Ward Camp Out

We had our ward camp out 2 weeks ago at the Kohler Dairy Farm in Midway. It was really nice- lots of grass and fun things to do. Here are the pics a little out of order:

Breakfast
Baby Cows. They liked to lick fingers- Elliott was the only one who dared...
They were so sweet.

Elliott on the zipline. He was a little nervous, but he was so light that it went pretty slow.
S'more face.
Our friends, the Woods. What a cute little family.
Huck Finn Ollie. Our boys were both soaked in the first 20 minutes of arriving. Elliott turned on a faucet right when we got out of the car and Ollie fell in this tiny stream a little later. 

Neighbor kids on the bridge. Elliott was pretending to catch fish.

For some reason Ollie has been making faces when it's picture time......

farmer tan

I'm all about slathering the sunscreen on faces, ears and necks, but for some reason I forget to do arms- woops! Who has the best farmer tan? You be the judge. By the way, I look awesome in a swimsuit- if awesome means it looks like I'm wearing a white shirt under my suit! :)

                                                     Farmer Ollie
      Farmer Elliott. He thought it was so funny that I turned him sideways to take the picture.
                                                    Farmer Sini

Girls Camp!!

I had such a fun time at camp last week! It was up at the Heber Valley Camp, which is right above Heber, Utah. It was so pretty and fun to be out in the fresh mountain air. I always love camp because it is so spiritual. Here are some of the highlights:

Working with these awesome girls! Kim and Jackie- camp directors and me, Rachel and Melissa who are YW leaders. They were so much fun. We really laughed our heads off the whole time about anything and everything. 
I took this one for my boys. These little guys were everywhere. We also saw lots of chipmunks and deer.
Our whole ward in our blue tie-dyed shirts. We had 18 girls and 5 leaders. Our girls are so fabulous! They are sweet, nice, loving and helpful (most of the time.) We couldn't have asked for better girls!
Boating with Ashley and Christina. We didn't fall in, although 3 girls from our camp did! But every time I moved just a smidgeon, we almost tipped, thanks to the girls wanting the "harder to balance boat."
The leaders again at the camp fire. We smelled like little smokey s'mores! :) Did I mention how great these guys were??
Okay, so the first day was nice and warm. But on the second day the temps began to drop and it was freezing the rest of the time! We ate breakfast and dinner with our whole stake in this huge pavilion, which we liked to call "the wind tunnel." We had to bundle with all of our belongings just to stand it, but we hardly ever warmed up. We did have cabins, thank goodness, but the floors were cement so they stayed rather chilly.  
Ahh, the snow. As if we didn't get enough this winter.... This was the day we were supposed to go on long hikes, but they decided to cancel them, which meant cabin time. It felt a little like I imagine a cold prison cell feeling like, because our feet never warmed up, and we shivered the whole time. But we passed the time by coloring, playing jacks and painting our nails crazy colors. We also did hair all day, which was fun for me because I never really get to do hair. 

I had a fun and pretty relaxing time. I ate my meals without getting up 10 times like I do at home. But in the end, it was just good to come home to my boys. No more camp planning until next year! Summer vacation, here we come!!

Camp

I'll be gone at Girl's Camp this week- so hope you all have a great one!

Water Fight

This water fight started with Elliott outside and Ollie inside. Yes, Ollie was squirting the window inside. 
Then it moved outside.
Ollie in protest.
Elliott laughing his head off because he isn't getting in trouble for squirting his little brother.
Ollie would laugh so hard when he got to squirt at us too. After this I told them they could bring their squirt guns into the bath. It doesn't work so well at close range if you're wondering. The squirt guns were taken out in the first 5 minutes. 

You know it's summer when.....

You eat breakfast with no shirt on because it has already been soaked by playing in water outside!!
You run outside as soon as you're dressed to start the daily collection of rollie pollies.
You play in the gutter every time a sprinkler is on up the street.  It's our suburban stream! Here Ollie is letting go of his rollie pollies (about 10 of them) so they can go swimming. Elliott is giving one of his toys a bath. 
Melty ice cream cones. We had to clean out the freezer to make room for the girls camp food (23 of those big muffins- 12 count- from Costco!!!! I could only fit 3 and the rest are spread throughout the neighborhoods' freezers....) So the neapolitan ice cream tub was the vicitim. We all had huge cones, and I still couldn't bring myself to throw it away, so I called a neighbor down the street who has 5 kids and made them take it. I kept asking Ollie if he was finished with his cone, but he wouldn't let me take it...... as he made a little, drippy trail from our front yard, to the backyard, into the play house and all over his shirt, shorts and shoes. I don't care- yay for summer!!! I'm so glad it's finally here!! 

My best digital friend

We ordered a new camera today! I'm so excited! My little camera is not working still, and I definitely need one for camp next week. So it should get here before the weekend. I do love my big camera, but it's too big to lug around everywhere I go- you've seen my purse contents and there is definitely no room for a monster camera. The new one we ordered is a Canon, so I'm a little nervous because I've only dealt with Sony cameras since digitals became our norm.  But it had all the best ratings and wasn't a bad deal either. Yippee! I'll let everyone know how it works!! 

Random pics

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this weekend. Nothing spectacular, just busy.

                     Elliott and his friend Brady.

Brothers after the game. I love that Ollie is just as hot and his cheeks are even more red than Elliott's from all of his runnin' around. Adam put Elliott's uniform on if you can't tell. The shin guards are supposed to go under his socks, and Adam knows that, but thought it was much easier to do it this way. 
Hugging Daddy. What a snuggler- we love our little Ollie. He's getting to be such a big boy now. :(

More snuggles. Ollie was just eating a popsicle, hence the bib.  

Can I see your ID?

We went to the Orem library this morning and we rode the elevator upstairs with a nice woman who told me about the summer reading program for kids. So while Adam was checking out our books (and his music) and the boys were playing monkey bars on the rails next to the windows, I went over to the children's section to ask about it. The older woman behind the counter started telling me about it. Then she asked me, "just for one child?" I said yes because I didn't think 2 year olds could be a part of it. Then she asked me, "Are you baby-sitting this summer?" I told her that I have two kids.... of my very own. She looked shocked and told me, "You look like a kid yourself!" I told her I was 29, but that I would take that as an awesome compliment.  I think she felt kind of bad and embarrassed, but I really DID take it as a compliment. Should I have been embarrassed or something? Because I wasn't. :)

the BIG runaround

Last night my sister and I planned to take our kids swimming at the local indoor pool before school gets out for the summer- before the crowds. So we got there at 10 AM and they informed us that we need to have some rubber diaper covers OVER the swim diapers we had on Ollie and Addie. They usually sell them there, but had run out over the holiday weekend. This is of course in response to the outbreak of sickness that plagued Utah pools last summer (and caused the ban of kids 5 and under from swimming for the last month of summer.) So I know it's a good thing, to have rubber diapers. So we pack the kids back in the cars, much to their dismay and head to the closest spot who may be selling them, Walgreens. Nothing. Next we go to Walmart. They had 4 hooks that usually hold them, but they were gone. So we try one last spot- Target, who is also out. Keep in mind it's not just park, run in and out. We lug our kids and their toys and keep them from running away in the store and break up fights and deal with tantrums etc, etc, etc. By the time we were done at Target, the kids were done and hungry and wondering why we hadn't gone swimming yet. So we got them some lunch, picked up some water shooters at the dollar store and came home to run through the sprinklers, which noone really did. I of course did all of this without getting ready for the day, and in my swim shorts with my flabby white legs hanging out all over. A day out on the town and I looked awesome. What a crazy morning. Here are some pics I took with my huge camera (that IS working) from the rest of the afternoon. I think the boys still had fun and they were more patient than I was about the whole situation. Hopefully someone will learn from this post to get rubber pants before they go. I should open a booth selling them outside pools this summer and make some extra cash! 

Cookie Time. Madison, Elliott and Benny watching Speed Racer Cartoons (from the 60's.)

My niece, Addie is just so cute! Plus I love babies and grass- they are always so timid. I think she would rather not put her foot down! 




                          My sister, Linds and baby Addie.
                               Benny's swimming pool.

The long weekend

I haven't posted anything for a bit because my camera is broken, and I always like a good picture with my posts! It does this every once in a while (thanks to little hands) and usually starts working later on, but this time I'm not so sure.  We had a fun long weekend. On Friday night we saw the Indiana Jones movie, which was pretty entertaining even if it was a little out there. It made me think how fun it would be to discover some places that have been hidden for so many years. 

On Saturday I helped throw a shower for my friend, Heather who is having her first little boy any second. Later, we took Elliott to his soccer game, which hadn't been scheduled for that Saturday because of Memorial Day Weekend, so we were the only ones there- woops! Elliott said, "Oh well, that gives us more time to play at the park!" So we played, Elliott in his shin guards and soccer uniform. We rolled down the hills too- I hate getting old, because I didn't feel that great after doing so. :(  We packed our stuff for the weekend and left to meet Adam's family for dinner- it was Christie's birthday dinner a couple of weeks early. We ate at The Macaroni Grill. I could eat that bread all day long. Even the boys were dipping theirs in the oil and pepper. We headed straight up to the condo in Midway. We did have to stop at Target for some pajamas for me, which I forgot. Elliott kept asking how in the world I could forget them. I was only packing for Elliott, Ollie, myself and our groceries for the next few days, along with activities and toys for the boys. I did put Adam in charge of the movies we were going to watch. Getting away for the weekend used to be so much less complicated! 

On Sunday we slept in and made a huge, yummy breakfast. Then we just hung out, the boys played and I started "The Princess Academy" for a book club. We went swimming in the pool for a bit, although we spent most of the time in the hot tub. We came back, had lunch and then a long nap. Does this day get any better?? Oh yeah- it does. We got some gelato from the little bakery at the hotel. Between the 4 of us we got chocolate, green apple, pineapple and raspberry. Pineapple was the best- it reminded us of the Dole ice cream in Hawaii. We drove around Heber at night looking for a good place to eat and concluded on Pizza Hut. It was really tasty, although the restaurant was a dive!! 

Monday, we had another big breakfast, I finished up my book and then we cleaned all morning. We left around 1:00 and when we were getting into the car Elliott said he missed the condo already and asked when we were coming back. He loves it there. On the way up he said we should move there and go visit our house every once in a while. I said he would miss his friends and he said they could move up there too. We stopped by this awesome Mexican restaurant in Midway on the way out, which I can't even say, so there is no way I can spell it now. It was so great. I would drive to Midway just to eat there again. Good thing we are going back in two weeks for our ward campout. We drove down through Park City and stopped by the outlet stores, just like the rest of Utah, since it was a rainy Memorial Day. We braved the crowds and found some good deals on clothes for the boys. We stopped by my parents house for a BBQ on the way home. We were exhausted when we got back, but I started laundry anyway, and watched my Tivo after the boys went to bed. It was a great weekend. It's always so good to get away, and even better to come home!! (I think I always say that!)

Mommyhood

So Elliott just asked me what I want to be when I "grow up a little." I said I only want to be a Mom. He said (in amazement) "And just do NOTHING?????" 

Movie Reviews

We watched a couple of movies this weekend (I know- we're super exciting...) so I thought I'd do a review of them and some others I've recently seen:

Lars and the Real Girl- (rented) This was a funny, sweet movie. It wasn't at all like I expected. I even cried (of course.) It had a really great message too.

Iron Man- Better than I thought it would be. Even after all the neighbors told us how great it was, I still wasn't convinced I would like it. The only reason we ended up watching was because of our Friday night baby-sitting group- we had a baby-sitter, time was ticking and it was the only movie that would fit into our schedule. It had funny parts and I think Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect guy for it. 

Baby Mama- I love Tina Fey and Amy Poehler- who were the stars of the movie.  It was sweet and had it's funny moments, but it seems like I had already seen every funny part from the previews. This made it not as good as I thought- but it was still good. 

Who Killed the Electric Car?- (rented) This was a documentary and I still can't believe it really happened!! I never knew anything about the electric cars, so it was pretty eye opening. It is a must see if you haven't seen it yet. 

Across the Universe- (rented) I looooved this movie because I love the Beatles. It stars Jim Sturgess, who may be one of favorite new actors.The longer the movie played, the more artsy it got. Plus- I just wish real life could be like a musical. For my boys it is.....:) I also went and got the soundtrack, which is fun.

21- I really liked it. It was interesting, funny and suspenseful. Plus Jim Sturgess was in it!

Juno- Loved the whole thing. The soundtrack was great (Belle and Sebastian and other greats.) The humor was quick and clever. And I loved the actors- they were all perfect. 

Vantage Point- I had no expectations going into it, so it was pretty entertaining. Lots of blood and guts though- so not my favorite. 

Horton Hears a Who- A fun take on the old classic. My boys loved it too. 

What I've learned from this post is- 

1. I love going to the movies.

2. I'm not that hard to please (as long as it isn't scary, vulgar or mean.)

3. I like sweet, funny movies- which I would see more of if Adam were game.

4. I love having a baby-sitting group. I watch 8 kids one Friday a month and then I get free baby-sitting for my kids 3 Fridays a month.....by adults!! It's the best thing ever! We always used to go to the movies and then we had kids. We actually took Elliott when he was a baby because he would just fall asleep. Then he started to run around and that was the end of that. It seemed like we went for a few years without seeing any adult movies (in theaters) at all- so it's fun to go again. 

Race for the Cure

Last Saturday we ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the cure. My group of running friends met up and so did my family! It was pretty amazing. There were so many people there (an expected 18,000!!!) that it took us about 10 minutes after they started the race to get to the STARTING line! On the race course all you could see were people everywhere! People could wear signs on their backs that said, "In memory of..." or "In Celebration of..." and it was really sobering to see some that said, "In memory of my mom, my grandma, and my aunt" and a lot with many names on them. There were also funny signs that said "In memory of Steph's left breast" and "Big or small, let's save them all!" It felt good to know that a lot of the money will go towards breast cancer research. Another one of my favorite parts might have been that I didn't have to organize getting everyone together! My friend, Rachel got the girls together and my sister, Michelle got our family together! It was pretty relaxing. Great weather, great company and brunch at Mimi's with my family afterwards-which I highly suggest everyone doing sometime because it was really good- so fun!

Linds, Naoma, Sini, Lindsay, Rachel



Estacia, Michelle, Anikka, Mike, Linds, Sini, My Mom

See if you can find us.....Lindsay, Naoma, Rachel and Sini

Mother's Day

I was blessed with the sweetest Mom and I just wanted to wish her a happy Mother's Day today! She was so fun to grow up with- going on hikes, taking us cross country skiing and laughing our heads off at silly jokes. She is always helping everyone around her, whether it be taking someone flowers from her awesome gardens, going to the church when no one is around to help weed and prune their flowerbeds, or helping put shingles on the neighbors' roofs. She's definitely one of the strongest women I know. She has had so many trials in her life, and just keeps moving forward. It has never been a question whether or not she will stay true to her faith- she always does. She is definitely more interested in spiritual things rather than the worldly things- I love it. I want to be more like her. The way she gives of herself as a mother and friend is amazing and has helped me be a better mom and friend. I love you Mom! Thanks for all you do for me and our whole family!

In her younger years (above) and teaching Elliott to ski in her backyard in Jan '08. (below)


I'm also lucky to have a great Mother-in-law, Karen. She has an awesome sense of humor, she's really witty and so smart, not to mention she's gorgeous!! She is such a caring Mom and is so interested in her kids' lives. Back in the day as I was getting to know Adam's family more, I was really surprised to learn that she went to all of their games and events, knew all of her kids' friends names, knew all of their parents' names, etc. etc. I just think it's awesome that she is so involved and cares about what we are up to in our lives. She's an awesome Grammy to our boys too. Sometimes I'm nervous that she has to put up with me- the only daughter in law. But she's always so great, fun and loving. Love ya Karen! Happy Mother's Day! Thanks for helping me be a better mom and always making me feel part of the family!

Elliott and Grammy (May '08)

Spring Cleaning......sort of.

Ahhh Spring! Is it finally here or not? It seems like months ago that I posted that my running group and I had run through the whole winter. I really spoke too soon on that one, because it has snowed many times since then, and it's been so cold that we have had to run with lots of layers until just barely. On Monday it was really warm and we joked that we didn't recognize each other because we were just in our t-shirts and shorts. Seriously- one long winter/cold spring.

So today I was spring cleaning. Elliott was at preschool, Ollie was playing peacefully (as long as E isn't around) and the 5 year old neighbor boy we've been watching all week was making a lego masterpiece. I was deep cleaning my kitchen floor- which I don't do enough. It had started to sprinkle outside and the wind was blowing a little, so I opened my back door really wide and let the smell of rain come in. It was SO nice. I kept thinking- "this is what spring cleaning should be like!" The yummy, fresh air fueled me to clean more and I felt so good, just getting everything clean. When I was finished cleaning the kitchen sink and bathroom, I decided I was done for the moment because I had to go pick up E. I decided to do one last thing before we left- to put the soda left over from a previous young women activity into the fridge for tonight's activity. I'm sure you can guess what happened......but as I was putting it in the fridge, one can broke loose and fell to the ground. It just happened to be a black cherry shasta and it went EVERYWHERE!!! Seriously- five feet in every direction!! All down the fridge and door, all over the freshly cleaned floor, the bar stools, into the pantry, all over the cupboards and all over my shoes, feet and pants. I just stood there in shock as dark red liquid dripped and settled into every little nook and cranny it could find. I said aloud, "Did that really just happen? I can't believe that just happened." Ollie and Dalton came running to see and said it looked like blood. The funny thing was that I wasn't even that mad. It must have been all of that fresh air. I just wiped everything up, re-mopped half the floor and changed my clothes. This isn't the most unusual thing that I have done- I'm pretty clumsy in the kitchen....and everywhere else. A few weeks ago Adam was saying he felt so clumsy the last few days and asked if I ever felt that way. I just looked at him like he was crazy. It's pretty funny. I think this is why I could never be a nurse or something- one little mess up could be a big deal.

Soccer Weekend

On Saturday we got to go to the Real Salt Lake soccer game against LA Galaxy with our friends, Rich and Abby. It was a lot of fun and perfect weather. The view of Beckham wasn't too bad either- that guy is built! ;)


That's Beckham on the far right (in white shorts) after he gave his jersey to a lucky fan......supposedly he does this after every game. It's kind of blurry because my camera's batteries were dying. Did I mention he wasn't hard to look at?

This might have been the boys' favorite part- stairs of water.

Here are some cute pics from Elliott's game yesterday:

Elliott kicking- nice form!



Getting a pep talk during half time.