Dinosaurs and Peter B. Concert

Officer was so good to go along with it, when I suggested that we try to be a little spontaneous (as spontaneous as you can be with kids) and make a quick trip to Salt Lake City for a concert.  We were able to visit "grandma-great," and lots of family. Gratefully, My Aunt and her family were willing to watch our little ones for a few hours so we could go to the concert.  While we were there Grandma took us swimming at their neighborhood pool and Miss Peanut and Handsome had so much fun - of course I didn't bring my camera to the pool and it was Handsome's first time swimming, but he was so good in the water.  Handsome also met a new friend Lukey (my cousins little guy)- they were so funny barking and laughing at each other.

 We shopped a little, but mostly we had made plans to take the kids to the Dinosaur museum.  

Handsome slept through most of it in the stroller and Miss Peanut was all over the place  - so glad many of the exhibits we hands on.

After all of the dinosaurs we came to this guy and Miss Peanut's face cracks me up - Daddy tried to take a silly picture with Miss Peanut in the Sharks mouth - she didn't think it was very funny.

Peter B Concert

Friday night we went to see Peter Brienholt at the Sandy Amphitheater. I was first introduced to his music in college.  I had several of his CDs and not too long after officer and I were married our car was broken into and all my CD's were stolen.  Just the CDs were in the car, so I still had the signed cases and I came across them a few months ago and  I looked into buying some of his music again.  I found out about the concert and decided that if I was going to buy them again I might as well make a trip/date out of it and go to the concert.  We really did have fun and although officer doesn't really admit it he knows Peter B's music - he sang along to just as many songs as I did.  It was a beautiful night and a fun concert/date.  They opened with the winner of the "Draper Idol" contest, I think her name was Allie Duke - cute name and she was just darling.  She's only 14 and write and composes her own music.  Officer was impressed and insisted that he get a picture with her after the concert.  I waited to have Peter B autograph my CDs and talking with him I told him about my CDs getting stolen.  He was so nice and said if I had come all way to the concert and buy his music again he told me that I should go talk with so-and-so and they gave me another CD that I didn't have.  It made my night - I still really like his music and it was fun to see him again live.

Here's a clip of the darling Allie Duke (I hope I'm getting her name right.)

And here's a little blip or two of Peter B.

Miss Peanut's New Helmet

Some of you may remember when Miss Peanut had to wear this helmet. 

There were a lot of reasons that we chose to get the helmet, one of the little things most people don't really think about was that if we hadn't she may not have been able to wear a regular bicycle helmet.  A few weeks ago we got her a new helmet - and it fit! 

Yellowstone

Warning: PICTURE OVERLOAD!  

We were lucky enough to get the chance to visit Yellowstone National Park for a week with some of Officer's family.  It was such a treat to have them come visit - and we had such an amazing week with them!  There are seriously so many pictures - so I'll keep my words to a minimum, but in summary we had a blast! 

We made pazookies one night with the kids - it was amazing to watch 5 little mouths make it disappear in a matter of minutes!

On our travels to/from Henry's Lake (that's where we stayed) we stopped at every Idaho LDS Temple.  Boise, Twin Falls, Idaho Falls, and Rexburg.

Old Faithful, of course, you can't go to Yellowstone and not see Old Faithful.

Yellowstone Canyon - BEAUTIFUL!   We really enjoyed the little hike.

Big Springs - it looks like it would be a river - but it's actually all water coming out of the ground from springs.

Day hike into Cascade Lake in Yellowstone.  It was about 5 miles round trip and the kids were troopers!  The boys did a little fishing while we picnic-ed there for the afternoon.

Hebgen Lake & Quake Lake in  Montana.  

Random pictures of our cute family.

Some of the beauty we were able to enjoy.

We saw a lot of animals - Buffawo (that's what Miss Peanut calls them), Mommy and Daddy Elk, Squirrels, a momma bear with 2 cubs, a cinnamon bear, and Osprey catching a fish, a pack of wolves, antelope, deer, and one mangy coyote. 

Yod-de-le-hee-who

Miss Peanut LOVES Jessie from Toy Story and today while I was getting dinner ready I was serenaded by this.

I'll get to our Yellowstone pictures soon...I hope.

Our GREAT adventure.

We went on a great adventure to Yellowstone last week - lots of hours in the car! The kids were great. More pictures to come, but this was how great out little travel buddies were.

Kitchen Remodel

It's done! Thanks to all the hard work from Officer, my dad, and my brother our new kitchen floor is done. We still have a couple things to finish up, but I rather like it. Of course, now I would love a new countertop and to get a new table that would go better - but for now the counters will have to wait and I'll just find a cute tablecloth and center piece. Overall - pretty inexpensive to really update it. After we finished the kitchen floor we had new carpet installed in the family room area, love it! It will totally hide kid dirt so much better and it's so soft I could sleep on it, okay maybe not quite that soft.

okay the flash makes the bar look more like it did originally, but it's really not that color - it matches the rest of the cabinets.

A little pick me up.

For all of you mothers out there, if you haven't already - you should watch this. I started watching these a few months ago (I know I'm a little behind) and have found that if my day is crazy and my efforts to do something spiritual are thwarted by two-year-old-ness and and busy babies. If nothing else, I can sit for just a few minutes, listen, feel the spirit, be uplifted, and go back to my kids with just a little more patience.

Lucky Number 7

I am a pretty lucky girl. Today Officer and I celebrate our 7th anniversary, can't believe it has gone so fast. We'll actually celebrate it tomorrow when Officer isn't working, but while we were running errands this morning he picked these out for me. Thanks love! You know - I'll just never have the right words to cover it all - but in a cracked nutshell - it's been fun, thank you, and just so ya know, I love you!

Before and...in the middle.

This week I got busy with the cabinets in the kitchen - I'm loving the new look so far. Here is the before. Here's my progress - I finished all the bottom cabinets. We're hoping to get the new floor in soon!


Handsome discovered the kitchen this week, so much freedom for him now that he is crawling.

A few of my favorite things.

Chicken Spots are almost gone - I don't know that I would have survived this week without:
Good old rolled oats - I knew it was good for your insides, but I didn't realize how much it would help on the outside. I just filled an old sock with about a cup of it and used it like a sponge in the bath with the kids and it was amazing for their spots. Both of my kids have always had little eczema spots too and it really help that as well. And my over washed hand actually benefited from it too!

This was our pretty pink lotion and another awesome lotion that I tried and they both seemed to really helped:


This also helped keep Miss Peanut from itching! Of course with the recalls it was the off brand - but worked really well.

I didn't have any milk in my house and I didn't want to take the kids to the store so I called in reinforcements. My mom came by to drop off some milk and brought us some goodies to survive being quarantined for the next week or so. Thank You MOM! She also brought a Jesse doll from Toy Story and Miss Peanut has barely let it out of her sight hence the reason it is not pictured.

Handsome learned a couple new things this week. I finally decided it was time to wean him just a couple weeks ago and he has done pretty well with it. He loves having a sippy cup at meals and even decided that he wanted to hold his own bottle.

He learned this week to sit up on his own from laying/rolling/scooting and of course sleeping. If he wasn't so darn cute, I might get more upset after laying him down 20 times for bed - but how can you get upset when greeted by this face?

This doesn't really qualify as a favorite thing - but I laughed when I discovered that while unsupervised for Miss Peanut decided to bite her brother. I didn't discover this until I noticed a bruise on Handsome's arm a few days later. No wonder he got chicken pox too - he didn't stand a chance. I don't know if you can see it, its kind of light but it's there - a perfect pair of half circles.

And tonight we sat and watched/listened to the rain out the back door. It's been quite a week! Happy Father's Day Officer - We missed having you home this evening.

I'm still counting my blessings

This is going to be a long one...just to forewarn you.
This week has been anything, but what was planned. If I hadn't lived it myself I don't know that I would have thought I would survive it, very well. Officer has been in charge of planning a Pioneer Trek for our ward (We've kind of joked all along that I've been his secretary). It has been a lot of planning to say the least and this week, was the week! I know that life just gets kind of busy sometimes especially in the summer but seriously - the last couple weeks have been packed! In addition to all the last minute Trek things, callings, work, etc we've had several family gatherings since my brothers' were here to visit. I took the kids for the weekend up to the cabin to see all the family & cousins while officer had to work, and to top it off Officer and I got asked to talk in Church. I was mostly kidding when I said sure - we can give talks - we could really use the blessings this week. Anyway - had a blast with the family and we made it to this week.

Then Monday night the the little man (we'll call him Handsome - that's what I call him most of the time now anyway - forgot about giving him a real "code name" on here). So Handsome wakes up most of the night with a 103.4 degree fever even with Tylenol/Motrin. I knew he was teething, but that was too high - so I took him in the next morning to the Dr. The verdict - Double ear infections. That day - got him antibiotics, then Miss Peanut has a 101 degree fever. Nothing too serious... Officer and I continue packing everything hoping that by morning they'll be okay to leave with Grandma. No sleep that night between packing and kids - so I decided I would stay home and possibly come up later in the week. I was really disappointed, really. I worked so hard to help plan this and then I even sewed my own skirt/apron/bonnet! Anyway I was just really looking forward to this - I even said last week when some last minute changes were made - I don't care about XYZ, once we get there that won't matter I just want to see that the youth have a great experience, that will make it all worth it for me. I should have kept my mouth shut.

Anyway - Miss peanut wakes up that morning legs covered with little bumps/still fevered. I was really grateful that I didn't go because I wouldn't wish those long nights on grandma, but then to see this rash - I was glad I was there. I had my Dr. brother come take a look at it - he thought Chicken pox, but She had the vaccine - so he kind of ruled that out - said watch it... I watched it - and by today it had spread and wasn't looking any better so I took her in. Sure enough - Chicken Pox. The Dr. said Miss Peanut was her second case already that day. So to add to all of this - Handsome is not old enough for the vaccine so since he's already exposed I knew it was coming - and it has, gratefully not very severe. So - teething infant, double ear infections, and 2 cases of Chicken Pox, husband gone all week and possibly weekend. I'm really starting to feel like a "real" mom. Officer has been gone since Wednesday and will be gone until Saturday, then he works the weekend; I don't know if I'll even see him much for Father's Day. I haven't been able to talk to him yet. I'm still really bummed about missing the Trek - I just really hope that everything is working out okay for them. They seriously have had 2 nights in the 30's and the creek they were going to cross was a river, so I'm anxious to hear how it all goes. In the meantime - I'm still counting it a blessing that Handsome got ear infections because if he hadn't I would have left them with Grandma for the week. I'm glad I was here - my poor sad girl. I keep telling her that we're using pretty pink lotion for her spots. I just want them both to feel better. I know this is gross - but I took pictures of her spots - how many of us have chicken pox pictures - exactly - had to do it, for the books. If you don't want to look - then this is the end of the post, other wise scroll down.




















Both of her knees and her poor bum look like this, I'm so glad she doesn't look like this all over.



She's still so cute - so tired after a bath and our pretty pink lotion. All things considered - the kids have been so great. I'll be glad when they feel better!

Wildlife

Observing him in his natural habitat. Some think he is kind of shy, but really he talks all the time. I constantly find him growling to himself - I think it's very entertaining - so much that this video is like 2 minutes long. Grandmas' will love it - the rest of you will probably only need to watch a little to get the idea. I wish it was a better quality video - I'm still learning.

My baby brother

We just don't see him enough! It was really great to have him in town this past week to visit and to entertain our kids. We'll miss you, visit again soon!

These boots were made for...everything

In the winter, I let Miss Peanut choose between 2 different pairs of snow boots. She chose the ones pictured above. Of course of the 2, these were more than what I wanted to pay for them, but for kid shoes that they usually grow out of so fast - she has definitely gotten out of them more than they are worth. It's June and she still pulls these out of the shoe basket over everything else to wear when she plays outside. They go nicely with the dress, don't you think so?

In need of a little feedback, so lets hear it!

It was a rainy day today and I was stuck in the house, so I decided to refinish (kind of) the cabinets in my bathroom. I've been thinking for a while that I want to update my kitchen cabinets and was a little nervous so I started in my bathroom where no one will really see it just in case it was a complete disaster.
Here is a before shot of the other bathroom, its same color cabinets in the kitchen too; I forgot to take a before of the master bathroom.

After:

Thumbs up or down?
I'm thinking I like it, still not sure if I'm brave enough to tackle the whole kitchen.
Here's what it looks like now, (pardon the mess):

Next for the bathroom, new tile floor (the carpet has got to go) and back splash. Wish me luck - I've never tiled before.

My boys!

I'm already noticing that there are such difference between boys and girls - it only took me this long :) The little man is so interested in outlets, phones, remote control, buttons, etc. Look at him pounce at this controller - so funny to watch him almost crawl.

The other morning Miss Peanut came the room and says, Hey Mom, "I'm the letter X!" Sure enough, she was right! I love that she knows her letters.

I'll have the usual...

Nothing too exciting to blog about. We've been busy with kids and callings and such. The kids are growing, daddy is working, and I'm just keeping up. I'm always amazed when I realized that another month has nearly passed. The little man is now 7 -1/2 months old, weighing in at almost 19 lbs and now officially has 2 teeth. He loves food - can't get enough of any table food I give him although I'm probably not supposed to quite yet. He's rolling everywhere and starting to do the "army crawl." Here he is with my dad - I think it is hilarious will they first discover teeth in their mouth - he kept doing this for 2 or 3 days - love it!

Making dinner the other night Miss Peanut asked me if she could have some salad - I was tearing lettuce for a salad - but she wanted it just like this:

Officer's parents always bring us walnuts from their property when we see them - it was finally warm enough outside to start some more crackin'. Miss Peanut loves to use daddy's "noisy tools," and she sat out there cracking for a long time with daddy.

We've loved our backyard already this year - we're hoping the that the sunshine is finally here to stay. We've already been BBQ-ing - yeah summertime! Here is the little man -already driving in the little red; he fell out just after we took the picture.

I've realized that Miss Peanut usually doesn't get a lot of treats in the evening - she'll have a little snack then she goes to bed and mommy and daddy have popcorn or ice cream or whatever - poor thing, so deprived, so when we had a family night treat she said "wow, thank you." I'm pretty proud of her being for being so polite - most of the time...then we have our true 2 year old moments.

This morning we had yummy whole wheat waffles with strawberries, blueberries and homemade whipped cream. Miss peanut was licking the whipped cream and daddy pushed her nose into it. She looked up at him and said, "Hey...that's not so nice dad!" Then she posed for a picture.

I got a bike! Officer bought me a bike and surprised me with it for Mother's day. We just recently found a bike trailer/stroller to haul around the kids and we'd been talking about getting me one. I haven't owned a bike since I was probably 12, so I was really excited for the surprise and now to be able to get out with the kids!

Road Trip

We were able to get out of town last week and play with a lot of family and friends. I don't know how to make those great picture collages - so you get a lot of pictures, someone will have tell me how to do that. Anywhoo... Officer's parents were visiting Salt Lake City from California so we we were able to meet up with them and spend a beautiful afternoon at Temple Square. Officer's parents even watched the kids one morning, so that we could go to the Temple while we were there visiting.

This little man is such a flirt already! This sister missionary, and I'd say just about every sister missionary on Temple Square that stopped to smile at him, got this reaction.

We took Miss Peanut to see the Christus in the Visitor's center for the first time. She was very reverent as she walked up to see it and in a whisper said "that's Jesus." I know we all hear "out of the mouth of babes..." We really have so much to learn from these little ones.

Daddy pointing to the Angel Moroni on the Temple Spire to which Miss peanut says, "Oh, No (both hands on cheeks) he has to get down."

Me trying to keep Miss Peanut occupied - she headed straight for the water and I was sure she going to take a quick dip in the fountain.

Miss Peanut with Grandpa

She is hard to keep up with , she ran up all the steps and tried to open the door. Of course these doors don't open, but she was determined.



We also went to the pioneer museum, the "This is the place" monument, and The Lion House. Of course I didn't take pictures - Glad Grandma and Grandpa did!
Friday I got to help my cousin get all dressed up for Prom and then I had the chance to meet up with one of my old roommates from college, Kaffi! We went with her to the Mandarin Restaurant in Bountiful...mmm! I've only been there a handful of times, but it is so yummy. Of course you have a wait, but that was just perfect because we were able to catch up. She was great to help us tackle the kids during dinner and then we visited her cute little apartment. It was so fun to see her and have her oogle over my kids, they just loved her!


Why buy toys? This totally works! She was running around and randomly came back to the living room like this. Hours of fun!

She took this cute picture of me and my baby, it turned out really cute thanks!

It's really hard to believe that it's been nearly 10 years since I roomed with this girl! She is amazing! Love ya!


I had a few other roommate in the area from my first year at Ricks College. I dropped in to see one, who just had a beautiful new baby girl - just darling and then a few of us we were able to get together for breakfast one morning. Oh how I've missed these girls! There is just not enough catching up in just a few hours. We need to do this more often!


Grandma with the little man

We had a big family dinner Saturday night with some of my family from the area at my Aunt's house. This is was that afternoon while we were getting dinner ready.
Reading the paper with daddy - it was a beautiful day and they loved being outside after it had been a rainy chilly couple of days while were there.


Both of the kids did so great with all the running around, missing naps, and late bedtimes, etc. By the end it was a little hairy though! I'm so hilarious! She loved playing on the trampoline.



This trip was the first time that the little man got to meet Grandma-great (that's what Peanut calls her). Of course the only time we got a picture was early the last morning before Grandma had gotten ready for the day -Thank you grandma for letting us get this picture anyway.

We had a wonderful time! We'll have to do it again soon.