Today Steve, Cache and I continued our drive around Utah County to check out the beautiful fall leaves and the amazing scenery we have here in Utah.  Good Times :) Cache LOVED it all, especially running everywhere and throwing rocks into the lake and river.

Utah Lake

                                                

I  am loving the fall leaves! The colors seem so much brighter this year!

Cache was pretty dang stoked about this little caterpillar...

Below: Nice Cache blooper face, yes?

The big mouth shot :)

Love,

Us

Sunday with Cache

October 9, 2011.

The Brother who was giving the opening prayer walks up to the pulpit. Cache folds his arms and squeezes his eyes shut. He is smiling because he knows he is doing exactly what he is supposed to. 

...two minutes later (prayer is still going strong, we are still in the thanking portion)...

"Mom. He's just talking."

In a barely audible voice I whisper in his ear, "Cache, he is still praying."

In a voice that echoed through the chapel, "Dats a REALLY LONG PRAYER!!"

It was a very long prayer. Pretty sure the whole gym/overflow section of the chapel was trying not to LOL. 

We had 3 baby blessings that day. During the second baby blessing Cache said, "I'm just gon fol' my arms. I am jus tired of prayin."

With 15 more minutes of the meeting left to go Cache is coloring. One of his little nursery friends runs over from across the aisle and takes a crayon and Cache says, "Excuse me. You are freaking me out!" Of course he would say that. That is how all 2 year olds respond to things like that, right?

5 minutes left to go we are singing the closing hymn... Cache is on my lap and decides to bust out some "Real Men Of Genius", you know the Budlight commercials. 

Cache is singing, "Real Men of Genius. Mr. T-shirt launcher-inventor-make-nose-bleed-crack-budlight" 

I notice that everyone on our row, the row in front of us and the back row have stopped singing and eyes are peering over shoulders. I will have to thank T.j for that one. Mr. T-Shirt Launcher Inventor Song if you'd like to listen, it is pretty funny.

So after Sacrament Meeting we went to nursery with Cache for the last 2 hours of church. 

FYI: Nursery is a great place to hide out when your child makes multiple offenses during Sacrament Meeting. 

Here's to you, Mr. Doesn't-like-long-prayers-gets-freaked-out-by-crayon-stealers-and-is-not-afraid-to-shout-it-but-your-parents-still-love-you

 Love,

Us

A Family First

The three of us went to the 1st BYU football home game this season and we have gone to everyone since then. 

Three games. 

We have loved it, mostly because of Cache Money. The first game he was taking it all in. Second game, he flashed his abs at the crowd on the first touchdown. Third game, tried to run onto the field...8 minutes before the game was over. Will there be a fourth game this season for Cache? I am not sure, we will see. We may end up going to a game and miss hearing his adorable deep voice say, "Cougar 1st down!" or "Go BYU Cougars!".

Blogging Resolution Fail.

I had a goal to be weekly blogger. Not happening and I want it to. Realistically, probably not going to be perfect at it, but I will try. I feel like I need a blogging face lift, some cool theme or I dunno, something. Mostly so I can organize what to write better. I get behind and I look back at everything that has happened in the last couple of months and I get overwhelmed with things to write. I will be thinking   ...

All good thing must come to an end...

True dat.


I have to tell you that I feel like I was just leaving my classroom for the summer, yesterday. But in reality it was several weeks ago and I have been back to my classroom making things, meeting students, meeting parents, planning, reading, planning more and going to meetings. 
Before all of these things fill my head up and spill out all the summer goodness, I best be writing them down. Because this summer was one of my all time favorite summers, definitely my favorite so far with my little family. 

June

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family” - Anthony Brandt

My grandparents came over to visit us this summer and I was oh so happy they did. We really, truly, absolutely love them. They are spectacular people and I love being around them. 

Cache was warming up slowly, but Gramma knew how to charm him, CANDY! 

I smile just picturing her reach into her pocket and whip out a dum-dum and wave it in front of Cache. Cache would look at her and with a shy smile and nervous eyes he would walk over to Gramma take the sucker and whisper so very, very softly, "thank-you gramma." I hope grandma felt that thank you in her heart because I am pretty positive she couldn't hear it. 

My earliest memory of my Grandparents are when I was probably four or five years old. I can still remember always getting so excited for them to come because it would be a nice long family party. We always have lots of family parties when they come into town. Plenty food, plenty laughs and plenty unforgettable moments. Now that we are all grown up and doing our own thing, I am way more excited and way more appreciative of their visits...which I might add are never long enough. 

Grandma and Grandpa's visit was the best way to start off my summer.

This pictures just warms my heart n' soul. I really, really, really hope Cache will have memories of my Grandparents. They are such good people. 

Oh Gramma! Watching game shows or Korean dramas one minute and the next snoring away. I love it!! Hey, if I taught school for 30 years like Gramma, I would be sleeping 24/7!

Next year we are having a family reunion so I for one am very happy to report that my grandparents are coming again!

Art City Days: Children's Art Festival with my best friend, Cassie, and her cute nieces. 

 That night: FIREWORKS!! So. Much. Fun.

 Above: Cache's theme for the summer. He learned how to ride a scooter! Not a 3-wheeler one, a 2-wheeler one. He's really good at it, way to go buddy!

 We loved watching Gwenie and Cache play together, it was so cute. Here is Cache and Gwenie on one of their many adventures and obviously way too into it to even look at me for two seconds. That's okay because I can tell you that they are doing one of Gwenie's favorite activities: Finding T.j's airsoft gun bullets and collecting them into a nice pile.

 Our first morning together, Cache wanted pancakes and cars. So we ate breakfast in Cache's room and watched Cars on the laptop.

My child cracks me up, warms my soul, makes me love more than I ever thought possible and fills me with gratitude to Heavenly Father for giving him to me.
The first morning of summer vacation Cache woke up, ran into the kitchen and said, "Mommy, are you stayin' wit me? No work?" I said, "Yes, I get to stay and play with you. " He said, "Thanks mom, I love you." That happened every day for the whole summer, so you can imagine I was heartbroken when my answer had to change to no. But, I am so happy that I have my mom, mom-in-law and some sisters here and there to help take care of him and love him while I am at work. He has so much fun that he doesn't even care that I am working after the first day! (I do realize that school doesn't have much to do with summer, but you can see where my mind is now...school stuff)
The end of June brought more family and I was so happy that Steve could meet my Auntie Lorri and my Uncle Uale for the first time! More pictures and stories of that to come. For now I better say Good-Night, but I will leave you with this little gem...

He is just such a fun lil' guy who thinks he is 14 year sold. 
Love you Cache Money. Cha-Ching! ;)

Love,

Us

Cacherz

Click this: From the Mouth of Cache , if you would like to read some of the heart-lifting, smile creating, laughter inducing things that Cache says and does.

Potty Training Is A Breeze...

Agreed...If that is the breeze that has been causing all of the tornados in the Midwest. 

(notice the hair? He did it himself. Quite the stylist, yes?)

Cache is slowly adapting to this whole routine and he is loving his reward stickers. He has had some accidents,one this morning  led me to have him run around pant-less, which neither of us are a fan of. Cache loves his clothes and I love how cute he is in them. But, we have had 3 "number one" accidents and this morning was our first "number two" accident and today we almost lost a pair of pants. I did save them. It was yucky, but I did it. 

Everything I've read says, "If they have an accident assure them it is okay, but next time they should put it in the potty." Uh...so not okay with me. So hard to stay calm and not...gag. Cache was not a fan of my O.C.D Ninja gear. As I was quickly preparing to clean up the mess I grabbed one of my tank-tops and tied around my face (to block the odor) and I couldn't find my cleaning gloves so I wrapped my hands in plastic bags. Creative, right? I looked in the mirror after and I was a little afraid of myself :). 

Anyway, we here at the Bourne household are going to push forward with all of this potty training. No going back now. Until then, does anyone know where I can buy one of these...

Love, 

Us

Family is Everything...

And if it is everything, I have it ALL. I am extremely blessed.

Tonight I saw my family in action. We stick together no matter what. We will drop everything to support each other. It is beautiful really...

Extremely beautiful.

So here is to family. Cherish them and LOVE them with all your heart. 

Love,

Us

I think...

that this is very important and I never want to forget to do this.

One-a-Day Compliments

One day I was visiting with a mother of seven grown children, all active, confident members of the Church. As a young mother anxious for help and advice, I questioned her about her secrets of success. One of her most impressive answers was: “I tried to genuinely compliment each child on something he or she did well every day.”

How often we ignore the good behavior of our children and comment only on their mistakes and misbehavior! To grow to be of value to himself and society, a child needs to think well of himself. He needs to see himself as an important person and know that he has abilities and skills.

Compliments go a long way toward improving a child’s self-esteem. Following are some ways to encourage a positive self-image in children.

1. Provide opportunities for growth. One of the first phrases a toddler learns to say is “I can do.” He likes to feel capable of performing different tasks—feeding himself, dressing himself, or pouring his own juice. Other challenges follow as he develops his abilities. He needs opportunities to perform. Parents have the responsibility to create these opportunities for growth and allow children to do as much as possible for themselves.

2. Encourage them. Children will often become whatever we tell them they are. If they feel loved and accepted if we center our attention on what they do well rather than on their failures and mistakes they will feel a sense of accomplishment and self-respect. However, if we fail to reinforce a child’s good behavior with encouragement, he may become discouraged and misbehave to gain attention. Often parents discourage children very innocently. For example, four-year-old Mary wants a drink of milk. She takes the carton from the refrigerator and begins to pour some milk into a glass when mother walks in. Mother quickly snatches the carton from Mary and says, “Here, let me do it. You’re too little. You might spill it.” If this kind of reaction is common, Mary will probably see herself as “too little” for a long time.

3. Compliment them. Compliments help children believe in themselves. But compliments must be genuine and specific to effectively influence behavior. Telling Johnny he is a good boy will not have the same effect as telling him how happy you are that he mowed the lawn without having to be reminded. Simply remember to notice your children’s good behavior and let them know how it honestly makes you feel.

As children grow up, they feel small and inadequate in the adult world. They make mistakes and are very much aware of their failures. But if we will remember to supplement their development daily with learning opportunities, encouragement, and sincere compliments, we can be assured that we are nourishing their self-esteem and potential for growth.

 Linda Turley Turner, Heber City, Utah

Mommy-hood

Oh, hey there.  How's life? Good? Good.

What am I doing? Oh, I'm just trying not to fall asleep on the keyboard while I blog about this day. It was a doozy I tell you, a doozy. Which is saying a lot because I don't necessarily use that word. But I don't know how else to describe it. 

6:30 Alarm goes off. Awesome. 

8:15 I am FLYING out the door

8:25 Work, and everything that comes with it... along with several surprises

12:30 Running out the door because I am leaving late from work... again.

12:32 Text message from mom. Cache popped his pants, I need to bring new ones.

12:40 Run inside the house, grab pants, check to make sure our taxes were accepted. Take a breathe run back outside. Help the neighbor pick up all of the papers she has dropped while her son is running out in the road and the other neighbor's dog is eating the papers. I'm thinking, "Man, looks like she is having a tough day."

1:00 Drive to P-Town to pick up Cache, change cache. Go to Steve's office to help him organize things.  SIDE NOTE: THANK YOU MOM FOR WATCHING CACHE TODAY! I didn't get to see you so I thought I would throw that in there. 

...

Now here is where I have completed making the list and Cache and I go to Office Max...this is also where I went from a spunky, energetic person to a...well...THIS

Before I write down the story I have to admit, I did kind of love some of the things that happened at Office Max. That is the majority of the reason I am blogging. I laughed, I yelled Cache's name, I groaned, I gave apologetic smiles to the staff and I ran... A LOT.

Office Max

Today Cache and I went to Office Max. It was fun, entertaining, exhausting, embarrassing, enlightening and it even made me feel like saying, "Imma gonna loose my mind!"

We entered the store quite casually. The nice man at the door gave  us a cart. Cache wanted to ride inside and I thought to myself, "Oh so nice. This won't take long at all." The man asked me if I needed help finding anything and I energetically said, "I'm alright, thanks." I pulled out my list like it was a treasure map and I was off. 

10 minutes into our shopping trip the song, You Belong With Me, came on. This happens to be my ringtone. Cache jumps from the child seat to the basket and starts saying, "Mommy's phone! Mom where yo phone?! Mom I don see it!" I'm stunned because I am still getting used to Cache talking so much and when he does I just want to listen to him. He is dying to come out of the cart and look for my phone. I tell him that he HAS to stay right by me and I let him out. ZOOM! He is running circles around me trying to find my phone. 

Fast Forward several minutes to when I am looking down at my heels thinking, "Krista Kei, you couldn't have just grabbed some rubber slippers to go shopping?" I snap out of it and continue to run. I catch Cache and we have  a little chat. He stays by my side for about 5 minutes. 

The same man that greeted us at the door asked me if I was still doing okay. I hinted a sense of sarcasm. I said, "uhh..I need those letter size hanging file folders, I can't reach." He points out that they are actually on the bottom shelf to my left. During this Cache decided to go for a run...again. I say run because he always comes back, so it isn't really running away. I watch as Cache does one of his amazing quick footed turns and runs back towards me. He says, "Where scaaeee (scary) man go?" I told him that he needed to hold mommy's hand because the scary man would come and get him. Cache was holding my hand and then I was trying to find the difference between folders that were exactly the same except one was $5.42 cheaper. He takes off AGAIN...then I hear...

"AHH!! MOM! A SCAEE MAN! RUN! RUN! MOM!!" I run to the end of the aisle to see Cache pointing at the nice sarcastic man who greeted us at the door and helped me find what I needed. I smiled at him and moved Cache along. 

Cache stayed by me the rest of the time. BUT, Steve called and as I was picking up notepads and as I was talking to Steve, Cache filled the cart with pens and folders. I looked at him and he said, "Der go mommy, welcome." Then he was pretty sad when I put it all back. 

Then it was finally time to check out.... 1 HOUR later. Cache really wanted to help push and so I was letting him walk in front of me to push the cart. Everyone in the store kept waving at Cache and he just did his little Cache strut. We got to the check out stand and guess who was there to help us...the same man who greeted us. His look changed from entertained to sympathetic. Probably because he witnessed Cache open my purse and dump out all of the contents onto the floor. The man whipped around the counter to help me and as he did that I quickly stuck Cache in the shopping cart. BAD IDEA. Cache climbed onto the check out stand. I scolded him and put him back in the cart and the man kept saying, "Oh don't worry about it." Cache said, "So sorry mom." Then he sat there like an angel while the man rang us up. We were almost to the end when the man said, "Would you like the receipt in the bag?" Cache is very observant because when that machine spit out the receipt Cache ripped it out. Then he ripped out some more. Once again, I had sympathetic glances aimed at me along with the, "Really don't worry about it." and the, "Wow, he is so full of energy!" and, "Aww, he is so cute. What a little helper." 

True Story... I looked down at my pedometer as we walked to the car, I had 1523 more steps then I had before we entered Office Max.

Cache fell asleep before we even left the parking lot. 

Then we got to Steve's office and I thought Cache would sleep. Nope. His 5 minute power nap was all he needed. 

Long story short, we took him to a babysitter first chance we got. Thank you T.j and Mandi.  We got everything done, left at 7:00 pm. No matter how much energy this kid takes out of me, I love em' and we will always find more energy to have fun. Right buddy?

Cacher-roo...

No matter what mistakes you make,

No matter the headaches and sore feet you give me,

No matter how many times you may have to sit in time-out,

I will love you for eternity.

You are MY little boy.

Doesn't matter that you will be a foot taller than me when you're 10,

Doesn't matter that you will someday start thinking girls are cute,

Doesn't matter how many times I may or may not have to ground you,

You are still my little boy.

And I love you for who you are. I love you to death and it brings me to tears.

Some day I will have to thank Heavenly Father the best way I know how and that is to give you a big hug and say, "I'm so proud of you! You are going to be a great missionary." Oh, I know that will be hard for me, but..

You're the best thing that could have ever happened to your dad and me. The sacrifices we have had to make and will have to make for you are nothing compared to the wonderful things you have brought into our lives. 

I just love you lots and so does your daddy.

P.S I do realize that the sore feet are my fault and not yours. I just love me some high heels kiddo! ;)