Another full week

So full, I somehow didn't take many pictures. Oh well. I am just going to journal away to try and remember all our fun this crazy summer.
Saturday was the day that did not go so well. I got up ready to hit a garage sale and then be on our way to the family reunion when Lowell got a call from his school. Someone had rented the building but no one had told Lowell. With even 1 more day's knowlege he could have found someone to cover it, but as it was, he was stuck. This dance group had paid for the rental, made the reservation in February, and even called to confirm with the office staff that week. But yet no mention whatsoever to the person who needed to be there. Turns out it was just an honest mistake, but let's just say I was pretty fuming mad. I hate when my plans change, let alone get completely cancelled at the last minute. Argh! So instead we just sat around all day. :p Lowell had some time off in between rehearsal and the show so I did get a nap and the boys got some time outside in the pool. It turns out it was too much time as I had forgot to put their swimshirts on and Lowell forgot to apply sunblock so the poor little buddies got quite the sunburn on their backs and shoulders. They really aren't too fair, so they generally tan nicely but that day was just too much time outside. That night my parents saved me after a horrible trip to the store (where they had nothing I needed and the boys weren't being nice) and helped me at another store and then made dinner for us.
Sunday was Father's Day and we filled it up pretty well. I made Lowell breakfast in bed and left it for him for when he woke up and then headed over to bring breakfast to my dad as well as visit with my grandparents who were in town. We had a nice little visit and then headed back home to get ready for church. After church we cruised down to see Lowell's dad and visit with my BIL and nephew before they left the next day. Back home again we got dinner on for my family who all joined us for a BBQ. Lowell got to use his new grill, so that was fun. My brothers played football with the boys in the yard with my nephew Johnny looking on and then we had 2 desserts, yea!
Monday Hillary and I took the boys to Lagoon. It was only an okay day. The boys are always happy to be there, but Carter was somewhat complacent, withdrawn. He didn't want to ride several of the rides. I was hoping he wasn't getting sick, which he hasn't, so it must have just been that he was tired. Despite ibuprofen before bed, both boys woke up at different times in pain from their sunburn. I know, terrible mom.
Tuesday the summer movie was Paul Blart Mall Cop (!?!), so we skipped that and joined Reva and her boys for library time at the PG library. What fun! They made this great bubble craft and the kids really enjoyed it and seeing their friends.
Wednesday we went to the gym then came home for a nap. Later we went to the boys' 6 month dental check-up and they both did so good. The ladies there just rave about what good kids they are. It's almost weird for me, but hey, sounds good! They know how to charm the ladies that's for sure. And they do sit nicely to have their teeth cleaned with no complaints, so they really are good patients. No cavities and their teeth really look great except for Carter's poor dead tooth of course. They X-rayed it and it is in good shape, no abscesses or anything, just going to be off colored. We talked about options, but really there's just live with it until it comes out in 1-2 years or pull it and put in a fake which seems like a lot of effort/pain for a cosmetic issue. So for now I will just be sad each time I look at it. Lowell had a class in the evening so I took the boys over to grandma's where we had some dinner and then cruised the gardens with Hillary scoring us a golf cart. I haven't been in too long, it was a nice evening, even though the boys were getting cranky for being up too late. I always do that, I overplan the time and get home late--then they get down late but still up early, etc. Lowell is so much better at keeping us on schedule.
Thursday-We had to miss our twin club park day because I had a doctor's appointment. Bummer. The appt went fine though and I even brought Davis along even though Lowell stayed home from work to watch the boys. He just wanted to come and he did a really good job. Nice to spend a little one on one time with him. We also went grocery shopping which was desperately needed. I hate shopping with both kids and I don't get everything we need when I do, so I have just gotten behind. Home again Lowell and I took the boys to see Toy Story 3. We all enjoyed it, I found it a little scary and intense for small children but the boys did pretty well with it. They'll still tell me they don't like the scary monkey but they also say they enjoyed it. It was emotional and well done.
Friday-hey I finally have some pics. Friday we remembered our little friend Sadie who passed away a year ago from a brain tumor by making cupcakes. We talked about Sadie and had fun as a little family making devil's food cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
They are similar to ones I made for her bake sale 2 years ago or so. I then delivered some to my visiting teaching gals and told them about Sadie too. One other "fun" note from that morning. While I was making the frosting, the boys got bored with the process and went off to play. I checked on them and found them giggling under my bed. We don't really like them in our room, but they weren't hurting anything, so I went back to make lunch. A little while later I went to use the bathroom (luckily I do this very frequently) and when I lifted up the lid, I saw our large goldfish staring back at me. I screamed and ran away, it really startled/scared me. I yelled at the boys and then went back to see if she was still alive and amazingly she was. I hurried and as carefully as possible scooped her out and back into her tank (she already had multiple injuries to her fins from less careful treatment the first time) and she started swimming right away. She is big, big enough that in my toilet she was just laying on her side with one eye out of the water. Poor thing, she's still kicking though, she is our wonder fish. The boys got an extended time out and then got to face Daddy's wrath as they definitely know better. She is in our bedroom in the first place to protect her from them, I am thinking we may need to move her to the kitchen so we can watch her better.
Friday night we had the Lehi Round Up Miniature parade, one of only a few in the country. Our ward had a float and the boys got to sit on it.

Lowell and I walked along--it was a toasty 90 some-odd degrees out and we walked several miles there and back. I did well there, the way back started to be a struggle. Just too hot and not enough water=contractions.
This one is for my friend Kristen--there was glitter on the float and then glitter on everything! I still can find some on me just from holding D's hand. Oh well, the kids really loved being in the parade and after a snow cone, I was pretty happy about it too.

Yesterday we made a quick trip over to the Dinosaur museum and also did a little shopping. And that brings us to today. Today the boys gave their first talk in primary. I'm at work and tried to make a run for it, but got called back :(. Lowell said they did a good job though. Tomorrow we are dragging Daddy along with us to Lagoon and checking out Lagoona Beach for the first time (a water park within the amusement park). Should be fun! Plus the 4th of July is already around the corner, yea!

Goblin Valley

So, Sunday this week I gave in and wore a maternity outfit to work and I thought it made me look very much more pregnant than my very forgiving scrubs. Just for posterity's sake, here's me at 25 weeks: See the baby bump? She's in there I promise. The ginormous pregnant boobs should give it away! Anywho, this was just as we were packing up to head out to Goblin Valley. It was a fairly long drive, but better than Mapquest and GPS estimated it, yea for friends who gave me the inside scoop. We did still make a couple of wrong turns, but we made it there at last. Hillary was gracious enough to take the boys exploring while we unpacked camp. Here's the pics she got:

Love it!

An amazing rainbow from our camp

Lowell is getting really good at setting up camp, he's so fast. So, we ate dinner with my parents (they and Hillary joined us) and then Lowell, the bubs and I went for a little climb up the cliffs behind our campsite.

Here's my boys at the top. Then out of the blue it just starts pouring rain. We're scrambling trying to find the fastest way down and I opt for the less steep option as it is getting really slippery really fast. I start to worry a little as I have no idea where this little hike will take us and if we can get there safely, but we did okay. We slid around a bunch and Lowell had to help us all cross a few areas but it put us out on the road to our camp again and we headed back wet and muddy, but laughing.

The boys thought it was a great idea to "wash off" in the streams that were formed by the sudden rain.

It didn't work, but they sure had fun! And why not--they couldn't get much dirtier than they already were. And lucky for us the camp had showers. Oh my goodness, I can't imagine what the night would have been like if not! It was pretty tricky still, Lowell ended up stripping down and joining them in order to get them clean and I was trying to get them dry and dressed (with only 1 towel) while the muddy water swirled around the little room beyond the shower. Then their shoes were still super dirty so we carried them back to camp and made them sit until bedtime. We just had s'mores after that and headed to bed (it was already past 10). One funny thing, Lowell told the boys (or maybe it was my dad) that the goblins came alive after dark and would come and get little boys who were not being quiet. It worked so well--they were very quiet and calm in our little tent. They went to sleep the fastest of any of our trips and they slept pretty well too. Unfortunately one of our air mattresses got a hole and Lowell was kind enough to sleep on that one, but it left him with a sore back. I on the other hand, slept amazingly well. Except for waking up a couple of times needing to use the bathroom, but not wanting to hike over or wake everyone up. I did make it past dawn and everyone woke up just a little later. We had a nice breakfast and got ready to go hiking. I think it was at this point that Davis did some more climbing and Lowell snook up on him and made some "goblin" sounds scaring him. Poor kiddo was just crying away when Lowell came to "save" him and remind him that he had to stay with us to be safe.

Hillary and Davis getting ready to hike Carmel canyon. The rest of the morning Davis was really timid, speaking quietly and holding someone's hand to make sure he stayed with us! Silly boy. Once we got to the actual goblins I told him they were sleeping, so he went around hitting them all in the head and throwing rocks at them. I love their imaginations.

My dad. So we all headed out on this crazy hike, but my mom and dad turned back pretty quick because my mom didn't think she could handle it. It was weird because the trail was hard to follow after all the rain. We jumped around following a couple of signs and piles of rocks. It was very muddy and quite interesting really. I enjoyed it and the boys did very good staying on the trail. They are really focused when hiking and just happy to be doing it. So my kids! Eventually it became a little slot canyon with lots of cool hiking:

and climbing and a little bit of getting muddy. I thought it was super cool. We thought the trail would lead us into the Valley of the Goblins, but it just spit us out on the main road. I didn't know there was a very short trail down to the valley, but I am still glad we did the longer hike because it was so cool.

Lowell with the goblins. The big valley was something else. Really unworldly, but easy to hike around and enjoy and the boys could easily do a lot of climbing. They were really very happy there.

It started to get a little warm but didn't even get to 80 while we were there. We were really lucky. We headed back and finished packing up camp (yep, quick trip) and after a side trip to check out Little Wild Horse Canyon (the road had washed out and it looked really busy, so we just went on our way) we headed home. The boys slept a fair amount of the time but were really well behaved even when awake. Good times!

Tuesday we finally were able to let our butterflies go--weather had been holding us up.

Butterflies all grown up and ready to go

Davis, he has one of his thumb

Carter, it was hard to catch a pic of these little guys, they were off so fast.

Except for one little guy. Out of 5, there was 1 who just wasn't well. He was listless and didn't fly at all. I think maybe he had already reached the end of his life cycle, the info we had said 1-2 weeks and it had been 8 days. We watched him for a while and after me pestering the kids over and over again to not touch him and just leave him alone (and after he did get to spend an hour alive and in the sun outside) they brought him to me dead. They gave him a "proper burial" and Davis announced to me that he had gone to live with Jesus. Glad they took it so well, I think I was more sad.

We then went to the movies, Veggie Tales, the Pirates who Don't Do Anything. The boys haven't ever seen Veggie Tales and they liked it fairly well. It wasn't as religious as I thought those shows were, and just okay for an adult to sit through.

Wednesday we went to the gym. Then I took a long nap (thanks honey) and got up in time to go to Mom's night out with the twin club at Zupa's and Red Mango. What a lovely time I had chatting chatting chatting for hours. I was thrilled to see some gals that I hadn't in a while and just vent about life's stresses, and of course eat. How I love my UVMOM gals.

Thursday I got to see them again, yea! For our weekly park play date and awesomely, lots of people came including some of the boys best friends, A&A. Quite the party, we were there 2 hours.

Then today we had plans to go to the Children's Gardens with some friends from our ward but after shopping all over this morning, they just weren't interested (until it was too late to go, then they apologized and begged to go. Sorry kiddos!). I did get to use up some great coupons I had though, thanks Hillary for coming so I didn't have to take 2 little boys in 4 different stores.

I ended up with these 4 sets, retail $80 (no, of course I wouldn't pay that, but outlet price was still $30), after coupons I paid, $6. Woot! We're slowly building up the girly stuff. Mostly newborn and 3-6 mos now, since I am not sure how quickly she will grow and which season she'll need my 6-9. I need to take an inventory of what I have as well and figure out how much I need for just 1 baby. We also picked up some Father's Day goodies for my dad and Lowell and the boys were very excited he got Super Mario Galaxy 2.

So, there's our week again. Tomorrow we're heading to Redmond, UT for Lowell's family reunion, then dinner with my fam for my brother's b-day and because my grandparents are in town visiting. Then Sunday we'll be making the rounds for Father's Day as well. So much to do in the summer time! And next week may even be warm. We start T-ball next week as well, so so much to do. I love it!

Our week in pictures . . .

So, here's a plethora of pics from our first full week of summer fun! Who said I couldn't keep up with it all? Okay, whoever did was probably right, it did wear me out and I really have to be more aware of my water consumption and contractions issues, but we did have a good time! My summer of fun wouldn't be much fun at all spent entirely in the NICU, so probably best to listen to my body and baby a little bit more.
Saturday: Maxwell at the Dog Days Festival at Thanksgiving Point. He's the most obedient and best with other dogs, so we let him come. He loved it!
Davis jumping a dog obstacle. The rest of us found it pretty dull.

Sunday:

Carter catching bugs still in his jammies. Davis has been especially obsessed with bugs this week, that's been a big portion of every good weather day for him,

Monday:

Lagoon with Aunt Hillary. First time trying the Log ride, they're not so sure despite Hillary's encouragement.
Rattlesnake Rapids (or Snake Rabbits to Carter) was a bigger hit. They're still talking about it.
"Mom, we got wet!"
Carter on the little cars
Davis all worn out (still holding his empty ice cream cone :)).

Tuesday: No pics for Tuesday, went to See Hotel for Dogs at the Summer Movie Club.

Wednesday:

T, Carter, Davis, and L. We enjoyed time at the children's garden with my cousin and her kids. Little Miss L was present as well. Such cuties! And my kids were surprisingly good, I was very pleased.
That afternoon we had a picnic up AF canyon at Cascade Springs. Here's Davis looking for fish.
Carter too, I just like this shot for some reason.
Silly boys on the bridge
Yes, I was there
D & C

Thursday:
Brand new butterflies! I'll have to get some better pics of these guys, all 5 opened up beautifully. The boys were thrilled with each one. Now, they have lost their fun. We'll be releasing them tomorrow.
Carter hiking to Grotto Falls. We were the only ones on the trail all the way there and it was gorgeous and peaceful. We found all sorts of bugs and Carter saw a snake.




Good times, I love that hike!

Friday: We just went to the gym, not really photo worthy. Lowell and I did get to go out to dinner (thanks Owen for sitting with the kids) and shop for our trip. We leave tomorrow to camp in Goblin Valley. Yea!

And I have no new photos of her, but here's some tid-bits on baby Claire at 6 months gestation. Little sister seems to be quite the opinionated little thing! :) She knows what she likes and dislikes and "voices" her opinion. For instance, she likes her space. If the boys are laying on my stomach (or even leaning on me) while cuddling or rocking them before bed, she'll kick them repeatedly. If I lean on my stomach when going to sleep, she'll kick the bed over and over again until I roll totally on my side. Lowell is the one difference, any time he tries to feel her kick she settles right down. Even if he is talking, she'll settle. I think she is already a daddy's girl. She also has music preferences--she likes to be sung to, which just happens to be easy listening as those are the songs from the radio that I know the words to. Lowell tried putting some of his louder rock music up to my tummy and she turned around and started kicking me in the back--like she was trying to get away! :) She also has her food preferences, which is generally all things fruit. I can't eat enough fruit these days. I broke down and got nectarines the other day (still pretty expensive right now) and I was in heaven! Yum! Anywho, she just makes me laugh--for being 12 inches and just over a pound, she sure seems to know what she wants. We'll see how that relates to life in the outside world. 100 days until we meet her!

There's our week, thanks for joining us!

Birthday and Memorial Day

It's been a busy full week so far full of holidays. It is fun to have a birthday near a national holiday because you usually get an extra day off and can plan fun things with the family. I did work Saturday on my birthday but that really worked out nicely. My co-workers are so sweet, everyone came in on their day off to bring me treats and gift cards. Aren't they wonderful? I have some issues that are still resolving here, but for the most part we are a happy family and I am so so blessed by my choice in jobs. Lowell also brought me lunch (Kneaders-it was SO good) and my sister-in-laws came by and visited and brought me a cupcake. It was so sweet, just how I like it--low key, not a big affair but a chance to visit and EAT! Yes the food is the priority! Once home I wanted to just spend some time with happy kids, so we cruised over to the children's garden. We were the only ones in the whole place (I love playing in the afternoon/evening) and the boys were loving the new sandbox area. Yes, we have a huge sandbox in our backyard--but this one is cooler apparently. We experimented with making a moat, ever so much fun!

Lowell let the boys pick out my cake, a funfetti cake with candy on top. It was perfect.

They also picked out these flowers for me, sweet! After we got the boys down Lowell and I went to Tucano's for dinner. It's a brazilian BBQ for those who don't know, basically an all you can eat meat fest with a great salad bar too. I was SO full, but it was worth it. Yum. I can use pregnancy as an excuse to over-eat right?

Sunday we had dessert over with my family and a nice visit.

Monday was Memorial Day so we had Lowell's family over for a lunch time BBQ and swim. It was *finally* (briefly) warm enough to swim. Well, it was almost 80. But now that the pool is up they can play in it whenever it does get warm enough for long enough. It was the best food ever to me. Giant kielbasa with ketchup and relish, chips and dip, cheeseball and crackers, a big pile of watermelon, and popsicles. Just screams summer huh?

Carter eating his lunch in his shark floatie.

All the cousins eating popsicles in the sun. We also had the entire Penrod clan present, it's always neat when we get everyone in one place. We're glad the Spencers are able to spend some of their summer with us.

Tuesday we pulled out our caterpillars since they are all nicely in their cocoons.

Cool, but also creepy. I was surprised by this process, I have never "grown" butterflies before. Somehow I thought they would make the chrysallis from materials outside their bodies, but no, they just hung upside down and their body slowly expanded and hardened. We're patiently waiting for the first butterfly to emerge now.

Wednesday the boys were dead set on going in the pool even though it wasn't very warm. I made them wait until it hit 72 degrees then we headed out.

Davis ready to go Find Nemo, they are all about snorkels this year for some reason. The goggles didn't work well though, need to pick up some different ones.

Carter spraying Davis

Best buddies, they climbed in the conjoined tubes themselves and started hugging. Sweet!

Later I was working with them one on one doing handwriting worksheets and sight word books when they decided to create quite a mess outside of my view. They were taking my spices one at a time down to the basement to make a "recipe". I only saw the sesame seeds go, and I thought that couldn't make too much of a mess. The recipe was water/milk a full jar of cinnamon, 9/10th of a jar of paprika (why did it have to be the red spice?), some sesame seeds, and some oregano. I'm sure it tasted great :p. They mixed it into a paste and then promptly spilled it on the floor and then dripped it across my clean white clothing. Then Davis came up to refill the glass and that is when I found the mess. Oh my goodness! A good scrubbing still has not gotten the red from the carpet and who knows if my shirts are salvageable. But I had the lovely aroma of cinnamon on me the rest of the day!

I also got to spend it birthday shopping with my mom, so a good chance to cool off. We went to the Park City outlets to the Motherhood Maternity outlet and I was able to pick up a few cute, well priced items. I need a couple more things yet, but at least I have something to wear. Not that my normal clothes don't fit, because they still do, but probably not for long. Of course we spent plenty of time shopping for the munchkins too--I love kids clothes! Got some great deals too. We then met up with my family for a b-day dinner at Spaghetti Factory. It was a good meal and nice that all my siblings were there (thanks guys!) but I missed my Lowell who had already put the boys to bed. The boys probably wouldn't have done well there anyway, but I still missed them immensely.

Today the boys modeled some of my shopping scores:

Charmer Carter

Cool dude Davis

And then we went to our twin club play date at Canyon Park in Spanish Fork. What a nice park and the boys were even surprisingly well behaved. They even got in the car without complaint, almost a shock for me--we often have quite the kicking and screaming battle. I also got to hold a little 8 week old for a while, so sweet. I can't imagine having another little one in our home, but I guess she's not so far off. So, good day.

Still deciding what to do tomorrow, I should go to the gym so that's probably what we'll do. And then pick up my free Coldstone to undermine my efforts! I still need my Red Robin and Baskin Robbins after that, then I should have all my freebies redeemed. That will be Saturday. I think we might also go to Dog Days at Thanksgiving Point and watch the Splash Dogs competition. No soccer this week and T-ball is a few weeks away yet. And I'll go to Lagoon on the weekdays now that it is open then, so Saturday will be open again. Lowell will be thrilled, he'd much rather stay home and work in the garden.

That's all I have for now, loves to all!