The Benefit of a Sincere Compliment

Have you ever wondered what a compliment really means to someone? Have you ever seen someone with just incredibly well behaved kids and want to tell them but aren't sure? Or someone just rocking some awesome shoes or a shirt? Or what about a friend that is just absolutely brilliant? Or gorgeous? Or pee-your-pants hilarious? Do you ever tell them? If not, why not? What is the harm in passing a compliment.
Last night, I was getting into the car to go to a Relief Society meeting and one of the woman we were car pooling with turns around and goes "We were just talking about how beautiful you are." Whoa. Color me surprised. Sure, Jake tells me and trust me I don't take that for granted. And when I go to HI those cute old Polynesian men tell me I'm a beautiful haole girl- but they also tend to be the ones that would say a fish is beautiful so you just say thank you and move on? My whole life, I always just thought I was plain. Not ugly necessarily, but not attractive either. And now, I hear these women tell me how I am beautiful enough to be a model? Why don't people give just honest to goodness compliments all the time? What is it about saying something nice that seems to make someone vulnerable or something? I don't get it. I know that I tend to not tell people. For example, I think my siblings are just geniuses. All five of 'em. Do I tell them? Not so much.

My brother Jeff? I have incredible respect for him. He has had a hard life but he has turned it around. He is a husband, and a father and almost a pharmacist. That's a doctor. I wanted to cut off my little toe after my bachelors (well truthfully, only about 3 years in) and Jeff is a doctor? What. Nuts.

How about Jordan? Dude has almost 4 kids, a wife and is a chiropractor. What I said about being a doctor before, applies here as well. He lives out in the boonies being a doctor. That is pretty cool. He is living his dream. Lucky. And he is silly. But in a fun way. I like him.

How about Malcolm? Okay, now don't get me wrong, I think all my family are above average intelligence but I just think Mal is a make me feel like a dunce brilliant. Plus, what a nice guy. When I was a freshman, I called him to help me figure out speakers for my computer. So the next weekend he came to visit, he brought me speakers. A nice, sealed box of speakers, that I still use almost daily 6 six years later.

Shelly. Oh Shels. She lived in Africa- twice. What the heck? Isn't that scary? Why, yes yes it is. (Granted I think going even to Nevada where we have no family is scary so maybe I am not the best judge? Who knows.) And she is getting a Master's degree. I have an incredibly educated family- me? Not so much haha. You know what is kinda poopy but in a great way? Having an older sister that is smart, funny and beautiful.

And James. Little Jimmy. (who is in fact about 6 or 7 inches taller than me) His personality is totally wasted on a youngest child. He is so protective and caring and just wants to take care of everyone. Kinda great. Plus he is doing accounting. (smarty-pants) And then wants to be a lawyer! My little brother with floral suspenders, coke bottle glasses and gum boots a lawyer? Good on ya.

I have a pretty great family. I like them. I am sad that we live all over the place but we do a fairly good job of seeing each other and keeping in contact- not good enough to keep up with all the babies but still.
Well family, I hope that these sincere compliments made your day as much as the one I got yesterday.

Seriously? What a cool and intelligent looking family.

Love you!

"I don't know what your generation's fascination is with documenting your every thought...

but I can assure you, they're not all diamonds" (Mr Griffith in Easy A- awesome movie, watch it. That's all)

Most of the time when I make a really good dinner I think to myself "Man this is so great, I need to take a picture and blog about it and maybe text the picture to my family. Everyone will be so amazed at what I did." And then I realize, what the heck is wrong with me? I am no great chef, I don't have a cooking blog and my family couldn't care less about a junk quality image of food that they can barely see and don't get to eat. 

It makes me wonder, when my mom made a kick-A meal for my dad did she grab the good ole camera and snap away and then mail copies to her friends and family? Hmm, probably not. I imagine they ate it, were pleased, and moved on.

Sometimes I think that I was born in the wrong generation. Don't get me wrong, I love my computer, my kindle, my television and all that other great stuff but my cell phone- I hate it. Today Mikey lost the battery to it on our walk (we found it eventually, extended our walk by about 20 minutes. I think it was a plot) and while I was worried that Jake wouldn't be able to get ahold of me to pick him up from work I was so excited. I didn't have a phone. I was off the grid so to speak. It was fantastic. I hate that I feel chained to that stupid little box. I leave it at home, or on my dresser for a day just to feel free. I hate Words with Friends- play scrabble with the people sitting next you, interact. It'll blow your mind. I hate twitter. Seriously, it is okay to have a little privacy in the world. I understand the benefit of things like facebook, twitter, cell phones, etc.- it makes the world small. It is so incredibly easy to stay in contact with family and friends. But you know what I have noticed. Because I read my facebook newsfeed, I feel like I know what is going on with people but in reality, I don't know them at all. I never actually talk to them. I think I do because I read their status updates and see their throwback thursday instagrams or whatever those are called, but in reality, I don't know anything. I am starting to get so content to just sit at home with my boys and feel like reading facebook and blogs are sufficient adult interaction. But in all actuality, it is not. When I spend time with my neighbors, or friends, I feel so much better. When I see Mikey run around with other kids, I feel like giving myself a mom point (a real one, not the sarcastic ones me and Shelly do because we think we are funny) because he is so much happier to be with other people.

I just think that maybe I would've fit better with the previous generation. Who knows. There probably would've been things I thought were silly then too. Like, bell bottoms. Blows my mind.

I am only 23.

Ah, back to the good ole blog. I have been ridiculously busy lately. With what you ask? I couldn't tell ya. I always have something that needs to be done and I feel like I am go-go-go all the time but then at the end of the day, I think back and cannot figure out what I did at all. It's depressing. Seems like being so exhausted should at least show some kind of progress. But alas, 'tis not the case. There are still always dishes, laundry and toys scattered around. My kids are always dirty it seems, no matter how many baths I give. Mikey is always putting something in his mouth and then deciding to share with Adam (I don't know why he thinks he should pre-chew the food because we certainly never did that with him) It is strange though, at the end of the day, more often than not, I feel fulfilled. It is a confusing feeling because I can sit on the couch and come up with a million more things to do but when both the boys are fed, changed and sleeping and my husband sits next to me with his arm around me, I feel good. 

The other day I was talking to a friend and she was surprised that I was 23 with two kids. She was kind of rude when she said "Don't you feel trapped? So young and two kids already. How are you ever going to do anything with your life now?" I looked at her, genuinely confused, and said " Actually, think about it this way. I have a college degree, a great husband with a wonderful job, two awesome kids and I am only 23. Sounds like to me I am winning."

I mean really, look at this life...

This is what I found when I came into the living room the other day. Awesome. When I made him clean them up I could not believe the fit that happened. The terrible twos seem to be coming-bad news.

Adam with his Aunty Shelly. We are still working on looking at the camera haha

Jake carrying the boys. Mikey used to love this but not so much anymore. Adam, however, still a fan

Matchy-matchy. Awesome. Mikey likes to climb into the laundry basket and have Jake pull him and Adam around the kitchen. They love it- all three of 'em.

They do this for about 10 minutes at least. They used to use an ethernet cable but then I found a rope- better I think.

Mikey prefers the white basket I think. No wheels= easier to climb into, however, harder for Jake to pull

Sunday morning family movie. Mikey woke up at 7 (which is way early for him) so we watched Mulan while eating muffins and drinking juice.

Easter and the Zoo! Whatta Life!





Jake's sister came into town last week and while she was here we went to the zoo. It was Mikey's first time there and it was so much fun. Here is the story of our day in pictures!

 

Mikey went on the carousel with Aunty Liz. It doesn't look like he loved it but he really did.

Lina, Gideon, Mikey, me and Jake looking at the birds and such. About 5 minutes after I got pooped on- by a bird, not a son

Me and Mikey on the tiger statue. We almost missed the tiger which woulda be sad because Mikey thought he was seriously cool... or she... ya know I didn't read the sign.

Mikey trying to find the "tick-tock croc" (he loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates)

Adam with Aunty Abby. Adam was such a champ. He slept most of the time and barely cried at all.

Isn't Adam so cute? I love my little baby so much.

Now on to Easter!

First off all, I bought all the boys new outfits- even Jake. I wanted to get something for me but I couldn't find one so instead I just used what I already had and coordinated with my men.

 



Me with my kiddos. Red and brown was the theme. Not the typical Easter color scheme but I got the clothes on clearance. That's way better than pastels I think.

My matching boys! Red ties and brown pants. The little boys had vests but I couldn't find one for Jake. Adorable right?

 I also went a little over the top when it came to Easter baskets but I love to do stuff like that for my family. I didn't do a terribly special breakfast- just eggs in a hole and some fruit and sausage.

I hid Jake's basket under the bassinet in the pack-n-play. I thought I was so clever but Jake found it in about a minute. He got the Hobbit and the board game Axis and Allies along with his candy

So instead of hiding Mikey's basket, I had a trail of candy from his bed to the his basket in the living room and I left his door open so when he woke up he could just follow the trail. He woke up and squealed, he was so excited to see his candy. It was so fun for me. I made Jake get up and sleep on the couch so I could wake him up easily so he could see Mikey. Mikey came running out of his room, ignoring the candy trail to the couch and was like mama! showing me his hands full of candy. It was great.

Mikey's "basket" -it's really a tin pail with his name painted on it- and his bowling set

Adam's basket was a little trickier because he doesn't do candy. So he got plastic eggs with rice inside for a rattle, a monkey rattle, a seriously soft bunny and a few little wrist rattles- he really likes rattles

We went to church after the great basket unveil.. I got one too I just don't have pictures. I got candy and Fast Five. I love that movie. Church was great and the boys were so well behaved. Afterwards we had some friends over and we ate turkey and all the fixins. After dinner we played Munchkin and Harry Potter Scene it! I love that game.. not Munchkin, HP of course!

Hope all of your Easters were fantastic as well.

Graduation and Making the Bed

Two new and exciting things have happened at my house lately.

First- I graduated! Wahoo (the pictures below are from the grad ceremony in August) I just finished all my course work and am officially a graduate of BYU 2013! Also, shout out to my dad who has 5 of 6 college grads and one almost half way there. Also, 3 of his kids in law have degrees, 1 is graduating next week and the other is working on hers. What a well educated family!

 

 

The next exciting thing, which I might be even more excited about is Mikey has started to make his bed!! Excellent. I am so proud. It's pretty good for a 20 month old. He even put that teddy bear up there all by himself. It's almost the same size as him haha.

 



 

It's a Wonderful Life

As promised on my last post, here are pictures! And lots of 'em.

But first- here is a little update about the little Logan family.

Jake- grew a beard- it looks awesome (well in my opinion, his sister really hates it haha); crazy busy at work with all his projects and deadlines; taking me to Calgary in May and Hawaii in June (hopefully.. you never know what could come up); looking to buy a house this summer- it's like we are real grown ups- jump back! (name that movie)

Me- finally did some more work on my independent study classes- so close to being done; going to run a 5k in May and trying to get ready for it- it's hard dudes, I know that's lame but still- hard; just reading and cleaning and taking care of babies

Mikey- basically completely stopped talking, all he says now is yes, dada, mama and baby Adam- but mostly just yes; has learned how to take everything off, including his diaper- awesome; jumps on the bed constantly; loves making messes- yesterday I went into his room after his nap and he has taken Adam's messy diaper out of the diaper pail and rubbed the squeezed out poop everywhere- in case you were wondering, I love my life.

Adam- can now roll over! wahoo; has slept the whole night a few times- very exciting; smiles, especially at fake coughs; met his Aunty Liz for the first time this week- he seems to be a pretty big fan.

 

Now on to the pictures! Enjoy- they may be repeats and they are in no particular order.

 

Mikey digging into his St Patrick's Day present- a mason jar with gold chocolate coins, layers of skittles as a rainbow and kleenex on top as clouds. He loved it. As did me and Jake.

St Patrick's Day breakfast- complete with sausage, eggs- green for Mikey, green rice, kiwi, green grapes, bananas, muffins and oj. I love it

Valentine's Day breakfast- pink pancakes, eggs, sausage, oranges, grapes, strawberries and oj. In my head, all holidays should be celebrated with breakfast. And I don't think the boys mind one bit.

Matching clothes! They had a baby sale at Old Navy so it was all 25% off, plus I have an ON card so it was another 10% off and then because I had a coupon it was another 15% off. Don't worry- half off. Good shopping mom.

 

Kisses

baby overalls are awesome

Naked Mikey holding Adam's bottle. Such a helpful guy.

My boys- and the start of Jake's beard!!

 

The family at the Leonardo in SLC. We went to see the mummies and then wandered around. This is one of the few pictures of me, so enjoy it haha.

 

Mikey went into the pantry and came out with a full sheet of nori. Just chilling on the couch, pantless eatin' seaweed. Whatta guy.

One of the exhibits at the Leonardo. He liked the colored lights a lot.

Adam was just laying on the floor and Mikey laid down next to him and held his hand.

Logan cousins photo shoot. Cute right?

 

 

This was right before Adam sucked on Malie's toe and she hit him. (not on purpose, she's like 4 months old) Hilarious.

Graduation picture! Me, my pops and my baby. Well technically both of the babies- one is just hidden under the grad gown.

Merrill family picture. Jeff and Whit were there too but they didn't want to wait inside with all the people. Good turnout huh?

Logan family picture- Mikey obviously wants Aunty Abby in this picture.

Grandma, Daddy, Mikey boy and Uncle Gideon

Thanks for looking!

Work and Treasure Planet- such is my life.

So I have all these awesome pictures that I wanted to share with the blogging world but every time I tried to put them up my computer could fritz out and so I haven't blogged in a month. Which is okay, I don't really have all that much time ya know? So I am going to blog an update anyways and hopefully soon I will figure out why my computer blows and I will get some pictures of my ever adorable boys.

Jake
- Not kidding, he works like a fiend. He goes in in the middle of the night sometimes. I wish his company paid overtime because if they did we'd be rolling in it.
- uhm... that is pretty much all he does these days. Work. Oh and he really likes to organize game nights. We have got a few new games recently that we have been enjoying. Also, we recently found out that our upstairs neighbors like games. We have been living here for a year and had no idea, plus Jake has known them for almost 3. We are obviously really good at getting to know people.
- bought an elliptical! Awesome.  Every time I use it though I think I am going to die- no joke. It's disgusting.
Meredith
- hmm... I cut my hair- a whole 7 inches off. I don't think Jake is that pleased but he says it looks nice so that counts for something.
- slowly but surely working on my independent study classes so I can graduate for real
- really missing photo shoots. Anyone wants picture taken? Pick me pick me! haha but for real. ;)
Mikey
- Mikey  seems huge now. 27. something pounds and like 34 inches. Amazing. Jumped into the 78 percentile from the 22. Jake is thrilled and he jumped from 12 month clothes right to 24 months. (he is only 19 months old)
- watched Treasure Planet all the time. I hate it. But not enough to not let him watch it. But he will play with his toys or go outside instead so it works out.
- carries Adam around- no joke, he literally carries him around. He dropped him today for the first time. No harm done but Mikey was pretty upset that Adam was crying.
Adam
- doesn't cry as much as he used to but still more then is desirable
- 22.5 inches long and 10 lbs 11 oz. He gained a pound and a half and grew an inch and a half in 4 weeks which is pretty exciting.
- can lift his head off the ground and sits in the bumbo. We are so proud
- sleeps about 5 hours at a time during the night. Although the other night he slept from 10 to 5. I was so tired though because Mikey woke up that I didn't get to fully appreciate the blessing.

Well I think that's it. We are doing well.  I am still thrilled to not be pregnant, Jake is still loving his job and the boys are thriving.
Next time there will be pictures. I promise. Be excited- they're cute.