One year ago today...

We are absolutely smitten with this one. He is so so happy. Even today on his first birthday, he is sick and he still gave today 100%. His positivity is a breath of fresh air. We love him for every little moment he gives us. We love you Luke! Stats and other stuff

Poundage: 23 lb 13 oz.

Language skills: "Uh, oh", "Ma Ma" "Da Da" "No,No,No!"(first word), "Hi"

Non verbals: Gives Kisses, Waves Bye-Bye, folds arms for prayers

Special Talents: Dancing, Singing, Lip-sync, destroying cupboards

Motor Skills: Speedy stair climber, Approaches downstairs with caution (just learned to let himself down on his tummy),

Favorite Past-times: Pat-a-cake, Peek-a-Boo, Eating

Preferences: Mom's bed, Wiggles, Sesame Street, Dad for play time

Disposition: Always happy, except when sick or teething

Nuances: Picking mom's eyes, toilet fascination

spreading the love

generally we don't make too much fluff of valentine's day. we get a little something for eachother as a token of our affection in honor of the holiday, and if we are really lucky, we will try to go on a date, sans the kiddos (which rarely happens since everyone is going out and babysitters are in short supply).

this year we did something totally different, kind of by happenstance. we spent the entire Saturday, and much of the week beforehand making and organizing decorations and chocolate fountain stuff for an Elder's Quorum "Suprise" V-day Dance. some guys in the ward wanted to do it for their wives, and I ended up being the one let in on the suprise so that there would be more than a bowl of chips set out and a few red streamers hanging from the basketball goal. that's what happens when you're married to the EQ president. it was a lot of work but it ended up looking really pretty and those who did show up seemed to really get a thrill out of it

the best part of the night was the 45 minutes that I got to spend dancing with my three guys. not to throw ryan under the bus, but both of his little guys have already surpassed his moves. my little guys can really boogie.

the worst part of the day was the endless clean-up once we got it all back home. but the kids seemed to enjoythe decoration residue on Sunday, although Max was very sad to learn that a "mysterious bird" had entered our house Sunday night and flew away with all those balloons (right to the garbage can). he insisted for three days following that we go find that bird and put him into time-out for taking the balloons.

we enjoyed a nice dinner and i even tried my hand at a few festive treats. the idea was better than the turn-out I think, but it worked out alright. more than anything else, i think we felt exhausted at the end of lover's weekend. next year i think we will order out, get our treats from a bakery, and have our own little dance at home. wow, that sounds nice.

Birthday Preview

Luke's Great Gram sent a little something to him for his upcoming 1st birthday. To answer your question Gram--"What does a 1 year old do with $5?"--well I will show you. They throw it to the side and spend the next hour dancing to the Care Bear Music card that housed the greenback. Thanks, Gram. He, and his brother, love it.

Blessing Kian

Adorable

Two weeks ago we took a roady north for the blessing of my new nephew, Kian James Hassman, who is now about a month 1/2 old. It was a short but very pleasant trip and we were so thrilled to meet and hold that new adorable baby for the first time.

Proud Papa

Ryan was really glad that he was able to go with me, given his stint in the ER just 3 days before. I was really glad too as Ryan was the only guy from our side of the family to be there in the circle, other than Jim of course.

Our little family
Mothers in training

The night before we were to leave I kept telling Max that we were going to go to Uncle Jim's house to meet baby Kian. Max & Luke love their Uncle Jim and since we had Max's 3rd birthday at Jim's house in December that included a ride on Jane, Jim's horse, Max really loves Jim's house. I kept telling him we were going there to meet the baby, not for a birthday party or ScoobyDoo cake or horsey rides.Luke lovin' on Uncle Jim

To reinforce this concept I decided to pull up some pictures of baby Kian on Christine's blog.
Mom: "Max, come look at these pictures of baby Kian."

Max: "Oh, yeah. I like him Mom.

Mom: "You do? We are going to go see that baby at Jim's house. Can you tell me his name?"

Max: "Yep. It's Baby Jesus."

No pressure Kian. My beautiful sister-in-law and her brand new baby boy

The blessing was beautiful and Max was so excited to see the baby. Of course just as the closing prayer was said, Max's nose erupts into a bloody mess all over the place. We finally got it stopped and moved the circus into the lobby and onto Jim's house. I swear...can't anything just ever be easy?

Nice nose bleed buddy

Nana and crew enjoy the post blessing brunch

It was such a nice occasion, wonderful blessing, great company and best of all...

we got to love on this little guy!

It's hard, really hard

In my attmept to make an honest journalist out of myself, can I just say that today I win the award for worst mother ever! I feel like I need to check myself in somewhere. I lost my cool with Max about every 35 seconds or so.

As it turns out, every night I've really been praying to find the right parenting skill set in order to deal with my 3 year old who is hell bent on testing my limits. Today I think I was being given that chance over and over again , and over and over again, I failed. I kept having flashbacks of these power struggles I would engage my mother in, beginning with my exit from the womb and ending with my exit from the house.

I've been wanting to order some vinyl phrases for my home. I think I will start with this one: "God grant me patience to deal with my greatest blessings."

I would like it in wall-size please and it needs to be able to adhere to the ceiling above my bed. Heaven knows this is the first thing I need to see when I pry my eyelids open in the morning.

Womens Winter Wonderland Retreat, Magic Mountain, Idaho

My little sister Carrie invited all the Hassman ladies for a little women's retreat at her in-laws ski resort in Idaho last weekend. It was so much fun. There were about 18 women who came in all and we all stayed overnight at the lodge. We were treated to a yummy dinner and moon-lit snowshoeing (guided by my bro-in-law, Brandon) on Friday night. I have never been snowshoeing and doing it by the light of a full moon was incredibly beautiful. It was awesome. I kept thinking how cool it would be to do that with Ryan sometime. On Saturday we awoke to a delicious breakfast followed by a full day of tubing and snowboarding, with lessons included.

It was so nice of the Ryan's to let Jolea and I get away, sans the kiddos for a weekend, especially since I left on my husband's 33rd birthday! Kelsey was the taxi service and her little red sleigh did pretty good on the icy roads. Despite the missed exit and 40 mile detour, it was a fun road trip for Jolea, Kelsey & I.

I din't think snowboarding would come back to me after like 7 years, but it did. I'm still very much a beginner, which is why I coming down the very steep trail was not such a great idea, however, it was thrilling. Jolea was a champ and she attempted boarding for the first time. A few more times and she won't just be riding the lift, she will be ready to get off and let it go! Kelsey and Carrie are pretty darn good and are just working on tricks now. Oh, to be young. When Jolea and I fall, we felt it throughout our whole body. Those other two are like spring chickens.

It was so much fun to spoil and love on little Addie Jo. We loved just chillin' with Brandon and Carrie. Carrie's in-laws were so gracious to us. It was quite an eye opener to see how much work goes into running that place.

After a full day of snowboarding and falling again and again on our behinds, we thought a trip to the hot springs would be a great idea. I have to say Miracle Hot Springs was not only out in the middle of Nowhere, Idaho, but it was probably the strangest place I think I've ever been. It was like something out of a weird sci-fi movie set in a foreign country.

It was so fun to get away with a few of my sisters, but how I missed my boys. When I came home the little ones were well taken care of, the house was totally cleaned, all the laundry was done, and these flowers were waiting for me. I don't deserve him. I am one lucky girl.

33 and HOTT!

My man turned 33 on Friday. He gets better each year...in every way. We celebrated a day early as he wanted me to join my sisters for a girls ski weekend over his birthday.

SMART, FUNNY, HANDSOME, HARD WORKING, GOOD DAD, HELPFUL, FAITHFUL...really, do I deserve this?