Idaho and the Flu

The weekend started off great. We drove up late Thursday night and got to Grandma's house in Idaho around 11:45 pm. It was a nice drive. The kids all slept for the majority of the drive and went right to bed once we had arrived.

The next morning, Grandma Brenda and Papa Dallas sang Happy Birthday to Eston and gave him presents. They weren't able to come to Salt Lake earlier in the week so waited till we came to their house. Eston got some new clothes for the fall/winter seasons and a Woody doll. Eston carried his "buddy" around the entire weekend. This toy top the charts on gift giving.



Later in the evening Grandma Brenda and Papa Dallas decided to have dinner in the tree line with us. Papa made a fire in the fire pit, and we roasted hot dogs. This was the start of the kids "camping adventure".



We ate a lot of good food and ended the main course with Logan throwing up everywhere. We don't know if he was sick or if he just choked on his cracker and gagged himself. But it was quite the show stopper. Had we known what the rest of the weekend would bring we should have just left then.



While Matt and I were cleaning Logan and his mess up. Papa sat outside and helped the kids roast marshmallows. I am glad that they didn't have to suffer because of the attention that Logan needed. It's always nice when there is an even adult to kid ratio.



We gave the kids a choice on whether they wanted to sleep in the house or out on the tramp. A month ago Eston slept with Matt outside and loved it. Sammie was not able to get over this so she immediately said yes. Eston decided a bed sounded nice so we divided and conquered. I had 3 kids and Matt had 1. Sounds even. Eston ended up sleeping with me and kicked me through out the entire night. Matt came in about 4 in the morning complaining of an upset stomach. By 8 am he was leaning over the toilet. Matt was sick the rest of the day and just stayed in bed and slept.

Side note: I just love this picture of Logan and Grandma "O".



Since Matt was out of the picture for the day we had to get creative with what we could do to entertain the kids. Papa washed the suburban and let both kids help with that. They had a great time and stayed dry. I was shocked.



They climbed Grandma's plum trees and ran freely around her huge yard.



Later that night as we were eating dinner, Matt had joined us at this point, Sammie complained of her stomach hurting. Within an 20 minutes Matt and I were tag teaming buckets between Sammie and Eston downstairs. The twins stayed upstairs with Dallas and Brenda until it was bed time. The night was horrible. We were up until about 4 in the morning with the kids throwing up about every 10-20 minutes. The next morning Dallas came down to tell us that him and Brenda had also gotten sick in the night and Brenda was doing horrible. We decided to cut our loses and load the car up. We headed home first thing Sunday morning with the hopes that no smells or noises would come from the back seat until we had reached our home. We got lucky. After we got home we all took a long nap and went to bed early that night.

Lucy came down with the bug on Tuesday night. At this moment I am the only one who didn't catch the flu.
As fun as Idaho is, I don't want anyone in my family getting sick again unless we are at our own house. It is too hard when you aren't on your own turf and I feel bad that my in-laws caught the bug as well.

Happy 3rd Birthday Bruiser!!

August 18th was my little boys birthday!! A lot has gone in the last week that has made him seem older. About a week ago I stocked up on chocolate, rewards, and a good therapist on call (all of those for me) to begin potty training him. We started and I am really shocked. I pretty much just needed to put underwear on him, show him the toilet, and I am good. He occasionally has an accident if we are out on an adventure and I don't think to take him but otherwise, the boy is dry and very independent when it comes to using the potty. It is so different from my experience with Sammie. It has taken him one week to get to the point that she was at after 3 months. It was so easy. I am glad I waited till he was just shy of being 3.

Now on to the birthday celebrations. Eston has been asking if he could have a blue birthday party ever since Sammie's pink birthday party back in May. I decided that I could arrange that for him. We held his party the day before his actual birthday. We pretty much just had a play date at the park, slapped a cake, and dollar store presents in the mix, and there was our birthday party. It was very low key.

The night before the party Matt helped me (or I guess I helped Matt) create this puppy. Eston requested a blue stegosaurus. Matt made the frosting, cut the cake into the shape and after I frosted it, added all the candy and sprinkles. Matt did awesome. I could have never created this.
Eston loved his cake.



We had a few friends from our neighborhood come and just had a good time playing. I happened to still have the parachute from Woods Cross city in my car, so we pulled that out and played around with it for a while.



Eston was so excited that he was getting all the attention and that a day was catered just for him. He was so cute.



I discovered that Eston doesn't quite realize that you need to put your lungs behind blowing candles out. After about 10 tries I had to give a little puff myself to move things along.



This boy is very serious when it comes to his cake.

We decided to let him have presents, but to ask that everyone bring something from the Dollar Store. He didn't need much and with only being 3, a dollar store present was perfect. You can get a lot of cool things at the Dollar store. Thanks everyone!



And his fan club is from left to right: Christine, Jake, Bekah, Eston, Kyle, Sammie, Talking Logan (that's what Eston calls him to distinguish him from baby Logan), and McKay.



The fun didn't end there. Later that night we headed over to Nana's house for the party of the year. We went to celebrate all the August birthdays. 3 of them were born on August 18th, and the other was born five days earlier.



Grandpa Jim and Nana got a bounce house for everyone to play in. It was well used. I think everyone was in there at some point. We tried to put the twins in and was surprised by the outcome. Lucy, my adventurous baby, was scared of the thing and would cry if you even approached the structure. Logan, my tender hearted and scared baby, LOVED the thing, and would cry when you took him out of it. He went down the slide by himself, bounced and just laughed the entire 2 hours.



He was one happy baby!!



The day of Eston's birthday was packed. We try and make it a special day for them and let them pick what they want to do and eat. He got to choose his breakfast after which we got dressed and headed downtown.



We headed to the Gallivan Center for a Radio Disney event. We decided to park at the Gateway and take the TRAX to our destination. Eston loved the train.



At the Radio Disney event there were games, dancing, water slides, but Eston's favorite was the bounce house. Apparently he didn't get too tired of it the night before.



After returning to our car, Eston told me that he wanted lunch at Daddy's office. We had a picnic lunch outside on the patio. The kids ran around and played while Matt and I just sat back and talked. It was really relaxing. Later that night we took Eston out to eat and then home for presents. Eston got a few dinosaurs from us and a book.



Eston is a very happy and loving kid. He loves to go up to complete strangers and give them hugs. We can be in a crowded mall and Eston would find someone who looks nice and call them "his guys" the remainder of the day. Eston is a great brother and is always looking for a way to make his sisters and brothers happy. Eston has lots of energy and definitely is all boy.
Eston loves dinosaurs, books, cars, DIEGO, and animals. He is very adventurous and shows little fear. Matt and I joke that this is the year of the broken arm.
We love you tons bruiser!! We hope you had a great birthday.

Davis County Fair

This year I decided to go with a bunch of our friends to the Davis County Fair. This is the first time (that I can recall) that I have ever been to this fair in my 22 years of being a Davis County resident. It was awesome. It was free to get in and only cost me two cans and one dollar to park. Can't beat that. On top of that, everything we did was free. I think I might have to come back.

They had a great animal petting area near the front of the fairgrounds. The kids loved it. They had everything from Piglets to . . .



things with GIANT HORNS. The kids loved touching all the animals.



They got to milk wooden cows from the side and . . .



even from behind. (Good thing this isn't a real cow or I might not have a daughter anymore.)



They gave out free pony rides, which the kids absolutely loved.



Eston just kept laughing with excitement. He loves all animals, except the creepy crawly ones.



They have a contest to determine who is the cutest kid in a certain age group. The girls participated in the 4 years old competition right when we got there so we didn't get a chance to snap a picture.

Here are our boys for the 2 years old competition. Eston was on the higher end of that scale. None of them won, but they sure were cute.



The Jonathon, Eston, and Gibson had their own cheering section. However, the sisters, Etta, Sammie, and Emily, forgot what their job was and just had a great time goofing off.



We entered the twins into the multiples section. They both did what they do best, smiled a lot, and either held hands or hugged the other one.



Here are, apparently, the second cutest twins in Davis County. I don't know what they were thinking. Maybe they had bad eye sight.



They also had a crawling contest to see who the fastest crawler was. Lucy just sat at her end, waving at me and laughing at the fool I was making of myself. Logan, after being distracted by the banner to his left, looked like he was easily going to take first place until he stopped 3 feet short of me and started smiling at me. Another boy all of the sudden just took off. When Logan finally decided to start crawling again he lost by a finger. It was a photo finish.

Logan is the second fastest crawler in Davis County. Next time I will wipe out either his pacifier or a bottle. He would totally win and have the bottle finished before anyone else had a chance to leave the starting line.



We had a great time. I just have to state for the record that I would not be able to go and do many of the activities that I do without the great friends that go with me. Life with 4 kids under 4 is beyond crazy and I have great friends that are continually helping me whether they know it or not. Thanks guys!!

My Young Movie Stars!!

My dad works for the church and called me on a Thursday evening to tell me that the Church's Motion Picture Studios needed one 9 month old baby for a shoot the following morning. I decided to take a stab at it and see if my babies were movie star material. I sent them an e-mail and they called back telling me that Logan and Lucy had the part and that we needed to be at the Studio in Provo at 9:30 in the morning. Thanks to my friend Christina and my sister-in-law Cathy for taking Sammie and Eston on Friday with little notice (and mom for driving them in between.) I called my sister Lindsay and she said she would come along for the long day to help out with the babies.

We arrived at 9:30 in the morning and were put into a holding room for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. It was a good time to feed babies and get Logan to take a nap. When it was time to shoot the scene that the Twins were in, we were sent to wardrobe. The part the babies were there to shoot for was for Baby Polly. Logan and Lucy were each other's back-ups if the other one was having problems.

At wardrobe they dressed the babies in the same pioneer looking outfit.



It was really weird to see Logan wearing a bonnet and dress. According to the Wardrobe Divas (that's what they called themselves), boys and girls wore the same thing back in the days of the Pioneers.



After the babies had been to wardrobe, they escorted us out to the shoot. They gave us some big umbrella's to keep the babies shaded, and we just had to wait until the Director called for them to join in.



During the entire day I kept getting confused on who we had on set and who we were holding. I figure that this is what it was like having twin daughters.



Logan makes one ugly looking girl. That is a comforting thing to know. Logan kept roaring at us and I felt a little better that he was showing some boy traits.



Right before they started shooting, Lucy crashed in my arms. This ruined our plans of starting with her, since she is a little more mellow in these situations. Logan was going to have to go on.



Sorry, but Lucy was just so adorable sleeping that some of the crew kept grabbing my camera trying to snap some shots of her.



The movie that they were filming was about the Mormon Battalion. The movie will be used in the San Diego visitor center as part of their exhibit. If anyone wants to see the big debut (including us), you will have to buy a ticket to San Diego to watch.

Logan started out on the shoot, but last for only about 45 min. When that boy is hungry and/or tired he waits for no one. Luckily enough Lucy woke up about one minute before they asked for a baby switch because Logan had begun crying.



Lucy was in over 80% of the scene and Logan performed the first 20%. Lindsay and I were laughing at this because Logan was getting paid and Lucy was there as a volunteer. I opted for them to pay one baby the full amount for both so that I had to only do paperwork on one child.
Lucy, thanks for doing Logan's work.



Lindsay and I were at the Motion Picture Studios for just over 6 hours. I couldn't have done it with out her. It was a neat experience and now I know a little bit of what goes into filming the church movies.



Logan and Lucy were real troopers that day.

Junk Drawer

This is a random assortment of the goings on over the last month.

Logan absolutely loves playing pass with Eston. Eston sits across from him and rolls Logan the ball and Logan just starts laughing his head off. I help Logan roll it back to Eston and again Logan is in Hysterics. Logan is learning a lot of new things. He is Army crawling everywhere and cruises along furniture. He can say a few sounds, but mostly just Rarrrs at everyone he sees. Logan is a lot like Eston in that you don't come between him and his food.



The kids love to help with the Laundry. Personally I think that they just like to get in the baskets. I had stuck the babies in my two baskets and immediately Sam and Eston joined them.



I have 4 really good friends that I was freshman with in College that still keep in touch. We all got married around the same time, had our babies in about the same order, and have just stayed in touch over the years. We try to get together whenever the out-of-towners visit. Melissa was getting ready to move with her family to Japan so Amy came down from Logan and we had a swim party. (Missed you Camille, but your new baby looks adorable.) It's amazing to think that all together at the party we had 10 kids. Good Times!!



Lucy has hair. This is a new concept for me since Sammie barely had this much when she was 18 months old. It may not look like a lot to you, but we are loving it. She is just adorable. Lucy is crawling on all fours everywhere and loves cruising the furniture. She loves swimming, talking, laughing, talking, falling backwards, oh, and did I mention talking. Lucy hates going to bed because it means she can't be in the middle of whatever is going on.



Sammie had been asking me if she could go to the Hannah Montana movie for quite sometime. I told her that when it came out (meaning the dollar theater) we would go for a girls out adventure. The big day came and we ended up going with a few of her friends. Sammie loved the movie, but it was a little long. Now she is obsessed with Hannah Montana and all things girl on the Disney Channel.



I just think that this is a cute picture of Sammie. She went to a friends Cowgirl birthday party and this is what she wore. It was good times.



Did I mention that I have stair climbers now. Not so fun when there are two of them.



Over the summer I signed the kids up for some summer recreation programs. One of the classes was Itty Bitty ball. Both kids loved this.

I forgot that Sammie probably needed to bat Left handed until the last day. Wow did it make a difference.

Eston giving his power kick that went a whole 3 feet. Go Diego!!



This boy has quite an arm. He hit the ball on his own, past the pitcher. It's amazing what one day of class will do.



Sammie enjoyed soccer more than T-ball. She even learned how to pose without any instruction. Always must look good for the camera.



We have had a lot of fun so far this summer, but I am definately excited for Preschool to start in another month. This summer has gone by fast.