Cute and Crazy Clay

My little Clay has absolutely no sense of dangerous situations. His latest thing is to try and climb up as high as possible on the playset. Yes, I know it is normal for little boys to climb things but he is three and as reckless as can be. Boy I love the cute little stinker, but come on Clay, haven't we been to the ER enough?

In My Pretty Garden The Flowers are Naugty

Am I the only one who thought the second verse of the Primary song "In The Leafy Tree Tops" spoke of petals up to mischief? Our garden this year is really a miracle since we threw it in the ground before we had anything else including sprinklers in the yard. The soil is horrible, the weeds horrendous, but zucchini really will grow anywhere. We already have plans to expand next year and I can't wait to do it right next time. I love to grow stuff. My gardens are never very organized, I kind of like the chaos of plants growing amongst each other and still miraculously producing food for our family. The bottom picture is Tucker in our Sunflower Playhouse. It turned out well, but the boys ignore it mostly. I think Luka will like something like that when she is a little older. It takes a girl to appreciate the potential of a room walled by flowers.

For Bridget

So yesterday I had the two little neighbor boys over who are ages 3 and 5 just like Tucker and Clay (it's been great but 4 little boys get a little wild so one mom gets a break and the other gets to referee). Anyway, they were all playing out back when the older neighbor boy knocked on the back door and said, "There's a black widow out there and they are poking it with sticks." Okay - sure. So out I go to find out what is really going on and sure enough there is a black widow and all the little boys are poking it with hockey sticks and toy golf clubs. I about died. No one panic (I'm doing enough for everyone) I tell them to get me a rock and for heaven's sake STAND BACK! :) After being handed several rocks barely the size of the spider (um, yeah I am not trying to squish it with those) the little neighbor boy handed me a good sized rock and I smashed it. Wait- no I didn't! It ran away under some rocks and dirt and after some digging and more panic (there is no way I'm going to let a black widow roam around my back yard!) I was once again bailed out by the neighbor boy who pointed, "There it is!" I finally did squish it and immediatly brought the boys inside and fired off an email to Brett informing him that he needed to fix the spider problem asap. AND- long story short, I thought of Bridget who has been biten by a black widow and is possibly the only person who would have freaked out more and can understand just how brave I was :). Little boys are soooo fun.

Vacation Day 3

On the third day of our vacation we went to the Pioneer Festivities at the American West Heritage Center in Wellsville. We got to try on some pioneer hats, do some pioneer actvities like pan for gold, and we went for a wagon ride. It was really hot so we headed south and indoors and went to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. That was really crowded but a lot of fun and in air conditioning. Tuck is climbing on the rock wall there in the middle picture. After that we went to dinner at the Lion House Pantry and then went to Temple Square since Tucker is always asking us why we only go there at Christmas. (The boys weren't as cooperative in real life as they seem in the pictures - they were done with vacation fun. They were told to hug each other so we could remember we're a happy family right? :)) It was a good way to end the trip and we all headed home exhausted and ready for a bath. Now I'm ready for a vacation :).

Vacation Day 2 - Bear Lake

Bear Lake was a lot of fun, but wasn't quite what it usually is. I forgot the buckets and shovels for sand castles ( remembered the boats, kites, food, sunscreen, playpen, water ball, frisby etc.) so the boys were a little disappointed. A few not so nice people on the beach made it a little frustrating trying to have a fun time as a family. And then we watched as ambulance after ambulance after ambulance plus a helicopter and handfuls of police cars all zoomed past us to the other end of the beach. It wan't until Bridget called later that night to make sure we were okay that we found out about the horrible accident that had happened. Then we realized that we had been so blessed not to have been on that end of the beach where our kids could have seen the accident or been involved. All of a sudden the little things that went wrong didn't matter. (Big hug for the kids). We all had fun flying kites, collecting 'seashells', eating loads of junkfood, and playing in the sand. Bear Lake is beautiful!

Vacation Day 1

We spent our first day of our annual trip to Cache Valley loading up on Aggie Gear at the USU bookstore. We also went to our favorite Cache Valley park and had a lot of fun (I know, a long way to go just to play at the park). And Luka was happy that we brought her mirror friend to the hotel.

Grass

Ever wonder what a baby looks like after crawling around on fresh cut grass? Now you know.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

Brett went to Oregon last week on business for 6 days and 5 long nights. It was his longest business trip yet. We stayed pretty busy doing things with Grandma and cousins so it didn't seem too bad most of the time. On Friday afternoon we all started getting excited anticipating Daddy coming home. The boys were SOOOO hyper and they made cute welcome home signs. Dad always brings back presents for every one. I got flowers and perfume, the boys got a book about the Oregon Trail and a super cool set of fake mustaches. As you can see, we all had a blast trying them on.

Lukie's Morning Adventure

Luka had quite an adventure this morning. I could tell she meant business because she had on her squinty tough guy face. She has been mobile for a while now but yesterday discovered that she has the power to open cupboards and drawers (it was only a matter of time). She thinks she is so grown up. She crawls all over, but about half the time she kind of runs on all fours (hands and feet not knees) . It is really funny to watch. She just wants to walk so much. She is very independent; she doesn't follow me around the house like the boys did. She just wanders around as she pleases, which is funny because you find her in funny corners of the house like the closets or bathrooms. Finally found a binky and a book -- aahhh mission accomplished.

Family Fun Day!

The fourth of July is definately right up there with Christmas for me as far as excitement goes. We have gone to see the hot air balloons ( up at 5 a.m.), gone to Grandma Henriksen's BBQ and watched fireworks for as long as I can remember. It is always a great day to just chill and enjoy watching and talking to family as everyone just relaxes with loads of super yummy food and pleasant company. From swimming after the BBQ in Grandma's pool up to now enjoying my kids excitement for the piggy hot air balloon I have always loved and still love the 4th! I didn't get many pictures this year, but I did snap a few as we waited on BYU campus for the Stadium fireworks. The boys, Boston and Luka enjoyed some bubbles, snaps (of course), and a little Dora too :). It was a lot of fun as always until the drive home which usually takes an hour because of traffic but this year took much, MUCH longer -two and a half hours. We were stuck on ninth east by th MTC for at least a half an hour without moving. This wouldn't have been so bad but all three children (happy just a little bit earlier) were now screaming at the top of their lungs about how they wished we never came and they wanted to be home. Thankfully the next day all they talkied about was how fun it was and not the horrible ending. Brett has sworn off going next year, but it is his favorite part so we'll see :). The top picture is actually last week at the Lehi Round-Up parade. Clay was standing up at the beginning for the flag and then was so captivated by the marching band that he just continued to stand there with his hand over his heart as they marched by. It was super cute. (p.s why do I ALWAYS cry at the beginning of a parade when the flag goes by? )