We're so glad when daddy comes home

The other day Matt took Jaden outside to play so I could finish cleaning dinner up. Jaden normally eats in just his diaper, which meant Matt had to get him dressed first. Haha, I couldn't help but take pictures, daddy's outfits turn out pretty snazzy sometimes. ;) 

These boys are such fun buddies though, I didn't get very much cleaning done while they were outside because I was sneaking peeks through the windows. Matt is the best dad, he can get the biggest giggles out of Jaden, better than anyone else! It's been like that since Jaden was tiny. We may not get to play with dad all the time, but that hasn't stopped these two from having a cute bond. Melts my heart guys. 

Anyway... here's the fashion show! ;)

Ok so this one doesn't have anything to do with Matt dressing him. I just love that Jaden sits with his legs crossed all the time. I've been giving him his bottle and helping him climb into the chair in the morning. I'll keep working on breakfast, and he sits there pretty content with Little Einsteins and Daniel Tiger. Every so often though he'll peek around the back of the recliner and yell 'Hi', just to make sure I'm still in the kitchen. :) I love this little stinker. He's turning into a wild little toddler, and I love it. (And hate it sometimes haha.)

When the aunties come over... ;)

Funny little pirate boy. He's pretty patient with our antics haha. 

All boy, this one...

Tonight I took Bri back to my mom's house after she watched Jaden so I could go to the dentist. (Side note... I hate dentists still. Mainly because the sound of high pitched water picks and metal scraping my teeth makes me want to cry.) Matt's been doing his EMT class, or working, every evening so Jaden and I decided to hang out at grandma's for a while.
My mom and I were talking in the front room while Jaden wandered around the house yelling jibberish at the top of his lungs, when all of a sudden things got really quiet in the kitchen. Which we should all know is a very bad sign. :p 

I went in to check on him and saw a cute little bum squatting in the corner.... right where the dog food dish is. (ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap)

Low and behold, the child has three pieces of crunchy-delicious dog food in his mouth, and he's smiling from ear to ear. His hand may or may not have been on its way to his mouth with another handful of K-9 crunchies. ;) 

This is pretty much what I looked like...

Right before I laughed my guts out. ;) Parenting at it's finest ladies and gents. At. It's. Finest.

#10 out of 30

Describe your most embarrassing moment:

Oh heavens. I have several. I mentioned in one of the other posts that Matt is the kind of person that doesn't let things bother him so he's honestly NEVER embarrassed.

Well I'm kind of the opposite. I've gotten a lot better over the past few years, I decided I hate feeling embarrassed and stewing over it for days afterwards so I needed to learn how to laugh things off. Sometimes it works but I'm still usually embarrassed anyway. Haha

... And now that I've really talked up my arsenal of embarrassing moments I'm having a hard time coming up with a mortifying one to tell you about. 

There was one time I thought I should probably drop out of school and hide under my bed for the rest of my life when I was in 8th (?) grade. 

The National Guard came to Piute High for some reason or another, and they brought a climbing wall to set up in our commons. Before I tell you about why I had to climb it even though I'm scared of heights, let me rewind to that morning. 

Eighth grade Shannon was obnoxiously boy crazy. So she got up early all the time and had all sorts of ambition to look as cute as possible in attempts to snag her crushes attention. (No worries, it never really worked, just caused drama.) So I had on a super cute pink sweater that had a wide neckline. Well as most girls will agree with me, you can't just wear a regular bra with wide necklines, because then you have strap struggles. I had a strapless bra that was more of a sports bra with the option to remove the straps? I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to invent those because... well. Yeah. I'm getting ahead of myself.

So. Of course initially I didn't want to climb the wall, but then there was the boy of my heart's desires standing right there so I had to show off or something. (cue eyeroll) In my cute pink sweater without any strap struggles. 

I got about halfway up the climbing wall when suddenly I was feeling a bit more... free. 

(Insert small panic attack here.)

I was still going up but my bra was going down! And there were lots of students (and my CRUSH) standing at the bottom of the wall.

I promptly decided to repel down and shove my coat back on in record time. My friends were asking why didn't just finish, I was getting so close to the top! Why did I give up? 

... Well. Because my bra gave up. That's why.

I'm pretty sure I thought my world was about to end. :p 

But look at me now! Seven(ish) years later, still living and stuff. ;) Good thing my 8th grade figure didn't have much to show. However, I'm pretty sure I didn't take off my coat for the rest of the day. Haha Oh middle school.

24 Weeks

A cantaloupe seems pretty big, doesn't it? I guess that would explain the stronger kicks and bladder tap dances. ;)
I don't have a bump picture (again), but we did take some family pictures on Sunday so when we get those back I figured that could count. ;) They were pretty fun to take, she had Matt and I do some maternity type poses and I feel like a couple of them might qualify for awkward family photos... bonus! ;) But really, I'm sure they turned out great! All my sisters are so stinkin photogenic, it'd be hard to have bad family pictures!

So. Onto this week.

Cravings: Steak. I just want a big juicy steak so bad! Ooh, and some serious A1 sauce and horseradish? I'm dying now. :p (And popsicles but hey, I had an addiction way before Jaden started making orders.)

Aversions: Still not really anything besides granola bars. :p

Hardest part of this week: More back aches, and my feet are starting to not like me by the end of the day. But really it's not too bad. Matt's nice to me and rubs my back all the time so that's more of a bonus than a hard part of the week! :p

Best part of this week: It's been so much fun to keep feeling him move more and to feel him get stronger. :) It's to the point that you can really see my belly move if he's kicking up higher (rather than straight down to my bladder, which still seems to be his position of choice.) Sometimes I just stop and think about how crazy and miraculous all of this is. Heavenly Father is basically a genius. It's amazing to me how our bodies work and how they develop. (Not to mention how women's bodies just know what to do to grow and have babies. It seems like such a major thing, but it just kind of works out and you're out of the hospital in a day or two. Crazy!)

Some funny things from this week, I got to babysit for the cute family I babysat for last year a lot and the oldest, who is 4 has been pretty baby oriented with the past couple of times I've seen her. :)
"Can I hold her?"
"Well, it's a boy, and you can't hold him until he's born! :) He's still in my tummy."
"Oh. Ok."
A few minutes later, "Can I hold her?" :p

She got out her and her little brother's baby books (which are adorable p.s) and wanted to look through them. When she saw the umbilical cord, she was a little concerned though. So we talked about how that's the way the baby gets their food when they're in their mommy's tummy. She asked me several times throughout the afternoon if I had fed my baby yet. :p Yup. I sure did.
I was kind of worried that she'd ask some bigger questions that I really didn't want to have to explain. Haha, but luckily she was content just knowing about baby belly buttons and didn't want to know how the babies got in there or how the babies get out of there. (Phew!)

She's really liked to 'feel the baby'. He's never kicking when she asks to feel, and when he does start kicking she hasn't been patient enough to keep her hand on my belly long enough to feel him. :p But that's ok with her! She just gets these huge eyes and says, *gasp* "He didn't kick me! That means he loves me!"
That is exactly what that means. :) Haha I seriously just love kid logic. Makes me giggle.

I enjoy giggling

Obviously i'm a real productive human being. 

But hey, I'm a smiling, giggling human being now? :p

(this one might make me a terrible person... I died laughing)

Aaand what we've learned from this post is that I'm lacking in maturity probably, my house is still messy, and I don't want to learn law again tonight. :p Happy giggles ladies and gents!

[pretend this is a witty title]

Guys, I'm pooped. And it's only Wednesday! Sports Authority has gone great so far! I've only worked two days, so I still feel clueless most of the time. Today was definitely easier than Monday. Basically I'm that annoying employee who asks a million questions, but at least I'm trying to help out where I can for the time being. :) I dusted like nobody's business today! (And scaled shelves to get shoes for cute kids to try on.) So, I have to have a brag moment. I have one meal cooking right now, three in the freezer, and some leftovers in the fridge for lunches. (Which is why I'm pooped!) I also have homemade rolls, because we need more padding. :p 
Two cute stories from the day, both involving kids. #1: A quiet, little guy came in with his grandma earlier today to try on basketball shoes. We found some sweet looking Nike's and the second he got them on and tied, he was off! Rewinding a little, Matt and I had looked at shoes over Christmas break, and he told me that when he was little he would always run when he tried on shoes to buy. He had to make sure they made him run the fastest, of course! :) Cute, right?  Back to the present. With both pairs of shoes this little boy tried on, he'd take off weaving through the clothes racks. Testing out the lateral support? :p It made me chuckle. Must be a boy thing.
#2: I went over to a little family to see if they had anything they wanted me to bring out to try on, and the youngest boy pipes up (drowning out his mom's "no") "YES! Blue, come!" So I follow him to the kids section and he points out a rather patriotic looking pair of soccer cleats. "I want blue shoes! Huh?" And he just kept saying that over and over and over! When one of the managers came down, he did the same thing to him. "Blue shoes, Huh!"  Clearly the blue shoes are the best!
And now I'm back to homework doing, waiting for my handsome homework buddy to get home so we can bond over Chemistry and Pharmacology. Oh the romance! :p Maybe this weekend we'll get to go on a date or something. :)
Sorry, this was maybe a boring post, I just haven't said anything in a little while! 

Spring break!

Well. It wasn't feeling very springy outside for the first part of it, but it's been so great! Friday we packed up and hit the road after Matt's classes to visit our family in Eagle Mountain before they move to Nebraska. And it rained. And rained and rained... and rained. :) Delightful drive up, really. ;)  However, when we got there, it was awesome! Mallorie had planned a surprise going away party for the family, and so when evening rolled around, we got them all loaded up in her car and their van and went on quite the wild goose chase through the neighborhood. (I should probably mention that they were blind folded, hence the crazy driving to throw them off :) )  I wish I had pictures of their reactions, it was priceless. :) It was really cool to see how many of their friends and family came out to support them and how much it meant to the family. I mostly sat at the 'family table' in the corner, because I didn't know most of the people, but let me tell you why that was the best choice. Matt H., my Matt, and Dan reverted back to... oh... middle school maybe ;) and had food throwing contests. Trying to make it in the hoop, trying to hit specific people... you name it.  You better believe there were innocent by standers harmed in the process. ;) President Buys got hit instead of Jennifer, and Enoch got beaned in the head with a baby carrot. Poor kid. :p I'm pretty sure Heather was one of the targets and had some close calls too. ;) After all that partying, we cleaned up and went over to Dan and Heather's to watch movies in their endearingly named, 'Redneck Theater'. :) I thought it was pretty innovative. ;) 
Saturday, we slept in, ate breakfast and took our time getting ready. Mal had planned family pictures at 4, so we kinda just hung out until then. Matt and Carson went rock climbing at Momentum, and so Mallorie, Miquelle, Shaun (one of Miquelle and Matt's friends from Snow), Braxten, Aunt Deb, and I went to Oz The Great and Powerful.  Good... but definitely cheesy. :) (Which is probably what made it so funny. That, and the fact that when Mallorie and I decided to move down to the row with all the others and I thought it'd be easy to climb over the seat discreetly but ended up stuck between the seat and back of the chair....) When we got home, Morgan and Jason came in with my cute new nephew! (background... when I was little, I was super upset when I realized that I wouldn't have nieces and nephews for a long time because I'm the oldest. Apparently I forgot that when you get married you get more siblings, and thus more nieces and nephews! I've been so stinkin excited to finally meet baby Christian!) So we snuggled the baby and visited until family pictures. :)

Seriously, Mike is the cutest grandpa. Well. Cutest with all
little kids, really. :) 

He got making the cutest little faces as soon as I
put the camera away. :p

Kenners volunteers to change diapers.
I told her she could come live with us when we have kids. :)

We got to Nolan park for the pictures, and it was FREEZING! And windy! So we either look like America's Next Top Models...     

or....

We're hoping for the first one. ;) 

Just kidding, I'm sure they turned out cute, just because it's our family! And we're pretty cute! :) 

Saturday night, Jennifer talked us out of being boring old  married people and staying home to go to bed early, and into going with the kids to Nickle City. I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd even like arcades... I was wrong. Minus the part where you kinda feel like you should take a shower and burn the contamination off your hands, it's really super fun! And we even got prizes out of the deal! One back scratcher, two small parachute men, and some more sugar. Because we so needed it. ;) (We hadn't been eating lots of treats all weekend, right?)

Sunday, bright and early we hopped in the car for Christian's baby blessing in North Salt Lake. It was a beautiful blessing, and so fun to snuggle him in church! (Poor baby, he got passed around like a REALLY cute hot potato. And shame on me, because I'm not sure  how much of the meeting I actually got. I was a wee bit distracted with Kenners and Christian. :p)

 Later, we went to a park in Saratoga Springsish, and played on 'the pyramid of death' (as Matt Harker called it), and all sorts of spinny toys. Bless our little nauseous hearts. It seriously was hilarious though. We have way too much fun sometimes. :p

Brax is in the purple, my Matt has his red
hoody on, and Matt H. is right above him. 

They made it to the top! Probably raced. :p

Kennedy

The Matts. Climing down on the outside. They're either
really brave, or really careless. I can't decide which haha

Left to right: Kennedy, Enoch, and Braxten

Matt and Mallorie :)

Mallorie, Matt H. and Matt C

Matt H, Braxten and Matt C

Enoch

Mallorie and Me

Matt and I

The boys thought it'd be a good idea to stand on the
swings... I think they both almost got launched.

Enoch :)

Kenners and I

Kennedy took this picture, and she's rather proud of
her mad skills :) It is pretty sweet. 

Matt helping Mallorie and I go higher :p

                                                     

Matt and Kennedy on one of many
spinny things of death.

Mal and Braxten

Matt, Matt and Enoch :)

Matt and Matt haha

Matt and Brax
(Ok, is anyone else dying over Matt's face??)

Kennedy

My husband... the... pole dancer?

Kennedy the gangster

Enoch

Matt and Kenners... seriously, I don't know
how their little brains didn't fly right out of their
heads after all this spinning. And yet they'd
keep getting back on for more!

                                         
                                               

Ok. So on Facebook, not too long ago, my cousin Maycee posted something about her sister (who is from Saratoga Springs) buying a cat harness. And I laughed and laughed... then Sunday when we were at the park... I found this:

                                   

And I just have to ask, what is wrong with these people? ;) Just kidding, but seriously. Since when has walking your cat been a normal outing?

 Back at the house waiting to go over to Dan and Heather's for dinner and March birthday celebrations

These two have way too much fun together. :) They're
ALWAYS laughing. :)

This is why I love kids. :) Enoch wrote 'I'm a Mormon
and I love it' earlier that day. If you're wondering why it's
scribbled and re-written, that's because Matt H
made it say 'I'm a murderer and I love it'. Which made
Enoch cry, so Mallorie fixed it for him. :) Haha poor kids
always being harrassed by the Matts.

Mallorie, Mike and Jennifer

Kennedy's photography skills #1

and #2 :p
This would be Foster. :) The funniest, but most expressionless
dog ever. :)

 At  Dan and Heather's:

Matt Harker and Brianna :)

These two are going to be cute/really really entertaining
dads someday. :) My favorite part about this is Matt H. always
tells Mallorie to put the kid down ('so she doesn't get any ideas')
whenever she's holding a cute child... and yet here he is. Being
wildly entertained by playing with children. :p

The super cute birthday cake Jen made for me :) 

Haha, I'm not sure I even have a caption for these. :p
Only that we all nearly died laughing when it was going
on. :)

Miquelle and Brianna :)

The cakes Jennifer made for Aunt Cindy

How cute is this one??

It was so stinkin funny to watch him be
'her other arm' and how she reacted to it. :p

We came home Monday night after another day of just hanging out with our family and helping with a few projects. :) It was such a great weekend!

Yesterday, we went to St. George for the extra sunshine, and a picnic at the park on Tabernacle road.

He sent our goldfish 'swimming'

This is why we're married. :p
(We were trying to take a picture and keep our eyes open,
but it was so bright!)

Oh! Did I mention Matt got a new iPhone? ;)

                                               

I love this little carrousel  

                                     

At Dixie Rock :)

 

Getting ready to throw our parachute men
(Yes, from Nickle City! Why do you think
we picked them? ;) )

That was the 'cliff' we threw them off of

Everybody was kung fu fighting?

...and I'm just sitting there thinking, "please don't break your
leg, please don't break your leg..."

Last night, we went to the LeFevres and visited for a little bit, while Aubree did hair. Then Aubs, Lee, Casey's little sister Kara (sorry if I spelled it wrong), and I went to the church to watch the guys play basketball. :) I should've brought my camera. They're pretty entertaining! ;)

Spring break is fantastic so far! I just wish it was longer than a week. :p