Born Together, Best Friends Forever

Christmas!

2012-01-31T16:43:00.001-08:00

2 posts in one week, hey I may just catch up. We had a lovely Christmas season. It has been unseasonably warm with very little snow, so while we very much mourned our traditional New Year's Day sled trip, we have enjoyed riding bikes and playing outside. We also spent some time at our usual haunts, zoo (renewed out pass, oh how Claire loves it there and we adore the quieter winter atmosphere), aquarium, dino museum, Trafalga, Classic Fun Center, Jumpin Jacks (we got a pass for that month too).
Joseph getting into more mischief--helping me with my homemade gift goal (a homemade gift for everyone on my list). Look, I learned how to use my sewing machine!! Salt Dough ornaments
At the boys' Chrismas programs (they both did so well and were fun for the weeks ahead as they sang to us at home. I was really proud of both of then--I had video if anyone wants to see it). Claire decided she was attending the event incognito.
We braved the cold to catch zoo lights at the zoo. They had Santa this year which was a nice bonus. They all had a really good time and then we all enjoyed some hot cocoa. :)

Sending our letters to the North Pole
Claire-Berry's curls after the bath. I keep taking pics because I don't know how long we'll get to see them.

Lowell helped with this display--the boys got such a kick out of finding Joseph each morning.

I made Snowman Oreo truffle balls for my extended family party. Rumor has it they were very good (I don't care for Oreos so it was 1 treat that was easy for me to skip). And I did the faces in the car--such a multi-tasker (or procrastinator . . . )

Davis with our very favorite Santa (my uncle Kevin)

And Carter

Claire was so intrigued.

Group shot--one BIG happy family! There were 7 in my dad's family (his younger brother passed away from cancer and my grandpa died that same year--but other than that it is just always growing).

After the family party we met up with my family (minus Hill who had to work and BJ who is just a kill joy) to see the lights at Temple square. We usually go Christmas Eve, but Dec 23rd was close enough.

Christmas Eve we celebrated with Lowell's family, somehow those pics didn't make it on here. We were at our house this year, had a lovely dinner then shared some dessert and gifts. The kids had a great time and then headed off to bed listening for reindeer bells. I stayed up for a while and Dinda and Tam were very gracious in helping me to wrap. There was a lot--but all good deals I can assure you.

Christmas morning was a blast. The boys loved everything they got and Claire got a kick out of her gifts and the wrapping. My gift this year was a DSLR camera. Yeah me! Watch out for all the pics now, I am having too much fun with it.

Lowell got Missy a tiara and shoes set, of how she loves it. This little lady is all girl.

The aftermath

Attempt at a Christmas photo

We went up to my parents' house after church and exchanged more gifts and ate some more. My homemade gifts turned out good and I think everyone liked them, that photo is missing too. All the kids got crayon rolls, the women punched washer necklaces, and then men scarves. I also made heart shaped hand warmers for neighbors and teachers and a yummy body scrub for whoever that fit for. Oh, and some picture frames for the great-grandparents.

The one gift the kids consistently asked for was a Zombie Brain Lab. Seriously grossest thing ever. Their buddies A&A came and tested it out with them. Despite the faces, they really had a good time. They have since added the Zombie stomach, oh my. For those looking into it, I was impressed with the amount of product they give you, the kids can do each activity lots of times with the product provided and the science of it is pretty cool. Taste is only okay.

More playing with my camera with my little gal.

She is getting so tall and funny. She has personality coming out her ears. Busy busy silly little lady. And sometimes mean, she will bite, scratch, pull hair if she doesn't get what she wants.

She is saying and signing more words all the time. This week she has been big into signing fish, dog, eat, all done, and shoes. She likes to say shoes, fish, hi, wow, yay, uh oh, mama, dada, bubba, and plenty of shrieks and jibberish.

The big boys have been busy too. They are both doing great in school and Carter is already into first grade reading. Their writing still lags but is improving. They are funny and mischeiveous They are really into friends now and phone calls and play dates. The continue to be very interested in girls and the girls are into them too. We are in trouble.

For New Year's Lowell didn't want to have a party. Just do our own thing. And I said I was fine with that. I still picked up some party gear and treats and planned to have a quiet night. I did mention it wasn't much of a holiday without family over though and that I wasn't planning to stay up until midnight. And the kids kept complaining that they wanted their cousins over, so Lowell caved and invited his fam over last minute. It turned out really fun.

We ate, did fireworks, and screamed happy new year at I think 9 pm. Then we put the kids to bed, visited for a bit and then it seems like Lowell and I watched a few shows and saw 2012 come in.

Just some more shots of my girl--she grows so stinkin fast her clothes don't fit for very long.

Standing on her bouncy zebra--she has the bad combination her brothers had, agility, strength, and no fear.

Silly sassy girl, we can't get enough!

She can walk all over the house in her little heels. I can't even believe it.

Alright, another couple holidays done. Now on to January!

Long time no blog . . .

2012-01-27T16:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I think this is the longest I have gone without blogging since I set up the blog. Ugh. And now I am so behind. I blame lots of things, mainly being much busier at work lately giving me less free time for such things and facebook. Because I post most of my pictures there and update on what we are doing so my friends already know what is up. (Friend me on facebook if you haven't and want to know what we are doing before 2 months has passed). But, facebook is not a journaling device and I don't record our lives in the same detail there so I really need to get back to work on here. A little at a time. Today--Thanksgiving, Dutch Christmas, and Santa Train.

Thanksgiving was joyful as usual this year, the boys had the added bonus of having feasts and whatnot at school. Here they are as a pilgrim and an indian (I love it!). Dressed up for dinner with the Penrods
The kiddo table--this year Dylan and Becky were able to join us, so awesome!
And might I say the food was fantastic. My SIL does an apple cider brined turkey that is just fantastic. In fact I have a free turkey from then still in the freezer and the recipe--next week is starting to sound yummy. And here's Claire prepping for Black Friday! I left immediately from dinner to camp out at WalMart. I even took my slice of pie in a nifty container and ate it sitting on the floor in the Mexican food aisle waiting for the 2 screen car DVD player. (Yes we already have DVD in the car, but it requires headphones and we have broken so many headphones that is was more cost effective to just buy the new one with built in speakers. It doesn't work quite as well, but it functions. And added bonus Claire has her own screen with her rear facing [until 2, seriously!?] car seat). They had 2 phases of the sale at WalMart, 10 pm and midnight so we (Hillary and I) camped out for different products at different times and I was also busy finding the same deals online (on Lowell's phone) with free shipping so I could avoid some of the mayhem. And yes, there was mayhem. Next we went to Kohl's but the line was too ridiculous so we hid the item I wanted and then camped out in the car for a little while shopping the online Toys R Us sale. We cruised over to JCPenney's and did okay on their toy sale and got the fun and free snow globes that my boys absolutely adored until they both broke them within a day. Back to Kohl's the place had cleared out and shopping was easy although annoying due to the persistent and aggressive pleas to get their credit card. That was why the line was so ridiculous earlier and after I pointed that out to the cashier--still trying to push the card--the debate became a bit heated. Let's just say I won't shop at Kohl's any more. I think we got breakfast in there somewhere too and then went home and crashed for a bit (before I was on call at work). Thanks Hill for being my shopping buddy, we really did good.
After a nap we met up with Dyl, Becky, and Dinda and made our traditional turkey cookies. Or as usual the kids played wii while the adults fussed over them, but better than usual my candy specialist SIL and my soon to be chef SIL did all the work while I unwrapped Reese's. And so they turned out pretty.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we had the Dodenbier family turkey night and that was also delicious and fun.
Claire eating Jonny's left overs
Then I still can't believe the deal I got on the Santa train. So we have a fairly close train that runs a Polar Express all winter. It is over $100 for my family to go but I was really considering just me and the boys going because their days of believing are numbered. Then I happened to notice early in December they had a can food drive Santa train. For less than $20 and the spare cans we had in the pantry our whole family could go, and it was shorter which is in fact a big plus for our restless kids in a small space.

And hey, we picked up Santa half way along and he was great with the kids. They were so thrilled. And they gave them each a BIG bag of treats (probably worth more than we spent on their fare).

Of which Claire picked out the yogurt pretzels and proceeded to get us all very dirty.
Then we hurried over to the Dutch store to meet up with my family and Sinter Klaas and Black Pete.
Good times, what a fun full day. The kiddos went to bed and then Sinter Klaas came!

Building a zhu zhu village (thanks to Toys R Us, buy 1 get 2 free sale plus they charged me for the cheapest items. Holy cow I got a deal on all that stuff).
No doubt about it, sissy loves her candy.

Traditionally we put up our Christmas tree on Dutch Christmas

Later that week we had our twin friends over to make gingerbread houses. I am still crazy enough to insist on real gingerbread to the extent that I will bake enough for a dozen kids. The boxed stuff is just not edible and I don't like the graham cracker cheat.
You guess, which one did I "help" on and which one was the boys'?

We got a one month pass to Classic Fun Center and decided to try out the Orem version. It was a mistake, Sandy is WAY better, but we still had fun.

Claire, little miss accessory decided the tree skirt made a quite lovely cape:

Trying new things with her lengthening hair. It is pretty fun but the curls are either crazy or matted if I don't work them. Nothing easy with this little gal.
Love the monkey hat
Elf on the shelf joined us after Thanksgiving again this year and found plenty of mischief and new silly hiding places. The boys named him Joseph. This was one of my favorites, he painted a Christmas tree on the wall. And I just washed it off last week, the washable paint came off super easy.
We had out first snow fall in early December (and haven't seen a whole lot since).
Claire was not sure about the cold white stuff.
Okay, part of me really wants to jump ahead to what's going on now, but baby steps. I am just going to update a little at a time so I don't get overwhelmed. Stay tuned, hopefully I'll get there quickly.

Still catching up, Chicago!

2011-11-27T11:17:00.000-08:00

So bad at this lately--working on Christmas projects too. I'll get there someday.
Close to Halloween the boys finally learned how to ride their bikes without training wheels. We had tried a couple of times before but I have to admit, it's not fun to fall--so it was hard for them. That afternoon the boys really wanted to try again, so I took the training wheels off and held the back of their bikes in one hand and a fussy baby in the other arm (my back was so sore the next day) and off we went. It seems like Carter got it first, but Davis soon after. It was a typcial learning process, they got 5 feet and fell, then 10 feet, then all of a sudden they made it all the way to the end of the street. It took a while before they learned how to stop--meaning not just fall over and even longer to figure out how to start (probably 2 weeks there where they propped themselves at the top of the driveway between 2 garbage cans to get going) but now they are just all over. And they LOVE their bikes. That is what they want to be doing if it is light and warm enough out to be doing it. And they love to ride to school, even if it means they are almost there by the time Claire and I catch up to them. They are even starting to do tricks, putting both feet up on the center bar, putting one foot back to rub on the back tire, jumping the front wheel (a very little bit). They are so funny. But hey, bike time for hours means not driving me crazy or sitting in front of a TV, so win.

And then there's Miss Claire! This shot was my attempt to catch her cute hair, she wasn't having it. She's not so much into the camera, besides being allowed to play with it. Oh this little girl is full of it. She's 14 months now and into everything. I can't believe how busy she is. The other day she climbed a tall barstool and walked around on the kitchen counter. She has already climbed out of her crib, but it wasn't at its lowest setting yet, so she is stuck in there, for now. She is always into the dogs food and water and worst of all the toilet. Ick, what is so fascinating about that? I wish it was warmer so I could put her outside with the water table, but definitely not the season for it right now (we have been stuck below freezing for days). And she knows her mind too. She has been picking up on signs which helps us know what she wants but also means we should have to respond to her requests in her little mind. She knows, milk, all done, eat, fish, and shoes. And her verbal words are mama, dada, bubba (for brothers), fish (issssh), dog (da), yay, hi, and ow (as she is pulling your hair). She loves to talk, even if we can't tell what she is saying. I need to get a video of it. She really is entertaining. I can complain about busy gal but I am also totally nuts about her. We all love her so much. Even if I have to pull dog food out of the bath tub before I can add water or if she dives into the tub with her clothes on when it isn't her turn. She is all girl too, I can't believe I have one like that! She loves to have on neckaces and bracelets and lately she has been all about shoes. She will find a pair she wants, sign shoes, and then sit down and lift her foot up. And you better respond! She wears her snow boots a lot out, I promise--it was her request. She almost wore them to church Sunday but in the car I was able to sway her to the church shoes. Such a funny little thing!

So, mid-November I went to the Chicago area for a 4 day training on a new analyzer we have at work. What an adventure for me! I don't travel much, especially alone. It went okay though, lot of prayers answered. I thought I would have so much down time, I brought 2 books and lots of work to do, but nope, ended up actually being quite busy. And most of it really was sitting in class. But I liked learning about my instrument and it is incredibly pertinent knowlege (unlike a lot of other classes I have had, err Calculus). It felt a lot like college again, but for older people. And with better food. I had my own hotel room with 2 beds (10 pillows!) which was restful I must say. I took a long shower everyday just because. We had a buffet breakfast at the hotel each morning (yumm, hot cooked breakfast--that I didn't cook and wouldn't have to clean up after, score!). Then I would head off to class and get a drink. We'd be in the classroom for an hour or so and then go to the lab. We'd have a morning break, more class, then lunch (catered soups/sandwiches most days--they had Panera Bread there, yum), more class, an afternoon break with cookies, more class then back to the hotel. The first night they took us to an Italian restaurant with 4 courses served family style, so much good food. And everyone was drinking a lot of wine which is always entertaining to me. There was lovely conversation with my fellow techs I must say, lab techs are their own type of person and we all had a lot in common, so plenty to talk about. And there were some really nice people there from all over the country and from quite varied sizes of hospitals. I was certainly from one of the smallest, but the folks in my actual class were also from small hospitals since they were training on the same machine. Anyway, the second night I joined up with a group going into the city (it took about an hour by train from where we were to Chicago). I could have just rested, but hey, I may never be there again and it was a free trip!
At Union station
Lame me at the bottom of the Willis (formerly Sears) tower
View from the top--that elevator ride was trippy, 103 floors in 60 seconds. My ears popped, I was really dizzy and nauseous the whole time I was that high. Not a huge heights fan.
And here's me out on the sky ledge, an all glass balcony you can step out onto. I was so freaked out! I am holding onto the wall with one hand and I couldn't look down. It was cool too, but scary.
Looking through my feet (with my heels securely on the main part of the building).
Then we had Chicago style pizza at a famous place there. It was really good, and differently assembled, I think it was crust, then meat, then cheese (lots), more crust, then sauce on top.
Then we hiked over to see the Bean. It's just a weird sculpture at Millenium Park. I don't know, but it was cool. Very shiny and reflective. Then we hustled back to catch our train, then a taxi (my first one!) and back to the hotel after midnight--with class again at 8. It was worth it though and I had a good time with all the people that went.
The third night we went to a mall and I got a few things for the kids and the last night we were at the airport. I got a lovely pat down when my breastmilk flagged as explosive (??) and they took my snow globe--didn't realize those were banned :(. And the flights both ways were quite tight and uncomfortable and far too long. I hate flying. Anyway, good trip except for a few hiccups and a nice change of pace for me. I was still VERY glad to be home to my family. Lowell picked me up and we went to dinner (he took the week off and stayed with the kids, what a trooper right?!) and then I met up with my mom, dad, and sister for the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn. I'm so lame, and the movie wasn't my favorite. I smiled through the first half--so happy, and cringed through the second half. I think some things are better left to the imagination.

Home again I caught some more fun shots of all my kids, furry and human alike. :)

Claire Berry
Maxwell
Maddy
Oscar
C&D (riding to the park with the lab goggles I brought them home).
Claire will now take herself down the slide, and she loves it!
Cuties
Davey
Big C

So that's up to date as far as the photos I have brought over so far goes. Still to come Thanksgiving and Dutch Christmas. I hope you are all enjoying your holiday season so far. :)

Halloween . . .delayed

2011-11-27T08:15:00.000-08:00

So this blog has been woefully neglected. I have been just crazy busy at home and work and have set aside my journaling needs for other pressing matters. Hoping to catch up here some. I won't pretend to remember what we have done week to week, just know we were busy as usual and visited most of our pass places.
Here's our Claire baby's 12 month pics No I refuse to take any more lying down pics with the bunny.
Sis with her bear and bunny--I plan to measure her year to year against the bear and wanted the bunny as a reference mark.
That's more like her, giggling as she chases me trying to get the camera.
And she loves the phone!

We lived up Halloween pretty heartily this year, here the kiddos are at Barnyard Boo (Thanksgiving Point--free for members, bonus!). This was one of the first days too so the kids got totally loaded with prizes and candy. A later trip wasn't as fruitful, but still fun.
We took Daddy over to see the new Christ statues too, I love it.

The boys had fun with Crazy hair day, care of Red Ribbon Week. They also had a commit to be drug free sign up list and the one with the most entires in each class won. Thanks to Daddy and some of the Jr High teachers who passed it around the classes, the boys both won little prizes. They were so excited.

The weather stayed fairly mild throughout October so we took a chance to catch a few hikes we had missed in the summer during the UEA break. Here we are seeing Donut Falls, really a lovely little hike (and isn't Lowell super Dad!).

Then we made it to our first summit (finally, 3rd time we tried to get there due to road issues), Buffalo Peak

What a gorgeous view! Not a bad hike either, a little steep at the end but we all made it.

Veni Vedi Vici

Lots of Cornbelly visits, including one with our buddy/cousin C

That visit even including trick or treating--they scored!
And we had a bridal shower for Hillary at Sweet Tomatoes--I think it went pretty well. I am not the best planner (/brides maid) but we all had fun and ate well.
We carved pumpkins of course. No one wanted to help Daddy with the guts except for the dogs. :)

Another gardens visit, that time with my mom, here's Carter "introducing" Claire to Jesus.
We had a lovely zoo visit one night, it was a little chilly but also almost vacant and the animals were so active and interactive. Claire was so into it.

More Cornbelly's, we went each Friday morning and my mom was kind enough to come along. This was called the spelunking cave, way too claustrophobic to go in myself but the kids enjoyed working their way through 5 levels.

I had the great idea of going to the Stringtown Halloween train. It's a free train a neighborhood puts on and we have been before and they enjoyed it.This time we weren't able to get there before dark--after dark is more scary and the kids didn't really love it. We may let them grow up a little before we go again.

Gem mining at Cornbelly's--I think we went 6-7 times in the month with our pass.

Inside the inflatable "beast"
Closing day at the gardens (sob)

Good night, until Spring!

Traditional caramel apple night (with Hillary and Todd)--so yummy!

Halloween day we had some fun foods--rotten eggs and milk for breakfast.

The Halloween parade at school

And our family pic--for posterity's sake, we are the Angry Birds, a popular phone app game. I (gasp!) sewed all the costumes myself from a tutorial I found online. Don't look too close. I'm just glad they survived the night.

After trick or treating--we went out for a long time this year--look how full their bag/2 buckets are. Claire stuck it out the whole time with us too, but she was beat. We also trick or treated both of the grandmas houses.

Jello brains

The loot--and yes, we're not close to finishing it and it's December. So, there's the Halloween wrap-up, it really was a fun month. Good weather, lots of family time. And here's Davis with the pledge of allegiance. :)

Happy Fall y'all

2011-10-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well, fall has finally found us, the leaves are changing and there's snow on the mountains. It was still near 80 most of the past week though. I'm certainly not complaining. Keep off the days of "have to stay inside" as long as possible! Life is settling in, I am finally getting a better handle on getting to play and still get homework done and get to school. I am running a lot because there is only so much time before school, during school, and after school before bedtime but we have gotten a lot of fun into those hours. I am more tired for it--but you know the song, "You're gonna miss this". I am trying to soak in these years while we have them.

Kindergarten is already changing my kiddos. They are less likely to hug and especially kiss me (Davis really won't any more :() and are more interested in playing with their friends than Daddy in the backyard now. Though the neighbor kids seem to really like playing with Lowell, so I think the boys just don't appreciate what they have in that great man.
We had parent/teacher conferences last week and I am so (SO) pleased to say the boys are doing great. Really so much better than I anticipated. I had been on eggshells starting school thinking back to our first bad preschool experience, but Lowell reassured me they can't kick the kids out of public school so I waited and watched . . .and expected a phone call. But none came, the kids ran off each day to their friends smiling (no fights to go to school!) and reported school was, "pretty much awesome"-Davis. Their teachers report they are doing well and settling in. Davis's teacher says his behavior is within the norm and that he is a cutie. Carter's teacher says he is a joy to have and at the top of his class academically. Whew! I am struggling a bit with letting go, they have been my babies for so long it is hard to relinquish them every day to someone else. Next year will be so much worse. Sigh. One more thing I am proud of them for--I have seen them and their teachers concur that they are very good at including other less social kids. They are tender little hearts and are helping other kiddos adjust (which was mentioned in both of their father's blessings). I am so proud of my little men!

At least my stinker baby is keeping me busy. That little girl turned 1 and into a fiesty little miss. She is into everything and very vocal if she doesn't get what she wants. Which most of the time is me, so I carry her around a lot. She was pretty cranky for a couple of weeks, I think it was a mixture of teething (Molars and cuspids) and starting cow's milk. She still gets mostly breastmilk but the cow's milk she is getting seemed to be upsetting her for a time but now she is doing better. My happy funny baby is reemerging and she is more likely to be busily toddling all over the house (or outside, she loves to be outside!) exploring than demanding to be in my arms. I can't believe how big she is nor can I handle that she is a toddler. Where did my baby go? :( We love her--I just hate how quick my little people are growing. Their childhood is buzzing past me.
Well onto our adventures and plenty of pics!
Seriously, could you get a better picture? What a lovely day at the gardens!
They even brought home a "tadpole" that yes is just a fish, they named him Mason. He's a teeny little guy, probably very baby Koi (that probably would have frozen over the winter so he's okay at our house).
We got a good deal on Cornbelly passes and have already gone 5 times. The kids love it there. Here was opening day-bounce pony racing.
Claire and I on the cow train ride
Sis not sure about the corn (she loves it now!)
But the boys had no hesitation, they dunked their whole bodies in the corn and were white all over the rest of the day!
Little corn maze
Kids on the big rocking chair
That night we used our last Hollywood Connection Passes (it was crazy busy and we left quite quickly) but I did catch this cute one of Claire in the mini golf area.
We felt bad about how bad Hollywood had gone so we went back to Cornbelly's--they had some rocket exhibits there and the kids got to make their own and shoot them off.
Our season pass including a number of bonuses including bull riding. I didn't think they'd let little kids go, but they had a slow setting. It was hillarious, the kids had so much fun.

We picked up some balloons for the kids' birthday pics at Fotofly (I don't have the disk here to add them, but they are on facebook and turned out amazing!)--I grabbed Claire her first sucker while I was there. :)
Melinda got a campsite up the canyon again and we took advantage of it having a campfire and checking out the fall leaves.

Claire decided dirt wasn't tasty, LOL!
The day before the boys' bday we had a fun-filled day--Krispie Kreme kids meals to start,
I had my free hot one in my hand and Claire had most of it picked out and gone before I even checked out. Next we went to Toys R Us and redeemed their bday club gift cards and got hats and balloons.
After school we hit up Chuck E cheese and their free bday tokens
Then to California Pizza Kitchen for their free kids meals there.
After they went to bed I decorated their hallway from a pin I saw on pinterest.
They were so surprised to see it when they woke up, they loved it! And finding $1 for each year of age in the balloons was even better. They don't usually get money, they thought it was great.
#6 pics!
We went to breakfast with a witch (Gardner Village) that morning, here's C doing the congo And the boys with the witches, they were so funny and awesome. The food was decent and the kids had fun. Thanks to my mom for keeping Claire. I think this will become a bday tradition! The boys' school requires treats brought to school to be individually wrapped and store bought, so this was the best I could do to make it fun, Twinkie Caterpillars. After school we headed to Boondock's where they had free bday passes (I love all the free bday stuff, just register your kids online and there's plenty to do!) The boys were busy laser tagging so I got some shots of my big 1 year old. We took turns mini-golfing and go-karting with Dad. Davis really is getting good at golf, he got 2 holes in one all on his own. We finished out the day with free bday dinner at Texas Roadhouse with a yee-haw on their saddle. The boys agreed it was their best birthday ever! Good, it was exhausting! :) Off to Cornbelly's again the next day--it was chilly so I got to bust out Claire's fall wardrobe. I got a HUGE lot on ebay--it's so fun! Saturday we hit up Spooky Saturdays at the dino museum, thanks to Hillary for coming along and letting Lowell get a morning off for once. Meeting the wizard Face painting that mommy waited forever for. They were happy, it's all good. Sunday we took a canyon drive to see the colors. I wanted to get a family picture, Claire was dressed SO cute but the light was fading and we didn't have anyone else with us, here's the results of me trying to use the timer and prop the camera in the dirt on the hillside . . . Sure you can't see the leaves any more, but it's not a bad shot! I'm surprised the baby is looking. After dropping the boys off one day Claire was so happy to play out front. She loves to get in and out of her wagon and rearrange her friends. We headed over to our usual pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins off the vine .. .
Yep, that was the best group shot I could get . . .oh well, we were all there and got pumpkins. The end. Back to Cornbelly's shooting paintballs and corn cannons with Daddy

Then off to do the corn maze as a family. We do this every year and we have never honestly finished it. The kids get antsy and we cheat to get out. I guess it doesn't matter as long as we are having fun. Carter looking for the way out, :) Davis was hurrying for the pig races and he got chosen out of the crowd, so I guess it was worth it. Claire baby can drink from a juice box now . . .and eat most of a kid's meal by herself, chicken nuggets and apples, it's not so bad. Still having fun dressing my dolly . . . I got the chance to chaperone the kids' first field trip, to Hee Haw's farm. I was with Carter's class and I dropped the camera midway and lost the batteries, so no pictures of Davis :( or the super cute 1 day old piglets. I had 5 kids in my charge and it was not terribly easy to keep track of them! They all made it back though and had a good time. The only downer was Davis was sad he didn't get to be with me, hopefully next time. And back to Cornbelly's (we go every Friday, I know how to get my money's worth out of a pass!) and there is so much to do the kids are still doing new things and begging to go. This time Jonny got to come with us. The afternoons have been so lovely lately we have spent a lot at home just playing in the backyard. My work had a contest for pics of active kids, here are the shots I got:
And that brings us up to date again! I am still trucking along on the Halloween costumes--family set of angry birds and thanks to a twin club Craft day and a ward Super Saturday, plus lots of help from my mom I am sewing them myself. The sewing machine has been dusted off and I have a new obsession. Watch for sewn Christmas gifts ;). We're looking forward to Halloween and then Hillary's wedding, eek! We hope you are well, lots of love!

And a video for Aunt Becky and cousin Dylan--thanks so much for the gifts, they love them!

Happy happy birthday children dear . . .

2011-09-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

I am sure we did more stuff between the last post and this, but I didn't take many pictures. We had a play date at the children's garden with T&L I know and have had Friday Fun day each week but a lot of that has just been going to the park, it has been hard to find time to play a lot before school starts each day. Anyway, work in progress.
Back to the fun--Claire had her first birthday! My teeny baby is 1, I can't even believe it. Seriously, I refuse to call her a toddler, she is still my baby. Although 1 has sure brought some attitude with it, sheesh little miss. Someone is discovering how to exert herself on her world and is using her independence to be awfully demanding and loud. Little stinker. She is so busy and into everything already! What have I done to breed such busy kiddos? Cute little thing too though, she always has us laughing. Here she is on her big day: We had her favorite foods for lunch, macaroni and cheese and cheetos. She chowed it! Then Lowell and I took her out on a date with just Mommy and Daddy (thanks Dinda for watching the boys). We took her to the aquarium and let her run and explore. She loves fishies. Then we took her to Sweet Tomatoes (soup/salad buffet) because there is so much for her to munch on there. She had quite the feast, and ice cream too of course. She also shared a lot with the floor (at our house that's not a big deal, 3 little scavengers circle her high chair at each meal wating for such an opportunity). Some random photos between her birthday and the parties: Jammin on their PaperJamz Sissy loves books, and loves to make the elephant sound with this book particularly. And isn't she just so dang cute in a hat?! Last ride on the old bikes, sporting some Green Lantern prizes they had picked up. We took these out to ride and the chains kept falling off, etc. They are 2 years old, too small, and barely functioning. But all their friends play out in the court on their bikes, so that day during school Lowell and I went and picked up new bikes as an early birthday present. I kept trying to wait but there is only so much good weather left, we just let them have them early. Yeah, they were thrilled! And Claire still likes to rock her car. :) And size 18 month jammies, who said you could get so big?? So on to the big parties. Let's just say this was a huge stress for me. It was the 1st and 6th birthdays and I wanted to do it up right. We plan to do Disney for their bday next year and by 8 I don't think they will be as into parties like this. Last year Claire had just been born so I went pretty easy then and the year before we had done Disney. So, this was the year. But I still think Chuck E Cheese would have been immensely easier and less stressful, not to mention cheaper. Oh well, I am happy with how the carnival birthday turned out, even if I didn't sleep for a week and felt like a Mack truck had hit me the next day. If you could see how the kids reacted to it all, it was all worth it. They flipped for the cake and loved all the games and attention and having friends over. And I'll do anything for my kids, so there you have it. Here we go, drumroll please, the cake! 1 12" chocolate, 1 12" vanilla, 1 10" vanilla, Wilton carousel kit and a great new marshmallow fondant recipe that was really yummy. Maxwell starred in our petting zoo There were 10 stations, 7 games plus face painting, cotton candy, and balloon animals/hats. All the games were marked with bunting and had prizes associated with them. Lowell helped me decorate the deck with tulle and more bunting. So much of my family came to help, they are so wonderful! I put everyone to work running each station, here's my dad with L playing Balloon Pop. My nieces H&A playing Hit the bottle My soon to be brother-in-law Todd and our little friend T playing Cup Toss My mom helping J with golf My sister Cyndel painting A's face Carter displaying her talents, roar! Table wear and fresh popped popcorn More pics of the cake, with the addition of chocolate letters/number Homemade corn dogs, thanks to my Dad and Hillary. We also had hot fresh pretzels, cotton candy, lemonade, watermelon, carrots and dip (had to have something healthy!), chips, and soft serve ice cream (I just love our soft serve machine, I could eat it everyday, especially the raspberry frozen yogurt--I can serve that to Claire as baby food frozen or not.) This was the popcorn game, or just how many kids can jump with balls at one time. The after picture of the cake, always a little sad for me. We're still eating it, it is seriously yummy thanks to my friend Kris for the recipe. Mmm, cake. Then they opened presents and had a few more minutes of loud craziness that only 12 4-6 year olds can produce and the non-family members went home. Then we jumped right into Claire baby's birthday party. Here's her cute hair for the event: We played a Who Knows Claire best game that my mom won. Then Claire ate her cake while we watched her first year video. Cutie girl in her pettiskirt: And with her smash cake Here's her big cake, yea that was a lot of star tip piping. But I truly love it! The letters are chocolate. She loved it too!! Then she opened some presents: Had a sugar coma and went down for her nap! :) Rob and Cam stayed to play a little longer, but I crashed! The boys broke out their new scooters (thanks gma and gpa) and had some fun: After her nap sis was busy with her new baby and stroller: And I repurposed the cake's tutu for her new baby. The next day we all felt a bit better and were able to unwind while the kiddos checked out their new toys: These were the goody bags: And here's a few videos to enjoy:
Claire walking on her birthday:

Singing Happy Birthday to Davis

And then to Carter

And silly Claire dancing with her new toy:

Phew! There you have it! It was exhausting but I think it turned out pretty good. Almost pinterest worthy ;). Next we have the boys' actual birthday with a few surprises up my sleeve for that (Cornbelly passes, breakfast with a witch), plus birthday photos, parent/teacher conferences (praying that goes well!), the boys' dr appt (Claire had hers and everything was good, 20.5 lbs (40%tile) and 29.5 inches (60%tile), doing fine developmentally, ready for cow's milk [made it to 1 with just breastmilk, woot!], peanuts, etc). So, more to come! Loves to all, I hope the lovely fall weather we are enjoying here you are enjoying wherever you are. :)

End of summer, sob!

2011-09-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my summer is coming to an end already. I swear it just started. I was refusing to believe it since the weather has been quite warm still and I haven't seen a lot of leaf change yet but it's there. In the darkness falling so much sooner, inching into my walking time every day. And the little bit of chill in the air as I walk to my car after work (5 am). I knew summer was coming the opposite way, the nip in the air receded, and now it's back. It's not that I don't love fall, we're football fans, love Halloween and everyone's birthday is in the fall except for mine. I just love summer too. I have so much more hiking and outdoorsy stuff I want to do. And so many more hours I want my kids to be outside, not inside going crazy! Oh well, it will come like it or not. Here's how we finished out the summer.
The boys playing with little battle bugs:

And Claire eating one, no fear with this one!

And Claire was kind enough to drive us to the aquarium, good job sis. One more place checked off my to do list in the weeks before school started. Thanks to Hill and Todd for coming.

Claire baby loves popsicle (hey, it was sugar free!) and her little car. She likes to get in (all on her own) and then close the little door. She always has to be sitting in it with the door closed. She makes me laugh.

Hill and Todd also joined us for a trip to see the Dinos (and notion of motion exhibit). Carter was thrilled, he'd been asking to go for a while. Another place checked off.

They had a fantastic time at a friend J's birthday party. Oh my, Star Wars theme, life if wonderful! Chewbacca was there and they got Jedi capes and light sabers. That mom rocks, just gonna say.

And Claire's first time with bubbles :)

Grandma was kind enough to join us to check another place off our list, the zoo. The dinos were just about to leave from there, so it was good timing. Everyone had a good time, even if it was pretty hot.

Tried double teeny buns on Claire, love this picture of her, especially her eyes! She is happy at the zoo, I think we may take her there for her birthday.

C man on the carousel (he always picks the preying mantis)

And did I mention it was hot? I got the kiddos some ice cream to help with that problem and Claire begged her way into the rest of mine. Oh my how she loved it. She was sticky from head to toe!

We lost one son that trip . . .

Oh wait, he's okay. Silly boys.

Davis and the prarie dogs.

Grandma had some changes to her schedule which has allowed her more time to spend with us. And I love it! She also joined us for a $2 Tuesday version of Trilobite Treasures. I didn't love it. So much less help/attention (busier) meant we found so much less. It was super super hot and we just hardly found anything at all. Sure it was cheaper, but kind of a bummer. At least Carter has stopped asking about it.

She also helped us check another long awaited item off the list, the Gardens. I can't believe how little I have made it there this summer. Darn right depressing. We were just so busy. Well, 2 more months to enjoy it, I need to catch up!

Davey boy

And Carter cutie

Watching a frog (we found 4 that day)

Just so beautiful I can hardly stand it!

Funny baby (who no longer participates with photo time, sigh)

Love this one!

And time for 11 month pictures, holy cow this girly is growing! And no, she will no longer lay down for pics, smile, or look at the camera.

Back to our checklist, we celebrated the last day of summer (i.e. day before school started) with a trip to Trafalga. Okay, it started as a trip to Classic fun center but unfortunately they were closed for remodeling. So we didn't get near enough use out of that pass. Boo. Next summer, a few less classes and more free time to play! Although I don't regret this summer, they definitely had a lot of fun. So Trafalga-

Laser Frenzy (what a blast, they climbed over and under lasers like spies and got lots of tickets for it!).

Air hockey

Bowling

Mini golfing

And laser tag. Plus picking out prizes with their winnings. It was a nice way to wrap up the summer.

Just in time for the first day of kindergarten! Aaah! Lowell took a half day so we could take them to lunch before dropping them off. That's probably why I didn't cry, Lowell would have made fun of me. And Carter seemed a little anxious and I didn't want to make it worse for him. But I did have to take a deep breath after my voice cracked. They're my babies!

New Star Wars watch was their first day of school gift

Carter's back walking in, doesn't it just make you bawl? His backpack is as big as him!

Good news is, 2 weeks in now and no complaints from teachers! I can hardly believe it. I was hoping they would do well but still wondering if some of their behavior issues were really off for 5 year olds or not. Not saying they have been perfect but so far so good. They have been happy to tell me about their days, their new friends, what they are learning. Carter would be happy to count to 100 for you. Davis has surprised me the most, adjusting so well. Carter has struggled a little more, just acting out, being overly emotional, etc. as the school day approaches. I've tried to give him extra cuddles and Lowell is giving him extra play time, so hopefully he'll get through it. It hurts me that he is feeling anxious, even if he won't voice that to me. I asked Lowell if I could pull them out of school and he said, well, it's a law now that they go so I guess I am out of luck. Gonna have to let go a little and let them grow up. Sigh. They have been having play dates with kids from the ward/their classes which thrills them to no end and have some friends from t-ball, summer camps that they see at recess. They haven't had any complaints about being in different classes and simply say they see each other at recess. A couple of times I have watched them playing and Davis will get "caught" in a game of tag and Carter will run from the other end of the playground to rescue him (Let go of my brother!). I love it. And they have played together better away from school. So all in all, it is going well so far. For them. For me, I miss them. And I still am so busy. I thought I'd be getting more done with the time I have. Claire and I have gotten more naps which is very nice though.

For Friday Fun day last week we went to play at Carl's Jr (I've been working on getting a better schedule so we can get out more).

And while they were in school Lowell helped me with Claire's birthday invite pics, it is a Claire Bear birthday after all (this will be her Halloween costume as well)

That afternoon she and I went with Hillary and grandma to shop for wedding dresses. And she found one, yeah! It's gorgeous of course, but you'll have to wait and see the fantastic finished product. We also had dinner with Cyndel and had a wedding planning session. Claire had fun with a girl's night out.

So Monday was Labor Day and we celebrated it with my grandma in Ogden. There was a bit of family drama involving the boys but I don't want to get into it right now. The kids loved seeing Oma and their cousins and that's what mattered. And a trip to Beus's pond, it's right by my grandma's house so I have memories there from when I was little too.

Yeah, she still loves her Daddy! And you think he likes her too? Just a little?

We finally made it to one of the hikes from my book that I have been wanting to do and it didn't disappoint. Lake Mary up Big Cottonwood Canyon near Brighton ski resort. I was huffing pretty good getting up the steep parts (out of shape!) but the lake at the end was certainly worth it.

Oh yeah, and it was actually cold. Haven't been cold in a while. It was kind of nice. Bless Carter's heart he shared his coat with his little sister on the way back. Mom was not prepared for cold.

Same face! :)

See the video at the end for my new happy place. It was just so peaceful and lovely there. We were the only ones at the lake (plenty of people on the trail though) and you could just hear the quiet lapping of the water on the rocks. There was a moose grazing on the other side of the lake (we saw a fox on the way up too). Heavenly!

Just some cute kiddo shots

Wednesday we took the dogs to the groomer so we played at CJ's again and Claire climbed all over that playground. We were the only ones there so I took her up and she had a blast. And the boys had a blast showing her around. It was really fun.

Wednesday night (after a 3 hour nap, bless you Lowell) we went to the Children's Garden, finally, it has been forever. And though the kids resisted on the way over, we all loved it. We were the only ones there and the weather was perfect. Such a lovely lovely evening.

And that about catches me up, whew! Today for Friday Fun Day grandma joined us for a trip to the farm (Claire loved the pony and wagon ride) and then to run some craft related errands. I am deeply entrenched in a triple birthday party. It's gonna be a big ordeal, wow lots to do still. I think it will turn out amazing though. Then onto Lowell's bday, Halloween, Hillary's wedding and maybe a work trip. Lots coming up!

School starts when? . . .

2011-08-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

Can you believe we have only 1 week left until school starts?! And that's for kindergarteners, the rest have already started. Funny, every year I dread school ending and finding ways to entertain the kids for the long summer, and then dread school starting and rushing to get everything in. Honestly I can say we have done just about everything I wanted to do. My kids would say it was the "best summer ever" and I would agree. From Disneyworld to camping, rafting, hiking, t-ball, art class, swim lessons, library classes, waterparks, swimming in the backyard, park play dates, summer camps, on and on it has been a full, busy, amazing summer. And no, it's not done yet. Plenty to report on from a few weeks past and then soon I'll catch up to date. Someday. Really.
We had our last t-ball game--here's a shot of C-man at bat:

Davis is cheering in the background, such a good brother. They improved their skills so much this year, and I think enjoyed it more than last year too. Again, thanks to an amazing coach.
With their medals. Hooray!
And for my recollection, here was the goody bag we gave the kids on the team. They had enough kids on the team that I didn't need to bring treats to any of the games so we did this instead. I think it was a hit (and easier to do than I thought).

So shortly after the game, Claire, Hillary and I jumped in the car and drove to Idaho for my grandpa's 80th birthday. Funny, I got Matched (by Ally Condie) to listen to as we drove and the heroine is visiting her grandfather on his 80th birthday, though that is when he is scheduled to die in this future utopian society. An intriguing twist considering my destination. Anyway, my grandpa is not dying, he is very youthful and vibrant in fact if you ask me. And obviously loved by so many judging by the turn out for his party. What fun! I got to see cousins I hadn't seen in years and years and some I had never met and plenty of second (and third) cousins I had never met. Claire baby did pretty well on the drive, minus the blow out just past the state line that led to poop all over the only pair of pants I had. Swell.
Claire with 4th cousin H. She stole his car and he kept trying to get it back, it was really cute and funny.
Claire rocking the Minnie Mouse outfit I made her. Yeah, I love it!
My mom and her siblings and my cute grandparents:

Some of the 25 grandchildren
Some of the 23 (and counting) great grandchildren.
My grandpa says that each generation his genes dilute a little and the kids just get cuter. I don't know about that, but my cousins sure do have some darling babies!
Like M, My cousin Jordan's little guy. He and Claire were fighting for a phone at this point. So after visiting my dear friend Terri (we've known each other since 3rd-4th grade? I think) in Rexburg (can you believe I didn't take any pictures!? Crazy, especially as her cutie N is way cuter in person than the pics I had seen on her blog) we toured my grandparent's amazing house and then headed out. Yup, up and back in 12 hours. It was cool, Claire slept well all the way back and I finished my book and some yummy Jack in the Box! :)

Home again we visited Dinda's trailer up Timpooneke campground

S'mores

And graham crackers.

And did some swimming Monday

My boys are looking so big!

And yes, they love love to swim!

We headed back up to camp on Wednesday when Dinda graciously let us use her trailer overnight.

Max came, can you tell how happy he is just by looking at him?
Hiking by the gorgeous stream that went right past camp.
Davis
Carter
Big boys. Although Carter always seems smaller in pics, he really isn't much. Although Davis is pulling ahead, he is almost an inch taller now and almost 1/2 shoe size bigger--nice for finding 2 of the same, not nice for each kid finding "their" shoes.
Baby Clairenessa
Eating canpfire hot dogs
The view out the trailer window
And of the campground. It was just so lovely. Lovely to look at anyway, the sleeping was not so lovely. The boys did okay, not great, but okay, but little sis wasn't having it. She wouldn't sleep in her pack and play so Lowell took her for a drive and had her asleep but once she was back in the pack and play she was back to fussing. So she ended up sleeping by me and was not a good sleepmate, up a lot and all over the place. She is limiting our camping adventures this summer.

But she is a fun little stinker. She is getting a little attitude! The other day her brothers were bothering her, so Claire crawled away muttering to herself, went to her room and shut the door! Sheesh, silly baby. She has also said her first words, Mom (not mama so much, but Mom), Dada, and dog we think (daw). She also signs eat and all done. She is a quick little crawler but has also started taking steps--see the video at the end. That was Aug. 5th at Cyndel's house where we had gone for her birthday. She took 2 deliberate steps that day, so I am counting that as the first steps. Before that she had taken some falling forward steps, but this was balanced and purposeful. She is up to 5 steps now but doesn't seem too determined, she crawls quickly and is happy at that. Still loves to eat, everything! Here's her 10 month pics-

The best I could get of her laying down, she was ready to be off. And no, she simply does not fit all on the blanket anymore. Starting with 12 months I'll have standing pics vs her big bear.

Darn cute little trouble maker I'll tell you. Just recently she has started to mess with her brothers' toys. I call her Godzilla as she swoops down and grabs things. She laughs when she makes you say ow, stinker baby! And yes she is standing independently in the above shot.

And she crashes--she is go go go until she stops. Lately she has taken a real liking to the boys' Daddles, yellow giraffe. It was always their fav, so I have 4 of them. So Claire has 1 in the car, stroller, crib, etc. I haven't cut her hair at all, it is just coming in so nicely.

During that whole week we also had swim lessons. The boys did really well, they followed directions much better than years past and are becoming quite the little swimmers. They both passed their levels. It made me think that while easy kids would be easier, sometimes challenging kids are more rewarding. Watching them struggle and then succeed means so much more to me than if they had succeeded from the beginning. I am grateful for the rewards my kiddos give to me. For their ending social from their reading class (which we renewed for fall, yea!) they had a minute to win it party. What an event, they surely put a lot of effort into it. We couldn't stay for all of it because it was also the last day of swim lessons, but the kids sure had fun while we were there. What a wonderful program they offer at the Rippy Literacy Center.

That marked the end of all of our organized events! Ack! It has opened up lots more free time to play at home and the other places we have passes though, which has been cool.
backyard
our pool
I couldn't get a shot of Carter, but isn't Davis growing up?
At Red Butte Gardens--so fun to see it in bloom. Definitely more fun than early spring. I can't wait to get back to "my" gardens, it has been far too long. Maybe while the boys are in school I'll spend some time there before they close. Red Butte is open year round, yea for me! :)

Carter will tell you they look different because Davis has a round face and he has a circle face. Hmm, that'll help! Can you tell how much Claire looks like her brothers? Carter especially.
Love this silly shot!

And just some pretty ones of my not so little baby. Man, why does time go so fast?

We got to have my cousin's little man T play for a day (his sister was too sick to come, boo!)

And then we went to cousin L's birthday party. I seriously cannot believe she is 4. And one of the most gorgeous little girls I know (her sister is one of the others).

We also got to go to my cousin Zach's mission homecoming which was fun. Got to see a lot of family again and visit some more. Welcome home Zach! And then more time up at Dinda's campground, we love AF canyon!
Maddy came this time.
One last shot--I have been working on freezer meals, and chicken pot pie was one of them. I thought this turned out so pretty, and it tasted even better! Woot!

So, that takes me through the uploaded pics, a few more to come though I haven't been that camera happy lately. We have been enjoying the summer heat, doing back to school night, and burning through the last week until school starts. Stay tuned for that!

Catch up . . .

2011-08-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Is it still called catch up if it has become the norm?? Anyway--much more to share, document. Let's jump in. Friday 2 weeks ago we joined the twin club at the Highland Splash Pad for some fun--hot day, cool water, good friends.

And a little smooching. We joke about Claire baby and her boyfriends J&J and while there she just reached over and gave J an open mouth baby kiss. He doesn't look so sure about it.
Claire's got to work it with 2 cutie boys around!

Afterward we met up with Whitney and her kiddos at Classic fun center to try out their water slides. Got a lot of sun watching them, but they had a blast.

Friday night I caught a girl's night out with neighbor friends to watch Twilight. They are working through the movies in preparation for Breaking Dawn. It was So Much Fun! Really fantastic food, mexican was the theme, I brought fried ice cream and it was a hit thanks to Lowell for assembling it all while we were running about. We sat and ate and chatted and then chatted Twilight, how much happier could I be?

Saturday was the annual foam day at our nearby park. Our local fire department fills the park with fire retardent foam and the kids go crazy. And get lost, yet again this year we lost a child--luckily a friend had grabbed him as I walked up, joining them there from work (thanks to Tara for covering for me!). Something about that many people and them all covered in foam makes it hard to keep track of your little one.

And they had free watermelon, so we grabbed some on the way out. Claire went nuts on hers!

That afternoon/evening we had a family get together in honor of Pioneer Day (24th of July).
We did some slip and sliding, jumping, swimming, eating, BBQing, and fireworks.

The clan after firebooms. We have a few BYU fans in the mix . . .

Tuesday we had the only day camp that did not work for the kiddos this year. Considering all the activities we did, I'd call that a success. I am disappointed it didn't go better, especially since their friends were there with them and I sat up that night worrying about the whole thing, but I was able to cancel and get a refund, so trying to let it go. There was some concern over their undressing themselves (in a bathroom) too readily when getting ready to swim and a big issue that they kept taking their shoes off. At a park. I took issue with the fact that they didn't put sunscreen on my kiddos though I sent some and they were going in the pool (and they did get a bit red) and it seemed a bit disorganized, hectic. And honestly it was the longest my kids had ever been away from me except with family and I wasn't terribly comfortable with that and my instincts were right.

That night we took an overnight staycation to Snowbird. Yes, I am a little obsessed, I love it there.

Hotel antics
Going to the playground

Drinking hot cocoa on the balcony after some late night swimming

Yes, it gorgeous there!
Bungee trampoline (our package including breakfast and unlimited activities, and I got a steal on it thank you very much)
Air trampoline, look how high that kid is!

Sleepy baby
Alpine slides

On top of Hidden Peak (11,000 ft)

Davis really liked his "rock collection"

And rock climbing

Yeah, they crashed pretty much as soon as we started the car. Helps that none of us slept very well, it was a nice room, I don't know what the issue was.
So in place of the second half of their camp, we went and had some fun of our own (for half the price by the way!). We checked out Trilobite Treasures at Thanksgiving Point and it was so much cooler than I thought it would be. Somehow I thought it would be a big sand box and you'd dig for a fossil and maybe find one. Nope, splitting open real rocks and we found lots of them. The workers were very helpful and knowlegeable and I couldn't get enough. It was so exciting to split a rock and see what we found.
A portion of our trilobites.
Then we went to the closing party for our library class (a free event that was what the camp was taking the kids to, and watching a movie--we had way more fun). There was a magician and ice cream. We picked up slushies on the way home too, good times.

Friday I was just tired (and it was pouring). So we stayed home and did this:

Oh and went to lunch with a play place (and googly eyes).

So Saturday was our big long awaited rafting trip. I got a great deal on City Deals and 6 and under were free so I jumped on it and talked most of my family into coming along. And it was so worth it. Really, just a blast! Not sure if this link will work for you all:

http://1photo.morephotos.com/mp_client/pictures.asp?action=viewphotos&size=fullsize&pagenum=34&id=1843389&eventid=18550&imagename=WebRiv7_30MJ710t.jpg

If not, go to the events, Taggart Falls July 30th, 3:30-4, we are pics 34-47. And here's a pic I shot at the end. The boys did really well, not bored or unsafe. And we got a work out paddling and all. The guide was fantastic and the river leisurely but fun (Weber). Definitely be going again next year.

That evening we went camping as a nearly whole family.

Boys throwing rocks

Eating dinner. Unfortunately that did not go as well as rafting. There was a lot of issues with those there and my boys. It's a shame because it has been the catalyst of some real changes in how we'll do thing with the fam. Focusing on what is best for the kids.
A full tent. Claire did not do well. I was disappointed because she did well in the same pack and play at Snowbird. I was awake a lot of the night with her. And it had been a really long week at work so I was really tired to begin with.
Out hiking in the morning (hence the PJs) trying to keep the kids from waking others up.
Told you she didn't sleep well.
Playing bean bag toss with the cousins
A little chipmunk friend we made with our trail mix.

Monday we joined Whit's kiddos again at Classic only to be met with an extreme downpour. I was soaked to the bone going in and out. Drenched. So, water sliding was out, but they had fun in the blast zone and bounce houses anyway. Until Claire decided to have a blow out that somehow got all over my shirt. So fun to be a mom . . .

She's sure cute when she sleeps though, she really just go, go, gos until she falls over (with new best friend Daddles, the boys' fav as well. Which works out since I have 4 of them [1 for each and 1 back up]).
She has been such a busy bee of a baby, chatting away and into everything. We love it though.

The rest of that week I don't have a lot of pictures of--we started swim lessons for this year (preschool level 3) which has been every day so has kept us busy. Tuesday we played at the park with the twin club. Thursday was our last cooking class--not their best behavior but the brownies and tacos were good. Will have to discuss with them next year if they want to do the classes again--would recommend for kids that like to cook. Wednesday our UVMOM family party was cancelled due to rain (boo!) but I got to redeem one of my deals for Pirate Island. The kids had a blast, really lots of fun. The food was not great. Stuck with pizza this time since it was what we prefered the previous time and yeah, most of it is still in my fridge waiting to be thrown out. Good thing I got it half off at least. And Friday Lowell wanted to treat the boys to some fun and took them (with their free pass from the library class) to Nickel City. Grandma and Dinda kept baby sis so we could have one on one time and it was also so so much fun. Lowell scored really big with some tickets (I did okay too--and the kids . . .) so they got above average prizes that were still lame but the kids were thrilled.

Stay tuned for more soon including Clire's first steps! more camping, and a family reunion in Idaho.

Claire and the watermelon

Slip and Slide Fun

Summer perfection

2011-07-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

We've been having a little bit of summer perfection over here. Not every moment, but glimpses here and there. Lately I have had the feeling to stop and enjoy the moment I am in. The very moment--it's the only thing that is real. The past is a memory, the future an aspiration, only now is now. So I have tried to think more in the moment and savor little things. Like a drive to Kneader's on Saturday night (half off after 8, yes I am there every week! I think the staff hates me). I was by myself listening to an upbeat song, feeling the wind blow over the slightly down window, watching the fleeting sunlight on the most amazing mountains. I do really truly love the mountains in Switzerland--probably my favorite place on earth, but my favorite have to be the ones I get to adore every single day. How lucky am I to live in such a beautiful place. And each season brings its own joy on those mountains and even this weird weather year has made them green and lush for much longer than usual. Anywho and in this moment I hear the buzzing of machines behind me and that's it besides my typing fingers. And you know, that has its own rewards, how blessed am I to work in such a lovely quiet place where I get chances to reflect. And how nice is it once in a while to not have children screaming or dogs barking? But I admit as much as I enjoy the restfulness here (when it isn't busy of course) there's nothing as sweet as rocking my baby to sleep or kissing my boys tucked in their beds. I miss them every night I work--not that I regret working--but I miss them. And that handsome hunk of a man who is manly enough to be home, who after reading to his boys from their scripture books tucked them in and then gently snuggled his adored little girl until she was ready for sleep. And then who will do the dishes, play with the puppies, and maybe even fold the laundry before crashing exhausted into bed. I don't know anyone who could be more blessed than I am. I am literally crying thinking about it. I love my Lowell.
Wow, I will never get to dinner time if I don't move this along. Just some things I have been mulling over. That along with the trials of some friends who have little ones who are struggling or who have already returned to our Father in Heaven--I am reminded to love my littles for every moment, good and bad.
So we have been busy busy and I couldn't find my camera for half of it. Sheesh! Lame mom. Here are a few shots from t-ball this year:
Carter chilling in the outfield
And up at bat
D's big swing
And waiting in the in-field. This year they are the Gators and have the best coach ever. Seriously this guy rocks. He must be exhausted after every game, he has so much energy and is amazing at keeping the kids in line. And he has taught them in unique ways and has great ways of keeping them involved in the game. They have been getting better too, they have decent little arms and had a couple really good hits the last game. Big thanks to my friend Tara who has covered for me at work a few times so I could go to the games. She rocks too! They are doing better with focusing during the games too and I think they have had fun.
Last week the boys had a day camp at the Legacy Center every day--that was the biggest busy point because adding it to any other day just got a bit crazy, but also fun. They had a super hero day, pirate day, they climbed the rock wall, and did some cooking. They also had a water fun day in the park and scored a hat, apron, and backpack. Their friends A&A went too and I heard nothing but good reports from the kiddos. No complaints at all.
Tuesday we had a play date with a friend I hadn't seen in 4 years I think! Jillian and her triplets were in town and while I have been an avid blog followers I hadn't seen those kiddos in so long--and in real life they were so big. We played at Lyndsie's house and the kids had a great time and came back wanting Squinkies (we got a few Marvel ones and they were all the rage, for a week or so).
We saw Lyndsie and more of our twin friends on Wednesday as well at the splash pad in Spanish Fork. First time we had been to play, I think I like the Highland one better though SF's has a great playground attached too. Either way, good times and it was fun to play and to visit.(Photo credits to Jess, thanks!)

Thursday we had a cooking class and the boys did better than the last time--it was fun and the rootbeer float cake was delicious. I was totally surprised, but they made and ate and enjoyed tuna fish finger sandwiches as well. May have to add that into our lunch menu.
Friday we met up with Whitney and her kiddos for a pirate day at Thanksgiving Point, that was so fun. They hung out with a "real" pirate, made hats, played games, got face painted (Carter had a mustache and beard, it was awesome--I need to get the picture from Whitney), and then looked for the treasure chest in the museum and found it scoring themselved some gold dubloons. They were so excited about finding the treasure that I had a hard time keeping them where I knew where they were, but it was still fun. Thanks to Whitney for the pic.

And the new Notion of Motion exhibit was awesome. I adore the Exploratorium in San Francisco and they have been loaning exhibits to the dino museum. I just love these kinds of exhibits and so do the kids. My favorite was how many parents were busy playing on their own while their kids were trying other things. I was one of them!
Then last weekend we had a t-ball game and then went for a nice hike. Buffalo Peak was blocked again-grrr, so we tried the Big Spring trail also up Provo canyon. We didn't go the full length of the hike (5 miles round trip I think) but found a lovely place along the way and called it good.

Throwing rocks in the water
On a bridge that crossed the stream, they are apart because there was a huge spider web with the spider hanging out watching us that spanned the space between the 2.
At the little pool we found
See what I mean about summer perfection--see the video (turn up the sound). Just my little family splashing in this pool, listening to the water rushing by. The scenery was fantastic, the water cool, the sun warm. We were all happy. Ahhh.

Back home again the boys spent some time in the pool while I got a nap. They love drying off on the patio, and catching bugs (a grasshopper in the container).
On to this week--Monday the bubbas saw the dentist. It took longer than it ever has, but the 3 kiddos still did pretty well. The boys had no cavities and their teeth looked great except that they are grinding them. The dentist felt the teeth would be fine though until the new ones come in. Probably won't be until Carter is 7 when his dark tooth will fall out. Then we all spent some time at WalMart and surprisingly, they did pretty well.

Tuesday Hillary joined us for a visit to 7 peaks and it was heaps better than the last visit. It wasn't busy at all, about as good as I have seen it. The kids played all around and Claire was so happy splashing and hanging out in her tube. We all got a little sun and I was just so happy to have had such a good day.

Then yesterday was just a little nuts. We had reading class in the morning (Claire and I swapped out library books) then picked the kids up a little early for a Animals and Water class at the Central Utah Water Conservancy Garden. It was way fun--a tortoise, skunk, boa constrictor, bunnies, hedge hog (super cute!), chinchilla, cockatoo--we got to pet each one and learn about where they live and how they conserve water. We all had a blast (Claire was less happy about not getting to crawl around than the others, but mostly happy). Then we hit up the buy 1 get 2 free sale at Toys R Us (woot!), got some donuts and headed to our library class. A&A were there this time and the boys were wild. Maybe it was good they weren't together the rest of the classes though I enjoyed visiting with Reva. The class was fun though and so was the craft (foil punched pictures) and since it was the last class the boys got to spin the wheel twice (they both got movie tickets and Costa Vida kids meals--there are a lot of options on that wheel, I can't figure out how they both spun that!) and then got to get a book for doing their reading all 6 weeks. What a great program, I think we'll go again next year. Home again Claire and I caught a little nap:

Cutest darn baby bum--before heading out to Hollywood Connection:

Hey guys, I want to play!

It was great--pretty much dead. The last time I went it was so busy and they have a lot of summer promotions so I was expecting a mad house but there was no wait on anything. Weds afternoons must be the trick. They did all the rides they wanted (except mini-golf) even though we only had an hour to do it in. Yea! Then we were off to the Days of '47 rodeo!

Cowgirl Claire

Rob, Michelle, and Mr. C came along too--and Dinda. We all had fun. It wasn't too long (good for crazy allergic me) and the kids were rowdy but not terrible. Oy, the bullriding scares me to death! The kids had fun though. Rodeo, check.

We didn't get to bed until almost 11--it was a full day! We slept in this morning (9:30) and then went to the gym but Claire wasn't having it so we went home early. Poor thing was all blotchy from crying so much, she was fine when I left. I may not take her for a while, I hate to think of her so upset. She recovered over lunch though:

LOL, this little girl loves to eat! She has been such a busy busy baby. She is into everything now--especially the dog food and water. She is jabbering up a storm now and Lowell and I love her little voice. I almost think she is starting to make words, last night dropped her toy, put her 2 hands up and said, "oh". And today she grabbed a Donald duck toy and said, "Heydo" (like Hello). I don't know probably a stretch. She is crawling so fast now too and wants to be wherever I am. She is also starting to screech if she doesn't get her way. She is a handful already--and 10 months old now, as of yesterday. Sigh.

Anywho, I hope you are all also enjoying some summer perfection. This really has been the "best summer ever" as my boys would say. And more to come--next week we are going to Snowbird and then rafting and camping. I can't wait.

P.S. Thanks to Hillary and Todd for watching the kiddos so we could go out to dinner (IHOP) and to see the new Pirates. We liked it, our #2 for the series. Also of note for Lowell and I--we got to have a couple of great take out date nights and go to Shakey's once as well, even though it isn't our favorite pizza.

Summer has arrived (and is passing too quickly!)

2011-07-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

I seriously did back to school shopping today. That is both scary and uncool. Well the deals were cool or I wouldn't have been doing the shopping, but how can school be looming on the horizon already? It seems like I was just plotting out the summer, calculating what activities would be best and how to occupy the munchkins and now their first activity is already over. There is still LOTS of stuff coming up, but I just can't believe how quickly it is passing by and how soon my teeny baby boys will be kindergarteners. Sigh. Not going to think about it.
The heat has arrived, shortly after my last post the heat really turned on and it started to feel like summer. That's part of why it is going so fast I think, the first part didn't feel like summer yet. And some of our hikes are still blocked by snow/mud. Stop stalling my summer mother nature. Oh and please let the "monsoons" pass--I had all the humidity I wanted in Florida, I want my dry heat back.
Anyway, it has been a busy few weeks since I last wrote. I have been such a blog slacker lately, I find myself sitting at my desk at work putting off both exercising and blogging. And yet I walked the track 5-6 days since I last wrote, so even exercising it winning out. Lame, I really want to keep this for a great journal since my memory is mush, so I need to get back on the ball. The last few weeks the boys have had a reading class on Mondays and Wednesdays, art day camp Tuesdays and Thursdays, library class on Wednesdays, cooking class every other Thurs, plus some park play groups, some play dates, and trips to the gym. Oh, and good old fashion playing in the backyard. Reading class has been okay, they aren't fighting me on it as much I thought they would, so they must be making it fun for them. And I see some skills improving. And it's free, I would never complain. While they are there I like to jump in the library and swap out more books. Can you believe I have never picked up kids books at the library?! We love books, but I have just bought them all. It's been fun to try out new authors without the price tag. We've enjoyed the How do Dinosaurs . . .books and a Splat the cat and Froggy book. And more Dr. Seuss and Curious George, fantastic classics. Art camp was so much fun, there are a number of pics of their creations. What a sweet teacher to spend the time with them doing so much fun stuff. It ended today and I am bummed already. Library class they bark about every week but like it once they get there. And extra bonus they get to spin a wheel for being read to (yea for the library books) and win treats and prizes. Great way to encourage a love of reading (I even enjoy the books they are read. The theme is One World, Many stories and we have learned about lots of countries and sang songs and made crafts--I love it). Cooking class wasn't great the first time we actually made it there. They like to cook, but they also like to screw around. And play groups with the twin club have been fun, they have enjoyed each time we have gone. Play dates have been super fun too, mostly with my cousin and her kiddos. And the gym, it is the most skipped activity on my summer schedule (except for 7 peaks, we need to go back but I don't want to juggle 3 kids alone so we haven't yet) but we did go (to the gym) today. I hate dropping Claire off, I'll admit it and I have been exercising so much outside that I am dragging my feet for the inside work outs. But I pay a lot of money (won't be renewing) for the membership so I push myself to use it. There's the summary, here's the pics:

Goofing off in the backyard, they were so pleased with themselves that they climbed up there.

How twins play basketball

Father's Day was fun at our house. Lowell got his traditional photo tie (I love artscow!) and a new wii game plus some treats made at art camp from the bubbas. I made a great breakfast (if I say so myself) of crepes with fresh fruit and eggs with ham. I brought some up to my dad as well. Then we had a great steak dinner at home. We have almost finished up the steak we got from a 1/6th of a cow, which is seriously depressing because it has been so good.

I was washing Nutrigrain bar out of Claire's hair the other day and it was curling, so I grabbed some gel and hair spray and this was the result:

Maybe she'll have a little curl? My mom has curly hair and my sister/brother (when he had hair) so I am hopeful. I just think it would be fun. Not tight curls but maybe long ringlets. One can hope. I am mostly excited just to have more hair finally. Claire is sporting a pony most days now and I even did pigtails for the 4th. She hates me messing with it by the way but I have been told you have to train them to get used to it if they'll ever tolerate their hair being done.

An art class creation, they made bandanas and clown pants out of old jeans, their teacher did the face painting. I absolutely adored it!

They made wanted posters that day too, a whole wild west theme.

Proof I am a bad mommy, here is my 9 month old sweetie, chowing down on Cheetos. She got a hold of some on a plate and went nuts on them. She was clapping them together and squealing and yelling if she didn't get another. I haven't bought more since, but I wanted to record her obsession with Cheetos for posterity.

The alpine loop finally opened so we went for a drive up to Cascade Springs. Such a lovely easy walk. And with a little soda bribe, I even got some great shots of the bubs. Sister would not be bribed.

My fav of the bunch.

The pool is up and running. I have only been in once and it was freezing! But I have been told it is very nice now so I'll have to try it out again sometime. Claire was pretty unsure at first, especially because it was so cold, but she was having fun by the end. The boys are just in and out of it non-stop. I love that I asked them not to get their clothes wet (i.e. don't get in the pool) so I look over and they are just swimming naked. Ahh to be 5.

We have a tradition of driving to Evanston, WY to get firebooms. I have never made the trip with Lowell and the kids but this year I was off so I went along. And this year we were actually buying fireworks that are indeed legal here now but they were still cheaper there with a much better selection, especially of kid novelty fireworks. We got the kids a Redbox and had a nice chat enjoying a lovely view while we drove. After acquiring said firepower we went for a walk along the very high rushing Bear River:

Then checked out the McDonald's and its Play Place, one of the coolest I have seen--those are saddles the kids sit on while they are eating, the play house was a big cabin, and there was a TV on the wall in the bathroom. We also got Lowell's fav, Wally burgers.

My little missy is 9 months old now and changing so quickly. She really is just coming to life. Crawling has changed her perspective of the world and she is all over the place. 6 teeth have changed the way her face looks too, seriously she's a whole other baby all of a sudden. My newborn is long gone. She is 50th percentile for weight and 85th for height. She's about to grow out of her infant car seat due to height. The boys moved out of theirs at 15 months even though they had not quite made the height or weight limits. Such an odd child I tell you! Developmentally she is doing great, right at or above age level. She jabbers all the time and the other day I swear she said Mama and knew what she was saying. I was walking away and she was crying and crawling after me calling, "Mama". Broke my heart, I was off to work at the time. She has been fighting sleep a lot lately which is annoying, but she's fairly pleasant most of the time otherwise. Crawling has really made her happier, she loves to explore and get where she wants to be, which is generally at my feet waiting to be picked up. She loves the dogs and the kitty (who has moved on, I miss him! I knew he was a temporary friend and I am glad he found a better home with some of our friends, but I do miss the mischievous thing) and her brothers. She doesn't care much for strangers, her carseat, being put down, or sleeping. And she loves to eat--pretty much everything. She'll still let us spoon feed her but she will eat most of what we are eating at each meal too. And she is nursing well still, I am trying to keep my milk up--2.5 months to go (at least!). I do enjoy that time we have even if she is pinching, kicking me most of the time. She still looks at me with the, "I love you Mommy, thanks for making my milk" eyes and it is all worth it. Speaking of, off to pump--I won't miss that in a few months.

K, success--I am going to make my quota today, i.e. as much milk as the baby is drinking. Luckily I still have milk in the freezer to cover the days I don't make it, but I am power pumping and taking fenugreek to make that stash last until 1 year. Who knew it would be harder to make enough milk for 1 baby than it was for 2? Anyway, here is that gorgeous baby, I think she is the cutest at 9 months as she's ever been. 6 months was my favorite for the boys, I think 9 months is for Claire (so far!).

She learned to crawl this way with skirts/dresses, she does hands and knees, or hands and 1 knee, 1 foot too.

Yep, the boys love swimming:

And snuggling up after, thanks J&B for our snuggly blankies. Spoiled boys had a good day that day, I brought them lunch on the couch and they chowed watching Spongebob. I wonder if I could trade lives with them for a day?

4th of July crafts from art camp

We hiked to Grotto falls with the twin club, that was fun. I did 3 kids hiking by myself too, go me. Well, I was there with several friends and we all looked after each other's kids but you know what I mean. Claire did great in the backpack--she is not asleep in the shot below, but was later.

Twin kiddos, the boys really did have a great time with these friends. The darling older set of girls the boys decided they are going to marry. Carter chatted about it all the way home, and how C was going to sleep in the room next to his and have a Tinker Bell room while he would have a Star Wars the Clone Wars room. Such a funny boy. Of course on the 4th they married their cousins, so not sure how much of a committed relationship it was! Who knew 5 year olds would be so girl crazy!

4th of July official photos:

I am in love with the boots--they are for going to the rodeo, but I thought they could do double duty. :)

Love her eyes, even if I still can't decide their color. They are brownish in the middle and bluish on the outside. Hazel maybe?

Handsome Carter, with decidedly brown eyes, they both have warm brown eyes and I love them even if my genes have played such a small role with them--I think I get ears, eye shape, and toes.

Davis

They are in to saluting lately, I don't know why, but cute shot.

All my loves--not an easy shot to get, but I'll take it!

4th of July desserts for Saturday. We had a whole celebration on the Saturday before the 4th with my family and then again on Monday the 4th with Lowell's fam. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the fireworks (Claire was already in bed) and the traditional popsicles. It was fun to legally set off aerials and to see so many from our view point. They were going all around us, it was quite the show. The dogs were inside freaking out unfortunately, July is hard for Max and Oscar.

So, that is as far as I have uploaded pics so far, more to come! Until then, here is some Claire, just being her cute self--I was trying to catch her stealing watermelon out of the bowl as I cut it, but I liked what I got anyway.

Waiting for summer. . .

2011-06-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

According to the weather man, summer is right around the corner. We have been busy getting the pool set up and filled just in case. Yet for Father's Day yesterday it didn't break 70 degrees. I am really not complaining, I already got all the heat I want for the year in Florida. A very mild summer is just fine with me. Just worth noting what an odd year we've had. So I got strep for the first time in my life this past week. And it fried my brains pretty literally. I will do my best to update what we've been up to anyway.

We went with Hillary to the aquarium. It had been a little while and they had the new superhero exhibit open. It was very busy, but the kids really liked the new area. And practically swimming with the rays trying to pet them.
Saturday we went to the Great American Wild West show. The promos were pretty convincing, a historical retelling of the west with trick riders and a cattle round up. Plus jumping through a hoop of fire. The real thing wasn't quite that amazing. I guess it did have all those things, just not as spectacular as I thought. And with more lame in between acts, like local cloggers (?!). And with more annoying teenagers sitting behind us. And a fellow with blue LED lights in his cowboy hat and vest. Lowell pretty much hated it. The boys want to be cowboys when they grow up, or now if possible. I liked the brief historical portions (Wyatt Earp and Geronimo). Claire slept on grandma at her house.

Stage couch running by

High 5'ing a "real" cowboy

Sunday was one of those church days that can only be labeled as a fail. We got there late and there was no room to sit in any of the Sunday School classes. So we just sat in the chapel. 15 minutes later they brought Davis to us for being naughty. So we just got Carter too and left. Yep, bad parents and bad church goers. Just wasn't my day. So we went for a drive. The intent was to go for a little hike (Buffalo Peak) I found in my new book, 60 hikes within 60 miles of Salt Lake. We got 2.2 miles (out of 2.8) along on a bumpy, ruining my van, dirt road before it was blocked by an impassable ice flow. Took a pic from that vista just to prove we tried.

Yeah, that day was going well! Oh well, had a nice joint birthday dinner with my family that night anyway. And we let Carter have the kitty sleep with him.

Just snuggled right up to him. What a little love he is. Still working on a home for him, it's just not safe in our house of 3 dogs for him. I am constantly penning up one group or the other. Too bad, because he really is a cutie and rather entertaining to watch.

So Claire has been 8 months old for a bit (in fact she turned 9 months today) but I finally took pics:

Clapping--she loves to clap (we love it too!)

Oh my goodness, she is just so darn cute. Funny little demanding thing. And last week once I decided she was just going to go straight to walking (she pulls up on everything, cruises everywhere, and is starting to stand independently) she started crawling. She used to just cry on her belly, we'd try to coax her with a toy and she'd just throw a fit until she got it. Then she figured out how to get from her belly to sitting to standing, so tummy time was pretty much a wash. But then Lowell said he sat her in one place and the next thing he knew she was next to him. And I watched her do it the next day, she wanted a waffle so she just crawled herself over and got it. She will go hands and knees sometimes and others knee, then push off with her foot, then knee again. I think it is too slow for her. Still betting she'll walk before a year--can't keep this girl down! And she is into everything already, such a busy thing. She love to eat too--very into table food now. She'll eat most of what we have for dinner now, just chopped up for her. She'll eat baby food when offered as well. Loves yogurt, Mum Mums, and tastes of popsicles.

Carrots are too yummy not to share with one's whole face.

Monday we braved 7 Peaks. The wait to park took forever (25 minutes). We only had 2 hours to spend there, so that was a big chunk. It was the first day school was out, so here's hoping it gets better as time passes. It was certainly very busy--they have a great deal this year on season passes--and I was glad Hillary was able to join and help us. The kids really did have a great time though. They jumped from the lily pond kids area, to the kids slides, to the wave pool and were just happy and busy everywhere they went. We picked up lunch on the way home and headed off to work, good day.

Tuesday they had art day camp and then a good friend of mine from college came with her 2 boys to play. What a great chance to catch up and visit! The boys played some with their toys and trampoline but mostly the 4 of them played on phone and ipad games. Funny kids. I headed off to work feeling just fine. That afternoon my heart was racing a little and then it started to feel hot behind my eyes (my first sign of a fever coming on). It spiraled downhill very quickly. Funny, for years I have told people how to distinguish a strep infection, rapid onset, high fever. And that was definitely true for me, but no, I did not suspect strep. All the ones I had tested lately had been negative and it is so much less common in summer. And my throat was the least of my worries, it hurt but the huge swollen glands (one side and then the other) fever, chills, headache, vomiting, were more prominent. Just ironic that I ran a strep test on ER patient that night and did not know that was what I had for another 4 days. That night was terrible. I spent most of it lying in my chair raging with fever or freezing with chills. Should have found someone to take the shift or at very least track down some pills for the fever, but I couldn't seem to put that together in my head. I was so out of it. I only had a few tests to run thank goodness and slept off and on until it was time to go home (I am just on call at night so that is allowed). I got Lowell to take the day off hoping to quickly sleep off the "flu" I had. He was kind enough to take the boys to a water conservation class I had signed them up for, sounds like it was fun. I lazed about pretty miserable, but so much better than the night before, and as it would turn out, the days after.

Thursday was interesting. I hurried the kids out the door to their art camp and let them take the cat just to get them out the door. Dropped them off and couldn't find the cat. Was sure he was still in the car so stopped at the store for some drugs and headed home. Still couldn't find the cat (very small and black by the way). Left food out to lure him out. Nothing. Went early to pick the kids up and looked around, nope. Got the kids home pretty hopeless and worried the poor thing would starve to death. Got a call that I missed the kids first cooking class, great. We could still make it, if we lived close but it was a half hour from us, I just got the baby down for a nap, and I still felt lousy. But the sweet lady talked me into it, they were holding their food for them and we could take it home and make it. And it was paid for. So, woke the baby up, got in the car and cruised over there. Tie Dye shirts from art class and flip flop cakes from cooking class. Didn't sound at all good to me at the time, of course I hardly ate a thing for 5 days (and still nursed a baby non-stop, maybe I lost a little?). Thank goodness Lowell got home after that and what do you know, he found the cat in the car. He'd been in there the whole time. What a day! I spent the rest of it sleeping--thankfully my co-workers covered for me, you know I am really sick if I take a day off, it hardly ever happens. And I have been pretty sick at work too. Friday was the worst day of all and Lowell just went ahead and made me a doctor appointment (I'm a little stubborn . . .). Hill joined me to take the kids to a movie--something I could entertain them with with very little effort. Rio at the $3 theater. They quite enjoyed it, sat still for the entire thing. That is unheard of. I nursed the baby and fell asleep. Seemed to have a lot of fun music though. Off to the doctor, yep Strep. Glad it was something treatable. Antibiotics, snow cone, back to bed.

Saturday I called in sick again--this time I didn't want to be sharing my nastiness and the antibiotics hadn't had enough time to take effect yet. Plus I felt lousy and weak. That night I made it to my brother Robbie's wedding reception. They did such a good job, a candy bar, beautiful cake, and super fun photo booth. I should scan the pics we got, my parents and fam with props. Silly good times. I did my best to help, but mostly just tried to stay on my feet. Didn't touch a single one of those delectable treats. But did have a good time visiting with family that came and showing off my darling little baby. Congrats again to Michelle and Rob, so happy for you guys.

Sunday I did have to work but I was finally starting to mend and it is a mellow shift. Nothing like a raging infection to make you feel like "normal" feels fantastic. Still a little tired now, but mostly back to normal. Just finishing off the antibiotic today.

We spent a beautiful afternoon in our backyard--had to document my amazing climbers, Davis is a spot of blue 2/3rds the way to the top.

The next week we got back on schedule. Arts camp got switched around a bit so it was Monday and Tuesday. Here are some products of that:

Bead necklace, dragon fly for the garden, clay accented silverware, and a cookie lollipop.

Monday night we went to the Monday night family night at the Gardens, which is awesomely included in our pass. The theme was pirates, perfect! The folks doing a fencing demonstation gave the kids swords, rock on!

Then they followed clues to find a pirate. He gave them treasure, gold coins and a sucker.
Defenders of the Claire!

I got up in the attic and brought down some of the boys' toys when they were Claire's age. She loves them!
Silly baby--you can tell she sat down and just fell over to sleep.

Tuesday they had art class and then we went to a park play date with the twin club and then my cousin and her kiddos joined us there. Like 2.5 hours at Discovery Park and they didn't want to leave. They had such a great time! Wednesday Carter wasn't feeling well so we scrapped our 7 peaks plans and had an easy day at home. We still made it to our PG library class and learned about Hawaii and singing about a hukelau (sp?). Also a gecko magnet, yea. That night I made it to mom's night out for the twin club, faboo night of eating BBQ and visiting. I always love it so much. Made it home at midnight :).

Thursday shockingly we just chilled at home. Carter still wasn't feeling great but we did have fun making some crafts and treats at home. We finished up the morning playing at the Carl's Jr play place when Dad got home.

Friday we joined my cousin again to check out the dinosaurs they have added to our zoo for the summer:

This was huge and pretty intense when it growled. We couldn't get the kids to take their eyes off of it. They also had ones that spit--they loved it. It was crazy crazy busy for a weekday though, surprised I didn't lose my kids more than I did.

Claire sporting a tiny pony.

Boys vs orangutans

All the kiddos (and me) on the train. I promise they are having a good time. Time to play on the playground and we headed out. Thanks for joining us Whitney, it was so fun to play and visit. As much as the kids love the zoo, it's not that fun to go alone.

And that brings us pretty much up to date. Saturday we had a pretty chill day topped off with eating out thanks to Hillary. Sunday we had Father's Day, Lowell got to sleep in and have breakfast in bed, then I brought some to my dad. Great steak dinner that night and plenty of desserts from Kneader's :). And today the kids started their reading class (enjoyed it) and we got some books from the library (next time I will just pick some up sans the kiddos). I hope you are all enjoying your summer thus far!

A video of Claire that may or may not work?

Another year older and wiser (?) too . . .

2011-06-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

Preschool in the past, we have been finding ways to occupy our summer, especially as we await the sun to join us. It has been the wettest May ever, and so unusual to me. Though to be honest the cooler temperatures don't bother me a bit. The wet is tiresome but the cool is just fine. It will be gone all too soon. We took a few more days to chill enjoying sleeping in and playing wii. I am feeling better from my post-school funk, not sure what that was about. We did all take turns being sick that week though, a yucky lingering stomach bug. Ick. I had a week at work where due to vacations and staff shortages I worked 7 days in a row. Not 70 hours thank goodness (59) but it was a bit of a bummer to be away from my munchkins for so many days, and they missed our adventures in the meantime. We still played as much as we could of course.
Monday we went to Trafalga with Hillary. Some missionaries gave the boys their tickets so they were excited about the prizes.
Wednesday their best buddies A&A came to play for the whole day, they were in heaven! Backyard play
Then to the park
Loved the little smirk
She is growing up too fast (do I say that every post?) and loves to stand. In fact just the other day she pulled herself up to standing and then stood independently. Stop it you silly girl. She just started to cruise as well and is up on hands and knees now but still not crawling. She can roll both directions better now, but doesn't use it to get anywhere. I should be happy she isn't mobile, but it frustrates her. If she isn't getting what she wants she just fusses until she does. She is such a busy little thing, she is into everything she can reach so just watch out for when she can reach more! My fav new thing she does is clap. :) She is babbling all the time and is in the process of getting 4 teeth right now. 1 has broken through (top right center) and the 2 outer teeth are just about to. The left center I can't see yet but I am sure it will be there too soon. Explains a bit of the fussiness, poor thing.
4 boys in a tube. After the park we went to Classic Fun Center and they all had a blast. We sure love that place.
Thursday was my brother and his new wife's big day! I still can't believe he is married but I am so happy for him. Being 32 we have been expecting this day to come for a long time. It was a lovely ceremony and a great dinner. They had just immediate family there and that was still a lot of people but it was also cozy.

Grabbed a pic while my grandma was down for the wedding, 4 generations. Mary Lee Sellers, Wendy Dodenbier, Heidi and Claire Penrod. Can you see the resemblance? P.S. Thanks to Hill who did my hair, I like it.
Our new official cousin! The happy couple behind the kids, should have gotten a wide shot too. Michelle has a fair number of nieces/nephews and the boys were having so much fun playing with them all it was hard to pin them down for a minute. Thanks for inviting us Robbie and Michelle and all the best wishes for an amazing future and bring on the babies!

So Sunday was my birthday and since I had to work all day Lowell surprised me with this:

He had come down to my lab the night before while I was running errands. Such a love that boy is!
I had picked this for my birthday cake, amazing german chocolate cupcake from Kneader's. Yea! And I have been collecting on my birthday swag (all the email freebies) and started with lunch from Chili's (take out from Saturday) with a brownie sundae. For dinner Lowell made me a yummy steak dinner. Mmmm.

Monday was Memorial day and I was finally off for a day so we headed out and played. I did some shopping in the morning (underwater video cameras from Big Lots and shirts from Old Navy) and then hiking at Red Butte in the afternoon.

It was a perfect day for it, we were rained on a little but I like it a bit cooler when hiking (especially with a baby on your back). Claire did really well to ride along and I am hoping that will continue so we can do some fun hikes this summer. Already planning on Timp caves and I just bought a book to find some new ones. We wrapped the day up with a date out, free dinner at Mimi's thanks to Hillary babysitting.

Tuesday we went to the children's garden with my cousin and her kiddos (Hillary came too). No pics but they had fun.

Wednesday we had a full day of fun thanks to a little bit of sun peaking out and a day off of work. We joined our twin friends for a play date at the park in the morning, then off to 7 peaks for the first time this season in the afternoon. It was still busier than expected since school isn't out yet in our district but not bad at all. It really was lovely, the kids had so so much fun and even Claire enjoyed splashing. We'll be back for sure, unfortunately so will lots of other people. Have to find the best time to go. Then in the evening we hit the dollar night at the Eagle Mountain carnival. It was a quick trip, but fun.

They do everything enthusiastically!

First time on this ride on their own (just tall enough). Lowell and I laughed and laughed and so did they!

Final adventure to report is this little guy:

Lowell found him starving and half dead at his school and just had to bring him home. In the state he was in, he wouldn't have lived through the night. He was pretty much unresponsive but with a little food and water he started to come around. He is still so so skinny and weak but he wakes up a little more each day. We think he is a wild cat and he's pretty timid about people. Though today I held him for a little bit and he was purring away so I think he is learning to trust that people means food and loves. We are hoping to rehabilitate him (Marcus?) a bit and then find him a good home. I am allergic and at least 1 of our dogs would not let the cat live in peace so he'll need another place to stay. But we'll keep him long enough to help him get better (so glad he's pulled through so far, we weren't sure at first). Of course the kids love him:

Some times too much! Claire does not comprehend soft.

And finally a lovely little cake they gave me at work:
Oh and then today Hill (she is such a great sister!) joined us at the aquarium. We finally made it over to check out their new exhibit and the kids enjoyed it. Good times. Tomorrow we have some friends coming over to play and Saturday will be the Great American Wild West show--will share more after that. Then we'll have bridged the gap between preschool and the summer camps/classes. Yeah for me. Next week starts their art camp and library classes. :)

Graduation

2011-05-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Busy busy all day long until I am bored at work, isn't that how it goes? Go go, stop! Oh well, gives me time to catch up here. Back from Disney we enjoyed some nice weather (briefly before the rains came down and the floods came up [I hope my house is built upon a rock!]). We enjoyed the gardens and children's gardens and the tulips there immensely. We had our annual mother's day lunch at the Trellis Cafe (overlooks the gardens) and it was so lovely. They really take their time there, in a good way so you can visit and not feel rushed. And bless our sweet server, he asked the chef if he could get Claire some fruit and the chef chopped up a whole bowl in teeny tiny perfect for her pieces. I would have recommended the Trellis anyway, but yet another reason. They serve soup, salad, sandwiches, little desserts, the like. Lowell would say high estrogen levels there. Here's my mom, sis, and Claire for her first girly lunch: We did some shopping that afternoon as well but I was not impressed with the selection or prices at the Beehive Bazaar this year. Oh and Jill, if you read this, that is where I got the cupcake hat last year, nothing like it this year unfortunately. We ran around trying to get all our mother's day plans in a row when we found out that Lowell's dad had fallen and broken his hip. So scary. He had surgery and is still in a rehab center but is doing really well and coming along in physical therapy. Prayers for our sweet grandpa.

Just a shot of my sweet missy sleeping, love her. She loves her Minnie too, she curls up with her a lot. She used to lay so still at night, now you never know what you'll find. We put her to bed on her back of course but this morning I found her asleep on her tummy sleeping on her face. She was breathing okay, so I let her be.

Another one of my big girl--who has not gotten enough wear out of her cute spring clothes since spring refuses to arrive. Boo.

So what did we do all last week? Hmm. Sunday Lowell made me breakfast in bed and got me flowers and the boys sang to me at church. Then we had dinner with Lowell's mom and went to see grandpa. I was off Monday--we went to the dinosaur museum per request. Wednesday we went to see Hop, it was okay. The kids liked it and Lowell and I thought it was just okay. Don't get extra butter on the popcorn at the $3 theater--it's just too much. The kids finished up their last full week of school. Friday they had a father and sons camp out and Lowell took the boys up just for the evening part.

They caught a lizzard

And salmonella (not really!)

Claire and I had a girls day while they were off, shopping, getting take out, and having a stroll through the gardens. It was a nice night. We snuggled and had a good time. Nice to have one on one with the little miss once in a while.

Saturday we had a nice junk fest--got Arby's new chicken salad sandwich, had a free coupon and it was great. Hearty and healthy, great summer sandwich. Then Del Taco's new fried Mac&cheese, much less healthy but still fun and pretty yummy, in small portions. Then we made our Saturday Kneader's run that really put it over the top. Had their monthly cupcake--chocolate cake and chocolate chips, huge ice cream cone swirl of rich mint frosting, top and bottom dipped in chocolate ganache. I scooped off a bunch of the frosting and still felt sick after, but yes it was very yummy.

Monday again we got ready for the big graduation. I can hardly stand that my kids have graduated from preschool. How can they have passed that part of their life already?

We had a celebration because I wanted them to know academic accomplishments are a big deal to us.

I made treats for the party--graduation caps, I really love how cute they turned out. I did the frosting in the high school's colors (where they do preschool).

The top is an after 8 mint and a mini m&m. The boys wanted to help, so they unwrapped the Reese's and sorted the M&Ms.

Cupcakes, they decorated them for me.

Per their request we spent Monday at the pool (after signing up for the literacy centers free classes this summer, yea!) Thanks to Hill for helping with both items. It was fun and Claire did really well, she likes water like her brothers. And they are finally tall enough to stand in the big center pool so that changed things up a little.

Tuesday they want to their last day of school (sob!). The parents were invited and although the outdoor field day was cancelled (it was actually snowing!) they moved it inside and still had a blast. Lots of carnival type games and prizes all along. Fun times.

Last day of school pic to match first day of school one. I couldn't get it to move like I'd like but if you go to January 2010 posts, you'll find it. I thought I put them in the same sweater but I guess I was wrong, just similar style. They have grown up so much in that time. When they started school I was just pregnant with Claire, didn't even know it yet--so she has been there the whole time too.

We went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate with the boys. They had fun of course. And Lowell found a game he could get a lot of tickets from so they had 1,000 to trade in at the end. Lots of silly prizes and candy to take home. Happy kids. Success. We then took them out to dinner at IHOP and my parents joined us. Then the big program.

Graduates!

Davis with his diploma

Carter

With their favorite teacher Jodi. She is a saint, I mean it. She truly loved my kids and it has made all the difference. I can only hope the future holds many such wonderful people to grace my little ones' lives.

At our after party. Lowell's mom and sister and my parents and sister came and celebrated with us. Cyndel was a sweetie to stay and read them bedtime (they call it bed-night) stories. Thanks Cyn!

Song the class sung

What they want to be when they grow up (I was a little worried, but the answers were fine).

Then Wednesday we slept in and had no where to go. I was pretty low that day. I struggle a lot with change and getting up and taking them to school on a schedule is what I have done for the past 8+ months. And the summer before I knew we'd take a break and then be back. It is hard for me to say goodbye to people I care about not knowing when I will see them again. And maybe my thyroid is just being weird on top of it all making me feel worse, I don't know. But it has been a little rough. So I just snuggled with my boys all morning and that helped. We put Claire down for a nice nap (didn't have to be anywhere, yea!) and played Mario Party on the wii. And the kids can stomp me even when I am really trying. But that was fun. Today we went to the gym for the best Prozac one can have, running. I was worried to leave Claire in the daycare for the first time but she did okay I guess. They said she wanted to be held the whole time but didn't seem bothered by it and she was happy the rest of the morning, so I guess that was a success. It is still hard for me to leave her but I think my physical and mental fitness are worth it. And running it out did help, I am feeling better. Not 100% but better. Looking forward to a full summer of activities and the most imminent of all, my brother's wedding in one week. I am so excited for him and Michelle, can't believe it is finally happening. :)

DisneyWorld!

2011-05-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

I am amazed, I added all the pics and they actually came out correctly, in order, without big gaps, hurray! And yes there are many many pics--less than the 179 that I took, but yes many. If you want the condensed version (also the video of when we surprised the kids, watch the video below):

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

If you want the whole story--here goes! So Lowell and I got up early (4:30 am) and finished loading the car. I had been packing and loading on the sly for most of the previous day. I went down to get the kids and just told them it was time to get up and ready for school. They were pretty drowsy but easy enough to get dressed. Carter kept saying it was dark outside and everyone was still asleep but took me at my word that it was time for school. I sent them upstairs where they found their Mickey hats, Donald/Goofy toys, and maps of the parks (which they will send you free from their website and they are very nice maps). They were excitedly looking through them but hadn't put anything together yet. So I told them we weren't going to school, we were going to DisneyWorld. They were of course excited, though not as exuberant as I thought they'd be, probably due to it being 5 am. So we loaded up, late of course and rushed to the airport.

I mixed up the time of our flight so we were in a pretty big rush but had to catch this shot of my cuties hustling through the airport. I just love it!
We made the flight:
And we did okay that first leg. Time just stands still on airplanes I've decided. I packed a lot for the kids to do and they only got up to use the restroom 3 or 4 times I think. Claire slept for some of it but was still a wrestle and managed to cover me in baby food. We switched planes in Atlanta and grabbed some food (I love the Southern hospitality!)
Miss Cyndel in Atlanta--then we were stuck on the runway for an hour in high winds, which later became major tornados that killed some people. We were lucky to get out. That flight was decent though the boys tiredness was catching up with them (and us) and only got worse waiting in Orlando for the rental car. I was losing it quickly and it was so darn hot already! We finally got out of the airport and over to the wonderful condo my brother provided and it was so nice to have a real place to crash. I was ready to just put my cranks to bed but we hated to waste the time so we cleaned up and headed out to the Magic Kingdom. It takes forever to get anywhere in Disneyworld I have decided--we had to drive the 10 minutes from the condo, then park, then take a tram, then a ferry, and then we could enter the park. Sheesh. It was fun going in on a boat though, the kids got such a kick out of it and were so excited of course. The giant castle (so much bigger and more majestic than in Cali) glowed pink awaiting our arrival. We got there late enough that the park wasn't that busy any more and we caught some good rides that first stop. Pirates of the Caribbean first (Disneyland's is better), Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, caught dinner in a restaurant overlooking it's a small world, then saw the fireworks (my fav part of that stop), Dumbo, Buzz Lightyear, and the Stitch ride. Back home to crash at 1 am.
Fireworks and best brothers
Sissy zonked out with a toy still in her mouth. Flushed cheeks, it's 80 degrees at midnight, and humid!

We slept in the next morning, not intentionally but we were so wiped out. Hurried out the door for our only day at Epcot, and a full, long, hot day it was. We knew it would be hot but it was still hard to prepare for when it was snowing at home. We dressed cool, brought water and sunscreen but were still totally baked every day. Poor Claire didn't know what to do with such heat.

Davis holding the Epcot ball
The crew

We headed off in search of fast passes, then off to ride the Nemo ride. It was fun, the line wasn't bad and I especially enjoyed that they incorporated live fish into the ride. The building it was in also had dolphins and lots more to see and play with.

The boys and I in a shark!
Then they met Chip and Dale, Tom and Dale to Carter for some reason??

We found the Coca Cola free soda from around the world shop and spent a fair amount of time cooling off in there, multiple times. We rode a Living with the land ride which was really very interesting, about different ways to grow food--not a fast paced ride but quite intriguing. We saw Claire's very favorite thing in the whole of DisneyWorld, Figment. He's a little characer in a figment of your imagination ride that kept her laughing the whole time. I don't know why. Then some of us rode Soaring while Lowell, I and Claire did Nemo again, her 2nd fav thing. Then we took the boys on Soaring again (I love love that ride!) while the rest went to get more fast passes. But how to meet again was confused and the cell phones died, so that was a bummer of a wait but then we headed over to get some pics with characters:

Love this pic of Lowell with his baby girl!

Then off to explore the lands. Epcot has a world showcase with areas for several countries each with shops, dining, and deco to match that country. There were a couple of rides too. By this point we we starving so the focus was getting some food. It was also as mentioned, so hot. We had brats in Germany, snow cones in Thailand/Japan, croissants in France, and Fish and Chips in England. There was a lot of neat things to see but it took so long to walk and we were so tired and hot we didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked. It's something I could easily come back and spend a couple of days just with Lowell walking through. I also had the on-going struggle of finding a good place to feed the baby. They have baby centers with private nursing rooms, or so I read, I never did use one. There is just one in each park and it was always quite far from where I was when the baby needed to eat. So I improvised in pretty much any quiet corner I could find.

Carter holding the little Epcot ball
C&D in England
Claire at a park, happy to be fed and out of her stroller
The boys playing at a park. Each park had little play areas for free play time and the boys took advantage of them all. As much as they enjoy rides, that also involved a lot of running around and then waiting in lines. This gave them a chance to unwind and play on their own for a little bit. And the sun was headed down putting it in the shade. Next we bustled off to do more of future world, specifically Test Track. One of my fav rides of the whole trip, it was a blast! Then I took the boys to see more characters, Rob and Cyn and the baby went to get a spot for the fireworks, and Hillary and Lowell went to get sick on Mission Space. I think the boys did the best with that swap:

It took until after the Illuminations show started for the boys to finish but that was a major priority for them. And it meant less waiting in line later. I would like to have seen more of the show but what I saw was cool. We lost the advance group in that mess and did not find them again for another hour--we were better with cell phones the rest of the trip. Who knew what we really needed was my plain, simple, battery never dies phone. I figured we had enough fancy smart phones so I left mine home. Lowell put the kids to bed and the rest of us went for some groceries so we would have food the rest of the week. There was a lot of tired whining involved.

We slept in again and got a late start off to Animal Kingdom

Clairey baby just loves to stand

Since we were there late we spent a lot of time trying to get fast passes that were already gone. And Animal Kingdom is huge, land mass wise and had multiple school groups there. Plus they have it decorated to look as if you are in Asia, Africa, etc. which added together to just seem hot, crowded, and dirty. Not my favorite day. What we did get to do was fun though.

Riding the train to the conservation station
Before we lost Davis, but found him again. They did enjoy petting the lambs and such. We split up after that as my sibs wanted to do Everest but I was unwilling to wait in the line. My fam went off to see some animal walks and do the safari.
Us and the tree of life
What Claire thought of the safari. I thought it was fun and the boys got into the backstory of poachers and such. The jungle walk was nice as well, cooler in the shade with some pretty fish and a moderately quiet place to feed the baby. Then we headed over to the dinosaur area which didn't have a lot to do, but the Dinosaur ride was a big hit with us and the boys.
Then my sibs took the boys to see It's a Bug's Life (very fun show) while Lowell and I did Everest with no line since it was just about closing time.
It was a lot of fun, I hate drops so I was worried but it wasn't too much to handle and the story of it was just fun. Loved it. Animal Kingdom closes early so it was nice to have some down time finally, get the kids down and clean at a decent hour and then even though we had already had dinner, we went and got some Chevy's take out as well. We can't get it in Utah any more and it was fun to sit up with the kids down and devour that food. I think it was that day that we took the kids to play for a little while in the hotel pool as well. Claire's first time in a pool, she loved it. The rest of us enjoyed cooling off as well.

Next we headed to Hollywood Studios, pretty close to on time actually. There are less rides there and more shows, which is good and bad. The kids liked the Indiana Jones show, probably less the back lot tour. It was only okay, Univeral does it so much better. They got to meet Mike and Sully though:

And Mater
We had lunch reservations for Mama Melrose's because of a deal for Fantasmic priority seating advertised on the website. We get there and you have to get an appetizer, drink, entree, and dessert to get that deal, at least $35/person. Yikes! And they take your credit card info just to get the reservation and will charge you if you don't eat so then we had to stay. We didn't do the Fantasmic deal though, just an entree each. It was not a good thing, the food was mediocre at best, I liked my brother's, did not care for mine at all. The waitress was borderline awful. But there was cold water when she'd bring it and it was cool inside and we were sitting down. Over $100 later we learned our lesson. But the manager did come and visit with the boys who charmed her up and down. We left with 2 pins and light up Buzz Lightyears--she was the best employee we met the whole time, what a great lady. There were a few exemplary employees, but for the most part we were down-right shocked by the service there. Disneyland has spoiled us, everyone there is so wonderful and make the whole visit magical. Some of these folks just looked like they hated life and acted like they hated you. It was very disappointing.

Lucky for fast passes we got to do the Toy Story Mania ride which had a crazy line and then ran to do the Jedi Training Academy. My camera battery was dying so Rob has my pics of that, I'll post them later. The kids love loved it though. They fought with Darth Vader and Darth Maul, what's not to love?! We then caught the light, motor, action show which was fun and exciting (cars doing fun stunts) and then the Beauty and the Beast show.

Rob and Claire girl

Hill and I took the kids while the rest did Rockin Roller Coaster, we went to go meet Buzz and Woody but the line was crazy too long. Then I went back with Lowell and rode it, again going beyond my comfort zone but I actually liked it a lot. I am braver than I think! The rest headed off to Tower of Terror (not that brave!) and I mozied back with the kids after they played in the Honey I shrunk the kids play area. We got an ice cream while we waited, before:
After:
We were waiting for Fantasmic and Lowell and I were hurrying in just to find out they were down to standing room only. We went in anyway but I just couldn't bear to stand up any longer and we were all hot, tired, and cranky so we just went home.

Okay--day 2 of journaling our adventure, which really was fun and magical despite the tone of my post. I always tell people when they go to Disney to not expect it to be amazing every minute, but do expect to have amazing memories. Anywho--at this point in the trip we had been to each park once and were headed back for part 2. Yes you need at least 2 days in each park, more would be better. Even with what we had and the break-neck speed we did it in there was still a lot left undone in every park. But we had to go back to work sometime.

Sunday brought us back to Animal Kingdom. Having done a lot of it already we took a slower turn through it, arriving late and heading straight to the rapids ride we missed before. While waiting for the fastpass time to come up, we did the nearby Jungle Tour.

And saw giant bats, they were amazing though massive. And the pics didn't show up here, it's in the video though, then we saw tigers and gorillas. So many beautiful gorillas including a baby. I loved it--our zoo is lacking in that department. Then we braved the rapids which were altogether too short, the comparable ride at Disneyland is longer and more complete if you ask me. It seemed the only mission of this one was too get you drenched, which especially in Davis's case, did happen. Next we saw the Finding Nemo the musical production and it was pretty spectacular. Lowell wasn't impressed, but I loved it. The kids were into it (and it was air conditioned which is lacking at Animal Kingdom). Probably my favorite show at Disneyworld. Nice mix of song and puppets, doesn't sound as cool as it was. Off to do Dinosaur again and for me feed sissy (best quiet feeding spot the whole trip, sitting in a prehistoric jungle, in the shade, watching squirrels play).

The boys got to go play in the free play area there shortly after and it was a fun place--slides, little waterfall, footprints that make dino noises when you step on them, an excavation dig site and my fav of all--all these free play areas are completely enclosed and the one entrance is monitored so you do have to go in with them but then you can sit and let them tear around without worrying about losing them. A fair amount of this trip was trying to contain/find the boys who were easily distracted/excited.

Claire in the prehistoric forest, I love it!
Then we did Dinosaur again and Lowell and I caught Everest just before the park closed (no line!) In fact we did it twice and then my sibs did it twice all in the last 30 minutes. What a hoot of a ride! That night Lowell made a great dinner and we had some time to just chill.

Monday was Magic Kingdom again--Carter was psyched up for it:

He is so funny

Waiting for their first "real" roller coaster, Thunder Mountain railroad
Hill and I on the ride, cute pic! They loved it and yes, so did I. This is one of my all-time favorites and it was even more fun at DW than DL.
Have to get a lot of castle shots in
We got the boys lanyards for their pins this day and they had a lot of fun trading them. They met Stitch while half the group did Space Mountain--it's 44" to ride at DW, compared to 40" at DL, so they missed it there last time and here this time. Next time for sure! I enjoyed it though, even though it is rougher than at DL. It is also one of my favs.
Blurry shot of the fam, you kind of get the idea. My camera takes a little getting used to and having others take the pic doesn't often work. We picked up a few more fast passes, caught the people mover, saw a walking, talking garbage can and then headed back to the hotel. The plan was to have lunch/dinner there and get a nap and then catch the late night at the park, it was open until 1 am. We drove a bit out of the way to get some Long John Silver's--mmm. Naps weren't terribly effective for my family and I think we headed back crankier than we left but at least it was significantly cooler and the lines dropped dramatically after the fireworks as well. I hate waiting in lines so we did a lot of manage them. Did pretty much everything and never waited longer than 25 minutes. Back again we did the jungle cruise, then all but Carter, Claire and I did Splash Mountain. I hate the drop and Carter decided not to go, he said he didn't want to get wet, but brave Davis went and said that he loved it. Then we did Thunder Mountain again, saw some of the Electrical Parade, and headed to the Haunted Mansion (the new ending part is really cool by the way). The kids weren't into seeing it again so Hill and I (thanks for being my buddy with them so much Hill) took them to see a fun music show (I can't place the name just now) but it was fun, we also walked under the big castle and headed to do Buzz Lightyear, Davis somehow got over 300,000 points, rock on kid and then to Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory. (Oh we saw fireworks a bit in there as well, and the Swiss Family Treehouse and we did Pirates again during the day--great place to breastfeed the baby actually). The boys thought it was hillarious and I am still impressed with how they work the animation. Davis was chosen to be spoken to and he was very into it. We came out ready to go for something else only to find it was 1 am already. Bummer. Goodbye Magic Kingdom, we love you--so glad we have one just like you but with things closer together and friendlier employees just a 10 hr car ride away.

Claire is passed out solid.
And then Carter too, he is heavy!

Tuesday back to Hollywood. My little fam headed out early to get signed up for the Jedi Academy again (already booked, bummer-who knew Tuesday would be so much busier than Saturday?), go see Buzz and Woody (wrong again, line longer and with fewer characters to see), and pick up a couple of fast passes, which yes we did accomplish. Kind of a hot waste of a morning except Lowell got a corn dog and the kids got to wait in line for this:

Handy Manny was awesome by the way, funnest character meeting we had. I told the boys to turn around (face the camera) and Manny did (facing the corner), he was cute and fun with them. They get such a kick out of meeting characters though I think the time is fading, Carter told me after he thinks it is just a costume and he could see the person inside Pluto. Some debate about the Easter Bunny too--sheesh, slow down kid!

But next we did what I was looking forward to for days, head to the beach. It was almost 2 hours there and about 5 tolls but I really wanted to see the Atlantic from the US side (having seen it from Holland on the European side). We stopped and got Boston Market (yeah!) thinking it would be great to have a picnic lunch at the beach. What was I thinking? There was sand in everything--I finished in the car. Silly me. But the beach was nice, it wasn't very busy, the water was warm and the sound of the waves hitting the shore soothing. After days packed with people in the parks it was a nice respite. We didn't stay too long as the rip tide warning was worrying us with how far the kids kept going out regardless of our attempts. Someday they'll learn the joy of just laying on the beach in the sun. Sigh, some day. But I love love beach pics in the meantime.

We headed back to Hollywood, missed the first showing of Fantasmic but I loved the chance to do Rockin Roller Coaster again and I think the sibs enjoyed Tower of Terror again. Then we waited (and waited and waited) for Fantasmic. The baby was done and fussy, the kids tired and disobedient, the weather still freaking hot despite it being past 10, and the crowd so confining--it was probably the worst part of the whole vacation. The show was okay, marred by the lousy wait to get in. We hurried and did some shopping and then headed out, goodbye Disneyworld:

Goodbye beautiful view from our condo
The return trip was just okay, the boys really did fantastic and we lucked out when we had to transfer as we only had to go to the very next gate (and we had so short a time to do it, it was very lucky). The boys slept on the way back and I caught a few episodes of Friends and even won a round on trivia against my fellow travelers but it was still such a l o n g flight, especially wrestling a baby who was sick of sitting for so very long. She slept a little but it was a challenge. And I just hate the feeling of being in a little tube so helpless and so packed in. It was a great time to start thinking about how I hate the feeling of falling, so how much would I hate to fall in this airplane? It just seemed like time stood still. Although Davis was already asking what "else" we were going to do that day. Yep, he never stops.
Home again, Carter shows off his pin collection.

The dogs were thrilled to see us, the temperature (50 degrees) was amazing and we all just enjoyed some space to ourselves and time to unwind. Of course we picked up pretty quickly, but that is for another post. All in all it was a wonderful trip and I have to give so very much thanks to my wonderful siblings. Robbie made this trip possible financially and the 3 of them made it possible physically. We would not have been able to do it without their help and patience with the kids. Thank you guys, we love you so much!

Spring Break and Easter

2011-04-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

You have got to be kidding me!?! I was trying to hurry and get a post off as I want to have this done before we leave for Disneyworld in the early am and I have been working on it off an on for a couple hours at work and then I posted it and it said it couldn't process my request. So, it just deleted the whole thing. Argh! So here's the abbreviated version.
Had a good Spring break-Monday, park, Tuesday, zoo with Hillary, Weds, gardens with my mom, Thursday Classic Fun Center with Lowell, thanks to faboo coupon, and Friday Rango (hated it) and Red Butte Gardens. Pics from Weds:

Dyed Easter eggs

Experimented with photography

Made Shrinky Dinks

Easter Egg Hunt with twin club

Easter egg hunt with the ward

Gardens with my family

Dinner and egg hunt with my fam

Easter morning

Yes I made the tutu dress, and you know if I made it, it can't be very hard to do.

Easter dinner and egg hunt with Lowell's fam

Very full and exciting spring break and Easter. Sorry so short--I am long winded normally anyway. More to come from our big trip!

On the go

2011-04-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

When are we ever not on the go? Someday maybe we'll slow down or get a homebody child, but even Claire loves to go go go so for now I continue to just try to keep up. And somehow I keep picking up new passes that are ever farther from home, so more to explore this summer I guess! We have been loving up Thanksgiving Point as always and being thrilled to have the gardens open again, but somehow I did not bring my camera to capture any of those moments. We were there for opening day and I did so enjoy being back. The boys ran and ran and my mom and I strolled while Claire sat and slept happily in her stroller. It wasn't fantastic weather, but do-able. We are still anxiously waiting for spring to really come. As it is snow is falling waiting for me to swear at it when I get out of work. We had exactly one amazing weather day and then woke up to 2 inches of snow the next day. And of course I was at work for the good weather. Oh well, they say with Spring in Utah if you don't like the weather wait a few minutes. We're waiting! We also spent a nice evening at the children's garden. So nice to let the kids of their "tether" a little bit. To be able to run free where I feel they are safe. We all know both gardens so well and it helped that we were the only ones braving the weather that day. We love the off season for how quiet our favorite places are. The boys continue to enjoy preschool. They had a plant week and made themselves into lovely flowers: They also planted some seeds which we have enjoyed watching them grow. This week was food week and of course a big hit. We also caught the chance to hit Trafalga with A&A

C & A--Carter is quite the little climber. They also enjoyed laser tag and mini golfing and Reva and I enjoyed visiting of course. They were kind enough to have us over to their house to play this week as well.

Claire baby has begun to feed herself--she really loves to eat any way it comes. She becomes such a messy little thing that I just have to snap away. :)

Lowell had a rough week last week finding out that a close friend of his passed away. We attended his services and continue to miss him. He and Claire share a nickname--Squishy.

This April Fool's I decided the boys were old enough to enjoy a bit of a joke. So we made up a fun faux dinner for them:

Airhead veggies, cookies/cornflakes/peanut butter fish sticks, meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting, and cake pizza. They got such a kick out of it, it really was fun. They had heard about it at school and Davis went around informing us all that we were "fools". :o) That day Lowell got his own April Fool's joke discovering after we were all dressed with a babysitter and temple bags in hand that his recommend had expired the day before. Oy. And our stake presidency is being reorganized so we'll catch that another time. Thanks to Dinda who sat with the kids anyway while we went to celebrate "mission day"--the anniversary of his leaving on his mission. We enjoyed pizza and wings (at Pier 49 care of a City deal) in honor of Buffalo.

We enjoyed Spring conference as well, as much as parents of young children can. I was working through all the sessions and I am certain I got more out of it than Lowell was able to. What I caught I really enjoyed and need to start reading them again. It did inspire me, if nothing else, that I want to go to the Rome temple. My dad served his mission there so it seems like a fantastic family trip! I enjoyed priesthood session with my little sisters and the kids at Farm Country. Thanks Hill and Cyn for including me in your girl's night even if I have a following that come along.

Claire loved this baby chick--and then my camera died. I missed her first pony ride which she just loved. And the goats and horses and cows. She loves animals! She was a bit cranky though--she hasn't been sleeping great since getting 2 teeth. I hate teething. She got 1 March 26th and the other the next morning.

Monday this week we enjoyed having Hillary and my mom home and made a trek out to Red Butte Gardens. Hill gets a pass through work and since we love the Thanksgiving Point gardens so much we decided to test this one out. It was different than my beloved gardens, older, more established, more natural. It has hikes into the natural surroundings and is open year round. I certainly won't say I prefer it yet but we did have a good time and I got a pass to enjoy it throughout the upcoming year. I look forward to exploring its reaches.

C in the Children's garden--he posed himself, what a photogenic fellow

Big D--the snowman sweaters were a nod to the snow that fell that morning. Might as well get another wear out of them.

Playing with the giant lizards

Claire in their little kiddo hut

Us on a swing--TP gardens need these! I love swings!

Claire just loves her feet . . .

This was their idea too--I was worried it was too much weight for the antlers, but no big deal. An ice cream cone on the way home and we were all worn out. It was a fun day! Hillary even stayed that night so Lowell and I could go out again. We're so spoiled. Yummy chili's. Bummer the real reason we needed to go out was to replace our burned out microwave. Sheesh our house is falling apart.

Wednesday the kids had earned the requisite quarters to earn them a trip to a place where they could spend them, this time Chuck E Cheese, thanks to another City deal. I hope they post this one again, what a good deal--my $8 gave us $20 in tokens, and they accepted a coupon on top of that so the boys had 115 tokens to blow. And each game only takes 1 so they played for a good while. The prize selection wasn't vast but I felt there were decent choices for the amount of tickets they had. They were nevertheless hard to please in that department but still had a great time playing the games and meeting the big man himself! We'll be back.

Scoring against Daddy on air hockey

A pic from a photo booth--love it! And still just one token.

And I finally took Claire's 6 month shots--the bunny had smoothie spilled on it and it took a while to get him adequately washed.

Don't you crawl little Squish--2.5 weeks until our trip to Florida we are actively trying to keep this girly non-mobile!

At 6 months Claire, you love food, your brothers, and animals. Your favorites are pears and carrots and water. You will try to get anyone with a drink to share with you. You love any chance to feed yourself. I gave you a safety feeder with a banana in it and you devoured that thing. You just started on little puffs and freeze dried fruit and love to mash things around with your mouth. You like to crunch your little rice crackers with your 2 little teeth. Every morning when I come to get you you kick your feet and breathe fast, indicating your excitement. That joy brightens all who know you. We call you velcro hands because you grab everything! You especially love paper and can maul a newspaper in no time. Your favorite toy is still Baby Kate, you light up anytime you see her. You also enjoy time in the jumperoo and exersaucer--tips Dr Cornish gave us to delay you from crawling Miss busy-body. You are so very active--you were inside of me and really have hardly slowed down. We can't seem to get you to nap well these days even though you sleep really well at night. Just too much to see and do I guess. You shriek loudly and continuously though when you aren't you are usually saying mamamama. You love your doggies and smile whenever they are around, the same is true of your brothers. You dislike being put down for bed, being left alone or out of sight, and teething. We are crazy in love with you! Dr. Cornish said you are growing very well and weighed 16 lbs 11 oz at your appt.

Davis and Carter boy turned 5 and a half on Weds as well. At 5.5 C&D you are such silly vibrant little boys. You love SpongeBob everything (even though I hate it) but are coming around to my fav cartoon, Animaniacs. You still prefer "noodles and cheese" to just about anything else. You like waffles, yogurt, cereal, and eggs at breakfast, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, and sandwiches with chips at lunch, and pretty much just don't eat dinner. Cheese is also a highlight and all things sweet--fruit snacks, popsicles, candy. You are wonderful big brothers and Claire is so enamored by you. You are smart little boys progressing well with reading, writing, and beginning math. Fine motor is still your biggest challenge but you are both improving, able to write your names well now. You enjoy all your electronic gadgets: wii, gameboy advance (you call it a DIS), mobigo, leapster, and most recently the ipad (you call it the big special). You also love to ride bikes and jump on the trampoline and really climb anything you can. You are best friends even though you also fight often. You have more energy than anyone could ever contain. I am so excited planning all sorts of fun for your summer. You hate bedtime, sharing, and not getting your way. You fuss about going to school but like it once you are there. You are the most charming boys I have ever met. We love you forever!

That's about it for us. The only other thing occupying my mind the past couple of weeks has been reading the Hunger Games. I just finished book 3--that's all 3 in a week and a half. I did enjoy them, hence the fast read. I hate that though, books I really enjoy just pass by too quickly. I think I will go back and read them again. The first is my fav though I do feel more complete having read them all now. The 3rd just has too much sad twisted things happen. The characters are so broken by the end it is a difficult read. I would like to have a happy fairy tale ending, but that wouldn't be true to the story either. The last couple pages did save it from utter despair however. And as love triangles go, I got what I wanted which always improves the story in my eyes ;).