Date Night: Shooting

Chris and I are participating in a church marriage class. It is a lot of fun! Each Friday night for 7 weeks, we meet up with other couples in our ward, at the teachers' house, for the class. The class has been really nice. The church has put together a new marriage program and it follows, "The Five Love Languages". If you have not read that and you are married, you are missing out!! GO READ IT!

Each week we have homework. Our homework for last week was go on a date, just the two of you, for under $5. I suggested we go shooting because we already had guns and ammo.

I love shooting! I must be following in my Nana's footsteps. She actually did competition shooting and won all kinds of things! I have a picture of her trophy and the targets she shot, badges and things that she won and I even have a picture of her in the newspaper for doing so well with her shooting!!

So, this was my 2nd time shooting, the first time shooting targets. They aren't perfect, but Chris said I wont get perfect with the cheap gun I was using. He said I would need to get a better gun, so I told him he'd better be getting me a better gun because I WANT PERFECT! lol! Anyway, I did hit dead center once and Chris says my grouping is good, minus one stray! I was just shooting off of my knee.

Anyway, the target was too big to scan in, so I scanned it in, in bits and peices.. Hopefully it makes sense. I was shooting at 40 yards.

So....here's to you Nana!

Identity Confussion

Korbin has been walking around for the last little while saying, "I'm baby." That's fine, but he also calls the kids older than him "baby", so I figured I'd start teaching him what a baby is and what a big boy is.
Over time, I said, "Are you a baby or a big boy?"
Which he replied, "Baby boy."
It was pretty cute. Last night Chris was reading a book that says, "I'm a baby, I have purple socks, I love to play with my purple blocks." It goes on and on like this with every color.
Before they even got off of the first page Korbin was saying, "No, big boy!" So, Chris had to change the words to "I'm a big boy, I have purple socks. I love to play with my purple blocks." It was cute.
Then this morning I was snuggling with Korbin and he was being a grump. I tried to cheer him up by saying, "Are you little chicken?" He replied, "No, I deer." lol. I replied with, "Hi deer." He thought that was pretty great and gave me a great big smile.
I then went on to say, "Is Daddy a deer?"
And he said, "Daddy deer."
So I said, "Is Mommy a deer?"
He suprized me by saying, "No, Mommy Elk."
Then I said, "What's Landon?"
He replied, "Landon Moose."
Then when Landon walked in the room he said, "Go outside moose!"
I LOVE IT!!
And if you didn't know, if you ask Korbin to say his name, he says, "Kaboynding". While we are on the subject...
Just the other day, he got on Landon's shoes, Landon's backpack and a cowboy hat and walked to the front door and said, "Kaboynding go outside. Bye bye. Go school bus." He then waved and attempted to open the front door.
Oh, he's at that perfect age! 1-3 is sooooo much fun! Who ever said there was "Terrible Twos" hasn't had my kids! They are soooo sweet at that age!

Anniversary and Weight Check

Chris and I celebrated 7 years of marriage on January 16th. We had a really nice, quiet weekend together. The boys headed off to Grandma and Grandpa McDowell's house for a few days, while Chris and I stayed home and enjoyed ourselves.
We spent time going to a movie, visiting mineral pools, hiking in North Fork with the dogs, skiing at Nordic (or should I say "Wolf Mountain, although, there are a lot of locals refusing to call it that), going out to eat and sleeping in! It was really nice just to enjoy the surroundings and the silence of our home. (And the house stayed soooo clean, it was unbelievable! How easy it is without kids, luckily they are sooooo worth it!)

Now, onto the weight check part of the post. As you may have heard, Korbin was struggling to gain weight, but he was checked out and they found nothing wrong. They told us to come back in two months for a weight check. We took him in yesterday. Landon, also, went in for his 6 year old check up.
Korbin has gained almost 2 lbs!! We haven't done anything different, except work with a chiropractor. The doctor said he's still pretty little, but said that his weight now matches his height, so she is pleased with the increase. He's in the 17 percentile.
Landon is in the 25 percentile for weight and height. She said my boys are a little small, but said that as long as they are in proportion, then they are fine.
You know, Landon's been telling me for a while, "Mom, I'm the smallest 6 year old in the class. There's only one kid smaller than me and he's 5." I didn't really believe him, but I guess he is! He's been a little disappointed that he isn't as big as his buddies.
I tried to cheer him up by telling him that if he looks hard enough he'd probably find some secret hidden tunnels that only he could fit into. And he very passionatly said, "NO! All the kids have a secret area on the playground that I can't get to because my legs are too small!"
Then he went on to tell me that there was one secret small tunnel, but that he was too big for it and only the one kid smaller than him could fit into it. He then sadly said, "I'm just medium!" Oh....lol!!
I feel bad he is upset about it, but it's really pretty cute to hear him worry so much about something so small. Anyway, he called his dad on the phone today and Chris was able to relate to him a little more than I could.
Sorry boys, I don't know what you were expecting, but your dad was very little and I'm afraid I was never really big myself!

Finding a Cure for Hyperemesis

As most of you know, I had Hyperemesis with both of my pregnancies, ranging in severity. As we now plan for our 3rd baby (yes, you read that right) I'm doing as much as I can to be physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually ready for whatever this next pregnancy may hold. This will be a long preparation period, perhaps lasting over a year. I began with preparations a few months ago.
I know there are some of you that would not agree with my decision, saying that it is too risky, but I'm asking you to please just put your faith in me and in our decision, as we put our faith in Heavenly Father and his everlasting love and protection.
After my pregnancy with Korbin, I found an organization called the HER Foundation. They seem to have more information on the disease than any other group I have found. I'm genuinely asking my family and friends to please take some time to look at the their website and educate yourself about this illness, as it would be greatly helpful for me, during my pregnancy, to have understanding people around me.
http://www.helpher.org/
Unfortunately, there is no known cause or cure for Hyperemesis. Without a cause, their can be no cure. It is greatly misunderstood and under researched. As someone who has suffered from it's affects, I am joining forces, in my small way to help find the answers that women with hyperemesis are longing for. This is where I need your help.
The HER Foundation and the University of Southern California have teamed up to do a controlled study of women with HG. They are hoping to be able to find the cause of HG, so that proper treatment and medications can be created, so that they can eventually work towards a cure! At the moment, there are no medications designed for women with HG.
In an attempt to help HG moms, doctors are prescribing medications used for chemo patients. These medications do not treat the problem, they only ease the nausea and for some women, not even that happens.
I would like to participate in the study and in order to so, I have to have one friend, that has not experienced HG with at least 2 pregnancies to do the study with me. That person will act as the "control". It is absolutely no cost and you can do it in your home. (For anyone that has had HG and would like to participate the guidelines can be found on the HER Foundation website. I do know you have to have been on IVs and/or feeding tubes to qualify as an HG patient, for the study.)
Last but not least, I have a You Tube video for you to watch. Although, this may seem to you like any other news report, it brought me to tears. Only someone that has experienced Hyperemesis will understand what it is. Everyone else, can only imagine. I really, really, appreciate you taking the time to educate yourself on this illness and for all the people that have been so kind and considerate in the past, as I dealt with HG.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGOqqbBCWg8
Here's an article about HG, published by the Washington Post. I can really relate to pretty much everything the reporter is writing about! Dang those $600 a week meds! Which might I add, is not covered by my insurance. Victoria once said to me, "Your baby better come out gold plated because of all the money you've been spending." lol.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/31/AR2008103103489.html
It's that loving community feeling of support and friendship that allows me to know that I can do this again! With friends, family and God, nothing is impossible!

Haircuts and Grow up

The boys both got hair cuts. Their long locks were adorable for a while, but ended up getting a little too long. It was nice to see Landon's hair get snipped, even though he looks cute with the messy look.  It was very sad to say goodbye to Korbin's baby locks. Don't they look cute!
Landon

Korbin

It seriously hit me, as we were getting Korbin's hair cut, that he was going to be two in just 3 months!! He's really not a baby anymore and I REALLY thought he was. I actually said something to someone at church about my baby, while Korbin was resting on my hip and they said, "Oh you have a baby, too." I was like, "This is my baby." They looked at me a little strange. Apparently he's growing up, whether I like it or not!  They both are!  Aren't they adorable?

Korbin has moved into a "big boy bed". (His crib converts to a toddler bed.)  He was going to bed in his crib and screaming himself to sleep.  Nothing seemed to soothe hime, so I was hoping the change would make bedtime more exciting. So far it's been a week and it's been going great! He usually gets out of bed only once.  I go back in, rock him for a couple of minutes, and lay him back down.  He is catching on!  He even went and put himself down for quiet time today! 
Korbin even asked to sit on the toilet today. He always points to it and says, "Pee Pee", but he's never actually wanted to sit on it. This is all very sad to me because it means he's growing up. Hopefully in another couple of years we'll have another little guy around the house! (I'm kind of partial to the boys...they are just awesome!!)

Oh and thanks Nana Hussey for the cute clothes! Don't they look handsome?