Camping

We went camping this last weekend just up big cottonwood canyon. It was "Condo-camping" meaning that everyone was right on top of each other in the campground, but we thought that it would be good for a one night adventure, close enough to home if we needed to be with all the kids. It was The first time I've taken a baby camping since I took Ali when she was a little over a year old.. that experience was terrible. Megan was 3 before we took her camping. It might just be another two years until we take Mathew again too!

My brother Craig and his family came too, that made 10 of us all together. The camp site that we had was actually not a bad one and we had quite a bit of 'forest' on one side of us for the kids to explore. The kids spent hours playing in the swampy area of woods, and they were close enough for us to keep our eyes on them but far enough away to feel like they were on their own. They 'fished' for tadpoles, and other living things.......

of course it was inevitable that one of them would have a mishap and of course it was our dear Megan who just after dinner was "just walking by the water" when her flip flop disappeared in the thick muddy muck. Taylor looked for 30 minutes and it was no where to be found. Poor Megan had to go shoeless for the rest of the evening. Daddy was nice enough to let her borrow his shoes to go potty... Megan wasn't too happy about the whole thing.

Mathew felt like such a big boy running around.

It wasn't as relaxing having to chase around a 1 1/2 year old the whole time, but he sure enjoyed it.

Poor Taylor, he took a chunk out of his already balding head!

We had terrific food though.. Merry brought Delicious Cesar salad for dinner and watermelon. Yum.. for breakfast we made Eggs, and sausage in tortillas. Food always taste so much better when you're camping.. no matter what it is!

so our biggest problem was trying to get Mattie to sleep. He normally does not sleep anywhere outside of his crib to begin with so I knew that it would be interesting to see how he'd do in a tent in between all of us.

At one point he told us he wanted to "seep" and picked up his blanket and binkie and walked straight to our tent.. Taylor put him in and quietly stepped out and zipped it up.. We were all surprised until about 3 minutes later we all looked over to see Mattie's cute little face peeking through the walls of the window of the tent. we thought he might just lay back down until a few moments later we all looked again and there he was OUTSIDE of the tent zipping it back up and heading towards us in his dinosaur pajamas. It was so cute.

he was exhausted but was not giving it up, so Taylor and I took turns trying to rock him and soothe him to sleep.

It didn't work. We took turns playing cards with Craig and Merry.

By the time we all went to bed it was well after it had gotten dark.. We all climbed into our tent and tried to settle him down.. He kept hitting Ali in the face and giggling he was so hyper.. finally he settled down with me rubbing and patting his back. I imagine it was around midnight and he was finally sleeping but I was having a hard time because I was scared that we were going to smother him, or that he was going to let himself out of the tent. I lied awake for most of the night my feet frozen because I'd forgotten socks. When it was light I was wide awake really fearing that he'd wake up and let himself out of the tent to roam the forest.. so needless to say I got about an hour of sleep.. at around 7:30 Mattie was awake and I finally woke up Taylor and said "he's all yours!" It was still cold so Taylor decided to take him for a drive.. They drove all the way down to the house (really it was only about a 30 minute drive). Taylor picked up a pair of shoes for Megan and a couple of other things. . Taylor Said that Mattie slept all the way up the canyon. when they got back everyone was waking up and Mattie was content to play with his cars and trucks. Look at that Cheeser! He's such a ham!Taylor brought his hammock which became a total hit. The kids had a great time swinging in it. They ran around and took turns playing mancala.

I sat and watched "CARS" with Mattie while Merry made breakfast.. I was so exhausted I was barely staying awake.. This was all Craig's idea by the way...
We packed up and drove home and before we even unloaded the car Mattie and I went straight upstairs and took naps.. It felt great.

I don't think I love camping like I used to.. I understand now why most families have tent trailers or 5th wheels.. I would much prefer to get sleep and I'm sure Mattie would agree. The kids had a great time and I did love being up in the mountains enjoying the scenery..

We'll see how soon we go again.. for Now I'm enjoying my bed..

Here's camping as a whole.......... a little bit of everyone

Thanksgiving point

What a fantastic day we had today!
We had half the family at Thanksgiving point children's Garden for a day out.
The kids had such a great time running around and all of us got more sunshine that we could have asked for.. Everything was just beautiful and the weather was perfect.
The kids really enjoyed playing in the water and running through the hedge mazes.
It took a while for Mathew to get comfortable but once he was there was no stopping him.
I took 300 pictures (no joke).
here are just a smidgen.

**********************

The Whole lot of us.

Merry and the kids, Angie and her girls, and the rest of us.. Taylor took the picture so he's behind the scenes.
************************************ Perfect family picture opportunity. Its not often that we're all together in one place.

****************************************************

Ali's friend Brooke even came along for the fun.
*************************************************

I love that he kept his hat and glasses on. Just look at his fat tummy!

**************************************************

The kids were so cute running around the place together

***************************************************
Sisters.........

***************************************************
Mommy and Mathew
****************************************************
"the cousins"

***************************************************
This is me being VERY animated trying to get Oli to play in the water. It worked , even if I did look like a total goon!

**************************************************

Aunt Merry with Mattie

***************************************************

I just loved this sneaky little look of his..

******************************************Oli just loves Taylor.

************************************************

The girls are back, and more swimming

The girls got home today. I was excited to have them home until they promptly jumped right into fighting, yelling, and whining. I was so frustrated with them and ended up putting them both in time out within an hour.
A few hours later they were a wee bit better but still obviously not getting the fact that Mamma is in charge. Ang came over to pick up the girls blankets that they'd left here so I pleaded with her to get them out of the House with me. Megan was so disappointed that she'd missed swimming with them the day before so we took off to my parents house.
They had a great time. I was really bummed and mad at myself for not bring my camera again. Ang could only stay a short while, but the kids and I stayed for over two hours!
Megan and I are sun burned even though we applied plenty of sunblock. Mattie actually stayed in the pool with us the entire time and loved it. Ali's Friend Brooke came over to swim too, and the two of them worked very hard convincing me to let Brooke spend the night.
It worked... and they're downstairs enjoying popcorn and watching movies.
Ali's been really good since her time in time out and she's been very helpful.
Megan's attitude and listening has improved but are no where near what I'd like them to be.. Unfortunately by the time I get her on track They'll be leaving for their two weeks away.
I still love them more than life..

Swimming

Yesterday we had the Cason's and after I got off work I decided that Taylor and I should take them over to my parents house to swim.. The girls were still at their dad's so I knew Taylor and I could handle them all safely.

Angie surprised us when she came walking out shortly before we were getting ready to leave. She got off work early and got to come and join in the fun.

Oli loved the water. She floated around happily in her tube the entire time.

the girls thought it was hilarious that Bear and Rosie my parents dogs came in for a dip.

They were both so excited about swimming.

Mattie was okay in the water as long as I was holding him tight. He preferred hanging out with Daddy out of the pool better.

He was pretty cute blowing bubbles in the water.

Taylor only caught the tail end of him but he's still super cute.

Girls came back this morning, and immediately jumped right into fighting

Life Lessons

The girls are gone again, and here I am doing my first of 5 long shifts while they’re away.
Overall I’d have to say our first week of summer together went well.
We went swimming twice, spent a great deal of time with cousins, went to Layton to visit Taylor’s family, (got to spend a short time at Megan’s), and spent literally hours upon hours in the backyard. By Friday the kids, I think, had had enough and were becoming monsters. Ali could NOT stop fidgeting and jumping off things in the house. She could not sit still for anything. I’m willing to bet that if I had followed her into the bathroom she wasn’t sitting still then either!
Megan whined incessantly all day long over nothing. She fell apart over the minutest things. I think they’d had enough sun because they both chose to stay inside for most of the day.
Ali wrote a story (in between the jumping, rolling, and flailing she was doing). She loves writing and especially loved insisting that she read to me every other sentence that she wrote. I tried patiently to listen but that along with Megan’s persistent whining and falling apart was enough to send me over the edge. I could barely breath without one of them two inches from my face demanding my full attention! As much as I knew I would miss them when they left, I couldn’t help glancing out the window to see if Ex was there yet. I still have headache today. A small hangover from the monsters they were yesterday. Sometimes I think maybe I put too much emphasis of “doing” when they’re home. That’s what life is now … Go Go Go Go go.. Instant entertainment. TV’s in Mini Vans, Video games that fit in your pocket, there is something to ‘keep you busy’ everywhere you look these days. .. Megan will insist and whine that she is bored twenty five times an hour if she has no one to entertain her. That’s my fault I’m sure. I created this world where I plan and ‘do’ all the time…. My Mom overheard her mention that she was bored the other night.. (This after we had just swam in the pool for two hours). My Mom asked me “were You ever bored in the summer?”.. It was interesting to look back and reflect on my summers as a kid. We had ‘chores’ to do every day before we were able to play. Weeding the yard, vacuuming the house, sweeping out the garage….. When we were done we appreciated the time because we had worked for it. We rode our bikes around the neighborhood or made elaborate Barbie worlds on the front lawn. Sure, we were probably ‘bored’ once in a while, but that’s what we did.. We used our imaginations, we made up games, and we entertained ourselves…
I regret that we don’t have a good neighborhood for the girls to run around in.. We live on a street with no other children, no sidewalks, and cars that don’t watch out for children as they go speeding around the bend.. Maybe I’ve over compensated for that?
I know I overcompensate for the fact that I share half of their summers with their Dad. I plan, plan, plan so that the time we have together is “fun” and memorable. So then I think, is it too late to teach them to appreciate their time? I still enjoy doing things and going places with them, but I do want them to realize that spending a day lounging around the house can be quite refreshing (without hearing “I’m Bored 15 million times).
.

Garden

Now that we've finally got the right weather for it, the Garden is going strong.

I can't wait for the Zucchini. We are huge Zucchini bread fans around here and I have a great recipe.We also have a TON of Cilantro and Chives

Tomatoes

and pumpkins growing.

I love having such a huge space for our garden.

Summer heat requires Water

Yesterday we went swimming at my parents house again. I was trying to convince Ali to do a front flip off the diving board but she was too afraid. I finally decided I'd have to show her how to do it myself. Mattie wasn't interested in swimming and Megan was begging for my attention. My Wonderful mom said "go ahead, I'll watch him" so I ran and did a cannonball into the pool. It felt FABULOUS! Then I got out and walked right up onto the diving board, and for the first time in YEARS I pulled off a pretty spectacular front flip.

Shortly after Ali was showing off her own flip.. She was Awesome!

I wish I would have gotten pictures but I didn't have my camera.. oh well next time..

*
Today after I got home from work the heat was killing me so we ran through the sprinklers to cool off.

I made the girls a fun obstacle course to run through. As usual Megan switched from her swimming suit, to a sundress all within the 20 minutes of sprinkler time.

I'm Trying to convince Mattie to keep a hat on. He looks so cute.

And YES people I'm going to wean him from his binkie soon. I know I know... Just remember I walked in about 5 minutes prior to this and he'd been home with Taylor all day..

Taylor doesn't get the whole binkie weaning concept... What Mattie wants, Mattie gets.

okay okay, I'm a partly to blame. He's just so dang cute!

And see, here....... I snuck it away from him.......

Notice the "Mater" tattoo?.. A few weeks ago Aunt Merry put a Lightning McQueen one on his arm (same place) and until it wore off ,he had to be able to see it no matter what he was wearing. If I put something with long sleeves on him he got distressed until I rolled his sleeve up.
*
We took a walk to the park After Dinner.Ali wore her roller blades and Megan wore her skate shoes. Megan struggled quite a bit the whole way there and whined continuously. She's become QUITE WHINY lately. We've GOT to work on that one too..

When we got home we played some more in the water .

Mattie LOVES being in charge of the hose, he chased Megan down giggling and squealing when he'd soak her. When Megan got away he started after Weston.

*

Matt also loves to jump on the trampoline, he's always asking "jimp? jimp"

He makes me so nervous though because he jumps and flops around so much I'm afraid that he's going to break his arms or get whip lash.

and finally, one more of Lydia... We're all in love with her. Megan asks 25 times a day if she can hold her.