Bees!

Doug's brother, Kyle, planned a night out at the Bees game (baseball) on a Monday evening.  We had a great time, but had to leave pretty early to get our kids in bed.  They LOVED it and loved the free train ride to boot!

We splurged and bought a few balloon animals for the kids from a cute grandma we understand does this most games.  They had a blast with them--especially Ethan who whipped his little Monkey around by its tail.  I was laughing so hard as we walked to our car after the game that I took a video of him.  Not 5 seconds after this video ended, he popped the tail of his monkey on the grass.  I thought he'd be upset, but he just kept on playing with that little monkey's body.  Cute kid and said, "that was noisy!"

Memorial Day weekend

We took a road trip to Boise this weekend.  Not only were we going to spend time with my sister, Sarah, and her family, but I also had a little work to do in the area.  Tax write-offs are the best!  

I have sold 4 of these 4-plex units and it was great to see them in person.  They were even more beautiful than I was told.

We spent some time at a splash pad and playground with cousins and had a great time.

Ethan and Levi spontaneously acting like airplanes.

The kids played so well together in the house and backyard that we couldn't help but catch a few photos to remember the moments.  Sydney and Grace had a great time.

They ended up spending many spare moments on the trampoline.  They became pretty confident while others were jumping.  They are growing up so fast!

Ethan thinks Levi is pretty spectacular.

Thanks Sarah and Chris for being great hosts, as usual.  We are so excited that they are going to be moving closely.

Weekend bliss

I surprised Doug by coming home Friday on a much earlier flight in the morning rather than walking in the door at 11 pm.  His shocked facial expression as he opened the door was worth every bit of the scheming to keep it a secret!  We felt like we had a gift of 12 extra hours that day and went to Kohls to spend out $10 gift card we got in the mail on some new clothes for Sydney--in desperate need.  

We came upon these frogs and I let them play with them while we waited in line.  Perhaps it's that I've been gone from them that they have me wrapped around their fingers.  They were loving it and put them back right when I asked them to without complaint.  They are such good kids.

We headed to Park City to the outlet mall on Saturday for a much-needed shopping trip for clothes for me.  My wardrobe is at least 1 size too big these days and although I don't enjoy spending the money, I do like that my clothes fit me after this trip!

We literally ran from store to store with our 25% off AAA member coupon from Banana Republic to Gap and then to Gap Kids.  We walked away with 2 great hats for E&S at fantastic prices, let alone Doug finding a grey 2-pant suit at Banana Republic for $126!

The kids were worn out and were asleep before we reached the interstate.  Ethan wanted to keep his new hat on and I couldn't help but snap some photos of our sleeping beauties.

This morning Ethan threw up his breakfast randomly and we kept them home from church although Ethan was pretty cheery, just to keep the germs to ourselves.  I taught Sunday School so was the lucky one to attend church in solitude!  I came home and we ate dinner and took a fantastic walk and came back and laid in the grass while the kids ran and jumped on me over and over and over again.  Doug tried to spot the eclipse...we still aren't sure if we really saw it.  :-)

I love being with my family.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder and I am excited for the traveling to wind down to nothing by the end of the summer.  I miss them too much!

Bryn's Back

Brynlee was here for a visit with Kayla and Ethan, Sydney, and I were so excited.  We spent a morning at the park together and had a great time.  

We threw wood chips in the air.

and had a picnic.

Then I went to work and Doug washed and set up 2 new (new to us--gently used and found on KSL classifieds) carseats to go in his car so we didn't have to keep swapping out carseats.  Worth every bit of the $40 I paid for them.  Notice that Ethan has on Sydney's dress on top of his outfit.  Yes, he loves "dancing dresses".  If Syd get's one, so does Ethan.

Binki maddness

Really?  Does this kid STILL have an addiction to that little bit of blue plastic?  It's gotten worse in the last several weeks.

"Binki for calming!"

"I want to go night night with my binkis" when it's just to get his 'fix' and not to sleep several times per day.

"Binki!" with sobbing.

"Just two minutes" when asked to put his binkis back in his bed.

"Just one binki" when I told him we need to send his binkis to the monkeys at the zoo.

"In mommy's bed" when he begs for a binki but doesn't want to get in his crib.

Bees

Doug's family made plans for a "family Bees game night" tonight and we have been excited to take the kids for the first timer his year.  My sister, Tiffany, stopped by to borrow our child carrier back pack and we hadn't opened it yet.  I took it out of the packaging just before Ethan woke up (grumpy!) from his nap.  I decided to take him for a walk around outside to cheer him up.  It worked!

On the drive up, Ethan insisted on having a blanket as well as my jacket on his lap.  He was so funny.

Sydney mostly just read Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

We splurged and bought the kids some balloon animals from a sweet woman at the game just before leaving.  Sydney got a bee and Ethan got a monkey.  Ethan didn't want to let it go and was so excited.  I took a video as we left and walked toward the car.  Seconds after this video was taken, the monkey's tail popped in the grass.  Sad for us, Ethan didn't skip a beat and just kept dancing holding a smaller version of his monkey.

Six years

I have been traveling and working long hours the last few weeks and was happy to be home to celebrate our six year anniversary with Doug.  I was too sad to leave to leave the kids with a babysitter where I've been MIA lately.  We had no gifts for each other and I thought it would be fun to go pick out a gift together and we settled on buying a Belgian waffle maker--something we've wanted for years.  We were thrilled to find the exact one we wanted on a table outside the store with 50% off tag on it because the box was damaged. With our coupon in hand, we walked away with this gem for $30!

We went home and made breakfast for dinner--homemade ice cream included for the tops of the waffles.  It was delicious.  We had some veggie-sausage, hash browns included.

It was a family dinner celebration that I needed.

To the beat of our own drum

We have a drum now!  I am helping a co-worker find a new home and working as a traditional realtor for this one transaction.  It's a lot more work than I thought it was but I am learning a lot as well.  She used to run a Montessori preschool and was preparing for a garage sale.  She let me have first pick and I came away with a ton of great stuff!

Ethan gets to beat the drum WHILE he sings songs now.  He actually stays on beat fairly well.   It's quite impressive.

We got this mini shopping cart which they both managed to injure themselves with in a matter of minutes.  They pushed down to hard and the front of the cart hit them both in the forehead SO hard.  Sad times but only for a few minutes.  (I like this shot of Syd's bangs--I tried to trim them and this gives a great perspective of how bad I am at it.  She got a professional cut/fix this week).

We have also had fun times at the park.  My sister, Tiffany, gave us some clothes that Ethan's mentor, his cousin Isaac, wasn't wearing anymore.  We discovered when we arrived at the park that Cameron and Ethan were wearing the same shirt.  Nice.  The sun was too bright for Ethan to look at the camera.

We took Ethan and Sydney to a Monday-night baseball game last week where Josh was playing.  They mostly ran around and made friends with other toddlers while we chased, but I saw a few pitches...

Another eventful moment was my car dying while I was driving to an appointment at my office and being stranded on the side of a state highway.  Our AAA membership came in handy and a helpful co-worker got me to my appointment.  The next day while my car was in the shop, we spent time at Tiffany's house with our cousins.  

Christine came by and we played with Claire and so did my mom.  It was a fun, yet hectic day.  One sweet moment was watching how upset Ethan and Sydney were when Claire was crying pretty hard.  Christine had left for an appt and Ethan spontaneously went over and gave her the bottle.  It was a tender moment for me realizing that they could have younger siblings and not...hurt them.  I just had to tell him to take the bottle out when Claire proceeded to cry and get more mad that he had shoved it in her mouth.