Broccoli

So I thought that Trey was eating all his broccoli tonight for dinner.
But apparently he wanted to save some for later. Or maybe he was trying to feed his imaginary pet dog.

Dirty Binks

Look where I found Trey today......
















Gross!
I boiled all his binks right after to ensure they were all clean.

Homeward bound

Well, we are back home. I wanted to have a small family vacation before we jumped right back into the swing of things so we left Saturday mid-morning and stayed about an hour South of Kanab at Jacobs Lake, AZ. Except there was no lake, not even a pond. Just a large meadow with a couple of horses grazing in it. Maybe once upon a time there was a lake or pond, but not today.
Then yesterday morning (Sunday) we drove to Flagstaff and stopped at Walnut Canyon.
The short 1 mile loop hike down 185ft. passes ancient Native American Indian dwellings that were literally in the walls of the canyon. Quite neat really. It was a gorgeous view and I'm so glad we made the stop before reaching home.

Judd Family Reunion

This years reunion was a play day at Pineview Reservoir! Super fun! I think everyone had a great time today and enjoyed it. I think these pictures tell it all..... (Pictures) After Pineview we met back together for dinner and family pictures at Kimberly and Tomas's house. Grandpa Judd played a few tunes on the harmonica and we played 'name that tune' a couple times. But my favorite part of it all was him giving Tage one of his harmonicas and teaching him to play. That right there was priceless. I hope that Tage will always remember his Great-Grandpa Judd. Family pictures were crazy as we were all trying to get our kids to cooperate and 'say cheese'. I for sure was exhausted after all that and think I totally deserved my ice cream reward just like the kids. (Pictures) All these years later and he still is the one who is serving the ice cream just like he always did when I was little going to his house....he's the ice cream-dipper-master! It was a wonderful family day! Good times, great memories! Loved it!

Jump, jump, jump

Everyone (even me!) had a blast at an indoor trampoline place in Kaysville. We all burned off a ton of calories and were stinky sweaty bodies afterwards. The little kids bedtime came early and they slept long and deep which made me one happy momma. (Pictures)

Chicks Dig Me

Oh yah. I for sure 'dig' my sweet Trayzer! (Picture) Love him!

Bountiful Temple

What better way to start the day than by going to the Temple. 6:00am Inititories. It was quiet. It was perfect. I feel like I can conquer the world. Ok, maybe not the world but at least today. And for an extra bonus- all kids are still snoozing soundly. Cue the heavenly choir. Sound the trumpets. It is going to be a glorious day!

Papa's Cookies

Nilla Wafer Cookies will always be known as Papa cookies at Grandma and Grandpa Judd's house. Grandpa has to make sure the cookie jar is full all the time because the kids know exactly who to go to to ask for a cookie.....Papa. (Picture) We love Papa's cookies!!

Grandma's Waterfall

This here beloved feature has got to be one of the highlights of every grandchild that comes to Grandma's house. The kids love it! (Picture)

Stairs

Trey has discovered stairs. (Picture) EEK! I better keep a closer eye on him!

Utah

One of our summer vacations is and always will be a trip to Utah for both mine and Tyson's family reunions. I decided to go up a week before the Judd Family Reunion to spend time with my family and to visit old friends. The house was 'under construction' since my parents are doing a major model of the kitchen. The 'kitchen' had been moved to the deck. Dishes were done in the bathroom, and meals prepared on a Lifetime plastic table using an electric pan, crockpot, or microwave. My Mom seriously is a latter day pioneer. Never once did I hear a compliant come out of her mouth. It was always heard comments like, "it is what it is," "we'll make the best of it," "life goes on." I love my Mom. So grateful for her positive attitude and example to push forward even through challenging times. I could apply this concept toward many things in my life. I admire her and want to be more like her everyday. Well, back to our trip..... The kids did great on the car ride up there. I left yesterday at 5:00am (6:00am Utah time) and arrived about 7:00pm Utah time. We stopped in Kingman for gas, potty and a little breakfast at Wendy's, then stopped again in St. George for a bathroom break and enjoyed our good old P.B&J sandwiches on a grassy spot. Then one last stop in Nephi for a potty break. Finally we got to my parents house with kids itching to get out of the car to run and play. It was beautiful weather. Not hot, not cold. Perfect. My Mom had made us some sloppy joes and we snarffed them down like there was no tomorrow then we were back running around and playing. New exploring and adventure for sure! The kids were in heaven.

Ear ache

Last night Emmry came into our room several times. I think after the 3rd time I just pulled her into bed with us. She said her ear hurt. She wouldn't take any Tylenol but let me lay a rice pack on it. This morning I asked her if her ear still hurt. She looked at me with a questionable look on her face, reached up grabbing her left ear lobe and wiggling it. Then she smiled and said in her cute little voice, 'nnnno!'

Arizona Science Museum

The Peoria library offers cultural passes. Cultural passes are 2 free admissions to certain museums or places in the Phoenix area. The Science Center is one of them. I also know that the Phoenix Zoo, Children's Museum, and Arizona Botanical Gardens are a few others offered. You have to be in line at the library right when it opens to get a pass. They are hot items since they only have a limited amount each day. Well I made it to the library at 8:56. 4 minutes to spare and yes, there was people waiting. But I got the Science Museum pass! Yay! Off to enjoy a day at the museum for FREE! (Age 2 and under were already free, so it worked out perfect to use the free tickets for Tage and I) Tage's favorite exhibit was the Forces of Nature. Specifically the Immersion Theater. There was a 5 minute show that allows you to FEEL what it would be like to be in the middle of a hurricane, tornado, wildfire, volcanic eruption, or monsoon. It was pretty cool. You are on a large circle platform surrounded by huge projector screens showing you video of the 'force of nature'.....crazy wind, hot lights, rain....you can FEEL it all. I wish I would have gotten a picture of him among it. Dang it. Emmry's favorite was playing with the plastic balls and water. (Picture) And Trey's favorite part was anytime I let him out of the stroller to crawl around on the floor. But I would say the music lights were his favorite roaming time. (When you stepped (or crawled) on the lights they would make different music sounds) (Picture) (All other random pics)

Love You

I have been meaning to write this down for almost a month now....I'm finally remembering. ........... Believe it or not, Emmry didn't ever say 'love you' until recently. Father's Day to be exact. I told her to say 'love you' to Ty and she did!! She said 'wah you' It totally caught me off guard because I didn't think that she would say it. Every other time we tell her to say 'love you' she would stick her tongue out and spit or just say no and turn her head. So I was actually really surprised when she said it. I asked her to say it again and again just to make sure that is what she was really saying. So from then on she has said 'wah you'. I love it that she expresses that she loves me!! Makes me feel more loved for some reason.

Just a 17 hour work day....

Plus drive time......No biggie.....(yeah right!)
Tyson left the house this morning at about 5:30am. Now at 9:11pm he is just leaving the office from downtown. That means he will be home approximately 9:45pm. Such a long, long day for him. (Yesterday was super long too!)
But instead of saying that I hate this and that I feel like a single Mom, I'm going to say that I feel so grateful for my husband. He is under a lot of pressure right now at work and I am so glad that he works hard to support his family. I'm grateful that he has a job. I'm grateful that he cares about what he does. I'm grateful that he provides so well for us. I'm grateful that he works so hard that it allows me to stay home with my children. I'm so grateful for HIM!

Summer Swimming

For the past month or so, our ward has been doing weekly swim group. They meet once a week at somebody's house for a couple hours to swim, chat and have fun. (And let's be honest....to get the kids super tired so they will go to bed early and crash fast and hard!)
I had been nervous about going with 2 little ones especially if Tage isn't there to help me. But today we went. Everything went well and the kids had a BLAST! Who wouldn't when you are at a pool with a diving board, waterfall cave and a rock slide! Hello?!?! Seriously so fun! This is definitely what I want my dream pool to be like! All the kids were in total h-e-a-v-e-n!
Havin' fun in the AZ sun!
(Pictures)

Trey's First Tooth!!

FINALLY popped through! Two actually. The bottom front two. Awe, cute little razor sharp teeth! He is 11 months and 4 days today. I really like how I have toothless grin babies for this long. (Emmry was 10 1/2 months when her first tooth came in)
The last couple days have been long. He has taken very short nap(s) and has faught going to bed at night. He has slept through the night though once he finally gave into it so that's good. Eating has also been strange. This little guy is living off watermelon and RITZ crackers, I swear. (Oh, and I guess mommy's milk too. He still likes his happy milk morning, noon and night and sometimes in between)

4th of July

Happy Birthday America!!

I feel so blessed to live in a place where I have freedom. I'm thankful to all those men and women who have served our country faithfully and have made it possible for me and my family to enjoy this.....
(pictures)
A day full of family fun!

Watermelon Eating Contest

Vistancia had a 4th of July shin dig tonight. It was at the clubhouse pool. They had a band playing fun music the whole time, beach balls tossed in the pools for everyone to enjoy and hamburgers, hotdogs, snowcones, drinks, and popcorn all to buy if you wanted. But the most important part of the night was the watermelon eating contest. This was the reason we went. Tage was pumped and ready to win. "I gonna keep eating and eating until I throw up, then I will eat some more. I'm gonna win."

Well, he didn't win. But he had fun. The contest was a race as to who would finish their 3 pieces of watermelon first. Tage took 2nd I think. And then he had another 5 pieces of watermelon after that!!
(Picture)
Trey wanted to be apart of the contest too. I'm pretty sure he tied Tage for 2nd place. Hahaha. Trey LOVES watermelon. He was in heaven with that big chunk! He screamed when I took it away. Arching his back and throwing a fit and everything. Then I gave it back to him and he stopped crying instantly, grabbed the watermelon and started eating it again. This boy would eat watermelon breakfast, lunch, dinner and every snack in between if I let him. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it!!!!
(Picture)

Target Brand

Last night at Target Tage asked me in a complaining way why we had to get the Target brand of everything and not the name brand. I told him in a rude tone of voice and rather quite loud actually because I had some looks from other shoppers. "Because its cheaper. That's why. And when you get older and do your own shopping, then you can get whatever you want."

Sometimes I think that kids think parents have all the money in the world and money just appears out of nowhere.

Speaking of money, a lot of the time I am telling my children no to a lot of things when we are out shopping. There are countless times I tell Tage no to something and he has said in a sarcastic tone, "Why? Because its not on sale?"
That's right buddy. Unless its on sale or even better....clearance, we don't get it. Hahahaha.

And there are also countless times he has said, "but Mom, it's on sale."
My responses are always something to the fact that we don't need it or its not on clearance. Hahahaha.
Am I raising my children to be tight wads with money like me or what?!

Oh but wait. Money grows on trees. I guess I could give in every once in awhile to that pack of gum Tage wants.

July 2

6:23am. Good Morning. The plan was really to get up at 5:45am and swim laps in our pool. Obviously that didnt happen. I really wanted to sleep in just a little bit longer but Emmry kept kicking and rolling over and just bugging me. I remember taking her back to her bed several times last night. In fact I dont even remember her ever crawling in bed with me. I just woke up with her in my bed, again.
Although I did swim a few laps until I noticed that Emmry had pooped in the pool. Swim time was over. I hosed her off and told her that we couldnt swim because she pooped in the pool and that daddy has to do special things to the water so we could go swimming again. She said "Sorry, Mommy" a million times. It really was cute hearing her say that. So sincere and so sweet. I love her.

Today

I have been completely overwhelmed for months now on how I should document my life. Because of you Jen, I am starting today. Right now.
I want you to help me with this. Encourage me to post the little things and the big things. Even if they are just words and no pictures. I need help. Just like I need reminders about birthdays and special family events.
You just wait until your 32. Your brain goes downhill fast from then on.

I love you Jen. I love your blog. SOOOOOO glad that you have kept up with it. Even though you don't have anything printed or a scrapbook to work on physically you are documenting it!!!! That's what matters most. SOOOOOO glad that you are documenting even the little things!