Gallery Stroll

In an effort to understand the art scene here in Salt Lake City a little better, Tyler and I are going to the "Gallery Stroll" that is held every 3rd Friday of the month. It's a lot of fun and this month we invited Tim and Trisha to come with us. When I told Oliver that Gavin was coming to hang out with he and the girls he asked, "You mean that cowboy?"

(Halloween 2008)
I guess Gavin will always be a cowboy in Oliver's mind. And that is a great compliment. =)

My crazy kids

I guess Oliver felt a little jipped because we didn't make Valentine's sugar cookies this year. We were gone to St. George on the actual day and I was busy getting ready to go beforehand. He asked me every day since then until I gave in.

I'm not big on sugar cookies because after I met Tyler, I made them for him for his birthday. It was a couple of weeks after we met and they were super cute (of course), spelling his name. He loved that I made them, but thought they tasted horrible (and told me so, no less). They were my favorite recipe, so I kind of gave up on them since then. This time, I used a recipe I found on Tastespotting. Well, I tried to use a recipe. I started making it, then realized that some of the ingredients on the posted recipe were missing... namely, eggs- which I was, of course, out of. I then began randomly adding things to add moisture including milk, reconstituted egg whites and finally applesauce. Let me state, for the record, that I am a "Huntzinger" by name only- not by genetics and this is highly unlike me. I ALWAYS follow a recipe and pride myself in the results that are easily replicable time and time again. So you can imagine my surprise when they turned out really good! I think Tyler even enjoyed them. Oliver began decorating them (under my close supervision), carefully using one color at a time.

When we were half way through, the girls came home. Total chaos ensued. I loved the results. My kids are nothing if not creative! (a couple of the above were also done by the girls)

American Idol

So Tucker is crawling. It was so funny... we were at the dentist, Dr. Marberger, or Dr. Marbles as Oliver likes to call him, and he was asking about Tucker (they have a baby a month younger). I mentioned that I didn't think Tucker would ever crawl. He seemed so frustrated by the process. I figured he would go straight to walking like Emmaline. I guess he took that as a challenge because we came home that afternoon and what do you know? He started crawling! Well, sort of. It's a crazy crawl that looks like he'll be walking in no time.

He LOVES to sing as well. American Idol is his absolute favorite show. All the noises he is making in this video are his singing. How do I know? He does it every time we sing or he hears someone else sing. We envision him on a Broadway show in no time, performing right along with Emmaline.

Icebreaker

We went to St. George for President's Day weekend for Savannah to play soccer in the "Icebreaker" Tournament. It was pretty fun to sneak in a little mini-vacation. We wouldn't have gone if we hadn't committed months ago (considering our current finances), but it was actually kind of fun to see how we could spend the bare minimum and still have an enjoyable time.
Everyone did great on the trip down (neither of the boys had napped beforehand), but the first night at the hotel, Tucker did not sleep. I tried to nurse him so he wouldn't cry and keep everyone awake- so neither of us slept much. The next night, I managed to get him to sleep in my arms, then put him in the closet. He only woke up twice. The third night, he learned how to open the door to the closet, so we had a repeat of the first night. Ahhh- I wish he weren't such a light sleeper!
The tournament was great to watch. They tied the first game (1-1), lost the second game (0-1), and won the third game (1-0). Unfortunately that didn't get them into the finals. It was a disappointment since they got 2nd last year, but they did win the consolation (4th game) so everyone was happy for the ride home =) Everyone except Tucker, I should say. He decided to start screaming about 1/2 hour outside of Provo and continued until we pulled into our driveway. He's lucky he's so cute!

I didn't notice while I was taking this picture that they were standing the same way!

Don't you just love the craziness of the Utah landscape?

Oliver is checking out the "narrows" before he gives it another try. He was so proud of himself that he was brave enough to climb through alone.

Tucker on top of the world. He has the silliest hair!

We did a little swimming... but mostly stayed in the hot tub. Luckily the suit Izzy gave Tucker still fit!

The Red Devils. They are such a great team. Not only do they keep improving, the girls are actually nice to each other! We love it.

**Post note... after Matt's comment, I realized I forgot a bit of the story of the baby in the closet (happens when you try to write something weeks after the event). Emmaline was horrified that we put him in the closet. She said, "What if the police come in the middle of the night and see that you put him in there?!" Hmmm... not sure what police would be doing in our room in the middle of the night, but I assured her that it didn't qualify as criminal activity!

Oliver's artwork

Here is the picture Oliver drew in church today. It's a picture of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove. I love kid's drawings... especially this kid!

I cried my eyes out.

I don't cry very often as an adult. I guess I got it all out of my system when I was a child. I was that kid who started crying and just couldn't stop. I would sob uncontrollably until my whole body would just shake. I always hated that feeling and worked really hard to be able to keep my emotions in check.

Yesterday was a hard day. First of all, I was supposed to go to breakfast with one of my really good friends that I don't see often. I stayed up late, making her a gift, only to have Oliver wake up with the gooped over tale-tell sign of pink eye. Tucker woke up with a stuffy nose and a fever. Since fun plans were off, I decided it was a good day to tackle the baby clothes. I just dumped everything on the floor and got busy because Tucker would only be happy out of my arms if I was sitting right behind him.

I decided a while back that I would save one special outfit and one special blanket for each of the kids and give the rest away. I certainly wasn't prepared for the emotions that simple exercise brought. Seeing all the ity-bitty outfits they wore home from the hospital, cuddling a little with each of the blankets I happened to like the most when they were each just a little bundle. It was heart wrenching and I was totally caught by surprise. I was so happy to get rid of all of my maternity clothes. So excited to know that I would NEVER have to do that again. But knowing I'll never have another sweet little newborn? It's harder than I thought.

Watch out!

Whenever Oliver has the chance, he asks Tyler to give him a ride "on his favorite part." Looks like someone else has decided he likes that place too.

It doesn't have horns...

Recently Jon came over and said, "Ollie, I've got a surprise for you and it doesn't have horns. What do you think it is?" Oliver instantly knew it was an M.R.E. or "what army guys eat." He was so excited and kept saying, "Wow this is good."

When he opened the bread he said, "Hmmm. Looks a little stiff," but decided he loved it anyway.

What a funny boy.