Memorial Day Weekend

We spent a long weekend in Utah visiting family for Memorial Day.  I apologize in advance to everyone in Utah Valley that we did not see.  We spent most of the time in Price, and just one day in American Fork visiting with my family.  We had a great time, except for the road trip part - which Charlie & I both agree we are not eager to repeat anytime too soon.

We left late Thursday afternoon and drove to Vegas where we stayed the night.  We decided to rent a van for the trip (which ended up being super cheap) and we put Luke in the big convertible car seat and let him face forward so that he wouldn't be as bored.  Isaac was very good and easily entertained with movies and the iPad.  Luke was pretty good and somewhat entertained by me craning my arm around to feed him little snacks, and by a few Baby Einstein videos that we borrowed for the trip.

Friday evening we arrived in Price (which is about two hours southeast of Utah Valley) where Chris & Carly's family and Karl & Janelle were waiting for us with a nice yummy dinner.  After dinner we sat around visiting and eating dessert while the kids played.  I think Isaac headed straight to the backyard to play "Dead Man" on the trampoline.

The weather ended up being super windy and cold (and I totally packed wrong!), so some of the fun things that were planned for Saturday had to be put on hold.  Chris, Charlie, & I went for a good 5 mile run in the morning.  It was so so nice to run outside and without a jogging stroller.  What was not so nice was running against super strong winds.  We spent most of the day just talking and visiting.  I barely saw Isaac the entire weekend because he was off having so much fun with his cousins.  That night we all drove to Helper and had dinner at Balance Rock - a local restaurant named for a rock feature on the nearby mountain.

After all of the kids were in bed that night Charlie & I snuck out on a little date.  We don't have a baby sitter back home in CA, so alone time is quite rare for us.  Price doesn't have much of a nightlife (um, not really much going on in the day time either) so we just went and had dessert, stopped to get gas, and came back home.

On Sunday we loaded up in our rental van and made the two hour drive to American Fork to spend the day with my family.  I didn't take many pictures.  We spent a few hours over at my sister Lisa's house.  There was a pen set up out in the yard so the kids could play with the rabbits.  Isaac loved being able to pick them up and I think Luke just loved watching them hop around.

Isaac with his cousin Katie

We went to my grandparent's house for dinner with my mom (my dad was sick) and my aunt Shirley came too. I always love going to my Grandma & Grandpa Edwards house because they have lived in that house my entire life and going there brings back so many memories and it just feels like home to me.  Of course I love my grandparents too and it was great to spend some time and visit with them.  My grandma turned on her vibrating back massager for Luke to play with and he could not stop giggling.

Grandma & Aunt Shirley finishing up dessert

Monday was Memorial Day and we were back in Price.  Charlie, Chris, & I did the same 5 mile run and it was much much nicer without the wind.  Next we all headed over to the cemetery, which is just across the street.  Janelle had bought flags for the kids to leave on the graves.  Karl has a great (great?) uncle buried there, and Chris & Carly's family had a neighbor/friend who passed away recently.

Afterwards we drove up into the mountains for lunch.  The kids had fun exploring the little paths around the picnic area.  Ginny & Lucy were both so great at playing with Isaac and keeping him entertained the whole weekend.  Like I said earlier, I didn't see much of him!  After lunch we had s'mores and then headed back to the house.

The weather had finally warmed up a bit by then and Carly set up a gigantic slip n' slide on the hill in their backyard.  All of the kids loved it, but especially Isaac.  When Carly asked him "do you like the slip n' slide?" he replied with "no, I LOVE it!"  Funny kid.  They played for hours!

Asher, Ginny, Isaac & Lucy.  They had fun all going down together on the giant raft, until it got a hole. 

The adults relaxed in the backyard talking & playing on ipads while the kids played in the water

Cracker chasing the neighbor's cat up a tree

Karl barbecued hamburgers for everyone and Janelle made homemade ice cream and we had a fantastic dinner out in the backyard.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day and the kids stayed out playing until it got dark.

Luke loved crawling around on the trampoline, but once again the static caused his hair to stick straight out!

Luke with his cousin Lucy

Ginny & Luke

Tuesday morning it was time to pack up and head home.  The drive really wasn't terrible, but 11 hours in the car with two kids and a dog is just really not that fun.  We were glad that we went though and had a wonderful weekend with our families.  Now that both sets of grandparents are living in the same state, I'm sure we'll be up there a little more often.

I bought this cute neck pillow for Luke to nap with in the car

He kept it around his neck for approximately 2 seconds 

What We've Been Up To Lately

So it turns out that I'm kind of a lazy blogger, but I have finally gotten around to posting about some of the big events that I missed and getting this blog back up to date.  There are a couple of new posts below, so keep reading.  This post is just a few more photos of the things that we've been up to lately.  (Most of these were taken with my iphone so the quality is not that great.)

Charlie's parents sold their home in New Mexico and made the big move to Price, Utah.  Charlie took Isaac along to help them move.  Isaac loved being part of all of the action and getting to ride in the big moving truck.  He especially loved playing with his cousins in Utah.  They went to Chris' office and saw all of the "animals."  But his favorite thing about the whole trip may have been playing "Dead Man" on the trampoline.  He has not stopped talking about it!

Luke and I had a quiet weekend at home while they were gone.  We went shopping, went running (out on the trail instead of stuck on a treadmill), and Luke got to play with all of the toys without anyone snatching them away.

We've been enjoying some nice family walks on the bike trail.  Isaac likes to see the "big rocks" in the river bed and throw sticks over the bridges and talk about how long it will take for them to make their way to the ocean.  Whenever we take Luke outside in the jogging stroller he holds his legs straight out the whole time and wiggles his little feet in circles.  I think it is so adorable!  It's also how I know if he's fallen asleep when I am out running with him because his feet go down.

We had a streak of warm weather a few weeks ago so I took the boys to the pool.  It had probably been six months since we'd been swimming (not since Hawaii) and Isaac was thrilled to get back in the water.  And happily, Luke seemed to enjoy it this time too!  We are looking forward to summer and lots more time at the pool.

Isaac's latest obsession is snakes.  He learned about rattlesnakes when we were at the Ronald Reagan Library in December (there were signs warning about them outside) and has been talking about snakes ever since.  We went to the library a few weeks ago and checked out every snake book that they had.  He is in heaven!  We are working on learning to read and hopefully will make some good progress this summer.

Two weeks ago Isaac tested for his yellow belt in his karate class.  One of the requirements for his test was that he do the first nine steps of his kata (a series of blocks, punches, etc.).  It was really difficult for him to do because he has a hard time keeping focus.  We kept practicing at home though and he successfully passed his test and got his yellow belt!  He was very excited and we are very proud of him.  Then last week in karate Isaac got to break a board for the first time.  He used a front kick and broke it right in two.  He was SO proud of himself and has told everyone who will listen.  He brought the board to his cousins house to show them and took it to school for show & tell.  Yesterday at the mall I overheard him telling some of store employees about it too.

My baby Luke is growing up too fast.  He is 11 months old today.  How did this happen?  He is crawling all over the place and has gotten pretty fast.  He loves to stand and cruise around the furniture, the walls, my legs, etc but is probably still a ways off from his first real steps.  And he's figured out how to open cupboards and drawers and will fling their contents all over the room if he gets the chance.  His favorite place to play is the dishwasher.  As long as there is nothing breakable in his reach it is a great way to keep him entertained while I am busy in the kitchen.

Luke's hair was starting to get quite long and was looking a little mullet-ish in the back and around his ears.  Maybe this is silly, but I kept putting off getting it cut because it made me too sad.  I knew that with just a few little snips he would start looking a bit more like a little boy and a bit less like my baby.  I finally gave in though and he is still just as cute as ever (but I do miss his long baby locks).

My cousin Becky & her husband Steve were visiting from Utah this weekend so we all got together at my aunt & uncle's house today for lunch.  It was fun to get together with everyone and catch up with Becky.  Isaac bounced on the trampoline almost the entire time (there were some other kids who knew how to play "Dead Man" too!) and Luke loved crawling all over the grass and trying to eat dirt.  Charlie put Luke up on the trampoline and let Isaac bounce him around a bit.  Luke could not stop giggling and was crawling all around in circles.  It was quite darling - especially when his hair all started sticking straight out from the static electricity.

And to wrap up this post, I have one more video of Luke to share.  He is quite the little dancer and starts bouncing and wiggling his shoulders whenever he hears music.  We first discovered this a few weeks ago when Isaac gave me one of those birthday cards that plays music.  I'm still learning how to use my video editing software, but I think Luke makes up for that with his cute dance moves.  Enjoy!

Easter Weekend

This year was the first time that we have dyed eggs with Isaac.  He was so excited to put the eggs in each of the glasses and sat there watching them intently until it was time to retrieve them.  Celebrating holidays with children just brings all of the fun and magic back, don't you think?

The Saturday before Easter was also my birthday so Charlie made me a Lemonade Cake that I had pinned a few months ago and had been eager to try.  That night we all went out to dinner... and let's just say we decided not to take the boys to any restaurants again for awhile.

Isaac was on Spring Break for three weeks (he is in year round school) so the Easter Bunny had a hard time sneaking away to find baskets and other things until just a few days before.  So this year the boys got Easter boxes filled with some small toys and treats.  Isaac's favorite thing was the movie Toy Story 2 and Luke loved his new bouncy ball.  He likes to roll it all around the house and crawl around chasing it.  It is very adorable.

After church we drove to my aunt & uncle's house in Anaheim Hills.  I have been celebrating Easter at their home ever since I was a little girl and have always had fond memories of Joann's elegant table settings (the china, crystal, and silver - even for the children - always made me feel like a grown up), and the big Easter egg hunt in their beautiful yard.

Isaac was a very determined egg hunter and loaded up his basket pretty well.  I helped Luke find a few eggs - and helped him eat their contents too.

We didn't have much luck getting the boys to luck at the camera or smile, but I still think they are both pretty darn cute.

And if it weren't hard enough to get two children looking at the camera, try ten!  Someone suggested getting a photo with all of the kids together (our boys, my sister Sandy's three children and my cousins' children).

All of the parents kept snapping away in hopes to get a good shot... the last one we took has incriminating evidence of Isaac knocking Luke off of the step and face first into the bricks.  According to Isaac, "Luke wasn't looking at the camera."  So helpful, right?  Poor little Luke had a scratched up nose and forehead for several days afterwards.  I hate it when my children get hurt, especially my little baby.

But to end on a happy note, here is a little video of Luke playing with one of his balls.  It's not the Easter ball, but he loves pretty much any ball he can find.  I'm going to miss watching his cute little crawling baby bottom once he learns to walk.  Enjoy!

Sea World

Isaac's school had a "field trip" to Sea World - which meant that the school sold discounted Sea World tickets for a specific date, but the parents had to take their own children.  And of course they told the kids all about Sea World at school and sent them home with fliers.  Isaac was SO excited!  How could we not go?  So I convinced Charlie to take a day off of work and we headed down to San Diego.

We went down a day early and stayed the night in La Jolla.  We did some shopping, went to the beach, and had dinner.  The rocky coast line in La Jolla is covered with sun bathing sea lions and birds.  We walked the path along the coast and then made our way down to the beach.  There were some small caves in the rocks where Charlie took Isaac to explore, but they weren't nearly as cool as the sea cave in Maui that Isaac loved so much.

It's a little bit of a challenge to get kids to sleep in a hotel room, but both boys did well.  We put Luke's pack-n-play halfway in the closet, with the doors open to block the view from the rest of the room.  He seemed to like it in there.

We had a fun day at Sea World.  The park was not very crowded, and despite the rainy forecast, we had pretty good weather.  I was actually glad that we did not have to stick together with Isaac's school group.  It was much easier to just do our own thing.  We started the day with a sea lion show, checked out all of the exhibits, went on a few rides, and ended our day with the dolphin show.

Isaac saw the Journey to Atlantis ride as we were entering the park and was super excited to go on it.  He claims to love roller coasters, but I think the only ride he'd ever previously been on that could be considered a roller coaster is the Matterhorn at Disneyland.  And he did not love it.  Anyway, the Atlantis ride has a big 60 foot waterfall drop right at the beginning, and Isaac did actually love that part.  What neither of us realized though was that after the waterfall, the ride then goes back up through an elevator and down the back side on a fast winding track.  He hated that part and declared that he was never going on that ride again!  Here are the pictures:

Before (filled with anxious anticipation):

During (this was on the waterfall drop at the beginning):

After (notice the effect this ride had on his hair):

When we asked Isaac what his favorite thing was at Sea World he said he liked all of the fish that could hurt you.  True boy I guess.  He loved the electric eels, the sting rays, and the piranhas.  He also really liked the glass fish, which were some little fish that had clear skin so that you could see all of their internal organs.  I thought the orca whales were stunning to look at, and I liked the manta ray exhibit because the rays swam right up against the glass and seemed to be interacting with the viewers.

I think the target audience for the dolphin show was probably 6-10 year old girls because they tried to work in this theme about "dreams really do come true" and something about a water princess that wanted to swim with dolphins.  We managed to get past that though and enjoy seeing the dolphins, whales, birds, and acrobats.  Isaac was captivated by the acrobatic guys that did all sorts of tricks from trapeze like ropes & swings and dives with flips from the high platforms.  My favorite part was the beluga whale that seriously SOAKED the audience members in the first few rows.  Totally hilarious.

We headed home right after this show, and lucky we did!  The rainstorm that was forecasted hit just about the time we got on the freeway.  Farewell Sea World, until next time.