One on One

Ian had a business trip to Rochester, New York last weekend. He left at 6am Thursday morning and came back 2am Monday morning. He and his co-worker/friend, Kris, were able to see Palmyra, the Sacred Grove, The Statue of Liberty (from afar with fireworks), Philadelphia, many Washington D. C. monuments and Niagara Falls in one weekend (after the work related stuff on Thursday evening and most of the day Friday)! They put 1,400 miles on their rental car and went without a lot of sleep to make that happen. His Garmen GPS got them around as if they'd been to the east coast a million times before. A pretty remarkable site seeing trek.

So while Daddy was at "the ocean" or so I told Liam, I packed our weekend full of local activities. This plan insured smiles and happiness rather than scowls and snappiness (which is what boredom at home is known to cause).

First I have to report Liam's computer skills that took flight on Friday. He not only paints, he navigates to different games now and decides what he wants to do. Watching him get the hang of a game or activity so fast blows my mind! He's smarter than I am on some of those kid web sites. Uptoten.com is a favorite right now. He was making cookies for a long time this morning (cookie cutters, baking and decorating). But back to the weekend...

Friday night we went out to dinner and then to Color Me Mine for some painting fun. He was so tickled picking out his baby turtle to paint (and I found a smaller tile for him to paint too). We saw some design ideas in a kids finger painting book, but those ideas never came to fruition. Liam went crazy mixing all the colors on his ceramic pieces. He kept getting up and running over to the paints and asking for new colors. I was glad I didn't have a piece of my own to focus on, supervising his artistic side was plenty of work. (Warning to parents: You don't get to take your work home until 3-4 days later when the pieces have been glazed and baked in the kiln. Liam was sad about not taking his baby turtle home. I explained to him many times that the turtle had to go in the oven and would change color. So that is a story he's added to his repertoire. "Turtle in oven and it change color...")

That night Liam had his regular outdoor bath and went to bed with excitement for the next day. He had been talking about the animals all week long so I thought we should make a trip to Farm Country Saturday morning... he was so excited and kept saying "see elphants?" Then I'd have to rattle off all the farm type animals he would see. How does he remember our zoo trip from over a month ago?

It ended up that my friend, Miriam, contacted me Thursday suggesting the same Farm Country idea. So we met up at 10am with our kids and had a nice visit together.

Five year old Elizabeth was kind enough to take this photo of us:

After Liam's fun time following Elizabeth around, seeing baby calves and riding the horses twice, we said our good-byes. Liam and I went to Iceberg for lunch then headed home for naps.

Immediately after naps we suited up and went to the pool. I was determined that we were going to do something water related on such a hot summer day! We had the most glorious 2 hours in the water together! We played in the kiddie area a lot, went on the HUGE water slides a few times and also played in the deeper pool. Liam would jump off the edge to me and I'd guide him back to the side. He'd get out of the pool all by himself once he was to the edge. I found it humorous watching him struggle each time as his bulky life jacket would hinder his movement. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the water - splashing, laughing and focusing on each other. I was only able to take a couple photos when we first got there and then right before we left. Here is my water baby!

Too bad the tattoo guy wouldn't move for a few great photos I got of him jumping into the water.

The rest of our evening included taking a hot shower, eating dinner and watching Toy Story.

Sunday Liam did great in Sacrament Meeting and in Nursery. Once again I enjoyed my two hours of classes. We had lunch and took naps once we got home. The day was too hot to really enjoy outdoors, so after naps we played games on the computer together. At 5pm our neighbor, Laura, called and invited us over for dinner. We walked over there (Liam rode his trike) and dinner was so nice! Manicotti! Liam ate two helpings! He and Jason played well together and we headed home around 7pm. Sprinkler fun commenced, then an outdoor bath.

It was an awesome weekend with my boy! I am glad we were able to do so much together. I have to note, though, that Liam mentioned Daddy many times. He missed him terribly and I could tell he would have loved Ian to play all weekend with us.

2 years, 8 months

Dear Son,

Another month went by and I've decided June is my favorite month of the year. We've had a lot of fun in the summer sun and also in the shade. You've had a love for the outdoors since you were a tiny guy... and as you've grown, that love has too. I am glad you enjoy it so much. You can always find something to do. Even when we've been camping this past month, you find rocks to throw, things to climb and dirt to kick. You are a water baby too! You can't resist water. From zero degrees to ninety degrees, you'll jump right in!

Tonight I was beaming with pride. We had gone to Home Depot to pick up 21 tomato cages. You didn't run away from me AND you held on tight as we dragged them to the car. THEN you helped me unload them from the car and pull them apart. THEN you fetched one after another so I could put them over our tomato plants. I asked you for #13 and you said you were too tired to do it. (Insert mama's smirk here... because of your mature statement.) You went towards the house and I heard the door slam shut. I followed you a couple minutes later thinking you'd hopped back on the computer. I opened the door and you were standing at the kitchen sink with a chair, washing your hands! You know me so well. I love you!

Even though I am a day late in posting this letter, I am glad I did. I can report today that you officially know how to work a computer mouse! You were painting online today. I was so impressed! Both Megan and I worked with you yesterday and you still couldn't get it down. I was very surprised today when you took the lead and you rarely said, "MOM HELP!" Then tonight you were clicking 100% of the time with your pointer finger on the left side of the mouse... a pro!

Some other gems that I've forgotten to post in the past couple months:

Sildy - You always ask us if something is silly when you think it might be. "Mom, is dat sildy?"

Bwo Away - You are concerned about your hat at all times outdoors. You are so scared the wind it going to blow it off.

Twees Bwoing - You are an enthusiastic story teller with an impeccable memory! Almost two months ago there was a horrible wind storm. Ever since that fateful night, you' ve been scared to sleep in your own bed and you tell us why each time you encounter your bedroom. (This story is among many others about your daily adventures...)

Talk - When you tell me the same thing over and over and I stop repeating or acknowledging... you say "Mom! Talk!"

Fwee? - You've learned how to negotiate. If we tell you that you can have one of something, you don't ask for two, you ask for three immediately. It's so darling how you say "fwee?" so sweetly, we cannot say no.

You are a doll.

I have to conclude this letter with a little something about how I've felt lately. I finally feel like I've toughened up the past month. Yes, I yell and throw fits just like you, but I feel comfortable and unaffected by the loads of work raising a child is. I guess I could only compare it to someone training for a marathon... they huff and puff when they first start training, but they slowly get the muscles and stamina built up to push through and actually enjoy the run instead of dread it. The workload is the same as it always was but I don't mention it as often. I just do it and move on. Change doesn't usually take me two and a half years to adjust to... but it happened this way on the motherhood calling.

I love you, baby boy! You are a sweet and amazing little person! Your jokes are clever, your movement is lively, your voice is angelic! I wish I could bottle it all up and keep you this adorable and affectionate! Thanks for your hugs and kisses. Thanks for your middle of the night snuggles. Thanks for granting favors and for the high fives.

You are one of a kind and we love you so very much!

Yours forever,
Mom

Always Outdoors

Every evening when I get home from work, Liam wants to play outside. Every. Day.

It's hot outside and it's not my favorite thing. But I suck it up and let him have his fun and I pull weeds, sit on the porch or push him around on his tricycle. I guess it could be worse, there could be mosquitoes. Luckily those pests haven't joined the summer party.

Anyway, as we were finishing up dinner last night, our neighbor (Jackie) and her grandson (Xander) came knocking at our door. They invited us over for water balloon fun! It was a welcome treat... to have a gal to talk to while the boys play. The funny thing is, Jackie is such a kid herself, she is right there with the boys filling up water balloons, hiding their feet in the sandbox and making sandcastles! I don't know where she finds the energy! Liam is lucky enough to play with her in Nursery at church each week too. She really loves working in the Nursery too.

Here are some photos of the boys playing. They got along amazingly well. Both loved the cold water wars... they didn't mind the chilly streams one tiny bit. Such boys! And of course amid their shivers they insisted they were fine.

And tonight, Kara and Joslyn invited us over to play in their little alligator pool. Liam was his regular water baby self and Joslyn quickly got gun shy as Liam started splashing her. She basically watched and laughed as Liam would dive into the pool or jump around and splash. Later they played on the trike so nicely together. Liam even let her wear his hat... he totally loves her. And then when it was time to walk home, they gave such sweet hugs and the perfect little kiss. I love how she is a bit shorter than him and she has to reach up to smooch.

Sad Happy Day

Church was really great today. We were on time and were able to sustain a new bishopric. Liam did well in Sacrament meeting AND in Nursery. Amazing.

We got home from church and found that two loose dogs had dug a burrow into our chicken coop and killed our chickens. One dog was still in the coop with the other looking on.

I was so sad. I was so sick over it.

Ian took care of calling dispatch and reporting the dogs (we knew who the owners were). Both the police department and animal control showed up to get statements. Since chickens aren't safe in our coop, we fear that these dogs will get loose again and hurt our cats or even Liam. They killed our chickens just to kill them, they did not eat them. I found out from another neighbor that these dogs are neglected. So that is kinda scary to think about if they are hungry and bored and reverting back to their husky/wolf instincts.

Liam still has no idea.

He played outside in the sprinklers after his nap. He got completely soaked and chilled. I gave him his warm outdoor bath earlier than usual. He's had an outside bath every night since last Sunday. He is always asking to take a bath now... always! Last night after the rodeo it was already dark out and getting breezy. He kept his whole body covered with water. I've never seen him that calm in a bath before. Like he was enjoying a hot jacuzzi.

Here is a photo from this evening's bath. Love those beautiful eyes!

Rodeo

After a long Saturday with Liam while Ian was at work, we all went to the rodeo that night.

We couldn't find seats so we went to the staging area so Liam could see all the horses come and go. He was so cute watching so intently and clapping for the cowboys.

We walked around for a bit and shared some strawberries and cream. One thing that was really funny was a group of steers Liam was watching. I had just taken a bite of my strawberries and Ian tells me to look at a steer with a cow pie on his back. Apparently that poor cow was napping and got pooped on. The figure eight shape of the pie on his back was too funny! I almost choked!

I love that angel face!

Strawberries

We harvested about 7 berries this evening. I washed them and Liam ate them all... as per the usual since all our berry harvests are about this size.

East Canyon State Park

We left yesterday afternoon for East Canyon State Park, Northwest of Park City. The drive was just gorgeous! It's such a beautiful time of year to be close to the mountains. Striking green foilage climbing the sides and snow capped peaks at the tops. We zig zagged up the foothills of the mountain side and wondered if we were the only ones seeking out this hidden mountain park! It is so isolated and quite the long drive to find.

Ends up everyone knew about this place but us. It was a hopping lakeside camp ground. We had neighbors surrounding our site. We had a much harder time falling asleep here than Wasatch State Park in Midway a couple weeks ago, to say the least.

When we got to camp, we set everything up and got dinner going. The firepit had a great grill attached to it and cooked our polish sausages just right! We filled our bellies, then I finally gave into Liam's request to go see the water. (From the moment we got there, he kept running off towards the lake. We had to redirect him a few times.)

We played in the sand for a while and scooped water out of the lake with buckets. Liam could have stayed all evening just scooping water into the holes we dug in the sand. Ian and Uncle Drew (and Wyatt) met us by the shore a little later and we all walked over to the marina. We didn't hang around there long... so we headed back to camp to get Liam in his pajamas. He became very whiney because he wanted to back to the water and play. Bedtime treats were placed in his belly and we turned in for the night. He was restless for the longest time. I wonder if he would have stayed up all night listening to the neighbors if we didn't have the furnace going for white noise.

Liam slept in until 9am. I was amazed because the neighbors were up at 7am starting their trucks and making other inconsistant noise. He seriously wore himself out the day before.

We had a wonderful french toast breakfast. Liam ate melon while he waited for us to get everything out for the meal prep. He was then kind enough to pour lots of cinnamon in the batter and stir it up for us. (Love those sleeping morning eyes.)

He took two bites of his toast and then ran off to play in some rocks and dirt. I had to coax him back to take one more bite then eat some yogurt, banana and drink some juice. He's been a good eater lately if we can get him to sit still for 3 minutes (which is not easy to do).

Liam was excited to get his swim clothes on and head back down towards the water. He wasn't interested in the sand this time. He went straight for the water. He splashed with his shoes for a minute, then asked me to take off his shoes so he could step into the water. He mainly splashed around and only got down the the second step. Later when Daddy and Drew came over to play, he got in all the way. He also threw a big stick in the water for Wyatt to catch. This was Wyatt's first swimming experience. He was so fun to watch. We all would stand clear when he'd jump out of the water and shake!

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We headed back to camp with a shivering whiney little boy in tow. He was freezing but still wanted to go back in the water. We distracted him with dry clothes and pasta salad. We packed up camp and took another amazing drive home. Liam fell asleep after a roadside diaper change.

He kept himself busy with Monsters, Inc and his GeoTrax train set the rest of the day.

An outside bath ended his day. I filled up the stock pot with warm water a few times and we were set for outdoor bath time! He has a major addiction to water fun so another fit was thrown while drying him off and forcing his pajamas on him. I think we'll have all his summertime baths outside from now on. He had a fantastic time as you can see!

All photos here.

Happy Early Father's Day!

We are off to go on another camping trip. I thought I'd get this posted before we leave so Daddy would be surprised when we get back Sunday night!

Thanks for all the wonderful and thoughtful things you do for us! We enjoy the way you make us laugh and appreciate your unconditional love!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And Happy Father's Day to our Dads (the "Pa-paws)! We love you both very much! One Dad is in Minnesota probably already fighting off monster mosquitoes and the other one is in Japan avoiding sushi. So hopefully they both are able to have a nice relaxing day.

Photos set to Music

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com



Photos courtesy of Meredith Photography.

Friday Thru Sunday

June 6-8, 2008

Friday night we ended up working in the yard until almost 10pm! Liam was actually a big help. He helped me pull weeds while Daddy was mowing the lawn and trimming the backyard. Daddy helped me load the truck with all our junk that needed to go to the dump. It felt so nice to clean up our back yard! Lastly, Daddy edged the front lawn. Liam was right beside me sweeping with his own broom to clean up the grass and dirt from the edger. We were so proud of our hard working boy!

Saturday morning Ian had to work. Liam and I got around and met Meredith at 10am to pick up our family picture she printed up for us. It turned out great! I can't wait to find the perfect frame for it. (On the way to Meredith's house, Liam said, "We goin' see Kake?" I was amazed that he remembered me mentioning her the day before. I immediately called Kate to tell her how excited he was to see her later in the day.)

We went to the dollar store and a few other stops including a couple garage sales on the way home. I got a big stack of Dr. Suess books for only 4 bucks! I've shopped those on ebay before and have never seen a better deal than that! What a steal!

We ate a light lunch and hung around the house until Ian got home from work. I tried to get Liam to take a nap, but he didn't go down by 1pm.

We had to leave at 1:30 to meet up with my friends at the Cheesecake Factory. He fell asleep in the car for about 20 minutes. So I was worried he'd be a monster at the restaurant. He did pretty well because I packed many distractions and treats for him. Plus he was spending time with "Aunt Kake" so he was in a good mood. Once I got my food he shared the angel hair pasta with me and the edamame of course. I got a nice big slice of cheesecake and he went to town on the pile of whipped cream on the side. I love that he prefers the whipped cream to the heavy sweets it usually garnishes.

Ian and Uncle Drew had gone golfing about an hour after we left for the Cheesecake Factory, so I wasn't in any hurry to get back to an empty house. We stopped at Farm Country to see the animals and go on a pony ride. I was so proud of Liam riding the pony all by himself!!! Last year he sat on the pony for a minute, but was not interested in taking a ride. I was beaming with pride while he enjoyed the ride this time around.

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We got home and walked over to Joslyn's house to feed her fish. As much as Liam loves Joslyn, I think he loves it more when she is out of town and can feed her fish. He rode his tricycle to and from with me riding on the back on and off. He likes to go fast and I am so grateful the grandparents bought him a heavy metal version of the Radio Flyer. It holds us both and we have so much fun riding together!

I gave Liam a bath and got him in his pajamas. I was completely exhausted from over a week's worth of bad allergies (day and night) and a full day with my busy boy. I got him in bed and myself in my bed by 8pm. Even with Liam up a few times in the night, it was a nice 12 hour rest. I even had sweet dreams. I need to sleep for 12 hours at a time more often.

Sunday we made it to the last 2 hours of church. Liam did well in nursery and I fully enjoyed the time I had in Sunday School and Relief Society.

We got home and Liam did his normal noon-Sunday-tricycle-riding. After much coaxing, I was able to get Liam inside so we could eat lunch... then we both took naps. When Liam woke, Ian took him downstairs and let me sleep another hour. I appreciated that so much! When I went downstairs, Ian was feeding Liam yogurt and the dishes were done and sanitizing in the dishwasher. Thank you, Daddy!

The rest of the day was relaxing. We played outside some more and went to feed the fish down the street.

I forgot to mention that Ian also built a drip system for our garden. It works great and I am thankful we don't have to water the whole backyard, fence and chicken coop just so our garden won't die.

See the whole album HERE.

Liam Bowls

I still need to write a report on our nice weekend, but I thought I'd post video of Liam bowling for the first time last night...

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We weren't able to get his celebration dances on video. It cracks me up how excited he gets! Also the fact that he insists on carrying those 10 and 12 lb bowling balls all by himself. Hilarious!

First Horse Ride

Opinionated Child

I was getting ready for the day and Liam was sitting on the bed playing with my different lotion bottles. Off came my clothes and he looks up and says, "Ewwww mom bum! Huge bum, Mommy!"

I was appalled and said, "What did you say? Huge?"

He replies, "Yeah, Mom, huge bum! Big bum!"

I smiled as I said "that wasn't very nice"... but laughed anyway.

Liam Overheard

Liam was playing on his tricycle, following a couple neighbor boys around on their scooters. Each time they'd turn around and head back to their house, Liam would exclaim, "Hey boys, wait. I gotta turn around. WAIT!"

He cracks me up.

He gets his way when nobody's looking

Last night at bed time, Liam said he wanted to sleep in our bed. We said no and tucked him in the twin bed. (He's slowly moving from his transitioned crib/daybed to the twin bed on and off.)

Around 10pm I went up to check on him... he wasn't in his room!

I found him under the covers in our room sweating in his sleep!!!!

I thought it was hilarious... but then I remembered that was his original request... belligerent kid.

Ready for the Summer Schedule

The pre-school scene is all set up! The 1,2,3's and A,B,C's posters are one wall and the United States Map is on the opposite wall. The coloring books, art supplies, crafts, games and activity ideas are all filed and organized. All the kid music CDs and kid DVDs are in their respective homes. Liam's daily schedule for his new caretaker is on the refrigerator. The "sunscreen & hat" reminder is on the inside of the front door.

I feel so good about the summer months and how much Liam will learn! He is going to have a lot of fun!

He is anxiously awaiting Megan's arrival tomorrow morning!

Wasatch State Park - Friday Night Camp Out

Towards the middle of the week, Ian asked if we should go camping on Friday night. I thought it was a great idea... and so did Liam (though he really had no idea). We needed to get the tent trailer aired out anyway, so we set it up Wednesday evening. Liam was loving the new play space! We cleaned it out and got it loaded up for Friday's excursion.

Friday after work, I picked Liam up and reminded him what we were doing that night. He got all excited and it was easier than normal to pull him away from Ammon and Braydon's house.

We got on the road at 6pm and headed to Midway. Our directions were wrong and we ended up climbing a very rocky mountain side for a few miles before we ran into a ranger that gave us correct directions to Wasatch State Park. Liam was starting to doze off by the time we were just a mile from our campsite... we had to keep him awake and remind him that Uncle Drew and Wyatt were right behind us and we'd play with them soon.

The campsite was really nice and very quiet. I got the fire going while Ian set up the tent trailer. We roasted hot dogs and polish sausages and later did marshmallows. Liam was actually hungry enough to eat most of a hot dog and seemed to have left plenty of room for quite a few marshmallows (he didn't want them roasted).

It was nice to have Drew and Wyatt with us. They are both very entertaining and fun to hang out with. At 10pm we said goodnight to them and they drove back home.

Liam was so excited to sleep in the camper! Ian got the furnace working (it was a really cold night). Liam went right into his crib and went right to sleep without his silkies. Too much excitement to remember his comfort items... amazing!

He coughed most of the night, but otherwise did great. In fact, we were all suffering with allergies that night, but I think we got enough rest.

Liam woke around 7am and immediately wanted to go outside even though it was FREEZING! He threw enough fits that we finally put his jacket on and his shoes and let him free. He picked up where he left off the night before picking up sticks and throwing anything else he could find into the fire pit. He was also back at trying to climb huge rocks. He was too busy to eat breakfast. He ate 2 bites of a boiled egg and a few bites of yogurt.

After working the self timer on my camera for a few family shots and getting some shots of Liam on the big rocks, we got around for the day. We took Liam to the fishing pond and he really got into it. Actually he was more excited over the prospect of using a fishing pole than he was about camping (prior to the trip).


It turns out he wasn't patient enough to catch any fish. He had Daddy help him cast and he'd just reel the line in.... over and over and over. A fish took a nibble, but when Daddy tried to reel it in there was too much slack in the line to hook it. Once we got the line in, we could see the fish had eaten most of the worm. So close...


After fishing, Liam tried out the playground (he went down the slide head first... brave guy) and then decided to play in the water a bit. We needed to go to Heber City to get our tire repaired and eat lunch. (Before we went to bed the night before, we saw our back tire had gone completely flat. Ian was great and put on the spare the next morning.) Liam wasn't too keen on us leaving the water and playground. The fits and crying started there and didn't end until we had a pizza and another playground in Heber 45 minutes later. F-U-N.

Liam was better about us leaving that playground. I think he was ready for a nap and knew it. We went back to our camp site and unzipped all the camper windows and all three of us slept for 2 and a half hours! It was wonderful!

We closed camp and checked out at 3:30pm. The trip home was smooth. The rest of the day Liam played pretty well and seemed to like being home. Despite the tantrums, it was a great trip. I think we are going to do it again this next Friday night.

Friday Allergist Appointment

Liam's test results say he isn't allergic to anything obvious. We were given Singulair to help him. If that doesn't work within 3 days, we are on to other avenues to figure out what his illnesses are stemming from. The poor kid has had a "cold" since Christmas. It's just not right.