Distractions, distractions, distractions!

Never in my life have I checked facebook a million times a day.  Never have I checked to see if my phone still had batteries, and made sure it was still charged.  Never has my heart started to race every time my phone rings.  The last week has been crazy.  I love my brother Jason so much.  From a young age we were banded together against the unstoppable force that was Jen.  I love Jen too, but when we were younger she was definitely  in charge.  We often fought over who would have to wake Jen up from her nap for dinner, and a lot of the times would run together as if that would some how protect us.  He is my little brother, and there are so many memories I'm glad I have of him.  I still pray he will come home safe, but it sure is nice to have distractions.  Here are some I have had the last couple of days:

They are all kind of jumbled up because of the file names I gave them but here they are:
This is Carol and Kim, we all ate together at Olive Garden the other night, yummy!

 Chris and Kim making Chris faces!

 Nana and Cortney at the zoo!

 Cortney's big beautiful eyes!  Love my little girl!

 Cortney following the bird when we fed ducks - we went there 2 times, that is why she might be dressed in different outfits

 My baby girl!

 I love this jacket aunt jenny gave Cortney!

 Daddy hanging Cortney upside down:

 Family pic!

 More Olive Garden pictures:

 The fat pigeon we saw - he definitely needs to go on a diet!

 Kim and Cort feeding the ducks

 Me my little brother Ryan and my Mom

 More from the zoo!

 Ryan and Cort feeding the ducks:

 This is how Cortney feels when we have to go home after feeding the ducks:

All in all, we feel so blessed to have so many friends and family members praying and supporting us.  I know the challenges we go through are for our good and help us to grow and become better people, but it is nice to have fun distractions every once in a while :)

Questions answered by Cortney

Yesterday Chris was taking out the garbage and he asked Cortney, "have you ever wondered where all the garbage goes?" 

Cortney said "Right there!"  point at the trash can. 

There is your answer from Cortney!

I think I want to write more of these posts, questions answered by Cortney.  I love how Cortney answers questions, they are simple and cute, and I don't want to forget the sweet things she says.

My Little Ray of Sunshine!

The last couple days have been simply overwhelming for me.  I cannot even begin to imagine what my mom has been feeling.  I am so glad she is moving down to where we are in a couple days so she can share my sunshine with me.

Cortney can tell something has been going on and has been giving me extra hugs and snuggling with me more than normal.  I am so grateful that she is acting this way, because this is not always the case with 2 year-olds.  This week I got a new camera that I have been testing out.  I absolutely love it, but it has kind of been pushed to the side because there are bigger things to worry about.  But here are a couple pictures of my little sunshine, and what is helping me happy through these hard times.  By the way, can you tell she picked out her own clothes today?

 I have always liked taking pictures and interested in photography, it has been a good distraction the last couple days to learn how to use my new camera

 Cortney all dressed up!

 I liked her smile in this one.  she just giggles when I push her high, it is so cute.

I just liked this one a lot even though she isn't smiling.  I like the way her arms are, and how her little pants have the little stripes on them.

There is my little sunshine.  I love you Cortney and I am so glad you are here for me giving me something happy during a scary time.

Jason Come Home

Jason Come Home

This is a video my younger brother Jake made for Jason.  Jason if you are reading this please come home, at least let us know that you are ok.

Prayers Please!

As most people already know from facebook, my brother Jason has been missing for the past couple days.  Last night they checked all prisons and hospitals and couldn't find him.  I was so happy he wasn't deployed because I thought that meant that he would be safe.  The stress and worry I have I cannot even begin  to express.  I hope everything is ok, and he will be found soon.  In the mean time, please join with my family in prayer for his safety.  With my family moving this weekend to Salt Lake, my Dad starting his new job, and Jen and me busy with our responsibilities and school we could sure use your prayers as well.

YouTube...boo!

YouTube decided to not allow me to upload the videos from the band the other night :(  I will go through the video and try to get some good pictures out of it, and maybe try to upload them again later.

Where is Daddy's Cake?

Happy Birthday to Chris today!  We had a really fun day!  Pictures and video to come tomorrow!!!! 

But some highlights, Chris renewed his drivers license and passed the test!  He got a massage for the first time, that he really liked!  Cortney asked "where is daddys cake?", with a very concerned look on her face, prompting us to go get him an ice cream cake, since he is not fond of regular cake.  We went to an all you can eat Chinese food for dinner, then went to watch daddy play in his band tonight!  Fun and busy day!

Are You My Friend?

Today me and Cortney were playing a game together.  All the sudden she turns to me and asks,

"Mommy, you my friend?"
"
I gave her a great big hug and said, "Cortney you are my best friend!"

She gave me a great big smile then gave me a hug and said," I love you mommy!"

"I love you too Cortney!"  Then we enjoyed some quality snuggling time!

Moments like these are what it is all about!

Yay! He is coming! The boy is comming!

Today at Church we were sitting together and they started passing the sacrament.  Once Cortney knew what was going on, she said rather loudly, "Yay!  He is coming!  The boy is coming!"  Not only did she say this once, but multiple times. 

Now for a couple more updates! 

The Wedding

Friday Chris and I went to he friend Ed's wedding, and it was so lovely.  They were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple and the reception was in the Joesph Smith Memorial Building, and it was such a beautiful day for it too!  Shame on me for not bringing my camera though, I wish I had.  Ed is Chris's old roommate and he was in our ward for a couple years while we were up at BYU-Idaho.  It was great to see him again and on such a wonderful day too!

Chinese Food!

So I don't know why but I have always wanted to order Chinese food and have it delivered to my apartment.  Saturday we did just that!  It was exciting for me!

 Yummy egg roll!

 Cortney even got in on it!

 And here you can see a classic Chris face!

 Cortney liked the fortune cookie

 Chris taught her her all about opening it up!

Our Library!

We also went to our library.  I love the Salt Lake Library, it is amazing, and it is just a few minutes away from our house.  Here are some nifty pictures:

Here is a picture from above a zoomed out, the architecture is amazing!

 They have 2 rooms in the children section where they can play or read books, one is an ice cave kind of thing;

 And the other one looks like an attic:

 Here is another view from inside:

 Here is a picture of Cort and Daddy walking down to the children section, she just loves coming to the library!

 Here is a picture of her in the ice cave wandering around:

 And here is her and daddy up peeking out of the little platform place

Nachoooooooo!

So there is this restaurant in Salt Lake that is called Nacho's Libre.  Every once in a while they send out Nacho to advertise, I didn't get a super good picture because we were driving by, but here are a couple pictures I snapped of him:

Well I think that is it for updates for now!

Happy Birthothers day!

So every couple years my Mom's birthday falls on Mothers Day, and today is that day!  In honor of her we made up a new holiday called Birthothers Day!  It is extra special and just for my Mom!

For her special holiday she decided to come spend the weekend with us, and we had such a fun time!  Yesterday we went to the Public Library in downtown Salt Lake, which is amazing.  I love that it is my library and my family wanted to see it. 

After that we went to the zoo, here are a couple pictures:
Here is a picture of my little brothers in the train:

 here are a couple pictures of Papa, Nana, and Cortney on the train - the 2nd one is not as good, but at least Cortney is looking:

 We saw the babies!  So cute! 

 Cortney was trying to climb in but we didn't let her, you can see in this picture how the mama's neck is down, she was hissing at the other families, and even a little boy who sneaked in.  The little boy just ran out screaming:

 they came out on the street where everyone was standing:

 When they were out here a different little boy came up to them and the momma got really mad, that little boy was terrified:

 Nana Ryan and Cortney Rode on the Carousel.  Cortney loves the tiger, so she always has to ride on it:

 I like Ryan in this one

 Ryan petting his Panda Bear tenderly:

 Cortney is kind of looking at the camera in this one:

 The tortoise in the small animal house got stuck on the bridge like this.  People started touching it, and we felt bad for the turtle so we ran and found someone who worked there to help it down.  We found out that this guy weighs 450 pounds!  That is a big guy!

After the zoo we went to late lunch / early dinner at Golden Corral, where we were joined by Jen.  Who informed us " I did a 5k holding a tree".  Impressive, and how many people really get to say that?  It turns out the tree was just a really big branch that had fallen of a tree, but it was still pretty big.

Then following that we went to the hotel they were staying at to go swimming where Cortney had so much fun!  Jake wasn't out in the pool right away and Cortney kept pointing to every guy there and saying - Look its Jake!  Until she really saw him and squealed with delight!  She loved swimming with her uncles!

Needless to say it was a fun busy day yesterday and right now she is in the middle of a nice long nap!

Today is mothers day!  Happy Mothers day to all the mommies out there!  I am lucky I get to spend mine with my mom!  Chris and Cortney got me a bouquet of flowers and a board game.  At target they have these vintage game sets and today I got the vintage Game of Life.  I have 3 all together now, clue, scrabble and life.  They are really cool, you can set them on a bookshelf and they kind of look like a set of books. I also like to think that Cortney taking her nap is a good present for me!  Thanks for giving me a nice break on Mothers Day Cortney!