The Mortensens

Happy birthday Grayson!

2011-09-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

august.30 195/365

We had a Cat in the Hat birthday party with some close friends and family for Gray's 1st birthday. We were a few weeks early so that we could squeeze it in while Nate was in town.

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Cheers!

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Happy birthday grandma

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Our lifeline to Nate these past three months....FACETIME!!!

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The best part about building a lego tower is, of course, knocking it down.

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Playtime with Aunt Ky

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Trying to get those chubby wubby little things to work:)

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Our own lil' John Wayne

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A little photo message we sent to dad in Michigan

Full disclosure: a few of these photos are from the archives of the last few months. Yikes, I'll try harder. I made it over the halfway hump...thank goodness.

July 24th-August 18th

2011-09-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

I have been a total blog slacker lately. Call it unmotivated. Call it burnt out. Call it being a single mom while dad is out of state. But, I have still be photographing and will get caught up on this blog.

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I needed a photo for the new photography blog that I have in the works, and so my mom snapped a a few....okay more than a few shots of me.

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Summer days

august.16 181/365

On the run...

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Sawyer who is every bit his dad, is prone to getting obsessive over things. Right now it is a helicopter obsession.

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Of course Kylie needs help blowing out her candles. Silly question.

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How cute is my little sissy? She graduated!!! She is now fully equipped to be a history teacher, in a place that apparently no longer needs teachers. The luck!

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Thanks to all of grandpa's swimming lessons this summer, Sawyer can now jump off of the diving board, come up for air, and with a little boost swim by himself to the side of the pool. He can swim under water half of the length of the pool. All of this without a life jacket on. I am pretty impressed.

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When he crashes, he crashes hard

august.9 174/365

First bike ride...

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Sawyer stealing Jared's birthday wish.

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Yamaka

august.6 171/365

Somebody has discovered how fun it is to drop food to the vultures.

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Feeding the turkeys with "Aunt Tylie"

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Helping mommy make pigs in a blanket.

august.3 168/365

Sawyer and Grady playing in the sandbox. If there was audio it would sound something like this "no Sawyer...Sawyer don't." Funny he has the affect on people.

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If you haven't caught on, these people like all things motorized. This is grandpa's big truck, and Sawyer never passed up on a chance to get in it, on it, under it.

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My flight home from Columbus, Ohio. To get you all caught up, Nate has decided to specialize in radiology. It was general surgery, then orthopedic surgery, then pathology, then orthopedic surgery, then general surgery.....get the picture? Poor guy has had some big decisions to make and he likes a little bit of everything. Radiology made itself known a little late in the game, but it seems to be the best fit. It's a field that will allow him to make the most of his extensive knowledge in anatomy. He'll get to solve cases and talk medical jargon all day which is perfect for him, and hopefully be home in time for dinner, which is good for us:)

So, back to Columbus. I drove with Nate out to Ohio for his two months of audition rotations. He is spending two weeks in four different programs in the midwest, to essentially "try out" for the programs. It's a super competitive field, so doing audition rotations is one of the best ways to stand out. It's been a tough couple of months without him, but thanks to facetime on our iphones we get to see him almost as often as we want.

I had every intention of taking tons of road trip photos, but that was before I realized that Nebraska, Iowa and Indiana are just....corn. Corn everywhere. Honestly, it was still beautiful and picture worthy, but I was more focused on kickin' back with the hubby, enjoying the scenery, listening to books on tape, eating and talking. It was a good way to celebrate our 7th anniversary:) xoxo

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Doctor's Hospital in Columbus is probably his favorite rotation so far. Columbus seems like a pretty good place to live, so I would be on board. Okay, I guess I am on board regardless...

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This is a painting that our friend Shaun painted (and I secretly photographed). He is a talented guy on many levels. We were so lucky to be able to stay with Shaun and Erin in Springfield, Ill. on our way through town. Shaun just started a residency in plastic surgery. At the time, Erin was almost 9 months pregnant, and now their son Quinn has been joined by little brother Creed. Lame that I didn't get any photos of them, but we didn't get in to town until 9, and were out just after sunrise the next morning. They were so sweet to entertain us and we even got a home cooked meal. Thanks again guys!

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Some legit bbq in a parking lot in Cheyenne, Wyoming...and unfortunately the only real road trip photos that I took:(

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Up until recently, Gray has been getting around with the belly crawl. He uses only his right leg to push himself, and cleans up all of the dog hair with his belly. What a nice boy, huh:)

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All of the critters watching the downpour.

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This little guy is on the move...

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We went on a weekend trip to a cabin in southern Idaho with some of my extended family. Sawyer always has a blast with cousins around, and he keeps everyone in stitches. He had a bit of an obsession with Shalee's pink boots, and stole them every time she took them off.

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A stroll with gramps

NFED Conference

2011-08-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

June.23 157/365

The National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasia Family Conference:

My mom joined me in St. Louis for a few days for the NFED family conference. As most of you know, my boys both have a genetic condition called Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia. Although they still haven't been officially diagnosed (still on that waiting list for a geneticist) we are certain that they are affected. The condition primarily affects sweat glands, hair and teeth. Neither of my boys have any teeth or functioning sweat glands that we know of.

The family conference is a pretty spectacular event that has been going on for thirty years. It is a place where all of the kids get together, take out there dentures, and have a good time with kids that look just like them. The parents get to spend two and a half days in classes to learn about the ectodermal dysplasias, and network with other parents about what has worked for them. The people here are a wealth of information. I found a woman that makes custom cooling vests for the kids to stay cool in the hot weather. I spoke with several moms that are in my same position, about to embark on the denture journey, and several other moms that have just been through it and gave great advice on what works. They gave a seminar on how to get dentures covered by insurance. There was a panel with young adults that have ED, where they answered any question about dentures, implants, or anything else related to growing up with ED. I bought a couple of books about ED; one book is Lionel Learns What Matters Most, which is a book about a lion that doesn't have a pretty mane like the rest of the lions, but discovers that what's on the inside matters most; and Carver's New Smile, which is a photo book that chronicles a boy going to the dentist to get fitted for dentures. We have been reading these books since I got home, and the other day Sawyer said "I want to get my new teeth like Carver, wanna go to the dentist." Priceless!!

I feel lucky to have found a network of such amazing individuals. The members that run the NFED work tirelessly to get funding for research and aid, to help those families that are affected. I have called in to the office before with questions about teeth, and the director spend 45 minutes with me answering all of my questions. It would be a much more daunting path for us if it was not for the wealth of information that the foundation, and network of families provides. Because this is such a rare condition, the NFED funds much of the research that is done for the ectodermal dysplasias. Because of this research, there is currently a drug in clinical trials that, if given shortly after birth, will eliminate all of the symptoms of HED. This is an amazing prospect! Here is the link to the NFED, if anyone wants to buy a book or has the means to donate... http://www.nfed.org/. We were welcomed with open arms, and I know that this is going to be a place of refuge for my boys in the years to come.

This is adorable, three-year old Cooper, with his new pearly whites. He was so kind to let me photograph his new trick so that Sawyer can see how cool Cooper is:)

This is the finale, where all of the kids did a little performance and sang a song. I can't wait until my boys can come and be a part of this clan. Actually, I could have found a few boys to take home with me. There were so many kids that looked like Sawyer and Grayson it was unreal. We were sad that the boys weren't with us, but we didn't have to look far to be reminded of them.

On our way to the airport, we made a stop at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, because I had read some amazing things about it. They were having a mass at the time, so I couldn't really take photos indoors, but what we saw was amazingly beautiful and serene.

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We ended up having some unexpected free time this morning, so because it is such a historic place in St. Louis, we went on a tour of the Anheuser Busch brewery. It was super fascinating.

There was a talent show this night at the conference, and this little guy didn't need a stage to show us all of his tricks. I don't know if spunk is a characteristic of ED, but watching this guy was like watching my charismatic little Sawyer.

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We spent our first morning seeing some sights around St. Louis.

The view from the top of the arch.

June.20 154/365

July 5th-July 18th

2011-08-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

July 18th 153/365

Old pals! A bunch of my Vegas girls have been in and out of Utah for rotations and vacations lately, and so Sawyer has been able to catch up with his guys while I catch up with the girls. This is Holden, Will, Sawyer and Beckham.

July 17th 152/365

There are a few upsides to having no teeth, one of which is these amazing puckered lips. There is more lip to go around without any teeth impeding the way. In case you are wondering, another nifty benefit is picking his nose with his tongue.

July 16th 151/365

That mini van that Megan swore she would never own;)

July 15th 150/365

Play time with dad and sweet potatoes. Does life get any better?

July 14th 149/365

We tried out a Gymboree class with Abby and Eliza. The perfect place for Sawyer...a concussion proof room.

July 13th 148/365

The i-phone. Seriously. My two year old can play "anger birds", navigate to watch videos and photos of himself, find his favorite Beyonce on the i-pod and rock out, call my friends. What will the world be like when he is my age. I already feel like I am living in the Jetson's era.

July 12th 147/365

We met up with some friends, Emily and Jacob at the splash pad. Here are Addie and Sawyer trying to cool down on a hot summer night in Vegas.

Sawyer has been so fascinated by planes and helicopters lately. On this particular night we came to the airport to watch the planes and eat some in-n-out burger, and for the next two weeks he asked to go for a picnic to the airport to eat cheeseburgers.

July 11th 146/365

Blue eyed beauty lovin' on some dad....a daddy that is severely missing his boys at this moment while he is in Columbus Ohio for another rotation:(

July 10th 145/365

Oh the love!

July 9th 144/365

We went to Mt. Charleston for some barbecue and marshmallow roasting, with our friends, Chris and Robyn and their two girls. Abby and Sawyer love to play and terrorize each other. Okay, it is Sawyer doing all the terrorizing and Abby doing all the panicking. But, we had a great time none the less:)

July 8th 143/365

July 7th 142/365

We drove down to Vegas on Nate's birthday to spend the week with him. He was staying the month with Nick and Megan, while doing an orthopedic surgery rotation. We had such a great week spending good quality time with our little fam. And how happy is Sawyer to be with his daddy? He sang the cutest birthday song before he beat Nate to the punch of blowing out the candles.

July 6th 141/365

real baby food

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June 22nd-July 4th

2011-07-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

July 4th 139/365

Sawyer trying to cool Adlee off with his trusty spray bottle.

Isaac, Kelsie, Adlee, and baby boy bun in the oven, at the parade.

July 3rd 138/365

Bikers

July 2nd 137/365

Four generations...minus a little nugget that was sleeping at the time.

July 1st 136/365

Locked out at bedtime. Whatever will he do without his electric blanket to sleep on.

June 30th 135/365

While someone was supposed to be napping....

June 29th 134/365

Puzzlemania at our house....every night.

June 28th 133/365

Nate and his mom playing frisbee in the backyard. Summer evenings in Utah are the best thing ever!

June 27th 132/365

Biking casualty. I got a little ambitious with way too much speed going off a little jump in Draper canyon. I might have closed my eyes, or Nate said I looked backwards, but either way was not the right way. I slammed into a wall of dirt and flipped head over heels. I'm lucky I didn't break my arm. This bruise was as big as a grapefruit, and I have a few scars to mark the occasion. Note to self...don't be a moron.

June 26th 131/365

Buzzy love

June 25th 130/365

Needs no explanation!

June 24th 129/365

Discovery museum and mcd's with the cousins

June 23rd 128/365

June 22nd 127/365

This is a family shoot I did with my good friend Melynda. She is an amazing photographer herself. I really had a ton of fun capturing her little family in action. They had such playful energy, and it's clear that they adore this little girl:)

June 13th-June 21st

2011-07-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

June 21st 126/365

Biking city creek canyon

June 20th 125/365

Our new toy

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June 18th 123/365

Grandpa and his minions

June 17th 122/365

Nostalgic

June 16th 121/365

There are turkeys among us

June 15th 120/365

Storytime

June 14th 119/365

June 13th 118/365

Draper canyon

Moab

2011-07-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

June 12th 117/365

Nate messing around on his buttery new full suspension Santa Cruz. And by new, I mean a total steal on KSL from a rich guy with a 3k mountain bike, that he only used to ride the kids around the neighborhood. Love it when that happens!

...and the ole man doing a decent job of keepin' up. Ouch!

June 11th 116/365

Sweet, sweet Moab. There was some biking. There was some 4 wheeling. There was some eating. There was some gaming. The perfect little vacation.

June 10th 115/365

May 31st-June 9th

2011-06-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

June 9th

So, I guess I missed a photo this day because when I went to make this post, I could not find a photo on my phone or either camera. So, here is one from the iphone archives of our studly boy getting ready for our ski trip in December.

June 8th

Daddy storing up on those loves before he leaves for four months. Uggh!

June 7th

Sweet cheeks!

June 6th

Sawyer's first bike, that doesn't have a battery operated motor in it. He's not sold yet.

June 5th

We rode the mountain bike lifts at Sundance for the day with some old friends, and had such a blast. This is my girl Bree, who is my photog friend from college that I recently reconnected with. I adore this girl. She is the kind of gal you want to have around...so much fun and always optimistic. She was giggling down the mountain, and she bikes like five days a week. It's good to have these types in your life.

June 4th

This is where Sawyer has been spending much of his time lately. He loves swimming! Grandpa has been giving lessons at least a few times a week, and Sawyer is getting so good at swimming. He can keep his balance and get anywhere with his life jacket on, but even without his jacket he can swim several feet and hold his breath under water. And of course, he is a little dare devil. He is already doing tricks off of the diving board, but not before everyone in the vicinity is watching...."watch mommy, watch daddy, watch papa, watch grandma."

June 3rd

Jungle Jim's with the cousins

June 2nd

Mountain biking draper canyon. One of our new favorite places to be!

June 1st

The Airborne Toxic Event....amazing, amazing show!

May 31st

loving bathtime!

Days 105-114 of the 365 day challenge.

May 20th-May 30th

2011-06-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

May 30th day 104

Sawyer teaching brother how to sword fight. He got quickly frustrated after Grayson started eating his sword and decided hide and seek sounded like a funner idea.

"Mom....where did Sawyer go?"...he says several times a day after finding a hiding place. He usually gets too excited and pops out before I find him.

May 29th day 103

Over Memorial weekend, we took a trip with Nate's family to St. George, and hiked the Emerald Pools in Zion.

This photo is of Sawyer exactly two years ago in the same spot at the top of the pools. We made a stop on our way to Utah just after Nate finished his first year of medical school during Memorial weekend.

Sawyer and Gray two years later...

May 28th day 102

Sawyer has a fascination with guns lately. I fought it for awhile, but I guess I am coming to grips with the fact that he is boy and to a certain extent, it is in his DNA. Playin' shoot em up when we were kids seems a lot different and a lot less like reality than it does these days. But, as they say, boys will be boys. He is always telling me now "mom...I da bad guy"...to which I always say "no you look like the good guy"...to which he always replies "no, no I da bad guy."

Here he is after shooting everyone in the room. Usually when he shoots someone they play dead for a few seconds and that's it. This time everyone agreed to stay down for awhile and we got a pretty funny response.

(in his most sinister voice and looking quite proud)

"Ha"

"Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha"

"Ha"

(now looking a little more worried)

"Hey, wake up"

"wake up"

(Now quite concerned and shaking Kylie)

"WAKE UP TYLIE! WAKE UP! TYLIE WAKE UP!"

We got a good laugh.

May 27th day 101

May 26th day 100 (Wahoo!)

Puzzles are Sawyer's newest favorite thing. He will do them all day, and is pretty dang good at getting through the tough ones without much help.

May 25th day 99

Nate is already grooming this one to be the next A-rod.

May 24th day 98

May 23rd day 97

Professor Mortensen

May 22nd day 96

Have I mentioned how much we like this guy? Robbie is Ang's boyfriend and we have all taken a liking to him, especially Sawyer. Sawyer now thinks Angie and Robbie are one person as he always asks for them that way..."where's Angierobbie?"

May 21st day 95

A quickie trip to Moab with the hubs....the second Moab trip this month! Have I mentioned how good life is? It was baptism by fire for me on the Slickrock Trail, as apparently when I read that it was for advanced riders I must have thought they were talking to someone else. But it was an oh so beautiful day, with my oh so awesome husband, and I made it out after five hours with just one head over heels crash and a few bruises to mark the occasion:)

May 20th day 94

May 3rd-May 19th

2011-05-30T22:56:00.000-07:00

May 19th day 93

Sawyer at 2 1/2 years and Grayson at 8 months

May 18th day 92

William Fitzimmons in concert at the Urban Lounge. Worth the effort!

My baby sis and I at the concert on her 26th birthday.

Sharing an ice cream cone with aunt Ang. Angie is a trooper for spending her birthday lunch at Mcdonald's;)

May 17th day 92

Nate's mom in her lovely garden. Maybe she can pass on some of that green thumb that I was born without:)

May 16th day 91

Isn't it funny how you finally get them to sleep, and then you get tempted to sneak in for some love and risk waking up the little monster. But it's always so tempting.

May 15th day 90

Breakfast at Silver Fork Lodge up Big Cottonwood Canyon.

May 14th day 89

Nate and his new glasses. No, Nate is not really a stoner although this may seem otherwise. The flash on the i-phone is ridiculously bright and for the longest time he wouldn't keep his eyes open because he said his retinas were burning. I was all burned retinas vs. decent photo.....no brainer.

May 13th day 88

Summertime=clothing optional

May 12th day 87

Enjoying the beautiful weather at the park. Now, I understand that I did not take these photos, but I consider photos I take or photos taken under my instructions still count for the 365 challenge. Otherwise I would never be in any photos, which, honestly I wouldn't really mind but for my children's sake I should show proof of my existence.

May 11th day 86

Two new babies born on the same day. Isaac is my good friend Angie's baby. We are hoping he takes after my brother Isaac who is the epitome of chill.

Baby Erin is Nate's cousin's little girl, who was born after two boys and a ten year gap. She is a loved little lady.

May 10th day 85

Edamame, pea and apple baby food. I am still hoping Gray will get a more distinguished palate and give it another go.

May 9th day 84

Multi-tasking

May 8th day 83

Sawyer, Seth and Grady playing Angry birds on grandma's ipad. Sawyer always elongates the "a" for some reason..."want to play aaaaaanger birds."

The boys did a marathon dishwashing on Mother's Day after an amazing Mexican feast that my parents made. Bless their souls. Too bad it's only once a year huh?

May 7th day 82

Riding the choo choo at the zoo

May 6th day 81

A stroll through the park

May 5th day 80

Nate and ESPN...'nuf said.

May 4th day 79

Grayson showing his new skills

May 3rd day 78

Play date with the "tuzzins."

Grayson update

2011-05-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

May 2nd day 77

Our little pumpkin...

So, sometimes Gray gets overshadowed a bit on this here blog because he may not have quite as many tricks up his sleeve(yet) as his big brother. There have been some noteworthy milestones lately that definitely deserve some attention.

Gray can hold his bottle up by himself (finally!!). Seriously though, he has been able to hold up his bottle for maybe a month, but will he? Until just this week, think again. Why on earth do it myself when someone will so faithfully do it for me?
Gray can also sit up. This is also about a month old, and a little belated given his age, but we'll take it. He's making it clear that he is on his own time schedule.
He is getting around a little on his belly just wiggling. Nothing on all fours yet, but between rolling and army crawling he is on the move.
His first word, I believe, was mama. Actually it was mamamamamama, which really means feed me, but whatever. I still win:)
Grayson is much more food motivated than his big brother ever was. He wants a bottle in his mouth before he ever opens his eyes in the morning. He loves solid food, except for my homemade brew. I was soexcited to start making him some healthy solids, but apparently edamame, pea and apple is not his combination of choice. It is the first thing that has made him gag. I have to add it in spoonfuls to other food just so it doesn't go to waste.
He is sleeping through the night!!!!!(yes that deserves five exclamation points). This is only within the last month that we get a full night of restful sleep. He was starting to sleep through the night just before we moved to SLC, but the move messed up his schedule and we were back to bad habits where he wanted to eat at 4-5 in the morn. Not any more, thank goodness! Now it is time to get him out of our room!
Grayson has a new found love for the bath since he can now sit up. He loves splashing, but has yet to connect that when he splashes Sawyer, he has one coming back for him.
Grayson had some pretty nasty allergies when we first moved to Salt Lake, and we initially thought it was an allergy to the dogs. His eyes were raccoon red for the first full month. But we tried getting away from the dogs and it didn't really rid the problem, and luckily now it is all cleared up. It looks like it is an environmental allergy of unknown origin.
For those who do not know, Grayson has all of the classic symptoms of Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia, like his brother. The wrinkly skin around the eyes, the smelly boogers, the scruffy voice, the low set ears, the sparse hair, the lack of sweating, and yes, there are no teeth in sight for our hunka hunka burnin' love. But no teeth means no teething, so score for me:)
Ask anyone around, and they will tell you that Grayson's smile can light up a room. He smiles with every molecule in his face, and it doesn't take much. And then there is his laugh...this high pitched, squeaky, rolling, adorable laugh. Well, let's just say I am one lucky lady to get THAT smileand THAT laugh, just for walking into a room.

April 28th-May 1st

2011-05-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

May 1st day 76

Nate's cousin's cute boys Garrett and Wyatt.

April 30th day 75

April 29th day 74

Pirates manning their ship:)

April 28th day 73

Sweet little Kamryn at one year old. She is so much fun to shoot....full of spunk and energy!

April 19th-27th

2011-05-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

April 27th day 72

signs of life

April 26th day 71

Driving the helicopter at the children's museum.

April 25th day 70

Rain, rain go away

Come again another day

No, seriously though, I didn't move here for winter in April. It's time for sunshine!

April 24th day 69

Easter morning

By round three, he was a seasoned pro!

April 23rd day 68

Family Easter egg hunt with all of my extended family, which is well over a hundred people these days. Clearly Seth is a happy camper.

Sawyer was very occupied with opening each egg to find his treasure before he could find another egg....thus the five eggs in his basket that we had to keep re-hiding because all of the other eggs had been found.

April 22nd day 67

April 21st day 66

New hair

April 20th day 65

April 19th day 64

"Yoyer drive dis one...no dis one" is what we heard over and over again. The first of many car shows for Yoyer and papa this summer.

D.C. Part 2

2011-05-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

April 18th day 63

A funny side note...I totally missed my flight going to D.C. because it left at 6:50 a.m. and I was all "who travels at 6:50 a.m.?" So when I arrive about 45 minutes before my flight leaves, I was a little taken back by the security line a hundred deep. Apparently, a lot of people travel at the crack of dawn. Ooops! Luckily there was another flight right behind it that they let me on.

Fast forward three days to our flight home. So, I had the earliest flight leaving D.C. at 3 p.m. We were running around on the metro doing some last minute things. I was dreaming about this tomato soup we had a few days earlier. We were just down the street from La Madeline's that makes this oh so delicious tomato soup. A little devil on my shoulder was all "you totally have enough time to run down to the cafe, eat amazing soup, run back to catch the metro, then catch the bus to the airport, and then catch the plane." I convince the skeptical ladies to follow this plan. None of us realized, however, that it is an hour metro ride, and that put us to the bus stop about 1 minute and 27 seconds too late to catch the bus. The bus that only comes every 45 minutes. This would put me, and only me, to the airport without enough time to catch my plane. So one expensive cab ride later, I made it to the airport. Am I seriously that ridiculous? Oh, but that soup was delectable!

April 17th day 62

We started off the day at the Holocaust Museum. I didn't take any photographs, but it was sobering to say the least. I thought I had heard everything there was to hear about the holocaust, but I was wrong. It is crazy that these things still exist to some degree. I never heard about this, but just a few years ago an African American guard at the museum was shot and killed by an anti-Semite. Crazy people!

The American Museum of Natural History would not normally be my kind of thing, but apparently when you are the Smithsonian, you get the super cool stuff like real dinosaurs. Sawyer would have been happy as a pig in slop in this place.

The Hope Diamond. Apparently a little old lady did not throw it in to the ocean when it was found in the Titanic. Oh wait, it wasn't even found in the Titanic. Stupid Hollywood!

What I would look like as a neanderthal. Hot!!

There was an amazing butterfly exhibit where you go in this really humid room that is filled to the brim with butterflies.

By the end of day 3 we were pretty pooped. We had probably walked close to a marathon at this point. We rented bikes for a few hours to squeeze in the last few things. Well worth the $5 an hour!

We met these sweet kids while eating lunch on the river. They were handing out these little origami birds and asking that in return people donate to the victims of the Tsunami in Japan. They said that each of these little birds takes 5 minutes to make. Now look at this bucket full of them, and this was not their first excursion with a bucket full. Doing their part from a half a world away!!

April 16th day 61

Gettysburg, Pa.

So I didn't shoot much in Gettysburg because it was raining so hard that, at times, I thought we were going to be picked up by a newly formed river and taken away. It was the perfect day to stay in the car and listen to an audio tour, which guided us through the most important places and events in the battle at Gettysburg. Very enlightening! Did you know that over 51,000 people died in this one battle alone! These were all Americans fighting...brothers against brothers...friends against friends. Until the battle at Gettysburg, the Union was not winning the war. Can you imagine if they had not fought this hard won battle and slavery had never been abolished? They were truly fighting for a higher purpose.

Girl's trip to D.C. 1

2011-04-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

April 15th day 60

My little sis was finishing up her student teaching in history this semester in Washington D.C., so it was the perfect opportunity for a girl's trip with mom, sisters, and sister in-law Kelsie. We missed you Meg! Ang actually didn't know that I was coming because I was didn't commit for a long time, but I showed up at the train station and hid while she was hugging everyone, and then she felt a pinch on the butt and didn't even need to turn around to see who it was. I don't think it was as secretive as we all thought. Everyone overemphasized that I wasn't going to be able to come, so Angie caught on. It was still fun to surprise her.

No you didn't. Oh yes, we did. Because there is not enough to see in our nation's capital, we had to start off our trip at Georgetown Cupcakes. This is the cupcake joint from DC Cupcakes on TLC. Now, truth be told I have never watched this show. But the fact that we started off our trip by going to a reality show headquarters is a little, well, shameful. This speaks of the lengths that we will go for a good bite. Yummy...yes. Worth a metro ride, a two mile walk, and standing in line for 45 minutes? Jury's still out on that one...

You see that building there, behind the chain, and the two iron gates, and the armed guards? Yes my friends, that is the home of our dear President Obama.

I am that girl who when you mention the national mall, thinks "hmmm, I wonder if they have a Nordstrom's at the national mall." Really, I didn't know what the national mall was. If any of you are as lame as I, and I assume you are not, but just in case, I will give you a crude explanation. The national mall is a plethora of monuments, memorials, museums, legislative buildings, etc., all conveniently lined up in a huge oblong shape with the Washington Monument right in the middle.

The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial

Arlington National Cemetery was particularly moving for me. There has never been a time in my life when I have been more acutely aware of the sacrifice that has been made to protect our lives and our liberties, then walking through this cemetery. I am always grateful, but in general overly sentimental emails on the fourth of July, or sappy country music songs about soldiers are usually lost on me. It took this very time and place in my life to put this into perspective. It took throngs...hundreds and hundreds of headstones, and it took walking through rows and rows of them for what felt like miles, to move me to the core. Because, for each of these headstones there was a very brave soldier, but there was also a brave mother. Someone courageous. Someone selfless.

I asked Nate a few weeks back what he would say if one of our boys came to him with news that he wanted to join the military. Nate said "I would tell him that he just made me as proud as I could ever be." That brought tears to my eyes, and still brings tears to my eyes. Maybe because I was proud of Nate. But, mostly because my response to that same question was nothing like that. Mine was more like H to the E to the L-L no. Sorry. I can't imagine losing a child. But, I really can't imagine allowing my child be put in harm's way. I can't imagine having that message delivered to my door. I can't imagine walking this cemetery and knowing that my loss was one hundreds of thousands. I am eternally grateful to the mothers of the world that have had to walk that walk. I hope to never know what that feels like.

I wasn't prepared to be as touched as I was. In fact, Arlington was not even on my list, but it was a highlight of my weekend. This is a special, special place.

The changing of the guards at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

JFK Memorial and The Eternal Flame

April 10th-14th

2011-04-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

April 14th day 59

Stay tuned for D.C. pics...

April 13th day 58

Our new roommates...

Zeus...the protector. Need I say more?

Remington was our family dog until Sawyer was born. 3rd story apartment living with a newborn baby and a full time job, proved to be a not so dog friendly lifestyle. He was graciously taken temporarily by Nate's parents...which then proved to be not so temporary. He just loves his new home so much that we never reclaimed him. He is Sawyer's best little buddy.

Sophie the queen. She pouts if she doesn't get a soft blanket to lay on. She refuses to go outside if it is too cold or rainy. She doesn't care that there is a dog door, that is way too much work. If she is sitting somewhere that you want to sit she plays dead so that you have to strain your back to pick her up and get her out of the way. Next it's gonna be butt wiping. If you ask Sawyer what he thinks about Sophie, he says "Soapy grouchy!" But, that doesn't stop him from terrorizing her. Can't blame the girl...she is used to getting all of the attention 'til these stinkin' grandkids show up.

April 12th day 57

Basking in the morning sun with best buddy Remy Roo.

April 11th day 56

Who knew that when you have kids, you get gypped out of blowing out the birthday candles for the rest of your life? Happy 34th birthday sis.

April 10th day 55

I helped to host a baby shower for my good friend Angie, who is having another boy after a 6 year break since her son Indie. I can't wait to meet the new little one.

This baby can rock this onesie with confidence. Ang is a true rocker. She has seen the best of them live, and still goes to more concerts than anyone I know. I still recall sleepovers at her house in 7th grade, rockin' out to Bon Jovi on her kitchen counter. Ang would never let anyone else be Jon Bon Jovi, so I always had to be the goofy curly haired guy that plays the guitar, I think. That was over half my life ago!

March 30th-April 9th

2011-04-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

I am seriously trying to get caught up, so that this is more fun and less work. Plus, I can't wait to post my pics from girl's weekend in DC. Stay tuned...

April 9th day 54

We had a shower for Nate's cousin Kelly and her baby girl. She has eleven and twelve year old sons, and got lucky with this girly girl.

Kylie and I made this cute blanket for Kelly.

If you live in Salt Lake, and have never been to The Bombay House, you are doing yourselves a serious disservice. Nate took me on a much needed night out, and it was worth taking a picture of. Order the chicken tikka masala with garlic naan, and my friend, you will not be disappointed. Our favorite place ever!

April 8th day 53

Singin' in the rain:)

April 7th day 52

Ok, full disclosure...I did not take a photo this day. I woke up in a panic at 3 a.m. and remembered that I forgot to take a photo, and figured it was already past midnight, so I went back to bed. I dug this out of the archives from a few months ago because I love this picture of Sawyer. Shame on me. If I only miss one day all year, it will still be considered a success, I guess.

April 6th day 51

Another day in paradise. Seriously though, if I could invent a contraption for the hard core student like my hubs, that could hold you in this position without the strain on the back and neck, I could be a rich woman. Is he ready for 30 years of surgery?

April 5th day 50

The view from my bedroom window. Not bad.

April 4th day 49

Sawyer thinks grandma and grandpa built this door especially for him...and they would have had he asked.

April 3rd day 48

I think it was close to the 80's in Vegas at this very moment.

April 2nd day 47

The great ole' Salt Lake. It is good to be home. And it is good to have babysitters so that we can spend beautiful mornings like this on our mountain bikes.

April 1st day 46

Sawyer hangin' with Nate's Aunt Lora, cousin Kelly, and her son Garrett.

March 31st day 45

Sawyer still loves driving with grandpa. If you ask him what he is doing, under grandpa's instruction, he says "cwuisin' chicks."

March 30th day 44

Yummy squash.

Saying goodbye

2011-04-19T14:30:00.001-07:00

March 29th day 43

saying goodbye...

the place where first steps were walked, and first gardens planted, and forts were built, and cupboards climbed. a place that would welcome us home. a place where we became mommy and daddy.

there will be many more, wherever they may be, and if each one can be a place of acceptance, a place of learning, a place of peace, a place of love, then we will have done our job.

March 28th day 42

Grayson attempting a nap in our bed in the middle of the family room. We seriously did not plan very well, and ended up packing up all of our beds and sleeping stuff because we thought we could be out by Monday. Monday turned in to late Tuesday, so Monday night was spent sleeping on the ground, sharing one pillow and one blanket with the hubby. I love the guy, but I am the big 3-0 now...practically an ole' lady. I need my pillow top mattress and down comforter for my achy breaky back!

March 27th day 41

The last supper!

March 26th day 40

Sawyer loves hanging with his cousins. So glad that he has so many...and they just keep on coming;)

March 25th day 39

Spring training '11....we had a great time in Phoenix again this year, minus the flu that seriously made the rounds through the kids during our stay. Oh yea, and that little detail about us moving that weekend. Ah priorities!

It did dawn on us that baseball games with 8 youngsters, and the same number of adults, is really not that fun (especially when two of them don't sweat!). We have simply outgrown the baseball stadium. Plan B for next year so that maybe someone can watch a little baseball. There was still sunshine and good times to be had!

March 24th day 38

Pooped out after the long drive to Phoenix.

March 23rd day 37

Papa "tuweewo" is here!

March 22nd day 36

Our last play group!! Sawyer would look forward for his "fwends" to come over every week, and then when they got here he would steal their toys, push them down, pull their hair. He really is usually a sweet boy, but just a little possessive on his own turf. Then they would leave and he would mope around saying "moy fwends...moy fwends." Oh, he is going to miss his "fwends" and I am gonna miss my "fwends" too!

March 21st day 35

Eskimo kisses

March 20th day 34

Kylie and Jared, who were instrumental in helping us move out. Thanks again guys!

2011-04-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

March 19th day 33

I helped to host a baby shower for a good friend, Melanie(who hopefully should be having this baby any day now). I sort of forgot that I was moving when I offered to host this shower. My in-laws were in town to help us move, and they were great to help me out and then take off with the kids. All things considered, it turned out great.

I love these girls, and I am going to miss them this year. We started out as 10 medical student wives with 3 kids among us, less than 3 years ago. Now we are 10 moms, with 16 kids, and 3 more in the next few months. Somethin' in the water!

For my own comedic interests, we played a feed the baby game. Each team had to keep their eyes closed and whoever finished feeding their pudding first, won. It was hilarious to watch but I don't know about playing. They were all good sports.

The winners

Crepe bar with cookies and milk

March 18th day 32

Hangin' with Aunt Ky.

March 17th day 31

In the nook....my favorite place too!

March 16th day 30

A photo shoot that I did for my friend Paige, and adorable 6 day old baby Max.

2011-04-03T12:55:00.001-07:00

(We made it to Utah!!! It was crazy, crazy, crazy, but we are here. Thank you, thank you to mom and dad, mom and dad in-law, and Kylie and Jared. You were all lifesavers! I know I am totally behind on my blog, but stay tuned because I am going to catch up this week.)

March 15th day 30

Six months old today, and what a big boy! Gray just barely learned this month to hold up his body weight on his legs. And seriously, just look at those tree trunks! He is wearing 12 month clothes...yea, the same ones Sawyer just grew out of a few months ago. He also finally learned to roll all the way over, although he gets high centered on the belly sometimes and can't quite figure it out. Now we are working on sitting up unattended, but maybe we are setting our expectations too high. It seems to be a long way off. I didn't want to do his official six month photos until he can sit up, although we might be closer to a year at that point. But, at least he's mastered the art of the smile!

March 14th day 29

The nebulizer:( It takes some serious bribing to get this sick kiddo to wear this thing and sit still for 10 minutes at a time. My poor babies got so sick this week. Turns out that it was the flu, although we didn't find out until it was almost over.

March 13th day 28

Make sure to instill good habits while they are young:)

March 12th day 27

The twins one year shoot! Seriously, isn't this the cutest duet you have ever seen? And those dimples...come on! Too bad they are a little stingy busting out those dimples for aunt Marci. I have yet to win these two over completely, but we're working on it. I was so proud of Meg. I know she was getting the hot sweats watching these two roll around in the dirt and eat rocks (shhh...don't tell her I told you but she is a TEENY WEENY bit of a germ killa.)

2011-03-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

March 11th day 26

Okay, so truth be told Grayson has never slept a wink in this room yet, but I need to start documenting the house because we are moving out this month. We decided to move to Utah for the next nine months and rent our house. Nate is going to be out of state for most of the summer and fall doing residency audition rotations, and I would rather not spend the summer in the Vegas heat by myself. Plus, it's a bonus that we get to save some money.

Poor little Gray has big bags under his eyes his morning. He has still been having lots of gas and eating problems, so he didn't sleep much yesterday at all. We are getting him tested this week to see if he has a milk allergy because we have tried everything under the sun. Yes, that is Sawyer in the back trying to climb into the bed. It's just a regular gymnasium in this house.

March 10th day 25

Nate got a surprise day off from his orthopedic surgery rotation, which has been pretty gnarly so far. Twelve to fourteen hour days have been the norm this month. Meg watched the boys and we went mountain biking. It was a blast, not to mention just kinda nice to have a husband for a day:)

March 9th day 24

Daddy's home...Sawyer's favorite part of the day!

March 8th day 23

Play group day. I was trying to get a picture of all the kids together, but yea right. The girls, Reagan and Abby, were waiting patiently in the bean bag for their picture to be taken, but the best I could get of Sawyer was the last one with his feet in the air. He doesn't have time for pictures when his friends are over. He has terrorizing to do.

March 7th day 22

March 6th day 21

I don't know how many times a day I hear "mama trampoline, mama trampoline." For smiles like these, it just might be worth it.

March 5th day 20

Uncle Nick giving Sawyer a climbing lesson...as if he really needs to learn any new tricks.

Coen is walking!!!

March 4th day 19

Goofing around before bed. It is amazing that we get better pictures of Sawyer with a self timer than we do when I am chasing him around with a camera.

March 3rd day 18

2011-03-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

Day 17 march 2nd

Day 16 march 1st

Jealousy issues...ya think?

Day 15 february 28th

Day 14 february 27th

Sawyer was so pooped by the time the weekend was over because of late bed times and playing hard. He fought it for an hour on Sunday, but then finally there was silence in his room. I walked in and saw this...

Day 13 february 26th

Best buds! Grandpa always asks Sawyer "who's your best buddy," and Sawyer replies "papa." Then he asks "who's in charge" and Sawyer says "wama."

Day 12 february 25th

Day 11 february 24th

Nate's parents came and spent last weekend, which is always a hit with the boys. Grayson loves to be held all the time, and Sawyer eats up all the attention. When they are in town he wakes up every morning and from every nap yelling "papa...wama...papa...wama." Sawyer is a jumping fool these days. He'll scale anything without batting an eye, and you better be ready to catch.

Day 10 february 23rd

Oh the love!

2011-02-22T15:12:00.000-08:00

Day 9 february 22nd

Playgroup....watch out!!! Not my best display of parenting today. First I am chatting with the girls, and I go to check on Grayson who was taking a nap on the bed....except that he wasn't taking a nap on the bed. He was screaming face down on the floor. Apparently he can roll all the way over now. Then, one of the girls left and I had not locked the door behind her. Well, one of the toddlers opened the door or something, because next thing you know a lady is pounding on the door and wants to know why there are a bunch of toddlers running around in the street. You know Sawyer was the ringleader of that little escape. Yikes:(

Day 8 february 21st

The awesomeness that is Sawyer!

Day 7 february 20th

Blueberry oatmeal pancakes on a Sunday morning:)

Day 6 february 19th

Day 5 february 18th

I like mac and cheese that much too, buddy!

Day 4 february 17th

Genius!!! I am forever in your debt hot wheel inventors, for providing Sawyer with hours, upon hours, upon hours of entertainment! He lines 'em up and counts them, then counts them backwards, then pours them into a bucket, then arranges them nicely in his hot wheel carrier, then dumps them in a grocery bag, and then into the golf bag and wheels them around the house. Endless possibilities:)

Day 3 february 16th

Happy birthday Coen and Crew!

Day 2 february 15th

Cake Smash!! I can't believe my adorable little nephews turned 1 already.

9 days down of the 365 day challenge(a photo a day).

My greatest loves

2011-02-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

(disclaimer: although it may look otherwise, nobody was injured in the making of this card)

Who needs chocolate anyways!

I have to give a big shout out today to my guys...my three greatest loves. Here are the top ten reasons that I LOVE that you are mine and I am yours:)

I LOVE that because of you, I get two of the best names ever....wife and mama.

I LOVE that my future looks bright and cheerful with you in it.

I LOVE that no matter how bad a day I had yesterday, today always starts out with a kiss from my handsome hubby, a cooing blue eyed beauty in the crib, and a "hi mommy" from the sweet toddler climbing up to snuggle me in bed. Nothing like a fresh start.

I LOVE that there is never a dull moment. Ever!

I LOVE that date night is just as fun eating hamburgers on the floor with the kiddos while watching Despicable Me, as it is when we get a night out on the town.

I LOVE that I could never have dreamed that life could be as good as it is.

I LOVE that none of you judge me when I go to bed in the exact same get up and hairdo as when I woke up that morning.

I LOVE that you make me strive to be a better person each and every day.

I LOVE that because of you I will never take life or health (or teeth:)) for granted.

I LOVE that you open my heart and strengthen my spirit more and more each day.

XOXO

p.s. Today is DAY 1 of the 365 challenge.

This means that I am challenging myself to take at least one photo every day for the next year (inspired by my friend Emily). This is to better document the mundane little nuggets of every day life, and as always to improve my photographic skills. These will be photos of the kids, but also of my life, my surroundings, my "real" photo shoots, or whatever floats my boat. I will try to use my good camera most of the time, but I maintain the right to also use my point and shoot or i-phone for the sake of convenience and ease. Yes, I will blog at least one photo from every day, but no, this does not mean I will blog every day. It does mean that I will blog more often to keep up on the photos. By this time next year I hope to be a better photographer, but also to have a cherished book of memories, and the gift to myself of seeing something through to the end.

No more nap??!!!

2011-01-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

NOOOOO! No, No, No, No, No!!!! Say it isn't so!!! Sawyer is starting to refuse his one and only nap. My one saving grace with Sawyer is that I get two hours everyday that I can check my email, edit photos, read a book, clean my house, or just give Gray some undivided attention. This is where I recharge my battery (although unfortunately Sawyer recharges his as well). But alas, it looks to be coming to an end. About every other day that I put him down for a nap, he yells from his room for an hour until I finally come to get him. Today I went in and he had taken his diaper off, taken drawers out of his dresser, and scattered his books everywhere. Seriously, I might need to buy some of those ear muffs that block out all sound, put them on for those precious two hours, take him to his room and just pretend like he is sleeping:) Or, how about let it go and introduce the genius idea of the six o'clock bedtime. Hmmm! Something's gotta give!!! Here is the little guy just after waking up from one of said precious naps.

Oh sweet baby Gray! Gray is now 4 1/2 months old. Time is flying by as expected. He is such a sweet boy. Gray has a smile that can light up a room, with his tongue always hanging out and the cutest little dimples. You just have to give the boy a little attention and maybe a squeak in your voice, and his grin will brighten up your day. He is a BIG boy. At his four month appointment, Gray weighed in at over 16 lbs, which is double his birth weight! He is off the charts in height for his age, and in the 90+ percentile in weight. I am in love with all those puckers and rolls! He is having a hard time using all this size for anything productive. Gray refuses to hold up his body weight on his legs. He can't roll over. He is so limp when you try to pick him up that it's like carrying a sack of potatoes. Maybe he is subtly hinting to me "don't worry mom...I am going to be the calm and quiet one." Let's hope:)

My boys were blessed with the most puckered kissable lips! I can't get enough of them!!

Last week we went to the shark reef at Mandalay Bay with Nick, Meg and the twins. Sawyer really loved it at first, but he quickly lost interest once he realized he couldn't jump through the glass with the fish. He kept reaching out his hands and saying "hold you shark...hold you fishy." Then when he actually had the chance to touch the sting ray, he wanted nothing to do with it.

Cabin trip

2011-01-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

A few days before Christmas my parents rented a cabin at Powder Mountain. Everyone in the family was able to come(luckily Nate got out of his obgyn rotation for a few days to make it). We had such a fun time! Mom made incredible food, we all got to snowboard or ski for a few days in some amazing snow, and we had a ton of good laughs. Eight kids under five can be pandemonium, but we had a blast. Thanks again mom and dad for the great memories!

Sawyer had a great time playing in the snow with his cousins. Grayson on the other hand was not very fond of the cold.

At Powder Mountain they offer cat rides up to part of the mountain that the lifts don't reach. For $15 you can ride the cat to the top of the ridge and get a five mile ride down the mountain. With this much snow we could not resist. My dad, brothers, Nate and I all took advantage and found a mountain of untouched snow...not to mention these majestic views.

Dear Sawyer,

2010-12-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Sawyer-

To my beautiful boy on your 2nd birthday...has it really been two years since you were born and turned my life upside down. I thought I had a handle on it…life that is…until you showed up. But I had a thing or two to learn, and life has never been the same since.

Today I watched you maneuver your little airplane around in the air while making swishing sounds. I don't even know where you learned that. Two things occurred to me, the first being that you are most definitely a boy's boy, and the second that you are such a BIG boy. I can't believe how you have matured lately. You say thank you every time I give you anything, and you keep me giggling with all the cute things that come out of your mouth. The other day you brought me my hair dryer and said "off." I said yes it is off. You tried to turn it on and it wouldn't turn on so you said "batteries" and you dropped it to move on to something else. You are getting so smart. You can count to ten without any help, and any day you'll get all the way to twenty. You love to practice counting and your alphabets while we go on walks. We have to take frequent breaks from counting so that you can comment on the dogs or the birds or trucks. You can name ten different shapes. Mom didn't even know what a rhombus was.

Trucks and tractors are still some of your favorite things. You are especially fond of the garbage truck lately. Twice a week you recognize the sound of that truck as it turns on to our street and you run to the window yelling "darbash trut…wowee…onny…onny." Onny means I want to go for a ride. How cute is that! We will often go outside as the garbage truck passes and the garbage man keeps an eye out for you so he can waive at you. You think that is pretty cool.

Speaking of onny, you have this incredibly adorable habit of putting a "y" on the end of your words. I can't bring myself to correct you because it is so cute, and when you start saying everything correctly then it means you are growing up. My favorite was awhile back when you lived for Elmo. You called him "Omie." You would wake up every morning saying "Omie…beddy…Omie…beddy." We would snuggle in bed and watch Elmo to your heart's content, or until your belly started growling. Now you say Elmo, but you haven't let go of the beddy yet.

Here are a few of my favorite Sawyerisms:

bus= bussy

fridge= widgy

triangle= nangle

egg= eggy

octogon = on gone

ranch dressing or ketchup or syrup= dip it

I want that or I want to get on that= onny

love you= woo woo

garbage= darbash

lawn mower= mowlawn

fruit snacks= woot nack

guitar= tar tar

Grayson= ray-race

garage= drosh

You are a mover and a shaker, and with the strength of a little Hercules we can't take our eyes off of you for a second. I knew from the start that I was going to have my hands full. From the time you were born you could lift your head up and stand on your legs with a little help. Then at about 5 months I noticed that you started to lift your upper body with your arms. I told your dad that day that I better take the bassinet off of the playpen or you were going to get strong enough to pull yourself out. I didn't get to it that day, and sure enough the next morning we woke up to a loud plop. You pulled yourself out of the bassinet and landed on the ground. Unfortunately, this is one of many falls so far. There was the time six months ago when you mysteriously climbed out of your crib several times in a row. We were certain that you were not strong enough to pull yourself up. We put a hidden camera in your room to figure it out, and sure enough you hoisted yourself up and onto the ledge of the crib. Only this time you couldn't quite get to the right spot where you could land on the rocking chair, so while dad and I waited down the hall, we suddenly heard a loud thump and then screaming. OOPS! We now usually have the kitchen table chairs bungeed together or else you get on the table and walk to the edge with your toes hanging off and say "hi". The cupboards and drawers are all child proofed or you have proven that you will look for the sharpest item in the drawer and then come show me and start running away for me to chase you. The dvd case is taped shut so you don't break them in half like you did with that new piece of software I bought. Oh my goodness boy, you keep your mama running! But, maybe all this energy means you are meant for great things:)

With all this mischief and spunk comes the laughter. You have had us laughing since the day you were born. You have proven to be quite the little rock star lately, always playing your guitar and dancing like a maniac. You love talking to people at the grocery store, but you can be a little overbearing. You always start by saying hi to the passing stranger. They usually say hi back to you. You then proceed to say hi again. They will usually oblige a second time, but this is where it starts getting a little ugly because you want to keep the game going. You start saying hi louder and louder and they start walking faster down the aisle with a final hi. You smile and move on to the next victim. I try to get you to say hi just once, but you just can't help yourself. You LOVE a little attention:)

One of my favorite things in this world is watching your face light up when you hear the keys in the door that signals daddy is home. You always drop what you are doing and run to the door to tackle dad. You two roll around and giggle, and then dad usually chases you. Chase is one of your favorite things to do. This would be why you are always stealing brother's binki or bottle, or my cell phone, because it is so fun when I have to chase you around the house to get it back. You got daddy's body proportions where your legs are much shorter than your torso, so those little legs often have a hard time keeping up with your enthusiasm. For this reason, you are constantly bouncing off of walls or face planting on the ground. It never seems to phase you much. You usually get up and say "oh, facey" or "oh, chin" and rub it better and take off running again.

When we finish your story and tuck you in each night, you always make sure to get a kiss from mommy, daddy, and of course baby Ray-race. When we walk out of your room you yell "woo woo." We yell love you back. You insist on being the last one so we get to hear you yelling love you all the way downstairs until your voice fades and you zonk out. It doesn't get any better than that!

Who knew it would be this hard, but who knew it could be this great! I bet my mom did! Thanks for making me such a happy mommy little buddy:) Happy Birthday!!!

Fall and Halloween

2010-11-14T20:25:00.000-08:00

The other day Nate had the day off so we went to Red Rock for a little picnic and hiking (which 8 weeks post pregnancy means a light stroll in the mountains:) The weather was amazing. Not a bad little family pic for a self timer.

I totally love this family self portrait because of the tender little moment in the background. Sawyer loves kissing on his brother.

Trunk or treat with the Mexis Crew and Coen.

Our little monkey and banana.

A happy little camper on Halloween. We didn't actually go trick or treating because we were busy handing out candy and carving pumpkins, and before we realized it was too late. He loved handing out candy to the kids and you would never have known he missed out by this little smile.

Update

2010-11-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

I am sending out birth announcements right now so I didn't want to spill all the beans, but here are just a few pics of our handsome little guy.

Keeping daddy warm while he studies.

The pumpkin patch was definitely a highlight for Sawyer this Halloween. We went a couple different times and he loved it. It was right by our house so every time we drove past he would gasp and yell "punkin." This spinning swing was his favorite and every time we got off the ride he would ask for "moy." My sister brought her kids down from Salt Lake for a weekend while my parents were here, and so the cousins got to spend some fun time together.

I have to give credit to my awesome friends who gave me this adorable baby shower. Just look at all the little details, and that cake! Then each of them brought me dinner after the baby was born. Between our parents taking care of us and our friends bringing us dinner, I didn't have to cook for over a month. They are the best!

Grayson Mikah Mortensen

2010-09-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little Grayson was born on Wednesday, September 15th at 5:31 p.m. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 20 inches long. He is the spitting image of his big brother. So far, he is a pretty calm and good natured baby. I am relishing this tiny stage so much because I know now that it goes by SO fast. Sawyer is almost two years old. With Sawyer, I was always so anxious for the next stage that I didn't always take it all in. Right now, I just want time to stand still for awhile.

The big brother is adjusting pretty well so far. He really likes the baby and gives lots of kisses. The only problem so far is that Sawyer has laid claim to all of the blankets in the house. If they were here before the baby, they are Sawyer's blankets. We have to be careful if we put the baby on one if these precious blankets, otherwise, Sawyer will try to steal it from under him. Sawyer is not too fond of me right now; I am the traitor. He has grandmas and grandpas to keep him company until he finds the love again:)

The birth experience was pretty amazing and totally crazy at the same time. My contractions started at about 4:30 a.m. I could not sleep but I just tried to relax and get as much rest as I could. I woke up Nate at about 6:30 and told him I was pretty sure that I was in labor. I started keeping track and my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. We called the families so they could get on their way, and we just went on with our morning. I wanted to stay at home for as long as possible, because I felt that it would help me to go natural if I could labor at home through the majority. I just packed, and cleaned and prepared that last few things, just pausing to breath through the contractions. Nate kept telling me to sit down and relax, but staying busy helped to distract me and forget about the contractions. We were trying to make it to 11 at home, because my little brother Nick had an exam until then and we needed a babysitter. I hadn't arranged for a babysitter to watch Sawyer because this was a few weeks early. I am sure any of my friends would have done it at the last minute, but it was just easier to keep Sawyer home if we could. It started getting a little unnerving, because at 10 my contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart. They hadn't gotten any closer through that hour, so Nick got there at 11:10 and we rushed to the hospital. Of course, I still had a long ways to go...but it felt better to be safe than sorry.

I got to the hospital and at noon I was dilated to a 5 and nearly 100% effaced. Things sort of progressed slowly for awhile. By 3:00 I was dilated to a 6, and by 4:00 I was dilated to a 7. The pain was definitely getting pretty intense by this time, but I was managing it well and felt totally in control.

They had been asking to break my water for several hours, and I finally decided to let them after 4:00. I should have known what I was in for. The nurse said that she thought it would go pretty fast because I was totally effaced and once the water broke then his head would drop and make me dilate quick. Bam...it was on! Once the water broke, the contractions kicked into overdrive. The next hour and fifteen minutes are a blur. The silent, calm, hypnobirthing techniques went out the door; I went primal. I remember trying to rip out Nate's hair, clawing, grasping, screaming....pain I cannot comprehend. Nate later told me that he didn't know that person and did not ever want to see her again. Towards the end, I knew it had to be coming soon. They kept telling me that I was 9.5 and had to dilate a little more. My nurse was this sweet lady that sounded exactly like Mrs. Doubtfire and she would say "alright deary...you need to stop pushing...just breath"...and I would yell back "I CAN'T STOP." They finally decided to look between the legs and there was a collective gasp in the room. Nate told me I had made it and I was almost there, and those were welcome words. My doctor was not there yet and the nurses were frantically trying to put on gloves and call in the on call doctor. I had been pushing whether they liked it or not, and after they finally gave me the go ahead to give it everything, it took one push for the head, and one more push for the body. The doctor made it in just in time for the body.

After the insanity they handed me the baby, and it was the most amazing, empowering, emotional experience that I think I have ever had. This is something that I really wanted to do for myself, and for the baby. For me, it was a rite of passage, and a true test of will and strength. I can't yet say with any certainty that I would sign up for that again; I need a little time and distance. I can say that I am really grateful to have made it through, and for the amazing little life that has blessed our lives.

Sawyer and HED

2010-08-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

We have recently discovered that our little man most likely has a genetic condition called Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia (HED). This will be very long winded, but if you are interested here is how it has all played out...

It all started a few months ago when we switched pediatricians. Our new pediatrician became quite concerned that Sawyer was not growing at the rate that he should. He had steadily dropped to the bottom 1% in weight. She referred us to several specialists including a pulmonologist because of frequent respiratory infections, a gastrointerologist to make sure he was digesting his food properly, a pediatric dentist because he still has no teeth, and a geneticist.

Shortly after this appointment, we took Sawyer to an urgent care because of a sore throat. We saw an excellent pediatrician who spent nearly 2 hours with us because it was a slow night and she was concerned about Sawyer's sparse hair and growth restriction. She brought to our attention that Sawyer could possibly have Menkes Syndrome, otherwise known as kinky hair disease. Menkes is a very serious copper deficiency disorder which is usually fatal within the first three years of life. After doing some research we were definitely concerned, but the pieces of the puzzle did not all seem to fit. A few of the main characteristics of Menkes are neurological and physical delays. This includes very low muscle tone, failure to meet milestones, etc. Sawyer has always been full of energy and enthusiasm. We were cautiously optimistic that there was another answer.

After a few weeks of nervously waiting and trying to get an appointment with a geneticist (there is one in Nevada and an 8 month waiting list), we began the appointments with the other specialists. First we saw the Dr. Nakamura, the pulmonologist, who took a detailed history about Sawyer. We discussed the thin, sparse and patchy hair, and how it had been brought to our attention that Sawyer could have Menkes. I then mentioned that Sawyer still has no teeth. The doctor looked intrigued asked me how Sawyer's sweating was. I told him that Sawyer does not sweat. His eyes got really big and he said "Really?" I told him it was true and that we had always had a hard time regulating his body temperature. Even as a newborn sometimes he would have to sleep with just a diaper because he would get overheated easily. The doctor said he would be right back and returned a minute later with some paperwork. He said that based on his findings Sawyer does not have Menkes, but rather HED. He handed me the paperwork explaining the disorder and it was like a hundred light bulbs went off one right after another. Suddenly all of the little quirks that we always thought were so unique to Sawyer were all connected in a way we never could have imagined. The primary three defining characteristics are lightly pigmented,thin and sparse hair, lack of teeth, and lack of sweat glands. But the list goes on. Almost every possible symptom that related Sawyer to HED, he had. Some of the others are lightly pigmented skin and hair, prominent and full lips, flat bridge of the nose, dark circles under the eyes, wrinkled skin around the eyes, very thin skin, sensitive and dry skin that is prone to rashes, low set ears, smelly and abnormal nasal discharge, frequent respiratory infections, raspy voice, severe peeling and flaking of the skin at birth. I was amazed. I almost wanted to cry while sitting in the doctor's office, because although I was finding out that Sawyer did indeed have a genetic condition, it nearly ruled out the possibility of the much more serious disorder.Then I went home and did a little research of my own, and I was blown away. We always thought we had such a unique looking child, and then I saw other little boys with HED. It was like we found a lost family of brothers that all look like Sawyer.

Although we won't have an official diagnosis until we see the geneticist in several months, we are quite certain that HED is now a part of our family. Unfortunately it may not stop with Sawyer. The type that Sawyer has is x-linked recessive, which in my very basic understanding means that it was passed on from me. It makes sense because as a carrier I have a few minor symptoms, like insufficient sweat glands, some thin and patchy hair, and I was missing two teeth at birth. Being a carrier also means that there is a 50% chance that the rest of my children will also inherit the condition.

I think that the worst part is that Sawyer will likely go through most of his childhood without many teeth. We have been to see a pediatric dentist who confirmed that Sawyer likely only has two teeth under his gums, just the upper canines. At least vampires are cool right now, huh? We can try to get him fit for dentures, but this can be tricky for a growing mouth. He will also likely have to have surgeries in his teens to get bone grafts put into his jaw to strengthen it for implants, and then several implant surgeries. Aside from that, there are just minor adjustments we have to make. We will try to move out of the desert as soon as we can to manage the heat better (which might break my heart...I love flat, brown and ugly), we have to carry a water bottle and plenty of fluids everywhere we go to spray Sawyer down. We have to make sure Sawyer gets enough calories with the soft foods that he has to eat. We won't know if our new little baby will also have the condition for awhile. If he does, at least Sawyer will have someone to go through it with him.

The good news is that nothing will limit Sawyer's opportunity for a long and full life. We just have to strive to raise a confident and strong little guy, and hopefully the fact that he may be a little different will only make him a more compassionate and accepting person. We have an incredible support group of family and friends that will always be there, and the most amazing son we could ever hope to have. We are so lucky! Thank you all for your love and support.

Here are a few videos if you are interested in seeing more...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAl6ZoQ7Mes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REvzn1Uaq5s

Driving

2010-07-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sawyer, not unlike his father, is a little obsessive. His recent obsession...driving. We may have the next Ricky Bobby on our hands. Since he has been with grandparents a lot lately, he is usually outside pretending to drive one of their cars, or he is in the house standing at the door saying, "drive, drive, drive". When it comes to his grandpas, ask and ye shall receive.
His preferred mode of transportation is a tractor, but he will settle for anything that has a motor. Whenever we are in the car Sawyer is always on the lookout for diesel trucks and tractors, and when he finds one he will point and say "wowee". It might have something to do with his grandpa Mortensen's slight obsession with cars, the obsession which Nate did not inherit. So, to make sure that Sawyer doesn't follow the same path, grandpa Mortensen and Sawyer have spent endless hours in his shop driving cars.
My mom was watching Sawyer recently, and they were in the garage so Sawyer could play on the four wheeler. He kept telling my mom "keys". My mom told him she didn't know where grandpa kept the keys and Sawyer pointed to a hook on the wall on the other side of the garage where the keys were hanging. She was pretty impressed.
Here are a few pics of Sawyer in action.

Cinco de Mayo

2010-05-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

We had a big Cinco de Mayo party at our house on Friday night. We hosted with Nick and Megan, which was super fun because we got to meet a bunch of their friends and vice versa. We had a great turn out. My dad made us a sweet Mexican fiesta mix for ambience, which always reminds me of summer barbecues in my grandma and grandpa's backyard. Nate and Nick made Carne Asada on the bbq. All of our friends brought amazing salsas and desserts. In the craziness, I may or may not have forgotten to feed my child. I busted him stealing food off someone's plate, and every time I looked at him he had another margarita in his hands. We like to start them early:) It was a good time.

The first of many swinging lessons.

Sawyer was really good at hitting the pinata. Someone must have told him it was full of candy.

The kids collecting their loot.

It's a.....

2010-05-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

BOY!!!
I was pretty sure that there was more testosterone in my future. We are so excited to have another boy so close in age to Sawyer. They will be 22 months apart, and hopefully best buds. Sorry for the graphic content, but I wanted you all to see for yourselves:) That's ok if he is still in utero, right?

It's time to start searching for names. If it is up to Nate his name will be Magnus or Maximus, so let's just say it isn't up to Nate.

Number two!

2010-04-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

Soooo...many of you already know this, but baby #2 is on the way. Am I crazy? Yes!!! Excited? Yes!!! Did I have an ongoing panic attack for two months after I found out? Yes!!!
I am already 18 weeks so this post is a little past due. I am over the parasite taking over my body phase, and into fat and happy stage (although I would be a little more happy if there was a little less fat involved:)). I am due September 30th, so with a birthday on October 3rd I could very easily have a big 30th birthday present.
Monday we find out the gender. I am thinking a boy because Sawyer needs a partner in crime and one crazy boy in my house is not enough (on a side note...my parents have watched Sawyer a bunch while I have been in Utah and they told me yesterday that they have no idea how I ever get anything done with that child around. Vindication!) ...but I would also love a girl. Stay tuned.....

Spring break

2010-04-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Spring break this year started off in Arizona with a trip to my brother's house in Phoenix for some spring training baseball and r&r. It was so much fun as usual. Thanks Isaac and Kels, for being amazing hosts. Isaac made pulled pork with a smoker that he converted from a rusty, old diesel engine part. It was pretty amazing.

Sawyer dipping it again. Don't even think of taking away this fry sauce, lest ye want your life threatened by a 16 month old.

Bumboboarding!

The boys and their babes. My little brother Nick is on the left with his two month old twins, Crew and Coen, and Isaac is in the middle with Adlee.Sawyer playing with cousin Adlee. Adlee is five months younger and has way more teeth than Sawyer. Oh yeah, that's because Sawyer still doesn't have any!

When we got home we had a few days to chill, and then Nate's parents, grandpa Vario and aunt Lora came to visit.

Here is Sawyer looking for Easter eggs. He was throwing them like baseballs until he realized that they were filled with candy. Then it was over and he didn't care about anything but eating chocolate.

Nate's grandpa singing Johnny Cash on the back patio. Sawyer was loving it.

Four generations

We spent one day at Bonnie Springs, which is an old comboy town on the outskirts of Vegas. There was a petting zoo and lots of stuff for Sawyer to explore, so he had a great time.