What do you do on a rainy day?

What in the world? I wish this picture would have turned out better. This is one of Grace's first pair of lace of shoes, and she is "learning to tie". In truth the laces are just wound around each other, over each other, under each other, and took mom more than three minutes to figure out, but she was so proud of herself. She asked me to take a picture. Why do kids bite their spoons? Every time I feed Max (which is rarely now that he is Mr. Independent) he thinks he needs to bite the spoon. I have a strong suspicion he only does it to bug me.... ugh! (notice one are Woody in the picture...)

Grace has recently discovered Scobby Doo - thanks to her cousins. I actually like Scooby so this gets a thumbs up in my book. In one of the movies Scooby and Shaggy play air guitars, and later Scooby plays a broomstick. Grace thinks its so cool so now she plays guitar and pretends to be Scobby Doo. It's actually pretty cute!

Mama's little cutters - who knew a $2 pair of scissors and scratch paper could keep munchkins entertained all afternoon? Seriously Grace must have cut for more than 2 hours the first time I let her go to town.

Grace actually does -pretty well, Max doesn't really get the whole scissor holding thing yet.

And the mess, well lets just all be thankful for a broom!

And the smile? That's one I'm very thankful for!

Flag Day

Yesterday was flag day, did you know? Thanks to the scouts fund raising drive you may have had a flag placed in your yard for the day, we did. For the most part it was a normal day - we got up, got ready and looked at the flag in our yard as we left for work. I dropped the kids off at their grandma's and went to work. It was pretty much a normal day - except I got free lunch, okay so that happens a lot too.

I finished my shift around 5:30 and went to get the kids. Traffic my direction was smooth, and I was glad I wasn't heading north because cars were backed up for miles - and that's normal too. I hurried and changed Grace and Max and then we got back in the car. The rest of the evening was not normal.

Every year the Newgate Mall hosts the Flag Day Ceremony. We work closely with the Veterans and work to get community donations for the attendees. This year we had it in the evening to see if it was draw more people, sadly it did not. Pepsi provided water and Chick-fil-A donated sandwiches to everyone there, and then gave a coupon for another free sandwich, we announced it on the speakers and had signs, but very few people stopped what they were doing and came out. But I'm glad we did.

It is a truly touching experience observe Flag Day. The Governor spoke, followed by the mayor and the Veteran leader. A band played and then a brand new flag was lifted into the sky. The sky was blue and the weather was perfect. Max and Grace were busy, and some times I was nervous they were bothering some of the people, but I was glad they were there.

After they raised the new flag they had a retiring flag ceremony, and I've never seen this before, Mike and I both had tears in our eyes. They read a poem about the flag and then discussed the meaning of each strip as they cut it apart. They handed a stripe to each veteran and then the Governor carried the square with the stars. They lit a fire in a barrel and then each veteran dropped a stripe in the fire. After every veteran had a chance they let asked people observing the ceremony to come up and burn one flag, Mike got to and it was a neat experience.

Then they did the fallen soldier portion, and I had tears. The Veteran President goes through the role call for the Veterans in their division and any who are present answer here. Those who don't answer have "fallen" this past year. They repeat the name three times and then ding the bell in remembrance. When they are done they bring the soldier's gun, boots, helmet and dog tags and place them at the front of the stage. The soldiers do their gun solute and then the band begins again.

It was not a normal finish to the day. I remembered to be thankful for all the normal things I get to do each day, and tried to explain that we live in America, and we are free to work, and to wear what we want, and to worship how we want. We live in America and we have soldiers fighting for our freedom, and the freedom of others. We have a beautiful flag that we can hang freely and that stands for ideas of a better place. I'm so thankful for those freedoms. I'm so thankful it was not a normal day. Sometimes I think we need to remember how blessed we are, even when bad things happen, even when those leading our country make decisions we don't agree with, even when we are down on our luck - we are so blessed to live in this country!

(Every time I tried to put the border around this picture Picasa cut her head off....so no border.)

Road Trip

I'm absolutely positive my mother will love me for posting this picture, but it's so cute, she'll just have to deal with it :)

Last week my mom and I took my sister Cassie down to Jacob Lake in Arizona to work for the summer. I know that I've made that drive in 6 hours from Layton - but lets just say it took longer than that this time. This is the longest we've ever had Grace and Max in the car and over all they did pretty good. I'm so thankful for car DVD players and I don't know how we lived without them! We stopped several times for the potty and ate dinner in Richfield. But the drive between Richfield and Kanab was LONG. Grace kept saying every minute that she wanted a hotel with a pool, and it was getting late. (I did not factor in that my mom drives the speed limit in my time tables....) and it got so late I was worried about the hotel's pool closing. Needless to say we finally got to Kanab at 9:45 and checked in.

The hotel people were nice and told us we could let Grace get in the pool after it closed - and that lasted all of 5 minutes. The pool was freezing so we got in the hot tub and she just clung to me. She didn't want let go of, she was nervous when I walked to the middle and after 30 seconds she said she was ready to get out. Oh this child makes me laugh! We swam the next morning again and she was still clingy - but to hear her talk about the pool when we got home you'd have thought we swam all day and it was the funnest thing ever! She keeps telling her dad that we need to go back to Kanab and go swimming at that fun hotel again.

Jacob Lake is about an hour past Kanab so we drove over and had lunch. I ate a Grand Bull and it was perfectly delicious. I have the recipe, I've made it at home many times, but it's just not the same. I saw a few old friends and left my little sister in the middle of the forest for 3 months. I hope she has as much fun as I had all those years ago, and hope she makes a few life long friends like I did!

Waterfun with the Cousins

What could possibly be the reason for this sleeping smile?

I walked in the room to wake Max up from his 3+ hour nap and I found him sleeping with the biggest grin on his face, I've never seen him sleep like this before. He was so content! I knew he'd truly had a "happy day".

Earlier in the day I took the kids up to Hyrum to my sisters house to play on the water slide with the cousins. The water was freezing, and when the sun went behind the clouds it was downright cold, but eventually the sunshine played along and it warmed up.

This picture was the first time Max went down the slide, he loved it so much! It was quite a sight heaving him up the stairs, at first he didn't get climbing up the middle at all. But by the end of the afternoon he was a pro!

Adi & Max - she's so brave and liked to be a little "mother hen" to Max, even offering to catch him at the bottom. She may be like 10 months older than him, but he is much "thicker" than she is!
He wasn't scared at all! A few times he bounded down the slide so fast I was worried he was going to hurt himself, but he got right back up and wanted "more slide!"

Nayvie

Adi & Grace

Libby being a superhero - so stinking cute!

And then there's Grace. What am I going to do with my little princess? It took forever just to get her to go in the pool at the bottom and no matter how hard I tried she would not go up to the top or down the slide. She was scared, and it was cold. She played and played and smiled. On the way home I told her I was sad that she didn't go down the slide. All the other kids had so much fun and I know she would have liked it. But she said, "Mom, I had so much fun at the bottom." How was I suppose to argue with that?

I just have to step back and realize that she is not my adventurous child, but that's okay. She's happy.

One more of Adi - It was nice just to hang out and talk with my sisters and cousins and to let the kids be kids! Looking forward to many more sunshiny wet afternoons :)

My boy child

Isn't it sad how fast they grow? I love watching a little one's new milestones and learn new things - but really - this little boy can't be two already!
Max is my mischievous little man. He's really good at sneaking outside, and he's so quiet about it. At Grandma Kate's he's gone faster than I can count to 3, and he always wants to go "side" with the big kids. But he wont' stay with the big kids, he likes the road, rocks and dirt. He also loves the swings. At home he's learned he can open my front door and my back sliding door. Since I live next to the train this scares me so bad! I've made an effort to keep these doors locked - but he checks them all the time. One time at my moms he was riding the gator with his cousin Ty, he must have fallen out at some point because his elbow was bleeding, but there was no way he was coming inside over a little blood.

Max also likes to dig in the garden and his sister is teaching him how to make pig mud. (Pig mud is dirt with water in it, duh!)

Max likes going to nursery with the other kids and toys but his teachers tell me his favorite time is snack time - a boy after my own heart!

Max likes to color, but no so much on paper, so far he's hit my wall, Grace's sheets and my nightstand. I caught him trying to put glue on my couch no matter how often I clean my bathroom mirror he thinks it's his job to goober it! He can find and reach anything - and I mean anything. One day I had a pot on my back burner of the stove and he was standing on his tip toes stirring it with a long handled spoon - it's unreal. More than once he's brought me scissors and said "no no touch" when he hands them to me. He's been able to open child proof cupboards for a long time now and just recently learned if he puts his leg over the crib railing he can get out.

Max laughs and teases all the time - I didn't realize teasing was a born trait, but he's changed my mind. He wants what his sister wants, knows I don't want him to touch my computer, and loves hiding from me. It's the look on his face when he's caught that makes it so hard to get mad at him. But, my very favorite thing about Max is when he wakes up in the morning he almost always wakes up happy. He's full of smiles and when I bring him chocolate milk I get a huge grin. He pats me on the back and gives me a hug when I change his diaper and occasionally he plants a big fat wet kiss on my cheek.

Amazing Grace

It could just be a mothers love, but I think this is the cutest thing ever! The other day Grace ran into the kitchen and told us to watch what she could do - she proceeded to pick up a goldfish cracker with her toes and put it in her mouth. What a proud mommy I was! I laughed and told her she was tricky! Then one day last week I found her sitting on the coach coloring with her toes, she's so proud of herself!

She also told me she was showing her Grandma Ruth that she could eat with her toes and then she said "Mom, grandma doesn't think nothings funny!" Really? Eating with your feet, from something on the floor isn't funny? LOL!

You may have to use your imagination for this one - so I finally let Grace go to town on her chocolate bunny from Easter. She ate the ears and the head and when I looked down I totally thought it was a well endowed rabbit. I laughed so hard, then Grace started laughing because she thought I thought her eating the head was funny - but nope, that picture looks like the sweet Bunny's got chestels..... when really it's just his arms, Mike can't see it - but every time I look at this sweet thing I get a good chuckle!

Boondocks

For the record, I had this post created and then I went to copy it for a letter to my little brother and bam! it was gone, no undo option...Yuck! So, the new version will not be as long, detailed, and thus probably much more interesting!

Mike and I took the kids to Boondocks on Friday night. We had never been, and Grace kept saying she wanted to go bowling. I thought Mike was crazy for going there on a Friday night, but when we walked in there had open lanes. This surprised me as the parking lot was FULL. We walked right up to the bowling counter and I ordered one game for 2 adults and 2 small kids. Our total was $38! I asked why (after gasping) and the girl said Friday and Saturday nights are "prime time" and you pay one price total for the lane. After seeing my shocked face she said she'd see what she could do, and came back with a discounted total of $32. Isn't that nice?

I told her no and she said we could take the kids to the other side and have them go roller bowling. It's 1/2 the size of normal lanes and the balls are much smaller, only $3 per child. Sweet! Grace and Max had fun, Max kept rolling as many balls as he could down the lane and even stole another families ball. I had to retrieve a few of Grace's mid lane because she was a little slow (I had this image of the person who gets laughed at on the Price Is Right for not getting the wheel all the way around....) Any how, after 3 frames Grace proclaimed she was done and wanted to go play some games. I'm so glad I paid $6 for 3 frames and not $38!

Aren't these balls so cute? Grace had amazing accuracy, just no speed!Cute little bums...Max patiently waiting. This was the only time he waited patiently, after that it was find every ball I can and keep em coming! He kept putting his hands, arms and head in the ball return, I can't believe he didn't get smacked! I often (everywhere we go) find Mike like this. Analyzing what lights they used, what they should have used, sometimes what it cost them...I usually hear blah blah blah when he talks about lighting. It's a hazard of his trade, and yet I still love him!

We also played a little on the games, and truthfully there were several the kids could even play. They stayed entertained for about $5 and we got enough tickets for them each a sucker. They both loved pretending they were driving the car and squirting fish.

All in all, I'd take the kids back. They have a soft play area that we didn't try and we really did have a fun time. Grace has started saving her money for the carousel at the mall. It costs a dollar (she came up with this on her own... I guess she was done saving for Disneyland!) But the carousel at Boondocks only costs a quarter, wait till she finds out she can ride it 4 times for the same price, and it's not in the middle of the food court.

I love my family so much, it's nice to get out and does fun things!