Weeked Fun

Over the weekend we took Jer and went to Cedar City to spend time with Keith and Karena. This trip we took Skunk with us...mistake...won't happen again.

First we went to the Discovery park. Jer LOVED it!

Climbing

 

Sliding

 

Allen enjoyed the slides too

 

more sliding

 

and swinging

He had so much fun! At one point Allen was standing in between Jer's swing and Aiden's swing pushing them both.

Monday when Keith wasn't working we went and found some dirt roads so the boys could go "wheelin". They had a blast it's been sooo long since they have been able to go "wheelin" together.

This how we do take out. Pack some food and take it out, usually in the mountains or hills, to eat it.

Aiden is such a sharer. Here he is trying to feed Karena.

 

It's hard for kids to go wheelin' having to stay buckled in and everything. So when lunch time came around Allen took Jer for a hike up the road we had just come down. And over to throw some rocks into the old iron mine that was right there.

 

Skunk didn't want to get left out of the eating. What a beggar.

Then it was off to find rocks to climb.

 

Who do you think has the better rig for this? lol

After the climbing had been done it was time for the big boys to catch a lizard or two so the little boys could see it and touch it.

I think it was more fun for the big boys to chase them than the little boys to see them.

 

Actually, while the big boys were chasing Jer got bored and found a mini-sand box and was content playing in the sand.

By the time we were done playing here Skunk was telling me it was time to go sittin' in Jer's seat.

I'm kind of thinking he was tired of getting bounced around and wanted to be strapped in.

I'm a bit of a geek. But while out "wheelin" I got a lot of pictures of pretty flowers.

My favorite find was the Sego Lily. How pretty!

There was so much Indian Paintbrush! I loved it! It was everywhere. This picture just doesn't do it justice.

Some of the cactus were starting to bloom. One of the prettiest desert flowers. Another few days and the yellow ones would've been in bloom. Too bad I have to miss it.

 

All in all it was a very fun trip! I think my favorite part though was seeing Allen so happy. Wheelin' with Keith is one thing that recharges him. He didn't know it until after but that was his birthday present...but I think he liked it better than anything I could buy. I love that man!

What IF? A Portrait of Infertility from Keiko Zoll on Vimeo.

Feild Trip to the Zoo

We went to the zoo last weekend with Keith and Karena and had a lot of fun! Man, the zoo sure has changed in the last 10 yrs or so...last time I was there. 

Jer loves to go for rides in the wagon so we took the wagon and it worked out great! It was easy to get him in and out to see the animals and he got his daily wagon ride in.

It was so cute when he would put his sunglasses on with the hat! He didn't usually have one or the other on. It was all or nothin', but that's kind of how he is with everything.

We saw lots of animals and Jer got to "ride" a rhino.

He seemed to really like the elephants, maybe because there was a baby one.

The Kangaroo was modeling.

This Giraffe seemed to be more than willing to make it easy to fit him in our picture.

Actually he was just working on laying down...what a process.

After the animals had been seen it was potty stop time.

 I think the adults were ready to go.

But yet carousel and train rides had been paid for sooo it was fun time! 

Jer loved the carousel!

He had the same expression the entire time! It was freakin' funny!

Jayson seemed to think it was...alright. And Keith seemed to be more interested in the mechanical workings, all the pics but this one he's looking up. I'm just assuming checking out how everything works. lol

Karena could only get him to turn around to face forward for one round. Look at the terror on his face. lol

Then it was off to the train! Jer's most favorite thing in the world...a train!

In this picture I'm not sure if he's falling asleep or just blinking. The wait for our turn on the train seemed to be an eternity!

I would believe falling asleep because he was asleep before we even made it out of the parking lot.

Cutest Pictures Ever

Looking through pictures I found some pictures of Big Jer.

This was the first weekend we had him. Might even be the first day, think we got him the night before at about 11 pm.

He LOVE climbing in things. Or just in places he doesn't really fit.

He loves sunglasses, he insists on wearing them anytime we are driving somewhere.

 He has discovered books and loves having books "read" to him. His favorite books are books with animals.

"Grandma Sherri" owns a book he always gets excited about reading, it's about kittens. He absolutely adores "Grandma Sherri".

He loves cats, especially "Aunt Brandy's" cat Cleo.

I will be so sad when he goes to live with his mom. :(

Just a Brief Thought

Strange I would find a link to this on a PCOS forum. But reading through the letter this paragraph just caught my eye and my thoughts. It's beautiful. I just couldn't resist sharing.


We learned an important lesson: our preparation helped us to avoid panic and fear, but the Lord, in His wisdom, allowed us to experience enough discomfort to know that He has all power. He is in charge. We are nothing without Him. We are dependent upon Him for every breath we take. Only He can save us from death and destruction. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our perfect example. If we follow Him, we will be saved through obedience to the laws and ordinances of His Gospel.
Sister Lisa Laycock, (part of a letter sent to her family following the 8.8 earthquake), Santiago Chile East Mission

It's Been a While

It's been a very long time it seems since I have updated here. Since last time (I think) my aunt moved in with Allen and I! I am pretty excited about that! I just love her. She is so much like my mom, it's kind of like I'm living with my mom. The adjustment hasn't even been too hard. She helps around the house and makes yummy cream cheese lemony cheesecake type pie with cherries on top. Mmmmm. Sooo good.
Big J is still hangin' out with us. He's a lot of fun. It's fun to watch him learn everyday. He is getting so good at talking! He learns...I don't know how many new words everyday. He's an amazing kid. Him and Allen are buddies. He loves the crap out of Allen, and I think Allen is pretty fond of him too. It'll be a sad day when his mom gets settled and takes him permanently. The house will seem so empty. :-( Oh well, we'll just love the crap out him while he's here and enjoy it.
Sure would be nice if we could adopt one of our own and never have to give him/her back.

Let it Snow

Friday when it snowed Big J was so excited about the snow so I bundled him up and took him out to play in the snow. It's a good thing it was a warm snow because his poor little hands wouldn't have handled cold. He kept having me hold his hands to warm them back up...what a cutie.

It didn't take long for him to figure out if he threw a snowball Tank would chase it.

And of course if the dogs eat the snow...it's okay for him too. I think he ate as much as he threw for the dogs. 

Don't worry though, I made sure he didn't eat any yellow snow. lol

Late But Here It Is

I was going through pictures and found a bunch that I felt I needed to post since this is our family journal/scrapbook. The first ones I ran across were from my family Christmas party. 

Loren and Wendy came down from Oregon to visit between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So of course we had to have a Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. We had it down at Mom and Dad's condo (in the Falls to be exact). We had food, games, time to visit, and a music/story program. 

 

Even Mom's sister Tam showed up to say hi and hang out for a bit with us! I thought it was cool.

 

Here's a picture of mom telling all of us to come over and to get our food. I couldn't resist using this picture because I love my mom so much and it depicts her so well...always wanting to take care of family and have them gather closer and she is an optimist through and through so she always has a smile on her face. I hope when I have the blessing of a family of my own I can be just like my mom. Then there is dad always wanting things just perfect and worrying about if there will be enough for everyone and taking care of any loose ends. He is so detail oriented. I love my daddy too.

My nephews are smart and love to problem solve (I think that's why they all like puzzles so much). So stinking cute! My brothers make cute kids ... or their wives anyway. lol

 

 

My oldest nephew just kickin' it. What a stud! Not too long and he's gonna be driving ... Ugh! I feel so old!

 

My sis-in-laws visiting. I love being around these two because when they get together there is constant laughing. They make me laugh and laugh!

Just before the program all the chillins got to decorate cookies. I had to snap a few pictures of these. Love 'em! How bout a little bit of cookie with the sprinkles. Not just this one plate was like that, but everyone of them. I think they had a contest to see who could pile the most on a cookie.

 

No worries though ... there was a clean up crew.

Then it was time for music program. It was kind of a patriotic story someone would read then a song would be sung that went along with the story and mixed in the story was scripture and such. Sounds odd doing patriotic stuff for Christmas ... but really, it worked. It was awesome.

 

Cousin's bonding. Cute turds. But then there were enough programs everyone could have one to read along so big brother got down on the floor to read along with little sister.

 

Afterwards we sat and talked about favorite Christmas memories. Of course kids get bored with just talk but Grandma wouldn't let them play the piano. If you ask me though, they look pretty content getting loved on by Grandma.

I love my family.