Random Pics & Thoughts

Now that the Christmas and New Year's postings are out of the way, I just have some random thoughts and pictures to post.

Ray - As much as I don't understand his company's culture, I've not seen Ray as dedicated and fulfilled as he is in his job right now. He finally got recognized for all his hard work and dedication to his company by being named Human Resources Employee of the Year at the company Christmas party in December. I'm so proud of him and glad that he has finally been recognized as a contributing member of the team. He works very hard and I know he does his best to balance work and family and being in Utah, has a lot more balancing to do than most of his co-workers whose wives stay at home...I appreciate his hard work and doing all that he can to help on a daily basis with the kids and be home when I need him to be.

Me - After two relatively uneventful, textbook pregnancies, this pregnancy has been more emotionally and physically difficult than I was prepared for. I was much sicker during the first trimester than I've ever been and normally, I can drink milk by the gallons but have had an aversion to it this time. Also, my emotions are a complete mess...happy one minute and literally crying over spilled milk the next. I'm hoping that all this differences add up to a different gendered baby and at least they are solidifying the concept that this is definitely our last child...NO MATTER WHAT! I can't wait to find out next week whether we'll be pulling out the boys clothes again or whether I can go shopping for pinks and yellows and purples.

Kaden - Shortly before Christmas, we had parent/teacher conference with Kaden's pre-school teacher, Miss Bev. It was so surreal for me to be at a parent/teacher conference hearing about how my sweet Kaden is doing so well and above average in almost every category. The thing that made me the most happy is that he is nice to everyone and gets along with all his class members as well as loves to read and learn...that is one thing I've always wanted to instill in my kids is a love for reading and education so let's hope it continues. I love him so much and am so proud of him and hope I can continue to strive to be the kind of mom he deserves.

Jackson - What can I say about this little guy. He is so much fun and is talking like crazy and says at least one thing on a daily basis that just cracks us up. However, we can already tell that he is going to be very different from his big brother. He's going to be a jokester and much more daring than his brother. In the last month, we've made emergency visits to the dentist and the doctor for a chipped tooth (which hasn't turned black yet...we're keeping our fingers crossed) and a cut chin (which luckily only required glue rather than stitches). I'm not sure if it's his age or his personality but I feel like I need to keep him in a glass bubble to keep him from hurting himself right now...any opinions or stories to share?

Overall, I'm so grateful for my family. It's amazing to watch how closely bonded Kaden and Jackson are and how Jackson does EVERYTHING his big brother does and how much he looks up to him. It's also amazing to see the love and respect that the boys have for Ray and how much he means to them. I know more fully understand why it's so devastating for children of divorce or who lose a parent in death. The bond between a child and a parent is so automatic but so amazingly strong. During the many snow storms and extremely cold weather that we've had, I find myself so grateful for a home to live in and heat to keep us warm and with the economy right now, that both Ray and I have good jobs that look to keep us employed until this recession is over. But, it does make me realize we need to focus on our food storage and building up our savings account just in case. Most of all, I realize who the most important people in my life are and that is Ray, Kaden, Jackson and this new baby to come and no matter where we live compared to our other family members, we will be fine as long as we stick together and stay close to one another. I pray that I will never experience the death of a child or the death of a spouse as either of these experiences must be unimaginably painful to go through. See, I told you this pregnancy was making me an emotional mess, didn't I? Love to all!

New Year's 2009

For New Year's this year we went up to Smithfield and stayed a couple of nights with my sister and her family. It's always a challenge traveling with Jackson since he doesn't sleep as well anywhere else as he does in his own bed and he's just at that age where it's hard to take him places since he's constantly on the go and knows no boundaries but we attempted it anyway...making sure to take the DVD player and lots of Baby Einstein's in the car and Kaden taking his Leapster. Our next car is definitely going to have a built-in DVD player so I don't have to turn around 20 times to push buttons, adjust the screen, etc. We went up on New Year's Eve morning and the boys played and napped until evening when we went to see the Aggies play basketball at the Spectrum. That night, I think we all fell asleep before the ball dropped so it was a pretty exciting New Year's as you can imagine. The next day, we took the boys (minus Jackson) bowling where I was the lowest score...I think I barely made it over 50. I used to be a pretty good bowler but being pregnant definitely makes everything a bit more difficult...I just couldnt' get my body to do what it was supposed to.

After bowling, we had pizza at famous Frederico's (my all time favorite) and then went home for an evening of Wii. My sister's family got a Wii for Christmas and they had just bought guitar hero to go with it so we Wii bowled and pretended we were rockstars for the rest of the night...it was pretty fun and Guitar Hero is actually extremely challenging and Ray pretty much beat everyone he played...I think he was meant to be a guitar rock star in another life, had he not met me. Enjoy the pictures.

It was hard to get Kaden to smile because he was always concentrating so hard.

Best friends

Cousin Kyler

I finally got kind of a smile

Kasen and Kaden racing motorcyles at the fun park after bowling

Jackson just content to play with the toys

Christmas 2008

I'm finally getting around to posting some Christmas pictures. Despite both Ray and I having 2 weeks off, it was actually pretty busy getting ready for Christmas, post-Christmas sickness, celebrating for New Year's, and cleaning up from Christmas before going back to work. We got most of our Christmas on video so no pictures of Christmas morning but I do have a couple of Kaden & Jackson's encounter with Santa at the ward Christmas dinner and our trip to temple square with the boys that wasn't quite as fun and successful as we had hoped. Kaden is always asking me when we're going to ride on a train so we throught it might be fun to ride the TRAX from South Towne to downtown Salt Lake. As should have been expected, the excitement wore off about half way to Salt Lake and it was all we could do to keep the boys entertained until we got to downtown. It was freezing cold the night we went to temple square so we quickly walked through and then headed back to the TRAX and went home and had hot chocolate.

Our Christmas Eve was pretty quiet since we just spent it at home with the four of us. Despite us telling Kaden over and over again that it was Christmas Eve, he still thought the next day was Christmas Eve and didn't really understand that Santa would be coming that night and Jackson was absolutely oblivious to all that was going to happen so we got them to bed as usual and they had no trouble falling asleep. Kaden's bedroom door has a full view of the Christmas tree so we knew that he would notice if Santa had come as soon as he walked out his door and sure enough, he did. About 7 a.m., he came into our room and was so excited about the new presents under the tree, especially his "bigger" bike that he had asked for and Santa had brought so we got up with him and went downstairs, letting Jackson sleep a little longer before getting him up but soon we could hear Jackson stirring and talking and so began our Christmas morning. I was so worried that Kaden would just tear through his presents, not really seeming to care about any of them but we actually had to keep telling him to keep opening, he was so excited about each one. Overall, Christmas was a success and I think Ray was as excited or more than Kaden about Christmas this year!

Viva La Vida!

For Ray's birthday (way back in August!) I had gotten him tickets to see Coldplay in concert. Well, the date finally came and we went to see Coldplay in concern on November 22nd at the Energy Solutions Arena. It was by far the best live concert I've ever been to...we had such a great time...even the warm up band (Sleepercar) was really good. Coldplay is definitely not just another English band, Chris Martin is extremely talented and humble. It was a great evening with dinner at P.F. Chang's beforehand and no rushing out the door or rush to get home since grandma was staying with the kids. I hope that we can go see them again...it was definitely worth the pricey tickets!

Halloween 2008

Well, I'm not sorry to say that Halloween has come and gone. I really don't know why but I just really don't like Halloween and I don't think I ever really have. Luckily, I don't work where Ray works because it's pretty much mandatory that every department pick a theme each year and every employee participates and dresses up in support of their department's theme and then all of the families and kids can come to the office and "trick or treat" around the building. For those of you that can't tell, Ray's department chose Batman and he dressed up as Two Face. Kaden chose to go to Ray's work on Halloween instead of going to pre-school and having his school party. I don't think he really cared where he got to go as long as he got to dress up and get candy. All in all, I think it was a good Halloween but I hope I can get some more Halloween spirit so I can make it even more fun for the kids.

Our pirate-themed pumpkin

Iron Man

Little Ninja

Iron Man, Two Face, Little Ninja (Jackson wasn't ever quite sure about dad as Two Face)

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip 2008

Kaden's field trip for October was to the pumpkin patch and Cornbelly's Maze at Thanksgiving Point. Although it was a little windy and kind of cold, the kids had a great time. Everyone got in for about $3 each and each person got to ride down to the pumpkin patch on the hay wagon and take home as big a pumpkin as they could carry. The kids had a great time jumping on the huge inflatable "pillow", riding the cow train, making their way through the corn maze, and many other kid activities. We stayed there until they kicked us out to get ready for the evening crowd...it was a very fun time! Enjoy the pictures.

I love his face in this picture, reminds me of a kid in candy store...sitting in the middle of two girls!

With the scarecrows at the entrance to the maze and activities

Most of Kaden's class

Mom and Kaden with the pumpkins we picked

Kaden on the cow train ride

September Field Trip - Tracy Aviary

As I mentioned in the earlier blog, Kaden (and me) had his first school field trip on Wednesday, September 24th. His class was studying the letter "B" and had been talking and learning about different kids of birds. So, his first field trip was to the Tracy Aviary where they got to go in the Amazon Adventure and feed the birds (I think they're parrotts?). As usual, I forgot my camera but luckily, one of the other moms was nice enough to take some pictures of him so thanks Melissa! Next month's field trip is the Cornbelly Maze and pumpkin patch at Thanksgiving Point which should be lots of fun and really get us in the mood for Halloween (my least favorite holiday). Enjoy the pics.

Our Funny Jackson

I just wanted to share some funny pictures of our sweet Jackson. He just turned 20 months old and he's still such a sweetie. He's a little more mellow than his brother but also a little less sensitive but he really is just such a happy kid all of the time, unless he's sick or there's something else wrong.

I have to share the story of the first two pictures and why he's wearing a Jazz hat. I got a call from our office in Houston and was requested to deliver Deron Williams' personal tax returns to him for signatures at his home here in Utah (Murray). For those of you who might not know who Deron Williams is, he is the point guard for the Jazz NBA team and is a very big deal around here and was a big part of the U.S. Olympic basketball team. So, needless to say it was pretty exciting but I was pretty nervous. It will probably be the closest I'll ever come to meeting a celebrity in my lifetime. Anyway, I took a nice Jazz jersey and a child's Jazz hat to his house with me and he was gracious enough to sign them so Jackson is wearing Kaden's signed hat below...doesn't he look like such a homeboy?

"What up?"

And, being as tempermental as almost 2-year-olds can be, we went from happy to ticked off, in a matter of minutes!

This is what happens when independence kicks in. But, what can you do....you just have to brace for the mess. Luckily I wasn't home and Ray got to clean up the mess!

Lately, he really likes to pull his shirt up and show his six pack abs, especially when he meets new people and is around strangers...not sure if I should be worried or not.

First Day of School!

Kaden started pre-school on Wednesday, September 3rd. His teacher is Miss Bev and he goes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 12:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. He has about 11 kids in his class and so far, he absolutely loves it! But, I never realized that pre-school (emphasis on the "pre") was going to be so hectic and make my life even crazier. Some of the things that I now get to add to my list of to-dos:

• Provide the theme related snack once a month (apples for the letter "A", muffins for the letter "M", etc.)
• Monthly field trips - parents required
• Monthly book orders - helping Kaden understand that we can't order every book on the 3 4-page, front and back, book orders that are sent home
• Mandatory parent volunteer hours
• Weekly show and tell (every Friday for the boys)
• Other special class events (funny feet day for "F" and bring small pumpkin for decorating)
• Examine every store-bought package for some type of savings that can go to the school (example: Box Tops for Education, saving old ink cartridges, etc.)
• Parent teacher conferences

I really honestly thought that pre-school would be just something fun for KADEN to do but it's a family affair...but I guess it's good practice for the next 13 years? And, I've only got one in pre-school right now so it is beyond me how I'll ever juggle more than one kid in school at a time. I think I'm going to have to start watching Jon & Kate plus 8 and take some of her organization tips into account. But, to see how much he's learning and how much fun he's having and to hear his teacher tell us what a kind, polite boy he is and how much she loves having him in class (I'm sure she says that to every child's parents) makes the extra work well worth it. We just went on his first field trip so keep reading to see how that went...it was a lot of fun. But, on a setimental note, I did tear up after I walked him in on his first day which I was a little surprised at because I've been dropping him off at daycare for the last 4 years but he just looked so grown-up and I think I realized that this was the start of a different phase for him.

Balls Family Reunion

Well, I know I'm only about 6 weeks late on posting...again...but think how much fun it is to blog on and see so many new things rather than just one update. The week after I posted the last blog, Ray and Kaden went to Washington for the Balls Family Reunion. Jackson and I stayed at home because it was extremely busy for me at work and I really didn't want to spend at least 24 hours in a car with Jackson in a 4 days period. Kaden did so great on the drive...we made sure he had his Leapster, coloring books and crayons, and dad's iPod with movies and the portable DVD player with lots of movies...Ray was so impressed with how well he did and they had a great time. They played in the lake behind grandma and grandpa's house and got to slide off the pontoon slide.

But, I was very anxious to have them home safely late Sunday night and you don't realize how lonely and quiet the house is when everyone that's supposed to be there isn't. I could tell that Jackson really missed his big brother and it was actually harder to watch him without Kaden there because he wanted my attention all the time without brother there to play with him. Enjoy the pictures of their end of summer vacation back up to the Emerald City.

Kaden with his favorite Aunt Katie. We love you Katie!

Hiking

Skipping Rocks

Wading