Sunday, July 4, 2010

Bear Lake- The McEntire Family

The McEntire's have 12 kids including my Dad, Paul. It is one big, loving family- and I love getting together with them every other year. It's lots of fun to get to know everyone better- even though I'm one of the "old cousins" I guess. It'll be fun watching all the younger ones get married and start families of their own! :)
The Paul and Leena McEntire family- Eric (my bro), Tagen, Ollie, Adam, Lincoln, Sini, Linds (my sis), Addison, Brian, Leena (my mom), Anikka, Mike, Michelle (sis), Baby Melora, Trevor, Ari (bro), Jason, Elliott, Benny and Elli. (Whew! That's not even all of us!)
Jim and Sue McEntire Family
Gerald and Susann Lusk Family
Evan and Helen McEntire Fam- Meeting my cousins, Mark and Mick for the first time was pretty cool. (And their families of course!)
The Wayne and Marcia Wetzel Family
Richard and Sherry McEntire Fam
The Merlin and Penny McEntire Family
Jim and Brenda Hinman Fam
Jared and Anne McEntire Fam
I missed the Scott Family and Yolanda and her daughter. :(
The McEntire sibs- Merlin, Graham, Evan, Jared, Richard, Jim, Susann, Marcia, Brenda and Carolyn. Missing are my dad, Paul (deceased) and Uncle Marvin- who was having some health issues in St. George. We missed him and his family!
The in-laws.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Yipeeeeeeee!!!!

Is it Christmas?! I am so excited that we are up and running and can load pictures again! I'm very excited to blog- it's been a long 4 months. I even got a little teary eyed as we set up our new computer last night and loaded on almost one thousand pics.... Yahooooooo!! More updates to come! :)

Friday, June 11, 2010

Lincoln at 14 months

Lincoln at 14 months:

His eyes have made the transition to mostly brown.

Still takes two naps and sleeps from 8 PM to 8 AM!

Has 10 teeth- 4 upper and lower and his right top and bottom molars.

Loves to walk everywhere, climb everything (stairs, clubhouse ladder, pushes things like little garbage cans over so he can get higher and every time I get him from his crib he is standing on the bumper to get just a little higher!) He loves to run away and laughs like crazy if you come after him. He always has a scrape or bruise on his face from all of his adventures- I've been postponing his 1 year pictures for that reason!

He is very busy and rarely sits down to play with toys. His idea of playing is having something in both hands and something in his mouth and walking around with it.

He loves his blankie and binky. Like- he wants to have them all the time, not just at naps and bedtime.

He's really hard to keep track of in public places- yesterday we went to the library and he was gone so fast- no matter how many times I brought him back. He just wants to explore! He also loves going straight for the street if we're in the front yard. His little ritual is to grab the broom and dustpan from our garage and take them out into the street.

It seems Linc is always sucking on little things he finds around the house- marbles, game pieces, rocks... yesterday I was showing him some roly polies and he put one in his mouth!!!! Yuck! I got it out fast before he could chew it.

He still has an obsession with shoes and will bring them to me to either have me put on, or we'll put them on his feet and he tries to walk around with them on.

In the last couple of days he likes carrying things to the top of the stairs and throwing them down.

This boy can eat!!! Some meals he eats more than the big boys. But every once in a while he won't eat anything I put in front of him, even though he seems hungry. He still won't eat bread or sandwiches, so we have to get creative for lunch. His favorite foods include string cheese, yogurt, cold cereal, fruit, mac and cheese, cookies and jellybeans. I see everyone giving him jelly beans all the time. Wonder how many he eats a day?

He loves to clean out the cupboards while I'm cooking or getting ready in the morning. And he loves to unroll the toilet paper.

He just learned to fake laugh. We were driving and he was making some big noise so I turned around and he had this huge, wide, open mouth smile with a fake chortle to match. He just wants to join in on the fun.

He loves to dance to music.

The only thing he says besides "Ma Ma" and "Da Da" is "Uh-Oh" and that has just been in the past few days. It's the cutest thing ever! He does know the signs for "milk" and "more". He definitely has his own little language of grunts, whispers, screams, clicks and lisp sounds though.

His hair is turning light (what I wouldn't do to have golden brown hair!) from the summer sun and his little arms are so dark! He's got his Daddy's skin for sure!

He's been loving splash parks. He laughs, screeches and claps and follows the big kids around. He loves to get wet!

He is at such a fun age! We love his little round belly and wispy baby hair. It's sad to see him growing into his skin and his little fat rolls disappearing. He's still so little compared to the big boys- but he's growing so fast! We love our Little Linc!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

oliver video


Yippee! I finally uploaded a video (my first one ever!) I put this on because Ollie got his first short haircut for the summer. This is before the cut and it is so Oliver. Maybe someday I'll post the pictures of his cute little hair now. It's hard to recognize him- but I love it! Still feverishly working on cleaning my iphoto out so I can upload pics...
{Ollie}

and here's a little diddy from the cruise-

Adam, Rich and Luke sing "Puff the Magic Dragon"

Saturday, May 22, 2010

not that but this

{Linc and E in February.}

The other night, Elliott's tooth fell out. At least that's what I heard when I got home from an errand. I was amazed that he let Adam pull it out- he won't let me near it. (And I've wanted to pull it out for the last 3 months that it's been dangling out of his mouth and you could see the new one coming in behind it... but I refrained. Oh man that was hard!) Adam left the room and as I was talking to the boys in their beds Elliott told me that Adam had to wrestle and pull it three times to get it out! Funny that Adam didn't mention any of that! But he was happy it was out.

Next we needed to find the gold coins the tooth fairy has been giving out, and this time Adam told E the tooth fairy was paying triple. So he asked where the coins were, and I don't remember putting them anywhere- so he must have right? We searched everywhere- and I got a nice little talk about not losing things and Adam got a nice little talk about keeping track of 5 people's stuff and that maybe he could be in charge of it. So anyway, the only place we hadn't looked was a little drawer and I knew they had to be there. I came back to Adam and said, "I didn't find that, but this!" It was some oil he had ordered in the mail for one of his electronic things and had been expecting (and asking) about it for days. I told him it hadn't come yet, but that it seems like I dreamed about it or something. Yeah. It had come, and why it was in the drawer I have no idea. Two more times this has happened in the last few days. I tried to find a book of Adam's great grandma in our storage room and instead came back with a sack of clothes that were supposed to be Linc's Christmas presents! Woops! Not that but this! And then I went to get some mac and cheese in our food storage per the boys' request and i found one of Linc's milk filled sippy cups that had been turned chunky. Gross. There's always a surprise in our house. Hmmm- what else can I find???

Here are some other observations from the weekend:

At E's soccer game the other team's coach was wearing a shirt that said, "Raider Hater" and the people sitting next to us (who's kid was on their team) had a huge Raider's blanket over them. Funny.

Also, another family had the same blue plaid blanket that we had- which isn't anything special, except for the way I ended up with this certain one. Once or twice I went on a date with a boy. I drove to his house in the winter and my heater was broken, so on the way home- he gave me his blanket from his bed. You know the old trick- give them something so you have to keep in touch in order to get it back? Well- we didn't keep in touch. A couple of years later- my sister said it was rude of me to keep it and that I should still take it back- but I didn't. So now I have this awesome picnic blanket that I always keep in my car. And I use it at all of the freezing cold soccer games. I wonder where the other family got theirs?

After the game- the coach came and talked to Elliott and told him what a good job he did. "Your best game ever!" he said. He almost made a goal a few times- which is way different than the "hanging-in-the-back-of-the-pack-never-touching-the-ball" attitude we usually see every week. (In his defense- he's got some very good 6 year old players on his team.) The coach looked at us for an explanation and I wanted to tell him that we practiced every day for hours and he finally understands the game- but I blurted out the truth, "We promised him that if he kicked the ball at least 5 times he could pick something out at the dollar store." I know- motivation comes in many forms- thank goodness for that dollar store though right? And he kicked it way more than 5 times. And he said it was the most fun he's had in a game. And I'm glad he felt how fun it could be. The dollar was money well spent.

As we were walking into the dollar store- a preteen girl walked in front of us and I had to look twice because tucked into her jacket so you couldn't see the top, but sticking out of the bottom of her jacket about a foot past her bum was a huge, fuzzy nest of hair. It was gross. And sad. Who lets their kid have hair like that? It seems so.... impractical.... and.... in the way. But whatever. I'm sure people think Ollie's hair could use a trim all the time. Speaking of, he might get a little cut for the summer. Although tonight in the bath I realized that his bangs make great sunscreen! His cheeks are all tan and his forehead is super white! I guess we'll see.

Adam got to coach Ollie's team today and only 4 boys showed up. The other team also had 4, but they seemed a head taller. So we got killed. It was funny to see Adam out there. After he was telling me the little boys were telling him stories the whole time, stomping on his toes, holding his hand and not really paying attention. That's 4-year-old soccer for ya. Ollie is really into soccer though- he's fun to watch.

Oh! I've been craving chips and salsa like crazy these days! Nope- I'm not pregnant, but it seems like I get in these moods and then I don't eat it for months and back and forth. Our friends invited us to the Red Iguana the other night and it was oh so tasty! Their fish taco was divine! So maybe that kick started it again, and I've been loving Herdez salsa. But last week I found some pico de gallo in the grocery store in a little fridge section. The brand is Rico and it is so good! We went through two in a week! I need to grow my own veggies so I can make my own this summer!! Rico also makes a good "ceviche" which is like salsa but has seafood in it. I tried this for the first time in Honduras- so good! So I got some and I love it- am I really eating shrimp? This is big!!

And since the bacteria was found in our water and the majority of the city has gotten sick from it, they have been chlorinating the water- big time. My dishes have never been cleaner it seems, but I can't bring myself to drink it yet. Word on the street is that it has the same amount of chlorine as a swimming pool...yikes! How is that healthy? I guess they haven't found how the contaminant got in our water yet, so they can't fix it yet. I wonder how long this will last?

We stopped by a crappy yard sale and came out with a cool old school light up santa and a tiny chord organ in a box for $7. And a toy metal gun for E and a tiny motorcycle for Ollie. So I guess it was a success. But where are all the cool garage sales with amazing stuff? How come I never come upon those?

And tonight Adam was supposed to play with his band so me and the boys had movie night and watched Pinocchio. When the blue fairy came out- Elliott said, "Look how pretty she is Mommy. Don't you wish you were that pretty? And sparkly?" Funny boy. Crazy weekend. And we still have a day to go!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

mother and child

I just read a beautiful post on motherhood and childhood on my friend, Tammy's blog. I hope you go there to read it. She is an amazing person!

P.S. I'm not promising there won't be tears.

chocolate covered raspberries

I got this lovely idea from V Chocolates. I had a huge basket of raspberries from Costco so I decided to see if I could make them myself. First you need tiny cupcake papers. Then, just melt some good milk chocolate chips (I like ghirardelli,) and while the chocolate is still warm, drop in some raspberries. Then drizzle with white chocolate (melted chips) and put into the fridge until ready to serve. I'm usually not a huge raspberry fan, but these flavors together are delicious!

Monday, May 17, 2010

the lake at daybreak- july '09

We visited the lake at Daybreak a couple of times last summer. The boys loved climbing on the rocks, sitting on the piers and playing in the sand. I just think the whole community is such a great idea- they have so many fun things to do!



My friend Lindsay lives there now so it's close enough to ride her beach cruiser. I love this picture of you Linds!
Ollie's self portrait.
Last year we couldn't stay for too long for lack of bathrooms- but this year- oh- we might just stay all day! I'm not sure how the people who live at Daybreak feel about all their visitors though... :)

Sunday, May 16, 2010

bbq

The beautiful Swalberg Family- minus Amy, Cody and Me.
We are so lucky to live close to both of our parents. My boys love to visit both grandparents and their huge yards, but have been especially loving Adam's parent's new backyard. They beg to go over. Okay- it might have to do with the amazing playset they have in their yard, the waterfall and river and the toyroom stocked full of vintage toys from when Adam and his sisters were little and tons of new toys. It's like Disneyland over there. For us adults too. I could stare out at the surrounding fields and mountains all day- and when it gets too dark for that- there's always the theater room... But mostly I just like to visit and see what's happening in everyone's lives. I love my families!
Megs and Ollie making s'mores.

Checking out the waterfall.
And who wouldn't love getting spoiled and playing games with aunties, uncles and grandparents? (Thanks guys- you are so good to my boys!)

*All pictures in this post from August 2009.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Tibble Fork- July '09

Ollie hanging out with a ground squirrel.

I missed when the playgroup went to Tibble Fork, but I still had the canyon pass for 2 more days, so I talked Linds into going back with me (2 days after she already went!) She's such a great sister!



It was such a beautiful lake but oh so cold! The boys waded in this for hours and I think just became numb to it. But they loved it.
Sweet little Addie. If she isn't the cutest little thing.


I'm glad Ollie has cousins that look like him...



I love these action shots of skipping rocks!

Monday, May 3, 2010

the accidental creekbed- July '09

We were running late to a play group last summer because of a doctor's appointment. It was in AF Canyon, but I didn't have the exact directions, so we drove around for a bit and when we couldn't find anyone we knew, we stopped and ate our lunch by the river. I was nervous to hold the baby and watch two big boys playing by the river by myself, so I talked the boys into stopping at a smaller stream just outside the canyon in Highland. I had seen some kids playing out there on our way up. It was a hot July day and the river was so cold- it felt good to put our feet in. We slathered on the sunblock and played for a while. The boys loved this place. I hope we make it again this year!







I think this picture is so funny because I have a Kneader's mint brownie piece stuck on my face from lunch. (I LOVE those things.)
Linc even got his toes wet for a second.


Love my summer play group- can't wait for it to start again in 4 weeks!
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