Cherry Hill and other such fun

We had so much fun this past weekend. We went with Dan and Megan up to Cherry Hill for the weekend. We kind of forgot to check when school started so the boys went to the first day of school then missed the second.

Friday we went to Cherry Hill. It's a little water park. We stayed in our trailer in the trailer park right there. It was so nice to be able to just go back and forth. The boys and Addi had lots of fun. Me and Tracen and Josh spent a long time floating down the lazy river. I went with Ty and Jesse on the other slides. Ty and Ethan I think went down the tube slide a hundred times. And the three boys swam the lazy river for a long time. They kind of just decided they didn't need adults and took off and did their own thing all day long.

Friday night we did miniature golf. That was an adventure and about 8 holes too long! Addi and Tracen basically spent a lot of time putting their balls into the holes and seeing where they'd go. Tracen kept wanting to go back to the last hole while we waited for the next one. Tyler was a crazy man whacking his ball as hard as he could. Once it flew up and hit me. Ethan and Jesse played a normal game and Dan brought up the rear. The boys were patient with the two young ones getting in their way all the time! We only had to dig around in the bushes a few times in the dark. Then we finished the night off with some yummy and super cheap ice cream.

Saturday we decided we'd had enough water park and we went to the dinosaur museum in Ogden. It was a lot of fun. The boys ran around finding all the dinosaurs, raspberries and caves that smelled like pee. We played on the playground and spent way to much time in the gift shop. Megan found the cutest dino costume which we put on Tracen he was adorable. I would have bought it for halloween if it hadn't been $40.

We ate lunch at the pie pizzaria. Tyler decided he hates Pizza and refused to eat. Jesse said after we left he was never going there again because it was creepy. When I asked him why he said because there was people in there drinking beer! lol! Josh and I thought the pizza was great...and huge. We got a 23" pizza. Just FYI, if you have 4 adults and 5 kids 23" is about double what your need.

After trying out Dan's GPS and trying to take a short cut through Hill AFB back gate we resorted to mapquest and found our way to the aerospace museum. Josh was in heaven there and made sure we all saw the SR71. The aerospace museum also had a gift shop. By that point I think both Megan and I were sick of the kid/gift shop combo.

Then we went back and were lazy at the trailers and we ate more cheap yummy ice cream. Tracen kept sliding down his fav hill (small mound of dirt) and got his bum dirty and walked around like he was drunk, falling down and getting like 3 bruises on his head. They have a little concert each weekend at the water park so we went to that too.

Sunday we drove home. Dan and Megan paid for having lots of seating and being suckers. They let our boys ride home with them. We had a nice ride home and Tracen slept half of the way. I can't say the same for Dan and Megan. Dan had a little problem with the wind too :)

1st day of School

The boys had their first day of school last Thursday. In Parowan they have the parents come to the first few hours of school with the kids so I didn't quite get around to taking the boys pics until after school. We were a little late! I've been making the boys conform to my schedule this summer so that I can sleep a little bit. It was really hard to get up at 6:30...in fact, we didn't we got up at 7 and we were only a few minutes late at 8. We followed the boys around school and met their teachers. Then they had a little presentation for us out on the football field. I'm glad school is back in session even though I won't get as much sleep. The routine is good for us.

Tracen's 15 months old

I can't believe that Tracen is 15 months old! Time flies way too fast. He is such a fun and happy baby. We all adore him and he knows it. He rules the roost and has become the spoiled brat baby of the family. But he's fun and we love him! I weighed him at work the other day when I stopped to get my schedule. He weighs 38 pounds 4 ounces. Dr. Bleazard tried to bribe him with a chip and then gave him a laffy taffy....gee thanks, he was so sticky! This is rather long so feel free to skip to the cute pics.

Tracen at 15 months:
Tracen has perfected walking in the last few months minus a few druken-walking type episodes. We're not sure who supplied the booze :) But, no, once he started walking he just took off. We were a little worried about it but he has a cute little toddler walk and when he gets excited its a near run.

He giggles and laughs and screams. He's mischevious and tries to play jokes. He'll reach over and whack you and then tip his head back and giggle. It's cute for now!

He likes to be in the middle of the party. If the boys are doing something he wants to do it too.

He likes pop. Brown fizzy and probably especially caffiene. And he backwashes really bad so he gets his own rootbeer now (or the left over diet dr pepper...see below)

He says lots of names: Daddy, Momma, Ty (Dahhh), Jesse (ahhwree), and Adi (which he says perfectly) Adi is our neighbor.

He's taken to petting Sadie, we have to help him be soft. He's also taken to dropping things on her so we have to watch him.

Speaking of dropping things, that's another favorite, he drops everything expensive things like cameras and phones as well as cheap things like sippy cups.

He says lots of other words. His favs at the moment are uh-oh, Whoa whoa whoa and oh. He also says dog, that, he barks, growls and babbles.

He knows and uses some signs like bird (his fav), milk (which means give me a bottle now!), more, and we're working on please and thank you which he doesn't have a lot of patience for

He likes using a fork

If he wants something or doesn't get his way he screams and yells and throws a fit. If someone hands him what he wants he immediately stops crying and slaps a grin on his face

He loves to go outside. He loves sliding and swinging lots too. He'd let you put him back at the top of the slide or push him in the swing all day long.

Tracen we love you bud! We can't imagine what life was like before you joined our family. We're so glad that Heavenly Father sent you to us!

Lake Powell

Isn't he so stinking cute? In August we took a trip to Lake Powell. The trip there wasn't quite so fun and the trip back to the marina sucked too but we had fun while we were there. We went with Jade and Kaylynn and one of Kaylynn's sister's family. They had three boys so once they warmed up my boys were in heaven. We seem to play favorites with the pictures though we mostly have pics of Tracen. Maybe thats because he stayed pretty close to us and the boys were off being boys with the other kids. I do have video of them but that takes too long to load!

On the way over to wherever it was we were going to end up we were travelling along nicely. Josh even made the comment that the boat running good. Within a few minutes we blew one of the engines. It sucked, k. Josh with good reason, was kinda onery after that and just wanted to go home. But I told him we were already most of the way there and we'd just be mad if we went home. So we limped the rest of the way up the lake (like 10 mph) it sucked. Jade and Kaylynn went ahead and found us all a camping spot in Last Chance and we showed up later. Oh ya and while we were sitting there dead in the water we were nearly run over by one of those huge tour boats. They kinda didn't see us until the last minute. Like close enough that I started yelling at Josh and was trying to decide which way Tracen and I were jumping. Neither side was a great option.

The rest of the weekend was awesome. We ate, swam whenever we got hot and sat and did nothing...it was fun. Tracen did great. The only problem we had with the kids was at bedtime. The first night Josh and I slept in the cabin and the boys (Ty and Jesse) whined. The second night Josh and I slept outside and the boys slept in the cabin and the boys whined. It sprinkled and felt so good. So, since the boys are going to whine either way from now on I'm sleeping outside, it's much better.

It only took us 3 hours to get back to the marina on Saturday, going 13 miles per hour. I made it the whole weekend without getting sunburned until the way back and I put sunblock on at least 3 times. Our bimini top is still on backorder.

This *thing* is living at my house...eww.

If your my buddy on facebook you're already well aware on how I feel about this thing. The boys were headed out to the wash with Ethan the other day and they came upon a blow snake. Did I mention I hate snakes, well, I do. Josh went out and caught it. I was well aware of what he intended with this snake (I have lived with him for 10 years) so I locked him out. See picture below where he's trying to come in the house...no go. So the boys found a bucket and put it in there. Then Ty goes and empty's one of my see thru fabric boxes and they put it in there. (yes I was irritated) I was very VERY clear about the terms and conditions of the snake coming in the house....in short, the snake DOES NOT come in the house. That was about all.

I went to work the next day and Josh and the boys sneak off to Walmart and buy themselves a terranium and bring the snake in the house. (I have no freaking say around here). Did I mention I hate snakes and that I said it coudn't come in the house? Well, then I go to work the next day and the snake gets OUT while I'm gone. Good thing I wasn't home, the snake would be no more. I told Josh if the snake gets out while I'm home he's going to be paying for professional carpet cleaning because the snake will be dead on it.

Last Tuesday I had worked all night and I had Tracen. So I made sure the snake was in it's cage and then I shut Ty's door and then I shut myself in Tracen and Jesse's room and then I rolled up a towel and put it under the door. That snake wasn't going to get me.

So far the snake is alive and well. He hasn't gotten out again. Josh took him out the other day. I had Tracen and he was chasing me around the house with it (I hate him). He told me that Tracen wanted to touch the snake so I put him down and went out and locked myself in the truck. Tyler came out and told me that the snake was back in the cage. I told him he'd better be sure because if he was trying to trick me he would be grounded for a week. He went back in and didn't come out for a few more minutes.

By the way, snakes aren't my favorite. I hate spiders too. Maybe sometime I'll post the story about the tarantalla we had once. I think I'm a saint for putting up with this crap! I would have gladly allowed them to have a lizard.

On a happier note, I made this awesome corn bread the other day. It was so dang yummy. Last year I took all the cobs of corn that were severely mishapen or missing lots of kernals and cut them all off and dehydrated them. Then the other day I ground some up in my blender into corn meal and made corn bread. It was SO DANG GOOD. So much better than the regular stuff. I've made it twice now and everyone but Jesse gobbles it up, especially Tracen. And if I get any corn this year, it might all be funky so I might be making all of it into corn bread :)