The Fascinations of a 4 Year Old

Xander is growing up so fast it seems these days. He's getting into alot of things that I thought we had a few more years to go until that happened. The first is his fascination with Pat's new Nintendo DS. We have Dr. Mario on it and he loves to play it! He asks me just about every day to play it, and I think he plays the first level over and over again because it's so easy. He has always been into video games. First Star Wars Lego, he got started with that when he was 2 and we had the game on Gamecube. Now that there is a Wii in the house he plays Mario Party 8, Super Mario Galaxy (a fav of mine), and Indiana Jones Lego. With the IJL, I wouldn't let him play until Pat and I had finished the game, so when he started to play I noticed that he would only play story mode on any level that he started. So of course the great mother in me, I started a game just for him, and he's doing great with it. Anyway, I'm so used to him playing the regular video games that I never thought of him playing the little ones!!! At least not for awhile, come on, he's only 4!
Next is the fascination with his new bike helmet. We finally remembered to buy one, and I can't get him to NOT wear it!! He's even wearing it as I'm writing this post! He will wear it around the house, playing outside, and even while eating lunch and playing video games!! He was wearing it on Sunday when my family came over for dinner. Everyone that came in went over to him and knocked on the helmet and asked if he could feel it! Which was so funny, because they all arrived at different times! Needless to say, he wore it all night, and even on the way to Morri & Liza's house. I'm surprised he doesn't want to wear it to the store and to church!
Next we have the fascination that drove me crazy at first, but now I have dealt with it, and am accepting it and moving on! HE LOVES POKEMON!! I have my nephew's Jeremy and Carter to thank for this. They are both 12 and have DS games that are Pokemon, and Xander loves to watch them play the games. Jeremy has even started to teach Xander all the names!! Whenever we would go to the store and were in the toy section, he would get stuck looking at all the Pokemon toys. Finally I let him get a plush of Turtwig (a turtle). A few weeks after that, he got an actual Pokeball with Bonsli, and then about 2 weeks ago, with his earned money he got a little figure of Lucario. Needless to say, he is a full fledged Pokemon fan. Pat even built a Pikachu out of Mega Blocks. And we even found a good deal on a Pokemon movie! I guess we are fueling the fire. LOL
I love Xander and all the new things that he likes. He's a little boy that is growing up too fast for his mom's liking. But what else do you do, but sit back and enjoy the view.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July!

We started our celebration in Provo on Thursday morning. We got up really early, left the house at 6:15, and went to see the hot air balloons! It has been years since I have been there. I always think of my dad because there was one year that we went just the two of us! Anyway, we went with my mom and met up with Brent & Lisa! It was cute to have the kids together. After they all left the ground, we went and ate at the annual Kwanis Breakfast (which we had free tickets to) It's always nice to get a free meal :) It was a great way to start the holiday!

Thursday night I took the kids and went to the cabin with my mom. Pat was working late and had to work Friday, so he stayed home. It was nice to get away and enjoy the cabin. There was alot of movie watching and card playing. I always play solitare games when I am there. When my grandma died 9 years ago, my mom got a little book of different solitare games and I love them!! There are so many types, like The Clock, Threes in the Corner, and Pyramid. And of course my favorite one I can't remember the name!!

I was finally able to sew a little placemat bag (I have had the makings for about a month). I got the idea from Kristen's blog. (Thanks for your wonderful crafty skills!!!!) It is so cute, and is perfect for Scriptures. My mom instantly wanted one, but didn't like the ribbon and placemats that I had, so we are going shopping to find some for her. I might even teach an Enrichment Night on how to make them!!! We got home from the Cabin around 3 pm, Pat got home from work at the same time, and we went to Springville to Gwen & Doug's for a family BBQ. It was great to have good food and good company. I was able to give Tammy her birthday present!! Last year I made a calendar for her that goes July to June, and it has pictures of the whole family. Well, I started a tradition, so I made her another one this year. It was just missing the finishing touches, but she left this morning to go to California for her birthday, so I gave it to her early, and will just get it back later to finish it. It's fun to make these for her, but also alot of work. I know that she enjoys it so I will continue to make them! I think I need to get started on next years right now!! Thanks again to my family for getting pictures for me :) After the BBQ we headed home to put the kids to bed, since it has been alot of late nights and early mornings lately. Our neighbors we doing fireworks in the street so we joined them for the awesome Cul-de-sac of Fire!! Overall it was a great 4th, I am thankful for my family and the chance that we have to live so close that we can see each other regularly. I love this country and the freedoms that we have. And I still can't believe that it's July already. Time is just going way to fast!!

Bridal Veil Falls

Pat decided last night that he wanted to take the kids up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was a nice little get away, too bad we were only gone for an hour :) Here are the highlights:

Mara wanted to hold hands while in the stroller, and this was the only angle I could get of all three of them holding hands (since I was pushing the stroller) We didn't think about the fact that you could walk in the water so we were unprepared. But we all took off our socks & shoes and walked around anyway. It actually hurt, so next time we are going to bring flip flops! Luckily we had put Mara in her jelly shoes, so she had a great time walking around.
The falls were fairly small, but fun anyway.


I had to get a "self portrait" pic.

It's so hard to be in pictures when I am the one taking them!!

I tried to get Xander to look at the camera, but it was too bright for him, hence the hands at the face!

On the walk back to the car, we almost ran over a snake! So I had to get a picture, too bad he was too fast for a pic on the trail. But Pat had to get a stick and try to pick it up.WHAT A BOY!
There is the little bridge that Xander wanted to walk across that is over the Provo River. There was a really cool spider web that had stuff on it. I always try to take artsy pictures, and this one turned out better than most :)

Time at the Pool

We went to Pleasant Grove on Friday to swim with Lisa and her kids. It was fun! And Karri, JD & Chris came too!!! It was nice to have other adults there, because Pat was working and my kids aren't that confident in the water. Xander was alot better this time. He did good with the jacket on, but still wanted to have a pool noodle. Once he got that he was doing great! Mara likes to be in the water but holds on really tight. She was able to use Conli's jacket, since Conli is deathly afraid of the water this summer. Max has and always will be a fish. He is so great, and loves to be thrown in the water by JD and Chris. It was a great afternoon, even though I got a little red on my shoulders. :(

Xander, Conli & Max

Karri, Mara, Chris, JD, and Me

(Lisa was our picture taker since she didn't get in the pool)
The girls hanging out
Conli, JD, & Max
Xander liked being on the steps for awhile, he eventually went out to swim.
My cute Mara girl
Xander swimming
Xander with a noodle.
Max being Max
Conli in the hot tub

A Rat Problem

We recenty discovered a rat problem in our house. But luckily Xander and Mara were able to catch it and put it in a jar. It's a good thing too, because he is a runner!! He runs all around in that jar and the kids love to run after it. Here are some pics: Ok, did I freak you out??

It's really a toy! It's the little rat named Remy from Ratatouille, you turn him on and put him in the jar, and he runs around in it. Mara loves him! She calls him "Tooee"

Swimming with Friends

Yesterday we met up with Kenny & Susan at the Spanish Fork pool for an afternoon of swimming! It was so much fun, and our first time out this summer.
Here is Mara and Livvy. They are so cute together, and about 3 1/2 months apart in age. They had a great time together in the shallow end :)


Next we have Micah. He was asleep when they got to the pool and napped in the shade for about 10 minutes :)

There is a fairly big waterslide and Xander was really anxious to go on it, but he had to be with an adult, so he and daddy went on the slide! They had Kenny & Livvy right behind them!




After the Slide! And wanting to go again!
They went down the slide 4 times!
Livvy did great on the slide, but was done after the first time!








We had our stuff by the fence that seperated the pool from the High School, (at least I think it was the HS), on the other side of the fence were 4 seagulls, just hanging out. The kids had a fun time watching them.

One last picture before going home!














Xander has come a long way from the past few summers. He has always been shy of the water and is usually really clingy in the pool, but he did great yesterday! I hope this is the beginning of a fun summer at the pool. (We'll see how many times we go, LOL)

Thanks again guys for inviting us, we had a great time.

A Jumble of Events

I feel like I am so behind on blogging. I guess that's what I get for only posting once a week. Note to self: post more often!
Anywho, last week was my nephew Maddox's First Birthday! I can't believe that he is one already. What's even weirder is that I blogged about his birth! He is so fun to be around and brings so much joy into the family, come on, what baby doesn't!? I was able to go over for a little bit of his birthday party on the 19th. I took about 10 pictures of him and this was the best that I got. He was being a big stinker and wouldn't smile for anyone! What a 1 year old! At least he was happy for his mom, you can see pics on her blog here.

I wasn't able to stay long at his party because my cousin Jen was in town! She is my only cousin on my dad's side, so when she is here, we for sure get together. It was great seeing her and her family, they live in Cali so we don't see them very often. So I rushed home to hang with my family. It was great to be together! We got a fun picture of Grandma Joan's great-grandkids.
L to R: Conli, Mara, Sawyer, Ben, Xander, Max, James & Samantha (Sam)

And Lisa had a good idea to get a pic of all the actual grandkids (minus Pat, he was working)







And I just have to add these 2 pics of kids. So after we went to the cabin, Max and Conli stayed and played for a little bit. So we all went outside to play and I got these cute pics.
Mara and Conli on the tire swing. Which Mara hates actual swinging, but loves to sit on them all. But whenever I help her on a swing she says "Don't push, don't push" and puts up her hand! She is such a scaredycat!!

Then there are the boys! They get on this glider swing and catch air! They love to swing big!

It's Cabin Time :)

2 weeks ago, we tried going to our cabin to open it up for the season. (Which is really late this year, we usually can get down the end of April or the first of May but it's been to wet this year.) It had been really rainy, but we tried anyway. Needless to say it was too muddy to get up the canyon, so we had some lunch at T-Cee's (the best food in Fairview!) and came home. My sister has pictures from that trip on her blog here.
So here we are 2 weeks later, the weather has been dry, so we ventured down again on Wednesday with much success this time :) It was great because we left at 7 am and got home by 2 pm!

Here is a picture of the outside of the cabin. It's in Fairview, about an hour south. It is so great to be able to go there and get away from the world. My parents would spend a lot of time down there once it was finished. My dad started building the cabin in the summer of '96. I met Pat that next year, and he was able to help my dad put up the wall paneling and insulating. It's good that Pat and I would go with my parents alot, because my Dad taught Pat how to take care of it.

Here is a pic of Pat "in the hole". The water pump is under the cabin. Yes, we have running water in a wonderful Kitchen and Bathroom :) We just have to haul water up from the base of the resort, and our cabin is about 4 miles up, so it takes time :) While Pat and Brent did the water, Karri and I cleaned. There are always tonz of dead bugs to vacuum up, but this year we moved the couches (I don't know why we don't do this every year) And the bugs were everywhere, so so gross!! We moved all the couches and beds and are happy to report that the cabin is bug free and the cleanest it's been in years!!!!

Here are Conli, Mara, Max, and Xander playing in "Yellowstone" which is what Max called the little tree area near the driveway. We have put cement blocks down so a table and chairs can be there, and even a hammock!!

Here they are on the deck. I don't know why Mara always has to have her arms stretched out to take a picture. It's a new occurrence. LOL

Before we left we set up Karri's camera and got a group shot on the deck! We have many pictures on this deck throughout the years. It's fun to see how much the family has changed.
Top: Max, Karri, Mana, Xander
Middle: Brent, Me, Pat
Bottom: Conli, Mara




This was a really quick trip, just to open it up, get the water tank filled, and to clean. So next time it's just going to enjoy it!! I LOVE this cabin. I can't help but think about dad whenever we are there. He put so much work into it, and would spend every moment he could down there. There is a really neat fishing display that he made on the main wall, I will have to take a picture of it the next time we go down. I am hoping that we can go down alot this summer, it's so great to get away and there is even a pool at the base of the resort!! It's just hard to find the time to do everything that we want because Pat always works weekends :( I guess we will be doing mid-week trips. If anyone wants to come with, the invitation is open :)

Summerfest

Saturday was the Orem Summerfest!! It's a great way to start off the summer. There are booths to eat at and buy things, and even a fun carnival (I passed on all of them this year). But I didn't miss the Parade! Thanks again Lisa for putting your blanket down early! Pat had to work, so it was me and the kids, My mom was watching my niece Sawyer for the afternoon while Lisa took Max and Conli on the rides, and Karri came over too. So we all went to the parade and met up with Lisa, Max, Conli, JD & Chris!!! It was alot of fun to be there and see how excited the kids got with all the different things going on. After the parade, we headed over to our usual spot for fireworks "under the scoreboard". We have "camped" there for years :) The fireworks for Summerfest are some of the best around. There is never a lull, they just keep going and going! It's a good 15 minutes of constant fireworks :) There were so many pictures that I wanted to post so I made a slideshow instead! Enjoy!!!