A Birthday and the cabin

June was a busy month too. We went to my parent's cabin with just my parent's. We had so much fun. We got in the hot tub, except for Beckett. Last time he got in, he lost his balance and he went underwater and hasn't gotten in for at least a year. But he was happy to go watch Green Eggs and Ham and play with the trains that are kept at the cabin, while we relaxed in the hot tub. Belle loved it. She loved the bubbles that kept coming up. Plus I think she thought it was very fun to take a bath with Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa all at the same time.

We went to the cabin the second weekend in June, which was when we were still getting lots of rain and it snowed up at the cabin while we were there. We were all content to stay inside where it was nice and warm and play games and do puzzles (one of my dad's and my favorite things to do). But Beckett really wanted to go outside and go fishing. I had been talking up fishing with him for a few days before we went up and he was really excited to go. Finally it stopped blowing freezing air and bundled Beckett up as best we could. Here he is all ready to go catch a fish.

Well, when they got out the lake, Matt said to Beckett, "We're going to go catch a monster fish." For those of us seasoned fisher people, we know that that means we're going to catch a huge fish. I don't think that is what came to Beckett's mind though. Let me finish the story and you will see why. My dad got Beckett all set up with his pole, red and white bobber, worm on the hook, the works. Beckett was having a great time holding his pole. Not long after he was handed his pole, Matt cast his fly pole out into the water and caught a fish almost instantly. Matt reeled it in and as my dad was scooping up the flopping fish into the net, Beckett through down his pole and said, "No fish!" and turned and ran for the cabin without slowing down or stopping until he came in the door. When he got inside, he said to me and my mom, "Monster fish." We had no idea what he was talking about until Matt told us what he said. We all had a good laugh.

I am going to toot my own horn here for a little bit. I caught a nice fish of my own. It was a tiger trout and weighed about 5lbs. Not bad. Normally my parent's have a catch and release policy with their ponds, but the fish was bleeding when we got it out, so we had to keep it. It tasted so good.

We also had a few birthdays in the month of June. One of the children's friends had her second birthday party the first weekend of the month. The kids had so much fun with her presents. Here they all are in the wadding pool that she got. We had to tell them to pretend to have water in there because they kept asking to have water put in the pool.

I show you this simple because it totally influenced Beckett's birthday presents. He loved that pool so much that I got him one of his own. He loved it. He has had so much fun with it. Unfortunately I am a lame mom and haven't gotten any pictures of him playing in the pool. But it was easily his favorite present.

He loved all the rest of his presents that he got too. He got some yard games from my parents, a Crockett set and a horseshoes game.

They loved playing with them. My parent's also gave Beckett a computer game that he can hook up to the TV. The mouse makes him frustrated sometimes, but other than that, he loves to play it.

Here he is opening some more presents. He had to wait a long time to open his presents. He has been so excited to open presents that for the last three months he has been trying to help everyone else open their presents, even without their permission.

Here is his cake. I made it. In case you can't tell what it is, it is a train. The engine is supposed to be Thomas. I made the shapes of the engine and cars, but my sister decorated it. She did such a good job. I am not that creative or good at doing it. She is amazing though and has creativity come out of her ear, so I was more than happy to turn the decorating job over to her.

It was a great party. He had such a great time. He loved his Thomas cake. Beckett had been asking for a Thomas Birthday party for like 5 months. We had a Thomas balloon and he wore his Thomas shirt. It was awesome.

One other thing that happened during June was that we came to a firm decision on moving to Omaha. I guess I should say I came to a firm decision on moving to Omaha. I have been excited about doing it, but I have gone back and forth about it, until one day I just made the decision that we were going to do it. Since then I have just felt good about it. I guess Heavenly Father just wanted me to make a decision and then go forward with it. If it isn't right, he will let me know. So far, we haven't gotten any kind of a no, so we are moving to Omaha. Scared or not, it is happening as soon as Matt gets a job and we sell our home. Stay tuned for the update on July.

July Update

Hello one and all. I am going to try something different with this update (logical is probably the better word). I am going to go in chronological order, instead of updating each individual of our family. I will begin with the 4th of July. We spent it with my family up at my parent's cabin.



We had a lovely time. The first night we had a birthday party for all of the June and July birthdays. We had brownies with marshmallow cream and fudge frosting on top. So yummy! Matt got in a lot of fishing. He caught quite a few fish, but we only ate 2 of them. It is very nice to be able to fish without needing to buy a fishing license. On Friday night, we all went outside and had a fireworks show in the gravel driveway. It was beautiful but the kids didn't like the sound very much. Matt had to take Beckett inside (I am sure not taking a nap that day had something to do with it as well).



The next day, Independence Day, we had a flag ceremony and talked about our great nation and how lucky we are to live here and ways that we can help to keep it great. It was special and thought provoking and made me misty-eyed. He is our handsome Color Guard.



Here is Belle saying she is ready for a trip around the lake in the raft.



It was a wonderful trip and we had lots of good food and played lots of fun games. I love getting together with family.

As the summer got hotter, I decided to ask Matt to bring Beckett's train table downstairs. I felt bad whenever he went up there to play with his trains because it is so hot and stuffy up there. Beckett is so happy to have his trains back. I think he plays with them every morning while I fix breakfast. We have put it in what used to be our dining room (I will blog more about this in my next post). I moved our table into our kitchen so the train table could fit in the dining room. I also moved the table into the kitchen so we would actually eat at it. Our dining room was anything but a dining room. It was more our "where can we put this? People are coming over" storage room. So our table was always covered with stuff. Now it is the room where we eat and we can actually eat at it. I like it better this way. I don't know if I will put it back after it cools down.

Belle loves to climb. After we moved the train table downstairs, and the kitchen table into the kitchen, she decided she wanted to perfect her climbing skills. As you can see in the background of this cute photo of Beckett, she loves to climb up onto the train table. She pulls out the little drawer on the side of the table and then climbs into that and then up onto the table (she is a thinker).


Since she discovered her new-found climbing area, she has officially earned her name, "Babyzilla". She loves to destroy Beckett's train tracks and steal his trains. It is funny but it also gets old really fast when you hear Beckett constantly whining about his trains. That is our little Babyzilla.


Something scary that happened in July that has to do with Belle climbing was she fell off the kitchen table onto her head. She had climbed up and was sitting close to the edge when she lost her balance and fell off, landing head first. I was so scared. I called her doctor and he told me what to look out for in case she had a concussion. One thing they asked me to check was to see if her head was mushy where she hit. That freaked me out right there. But her head wasn't, it was hard and getting a large goose egg. I was very relieved. I watched her really close and she never showed signs of a concussion, so it turned out okay. Since the accident, I have been much more diligent at watching out for her climbing up onto the table and getting her off the table as soon as she climbs on.

For the 24th of July, Pioneer Day, we went up to the Cabin again with my mom and sisters. It was actually the night of the 24th and then all day Saturday (Matt doesn't get state holidays off, I'm not complaining though, I am just happy he gets paid holidays, whenever they are). We had a lovely time yet again. In fact, we saw the most animal life we have seen all year. We saw two moose (which is a rarity in and of itself), and a big hawk-ish bird (picture not included).



We ate pizza, which Beckett thoroughly enjoyed (really he did, it's his favorite).





I had kind of a Girlie day on Saturday while Matt watched the kids. We watched musicals like "Flower Drum Song" (I love that one) and "Anne Get Your Gun." Sara wanted to do my hair and take fancy pictures of us. I told her she needs to start a business called "Glamor shots by Sara." Here are the results. I think this particular backdrop helps beautify more than most.



For a while I have been wanting to finger paint with the kids. I wanted to use pudding so it didn't stain and so I wouldn't feel bad when they try to eat it. In fact I totally encouraged them to eat it. We used chocolate and vanilla. It wasn't much of a color lesson, but we had a lot of fun. Maybe I'll use pastachio pudding next time so we have green to liven things up.















The kids have found their new favorite thing. Climbing into the cupboard under the TV. They climb in, close the door and just giggle at each other, like they have found some new secret hiding place that Mom will never find. It is so cute.



One of Matt's favorite things that happened last month was taking down the tree in our front yard. The tree was only mostly dead last year when we moved in. This year it was all dead. So we cut it down, with the help of our wonderful home teachers. They had a great time. Matt climbed up in the tree to cut down the branches up at the top (I am sure that is one reason why he loved it right there). Then they cut down the trunk. When they got to the big main part, they cut into it part way and then tried to break the rest of the trunk off by tying it to the back of our home teacher's truck. Well, instead of breaking the tree in half, they just pulled the whole tree out instead.








That about raps up the our busy month of July. Stay tuned for more updates...


P.S. I just want to let certain family members that don't have blogs of their own know that they can leave comments on here. I made it so you can. I don't know that I even mentioned that when I told you all about my blog. I love getting comments. Not that I am conceited, really. I just love knowing who reads my blog. So everyone feel free to leave a comment.

Rivers and streams

Today I am grateful for rivers and streams. This week is my little sister's spring break and so my parents took her to Sundance for their vacation. They invited me and the kids to come to their little cabin/condo place at the resort for the day today. It was gorgeous. Best of all was the river that ran down the mountain behind their place. I love the sound of rushing water. It is so beautiful and calming. My Grandpa Humpherys used to have a cabin up in Sundance when I was really little and that same river I listened to today ran right by it and I remember how it sounded. My old house used to have a stream running through the back of it and on rainy days it would sound so great. It would swell and rush down our yard and it just sounded so wonderful and relaxing. I love that sound. The steady white noise would bring a peace to your soul. I hope to someday have a stream in the yard of our permenant home. I am grateful for rivers and streams.

Cabin Fever and 6 Little Indians

We were a little concerned when two couples bailed on our weekend. We planned on eliminating ten friends and family members, but were left with only 6 - hardly worth the effort. We abandoned the plot and tried to revert our efforts to creating a happy, enjoyable time. Failing at this, we are left with crappy, disappointing let-downs for memories.
Eric, my brother, couldn't get his new, fancy-shmancy SLR camera to work well enough. His camera had outsmarted him in Chess and Clue (and I hear it will be playing Death next, Eric's soul on the table) and I guess its prize was not having to do as much work. It put out some real half-hearted pics that are only worth mentioning for mocking Eric.
Ana (my sister) and Scott tried to set up an MMA cage match between the three infant girls, betting heavily on Allison. The stakes quickly rose too high, however, and nobody would take him at the odds. It could have been quite lucrative; sorry Scott - no dice.
John and Sharice (friends who did NOT bail on the party) brought along their daughter, Krista, and an early-to-bed mentality.
It was real treat to get away from all the carbon-emissions, global warming-causer hatemongers from Wasatch Valley and to embrace Mother Earth's rich glory. The air was clean, the land unspoiled, and the humans left unscathed, save for Eric's ego smashed to bits by his SLR.