5 days countdown...

Next week we'll have an ultra-sound on Wednesday and hopefully, we'll be finding out if we are expecting a little boy or a little girl.  So, what do you think?  I think we're pretty good at the boys - and honestly, I don't think we have a chance at getting a girl.  Well, maybe a slim chance.  Shayne thinks it is a girl.  Cast your votes now!  And BTW, I'm out of boy names....

Family in town

Earlier this month, we had the good fortune of my TWO sisters coming to UT at the same time!  One from Georgia and the other from Mexico... our family is a little spread out.  So, it's a rare occasion to have us together and we spent as much time together as possible.  We had a whopping 3 days and a morning to get our "fill" of togetherness.  We took a short hike in PG - one I've always wanted to do and now I know how to find it.  Here are a few pics from that adventure:

 Maiya, Danny, Nana, Ella, and Cole.... I think I said there was something on my head and they actually all looked up...

Jared and Ethan together - Too bad you can't see that amazing wild red hair on Ethan's head in this pic - he's the happiest baby EVER.

This is a momentous picture - all three kids are SMILING!!  AT THE SAME TIME!!!

We went to see the Bingham Canyon Kennecott Copper Mine.  We had never been and I learned all sorts of cool stuff.  I highly recommend the tour to anyone.  I had no idea that copper was in EVERYTHING and that the majority of copper is mined right here!  The pit was HUGE - the trucks were HUGE - and well the tires obviously were HUGE too.  :-)

Greg and Lara with my dad.... it was such a treat to have Greg and Lara here together - yeah for spending his only vacation day with us.  He works way too hard...  someday he'll be independently wealthy... right, Greg?

The gang together at our "final lunch" hour at Cafe Rio.  My dad is mission - since he had to run back to work - but the three sisters, our mom,  and my "little" brother.  Honestly, can you see why we keep telling him he's so TALL!?!?  He claims that to the rest of the world, he's very average and not considered tall.  Well, when he's with us - I think "tall" is justified!

Love you Alisa and Lara.  Thanks for coming our direction this summer... I know it wasn't for me (it was for mom and dad) but that's a huge bonus of my parents living close to me now!!

My life....

A few things to remember about this summer....

Danny wakes up every morning and says, "Mommy..... Mooooommmmy....."  How lucky am I that he doesn't climb out of his crib and waits for me to "rescue" him each day.  I'll miss the good ol' crib days when we move him to a big boy bed!

Danny loves to talk - especially in the car.  When we get in the car, it's non-stop.  Like I just pushed "play" and then it goes and goes, and goes.  A little energizer bunny.  He also has a little song that he has been singing all week long - he made it up and he wiggles his tongue back and forth while doing it.  He tells me that he likes his song.  So do I.

Cole is constantly trying to figure what Jesus created and what man has created.  So, a VERY typical conversation in the car is, "mommy, did Jesus create mud, or man? Mommy, did Jesus create electricity?"
I want to remember him asking me these questions - day after day, after day.

Cole announces to anyone and everyone (including a random lady in Wal-mart last night) "I'm a scientist, a scavenger, and a spy."  He is constantly creating potions.  I wish I could somehow direct this energy into useful potions (as in cooking things that we can eat), but for now, it's all about soy milk, water, and something to make it a new color.  These potions make people better, help owies, and have even been professed to help someone close to death.  He is definitely a scavenger, still.  Constantly picking up little things everywhere we go.  Some things are kinda cool - most are junk and garbage in my eyes.  Luckily, he asks me if he can keep them (the majority of the time).  I usually tell him to toss the straws, spoons, and anything that a person might have licked before it found his hands.  He assembles these items into inventions - lightning sticks, keys to magical places, etc.  As for the spy thing - that's news to me.  I wonder how he's been spying.

Hunter has been the busy guy this summer.  He's on the rec swim team for our city this summer - a first for our family.  We spend our Saturdays sitting next to pools to watch 3 minutes of swimming (or less) - and he's loving it.  He practices at the pool daily - and gosh, could I do laps for an hour every day?  No, I don't think I could.  He mowed the lawn for the first time last week - he's celebrating and so are we!  He has participated in a sports camp and also been involved with a hip-hop boys dance class.  That last one surprised me.  They promised to work on the "robot" and cool moves for just boys - and he wanted it enough that he was willing to pay for a part of the class.  I love how financially smart this boy is - constantly saving and yet, when he decides to spend, he'll get what he wants.  He had his choice of any toy at Disneyland and he chose a little "Etch-a-sketch" - telling me that he'd always be able to take it with him in the car and remember his trip to Disneyland.  He is such a sweet and incredibly thoughtful boy.  I keep telling him how grateful I am that he still holds my hand.  He exclaims that he can't imagine not wanting to hold my hand.  I mention there will be a day and age when such things won't be mine anymore, but I'm grateful for them now.  I can't believe that is nearly 9 now - I'm still getting use to 8!

I love my boys and my busy house.  It truly is a blessing to be able to enjoy these moments with them - even though I do lose my cool when everything seems to pile up at once.  I'm glad that they can forgive me and we're still best of friends.  And I'm glad I finally wrote these things down - my memory will fail me next year when I try to remember "what was it like last summer?"
 PS - Do you remember this glorious occasion when everyone was excited to get dressed and match each other?  I didn't even dress Danny - Hunter did it!

Just thoughts

Do you remember the other day (Monday)?  You woke up later than usual, which in itself was a treat.  Then you  within the next half hour, kids were whining, crying, fighting - you know, the usual.  And then the dog shows up because, of course, the gate was opened AGAIN, and there's dog feces (the runny kind or perhaps it was vomit?) rubbed ALL OVER HER BACK.  Why would anyone, even a dog, want to roll in that?!?!  Then your bright and experimental son, floods the bathroom because he was just trying to do water balloons in the sink....

Yeah, you flipped out.  You lost control for a minute.

And then you cleaned up the bathroom.
Then you bathed the your stinky dog.
Then you heard your boys quickly trying to fulfill your request for a "power clean-up" for just 5 minutes.  Things were starting to feel a little more calm.

Even better was coming out to find that Hunter had changed his first diaper - just trying to help out mommy.  He's such a good boy and he made my day.  Yeah, changing a diaper can make my day.  Remember days like those?!?

Cali - we miss you!

We went to California for a little R&R - I don't think Cole even realized this is something people pay to have...

Playing at the "Golden Nugget" Hotel in Vegas - there's a waterslide through that shark tank - the boys loved it.

We spent a day with our BFF's Laura and Maynrad - we went to chill at a local park.  It was huge!  With a small zoo tucked into a corner - the kids loved the petting zoo portion.

I love this pic.... beautiful picture of beautiful people.

Someday we'll be surprised to see how big Hunter was compared to little Carlo - I'm sure he'll be running the next time we see him!  (Unless they decide to come visit us this weekend... hint, hint)

We headed to Oceanside to be with Shayne's family.  The boys were thrilled about going to the beach - although the excitement waned after a full day in the sun.  It wears you out digging through all that sand and crashing through the waves!  Danny got knocked down by a wave within the first 1/2 hour and decided to never go in the water again (unless it was forced by mommy for a wash-off).  He did enjoy the sand - especially this big pit dug by his cousins.

Uncle Shaughn had the whole beach gathering around him when he pulled out all sorts of treasures from the washed up seaweed - star fish, crabs, even a baby octopus.

Here was a little of that R&R we envisioned.

Enjoying the pier at sunset..... ahhhhhhh.

Part of the gang....  we never did get a full picture of everyone - but I think I got lots of pictures of everyone!

Hunter loved Boogie-boarding!  He and Chylee spent hours in the waves.

Like I said, Danny didn't care much for the water - but the sand was still fun.

We took the boys to Legoland - it was part of a deal for Cole to not suck his thumb for a continuous 3 months and it worked.  I think he's quit for good!  Legoland was fun - definitely something to do with 3-8 year olds.  Not younger - or older for that matter.  I'm glad the boys loved it.  We saw New York "legoized."  We have over 30 pics of the "Miniland" in Legoland - including Vegas, scenes from the US, and Star Wars too - that was a highlight for the family to see.

Danny quickly figured out that if his head didn't reach the stick - he was out of luck for a ride.  He would do little pull-ups and touch his head to the bar and say, "See, I tall enough! I am!"  Sorry little man.... not this year.

Back to inland Cali - we visited Griffith's Printing Shop (owned by Laura's dad).  We got to see printing in action and it was awesome.  We saw them working on flyers for Disneyland - and then saw the same flyers in Disneyland - Hunter couldn't help but to tell the employees about that printing process!  Thanks Laura and Walter for the tour!

Whenever we saw Grandma and Grandpa - Hip-Hip-HOORAY!  We love them sooo much!

Here is a pic of what Danny will look like with age, sun damage, Smoking habits, and overweight.... whoa.

We had lots of family time in Disneyland - but occasionally a few would stick around with us (with the little kids)  - we loved running into our cousins! 

We've learned to say "Smiling picture, now SILLY picture!"  Or - really, we'll have a bunch of silly pics.  My boys love to "pose" and they do it well!

I really admire these people in HOT HOT costumes in the hot Cali heat... ugh!  I don't want your job.

We have a picture of Hunter as a baby with this mean guy...  my how the family has grown!

Danny's favorite ride was Astro Blasters - a Toystory Ride.

 

All the cousins together with Grandma and Grandpa - minus 1 to arrive this December!  What a great looking group!!

That was a condensed version of our fabulous trip - I have over 500+ pictures if you wanna come see more!

Graduate

Cole graduated from Kindergarten....
....whew!!

Cole's favorite things about Kindergarten:

His teacher, Mrs. Paxman - for teaching him and she was really nice

We had lunch there, sometimes

We got to have parties a lot

other highlights were drawing, coloring, activities, and playing with blocks

He gave us a warning before the program that in one of his songs he would sing "I know how to tie my shoes"  He knows that he can't really do it, but he still has to sing it.  hee-hee  They did a full program - and this number was definitely the hit of the morning.   It's been a great year and he's very excited about going to 1st grade next year!  And mommy is excited to not have a kindergarten carpool for a few more years!

What do you do in the summertime?

Do you try to sell your toys for a little extra money?  

Hunter gave his friend a dollar so that his friend could buy something... he made a dollar.... sort of.  Cole had his most expensive item at $50 - he thought it had real gold on it... but at least his little things were just a quarter.  I think he made 50 cents.

Do you play at the park and swing till your head is spinning?

Do you fall asleep when your busy body just stops for 2 minutes?

Do you send the kids to bed early so you can have a "Settlers" night?!?  

If that's what you do, SO DO I!!!

Pretty girl

When I went to China I had very convincing reason to NOT chew on my nails - it was disgustingly dirty there and well, I just didn't want any diseases.  So, as I returned to the US, I thought about how I had gone a week (and mind you it wasn't easy) and why shouldn't I try for another one?  My nails were longer than ever before - I could honestly see a white tip!  So, here I am at 5 weeks and 4 days, and I'm holding strong.  I've lost a couple (when there's a snag it's hard to resist) but really, I've never had long, pretty nails.  In fact when I first painted my nails, I got some funny reactions:

Hunter:  What are you doing?  (painting my nails) Oh, you NEVER do that, why do girls do that anyway?
Cole:  What are you doing?  (Painting my nails) That's soooo WEIRD! Why?  I don't get it.
Danny on the other hand exclaimed, "Mommy you look pretty!"

 I really have to fight that urge to bite off my nails daily, I know it's pathetic - but really, it's been a habit I've tried to break for as long as I can remember!  I'm grateful for the sparkly nail polish that makes me feel so girly and even a pinch pretty!