Vance and Britt

Who’s Who?

2012-01-31T14:12:00.001-08:00

Our boys when they were both less than an hour old. Can you tell who is who?

These are pictures of both Austin and Kaleb at 10 months of age. I have always thought that these two boys looked very different from each other. When I put their pictures side by side, I was surprised at how similar they look. It’s so fun to watch them grow!

A Snowless Winter In Rexburg (well…almost)

2012-01-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

It is January 26th and we are just barely breaking out our snow gear. It has been a crazy winter! Crazy but Awesome! It has been uncharacteristically warm for Rexburg this year. Just last week we had a high of 55 degrees. Last year at this time we had several feet of snow and the temperature rarely got out of the negatives. The only one who has been complaining about the unseasonably warm weather is Austin. He has been wanting to build a snowman for months. We have had a few little snow storms but nothing that stuck. Well, today was Austin’s big day. When Vance got home from work he and Austin got all bundled up in their snow gear and went outside to shovel the driveway and build a snowman.

Austin was CRAZY with excitement!

We have a big driveway, so shoveling is quite a project. You can tell by Vance’s crazy shovel patterns that he didn’t know where to start.

Austin got this book called “The Biggest Snowman Ever” He wants us to read it to him almost every night. When it snowed he kept saying, “Let’s go make the BIGGEST SNOWMAN EVER!” Vance is went out to help him and this is what they came up with. Obviously his heart wasn’t in it.

I was worried you wouldn’t be able to see the little thing in the picture, so I had Austin stand next to it to show how little it really is.

Vance was worried that Austin was going to be disappointed in their sad, pathetic little snowman, but he was hungry and tired from work and wanted to go into a warm house and eat dinner. Can you blame him? When they finished the snowman Austin exclaimed, “Yeah, it’s the BIGGEST SNOWMAN EVER!" Whew! Crisis averted! Maybe someday we will show him what a real snowman looks like.

Coupons Rock!

2012-01-16T12:08:00.000-08:00

Words cannot describe how much I love couponing. I started couponing a couple of years ago with my friend Katie in American Fork. We went to a couponing class to learn how to do it right, and after that, we were sold. We started getting multiple Sunday papers, and clipping coupons till we couldn’t clip any more. I was amazed that I could get toothpaste, body wash, deodorant, and several other everyday essentials for FREE!!!

When we moved back to Rexburg I didn’t continue my couponing endeavors because the strategy is a little different in Idaho. Different stores, different papers and I hadn’t found a great Idaho based website to keep me up to date on all the deals going on. My good friend Kathryn is living here in Rexburg too and she is an avid couponer. She informed me of a good website and got me hooked up with the Sunday paper, and I have been addicted ever since. I love couponing. It’s really become more of a hobby for me. I love to challenge myself to see how low I can get my grocery bill. Few things can get me as excited as walking out of a store with a bunch of free stuff. The other big perk is now I have somewhere to put all my bargains. Our new house has an amazing food storage room. It’s been fun to watch it slowing become stalked.

Here is a little example of a weekly trip to Albertson’s.

5 Wish Bone Salad Dressings- FREE

25 Softsoap hand soap- FREE

45 Zone Perfect Protein Bars- FREE

2 Pace Salsa- $1 each

3 Rosita Refried Beans- $.66 each

2 Eggland’s Best dozen eggs- $1.50 each

Grand Total= $6.98 plus tax

LOVE IT!!!

This is my awesome food storage room. It is getting stocked slowly but surely.

An update on Vance

2011-12-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

Well, we have had an eventful holiday break. It has been filled with ups and downs, but we have never felt so blessed. Here’s the story…

Vance has had a lump on his throat for quit a while and he went in to get it checked about two weeks ago. We really thought it was nothing and were really shocked when the doctor expressed a lot of concern and said that he needs to have it removed immediately. He said that there is only a 20% chance that it is cancerous but told Vance that he should get it removed anyway because the more it grows the more it will start to bother him. Well, the word CANCER kind of freaked us out so we scheduled the surgery for as soon as possible. After they removed the growth they said that it was bigger than they thought and showed some signs of cancer. We had to wait an agonizing 24 hours to get the results back that would tell us for sure.

It was the day before Christmas Eve that we found out that Vance has Thyroid Cancer. At first we were really freaked out. But the more we learned about Thyroid Cancer the more our minds were put at ease. It is a highly curable cancer and Vance would not have to go through Chemo-Therapy. We scheduled the surgery for Vance to have the rest of his thyroid removed the next week. Once the thyroid is removed, Vance will have a treatment called Radioactive Oblation. It is basically a treatment that kills all the thyroid cells in Vance’s body. This treatment is a precautionary measure, in case the cancer has spread to other parts of his body.

Vance’s went in for his second surgery right before New Years and we should hear back in a few days if the cancer spread to his lymphnodes.

This was Vance right before his second surgery. You can see the cut in his throat from the surgery exactly one week before. It wasn’t much recovery time before he had to go under the knife a second time.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of him in the goofy cap they put on him as they wheeled him away.

This was right after surgery. It was a little scary seeing him like that. The surgery went well and his recovery has been pretty normal. It has been a little more painful than the first surgery and he has been really tired but that is to be expected. Once he fully recovers from the surgery he will have the Radioactive Oblation treatment. After that, he should be okay. He is thyroid free and hopefully cancer free!

It has been an emotional few weeks but we really feel so blessed. We have really come to realize how precious and fragile this life is.

Christmas Time

2011-12-26T10:39:00.001-08:00

We had a really great Christmas this year. We didn’t travel anywhere. We just stayed home and enjoyed time together as a family. It was very relaxing and just what the doctor ordered.

On Christmas Eve we decorated a Gingerbread House. Austin was so excited. He had a blast putting the little candies on the house (and eating them too). We had so much fun that I think we are going to make this a King Family tradition for Christmas Eve.

It turned out to be quite a masterpiece.

Later that night we went to Grandma and Grandpa King’s house for dinner. Then we went to see Great-Grandma King and spend the rest of the evening with her and the Barry King Family.

We have carried on the tradition of opening pajamas on Christmas eve. The boys had lots of fun ripping into their presents. It was a good warm-up for the following day!

Austin’s pajama situation is kind of sad right now so he got 3 pairs of pajamas. He got all of his favorites, Batman, Phineas and Ferb, and Cars 2.

Vance was uncharacteristically surprised and excited to unwrap the pajamas that he picked out for himself

We really need to work on Austin’s smile. This is the face he pulls whenever I ask him to smile for the camera.

Christmas morning was so fun this year because Austin was finally old enough to understand the concept of Santa. Vance woke us up bright and early (everyone except Kaleb) to go see what Santa brought us.

Kaleb got to open his presents a little later after he woke up. We weren’t about to wake up the little dear before he was ready. We aren’t insane!

Kaleb didn’t really open his presents…more like he ate them. He just took a big bite and started chewing. Poor kid will never stop getting fat comments if he continually acts like that.

Austin had to step in and help his little brother out.

Later we had our traditional “pork chop and gravy” breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa King, Brian, and Andrew and Becky all came over to spend the day with us. Later that night we got to talk to Tyler on his mission via Skype. It was so fun to see him. Technology these days is pretty cool. We can’t wait for him to get home in 6 months.

Handsome Boys

2011-12-19T14:43:00.001-08:00

Since Christmas falls on a Sunday this year we thought it would be fun to get our boys new church clothes to wear Christmas day. Plus, our kids usually look like homeless orphans at church and it was high time we remedied the situation. I think they look like quite the handsome pair!

Christmas Spirit

2011-12-19T14:11:00.001-08:00

Austin is really getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Today he came up to me with a big box and wrapping paper and said he wanted to wrap a present for me. First he wanted to put my name on it. I wrote M-O-M and he said, “no, it’s to Brittney!” So we crossed that out and wrote “to Brittney”.

Then we wrapped it and we did a mighty fine job!

As soon as we were done wrapping Austin said, “Open it mom, open it!!!” So I opened it and this is what I found inside. Just what I always wanted…a Hotwheels Car!

I can’t wait to see how excited he is on Christmas morning!

Kaleb at 8 months

2011-12-15T21:28:00.001-08:00

Kaleb is growing so fast. He is very mobile and curious and can eat with the best of them. He is 22 pounds and in the 98th percentile for height.

Kaleb loves food. I haven’t found anything that he won’t eat (paper included…it’s one of his favorites). He has two teeth on top and two teeth on bottom. He can sure do a lot of damage with those four small teeth. He can chew through a carrot like a beaver and devours crackers like the are the last crackers on Earth. I am continually amazed that I can hand him a snack and within seconds it is gone. No trace of it anywhere. He hates to see other people eating without him. He can be stuffed to the rafters but as soon as we sit down to dinner he whines and whines until he has something to munch on too.

Kaleb is a very social baby. He likes to be out and about. He gets very whiney if we have been cooped up in the house to long. He is the best baby in the grocery store. He just likes to look around at all the people and see what there is to see. He is pretty tough too. He loves to wrestle with his big brother. I love to watch them roll around and giggle. Sometimes I will be watching them and I think, “Austin that’s too rough,” but Kaleb doesn’t seem to mind.

Kaleb is very mobile these days. He is crawling all over the place. He can climb up the stairs (he can do it in record time if everyone is upstairs and he got left downstairs by himself). He can pull himself up to things pretty easily and has recently started to try and stand on his own.

His little smile and laugh just brighten my day. He has the sweetest little smile that is even cuter because of his big cheeks. The thing I love most about his chunkiness is that he is so snuggly. He loves to snuggle with his blanket. He loves that blanket almost more than he loves me. He buries his face in it when he is getting tired and he will not sleep without. Needless to say we don’t leave home without it. One time Kaleb was ready for a nap but his blanket was being washed. Vance said, “we have a thousand blankets, just give him a different one.” My reply was, “you just don’t understand blankies, do you?” He responded, “no I don’t!”.

We love our sweet Kaleb.

Winter time = Juicy Oranges

2011-12-10T17:47:00.001-08:00

It just wouldn’t be Christmas, or winter, for that matter, without a big box of deliciously sweet, juicy oranges.

It is one of my favorite parts of this time of year. Our family sure can eat oranges. We go through several boxes throughout the winter months. Vance’s favorite time to eat an orange is while we watch a movie. He will take oranges over popcorn any day. Some of his fondest childhood memories are watching a movie with his family while his dad sat on the floor peeling oranges and tossing them to the kids.

Vance has carried that tradition on with our family. He is a master orange peeler. It is so fun to cuddle up in warm blankets, turn on a good show and let Vance go to work endlessly peeling oranges for Austin and me.

Brothers have never been so different

2011-11-30T19:50:00.001-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to write about what extreme opposites our sweet little boys are.

Here’s a little background. Austin, since he was just a few months old, has had some social anxiety when it comes to new places and new people. Some have taken offense when they walk in a room and Austin starts to cry. We try our best to reassure our friends and family that it is nothing personal…Austin does this whenever he meets someone new. When Austin was 3 months old, we would go to Grandma and Grandpa Gardner’s house and the minute we would walk in the door he would start screaming. We would walk outside, and he would stop. We thought he would grow out of being hyper-sensitive to new surrounding, but it has not happened yet. For Austin’s first Halloween we bought him an adorable dragon costume. This is what he did…

That child screamed and screamed until we took the costume off. His second Halloween was better with the costume but he really didn’t like walking up to strangers very much. Well, this year I tried to really prep Austin well so he would have a lot of fun dressing up and going trick-or-treating. A couple of weeks before Halloween we went to the store and picked out a costume. He loves batman right now so I splurged and bought him the $20 batman costume. He was excited at the store but once we got home he wouldn’t put it on. I thought he would warm up to it after a few days, but no such luck. Last year he didn’t mind his Buzz Lightyear costume once we forced it on him, so I asked if he wanted to be Buzz again this year. He said yes and happily put on the costume. Needless to say, I took the Batman costume back to Walmart.

My camera is lost so we took the boys to Walgreens to get their picture taken. Austin had a complete meltdown. He was crying and wouldn’t sit on the bale of straw. He kept saying, “I too scared!” This is the best picture we could get. Austin looks like he has somewhat of a smile on his face, but don’t be deceived, that is his whining face. Notice how Kaleb doesn’t seem to mind the dragon costume.

And then there is Kaleb. He is our social butterfly. He is not happy unless he is getting all the attention from everyone in the room. Whenever he starts to get fussy and I can’t seem to calm him, we go to the store and walk around so he can get out and see some new faces. Works every time.

A couple of weeks ago Kaleb was being particularly fussy, so we took an exciting to trip to Broulim’s. Kaleb was happy as a clam and all Austin kept saying was “I want to go home!” At “Story Time” at the library, Kaleb will sit with all the kids and listen to the story. Austin will only sit if Kaleb is right next to him and I am within arms length. It is really quite comical actually.

Now that Christmas is fast approaching we decided to take the boys to see Santa Clause. This is Austin sitting on Santa’s lap a few years ago.

Poor Santa. This is Kaleb sitting on Santa’s lap.

We have been excited about Christmas this year because Austin is old enough to know what is going on. He has been really excited for Santa to come and bring him presents. I thought he might actually sit on Santa’s lap this year. No such luck. This is the closest we could get him to Santa. He was fine to wave at Santa from a distance but as soon as we tried to inch him closer…he started to lose it. We figured it wasn’t worth the battle so I settled for a picture like this:

Now that is not to say that Kaleb is always a perfect angel and Austin is a complete terror. Kaleb has his moments too. It just funny that what Kaleb has fits over and what Austin has fits over are exact opposites. At home, Kaleb is super fussy because he always wants all the attention on him, but Austin is content to just hang out and play by himself. In public, Austin is always on the verge of a meltdown, whereas Kaleb couldn’t be happier.

It is so interesting to see how different these two brothers are. It is a true testament to the fact that each little spirit that comes to this Earth has their own personality, and temperament, and therefore have different roles to fulfill. It will be so interesting to see them as teenagers or grown men. I wonder if they will always be opposites.

Grandma King’s 80th Birthday

2011-11-06T14:24:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, November 5, 2011, Grandma Merilyn King turned 80 years old. The whole King clan traveled down to Salt Lake to celebrate with her

We sang “Happy Birthday”, Grandma opened presents and we had a delicious dinner (thanks to Aunt Lucy).

It was so fun to sit around and visit with all the family.

Of course, no King Family “get together” is complete without a musical program. This is Uncle Corey singing with his daughter Aubrey.

These are Seth and Jessica’s adorable kids singing “I’m Trying to be Like Jesus”. Lydia is accompanying them on the violin.

Vance sang a Jack Johnson song with his brother Brian. Now, Vance has got a lot of flack in the past because he usually weasels his way out of singing at family events, but this year he did it. Him and Brian sounded really good together.

Sarah, Jessica, and I sang “ How can I keep from singing”. The thing I love about the King’s is that they are all so musical that we all just show up a little early, throw together a few songs, and it sounds like everyone practiced for months. During the program Michelle King commented that the Kings are going to need to start holding auditions to be able to marry into the family.

One of my favorite parts is hearing Allison and Dave play their stringed instruments.

This is the Barry King Family singing a number from “The Prince of Egypt”

The Bruce King family sang “The Lions Sleeps Tonight”. It’s always very entertaining to watch Bruce come out of his shell and dance along to the song.

At the end, per Grandma’s request, all the men stood up and sang a few hymns. They just stood up there and broke out into perfect 4-part harmony, without any practice. When they would finish one hymn Grandma would request another and another. She really loves to hear her sons and grandsons sing.

No King Family Program would be complete without Grandma playing the piano. She is an amazing pianist. We all love to hear her play. I love that music is her legacy that she has passed down to her children and grandchildren.

This is Kaleb with Estella Stout. She is about 8 months older than Kaleb, but they look about the same size. It’s Kaleb’s freakishly large head. It makes him look older than he is.

The “little kids” had fun swapping slobbery toys and poking each others eyes out.

The “big kids” had a lot of fun playing together. They just ran a played in that gym all day. This Hot Wheels track kept them entertained for a long time. Austin was having the time of his life running around with all the kids his age.

This is Kaleb and Evie. They are about a month apart. I love all that hair on that girl. She is the spitting image of her mom.

We did manage to get a few family pictures in. These are all the grandkids of Bruce and Elaine King.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get 8 kids under the age of 10 to sit still for a picture? I took over a dozen pictures and these were two of the best.

The whole gang. Not a bad looking bunch, I’d say.

Kaleb is Crawling

2011-11-06T13:05:00.001-08:00

Kaleb is officially crawling! He has been able to get up on all fours for about a month now, but he hasn’t been very motivated to go anywhere. He would go from sitting to all fours and then back to sitting again, but no forward motion. This weekend at Grandma King’s 80th Birthday party he was getting himself around pretty well. This picture is a little blurry but I love the look on his face. It is so Kaleb!

Austin in really good moral support for Kaleb.

What a cute little bug!

Andrew and Becky’s Wedding

2011-10-24T08:36:00.001-07:00

This is my younger brother, Andrew and his sweet new bride Becky. They were married in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple on September 23, 2011. We were able to go down to Utah and witness their sealing in the temple.

This is Vance with my four brothers outside the temple. Tyler is on a mission…that’s why he made his appearance in cardboard form.

They had the most beautiful reception at the Highland Gardens. They had a light dinner, dancing, musical program, and a slide show. It was so fun to celebrate with them. Aren’t they a handsome couple?

These are my two sisters-in-law Megan and McKenzie and my Aunt Beth. We are standing in front of my favorite part of the reception. Instead of having a traditional wedding cake they had a cake bar. There were about a dozen gourmet cakes there to sample. Man, were they delicious

This is Kaleb with my sister Emily. Kaleb behaved himself a lot better at this reception than he did at Marc and McKenzie’s, but Austin…not so much. So the reception was in this beautiful indoor garden. Lots of plants and ponds and water fountains. During the musical program my sister brings Austin to me soaking wet. I said, “Austin, what happened?” He said, “I went swimming!!!”. He had gone wading through the pond in the middle of the reception center. This is one example of a time when I wish I could pretend I didn’t know the child.

Vance and I sang “Quando” by Michael Buble. My dad and I were going to sing it but the day of the wedding my dad didn’t feel like he knew the song well enough, so Vance was the back-up. Gheen and Beth sang a really cool version of a Journey song and Becky’s uncles and cousins sang “Grow Old With Me” accompanied with a banjo, fiddles, and an upright bass. It was really cool. After that we watched a sweet video of Andrew and Becky. It was a really fun night and we were glad we got to celebrate their new life together. The newly-weds are going to school at BYU-I so we get to see them a lot. It is really fun to get together with them and get to know Becky better. They are a perfect match.

It’s great to be a mom

2011-10-23T22:06:00.001-07:00

So I have had some really great “mom” moments lately. My kids are at a stage of life right now that is just so fun! I often .get restless as a young mom. I miss adult conversation during the day. I miss going to a job and feeling like I am contributing something to society. I miss having something to get dressed up for. But lately, there is no other place I would rather be that at home with my precious little boys. My heart just feels like it is overflowing with love for the little rascals. We had a lesson in Relief Society today about parenting and I found myself wishing my boys would stay the ages they are now forever.

Austin is 3 and a half years old. I often have moms say to me, “isn’t 3 the best age?” The past few months I have come to full heartedly believe that it is. Here’s why. Austin is able to comprehend concepts really well now. I feel like I can tell him to do something and he will do it. If he doesn’t want to do something, or is angry or sad, I feel like I can reason with him. I can explain why it’s time to go to bed and a tantrum doesn’t immediately follow. I can tell him to put on his shoes and get in the car…and he actually does it. It is so fun to tell him we are going to go do something fun and see how excited he gets. When going into a store I can say, “stay right by mom, and don’t touch anything” and, for the most part, he does it. I love that he is talking so much better now and can tell me what he wants and what he likes and dislikes, . The whining and tantrums have reduced to at least half simply from the fact that he can express to me his points and he can understand mine. For example: a few days ago I needed to go to Walgreens. Austin was outside playing in the yard. I went out and said “Austin we need to go to the store” He replied with “In a minute?” So I said sure, we will go in a few minutes when he is done playing. About five minutes later he walks in the house and says, “Okay mom, all done. Let’s go!” Then once we got to the store he saw something he wanted to look at and said, “Just a minute mom”. I stopped and he looked for a few minutes and then we continued on our way. Just 6 months ago that whole experience would have been filled with tantrums and nonstop whining. I really feel like his is growing up and able to express himself so much better now. Love it!!! But my all time favorite thing that Austin does is holds my hand when we are walking somewhere. He has never done that. In the past, it has been me chasing him down, holding him back, and strapping him to some sort of restraint. I love that he will just walk beside me and hold my hand like a sweet little boy.

Kaleb is 7 months old, and is one of the happiest babies I have ever seen. He has grown quite attached to me lately and reaches for me whenever I walk in the room. Sometimes it can be a little annoying if I am trying to get something done and he won’t go to anyone else, but most of the time it just melts my heart. He is at that really fun stage where he is alert and aware of his surroundings, but is still little enough that is not yet mobile. He is so close to crawling and is going to take off any day now. But for now, I can sit him on the floor to play and he just stays there. He doesn’t get into things he not supposed to and I don’t have to constantly watch every move he makes for fear he will fall down the stairs or get his head stuck somewhere, or bring something toppling down on himself. But my all time favorite thing about Kaleb right now is when he curls up against me sucking his thumb and falls asleep. Not many things in this world are better than a baby sleeping in your arms.

Now this is not to say that there aren’t hard days. There are. And I have no delusions that things are going to stay like this forever, but for now, I love the stage of life I am in. I love that I can stay home and watch my boys grow. I love that I don’t have to miss the first time Kaleb crawls or when Austin learns a new word. I love that right now, I just get to be a mom.

May not be suitable for all readers

2011-10-14T14:42:00.001-07:00

Okay, Austin did something really funny today but I feel I must add a little disclaimer. The contents of this post may not be suitable for all readers. If you are not amused by humor involving your bowels please stop reading now.

So today Austin was having a bout with some really gnarly gas. Anyone who knows Austin very well knows that his boofs can really clear a room. In fact, anyone who knows the Gardner clan in general knows that this trait did not start with Austin. Have you ever met my brother, Andrew?…enough said!!! To this day, I swear he waits until the whole family is in the car with the windows up to let it rip. It is something I hope he doesn’t share with his cute little wife until they have been married at least a couple of years.

Anyway, back to Austin. So Austin had some pretty strong flatulence going on this afternoon so I said, “Austin, do you need to go poo poo?” He says, “no” and I say, “are you sure?” He then pulls down his pants, bends over to show me his bum, and says, “Look mom, there’s no poo poo in there.”

Wow, a little more that I wanted to know, but I got a chuckle out of it anyway!!!

Austin’s building blocks

2011-10-09T20:50:00.001-07:00

So, one day while I was packing up the kitchen to move to our new house, Austin decided to help me. I look over and Austin says, “Mom, it’s so big!!!” He was so proud of himself that he had stacked this canned food so high. I ran to get my camera to document this proud moment of his.

This is Austin’s really excited/proud face.

He was so proud about how high he could stack that he kept on stacking.

and stacking…

and stacking… He was at it for a really long time. He thought it was so fun that I was taking pictures of his accomplishment. He would add a can and then come see the picture I took of his new addition. When the stack would get to high and start to wobble he would say, “Nope, that’s too big!” and then start a new tower. I thought this would be a one-time thing because all the cans were just lying around in boxes. NOPE!!!

Once we moved into our new house, every time I turned around Austin was getting into the cupboards and stacking all the cans. Every time he did it he would say, “Take a picture, mom!”

After a while I got tired of taking pictures every time he took all the cans out of the cupboard. Not to mention how annoying it is to have to put away cans every five minutes. I told Austin not to stack the cans anymore, just his blocks. For the first time in his life he actually did what I told him and he hasn’t stacked the cans since. Kind of sad now that I look back. But not that sad, because my cans actually stay where they are supposed to be.

Family Pictures (BYU Style)

2011-10-04T18:08:00.001-07:00

Kaleb at 6 months

2011-09-28T21:33:00.001-07:00

Our little Kaleb is getting to be not so little anymore. He is growing and developing so fast. He weighs a chunky 19 pounds. We love to kiss on his great big cheeks.

Here are a few things we love about Kaleb at 6 months.

I love to compare Kaleb’s size to other kids his age. This is Kaleb’s second cousin, Kale. They are about three weeks apart in age but Kaleb has a few pounds on his little friend. Not to mention, the very noticeable discrepancy in head size.

It’s a head so big, not even a hat can disguise it.

One of Kaleb’s favorite things to do is sit out on the porch of our house and watch all the cars go by. If ever he is fussy and I can’t seem to calm the child, I stick him outside in his bouncer and he quiets right down. He could stay out there for hours just watching the world go by.

I love Kaleb’s chunky cheeks. They are so fun to kiss!!!

Kaleb can now sit up all on his own. I love being able to set him down and rest my weary arm from toting him around, because, did I mention, he is a lug! Okay, that is my last reference to Kaleb’s enormity. He is going to start getting a complex.

I love to watch Kaleb and Austin play together. Some of the sweetest moments in my day are when Austin sits down to play with his little brother. What a precious sight! My favorite is when Austin tries to hold Kaleb and says, “you’re so cuuuute”.

However, it is not always sunshine and rainbows when they play together. We have recently had to start implementing the concept of sharing at our house, much to Austin’s dismay.

And finally, at 6 months of age, Kaleb has his first tooth. I love feeding him baby food. I have never seen a kid enjoy food quite like him. I love to give him something new and see his facial expressions as he determines whether he likes it or not. What a cutie.

Home Sweet Home

2011-09-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

It’s official. Vance and I are now home owners. Vance has been working for the past year at Sugar Salem high school as a guidance counselor. Although he loved it there, the pay was just not quite enough to be able to take the plunge and buy a house. It was also kind of a temporary job because he would have to go back to school to get a master’s in school counseling. We had been praying a lot that we would be led to a better paying job that would not require Vance to get any additional schooling. Vance spent all summer applying for jobs at various universities. He primarily applied at universities in Utah and Idaho because we wanted to stay close to family. After searching all summer and not having much success we prepared ourselves to do another year at the high school. In early June we heard through some connections at BYU-I that there were going to be four academic advising positions opening up. We were really excited because this is exactly what Vance wants to do and we both love BYU-I so much. It seemed like the perfect fit. We were, however, reluctant to get our hopes up. Vance submitted his application the end of June and was called in for an interview the first week of July. Vance was so nervous after the interview because he wanted the job so badly and kept replaying the interview in his mind and thinking of things he should have done better. It was the longest three days of our lives. Much to our relief BYU-I called Vance and offered him the job. We were so excited to finally have a permanent job that kept us in Rexburg long term. We were glad Vance’s degree fit the position perfectly and that Vance got his dream job. Vance started August 1, 2011.

Now that our income had increased and we were going to be in Rexburg long term we decided to start house hunting. We looked at a lot of houses that we liked but couldn’t find anything that felt just right for us. One day our realtor called us and said that there is a house out in Lyman (which is south Rexburg area) that just came on the market. The sellers needed to sell fast so it was priced really low. Vance was out of town so I went by myself to see it. The second I saw the house I fell in love. It had everything we were looking for in a house and was actually in our price range. I definitely wanted Vance to see it when he got back. The next morning our Realtor called and said there was another offer on the house and if we wanted to make an offer too we needed to do it by noon the next day. I said Vance would be home that evening and we made an appointment to go see it. Vance saw the house and really liked it too. We decided to make an offer. Two days later the realtor called and said that the sellers accepted our offer. We were so elated. The owners were really anxious to get out so we did our best to move the process of closing as quickly as possible. On September 1 we closed on the house and started moving our stuff in. It all happened so quickly but just felt so right. We did a lot of praying, wanting to make sure we were making the right choice. Never once did we feel any hesitation about this house. We took that as an answer from the Lord that this was the right house for us.

This is the house we were renting in Rexburg. It was a great house for us for the year that we were there, but we were so excited to have our own place with a lot more space.

And this is our new home. It is a beautiful 5 bedroom 3 bathroom house. Vance’s favorite feature is that it has a spacious basement that is nice and cool in the summer. My favorite feature is the walk-in closet and master bathroom. LOVE IT!!!

Austin’s favorite feature is the nice big yard to run and play in.

The house sits on a 3/4 acre lot. It is the perfect size for us. It’s big enough for our wild little indians to run and play but not to big where we feel like all we ever do is yard work.

We are so excited to have so much space inside and out. We feel so blessed. Although, Vance and I have quickly come to realize that we have a lot to learn about home ownership.

Mesa Falls Half Marathon

2011-08-29T11:16:00.001-07:00

So, I have started this tradition for myself to do a big race of some kind after having a baby to help me get the extra weight off. After I had Austin I did a triathlon with my brother Tyler and my Aunt Beth and Uncle Gheen. After I had Kaleb I wanted to do another one but I don’t have a bike and I don’t have access to a pool in Rexburg. My friend Amy and I decided to run. We signed up for the Mesa Falls Half Marathon and began training in April. We were having a lot of fun training and were beginning to love running. In July Amy found out she was pregnant and couldn’t do the race. I was all alone. There were times when I definitely wanted to throw in the towel and not do the race, but I had already paid my $50 and told everyone I was doing it so I couldn’t back out now. I am so glad I stuck with it. It was so rewarding to set a goal that seemed unattainable at times and push my body harder than I have ever pushed before to meet that goal. Saturday was the race and I had a really great time. The first 7 miles were really great. It was a beautiful coarse and I was thinking to myself, “this is so awesome, I am loving this. I want to do it every year.” I was definitely feeling the “runners high”. At about mile 10, I was really starting to hurt. During miles 12 and 13 my legs hurt so bad it was all I could do to just put one foot in front of the other. But I made it. I completed the race in 2 hours 47 minutes. My goal was to be under 3 hours and I met my goal. Three days later, my legs still kill and I can barely walk down a flight of stairs, but it was worth it.

It doesn’t look like I am going very fast because I am not. I was in so much pain during the final stretch, I thought my legs were going buckle from underneath me.

As soon as Austin saw me running down the final stretch he broke through the crowd and started running with me. It was so fun to have Austin cross the finish line with me

It was so fun to see Austin and the boys cheering me on. I am so glad they were there to support me!

10 Year Class Reunion

2011-08-18T08:23:00.001-07:00

It’s hard to believe, but Vance has been graduated from high school for 10 years! Crazy how time flies. We had the opportunity of attending his class reunion last week. We joked because we went to a class reunion to eat dinner with the friends we hang out with all the time. I tease Vance all the time that he hasn’t made a new friend since high school (not entirely true, but close). Although we did sit at the same table as Erik and Amy, I was very impressed with how social Vance was with his other classmates. I practically had to force him to go, but by the end he was saying how fun it was to see everyone.

We LOVE these guys. Erik and Amy live in Rexburg as well, so we get to see them a lot. They are some of our best friends. We have so much fun with them

Pace, Erik and Vance. These guys have not changed all that much from high school. They still get together every chance they get to save the world from zombies (a video game they could play day and night if their wives let them, and no, we do not let them). FYI- That is sparkling cider in Erik’s hand. After all, they did graduate from Sugar Salem High School.

After dinner, they gave away awards for different categories. Vance won the 2nd place award for the: “Who has lost the most hair” contest.

A Reuniting of Friends

2011-08-09T09:43:00.001-07:00

One of the biggest down sides to my parents moving from Boise to American Fork is that I don’t get to go back to Boise very often. Which, in turn, means I rarely get to see any of my high school friends. One of the up sides to living in Rexburg is that it seems everyone spends a little time in Rexburg eventually whether they planned it or not. Through Facebook, I found out that three of my good high school friends are now living in Eastern Idaho. We decided to have our own little high school reunion at Millhallow. We kind of laughed because we all friends just not in the same circles.

Kathryn Williams Ririe and I were good friends in choir. She is an incredibly gifted musician and we spent lots of time together on choir trips. Her husband now works at BYU-I and she has a little boy Austin’s age. Leslie Clark Rasmussen and I met each other at the home school co-op we were in called A.S.A. in seventh grade. We were reunited in high school through similar class schedules and mutual friends. She recently got married and her husband is now working on his Bachelors Degree at BYU-I. Jessica Jensen Ricks was one of my very first high school friends. Since I didn’t attend a conventional middle school, I didn’t now very many people when I got to high school and Jessica kind of took me under her wing and made me feel included. She is a social worker and is working as a PSR worker in Idaho Falls while her husband attends BYU-I. It was so fun to get together and catch up with these awesome friends. We decided to get together for lunch once a month so we can stay in touch while we are all in the same area.

Leslie, Kathryn and me. Jessica left before we took the picture. She is 8 months pregnant and was really tired.

Kaleb at 4 months

2011-07-27T09:46:00.001-07:00

Kaleb is now four months old. His is one big boy. We all love to kiss his chunky cheeks. He weighs 18 pounds, and is 27.5 inches long.

Here are some of the things Kaleb does best.

Kaleb is quite a giggler. He thinks Austin is so funny. Nobody can make him laugh quite like his big brother.

Kaleb is so big he is wearing clothes that range from 9 to 12 months. We thought it was great that our boys were born the same time of year so Kaleb could wear all of Austin’s hand-me-downs. Well Kaleb is wearing outfits in the summer that Austin wasn’t wearing until Christmas.

Kaleb is a big thumb sucker!!! It took him a little while to figure out how to get his thumb in his mouth, but once he did, the thumb rarely comes out. Vance and I are already starting an orthodontic fund for him.

Kaleb is so close to rolling over. He arches his back and flops his chunky thighs over, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to move his arm out of the way.

We have started Kaleb on a few solid foods. He has done really well and loves to eat. He loves carrots and rice cereal, but as you can tell from the pictures, he is not super thrilled about the peas. He is growing really fast, but he still looks so small in that great big high chair.

And finally, my favorite thing that Kaleb can do now is sleep through the night!!!

Family Night at the Drive-In

2011-07-26T14:27:00.001-07:00

Austin has been dying to see Cars 2 ever since he saw the first preview. He walks around chanting “Cars 2” all the time. It seems that he even says it when he has nothing else to say. He is quite a random little kid. We will be sitting in sacrament meeting, or driving in the car, or even eating dinner and he will just randomly shout out “CARS 2.” I can not adequately convey how excited he was to see this show. We took him to Kung Fu Panda 2 a little while ago and it was a little rocky. He squirmed and wiggled most of the show wanted to leave before it even ended. Two hours is a long time for an active three year old to sit still in a chair, no matter how much he loves the movie. So we said NEVER AGAIN will we pay full price for a three year old to see a movie. Cars 2 came to the Teton Vu Drive-In and we thought this would be the perfect way for Austin to see this much anticipated show. I am here to attest, the Drive-In is the BEST way to see a movie with kids. These are all the reasons we love the Drive-In.

1. You get to see two movies for the price of one.

2. Kids (ages 1-5) see the movie for free!

3. You don’t have to be quiet and constantly hush your children so as not to disturb the people next to you.

4. Austin can get up and roam around for a bit if he gets bored.

5. I can feed Kaleb in the middle of the show and no one is the wiser.

6. You can bring your own food

7. You can put the kids to sleep in the back seat while you watch the second show (p.s. Green Lantern is not that great).

8. You get to watch a movie under the stars on a beautiful warm summer night.

We got there early so we could get front row seats. It was so fun to watch the sun set in the sky.

It was great to let Austin wander around and get a lot of his energy out before the show started.

Oh, the chunkiness that is Kaleb!!!

It started to rain a little bit so we had to move the party inside the car for a little while.

Disney Land

2011-07-11T11:48:00.001-07:00

Disneyland was the highlight of our California vacation. Vance and I have not been there since high school and this was Austin and Kaleb’s first time. Kids have to be at least 40 inches tall to ride most of the rides and Austin was exactly 40 inches. The first ride we went on was the roller coaster, Space Mountain. Since Austin was tall enough we decided to test the waters and take him on his first roller coaster. I was so nervous the whole ride because it was fast and had lots of dips. I was so scared that I had traumatized my child. When we got off the ride he kept saying, “so fun, we went whooosh!” Vance and I were shocked because Austin is not know for being up for new things. We were so excited that he liked it! We thought, if he can handle Space Mountain, he can handle anything. WRONG!!! The next ride we took him on was Pirates of the Caribbean and he had a complete melt down. He screamed and cried the whole ride. I was surprised because you just sit in a boat and float around in the water and see all the pirates. When we got off he kept saying, “no more scary, okay!” After coaxing him on a couple more rides we realized that if it went fast or spun around, he was fine. If the ride was loud and dark with talking characters, then he freaked out. He is kind of a crazy kid.

Once we figured out the rides Austin would like and dislike, we had lots of fun. It was really hot, and really crowed, but we got to see most of the attractions we wanted to see. We didn’t get to see many Disney and Pixar Characters because there were huge lines to take pictures with them. We did see Winnie the Pooh, Woody and Buzz Lightyear. They are building a new Cars 2 attraction in California Adventure but it won’t be open until next year. However, there was a big Cars 2 sign in front of the construction area and every time we walked past Austin had to stop and chant over and over, “Cars 2!!!” It was probably one of his favorite parts of the entire vacation. We will definitely need to take him back when the attraction opens.

The saddest part of our vacation was that we couldn’t find our camera before we left. We borrowed a camera from family members when we could, but we didn’t end up getting very many pictures at all. SO SAD!!!

Austin was pretty excited to see Winnie the Pooh and gang.

When Austin first saw Buzz Lightyear he squirmed through the mile long line and ran right up to Buzz before we could stop him. He was not happy when we told him he had to stand at the end of the line and wait his turn. So we stood in line for half an hour to see Buzz Lightyear. There were only three kids in front of us and they switched out characters and Woody took Buzz’s place. I was so frusterated! Austin still got see Buzz but we were able to get a picture.

Lightning McQueen and Mater were in front of the new Cars attraction and we just happened to walk by at the right time and get a picture. We didn’t get to see Mickey Mouse, but Austin saw McQueen and Buzz and that was all he cared about.

Grandma and Grandpa get the “Grandparents of the Year” award for watching all the grandkids while the adults rode rides.

California Screamin’ was one of our favorite rides.

The whole King clan finally together again after two years. Elaine was so sweet and bought matching American flag shirts for all of us to wear so we would be matching in our family picture. As you can see, it wasn’t worth the hassle of getting everyone in their shirts so we just snapped a picture fast before all the kids started screaming.

I love this picture of the dads pushing their baby strollers.

Huntington Beach California

2011-07-11T10:48:00.001-07:00

This year for our King Family reunion we all decided to take a trip to California. The last time we were in California was three years ago for the Katapodis reunion in San Francisco. This time we went to Huntington Beach and Disneyland. Vance’s uncle Jim lives in Huntington Beach and his Grandma and Papa recently moved there from San Francisco. The trip has been planned for several months. About four days before we were supposed to leave we got the news that Papa Katapodis had passed away. He was 94 years old and his health had been declining for quite a while but we hoped that he would hold on for a few more days so we could see him one last time. Unfortunately, we did not get to say goodbye but we were able to attend the funeral. Papa was a really good man with a very colorful life. He will be greatly missed.

After the funeral we took all the kids to Huntington Beach. Austin loved playing in the waves. It was a really fun evening with all the cousins.

Papa Katapodis

2011-07-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

Vance’s grandpa James Katapodis died on June 29, 2011 at the age of 96. He had been slowly declining in health for a long time and we knew the end was near. We were able to attend the funeral during our trip to California. We were sad we didn’t get to see Papa one last time. He was a remarkable man with a very colorful life.

His parents immigrated to the U.S. from Greece a few years before Papa was born. After the stock market crash of ‘29 Papa and his family moved back to Greece because his dad lost everything. Papa didn’t like Greece and wanted to move back to the U.S. because he really felt like that was his home. Finally, he convinced his dad to let him return to the U.S. on the condition that he would get a job and send money back to the family. His dad thought that was a great idea and sent his mother and sister back to the U.S. with him. That was the last time he ever saw his dad. He and his mother and sister stayed in the U.S. and his dad never joined them.

Papa love to fish. His son Jim was a good fisher and Papa started going fishing with him so they could spend time together and Papa grew to have a strong love for it. He took his family up to Pinecrest every year to go fishing. Papa was very athletic. He was a boxer in his youth and eventually trained boxers. He stayed very active his whole life. He used to run around the lake by their house in San Francisco every day, a total of 5 miles. Elaine says that he was always disappointed that none of his children inherited his athleticism.

Although he was not a member of the Church, he lived the Word of Wisdom better than most members. He never drank alcohol or smoked. Elaine remembers sneaking out to get a Coke-a-Cola because their dad didn’t allow them to drink it.

Papa was very frugal, which was probably a result from growing up with very little money. He didn’t trust banks. He always carried around a lot of cash in his wallet. He was very family oriented. His family was everything to him.

One of Vance’s most vivid memories of his Papa was when Vance crashed his bike, Papa gave him “the massage of his life!”. Vance would say, “Papa’s hands were magical”.

Papa was not very religious. He always felt like churches just wanted your money. When Elaine joined the Church in her twenties, she talked about the Church a lot with her family. One of her dad’s biggest hang-ups was the law of tithing.

Papa’s most famous phrase was “Everything’s Copasetic”.

Jim, Elaine, Grandma Katapodis, Karen

There were fish on the side of the coffin to pay homage to what a great fisherman Papa was.

The Katapodis cousins from left to right

Sarah, Krista, Alex, Erik, Brian, Seth, Vance, Kari, Shawn

Jim, Elaine, Bruce, Karen

Jim and his two daughters Alex and Krista

Karen and her kids Kari, Shawn, and Erik

Kaleb at 2 months

2011-06-04T20:11:00.001-07:00

Kaleb is 2 months old!!! He is growing so fast and getting so big. He is now 15 pounds and has lots and lots of rolls to prove it. Whenever we put him next to a baby his age we are amazed as what a chunker he is.

He is smiling a lot and loves to tell us stories. He loves his baths and to be rubbed down with lotion. He usually sleeps 5-6 hours at night, which we are all excited about.

Kaleb was pretty fussy for his first two months of life. He has a really sensitive tummy and would scream for hours if I went anywhere near onions, garlic, black beans, or anything spicy. He has gotten so much better the last little while. He is so happy most of the time and can usually be consoled when he is upset. He has come a long way and we couldn’t be happier!

I know it isn’t very safe, but putting him on top of the drier while it was running was one of the only was we could get him to sleep. It was apparently very soothing for him and we were not about to mess with what worked.

This is what Kaleb did for most of his first two months of life. I have so much more sympathy for mothers with colicky babies now.

This is our Kaleb now. He is such a happy boy.

Kaleb loves his swing. Other than being held by mom and dad, this is his favorite place to be. He can sit there rocking back a forth for a very long time. Austin loves to help by pushing him.

Austin and Mason…Best Buds

2011-05-26T15:28:00.001-07:00

While we were living at Alpine Storage we got to be really good friends with the Davis family. Mason is Katie and Parkers little boy and Austin’s best bud. They had so much fun playing together. It was great because we all lived in the same building so the boys got lots of opportunities to play. When I was working a shift in the office, Austin would run to Mason’s house and knock on the door to see if Mason could play. When Katie was working, Mason would do the same thing for Austin. It was so cute to see the two of them toddling around together. When we moved I thought Austin would forget all about Mason because he was only 2 when we left. No way, no how!

We got together with the Davis family last weekend while we were in Utah to catch up and let the boys play. I told Austin we were going to see Mason and he got so excited. He knew exactly who I was talking about. We took them to Monkey Island and they ran around together for hours, just like old times. When we left Mason gave Austin a big hug. It was so cute. We are so sad that we live so far away from them now, but we love to go visit them whenever we go to Utah.

Katie had baby Paxton a few days after I had Kaleb. They both pretty big boys. Maybe they will be good friends like Mason and Austin when they get bigger.

U2 360 Tour

2011-05-26T14:17:00.001-07:00

Vance has a few favorites in his life. The Spurs, BYU Athletics, and U2. He knows just about everything there is to know when it comes to these three subjects. I am often astonished about the facts and statistics he can pull out of nowhere regarding one of these favorites of his.

I have never been much of a U2 fan until I met Vance. Even now I have a hard time swallowing a four hour “musical journey” (as Vance calls it) during a car ride to Utah. But Vance never seems to tire of Bono and the gang.

Last year the U2 360 Tour was coming to Salt Lake City. Since going to a U2 concert is very high on Vance’s list of things to do before he dies we decided to splurge and get tickets. We figured this may be our last opportunity because, lets face it, Bono is getting old. Well, about a week before the tour began Bono had to have emergency back surgery and the tour was cancelled. Well, after a year of waiting and growing anticipation we finally experienced Bono in all of his awesomeness.

I have never seen Vance so excited. We left for the concert 4 hours early because he was so worried we were going to get caught in traffic and be late. And for those of you who know Vance and his perpetual tardiness, that is saying something.

The concert was well worth the wait. We were both blown away with how amazing the concert was. Vance had a huge grin on his face the entire time. I had a big grin too but that was partially because I have a crush on The Edge. He is the coolest! We had so much fun, and not because we were catching a whiff of the marijuana that was being smoked in close proximity to us. Not only was the music great but the stage was incredible. We heard a guy say that it takes over 200 semi-trucks to transport it. Pretty amazing!

Next on Vance’s wish list…see a Spurs vs. Jazz game.

Party—5:00 A.M.

2011-05-11T07:57:00.002-07:00

It’s Party Time!!!

When: 5:00 A.M.

Where: Mom and Dad’s bed

Who: Two little boys determined to not let their parents sleep

This was our morning. Kaleb woke up at 5:00a.m. to eat and decided he was not going back to bed. Being the pancake lover that I am, I decided to make breakfast. Austin, being the food lover that HE is, must have smelt the deliciousness and came toddling out saying, “Pancakes?…O.K.” Well, because of all the ruckus we were making, Vance was soon to follow. After we had breakfast, Vance decided it was far to early to start the day so he went back to bed. Austin followed, and then so did mom and Kaleb. Austin and Kaleb were having a grand ol’ time cuddling in bed…mom and dad, not so much!

Party—5:00 A.M.

2011-05-11T07:57:00.001-07:00

It’s Party Time!!!

When: 5:00 A.M.

Where: Mom and Dad’s bed

Who: Two little boys determined to not let their parents sleep

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-06T11:47:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of family in town for Easter this year because of Kaleb’s blessing. It was so fun to see everyone and spend the holiday together. My parents came up from Utah with Emily and Annie, along with Gheen and Beth and their boys. My Grandma and Quinn also came from St. George. We all met up at Merrit and Mandee’s house in Blackfoot for a BBQ and an Easter egg hunt. It is not often that there is nice weather on Easter weekend in South Eastern Idaho (or anytime during the months of March and April) but it was a beautifully sunny and warm weekend. We sat outside on the patio and ate dinner and watched the kids run around their beautiful big yard. Austin always had so much fun running around with his cousin Maggie. (Maggie is technically my cousin, but she is the closest thing on the Gardner side that Austin has to cousin’s and they are only two weeks apart in age, so we just call them cousins.) We haven’t seen much of my Uncle Gheen and Aunt Beth and their boys since we moved to Idaho, so it was really fun catching up with them and enjoying the great weather.

As for the Easter egg hunt…Austin had had a little bit of training. The Monday before for FHE we wanted to teach Austin how to find Easter eggs so he would be ahead of the game during the actual hunt. We hid eggs filled with gummy worms all around the house and helped him find them. This little bit of practice sure paid off. Austin had so much fun running around picking up eggs. But he’s no dummy…after he picked up each egg, he would shake it before putting in his basket just to make sure it wasn’t a dud with no candy. There were over 100 eggs hidden all over the yard, and Austin definitely found his share. There were a couple of times that Austin and Maggie would see the same egg and race to go get it. It was kind of cute to see the squabble over the egg that they thought was theirs.

“The Big Kids” searching for eggs

Grandpa Gardner helping Austin find Easter eggs

Aunt Emily helping Austin and Maggie

Vance double checking to make sure there are treat inside the eggs

Daddy’s Little Shadow

2011-05-06T11:14:00.001-07:00

There is no denying it…Austin is a daddy’s boy. He follow’s his dad around everywhere he goes. I often try to help Austin with something (i.e. going potty, getting dressed, or going to bed) and he quickly replies with “No, Daddy’s turn!” Vance has usually left for work by the time Austin wakes up in the morning, but on Saturday mornings when he comes into our room he is so excited to see that his dad is there. He excitedly says, “Oh, hi daddy!” and runs to Vance’s side of the bed. When Vance is in a different part of the house and Austin can’t find him, he walks around the house yelling, “Daddy, where are you?” Last Sunday I was getting a kick out of the two of them because Austin would not let his Daddy out of his sight. I took a few pictures of Austin following Vance around the house. Vance is always a pretty good sport but you can see by the look on his face in the pictures that he is not always super thrilled to have such a constant shadow.

Austin and Kaleb Pictures

2011-04-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some updated pictures of our cute boys. We took them to JC Penny to get their pictures (because I had a coupon, of course) and I thought they did a really great job for a really great price. I think the newborn pictures of Kaleb look so much like Austin at this age. They just grow up so fast!

Austin turns three years old

2011-04-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

Austin turned three years old yesterday! I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He seems so big lately. He has lost that toddler look and now looks like a little man. We had a little party with Grandma King and Austin's friend Trey. Austin was so excited when we were decorating the house. It was really fun to see his excitement this year. He walked around all week with his presents in hand saying,"PARTY, PARTY!!!". Unfortunately I kept thinking he was saying, "POTTY, POTTY!!!", and kept running him to the bathroom. It took me a few times to clue into what he was really saying. At the age of three Austin is 40 inches tall and weighs 36 pounds. He can say the ABC's, count to 10, and knows most of his colors. He loves to read books. One of his favorites is called, "Mater's Best Friend". We have read it so many times that he has it memorized and can sit and read it to himself. Austin in just like his dad in that he loves to watch movies. Cars 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2 are coming out this summer and Austin can hardly wait to see them. He loves to watch the previews for these two shows over and over again. Austin loves balls and sports. His favorites are soccer and football. He loves to play this game where he jumps on his bed and his dad throws a plush soccer ball and football at him. Austin's favorite toys are Mr. Potato head and Buzz Lightyear. Austin's favorite things to eat are cottage cheese with peaches, peanut butter sandwiches, and hamburgers. Austin has recently got an opinion on what he wears. Every morning he asks to wear his Batman shirt. If that shirt is dirty, he wants to wear his football shirt, if that shirt is dirty, a tantrum is soon to follow. Austin successfully blew out all three candles (it did take him three breaths to do it).

Austin got lots of fun toys. He got the game Elefun from mom and dad, some Cars books from Trey, a Buzz Lightyear from Grandma Gardner, and a Play Dough Factory from Grandma King.

The party was a "Bug" theme. We had "worms in dirt" for the cake, "ants on a log", and butterfly cupcakes, along with pizza and root bear.

This is the closest we could get to a smile. You take what you can get, I guess.

Kaleb's position

2011-04-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

So Kaleb has become more alert this past week. It is so fun to interact with him and see his beautiful big eyes open, but it also makes for a lot more work because he wants to be held constantly. He has been really fussy lately but we discovered this position that he loves. Whenever he starts fussing I hold him in this position and miraculously stops, without fail! It's pretty cute but it sure makes it hard to get much done during the day.

2011-04-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

Another free digital invitation by Smilebox

Big Brother

2011-03-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

I was so worried about how Austin was going to adjust to not being the center of attention in our house anymore. So far he has loved being a big brother. He loves to be my big helper. Whenever he wants to hold the baby he says, "help you, mamas, help you?" and runs to get the Boppy pillow. He is so cute when I am changing Kaleb's diaper. He runs to get his stool and comes in and holds the clean diaper for me. I realize that this is not likely to last forever. Austin may not think having a little brother is so cool when he has to start sharing his toys.

Our St. Patrick's Day Baby!

2011-03-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

Our little boy is here. He arrived on March 17th weighing 9 pounds 2 ounces and 21 inches long. After much deliberation, we have finally decided on a name...Kaleb King (middle name has yet to be determined).

He was certainly anxious to get here. I went into the doctor for my weekly visit at 4:00 and by 5:45 we were the proud parents of another beautiful boy. Nobody was more shocked than me at how quickly he came. We are so happy and excited to have such precious and perfect addition to our family.

It's getting close!!!

2011-03-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

We are weeks away from the arrival of our new baby. We are getting pretty excited and a little anxious. Everything has been pretty smooth sailing with this pregnancy...but I am definately ready to be done! I can't wait till I can see my feet, tie my own shoes, roll over in bed with minimal effort, but I am especially excited to run and play with Austin again. It's been a long winter for the two of us. Between the snowy cold weather and me not being very agile, we have not been very active lately. We are so ready for spring. I am excited to spend the whole summer outside with my two boys.

We tried so hard to get a good picture of Austin and me, but he refused to look at the camera. He is pretty fascinated with how large my belly has become. Whenever he sees my outie belly button he laughs and says, "mama's button funny."

37 weeks pregnant

Vance goes to Boot Camp!

2011-02-16T07:29:00.000-08:00

Last week Vance had the opportunity to attend a Marine Workshop for educators. He spent five days in sunny San Diego learning the ins and outs of Marine life at Camp Pendleton. He left the Idaho Falls airport where they had to spray all the ice off the airplane and landed in 75 degree weather. Needless to say, he came back with a tan that most Eastern Idahoans envy in the middle of February. He had a really great experience seeing the training that new recruits go through for three months of Marine boot camp. He came back with a new appreciation for the armed forces and the sacrifices they make for our country.

These are some pictures of an actual Marine graduation. Vance said it was a pretty emotional ceremony. These boys went through a lot to get where they are. Vance was touched by a father that was standing in front of him when his son ran over after the ceremony, and crying, gave his dad a big hug.

This is Vance with Staff Sargent Buck. Yes, the educators actually had a drill Sargent that gave them the real Marine treatment...well, a taste of it anyway. Vance was late getting on the bus the second day and got chewed out by Sargent Buck. Intimidating, huh?

Towards the end of their training, all recruits have to go on what is called "The Crucible". These are the 75 pound packs that they have to carry.

These are some pictures of Vance in front of some of the Marine aircraft.

They tried to give the educators at this workshop a real taste of what Marine training is like. They dressed them up in all the gear and had them run several drills.

Pictures of Marine Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs).

Vance got to shoot an M16 Rifle...he said he is kind of a terrible shot.

They also got to run a bayonets course. Vance got really into character for it. He was told afterward that he had really good energy.

Some of the things the recruits have to do to pass their training is swim the entire length of the pool in one breath, rescue other Marines dressed in full gear, and swim certain distances with all their gear. It was super-tough stuff!

This is a picture of the bunks the recruits actually stay in. Very neat and tidy, huh? I told Vance he could never be in the military because it would only perpetuate his O.C.D. tendencies for tidiness.

This is a drill the recruits have to do. They all hold onto a big log and the drill Sargent makes them lift it up and put it down over and over. Vance had to do a similar drill and he was sore for several days after. Vance also wants me to mention that he felt at home among all the bald-headed recruits. :)

Rexburg Snow Fest

2011-02-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to the Rexburg Snow Fest. Austin and Vance had a lot of fun romping around in the snow. Brittney had fun not romping around in the snow. There was a big sledding hill that Austin and Vance played on. We had fun taking a horse-drawn carriage ride through Smith Park and we got a kick out of watching a bunch of crazy people jump into a freezing pool of water for the Polar Bear Swim.

When I told my mom that we were taking Austin to Snow Fest that day she said, "Do you have enough snow for that?" I just want to make it perfectly clear that Rexburg is not in want for any snow. It must have been too long since my mom has visited Rexburg in the winter!

Yaaahooo!!!

2011-01-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I think I can officially announce that Austin is potty trained. It's been two days and we have not had any accidents. We are still trying to get through the nights without diapers, but I think we are free and clear during the day.

I read the book "How to Potty Train in a Day" and attempted it with Austin about six months ago when my neighbor, Katie, was training her little boy Mason. It did not go well. Austin did not seen to be getting the concept. He was frustrated and I was frustrated. I decided to stop and try again in a few months. I half-heartedly tried a few more times with no success. I finally resolved to the fact that I need to wait until he shows some sure fire signs that he is ready and then do it 100%.

Austin started hating wearing his diapers. As soon as he would wet he would ask to be changed. I decided that there isn't going to be much better time to potty train then right now. I don't have a lot going on, and we don't go out much because it is so cold and snowy. I also thought it would be great for him to have it down pat before the baby comes in March. I went to the library and checked out lots of children's books and videos on potty training that I thought Austin would like. I also went to the store bought some new underwear and a bunch of Austin's favorite treat, CHOCOLATE!

I started on Tuesday. I resolved not to plan anything or go anywhere for the first week. The first day was really rough. We spent 80% of the day sitting on the toilet waiting for Austin to go. I didn't want this to be a negative experience so while we sat we read books and sang songs. I can honestly say that if I never hear "The Wheels on the Bus" that will be okay with me. I took about all the patients I could muster. I was getting frustrated because he would go pee and then I would give him his treat and praise him for doing a good job and then 15-20 minutes later he would have an accident. He obviously was not fully emptying his bladder. By the time Vance got home from work I was ready to throw in the towel and not try again until Austin went to Kindergarten. I decided that I had to at least see it through for the whole week like I had planned, and if he still wasn't getting it then we would quit and try again later.

So after a good nights sleep, I was remotivated to attempt another day. The second day was 100 times better than the first. We still had several accidents but Austin was still showing interest. A few times, he would start to go, then stop and come tell me, and finish going on the toilet. I thought this was pretty good progress. The next day was even a little better, and the next day even better than that. I was getting pretty excited. Sunday came and I debated whether or not to put a diaper on him when we went to church. Vance was for the diaper, but I really felt like that would be sending a mixed message that sometimes he has to use the potty but other times he can just put on a diaper and not worry about it. Happily, we made it through all three hours of church without an accident. I was so proud!

It has been exactly one week, and Austin has eaten his body weight in chocolate and fruit snacks and my back it aking form sitting on a stool in the bathroom for countless hours, but I think he has got it. We haven't had an accident for two days and Austin will come tell me when he has to go. I was worried about taking him out because we wouldn't have easy access to a potty. However, the good thing about being pregnant while you potty train is that I have to go as often as Austin has to go. So I am not just desperately searching for a potty for Austin, but for me too.

I am still not sure how to get him through the night without an accident, but I am so happy with the progress that he has made so far. I am so proud of him, and so happy that we tackled it before I had two kids in diapers. GOOD JOB AUSTIN!!!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

Vance thought I was crazy, but this year during the Christmas season I decided to work. I went from being crazy-busy in American Fork to not having a whole lot to do in Rexburg, especially since it is frigid outside and Austin and I find any excuse to stay indoors. Needless to say, I was feeling like I needed something to keep me busy. I used to work for a company called Mod Bod selling layering T's in Costco when we lived in Utah. They called me and said they needed some extra help through the Christmas season and wanted to know if I would work a 10-day show in Lehi. I was really excited for something to keep me occupied and for a chance to earn a little extra money. Austin and I went down a week early for Christmas so I could work the show and Austin could spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Gardner (they have been missing him a lot since we moved). Vance still had to work so he joined us about six days later. We sure missed him. I was worried that Vance would be lonely without us during those few days leading up to the Christmas holiday. He survived pretty well. He has some really great friends here in Rexburg and he had a great time playing the bachelor. He stayed up till after midnight most nights playing video games and didn't shy away from eating out.

Austin had a lot of fun playing with his aunts and uncles and couldn't get enough of all the treats grandma fed him. I enjoyed working but I was really glad to be done by the end. Standing on a cement floor for 6 hours a day when you are seven months pregnant isn't the most enjoyable thing in the world.

Austin was really funny this year on Christmas morning. Vance, being the early bird that he is, woke up before everyone else. He tried to wake up Austin so he could start opening presents but Austin would not have it. He put his hand on Vance's head and said, "No daddy, go to sleep." Austin had fun opening his first few presents but soon got bored. Vance tried to get him to open one more present and Austin just kept yelling, "NO, DONE!!!" So we let him finish opening his presents later. We all had a pretty good laugh over it. It's not every day that a kid refuses to open up all of his presents. Maybe he will get the hang of it a little more before his birthday in April.

Halloween...Buzz Lightyear Style!

2010-11-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

We had a really fun Halloween this year. Austin dressed up like Buzz Lightyear. I was worried he wouldn't want to keep his costume on because we have not had much luck with that in the past, but he loved it! We went trick-or-treating with our friends Erik and Amy and their little son Trey. Trey slept the whole time and Austin wreaked havoc on the neighborhood.

It took a little while to get the idea that if he knocked on the door, people would come out and give him candy. He just meandered around kicking rocks and playing in the dirt. We caught up with some other trick-or-treaters and Austin finally figured it out by watching and following the older kids. We had been to about six or seven houses when the havoc started. Austin was walking up to a house and saw a little lawn light and decided to punt it...needless to say it broke in to several pieces. I wasn't sure what to do because it was obviously beyond repair. After examining it I gently laid it back on the ground and began to scold Austin as we walked away. Here's the embarrassing part...the owners of the house were in the group that was trick-or-treating with us and we didn't know it. They saw the whole thing. So not only did Austin embarrass us by using their lawn light for kicking practice, but I embarrassed myself by just walking away and not owning up to it. The owners were really nice and said not to worry about it, but I felt so bad and couldn't stop kicking myself (no pun intended) all night. I should have walked up to the front door and explained what my naughty two-year-old did, I should have offered to pay to replace it, I should have...I should have...I should have...

Well, I wish I could say the embarrassment ended there. About two more houses down the road a family was sitting outside handing out candy. Austin goes up and gets a piece of candy and then walks over to the "FOR SALE" sign on their lawn, winds up, and kicks it across their yard. The family was right there and saw the whole thing. It was then that we decided that we had had enough of trick-or-treating. As we are walking back to Erik and Amy's house, Austin decides that he is tired from all the kicking and destroying people's property so he lays down in the middle of the side walk and decides to take a rest. All in all, we were ready to put the little rascal to bed. Here are some before and after pictures of that memorable evening.

BEFORE

AFTER

Our Big News!!!

2010-08-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to make two big announcements. The first is that we are expecting baby #2. Brittney is due the end of March!!! For those of you who know the Gardner clan, March is the month of Birthdays. The official due date is actually on my sister Emily's Birthday.

Our second announcement is that Vance found a job last week. It was a very fast and unexpected thing. Vance has been searching and searching for jobs since he graduated in April. We were beginning to feel very discouraged after so many letters of rejection and hearing things like, "we have 120 people who have applied for the position, and will only be interviewing three." We began to wonder if we would ever find a job, but we had hope that with Vance's education and background, a door would finally be opened for us.

Last Thursday, Vance's mom called and said that she just found out that there is a high school counselor position that just opened up at Sugar Salem High School. She said they had hired someone several months ago but that person called and backed out. The school administrators were frantically trying to find some to fill the position that was supposed to start on Monday. Vance's mom is close friends with the school superintendent and the principal, and after hearing about the situation they were in she mentioned that she had a son that just graduated with his MPA and would be a really great fit. Vance called the principal and had a phone interview that morning. They said they were interviewing a few more candidates but they would let us know of their decision by 5:00 that night. We were really reluctant to get our hopes up because we had been disappointed before. That night the principal called and told Vance they had selected him for the position and would like him to start on Monday. We were shocked. We couldn't believe how fast everything happened and how it had all fallen into place. We really felt like the Lord was aware of our situation and had a hand in making this job happen.

Now, being a counselor at his old high school is not really Vance's dream job, but we really feel like it will be a great stepping stone to where he wants to be. Vance has always wanted to work for a university but just didn't have quite enough experience to go along with his degree. This job will give him the experience he needs in academic advising that will hopefully help him to get a job in the university setting in the next few years.

Vance is obviously already in Idaho, but I have to give a 30 notice here at Alpine storage. I am not going to be able to join him up there until the second week in September. It has been a little rough not having him around since I am still feeling pretty sick from the pregnancy and can't seem to function without an afternoon nap. I definitely have a new appreciation for single moms. We are really excited for this new adventure in our lives and feel extremely blessed for the new opportunities that lie ahead.

Austin + Buzz = Best Friends

2010-07-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

There is no denying it, Austin loves to watch movies. He is just like his dad that way. It started out with "Kung Fu Panda" aka "danda", then we introduced him to "Cars". I think he may have broken a record on how many times one child can watch and rewatch a single movie. Then we bought "Up" and Austin really like that one too. It wasn't quite as big of a hit as Cars and Panda but we were so excited to introduce a new movie into Austin repituire. I might have lost it if I had heard the theme song from Cars one more time.

About a month ago we got a great coupon for the Toy Story movies. Austin has not been the same since. All he thinks about is Buzz. He asks to watch Buzz about 50 times a day (of course being the good mom that I am I don't allow that kind of madness to occur). When we bought the movies, there were free tickets to go see Toy Story 3 inside. We were really excited to take Austin to the theater to see Buzz on the big screen. We stood in line on opening night, bought a big tub of popcorn, and a big root beer, and waited for Austin's reaction when he finally saw the 12ft Buzz Lightyear. When Buzz finally made his apearance Austin went CRAZY!!! He started yelling "BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ!" over and over again. The other people in the theater must have hated us because we only made a half hearted attempt to shush him because we thought it was so funny. We were a little worrried that Austin wouldn't sit through the whole movie in the theater, but the only time he took his eyes off the big screen was to shove more popcorn in his mouth. He must have eaten half the tub himself. I've never seen a kid eat so much popcorn.

We have been wanting to buy Austin a toy Buzz ever since that night. We went to Wal-Mart to get Austin a real Buzz Lightyear, but they were $45.00. We felt that was a little rediculous and settles on the $6 miniture action figure. The great thing about 2 year olds is they don't know the difference. Austin has not let Buzz out of his sight. He totes him around everywhere. In the rare moments that he does put him down he looks around and says, "where's Buzz". A few seconds later when his missing friend has been located he exclaims, "there he is!", and all is right with the world again.

Graduation!!!

2010-04-30T15:57:00.001-07:00

Well, it finally happened. Vance has officially graduated from grad school!!! He earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Brigham Young University. It feels a little surreal. Vance makes a comment nearly every night that goes something along these lines, "Hey what am I going to do tonight...Oh yeah, whatever I want to do because I don't have any homework!"

Vance's parents came to see Vance walk for Commencement. It was really fun to have them here and Austin enjoyed getting reacquainted with his Grandma and Grandpa King. Here are a few pictures from the BIG DAY.

2010-03-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a while since I have written an update on our family. The King's have just been plugging away here in American Fork Utah. Vance graduates in April. He has been a little overwhelmed with school work and applying for jobs. We have been a little discouraged with the job hunt so far. There is a lot of competition out there. Vance has the degree, just not the experience so it has been slow. If anyone is aware of any HR or administrative positions let us know. We are willing to go where ever the job is (except Alaska....who wants to go to Alaska?). Vance has been very optimistic. We know that the Lord is mindful of us and something will work out sooner or later. We just hope that it is sooner rather than later.

Austin is getting so big. He will turn two next month. I can't believe how fast he is growing. He has lost that baby look to him. He looks little such a big boy. And let me tell you he is a big boy. We took him to the doctor this week for a check-up. He is in the 80 percentile for weight and the 99.6 percentile for height. I can't for the life of me figure out where he got his height from. He has struggled a little bit with his speech. He doesn't seem to talk as well as other kids his age. We were a little concerned so we recently had a speech pathologist come and evaluate him. He isn't delayed enough to qualify for early intervention services but he is a little behind. The speech pathologist gave us some good tips to help him learn new words and to start putting words together. Hopefully the few things we learned will help him progress a little faster. He is a very active boy. He loves to run and jump and kick balls. Sometimes if I have been busy and haven't taken him outside to get some energy out he will just start running laps around the kitchen table. I am so excited for spring to be here. I have a feeling we are going to be living at the park and the pool this summer. Austin really loves to play with his little friend, Mason, that lives downstairs. Well, it is more of a love/hate relationship. One minute they are running around laughing like crazy, and the next minute they are screaming and fighting over a toy. We are working on sharing but it is a big concept for two-year-olds. It has been really fun for Austin to have a friend so close.

Well, that is about it for us. We are just taking it one day at a time and trying to enjoy all the sweet moments that life brings.

Family Pictures for the New Year

2010-01-19T09:17:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun pictures we took on our holiday trip to Sugar City. We weren't able to spend Christmas with the King's this year because Brittney had to work, but we went up for New Year's and had a wonderfully relaxing time. We spent time with family and friends and Austin got lots of quality time with his Grandma and Grandpa King. It snowed a lot while we were there which made for some cool pictures. It was Austin's first real experience with snow and he had a blast helping his Dad and Grandpa shovel the driveway.

Austin may be getting coal for Christmas

2009-12-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

Last year we got the most perfect picture of Austin sitting on Santa's lap. Perfect smile, a very real looking Santa, it was awesome! This year, our luck wasn't so good. Santa lured Austin in with a candy cane but as soon as he put him on his lap, the struggle to get away started. As you can see, there was a lot of screaming and squirming in a desperate attempt to get as far away from the bearded man as possible. Poor Santa! The poor guy was probably thinking "they don't pay me enought to do this". I just hope Austin doesn't get a lump of coal this year in his stocking.

A Very Bad Day for Austin

2009-11-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

Well, Austin has had a very bad/scary day today. It started out this morning when I found him with an open bottle of allergy medicine. I couldn't tell how many pills he actually swallowed but I think it was 5-10. I immediately called poison control and they said that the allergy medicine that he swallowed was very mild and will probably just make him really drowsy and maybe give him a headache. What a relief!!!! I don't think I have ever been that panicked before in my life. So I let the poor little guy sleep all afternoon but I was getting concerned because he had a fever. I called poison control again and they said that a fever is not a side effect of swallowing the pills. They told me to keep an eye on him and if the fever didn't go down, then I should take him to see his pediatrician. Well, the fever persisted so Vance took him to the doctor and it turns out that he has Swine Flu. Oh, great!!! Oh, boy did I feel like the world's worst mom. The doctor said that he is in the very early stages of it but it is definitely H1N1. They gave us some medicine and he seems to be doing okay but the doctor said to keep a very close eye on him and quarantine him for the next week. What a day! I am just glad we got him into the doctor early.

Trick or Treat

2009-11-01T19:26:00.000-08:00

So I feel I need to explain why Austin is wearing the same costume that he wore last Halloween. Last year he screamed every time we put the costume on him, so he ended up wearing it for about 2 minutes, just long enough for us to take some pictures. Well, I tried the costume on him again this year and it still fit pretty well, so I decided not to spend money on another costume.

For Halloween this year we took Austin trick or treating at the ward trunk or treat. Everyone in the ward/neighborhood lined up their cars down the street and the kids walked up and down the sidewalk loading up on sweets. They do it fairly early so it is still light out. When everyone ran out of candy we traveled over to the church for the ward Halloween party. At the ward party we ate chili and sipped hot cider while trying to manage our hyperactive child. All the kids ran around and played games; including a fishing pond, cake walk, and cookie decorating.

A family in our ward has peonies. Brother Latimer strolled around in his peony drawn wagon and handed out candy.

This is a picture of Austin and me with Katie and Mason. Mason is Austin's friend that lives with us at Alpine Storage. Those two boys have so much fun together. We are so happy to have the Davis's at Alpine Storage with us!

Playing in the Leaves

2009-10-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Austin having a blast playing in the leaves.

This boy loves to be outside!!!

Scarecrow Festival

2009-10-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

We didn't get a chance to take Austin to the pumpkin patch this year but his Grandma Gardner took him to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I had to work so I didn't get to go but I heard that Austin had a lot of fun. My mom said that he just ran and ran and ran as fast as his little legs could take him. He couldn't see all the fun things fast enough. I wish I could have been there.

Fall is in the Air

2009-10-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air and I am so excited. I love fall!!! I think it is my favorite season. I love when the nights start to get a little brisk and the days warm up to a comfortable 60-70 degrees. Fall clothing is definitely my favorite with sweaters, jackets, long sleeved shirts, and snugly warm pajamas. I love the feeling of coming in from the cold into a toasty warm house. Back to school time is also a major bonus. Not too many things beat the feeling of transitioning from the long lazy days of summer into the routine of going back to school.

Vance has started his final year of his masters degree. He will graduate in April and we are anxious to see what life has in store for us after student life. He is continuing to internship part time at UVU in the athletics department, and will be there until he graduates. This internship has been such a blessing to us. Vance was more than a little happy to be able to quit his job at the Brick Oven restaurant and get some real experience.

Austin is growing so fast. He has started to talk a lot more now. His first word was mama, and his second word was "panda." He loves the movie Kung Fu Panda and runs to the DVD shelf chanting "danda, danda, danda" until we turn it on for him. It was really cute at first, but then we started to become a little concerned that at 15 months he was capable of sitting through nearly the entire movie without moving a muscle. We have really tried to limit his movie watching time, but it is so tempting to let him watch movies all day. He is so still and quite and that doesn't happen otherwise! Austin will be 18 months this week and we are so excited for him to be going in to nursery during church. He is a very active boy and Vance and I find ourselves spending more time chasing him through the halls than actually listening at church. We have been going with him to nursery for the past few weeks to try and get him used to the surroundings and last week he stay for almost the whole time by himself. We were so proud and relieved.

I have been busy working for Alpine Storage and have also picked up a few little side jobs as well. I work for two different companies that sell merchandise at Costco. Costco has what they call "road shows" where they will feature local companies for ten days at a time in their stores. Each company is required to have a representative there to help customers and answer questions. I work for one company called The Mod Bod. They sell modest layering tees and Cami's. The other company is called Cultural Hall and they sell beautiful pictures of the Savior and Temples. It has been such a great opportunity because I get to pick when and how long I want to work. I have also really enjoyed being able getting out of the house for a few hours and have some toddler free time.

So that is basically our update. All is well with the Kings in American Fork. Just plugging away and loving life. Here are some recent pictures of our "Mr. Mischief."

Summer Vacations

2009-08-03T12:23:00.001-07:00

We have had such a fun summer this year. Vance and I have been working hard but we also found time for lots of other activities. We just got back from our trip to Steamboat Springs Colorado. It is a little ski town about five hours from where we live. We stayed in the Gardner family's timeshare and had so much fun being lazy and enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

One of our favorite things to do every summer is go to the cabin in Island Park, Idaho. We joined the Gardner family up there and had so much fun. We love to play in the river, ride 4-wheelers, and eat Grandma Harrel's famous dutch over potatoes. Austin had lots of fun running around and getting really dirty. Here are some pictures of our vacations this summer.

Brittney and Austin at the bottom of the waterfall in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Austin hiking in style (aka Vance's bad back).

Family picture at the waterfall in Steamboat Springs

Austin at the cabin in Island Park, Idaho. He loved all the space to run around.

Austin with his Great Grandma Harrel. It looks like he isn't enjoying his s'mores in this picture, but that's because he had already eaten half a bag of marshmallows and probably had a little tummy ache.

We found this Jeep at the cabin. It didn't run but Austin had fun playing in it.

We also enjoyed our trip to the cabin because it coincided with Greg and Jen's wedding! It was great to be a part of such a wonderful temple sealing for two very good friends. Welcome to the family Jen!

Another summer highlight was participating in the King reunion. We enjoyed the outdoor fun, games, and even the skits/talent show. Immediately after the Brent King family's musical tribute to Lawrence of Arabia, Vance has been aching to watch the movie again. Hut! Hut! Hut!

Austin and Gabe loved playing in the pool.

Austin enjoyed spending time with all his cousins on the King side! There were plenty of little kids to keep him company. We thought Austin was the cutest thing around but cousin Gabe is giving him a run for his money. Gabriel is such a good-looking boy!

We feel blessed to have so much time to spend with the King and Gardner family clans. Thanks for making this summer so memorable for us!

Going for a ride in my box car!!!

2009-06-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

I thought these pics and video of Austin were so cute. His Uncle Tyler and Uncle Andrew made him a car out of a cardboard box and spent hours driving him around in it. They drew wheels on the sides and even put a steering wheel inside the box. Austin thought it was the greatest thing. He squealed with sheer joy when his Uncles took him for a ride, pushing him all over the living room floor. He tried getting in the car when the Uncles were gone one afternoon and couldn't figure out why it wasn't going anywhere. He didn't understand that it was an "uncle powered" car. Look closely at this first picture. You can see Andrew's face in the background. I don't know who was having more fun, Austin or his Uncles.

These are some pictures of Vance on his birthday. Doesn't the cake look divine? It was a Cindy Gardner masterpiece.

I think Austin looks just like his daddy in this picture. A couple of good looking boys, in my entirely non-biased opinion.

An Update on the Kings

2009-06-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I have posted anything new and a lot has happened in the past two months. The biggest thing is that Vance got a really great internship for the summer. He is doing Compliance work for the athletics department at Utah Valley University. His main responsibilities are making sure that the athletes are eligible to play for the University and that the University is abiding by the NCAA regulations. The best thing is that it is a year-long internship so he will stay on part time when school starts up again this fall. He is really enjoying it and is hoping that this opportunity will open some doors.

I was recently called to serve in the Young Women's program in our ward, and we all know what that means...girls camp!!! It was a really fun experience but I found myself wondering, "When did I get old enough to be a leader". I loved girls camp when I was in Young Women's so I felt extra pressure to make it as memorable for these girls as it was for me. As you can imagine, girls camp is a whole different experience when you are a leader. Teenage girls have a lot of drama that comes with them. The girls in our ward are really great. They are grounded young women and I was very impressed with their spiritual sensitivity and maturity. All in all, it was a great experience. The hardest thing was that I was away from Vance and Austin for five days. I have never left Austin for that long before but he adjusted well to a week of being spoiled by his Grandma Gardner. Austin hasn't been sleeping well at night so I was a little worried for Vance, but Austin was on his best behavior and slept through the night every night I was gone. I wish I could say he kept that up when I got back...the little stinker.

June has been officially designated in our family as "the month of Vance." Vance turned 26 on June 19, then fathers day was two days later, and our third wedding anniversary is on the 29th. Needless to say, it is a little stressful for me. Due to our current limited income, there was no room in our budget for any extravagant surprises, but we tried to make "the month of Vance" memorable regardless.

Finally, here is a quick explanation of the pictures above. Austin loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but he also loves juice. I thought this was so funny. He wouldn't put his sandwiches down long enough to drink his juice so he just holds on to them and makes a big peanut butter mess. Silly boy...

St. George Vacation

2009-04-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun pictures of our trip to St. George. Austin had so much fun playing with his cousins. We spent the afternoon at the pool and Austin absolutely loved it. He splashed around in his little floater toy until he was so exhausted that he just laid his head down on the toy. He looked like he was going to fall asleep right there in the pool.

Triathlon

2009-04-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

So I have never been much of an athlete, but living so close to my brothers and my Aunt Beth and Uncle Gheen has helped me catch the fever of biking, running, and swimming. We all decided we wanted to try doing a triathlon. We signed up about two months ago to compete in a sprint triathlon down in St. George. In the race we swim 400 yards, bike 10 miles, and run 5K. As we started training for the big event I found myself really loving swimming and biking (I'm still not fully converted to the running). It was so exciting to see my strength and endurance gradually improve. It was also exciting to see the extra baby weight that I have been carrying around disappear.

Last week was the big race. We traveled down to St. George and stayed with Vance's brother and his family. The race was so much fun, but a little more challenging than we had anticipated. I finished the race in 1 hour and 28 minutes. Our goal was to finish close to an hour. My brother Tyler finished in 1 hour and 6 minutes. He did amazingly well, finishing 24th out of 300+ racers. I learned a lot about competing and transitioning between sports. I am really excited to do another race and improve my time. Vance saw how much fun we had and wants to join us next time. This time he was our designated photographer. He kept joking that didn't want us to finish too quickly because he wouldn't be able to finish his doughnuts before we were done--no, he didn't really have any doughnuts (sad day!).

A Fistful of Cake (AKA Austin's Birthday!)

2009-04-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official. Austin is one year old. My baby is growing up so fast, I can't believe it. We had a fun little birthday party for him with the Gardner family and friends. My mom helped decorate a very cute train cake for Austin, but he didn't get to eat it. I made him a not so fancy cake that he could have all to himself. Not that any of us would have wanted any by the time he was done with it. He was very reluctant at first to dive into the cake. He kept looking at Vance and me as if to say, "are you really going to let me do this?" Once he took a few bites and realized what a yummy treat it was, he was eating it by the fists full. He got some pretty fun gifts. I think he has caught on to the toy idea a little more since Christmas. He ripped his packages open with no problem. He got a fun walker toy from his Grandma and Grandpa Gardner. We got a really cute video of him pushing it around the apartment. He also got his first swim suit and pool toy and a whole bunch of other great gifts! Thanks everyone!

Austin's Favorite Toy

2009-03-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

Austin's favorite toy in the whole world is the dishwasher. No matter what he is doing or destroying, opening the dishwasher always brings him scrambling over. Even the temptation of food is no match for the dishwasher's allure....and the boy really loves his food.

Austin's First Steps!!!

2009-03-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

We are so excited, Austin officially took his first steps today. He has been standing on his own for about a week, but he usually gets down to crawl if he wants to get somewhere. Tonight, before I put him down for bed, I jokingly said, "Austin you can't have your bottle until you take a few steps". So I stood him up and he stood for a long time and then took two steps toward me and stayed standing. It just goes to show how much that little boy loves food. It was exciting that Vance and I both got to see his first steps. Austin's uncle's on the Gardner side have been giving him a hard time because the neighbor boy that is a few days older than Austin is walking and Austin isn't. Well, he took those comments to heart and apparently wants to show his uncle's that he can keep up with the best of them. Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera on hand, but we will get some pictures soon and post them for all to see.

Fun With the Kings

2009-02-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we made a trip up to Rexburg because we really needed to get out of town. A little sad that Rexburg, in the middle of winter, was our vacation spot. We had a few things we needed to take care of, but mostly we missed the King family. Austin was so excited to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa. I am always so amazed at how quickly he warms up to them after not seeing them for a while. One of our fun activities involved dressing up in these exotic Mardi Gras costumes. Vance's sister, Sarah, got a murder mystery game for Christmas so we tried it out while we were there. It was a fun night with the King family. My favorite part was watching Elaine act out the part of a superficial gold digger. I love the mischievous look on Vance's face in this picture. It was a fun weekend, but we were glad to come home to warmer weather here in Utah.

These Boots Are Made for Walkin'

2009-02-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

Austin got his first pair of Cowboy boots from his great-grandpa Gardner when he was about two months old. He still doesn't quite fit into them, but I had the urge one morning to have Austin try them on. I put the boots on and thought, "What's a pair of boots without a hat to go with it?...and what's a pair of boots and a hat without a good pair of overalls?... and what good is a cowboy outfit without a horse to ride on?" Once I got him all saddled up, I just had to take some pictures.

FAMILY PICTURES

2009-01-15T20:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we are still in the stage of life where we are poor starving college students. Needless to say, having a professional family picture taken is not really in the budget. Luckily, I have a very talented uncle who offered to take our picture. I think they turned out pretty cute! THANKS GHEEN!!!

Austin's First Christmas

2009-01-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

Having a baby really brings the excitement of Christmas. We had so much fun shopping for Christmas presents for Austin and watching him open them Christmas morning. He is still a little young to know what's going on but it was still fun. Santa brought Austin a little Garage/Heliport that came with cute cars and helicopters and ramps to roll them on. Of course, Austin played more with the wrapping paper than he did the actual present, but we are still hopeful that he will soon realize the coolness of fun present that Santa brought him. Our camera broke so we couldn't take any pictures of Christmas morning, but here are some fun pictures that Grandma Gardner took Christmas Eve.

Austin and Santa

2008-12-08T20:53:00.000-08:00

We took Austin to see Santa and we got some pretty cute pictures. We were a little worried that Austin be a little freaked out sitting on the lap of a white bearded jolly man in a red suite. Austin doesn't have the best track record for being around strangers. We sat him on Santa's lap, he quizzically stared at the strange man and then turned and smiled perfectly at the camera. Good job Austin!!! You just might get some good stuff from Santa this year with a visit like that.

Thanksgiving Holiday!

2008-11-30T20:56:00.001-08:00

Our little family just returned from a much needed Thanksgiving break. Seth and Jessica were the perfect hosts, sharing their hilarious children while entertaining us, Grandma Christensen, Mom and Dad, Sarah and Tyson, and Brian. It was a great release from the daily grind. We loved being with family and creating new memories.

The week included a splendid Thanksgiving dinner, videogames, basketball, lots of eating, volleyball, playing with kids, etc. We saw the movie Twilight. Brittney has a mondo junior high-type crush on Edward Cullen, of course, and this movie just added more kindling to the fire. Sigh...how can I keep up with a guy that can climb pine trees like a bloomin' monkey?

Actually, we all agreed that the movie represented the book well and was enjoyable. Even Brian and I sat through it with out too much squirming.

This week also included some fun competition. Tyson and I shared the NCAA football award on the PS2, while my dad surprising won the one-on-one basketball game award (sorry Brian). Seth won the get-mad-and-pick-a-fight-with your-brother award (Brian won the fight however--sorry Seth).

Brittney and I performed the song Lucky for the dreaded Thanksgiving program. Brian, who taught himself the guitar over the summer, gave us some much needed accompaniment.

It was a grand ole' time in St. George. We'll throw on some more pictures and possibly some video of the program in the near future. We hope everyone else had an excellent Thanksgiving break!

2008-11-19T11:16:00.000-08:00

Vance has had a lot of fun watching the BYU games this year. He is loving being a part of the BYU scene. He is working hard on his Master of Public Administration, but as you can see, he finds time for some fun once in a while. He is anxiously anticipating the BYU vs. UTAH game this Saturday. Go Cougars!

Austin is crawling!!!!

2008-11-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

We are so excited, Austin is officially crawling. We are a little nervous however, because Brittney just put up our Christmas tree, and it's only a matter of time before Austin crawls over and tips it over on himself. Austin started getting up on all fours about three weeks ago, but he would just stay there and rock back and forth. He has finally learned to put one hand in front of the other and actually move. We can't believe that he is growing up so fast!

2008-11-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

Well, Austin was pretty cute for his first Halloween. We didn't take him trick or treating because we didn't want to look like a couple of loser parents that were using their baby to get free candy for themselves. Instead we went to grandma and grandpa Gardner's house and passed out candy. Later, Vance forced me to watch a scary movie. Austin didn't like being in his costume very much, so we just put it on him long enough to take some pictures and then took it off. Hopefully he will get a little more use out of his costume next year.

The King's have finally become bloggers!!!

2008-10-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

So we have finally hopped on the bandwagon and decided to start blogging. I have always been so bad at keeping in touch with people, so hopefully this will help me out. For those of you who haven't met our sweet little boy, here are some recent pictures of him.