringing about some positive change for our nation. I have my doubts, but I am still hopeful that things will be better in 4 years than they are now.

So, as you know, I haven't been quite feeling myself lately. A little depressed, burnt out and blah. I have been trying to think about all the things I am grateful for to put my life into perspective, and with Thanksgiving just around the corner, now is the perfect time.

First of all, I am grateful for these two little nutters.
They are my world right now. Sometimes that is awesome and sometimes it's overwhelming, but I love them more than anything.

I am thankful for Ian. I get so excited every day for him to come home. That wait from 4 o'clock (after naptime) until 6ish is the hardest part of the day. I'm glad that we really like each other and have fun together.

I am thankful for my house. Yay for living in a house and not an apartment. We have 3 bedrooms, a garage and a backyard. Yes, I want to move into a newer, bigger house, but I really love the one we have.

I am grateful for our car. I would say carS, but Ian's is recently out of commission, so now we are down to one.

I am thankful that we have good friends and that one of them works at the same company as Ian, so they can carpool most days. I don't like being completely housebound.

I am thankful for my awesome swim class, buddies and coach and that it is so close to my house.

Lastly, I am grateful for allrecipes.com for supplying me with this recipe I have made 4 times in the last 2 months. I love cookies.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. shortening
2 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
15ish ounces of pumpkin (one small can or half of one big can)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice**
1/4-1/2 tsp. nutmeg
4 c. flour
1 bag milk chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients in order and mix well. Spoon generously onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 375 for 11-12 minutes. This recipe makes about 5 or 6 dozen and the cookies taste amazing warm and even better the next day. Not sure why. Enjoy! We certainly have/are.
**My own addition. If you don't have it they will probably turn out fine.

What are you grateful for today?