Spencer's Idea

In January our church time changed from 11-2pm to 1-4pm. All of our children take naps from 1-4pm so we were not too excited about the change. What are we supposed to do? Nap time is sacred. We, as parents, need it and the kids need it too. Spencer and I discussed possible ways to get the children to sleep from 11-12:30. Here was Spencer's plan.
Put the couch in the middle of the family room. Have the children run around the couch two hundred times. RIDICULOUS, but we gave it a try. Desperate time, desperate measure, right?


I ran with them for 50 laps. I got tired. They kept going for another 40 something laps. That ended up being about a half of a mile. (I do realize this isn't the best Sabbath day activity).

After we ran we did a lot of this...

And then Taylor was tired enough to rest a while on the couch with Dad. A few minutes later she was up and running around the couch again.

In truth, the silly plan didn't work. And all that we have tried to get them to nap before church has failed.

So on Sundays we have settled with having two rather tired children who go to bed early that night.

Pink Teeth

Maren is almost 9 months old now and she's toothless. When I informed McKay that Maren doesn't have any teeth, he told me that Maren DOES have teeth--pink teeth.

The Mom Song

Sometimes I think this one sounds like me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

We are in Utah for Lani & Colton's wedding. We love Colton and are so so happy that they found each other and that he is a part of the Hyer family! The wedding was lovely. They got married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Also, I believe our computer is on the verge of crashing so we may not be able to blog for the next few weeks. We'll blog as soon as we can!

Valentine's Tag

How long have you been together? 6 years & 7 months.

How long did you date? 5 months. And that includes the engagement. Pretty quick.

How old is he? Almost 29!

Who eats more? Spencer...not by much.

Who is taller? Spencer at 5'10"

Who sings better? Me, but Spencer can sing well too.

Who is smarter? Stupid question. ..OK, I'll admit it, I am lacking on brains.

Who does the laundry? I do.

Who does the dishes? M, W, F = Me. T, Th, S = Spencer. Sundays are a toss up, it's mostly me.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Looking at the bed, that's me.

Who pays the bills? Mostly Spencer.

Who mows the lawn? We take turns. I like to mow, but not all the other stuff that goes along with it.

Who cooks dinner? Spencer has cooked less than 5 times. However, I do make him BBQ alot, if you want to count that.

Who is more stubborn? Spence.

Who kissed who first? Spencer TOTALLY kissed me, but I did kiss back.

Who asked who out? I extended an open invitation for him to ask me out.

Who said "I love you" first? We honestly can't remember. Probably Spencer?

Who proposed? Spence. He wrote me a song and sang it to me over a picnic in the park. It was sweet.

(our engagement photo)

Who is more sensitive? Me.

Who has more friends? Spencer says I do, because he goes to work, while I go out and play with friends.

Who has more siblings? Spencer has 6 & I have 4.

Who wears the pants in the relationship? Spencer does, but sometimes I like to put them on, too.

Our honeymoon in Hawaii

About The Children

Here's a few fun facts about my kiddos!

Taylor:

1. She loves PB & Honey sandwiches.
2. She will do anything for sugar.
3. Her favorite color is purple, her favorite # is 4 (weird), and her favorite letter is T (shocking).
4. She loves books, especially classic tales.
5. She has a very small belly button (remember she was only 2 pounds at birth).
6. She loves babies and little things. When she is pretending she is something, she is always a small somthing.
7. She is super sensitive.
8. Her best friend is her brother, McKay.
9. She wants to be a mom when she grows up.

10. She is just learning how to ride her bicycle.

McKay:

1. He loves wearing his “basketball shoes”.
2. He calls watermelon, “watermenenenen”. It’s really, really cute.
3. He is a big tease.
4. He is not potty-trained yet. He’s still scared of the toilet and has no interest. Bummer.
5. He is sweet and loves to cuddle with mom.
6. He is stubborn. You can not force him or manipulate him to do anything he doesn’t want to do. 7. He walks really slowly because he's busy looking at everything around him.

8. He frequently asks, “Can we go to Chuck E. Cheese?” We went once a few months ago and he will not get it out of his mind!
9. When I put him down for his nap, he asks me to sing him 2 songs, The Calliou Song (from a PBS cartoon, his fav.) and Jingle Bells.
10. He is left-handed.

Maren:

1. She is up at least once a night to eat, sometimes even four times a night. This must stop soon for her mother’s sanity.
2. She is a GREAT baby, beside what I just wrote about her.
3. She doesn’t have any teeth yet.
4. She likes to put everything in her mouth.
5. Her fingernails grow way too fast.
6. She is my child that has developed the fastest.
7. She likes to pull up to a stand.
8. She can stare you down.
9. She won't take a bottle.
10. She sucks her thumb.

If you read this, consider yourself tagged!

Crawling Everywhere

One of the places that Maren loves to go is under the table. Some babies won't crawl on tile, but it doesn't bother Maren. I have to keep it well-swept or she'll eat all the crumbs.

Look, she notices that I am in the room.


She smiles,
and turns around,
and she's off!!
Getting warmer...
warmer,
you're almost there!come on!She finds her happy place.Or was it the camera she was going for? It's hard to tell.

Pre-school time!

Taylor is all grown up and going to pre-school now! I am happy to say that she loves it. She goes once a week, every Friday from 8-12.

She is holding a cookie that she helped make earlier that day.

McKay has finally gotten used to the fact that Taylor is gone on Fridays. The first day we dropped her off, he was depressed the whole four hours. Now he just knows it's a part of life and deals with it.

Sweet Maren, the little leech.

Here I am trying to check my email & blog about my life. But alas, I have the most adorable little magnet that is very much attracted to me. (She makes it difficult to achieve much but giving her my undivided attention.)

It's funny. Maren has no expectations for anyone in the world, but me. And she sure does have high expectations for me. She is perfectly content in a room... until I enter it. Then she will not be happy until she is in my arms.

Oh, and by the way, I love it. I know it won't be long until I'm not the favorite, most needed and wanted person in her life, so I'll soak it in and savor it.


She wants me. And I want her.

The Dodge

Spencer got a new truck for Work! (It's new for us, it's a 2004) He really likes it. Of course if he didn't have to have a nice truck for his work he'd be happy in the cheapest thing he could find that runs. (You know how he is). I'm just glad that he has what he needs to do his job.