Not much to report

Well, I got chastised today for not contributing to the blog as often as I should. I will now try and atone for past slackiness (is that even a word??) and update you with our life.

Since the last posting, there hasn't been too much adventure, but we did make it to the Brian Regan "concert" and it was HILARIOUS!!! We were laughing so hard most of the night, there were times that Nick was in pain and couldn't breathe. It is so funny to listen to Nick when he really gets going. He has laughed more since we've moved up here than in the rest of our married life. I think having a job that he loves so much sure helps out his disposition. Of course, the sleep deprivation that we have both been experiencing since Sam was born could also be contributing to it.

Here we are at the Brian Regan concert with our friends Shane and Allyson. It was held outside and it was packed! But it was so nice and peaceful by the waterfalls and just beautiful!

I don't think that we have done too much since then. But here are a few funny things that Seth has said in the last couple of weeks....

He was trying to get dressed and he couldn't quite get the shirt over his head. He panicked and said "Mommy, I lost my head"

I had him in the shower with me and when I was rinsing my hair, some of my shampoo got in his eyes and started burning. He started crying and told me that his eyes were broken. I got quite a kick out of those two comments.

He is being extremely affectionate lately and loves to come give us hugs and kisses. I know he has said some more cute things recently, but I haven't been very good at writing them down.

Sam has been a lot of fun. For awhile, it seemed like he was having some teeth start to move around, because he was so freakin ornery and waking up a lot during the night. But the last few days, he has just been a pretty happy baby. He is LOVING his cereal, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots, but he does not care for peas, not that I blame him. The Gerber peas are disgusting, so I have to sneak in a bite in between bites of the good stuff.

Well, we are headed to Parowan for the Labor Day weekend!! Seth is so excited to go see Grandma and Grandpa and I am excited to see all my friends that I miss. I'm sure I will have much to write about after that trip since Parowan is one happening place!

Here are a few recent pictures.....

This is the only place that Sam can be in the bouncer on our main floor. It can be quite hazardous when he starts pulling things down!

"Nope, I don't care for the peas!!"

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we tried to give Seth a haircut and really screwed it up. Luckily, Nick's stepsister was working that day and able to squeeze him in and fix our mistakes.


I have to really keep an eye on Seth lately. He has figured out how to unlock the child-proof lock on the fridge and he loves to pull out the eggs, get the pan out and crack the egg open. He does amazingly well at getting all of the egg in the pan, and no shells. Better than me actually!



Seth loves helping Daddy clean the motorcycle. But if you ask him if he wants to go for a ride on the motorcycle or in the van, he will chose the van every time!

Nick and Seth flying a kite in our "back yard". I love having this field right behind our house!

Sam showing how well he can sit up and how much he enjoys it. Of course, he still won't roll over for me (the little stinker) but I have gone in to get him after his nap and he is on his belly, so he can do it, he just chooses not to!

Sailing, squash and smiles

It is amazing how quickly time flies. I realized it has been more than a week since I posted. When I started doing this blog, I thought I would update it more often. But either not much is going on to write about, or too much is going on to have time to sit down and write. Or sometimes a little bit of both. Here are a few pictures of the latest in the our home. By the way, I seem to have serious issues with getting pictures to work out very well. Am I an idiot (probably) or is there some way of uploading pictures and having them post somewhere other than the top of the message? It is too much effort to try and get the pictures where you want them and delete all the empty space that seems to show up when you move pictures around. If any of my few readers have any insights, I would sure appreciate it. Now for the latest adventures in our lives....

Not too much has been going on this week. I did go to lunch with my friends for my birthday on Monday (my friend Sarah just had a baby last week so we decided to postpone the lunch until she could make it). It has been nice because we stretched out my b-day celebration for about a week with all the different things that went on. That night my mom, Darla and her two boys stopped by to say goodbye before they flew back to Chicago. Paige, Kyle and their families came over as well, so it was a fun little get together. We did some yard work last night--my stupid flower beds and lawn are so full of morning glory. It is ridiculous trying to keep it under control. I really need to figure out what to do with the flower beds. They are getting really crowded and overgrown, but I just haven't had the energy to do much with them this summer.

We are going to see Brian Regan tomorrow night out at Thanksgiving Point. If you have not ever listened to him or see him perform, you are missing out. He is quite funny and clean which is such a nice combination.

The boys are doing well. Seth is pushing his limits every day and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to parent him. But he gives the best hugs and kisses right now and comes up with new things all the time that make me laugh. He has been having night terrors lately which are so weird. It takes him awhile to calm down even when we are in there with him. We can't even touch him until he has woken up enough to realize what is going on.

Sam has a new nickname now which is "Screech". He loves to hear himself talk or scream or whatever. He has a very loud voice. Very resonant. He still won't roll over, but he can scoot himself pretty well (too well at times, but I'm not getting into that). He can sit up for quite a while now, unfortunately today he did a face plant in the bath tub which freaked him out a bit. He is not the best sleeper, but we keep working on it.

I guess the biggest news is Nick decided to not go back to school this year. There were a lot of determining factors in that decision, but we know that it is the right thing for us right now. He can defer up to 2 years, so who know what the future will hold. He was also released as the Sunday School President and put in as the High Priest Group Leader. Crazy huh! It's like he turned 80 over night.

Nick and I went on a sunset cruise around Utah Lake on a sailboat last week. It was a lot of fun. I was concerned it was going to be uncomfortable with a bunch of people, but it was just us and the older couple who run a school teaching people how to sail. It was actually really nice visiting with them. They made a delicious dessert for us and we just sailed around for about an hour and a half. It was extremely peaceful and relaxing. Of course, not having 2 very active boys along would make driving at a monster truck rally nice and relaxing. Thanks to Kyle and Lena for babysitting so we could get out and enjoy my birthday. And to Paige for babysitting the night before so we could go to dinner. I LOVE my boys, but I also love getting a break from them once in a while.

Seth found his snow boots the other day and decided to wear them. He has gotten very attached to the Toy Story movies lately and he was checking his boots to see if they said "Andy" on the bottom. I don't know if he thought they belonged to Woody or Buzz. I'm thinking probably Buzz since he wrapped himself up in his blanket the other day and informed me he was a space ranger. He is so weird sometimes. Today after I pulled the garbage bag out of the can, he put the can on his head and said it was his happy birthday hat.

I was trying to get Seth to help me feed a bottle to Sam while I finished making some strawberry jam (my moment of domestic goddess) but he wasn't so good at the concept of holding the bottle UP! That boy is sure full of spunk lately (more so than usual).

What a happy boy. We love it when he is all smiles like this!


We gave Sam squash for the first time today. He seemed to like it at first, and then he started to lean his head forward every time I tried to give it to him (trying to get away from the spoon from what I can tell). Thus, he ended up with more of it on his face than in his mouth.

The easiest way to get Sam to smile and laugh is when we nibble on his feet. Look at that grin!

Our Bear Lake Adventure!

I will start by saying that I'm lucky to even be alive to do this post. Okay, so maybe that is a little dramatic, but we sure had our share of problems up there. The drive up was pretty uneventful. We went up through Evanston, Wyoming and we were sorely tempted to stay for the night to do pig wrestling at the county fair. But alas, we continued on to Bear Lake. We were staying in our friends sisters condo which was really nice and had a beautiful view of the lake. The weather wasn't great--quite overcast and a bit windy, but we went out on the water anyway. We pulled everyone (except me) around on the tube and they had a great time. I have only been pulled around once before and it was a very disturbing experience and I wasn't anxious to repeat it. Nick and Shane had a great time and we gave them quite the ride!

Look at the color of the lake. Isn't it beautiful?

So Thursday morning we go out to head down to the lake and the battery on the boat is dead. After messing with it for awhile, Shane finally figures out that a cable is loose and he gets it fixed up and we are on our way (after being yelled at by some ornery old man for letting the kids climb on some rocks "Get those kids down, they are going to kill themselves. We don't allow that here"). We get out on the lake and it is beautiful! They finally convince me that they won't kill me on the tube so I get in, but make sure I have Seth with me so they will keep it mild. I have serious issues with things not being in my control!!! So it is me, Nick and Seth going for a ride.

We went for a little while and then Seth says "I don't want to play anymore" so in to the boat he goes. By this time, I have concluded that I can stay in the tube even as it is skimming across the wake and so I tell them to go for it. I have to admit, it was so much fun. Once we were done, Shane and his son were going to take a turn. At this point, the boat started having serious issues. Shane and Nick worked on it for quite a while, but there is only so much you can do in 100+ feet of water. After working on it for over an hour and drifting quite a bit, we decided it was time to call for reinforcements. Let me give you this advice now--when going boating, get the number of help BEFORE you leave! We called information--no help. We tried to call the place we were staying--no answer. We finally had to call 911 and tell them we were stuck out in the middle of the lake. At this point it was starting to rain. Luckily they had a canopy and so we were all crowded under that trying to stay dry and keep the kids (mostly Seth) entertained and occupied. After being stuck for about 2 hours, the park ranger finally found us and towed us back to shore.

Our little sailor Sam

It was quite the trial getting the boat loaded up on the trailer. We had to hand pull it in chest deep water (I say we, but it was really just Shane). At this point, Seth is trying to climb in the back of their Expedition and he falls and comes crying to us. We then notice that the wires that hook up the lights on the trailer to the expedition have been ripped out--Seth must have stepped on them or something. We weren't able to fix that either, despite much effort, so no brake lights for the rest of the trip. After getting back to the condo much earlier than expected, we just hung out. Chase was climbing around on the rocks again and soon we hear a blood curdling scream and we look out to find him face down hanging on to the rocks. He cut up his nose, lip and knee. And that silly old man thought the kids would kill themselves!

Friday was spent at the beach which was quite fun. We just hung out and the kids played in the water. I think they actually preferred the beach over the boat. There weren't any problems except when Seth's tube went rolling away in the wind. This is our own little Baywatch moment, except it was not the same body parts that were bouncing up and down while running down the beach. I love this picture of Nick chasing the tube while Seth is crying thinking that he had lost it forever. The fun on Friday was when we were trying to leave for home. We accidentally took a different road out of the beach than we took in and by the time we realized it, we were up to our front axles in sand. The van was totally stuck but luckily Shane made it through and came back around. He had taken his tow rope out before he left and all we had was a boating rope (a brand new rope that we had borrowed from some other friends). Nick was able to find something to hook it on under the van and luckily it held and Shane was able to pull us out with very minor damage to the rope. Unfortunately, damage is damage and it wasn't ours and I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be cheap to replace. There were a few other problems that we had, so it just seemed like it was one big drama up there. But it was still a lot of fun and it made for some great memories. Here are a couple of more pictures.

In other news, our friends Becky and Paul and their kids were visiting from Texas and we were able to spend some time with them. It is always fun to catch up with friends you don't get to see very often. It is hard to believe it has been probably 15 years since we were roommates. Wow, time goes so fast.

Sam is growing up so fast. He is eating cereal now on occasion and I don't think he is a huge fan of it. I'm not pushing it on him, just a couple of times a week to see if he starts to take more of an interest in it. He is doing really well at sitting up. Especially if he is in my lap, he can go for quite a while. He still doesn't seem to interested in rolling over, he would rather scoot forward when he is on his belly and he loves to stand up. His favorite thing is to be stripped down. He is always happiest when he is naked--silly boy. Seth is as busy as ever. He is starting to get a real attitude and the last couple of weeks in church have been torture. We have really got to start learning some better parenting tricks for that one--he is a handful. But he can be so sweet and cute and he is so smart. I just need to channel that intelligence away from the dark side :)

Tomorrow our ward is having a Girls Night Out at Bajio. We do it every couple of months at a different restaurant and it is always a great time. Then on Thursday, Nick and I are going to Tucanos for dinner. Our cholesterol levels will be much higher after that trip. I guess we haven't had enough of the water as Nick and I are going on a sunset cruise on a sailboat around Utah Lake this Friday. It will be a shock going from the beautiful blue waters of Bear Lake to the brownish green murky water at Utah Lake, but hey--hopefully it will be a great sunset.

Well, I think that is all for now. Sorry about the long posts, but if I am only doing it once in awhile and when I actually have some fun things going on in my lfe, I'm going to write about them. Don't worry, the exciting things are pretty much done.

Spending time with family and friends

It used to be when I would look at blogs for my friends and family, I would wonder why it would sometimes take so long in between posts. Now I realize that it is not always easy finding time to sit down write an update. But I want everyone to know that I do check their blogs daily and love to read the posts and see the pictures.

We have had some fun times in the last couple of weeks. On the 17th, my sister Darla and her 2 boys flew in from Chicago to spend a month here in Utah. We went down to Parowan for the weekend and it was a great trip. Parowan was celebrating Pioneer Day on Saturday and the theme was "A day in Nauvoo" or something like that, so we were able to get together with much of the town for dinner and visit different booths depicting what life was like in Nauvoo. They also had horse drawn hay wagons going around town pointing out different historical landmarks. It was great being able to see friends that we haven't seen in awhile and spend time with family.

This week was pretty crazy around our house. We had Chalise and Ammon come up on Monday and then my parents and Darla and the boys came up on Tuesday. We spent much of Tuesday and an event called "Taste of the Valley" where about 20 different restaurants from around the valley set up booths and give away samples. It is amazing how full you can get and we probably only hit about half of the places. But it is an awesome tradition that we do each year. Yummy!

After that, we came back home and tied a quilt (outside in the rain, under a canopy). We then had a BBQ and watched the fireworks. At this point we also had Denny and Anne's family, Kyle and Lena and their children and Lena's parents as well as our friend Jamee and her boys. It was pretty loud and wild with all the kids but it was so much fun being able to spend time together. At one point, Nick and I snuck out with Chalise and Ammon and took Seth and Addie to the carnival for a couple of rides. Pioneer Day is a big day here in Spanish Fork. Give us a couple of years and Seth will probably be doing the mutton bustin at the rodeo (as long as we don't have to stay for the whole thing--I'm not that much of a S.F. gal yet).

On Wed we went to the Zoo. It was a great time. Of course Seth's favorite part was the train ride. As soon as it was over he said "How about we do it again". The weather was perfect. A little overcast for most of the day and not too hot. We hit an Olive Garden for dinner and then went on a tour of the Humanitarian Center and donated the quilt that we had tied the day before.

Next week we are going to Bear Lake for 3 days with our friends Shane and Allyson. They got a boat and want to go try it out up there so I guess we will just have to suffer and be supportive friends. :-)

Well, Sam is now needing my attention and it is getting too hard to type with one hand. Here are a few pictures of our latest adventures.

On the swing at my parents house

Going for a ride on the hay wagon (with my dad in the background)

Seth and Nick with the horses

At the zoo after the bird show (which was awesome)

Seth going a little crazy with the hose during the BBQ

Nick and Sam at Taste of the Valley

Tying the quilt in the rain

Seth and Addie at the carnival

What a fun day!

What a perfect day. The only thing that could have made it better is if we could have slept in. We took Seth for a ride on the Heber Creeper today and he loved it. I wish that the train would have gone a little farther down the canyon, but it was still a lot of fun. We then went to lunch at a little place in Heber that has an electric train that runs on a track that is suspended from the ceiling. It helped to keep Seth entertained at the table while we ate. After we came home, we took a nap for a couple of hours--ahh, we love our naps!

A couple of weeks ago, Nick took Seth with him to a Chamber of Commerce activity where they were celebrating the NBA draft. They had a hoop shooting contest for all age groups and Seth won in his competition. He won a large pizza, 4 drinks and 100 tokens at Chuck E Cheese. We decided to go tonight and took Kyle, Lena and the kids with us. We had so much fun. The kids had a blast and us parents actually had a great time too.

Sam did really well today. It seems like in the last couple of weeks, he has changed so much and is a much happier, easier baby. I am finally really enjoying him. He has not been the easiest child up to this point, so to have him be so content just makes my life so much better. Seth also did really well and only had one meltdown--unfortunately it was at the train depot when we wouldn't buy him any Thomas the tank engine toys. Luckily we were able to keep our cool and talk him out of his fit. You gotta love when you are putting on a show for all those around you.

This coming week will be fun as well. Darla and her boys are flying in on Tuesday and then we will be taking them to Parowan for the weekend. Seth has been asking when we can go see Grandma and Grandpa, so I'm sure he will love it.

Here are a couple of pictures from today (if I can figure out how to do this--still learning how to do the whole blog thing....)

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Fingers, Toes and Bunny

Seth and his sparklers