Easter

I have noticed that everyone's blogs have wonderful pictures of their Easter celebrations; unfortunately I don't have any pictures to post for this special holiday. Both of our boys looked really cute in their Easter outfits, and had a lot of fun learning about what Easter is really about, and of course seeing what the Easter bunny brought them, but I only videotaped everything, and didn't take any pictures. I know I can upload videos to here, but with the camera I taped everything with, I don't have the stuff to use to put them here on the computer. So I am sad that I was too lazy Easter day to record the happenings on both of our cameras.

But we did have a great time Easter weekend. Nathan got the Friday before off, so we left for Spokane Thursday night to visit his sister Noelle and her family. Chase had a lot of fun playing with his younger cousin Peter, and I had a lot of fun holding their little baby, Eva, most of Friday. It was a lot of fun seeing Spencer and Noelle, and we wish we lived closer.

We then drove 20 minutes to Hayden, ID, where my sister Kelli and her family lives. We really liked the area they live (Coeur D'Alene, which is a resort town), and would love to move up there since it is so pretty and so cheap to live. Unfortunately with the economy being horrible, and their area having no jobs to begin with, it wouldn't be the smartest move. However we loved visiting with them, and it was wonderful for Chase since he had constant playmates: Taylee and Lexi kept him occupied the whole time we were there, and thankfully we weren't there too long or he would have been hooked on Polly Pocket :).

We had a great time with family and hope to be able to visit both families again since 5 hours isn't too long of a drive.

Enjoying the Outdoors

Now that we are starting to get some Spring weather we can't get enough of being outside. I can't wait until it gets really nice and then maybe we will attempt camping. Anyway, Kai loves playing outside with all of us, but he isn't a huge fan of grass :).

This is the nice new lawn that we now have in the front of our place, but instead of the boys wanting to run and play on it, they would rather play...

...here in the rocks and dirt. As soon as we go outside they immediately go to this one spot and dig in the dirt, throw the rocks, and Kai occasionally likes to rile me up by putting one his mouth only to spit it back out and smile at me.

This is before the new grass was put in, but we have this crazy swing out in the front, and Kai likes to lazily swing around in it.

Here is the view we can see when the day is clear and there aren't any clouds blocking it. It is of Mount Rainier, the volcano that could blow who knows when. Thankfully we are a ways away from it, and are up on a hill, but there are signs around all the roads and freeways that say "Evacuation Route"...kinda scary. Anyway, at least it is pretty to look at.

We can't wait for it to get even warmer and stay out all day long, and do all sorts of fun things!

What we have been up to

As most of you already know, we have since moved out on our own and are enjoying the time together as our little family of four. Over the last few weeks we have been up to a few things: First, potty training. This was something I did NOT want to do, and have put it off and put it off. Then, when living with Nicole and Adam and their two boys, things were a little too crazy already to introduce potty training. So, now that we are on our own, I had to get to it with Chase. Even though he wasn't all for it, he jumped on the bandwagon and success soon followed. We started last week and we already have a pro on our hands. Only a few minor accidents, and that is it. I am pretty amazed...I guess he was ready. So here is a picture of that, (we ended up going to a smaller potty chair, but I thought this picture was kinda funny with Kai attacking me with the camera, and Chase being goofy).

Slightly before we moved we realized that Kai liked all of our food, not baby food. So we started him on anything and everything. Now that he has a few teeth (you can't tell here), he really can eat most things. One of his favorite things, which he gets on a rare occasion, is Oreos :).

Now that we have our own furniture back, the boys are embracing it. This is their favorite pastime, it seems, (or jumping on the couch), and if I am not paying attention for a minute, all of the books (as high as they can reach) are brought tumbling down. Unfortunately with the curved bookcase, it is hard to put them back up, so they aren't really able to help me clean up their mess.

Without two other cousins always around, Chase has had time to sit and ponder life. Haha, yeah right. I did think this was a funny picture though. All of a sudden Chase says, "Mom, look at my chair!" and I turn to see him sitting on this little toy chair all seriously.

We were also able to go to Brown's Point in Tacoma, WA, and even though it was way windy and freezing, we were able to enjoy the sun and see the lighthouse, and even a bald eagle. Pretty cool.

Lastly we enjoy having more space to ourselves. So the other day I put Kai up on my shoulders and chased Chase around the house. Don't you love all the drool on Kai? He is majorly teething and is constantly soaked.

We Love Kai--Happy 1st Birthday!

It is so weird to think that a year ago today contractions were starting and I was in denial that I was actually going into labor. Thanks to the help of Melissa and my mom, I heeded their advice and went to the doctor to check things out. Kai was relatively easy to bring into the world, however, once he was here, he wasn't the easiest baby right off the bat. But over time we got his reflux figured out, and the Kai we all know and love came through, a sweet, fun-loving, loves to eat a ton, and little baby boy who knows what he wants and when he wants it :). It has been a lot of fun getting to know him over this last year, and we can't believe how much he has grown up. We love you, Kai, and are glad to have you part of our family.
Here he is less than a week old.
And now here he is, grown up a little more, and able to feed himself, kinda. We celebrated his birthday while at my parents (with his cousin Payton who is just 3 weeks older than him), and will celebrate it again tomorrow (a day delayed), but here he is discovering his first cake. It didn't take him long to discover that eating his first cake would be a lot of fun.
I love Kai's personality...we didn't even have to encourage him, he went all in...so typical of this guy.
He seriously ate almost his entire cake. A few pieces were slung through the air, where my parents dog was anxiously waiting. Samson knows to hang out where Kai is eating, Kai is pretty good about sharing his meals and his treats. Happy Birthday Kai, we love you and are anxious to celebrate your birthday again tomorrow.

Adam's Wedding & Our Visit to El Dorado Hills

It is crazy to think that my little brother Adam is a married man now, and that I have a new sister named Cortnie, but I am happy for the two of them, and excited for us to have an even bigger family now. Adam and Cortnie got married on a golf course outside of the San Francisco area on Feb. 28th, and thankfully the weather cooperated and it was really nice. My parents were nice enough to fly me, Chase and Kai down for it, as well as Kelli and her three kids. It was soooo much fun being all together as a family (minus Nathan and Kelli's husband, Todd). The wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun, and I am glad that we were able to be there.

Here's the newly married couple.

The reception afterwards was a lot of fun as well, and Chase was up to his antics in putting on a show. He loved to go out on the dance floor while everyone was still eating, and start dancing to get the wedding party to laugh at him. He especially liked flirting with a lot of the women there. Chase can be really shy, but when he is tired he typically turns into a little ham. I thought this picture was cute of the grandkids that were old enough to dance.

I know that none of us girls like this picture, but it is decent of the three of us, and we had a great time hanging out at my parents' house the rest of our visit. It was nice having our kids all together because for the most part they played with each other and left us alone to visit.

Here is the whole gang of grandkids on the Stoker family side. There is one on the way, so that will make four boys and four girls...crazy to think how many we have already!

My Cute Boys

So I tried taking a cute picture of Kai, but he keeps making all these faces and I can't get the "perfect" one. I remember when Chase was little he would smile for the camera so nicely, but Kai, nope, he is too animated. So, here are some pictures of my funny little boy.


Here is the latest picture of Chase and his cousin Joseph making cookies together. Nicole has the yummiest cookie recipe so we all love it when she is in the mood to bake (which is fairly often :D). Chase was quite the good helper, and especially loved eating the cookie dough.

Thanks for the Compliments

Per some of your requests, here are the originals that I used to draw the drawings I showed below in my previous posting. I don't have the cropped picture of Chase and Kai to show you, but this is where it came from, and you will notice that I chose not to draw Chase sucking on his finger since I thought his plain smile would look better :).

Anyway, I just wanted to write back and thank you to all of you who stroked my ego :). Seriously, though, thank you for all of you who had such nice things to say. I thought it was funny that a few of you thought I was holding out on you and not telling you that I could draw. Honestly, I have always loved drawing, mostly just fun little characters, but I never have taken the time to really draw anything. Until after I took that class at BYU, and then drew that picture of Nathan and myself after our wedding, I didn't really know that I could draw very well. Plus, drawing that picture for Christmas was so many years after that first drawing, and even though the picture of Chase and Kai definitely has its flaws, I can tell that drawing is coming more easily now, and the drawings are looking better as I go. So I am currently working on one for a friend, and I hope that will turn out even better than the others.

In response to a lot of your questions as to how much I charge, I did some research and determined that I would charge $99 for a 4"x6" drawing, matted to the person's color of choice to make it overall either 5"x7" or 8"x10", (I can make much larger drawings as well, they just take longer and cost a little bit more). That is what I charged the woman that I drew her baby for her, and I think it was the right price. With the overall time it takes me to draw something and mat it, it ends up not being the best hourly wage, but hopefully with time I will improve and get faster. It is a lot of fun though, and I love being able to do something for someone else that they will be able to enjoy for a long time. So I am working on a few right now, but if any of you, no matter where you live, (since all I need is for you to email me a picture), would like me to draw a picture of your kids or family, or anything, email it to me (mimi.crisenberry@gmail.com) and I will get back to you as to when I can mail it back to you finished.

I am amazed at all of the talents that each of you guys have--crafts, kid teaching ideas, sewing, cooking, etc., and it is fun to be able to have blogs and be able to see each of them exhibited every now and then :).