Camping!!

Thursday night we prepared ourselves to go camping with our good friends, Ryan and Natalie Jones. I spent a good chunk of Thursday carefully preparing and packing, making lists and checking them thrice. We left my house 2 hours later than I wanted to, 9:00pm. We exited in Springville to head up the canyon and I casually said to Sam: Did you grab the sleeping bags? Sam quickly replied: No, I did not.

An hour later, Curtis and Shandy hooked us up with sleeping bags and I think we gave Curtis a big laugh. I felt kinda dumb until he admitted that he and Shandy went camping one time and forgot sleeping bags AND their tent. Phew, I guess it runs in the family....wait, that isn't a good thing....crap.

After our stressful Thursday night, the rest of the weekend was so much fun. Lucky for you (I hope) I had my camera handy!

Why can't Carson just eat pudding and not get it all over his face? Well, it goes back to those genetics...I remember Curtis eating a chocolate ice cream cone and getting ice cream all over his forehead and the backs of his ears! At least we know what Carson will look like with a goatee!


This would have been precious, but then Parker had to shove his finger to his nose...


Ryan and Natalie's daughter is Ivy. Here she is with Parker. Parker is going to hate my guts (and I won't blame him) when he is a teenager and sees this picture.


Recipe for getting a toddler to take a nap while camping: Stay up really late, run around in the hot sun, play in the creek for a few hours, lay in hammock with a wet shirt over face. SUCCESS


Of course, Phase 10 is a great game to play while camping. Sam has reason to look upset here. That is a crappy hand...where are the other 4 cards Sam-I-Am?


Here is a cute picture of Carson and I. Well, "cute" is relative. I stink and I have a sweaty face and Carson has apparently been eating dirt. I felt so bad, Carson has Hay Fever, a recent discovery, and his allergies were awful the whole weekend. You know those cute little cotton pieces that float around in the Spring? Those are evil specs that cause Carson to have swollen itchy eyes and a stuffy nose that makes it impossible to breathe normal. Benadryl didn't help either so if anybody has a suggestion I'm all ears!


One morning a really pretty black and white butterfly flew into our camp. Carson casually sat next to it and pretty soon he had charmed the butterfly onto his hand. Of course, he breathlessly said "This is the best day of my life!!" I called him the Butterfly Whisperer the rest of the day.




Since we weren't very high in the mountains, we got hot. In the valley the temps were in the upper 90's. EVERYBODY should know by now that I hate being hot. I was starting to feel the crankiness monitor rising when somebody suggested we go check out the creek that ran next to our campground. It proved to be a winning suggestion! We brought our camping chairs into the creek and hung out here during the hottest part of both days. Brilliant!! The first picture is hysterical because Sam snapped the picture right as Parker fell off a rock and soaked himself!




Parker spent most of his time finding rocks underwater, then throwing them back into the creek and making big splashes. He literally did this for a couple hours!


Whose legs are these?


Here is Parker waking up on Sunday morning. Isn't he a cutie? He loved sleeping in the tent! I think he felt pretty grown up. Sam slept in there as well, he has already put his sleeping bag away by the time this picture was taken. I felt the need to explain that because I knew somebody was going to think I let my 2 year old sleep by himself...although the thought did cross my mind....


So that was camping. It was so much fun, I want to do it again soon with a larger group of people from my neighborhood. I would also like to find a campground that is higher up in the Uintas because, again, this place was a little warm!

Today was also Father's Day. Happy Father's day ya'll! We had the yummiest dinner at my parents house...Filet Mignon! My dad was a tiny bit bitter because he had to grill his own Father's Day dinner. Trust me dad, you'd hate for me to try it and ruin your nice meat!



Sam got some stylin' shirts and some sweet "thongs" as my dad calls them, even though we keep reminding him that the kids these days call them "flip flops".



Well, now you've had your 20 minutes of reading for the day, Laura Bush is proud of you. I'm so tired and I'm going to sleep good in my own bed tonight! Don't let the bed bugs bite.......................

Swim Lessons

Carson had his first swimming lesson today. All morning he kept saying "Mom, I REALLY wish you didn't sign me up for lessons!" I just kept telling him to chill out and relax because he was going to have so much fun. Sure enough, he absolutely loved the swimming lesson!
He is 2nd from the left in this picture. Check out his form!! What a pro...



Parker was TICKED that he couldn't get in the water! I kept laughing at his sad face but that made him even more upset. Shocking.


To explain my remarks from my previous posting, I thew up every morning on the way to my own swim lessons when I was little.
Our lessons took place at Thunder Ridge, which is at the top of a hill, with really curvy roads. Every morning we wound our way up to the pool. My mom forced me to eat breakfast and I would get deathly carsick on the way to the lessons. We would pull over, I would lean out the car door, puke up my Tang and off-brand cereal, and then my mom would continue up to the pool. I felt like garbage and my family was like "have fun, don't cry, listen to your teacher...." and that was that. Needless to say, I don't know how to swim as of this day!

Kindergarten Graduation

Well, Carson's school didn't do anything spectacular for the completion of his Kindergarten year. I didn't get a graduation when I finished Kindergarten either so that's cool.

However...

At the beginning of the year, Carson's teacher gave me this laundry list of things Carson needed to accomplish by the end of the year to receive an award. So, all year I dutifully made sure he did these things, such as count to 100, know the 25 sight words, have perfect attendance, participate in PTA contests.... We did all of it. So when he came home without any awards I asked him if anybody received anything. He said most kids in his class got gold medals but he didn't earn one so he didn't get one. I'll admit, I was TO'd. Carson didn't care at all, instead he decided to make his own medal. It was so funny...he cut out a circle of paper. With a gold crayon, he drew himself sitting at his desk. Then he found some ribbon and taped it to the "medal". Here he is, proudly wearing it.


Then we went to Applebee's in honor of Carson. My parents came too and they made a big deal of Carson graduating. It was very sweet.


Then we took Carson to Target and let him pick out a toy. He chose a Spongebob video game. It's been a hit at my house. I've even mastered one of the games! It brings me back to the ol' "Super Mario" days of Junior High and High School and Nintendo (we called it No-Friend-O).



As Sarah mentioned on her blog last summer, kiddie pools fully count as a bath in the summertime! Yipeeeee! This really simplifies the bedtime routine. ha ha ha



Proud moment: We have raised Parker well. He ALMOST likes ice cream as much as his daddy!


Carson starts swimming lessons tomorrow. This will be his first experience with swim lessons...wish him (and me) well. Let's just hope he doesn't throw up EVERY day on the way to his lessons! OH yeah, that brings me back to my childhood. Thunder Ridge anyone?

Great Weekend

I love this sequence of pictures of Parker. What a nut!





On Friday night we were going to go for a drive up Butterfield Canyon. We couldn't find our way, so we stopped at this awesome park in Herriman instead. The boys had a blast and it was a beautiful night! Sam and I were both a little surprised when Parker scrambled up this "rock" wall.



Saturday morning I finally put to good use the Christmas present that Fern gave me in 2005...outdoor flowerbed lights! I know, I'm super lame but it required some electrical work and that made me procrastinate.



The night effect is beautiful, especially once all the summer flowers get big and bushy!



Saturday afternoon we attended the temple sealing for Sam's sister, Shauna, to her husband Scott. They were married almost a year ago and Saturday they were sealed. It was awesome! We didn't really get any pictures but I wanted to mention it.

Saturday night we went up Big Cottonwood Canyon with some friends from our ward: Ryan and Natalie Jones and Russ and Amy Adams. Natalie's sister and brother-in-law were also there. We just went to a camground and had dinner. It was a hot day in the Salt Lake Valley but it was perfect in the mountains!! Some highlights: Parker, of course, fell and skinned his knees; Amy's daughter almost fell in the fire and her grandma reached out and caught her so fast I almost didn't believe it(she must play video games to have such excellent reflexes!); Natalie's brother-in-law trying to teach Carson how to roast hot dogs and marshmallows without burning them; Parker playing "peek a boo" with Natalie's daughter, Ivy; Ivy falling into a little pond and getting totally muddy; Ryan "roasting" Ivy's pants over the fire to dry them out; eating dutch oven Peach Cobbler....the list goes on and on. It was so much fun!








Yummy Peach Cobbler!


Here's some funny stories and you'll be GLAD I didn't take pictures!
I was at the grocery store on Saturday afternoon with Carson. While I was in line to buy my groceries, Carson started crying. He said he felt like he was going to throw up. I told him he should go to the mens restroom and HURRY! As he was walking away from me, I saw his cheeks get big and I realized that he was holding the 'stuff' in his mouth until he could make it to the toilet. After a few scary seconds I was relieved when he did make it! After his episode he was just fine.

Sunday morning at about 3:00am, I had a nice surprise from Parker. He woke me up and told me he threw up. So, sure enough, his bed was covered in the 'stuff'. After Sam cleaned Parker up and I cleaned up the bed, Parker threw up while he was standing in the bathroom. So we put him in the bathtub and cleaned him up...again. While Parker was in the tub I had a heart to heart talk with him. I explained how he should throw up in the toilet instead of wherever he happens to be standing at the moment. He seemed to understand. I got him out of the tub and put him back in bed. As I did, he said "my tummy hurts". I asked him if he needed to throw up. He nodded in the affirmative. So we raced back to the toilet where I stood for about 10 minutes while he braced himself in front of the toilet. I kept saying "do you REALLY need to throw up?" He would calmly nod his head and stand there patiently. Finally, after 10 minutes he really did throw up in the toilet! I was so proud of him! After he was done he went to bed. Sam and I went to bed too. About 30 minutes later I heard him running. I raced out into the hall and there was my little guy proudly throwing up in the toilet again!

So, he can't go potty in the toilet, but he can throw up in the toilet! Sam says it's a good thing because we couldn't very well put a diaper around his face...

One final experience tonight: tonight we had "cousins dinner" at Curtis and Shandy's house. My parents rode with us in our van. On our way home, we were waiting to turn left from Bangerter Highway onto 90th south at the red light. I was sitting in the front passenger seat. All of sudden, a deer ran past my side of the van, turned left in front of us (at the red light) and ran up 90th south! Cars were totally driving right in the deer's path, it's a miracle it didn't get hit! The rest of the way home Parker kept saying "I can't believe that deer turned left!" In fact, I'll bet you he wakes up saying that too!

Have a good Monday everybody!

New Camera = Large Update!

First of all, a big ol' "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to Cody!! I love you man.

Here's a jumbled mix of all that I've been up to since my last post, which I think it only 3 days old...I need to slow down!

I've taught Carson how to play "crack the egg" which, as a teenager, is TOTALLY dangerous because somebody ALWAYS gets hurt. It can't be that harmful when you are 6, right??


Big news: I have successfully made Artisan Bread, by myself, without even having to call my friend, Cathy Gilmore, the resident expert! I had to take lots of pictures so next time I try to make it I'll be able to refer to the pictures to remember what everything looked like!

Here's the starter, which consists of flour, water, and yeast. This is what it looked like after fermenting on my countertop for 4 hours:


Here is the sponge, which consists of the starter, flour, water, and more yeast. This is what it looked like after sitting on my countertop all night. It looks a lot like the starter, but it's creamier and thicker.


And this is the dough. The dough consists of the sponge, flour, and salt.


Here is my end product. I skipped a few steps because I didn't want to BORE you to death, but thanks for sharing in my experience of the art of Artisan Bread making. I think there are 2 essential tools for bread making: a digital kitchen scale, and a bench or dough scraper. Without those, it would have been too messy and called for too much guesswork from me! The only thing I want now is a thermometer because then I'll really know when the bread is done versus just guessing!


Make your own caption for this picture. I was trying to talk to Parker and he kept saying "What??" with his fingers in his ears....what a little punk!


Every year my Relief Society maintains a flower garden at "This is the Place Heritage Park" in Salt Lake. On Wednesday several of us went up and planted some flowers. We did mostly perennials which should be great if they survive!


Right next to our garden a new sign had been posted. I hope they hurry and get it finished!!!


Last night Darren and Susan were in town with their family. We went to a park by my parents house. We had tons of fun and the kids were able to expel all their crazy energy! It worked too because I put my kids to bed at 10:30 and Parker slept until 10:00am today! He has NEVER slept in that late before!!!

Here is Ethan, Carson, and Kevin


This is the "zipline" and my kids LOVE it. Even Parker did it, which scared me a little....okay, it scared me a lot! He's not exactly the most graceful child!!



I'm bummed that I didn't get a picture of Darren's hair! It's getting quite bushy and I would have loved to put some product into his afro to see if we could get some nice curls going on! Darren, don't cut it until after I see you again! :)