One Boy Crazy 7-Year-Old

Today I took Allie to the eye doctor. It was an interesting experience. It was loooong but I guess that's okay because they were very thorough. I intentionally set all of my doctor appointments as early as I can in order avoid having to sit and wait for a ridiculous amount of time in those uncomfortable waiting room chairs. Even with an 8 am appointment, we were still there until after 10! The highlight of the day was a conversation that the doctor had with Allie. Here's a recap:

Dr: "So, Allie, have you noticed that when you stare at your boyfriend at school you can't see him as well as you used to be able to?"
Allie: "Oh, yes!"
Dr: "Really. Well, then I think you're going to really enjoy wearing glasses. You know, if you thought he was cute before, just wait until you can actually see him."
Allie: "Wow. That will be really great."

As we were driving home Allie was musing about all of the changes that will come with wearing glasses and she said: "Mom, I just can't believe that Ethan (her boyfriend of choice today) could possibly be any cuter. He is so cute and that doctor said he is going to look even cuter to me when I am wearing my glasses. That is just so.....awesome!"

Meet George

Recently Allie has begun a campaign to change Landon's name. She would like to call him George. Why, you ask? It's very simple.

This little guy...



...reminds Allie of this little guy.

Our little Landon sure does manage to find many ways to get into great big trouble. He can't help it. All that curiosity built up in one little body is bound to cause trouble. Oh, and he likes bananas (and banana peels) an awful lot too.

"Faith is like a little seed: If planted it will grow..."

Once upon a time Eric wanted to teach 3-year-old Allie a hands on FHE lesson on faith. He equated faith to a seed and taught Allie how if a seed is nourished and nurtured it will grow. I generously offered up a few visual aids that consisted of: some seeds, a picture of the sun, a watering can, and some fertile soil. Eric was not interested in such a standardized way of teaching this fundamental principle. No way! He was going to make this lesson fun and unique. So, instead of my well thought out props he utilized these:

And then a few days later we had this:

And, even better still, a few weeks later I got to overhear Allie telling her Primary teacher that "We have a faith. It grows hair." Unfortunately, things got worse when a few more weeks down the road Allie's story changed to: "We had a faith, it died." And that was it. The individuals who were given this tidbit of information from Allie got little else in the way of an explanation. Allie was scarred for years (and that is no exaggeration!) and has only recently truly grasped what faith is and how object lessons work. I'm not sure if Eric learned his lesson, he still defends his teaching tactics to this day. I, however, learned my lesson. All object lessons must have my approval before they are shared with the children. I love you Eric!

A Van Full of Fun

Today was Grandma Day. I was lucky enough to take a bunch of cousins to American Fork in Scott & Leann's big green van. There were a lot of little bodies packed into that big van...and they were intent on having some serious fun. (Trust me, every seat was full...you just can't see all 11 of them.)

My co-pilot Katie who just got her practice permit.

Grandma Swain got super ambitious and decided to let the kids each bake their own loaf of bread...a project that the kids totally loved.

Landon loved eating his dough. There wasn't a whole lot left to put in the oven.

Thanks for a fun time Grandma!

What did you have for lunch today?

Landon had a magenta colored marker. I told you he would eat anything.

I Give

Well, I've officially run out of things to blog about. So...until I can come up with something brilliant, exciting, or unusual, I am halting my post a day.

Happy Birthday Angie!

Last night we had a fun birthday party at my parent's house for my sister Angie who is now 29 years old. We had a potluck feast where we got to sample each other's favorite recipes. Eric and I came home feeling like we do after Thanksgiving dinner. The food was good and plentiful!

The best part of the night was playing games with everyone. We played bocce, wii, and dominoes. Because I would hate to gloat, I won't dwell on the fact that I totally owned Paul when I challenged him to a round of boxing. It was pretty awesome.

We also had the chance to meet Mom & Dad's new pets. They sure are cute. Watching Paul and Eric work together to capture a picture of these little guys was also pretty entertaining.

Happy Birthday Angie! Thanks for the fun!

My morning walks with Landon

Landon is determined to be awake much earlier than I would like him to be. It's something that I have come to realize is just a part of who he is. A week or so ago I finally decided to embrace this morning time that I have with him. These 6 am walks have become such a wonderful way for me to start my day and enjoy my son. I agree whole-heartedly with Henry David Thoreau who said: " An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."

Grandma Swain better hope that Allie is not as psychic as she thinks she is!

Allie recently had a dream that her Grandma Swain had six more babies. Allie called them "sixlets". One of them was a girl and five were boys. She was not pleased when I told her that I really didn't think this was going to happen. I was told "You don't know that. And besides, you should hope it happens because Grandma would be so happy. She likes children." I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy...and especially not on my 68 year old mother-in-law! Babies are great, but 6 at once? That sounds like a lot of work.

Just when I thought that I might run out of things to blog about...

I find this little gem.

Dear Dad,
I'm sorry
that we logged
on. I love
you! Please
forgive me. Lots of
love, Allison Swain :)

Here's the story: We have had to get serious about monitoring computer time at our house. Allie has become quite adept at finding fun websites to spend hours and hours on. We put passwords on the computer so that she couldn't just log on herself. For the longest time it was just her name. Then we got tired of always having to stop what we were doing to log her in so we told her the password. When we finally came to our senses and realized that we had a password for a reason, we decided to change it. We were very clever. Allie's password was "Landon". What I didn't know was that Eric had typed "nodnal" in the password hint. Fast forward to today and with the help of her older, more sophisticated cousin it took Allie about 30 seconds to crack the code. Once again the password has been changed and the hint is something that she will never figure out (as long as we don't get lazy and just tell it to her again).

Apparently, Allie was feeling some remorse for figuring out the password--I'm not totally sure why. If she's smart enough to figure it out then I think she's earned the right to sneak a little time on the computer. She left this cute note along with 2 pieces of candy for Eric. I love that she always signs the cards and letters she writes us with "Allison Swain". You know, just in case we were wondering which Allison it came from.

The Master of Non-verbal Communication

Landon has yet to really start speaking. That doesn't mean we don't understand him loud and clear.

"I want to go outside. I know you'll only let me go outside if I have shoes on. No, I don't care that they don't fit. At least they match my outfit."

"I know I'm not supposed to eat flowers, but what am I supposed to do when my sister hands me one while I'm sitting in my highchair?"

"Get me out. I'm done!"

"I know that I am being naughty. You always laugh when I stick my tongue out. Doesn't that distract you from the fact that I'm being naughty?" (Thanks a lot Poppy, Grandma, and Angie!)

"Feed me!!! I think I might waste away if you don't feed me right this second."

A Genetic Marvel

That's what a doctor recently called me. It wasn't intended to be a compliment. The phrase popped back into my head a few days later when I took Allie for her routinely scheduled Dental visit. It was at that appointment that we discovered that Allie is missing her 2 lateral incisor teeth. It's really not all that surprising since this is something that my Dad, Eric's sister, and myself have all had to deal with. Thanks to Allie's genetic heritage, she too will get the opportunity to wear braces, have false teeth attached to her braces and then retainer, and eventually have surgery to implant teeth. You're welcome Allie. Hey, there are worse things you could have inherited...just ask my Doctor.

Happy Baptism Day Boys!

These cute boys and I have something in common. I was baptized exactly 22 years to the day before them. Thanks for sharing your special day with us!

Guess who is next in line? Allie! Her big day is coming up on Saturday, September 6th.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I celebrated my 30th Birthday yesterday on the 4th of July. I really hated having my birthday on a holiday when I was younger. Now that I have matured I realize what an incredible thing it is to have my husband and my children (and sometimes extended family, too) with me all day long. Here's a little recap of the celebration:

Eric woke up extra early to run the Freedom Festival 5k. He had a good time and is looking forward to doing it again next year. Maybe I'll join him? At 6:10 Landon decided he just couldn't wait any longer to wish me a happy birthday and beckoned me to his room. I tried to trick him into going back to sleep without any luck. Oh well.

A couple of hours later I was sitting in my living room reading when I heard someone outside whistling. I thought it was Eric but soon discovered it was my Dad's unique way of announcing his presence. Kind of strange, but that's Dad for you. (LOL, Dad) Angie, Mom, and Dad stayed and visited for a little while and we made plans to go to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Lunch was so yummy. We will definitely go back. Next time we'll leave the kids. They're cute, but it's just not the same relaxing experience with them along.

After lunch I had the bright idea to take a quick family picture. That's another thing that would be a lot easier to do without the kids along but that would kind of defeat the purpose. Here's a small sampling of how it went. (Check out Landon's face in the last one. Priceless.)

We had planned to go bowling but opted instead for a trip to the Living Planet Aquarium. It was pretty fun, but very small. The children both loved checking out all of the animals and it got all of us very excited for our trip to San Diego in a couple of months.

After the aquarium it was home for nap time. Yay! It's a good thing I took a short nap because the next item on the itinerary was picking up all of the Scout flags from the neighborhood. I volunteered to help Eric because he was a little short on leaders and boys and I figured that I would be less annoyed than if I sat home stewing about how long it was taking him to do it himself. (90% of the time I am fine with the amount of time it takes Eric to serve as Scoutmaster but there is that 10%...)

After the flags we spent a quiet evening at home. Allie was annoyed that we didn't do anything to "celebrate the 4th of July". We got to use our new toy from Ang, a Sno-Cone maker. It was fun and delicious. When we got the kids in bed we watched Vantage Point. It was a great day!

Thank you to my wonderful family and friends for all of the phone calls, visits, and text messages. It was so nice of you to think of me when I know that you were all busy celebrating with your own families!

Because Landon Needed a Bath Anyways

He was not happy when I took the empty stick (aka health hazard) away.

You May Have Noticed

That I am doing a lot of blogging these days. Well, at least for the last 3 days. I am trying to blog each day for one month. Why? I don't really know. I thought it sounded like a nice way to waste a little time. Actually, I've noticed that a lot of my friends and family have really slowed down on updating their blogs (to decide whether or not I am in fact referring to you, go check how many times you've posted in the last month. If it's more than 4 you're in the clear.). I think that it has less to do with not having anything to blog about and more to do with busy lives. I like hearing what you are doing, who you are doing it with, what you are cooking, what and/or who you are thankful for, household projects, what you do for entertainment purposes, and what you are thinking about. Oh, and any time you can call someone out on something...well, that's kind of fun (see my post from yesterday for a great example of this). I am going to lead by example, so get busy blogging!

With that explanation, here is today's entry.

It is so hot outside. Despite that, I have a one year old son is who determined to make me suffer through the hottest part of the day outdoors. He will sit at the door and cry until I have finally had enough and give in and take him outside. Because I don't find the same amount of enjoyment in looking for (or eating) bugs, playing in dirt, playing with the dogs, gathering rocks and sticks, or watering every inch of the lawn and sidewalk that Landon does, I have had to find things to keep me busy during our time outside. It's too hot to do anything productive so I read. Yesterday I read a couple of Ensign articles. The one that I really loved was all about President Henry Bennion Eyring (I like his middle name). He has always been one of my favorite General Authorities. I don't know why but I got a kick out of the fact that friends and family call him Hal. I guess it just sounds so "guy next door". I loved learning about his heritage of faith, his willingness to follow the still, small voice no matter the sacrifice required, and I loved reading about his wife. There is a funny part of the article that mentions something that his wife did to the family TV--you're going to have to read it to find out what happened. Anyways, I've decided that learning as much as I can about the actual person in each General Authority helps me to love, appreciate, and respect them and the counsel they give that much more. The next article in the July Ensign is about President Deiter F. Uchtdorf (I don't know what his middle name is yet, but I am excited to find out). In a very small way I am looking forward to Landon nagging me to take him outside so that I can discover some wonderful things about President Uchtdorf.

President Henry Bennion Eyring (aka "Hal")

Dear Paul

Check this out:

whif·fle(hwif-uhl, wif-)

1.	to blow in light or shifting gusts or puffs, as the wind; veer or toss about irregularly.

2.	to shift about; vacillate; be fickle.

–verb (used with object)

3.	to blow with light, shifting gusts.

And, if you go to this link and click on the audio sign, you can hear the correct pronunciation. You can leave me a comment to apologize for misleading my child (as well as the rest of us who attended the father's day breakfast) on the proper pronunciation of whiffle. Your welcome.

Short & Sassy

Allie has a new hair do thanks to a trip to the salon with Aunt Angie. As I mentioned previously, Allie has a serious aversion to hairdryers and round brushes making the getting ready for the day portion of our morning a little bit challenging. I am hopeful that in time she will come to realize that spending 15 minutes on her hair is not such a big deal after all. The great news is that she sure looks cute! Thanks, Ang!!!