For a good time...

Holy cats! I am cross-eyed and dizzy after a run-in with this gem. Check it out, if for nothing else, a few laughs!

Say what?

Taylor:

--I walked into the kitchen and Taylor had just thrown something and accidentally hit the chandelier above the kitchen table. The chandelier was swinging and he pointed it out to me.

I told him that he better be careful because he wouldn't want to break it.

He said to me, "Yeah, cuz I don't want to buy it".

Apparently the "you break it, you buy it" schpeel I give him every time we are at the store has sunk in, not necessarily in context, but I think we are making progress.

Sara:

--"Mommy, I don't like my name anymore. Not my first one or my second one. I want my first name to be Gabriella. And my second name to be Gella."

Gabriella Gella. Now isn't that a treat.

-- There was a big fire on the mountain (Draper-ish) the other day. Sara came outside with me and saw the smoke billowing in the sky. "[gasp] Mommy, who is smoking?"

Livvy:

--This child should be named "Master Manipulator."

The other day she did something naughty (I know, big surprise). I was scolding her while I was cleaning up the mess.

Above my scolding she was yelling

"Mommmmy! Mommmeeeeee!"

I finally looked up at her.

She smiled.

"I yuh yooooouuuuu".

For those of you that don't speak Livvy-ese, that is her way of saying "I love you."

What a nut.

Spencer is two months old!

My baby is darn near full grown! Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. He is growing fast though.

Here's the stats:

weight: 12 lbs 15 oz. (75th percentile)

height: 23 inches (50th percentile)

Seeing as how he is only 2 months old, he doesn't have too many tricks in his hat yet. He is smiling, which I love. The older he gets, the more he smiles. It's fun!

His old man hair-do is filling in. It's rather impressive. I was thinking his hair might grow in blonde but it is brown. I wonder if it will stay that way. It will be a fun little guessing game.

He is a tri-state traveler in his two months of life, living in Utah and having traveled through Idaho and into Wyoming.

He is quite a good sleeper. I usually put him to bed between 10:30 & 11:00 and he doesn't wake up until 6:00 or 6:30. It is so nice! What a good boy.

He smells so sweet. I had someone telling me today that he just smells so good. They were trying to pick out the scent, asking what kind of lotion and soap I use. I don't use soaps or lotions with fragrance because we have sensitive skin issues around here. It just goes to show you that babies just smell good. I figure its all part of Heavenly Father's plan. I just can't get enough of the way he smells. I just want to eat him up!

Last night I asked Livvy to tell me the baby's name. She said "Hincer. Buddy." Hincer is what it sounds like when she says Spencer and it looks like I must be calling him Buddy.

We love this little guy! He is such a content little one. He is still so snuggly and I just can't get enough of him. I feel so blessed to have him in our home. He is so sweet and lovable. He fits in perfectly.

Jackson Hole

Last Thursday we packed up the car and the kids and headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My parents have a time-share and we like to help them make good use of it.

We lounged around on Friday. Me and my mom walked the board walk and window shopped with the two littlest kids while Dave and my dad took Taylor and Sara to the new Star Wars movie. Sara fell asleep within the first five minutes. Taylor was on the edge of his seat loving the entire thing and then requested that we take him again.

Late that night Russ & Nat, Mark & Annie, & Kristina showed up. The next morning we headed out to spend the day exploring Grand Teton National Park.

The girlies:

The boys (minus Spencer who was asleep):

Here is our cute little family just outside the Jackson Lake Lodge:

We had a picnic by the lake. As usual, Livvy did not disappoint in the entertainment area. After just a couple bites of her sandwich, she opened it up and took out the meat. She put it in her mouth and began chewing it (and chewing it and chewing it and chewing it). Then she pulled it out. You know, just to take a break. She walked the perimeter with her little snack in hand, then popped it back in for another chewing go-round. This went on for some time. She was more than happy to show everybody and anybody her "meat wad" but she wasn't about to give it up for anything. At one point she even held out her meat for the showing and with her tiny hand, squeezed drool and meat juice on to the ground. It was pretty funny, if not mildy disgusting. Thanks for the good times Liv!

We went back to Jackson Hole to see the shoot-out in the street.It was quite the disappointment this year. In the past they have had guys on roof tops and a stage coach that came through the crowd. Not this time- it was some lame song and dance thing. I just don't think that is how it went in the old wild west. But what do I know?

For dinner we went to a chuckwagon dinner in the town of Moose. It turned out to be a good time, especially for the kids because we go to eat our grub in a teepee. After Livvy was done eating her dinner she realized that the ground was covered in gravel. She was practically swimming in it, getting herself nice and dirty and having the time of her life. Sara joined in after a while but she didn't get herself so disasterously dirty as Livvy.

It is nice for me to have my sister and sister-in-laws around because 1. they are fun people and 2. they like to hold my baby.

The next day we hit Yellowstone.

Taylor standing in front of Old Faithful just before it erupted. He loved Old Faithful and has been talking about geysers every day since we've been home.

At the Old Faithful Lodge:

We had a great experience with the buffalo in Yellowstone. It was a lot of fun for the kids. They (the buffalo, not the kids...) were all over the road, crossing the street right in front of our van. Taylor was so excited. As we kept driving on we got to a point in the road where there was an incline on either side of us. The buffalo were kind of stuck in the road with nowhere to go. Traffic was getting backed up and we were surrounded by buffalo. At first it was fun but after a while it got a little nerve wracking. There was a guy a couple cars in front of us on some motorcycle thing, he kept revving his engine and making all kinds of noise. The buffalo started snorting and making scary (in my opinion, of course) buffalo noises. So crazy motorcycle guy pulled out of our lane and into the oncoming lane and drove right through the buffalo revving his engine the entire time. Seriously. What an idiot. Not only was he putting himself in danger, but the rest of us too! I wanted to roll up my window and crawl into the back of the van. But I quickly realized that rolling up my window would do absolutely nothing if the buffalo decided to charge. Freaky! Despite my paranoia, it was a good time and we made it safely through the herd of buffalo.

Here is crazy motorcycle guy making his exit:

Here are my peeps in front of something spectacular that I, of course, cannot recall the name of. Dave was back at the car with three sleeping kids. Isn't Taylor just so photogenic?

Some perty shots of the scenery:

Crazy. While we were driving out of the park, it was getting dark and the moon was out. For some crazy reason (end of the world, I'm sure) the moon was red. It was so cool. Dave got out and took some pictures but without a tripod it was hard to capture any great pictures.

The next day (Monday) Micah and Lora arrived. Taylor and Sara were thrilled to have little cousins to play with. We saved one of our favorite adventures for their arrival- hiking around Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls and taking the ferry back. It's a 2.5 mile hike. Taylor and Ethan were having so much fun. They cruised up to the top and arrived first with Dave, Mark, & Annie.

Taylor and Ethan on the ferry:

The kids just aren't cooperative when it comes to taking pictures. They had a fun time with their cousins and it's just too bad that we had to leave when they were just arriving.

We had a great trip. It's always so much fun to get together with our families. I love being on vacation where we can sit up all night (or until Aunt Nat falls asleep) and talk and laugh and have ourselves a good time. Thanks for the memories everyone!

Soup's on!

Tonight at 6:00 I realized I didn't have dinner ready. Not only did I not have it ready, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to make. This was a problem because I needed to be out the door to book club by 7:00 and Dave had his own set of meetings and appointments.

I opened the freezer and wala! - leftover frozen spaghetti sauce! Sweet. I put some water on to boil for the noodles and popped the tupperware container of sauce into the microwave. 3 minutes later I pulled it out for a quick stir. On my way back to the microwave, with all the grace and poise I possess (ah-hem), I dropped the container on the kitchen floor and sent spaghetti sauce splattering across my kitchen in every direction. Livvy was in the kitchen with me. She let out a loud gasp and looked at me like, "what the...?" Right kiddo. Trust me. I am thinking the exact same thing.



In the meantime, Taylor is saying (and has been saying for the last 10 minutes or so) "Moooooom, I'm hungry. I want a sandwich. With ham. And Miracle Whip. On toasted bread. Moooooom, is it ready yet?" First of all, since when do I take orders? And secondly, the kid is a broken record. The only thing breaking this up for me is the influx in his voice when he changes from whining, to demanding, to acting like he is being tortured. And all the while, Spencer is crying.



I really had no reaction to the spaghetti sauce splattering everywhere. It's just one more thing for me to do, in a crunch, no less. First things first, I grabbed my camera. After that part was taken care of, I started cleaning up. Sauce was everywhere. It even managed to find its way into the closed lazy susan. I'm sure I will be finding little reminders of it for months to come. Anyhoo, back to the clean up- I was wiping it up off the floor with a papertowel, my back to Livvy. And when I turned around- there sat Livvy, fork in hand, eating the sauce off the floor. Apparently I've got my very own cleaning crew.

Please take notice of the only slightly less greasy head of hair- finding de-greaser is not as easy as one might think...



After we were all done cleaning up, I looked into the tupperware container and realized that some sauce had been spared. Just the right amount for Dave. Once he got home, I explained the whole mishap to him and proceeded to the fridge to pull out the container of parmesan cheese. I handed it to him. Two seconds later, poof, a cloud of parmesan cheese was showering down on my floor and counters. I'm still not sure how it happened. I looked over at Dave and we just laughed. I mean, what else do you do at that point?

I'll tell you what you do- you laugh and then you go to book club. And then when you come home and see the layer of cheese still covering your counters and floor, you pick up your child's book order that needs to be turned in the next day, dust off the cheese, and walk out of the room, turning off the lights as you go.

Cheese dust- that will be tomorrow's project.

The woes of a fourth child

From the infamous words of "Annonymous Truck Driver" to H.I. McDunnough: (fast forward to 4:00 min mark if you don't want to watch the whole clip)

"Son, you got a panty on your head."



I heard Spencer crying. On my way over to him, I was met by Livvy saying, "Spencer hat. Spencer hat." Right. Just what every kid needs- a purple pair of 'My Little Pony' panties on his head.

Ground Hog Day

While shopping at Walmart today I ran into a friend. It seems that I always run into people when I am all dolled up in my pajama pants and t-shirt with my hair pulled back in a pony tail and yesterday's makeup smudged under my eyes. Quite the sight, I'm sure.

I said to her "Nice to see that you dressed up to come to Walmart too" because she was pretty much dressed the same as me. It seems that we both came to the same conclusion when we pulled out of bed that morning, "Why dress up to clean toilets and take a trip to Wal-mart?"

As our conversation progressed, my friend pointed out that her life is like the movie "Ground Hog Day". She wakes up and every day is the same thing over and over. Day after day after day. I would have to agree with her. Sometimes the days blend together because it's all so much the same. I'm not complaining- just sayin'. Life is great. I love my life. I love being a wife and mother. I don't mind waking up everyday to my same husband, same kids, kindergarten homework, toilets to clean, errands to run. It's nice to call the shots and make my life what I want it to be.

That said,

There is one thing I could do without experiencing day after day after day...



Does anyone else see a pattern developing? Surprise! Surprise! Liv had a run-in with the vaseline...again. And not just any vaseline, the next door neighbor's vaseline. Ha! My friend brought her in the house and the first words out of her mouth "I put the hand sanitizer away when she came in. I don't even know where she got this from." You see, Livvy has a reputation. People know about her. They prepare their houses upon her arrival. So if you are wondering what an entire jar of vaseline emptied onto a two-year-olds head looks like, look no further.

While I was cleaning her up, she was still rubbing her hands on her head and then rubbing her arms and legs. You know, spreading the love around.



Isn't this a good look for her?



Needless to say, I'm on my way to the store to pick up some de-greaser. We have never experienced excess vaseline to this level.

Take me out to the ballgame

Monday night was family night at the Bees game. My brother Micah invited us to go along with them. Or maybe we invited ourselves. Either way, we went along and had a great time. I'm not exactly sure how much of the game we saw. I was too busy doing crowd control with the kids to really pay attention.

We took the kids to Arbys for some dinner on our way to the game. But of course as soon as we arrived at the game, the kids magically became hungry. Never mind the entire Jr Roast Beef, curly fries, and lemonade you just downed 15 minutes ago. Little stinkers!

Dave let Taylor choose between getting a treat or a foam hand. He opted for the foam hand. I wonder how long that thing will last before it becomes a casualty at my house. Livvy has a knack for the attack, if you know what I mean.



Here are Sara and Emma with Bumble the Bee. How do I know his name? Well, because he scrawled the name "Bumble" in black sharpie across Sara's arm. Good thing we don't have family pictures around the corner. Taylor's body came out unscathed because Bumble only signed his foam hand.



For some crazy reason my dad is always more than happy to come along and join in the chaos.



Our family at the game. Can you believe I have four kids because I sure can't?!?!

Spencer's Blessing

Sunday was Spencer's blessing day. We had the opportunity to bless him in our home and it was really beautiful. It was fun to have our family gathered around so close.

Spencer with his daddy

Spencer with his cute parents

My parents

Grandpa Vern was the only grandparent there on Dave's side. We are so glad he was able to come and be a part of this with us.

Grandpa Vern turns 100

I did try to put an exclamation point after the number one hundred but it looked more like "grandpa vern turns 1001". Now wouldn't that be interesting.

We spent the weekend with lots and lots of family. Dave's grandpa Vern (aka: gramps) turned 100 on August 9th. He is such a trooper. He is starting to slow down a bit but considering that he is 100, I guess we can cut him some slack. I think he can still run circles around most in the 80+ crowd.

Dave's aunt threw a big birthday bash for grandpa at the church. We had a great time meeting new people and getting re-acquainted with people we haven't seen in a while (or never met, in my case). I got to hear plenty "when David was in diapers" stories. Love that.

We had a photographer there for a while getting shots of the fam. The great grand kids all posed with grandpa here. It was a zoo. I had to sneak in with my camera and take a few pictures. Livvy is down on the bottom left in a blur of non-compliance.

As you know, I only choose the classiest photos to display... This is Dave with gramps and his brothers Jeff & Scott, and sister Amy. Amy seems...happy(if not borderline frightening). Scott...asleep. Jeff...annoyed. Dave...distracted. Grandpa...bored. Love these family shots!

Taylor starts kindergarten

-sniff sniff-

On his way out the door...



Taylor is officially a bus riding/backpack wearing/homework loving kindergartner. Oh what a day! The teachers invited the parents to come and be with their child for the first 20-30 minutes to help orient them to the classroom. It was total CHAOS! Some children had both parents there. Everyone was armed with a camera and the occasional video camera. I think the kids were a bit overwhelmed.

Taylor and his new teacher, Mrs. C.



When I was getting ready to leave, Taylor turned to me and said, "Mom, I will miss you. I love you." It was quite a sweet little statement coming from a boy who has been less than sweet lately. Maybe he will turn out alright after all... He has been acting up a bit lately which I think comes from the fact that his friends have been out of town, a new baby brother is in the family, and he is just plain old bored. Needless to say, I am thrilled that school has started! It's just what he needs!

Coloring a picture of himself at his table.



He had a great time today. When I asked him about his day, he said his favorite things about kindergarten were riding the bus and recess.

The bus dropped Taylor off at our house. How perfect is that?



He is now looking forward to the weather getting a little colder so he can get some new school clothes! I don't know about this year round system. It's strange to send Taylor to school in August. He won't ever know the difference, I guess.

To sum it all up- Taylor is a great boy who had a great day and I couldn't be happier! Way to go buddy!

Just another day

Last night I put a bag of kitchen garbage just outside the door in my garage. It had been sitting on my kitchen floor for a day and I was done with it. Done. Done. Done. So I moved it outside. I was running an experiment of sorts, a battle of wills, if you will, with Dave. How long will it sit at the bottom of those steps before he takes it out or at what point am I so angry that it hasn't moved that I do it myself ? It was full of all kinds of goodies- raw chicken & beef (we made kabobs- they were delish!), diapers, corn cobs, watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe rinds... the list could go on all day.

Anyhoo, this morning as I packed up my things and my kids, I walked outside and noticed (besides the awful stench wafting through the air) that the garbage bag was torn up with a few things strewn about. What? Are you kidding me? The only answer to this freakishly freaky situation is that something, some animal, must be living in my garage. Eek! If you know anything about me, you know that I'm not into animals. Not at all. So I start looking around my garage, waiting to be pounced upon at any moment by this mystery animal. Nothing happened. I rushed the kids into the car and got us out of there as fast as possible. And no, I didn't move the garbage. I was way too freaked out.

So I get Dave on the horn and tell him about this garbage/animal crisis. He says, "Oh yah, we left both garages open last night." First things first- I was quite relieved that nothing was living in my garage but then- Whaaaat? We left the garage doors open all night? These are the kinds of things that happen while hauling 4 sleeping kids into the house late at night. Things fall through the cracks!

Later on, my brother Russell, who is a saint, came over while I wasn't home and took the garbage out. I guess I should clarify, he didn't come over with the sole purpose of taking out the garbage, it was merely a necessary step in borrowing a saw from our garage. Had he not removed the garbage, he probably would have died within minutes from the stench wafting through the garage. Really, it was bad when I left in the morning. I can't even imagine the aroma it had conjured up with the stifling heat of the afternoon. It brings me back to the good ole' days when we lived in Mississippi. The heat and humidity of that place provided Dave and I with many disgusting and not-so-pleasant garbage situations, many of them involving maggots. Yes, I said the word maggot on the blog. Gross. Now I have the heebie geebies!

And so no, Dave never did take out the garbage but I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities! And please remind me never to have a battle of wills in the sweltering heat of the summer using a bag full of garbage to make my point.