Bikes, Buggy's and Braids

This is how we like to spend our summer days.... Really our kids love the bike attachment, this picture does not do it justice. Addy looks a little crazy and Jimmy unsure, but once the ride has started (as long as everyone stays on their own side of the buggy, there is usually nothing but giggles and grins from the back. Addy and Doug make the most use of it, they like to ride to the grocery store and pick up misc items for me, when there is time. But it also makes for a great family outing. Why did we wait so long to get one?

 Dad all ready to go, this particular trip we were cruising the neighborhood we live in for empty lots, as we LOVE our location. We ended up at the school playground. Everyone wins.

 And Addy's hair is finally long enough and I am finally patient enough to french braid it. Above the front, below the back, this was my first attempt, since her hair is regularly braided I particularly like doing two braids I can sometimes get those to last two days. Which is just really nice for keeping it out of her mouth and Jim's hands.

 And the Buggy of choice! This was our steal of a deal find at a garage sale a few weeks ago, Addy is almost too big for it, you can see where her knees hit, but we decided it would be better for her to learn to steer and drive on an inexpensive already used toy, then the alternative, and she has been dying for one, we were so excited to find it for her, and she is so thrilled with it, it is great. She zooms all over the house and yard. Hooray for garage sales! If only it went in reverse. We are still working on that whole running into a wall thing, but she is only two, she'll get it eventually, I think....

Harry Potter Party

 We made record timing unpacking, and getting settled for a couple of reasons, but one of them was we wanted to have a Harry Potter Party, with the last show coming out it seemed like a fabulous time to do so.(oh yeah, I should note I am still back tracking, r trying to catch up rather this didn't happen in august) Some of Doug's family was getting together, so we decided that was as good a time as any. I had two nap times and an evening to get it all together, and it was at someone else home so there are a few things I would have liked to have done that we didn't and a few things I would have changed but overall I think we all had a good time. We started the evening off by going to the new movie, in Lewistown. And to that I can say I enjoyed every minute of it. It may be corny, but I just love the magic of it all, We are fans.

 

Next was time for sorting in to house teams. A talking sorting hat was not in our budget, so I made bracelets in the two house colors and each person pulled from the hat the team they were to be on. (since we were a smallish group we only had two house teams)

 

 The next couple of pictures are of some of the food I tried to relabel everything for a more suitable term for a Harry Potter Party. I found a lot of helps on line to really speed up the process, so there have been many a fabulous Harry Potter Party's happening lately and I was so thankful for those creative people that shared their ideas and files, If I had thought to note each site I had visited I would list them all for you as it was two naps is not much time, so I didn't.

 These are my first cake pops. I have been wanting to try making them for awhile, but time just wasn't on my side, but I decided golden snitches should be easy enough a good time to practice anyways, and I did learn a few things, my cake balls which were red velvet with cream cheese frosting were way to big, and I needed to thin out my chocolate a little bit more. But they looked lovely.

 You can't have a Harry Potter Party without wands, these were quite tasty. I did red licorice wands and Pretzel rod wands.

 We had 4 house challenges one was Potions. I had 4 unknown potions and the houses had to figure out what were the four main ingredients in those potions. I was so proud of our nephews who tried a number of the potions, such troopers. Below is the taste testing.

 More food, this was the main dish Hippogriff gizards... aka chicken....

 Another house challenge was spells and charms. I enchanted some paper with a spell and the house that was first to cast a spell that countered mine won. We had to give a few clues for this one, it was hard, but Kay was on it... She is too good. I had taken lemon juice and wrote actions on the paper, to win the challenge they had to reveal the words and do the action. We only had one small fire.... Sorry Georgene, nothing but the Paper burned though...

 We also had Harry Potter Trivia and quittich It ended up that both houses had the same number of points when we were all done, so the House cup went home with Kay along with all the decor for the Harry Potter party she is going to have. We ended the party with some butter beer (which had no beer in it, but was actually quite tasty) And the last picture is just for fun, I had decorated with figs (that had come in our basket that week, and I really didn't have time to find a way to use them, but they were perfect for my decor, so decor they were) until Doug and his siblings decided they want to try them. I decided to pass.  All in all we had a lovely time. We were only visiting his parents and family for the night as we had left or kiddos with my parents to go to their ward pioneer party. So we made it to church with his family then headed home. It was a quick but fun trip.We were glad to get to see and hang out with everyone. On to planning the next party.... We are wanting to get to know some little people in the area, and I have a really fun Idea if I can swing it, wish me luck!

JImmy O

 

Jimmy O, doesn't quite fit in the high chair, so look close, do you like our modifications? He does, Thanks dad, I knew you house shoes would still come in handy. Jim LOVES LOVES LOVES to be a part of meal times, he has a very hard time with the fact that he isn't always eating what we are eating, although it is not for a lack of trying, but rather a lack of teeth, however he can gum with the best of them. The best thing is when Jimmy eat something Sister will eat it too, even if she has previously passed on the item, not that she is a poor eater by any means, she does very well, just sometimes she doesn't care to eat an item even if she likes it, but if Jim starts eating some, one better have enough to share. (he is 6.5 months in this picture)

Home....

.... Where your feet may leave but never your Heart. As it is we move a bit, and normally I have no worries with that, but this time I did, my concern was for our little guys. This being their first move and all. I worried about them transitioning to a new place, and feeling safe amongst other issues. Addy in particular was very attached to our last house in particular her room. I have noticed on more then one occasion that our home has a particular feel to it, and then when we have moved from it, and I return  to that space, that the feeling in the home is different. I was kinda of surprised the first time it happened because I wasn't aware of a feeling in our home, but since then I am, and I always worry that we will forget to pack all our feeling and get it to the next house, it isn't exactly something you can stick in bubble wrap you know.... But alas our home sweet home feeling managed to find us, and  we are all just feeling quite at home in our little half of the town home. With that comes my favorites and not so favorites I will spare you the room to room tour this time.... Above the two kids are definitely my favorite! Imagine that, but what they are sitting on is somewhat disturbing, who in their right mind puts carpet in a Dining room? Obviously someone who does not have kids, or at least kids that are as messy as mine at the dinner table, the most unfortunate part, the carpet is brand spanking new, yep fun times at our dinner table, I am seriously contemplating a large pool.....HMMM Sales should be coming up soon...

 The above picture is actually from our last house in RC. It was my favorite room in the whole house, it is hard to tell what room it is from the picture Since the decor is down, but my heart knows, It was our nursery. I was actually shocked at myself, when I was saying goodbye to the house (yes I say goodbye to our homes, they play a key role in our happiness, why wouldn't I?) That this room drew out feelings of deep gratitude and love, and yes I cried. There it is I talk to houses and cry at/with them too. I will always have a special place in my heart to the home and room that I was FINALLY able to bring not one but two children home to. Definitely one of my favorite places ever.

 And now those two little ones are not so little anymore, in our current rental we all sleep downstairs and they both have their own rooms, so I find I am not attached too much to their rooms, but I do have a toss up for these two rooms/spaces. The top one is half of the toy room, where we spend a huge chunk of our day dreaming up some kind of entertainment of the top of heads, and below is my closet! Most of it is our Table time activities, and my scrap stuff, but I love that it is all in one place with a label on everything, It could be a little bigger, but I still love it! Function, Organization, and Used. 3 of my favorites.

 

And with that we are settled and back to enjoying things in there proper spots. (with the exception of one little camera that is still MIA) Thanks again to all of our friends and family here who helped us get settled so quickly so we could move on with life. We really appreciate each of you.

The Farm

 Our Next stop was to see Doug's Grandma Valere in Idaho. We hadn't been up to see her in over a year, so it was time to head that way. We were pretty excited to take Addy to the Farm, it is a Dairy Farm, with Lots of Cows, which is at least one person in our Homes favorite animal. Although while we were there, Addy grew rather fond of the toads! At first she would not touch them, but like I mentioned before animals and water and she is a go, yep Doug put those toads in water and Addy spent a good deal of time playing with them, moving them from one bucket to another, it was just so adorable. And she has added the sound of a toad in distress to her vocabulary, I would spell it for you but I have no idea how it is spelt so you will just have to imagine what that sounds like. We also did a little painting while we were there. The Adults used paint and painted the deck, while Addy used water and painted the garage, some trees, Jim, and whatever else her heart desired, she really is a good helper.

 And her she is with a calf, She would look at them and say Moo in a very polite manner, I am sure she was saying Hi in their language, after all a cow does say Moo.

 Grandma and Jimmy, This was the first time Grandma and Jimmy had met each other, and it is safe to say they hit it off. Jim is one busy kid and so is Grandma.

 All in all we had a great time on the farm. We got to see two of Doug's Uncles and their wives, as well as a Cousin who was working on the farm over the summer. The only thing we could have done without was the mysterious bites on Addy that left her with massive looking biceps. Which led to a trip to the walk in clinic, a very long and ridiculous waste of a day, and a round of antibiotics which thankfully did the trick. Whatever bit her did a GOOD job.(I should have taken a picture, they were some quite impresses bumps)

 

The Drive home from Grandma's is about 12 hours, which is well, about 6 hours too many for our kiddos to do in one day, but in order to make it and get to spend any time with Grandma it worked best for us to come home all in one day. YUCK. Thankfully we got to break it up and we stopped for a visit with another of Doug's cousins and her family who happened to be traveling home the same day. There was a short stretch of road that we traveled that was the same and as it were the timing was just right that we were able to meet up. We were so glad to see them, even if it was only for an hour or so at a rest stop. We have so been wanting to meet their little guy Wrangler (he is the third rider on the Doug Express pictured above) SO ADORABLE! We just loved him. (and cannot wait to meet little sister when she arrives) So that is vacation, I am now that much closer to being caught up. One of these days I will sit down to blog and it will be a blog about something that just happened not me still playing catch up. Yes, that is the intent, we will see how the follow through is.

Little America

 Our next Stop was SLC Little America for a few days. I have ALWAYS wanted to stay there. When I was growing up My grandmother loved to take us there on Mother's Day to the Special Buffet they have, I have a number of memories of it, how special it was to her and wanting to stay there someday, well someday came and we did just that, stayed at Little America. It was a really a nice time! We enjoyed having some family time and of course swam a lot! We also crossed off a few more things on my list of places we wanted to go. Including the Hogle Zoo, and the Planetarium

 Addy also learned a few new tricks this go around in the pool

 Like She loves being dunked

 And she can plug her nose... Next stop Swim lessons, she is WAY TOO BRAVE in the Water for Mom's liking without knowing how to swim.

 Jim also loves the water, but found himself loving the pool deck chairs as well.

 WE love to Swim and WE love each other!

 Our trip to the Planetarium was out of this world, hahaha lame punt, but really Addy and Doug on the Moon above and below Mars

 The above picture, is the LARGEST elevator I think I have ever encountered. SERIOUSLY large almost scary.

 And the Zoo! We just loved the zoo, although I think our favorite part was the Bird show and I didn't get a picture of that, it was amazing though, Afterwords Doug informed me he was sad we had done everything at Reptile Gardens while living in SD except see the Bird show. Hmmm, Well you win some you lose some?

 What a fabulous teeter totter, Addy did not want to get off this one....

 OH and look who hatched! Jim really is a trooper he is so good to put up with us and our travels, site seeing, and what not. We just adore this little guy!

  A llama Race, I think it will be a long one...

 I liked the elephants, this one in particular, so cool!

 

And no trip to the Zoo would be complete with out riding a stuffed animal? Addy is Hilarius in stores these days, she picks up the most random things and Carry's them around. Oh she is a funny girl. We so just enjoyed our time in SLC, it came to an end all too soon and we were off to Idaho. We still have a list of things I would like to check out, so I guess week 3? Well maybe next year...

More Utah week 2... The Middle

Happy Fourth Of July! The kids wore their festive clothes on Saturday to the baptism. They were so cute in their red white and blues! 

 And we had to Document Uncle Al with his new "hair do" We nearly didn't recognize him, good thing his name was in the program. HHAHAHA

 This is the part of our trip that got a little spoiled, if you will we had planned to on this trip go to Logan and Boise, but due to all of us getting sick, we didn't make it.So if you didn't see us and thought you might have, that is why.We had to re-organize our schedule and come up with an adjusted plan that didn't include those two stops. If Doug hadn't been up all night with James and felt up to it we would have just cancelled the rest of the trip on gone home, but alas he was not feeling up to driving so his Brothers family was kind enough to let us just hang out ill at their house. Sorry about that guys. We did have a quick recovery and were back at it and were very thankful we didn't throw in the towel.

 One night the "A" nieces watched our little ones for us so we Adult folk could go up to Brigham City for Dinner (I love Maddox, yummy) and to see the new temple. So exciting.

 And on the fourth we kept it pretty low key, a picnic at the park which was lovely

 And more family over for dinner and fireworks. What a great way to spend the 4th!

 Addy and Bethani picking up Fruit poop, Just don't eat it girls!

 Sparklers are my Favorite, although Addy has ZERO tolerance for Fireworks, so I was actually inside with her hunkering down under a blanket while the festivities were shooting off in the front yard.

 It is always so fun to be with Cousins!

 Great Grandpa. This Summer we were so blessed to see all but 1 of Doug and I's grandparents, that is pretty rare. The above is My Grandpa Ted with his Wife Jane, Addy and James. The kids just loved Grandpa they thought he was great, I also have that opinion, but I am a bit biased. He is such a wonderful Man, we are really glad we got to visit with them a bit.

 We are not really sit and do nothing vacationers so I had a list of places I wanted to check out if we had time, and this was one of them. We loved the Children's Museum in Ogden and our Tour guides. (Kay and Aubrey) It was fun to see all the displays and different creative stuff they had for kids, definitely a two thumbs up!

 Aubrey and her Arch of Numbers

 Ride em' Cowgirl. We couldn't get her in the princess clothes but the cowgirl stuff, not a problem?

 And by far her favorite at the museum was the Firetruck which is the first thing you see when you come in, she just couldn't get enough of it. We would play on it for awhile go look at other things then come back and play some more, what a funny girl. We really did love the tree house museum so fun.

 And we can't break tradition. We always eat at the Burger Bar while we are in town. This was a Special occasion as it was Jim's first trip there eating. Yeah 6 months totally mowing down a fry... HUH! (documenting my own poor parenting)

 

Try taking a fry from that grip, Train em young, we normally do not give our baby fries, he did however for the record love it though.A burger bar FAN in the Making!