11.16.2009

Prepare yourself...

I'm sorry in advance to all you weak stomachs if you happen to view this.


So, Grady went mountain biking with some friends, and he crashed pretty good. The handle bar came down and jabbed him in the thigh. The crazy thing about these pictures is, I thought it was bad the 1st day!!!

DAY 1: (about 3 hrs after crashing)

DAY 2:

DAY 4:


Now, it's basically all black and starting to heal on the outside edges. Pretty nasty what a handlebar can do to you

11.12.2009

LP with Friends!

We planned a trip down to Lake Powell with our friends in September.
I have to say that Lake Powell in September is the greatest place on earth! The weather isn't too hot, or too cold, the water is warm from the whole summer, and the weather is great! We're talking glass the whole week!
And, my poor husband cut open his hand the second day and couldn't get his stitches wet for 24 hrs. So, basically when we left. Ya... that didn't work!
And not to mention that we don't have our children with us, so it's a little bit of paradise!
So, Ryan decided to tell us right before going in for lunch that it's fun to jump off the boat while going... 1 1/2 hours later we were ready to go in. Now, don't let the kids see these! It teaches all the wrong things!
But, it really was fun!!!


9.10.2009

Here's what we did this Summer...

Mother's Day was actually a disaster... Ayden decided to poop his pants all over the slide at the park, so I got to clean all that up, while Grady cleaned up Ayden. Seriously, I've never been so embarrassed in all my life. But, what you gonna do? Leave? Nope!!! Clean it up :)
But, on the bright side, Grady made me breakfast, I got a pretty gift from my cute boys and I got to talk to Angie on her mission.
Ayden took swimming lessons for the 1st time. It was so nice to have him learn the basics. That way he could be comfortable and not so reckless in the water. Watching him learn something as scary as swimming was so much fun. And, honestly he has never trusted me as much as he did his teacher.
Angie came home from her mission! It was so good to see her!!! Our family is finally complete! It was so cute- the kids, Luke, Afton, Ayden and Parker all lined up in front of us and held hands while waiting for her. They did it all by themselves. I WISH I had a picture of it. It was the cutest thing ever! The only sucky thing is she didn't get in until 11:00pm!!!
And then we went to New York... I'm sure you all have read that awesome saga! If not, take 1/2 hr and read the post. :) Here are some pictures from the fun parts.
I don't know if Grady said much about this museum, but it was the MOST AMAZING thing ever! It was HUGE and they had the coolest, funnest things for kids to do! If I lived in Rochester, we would have a season pass and go every day! I highly recommend it if anyone is ever near Rochester.
The 4th of July is always the
busiest, craziest, most fun day of the year! It starts with my family running the Freedom Run in Provo, followed by breakfast at Magelby's, boating (or sometimes 7 Peaks), BBQ's, fireworks, and then the Stadium of Fire fireworks. Gotta love it! Also, my son has a HUGE obsession with 'pato bugs'! It was like pulling teeth to get him to look away from them and smile for me for that super cute picture!
(And, me and my 3 sisters did NOT plan our shirts, but we thought it was so funny, we made my mom change and wear one too! I know! We're dorks!)
So, my baby Colton is getting SO BIG!!! This was him at about 3 & 4 months, and he's even bigger than that now! He's 6!!! He is super happy all the time! Loves to giggle, and has the bluest eyes ever! We are having so much fun with him!
Lake Powell
with the Harvey's was so much fun this year! We took Ayden this year and man did he LOVE it! He never even minded taking his naps or going to bed, cause he played so hard, he was exhausted!! He also didn't mind wearing his life jacket all the time, so that was nice!
We had a lot of fun this summer though... Swimming, going to the zoo, boating, dinosaur museum, farms, parks, you name it, we probably did it!

7.14.2009

Please, share in our misery...

(This is Grady typing - FYI. Prepare yourselves for a novel.)

We recently took a trip back to the Rochester, NY area. My grandmother passed away last December (future thanks for any condolences) at the young age of 98. Almost our whole family was able to go back to where they lived and where she was to be buried (just outside of Palmyra, where they grew up) even though we moved them out here about two years ago. We were so excited to go back with the kids. Little did we know the trip from hell awaited us.

We left on Wednesday, June 24th. While getting everything together that morning Kristy asked me to get our passports and birth certificates since we'd be visiting Niagara Falls (yep you need a passport for Canada now). I got everything together and realized we didn't have Colton's birth certificate. We spent the next 45 minutes tearing the house apart (and yelling at each other in the process :) before finally giving up and leaving late to the airport. Now we're both mad at each other and I'm flying to make sure we get there in time. We do, and get our bags checked, our tickets in hand, and head through Security, which with two kids, a stroller, a car seat, and multiple bags is one of the worst things ever.

But we make it to the terminal, where all my family is waiting only to have the employee at the gate tell everyone that all flights in and out of Chicago are delayed. Uh oh. She also mentioned that more than likely any connecting flights are also delayed. That gave us a faint glimmer of hope. We finally boarded and the flight went fine until we started to descend. Kristy had been sick the previous week (thanks to me) and now her ears wouldn't equalize and was in so much pain she was bawling from pain as we landed.

Having never been to Chicago's O'Hare airport, we were unprepared for the sheer madness and lack of direction available there. It took us 30 minutes to haul two kids and bags from one side of the airport to the other (after my computer back strap broke). We get to the terminal before they've boarded (which is completely packed) only to have the lady at the desk tell us they have no seats for us since they've been given away.

"WHAT!?"

Yep, they gave away our 13 seats because we weren't here a half hour before the original departure time, EVEN THOUGH THAT FLIGHT (AND EVERY OTHER FLIGHT) IS DELAYED!!

We begged, we pleaded, and they worked to get us on board. Only 11 of us made that flight, and my parents managed to get on a later flight into Rochester. Now none of us are together, but luckily I was able to get a seat with Ayden. He slept through the last part of the flight and woke up as we started descending. He needed to go the bathroom so I set him on my lap facing me thinking the guy at the back of the plane was waiting for the bathroom. I suddenly felt a warm sensation starting and my stomach and working its way down and realized I'm being peed on.

I pick up Ayden and go to the back of the plane. The guy...he's just stretching his legs. Bathrooms are all unoccupied. I clean us up as best I can and head back to my seat. Meanwhile, Kristy is by herself bawling because of the pain in her ears again. We finally land and I get off (naturally carrying as many things in front of me as possible - the pee stain on my tan shorts couldn't be more noticeable).

We get to baggage claim and grab Ayden's car seat, a bag for my parents, and that's it. Kristy's bag doesn't come. My brother's family's bags don't come. My parents other bag doesn't come and neither do the bags for my aunt and uncle. Awesome.

After waiting a half hour to get the rental car we try to get something to eat only not even grocery stores were open at midnight, so we head back to pick up my parents, hoping the rest of the bags will arrive. The only ones that show up is Kristy's and one of my brother's. So we head to the hotel.

The next day we all drive to Niagara Falls and the thunderstorm of thunderstorms hits just as we get into the city. It's completely pouring, there's lightning everywhere, and just as we come to the main area for the falls, lightning strikes a quarter mile from us and knocks out the credit card machines all around. We manage to pass an hour or two and finally the rain stops and we get to see the falls. Ayden loved and managed to get himself soaked chasing birds through the puddles (oh and we got in just fine without Colton's birth certificate, which we realized we actually have never received).

Then we left Niagara, got something to eat by our hotel and hit the sack. Kristy slept with Colton and I was with Ayden, and around 1:30 AM I am woken up by the feeling warm vomit all over my back. Ayden had thrown up on me and all over our bed. We call down to the desk, get new bed linens, I change, and we go back to sleep. 4 AM - same drill. Ayden throws up on me, the bed, and we get to do it all over again. (Ayden couldn't have been less concerned or sad, in fact at 4 AM he was ready to play with toys)

Next morning (Friday) we give him a little bit to eat, and head out with my family to go to Palmyra to see the church history sites. In our infinite wisdom, we fail to bring a second change of clothes for him, and just before we get off the freeway exit by Palmyra he throws up on himself and his car seat. We find a dollar store, buy him some clothes and try our best to clean up him and the car seat.

We finally get the Joseph Smith farm and I take Ayden in the Sacred Grove to try to find my family while Kristy feeds Colton in the car. We get all the way to the other entrance of the grove when Ayden says he needs to go the bathroom.

"Perfect. There's a bathroom right here."

We walk the 30 feet to the bathroom, and I start taking off his pants and underwear when I realize he's already gone. He's pooed his pants and it's run all down his legs. I spend the next 20 minutes hand washing his crappy clothes (pun!) and him in the sink of the bathroom.

Kristy, meanwhile, has no idea where I am and is waiting for me as the rest of the family has already headed down to the Hill Cumorah. We put our brains together, and decide to finally put Ayden in a diaper and the day goes by much more smoothly.

Saturday is the funeral and burial. The funeral goes by without a hitch, and we travel to the cemetery just outside of Palmyra. After the burial, we decide to go to a lake, but instead of Lake Ontario 20 minutes away from our hotel, we drive for 2 hours to the Finger Lakes to go on some paddle boats there. Except they closed 30 minutes before we get there. We hang out at the lake for a half hour when all the women want to go shopping. We go to main street in the little town - closed.

So we all go eat at a restaurant and leave to go back to our hotel. Kristy and I leave a few minutes before everyone else and ended up taking a different path. After about an hour and a half we're just getting ready to get off the freeway close to our hotel when a deer jumps out into the highway and I hit it with our rental car. The worst part, is Kristy was sleeping and woke up when I jerked the wheel slightly in hopes of avoiding the deer. So the first thing she was was the car meeting the deer.

We make it to the hotel around 10 PM and check the damage to the car. Bumper broken; grill broken, hood bent, and the radiator is leaking. Hooray!

After a call with our insurance that night and with the car rental company the next day they ask me to drive it into the airport rental office (about 25 minutes away). Luckily, not a lot of the antifreeze and leaked out. I just barely got it here before the thing overheated on me and got a new car. Meanwhile, everyone else was going to go to church at 10:30, except the ward there met at 9:30, so that worked out really well as well.

It starts pouring again as we make our way to the airport that afternoon, but luckily nothing was delayed and we make it to Cincinnati without a problem. The flight to Salt Lake was great, and Ayden slept most of that too. He ended up waking up as we landed and was crying because he couldn't get comfortable on the seat so I picked him up and set him on my lap (facing out) and once again, I found myself with a warm sensation all over my legs. He peed on me again. Luckily, Kristy didn't have any ear problems coming home.

So, in a nutshell, this is how our trip went: delayed flight, almost missed another flight, lost luggage, potential ruptured ear drum, peed on, thrown up on (times 2), pooped on (sort of), throw up in car, hit deer, car overheated, and peed on (again).

And yet, we still had a lot of fun on the trip. Go figure.

5.07.2009

Our little family!
Colton is all blurry, but this is how Ayden smiles when you ask him to, and I just had to show you all!
Grandma & Papa Stoner

Grandma & Papa Parker
Great Grandma and Papa Jorgensen
Colton's baby blessing was on Sunday. Graydon gave him a beautiful blessing. He blessed him with so many wonderful things! I'm so grateful to have such a happy, healthy baby. We also have such great family who support us in all that we do. Life is good! Now, if I can just get my butt into my clothes...

4.25.2009

Photo Shoot






Potty Training...

This little bum has been a common sight around our house the last couple of weeks. So, I decided after changing two kids in diapers for 2 weeks that I didn't like it. So, I tried potty training Ayden, and he took to it very quickly! It really only took a week for him to go on his own without me reminding him every two seconds. But, the second week, we started going out and he'd have an accident, cause he would forget. So, then we finally got him to understand while I was running errands. But, then this week has been a whole new week! He's had like a million accidents when he's out playing with kids. Apparently he just gets a little too excited! So, hopefully he'll get the hang of it before too long. I just have to keep reminding him for now. And, I must say, it is totally worth all the work! Good job Ayden, mommy is so proud of you!

4.20.2009

Easter 2009

Colton and Ayden- Easter 2009

I'm so sorry I've been MIA. I just have so many better things to do :) he he... not really, but I have been busy.


Easter was awesome! Ayden is the egg finding King! He pretty much cleaned up every hunt we went to. He must have his mom's competitive side! The first hunt, he got like 5 and called it good, but once he realized that they have candy inside... Every other hunt was a whole new story! Ya, we went to 3 egg hunts this year. (Ward party, friend party, and a family one)


I was able to teach in YW on Easter, so this year really had a lot of meaning and spirituality for me. One thing that really touched me this year is that the Savior suffered every pain we've ever felt for us. That includes the pains that we have from other people's decisions and sins that affect us. I've really been grateful for my Savior this year and the comfort that I've been able to feel during my tough times through the Holy Ghost. I love my Savior Jesus Christ!







3.25.2009

A few more pictures...




Grandma Parker

Just hanging out in the room

Watching his show

Looking at pictures together. Ayden liked visitors as well.

Our cute friends the Benders!

3.24.2009

My little stinker!!!

So, I left all the boys home to go to Young Womens on Sunday. Ayden was downstairs watching a show, and Grady was upstairs with Colton. Now, anyone that has a 2 year old will know that you have to actually check on them every once in a while...

When I came home, after being gone for an hour, I came down to check on Ayden and guess what?? He found some pink acrylic paint and decided to help me decorate. First, his face, hands and clothes, then, my table, the carpet, the couch and a pillow. Isn't that so nice of him?
I know, you are all thinking right now, why the crap didn't I take a picture! Because I was so mad, I didn't want to ever remember this moment, I just wanted to get it out of my new carpet as soon as possible!!!! Now, a proud moment for me right now, is that I actually got the paint out of everything except his shirt. And, seriously, these were not small amounts of paint. about a 2'x2' piece of carpet covered, and the ENTIRE yellow pillow was pink. Apparently the secret to getting paint out is carpet cleaner. It was the only thing that would work. Spray and wash did nothing.
As much as I wanted to be soooooo mad at Grady and point fingers and yell... I am the one that left my paints out where Ayden would see them. So, pretty much both our faults, equally!

And, this is why I need my craft room back! Enough of the office being in the family room!

My cute little stinker, with his beautiful eyes!

3.05.2009

Hi Colton!

So today was busy.

We woke up early and drove to the hospital for Kristy's induction appointment. They got everything hooked up, but it seemed like it sure was taking a while. Then, all of the sudden the nurse checked her and said "Let's get the doctor in here and get started." About 30 minutes later, we said hi to Colton Kimball Stoner.

He weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and measured 20.5 inches long.

I've attached a few pictures we took (we cut Kristy and break and didn't include any of her after delivery). We'll get some better pictures up soon!