A Love Affair with Headbands

Austin has this strange obsession with putting things on his head-so naturally he loves wearing around Ally's headbands. Sometimes he welcomes the laughs, other times he takes it very seriously and gives you a funny look if you laugh...thus the second of the two pictures.

Austin Chatting on the Phone

This is Austin talking on the phone to my sister. Yes, he thinks he is very old. I promise at the end he is NOT messing his pants-in spite of what it sounds like. He was just being super funny and of course getting lots of laughs. Now every time he watches this, he talks back to himself on the video-it's also pretty humorous!

Pachelbel Bedtime

This is the most precious song that I stole off of Elena's blog...she always finds the best stuff!! It is so funny and sweet, it makes me bawl everytime I watch it! There is nothing like being a parent!!!

I've been tagged!!

I probably wouldn't normally do this type of thing-but since it's about my husband-It's fun!! Thanks Kami!

1. Who is your man? Jonathan Holley Manwaring-hands down he's "the MAN"
2. How long have you been together? Well, we met in high school (11+ years ago) but we've been "together" since July 2000.
3. How long did you date? 5 months-we were engaged in 3 months and married that December (only 5 months from when we actually started dating)
4. How old is your man? 29
5.Who eats more? Luckily he does, but I definately am not far behind!
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did after a wedding reception. My response was, "I know" and then I said it right back of course!
7. Who is taller? He is, although he is not 6 ft, which is what he told me he was on our first date! He's the perfect height at 5'11.
8. Who sings better? Easy, easy....it's him FOR SURE. He is very musical and has an awesome voice!-He plays the piano too!
9. Who is smarter? Of course I think that I am and I would NEVER in a million years say that I wasn't-just in case I need to be right about something. I have rightfully earned my spot as the family "know-it-all".
10. Whose temper is worse? Mine is for sure. I don't think he even has a temper! I know it doesn't seem possible, but he really doesn't get in bad moods and is fun and nice almost 100% of the time.
11. Who does the laundry? I do, he hates folding clothes (admittedly-it's not my favorite either).
12. Who does the dishes? I do more so now but when we were first married, he did them all the time (so nice). He still definately chips in when I need him to.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does right now, but we occasionally switch-long story.
14.Who pays the bills? He does. I've offered to take over the bills a few times and his answer is a very quick, "Oh, it's OK, I think I better do it." I just get told that there is nothing there so don't worry about it-so I don't.
15. Who is better at the computer? Jonathan, He really does know quite a bit-I'm always surprized.
16. Who mows the lawn? He does-I never, ever have. It would be funny to try.
17. Who cooks dinner? I do. Luckily he loves everything so he's easy to cook for.
18. Who drives when you are together? He does.
19. Who pays when you go out? He does, he's usually the one who has his wallet.
20. Who is more stubborn? Me...no comment.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? He does all the time. Another small thing that makes me feel like the luckiest wife in the world. He'll even admit he's wrong-even when he's not-what a stud!
22. Whose parents do you see most? His-they come to visit us a couple times a year and we are so glad.
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me on our second date-we haven't stopped since!
24. Who asked who out? Neither. We were doublely set up on a blind date that turned out to not be so blind (since we had actaully met in high school)
25. Who proposed first? He did.
26. Who is more sensitive? I think I am, but it is probably a tie. Whenever I get teary-eyed about something, I look over and he is also-I love that.
27. Who has more friends? He does, he is a very social person-much more so than I am. Plus everyone who knows him, loves him.
28. Who has more siblings? He does, 7 siblings. I have 2.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? I would say for sure he does. He really makes all the decisions, but I am more vocal when I have an opinion.

It was fun to think about all of these questions. Thanks again Kami. Now I tag, Emily Hill, Elena Manwaring, Amber Manwaring, Odelsa Taylor, Katie Forsberg, and Becky Ward.

I've also attached a funny video of Jonathan trying to go down a "make-shift" waterslide on his feet!

I love this man!!!

Ok, I'm usually using this blog to brag about my kids, but with the long residency hours coming...the person I am really thinking about is my AWESOME husband. I knew when I married him that he was "good", but I had NO idea he was this good. When I was in high school I had made a list (all on individual note cards) of all the qualities I hoped my future spouse would have. There were at least 75 different cards, all listed very detailed with lots of explanations and reasons as to why these were important to me. Everyone who ever saw the cards always laughed (in a nice way) and said that it was impossible for me to ever find someone who possessed all of those qualities. Well I can honestly say that I did find him-I knew I did 7 years ago, and I know it even more now! This is just a very short list of a few of the reasons why I love him and why I feel so lucky. Of course he has all the basic qualities that every GOOD husband does, but these are a few extras. I love him because....

1-He is a huge HUNK.

2-He loves being a dad as much as I love being a mom-and is so good at it!

3-He stays up with me until 3 am just talking about life.

4-We share almost the exact same views on just about everything (but not exactly everything so that conversations are still interesting).

5-He dances and comes up with the most hilarious moves you've ever seen.

6-He is confident enough, but definitely not cocky at all!

7-He makes silly faces when he shaves.

8-He always smells good-I know it's weird, but it is true-I can't figure it out!

9-He cries when he watches Little League.

10-He is dedicated to EVERYTHING he does.

11-He doesn't care that I make him wear matching holiday pjs.

12-He's athletic.

13-He is so social and can make conversation with ANYONE-ANYWHERE!!

14-He likes to play games.

15-He laughs hard.

16-He makes DANG cute kids.

17-He watches stupid reality shows with me.

18-He likes to take time off to play with us.

19-He buys me those dumb gossip magazines that I shouldn't be reading.

20-He never comes home and just sits on the couch and wants to be left alone.

21-I've never had to mow our lawn.

22-He's up for anything.

23-He always tells me everything-believe me, he really does!

24-When he's home he always helps with "home" stuff.

25-He keeps me calm and sane.

26-He hardly ever gets in bad moods.

27-He kisses me every time he leaves the house.

28-He loves me and tells me a lot.

29-He always does everything he should and always follows the rules!

30-I love that he will be so embarrassed that I wrote this and posted it for everyone to see!!

There really are a million more reasons, but I didn't want to take up too much space. I mainly just want him to check this blog when he in on long hours at the hospital and remember how much he is loved and missed at home! We love you honey!!!

Hilarious Blog!

Thanks Elena for this link. This is one of the most hilarious things I've ever read...seriously, if you've got a minute (or an hour-which is as long as I spent reading it) it is time well spent and will make you laugh your head off!! This is a mother of 6 who is getting tons of attention from her blog and even more attention from an ebay listing (which you can get to off of her blog). Honestly, I'm sure she'll be on Letterman or Leno or something-it's amazing how much attention she is getting-deservedly so! http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com

KINDERGARTEN!! OH MY!!

We cannot believe the time has come for Allyson to be in Kindergarten!! For as old and big as she seems, it still just can't be right! I have to admit I've been dreading this day ever since the day she was born. But after all of her reassurance that she was going to love it and was so excited-I actually got excited for her as well. She was more than ready and has been counting down the days ever since preschool ended. Her teacher is Ms. Harris and is so very nice. Ally already knew 5 of the other kids who are in her class-which makes it so nice. We've had a lot of fun preparing for the big day...shopping, picking out the "outfit", planning breakfast, getting school supplies, packing the backpack and lunch, ect... She is such a sweet girl and we couldn't be prouder of her!

Austin the Ham

Well most of the hilarious stories in our home come from Isaac-he has always made everyone laugh and has loved every single bit of the attention. We are all now realizing that his little brother Austin is working his hardest to steal the title of "Family Clown". Of course anytime we laugh at Isaac, Austin turns right around and tries to do the same thing. He is really turning into quite the little show-off. Of course Ally is both of their biggest fans-she's always the easiest one to get to laugh and most often their target! Today we ran to Costco. While we were there we decided to eat. Austin wanted to stand in the cart while we ate (and since it was easier for us to keep track of him-we also thought it was a good idea!). We were all just stuffing our faces when we noticed that just about every single person was walking by us, saying "hi" to Austin and giggling. Now as cute as we think he is, we knew something was up because it was an excessive amount of attention. We watched for a minute and noticed that it wasn't everyone else who was say "hi", it was Austin. He would "eye-lock" them when they were just in sight, then he would repeatedly say "Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi" with a very cheesy grin that made his eyes disappear. Once they said "Hi" back and laughed, he would move on to the next customer-it was very entertaining!

San Diego LDS temple and the beach!

Closing the Summer in STYLE!!

When Jonathan had a week off from work, we figured we better take full advantage of it before life gets harder with his schedule and Ally starting kindergarten. We had free passes to go to Seaworld and so we went to San Diego. It was so fun-the weather there is to die for!! It was about 75 degrees-completely sunny!! Of course Seaworld was very fun, but my favorite part was just driving around looking at houses and flowers-I know why everyone wants to live there! It was a great trip! We are back home and glad to be here for a while!

Sandpoint-Hooray!

At the end of July we went to Sandpoint, Idaho (where I am originally from) for another reception for my sister Jess. We stayed at my grandparents condo and had a lot of fun...playing in the forest, picking blueberries and huckleberries, swimming at the beach and hanging out with grandparents. It is always so much fun to go and our kids LOVE it!

Near Drowning....That's what they thought!!

We knew it would eventually happen-but a few weeks ago, it actually did. Isaac has been able to swim from one end of the pool to the other for about a year now. He does really well, however, his swimming style far more resembles drowning that any type of swimming. Everywhere we go and anytime anyone sees him swim-they get so nervous. I can't tell you how many people have asked me if he was alright as they've watched his little head bob up and down for air. A few weeks ago we decided to go to a local rec-center that has a big pool with waterslides and water toys for kids. When we got there, we realized that it was "free swim day". So needless to say the place was jam packed-and I am not even exaggerating by saying we were the ONLY white people there (which makes matters worse-as far as sticking out!). I saw Isaac go around the big water playground and sent Jonathan to follow him. I hadn't see them for a while when all of a sudden all of the lifegaurds start blowing their whistles frantically and making everyone in the entire area go to a grassy area-about 300 people clearing the pool! I just knew it was Isaac!! I looked over to where I knew they were and made eye-contact with Jonathan. I mouthed, "Was it him?" He shook his head yes and we both were trying so hard not to laugh-considering every eye there was looking right at him! Apparently what happened was Isaac was just swimming, Jonathan wasn't far away watching him, but the lifegaurd was sure he was going under and jumped in. Jonathan said that when the lifegaurd pulled him out, Isaac was just smiling and Jonathan reached out and took Isaac. We thought we would die. Needless to say, we quickly ended our trip to the pool-I'm not sure we'll be back anytime soon!

Back to Blogging!!

We've been off the blogging bandwagon for a while since our computer has been down, but we're back. I feel like there is so much going on, I don't even know where to start...so get ready for some serious posting!!!

The Mud Monster

Isaac has discovered that there are not too many things more fun than rubbing mud all over yourself. He had the best time digging and painting his face. When it was time to get cleaned up he wanted to jump in the pool. When I told him he would have to get sprayed by the hose first-he was not thrilled. So the second picture is of him after he was washed off. Luckily he is such a nice boy that when he cries it only lasts about 15 seconds-then he was off doing frog jumps into the pool. What a fun kid!

Ally is so funny. Today I found her playing a video game with these funny 3D glasses. I'm surprised she even let me take a picture of her since she is always so concerned about looking out of the ordinary, but she let me and just kept on playing her video game.

Morning Smoothie

Austin loves having his morning smoothie with his mom.

Like Father, Like Son

Isaac loves to do whatever his dad does. He was beyond excited when he got to put shaving cream on his face when his dad was shaving.

Powdered Sugar Accident

The other day I was making a cake...well, as you can see, we had a little accident. Poor Ally was standing in the wrong place. Not too worry-my eyebrows and eyelashes reappeared after I washed my face.

MOM! I found something!!

On Saturday morning I was laying in bed. I didn't even realize that Isaac had gotten up before me until I heard, "Mom, I found something!" being yelled from the hallway. I instantly heard his little feet running as fast as they could toward our bedroom. I looked over to see Isaac holding 2 Peter Pan toys that I bought for him to save for Christmas. Apparently my stash was not as discreet as it needed to be. His cute little face was priceless!! He could not believe his luck-it was almost like magic. He then held up a bag and said, "Ally, there is something for you too!". Of course he had also seen the bag of Ariel dolls I had gotten Ally with the same plan in mind. So I guess you could say we had Christmas in July. It was a fun day!!!

We think it is pretty dang COOL!!

This is a picture of the message board at the front of Phoenix Baptist Hospital. It lists all of the doctors names on it. Of course the one we are most proud of is, J. Manwaring, DO. It is so fun to see!!

And the Monsoons begin!!

We were at Costco today when the wind all of a sudden really picked up. We were laughing so hard as we were walking to our car watching all of the shopping carts ram into cars, setting off their car alarms. When we got to our car we started unloading all of the kids. We had already put Ally and Austin in their seats when we noticed about 3 carts heading straight for our car. We ran to wherever we could to stop them from causing any damage. The next thing we hear was a faint cry in the distance. I looked up and Isaac was completely gone from where I had left him. I looked around and saw the cart he was sitting in being carried across the parking lot by the wind-almost like it was being pushed by a ghost. It was so hilarious, even though he was terrified. We rescued him and after he got calmed down he said, "I was like Buzz Lightyear flying through the air." We died laughing all over again. I had to add this picture of him in his Buzz costume from Halloween.

YUMMM!!!!

We gave Austin his first ice cream cone from Dairy Queen. As you can imagine-HE LOVED IT!! It was so hilarious because we actually gave it to him in his car seat (I still can't believe I did that!) and I had to take it out of his hand to get him out. I guarantee you have never seen a fit quite like this. But as you can see it quickly ended as we gave it back to him in his highchair.-Meanwhile mom spent about 20 minutes cleaning the car seat!

And of course...fireworks!

Arizona may not have any 4th of July parades, but they do have GREAT fireworks. Our kids all loved them-it was a fun day!

4th of July Fun!

Since the big wedding was only the day before th 4th and we were still exhausted-we mostly just hung out by the pool and relaxed. Nicholas and Ashley, their 2 girls and Rachel'sl Dad all stayed through the 4th. We're not sure exactly how hot it actually got, but the forcast said it would be 116!! And it definately felt that hot!!

Ally was in heaven!

Ally absolutely loved every second of the wedding. She wanted to follow Jess around the entire day. She especially loved getting her picture taken with her. Even after the photographer was done taking pictures, Ally insisted on making up her own poses to get more pictures taken. Her excitement was ubrupted for a short while when she didn't catch the bouquet, but Jess ended up giving her the "real" bouquet. It was the highlight of her night.

She was so precious falling asleep in the car holding flowers and still wearing her dress. What a day!

SHE DID IT!

On July 3rd Rachel's sister Jessica married Bradley Smith. It was the perfect wedding for the perfect couple. I over heard people saying that they have never seen a more beautiful couple and that they looked like they should be in a wedding magazine-we couldn't agree more. Not only do they look great but they also fit together in every way. We love him so much and are so glad he is in our family.