Oh Lumpy

Today's conversation in the car:
Brock: Mom when I turn 6, am I old enough to open my eyes during the prayer?
Me: No Brock, you are never supposed to open your eyes during the prayer. It doesn't matter how old you are!
Brock: Well then why does Daddy do it then? Uh-oh God is not going to be very happy with him.

I'm all shook up

So yesterday was like any other ordinary day. Wake up, feed the kids, yada yada. We went to the park with some friends. After coming home and putting Jaida down for a nap and setting up the boys a movie for quiet time, I was just getting ready to enjoy MY ALONE time when BAM! The loudest roaring sound started. My first thought was," who the heck is the jerk that decided to park right in front of our house with their music blaring?" I was just about to pull out the Mama Bear in me and stomp outside and find out who they were, when all of a sudden our whole house started a shakin'!! I was totally caught of guard and after years of living right on one of the biggest fault lines in Utah, this was a first for me. I had never experienced this feeling before. As I watched as things started to fall from my shelves and my kids started to get that worried look in their eyes. I will admit I totally panicked. It seemed as if it lasted forever, it was about a minute and a half. But once it stopped I grabbed my cute boys and hugged them tight. I was just glad that everyone was okay and that it wasn't worse! They say that its epicenter was in Mineral, VA about 100 miles from us and that it was measured as a 5.9 in magnitude. This was no small one! What an experience that I will never forget!

Topic of conversation for lunch

I overheard the boys conversation for lunch on Friday: it was a good laugh!
Brock: So do think I am ever going to get married?
Pierce: Well you have to if you want to have kids.
Brock: Who do you think I am going to marry? Hadlee (cousin) thinks I am going to marry her, but I am not! I just couldn't tell her no though.
Pierce: Eww.. You can't marry your cousin. What you have to do is search the whole entire world and you keep asking every girl you meet if they are married. Some day you will meet one girl that will tell you that she isn't married. Then you hurry and ask her to marry you. I bet she will be a pretty girl.
Brock: I don't know if I want to do that.
Pierce: You have to! Uncle Cory is doing it right now.

I had a good laugh. Not sure what sparked their interest in this idea lately. Uncle Cory always seems to pop up in the topic of getting married though.

Just a few weeks back we were in the car, I had this conversation with Pierce:
Pierce: MOM!! Did Uncle Cory marry Dee yet?
Me: No
Pierce: Well he needs to hurry and decide who he is going to marry. He just keeps dating and dating too much. All his girlfriends just keep disappearing!

Sorry Cory! We still love ya!

I must be pretty scary

I guess I am pretty scary. Yesterday morning I went into the boys' room after they had woke up. As soon as I walked in I immediately felt like I was in a sauna. It was so blazing hot in there I thought I was going to melt. I looked over at the boys fan/heater and it was turned on, but as the heater and not the fan. Now I was the one who was totally guilty in this case because the night before I turned on what I thought was going to be the fan. We usually do just because it gets pretty warm upstairs in the summer. So when I went down stairs to ask Pierce if he had been hot last night his response was," Yeah, I was so hot last night. I was sweating really bad. I kept saying prayers to Heavenly Father that he would please tell you to come and help me. I kept saying them over and over, but you never came." I said,"buddy, why didn't you just come and get me and tell me that you were so hot and couldn't sleep?" He said," Well, I was pretty scared that you would get mad at me for getting out of my bed!" So sad! Sorry guys, I guess I had you sweating in more than one way. I love you!

Water Woman!

 If this girl sees water, she is all over it. She loved when I turned the hose on at Grammy and Papa Russ' house and just let her go to town. Yes, I know it does look a little bit white-trash or hill-billyish, but she had the time of her life.

 I don't think I can ever get enough of her cute face. Even when she is a stinker.... most of the time.

Graduating from swim lessons

 Lumpy Thomas, Pierce, Tyden and Hadlee all passed their swim lessons. They had a fun last day. They got to go down the big slide and jump off the diving board. It was fun to see how much they improved in such a short period of time.

After swimming lesson we went to "The Bucket" (Kearns pool). Brock was pretty worn out after a day full of swimming. This is how I found him lounging on a chair.

Lunch with Grandma and Grandpa

My Grandpa and Grandma took me and the kids out to lunch at the Gateway. We ate yummy food at Applebees and then walked down to the fountains. Pierce and Brock were a little bit sheepish about them at first. Once they warmed up to the idea of it they jumped right in and made some friends. They had a blast! Jaida was a natural and loved every second of it!

Love this one and their bellies! Such cute kids! It was so good to be able to spend some time with the grandparents. I feel so blessed to have them in my life. They really are so special to me.

The cute little Lovey in the fountains. She loved when the misters would turn on. Thanks for a fun day together.

Chuck E. Cheese

 Now it wouldn't be a vacation if we didn't squeeze in a trip to Chuck E. Cheese! It made it even better that we could go with some really good friends. The Phelps lived right across the street from us in Syracuse, UT so we automatically had this amazing bond. We have truly missed having them for such great neighbors. We really had such a good little group in our old neighborhood.

 We headed over for a fun afternoon, slightly delayed because I had some car trouble that morning. once we got there it was forgotten and the kids played til we ran out of tokens. Tyson enjoyed dancing on the green screen. It was a blast.

These cute munchkins were just along for the ride. Look at cute little Deegan. He really is such a cute little guy.  The car trouble continued as we made it back out to the parking lot. I guess you had to be there to know how funny it really was, but it is right up there as one of my top ten classic moments. Thanks Amber for being such a good friend and for listening to me moan and groan about life. Also for the unforgettable laughs.

Lagoon

 On July 9, 2011 My cute parents took all of us and our crazy kids to Lagoon. It was Sysco day there so not only did we get in for a decent price but we also had some good food for lunch! It is always a good time when Sysco puts things together. Usually they have it at Raging Waters, but this year it was Lagoon. I couldn't have been more thrilled. My kids were really excited too! We got there just in time to hit up some of the kiddie rides before lunch. The crowds really weren't that bad for a Saturday.

 The swings. The weather was pretty nice too. This year Lagoon was a success. The boys are getting older and taller too. They even got to ride the new roller coaster, Bombara. It actually was a really fun ride.

 We had no fights on who got to ride with who this year. The only drama we had to report was when Pierce majorly biffed it after waiting in line forever on the Odyssey ride. As soon as they opened the gate he slipped and hit the ground hard. He scraped up both knees and they were gushing blood. He was terrified. By the way he was screaming you would have thought he had broken something. So what do you know they call an EMT to come and look at him. After cleaning up the blood and getting him some band-aids, what do you know he was miraculously healed! It will make for a funny story some day! Biggest bummer was after all that he didn't even get to ride that ride!

 Yes, it is true we are a weird bunch of people.

 And some cute pics of my kids. it really was such a fun day only wished that Trent could have been there to join in on the fun!

 Triple Trouble!

 Cute little Lovey. Such a champ. Sat in her stroller most of the day and didn't even complain.

Even bigger Trouble. Thanks Mom and Dad for such a fun-filled day of great memories. Sure do love you!

High School Friends

 Now this may just show how awful I was about documenting our events while in Utah. You might look at this picture and think now what does this have to do with High School Friends? My high school friends invited me over for some pizza and chatting. It was a great time and good to see them. I didn't take any pictures of them though, oops!

 Brock literally slept for pretty much most of our visit. Then once he finally woke up he ate some pizza then made himself a little bed on the couch. He made himself right at home, pink blankie and boppy and all.

Thanks Coleen, Sam, and Josilyn! Great to see ya'll!

Swim Lessons

 While we were in Utah I signed the boys up for swimming lessons. This was their first experience with them. They enjoyed every minute of them. I was glad. I guess I had envisioned them being afraid. I was pleasantly surprised.

 Brock's teacher was amazing and spent the whole time working with the class on different swimming techniques. He really learned so much

 Pierce's teacher was more of a slacker. I wished I had signed them both up for the same class. Oh well, Pierce is a great bobber now! each coming year will be neat to see all their improvements.

I now have 2 fish on my hands! They love swimming and I am so happy that I did this! Way to go boys!

God Bless America, Land that I love!

 The 4th of July is pretty much my favorite holiday. I love everything about it the parades, the colors, the fireworks, the BBQs, I really could go on and on. So I love to be with my family on this holiday because they love this holiday just as much as I do! We started our morning out by participating in my mom's neighborhood 4th of July bike parade. Last year my kids were pretty sad that they didn't have their bikes to decorate. Grammy pulled out all the stops this year and took the kids over to the D.I. and got them some pretty awesome bikes. I am serious they were awesome! I feel like the lame parent because I took no pictures of this occasion! Anyways I spruced up my old 10 speed and even purchased a baby seat for Jaida to be included in the parade. Well I will have you know that our little family won the most patriotic award!! We won some fireworks that we never got around to lighting, oops!

 After that we headed off to the annual West Jordan Parade. My mom has an in with a detective in W.J. that saves us some pretty good seats. The kids had a really good time and for some reason were overly obsessed with all the fliers they were handing out to the crowd. You would have thought they were collectors items or something. That afternoon we went over to my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Paul's house for their annual BBQ. It is always good food, laughs, and company. Their backyard is a dream for kids! We always have a really good time.

 Then the 4th wouldn't be the 4th without going to the Bee's game. My boys absolutely look forward to this every year. Thanks to my Dad who makes it possible every year. It is always a good time. My boys did pretty well this year and weren't as antsy. The fireworks are the very best!

 They were pretty psyched.

 Jaida wasn't quite sure what was going on, but for the most part she was great. My parents were a huge help to me because I was still flying solo at this point. I was so very grateful for the extra hands!

What a view right? I miss the mountains. Until next year...

Fun time with cousins in Utah

 My kids have had some serious cousin withdrawals since we have moved to Maryland. We have had lots of Trent's family come to visit, but only my sister and my parents from my side have come to visit... HINT, hint! They were so excited to be able to get out and run around. The swimming pool was just the right medicine after traveling so much to get here!

I can't remember the name of the "game" they were playing, it was all made up. I do know that they were all laughing their heads off and having a great time splashing around.

Jaida kept trying to get in on the fun but the boys kept dumping the full pitcher of water on her head and didn't understand why she wasn't having as much fun as they were.

It was great to be reunited with our cousins again. We sure miss all the chaos, well most of the time.

Kaysville, Utah Idol Competition

 I couldn't pass on these two cute faces. They were enjoying every second of their treats from Aunt Cathy and Uncle Guy's house. Friday July 1, 2011 my cousin Morgie competed in the Kaysville Idol. She did an awesome job and it was fun with all of us there to support her. Even though she didn't win, I was super impressed with her performance and her ability to showcase her talent! Great job Morgie!

This is a video of Brock (He is the last one in the yellow shirt). So during the entire program he was so bored and plugging his ears. He eventually fell asleep. Then once it was over and they were about to start tallying up the votes for the Idol contestants, she woke up. They had some ladies singing to try and entertain the crowd, but Brock still wasn't having it. Anyways after they sang a few songs and the votes still were not added up they opted to do a "so you think you can dance-off" They lady said that they needed 6 people from the audience. Brock jumped out of his seat, we were at the very top of the bleachers, and started heading down. I was completely caught off guard and thought for sure he had no idea what he was signing himself up for. I tried to stop him and he turned around hand in the air and said," It is okay mom, I totally got this!" During the other dancer He stood there like he had no clue what was going on so I thought for sure when it was his turn he was going to look dumb in front of the crowd. He totally surprised us and had the entire audience of more than a thousand people cheering and laughing. After he was done he came up the bleachers and when he got to me he sat down and said," I totally won that mom!" He was a little disappointed that he didn't get a trophy! That kid makes me laugh.