Camping with family

 The blue jay we saw

 Kayleigh with her flower

 Landon just chillin by the fire.  This shot was a rarity, he hardly just sat, he's always on the go and we were so worried he'd end up in the fire.

 Grace, Kayleigh and Phoebe coloring.

 Since I am hardly in pictures I told Michael to take one of me.

 Kayleigh with her s'more face.  Yum!

 Our little fam

 Landon loved when Yasuko sat and tickled him

 Kayleigh holding a moth.  Phoebe is obsessed with bugs and I think they caught about 20 moths.  Kayleigh got brave enough to hold one.  Yuck!  I hate moths.

 Daddy and son

 Grandpa with Landon

All the kids playing horseshoes

Last weekend we had fun camping at the Spruces.  It's up Big Cottonwood Canyon and it was beautiful!  It's a little cooler up there too, which was great because it was so hot in the valley.  I headed up with the kids and my mom around noon on Friday.  We made sure we got a couple spots for the family to share and then waited for everyone else to come.  My dad got there next with Nathan and Yasuko. 

Yasuko is from Japan, here visiting right now, and my dad knows her from his mission to Japan many, many years ago.  She has stayed a family friend over the years and it was fun to have her come.    Landon was pretty shy to her at first, but after he realized she would lend a hand when he was going up or down a hill in the campsite they got to be good friends.  He would just go stand by her and raise his hand up and that was his signal to her that he needed help, it was cute.  Kayleigh also took a liking to her, too, because she had brought Kayleigh a gift.  It was 2 pink pencils and  a little picture album book.  I told Kay we'd print some pictures from camping and put them in it for her to remember.  Yasuko also brought some yummy Japanese crackers and candy.

We brought along our newly purchased tent and we all seemed to fit great, including the port-a-crib for Landon.  We tried to just lay him in a sleeping bag, but after an hour of trying to get him to sleep I said forget it and we got the crib out.  Shortly after he was asleep.  Once we all got to sleep we rested for a little while til the sun was up and then it's time to get up when you are camping, no sleeping in. 

It was a gorgeous morning up in the mountains and it was fun to have a fire going and put a sweatshirt on.  It makes me excited for fall, my favorite season!  After a cereal and fruit breakfast we had to get going pretty quickly to head down south to watch Grace and Phoebe in their gymnastics performance.  We wish we could have stayed longer, especially with how much work it is to get ready to camp, but the schedule didn't work that way.  Maybe next time...

I love the Spruces campground.  I went there many times as a kid and it holds good memories for me.  It was fun to share that with the kids.  I think they do a great job of keeping it nice as well.  Even though it was short, it was nice to get away and enjoy some of God's creations.   Happy camping!



Church History Museum

The week before school started we went with my mom and sister to see the Children's Exhibit at the Church History Museum.  The kids just loved it!  If you haven't been, it's a great activity that's free and the kids love it!  I wasn't sure how Landon would do, but he stayed plenty entertained the whole time.  There was a part of it that you could watch dancers on a screen and try to copy them.  For some reason, Landon just LOVED it.  It seemed he wandered off quickly that day and I'd always find him watching the dancing.  He even tried to dance himself. 

Unfortunately, my camera was not on the regular setting and I didn't know (I never change it so why would I think to check?) and all of my pictures are pretty blurry. 

I loved how the they had little stories by each activity and wish my kids were older to read them.  I summarized a few for Kayleigh, but she didn't seem too interested.  I liked reading them though. 

Before coming home we walked 2 blocks up to eat at the food court, got ice cream cones, then walked 2 blocks back. Now, I was pushing the stroller with Landon in it, holding my melting ice cream cone and we were in a hurry to get back and get my brother off the bus. So I was wasted by the time we got home. I don't have much energy these days and this took it all from me. It was really fun though and Kayleigh had fun so I am glad we did it.

 Kayleigh getting to practice her quilting skills.

 She caught a fish!

 Fishing off of Nephi's boat

 Sweet Samantha

 All dressed up and ready to dance

 He looked so cute with this vest on!

 This bike tire had little balls in it that would bounce when you turned the wheel.

 Landon helped Mormon abridge lots of the plates.

 Picking food from the garden

 Landon getting food ready to feed the missionaries.

Us just before our walk to go eat.

Something to celebrate

It has now been 9 days since Landon has had a binki.  Yahoo!  It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  He was pretty attached to it but the nice thing is that he can't say the word binki so there really was no way for him to ask for it.  I think he called it a "bah bah" sometimes but I would just tell him he had his bottle already. 

We were down to 2 binkis and I left one at my mom's and I couldn't find the other one so he had to go to bed without it.  He cried for a little but then went to sleep.  The next morning I figured we should just be done with binkis.  I feel kind of bad because he really did like it, especially at bedtime and nap time but he'll be 2 in December and I didn't want him to have it then. 

So now on to the bottle, this will be harder I know.  We've kind of already tried taking them away and I gave in.  He refuses to drink milk from anything but a bottle.   I figure at his age he still needs the whole milk so I just gave his bottle back to him after 2 days of no bottle.  I am not looking forward to taking it away again.  We are also thinking about getting him a big boy bed.  When Kayleigh was his age she already was out of the crib and she did great with the transition so I am hoping he will too. 

So why the push to do all these things?  Well, baby #3 is on the way!  Yep, I am due March 18th, 2012.   We are excited!  Kayleigh wants a girl very badly and I think we might be in trouble if  it's a boy.  I'm almost past the 1st trimester and I hope that I can get some energy back and not feel sooo tired all the time.  

Lagoon

Yesterday Michael and Kayleigh got to go to Lagoon!  (Aren't they lucky?!)  We figured since Landon won't really know what he's missing this year we'll just save on the ticket prices while we can.  It's so expensive!  What's great though is that yesterday was the last day of 2 for 1 (courtesy of 2 News) at Lagoon.  You just had to mention 2 News when you bought your  tickets. 

They went with Michael's sis and her family.  Kayleigh loves being with Tyler and Brooke, her cousins on Michael's side.  Over the past year Kayleigh has grown a ton and passed the 46 inch mark.  At Lagoon this means you can go on a lot of the "big" rides.  So my little 4 yr. old got to ride Wicked, Colossus, The Spider, The Rollercoaster and the Wild Mouse.  I know, what 4 yr. old gets to ride Wicked?  She absolutely LOVED it!  She says her favorite ride is Colossus.  Michael got a video of her on Colossus and Wicked and while they are way shaky, it's so fun to see her faces and hear her.

Even though she could ride some of the big rides, she still enjoyed the rides in Kiddy Land, too. She likes doing the Bumper Cars and riding the swings. They did Dracula's Castle, for Kay's first time, and she wasn't a fan of that.  They won a couple stuffed animal prizes and enjoyed some junk food. They followed my directions and brought me home some cotton candy, my favorite treat from Lagoon. :-)

Hopefully next year we can all go together as a family. I'll admit I was a little sad I wasn't there to witness Kay going on those rides for the first time, but the videos helped a little. Glad Michael got to spend time with Kayleigh.

Cherry Hill

Ch-ch-ch-cherry Hill, the greatest fun spot you'll ever know!  We went for a day as a family and kind of extended family, my sister and 2 of her girls and my cousin, her husband and 2 of their kids came.  We got there shortly after it opened and literally stayed till closing.  Kayleigh had so much fun!  Michael and I had a lot of fun, too.  It's nice when you can go to a place that is fun for both kids and adults and it's not like you are doing it just for the kids. 

Kayleigh completely shocked us and went down Cardiac Canyon.  She is so brave!  She has recently become tough enough to go under water and I think that gave her some confidence to go down it.  With the water falls you have to go under I really didn't think she'd do it.  I kind of wonder if she did it because her cousin, Grace, did it.  She went down with me in a train the first time and screamed she'd never go down again, but once she got off and Grace said she was going again Kayleigh changed her mind to go down again, this time with Michael.  In the end she went down I think 4 times. 

Last year when we took her she didn't love the blue slides because she went under water at the end and that scared her.  We've been talking to her for a year about it that she needs to try it again.  About a week before we went this year she said she'd try it.  So, she did and she loved them!  She liked to cover her eyes mostly but then I held her hands down so she would actually see and enjoy.  Silly girl! 

The Lazy River was a huge hit!  Kayleigh discovered she could touch the ground and after that she didn't want a tube at all.  Her, Grace and my cousin's daughter, Kaili, just played together in it and went round and round with one of us following them on a tube.  I liked the river because I was able to get Landon to sleep on it.  We went around about 4 times while he slept.  I was on my 5th time around when the dumb water things had to turn on that dump/spray water on you and that woke him up.  Oh well, at least he got a little nap in. 

One of the passes we had had a free game of mini golf.  So Kayleigh (she's free) and Michael went to play during the afternoon.  Then at night after the water park closed I played with Kayleigh again while the boys watched.  Both times when we told them Kayleigh was 4 they looked at us funny.  Michael was like, "I know she doesn't look 4 but she is."  Really, I'm going to have to carry her birth certificate with me now.  :-)

It was such a fun day!  I was so glad Michael could take work off and come with us.  He was a huge help with the kids.  It was fun to have the kids be with their  cousins, too.  They are already talking about going next year.