What a Good Boy!

This morning I was really tired, so when Korben woke up I got him some cheerios and milk and then laid on the couch. 45 minutes later I woke up to a very quite house and had this panicky feeling because I couldn't hear Korben. I jumped up to see the damage and saw a little fort of chairs and a few scattered toys..."nothing damaged so far", I thought. I went upstairs to find Korben and found him sitting on his bed playing with his stuffed animals. With a big grin, he informed me that he had pooped and gave me a big hug. Is this kid for real? He had 45 minutes in which he could have destroyed the home without me noticing but instead he played quietly with his toys and waited patiently until his lazy mommy woke up. I am so blessed!

Living Life

Like many of the other blogs, I don't have any main events that took place this last week, just regular boring life. So I thought I would just share a lot of little tidbits of the last week.

Friday - I needed to return some things to a few stores and asked Mike if he would mind watching the boys for me so I could just go really fast. However, I only made it to Old Navy and ended up shopping there for clothes instead. I don't remember the last time I went clothing shopping all by myself, and I had an absolute blast. I was able to get 2 pairs of really cute pants. Not only did I have fun, but I found out that I was 2 sizes smaller than I thought I was, so I also felt pretty good about myself. (I knew my pants were baggy, but didn't know how much). Old Navy was also having a 40% off sale on toddler clothes. I was able to get Korben a few pairs of jeans for a really good price. He has needed them for a while, but I am too cheap to pay full price for anything so have been putting it off. It seems like I just bought him pants that he has now grown out of. I'm sure glad I have another little boy that I know is going to get use out of them!

Saturday - Mike is in the process of moving offices, and we have been storing a lot of our stuff at the old office. We decided to move as much of it as we could alone since it wouldn't really be right to ask the employees to move our personal stuff. Wow- I had no idea how much junk we have that needs to be gone through. I am not excited for that task, but have put it on a list of things I want to get done soon. While Mike was making an extra trip that was just chairs, I decided to go to a consignment store nearby just to see what they had. I ended up finding the cutest little church outfit for Logan. It looks brand new, is adorable on him, and was only $4-can't beat that! I also found him some cute little shoes, and ended up paying $2 for a toy broom for Korben (maybe now he will leave the nasty big broom alone).

Sunday - The day that I dread actually ended up being really pleasant. We were on time for church (I have found that packing the church bags the night before saves a ton of time). For the second week in a row now, Korben fell asleep as we were entering the chapel. We laid him down on the bench and he slept for the entire hour of sacrament meeting which meant that I heard the entire thing! We also got a report from the nursery that he was an excellent little boy for the second week in a row; YAY!

Sunday night is always hard for me because it just seems to drag on forever. We decided to get out the playdoh for Korben, but instead of playing with it he wanted to stack the canisters as high as they would go. Of course he would stack little ones among big ones, and Mike and I were in awe at how the tower would stay standing even when it was slanting the whole time (see picture). After a few falling towers from the table, we decided to move all of the canisters to the floor for a little quieter crash when they all went tumbling. We have decided that at some point this week we need to get him some blocks.


Monday- Monday morning I watched Josh for Kathy while she went to a hair appointment. Then she was good enough to watch the boys so that I could get the returns done that I had neglected on Saturday. However, I ended up putting them off again because I met up with Mike and we went to lunch instead. Another quiet meal without the boys!

In the afternoon Kathy and I decided to go to a game store to look for some new games. Because of the writer's strike that has been going on Mike and I haven't been watching very much tv lately. This has been awesome because we have replaced it with good old game playing. In the last few weeks we have bought 6 new games. We spend nearly every night either playing games with another couple, or just the two of us. It brings back memories of when we used to play games when we were first married. However, yatzee and battleship were getting a little old, so it's nice to have some new ones to play. :)

Tuesday - I spent most of yesterday reading Pride and Prejudice. I went to the library with the intention to get some Shannon Hale books, but they didn't have a single one on hand...so instead I decided to read Pride and Prejudice. I figured that if I liked the movie so much, the book was probably excellent. I haven't been disappointed although the language isn't as much fun to read as it is to hear. I do have one beef with the movie now though because in the book Mr Darcy smiles a lot more...I think they should have kept that part in the movie. Hello! Collin Firth smiling...need I say more?

Last night we decided to take Korben to the Kids Club with his cousins. First we went to Pizza Hut since it was kids eat free night. I love those nights because I don't have to cook dinner. At the Kids Club I spent an hour and a half chasing Korben and Josh through the tunnels and over the slides and into the ball pit. It was nice to get some exersize in a way other than my elliptical. I have noticed that I have been extrememly happy lately but I couldn't really pinpoint why. I realized as I was chasing these two boys around that the reason I have been so much happier is because I have been exersizing regularly. Exersize makes endorphins and endorphins make you happy (and happy people just don't kill their husbands :)

So even though I didn't do anything really amazing or post worthy this week, I can't say it was really boring. I have just been doing what we all do...living day to day life. Maybe something more important will happen this next week. :)

Happy Anniversary

Thursday was our 4th anniversary. Even as I write those words I can't believe it has been that long. Where did all the time go?

The day was pretty low-key compared to most anniversaries. Mike is in the process of moving offices, so had to go to work, and I hadn't gotten him a gift yet so ended up spending 2 hours in the mall. (2 very LONG hours packing around 2 kids...I really need to get a double stroller).

Jake and Jess offered to watch the kids for the night, but rather than get a hotel or something we had already decided to make the cruise our anniversary trip this year. So instead we decided to just go to dinner and ride the Portland tram.


The tram was really neat. It was built to shuttle people from one part of the hospital at the top of the hill, to another part at the bottom. It travels 3,300 feet from the bottom to the top. It is a beautiful sight to see all of the Portland/Vancouver landscape from the air. And at only $4 a person it was well worth it.



For dinner we decided to go to a nice restaurant called Claimjumper. It is a little pricy but has excellent food. It was mostly nice just to go to dinner without the kids.

My favorite part of the anniversaries or birthdays or Mother's Days, is the card that I know I am going to get. Mike always writes the sweetest things that inevitably make me cry. It is really nice to have a note that tells you how loved you are (it's not like I don't know, it's just nice to have it in writing). The cards are my favorite part of the gift giving. In fact, if we skipped the gifts and just did the card I would be perfectly content. However, that doesn't mean I wasn't excited to get the dvd set of Pride and Prejudice. How can a girl not be happy about that? It is the special edition, released for the first time in widescreen. Even better, is the promise that Mike made to watch the ENTIRE thing with me some time.

Of course the anniversary didn't end after that, but one hardly speaks of such things (in a blog anyway :). Suffice it to say it was a great anniversary. It's been a good 4 years.

Bumbo

Just in the last week, Logan has been desperately trying to sit up. He is no longer content laying back in his bouncer or swing, but constantly wants to be sitting upright so that he can see everything. I saw a seat that I thought might help him called the Bumbo Sitter Seat. I was skeptical with how well it would work, especially with the $40 price tag. However, after seeing how well it worked for him in the store I decided to check craigslist to see if I could find one cheaper. To my great excitement I found one for only $15 dollars a few miles from our house.

So now Logan can sit up as much as he is able. He gets tired of holding his head up after about 15 minutes, but during those minutes he has been able to sit next to me while I fold clothes, do the dishes and even put my makeup on. He grins and giggles the whole time until his head gets too heavy. It is so cute to see such a tiny squirt sitting up and it is making things a lot easier around the Harrison household.

Trying to sit up on the couch...

So cute in his new Bumbo seat!

The Funeral

Today we watched the funeral for President Hinkley. First let me say that it was a beautiful funeral and I cried lots. However, the thing that stood out to me was how much laughter there was. There was joking and funny stories, and laughter through the tears. It wasn't disrespectful in any way, if anything it showed the truth of what we have all been taught-that this life is not the end. Of course it is sad, and we will miss him, but he is in a better place with his beloved wife...how can you not be happy about that? I loved hearing the more personal stories of his sense of humor. I hope that I can have a sense of humor about me even in the worst of times.

After the funeral there was a little "Remembrance of President Hinkley" showing while the caravan of cars went to the cemetery. My favorite part was the very end where they played his testimony. In a way it was a farewell from him to us, and what a powerful and beautiful farewell it was.

Yummy

Tonight I made Kimber's pizza pockets. It was a hit to say the least. Mike loved them and was so excited that there was enough to take to work the next day. I made half pepperoni and half canadian bacon/pineapple. I am usually a cb/p fan, but I really liked the pepperoni. The recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks Kimber!

Celia Garth

Well, I finished the book. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with Luke...(It's not that I didn't like Jimmy, Luke was just her soul mate). My only complaint with the book is that it ended. I wish we could see the rest of their lives as they try to figure out how to live together without all the adventure.

My favorite line was something Luke said, "Celia, when a man gets to the place where he doesn't care about his country nor his character nor his sense of duty, where he doesn't care about one single thing but a woman-then, Celia, hes' got it bad. And my dear, that's the way I've got it." Oh be still my heart. Is he the perfect man or what?! I hope that Mike feels about me the way Luke felt about her.

I loved the book because it really made me appreciate so many things in my life. Little tiny things like hot water, a refrigerator, pants, hospitals, sewing machines, etc. However, I mostly loved how tough Celia was. I love what Vivian says to her...that you just do it because you have to. How true. We all have things that seem impossible (for 2 sisters right now pregnancy may feel like one of them), but somehow we make it through; sometimes by luck, sometimes with help, and sometimes by sheer willpower.

Thank you girls for recommending it to me. I'm glad that I am now an official member of the Celia Garth club.