G's Real Birthday!

Happy Birthday G!

I can't believe that it has been 3 years since this cutest little ball of energy came into our family and into our lives. He has kept me laughing, crying and going since the day he was born. He is a joyful soul who brings me so much happiness.

It's hard to think that 3 years ago, when he was born a month early, he had to spend some time in the NICU. He caught up quick and hit the ground running. He hasn't slowed down except for a sweet kiss or a quick hug. He fits into our family perfectly. I can't imagine our family and my life without him.

A few things about G:

he eats hardly anything (cereal, gogurt, apples, grapes, bananas and an occasional 'sammy')

he has started describing things (like when trying to find his blanket..'it's blue with soft stuff around the edge....)

he is a monkey. he climbs everything and anything-but he can hold onto things for dear life

he does not share.

when I tell him it's time for bed, he says, 'again mom'

he doesn't like nursey

he throws horrible screaming, blood-curdling tantrums, and we never know what will set him off (K taking a toy, someone letting water out of the pool, me walking out of the room-it's always a gamble)

he loves life.

he loves cars.

he loves his sue-baby.

he is a daddy's boy, but he always says 'I need you mama'

he loves to swing.

he loves water.

he is the epitome of FEARLESS.

when I ask him why he did something he responds 'because'. I say because why. he screams back at me 'because is a reason!'

he loves to say 'no baby'.

he can make my blood boil and my heart melt in the same minute.

He is the most energetic and fun loving child. I can't stay mad at him especially when he throws his arms around my neck and says, 'i'm sorry mama'

Happy Birthday!

Snow Cones and Small Towns

I'll apologize in advance for the following post. I started typing, and I ended up in a completley different place. Read at your own risk.

One thing we have missed SO BAD since we have been in New York are snow cones. I'm not talking county fair-hard as a rock-need a pick axe to eat them, but soft, cold, deliciously refreshing snow cones. We couldn't wait to get one when we got here.

K eating Tiger's blood
G with his 'red' one (the only request G makes is that it's red)
J with her lime.

It was great, we went to go get one at the 'candy' store. The girl making the delicious treats let K help make them. He got to push the pedal. Ooohhh, he was so excited! I love where we're from-I mean, really, how many people would let a 6 year old make their own snow cone. I love that it is such a small town. I love that I know most people in a 4 block radius. I love that when I go to the local grocery store it's a guarantee that I'll run into at least 2 people I know. I love where I grew up. Coming 'home' has been great. It reminds me so much of why I love it here. I love the group of girlies that I grew up. I love that we would play night games well into the late night hours, that we would build forts, play at the creek (I lost many a jelly shoe to the water), play 'dukes of hazard' with an over-abundance of Daisies, have our Miss Sherwood Estate Pageant (with judges and prizes), I love that we could walk to school and that we would make our little 'houses' in the tall wheat grass that grew between our few sparse houses. I love that we didn't have to worry about sicko's abducting anyone (other than Grandpa, you know who, who used to bribe us with day old bakery treats :) ). I wish everyone could have grown with a childhood as care free and happy as mine! I hope that my kids can have a similar experience. That they can catch a glimpse of what a great childhood is. I hope I can create this experience for them. I hope they can have carefree days. I hope they can catch fireflies in a jar. I hope they can ride their bikes up and down the streets. I hope they get a great group of friends who strengthen their testimonies and who make them want to do better. I hope they too love where they grow up. I hope they have a chance to experience small town life.

Bear Lake

So, C's family has a tradition of going to Bear Lake every year. They have been doing it for 30 plus years, and this year was no different. The weather was spectacular, the water semi-spectacular (it's so cold), but we had a smashing time-especially the kids!

Kellen digging for buried treasure, or actually sea shells

K's Uncle's dog-Ziggy. He wants a doggie so bad! I'm not convinced. I grew up with animals and never was a 'lover' of animals. Somehow I think I'm going to loose this battle. I think G will be on my side. If Ziggy came near him, he would shy away and retract backwards like he was being followed or chased by a green slimey monster. Maybe he'll overcome his fear, I won't be too sad if he doesn't :) (one more person on my side)

The view from the cabin we stayed at (this pic is for C)

This pic is also for C-his parents chillin on the boat waiting for G to wake up from his nap. C loves the water. He grew up boating. He loves skiing, wake boarding, he'll try just about anything. My favorite place on the boat however is the front, just cruising along- LOVE IT! This year I was feeling a little adventurous and went on a 3 man tube. It was great fun. I don't think I've laughed that hard for a long time. If I find a pic, I'll post it.

G loving the Jet ski

J having fun in the floating island. (She is the hardest person to take pictures of. I can take 10 pictures of her, and NONE of them turn out. She purposely looks away from the camera.)

So this little contraption here is called a Rhino. I learned this word quickly. G asked for it from sunrise to sunset. He wanted to ride in it, sit in it, buckle the seat belt, drive it... you name it. He could have slept in this thing if I would have let him. He is all about speed and anything that goes. He is a little dare devil-I wouldn't have put it past him if he could have figured out how to drive it. We had to keep remembering to take out the keys.

We had a great time up here. It was so fun seeing and being with family. I was so hesitant to take the kids up there right from the airport, but I'm glad I did. They will remember it for a long time.

G's Sort of Birthday

Before we left we celebrated G's birthday. It's coming up and because C isn't with us, we wanted him to celebrate with us, so we put together a little shin-dig. He of course didn't want cake but instead wanted a doughnut to put his candles on. He got this little Leap Frog Train that he loves, some puzzles, airplane, a few other things. It was pretty last minute, but he had a great time.

We Have Arrived

After a grueling nine hour day of flying we arrived. The flight went surprisingly well. I guess the two weeks of praying I did before I flew helped. The boys were great. J was..sort of great. She did okay most of the flight. She got a little angry about 2 pm, she started screaming in a really high-pitched banshee like scream. I knew she was getting tired so I stood up, held her tight and rocked her. She screamed wildly for a few more minutes, but than she drifted off into dream land. As soon as I sat down with her, G looked at me and said, "I gotta go potty". Hmmm, predicament. Luckily I had put a diaper on him before we left and I told him to go in that. It all worked out. The worst part was when I was trying to make our connecting flight and I got the two kids strapped into their double stroller and I was ready to run (my flight was changed and I had half an hour between my flights). I walked through the hall and came to my Mount Everest. Fifteen stairs. No way around. I turned the stroller around backwards and began pulling it up the stairs with every ounce of energy I had. I made it up 7 and was stuck. The stroller kept getting caught on the lip of the stairs. Suddenly, what should come around the corner but a sweet oldish lady. She offered to help, probably because there was NO way around the double stroller on the stairs. But she grabbed the front end and I lifted from the back and gratefully we made it up. I RAN to my connecting flight and made it with 15 minutes to spare-phew! All in all, I was most grateful to the boys who did great on the flight. We're glad we made it.

Cumorah Pageant

Well, the Hill Cumorah Pageant started this past weekend.  K has been looking forward to it since last year.  I can't tell you how many times he's asked when it was and when we were going.  It's great because the cast members, before the show starts, they walk through the crowds and talk with the people.  This 'Nephite' was from Utah and went to American Fork-small world!  He had just gotten home from his mission 3 weeks before coming to the pageant.  

G was quite reluctant to have his picture taken.

K was also not loving the camera, and this is the only picture he would let me get of him.

I love that they sell popcorn at the pageant-what show is complete with out it?  It's one thing my kids will always eat.

One little quick story about G.  While we were watching the Pageant, I was trying to explain to G about Laman and Lemuel and that they were wicked and were not being nice to Nephi.  He looked at me and said, "Mom, they need to go in time out."  I'm sure Heavenly Father thought that many times as well...I love seeing things through the eyes of a child.

One of the highlights of the night for me was my great friends Neil and Amy met us up there.  They live the opposite direction from us and we have talked and made plans to meet many times and finally all things were coordinated.  I know both of them from my mission.  My first memory of Neil was sitting across from me at the Mission President's house eating dinner-we had both just gotten to our missions-although Neil was playing on somewhat similar ground seeing as how he is from Scotland and has  a great Scottish accent to match.  I had forgotten how much I love to hear him speak...  Amy and I were mission companions for 2ish months in Canterbury-I loved every minute of it.  Even though she had horrible hives and was up all nights and secretly recorded me snoring one night(which I used to say that I never snored, now I say I rarely snore).  Amy, I love so much about you-you drink in so much of the world.  You have a great enthusiasm in all that you do.  I miss your laugh.  I miss riding our bikes down the hill, I miss Sister Hogben who always said 'turn off the lights, save 'lectricity', I miss you wearing that hideous dress to district meeting to see if any of the elder noticed-they didn't, I miss you falling asleep while riding your bike because your hives kept you up, I miss you trying to take pictures of everything, I miss picking purple crocuses and drying them in our journal..I could go on.  You have the cutest kids.  Thanks for sharing our friendship.  It was a great night at pageant-thanks for sharing it with us.

July 4th

Our Fourth was a bit slow going this year.  We went to Allegheny on Friday the 4th.  I asked at the pay station if they were doing fireworks that night, she replied they had done them the night before.  I questioned her, saying on the 3rd?  She looked at me like I was from a different country, and said, 'YUP'..so needless to say, we missed them.

Last year after we moved here, we found out that fireworks are illegal in the state of New York-ALL fireworks- including sparklers.  So this year, we stopped in Pennsylvania and got some fireworks there-what kid doesn't want to hold a few sparklers on the 4th?  We got the reaction we wanted.  G had a blast!  He hasn't stopped talking about them for a couple weeks now. Little story though: It's a tradition at my parents house that on the 4th we would make homemade ice cream-I have been craving it, and have been anticipating this for a while.  I went and bought all the ingredients, found the recipe and sent C down to get the ice cream maker.  He came up empty handed.  We had no ice cream maker.  We had left it in Utah. Sad Days.  Luckily my great husband went to the store and purchased one for about $15, not a bad deal!  I was happy, the kids were happy it was a great night. 

This picture was before G picked up the wrong end of the sparkler and burnt the tip of his finger.  C had put a little bucket on the porch to throw the used sparklers in so no one would step on them and get burned.  G on the other hand, thought it was great fun to throw the burning sparklers into the cold water and hear it sizzle.  He missed the bucket and threw a lit sparkler on the ground, he tried to pick it up and picked up the hot end. He did the funniest thing afterward.  Rather than running to either mine or C's arms for comfort and loves, he ran and flung himself spastically onto the grass and threw a mini tantrum.  It was hard not to laugh.  He then sort of gained his composure and came over to us to show us his little burn on the tip of his finger.  I felt bad for our little guy, but he seems un-phased and hasn't mentioned his burn again-just the fireworks.  At least they left a good impression on him.

I always loved doing fireworks when I was growing up.  It brings back some great memories.  All of our neighbors sitting on our fence, eating homemade ice cream and watching our fireworks.  We would run around in the dark in our pajamas, swirling sparklers through the air and trying to write our names in the air as many times as we could before they ran out.  I couldn't let my kids miss out on this great tradition.

Allegheny Camping Trip

So, I forgot to post my two favorite pictures from the camping trip we went on.  First, our car packed to the hilt!  Please remember that this was a one night camping trip-that's it.  It's so much work to go camping even for overnight-we could have stayed for weeks with a bit more food and clothes.  Good thing for our roof rack or we would have been sunk!

My next favorite pic:

I couldn't find G for a while and was looking everywhere for him.  Then I remembered his passion for playing in the car and driving.  Little did I know that he wasn't IN the car-but ON the car.  He had climbed up to the top and was just chillin' up there. He was so pleased with himself.  

The joys of camping

WICKED!

For our Anniversary, we decided to forgo presents for each other and treat ourselves to the great play WICKED!  I thought it was going to be good, I was mistaken, it was AMAZING!  I was blown away by the sets, costumes and mostly the music.  It was spectacular!  If I'd have known how much I would have liked it, I would have bought another ticket for a different day :).  I would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to go-GO!  I heard it's coming to Utah next year, so all you Utahns- save up, get a babysitter and go see it.  It's a great show!  (I have heard that the book is risque-but the play is great!)  Happy Anniversary to us-what a great day.  

Updated Blog

Here are the promised posts I have been TOTALLY slacking on.. This is what we have been doing for the past month

Beach and Boats

Relaxing at the beach

The kids playing on the boats-I thought this was a fun picture

Having fun on the paddle boats

We had a great trip to Allegheny State park. There is so much to do.  We rented paddle boats and spend about 1/2 hour on the lake.  They also have a fun little beach with sand that the kids dug in and played in the water.  We spent one night and the kids wanted to stay longer.  We went with a group of about 5 other families from our ward.  There were so many kids, great food and fun!  There is so much to do- beach, bike trails, camping, trails to hike...so much to do. It was a fun trip.

Boys at Thunder Rock

As the kids were climbing on all of the huge rocks at Thunder Rocks, my husband, found this perfect spot to try to climb on top of this huge rock-without ropes of course.

Our friend Jeremy also joined C

Trying to find the best way to the top

Finally making it to the top, relaxing and enjoying the view

I think they had the most fun on this particular outing

Thunder Rocks

G so proud of himself

J scared she was 'too high'

This is a great little spot, perfect for kids.  There are huge rocks all around this place that you can hike and climb on.  The kids love coming here and exploring!

Explore and More Museum

One thing about G is that he adores playing the guitar, whether it's a broom or a real one. He was so happy to find this one.  The other day we had been playing outside for a while and I told him it was time to come in. He said, wait mom, I have to do something.  He quickly ran around to the front of the house.   I followed, curiously wondering what a 2 year old HAD to do.  He ran over to our broom and starting playing it like a guitar and marching around our yard singing, 'follow the prophet'.  I wish I would have had my camera handy.

Fish fry anyone?

Building a log cabin

This was hilarious!  The kids saw this and asked 'what's this'.  I told them it was a pencil sharpener-they had never seen one before and were totally blown away by it.  They sat and sharpened pencils for about 10 minutes, they kept fighting over whose turn it was.  I had no idea a pencil sharpener would make me feel so old and out-dated.

K putting on a little Chinese show for us

This is another great museum we found in East Aurora.  In the same city there is also the Fisher-Price toy store and factory and a little toy museum too.  They also have a great little five and dime store called Vidlers (thanks for the heads up Alexis), it's an old time store with penny candy and great toys.  But the kids love going to this museum it's relatively small, but there is so much to do!  Always a good time!

Strong Museum

Sesame street taxi-I love all the blonde's in the picture

Fun in the fountain

All aboard, I love this picture of J-starring up at 'daddy'

G testing his ability at talk radio

In Rochester, there is a great kids museum called the Strong Museum. When we go to the temple, we pass by Rochester, so we stop usually each month and let the kids play for a couple of hours (we bought a season pass).   It's perfect because we don't have to stay long and usually at the end of the day, things are starting to calm down so it's not very busy.  It's perfect for the kids and it's not too long.  It's great fun!

Sacred Grove

Every month, our ward has a temple trip.  I love it!  I love it especially because the Sacred Grove is 2 minutes from there.  We are so lucky to live so close to it.  There is such an amazingly-overwhelming feeling of peace there, we love to stop when we can.  We went one morning before the temple and let the kids walk around.  I love the next two pictures.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE OF G!  It is his personality caught in one little glimpse.  Chasing a butterfly, wearing his FAVORITE green frog boots (target special :) ), smiling from ear to ear and without a care in the world.  He is one of the happiest little guys I know.

J also trying to catch a butterfly, but being a lot more discreet about it.

What a great day!