Farm Country

We visited Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point a couple of weeks ago. The girls had fun with their cousins, feeding corn feed to the animals and riding the wagon. Afterward we had 25 cent ice cream cones. It was a fun day.

Finding a new fun (free!) thing to do...

In February we went with my SIL Krista and her kids to the Gale Center in South Jordan. It was a great place for kids, like a children's museum and the best part? It's free. The staff seemed kinda uptight, so you really have to watch your kids, but that's understandable I guess. Anyway, here are some pictures:

Danger: Explosives

This picture of Lydia and Watson playing checkers makes me smile. I think neither of them really knows how to play, but the look of concentration on Lydia's face suggests otherwise.
Owen and Elise, milking a 2-D cow.
Elise loves to play school. She has the best "teacher voice", a very no-nonsense tone.

Tyler at 3 months

I can't believe it has been 3 months since Ty was born. Unlike the girls, he is actually outgrowing the 0-3 month clothes right on schedule! Tyler started giggling this month, and I LOVE it! It just makes you feel all joyful and giddy inside to hear your little baby giggle. He is also becoming pretty good at getting his own thumb into his mouth. As a result (I think) of his new ability to self-soothe, he recently started sleeping a nice 7 hour stretch most nights. So I have been catching up on all the missed sleep. The trick is making myself go to bed instead of checking blogs or my new time wasting discovery, Facebook.

Tyler Giggles

Tyler at 2 months

Ok, again I put off posting this until it was almost a month late! Tyler has been growing and changing so much. He gives big smiles and loves attention. He also seems to recognize people. For example, when Elise approaches him, he gets a big smile on his face before she even does anything. It's like he's thinking, "Here comes my big sister, this is gonna be fun!"
It makes me a little sad that he's not a tiny newborn anymore, but on the other hand, it's exciting. At his 2 month checkup, he was 12 lbs 5 oz. It's about 70th percentile, and that is BIG, for our family. He has chubby little cheeks, arms and legs. Come to think of it, I need to take some pictures of his bare arms and legs, but it's winter and they're never on display! Here are Tyler's 2 month pictures:

Elise with the camera

The past couple of times I have uploaded pictures from our camera, I have found that Elise has been on a "shooting spree" with it. The last batch included at least fifty of her pictures. Here is a good sample:




I think the messy bedroom floor with the decapitated Barbie is my favorite.

Happy Valentine's Day (late)

To all our friends and family:

33 things I love about Mike

Can I just publicly declare how awesome Mike is? He had his birthday this week, and it's Valentine's day tomorrow, so it seems like a good time to do so.
Since he turned 33, I think I'll list 33 great things about him:

Handyman, Funny punster, Sports nut, Thoughtful husband, Attentive daddy, Silly made-up song singer, Well-liked by others, Fulfills duties, Smart engineer, Expert troubleshooter, Surprise kitchen cleaner, Not picky, Strong will-power, Worthy priesthood holder, Family prayer initiator, Handsome, Hard worker, Finishes what he starts, Fixes what he breaks, Professional omelet flipper, Sunday morning pancake maker, Ute fan, Stays home with the kids so I can go out, Budget keeper, Bill payer, Diaper changer, Do-it-yourselfer, Board game fan, Gracious loser, Gracious winner, Nice muscles, Good driver, Great kisser.

Wow, I totally scored in the husband department, and I realize it more and more as time goes on.

Blessing Day

Tyler was blessed in Fast and Testimony meeting on the first of February. He was quiet and alert throughout the blessing, and Mike did a wonderful job as well. It was a really neat blessing, I wish I had taken notes or something because I can't remember all of it. But one thing that stood out to me from the blessing was that he'll recognize Heavenly Father's love for him as a son of God throughout his life.
We had an awkwardly large blessing circle, but what can you do? They were all our fathers, grandfathers, and brothers, and there were even a few missing! I really feel blessed that most of our family lives near enough to participate in this kind of thing. Afterward we had a nice little brunch for everyone at our house.
Tyler wore a little cream-colored sweater outfit that my mom took us shopping for. He looked adorable in it, and I liked that it was kinda white, but didn't scream "blessing outfit!", so he can wear it to church a few more times.
Another momentous thing that happened that day: I was released from my calling as Young Women 2nd counselor (the whole presidency was replaced). I am a little sad about it, but it's ok. I really loved serving in the YW, and they are such a great group of girls (and leaders). I feel a little better about camp though, because I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to participate with a 7 month old baby.
So I am currently "unemployed" in my ward. Not for long though, the bishop assured me.

A Better Mousetrap

So, we had a mouse in our garage. Mike saw it run under the stairs out there (I'm glad it wasn't me), so we set a cheap little mousetrap with a little piece of cheese on it. Well, apparently there was more than one mouse, and the trap caught TWO at the SAME TIME!
It was really gross, but amazing, so we took a picture. I won't post it directly on the blog, because I'm sure most people would be squeamish about that, but if you want to see it click here.