Mini Vacation

This weekend we took a mini family vacation. We had a free night stay at a Marriott and we decide to take the kids all the way to Lehi, UT. Whitney had Friday off of school so Aaron took the day off and we surprised the kids. We spent the day at Thanksgiving Point. We went to the children's gardens, the Cornbelly pumpkin festival, the Farmers Market. They loved staying at the hotel. Such a novelty for them. They especially loved going swimming at the hotel and going down to the lobby for breakfast in the morning. You should have seen how much food Cassidy had. She wanted some of everything.

We were planning on watching the first session of General Conference at the hotel, but decided after two hours in that small room in the morning that it was time to leave. Grant was stuffing fruit loops into the radiator, C&L were chasing each other all over, the three of them went around getting into everything they could. The one day vacation is just right for our kids. We get to have lots of fun together, but it isn't a long drawn out vacation that we all end up frustrated and annoyed with each other.

Fall

We took a drive through Provo Canyon to enjoy the beauty of this season. The window of time to see it is so short, I wish it lasted longer. I also wish I could capture it better with a camera. You'll just have to take my word for it - it was beautiful.

Life as a 16 month old

Grant turned 16 months old yesterday. This age is such an exhausting age. Yesterday as I came across the toilet paper unwound and dragged everywhere I decided I would follow him around for a little while and try to enjoy his age instead of be frustrated by it.

We first head downstairs. He loves to stand right at the edge of the stairs to freak me out that he is going to fall and then suddenly turn around and go down the right way. Just to mess with me. Then he heads straight for something to stand on. He uses this chair as leverage to other things like the coach and the entertainment center which he likes to climb inside of. He also loves Whitney's room. He is often found there sitting on top of her vanity putting on lip gloss and coloring all over with markers. Maybe if she cleaned her room up there would be less for him to get into -just a thought.

Once upstairs we head for the kitchen table. This is what he does most of the day. In fact I think he is there right now. . . . Hey, I was right. Sitting there enjoying the rest of Cassidy's snack. I think the Japanese figured out a solution to this problem - just have the table low to the floor and no chairs to climb on.

He loves backpacks and bags. He carries them around all over the house. I think I am going to get him his own backpack for Christmas.Later on, someone (dad) left the front door open and he tried to escape. Aaron thought it was strange when I said - wait I want to take a picture.I raised the garbage can up a little so that he will stop throwing things away.

Not pictured would be the frequent problem of Grant grabbing a hold of Cassidy's glasses and bending them all out of shape. I was in the middle of making dinner and wasn't able to grab the camera. Gotta love this age. :)

Tra La La . . .

On Sunday Cassidy started singing this song in her "funny voice." For some reason I found it hilarious. Since I laughed, she continued singing this over and over. I finally recorded it because I thought it was funny. No one else probably will, but I decided to post it anyway. Enjoy!

A whole lot of crap

As I was getting out of the shower this morning I hear Aaron calling my name for help. Apparently Grant was awake and had a major blow out. Aaron is supposed to be out the door already for his 7:30am meeting. I get a robe on and take over. It required a bath and a load of laundry. Sheets, blankets, changing table pad cover, pj's. After getting all of that cleaned up I am way behind on my schedule to get out the door for 9:00am church. I usually shower the night before but for some reason forgot last night, so this was already putting me behind.

I managed to get everyone there with about 20 seconds to spare. As we were getting out of the car Cassidy tells me that she now has a major hole in her tights. Right on the front of the leg. About 1 minute into the meeting I realize I forgot Grant's pacifier - AKA at church - the plug. We really can't get through a meeting without it. About 10 minutes into the meeting I realize that I had forgotten the snack bucket for Lindsey's nursery class. About 15 minutes into the meeting Cassidy is pleading that she has to go to the bathroom. Grant is soooooooo loud that I decide to take Grant & Cassidy and run home so that I can get the plug, the bucket and Cassidy can go to the bathroom and change her tights. I get back for the last 10 minutes of the meeting. I sort of feel guilty for leaving - but who am I kidding - I would have been in the hall with Grant anyway.
After Sacrament Meeting we usually divide up - I take the kids who have to go to the bathroom and Aaron takes Grant and anyone left. I get Whit & Cass to their classes and catch up with Aaron in class. Right as I walk in he hands Grant to me and says he needs to be changed since I conveniently had the diaper bag. So I don't even sit down and head to the bathroom. We get that cleaned up and start heading back to class and he decides to go again. So we turn around and go back to bathroom. We finally make it back to class. Aaron got a turn about 20 minutes later.
A few minutes into R.S. he has another major blow out. This one required a change of clothes. The one bathroom with a changing table in the entire church (what is with that) had a line so I take him to my next changing spot of choice - the bench in the handicap bathroom that is used for the Baptism font. I get him mostly cleaned up and stand him on the floor to get his shirt off. I suddenly hear this strange noise and look down to discover he has just peed all over the floor. (I know he is a boy, but he never does that.) I'm sure the other people were wondering what I was doing as I keep getting more and more paper towels to clean things up. But as I walked out with Grants clothes in one hand and him in just his diaper, you could pretty much get the idea. Luckily I had a backup outfit that I always keep in my car for just such an occasion. I managed to catch about 10 minutes of Relief Society before he goes again. I had to go back out to the car because at this point I am out of diapers and I had given my wipes to my friends husband who couldn't find theirs. Thank goodness for my backup diaper bag that I always keep there, it really came in handy today. I decided to not go back in for the last 5 minutes and just gathered up my kids and went home.
I really don't think he is sick - since those in my ward are thinking great, I was just exposed to this. If you read my previous post about the trouble he was having, I think things are just moving now. It is one extreme or the other with him. I've only had to change him once since we got home.
Sorry about all the posts about this, but that seems to be my life. I promise to keep it clean next time.

A Week in Photos

Whitney's first day of school - It was such an emotional day I can't even begin to blog about it.

Lindsey's First Day of Preschool -It was at our house this time, but we took a picture anyway.

Whitney's Birthday

Dad always buys his girls flowers on their birthday.

Whitney decided last mintue that she wanted a birthday cake. At first she said she didn't like cake, then when the final hour came - "But mom, it's my birthday, I have to have a cake" So she got a store bought cake. I should just always do that.

Grant really enjoyed Whitney's cake.

Whitney's Friend Birthday Party

We went with a Hannah Montana theme this year. Surprise!

Here is a video clip, in case you ever wondered what it is like to have a birthday party with a bunch of girls. There is a lot of giggling and screaming - it was very loud. I still have a headache.

Swimming with our family for Whitney's birthday.

We were supposed to go on Wednesday but couldn't fit it in.

One small step for one small man

I think Grant is finally walking. Yeah! He has been able to take steps for a couple of weeks, but has preferred the mode of crawling. Today I think he has transitioned to be a walking man. Of course he will prove me wrong tomorrow. Here is a little video clip.

Brown Thumb

We are nearing the end of August. It is harvest season. My garden has done horrible this year. I planted 7 tomato plants, one zucchini, carrots, 2 bell peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon, lettuce, peas, radishes. I also have raspberries, strawberries, apple tree, peach tree, pear tree.

Here is what we have harvested:

• About a dozen less than one inch tomatoes. Most of them are small marble sized. (The label said 2" tomatoes - wrong! more like 2 millimeters) My plants are huge, I keep cutting back the greens because they are overtaking our garden but no fruit.
• Lettuce, Radishes and peas did really well in the spring.
• Raspberries had a good crop early on, but nothing now.
• Strawberries, pathetic
• Peach - we'll probably get two dozen peaches, he is still young.
• Apple tree - not a single apple. He is excused though because we moved him and peach this year.
• Zucchini - plant is growing, but no fruit
• Peppers - plant is growing, but no fruit
• Pear - died
• Watermelon - died
• Cantaloupe - died, but suddenly there is new growth - strange. I don't think there is time to get any fruit out of it.
  I am trying to figure out what went wrong this year. Our garden has done really well in the past. Is it over watering? Is it under watering? There is some over spray from the lawn in a few places, but not everywhere. Is it a lack of bees? I hear that is an issue these days. Is it the heat? Am I just not good at gardening? I'm very disappointed. Nothing beats fresh produce from the garden.

11 years

Today we celebrate our 11 year anniversary. For our ten year we had great plans, we were going to go to Hawaii, or maybe a cruise. But Grant was just three months old and still nursing, so we said, "For sure we will go on a cruise or somewhere for our 11 year." Instead of a cruise, we are celebrating our anniversary by taking our kids to Lagoon. Doesn't get more romantic than that! Lagoon Day at Aaron's work just happened to fall on our anniversary. We haven't been there for years and since we are too cheap to pay for Lagoon ourselves - this is what we get to do. It will actually be fun because we get to spend the day together. Next weekend we get to go out on a real date by ourselves.I am very blessed to be married to my best friend who is such a wonderful, loving husband. I am grateful that we get to spend eternity together.

The Eternal Summer

I am now beginning to see the beauty of year round school. This summer is never going to end! I think a two month summer would be just perfect.
We accomplished a lot of things the first two months. We kept with my plan to go to a new library each week. Draper Library wins for best library. South Jordan comes in a close second because of the water fountain outside. We went to Thanksgiving Point several times. We went to the splash park a few times. We went on the two vacations with our extended families. I think we had a great summer. Only problem is, it isn't over. We are all burned out of summer. We are pretty much bored of my master plan now. We still have a few fun things coming up - Lagoon, the Zoo.

Whitney still has three weeks until school starts. THREE WEEKS! You know how they say that kids forget most of the stuff they learn at school during the summer. It is true. Whit has an assessment test for school next week. I thought it would be good to refresh a little on her math facts (4+3, 5+6, 7+8 etc.) She has flashcards that she got in school last year that we had to practice all the time. It is a stack of about 75-100 cards, goes from plus or minus two to plus or minus ten. We used to be able to fly through it in 3 or 4 minutes. She couldn't remember a single card. It took us over 20 minutes to get through the stack. Needless to say she has a new job on her chart to practice everyday.

Luckily Cassidy started her preschool last week! She is loving going to school. It doesn't seem that long ago that we took Whitney. Kids are definitely different. With Whitney, we would get a detailed report of everything that happened at school that day. Cassidy - I barely get any info and that usually comes from questions asked about her artwork that she brought home. I do know that she loves it. She has her friend Abbi in there with her. I think it always helps to have a buddy when starting something new like that.