Much Ado About Nothing

Pregnancy Pics

2012-02-01T15:11:00.002-07:00

This post is for my sister, who has been asking me for pregnancy pictures for weeks now (and for anyone else interested). :) I guess it's time to post, since we're in the home stretch. 18 days til my due date. Here are the few pictures I've taken to mark this pregnancy. We're looking forward to welcoming our little one soon!

December 1 - 28 weeks 4 days

December 25 - 32 weeks

Today - February 1 - 37 weeks 3 days

Isn't it Great to be 8!

2012-01-22T18:03:00.001-07:00

Elliott is 8!!!

His birthday was 2 weeks ago. We celebrated with our family at Friendly's (restaurant) and Chuck E Cheese. He was excited to receive lots of baseball gear. Now he has a real bat (a little scary!). Best of all, Elliott was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, January 14th by his daddy. It was a wonderful day. We were thrilled to have Grandma and Grandpa Walker and Grandma and Popeye Schelin here for the special occassion. Bianca Georges, a girl in our ward, was also baptized. After the service, we had some yummy treats at the church and then had lunch with a few of our friends and grandparents at our house. We had 15 kids here, along with about that many adults, and it was surprisingly not too crazy. Brent was pretty worried about having that many people here, but the kids all got along great with no problems. We are blessed to have many great friends who came to support Elliott. Thanks to all who were here with us and for all the well-wishes of those who couldn't be here. We are so proud of Elliott and his choice to be baptized. He is such a sweet boy and we are so happy to have him in our family. We love you, Elliott!

Funny Kid

2011-10-29T13:14:00.002-06:00

Derek has recently begun using phrases such as "Seriously?", "Are you kidding me?", and "Trust me!" It is really funny to hear him say those things and to see the look on his face. I quickly realized where he got them from - at least the first two. I've found that I say them a lot. At least it's nothing bad.

School Project

2011-10-29T10:16:00.003-06:00

Elliott had an assignment for school to decorate a turkey and write what our family is thankful for this year. It was a "family" project, so I helped with the creation of the turkey. Elliott did all the gluing and writing. I think it turned out great!

Bushkill Falls

2011-10-29T10:08:00.003-06:00

Last Saturday our family took a short drive to Bushkill Falls. I had really been wanting to see the falls and thought that it would be fun to see them in the fall with the changing leaves. The colors weren't as spectacular as I had hoped, but it was still beautiful. The falls had plenty of water thanks to all the rain we've had recently. Elliott was deathly afraid of hiking around the falls because of his fear of heights, but he managed to put that behind him and have a good time. It was a great Saturday family activity (something we need to do more often).

After the falls, we headed out for ice cream. We went to The Inside Scoop. They have all sorts of random flavors, including Tabasco, Mexican Chocolate, PB&J, and Maple Bacon. The only one I've tried so far is maple bacon. It's definitely a little strange to eat bacon in ice cream. The flavor was good if you can get past the bacon texture.

Halloween Fun

2011-10-29T09:11:00.006-06:00

Happy Halloween! Halloween is already over for the strange folks of PA. :) We had plenty of fun, but it is strange for a holiday to be over before the holiday is really here. We kicked off the celebrations with the Halloween Party at the DaVinci Science Center 2 weeks ago. Our ward did a simple trunk-or-treat this past Tuesday night. Derek's school parade and party were on Thursday, followed by Elliott's on Friday. Whatever happened to dressing up and having parties on Halloween? I haven't figured that out yet. I didn't really feel like carving a pumpkin this year but knew Elliott would be disappointed if he didn't get to do one, so I finally did it last minute yesterday after school. Elliott had a great idea to do a rocket ship, since Derek was an astronaut and Elliott was Commander Cody from Star Wars Clone Wars. It was actually really easy and quick, so I didn't mind. Plus I think it turned out really well. I decided to get creative an make mummy hotdogs for dinner. Trick-or-treating for the neighborhoods was last night. The boys did great and had a fun time. Derek had more energy than Elliott. They lots plenty of loot and it's almost all good stuff - hardly any tootsie rolls, lolly pops, and no gross stuff. Pretty impressive. By the time we were done, Derek's bucket was overflowing. I guess it's time to upgrade him to a bigger bag. We had leftover candy for passing out. I only had enough for about 40 kids, and there was still some leftover. Most trick-or-treaters pass by our house - too bad for them (and maybe for me too).

Derek got to go to the pumpkin patch at Byler's Farm with his preschool class. He loved the hay maze and playing with the corn. He also got to feed the goats and chickens, but he passed on milking the cow. We had a fun time and took home 2 perfect pumpkins.

I'm so glad we had a beautiful day yesterday for trick-or-treating (it was cold but not too bad) because this is what it looks like today.

Ever since the snow started falling this morning, Derek has been asking to go outside and play in it. Once I finally said yes and got him all ready to go out, he refused to go. I stuck him on the porch long enough to get a picture and then he was back inside and undressed. I admit it is FREEZING and windy, so it's really not very pleasant. I can't say I blame Derek for not wanting to stay out there, but Elliott is having fun.

Mr. Green Belt

2011-10-29T08:24:00.004-06:00

Elliott had his second big karate test 2 weeks ago. He tested for both his green belt and his nunchuck basics. It is amazing to see his improvement since his last test - in both skill and confidence. He practices all the time and still LOVES karate! We are so proud of him.

It's a Boy!

2011-10-29T08:21:00.001-06:00

Due February 19

First Day of School 2011

2011-09-22T12:48:00.001-06:00

I'm finally getting around to posting 1st day of school pictures. Elliott started 2nd grade at Kernsville Elementary on September 6th. The day couldn't come soon enough for either of us. We had a good summer, but it was time for it to be over. Elliott's teacher is Mrs. Bruchak. She seems like a great teacher. I had to chance to meet her the Friday before school started. I've been impressed so far. I had a question for her, so I emailed her and she called me that evening. Elliott's goal this year is to keep his desk clean. He's also working on writing neatly. His teacher hangs up papers that are written well. He was proud to get something up on the board earlier this week.

Derek started preschool at Asbury United Methodist Church on the following Monday. He was so excited. He was a little nervous going in the first day, but he warmed up quickly. He loves going to preschool Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday each week. His teachers are Mrs. Shephard and Mrs. Kollar. They are wonderful with the kids. Derek looks all grown up.

Elliott has a goofy smile because he lost a tooth right before leaving for school. He was pretty excited about that. Derek didn't want his picture taken, so he was just being plain goofy.

Tooth Incident

2011-09-22T12:41:00.004-06:00

**UPDATE**So, after a couple weeks, I heard back from General Mills. They got the lab results back and apparently the object was a piece of plastic. I'm not 100% convinced, but it sounds better than it being a tooth. They compensated me with a $15 check and a bunch of free product coupons (not for Bisquick). Not bad. I'm just glad to lay the matter to rest.

I know a lot of people saw my facebook post about the mysterious object I was so fortunate to discover while eating my pancakes last week. I believe it is a tooth complete with bloodstains on the back. Whatever it is, it's hard and gross and not something you want to discover while eating dinner. Some people wanted to see the tooth, so I finally took pictures of it to post here. I did finally contact General Mills regarding the issue. I sent an email and they ended up calling me. I spoke with them today and they want me to send the object to them so they can do testing on it and find out what it really is and see if there is any other foreign matter in what is left of the box of Bisquick. (Sorry to all you Bisquick fans.) Hopefully by next week sometime I will be able to update my post with their findings. But for now, here it is in all it's grossness.

Karate Tournament

2011-06-11T08:50:00.001-06:00

Today was Elliott's first karate tournament. He competed in the beginner forms and self-defense divisions. After 2 tie-breaker rounds, Elliott came away with a 3rd place win in forms. He placed 4th in self-defense. He did awesome! We are so proud of his accomplishments. He loves karate.

This past Thursday, Elliott received his 4th stripe on his yellow belt. Next up, green belt. He's on his way. Way to go!

Derek is 3!

2011-06-01T13:30:00.003-06:00

My little munchkin is 3! They all grow up too fast. It's been a busy 3 years.

Derek went from this (1 day old) -

to this (3 yrs) -

We had fun celebrating Derek's birthday over 3 days (seems to be pretty typical to see how long we can stretch out holidays). On Friday, Derek's playgroup friends from church came over for a "party." Derek was talking about his birthday for months beforehand. He would say he was having friends for his birthday. So, easy enough - have the kids come over and just play. We had pretzels, apples, and cupcakes. It was the perfect little party. The kids all had a great time.

On Saturday, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's - where else? That seems to be the thing to do for the boys' birthdays. After playing games, we went to McDonald's to eat and play.

On Sunday (his birthday), Derek got to open presents and eat more cupcakes. Derek was pretty excited about the fire station and truck. We saw it at Toys R Us months ago and he was sad when he didn't get it then. I told him maybe he'd get it for his birthday, so since then he would talk about how he was getting a firetruck for his birthday.

I just love this kid. He is so much fun. He is generally an angel when he plays at other people's houses. He can hold his own against Elliott. He is very opinionated and often disagreeable, but he's adorable. Derek loves to read, loves having "lessons" (when I get around to it), loves Mickey Mouse, Dora, Diego, and Little Einsteins. He is a smart kid. He knows his ABC's by sight, along with their sounds and words that start with each letter. He can count to 30 and recognize numbers to 20. He loves to "read" his fairy tales book. It is so cute to hear him tell the story as he turns the pages. He loves to play games. His favorite games right now are Sorry and Monopoly Junior. He can't wait to play all the games that Elliott can play. He is also great at puzzles. Derek is a super sweet boy with lots of energy. He doesn't like to sit still (mainly at the table). He gives the best hugs. I love my little sweetheart. Happy Birthday, Derek!

Washington DC Temple

2011-05-16T18:28:00.001-06:00

We finally made it to the Washington DC Temple. It was the week before Stake Conference, so we had a stake meeting on the 7th floor. It's a beautiful room. It was wonderful to be in the temple again. The DC Temple is amazing. The size of it is incredible. It makes you dizzy looking up at it. I'm glad we were able to make the trip (about 3 hours each way).

Spring!

2011-05-16T18:26:00.003-06:00

Spring has sprung!

Our front yardMore baseball - he's a natural!

Frogs at the Wildlands Conservancy pond

Happy Easter!

2011-05-16T18:11:00.001-06:00

Our friends, the Blommels, invited us over for an Easter egg hunt the week before Easter. There were a bunch of kids and a ton of eggs! The boys had fun finding eggs outside in the cold, the adults had fun visiting inside where it was warm. :) On Easter we were invited to Oesterle's house for dinner and another egg hunt. Another fun event. And another rainy one too, but at least it was a warm rain. We got to sit outside on the covered porch enjoying the beautiful storm. April was just rainy. It rained more than half the month. That's definitely not something we're used to. We had a great Easter with lots of good friends.

The Big Apple

2011-05-16T17:30:00.003-06:00

Brent and I were able to go to New York City to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We didn't get to go until April because I had gallbladder surgery the day before our anniversary. I know, good planning. It's just what worked out. A friend (with 6 kids!) offered to watch the boys so we could go somewhere overnight. Thank you, Allison! It was so nice to get away. The boys had a great time too.

We drove into NYC on Friday afternoon. Brent gave me the privilege of driving in Manhattan. We stayed in a boutique hotel in the Upper West Side. The room was decent enough, but I don't think I slept at all. There was some kind of chain or something banging against the outside wall all night. That was pretty lame. I didn't realize at the time that where we stayed was right in the same area that You've Got Mail takes place. We walked by all the restaurants and stores shown in the movie. Friday afternoon we walked into Central Park and saw Belvedere Castle. I didn't know about the castle until I was reading a Magic Tree House book with Elliott a few months ago. It was fun to see. After checking into our hotel we ate an early dinner at Patsy's Pizza. It wasn't as good as we heard it was. That was disappointing. We attempted to get tickets to Wicked through the lottery but didn't win. We walked down to Times Square and almost walked right past the temple. We were right in front of it when I noticed the church logo and realized where we were. It's pretty amazing to see the temple right there in the middle of it all. We spent some time walking through Macy's. The size of that place is incredible! Brent didn't believe that it was the largest department store in the world, until he stepped inside. It really is huge! We went to the Empire State Building that night. It was fun to be up there at night, but it was FREEZING and windy! The views are amazing. I have to admit, since I don't know my NYC landmarks very well, I was pretty confused as to which side of the building we were on at any given time. The Forever 21 billboard picture might seem random, but if you look closely you'll see us. Pretty cool. On our way back to the hotel, we walked up 5th Avenue. All the shops were closed, but we did see the Rockefeller ice skating rink. I couldn't believe how far we walked that day. We were both so sore and tired by the time we finally got back to our hotel, probably around 11. It was cold and wet for the first couple hours (it snowed the night before), but fortunately the rain basically stopped by the time we were done with dinner. Saturday was a little warmer and dry.

Day 2

On Saturday, we slept in and went to brunch at Sarabeth's, the most delicious brunch ever! I had the "Crisp Potato Waffle with Chicken Apple Breakfast Sausage, Chunky Apple Sauce and Sour Cream" which might sound a little bizarre, but it was SOOOO good! I'm craving it as I'm writing this. Since we did so much walking on Friday, we figured we'd take the subway on Saturday. We went down to Ground Zero, Battery Park, and Wall Street. We were planning on walking across the Brooklyn Bridge but nixed that idea because we could hardly walk. We took the subway to Grand Central Station, ate some cheesecake and a cupcake and then headed back to our car. We had a great time exploring the city. Brent is glad to have most of the major sites out of the way, so when we go back we don't have to traipse all over Manhattan, we can just focus on one of two things. It was fun but utterly exhausting.

Bluebells

2011-05-16T17:24:00.001-06:00

Derek and I were able to go see the famed bluebells at Lockridge Park. The park is at the site of an old furnace - a really big iron furnace. It's even on the National Register of Historic Places. You can see the building in the background where Derek is sitting on the wall. The field was just full of bluebells. It was a great place for a picnic and a beautiful picture spot.

Yum!

2011-04-18T18:07:00.001-06:00

Derek: Are the brownies ready?
Me: Does that look like cake (not brownies)?
Derek: No.
Me: (getting the pan ready)
Derek: Mmmm, yummy.
That's when I looked over and realized what he was doing. :) He just couldn't wait for a taste of the chocolatey goodness. Too cute.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

2011-04-18T17:41:00.005-06:00

A few weeks ago I took the boys outside to play baseball. It was chilly and overcast, but that's how a lot of days are. They had a great time playing. I was impressed by Elliott's ability to throw the ball up and hit it with the bat. Derek generally uses the bat more like a golf club, but he loves to play!

Last week Brent got tickets to the IronPigs game. I was just going to take Elliott, but then Brent got another ticket, so I decided to go ahead and take both boys. (Brent stayed home.) I wasn't sure how it'd go, since last summer neither of the boys were very interested in the game. This time was totally different. They had a blast. Elliott doesn't usually like to cheer or get involved with the crowd. He got into it this time. Derek was awesome. When a batter was getting ready to hit, Derek would say, "Hit the ball!" Anytime a cheer would start, he would be ready to say it. He loved saying "Let's go Pigs." During the 6th inning, it started pouring, so the game was stopped. We headed inside and waited it out. It was a school night, so I didn't really want to stay too long (and really I figured the boys would have had enough after an hour or so, but that wasn't the case). After 30-45 minutes, the game resumed. By that time it was after 9. Most people left once the rain started. An usher took us back to our seats and dried them off for us. During the 7th inning stretch, the boys sang along with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Derek LOVES that song now. Then they played the "Chicken Dance." Elliott recently learned the dance at school, so he had fun doing it. I was holding Derek and dancing along. We were even featured on the Jumbotron! That was exciting. (Like I said, there weren't that many people in the stadium by then.) I told Elliott we wouldn't stay past 10. Right before 10, Elliott was ready to go. Just before we left, the other team tied the game 3-3. We were up 3-1 before that. I'm pretty sure the other team ended up winning. Elliott thought it was pretty cool when one of the batters broke his bat. Derek also loved the pig mascots (Ferrous and FeFe). Aside from the rain, the weather was perfect for a ballgame. It was 80 degrees during the day, so the evening temperature was just right! I am so glad I took both boys to the game. We all had such a great time.

As a bonus, the pregame show was Mixed Martial Arts. This picture shows 2 of Elliott's Senseis fighting each other in a demonstration. It was fun to watch people he knows on the field.

Our First Winter in PA

2011-04-18T17:20:00.001-06:00

Here's a glimpse of our first winter here in PA. The winter was long and COLD! We had a couple ice storms. They are really beautiful although dangerous. One morning I went out before it was really icy. By the time I got back, I was lucky to make it home. I made the mistake of going to the sidewalk to get the newspaper. I mostly slid down the driveway to reach the paper and then couldn't get back up the driveway to the house. I kept trying to move and would just slide further into the street. I finally fell on my hands and knees at one point. After several frantic minutes and numerous futile attempts, I had a stroke of genius and I removed my shoes. My socks stuck to the ice enough for me to get inside.

These next pictures are after a huge storm. The third picture is my leg giving you an idea of how deep the snow was. It was almost to my knee!

This picture is of the field in our backyard after the snow and ice. It looked like a frozen lake. It stayed that way for weeks. You couldn't walk out there because it was just slick ice on top of all the snow.

I have to laugh when I talk about the weather with people who have lived here awhile. When we moved in during the summer, we were told "this is an unusual summer - it's really hot." During the winter I kept hearing "this is an unusual winter - it's really cold and snowy." At the end of winter/beginning of spring, it was still really cold and once again I was told "this is an unusual spring." Hmmm...I wonder what usual is all year long. I guess it'll take some time to figure out. Now the spring has been very wet, but we've had a few beautiful days. The grass is amazingly green and flowers are blooming everywhere. It is beautiful.

"Where is Jacquo"

2011-04-15T13:55:00.002-06:00

Derek loves to listen to "Silly Songs" every time we are in the car. We listen to it a lot. It's fun to hear Derek sing along with many of the songs. The other day I was impressed when he started singing "Frere Jacques" on his own. Then I listened closely to what he was saying - the third line is what really got me. Too funny.

"Where is Jacquo? Where is Jacquo?
Dor ne nu. Dor ne nu.
Someone's on the tina. Someone's on the tina.
Din din don. Din din don."

Baptism blues

2011-04-10T16:50:00.002-06:00

Today there was a baptism for a 9 year old right after church, so we stayed to attend. Right after the girl was baptized, we went back into the Relief Society room to wait and Derek started screaming. I don't want to go in the water! I don't want to be baptized! over and over. That got everyone laughing. Poor kid. He was traumatized by seeing the girl go under the water. Good thing he has a few years to change his mind.

Yellow Belt

2011-01-17T08:16:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, Elliott earned his Yellow Belt in karate. Congratulations! He tested along with one other kid from his class. There were 19 other kids testing for various belts, but they were all kung fu students. He is having a blast taking karate. We got him a stand up punching bag for his birthday, so now he can punch and kick all he wants.

(maybe one day his name will be spelled correctly...ok probably not)

Snow Day

2011-01-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

We finally had a "big" storm last Tuesday/Wednesday. School was cancelled. There was about 6 inches of snow. The boys played outside for a long time, even though it was freezing! The snow was very powdery, so we couldn't build snowmen or snowballs, but it was still fun. Derek did better maneuvering through the snow. School was cancelled the previous Friday as well when there was only about an inch of snow. Pathetic.

Happy Birthday, Elliott!

2011-01-17T08:03:00.001-07:00

Wow! Elliott turned 7 a couple weeks ago! He's growing up so fast! He had a Ninja Party. He invited a bunch of friends from school and a couple from church. He had a good group for his party. The kids had fun. Most of the party turned into wrestling, but no one got hurt and they had a good time. It was fun to meet Elliott's school friends and their parents.

My creative side came out for this party. I found this great idea for karate invitations online (http://www.ehow.com/how_5019481_make-martial-arts-birthday-invitations.html). Elliott came up with the idea of playing Pin the Sword on the Ninja, so I had to come up with a ninja, so I found a tutorial online for that as well (http://drawtoons.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-draw-cartoon-ninja.html). Thank goodness for good ideas people post online. Elliott wanted a ninja cake, so I just printed a ninja online, cut it out, and used it as a stencil. That was tricky, but it turned out pretty well. I made all the kids Ninja headbands. I didn't get a picture of them alone, but the kids are all wearing them in the pictures. I thought they looked great. In keeping with the theme, I made the thank you bags for the kids. I was impressed with all my creativity. That is a rare thing.

We went to dinner at Red Robin that night. The bottom picture shows Elliott's embarrassment at being sung to. :)

DaVinci (again)

2011-01-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

I took the boys to the science center separately. It was nice for them to be able to do whatever they wanted at their own pace and for me to not be worried about keeping track of both of them. Over Christmas break, they had a Candyland exhibit, so I took Elliott to see that. They did a marshmallow demonstration where they heated a marshmallow in the microwave and then froze another one with liquid nitrogen. They could also make "candy glass" and creations out of toothpicks and gumdrops. They also had a new exhibit called Oh I See with a lot of stations about sight and perception. It was fun to do some new things. The following week when Elliott was back in school, I took Derek. We drove by the center one day and Derek talked about it nonstop, so we went the next day. He had fun exploring.

Mountain Retreat

2011-01-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

Since we were unable to travel to visit family for Christmas, I decided we still needed a mini vacation. I found a vacation rental in the Pocono Mountains where we stayed for 2 nights. It was a nice home. It even had a game room and video games. What more can you ask for. There wasn't a ton of snow, but we were still able to find a good place for sledding. The first picture is of Elliott laying down on the sled. He had a pretty good ride. Brent caught some air on one of his runs. He was spinning around and going really fast! Derek wasn't into the sledding, but I managed to take him down a couple times. It was really nice to just be away and relax for a couple days. We wish we had stayed at least one more night. We stopped at Country Junction on the way home. It claims to be the "World's Largest General Store." It was fun to walk through.

Jingle Bells

2011-01-17T06:58:00.002-07:00

Christmas Fun

2011-01-16T19:10:00.004-07:00

Air Products Children's Christmas Party - Brent's work hosts a party for all the employees' children. There were crafts, balloon artists, face painting, pictures with Santa, and even presents. It was a fun party. For at least a month after, when we dropped off Brent at work, Derek would say, Daddy going to Christmas party.

Making a gingerbread train. The boys did a great job. I didn't get a picture of decorating the tree, but the boys had lots of fun helping with that. I was proud of myself for allowing them to help more with decorating. I usually take control so things will be done my way, but I took a step back and actually let the boys just have fun and it still turned out great.

Christmas Eve cookie decorating - We were invited by our friends the Smiths to spend Christmas Eve in their home, along with the Bryce family. The kids all had a great time playing together. After a delicious dinner, the kids had fun decorating cookies for Santa and eating them as well.

Merry Christmas! We had a nice, quiet Christmas at home.

We spent New Year's Eve with more friends, the Southworths. We enjoyed yummy food and visiting with good friends. The kids had a blast watching Ryan set off fireworks. Derek was fascintated by them. We stayed until 10:45 when we figured the kids had had enough. I'm glad we've made good friends here who were so kind to invite us into their homes for our first holidays away from family.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-01-16T18:52:00.003-07:00

We had our first snow storm of the season on Thanksgiving. The boys were thrilled to play out in the snow. It was perfect for making snowballs and snowmen. I helped Derek make the little snowman while Elliott made his own much larger snowman almost by himself. He did a great job!

Our good friends, the Nortons, invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so nice to spend the holiday with friends. Dinner was delicious! I made my first pecan pie. Brent and I have never been huge fans of pecan pie, but it was the host's favorite, so I attempted it. It turned out delicious! It was even favored over the pumpkin pie.

Veteran's Day 2010

2011-01-16T18:16:00.003-07:00

Well, it's high time I try to update my blog. I'll do my best to show all that we've been up to the past 3 months.

Elliott's school has the 1st graders do a Veteran's Day program every year. It was neat for Elliott to be able to participate in the program. I think it's great that they introduce the importance of Veteran's Day to the children at such a young age. The kids learned several songs that they performed to their parents and many veterans. They did a great job! There were probably at least 50 veterans in attendance. It was great to be able to honor veterans for all they have done for our country. In the video, Elliott is 2nd from the left on the front row.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T12:09:00.002-06:00

The boys eagerly participated in the pumpkin carving this year. At first when I asked Derek if he wanted to touch the inside of the pumpkin he said No. Then Elliott said he wanted to take the insides out. Once he started, Derek decided he wanted to help too. They did great. It was nice to have helpers. Usually I do it myself and it's not my favorite thing. Elliott designed the pumpkin on the right. They both turned out great and everyone had fun.

Derek wasn't so sure he wanted to dress up as anything. I bought a couple cute costumes and tried them on him, but he didn't like wearing them. So, I took them back. At one of the stores, the sales lady said to Derek, "You don't want to be a dragon?" Derek's reply was, "No Derek be dragon, no Derek be robot (the other costume I bought), no Derek be doctor." Well, he summed up his feelings on the subject. In the end I won with the doctor costume (leftover from Elliott). I figured he couldn't have many objections to it, since it's just like regular clothes. The night of Trunk-or-Treat, he wanted to take it off after I snuck it on him while changing his diaper. I bribed him with candy. It worked and he didn't complain anymore. He even let me put it on him again for real trick-or-treating. I was lucky Elliott decided he wanted to be a skeleton again. That was easy. He loved having his face painted.

Ward Trunk-or-Treat

School Halloween Parade

Trick-or-Treating

I took the boys trick-or-treating on Friday night. That was our township's designated trick-or-treat night from 6-8. Yes, they tell you exactly when you can go. I was a little nervous about the whole thing and unsure how it would go. It was really easy - if the house's porch light was on, they were giving out candy. It just seems weird to have trick-or-treating scheduled for a different night. They do it every year. I've heard it's so the kids aren't out on a school night. I'm sure there are other reasons. For the really ambitious, you could trick-or-treat 4 or 5 nights during the week of Halloween. Pretty crazy. After about 1 1/2 hours, the boys were done. Brent stayed home and passed out candy. Unfortunately, not many trick-or-treaters came here. Most stick to the bigger neighborhood across the street. Now I know for next year. All in all, Halloween was a success. The boys got plenty of candy. That's all we hear about from Derek. He doesn't eat meals well anymore (even though he doesn't get candy unless he does eat). Everyone had fun. I'm glad it only comes around once a year.

I love this face!

2010-10-24T20:13:00.001-06:00

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-24T16:49:00.003-06:00

Last Saturday we ventured out to a pumpkin patch. We took a hayride out to the patch and let the boys choose their pumpkins. Derek had fun looking at the animals - chickens, turkeys, goats, and cows. Elliott went crazy running through the hay maze. It was a fun family outing.

Fall is here

2010-10-24T16:40:00.004-06:00

Fall is here. It is beautiful. We have enjoyed the changing colors of the trees. It is amazing to see some of the hues. Most pictures don't do it justice, but here's a little taste. The actual colors are so much more vibrant. It's fun to live somewhere with such dramatic colors.

Pioneer Day

2010-09-10T13:53:00.000-06:00

On Pioneer Day, we were invited to our new friends, the Pococks, house for some pioneer activities. First we did a stick pull. Then the kids (and adults) shook cream to make whipped cream, which we enjoyed on some johnny cakes. The kids also made little button spinners. After the activities, the kids got wet in the little pool. It was great for them to cool off on such a hot day. It was fun to get to know the Pocock family and to celebrate Pioneer Day.

Our First Visitor

2010-09-10T13:05:00.003-06:00

Back in the middle of July we had our first visitor, Uncle Daniel! It was fun to have a visitor, something we hope to have more of. As a bonus, if you visit you might even receive a special card like this. (You know you want one!)

Elliott wanted to make Daniel a card. He did it all on his own. It was very sweet.

On Saturday we went exploring, something we need to do a lot more of. We headed to a train station to ride a train. On our way there, we saw a sign for Crystal Cave, so we decided to check that out first, since the train wasn't running for a couple hours anyway. Derek was whining the whole time about wanting to ride the train. He had no interest in anything else. We toured the cave. It was okay, nothing too spectacular. It's kinda sad that it's been a tourist attraction almost since it was discovered, so there's a lot of damage to the natural features. They have even had weddings inside. So, not really well preserved, but it was still interesting.

After the cave, we ate lunch in the little "town". While we were eating, Elliott started screaming. He had the misfortune of being stung by a wasp. That put a damper on things. He eventually calmed down and then we headed to the train station. It was the WK&S Railroad in the village of Kempton. (That has a nice Pride and Prejudice ring to it :))The tracks were originally part of the Reading Railroad. The train took us up the tracks 3 miles to the Wanamaker Station. We got off while they switched the engine and then went back the way we came. There was some beautiful scenery. It was fun to take a ride on the railroad. We realized the seats in the passenger car could be pushed back and forth to make them face front or back. It was neat to be able to sit facing each other. We had a fun day.

Elliott was able to play the Wii with Daniel. Elliott loves playing and it was nice to have someone new to play with. We all loved having Daniel here for a few days. Come on over, we'd love to have you too. :)

First Day of School

2010-09-10T12:54:00.001-06:00

Summer has ended and I'm way behind on my blogging. Maybe this summer didn't really happen. Wait, except for the fact that it was the LONGEST summer in history. Because of the move, Elliott's last day of school was May 14. His first day wasn't until September 7. Just shy of 4 months of summer! It was an entire month longer than it should have been. But we survived.

Unlike many people who are sad to see the summer end, I was thrilled. And I think Elliott was too. A couple weeks ago he told Grandma that he was excited to go to school so he could make some friends. It's sad that he didn't really get to play with many kids this summer, aside from at the pool. I'm glad he has something to keep him busy now.

He loves school. He spent much of his summer reading - almost constantly - and working on math workbooks. He loves to learn. The week before school started he began learning multiplication! Before that he mastered addition - adding thousands. Plus I taught him regrouping in subtraction. He gets so excited when he realizes he can do it. He thinks it's really cool. On the Friday before school started he got to go see his classroom and meet his teacher, Mrs. Bendekovits. I got a chance to talk with her for a few minutes. She seems like a great teacher. I asked how she assesses the kids and what opportunities they have for working at their level. I didn't want to say anything pushy when first meeting her. Hopefully she'll figure out what he needs. Elliott had the chance to ask her a question. He asked, "Do you have any multiplication?" She said no and asked if he knew multiplication. He said yes. Yeah, that's a little beyond first grade. At least she knows she has a smart kid on her hands.

After the first day of school Elliott said all the kids were ready to go home about half way through the day. That sounds about right. 1st grade is a big adjustment. He's gone a long time. The bus comes at 8:30 and drops him off at 4! There's not a whole lot of time in the afternoons, especially when he has karate twice a week at 5:15. He's a trooper. Derek misses him during the day and is really sad he can't ride the bus. All day the first day of school, he kept saying "Ride bus too." He likes waking up from his naps to get Elliott at the bus stop. I'm enjoying the quiet time while Derek sleeps. I get a couple of uninterrupted hours to do whatever I want. It's great!

First day of 1st grade - Kernsville Elementary

Elliott at his desk - I took this picture when we met his teacher

Watch Out

2010-09-10T12:32:00.000-06:00

Elliott has been really into karate and ninja moves. He likes to think he's ninja. So, we finally enrolled him in a karate class. He loves it. He's not the most coordinated kid in the world, so it's taking some time to figure out the moves, but he has a great time. He got his white belt on his third day. He was very proud. Doesn't he look tough?

Now I know my ABCs

2010-08-23T14:07:00.001-06:00

Derek has been learning his ABCs. He loves to sing the song and recognizes letters everywhere. He love to do this train puzzle. He's finally able to sit and finish the puzzle rather than giving up after a few letters. He gets so excited when he figures out what the next letter is. I've been trying to get him to sing the alphabet on video for a while but it's never worked out until today. He was so excited. He laughed and laughed while he watched it back.

I guess I wasn't thinking when I did the video sideways. Oh well, enjoy anyway.

Happy 4th!

2010-07-15T10:54:00.004-06:00

When Elliott heard the 4th of July was coming up, all he could do was talk about fireworks. Brent's idea of watching fireworks is to turn on the tv and watch the national shows. I'm glad Elliott shares my love of fireworks. Growing up we always went to Tustin High to watch the awesome fireworks display. I loved doing that. It was fun to go as a family and to see the fireworks along with hearing the patriotic music. A friend from our ward sent me a link to all the fireworks displays around the valley. Then another friend invited me to go with her family and another from the ward. Brent stayed home while Derek slept, and I took Elliott to enjoy the festivities. We met at the Norton's house so we could carpool. While there, Elliott and Spencer got to play with sparklers, thanks to a kind neighbor. They had fun doing that. Once we got to the park for the fireworks, all the kids had fun running around and trying to catch fireflies. The only thing missing from the display was the music. It's just not the same when you don't get to hear the patriotic music. We were a little bit away from the stadium where the actual show took place. It was fun to spend time with new friends. Thanks, Tracie, for inviting us to come along.

this is my pathetic attempt to capture the fireworks (my camera even has a fireworks setting - I guess it's still not that good)

Brent asked what I would like to do for the 4th. I said have a BBQ. Of course we don't own a BBQ, so it wasn't an option. We spent a lot of the 5th in the pool. Brent had the day off work, so he was able to go to the pool with us in the morning. That afternoon we were invited to a friend's house for swimming and a BBQ. It ended up being a fun day and I got my BBQ afterall. :)

Since I didn't get my fix of patriotic music on the 4th, I finally broke out the one patriotic CD I own - MoTab - a couple days ago. I had been singing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and Derek would say "Glory, glory, hallelujah." It was adorable. So, I found the CD and let them hear the song. The next day I turned on the CD again, and Derek asked for "Glory, glory, hallelujah." So, I put that song on again. As soon as it was done, he said, "Again." Elliott said, "No way." We kept on going instead. I love patriotic music. We're still making our way through the CD. The boys really enjoy it. Today as I was listening it reminded me of the summer when my parents sang patriotic songs at Knott's Berry Farm with their caroling group. I remember having so much fun that summer. I would follow them around while they sang. I loved it. It makes me happy to hear great songs about our country. I always get that warm fuzzy feeling. When we sang the National Anthem at church on the 4th, I was emotional. It was difficult to sing all the words. I'm glad I have such a love for this country and the things that make it great. I hope that we will continue to enjoy our freedoms that so many have fought and died to preserve. God bless the USA.

DaVinci Science Center

2010-07-14T13:58:00.001-06:00

Here are some pics at the DaVinci Science Center. We've been 3 times and enjoyed it every time. The last time we went with my friend, Emily, and her son, Alex (bottom right of the collage). The first two pictures are of Derek touching a snake. He was brave. Elliott stayed clear of it. Derek wasn't interested in touching the creatures in the aquarium though. The last time we went Elliott got up the nerve to touch one a star fish. That was cool. There is lots to explore. There is even a station that shows you step by step how to make paper airplanes. Elliott made a really cool one and got to throw it down over the balcony (with permission from a worker). It was fun. Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy other science centers as well - whenever we go somewhere, since our membership is good at many different centers.

Check out Elliott's eyes through these goggles. Pretty crazy.

If you can't tell, they are distorted. The goggles are supposed to help you understand what it's like to drive drunk or something like that - impaired vision.

Summer Happenings

2010-07-14T12:26:00.008-06:00

Here is a glimpse of what we have been up to this summer:

Swimming - There is a pool that is free from 9-11 most days of the week. We try to go 1-2 days each week. There are some friends from the ward who also go. They teach swim lessons there as well. Elliott said he thought he should take lessons, so I got him signed up. He started on Monday. He's a lot more comfortable in the water than he used to be. He's trying his best to learn some things and do what the coaches ask him to. He's having fun. Derek is a little fish. He has so much fun jumping and splashing all over the pool. It's great because the pool starts at 2 feet, so Derek can actually stand up in it. He absolutely loves swimming.

it's kinda hard to get any shots of the boys having fun in the water, since then I wouldn't be watching them very closely, so this one will have to do :)

Dorney Park - I decided to get season passes to the local amusement park/water park. It's very similar to Great America (in Northern CA). It's owned by the same company as Great America and Knott's Berry Farm. It even has Camp Snoopy. It's less than 15 minutes away. So far we've visited the water park twice. We try to go once a week. They have a few fun little kid areas. Last week I took the boys on the lazy river, thinking it would be a nice ride on the tubes. Little did I know that there are big waterfalls you pass under. I wasn't prepared for that. Elliott was a trooper. He held on tight to his tube and did great. Derek was crying most of the way. It was really difficult to hold him on the tube as well. Lesson learned, we'll probably wait a while before trying that one again. Every day since then, Derek talks about going on the boat through the waterfall. It's kinda funny.

DaVinci Science Center - We also got annual passes for the science center. We've been 3 times now. The boys really enjoy it. I'll do a separate post for this one.

Library - We have made it back to the library a couple times. The boys are both participating in the summer reading program. They get little prizes for every couple hours that they read.

Playground Program - The school district provides this awesome program for kids from grades 1 thru 6, M-F from 9-1. The best part is, it is completely FREE! He goes to a rec center and they play indoor and outdoor games. The first day Elliott spent most of his time inside and even got a leader to play Yahtzee with him. Another day he spent most of his time outside. It was pretty obvious when he got home. He really enjoys it. It's good for him to get out of the house and have people to interact with. It's good for his social skills. He has said he wants to go everyday. So far that hasn't worked out, but hopefully when swimming lessons are done he'll go at least 3 or 4 times a week.

Elliott spends lots of time reading. I've got to find some good books for him. He's read all the Magic Tree House books tons of times. He's read a few other things, but it's hard to know which books have good content for a 6 year old while still being challenging enough for him to read and not be bored. He spends time playing the Wii and playing Club Penguin on the computer. He also loves playing board games. I taught him how to play Monopoly and he loves it. He also likes Yahtzee, Sorry Card Revenge, LIFE, Sorry, and UNO. We have also worked on his erector set. It's fun to make things that move.

just a random shot in his "ninja" costume

Derek is still obsessed with trains and wants a new track pretty much daily. Elliott is nice to help with that a lot. Derek also loves the Little Touch Leap Pad. We had it for Elliott, who played with it a ton when he was little. We hadn't gotten it out for Derek until a couple weeks ago and now it's all he plays with besides the trains. I think it's actually taken the first choice spot. He caught on to it quickly so he needs minimal help with it now.

Derek's hair was really gross after a super hot day - lots of sweat and pool water will make your hair stand up

I have made time to read. A friend in the ward invited me to a book club. I went last week and it was fun. We didn't spend a whole lot of time talking about the book, but there was lots of other talking. I stayed for almost 4 hours! It was nice to be out with the girls. I've missed that.

It has been fun having so many things to do. I got to the point where there were too many things to choose from, but that was a nice problem to have. We're having fun.

More Random Observations

2010-07-14T12:03:00.002-06:00

Cheddar cheese - It is almost impossible to find medium cheddar cheese. I guess they really like sharp and extra sharp cheese here. Weird. Maybe it's time to adjust my tastebuds.

Church bells - It's not uncommon to hear church bells ringing. We often hear them at our house since there is a church just up the street behind our house. I've also heard them at random parks and even when we got to church on Sunday (I don't know where those ones were coming from - obviously not our church building).

Cemetaries - They are everywhere! I don't think you can drive anywhere without passing at least one.

Riding lawn mowers - Everyone has to have their riding lawn mower. I think I've seen 3 regular lawn mowers now. Even people with not very big yards have riding ones. It's a little bizarre.

Wildlife - There are so many creatures here. It's really cool. We always see squirrels, pretty much anytime we're out (unfortunately they make good road kill too). I've even seen a chipmunk. There are also rabbits and geese. We saw a rabbit in our bushes the other day. Too bad we think they're guilty of making a mess of the bark/ground covering stuff in our yard. There is a gaggle of geese that we see almost everyday on the way to take Brent to work. As we drive past the spot, Derek is always on the lookout for them. Brent and the boys actually saw some geese in the field behind our house this morning. There are also raccoons and probably opossums - those I just see as roadkill. That's another thing that's not lacking in this area.

Rules of the road -
No turns from shoulder. That one is really obnoxious. There is an enormous shoulder that serves no purpose. We're getting used to it though.
Left lane must turn left - Isn't that pretty obvious? These signs are all over the place.
Tiny street signs at some major intersections. When you don't know where you're going, it can be a real problem when the streets aren't well marked.

All in all, we are enjoying life here. We are so lucky to have moved just in time for the hottest June on record. It was HOT. But now we've had lots of rain the past few days. It's nice to live somewhere that gets a good amount of rain. We don't think anyone has sprinklers here - at least we haven't noticed any.

One Terriffic 2 Year Old!

2010-06-23T11:28:00.003-06:00

We finally celebrated Derek's birthday 2 weeks after the fact. Since we were driving across Ohio on Derek's birthday, we didn't have a chance to celebrate. After a couple weeks, I felt really bad that we didn't even have cake or presents for his birthday. I was having a hard time trying to figure out what to get for him, he has plenty of toys. So, I bought him some pajamas and called it his birthday present. It works. He loved his cake. Ever since, if anything is cooked in a similar pan, he calls it cake (even though it's really enchiladas or something else).

Derek is such a fun, adorable boy. He's growing up so fast. He is learning to form sentences, even if half of the words are unintelligible to anyone but his parents (even we have a hard time with it sometimes). He knows his ABC's. He can count to 11. He's starting to sing songs, which is so cute. He recently started saying "Yes" or more commonly "Ya" in his cute little Derek voice. Before he would mumble a resemblance of yes. He is obsessed with trains. He plays with his train tracks everyday. He loves watching shows with trains. We can hear the trains blow their whistles from our house. Fortunately the tracks aren't close enough to hear the trains going by. We do see trains anytime we drive anywhere. He asks to ride the train all the time. He also started putting his hands on his hips and huffing. That's a funny one. I really don't think I do that, so I'm not sure where he got that one. Derek has really starting picking up on everything we say. He copies a lot of things we say. He loves to copy his big brother. Elliott isn't so fond of the idea. One bad word Elliott often says is "stinky bum." Derek will call Elliott that when he's upset with him or sometimes just for fun. He also will copy us when we tell Elliott what his punishment will be for not doing something. If we tell him he'll go to his room, Derek will say "Ei-yi go room." It's hard not to laugh when he does it. He has so many cute mannerisms that make him who he is. He is such a sweetheart, even though he going through those "wonderful" 2's.

Random Notes about PA

2010-06-23T11:07:00.002-06:00

Some random observations about the Allentown area:

the local library is TINY. It's a one room library, which doesn't work very well with a 2 year old. The first time there the librarians even whispered at the front desk. The second time was actually really loud, so maybe we'll be okay. I guess it depends on the day. I might try braving downtown to check out the library there.
there's at least one section of town - where the mall and lots of other shopping is - where you can't make left hand turns. You have to turn right in order to turn left. It's really frustrating, especially when you don't know exactly where you're going.
Reading (as in Reading Railroad) is pronounced Red-ing. There is a town called Reading, we are in the Reading Stake, and in Philadelphia there is the Reading Terminal Market. Who would have thought I (along with most normal people) have been pronouncing it wrong all my life. I looked it up and we can blame in on the Brits. Apparently there's a town in England spelled Reading, pronounced Red-ing.
there is no sales tax on clothing. Brent figured out that all "necessities" are not taxed - food, clothing, diapers, etc. It's quite nice. I guess that might mean we get slammed with income taxes, that's yet to be seen.
the "DMV" is bizarre. They don't really have one. You go to the Driver's License Center to get your driver's license, fair enough. But to register your car you have to go to these random agencies, who do everything from insurance to car registration. I guess the nice thing is there is no long line to wait in, but it's still weird. It's also really hard and more expensive to register your car if you have a loan on it. Again, that's weird.

Our New Home

2010-06-23T10:55:00.003-06:00

Now that we've been here for exactly one month, here are some pictures of our new home. We're at the end of our row of townhouses, which is nice. We never hear our neighbors. The neighborhood is pretty quiet. There are a few kids, but we don't see them very often. Behind our house is a huge open field of grass. When we first moved here it was a huge field of clover, but then they started mowing it every week, so all we see is a small patch of clover here and there. Brent was really bummed when they mowed it. He loved the clover. I'm kinda happy it's gone because there were tons of bees out there. On Monday night I realized there are fireflies out there. It was the first time I had ever seen them. I felt like a kid, mesmerized by all the flashing lights. It was so fun.

The house is 3 stories. The bottom level has the door to the garage, a storage closet under the stairs, and then a big room with the laundry room and another storage closet attached. Originally we were going to use the big room as a play room, but we changed our minds and made it the living room instead. It has worked out really nice. My biggest problem about having the playroom down there was that it feels so far away and both doors to the outside are down there, which made me uncomfortable. So, we changed the typical living room on the second floor into the playroom and the formal dining room into the office. It's all a little atypical, but it works nicely. The playroom is very well used. It is covered in toys daily, usually with trains. Derek is obsessed! We decided it was finally time to get a new dining room table, since we actually have somewhere to put it. It's so nice to have a table that fits all of us and the food, with plenty of room for more people. I LOVE the kitchen. It is so nice to have counter space and cupboards!! There are even cupboards that hardly have anything in them. It's great. It's nice having the pot rack as well. The owner left that here for us. The third floor has the bedrooms. The boys have their own rooms. It has worked out well. The master bedroom is spacious with a wonderfully large bathroom with separate shower and bath. I also LOVE having more than one bathroom again with counters, cupboards, and drawers. We love our house. It's so nice to have space again.

The owner, a guy in his mid-twenties or so, left several things for us that makes it even nicer. He left the bookshelves in the playroom, as well as some decorative shelves in the playroom and entryway, shelves in the storage room and garage, and an extra freezer in the garage. He also left handsoap and toilet paper in the bathrooms, which was really handy when we first got here without our stuff, plus a broom and mop, which I didn't think I'd use at first, but it's nice to have a broom upstairs. Plus, there's a security system included. I love all the colors of the walls in the house. The paint makes it even more homey. The only downside is that the owner had a dog, so we still find dog hair all the time, on all the floors. Oh well. It'll disappear eventually I hope.

We can get almost anywhere in 15 minutes or less. Brent works 10 minutes away. Target and grocery stores are also about 10 minutes. It takes 12 minutes to get to church. The mall is maybe 15. The furthest thing is Sam's Club, which is still less than 20. It's taken some getting used to figuring out where things are. I still sometimes get confused as to where I am when I go different places. Our ward is really spread out. It's nice being in a "normal" ward again. There are 40-50 kids in primary, less than 10 in nursery. The youth program is pretty small, which is unfortunate for babysitters. There are a lot of young families as well as a lot of older people. We were surprised to find that our ward is fairly transient. There are a lot of families here doing medical residencies, so they are just here for 3 years or so. We have met a lot of wonderful people.

Brent started work last week. He didn't have much to do last week, but he's started in on some projects this week, even though he doesn't know what he's doing yet. He'll figure it out with some time. The company is great, he really likes all the people he has met so far. This Friday they are having a BBQ for everyone in the Career Development Program. On Tuesday we get to go to an Iron Pigs game (the local Minor League baseball team), with box seats and everything. That will be fun. Plus, he found out about a group picnic sometime later in the summer - for the specific group he's working in. So far so good. It's nice for Brent to be working again. The boys and I are still trying to figure out how to spend our days, but we're getting there.

Our Cross Country Adventure, Part 2

2010-06-14T07:30:00.005-06:00

Tuesday took us to Omaha, NE. I changed our hotel reservation to a Hawthorne Suites - it was basically a studio apartment - for about the same price as the Super 8 was going to be. That was a good switch. It worked out well. We put Derek's bed in the kitchen. :) It kept him separated from the rest of us well enough. That evening I knew the boys just needed a place to run and play, get some energy out. We went to McDonalds for dinner, hoping the playplace would suffice. Elliott had fun, but Derek couldn't do a whole lot. So, we found a nearby park and just let them play. It was nice.

On Wednesday morning we headed to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. It is supposed to be the best zoo in the country. Surprisingly, the boys kept saying they wanted to be in the car instead of at the zoo. Regardless, we all had some fun. They had a great aquarium, where the sharks swim around you. That was pretty cool. My favorite part was the rainforest. It was huge and awesome. Just walking the dirt trail through the rainforest took a long time. It was really humid in there (as it should be). It was really amazing. There were animals, tons of trees, and waterfalls. It was a pretty impressive zoo.

After the zoo, we drove across Iowa. We spent a lot of time not on major highways, so we really saw lots of farm country. It was pretty and a nice change. We made it to Keokuk, Iowa, which is just across the river from Illinois. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn. We were there for 2 nights, so we wanted something nice. Plus, I got to spend the evening doing laundry. That's what happens when you're living out of suitcases for 2 weeks. They had a nice pool there. I went to Wal-Mart, which was in the same parking lot as the hotel, to get some swim floaties for the boys. They had a great time swimming.

We were really fortunate to have great weather on our trip. We avoided the rain all the times we wanted to do something outside, at least until Thursday. So, we headed to Nauvoo in the rain. It was really neat to visit Nauvoo and see where the early Saints lived and where so much happened in the early history of the church. We took a covered wagon tour to see all of the sites. It was interesting to hear about all the buildings and the people who lived there. After the tour, we went to the Family Living Center where we learned how to make rope, candles, pots, barrels, and more. We even got to make a rope to take home. Derek got to play with the pioneer toys. He was excited to sit on the sheep too. After the FLC, we were able to visit some of the shops. We saw the blacksmith shop, the tin shop, the bakery (where the kids were happy to get a cookie), the post office, and the gunsmith shop. A trip to Nauvoo wouldn't be complete without seeing the Red Brick Store. I am glad we had the opportunity to visit Nauvoo. I am so grateful for the pioneers who sacrificed so much for the truth of the gospel. It was disappointing to not spend as much time in Nauvoo as I wanted. The rain put a damper on things.

Later that evening, when we were back at the hotel, Elliott said, "I thought we were supposed to see the rocking horse." I felt terrible. He read in The Friend about the rocking horse that John Taylor made for his son and went back to Nauvoo to get after starting their exodus. We forgot to visit the John Taylor home. We made a special trip back to Nauvoo the following morning before heading to Carthage. I didn't want Elliott remembering that he went to Nauvoo but didn't get to see the rocking horse. He was happy to see it. We even got to take a picture next to it.

Carthage was amazing. It was a special experience to be able to visit the Carthage Jail and see where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred. We watched a video at the visitor's center before taking the tour of the jail. It was neat to be able to go into all of the rooms and see what it was like. We learned things we didn't know before. There was a very special Spirit at the jail. I'm glad we were able to have that experience together.

Elliott is standing in front of the window Joseph fell from as well as the door with the bullet hole from one of the bullets that hit Hyrum.

We were very surprised to see 3 different people that we know at Nauvoo and Carthage. Brent saw someone from the MBA program at Nauvoo. He didn't know him well. I ran into my old roommate Alison and her family. They were there for a friend's sealing the next day. At Carthage, we saw the Shirts family, another MBA family, on their way to OH for an internship. Who would have thought we'd run into anyone we knew in Nauvoo. We randomly saw the Shirts again the next day at a Service Plaza off the Ohio Turnpike. Crazy.

After Carthage, we made our way across Illinois. A friend told us about an awesome candy factory in Merrillville, so we made a small detour to check it out. It's called the Albanese Candy Factory. It was totally worth it. We got there in the early evening, so the factory itself wasn't really busy, but we were still able to see them making some candy. We also saw the robots sorting and boxing things. It was fun. The candy selection was incredible and delicious. We chose a few things to buy and then enjoyed eating them in the car. The gummy snake was pretty cool. It was 27" long for only 99 cents. Elliott picked out chocolate covered Oreos. They were delicious. Everything else was too. That night we stayed in Elkhart, Indiana (about half way through Indiana) at the Comfort Suites.

On Saturday we finished crossing Indiana and went to the eastern border of Ohio, where we stayed in Youngstown at the Comfort Inn and Suites. The hotel was the nicest because it actually had a separate bedroom. Of course it was the most expensive, but by that time in the trip we needed something nicer. :) Ohio was the most boring of all the states we drove through. There wasn't any variety to the landscape. We were just on the I-80 the whole time. There aren't really even normal exits on the turnpike. There are just service plazas you can stop at to eat or get gas or whatever. We were planning on swimming at the hotel that evening but then found that the heater on the pool was broken. Elliott and Derek didn't want to get in once they felt the water with their feet. I was glad because I sure didn't want to get in an unheated pool. We took the Wii along, so Elliott got to play for a while instead of swimming.

On Sunday we finally made it to Pennsylvania. We drove across the entire state. We live about 30 minutes from the New Jersey border. The drive was beautiful. There was almost nothing but forest the whole way. It was so pretty. We drove through the mountains to get from I-80 down to our new house. It was a nice drive to finish off our adventure. We were so happy to arrive. It was a long 9 days in the car. The boys did surprisingly well. Most days there was a little bit of complaining and/or crying, but really not too much. Saturday was Derek's worst day. It was his birthday and I'm sure he would have rather not spent the day stuck in the car. He cried for an hour or two, but we all survived. He did better again on Sunday. The boys spent their time coloring, reading, and watching movies. Elliott had some workbooks to do as well. Our friends, Mike and Lis, gave Elliott a fun bag of stuff to do and yummy treats to eat along the way. He loved it. Thanks! Brent listened to a 20+ hour book on CD and I read a new book called Mistborn. We all had things to do to pass the time. It was really nice to be out of the car when we finally got here. We had a good trip, but I'm not looking to do it again anytime soon.

Our Cross Country Adventure, Part 1

2010-06-08T12:23:00.003-06:00

We left Provo the afternoon of Saturday, May 15th. We drove to Rawlins, WY, just a random place to stop that wasn't too far of a drive for the day. There was nothing special or very memorable from that stop. We stayed at a Super 8. The bathroom reeked of cigarette smoke and there was animal hair on the sheets of one of the beds. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Our original plan for our trip was to stay at Super 8's or something similar to save on costs. As you'll see our plans changed as we went. On Sunday we drove to Rapid City, SD. South Dakota is a beautiful state. We hit a crazy rainstorm, possibly hail, on the way. I was scared. Fortunately Brent was driving, but it was still scary. You couldn't see the road because the rain was coming down so hard. We stayed at a La Quinta. It was a fabulous hotel. There was an indoor waterpark at the hotel. It was nice to let the boys play. Elliott was brave enough to go on all the slides in the kids area. He almost went on one of the really big slides, but about half way up the stairs he decided it was way too high. He had a lot of fun. Monday morning we headed out to Mount Rushmore. What an amazing sight. That was one of the highlights of our trip. It was fascinating to see the mountain in person and learn about its creation. There is definitely nothing that compares with it. The avenue of flags is really cool too. It was fun to look around for different state flags. A couple interesting facts:

- Each president's face is as tall as the entire Great Sphinx of Egypt, measuring 60 feet from the chin to the top of the head.
- The president's noses are 20 feet long, each mouth 18 feet wide and the eyes are 11 feet across.
Needless to say, it is huge! Elliott had read about Mount Rushmore in a Flat Stanley book, so he was excited to see it as well.

View from the viewing platform.

View from the Presidential Trail.

The boys were good sports. Elliott did really well. Derek wasn't very interested in this visit and before we were done he had had enough.

After leaving Mount Rushmore we took a detour through Badlands National Park. For the most part we just drove through. We stopped at a couple of spots to see the view. It was spectacular. Badlands is one of the world's richest mammal fossil beds. It was interesting to see these huge formations out one side of the car and out the other side there were huge prairies. We even saw prairie dog settlements (I didn't get a picture of those). Pretty cool. Enjoy the view.

After our sightseeing was finished for the day, we made our way through South Dakota and stayed in a tiny town called Murdo. We stayed in another Super 8. The quality was better than the first one, but the boys spent a long time teasing/yelling at each other when they were supposed to be sleeping. It was then that I decided we needed something bigger for the rest of our trip. No more sleeping practically on top of each other. After our trip Brent's parents told us there was a tornado that went through Murdo just a day or two after we left. I'm glad we were ahead of the storm.

Goodbye Utah, Hello Pennsylvania

2010-06-02T19:58:00.002-06:00

It was really hard to leave Provo, our home, our ward, and especially our friends. We took full advantage of our last week there to spend almost every evening with friends. I got to go out with the girls; we had a girls/boys night swap; and lots of evenings playing games. Our good friends, the Malmgrens invited us to sleep at their house our last night after the movers took all of our stuff. That was so generous (especially since it was Lis's birthday the next day). We had so much fun. We will miss all of our friends so much.

After 9 days in the car, we finally said hello to our new home in Orefield, PA (just outside of Allentown). We arrived on Sunday afternoon and our stuff came on Tuesday. The rest of the week was spent unpacking. Brent was amazing in getting all the boxes unpacked so quickly. It is so nice to have a house again with lots of space, room for everything, and especially a washer, dryer, and dishwasher. Hooray! It's a great home. The landlord left lots of shelving in the garage and storage room, plus an extra freezer in the garage. It's so nice to have places to put things. We went to our new ward this past Sunday. It's a fairly small ward, but seems really friendly. It was nice going the day before a holiday - there was a ward picnic for Memorial Day. It was great to be able to go and meet even more people there. There is a family in the ward here for the summer for an internship with Air Products (where Brent will be working). There are several young families. We are looking forward to getting to know people better and making good friends here.

I'll post all about our cross-country adventures soon...

Moving Time Fun

2010-06-02T19:56:00.000-06:00

It was so nice to have movers take care of our move. I didn't have to do much of anything. They came on Thursday the 13th to pack everything up and then loaded the truck on the 14th. So, I had 2 days I needed to be out of the house. Brent stuck around the apartment to make sure everything went as desired. Thursday we spent time at the playground. Then Elliott spent the rest of the afternoon at a friend's house. On Friday I thought of taking the boys to a movie but of course there was nothing good at the dollar theater. So I asked Elliott what he wanted to do. He said Jumpin' Jacks, so that's where we headed after lunch. I called my friend Brooke and invited her son (Elliott's good friend) Dakota to go with us. I'm glad he could go, they had so much fun running around that place. They were absolutely crazy and had a crazy good time. Derek wasn't too sure about it at first but then I couldn't peel him away. It was fun to watch them play. I'm glad Elliott and Dakota had that last chance to play together. They played together almost every day. It's hard to leave good friends.

Hiking the "Y"

2010-06-02T19:16:00.001-06:00

We finally hiked Y Mountain our last Saturday in Provo. Brent and I had wanted to do it for a while and then Elliott said he wanted to, so it was a definite have to do before we left. I did it after I graduated from BYU. It was really difficult. Elliott did great hiking the whole way. I carried Derek on my back. That was insane, but we made it. I'm glad we did it, but I wasn't going to hurry to do it or anything like it again. It was a beautiful day and we had a beautiful view. We got really lucky to have nice weather since there had been a lot of rain that week. We had fun hiking together as a family.

End of Season

2010-06-02T19:13:00.000-06:00

Elliott had fun playing soccer again this spring. He was on the same team as in the fall, but fortunately they got a lot of new players. They only had 7 kids on the team in the fall which doesn't allow for playing on 2 fields at once (4 on each field), especially since all the kids usually didn't show up every time. This time they had 12 kids - much better! Elliott improved this season as well. He had an impressive final game. It was great to see him get really into it finally. Unfortunately he ended the game getting hit in the face with the ball - kicked by the strongest kicker on the field. Ouch! The 3rd picture is a little more accurate of how most of the season was spent - hanging out on the field with other teammates, not really paying attention to where the ball was. It was really fun to see him running so hard that final game and kicking the ball several times! Way to go, Elliott! Now for a break from soccer - Elliott really wants to try karate, hopefully it works out.

Fun with Family

2010-05-04T16:35:00.000-06:00

On our way back from Disneyland, we stayed in Las Vegas for a couple days. Saturday afternoon we hiked Exploration Peak. It was a nice little but steep hike. Elliott had asked to hike it last time we were there but we didn't, so this time I made sure we did. It was a pretty view of the entire valley. Later that afternoon, all the family in Las Vegas came over for a family party. It was fun to see everyone before we head far, far away. We celebrated Travis', Ethan's, and Derek's birthdays since we were all together. I love spending time with family. We will miss everyone. Everyone is welcome to come visit us now that we'll live somewhere exciting. :)

Disneyland

2010-05-04T15:25:00.001-06:00

We went to Disneyland for our Graduation trip. We had a blast! We left the Sunday after graduation and headed to Vegas. We stayed the night at my parent's house and then headed to CA Monday morning. We stayed in the Desert Palms hotel right behind California Adventure. The hotel wasn't great but it met our needs. It was nice to be within walking distance of the parks. We spent all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday playing. It was fun and really exhausting. Brent's brother Reid, his wife Portia, and their girls, Evelyn and Elizabeth, joined us both Tuesday and Wednesday. It was so fun to have them there with us. It had been a long time since we've spent time with them. It also made it really nice for the adults to be able to do rides, we could switch off kids and go together. Elliott had a blast. He had been looking forward to our trip practically since we moved to Utah almost 2 years ago. He was most excited to see Mickey Mouse. Derek had no desire to say greet the characters other than a distant hello. Derek did great. His favorite ride was the carousel, which he got to ride 5 times. He also really wanted to ride a train. Once he saw a train Wednesday morning, he kept saying "choo-choo-train" over and over until we finally rode the train that afternoon. The kids had so much fun with their cousins. Wednesday evening we took a break to eat our "dinner" of ice cream. The kids just ran around and goofed off for at least an hour. They had a surprising amount of energy. The first 2 evenings when we headed back to our hotel, Elliott wanted to run the whole way. Again, I don't know how he had so much energy. The park wasn't very crowded so we were able to do everything we wanted to and more by the end of Wednesday. So, Thursday we were able to repeat all the best rides and enjoy the Aladdin show. We even took an afternoon nap back at the hotel, which enabled us to stay in the evening when it was dark. It was fun to see the everything lit up. Elliott's good friend, Dakota, told him all about the fun rides before we went, which was really helpful. It helped Elliott go on rides I don't think he would have otherwise. He ended up loving Indiana Jones, Pirates, and Haunted Mansion. Brent even surprised me by going on the Tower of Terror! I was impressed. That is one crazy ride. We had such a great time. It was fun for me to go to Disneyland as a tourist. I hadn't been since high school when I had an annual pass and I would go every weekend with my friends. I'm glad we were able to have that time together as a family. We headed back to Vegas on Friday and came home on Sunday. Fun times!

Hail the Graduate!

2010-05-04T14:59:00.000-06:00

He did it! Brent graduated from BYU with his Masters of Business Adminstration on Friday, April 23. We are so proud of him and all his hard work. We are also happy it's over! It was a great experience for all of us. Brent graduated with all A's and A-'s, a 3.88 GPA. He is in the top 10% of his class. Way to go Brent. He worked hard for it, even when it was hard to keep going. Congratulations, Brent!

We were happy to have so many family members come to celebrate with us, as well as all the well wishes from those who couldn't be here with us. Thank you for all your love and support.

Elder J. Willard Marriott, Jr, and Area Authority Seventy and chairman and CEO of Marriott International, was the keynote speaker at the Convocation ceremony. He gave an excellent talk about persistence. He spoke about his father and his life of hard work to build the company to what it is today. It was interesting to hear his story and what it means to be part of the Marriott School.

You can see Brent in the crowd - he's right in the middle looking at the camera.

Family Pictures

2010-05-04T14:30:00.002-06:00

Last month we had family pictures taken by my friend Heather at Red Tulip Photography. She does great work. I think we got some good pictures. It was pretty cold outside so Elliott wasn't thrilled to be taking pictures, thus some funny faces from him. Overall it turned out well. It had been almost 2 years since we took pictures, so it was about time.

Saint George

2010-03-15T20:27:00.000-06:00

Two weekends ago we were able to go down to Saint George for the weekend as a family. Stephen and Amy gave us 2 nights at a timeshare for Christmas. We stayed in a nice 2 bedroom place - bigger than our apartment and nicer too. :) We drove down Friday afternoon and went to Pirate Island for dinner. On Saturday we went to Johnson Farm Dinosaur Discovery Site. Just back in 2000 someone was preparing some land for development when they found a bunch of dinosaur tracks. They built a building around the site so visitors can come see them. The wall Brent and the boys are standing in front of is the longest single trail of dinosaur tracks in the world. It's pretty cool. After that we went to lunch at a delicious restaurant that my friend Michelle told me about, Bear Paw Cafe. It was so good! They have the best breakfast menu. The french toast was 1 1/2 inch thick cut in the middle and filled with vanilla brule. It was amazing! After lunch we went back to the timeshare for Derek's nap. Elliott and I went swimming. The pool was heated, so it was nice, but it's still weird to think we were outside swimming in 60 degree weather. Elliott loved being able to go swimming. They had a 2 foot pool that we stayed in. It was perfect.

After naptime we went to Snow Canyon State Park. We went to the sand dunes and then into Jenny's Canyon. Elliott and I hiked up to the lookout. It was beautiful - all the red rocks and red sand. We were hoping to hike one more trail that had lava flows, but the weather wasn't cooperating. It was getting really windy and starting to rain and we didn't want to get stuck outside in that. We still had a good time outside. We stayed another night and went home Sunday afternoon. It was really nice to get away as a family for the weekend.

Only 5 1/2 weeks left of school for Brent. It's hard to believe the end is almost here. We are looking forward to graduation. I'm heading to PA on Thursday to find a place to live. I'm hopeful I'll find something good.

Derek's Obsessions

2010-03-15T19:45:00.000-06:00

Derek has recently become obsessed with trains. He LOVES to play with the Geo Trax. He will spend hours playing with them every day. The first day of his obsession he hardly ate anything all day, he was too busy playing. Yesterday we decided to put the trains away for a day to give us our living room back. All day long Derek would say "choo-choo trains" wanting to play. He would go to our room and drag out the train stations. He can't get into the rest of the box so he just kept asking for them. We managed to a second day without the trains, but I'm sure I'll have to give in soon. Derek has even figured out how to put the tracks together. Elliott is nice to help Derek build new tracks. It's nice to have the boys play together.

Derek has also fallen in love with the broom. He loves to push is around. He's a good little helper.

I did it!

2010-03-15T14:17:00.000-06:00

I did it! I ran my first race - the Rex Lee Run 5K. I have been training for it since October with my friend, Laura. We had our doubts if we could really run that far, but we worked hard to get there. It feels great to accomplish a race. It was pretty rough but we did it and that's what counts. I don't know my official time but it should be just under 33 minutes. We even ran a bit faster and further than when we were training. We knew it would be a little longer we just figured we'd save the longer part for the race. :) Now to be motivated to keep running...

Elliott turns 6!

2010-01-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Elliott!

Elliott's 6th birthday was 2 weeks ago already. He had a great birthday. I can't believe he's 6 years old. My baby's growing up. He has a sweet personality, is amazingly smart, and is a great big brother. We all love you, Elliott!

The day of. Daddy decided to have Elliott open presents before school. It was a great way to start off the day. We went to Denny's for dinner that night. We can always win with pancakes.

I decided it was finally time to throw Elliott a birthday party. It was crazy and I'm sure I won't start doing them every year. I was so stressed about it. I had no idea what I was doing, but it turned out just fine as I knew it would. I did a western theme with horseshoe invitations. All the kids got bandanas and sherrifs badges. We played pin the tail on the donkey, "lasso" with Twister hopscotch hoops and water bottles, herd the cattle (get the balloons through the chairs using only your feet), sidewinder jump (don't get bit by the "rattlesnake"), and hot potato with a snake. The kids all had a lot of fun. There were 11 kids there at times. I'm glad I limited the invite list to just the kids who live around us and some cousins. It was crazy but fun. Elliott shed some tears, but hey, what's a party without tears. Elliott is wearing his coat in the bottom pictures because it was FREEZING in the building. We had the party in the basement of one of the buildings here and there was no heat. I was very relieved when the party was over.

While not an official birthday celebration this year, we still made it to Chuck E. Cheese. Elliott got a coupon for 20 free tokens, so it was perfect to spend an hour or so there for free. I had a few tokens left over from last year as well, so we all got to have a little bit of fun. Derek was getting into it too. It is so nice that Derek is finally walking so he could wander around and I didn't have to hold him the whole time.

Coloring Contest Winner!

2010-01-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

This should have been posted a LONG time ago, but here it is - the winner of the Wymount Halloween coloring contest! Elliott was really excited to win. He always loves to enter and he always thinks he'll win. I always encourage him to enter, while making sure he realizes there are lots of people who enter and not everyone can win. So, it was really fun to actually win! Nice work, Elliott!

Christmas Break

2010-01-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

BOWLING
We all went bowling together and had a great time. Derek still doesn't appreciate it so much, but he did pretty well putting up with the rest of us having fun. He brought along his trucks to keep himself occupied. He took those trucks everywhere with him for a few weeks.

SOCK HANDS
This was the first (and probably only) time I put socks on Derek's hands. He thought it was really funny. Of course Elliott had to join in the fun. They are my little goofballs.

ERECTOR SET
We spent several days putting together this dune buggy from Elliott's new Erector set. It was quite a challenge to put together. Elliott was great at finding all the right pieces, but I pretty much had to take care of the assembly. It's a lot of tiny nuts and bolts. It was a tricky, time consuming project. I guess I need to get up the urge to disassemble the buggy so we can move on to the next project. Only 19 more projects to try out. How long do you think that will take??? It was fun to see it actually work after putting it together ourselves (it has a motor attached).

SLEDDING
My cousin Gina invited us to go sledding with her and her husband, Chris, as well as her brother Sam and his family, and her cousin Jesse and his family. It hadn't snowed much for a while, but Gina found this great hill next to the school she works at. It was perfect. Elliott had a blast going down the hills. There was one little hill that was pure ice from being used so much. There was a bump at the bottom. The kids had fun sliding down it without sleds (the bottom left picture shows Elliott going down it head first). Derek didn't much appreciate the sport (top left picture). Afterwards, we all went to Gina's house for a delicious lunch. It was so fun to spend time with my cousins, who I don't see often enough. Hopefully we can do it again soon.

We had an enjoyable Christmas break. I think the second week was better than the first. The lead up to Christmas was a little crazy, but we had lots of fun afterwards. We spent lots of evenings playing games with friends too. It was sad to see all the fun come to an end, but it was nice to see school start again. Only 3 more months of school for Brent! Time is flying.

Halloween in December?

2010-01-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

One afternoon Derek woke up from his nap and was pointing up in his closet. I held him up to see what he wanted. I guess he wanted to be a frog - it was nice and warm, so I didn't have to put a coat on when we went out to the car. :) He kept it on for the afternoon. It was pretty funny. He still makes a cute frog.

Temple Square

2009-12-27T23:35:00.000-07:00

I couldn't let another year go by without seeing the beautiful lights at Temple Square. We went last night. Boy was it freezing. My nose was about to fall off! The lights are so beautiful. I'm so glad we were able to go and share the beauty with the boys. Who knows when they will have the chance again. Elliott wasn't interested in taking pictures because he was so cold. He did agree to take the picture in front of the steaming fountain. He thought that was pretty cool. I love it with the temple in the background. I'm happy we went even if it was ridiculously cold. We weren't the only ones - it was pretty crowded.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T23:26:00.002-07:00

Christmas Eve - singing carols

The tree

We had a lovely Christmas morning. The boys slept until 7:30, so we didn't have to get up too early. My only problem is that I woke up at 4 and didn't sleep well after that. I have a history of doing that on Christmas morning. I'm too excited for the day (although this year was just following the routine of the past couple weeks). The boys loved their presents and couldn't get enough of them in one day. That's always a good sign. Elliott finally got the pop-up tent he has been asking for for 2 years. He has slept in it every night since Christmas.

Derek in Christmas bliss.

We spent the afternoon with Stephen's and Mary Anne's families. We all had a great time visiting. Derek loved Lincon's rocking horse. As soon as one of them got off, the other one would get on. It was a fun, relaxing afternoon. We came home and had pizza dinner with our friends the Straits. Derek did surprisingly well all day with only a 15 minute car-ride nap. They were definitely ready to crash when it was bedtime. Merry Christmas to everyone!

School Christmas Program

2009-12-27T22:51:00.002-07:00

Elliott had a Christmas program at school. They all dressed up in their Sunday clothes and looked so sharp. They sang 2 songs - I Want a Hippopotomus for Christmas and Must Be Santa. They were pretty cute. Here's a clip of the first song. I love Elliott "creeping down the stairs." It's adorable. They're both pretty long songs, so I'm only including the first video. Enjoy!

Christmas Preparations

2009-12-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

I didn't get pictures of us decorating our tree because the flash on the camera broke. I got a new camera for Christmas - okay, so I got it a few weeks before Christmas and I'm happy to be able to take all the pictures I want now.

Elliott loves decorating gingerbread houses. I tried my best this year to let Elliott to the decorating by himself. I put the icing on and then let him put candies wherever he wanted. He did an excellent job! Since Christmas he has been enjoying removing and devouring as much of the candy as he can.

With the Big Man himself. When we saw Santa from a distance, Derek was pretty excited. He kept pointing and smiling at him. When we got to his lap, he wasn't as excited. But he only cried for a second and then sat there mildly content long enough for me to take a picture.

Derek LOVES the musical toys Grandma and Grandpa send every year. He just sits there and pushes the buttons over and over and watches them sing and dance. Sometimes he'll even dance with them too. It's really cute. Too bad he got a little rough with Frosty so he doesn't work anymore. I didn't get a picture of this year's toy, but he loves that one just as much.

Discovery Park

2009-12-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. I guess it's really time to catch up on my blog! One Saturday, now long ago (mid-November) we headed to Discovery Park to play, explore, and well, discover. I read a friend's blog about this park and when we got there, I remembered going there once when I was a college student. That was really long ago. :) It is an awesome park with so many things to do. There are two separate areas for children of different ages. The boys had a great time. It was actually a little chilly, so the boys enjoyed themselves more than the parents, but it was still a great way to spend the afternoon. We'll definitely have to return when the weather warms up again.

Pennsylvania here we come!

2009-12-09T09:19:00.002-07:00

Brent got a job offer with Air Products in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He accepted it on Monday. He interviewed with them back in January for an internship position. They contacted him last month and invited him to fly back again. They were so impressed with him that they took an offer to his hotel room just 30 minutes after the interviews were over. They never do that, but they knew they wanted him! Pretty awesome. The offer was much better than he expected it would be, so that was pretty sweet. He really likes the company and the people he has met there. He will be part of their MBA Career Development Program. In the program he has the opportunity to rotate positions every 8 months. After that he can choose the position that he wants to work in. He also likes the opportunity to change jobs within the company frequently to keep things interesting. They offered to fly me and Brent out before he accepted the offer, so we were able to go out there last weekend. My mom was so nice to drive up and stay with the boys so we could enjoy our trip without them. They had a great time together and so did we. A realtor took us around the area and showed us housing options. It was really nice to see the area. We also had a chance to do some shopping and relaxing. It was a fun, although short, trip. We even got to experience a snow storm there before coming home to our own storm.

We are really excited for the adventure that awaits us in Pennsylvania. I'm sure it will take some getting used to, but it'll be fun. We'll definitely miss our families and friends out west. Now you have an excuse to go back east. :)

18 months old!

2009-12-09T09:14:00.002-07:00

Derek is 18 months old as of a couple weeks ago. He is finally walking!!! He started just a week or so ago. It is so nice to have him walking. He still doesn't say much, but he is figuring out more words slowly. He also finally hit the 20 pound mark. He has only gone to nursery once so far, but he did great and I loved it! It was great to not chase him around during church. He is such a sweet boy and pretty mellow, although he definitely knows what he wants and lets everyone know it. He can hold his own against Elliott. Derek is a sweetheart and growing so quickly.

Jack-o-Lantern Fun

2009-11-03T00:40:00.000-07:00

Elliott and i got to work on the jack-o-lantern together. He let me do all the dirty work, but he wanted to help with all the rest. He traced parts of the pattern and helped me cut some of it. Here's our creation of "Freaky Frank."

We decided to try painting him to give him a better Frankenstein effect. The paint turned out kind of green. Now we know poster paint doesn't work very well on pumpkins. It started flaking off the next day. It worked out okay though.

Crafter's Corner

2009-11-03T00:35:00.000-07:00

Last month Lis and I were finally able to go to Crafter's Corner, a cute shop where you can go and make metal decorations. We had been trying to find a time to go for 6 months! There are tons of awesome crafts to make - for every holiday or just because. It was difficult to choose just a couple. These are the ones I came home with.

I painted the board and chose paper to put behind the metal to spruce it up. I love the way it turned out!

All I did for the turkey was paint the block it sits on, but I think it's pretty dang cute. The beak and wattle poke out to give it a 3-D effect.

Halloween Fun

2009-11-03T00:29:00.003-07:00

Halloween always lasts for days and this year was no exception. We enjoyed 3 days of Halloween festivities. Thursday night was the MBASA Halloween party. Friday was our ward activity and Saturday we went trick-or-treating with the Malmgrens. We missed Brent at the parties but he got to accompany the boys on Saturday.

Here are pictures the first night. Derek made an adorable frog (he's even in a great frog pose) and Elliott was a great skeleton. Unfortunately the flash on my camera decided to die on Saturday so the pics from trick-or-treating didn't turn out.

Elliott had a parade at school. It was a madhouse! There are rows and rows of chairs for families to sit and watch the parade. Then all the kids walk up and down every row. The parade started 20-25 minutes late and lasted for almost 30 minutes. It was crazy! The kindergartners are supposed to get out of school at 10:30 on Fridays, but we didn't leave until almost 11.

Derek waiting for the parade to start - Elliott the skeleton - Mr. Nielsen (the principal) as a Red Neck Super Hero - Mrs. Stewart (Elliott's teacher) as a witch

Overall it was a fun Halloween, but I'm glad it's over. It always makes me tired!

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

2009-10-30T13:32:00.003-06:00

Whoever said the 2nd year of the MBA program was easier was either crazy or else their husband didn't have hard classes or didn't work or didn't have to find a job. Brent has been super busy this semester. He's got a full load of tough classes, works as a TA, and is job searching like crazy. He also just got asked by the company he interned for to work for them on the side (with all that extra time he has). It's quite a privilege to have been asked to help, since he's the only one that was. They really liked him there (of course, because he's awesome). He has travelled a ton this semester too and it's barely 1/2 over. He's been to New Orleans (career fair), Minneapolis (career fair), New York (networking), and New York again right now (job interview). He goes to Palo Alto and Charlotte in a couple weeks for more interviews. We are thrilled that he has received all the interviews he has. He has been really blessed for all his hard work. Here's to hoping for even better news when offers start coming in. :) Keeping our fingers crossed. I'm so proud of you Brent! We love you!

Cougar Run and Homecoming Parade

2009-10-30T13:26:00.001-06:00

Elliott ran in the Cougar Run on Saturday. It's part of the Homecoming festivities. He ran with 5 and 6 year old boys for 400 meters. He had fun doing it (even if he did come in 20th out of 21 runners). Good job Elliott! Elliott and Collin before the race. Elliott and Mason afterwards. Way to go boys!

Watching the parade with the Joneses. The kids all had fun, especially going after all the candy.

And of course no parade would be complete without the marching band. Go Cougars! (Too bad they got creamed in the game later in the day.)

Crazy Hair and Cute Faces

2009-10-30T13:08:00.000-06:00

Last week was Red Ribbon Week at school. One day was crazy hair day. I used gel and made Elliott's hair stand up. It was as crazy as I could make it. I offered to spray it black, but when I told him he'd have to take a shower afterwards, he decided against it. Silly boy.

Las Vegas Fun

2009-10-30T12:19:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago I took the boys to Las Vegas since Elliott has a few days off of school. We had a great time visiting family and friends. It's always fun to stay at Grandma and Popeye's house. Here are lots of pictures showing all the fun we had.

Derek loved going up and down the stairs. He was pretty proud of himself and now is quite the pro.

Town Square with Grandma, Curt, Ethan, and Caitlyn

Visiting Heather Fife and family. It was so fun to see them after several years.

The park with Grandma.

Party time with the all the family living in Vegas.

We spent some time at Chris and Kara's new house. The kids had a blast!

The District - trolley and carousel.

Mount Charleston with Daniel, Ashlee, Maya, Grandma, and Popeye. We hiked up to waterfall (I like to call it a water-trickle). There wasn't much to it, but it was still a nice hike. The hike itself was a little challenging with the little ones, but they made it.

Elliott on the way down: "I'm following the water. It's like I am the water."

We went to Curt's house after the hike. He made dinner for us. Way to go Curt!

We went to the Painted Mountain Ward on Sunday. I always love going back there. I love that ward! Thanks to so many good friends.

Pumpkinland

2009-10-30T11:50:00.000-06:00

Derek and I went to Pumpkinland with our MBASA friends. They had a corn maze, a petting zoo (of sorts), and a big playground. Derek wasn't too thrilled to be there. I think he was pretty tired. He liked playing in the dirt more than anything. Elliott got to go there the following week with Kindergarten. He got to ride on a school bus for the first time. He had fun.

Standing Tall

2009-09-24T17:55:00.001-06:00

Derek's newest accomplishment - standing up in the middle of the floor.

He has never attempted to stand up, but tonight as I was cleaning up dinner, Elliott said Derek is standing up and falling back down. I was doubtful, but as I watched, this is what I saw (beware loud screeching ahead)...

He finally got the hang of it. Once he got up and stood there for a good 30 seconds. Of course the video was processing so I couldn't get a picture, but here's a great one from another successful attempt. I absolutely LOVE the face!

Go, Derek, go!

He's finally making some progress. Hooray!

Elliott Update

2009-09-20T13:41:00.001-06:00

I've been a bit behind on getting this update out. Elliott has had an exciting month. He loves school. He started playing soccer. He has a lot of fun, even if he doesn't usually get anywhere near the ball. He has a good coach and teammates. Their team is the Green Goblins. It's fun to see him play and have a good time. Elliott finally got a new bike too. It was time to get him a "real" bike with training wheels. He loves to ride it. A friend of mine was selling it, so it was a good deal too. Finally, last Saturday Elliott lost his first tooth. We were at the Wymount Opening Social. He was eating a cookie and felt something hard, so he took it out of his mouth. He thought it was just a sprinkle from his cookie. I glanced at it and realized it was his tooth. He thought that was pretty cool. And since he was eating something, we didn't have to deal with any blood. It was nice all around. It's funny to see him smile without the tooth because the new one is already as big as the other teeth in his mouth, just a bit further back. He was very excited for the tooth fairy to come. Elliott LOVES to play the Game of LIFE. We play it almost every day. He is really good at being the banker too. He can calculate anything - 2 paydays minus something he has to pay, etc. He's pretty amazing. It's fun to watch him learn and grow.

Derek Update

2009-09-14T18:29:00.004-06:00

Derek is 15 months old (ok, almost 16 now)! He still weighs less than 20 pounds. He's not walking or talking yet, but he's got the cutest personality. He figured out how to climb slides and now cannot be stopped. I have to keep a close eye on him anytime we go to a park. He has no fear. He'll climb up any slide, no matter its size! His other favorite things are reading and animals. So, he can usually be found looking at books with animals and making animal sounds. I can distinguish his animal sounds, but many of them do sound alike. It's pretty cute when he does them. What a sweet boy!

This is where he can usually be found (or more often in the living room corner surrounded by books). I love it!

Derek LOVES playing outside, especially in the dirt. He found this great truck at the park. He loves to play with it.

Chillin' at Elliott's soccer game.

I was sweeping the other day. When I put the broom down for a minute, he was all over it. He sat there pushing it back and forth for several minutes.

Slide time. (The first slide he climbed.)

End of Summer Adventures - Day 2

2009-08-31T20:55:00.002-06:00

Now for our second day of fun. We headed out a little later in the morning. We stopped at the Clark Planetarium to get tickets to a couple shows in the afternoon. Then we headed to the Lion House Pantry for lunch. We all had some tasty food, including their delicious rolls and dessert. I saw all those desserts sitting there and just couldn't pass them up. The best part was that it was all included in our passes. It was fun to be able to eat there. It was delicious and a nice place to eat. It was especially nice to have a filling lunch to take us through the rest of the day.

After lunch, we headed back to the planetarium to look around. They have a Foucault Pendulum, telescopes, and displays about the planets. Derek's favorite was where he could crawl around and explore the moon and Mars. He was all over those rocks. It was pretty cool. Our special tickets allowed us to see 2 shows at the planetarium. One was 3D. Elliott chose the Dinosaur show. I was surprised at how well he did with the 3D glasses. He took them off whenever there were dinosaurs (he didn't want them to get too close), but he wore them when they were talking about the land or other things. Derek didn't appreciate the glasses. He did pretty well during the show. We also saw a show about Saturn in the Dome Theater. The screen is shaped like a dome, so it's mainly in front of you, but the picture actually extends above. Derek didn't last through that show. I took him to climb on the rocks some more.

When we were finished at the planetarium, we went to The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. The aquarium is in a building that used to be a KMart or a grocery store or something. It's pretty odd looking from the outside (for an aquarium). It was a decent aquarium, nothing too fancy, but enough to keep our interest for the little while we spent there. (I think we were in and out in less than an hour.) They had a pool with stingrays that you could pet. Elliott stuck his hand in the water but wasn't about to touch one. They had an octopus, lots of jellyfish, eels, rays, a few sharks, and lots of other fish and other creatures. Derek was happy to get out of the stroller and push it around for awhile.

We had another fun-filled day. I'm so glad we were able to spend those 2 days together. As Brent said, we crammed 6 months of family time into 2 days. Sadly, that's probably about right. We didn't have a whole lot of time together over the summer and school started for Brent today, so he'll be busy for the next 8 months (busy might be an understatement). I'll take what I can get. It was great to be able to do so many things. I calculated how much we would have spent if we paid full price for everything we did. It would have been $163! Every attraction costs so much by itself. What a nice savings we had. We had a great end to our summer.

The Big Day

2009-08-26T19:54:00.002-06:00

Today was Elliott's first day of Kindergarten. The day finally came! He was so excited. Derek and I walked him to school. It takes just over 15 minutes to walk, so it's some decent exercise at least while it's not too cold. It's a little cool in the morning, thus the jacket. I made him take it off and leave it with me once we got to school. He had a great first day. He had lots to say about it when he got home.

Dakota (friend from church) and Elliott are in the same class. There are 2 other kids he knows in his class as well.

Elliott sat down at his desk and just started smiling. I didn't even have to ask.

I'm so glad this time has finally come. Elliott really needs some structure away from home. I think we were all starting to go crazy. He is getting so big. I'm excited for him to learn new things and make new friends.

End of Summer Adventures - Day 1

2009-08-25T20:13:00.003-06:00

Today was officially our last day of summer. Elliott starts Kindergarten tomorrow! We decided to see how many activities we could cram into 2 days. Thanks to Cheryl-Lynn for telling us about the Salt Lake City Connect pass deal - 2 days for the price of 1. With the pass, we could go to basically any venue that's worth going to. So, for less than $60 for all of us, we were able to do a ton and we had a great time! Yesterday we started out at This is the Place Heritage Park. Then we went across the street to the Hogle Zoo. Since we had a little extra time in the late afternoon, we stopped at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

I finally figured out how to make collages to put in my blog - yay! I'm excited. Of course it makes some of the pictures a little small. You should be able to click on it to see it bigger. (I realize you can't really see who's on the ponies.)

At This is the Place, we were able to walk around the Pioneer Village. Elliott got to experience some chores - doing laundry with a washboard and beating a rug. He also got to use a woodworker's tool. Elliott and Derek got to ride the ponies. Derek wasn't too sure about it when I stuck him on the pony, but he did pretty good. He held on to the saddle for a few seconds here and there (instead of the death grip he had on me). He even pet the pony when he was finished. Elliott did great. The ponies were kinda lame - they didn't want to go anywhere - but the boys still had fun.

There was a collection of play houses the boys had fun exploring. The wooden train was the biggest hit.

We rode the big train a couple times to get where we wanted to go. Derek enjoyed having free reign of the caboose. There was a mini train that circled around a pond too. That was also fun.

We saw lots of animals at the zoo. It was fun to show Derek in real life some of the animals he loves looking at in books. Elliott got to be taller than a giraffe. The lion drinking fountains were pretty cool.

Elliott was super excited to go back to the Dinosaur Museum. I had my camera this time. Hooray.

We had a fun filled day. Day 2 still to come...

The Mysterious Tooth

2009-08-22T14:09:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday as we were sitting, oh so reverently, in Sacrament Meeting, I looked over at Elliott and noticed something in his mouth. I looked closer and realized it was a tooth - just hanging out like it belongs there behind his front bottom teeth. Normally teeth come in under the baby teeth, but not in this kid's mouth. Too bad he inherited my terrible mouth. He'll probably have teeth growing all over the place with no rhyme or reason, like I did. After discovering this new tooth, I checked the baby tooth and it was at least a little bit loose. It's even looser now, so that's good. After church, Elliott exclaimed, "That means I have 21 teeth!" Pretty cool. Even funnier was afterwards when the kid sitting behind us came up to me and told me he has 20 teeth. What I think is kinda strange is that Elliott never mentioned feeling it before. It's not like it's small. It's fully up out of the gums. Crazy stuff. Elliott is pretty excited to lose his first tooth and have the Tooth Fairy come.

One week and counting...

2009-08-19T20:56:00.002-06:00

Elliott starts Kindergarten next Wednesday. One week to go. Hooray! Last night was Back to School night, aka Meet the Teacher night. Elliott got to meet Mrs. Stewart. Then he got to go back again today for his Kindergarten assessment. He got to do things like write his name and numbers 0-10. And tell her what color crayons were in a box. And identify as many letters and numbers as he could. He counted as high as he could (or at least until she told him to stop). When asked to do this task, he replied, I can only count to 500. He started out very slowly, and gradually sped up so you could barely understand what he was saying. He got just past 30 when she asked him to stop. He had to count some things and do some basic story problems. He had to identify beginning and ending sounds of words and tell her what sounds different letters make. The final task was to read a bunch of words on a page. He whipped through them really fast. When he finished, she recognized he is a good reader, so she asked if he reads quite a bit at home. I told her he has read all of the Magic Tree House books (there are at least 40). She was rather surprised. He got 103/110 on his assessment - a surprise for the teacher, but not for us. We know we have a little smarty pants on our hands. I think he will still have fun in Kindergarten, but it was a little difficult for me to come up with "goals" I want him to accomplish this year. I figure the standards are learn to read, write his name, etc. Well, goals accomplished. I'm hoping he at least learns some better social skills, like realizing the world doesn't always revolve around him. He's a great kid. I'm excited for him to start Kindergarten and so is he!

Utah County Fair 2009

2009-08-13T21:54:00.004-06:00

Today we went to the Utah County Fair. We had more fun this year than last because this year we had friends to go with. Hooray for friends. The Straits and Raevskys were there and we had fun! Today was the best day to go since they had the children's activities going on. The activities were mostly identical to last year, but Elliott didn't mind. Derek did great even though he mainly just sat in the stroller. Another fun, free visit to the fair.

Decorating a top (after making the classic foam visor).

Edin showing off his top.

Face (or hand) painting. Elliott chose a ghost.

A classic merry-go-round being used to generate electricity. Apparently they use this technique in Ghana to light school rooms and lanterns to take home at night. Pretty cool.

The little ones just watching.

So sweet.

Elliott got to be a UDOT worker and safely operate construction equipment.

Elliott got to go on 2 rides this year thanks to a Reading for Rides program. For children 5-12, if you read a book and write a summary (or draw a picture for 5 year olds), you get a free ride ticket. He earned 3 but was kind enough to give one to Edin so they could ride the boats together.

Elliott's keeping an eye on the ride operator. She told the kids they could splash the water, but if they did, she would splash them back. All the other kids on the ride were having splash wars with this lady, but Elliott and Edin stayed clear of it.

Random Pics

2009-08-13T21:52:00.002-06:00

Can't get much cooler than this...

That's right...5 years old and reading the Wall Street Journal over lunch.

Picnic Time

2009-08-13T21:26:00.004-06:00

A couple weeks ago, we decided to go on a picnic in the canyon. We invited our friends, the Straits, to go with us. We went to Canyon Glen Park. After dinner, we played frisbee. Well, I didn't play a whole lot. I realized how terrible I am. But I am getting better. We played again a few days later and I got in a few good throws. It was still fun. Everyone had an enjoyable time.

Derek getting a taste of the Limon potato chips. He thought he was pretty cool just sitting in front of the bag eating all the chips he wanted. (I don't think he had that many. They had a little sour kick to them.)

Lizzie chillin' by the tree.

A couple good action shots of Brent and James.

Edin and Elliott with mouths full of grapes.

Lydia and I relaxing.

And a few more sweet shots of Derek...

Sitting in a pile of Mac and Cheese (and pretty pleased with himself).

Love.

(That's how he does the sign for love. It looks strangely like he's folding his arms for prayer. The 2 actions are essentially the same for him, but he was saying "love" in this picture. I'm just glad I was able to capture it on camera.)

Derek was just sitting on the grass for a long time playing with this little weed and brushing it across his face. It was adorable.

Great America

2009-08-12T16:05:00.004-06:00

We went to Great America while visiting Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa went with us. We all had a long, fun-filled day. Derek was a trooper, since he mostly had to sit in the stroller all day. There aren't a ton of rides he is big enough to enjoy. I think he got to go on 4 rides all day. Elliott had a great time trying lots of different rides. I got to do a loopty loop roller coaster by myself. Brent joined me for the big wooden roller coaster and the Survivor ride. That was quite the thrill. We had a great day playing and being together as a family.

One of the more adventurous rides Elliott tried. He enjoyed this one.

Elliott had a blast going on the rides in Kidzville and Nickelodeon Central.

Derek relaxing during lunch.

More rides after lunch.

Before lunch, I couldn't convince Elliott to ride the kiddie roller coaster. After lunch, he decided he was ready to give it a try. Or maybe not (so he wished). We went on it and the first time around he started yelling to stop the ride and that he doesn't like roller coasters. The second time around he wasn't yelling anymore but he still didn't enjoy himself. I am proud of him for giving it a try.

Elliott says he was trying to pull Blue's tail, but she saw him and got him first.

Blue gave Elliott a big hug. She also tried giving Derek a high five. He was a little nervous but he didn't scream.

What a great day at Great America!

Grandma and Grandpa's House

2009-08-12T15:20:00.003-06:00

Brent took a few days off work so we could go to California to visit his parents. He had Pioneer Day off, so we figured it was a perfect time to go. Since it's only a Utah holiday, the traffic wasn't bad. The drive was long, so we broke it up and stayed at a motel. The boys did surprisingly well for such a long trip. We were able to get out and do something every day. One day we went to the mall, another we headed to the park, then we visited Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, and finally we went to Great America (pictures in another post). We had lots of adventures and had lots of fun. Rob and Bryan came over almost every night. It was good to see them and play fun games together. We had a great visit.

The luggage cart at the motel was a big hit.

Even though there were 2 beds, Elliott opted to sleep on the floor on the return trip. The first night at Grandma and Grandpa's house he fell off the bed and got a pretty bloody lip. So, he slept on the floor the whole time we were there too.

Elliott spent as much time in the garden as he could. He absolutely loved it.

Derek always barks when he sees a dog, so we heard a lot of it while we were there. Since Tar is blind and deaf, he doesn't bother anyone (unless there's food). Derek eventually got to the point where he wanted to pet the dog.

Grandpa found the remains of an old croquet set in the garage. Elliott had fun hitting the balls around the backyard.

My birthday was actually the day we drove home, so that day wasn't all that exciting. We did eat at Denny's instead of fast food. Woohoo. Over the weekend Betsy made me a birthday cake. We were able to leave the boys with Phil and Betsy one night so Brent and I could go out and celebrate. We went to a Mexican restaurant and also saw Harry Potter. It was a nice night out.

It was great to be able to visit Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. My uncle Kevin was there too. We had a nice visit. We were at Angela's house, but she wasn't there. It was so good to see them again.

There were several dogs for Derek to enjoy. He especially liked Mutan.

The neck game (or whatever you want to call it). Elliott loves to do it with Grandpa. Derek had fun with it too.

Thanks for a great visit, Grandma and Grandpa. We can't wait to be able to come again.

Discovery Gateway Children's Museum

2009-08-03T15:55:00.006-06:00

On July 21st, we went to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum with MBASA. We got the awesome group rate, so I was willing to pay. Without, it's a bit expensive for my budget. I'm glad we were able to go. We ended up spending the entire day there. Brent decided to go to work a little late and drive into Salt Lake with us. Since we were there so long, we stayed until Brent was done with work, so we got to have another drive together. It was nice to have the extra precious time together.

The boys both had a lot of fun at the museum. There were tons of things to do. Even Derek could enjoy quite a bit. For lunch, we sat out by the Olympic Fountains and ate and the kids played in the water. It's a really cool fountain. Every 1/2 hour they do a water show - where the fountains are synchronized to a song. The fountains can be really powerful, but the kids just stay in them and play. Elliott really liked the mist that came out sometimes too.

The water feature in the museum is always a favorite - this was no exception.

Elliott loved the chance to be creative in so many different ways.

Elliott especially enjoyed figuring out how to get the ball through the pipes. He pretty much did it all by himself!

At first, Derek wasn't thrilled about the monkey. Then he realized he was okay. He started making monkey sounds and monkey faces. Nice resemblance, don't you think?

The life flight helicopter was a big hit. Elliott was thrilled to be the pilot. You could "turn it on" and it would make noise for a minute.

Since we were there all day long, Derek didn't have a nap - except for 30 minutes in the morning. Around 2:00, I changed his diaper while he was laying in his stroller and tricked him into staying laying down. It didn't take long before he was out. That was a wonderful 30 minutes. He never sleeps in his stroller, so I felt very fortunate indeed. He woke up and kinda freaked out, so fortunately, we were right by the water area, so he got right up and played and snapped out of it. It was a fun, long, tiring day.

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

2009-07-13T21:15:00.000-06:00

Today I was able to take the boys to the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Open House. It was a great experience. We are so lucky to live so close to so many temples. It's amazing that we have been able to attend 2 temple Open Houses this year. Not many people have that opportunity. The boys were really good again. Elliott said the temple made him feel happy because it was quiet and he could feel the Spirit. I'm so grateful for the temple and the eternal blessings it provides. Elliott also loved looking in the mirrors in the sealing room. He couldn't see very well in the Draper Temple. The mirrors were much lower at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. This temple might be my favorite. The colors are beautiful, very different from the other temples I've seen. The walls are golden and everything is really earthy - lots of golds, greens, and browns. It was amazing. The other thing that was different was how much stone floor there was. Most of the main walkways and stairs were stone rather than carpeted. The central stairs and upstairs halls were carpeted. The temple was very beautiful. Overall our experience at this open house was much nicer than the Draper one. We were able to park right at the temple and walk around to get pictures. We were there for 1 1/2 hours instead of 4 (most of which was spent waiting at a chapel to get bussed to the temple). I'm so glad we were able to go. I'm looking forward to attending the dedication next month as well. We had fun visiting Stephen and Amy again afterwards too since they only live about 15 minutes away from the temple.

Yum!

2009-07-13T20:59:00.000-06:00

I think he enjoyed licking the beater full of pudding.

Billions

2009-07-13T20:52:00.002-06:00

Elliott has been on a number kick for a long time now, and he's really obsessed with billions, trillions, etc. He's always saying things like, "that was 9 billion seconds," or "that's 60 million billion inches." I try to explain to him that we don't usually talk about numbers that big since most things aren't really measured that big - especially when talking about time or numbers of things. I was trying to convince him that we generally just don't count things in billions. His response, "Mom, how many people are there in the world?" Well, he had me there...

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-13T20:36:00.002-06:00

Stephen and Amy invited us and Mary Anne's family over for a BBQ to celebrate the 4th. The kids had a blast. It was fun to visit together.

What's more American than roasting marshmallows on the BBQ! They were delicious! After dinner there was a rousing game of soccer.

Stephen and Amy live out in the country with farms around them. The horses come up to the fence (or even in the yard). Elliott thought they were cool but wasn't gonna get too close.

After soccer it was time for the sparklers. No, it's not even close to being dark outside, but seeing as it's not dark enough for fireworks until 10, we made do. It was still fun. The kids all enjoyed holding the sparklers. In fact, I think it was my first time too. Elliott was still awake when we got home around 9:30, and he kept talking about fireworks, so I decided to take him out to see the Stadium of Fire fireworks. We walked to the missionary field and found a great spot at the very back, just in front of the temple. We could see really well. It was Elliott's first fireworks display. He enjoyed it. He said it made his stomach feel like it was drumming. I'm glad I was able to take him to see them. I miss going to fireworks shows like we did every year growing up in Tustin. That was the best!

Derek's First Haircut

2009-07-13T20:29:00.000-06:00

While we were in Vegas, I asked my dad to cut Derek's hair. He was very willing. He gave Elliott his first haircut too. Hooray for haircuts! By the time Derek finally got his haircut, the curls and everything else were getting a little out of control. I loved those curls, but they were cuter a couple weeks before when they weren't quite as long. Popeye did a great job. Derek was a little squirmy but hardly cried at all, so that was good. It looks great! My sweet little baby looks all grown up now.

\

Look at that cute, cute boy!

Thanks, Popeye!

Las Vegas Summer

2009-07-13T20:01:00.002-06:00

I took the boys to Grandma and Popeye's house a couple weeks ago for a week. We had a great time with them and seeing aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Several people asked me why I waited until it was really hot to visit - we wanted to go swimming, of course! We had lots of fun in the pool and at the splash parks.

Derek chillin' in the stroller.
Luke Adams and Elliott having fun! It was fun to play with Cheryl-Lynn and her boys, Luke and Andrew. The boys play great together. Too bad we don't live close anymore.

Elliott had a great time swimming. The first day (with Curt and Ethan) he was apprehensive and wouldn't go in the deep end. The second time (with Popeye, Dustin's fam and Dan's fam) I snuck him in the deep end and after a few minutes remembered it was fun. The third time (with Heather Leedom and Brynn) he didn't really hesitate. He just asked me to stick him in the deep part like I did the time before. He had a lot of fun swimming with his cousins. I don't have any pictures of Derek in the pool (hopefully Mom has some). The first day, we just went out to look at the pool and I stuck Derek's feet in. He wanted to get all the way in. The first day we really went swimming, he wasn't sure he wanted to get in the water. The second day he was napping so he didn't swim, but the third day, he had a great time. He really liked the waterfall. He didn't want anything to do with any floating devices. He just wanted to be securely held by mom. It was fun to be able to swim and have fun with friends.

How cute.

We also had so much fun at another awesome splash park with Dustin, Janelle, and kids, Kara and kids, Ethan, Caitlin, and Grandma. Derek thought the water was great! We can't wait to visit again. Too bad it will be too cold for swimming next time. We miss all of our Las Vegas family and friends. We love you!

This Is The Place!

2009-06-10T15:25:00.002-06:00

Last Wednesday Brent got off work a couple hours early, so we went to pick him up. We had a couple hours to play before going to Theron and Lincon's birthday party, so we went to the This Is The Place monument. We arrived along with a crazy but thankfully brief storm. There were a lot of statues we were able to see and learn about. We didn't go into the village because we didn't have that much time. We'll have to plan a day for that another time.

The Pony Express Monument

After our visit, we still had some time to kill, so we found the Fort Douglas Museum. We didn't know what they'd have or if it would be free, but we were happy with the result. They have an open park area with a bunch of cannons and tanks and helicopters that have been used over the years. They even had a cannon from the Civil War! It was really neat. Of course the batteries on my camera died. At least I got one picture.