Memorial Weekend

We had a lot of fun this Memorial Day weekend. I have been feeling really overwhelmed the last little bit (I'll explain later) so I really wasn't up to cleaning out the trailer as well as packing it, and shopping for food and all that jazz that goes into getting ready for a trip so we decided to stay home and get things done around our house instead.  I know that doesn't really sound fun but it was totally worth it.  The first thing we did this weekend was participate in the Midnight 5K on Friday night.  This race took place on the old airport at 11:00 PM.  It was fun because we all got a ton of glow sticks and a glow in the dark shirt, and even a cool glow in the dark tattoo! Well when I say we I should really say Russell and I was the cheerleader/photographer.  I wanted to run but by the time we decided we were going to be in town, it was too late to register and I couldn't justify paying $45 for day of race registration (I guess I should have just ran for fun without a bib number and time but oh well.)  Russell ran the race with his entire Fire Academy class.  Here they are before the race.

And here is Russell after the race.  I tried to get pictures of them as they race but with it being dark and everyone racing by, my camera wouldn't focus so it refused to take any pictures.  boo!  Russell said the course was really nice an relatively flat.  Because the race was at night, it was a lot cooler which helps.  For me and the kids it was a little too cold because of the wind; only about 55 degrees.  All of the fire recruits ran together in a pack carrying they academy flag with them.  They finished the race together with a time of around 29 minutes.  Their captain told them to have the goal of 30 minutes so they made it.

 Emily and Colby were nice and cozy in the stroller.  When closed the sides they were out of the wind.  After the race, they gave out prizes and Russell won a gift certificate to the Zion Factory stores and Emily caught a glow in the dark necklace.  It was a fun race and we will have to do it again next year.

Saturday we spent the day spring cleaning our house.  We got so much done and have two boxes to go to the DI so far!  I am so glad Russel was there to help me.  We were also able to move our desk and filing cabinet out to the toy room so we are getting closer to getting the kids rooms split.  Now we just have to go through all of the toys......

 While I was vacuuming, Colby found a fun new activity.  Riding on the vacuum!  He thought it was so fun; he loved it!  He was mad when I got done because he wanted to ride more.  

Sunday was a little life changing for me...  I will definitely write more about this later  but now is not the time.  

Finally Monday was so much fun.  After Russell helped me clean the whole house, I promised him we could do whatever he wanted on Monday.  We decided to go four-wheeling with Traci.

 We rode from Diamond Valley up to the base of Pine Valley mountain.  We all geared up and started heading up the trail.  It was so nice to get out and see the sites and it wasn't very hot either!  About 3/4 up the trail, we stopped for lunch.

 We had Emily's favorite, hot dogs!  As well as pasta salad, watermelon, and of course Colby's favorite, cookies!  The only casualty of the ride was the poor watermelon.  We had the watermelon in the pack on Traci's four-wheeler.  Right before we stopped for lunch, Traci went over a bump and without her knowing, the watermelon fell out of the pack and split right in half!  We were following her and when we drove past, we found the watermelon in the ground.  Emily was so sad so we picked it up and brushed and washed most of the dirt off and ate it anyway!  Hey the inside was still good.  And don't worry we won't let Traci live it down.  After lunch, we were back on the trail.  This is where we were heading:

 And we made it!  To the base of Pine Valley.  It was so awesome to see.  Russell wants to go back some day and hike to the top of the mountain.  Later that night we were talking to our neighbor, Terry Gough, and he said there is a much easier trail to the top on the other side of the mountain and it is only about 5 miles so maybe we will have to do it this summer.

 This is where we came from.  We had a great time four-wheeling and getting away.  We definitely need to go four-wheeling more often this summer.  Now that we have a better butt-seat, we can all fit on the four-wheeler more comfortably.  

Happy Memorial Day!  And thank you to all the soldiers out there that have served or are serving our country!

Ring of Fire

 Sunday was rare "annular" eclipse.  This form of solar eclipse is rare because the moon was farther away so it did not completely cover the sun so when the moon was directly in front of the sun, you could see a bright ring around the moon.  This is why it was call the "Ring of Fire."  It was so cool.

 We all gathered at Jessica and Danny's apartment in the middle of town to view the awesome event.  Of course we all had to use our protective eye wear in order to see the eclipse.  Even with the protective gear, I think I still looked directly into the sun a little too much because I am still seeing spots! 

I tried to take a picture of the eclipse by putting the black shades over my camera.  I did get one picture to turn out okay.  This is the sun just as the moon is starting to go in front of it:

On really cool thing that happened is you could see the eclipse through the leaves on the trees.  This is because if you put a little hole in a piece of paper and then hold it to the sun, the hole will cast a shadow of the eclipse through the hole.  This was happening through the holes in the leaves.  It was casting a shadow of the eclipse onto the wall of the house!  You can see the complete circle of the eclipse in the picture above.  They look like little rings of fire!!   

Lots of Books and Emily on TV!

Becca is participating in the Read Today program in her school.  On Saturday she can down to St. George to a Read Today party at Tuacahn.  Becca invited us to go with her and see a portion of Tuacahn's summer play Aladdin.  The party was a lot of fun.  Thanks for inviting us Becca! 

 Here is Becca and Colby meeting the Read Today mascot.  I can't remember his name. 

While we were at the party at Tuacahn, we got to see a sneak peak at Aladdin and Jasmine on their flying carpet.  We also heard a concert by the Piano Guys.  They were AMAZING!  I wish I could play the piano like them!

Each child received a bag of books to continue to read during the summer.  After the concert, Nadine Wimmer from KSL 5 News congratulated all of the kids on their reading.  She also told us that there were more books and everyone could have as many books as they wanted.  A local children's store had donated 6,000 books for this event and there were boxes and boxes of books.  We came home with probably 30 books to add to our collection.  Emily was so excited to get some new books.  As she dug through the boxes, she got every Care Bear, Clifford, Princess, and Mermaid book she could find.  I also found some boy themed books for Colby.  Each book Emily found she squealed with delight and asked me if she could have it.  It was so cute the camera man from KSL 5 News asked me twice if he could interview her on camera for the news.  I said it would be fine but each time we asked Emily, she was too shy to even look at him so she didn't get interviewed.  But the camera man unknowingly videoed her as she was getting her books and she was on the NEWS!! You can see her in this video.  She is the little girl in the green shirt hugging a Care Bears book.  (about 0:57 seconds into the video and I am behind her.) 

You can also see the full news site here:  http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=20483038

Random Updates

This is just a fun post of an update on these two cute little yahoos: (beware it is long...)

 I can believe how big they are getting and how much they are starting to look alike.  These two love playing together and exploring everything.

Colby is such a funny boy.  He loves walking now and can get anywhere he wants to go.  His new fun trick is reaching up and holding onto the oven door handle and then leaning backwards like he is upside down.  He thinks it is so funny.  I just have to make sure he doesn't do this while I am making dinner.  

 Colby has a thing for shoes.  Whenever he finds a pair of shoes, he puts them on his hands and crawls around.  I think he does this because he doesn't know how to put them on his feet.  Also he knows that if he puts his shoes on he can go outside.  Colby loves being outside and would stay out there all day if he could.  Whenever he sees an open door, he races over to it and tries to go outside.  He says "Out! Out!" If we shut the door without letting him outside he throws a big fit.  He is trying to talk but it is mostly just the syllables or sounds of the words he can say and we have learned to interpret.  He can say: out, mama, daddy, ti-tr (sister), doggie, baby, babit (blanket), dan do (thank you), diggy (piggies or toes), teeth, and his favorite, "um" (some or I want some).  We can tell went we interpret his babble correctly because when we repeat it back to him in real words he laughs and smiles.  

Colby's favorite food is fruit!  He could eat a whole can of fruit cocktail if I let him because he loves it.  If we bring out some kind of fruit during lunch, he refuses to eat anything but that so we have to leave it in the fridge until he is finish with his real lunch.  He also loves treats like any other kid.  Colby loves getting into everything!  He is an explorer.  He can take everything out of a cupboard or drawer faster than I can clean it back up.  He also loves banging on pots, driving toy cars, and coloring (well mostly eating crayons...)  The other day he discovered it was fun to color on the kitchen floor instead of on a paper!  Yeah I need to break that habit very quickly.  He also loves babies!  Whenever he sees a doll, he has to give it a big hug and kiss and says "Baby!"  Colby also is a nice sharing boy.  If he has two of some toy, he will bring me on and say "um um" and give it to me, then when I say thank you he will smile so big.  Colby loves to climb.  He can get up on Emily's bed and jump, climb up on Emily's little rocking chair and rock back and forth, and he can also climb up on the stool in the bathroom and look in the mirror.  He thinks he is so big when he gets up.  He loves brushing his teeth and spitting in the sink.  He will climb up on the bathroom stool and say "teeth! teeth!" whenever he wants to brush his teeth.  Colby's other favorite thing is the toilet...  We have to keep the bathroom doors closed because he will go right into the bathroom and start playing in the toilet water.  Oh it is so gross...  When ever it is quiet we know Colby is in the bathroom.  We have to scrub his hands and arms with soap every time.  I don't understand why he thinks it is so cool.

Emily is also growing up too fast.  She is a smart little girl.  She knows all of her letters and the sound that each of them make.  She is always looking at different signs or papers and telling me what letters are on them.  She can write her first name fairly well so I need to start teaching her last name.  Emily loves playing with her cousins, pretending to be Ariel or some other princess, watching movies, and playing outside.  She says the funniest things sometimes.  I really need to start writing them down so I can remember all of her Emily-isms.  Emily loves sleeping in mommy's bed when dad is at work or school.  A few weeks ago she told us she had to sleep in our bed because her bed was getting too small because she was getting bigger.  She wants to grow up so fast.  She is always telling us what she is going to do when she gets bigger like go to Kindergarten, be a mom, and recently loose a tooth so the Tooth Fairy can come. Last night she came into our room at 2:30 am and said her stomach hurt.  I knew that meant get her to the bathroom quick.  As we got her a drink of water she said, "Am I sick or something?"  We brought her bed in our room and about a half hour later, I hear her whimpering so I grab the bowl and put it under her mouth just as she starts puking.  I missed a little bit so it got on her bed.  As we were cleaning her up and putting new sheet on her bed she started giggling and said, "I must have thought my bed was a toilet!"  We couldn't help but laugh.  After that she was fine the rest of the night and is fine today.  

Emily loves pretending she is going to the ball with her prince and getting married in the temple.  I always hear her talking to her "princes."  Emily also likes going to church and her class.  She loves Primary.  She loves socializing and talking about birthday parties.  She is always disappointed when the primary sings to the birthday kids because it is never her turn.  It is hard having a birthday in September.  Emily is also enjoying her dance class.  She only has one more class until the semester is over and then she has her big recital.  We keep practicing her dance and for the most part she is getting it down but she doesn't really know how to count to the rhythm of the song so she still relies on her teacher to tell her what to do next.

We are getting ready for camping season so we just bought a new butt seat for our four-wheeler so all of us can fit on it:

As you can see though, the kids used it as a lounge chair to watch movies and a jungle gym to climb on.  They were kind of disappointed when Russell took it outside and put it on the four-wheeler.

The greatest toy of all though was the huge box the seat came in: 

Both Emily and Colby used it as a cave and a castle.  Then when Paul and Alex came over they used it as a trap to trap each other in.  What a great toy.  I finally got tired of how much room it took up in the house and threw it out while they were down for a nap.

Russell only has a few more weeks of Fire Academy.  Graduation is on June 11.  Right now he is learning about Haz Mat. Russell also just finished learning a lot at an EMS conference.  He earned 20 CME hours toward his Paramedic re-certification.  

I have just been busy with work trying to catch up with everything I put off during tax season.  It is nice to be back to shorter hours now.  I have also been looking into a few sewing side jobs and consignment.  My mom's ward also wants me to do a Super Saturday class in October and teach the ladies how to make baby shoes.  It is really crazy how much attention I have gotten over this.  On a sad note my parents' dog, Scooter, died last week.  They had only had her for maybe 4 years so she wasn't that old.  She had gotten really sick lately and they didn't know why.  My mom called the vet and he said it sounded like an infection in her intestines and to bring her in.  By the time my mom got home from work on Friday, however, Scooter had died.  My dad took it kind of hard I guess and my mom lost her walking partner.  I felt really bad because they loved that dog.  I wonder if they will get another one.

Any way, on a happier note, Klint Hughes got a job at the St. George Care Center as a social worker or something like that which means Lacie and her family will finally be moving back to St. George!  Klint has already started working down here but Lacie decided to stay up in Filmore until the kids get out of school and Jacee wanted to go to Girl's Camp with their ward before they move.  They also can't really move until they sell their house and find a new one down here.  So we are all praying they can sell their house soon and have enough to get into a new one down here.  Mostly we are excited for them to be moving back after close to 8 years.

Lately I have started walking with the kids at night.  I would really rather go jogging but our bike stroller is hard to push with two kids in it.  So we go walking instead.  I figure I am at least getting some exercise.  We go every night after I have give Colby and Emily a bath.  I just put them in their pajamas and then go walking around the neighborhood.  Sometimes Colby is asleep by the time we get home which is great so I just put him in his bed.  Then I read a library book and scriptures to Emily and she goes to bed too.  I like this new night routine and I love that it stays light later so we can do this.  

Well there is our life lately at least everything I can think of right know.  I hope I didn't bore you too much.  We are just living life and loving every minute.  

Playing in the Yard

We are enjoying the great weather we are having by playing outside.  We are trying to get as much time outside before it gets too hot to enjoy it.  Here are some of the fun things we had been doing:

A few days ago, Emily found these fun little bird houses at JoAnn's for a buck.  She wanted one to paint so I decided that would be a fun project for us.  I got one for Emily and Colby and we went home to paint them.  I think they turned out really good.  When we were done painting, we had Dad hang them up in our tree.

 Emily did a good job painting her house like a rainbow and I painted Colby's green and blue (boy colors according to Emily).  They were fun to make and Emily is so proud.  The houses are a little small so birds probably won't fit inside but they are still cool.

Our garden is growing and growing.  So far we have just gotten peas and one strawberry out of it but our zucchini and squash plants are huge and have blossoms, and there are a few little green tomatoes on our vines.  Here are a couple pictures of our first harvest of peas:

 One crazy thing we discovered growing in our garden is this hybrid of a cucumber and a pansy or what I call a cucansy!  I was looking at our cucumber plant the other day and I thought the flowers were blossoms but when I looked closer, I discovered a pansy plant was growing along side it.  I don't know where the pansy plant came from but I guess a stray pansy plant seed got dropped into our cucumber plant at Star Nursery and just started to grow.  Crazy huh!

And finally, we love playing in the sprinklers!  Well Emily does anyway, Colby isn't quite sure.

  

Emily was having the time of her life.  Colby was okay as long as Russell was holding him but as you can see in the picture above, Colby did not have the happiest face while he was trying to walk as fast as he could to get out of the way of the water.  

Clifford also doesn't know if he likes the sprinklers.  It was so funny to watch the dog while the sprinklers are on.  He kept biting at the water as it hit him like he was trying to catch the water in his mouth.  He is also the craziest dog because he hates getting wet.  I always thought dogs loved water but not Clifford.  We gave him is first bath and it was such a fight.  Then, when Russell was done, Clifford shook all over us and ran straight to his house right through the dirt and mud!  Well that bath didn't last long.

And of course the favorite part of the whole sprinkler experience was getting wrapped up in our towels to get dry and warm.  Every time Russell tried to take Colby out of his towel to go back in the sprinklers, he would scream and run back to me and the towel.

We love warm weather!!!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  What a great blessing it is to be a mom.  I have the best kids and I wouldn't trade them for anything.  I love them so much.

This year Mother's Day was really busy.  We wanted to split our time between both families which is always hard.  First we went to church at 9:00.  Jen and Rick were blessing their new baby, Annalynn, at the same time.  I had to play the piano for the primary while they sang to their moms so I went to our ward with the kids and Russell went to his mom's ward for the blessing.  Also in our ward, my grandma was being honored in sacrament meeting for being the oldest mother in the ward.  My whole family including aunts and uncles came to support her in this.  My Aunt Janet even spoke.  It was a really nice thing for the bishop to do and Janet gave a great talk and tribute to Grandma.  She is an amazing lady and I am so glad she is my Grandma!  I probably could have made both the baby blessing and our ward's program because Russell came over right after the baby blessing and there was plenty of time before the program started.  I just didn't want to risk missing our primary singing.  Emily loved singing in front of everyone.  She was really concerned though because I would be playing the piano instead of in the audience so she was worried she wouldn't be able to sing to me because I would be behind her.  I told her she could turn around and sing to me instead and she thought that was a great idea.  I don't think she did turn around though she just sang to the audience which was okay too.

After Sacrament Meeting, we all went out to eat with my Grandma.  We went to Golden Corral.  This is a tradition with my family because we don't want to cook!  After getting stuffed, we headed over to Russell's family for another dinner to celebrate Annalynn's blessing as well as Mother's Day.  It was nice to spend time with family.  We were also able to plan our upcoming family reunion.  Later, we went over to my mom's house for more visiting.  

I made a couple things for Mother's Day this year.  First, I made Emily and me matching skirts for church.  Emily loves matching and she even helped me pick out the fabric:

 I also made these fun wooden plaques for mine and Russell's mom.  I love the saying because it is so true.  I know all of my nieces and nephews are best friends because of spending time together at Grandma's house. And my cousins and I are friends because of this reason too.  

For my Mother's Day gift, I got a new bike:

 Now we can go on more rides as a family.  My old bike was a man's mountain bike so it was too big for me.  I had to reach to get to the handle bars.  Russell took my bike to the pawn shop and got $20 for it, which was probably too low of a price but it helped us put $20 toward my new bike.  This new bike fits me much better and I love riding it.  I can't wait to go on a big ride.

Splash Pad Fun

Every Friday for the past month or so we have been going to the library.  Emily loves going to Story Time and Colby is starting to enjoy listening to the songs and stories too.  Afterward, we check out some new books and movies.  Since the weather has been warming up, we have also enjoyed taking a picnic and playing in the Splash Pad near the library.  The kids look forward to Fridays all week and to tell the truth so do I. 

 Emily loves playing in the Splash Pad area were the water shoots up and sprays her in the face.  She loves getting wet and sprayed.  Colby on the other hand hates this part of the Splash Pad.  He hates getting sprayed in the face because I think it startles him.  One time, the water was off for a minute so Colby was just playing around on the Pad.  Then the water turned back on and was spraying.  Colby was caught right in the middle of the spray and he started screaming until I rescued him.  Ever since then, he has hated the spraying Splash Pad area.

 Colby much preferred the lazy river portion of the water park.  Here he can walk around, splash, climb on rocks, and pretty much control how much water gets splashed in his face.  

Both of them like playing together in the water:

 Except that is when Emily is pouring water on her brothers head.  Colby gets kind of frustrated with her.  Colby's ultimate favorite thing however is getting wrapped up in his towel afterward.  He gets really excited when he sees me bring out his towel.  He will run to me and laugh when I wrap him up.  Then he will sit so still on my lap wrapped in his towel.  Emily could spend all day in the water and tries her best to get me to let her stay for "just one more minute, please mom?"  

We love the water parks.  Welcome Summer!!