Eefan Gary Odum

Here is a little bit about my darling Ethan (or, as he says it, "Eefan Gary Odum"). He loves to tell people his name. Ethan will be 4 on May 31st. He is such a sweet and loving boy. From the day Ethan was born, he was a cuddler. I remember that even in the Hospital, if I put him down, he would cry and wouldn't sleep unless I was holding him. Thankfully, he does sleep without me now, but he is still the cuddliest of my children. He is very tender hearted. He gets his feelings hurt very easily (sometimes a little too easily). He is finally really talking! I worried for a long time about the fact that he just didn't really talk. Finally, his Doctor told me it was actually pretty normal for boys to talk so late, and I relaxed. Now, he talks alot, but sometimes I am the only one who understands him. Today, he was saying a prayer over breakfast with Dan and Dan heard him say, "I pray da food, and Jesus died, and bless Donald Duck". Well, it turns out, he was actually blessing "Uncle Doug" who is on a mission. He really does make me laugh. Ethan loves to play video games, to the point where it drives me crazy! He loves anything to do with superheroes. Spiderman, Superman, Buzz Lightyear, Batman, anything to do with them, he loves. Ethan loves to "play fight". He loves to wrestle with "May-May", atleast until he gets hurt. Today, he told me that he has "big muscles". I laughed and said, "that's because you ate your dinner last night" and he told me, "Yeah, and now I can punch bad guys, with my muscles".  Ethan loves his baby brother. He still calls him "baby", which is my fault because I do too. I'm not sure if he even knows that his name is really Aidan. Ethan loves to watch movies. Once he watches a movie once, he usually becomes obsessed and then he only wants to watch that movie for about a week or two straight. He just finished with Ratatouillie, and now he is onto Enchanted and Care Bears. He is such a fun little boy and I love him so much! 

McKenna's First Birthday!!!

McKenna's First Birthday! McKenna's birthday was on April 10th and we lucked out that we were up at Papa's house for her party. She was so adorable! She is always such a sweet and happy girl. Dan and I love her so much, we can't get enough of her. She was so cute with her cake, she picked at it for forever before she finally picked the whole thing up an shoved it in her mouth. She was so sweet about sharing her birthday spoils. She let my boys all take turns playing in her new wagon, which they all loved. I can't believe that she is already a year old!

Before and After

Ok, so I have been needing to paint these bedside tables for about 4 years now, but I knew I wanted them white, but that Dan didn't want them white. So, I finally decided that I didn't care what Dan thought about it and painted them the way I wanted them. I also replaced the knobs. I LOVE the way they turned out! They are exactly what I wanted. I am so thankful that Lori let me use her basement and also helped me and endured the terrible fumes since we used spray paint for most of it. I'm so happy to finally have this project done. Now, onto the other million I have on my list.

She's got legs....and she knows how to use them......

Ethan has a new saying. The other morning, Ethan came and woke me up, but I hadn't slept the best, so I was reluctant to get up. I kept laying there and he said to me, "Mom, get up" and I said, "I can't" and he told me, "Yes you can, you got wegs (legs)". I started to chuckle and got up, and as soon as I got my legs over the side of the bed, he yelled "See, I told you you got wegs!!!". So now, every time he asks me to do something and I don't do it immediately, he reminds me "But Mom, you got WEGS!". 

Unlikely Matches

You know how sometimes you will see couples together and think, "what?". Well, this is kind of an example of that, only not with couples, but with nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles. So, let me start with this question......if you were a tiny little girl (1 1/2 years old) and you had a choice between a big stinky man (Uncle Koby) and your cute Aunts (Saesha and Saedi), who would you choose? I mean, is it even a contest? And yet somehow, Saesha and I have never yet had Sage (my adorable neice, who shares the same birthday as me) willingly come to us. How is this fair? She is the cutest thing, but she seriously won't even come within ten feet of me. I can get her to smile and wave to me from across the room, but that is about it.  So, here was the other odd couple of the night. Aidan and Kade. There really isn't any reason why they shouldn't love each other, but I did think that it was super cute and funny that of everyone at my Mom's house on Sunday, the person he chose to snuggle with was his Uncle Kade. And the last picture, of course, is the only one that makes perfect sense. If I was a tiny kid, I would sit on Saesha's lap forever and never want to get off. Heck, I want to sit on her lap right now, she's just so stinking beautiful, awesome, wonderful, amazing........need I go on? Can you tell I think my sister is pretty neat?

A Late Easter

Twice a year on Conference Sunday, my family all gets together at my Mom and Dad's house for lunch between the morning and afternoon session. This year, Mom decided to combine it with our Family Easter Egg Hunt. The kids had so much fun, as you can see. 

General Conference

I love General Conference! I always look forward to General Conference, but this year, I was especially excited to hear from our new Prophet, President Monson. I remember when I was a little girl, probably about 10, President Monson spoke at Conference and told a story about a grandson of his, who went around "home teaching" the neighbors. The story made me laugh and laugh and from that moment on, I was hooked. I have always been a HUGE Pres. Monson fan. When I was pregnant with Mason, I got to sing with a choir that my sister in law, Lori's, cousin was the director of and we were chosen to sing for a party being held for Pres. Monson. That was a major thrill for me. I remember him looking directly at me and smiling (I think because of the fact that I was about 8 months pregnant). Anyway, my point is, I have always loved the man so much, but I won't try to deny my depression about Pres. Hinckley being gone. President Hinckley was the prophet for the majority of my life, and the only Prophet that I very distinctly remember the teachings of. I have seriously lived in dread of the day that he would pass away, and when it did come, I was more than a little upset. I cried and cried when Dan told me, and I continued to be very emotional about it for weeks and weeks. Even now, it's very hard for me to believe that he is gone. However, having the opportunity to sustain Pres. Monson and then being able to listen to him speak yesterday, was the final comfort that I needed. What an amazing blessing it is to have a living Prophet! 

Because I'm 5 Now....

Ever since Mason has turned 5, he thinks that that is the answer to every question. Mason, why are you so smart? Because I'm five now. Mason, where did you learn to do that? It's just because I'm five now. We hear this about 10 times every day, and it always cracks me up. Well, today Dan was taking him to preschool and Dan told him that he wanted him to be a little boy again and he said, "I can't because I'm 5 now" and Dan said, "that's it, do you want me to spank you?" and Mason said, "Dad, spanking me won't make me a little boy. Spanking me makes me cry, but it doesn't make me little." 

Farewell Ladies Brunch

Today we had a farewell brunch for two of our cute neighbors. Lydia Liddle and Christi Anderson are going to be gone for the summer with their husbands. So, we all got together and had some delicious food, and of course gabbed for hours and hours. I loved it! I love our neighborhood, we have such amazing neighbors. I was really nervous when we moved here that I wouldn't like the neighborhood or the ward, but I am happy to announce that I couldn't love the entire setup more. But, it is going to be a bummer to have Lydia and Christi gone this summer, I was just barely getting to know them!! But, hopefully we'll all keep in touch and then we can all be way excited to be back together at the end of the summer. For recipes, click here.

SWEET!

Ok, I've never heard Mason say this before, but I am making him some Mac'n'Cheese and he is sitting on a stool watching it boil. It almost boiled over, but I got there in time and turned down the heat and he said "WOAH, SWEET!" Uncle Doug would be so proud!

Timers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I've started timing my kids while they play Xbox 360, because otherwise, they play forever and I lose track of time and Ethan only gets to play 10 minutes, because Mason hogs the paddle. So today, my nephew Kolton is over playing and I have been giving them each 10 minutes at a time with the paddle (it's a one player game-TMNT). Well, Mason's turn came up and I went in to check on them and found that he had re-set the timer to 20 minutes. They are getting way too smart!                                   Just so everyone knows, Dan really wants our blog to be a record of all the funny things our kids do and say everyday, so I hope we don't bore everyone to death!