I am not a video editor

The good stuff is in the first few seconds. Now that I got that out of the way, here is the (long version) video of Kambree taking a whack at Hunter. Oh, I mean Hunter's Easter egg.

And even more video of Kambree taking on challengers.

Lisa, I hope that after watching these that you see what "Tough Egg" is all about!

A Good Read

I just finished reading this book for my book club. It's a relatively short novella and I would highly recommend it. It tells the story of a Japanese family who was relocated to Camp Topaz (in Utah) during WWII.

Easter Weekend

On Saturday morning we hosted a Toone family Easter Party at our house. When I was younger we used to always go on an Easter Picnic with Grandpa & Grandma Hudson. It is one of my favorite holiday memories. We always had so much fun. One of the things that stands out most to me as I think back over those Easter Picnics was the crazy weather. I can remember being sunburned, rained on, wrapped up in winter gear, and every once in a while we'd luck out and have great weather. It has been a while since we did an official family gathering for the holiday. As much as my family enjoys being outdoors, we opted not to do a picnic since Easter came so early this year. Instead we invited everyone over and we introduced them to aebelskiver's for breakfast. After a yummy meal (Jenn, I need that quiche recipe!) we had an easter egg hunt and played "tough egg". The kids and the adults all seemed to have a great time. My funny little nephew Hunter told me 3 times "this is my favorite holiday ever!". Could it have had something to do with all the candy and cousins? I think so. So, family, I think we need to resurrect this time honored tradition. It was too much fun not to do again!

Check out Allie's gigantic easter basket. She chose it herself!












Kambree looks so innocent, but boy did she have a wicked arm when it came to playing tough egg. She was so funny to watch!

Another Edition of Allie (Unintentionally) Insulting Her Parents Intelligence

So tonight Allie was asking me questions about when Landon was a newborn baby. Here's a little portion of the conversation:
Me: "Landon used to sleep a lot during the day and then he would be awake all night long".
Allie: "Mom, are you trying to tell me he was nocturnal? If you are, you can just say it. I'm very smart. I know what the word nocturnal means!"
Me: "Ummmm, okay. I guess he was nocturnal."
Allie (sympathetically): "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I should have known that you might not know what that word means. When something is nocturnal it stays up all night."
Me: "I know what the word means."
Allie: "Of course you do now that I've told you. You're welcome."

Lucky for me, Eric was her next target. She told me that in just a few years she would be caught up to Eric in school and that she would be more than happy to tutor him. She was even thinking that maybe they could graduate from college together. How's that for motivation Eric?

A Little Something To Make You Laugh

Landon has finally finished cutting teeth (for now). We are all very happy. Enjoy this video of Landon just being Landon. He has the funniest little laugh! (Keep a close eye on what his belly does when he really gets going.)

The Many Moods of Landon

Thoughtful, quiet, and contemplative.

Just for fun-trying out the photo editing on Photobucket.

Laughing hysterically at Allie.

A Little Landon Update

I took Landon to the Pediatrician yesterday for his 12 month well baby check. He passed with flying colors! He gained a whopping ounce since his visit 3 months ago and now weighs in at 21 lbs 13 ounces. Initially they were a little concerned about this until I told them that he started walking just after we last visited. The Dr. put Landon on the ground to see for himself. After watching him for a minute or two he determined that all of the moving around Landon is doing must be accounting for his slight weight gain. Dr Glade was impressed and said that Landon is "very advanced" in this department. Another compliment he gave Landon was that he said he thinks Landon has a delightful and easy going personality. I wonder what he'd think if he tried to change one of Landon's diapers?!? Landon really is a great natured baby most of the time. I am also pleased to report that 3 of his 4 teeth he was working on cutting over his birthday have popped up to stay (I think). Only 1 pulled a disappearing act. And, finally, despite his initial percentile on the height chart (13%) Landon is still right about average at 54%.

For My Family

I have to get something off my chest. We must decide just how Poppie/Poppy is to be spelled. Call me OCD but the differing spellings are driving me crazy. I, myself, favor the -py spelling. Every time I see it spelled -pie it jumps out at me as a terrible misspelling. I'd just like to point out here that Poppy himself spells it "my" way. Leave me a comment and let me know what your vote is.

Landon's 1st Birthday

Landon is officially one year old and I can't believe it! It seems like he has been in our family forever and yet I can't believe how quickly the last year passed. I was telling my father-in-law last night that I don't have any regrets about the last year. I believe that I held, cuddled, played with, and enjoyed Landon as much as I possibly could have. One of the greatest things about waiting so long for him is that I don't think I took even one minute for granted. As the one year mark approached, we had a fun few days and boy did we celebrate. We had family birthday parties, met up with both of Landon's birthparents, took a trip to Discovery Gateway, played at the park, and had birthday cake on 3 separate occasions. Landon was spoiled and now has enough toys and books to keep him entertained for the foreseeable future. Thank you everyone for the gifts! Enjoy the pictures!

Should I Be Offended?

Yesterday morning Allie put on a pair of shoes that I have been trying to get rid of for some time now. She came and found me and said that they were too small and that I should pass them on to her cousin Camille. I told her to put them in the kitchen and that I would take care of it. We continued with our morning routine and as I met Allie at the back door to send her off to school I saw this:

I asked Allie why she left me a note and she said: "Well, Mom, I've heard that old people have a hard time remembering things". I told her that I am NOT old. To which she replied: "Well, you will be. You are turning 30 on your next birthday".

Happy Birthday Landon!

What a year! Landon has grown and changed so much. We are having a fun time celebrating with him and we'll post pictures soon. For now, enjoy this little slide show of Landon's first year:

It Seemed Like a Good Idea In the Beginning

Unfortunately, that's not how it turned out. The "it" refers to our family night activity. Making s'mores was a good idea that turned out very bad. Landon is growing 4 brand new teeth and was not in the mood to sit around the backyard fire pit. Mom & Landon abandoned the activity early on. A few minutes later Allie came running downstairs screaming at the top of her lungs about being in the "most pain in my entire life". Unfortunately, she managed to get a sliver in her finger. The way she was carrying on, I thought she might actually die or something. I retrieved my sliver removing tools (alcohol wipe, tweezers, safety pin, and fingernail clippers) and that's when she really started to scream. At that point Landon was totally overwhelmed by all the screaming so he joined his big sister. I quickly retrieved Eric to help. It's a good thing too because I was having a hard time keeping a straight face in front of Allie and her grim predictions of the final outcome. Thankfully Eric managed to reason with Allie and convince her that she would, in fact, live to see another day. In the end we abandoned the attempt to remove the sliver and instead covered it with some neosporin and a band-aid. We're all praying that it will dissolve and disappear on its own.

After wiping away all of the tears, Eric headed back outside to resume the s'more making duties. We were all served s'mores in the comfort of our house. Allie even managed a smile or two before bedtime.

Let the Celebrating Begin!

Landon's first birthday is quickly approaching. We can't believe that he has been here for almost a year now. He has brought so much joy, happiness, and noise into our home...we can't imagine a life without him. I was head over heels in love the first time I saw him. For months I could hardly bear to let anyone else hold him without snatching him back immediately. I make no apologies for that habit. I love this little boy more than life itself. My children bring me such indescribable joy. Is it any wonder that we can't wait to welcome more?

With 3 March birthday's on my side of the family we opted for a family style birthday party. It was a lot of fun to celebrate with everyone. On Saturday we met at Arctic Circle for lunch, cupcakes, ice cream, and play time on the indoor playground. This was Kambree's big bash. It was a lot of fun. I have always watched her closely as she is a year older (almost to the day) than Landon. It's fun to see what she is doing and think what Landon will be like one year down the road. Then on Sunday we all went to my parent's house and had cake, ice cream, and opened Landon's gifts. He was seriously spoiled! Shocking, I know.

Landon got a haircut before the party. I LOVE this picture because it shows how long his beautiful eyelashes are. (The blue mouth is from his post haircut sucker.)

Landon loves to swing. Sliding down a slide is another story. Luckily he has a brave big sister to hang on to.


Even Mom & Dad got in on the playground action.


Birthday Girl Kambree.

Chipmunk Allie with cheeks full of cupcake. She got a haircut too. This has reduced the time spent crying over combing her hair each morning in half. (In her defense those curls sure get tangled!)

Candles for Paul, Landon, and Kambree.

Opening gifts.

Cute sandals that actually fit his feet!

Shocked! We're not sure why.

Aunt Jenn cut the cake. Hunter was excited because she actually gave him the piece he requested. Everyone else jumped on board and made special requests too. Little Grandma especially enjoyed her cloud.

Signing Grandma's cast. It comes off on Landon's birthday. Grandma can't wait to shower without bags!

Tomorrow we are taking Landon and Allie to Discovery Gateway to play and explore. We went there last summer on a Friday fieldtrip. It can be a little pricey but it is money well spent!

Guess What We Did Today

We went and met with LDS Family Services to start the process of adopting another child. This wasn't really in the plans until very recently. We always knew that we might someday do it again, but we thought it would most likely be down the road a little ways. I always felt like we waited so long to get Landon here that I just wanted to relax and enjoy him for a while. Ultimately we came to the conclusion that we could enjoy both our children and begin the long process of adoption. After all, were not getting any younger.

The day that our new adoption packet came in the mail I was so excited. As I opened it up and started to read through all of the information, I was overwhelmed all over again. Despite what some may think, adoption is not an "easy" way to have a baby. It is an awesome, spiritual, beautiful experience but it is not easy. For just a moment I questioned whether or not I was truly ready to take this plunge again. All it takes though is one look at our sweet little boy and I know it is worth every ounce of effort required.

You will probably start to see many posts about this new chapter of our lives as we anxiously await the moment that we will have another child lovingly placed in our arms by a birthmother who is willing to make a tremendous personal sacrifice for the child that she loves enough to let go. We would very much appreciate any prayers you could spare in our behalf. If you are ever aware of a birthparent who is considering adoption, we would love for you to tell them about us. As we build our adoption file, we will have an online profile that you can refer people to. You are also welcome to share the link to our family blog. Thanks in advance for your support in this endeavor!

In Honor of Paul's 24th Birthday

I decided to solicit some help from my family to compile a list of memories of Paul. I was aiming for 24 but we did much better. Enjoy the trip down memory lane!

#1 If it weren't for Paul, I would have never known what a hangy-ball was.

#2 Remember when Paul thought it was a great idea to ride a skateboard behind a friend's moving car? Was anyone really surprised that this adventure ended with a trip to the hospital after he was run over by the car?

#3 Remember Paul's passion for winged creatures? Remember the aviary in the basement? Remember when Brenton discovered that there weren't any birds in there one morning but found instead a cat that "looked full".

#4 Mom & Dad get kudos for not strangling Paul as a teenager. I was ready to do a lot more than that to him when I was left in charge of him while they were out of town and I discovered that instead of going to school each day he would go out the front door "to school" and then crawl back in his window and spend the duration of the day hiding out in his room (or at least until 3:00 when he would crawl out his window and come through the front door on his way home "from school").

#5 Remember when Paul started a bonfire in the garage when Mom & Dad were out of town? Remember how he closed the garage door to disguise the flames? Remember that he owned a lawn mowing business at the time and that the garage was full of gasoline cans and equipment?

#6 Without Paul how would we know that Bisquick can disguise holes in the wall?

#7 One of mine is when we all went ot Brick Oven for Pauls Birthday last year and Paul was took some medication and was "HIGH" as a kite..... He was standing on chairs and taking pictures of everyone and was having a good Ole time.... Good times....

#8 Then there is the ever popular "Iron board surfing" down the canal.

#9 And who could forget the "scratch" on Angie's cube (formerly a Ford Taurus). He did keep the rear view mirror and owner's manual for her to remember her car by.

#10 One of my favorite stories is when they went down the big hill in shopping carts. How they ever survived, I don't know.

#11 Paul taught us all how to do Jell-o shots (sans alcohol) at a buffet in Las Vegas while we were on vacation.

#12 Because of Paul, we all have the privilege of knowing Brenton. So, I'll toss one in here in Brenton's honor. Remember when Brenton had to be rescued from his seatbelt after he was talked into wrapping it around his neck and then his cousin pushed him up against the door locking it in place?

#13 I remember when Paul asked grandpa to put a matchbox car back together that he had taken apart. When grandpa couldn't do it very quickly for him he told grandpa that he "needed a man to do it". Grandpa laughed for months!

#14 Remember the Hot Air balloon Paul and Brenton made that landed in Bill Logan's back yard? Or better yet the firecrackers that he lit on the O'Neill's front porch? Brother O'Neill was chosen because they thought they could get the best reaction from him.

#15 Remember the city councilman that came by to say "hello Paul" in the American Fork ER when he broke his arm? We didn't know until then that Paul and Robbie had been attending city meetings to try and get a new city park!

#16 Can't believe I didn't have a heart-attack. After running away from us at the mall when he was about 3 years old, he came running back after 5 LONG minutes and wanted to know where WE had been!

#17 Remember when he used to hit us and then grab his arm like we hit him and then we would get in trouble with mom and dad?? It was rough being the only boy with 3 older sisters.

#18 Remember when Paul's favorite movie was Annie?

#19 Remember the "power ditching" experience, complete with a car chase?

#20 Remember when Paul built a hot tub out of snow in the backyard?

#21 Remember when Paul that "boo baby" was a swearword?

#22 Remember when Paul was frustrated that Kambree all of the sudden wouldn't listen to him? And he refused to believe it was because she is almost 2.

#23 Las Vegas trip - Paul wanted to play the games in Circus Circus and win big animals. We tried to talk him out of it, but we couldn't. Finally he left and came back with a big animal prize. In fact I think he won two big animals and Grandpa Hudson had to bring them home in his truck because we would not have room on the airplane.

#24 Knott's Berry Farm - Paul always loved to collect things. On this trip he was always collecting nuts. So when he laid down to rest we would empty out his pockets and he would start all over again.

#25 Epcot Center - at the end of the night as we were leaving we had everyone get with a partner and we took off running. Paul and Mom were together and Paul was trying to get mom to jump over benches as we were leaving the park.

#26 Paul and his friends were up American Fork canyon and we received a call that Paul had split open his leg. He was riding an old bike off a jump and landing in a dirty pond. Paul's foot slipped off the pedal and cut his leg open. We got a call from one of his friends that they were headed down to our house and that he would need to go to the doctor. It seemed to take a long time for them to arrive and I was worried he might have bled to death. Finally they arrived and after seeing what happened, I called AF ER and told them that we were on our way in.

#27 When he broke his arm before we went to the ER Mom made him come in and change his clothes. She would not let him go the the ER looking the way he was. This is because Paul is colorblind and was horrible at picking clothes that matched.

#28 Paul recently spent a small fortune to make himself a black backdrop for his homemade photography studio. He had the ladies at the fabric store help him select some sturdy fabric that he could dye black. They gave him a packet of dye and some instructions and sent him on his way. He went home and did as he was directed. He was a little disappointed when it turned out gray, but decided to work with it. That is until Jenn came home and informed him that it was actually purple. He marched right down to the fabric store and demanded a refund...and got it.

#29 Once while on a family vacation to California Paul assumed the role of co-pilot/navigator. After studying the map he told Dad to "stay in this lane". Then he rolled over and went to sleep. It's a good thing they didn't follow his instructions or they would have ended up in Mexico.

#30 Paul once put Stacie in a garbage can in Las Vegas for "fun".

#31 Remember when Paul used to call his micro machines and matchbox cars "beauties"?

#32 When he was 18 we (Dad, Angie, Paul & I) went to Catalina. Paul wanted to swim in the ocean so he stripped down to his boxers and jumped in. He had a hard time keepin his boxers up after they were wet and he gave the people at the restaurant quite a show.

#33 Remember when he was small and refused to let anyone ride with him in the motor cars at Disneyland and how embarrassed we all were when he rounded the last corner coming back and we could see that a Disneyland employee had joined him.

#34 Paul loves changing diapers. Especially when his one-year-old daughter gives him step by step instructions of how to do it and then follows him around to make sure he complies. Change diaper, wipe bottom, put medicine on, throw away diaper, wash hands.

#35 Remember when Paul was the self-proclaimed "Dentrix slut"? (This one almost got left off to preserve my G-rated blog!) He declared that he was tired of being passed around from department to department and being used.

#36 The other day Paul was complaining about how so many of their ward members--especially the ones without children--are late for 8:30 am Sacrament Meeting. He doesn't think anyone has any excuses because they (Paul and Jenn and their 2 young children) show up each week "looking nice and smelling good". And that, my friends, is a direct quote.

#37 Would the words "greaser", "hoser", "gimp" be words that would have graced our vocabulary without Paul around? I think not.

#38 Remember when Paul sent us an e-mail that had the following message:
As you all know, the anniversary of my glorious entry into the world is upon us. I'd like to remind you all that we (Jenn and Myself) are not giving birthday presents for a couple years and we'd like it if we didn't get any either just to make it fair. A few kind words and a gentle smile is all that I require!

Paul-I hope that you are able to find a "few kind words" somewhere in this collection of memories. And you better believe that there are smiles all around! In other words, be careful what you ask for...you just might get it!

Everyone Else-Feel free to add more to the list. Put them in the comments...

How Many People Have Your Name?

Stacie Swain

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 5 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Eric Swain

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 99 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Allison Swain

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 17 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Landon Swain

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Looks Landon is one of a kind!

Saturday Fun

This morning my parents took us out to breakfast (thanks again, Mom & Dad!). It was a fun way to spend an early Saturday morning. Landon was in heaven because he got to eat off of the buffet. This kid loves food!

After breakfast we took the kids to the park to enjoy a little time outside before the next storm rolls in. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. Landon loves to swing! He is an adventurous little guy. Allie had fun swinging (and posing) too.

Perhaps the most fun for the kids was letting them roam all over the soccer fields. Landon loved being able to walk all over the place and Allie did lots of cartwheels and running around. Allie had a lot of extra energy to work off after spending the last two days home from school with a bad cold. She loved getting out because she was starting to experience "tent fever" (aka cabin fever). Our family is ready for spring!