Dinosaurs and Grandpa M's Birthday

And "NO," the dinosaur title does not refer to Grandpa M! :) We got to go the the fun dinosaur museum we have close by. Sam and James loved it. It is claimed to be the largest dinosaur museum in the world. And I bet it is beacuase I was so tired when we left, and so were the boys.


Here's Sam admiring some of the fossils.


James and his fun cousin Madi.


James and Tori. Sam and Dani. Cute little cousins playing. They have so much for kids to do. They have hands on exibits, play areas, digging stations, coloring, toys, and scavenger hunts. We loved it.





We then ended the day with a fun little night for Grandpa M. This was my attempt at a fun golf cake for him. My mom always makes cute cakes for everyone's birthdays, so I thought I'd take a stab at it.


Of course Sam helped, or snitched, I'm still kind of fuzzy on that one! :)



Happy Birthday Grandpa. We love you!

Rio Tinto Stadium

Seth's Company had it's summer party on Monday night. It was a blast. It was held at "Rio Tinto Stadium" (anyone who has been there knows how funny they say that during a game...it's contagious and you just can't help saying it over and over again).
The whole stadium was open to us. We were able to get whatever and however much we wanted of any thing they offered. We ate WAY too much and loved every minute of it. We tried all the places, the ice cream, cookies, etc. We got an awesome autographed soccer ball for the boys, played with the mascot, played soccer on the field, and then finished the night off with a movie on the jumbo-tran. It was a great family night and we hope his company makes this a tradition.

The Fourth, Fevers, Family, Fun, and Flowers

What a week! We had a fun filled week of sicknesses, family, holidays, entertainment, and special surprises. It was one of those weeks that you don't think you will ever survive, you feel like it will never end, and then you do and you look back and think what a great time you had.
James was sadly not feeling well. He suffered from high fevers which led to Rosiola. I am finally over my infection and lack of sleep, and thankfully Sam and Seth were up for all that this week had to offer.
Monday we got to go play at Joy's (which we always love doing). Sam and Haley of course had a blast together playing, pulling, and yelling at each other.


Tuesday I got to go help Grandma Miller out and Sam got to play with his cousin Emily. We then met up later to a fun family night at Chuck E. Cheese's. Sam got the idea about tickets. He sat on top of one of the machines and just dropped tokens in. He did really well as you can see and we got some great prizes for once!











Wednesday Seth and Sam went to Lagoon with some of Seth'sfamily while James and I stayed home to try to get some rest to feel better. We were sad we missed out, but were happy to see the fun picture Seth took.

Thursday brought my mom and Joy with her kids. I called early that morning for reinforcements after a long night and no reserves. I love my mom and sister so much. They saved me from a long, terrible, onry day...which turned out to be a great day at our park. We played hard and rushed home as the lightning and rain followed shortly after.

Friday Seth's family went back to Lagoon so I got my fun in too. James and I were feeling better and enjoyed a day out in the fun and the sun. We had a great time. It was especially fun for me to be a kid and enjoy all the rides. It was hard to get me off of them. It's great to see Sam "get it". He still doesn't wait in lines well, but he loves the hard core rides (as hard core as they let a mini 2 year old ride) and I can't wait to have my little buddy ride more and more with me.

Saturday we had a great 4th of July. As per tradition we headed down to my sister Joy's to spend the day with my side of the family. We went to her new community pool and had a blast. They had everything you could ever imagine. 2 kiddie pools, a hot tub, a deep lap pool, a pool that makes waves for surfing, a slide, and best of all a lazy river. We would have loved to just float the river all day.
The rest of the day brought movies, games, LOTS of yummy food (it was like a summer Thanksgiving), and fireworks. One of the greatest parts was that my brother Matt was able to be there. He and his new wife are moving up here to Utah and we are so excited about it.

On our way home we had to stop at the store to pick a few things up. Sweet Seth picked me up some beautiful flowers and ended a wonderful day for me.

James is On the Go!

I can't believe that James is already getting up and going. Well, I guess I can since he tries to do everything Sam does, and Sam was walking at about this time when he was James' age. It just seems to go by so fast. I thought it was so cute when I looked at the picture I took of James and then went back and looked at Sam's picture with the walker. Are these kids brothers, or what?
That's Sam at 8 1/2 months on the left and James at 9 1/2 months on the right.

Things I DON'T do well: (especially when I'm sick)

10. Talk on the phone
9. Feed Sam vegetables
8. Remember things (anything really)
7. Admit when I don't know how to do something
6. Express my feelings
5. Keep in contact with people
4. Wait for things I want now
3. Keep my buget
2. Handle being sick
1. Ask for help when I know I really need it

This weekend was a test of a few of those things. I got really sick (my own fault, I never do to the doctor when I should and then things get way worse). Needless to say I did not handle it well. I was up all Saturday night with chills and hot sweats, I was so sore I couldn't hold the kids....oh...I guess it's time to go to the doctor. Poor Seth felt bad that he didn't know what was going on because his crazy wife never tells him because she has this dumb complex that being sick is a weakness and she should still be able to do everything herself! (what's up with that, right?!)
Well, after spending all Sunday morning at the insta-care I got the goods and am hopefully on the mend from my infection. It was a hard day, but full of love and support.
If I ever doubted that people around me care, it was all erased yesterday. I called the Primary President yesterday, last minute, and she took care of music for me. (Thanks Amanda, Margaret, and Anaika). They even dropped by these cute "Get well soon" cards the kids made for me. I started to cry. How sweet.


Then our sweet neighbor heard and after her husband helped Seth give me a blessing, brought over the most incredible dinner over for us. (Thanks Jenny and Shane)


Not to mention my dear Seth who picked up the house about 10 times, did the dishes about 7 times, changed about 30 diapers, and got up with the kids through out the night. Wow! I am so blessed to have such a sweet man in my life. (Thanks Sweetie)
One of the most terrible days became one of the sweetest days I've had in a long time. Maybe I will have to admit when I can't do it all and let people help more often...we'll see! :)

Summer Skills

I got this idea from my sister-in-law. She read a book that taught skills your kids can acquire at certain ages and how important it is to teach them skills that can make them feel successful and self-sufficient. I haven't read her book yet, but am excited to do so. Her name is Merrilee Boyack and the book is called "The Parenting Breakthrough." (She also gave a talk at BYU called "Teaching Kids to Fly)


This is as far as I got without reading the book yet. I obviously put my own interpretation on it, but I am going to use this as a Family Night Lesson this next week to introduce it. I hope it goes over well and helps us get excited about learning new things and helps us realize our progression.

Water, Water, Water

Today I went with some friends to the neighborhood Splash Pool. It was so fun. The boys loved it. Sam liked it so much better this year. Once we got in it was like, "bye Mom." He was running around, diving in, stealing toys! :)
James had a different approach. He loved his floaty and LOVED that it let him walk around in the shallow water. He just hung out and watched all the kids play. I think the small splash pool was much more fun for him than the big pool was.
Sam got a little jealous of James lounging in the ring and had to have a turn. He just laid back in it sunbathing. It was so cute.
We are so happy it's finally summer!




Aren't these the cutest brothers you've ever seen?!

Happy Father's Day to the World's Greatest Dad!

It was about 2 1/2 years ago that Seth became a father and eventhough he wasn't sure he was up to the challenge he has surpassed all expectations I could have ever dreamed up for him(and trust me, I expect a lot!).
He is now a fun, excited, supportive, energetic, helpful, comforting father of two who would do anything for his boys. He loves to wake up early with them and play, take them for walks and to parks, go on daddy outings, set up armies for them to destroy, make their trains to round and round, wrestle, chase, hide, and watch the same shows over and over and over again with them. He supports them in all they want to do and gets excited when they learn something new he has taught them.
I am so lucky to have him as a husband...oh yeah, and the boys are lucky too!:)
Here are some of my favorite "father" shots of Seth.

Two's Company

We had a fun Friday night as we drove up to Logan for a family picnic with Seth's parents and sister. The kids had a blast. The park is so beautiful with huge, mature trees (something we don't see at our parks) and a beautiful stream running through it. This is where we took our family pictures a few weeks ago. It has quickly become Seth's favorite park.
The kids all wanted to swing and so we quickly sloved the problem! How cute are these cousins sharing swings. Sam is with Danny and James is with Tori. They were just giggling up a storm as we pushed them and pushed them and pushed them somemore. I have a feeling this will become a family tradition to stop at the park.

Sam's Breakfast

This is how we keep Sam happy when we go out to eat and have to wait so long for our food. Hey, whatever works. He thinks he's pretty special getting so many "treats" in such cool little containers.
Here's a close up in case you couldn't see it in the other picture. We're such bad parents! :)