Memorial Day Weekend 2012

We decided to spend the long weekend in St. George this year. We normally go to my parents cabin that weekend but the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy/snowy there and it wasn't going to be crazy hot in Southern Utah, so we headed south. I'm glad we did because the weather was perfect - hot enough to go swimming every day but not hot enough that it was uncomfortable. Except for Sunday, we went swimming twice a day and both kids loved it! Last year Colton was timid in the water but this year he's doing awesome. He wears a life jacket but will swim the whole length of the pool and is ok being independent in the water. Kylie LOVED the water and kept trying to get in by herself. We went boating once and she kept trying to go overboard to get into the lake too. On Sunday we went to church and then took a scenic drive through Dixie State Park (beautiful!) and stopped to go on a few mini-hikes. It turned out to be an adventurous trip because Allen got a flat tire that we had to change and then our Jeep was really low on gas. We had to put it in neutral and coast a lot of the way to conserve the gas and we made it to the gas station with 2 miles to spare! Note to self: check the gas before taking "Sunday drives"!

All the cacti were in bloom and they were gorgeous!

Sally, Kylie and me.

A hummingbird made a nest on the wind chime. The nest was so tiny and cute!

Colton would only let us take a pic of him if he could hold Kylie.

This little contraption is supposed to help kids learn how to water ski. Kids can stand on it and get a feel for the balance but Colton just wanted to sit on it and ride it like a jet ski. I was just happy that he was brave enough to get out there by himself!

 

Friday Randoms 5/18/12

The kids in a hammock chair at my parent's cabin.

Enjoying the nice summer weather!

Colton loves running while we drive beside him. He can go for almost a mile until he tires out.

• I'm really loving the neighborhood that we moved in to last year, and I especially like our neighbors! Only half the homes in the neighborhood have fences and it makes it really easy for the kids to roam from backyard to backyard playing with each other. On Tuesday I set up the slip 'n slide and we were out there for 4 hours playing as kids just came and went playing. Lots of fun!
• April and I decided that since we aren't going on any vacations this summer that we should plan a bunch of "field trips" to take the kids on once a week throughout the whole summer. Go to places that are far (an hour or more away) and enjoy the day in new cities/places in Utah. Some examples of destinations are Hill Airforce Base Museum, the Union Pacific Train Museum, the Kids Art Festival in Springville, and Cascade Springs on the Alpine Loop. If you want to join us, let me know!
•  Kylie is getting so big and growing up too fast. I miss my newborn!! She's starting to let go of furniture and stand on her own for a few seconds, is eating table food, loves snacking on Cheerios, interacting with Colton a whole lot more when they play, can wave goodbye, loves watching the fish and penguins at the aquarium and would standing there banging on their tanks for hours if I'd let her, and when she wakes up she plays with her Clifford dog that she sleeps with for a few minutes for crying for me. Love her!
• I've been reading a lot of good books lately and I've been staying up late to finish them. Joe had to have an intervention with me the other night and told me I needed to have a break from reading for awhile. I agreed to not read another one until Monday, but I'm getting too antsy to wait any longer! It's like an addiction for me and I can just hear the library calling my name and wanting me to get more books to read. Can I really wait 4 more days?! April got me a book bag the other day that says "I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie" on it.....love it!

 

Friday Randoms 5/11/12

• Colton has somewhat grasped the concept of Mother's Day...at least the part where he's supposed to give me a gift. Every day this week he has given me a gift that he's thought of all on his own. So far I've received a handful of goldfish, an index card he cut up, and a dandelion. There's been two gifts that he's seen on TV that he really wants to get me too - a $150,000 yellow diamond ring that was appraised on Antiques Roadshow the other night (awesome!) and a pet hair remover. He's very insistent about the pet hair remover despite the fact that we don't have any pets. He also helped pick something out online with Joe and it's been delivered and he asks about 20 times a day if we can open it. Patience is not one of his virtues.
• I read a really awesome book this week called The Power of Habit that has made me think twice about my own habits and willpower. I have many bad habits, the main ones dealing with not eating so great. I want to apply the concepts in this book to my own life and hopefully change some of my bad habits into good ones.
• Today I'm finally getting around to planting my herb and sunflower garden! The herb garden is mine and the sunflowers will be Colton's. He really wants to grow things and I thought growing giant sunflowers would be fun for him because they grow fast and what kid doesn't think a 6 foot tall sunflower is cool?
•  My parents are in Paris and southern Portugal this week. My dad is there for some meetings and my mom is tagging along. I was jealous as they were sending us pics from Paris but then when they sent us pics of where they were staying in Portugal I became REALLY jealous. Don't you wish you were there right now?

 




 

Friday Randoms 5/4/12

•  Last week was Colton's last day of gymnastics. He has been taking a class with his two friends, Jacob and Emma, and we all decided to end now because we're signing the kids up for swimming and soccer. Colton really improved in his gymnastic skills over the past year and it helped him to be a lot more coordinated. I don't foresee an Olympic career in his future with this sport, but he did a great job at learning various techniques. His favorite things to do where handstands, forward and backward rolls, climbing the rope, jumping on the tramp (they have specific things to do on the tramp), jumping into the foam pit, swinging on the uneven bars, and learning how to do a cartwheel. Least favorite - the balance beam. He didn't like anything about that.
• This week I got to go on a three mile hike with the Cub Scouts and it really made me think about how blessed I am to live near mountains. The views were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and there was sign posted that warned us of mountain lions which made it more adventurous! I didn't grow up with mountains and didn't think it was a big deal, but now that I've lived in UT for so long, I can't imagine not living near them the rest of my life.
• My sister Jill and I started a diet this week. We're doing the Six Week Body Makeover and so far we're doing good! We started on Tuesday and have both lost 6 pounds. On the downside, I've had a headache since Wednesday because my body is unhappy that I'm not giving it caffeine and sugar anymore. Hopefully that goes away soon! 
• Kylie is going through a phase where she likes waking up in the middle of the night and screaming until I hold her. Nothing is wrong with her and she's not hungry, she just wants to be held. I always go in there and make sure she's ok then let her cry it out until she goes back asleep. That takes about an hour. Nothing like laying there in bed listening to your screaming baby for an hour every night! I really hope she gets over this soon.

Sunday Drive

We decided to take a family Sunday drive to Provo Canyon so we can enjoy the beautiful spring weather together. We have been spending all our Saturdays working on the yard and not get to relax, so I insisted we do it on Sunday. We had a really fun picnic near the river, the kids loved riding in the wagon together, and Colton and I enjoyed getting in the water at Bridal Veil Falls....even though the water is painfully cold!

Colton wanted to find shapes in the clouds.

Colton on a rock at the Falls.

Kylie might not look it, but she loved the wagon ride!

 

Joe's Camera

I finally remembered to upload pictures off of Joe's phone - there were 452 of them! Most of them are were taken by Colton of random things, but here are a few from the past 5 months :

This was a boulder that Colton liked climbing that we found on a hike in St. George. (Nov 2011)

Same hike, this time it was a hollowed out tree stump. (Nov 2011)

This was in the waiting room when Colton got his stitches for biking into Gpa Allen's truck. (Nov 2011)

Morning cuddle session (Dec 2011)

One of the many crazy outfits Colton puts together. He put on a swimsuit that has the floaties in them over his church clothes. (Dec 2011)

Some firemen accessories at Christmas. No idea why his underwear is on over his pajamas. (Dec 2011)

Cousin time at Temple Square. (Dec 2011)

Colton took this pic - not bad! (Feb 2012)

Right after Gma Velma's burial. (April 2012)

Dr. Colton giving Kylie a shot in her butt. (April 2012)

 

Picture Updates

My camera battery is dead (AGAIN! I think something is wrong with my camera). So here are some pics from other people of my kids in the past week. And one of these days I'm going to upload a ton of pics off Joe's iPhone too. He never does and I always forget.

Colton got a sand bucket kit from his Gma Gayle and he loves playing in the volleyball pit now so he can build sand castles.

Colton LOVES dress ups. He got this surgeon costume, a doctors coat, police officer, and fireman costumes from his Gma Gayle. Do you think he gets spoiled by her?

We were hanging out on the deck after dinner yesterday. I was whispering things in his ear to go and do to Aunt Kiki.

My cousin Melissa and I took the kids and Gpa B to the Tulip Festival. They were out of golf carts so we got a motorized scooter and Gpa B took turns taking them on rides.

Kylie at the park. She doesn't like the feel of grass so she'll only stay on the blanket.

 

Friday Randoms 4/20/12

• Colton loves playing games with us. His favorite has been Don't Break the Ice but yesterday he found a new favorite. We got Apples to Apples Jr. (which he calls Apples, Apples, Apples) and since Colton can't read, we made up our own rules. Joe and I pick a card out of our hand that we think Colton would like the most and then we both try to sell him on it. Colton then will explain to us what he likes or doesn't like about our choices and then picks a favorite. Hearing his explanations about what he likes/dislikes is hilarious. Joe and I were laughing so hard. Today he brought me some dice and said, "Let's play this game. You roll the dice and get points. Then you keep rolling and get more and more points!" Yeah, that was fun for about a minute.
• I hosted book club this past week for my current neighborhood and was nervous about what many of the older ladies would think of the upgrades to the house. They knew the previous homeowners really well and some had even hung out with her last weekend. My fear was that they didn't think we were "improving" the house but making it look worse. But everyone loved the new flooring, light fixtures, and colors I chose for the house and the previous homeowner's best friend said it looked much better. Yay!
•  Everyday, at least twice a day, I've been checking the classifieds for a wooden swing set and patio furniture for the past couple of months. For the swing set, they are usually too expensive and if they are within my budget they are sold within 10 minutes. No joke. This past Tuesday I was checking and saw that one was up that was WAY under my budget, it had been up for 15 minutes, and they would deliver! I called thinking there was no way I'd get it. The guy said someone was on his way to look at it and I decided to get agressive and said, "I'll buy it right now for an extra $50". SOLD! They delivered it but couldn't back their trailer into the backyard because it's been raining and it would have torn up the grass, so it's sitting in our front yard. I'm so excited to have it! Colton and his neighborhood friends have been out there playing on it for hours every afternoon. Joe is going to get it moved to the backyard this weekend. Now all I need to find is the right patio furniture for the right price.....
• I've been training for a 5k that I'll be running in a couple of weeks (and then I plan on doing a 10k in July) but I keep having setbacks. The latest has been tendonitis in my foot. I sprained my foot falling down the stairs when Colton was like a year old. That sprain turned into tendonitis and occasionally I get flare ups with it. Well, it turns out that all this running is not making my foot too happy and I spend almost every night with it iced and propped up. It's aggravating but at the same time it's making me think that maybe running just isn't my thing. I actually don't enjoy it at all, but I like the idea of running. If that makes sense. I think after this 5k I may just start focusing on biking and swimming for cardio. 

 

Friday Randoms 4/13/12

• Kylie's two top teeth have poked through her gums this week, she is A LOT more mobile, she's pulling herself up on furniture to stand up, and she puts everything she finds on the floor in her mouth. It's been a busy week! I didn't realize how hard it would be to keep the floor free from small debris that Colton leaves around. He's getting better about picking stuff up, but Kylie will still find things to choke on. I swear I've had to beat that child's back to get stuff out way more than I ever did for Colton. Kylie is also getting better about letting other people hold her. She even let my mom babysit her for 90 minutes this morning and she never cried! That's a pretty big deal for her. It just seems like this week she has grown up really fast. 
• Colton and I have also made some changes this week for the better. We had a really rough 2 months with each other - he was arguing and disobeying me at every turn and I was getting really impatient and wanted to give up parenting him. I recently read this book and decided to apply some of the ideas to our lives and I think it's made a big difference. I decided to really work on not making negative statements and specifically not saying the word "don't" and I can tell Colton is trying to listen better and obey. Life is so much better for the both of us now! 
• The Methodist church near my house does a really awesome consignment sale twice a year and I love going to it. I've gotten some awesome toys and always stock up on the upcoming seasons wardrobes. Today was the spring sale and I got both kids' lots of summer pajamas and plenty of shorts for Colton to wear. They're set now! I love hunting for a good deal and that's a wonderful place to go for one. 
• Our house is definitely a work in progress and we are slowly (as we can afford it) fixing things up. This week we ordered and received all new lighting fixtures for the majority of the house. We put in ceiling fans/lights in the bedrooms, kitchen, eating area and family room before moving in and so these lighting fixtures are for the rest of the house. Yay! I also bought a bench, made some artwork, and framed some pictures to finish decorating the family room. Slowly but surely this house is coming together.
• While Joe was sick and going to bed at 7pm every night, I had the whole evening for quite a few days to entertain myself. It was kinda fun! I decided to watch the pilot of Revenge and immediately got hooked. I watched every episode in 3 nights. I also started watching Missing, Scandal, and GCB. Great shows! But now that Joe is all better he doesn't want to watch some of these shows, so we'll have to see how I can keep up with them. Too many good TV shows and so little time to watch them. =)
• I've been going running every day and most of the time I do it at the gym on the indoor track. Last night there was an old woman, guessing she was in her 70s, and she was the fastest speed walker I've ever seen. Her speed walking was faster than almost everyone's jog (including my own) who was there. It was crazy! I want to be good at something like that when I'm her age.

Easter Morning

I only got pictures of Easter morning. Joe has pneumonia so he stayed home from church with Kylie, so there were no cute family Easter church pictures to be taken. I even had an Easter-y dress for Kylie....oh well. We had my sisters and mom over for dinner - my dad and Joe's parents were all out of town. We had ham (which my sisters said tasted like "Christmas"), potato salad, deviled eggs, roasted brussel sprouts, steamed carrots with dill, and garlic parmesan rolls. Jill made an ice cream cake and Carrie brought drinks. It was a delicious meal!

Colton got a doctor kit which he is obsessed with. He's been carrying it around, had to sleep with it, and gives us non-stop check ups. Kylie got some Puffs!

We left a carrot out for the Easter Bunny and he ate half of it and left an egg next to it.

Kylie was enjoying watching Colton get his eggs.

There's one!

Colton being an egg monster for Kylie.

Kylie is 9 Months Old!

It has been so fun having her in our family. She is getting so much more interactive with all of us and is crawling like a pro. She's showing interest in pulling herself up on the furniture but isn't there yet. Colton and Kylie get along with each other pretty well - Colton loves showing off and having people laugh at him and Kylie will gladly be his audience and laugh at his antics. So their relationship works. She is still a mama's girl and is glued to my hip, but she's also opening up to having other people hold her for short periods of time. Love you Kylie!

LIKES

• Elmo and Clifford. Maybe she likes red characters? She will watch their shows and has a stuffed animal of each that she loves. 
• Being tickled under her arms. Her stomach can be ticklish too, but the armpits are a guarantee.
• Watching me clap. When I clap for her she acts like it's the coolest thing she's ever seen. 
• Eating peas, broccoli, sweet potatoes, avocado, carrots, corn, and parsnips with potatoes. I'm going to planting my herb garden next week and will be adding those to her foods on a regular basis. I'll start adding proteins too. 
• Giving opened mouth kisses. So gross, but cute at the same time. Colton loves them and gladly accepts them. 
• Taking baths, especially with Colton. She no longer needs to sit anything in the bathtub so she has a grand ol' time in there. 
• Going on walks/runs in the stroller. She can last a lot longer than Colton ever could as a baby.

DISLIKES

• Bubbles. Whenever Colton or I blow bubbles around her they scare her and she cries. It's kinda funny.
• Eating applesauce. She acts like it's really tart.
• Being more than 4 feet away from me.
• Having blankets and pillows piled on top of her, which happens daily. Not sure when Colton will figure out that she doesn't like it.
• Being on grass. At the park she stays strictly on the blanket. If she accidentally rolls off, she let's me know immediately.
• Car seat covers. I can't put them on her carrier anymore because she get so angry with it and desperately tries to pull it off. I think it blocks her vision and she can't turn to see me driving the car. 

Friday Randoms 4/6/12

• For a little over a week Kylie has been able to identify who "Dada" is. I try to make a big deal about Joe being around for her because she rarely sees him during the week. Joe gets up and rushes out the door in the mornings and then his average time of arrival back from work is 6:30 and Kylie's bedtime is 6:00. Anyways, if you say "where's Dada" she'll look for Joe and then smiles when she sees him. The other morning we were laying in bed together as a family and I kept saying "Hi Dada" to Kylie and then she looked at Joe and repeated it! Her first words!! 
• This has still been a sick week for us. I got the kids' cold over the weekend and then Joe got it Tuesday. The kids are all better, my head is still very congested and my ears are still clogged, but I'm functional other than that, and Joe is on his death bed. Seriously, he acts more sick than the kids and I combined. 
• One thing that I absolutely love about living in Utah are all the parks there are to play at. Within 2 miles of us there are 4 great parks and trails that we try to utilize on a daily basis. This week we've been exploring all the parks along the Jordan River too and found a fun one with zip lines! I get almost as excited as Colton does when we go to new parks. 
• Colton has been doing more chores the past couple of weeks and is doing really well with them. His favorite chore is to be a garbage man and he empties all the garbage cans in the bedrooms and bathrooms. He's also in charge of putting his clothes in the right drawers after I wash and fold them, puts his own dishes in the sink when he's done with them, sweeping the front porch (which he gladly does daily), putting toys away (he likes this one the least), and vacuuming under the kitchen table. He's a great worker!
• LOVED listening to Conference this past weekend and I'm looking forward to Easter this Sunday. Joe and I are substitute teaching Colton's class so it's going to be fun to teach him and his friends about the real reason we celebrate Easter. If you haven't checked out the new Bible videos on the LDS website they have some great ones for Easter. Here is the He is Risen one. Check it out!!