Some Fun Times

Well, it's been awhile since I have posted anything so I thought I might catch up. We have been busy, what can I say? This summer Grant and I made a pact that we would do anything and everything that came our way. That we would party hardy because last summer we didn't do a darn thing. Zip. Zero. Nada. We had a newborn, that's what we did. The world revolved around feedings every three hours and naps three times a day and even leaving the house was a three-ring circus. I am glad that is over (for the time being, anyway.) Now that we have a toddler on our hands, we said LET THE SUMMER FUN BEGIN! So here's what we have been up to....

This isn't a big event or anything... I just thought it was cool. I spent a few days in early June pruning back our enormous, overgrown lilac bushes. (So enormous and so overgrown that pruning them was like cutting down several trees... and that was just a little pruning!) Anyway, while I was pruning away, I found a robin's nest with three beautiful blue eggs in it. The next day I wanted a picture, and this is what I found:

One beautiful blue egg and two tiny baby birds! Mama bird was not happy about the picture taking. I was a little worried she might peck my eyes out.

Happy Birthday To Me

I turned the big 2-8 this year. In my mind I am still 23. I don't know where the last five years has gone. Anyone know?

Anyway, I wanted to have a nice, baby-free evening out for my birthday, so Grant called my nephew to baby sit. This is the best gig we have found yet: My nephew likes to sleep over at our house, so we put Wes down for bed at 8, then set up my nephew with the video baby monitor and let him watch a movie or play video games while he listened for the baby then we went out. Seeing as Wes sleeps like a log and doesn't wake up until 8 the next morning (knock on wood) we were able to enjoy a late dinner and a movie. We went to Famous Dave's (I can't resist their bread pudding) and then saw UP! in 3D. It was such a fun, birthday-ish movie to see (maybe it was all those balloons...) The picture is of me wearing the 3D glasses, in case you were wondering. It was an awesome evening out. Thank you to Andrew for babysitting!

Fathers Day

Wes giving his daddy a Fathers Day smooch.

For Fathers Day/ June birthdays, we had a big party over at my parents house. It was especially special because every single one of my siblings and their spouses and kids were there. With Scott and Lara in Arizona, and Sam's kids in Washington most of the time, it is a rare and wonderful treat to have everyone together.

Grant decided to organize a little friendly competition. He got a bunch of random supplies together and divided the family up into teams of kids and adults. Then everyone was allotted certain supplies and a raw egg, and had to construct a protective contraption for the egg. Each team then dropped their contraption off the top of a ladder, and the person whose contraption best protected their egg won! It took several drops, but finally the last egg broke and we had a winner! It was the NASA Rejects by an egg crack! Above, Sarah is showing off her team's egg contraption. Sadly, it wasn't the one that won.

Speaking of fathers, Wes is getting at a stage where he is really into his dad. He loves to watch (and participate, whether Grant likes it or not) in whatever Grant is doing. Grant was putting something together in the yard a few weeks ago, and Wes wanted to be a part of it. It was very sweet.

Sadly, Wes also had his official initiation into toddlerhood: scraped knees. He is still a little unsteady on his feet, and ended up scuffing both knees. Poor thing. He felt better with his Sponge Bob bandaids, however.

The Lehi Roundup Rodeo

Wes being helped along by his cousins Tim and Sean.

Wes and his Grandma enjoying the Rodeo.

Wes liked the rodeo more than I thought he would. He loved the horses, and would "moo" when the cows went by. The whole thing was fascinating to him... especially the treats his big cousins were munching on. He has learned the fine art of being cute so that people will share some of their candy.

Earlier that same day, I had the exhausting pleasure of watching six of my nieces and nephews for the day!! Above: Karli, Robbie, Tim, Heidi, Jadon, and Sean enjoying ice cream and the Burger Stop.

The most valuable lesson I learned from the day: never ask six different kids what they want to do.

Wes lookin' cool in some shades... but not liking it very much.

Sean and Tim feeding ducks at the park.

Garage Sale!

Only two days after the rodeo, our family had a great big, combined garage sale. Steve and Jen were paring down their belongings as they were preparing to move. My parents are thinking of moving as well, and in their retirement years have found that they just don't want or need so much stuff! Some of the rest of us simply found ourselves with too much extra junk. It was a lot of work (mostly on Steve and Jen's part) but it was pretty lucrative, and-- dare I say-- fun!

Wes and his grandpa playing with a bear that was waiting to be sold.

Check out all of that stuff! Thank heavens we got rid of it all! What didn't get sold went to D.I.

Wes found this old, beat-up rocking horse that belonged to my brother's kids. Wes liked it so much that they gave it to us for free! My next project is to refinish it. Wish me luck.

The Ward Pool Party

After the garage sale, we needed to cool off! We headed over to the ward pool party. We have lived within walking distance of the Layton Surf n' Swim for three years now, and had never been! It was so much fun! We will definitely be back.

Grant and Wes getting ready to slide!

Wes is a sucker for anything musical.

Just enjoying the playground before it's time to swim!

I love the next series of pictures. It says it all as far as how Wes acclimated to the pool.

"Mom, are you sure about this?"

"Mmmm... it's not so bad, I guess."

"This is more fun than the bath!"

It didn't take long for it to take all of my strength to keep Wes from diving into the water on his own.

FIVE Years of Bliss

On July 2nd, Grant and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. Five years later, and I still can't get enough of that husband of mine.

We celebrated by sending Wes to the neighbors and treating ourselves to a couples massage at a nearby spa. Eighty minutes of pure heaven that left us both feeling like a wet noodle. Ahhhh....

The Fourth of July

This was possibly the busiest day of my life. We live near a park that has amazing 4th festivities. So we invite all of our family over to enjoy it with us! Like I mentioned before, we wanted to do it all this year so we spent days beforehand preparing. My cute cousin even came all the way from BYU- Idaho to attend! We started the day bright and early with the 5k. I was able to look up the route a month ahead of time and run it several times (seeing as it was right in my neighborhood) before the race. It didn't make me any faster, that is for sure, but it helped me to know what to expect.

Approaching the finish line. You can see me waaaaay back there in the red shirt, blue hat and white legs. (I am so patriotic, I know.)

So happy to finally come across the finish line! I was actually still fuming over the fact that the last water stop RAN OUT OF WATER! So the last 50 or so runners (that included me) didn't get any water! I blame my slowness on being so dehydrated.

Grant and Wes and I at the finish line. Grant walked the route with Wes. They left 15 minutes before the runners, and I was hoping to catch up with them so we could finish together. Alas, I was too slow. I still feel pretty good about it: I only trained for a month, and I ran the whole way. SLOWLY... it took 36 minutes. Let's face it, people can walk it faster than that! But by golly gosh darn it, I ran and I finished and that's all that matters!

Feeling tough after the race.

After the race, we went right over to the amphitheater for the flag raising ceremony. I enjoyed the flag raising and the music, but the speeches contained a little too much politics and not enough patriotism for my taste.

Above: Mom, Michelle, Dad, and Wes and I.

My cute nephew Erik had spent the night at our house. Steve and Jen were moving on the 4th, and so we kept him with us so he wouldn't be into trouble while they were busy with other things. He is such a fun, high-energy, high-curiosity kind of kid who told us all about how he loved to see the horses and bulls at the "radio" and how his mom also has a scale in her bathroom so he can see how tall he is. Life is never dull with Erik around.

After a hearty (but quick) breakfast with our neighbors, we walked to the parade that was just at the end of the street. We missed part of it, so I didn't get many pictures. This is after Erik cleaned up on the candy that the cheerleaders tossed into the crowd!!

There was a carnival after the parade, but we were all so exhaused that we all went home and took a nap!!

The fam came over that evening for a fantastic BBQ and some games. Did I mention that the weather couldn't have been better? Overcast and cool most of the day. I don't think it ever even hit 90! Most years it seems like the 4th is around 100 degrees.

Grant is checking on his awesome raspberry chocolate cobbler.

Sam and Brittany brought over their three-man, super-cool slip n' slide for the kids to play on.

Erik thought it was a little cold.

Not Wes! He LOVED this thing. We couldn't get him off of it! It was freezing water, and all of the other kids were too cold to play very long, but Wes just kept on going and going..... much like an energizer bunny.

And what would a 4th of July celebration be without fireworks? This is Karli with her sparkler. We had some fireworks at home, but then we headed down the street to the park to watch the big, awesome fireworks show. Again, I forgot to take pictures of that, but it was incredible. Wes had gone to bed around 8 more exhaused than I had ever seen him before. I couldn't bear to wake him, so my sweet parents opted to stay at the house and listen for him. They said they could see the fireworks show just dandy from our front porch without the walk to the park in the crowds!

What a crazy, busy, fun day it was!

Thunderbirds

What an appropriate name! I have been hearing Thunder(birds) over my house all week while they were getting ready for the Air Show at Hill Airforce Base right here in Layton. After seeing bits and pieces over the last few days, we just had to go and see the finished product. It was an awe-inducing, fun, crowded, LOUD experience.
Watching the airplanes fly over our house (and we get many everyday) is something that Wes enjoys. Even indoors, he will hear the roar of the engine and say "pane" and point to the ceiling. Then he will say, "voom." I knew seeing the "panes" close up would be something Wes would really like.
We packed up the car with the stroller, water, snacks, sunblock, a blanket and ear plugs (all things I would recommend taking if you ever have the chance to go) and drove the few miles to Hill Airforce Base. It usually would take about five minutes... today it took at least 30. It was CROWDED! Eventually we found a parking spot and wound our way to the main area. They had all kinds of aircrafts and helicopters on display, many of which you could go inside and explore.


Just one of the many amazing airplanes on display.


Yours Truly just walking around enjoying the sights.


Grant trying to keep Wes entertained while we waited for the Thunderbirds to take off. Believe it or not, Wes was smiling and laughing about 5 seconds before I took this picture.

Those amazing Thunderbirds... If you look closely, you will notice that one of those airplanes is upside down. And they are passing each other much closer than this picture shows.

Four Thunderbirds getting into formation. Look at that beautiful blue sky. This was the most perfect weather for the show. Sunny, but only in the mid 70's. It was fabulous!

One upside down Thunderbird. It makes me motion sick just watching them.

Wes really enjoyed seeing the planes go by! I wish I got a picture with his ear protecting headphones on. He looked so funny! At first he would NOT keep them on, but after a couple of LOUD passes by the Thunderbirds and he kept them on without any trouble at all!

The Thunderbirds in tight diamond formation. Even a sneeze would be disastrous!

Sam, Grant, Brittney and Robbie enjoying the show.

We had great seats in the shadow of a huge cargo plane. Sean and Andrew are sitting in the open hatch of the plane. In front, Jen, Steve, Erik, Heather, and Dad are all happy to be in the shade!



When we stood in front of the Thunderbird planes, we realized how small they actually are!

Just chillin' waiting for the crowd to thin. We did a lot of exploring after the show in hopes that the traffic would be a little lighter by the time we left.

Sadly, the traffic wasn't any lighter by the time we got to our car. We were parked by this little Memorial Park, so we sat on our blanket and enjoyed the nice day while we waited.... and waited... and waited for traffic to clear (or even move.) Eventually we got out of there! It was slow going, but totally worth it. We had a blast.

A Good Day

Mother's Day was a good day. A very, very good day. My sweet husband and my darling boy made it one of the most special days I have ever had. Grant started off the morning by getting up with Wes and letting me sleep in until 9! I don't remember the last time I got to sleep until 9. I am pretty sure it was pre-baby. Grant woke me up and I immediately smelled the yummy aroma of pancakes and bacon. This was accompanied by fresh fruit, orange juice and-- to top off the pancakes-- pure maple syrup (my favorite.)
Grant took care of Wes for most of the day while I got to cut lots of lilacs from my enormous bushes in the backyard (for both my pleasure and that of our mother's.) I also got to read a whole entire book (a short one.) I even got an afternoon nap!
Grant gave me a brand new iHome to replace my 15 year old CD player that doesn't work anymore. He also gave me not one, but TWO massage gift certificates to the Myotherapy college. I can't wait to use them. I love a good massage.
Wes gave me his own Mother's Day gift: he took his first unassisted steps!! It was so exciting, and I was so happy that both Grant and I were there to experience it. Wes spent a lot of the day walking next to me, holding onto my pants for balance. It was pretty cute. Here is a little video of it for your viewing pleasure.

And the Winner Is....

It's a tie! From the poll results, I gather that Wes is an exact combination of Grant and me. That said, some of you (you know who you are) didn't vote on what you really thought, you voted for the express purpose of making it a tie! So let's just say this poll isn't exactly accurate. But it was fun, all the same.

The Biggest Mess

Wanna know the fastest way to make your yard AND your house a huge mess? Install sprinklers when it's rainy. I have never seen so much mud. It will all be worth it (I hope) when the grass grows back and when it is nice and hot outside, and the yard with be watered automatically! We just couldn't stand another year of dragging the hose around to water by hand... or let the lawn die, which is generally what happened by the end of every summer, anyway.
We had so many people come and help us with this project. Thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every one of you who came out to help us with this project! The sprinklers work fantastically! Just look at those trenches. Wow. Thank heaven for a trencher. We had to dig some by hand and it was not fun. See all of that dirt. In a couple hours all that turned to pure mud when it started to rain.

Steve and Grant diggin' away. Steve helped us so much. He just installed sprinklers in his yard last year, so his experience and know-how was invaluable.

Everyone pitched in... even the little guys.

This is my nephew, Erik.

The backyard all dug up. It has been muddy ever since, and the dogs track in it with them whenever they come inside. I have given up sweeping and mopping in the area by the dog door for the time being. There is no keeping up with it! We did however have our rugs, couch, and carpet cleaned on Saturday. It is amazing how much of the mud ended up inside.
Here's to a summer of automatic watering!!

Goin' Private

Yep, it's true. I am jumping on the private blog bandwaggon. Why, you ask? Well, a couple of weeks ago, shortly after Grant's sister got married, I had a horrible nightmare that we were at the wedding reception where there were lots of people, mostly family, and Wes was being passed from person to person (which is really what happened.) In my nightmare, however, I lost track of him, and I was running around trying to find him, and I caught a glimpse of him in some strangers arms as they were walking out the door, and somehow I knew it was an internet predator that had tracked down my son. I woke up in a cold sweat, and terrified out of my mind. I almost got up right then, at 3:30 am, to make my blog private. I didn't however, and the whole thing left my mind until today. I was watching this Oprah about internet predators wherein an expert said to never ever post pictures of your kids on the internet, and if you do, limit access to only family and friends. My nightmare came rushing back to me and.... well, here we are.
I don't want to alienate anyone, and if you know of someone who wants an invite to read the blog, please let me know!

Birthdays, Weddings and Baby Showers, Oh My!

Wow! I cannot wrap my head around the fact that Wes is one year old already. Where did the time go? I was looking back at previous blog posts from when he was born, and it just does not seem that long ago.

Here is Wes at 1 in a nutshell:

He is still in the 90th percentile for height, though his weight gain has tapered off to a still-chunky 75th percentile. (Evidently all that getting into trouble burns calories.)

He loves to point to the things he knows and recognizes. For example, I say, "Wes, where's the clock?" (or the fan, or blankie, or your hair, or the dogs, or outside.... ) and he points to it.

He already can say a handful of words, "mama", "dada", "dog-dog", and "fan" are his favorites.

He will imitate a lot of words I say, and if he can't make the actual sounds, he will imitate the syllables or the intonation.

He loves, and I mean LOVES books. Especially ones about animals. He will "moo" when he sees a cow.

He likes soft and snugly things, especially blankets. He will test almost everything for its "snuggleability". This means that he will grab something (a blankie, towel, napkin, Grant's tie, my shirt, a stuffed animal, the dog's tail) with his left hand and hold it to his cheek while he sucks his right thumb. One day he went over to his changing table where the blankets are stored on the bottom shelf, took one blanket off at a time to test it for his snuggleability, then tossed it aside and grabed another blanket until he had tested them all.

His current favorite toy is a little plastic cow that he calls "moo-moo".

What a sweet kiddo he is. I feel so blessed and privileged to be his mother.

We have had a very busy last couple of weeks. Grant's sister, Elise, got married on the 26th, and held a dinner the night before which coincided with Wes's birthday!



This is the second cake-all-over-the-face event. I think Wes wouldn't mind if we did this every day!





Cousin Jada was helping Wes figure out how to open presents (Wes just wanted to play with the bow so someone needed to show him how it is done)!





Jada colored this picture for Wes's birthday. He really liked it! He cooed and pointed and seemed really pleased with the picture. What a sweetheart Jada was to do that for him!



The next day was the big wedding. It was such a wonderful ceremony in the new Draper Temple. Elise looked beautiful and everything was just awesome.





My dad trying to keep Wes entertained with a book and "moo moo" at the temple.



From left to right: Jessica, Grant, Sheri, Tom, and Elise. They sure look spiffy.





Wes was fascinated with the medals on the groom's Marine uniform.





Grant dancing with the bride.

Grant sharing a dace with the flower girl, Jada.

Wes had a great time climbing the stairs at the Capitol. I have to say, he was a good sport about all of the craziness of the last few days even though he had a mean cold, had just been given his vaccinations (which always make him a little miserable) and, though I didn't' know it at the time, was teething on top of it all! He was pretty fussy and tired by the end of it all.

Wes and Grant had matching shoes. So cute.

Things were so busy, it was nice to have a relaxing day at home on Friday. Wes definitely needed a day of lots of rest in his own crib. We tried to rest up as much as possible on Friday, because we were off and running again on Saturday to attend a baby shower for Sheri! She is having a little boy, and we just can't wait for Wes to have a boy cousin!

Then on Sunday we had Grant's siblings over for a little dinner at our house. We wanted to spend as much time with them as possible since we don't get to see Jessica and Sheri very often.

It was a crazy-busy few days, but such a good time. I love to have family around. Grant and I miss them all so much!

What d'ya think?

If you'll just look to your right there is a little poll we would like you to take. C'mon, it'll be fun!

Birthday Pre-Show

I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that Wes is one year old already, and I just can't do it. Where did the time go? When he was born, I thought that three months would never come... and now it has been a year. Wow.
Wes's birthday isn't for a couple more days, but my family does a birthday party once a month for all of the birthdays in that month. This month it is Wes's and my little brother's birthday, so we had a big party for them on Sunday. It was Wes's first experience with a cupcake, and he just went to town on that thing!

Wes with Grandma and his birthday buddy, Dan.
He is not quite sure what to think of the candles.


Our cute little family!

Just shovin' the whole thing in at once.

What a delicious mess!

Trying to get daddy to have some.

Wes and Dan had a great birthday party. Everyone was so nice, and Wes loved the presents (and the attention.) My family rocks.