Catching Up! July 2012

Let's get right to it, shall we?

Above: Who you lookin' at?

Above: Waxing poetic under the apple tree.

Above: It is awesome having our cousins in town!

Above: All of the kids brought their swimsuits to Sunday dinner at Nammy's house so that they could get wet more comfortably (they always get wet at Nammy's house in the summer.  It makes it a lot easier when they get wet in their swimsuits!).

Above: Look at that sweet little beach bod!

Above: Jonathan spent a good amount of time going back and forth between the water festivities and me (because I had food).

Above: It was all fun and games until Grandpa Niel accidentally splashed the kids a little too hard.  Then many of the kids ended up in tears and the water sports were done!  Nammy got back at him though.  :)

Above: We had a little fire scare the day before the 4th of July.  There was a huge fire in Alpine (in our stake).  The news channels freaked out and put Suncrest on the alert for a possible evacuation.  We learned after the fact that our neighborhood was too far away to ever have been in any danger.  But it was quite an eye opener for me.  I mean, it made me realize that there are a lot of things that I need to do in order to be ready for such an emergency.  For instance, I still haven't found a really great place to keep our important documents since we have moved.  And they are certainly not all in one place.  I need to get that organized so that I can grab one single folder with all of our important papers in case we need to get out of the house fast. I also need to make a list of the most important things to grab for everyone and stuff into our van if we ever do need to evacuate.  When we bought our home, it honestly never even occurred to me that we would be moving to an area where fires could be a real danger. 

Above: To pass the time, Jeremiah decided to mow the lawn while the planes were buzzing the area across the way with fire retardant.  This is how mowing the lawn works at our house.  Peter grabs onto Jeremiah's back pocket, and then holds Jonathan's hand and they create a little lawnmower train.  It's the cutest thing.  They do it pretty much every time Jeremiah mows the lawn.

Above: I'm very grateful to all of the men and women who gave their time, talents, and energy to fight that fire.

Above: This was the view from my bedroom window several hours after the fire started.  It was definitely a terrifying sight to see.

A note as to the 4th of July: We got absolutely NO good pictures for the 4th of July!  We went to Mimi and Papa's house to celebrate.  Peter was off like a flash to play with his cousins and he wouldn't stay still long enough for me to take any pictures.  As for Jonathan, my usually even-tempered guy was quite moody that day and kept crying if we even set him down.  So, he spent a good part of the evening sitting on my lap (while I fed him, of course).  We did a few fireworks at Mimi's and Papa's (while it was still light) and both of my boys FREAKED OUT.  Peter has never liked fireworks (he's really sensitive to loud noises), but we hoped that because he was older this year and his cousins would be there too that he would enjoy it.  Not so much.  Jonathan started crying first.  Poor guy was absolutely trembling in my arms.  Then, Peter freaked out and they BOTH wanted to be held by me at the same time.  I don't know about you, but I can't hold 36 pounds in one arm and 27 pounds in the other very easily.  Especially when they are crying, squirming, and want me all to themselves.  So, we had to make a very speedy exit and say rushed goodbyes while we all piled into the van and made our retreat!

Above: A few days after the 4th of July, we decided to take advantage of the fact that we live in the mountains and we have a bunch of trails only minutes from our house (that would be only 5 minutes away folks!).  The boys had a great time!  They are natural hikers and outdoors-men!

Above: Peter telling me some amazing story.

Above: Jonathan following the leader.  He let us carry him for a bit, but after awhile, he started getting mad and insisting that we put him down so he could hike all by himself.

Above: Peter showing me all of the amazing rocks, flora, and fauna.  :)

Above: Taking a quick picture on a log bench along the trail.

Above: Again, thank goodness for the timer on my camera!  Otherwise, we would never all be in the same picture at once.  It's still not easy to do anyway.  Look how squirmy my boys are!

Above: Peter showing me how strong he is while standing on a rock.

Above: We love to wander in the mountains!

Above: We tried take 2 on our way back down.  This picture was a little more successful.  :)

Above: Dad, I want to do it by myself.  There were a lot of bikers down this road portion of the trail.  The boys LOVED watching the bikes.  But they got really mad at us every time we had to get them off the road so that the bikers could pass.

Above: Peter jumping and jumping!

Above: We brought water on our hike, but everyone was really thirsty afterward.  Here's Jonathan stealing Daddy's drink from dinner.

Above: We made another evening trip to the zoo early in July with our Aunt Emily.

Above: We told Peter to look scared...but that boy fears nothing!

Above: Here's my sweet guy in the new Rocky Shores section of the zoo watching the seals play.

Above: If you look closely, you can see a ghostly image of Aunt Emily offering her protection from afar.  :)

Above: Ooooooooooh!  Spooky!

Above: Peter loves this snake slide at the zoo.

Above: A few days later, we took a family trip to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point.  Here is Jonathan cutting across the grass.  Naughty, naughty!  Stay on the path!

Above: Peter thought the plants were really cool and he loves to take walks.

Above: Here, Peter is telling me very intently how this birdhouse was made.

Above: My sweet, handsome Johnny!

Above: Awwww!  Peter loves his Mommy, even if he has to put up with her cuddling him from time to time.

Above: A little shot of me and my hubby.  I'm looking in the distance because the boys kept asking me to watch what they were doing.

Above: If you ever want to see a lot of fish and see what a coi fish feeding frenzy looks like, bring some bread or old cereal to the Thanksgiving Point gardens and feed them.  Some of the jump out of the water and swim on top of each other to get the food!  It's wild.

Above: We heard a strange sound and I realized that it was a frog croaking.  We looked around and Jeremiah quickly found him.

Above: The boys had a great time playing in the fountain in the Secret Garden.

Above: THIS is why I take a million pictures.  I take a lot of candid pictures of my boys because they don't hold still.  They rarely pose for me.  But when you take a lot of pictures, a handful of them are bound to turn out, right?  And every now and then, you get a PERFECT picture.  This picture completely captures who Jonathan is.  My sweet, happy, handsome, good-natured little guy.

Above: Here is Peter making a run for it (running away from Daddy) after splashing Daddy big-time.

Above: It's getting too close to bed tiiiiiiime!

Above: Peter was playing hide-and-seek with me.  Hmmmm.  He might need to find another place to hide.

Above: Do you see that little body on the lawn?  That is Peter blissfully rolling down the hill away from us!

Above: Peter loves to play zombie.  Here is Zombie Daddy chasing Zombie Peter so that we can get in the car and head home.

Above: Mommy and Daddy got matching little desks and stools for us to keep our laptops on in our bedroom.  Peter thinks it is the coolest thing and loves to get on Mommy's computer and watch videos and play games on pbskids.org or sesamestreet.org.

Above: Before having kids, I didn't realize that the best part (for them, at least) of eating a cupcake would be getting it all over your face and squishing it in your hands.

Above: What a CUTE guy!

Above: Just hangin' out with Daddy.

Above: We went to Sugar House Park to meet up with Jabe, Kristen, AJ, and Ty for an event that they were helping out with (it was a 5K run for marriage...they did a great job).  There was a bounce house, and inflatable slide, and a boxing inflatable.  Jonathan wasn't quite sure what to think of it.  He's not quite as bold and adventurous as his older brother.  So, he spent a lot of time with us, walking around, looking at doggies, and eating, of course.

Above: Hmmmm.  Should I give that slide a try?

Above: Mom!  This slide is awesome!  But I can only go on it with you or Daddy!

Above: Peter had no problem trying out anything and everything at the park.  He had a blast with his cousin AJ.

Above: In July, we had a camping-themed party for the grandkids.  The kids were really busy that day and all of the adults were really tired.  This is the only decent picture that I took from that party!  D'oh!  But the kids had a great time.  They especially loved their s'mores-on-a-stick that Nammy made for them.  Yum!  And messy! 

Above: This is the view I see EVERY time I start to prepare food.  Jonathan is always looking to get a few table scraps.  My brother, Sean, mentioned that he would take more than table scraps if he had the chance!  It's true!  This kid would eat the whole table!  He loves his food!

Above: Having another go at playing with water balloons on the trampoline.  It's a great way to stay cool!  The problem this time around was that Jonathan got really attached to the water balloons and he didn't want them to pop and Peter's main goal was to pop them and splash in the water as quickly as he could!

Above: I gave them each their own balloon--2 at a time--so that they didn't run through them too fast.

Above: They didn't last long...but it was fun while it lasted!

Above: Bath time with brothers is the best!

Above: They always have good times laughing together!

Above: We went to the zoo again with Nammy this time.  Here is Peter pretending to be a baby bald eagle.  What a cute little eagle!

Above: Why is it that everywhere I go, I am followed by the Momarazzi?

Above: Jonathan loves to watch the seals.  It's even better while eating yummy crackers too!

Above: See?  I told you.  EVERY time we go to the zoo, the boys are enthralled with those tigers and want a picture there.  I could probably count how many times we've been to the zoo based on those pictures.  

Above: Even Jonathan wants in on the action.

Above: The only thing I have to say about this is that I bought these beautiful tulips for the women I visit teach.  I got them each tall, thin, circular vases to present each tulip in.  I even got little glass rocks to put in the bottom of the vases.  I was filling the vases and I suddenly heard a crack!  The first vase that I had filled with the glass rocks just shattered!  While I was looking at it dumbfounded, the second vase shattered.  And then the third one!  I hadn't filled the fourth one with glass rocks yet.  So that one didn't shatter (at least yet). I didn't have any other vases...so I improvised.  I wrapped the stem of each flower with a wet paper towel and then wrapped a plastic ziploc bag around that and taped it shut so that it wouldn't leak.  Then I made a paper "vase" out of the visiting teaching message.  I had to deliver it to my ladies that way.  The fourth, and final, vase shattered the next day!  Isn't that crazy!?

Above: We had a play date at the very end of July at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  It was a much-needed outing because by that point Daddy had been out of town for a week and had another week to go.  Jeremiah went out of town the second-to-last week of July on a business trip, and was out of town the last week for Scout Camp.  The boys were really good for me while Jeremiah was gone, but they really, really missed their Daddy.

Above: While we were at the dinosaur museum, there was also a daycare field trip going on.  So, there were about a billion kids at the museum that morning.  It made Jonathan really shy.  He contentedly and safely sat in his stroller nearly the entire time.  He got out to play at the erosion table (it has sand and water and little dinosaur toys).  But when he was done there, all he wanted was to be back in his stroller!

So, there you have it!  That was our July told in pictures.  I sure have sweet boys and they definitely keep me busy!

Now, I just have August to blog about and then I need to get back to normal and blog about separate events and happenings rather than doing the whole month in one fell swoop.  It's much more detailed and less of a blur that way.

So...on to August!