Monday, August 24, 2009

Ducks and Joslyn

Sunday night we picked up Joslyn and went to feed the ducks. The kids had a great time throwing bread and running around.







We took Joslyn home with us for popcycles and they were so funny eating them.



Thursday, August 20, 2009

Family Photos

Saturday, August 15th, we all got up early to get ourselves looking camera ready. It was a gorgeous 70 degrees outside. We met our photographer at a beautiful park at 9:30am. She was really fun to work with and did her best to make sure we all smiled and looked at the camera. Sierra isn't much of a morning person, so we had some trouble at first with smiles, but otherwise we got a lot of great shots in.

We only had an hour to get as many photos as possible. The kids were making me sweat after awhile because they were darting everywhere and having so much fun in the free space. We'd nab kids, act goofy to entice smiles, then grin like we were talking through our teeth, break... then repeat. (Here is one of those moments and it didn't quite work for Liam.)


Ian and Grandpa were good sports through it all. After a bit, Grandpa said we needed to do a shot that wasn't so formal. He and Ian came up with this idea to rest our heads on some boulders so we just looked like we were without bodies. It didn't turn out quite as funny as they hoped, but it was cute.

The whole hour, Liam was trying to get used to wearing long pants. He was hiking up his pants the ENTIRE time. Grandpa thought it was so funny, so he'd mock our little sport every time he had a chance. I was glad the photographer caught one of those moments on camera. A great memory of my dad's sense of humor.

Speaking of which, we had a few shots with just we daughters and Dad. He was acting so goofy and we were eating it up. He is such a fun dad!



It was a wonderful morning! Everyone was pretty dang cooperative and I couldn't have been more grateful for that!


Here are a few more candid shots of the kids having a great time!




Thanks, Mom and Dad! We love you so much!


Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Heidi's Graduation

Our trip to Idaho this past weekend was pretty good. We left Thursday night and headed to K’s house. We stayed up late with Katie and Josh while Liam entertained his second wind with a great wooden tile puzzle. He made many designs quietly while we enjoyed our friends.


We all slept extremely well. Liam woke early on Friday morning ready to play with Isaac and Jacob. He got up an hour or so too early though. The twins slept until 8am and then the fun began. They boys played hard until noon when we said good-bye to our wonderful friends and drove the rest of the way to my sister's home town further north. Liam took a little nap on the way.

We arrived at our beautiful hotel late in the afternoon. We had made reservations on hotels.com and paid about half price for a really nice place. It was great to have our own space for the weekend.

We called Heidi and told them where we were, so she and Sierra and Grandma and Grandpa came over to see us. It was a happy reunion with everyone. Grandma B was so excited to hug Liam. They hugged and then Sierra hugged them both too! Grandma was so happy to see Sierra and Liam play together again.

After a lot of playing and chatting with everyone, we broke up the party to freshen up and go to Heidi's graduation that night. On the way, the kids were in the backseat having a blast together. They were laughing and squealing like crazy people. Once we got to the park, the kids were let loose to play until the ceremony began. Grandma and Liam enjoyed the monkey bars together... well Grandma enjoyed both the grandkids as they darted from toy to toy.




I was so glad the ceremony was at a park like this. It ended up that Heidi had invited a little gal and her mom to the graduation and the gal played with the kids at the park while the rest of us focused on the ceremony. It was really nice to see the group of people Heidi had spent the last two years of her life with. They were commended for all their hard work and recognized individually for their accomplishments as they strived for their Dental Hygienist titles.

After the ceremony, more squealing and laughing commenced in the back seat.

We all went to Johnny Carrino's for dinner. It was so delicious and fun to be with everyone. The kids went nuts over Grandma's strawberry virgin daiquiri... And I think Liam ate a whole loaf of bread all by himself. Whenever the waitress would come by, he'd make sure she refilled our basket each time. By the time his spaghetti arrived, he was already pretty full. Both kids got antsy towards the end and Grandpa gave an honest effort wrangling them both on his lap.



We said good-night to everyone and headed back to our hotel. It was close to 9pm and I knew the pool would close at 10pm, so I rushed Liam into his suit and we took a dip for awhile.

Once we got warmed up in the shower and dressed for bed, it was time for Liam to see where he was going to sleep. Liam was tickled to have his own big bed to sleep in and so were we! He looked so tiny in his queen pull-out couch bed.

We all slept like babies that night.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Darling Cousins

Liam just spent the weekend with his cousin Sierra.
They had such a great visit!

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Back Home

So, Liam's Mom is behind on a lot of posting.

Birthday letter never written... was due July 25th.

Day at Lagoon never documented... was due last Monday.

Weekend in Boise... due tonight.

Good luck to me.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Monday - Wednesday

This week has been different. Ian has picked Liam up from the sitter and has been able to come home and feed him AND make dinner in peace. I get home not too long after that and Liam actually welcomes me home AND doesn’t mind trading kisses and squeezes AND cheerfully telling me about his day. There’s nothing like being welcomed home by two dreamy guys.

Monday night was especially sweet as Ian and I shared dinner at the table, Liam was on the floor nearby playing with his trains. He was singing songs, talking to himself, making the animals on the trains talk, etc. It was one of those moments you want to freeze in time.

Tuesday night I was out with friends and Ian took him to Thanksgiving Point. They saw the machines hooked up to a cow and watched the milking process. Liam thought that was amazing… because “That cow must have drunk a lot of milk!” Ian let him call me and tell me about it. “Mom, we saw them suck the milk out of the cows!”

Ian apparently had an agreeable evening with our son and even read him books at bedtime. (Something that is usually difficult to agree to when Liam usually fights bedtime.)

Wednesday (last night) was great too. He played with his trains while we ate our delicious dinner in peace. Then after dinner Ian went to scouts. Liam and I made banana/apricot bread and zucchini bread together. He did most of the work. Honestly. He fetched all the ingredients, peeled bananas, shredded the zucchini, cracked the eggs, ran the hand mixer, tasted tested, etc.

While the breads were baking, I gave Liam a bath. Once he got dried off and his pajamas on, I said we needed to go down stairs to eat some banana bread before he went to bed. On our way down the stairs he said, “Hey Mommy?… I love you.” So heart felt.

I don’t know how many times Liam has told us he loves us this week. He tends to do that a lot when he’s really enjoying his life. A verbal pat on the back for his parents... that leaves us in a quandary, "How are we so blessed to have him in our daily lives?"

Monday, August 10, 2009

Lagoon

Liam had his first experience with Utah's own amusement park on Saturday. We got some discount tickets and thought we should not miss an opportunity to show him some real rides.

We arrived at the park only 30 minutes after they opened the gates. There were no lines to speak of when we got to the beginning pathway-o-fun. Liam had no idea what we were getting him into on the Dinosaur Drop... he just trusted us and then the ride began. He was not happy. Whining and requests to get off were heard the entire 2 minutes of the ride. We got off that and he said he didn't want to do that ever again.

On to the Jumping Dragon. This one goes in circles (forward and then backward). Liam was brave getting on and then the acceleration was just too much and he cried. When the ride slowed down, he stopped the crying and said that was fun and he wasn't scared at all. Ian and I just gave each other the look of "yeah right" and moved on to the next 2 minute torture session. The Tilt-a-Whirl. I loved that ride as a kid and wanted to share the fun with my son. While I laughed my head off on each spin we'd fall into, Liam was whining and saying he wanted it to stop.

We hit the go karts next because we knew Liam would actually enjoy that 100%. Daddy and Liam had a nice long ride and then we went and watched the drag racers for a bit.


We tried to talk him into the big gondola Ferris Wheel, but he wasn't interested. We went on the sky ride instead and saw the whole park from above. We found the kid rides and he was real brave compared to a lot of other kids. He went on the helicopter, a kid roller coaster called "Puff the Little Fire Dragon" and Scalawags (he rode the dragon both times he went on that one).

While we stood in line for this mini roller coaster, we saw a couple kids just crying their eyes out. I was laughing with some other parents looking on doing the same thing. Liam said he wasn't going to cry. He even put his arms up so we could show Daddy, "No Hands" when he took a photo!

This photo of him on this ride cracks me up. Liam had to work the joy stick to make the dragon go up or down. Ian and I were on the sidelines trying to read that serious face of his. Ian's caption was, "This may look like fun, but this is serious work."

We decided to go over to Lagoon-A-Beach since the lines were getting pretty long in the park. The water was so so so cold. Liam was getting right in, but shivering in between slides and swings. We warmed him up and then Daddy and I took turns on the big slides. Liam was content to watch us fly out the chute in our tubes while he stayed in his towel. Before we left the waterside, Ian told me I had a dragon fly on my head. I thought was a nice accessory.



We rode the carousel before we left the park. Liam had a great time.


We walked out to the car and before we were out of the parking lot, Liam was gone. I think that is a new conk out record.


Sunday, August 09, 2009

The best shot ...


from our adventure at Lagoon yesterday.
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Friday, August 07, 2009

Liam overheard

"Hey Dad, guess what number I can say?"

"What number can you say, Son?"

"Twenty Five!!!!"

"NO WAY!"

"Guess what other number I can say?"

"What other number can you say?"

"Fifty Four!!!!!!"

Monday, August 03, 2009

Saturday Night

So on Saturday evening I wanted to take Liam to the pool to play. Then I got to thinking, I better invite some playmates so he'll be sure to have a blast! I commenced calling everyone in my neighborhood who owns kids. Everyone. The whole ward list. Nobody could give me the answer I wanted. I felt a bit defeated and by the time I made 17 phone calls, I decided we might as well stay home.

Liam thought it was a great idea to go outside and enjoy the mild weather with some paints. We had a really nice evening. I was pretty impressed with his butterflies. He'd draw the body, I'd outline the wings and he'd color the wings with as much symmetry as possible. We did a few more butterflies the next day after church too.