For Alex

I'm excited for my triple date tonight...

...complete with chocolate chip cookies, popcorn, shakes, and a movie - lots of sweets with my sweets! Wish you were here...

guns in their pants?

Where did they learn this? It was so funny watching them try to walk around with these guns in their pants and then trying to take them out.

my hard workin' man

I've been meaning to do a post about Alex cutting down our tree... a storm took out part of our tree a little while back and the rest of it needed to be taken down. It was no easy task, although Alex (and his brother) made it look easy. I was thinking about it today, how often he is out working hard while we're going to the zoo, the library, the park, playing with friends... I'm grateful that he works so hard so that we can play. Thank you Alex for all that you do!

Big O's eating O's

This is blogworthy material folks... because it is very exciting when they can eat cheerios. That means you can finally throw cheerios at them to keep them happy. Cheerios are perfect because they're healthy, not very messy, and they take some effort to pick them up and eat - that means TIME for mom. That means I can post this blog while he's eating cheerios. We're both happy. (I should do a commercial for Cheerios...) I think every mom looks forward to the day when they can eat O's.

The funny thing is that I wasn't sure if he was ready for them or not, but Jared dumped out the whole box of Cheerios on the floor, and we keep finding them everywhere. Or I should say Owen keeps finding them everywhere. I watched him pick one up and eat it - he did fine. Bring on the cheerios!

summertime fun

Gas: $18.50

Admission: $2.25

Hotdogs: $3.00

Ice cream cones: $2.15

A day at the zoo with good friends: Priceless

It actually was a very inexpensive day. We took advantage of 75 cent admission and 75 cent hotdogs on Wednesdays (in July and August). We had a good day at the zoo - it was raining when we left home this morning, so I was skeptical about the weather for the day's adventures. But it turned out to be just a cloudy muggy day. The boys favorite thing was the playground, water misters, animal statues (who goes to the zoo to see real animals?), and the seals. I really liked the giant tortoises - I didn't see those last time we went, and they're just cool.

Ahoy!

Believe it or not, this mess is a pirate ship...
I don't appreciate the mess, but it's neat to see their imagination. The broom and mop are their oars. Oh, and Owen (not pictured) is the shark, who looms around the ship, which is okay until they start trying to fend off (kicking and hitting with their oars) the shark attack...

I love to see the temple...

...I'm going there someday...

Alex and I went to the temple yesterday. We took the boys with us and traded off watching them. Here's just a few pics from our visit. The night ones were a little blurry, but I thought one of them looked particularly "spirit-ual".

another friend

We've got lots of friends around here... spiders, ladybugs, butterflies... our recent friend stopped by for a visit - a cute turtle. Alex found it and put it in our little swimming pool so the boys could see it when they woke up. Nathan wanted to keep him as a pet, but we thought it was better if he just went on his way. But we enjoyed him for a little while.

It's all over...

My days of getting things done when Owen is awake are over. Now I am following him around, picking up the things he can't have and watching his every move. And his crawling got him into trouble this morning - he took a nose dive off the bed. I fed him and he went right back to sleep, so he went right beside me in our bed. The only problem is that he woke up before I did, and crawled right off the end of the bed. His nose is a little swollen. Poor guy. I won't be getting any mommy awards today...

long weekend

My long weekend is over. This weekend was a church service bonanza. The primary pioneer activity is done, sharing time is done, and my talk at church is done. They went well, but it feels good to be done... and I think my family misses me.

How to fold a blanket...

...in under 2 minutes, 14 seconds AND get some exercise!

7 months old and not the baby cousin anymore!

Big O is 7 months old today AND he is not the littlest baby cousin/grandchild. Today Auntie Ashley had her baby girl HAILEY! Hooray! Congratulations to them - we can't wait to meet her.





















Big O still has trouble getting from his back to his tummy. Sometimes he gets stuck... and it reminds me of a junebug or beetle that gets stuck and its arms and legs are in the air.

what to do in the 108 degree weather...

...take pictures with our zucchini!

Red, white, and blue

Big O celebrated his first 4th of July! He's cuter than I can stand...especially with his new sticking out his tongue thing. And here's a few pics of our 3 reds. I guess it should be "Red, red, and red!"

It rained in the morning, so we took full advantage of it on the trampoline. We were disappointed that we thought the fireworks got rained out (apparently they waited for about 15 minutes and then did them, so we had already gone home).

Owen went crazy over this balloon. They all loved it actually. What is it with kids and balloons?

water! water! water!

We found our new favorite summertime activity this week, thanks to some friends. The boys had a blast at this little water play area, about 20 minutes away. It was a great way to stay cool without having to worry about them drowning. We just can't go to the pool, so this was a nice option for us. And it's FREE! We'll be going again soon...