Utah trip - Summer 2010

On July 27 the kids and I flew to Utah to stay with my parents. Brittany flew in from Oregon on the same day. We had a blast staying at Mom and Dad's house. Our husbands met us after a week. Here are some of my pictures!

Hanging out at the house...

Mom holding baby Sam. He is 4 months old.


Brittany and I holding our babies. Sam and Nyah were born only 2 weeks apart!

One afternoon Brittany and I had to make a 'quick' run to the store to pick up some groceries... and we left Dad with all the kids and babies! When we came home we found him surrounded by grandkids absorbed in the storybook he was reading them. What a guy!
Matt had a cast on his leg while we were in town, poor guy! We were all visiting one night and he was laying on the ground on a pillow and Eliza came and snuggled up to him. He must have seemed so inviting, she couldn't resist!

Dad giving Eliza tastes of his icecream.
After each bite, she had to give him a big smile before her next bite. :)

Riding the Horses...

At first Eliza was scared to be up on the horse. (I mean, at the grocery store she will hardly ride the plastic horse ride.) But after a few minutes, she was loving it! She kept saying, "This is fun!"

Ben's favorite horse is Chief. He loved the horses!

Backyard Wildlife... I found a garder snake in the backyard and the kids took turns holding it. I confess that I love finding and catching snakes, frogs, turtles, and caterpillars. :)

The Great Salt Lake...

I really wanted to visit the Great Salt Lake while I was in Utah. I haven't ever been there, but I had heard about people 'floating' in the water, and by george, I wanted to experience it for myself! I mean, how could I have lived in Salt Lake since I was 9 years old and not been to the Great Salt Lake?! Anyway, we remedied that and took a trip to the 'white sandy beaches' of the saltiest lake in the world. To get to the said beach, we had to sludge through about a mile of sand, carrying towels, umbrella, cameras, and children. Oh, and the car seat carrier too. It was like a reenactment of the handcart pioneers travailing across the plains. When we arrived we had a bit of a surprise... The beach was white and sandy, but you couldn't really see the 'white' of it because of the hordes of gnats. The kids pretty much freaked out when we walked onto the sand and clouds of gnats rose in the air... haha! But they had a great time when we walked out into the shallow warm water. Ahh! The water was so warm! That's all I ever want in life. Just give me warm water. Murky? I don't care. Leeches? I'll take my chances. Just give me a nice temperature and I'm happy. Anyway, we had a great time! With nearly 25% salinity, the water is very buoyant. I had three kids hanging on me wanting constant bouncing, but it was easy because of the buoyancy of the water. I got a chance to go to the deeper water and it was amazing how I would just float, even if I was tucked into a cannon ball. It was awesome!

Thanksgiving Point Gardens...Brittany and I took a trip to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point. Very pretty!

The Children's Museum...
We went to the Children's Museum at the Gateway one day. Brittany & Eric came with Gabe and Nyah, Amy came with Wesley and Logan, and Mindy came with Jack. This museum was amazing! Benjamin and Gabe absolutely LOVED the construction zone, where the kids could haul 'concrete' blocks using a crane, and make buildings using patterns on the wall. I could hardly tear Ben away.

Mindy and I took Eliza and Jack into a toddlers corner for a minute and
they had fun in the bird's nest and the beaver's den.

The water exploration station was a big hit as well.
Eliza played next to her cousin Wesley (who is only 5 months older than her).

Dinosaur Museum...

This dino museum is apparently the largest in the world. It was very neat!
Ben was a little spooked to be up close to the big shark (and the T-Rexes for that matter)!

Timpanogos Caves...

This is another outing that I just had to do while we were in Utah. I mean, Mount Timpanogos is just up the street from my parents' home. Literally. Up the street. The last time I went to the caves was when I was like 11. I just had to go again while we were visiting! And I'm glad I spearheaded it - It was a blast! We planned this excursion for when Jed would be in Utah, and Dad took off work so he could join us. So we had Dad, Eric (carrying Nyah), Brittany, Griff (carrying Jack), Mindy, Jed (carrying Sam) and me.

Inside the caves there were really neat formations. And it was cool to walk around, and go through some tight passes. It was cold inside the caves, and dark and damp, and so it felt like a whole different world in there. Very neat!

Dad showing the view on our way back down the mountain.

Sammy was a good sport the entire time. Not a peep!
Just enjoyed the ride, and slept through the cave part. :)

That's all folks! We had a wonderful time in Utah. Thanks Mom & Dad, Britt & Eric, Matt & Amy, and Mindy & Griff! We love you!

Ben's T-Ball

Ben played Tball this summer!

He's a cute little ball player. When he's up to bat, he gives a good swing and hits the ball off the tee. Then he takes his helmet off and drops it on the dirt carelessly and then he books it to first base, being sure to overrun the actual base. :) When he's out in the field he hustles after every ball, and I mean every ball. Regardless of where it's headed, he'll chase after it. I love that!
Still, it can get a little slow, so we saw plenty of this...
And this...
So funny!
The rules are pretty simple in Tball. You hit the ball and run to first. Only one base per batter. The last batter runs around all the bases and brings everyone home. On defense, if you get the ball, you throw it in to the coach, who puts it on the tee for the next batter. As simple as it comes. :)
It's so funny watching Benjamin out there. He's a good sport about it. Getting a treat and drink at the end is definitely a highlight of each game! :)

Water fun

Last summer hardly got hot enough to go out and play in the water. This summer we've been playing in the water a ton! The other day Ben and his friend, Eirik, were out playing in the pool. Eliza woke up and wanted to join them. Jed happened to be home that day and wanted to go outside too, to play washers or throw a frisbee. "No way!" I said, "I'm not going out there unless we play in the water. Do you know how hot and sweaty it would be?!" So we put our swimsuits on and joined the water party! We went down the water slide and jumped around in the pool. It was fun!



And even went down the slip-n-slide... :)

Ben turned FIVE years old!

Benjamin is now a big 5 year old! Wow!
We had a big birthday bash for him on his birthday. We had 20 kids over here for a pool party. We set out an inflatable pool, a plastic kiddie pool, and a slip-n-slide. The kids had a lot of fun. The otter pops were definitely the hit of the party. :) (Eliza had, like, four.)

The cake and icecream were also a big hit. Yes, the cake is a ghost. Yes, I agree, it's odd. When Benjamin said he wanted a ghost cake the week prior, I was like, "A ghost cake? But ghosts are for Halloween..." and I was fully prepared to talk him out of it. However, Jed was standing there at the time and said, "If he wants a ghost cake, let him have it. It's his birthday." Well, I can't argue with that logic. So ghost cake it was.


And last but not least, they opened presents. Tore into them.

Opening gifts was exciting and rushed! With the children crowding in, Ben would hurriedly unwrap a gift, and, if it was especially interesting, he might bring it closer for detailed inspection, reading the advertising on the box, but then he would be distracted by two or three other gifts jangling in his face, the owners clamoring to have their present be next. It was such a funny little scene!

It was a fun party!
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That evening Ben opened up a few presents from Mom & Dad, and a few from his Grandmas. He loved everything he got. He was thrilled with a new Lego kit!


(Eliza looked like Pocahontas with the ribbon Benjamin put around her head. :) She latched on to those fishy crackers from Grandma Walker's birthday package and carried those around for awhile....)



A few days later, Ben wrote a thank you card to his grandma. He wrote the letter & drew the picture completely by himself (I was upstairs and didn't even know he was doing it). I thought his note and picture were so sweet. In case you can't make it out, the letter says, "Thank you Grandma for my presents. Love Ben" And the picture is of himself riding his new Razor kick scooter that she gave him, and there are hearts everywhere because he loves it so much. :)

Fourth of July 2010

We had a fun Fourth of July party at our friend Melody's house. She had a few families over for dinner and dessert and then we lit fireworks in the street in front of their house. Jed had to work evening/night shifts all weekend, so he couldn't make it. Anyway, it was such a fun evening!
Ben and Eliza loved the fireworks. Eliza held her own sparklers without any trepidation. I love that picture, below, of Benjamin bookin' it back to the group when the firecrackers were about to go off. :)

Baby Sam

Sam is such a sweet little thing. He is 4 months old now. He is seriously happy all the time. After waking up and eating he will hang out quietly and content as we all go about our day. When anyone goes up to him and smiles at him, he immediately lights up and smiles back and gets all excited. It is adorable! He is such a sweet baby.

Greenfield Village with Jed

We went to Greenfield Village with our friends, Jen & Ben, last week. It was the first time Jed had been to Greenfield Village, and I was excited to show him around. It's such a fun place to spend the day. First we took the train ride around the village. Then we walked through some of the old restored factories and buildings used by Thomas Edison. (Greenfield Village is like a town of restored historical buildings, all collected and exhibited by Henry Ford.)


After that we stopped off at the Village Green, where they had a bunch of era appropriate activities. Jed was especially proficient at the stilts! They had this sticks and rings game where you use two sticks to throw a ring to the other person, who catches it with the sticks. Jed and I had a lot of fun playing catch. It was such a fun game, I didn't want to leave! Jed and I also raced each other with rolling hoops with sticks (that game popular in Nauvoo-times). That was fun too!













There is a section of the village dedicated to craftsmen, and last week I had stopped by the glass blower with the kids. (Me and a few friends of mine had gone to Greenfield Village together, without husbands.) They thought it was pretty neat. I think I was the one who was the most interested. I regretfully had to leave before the man was finished with his vase... :) It was pretty cool to watch!













We took a ride on the Carousel that day...
Benjamin loved it...
Eliza not so much...
At least not when I let go of her so I could take her picture! I spent the rest of the time holding around her tightly and her clutching to me as she sat on the horse, and I had to bend my knees as we went up and down, up and down...
When we went with Jed a few days later, she wasn't so sure she wanted to do it again.
But Jed is good at taking it slow, with 'baby steps'...
Started with holding her tight and letting her have a death-grip on him...
Next, he had her use both hands... (She is not too happy about this!)
Okay, she's getting a little more comfortable... as long as Daddy still holds on to her tight...
And by the end, viola! She is riding almost alone! That Daddy of hers is a miracle worker! :)

We ended the day with a ride on a real Model T car. We had a great time!

Backyard Campout!

Jed and Benjamin had a backyard campout this past Monday. Jed told Benjamin on Sunday about the plans, and he was so excited! On Monday, we kicked off the festivities with a hotdog dinner, served on our picnic table in the backyard. Then we jumped in the car to go to Ben's T-ball game. After we got home, we set up the tent and Jed blew up the two air mattresses and put them in there. Ben and Eliza had a blast jumping around in there. After Eliza went to bed, we carried out a pile of games and the three of us played one after the other. It was very fun!

When it got too dark to play games, we watched 10 or 15 minutes of Disney Earth on Jed's laptop, until Benjamin said he was getting tired and was ready to turn it off. So I said 'goodnight!' and went inside. Jed said that Benjamin got another spurt of energy at that point and jumped around for about an hour before they went to bed finally. :)
They slept until 8:30 in the morning! I expected them to be up early, so I made a pancake breakfast, but Eliza and I ended up eating before them since they were such sleepy heads!
Anyway, Jed is such a fun dad to plan this backyard campout with Benny!

cute siblings

Eliza went and laid down next to Sam the other night when we were getting ready for bed. Sam was being so smiley, and they were both giggling and smiling at me. Jed took a few cute pictures of them.
Then Benjamin joined the fun, and the three of them laid on Sam's blanky. Ages 3 months, 2 1/2 years, and 4 (going on five). What cuties!

Jed took these pictures one weekend morning while I was upstairs. They are so funny!