Fall colors

After church, we ate some dinner and went up the canyon to see the changing leaves.  It is one of the only things I truly enjoy about Fall.  Everything else just says, 'winter is coming and you'll have to bundle up everyone when you walk out the front door and you'll be freezing wherever you go'.

We didn't go far when we realized that the kids were falling asleep without a nap.  We parked and got out for a quick photo in the cool mountain air.  Sydney was being so cute looking at the trees--that are green in this photo...

We think we'll head back up this week sometime to see the Aspen trees that are a little higher in elevation that will be turning all sorts of beautiful shades of fall colors.  (Sydney's smile reminds me of Popeye as a kid--eat your spinach kids and you can smile like her!)

Life is GRAND

Doug surprised me after our date to see a play downtown with a stay at the 5-star hotel, the Grand America.  Doug had entered me into a Mother's Day contest earlier this year without my knowledge. Although I didn't win, we were sent a deeply-discounted stay voucher that expires Oct 1st, so he made arrangements for his mother to stay over just in time.  It was an amazing hotel and so fun to just walk the grounds and see the elaborate furnishings.  Even the keys--they were real, metal keys that were electronic!  The envelope they came in felt like silk.  Crazy luxury.

We snapped a photo in the courtyard in the center of the hotel.  The flowers were amazing for this time of year.  Doug is so thoughtful.  We even got to sleep in and our kids had a blast with grandma!  Thanks again mom.

Our bear cave

I started something extraordinary last week.  I was talking to my sister, Tiffany, about trying to put structure into our daily routine at home and she suggested Mommy Time.  It has been a huge hit.  Friday morning, we cleaned for Mommy Time. Yes, I have two kids that love to dust, vacuum, and clean the bathroom with me.  It is fantastic!  We then colored pages of Nemo from "Finding Nemo"and read a new book we'd gotten in the mail.  It was a book about bears and we built a bear cave afterward on the floor.  (disclaimer: the book had the suggestion.  Unfortunately, I am not this creative.)

They loved it so much that they stayed in it and I turned on Dumbo (they're favorite lately) and worked out using my laptop in the kitchen.  The joys of a small apartment, but man I loved that bear cave!

Go Rika!

Grandma came to play today and Ethan and Sydney have been sick for so long it felt like months since we'd seen her!  They were so excited and I didn't dare tell them until that morning for fear of the "when is grandma coming?" questions.  I got some work done and then we went to a Erika's soccer game.  They loved cheering for Erika and dancing.  We were right in front of the announcer booth that had music blaring and they were in heaven.

They were so excited to feed the carrots to the horses in the backyard.

But they were so excited to see Erika play soccer.  They love her to pieces.

We took our breaks from the game to snap photos on my phone.  What a goofy face he's sporting.

They were content to sit on grandma's lap relax.

They were also content to dance their hearts out!

Haircut

My friend April is at beauty school near us and I was so excited to see her.  I made sure I would see her and catch up by making an appt for her to cut Sydney's hair.  Her hair is wild with some curl and some...not.  I decided to grow her bangs because I cannot stand trying to trim them!  They often are crooked or I miss pieces.  

When I told Sydney that April would be cutting her hair that day she was less than thrilled.  She said, "I want mommy to cut it." I then told her that I wasn't good at it and Ethan said, "yes you are mom!"  It was cute, but not true.

Sydney screamed with April tried to put the cape on her and we quickly made some plans for me to hold her and April got Sydney a spray bottle.  She sprayed the floor length mirror until the bottle ran out of water and there was quite the puddle on the floor--but her hair was cut and oh so cute!  

I only took before photos, funny me. Thanks April!

Kellers are here!

We have been waiting and waiting for the Keller clan to arrive and it happened!  My sister, Sarah, and her family moved to Utah and we went over to help them clean/unpack.  Ethan and Sydney had a great time playing with cousins and found some amazing toys.  They loved this doll furniture and helped themselves to sitting on it.  Their cousin, Grace, who is their age (but much bigger) "sits on it, so it's okay if they did" said their older cousin Ellie.  So happy they are living close-by!

Dirty Dash

Several months ago, Tiffany came up with the idea of doing the Dirty Dash together as a family.  Thanks to Matt and his Boondocks bucks, we registered for free and headed up to Midway to Soldier Hollow to run a 10k in an insane amount of mud.  I told Doug this would be therapeutic for me (exposure therapy) and was nervous to get so dirty.  I had NO idea how dirty I would get...despite the photos and stories.

When we arrived, Matt needed to change and there weren't a lot of options, so he hopped in the trunk.  It was hilarious--especially when my dad popped the trunk mid-change to startle him.  It worked.

We took some before photos in our bright, clean clothes.

Right at the starting line, we had to run uphill in the mud where everyone was slinging mud already.  It was crazy and...nasty.

We had to jump over hay bales, wade though ponds of muddy water (slippery), climb up and over cargo nets, hop over walls made of mud, climb through tunnels in muddy water, and slide down an inflatable slip-n-slide...just to name a few.  It was crazy!

I underestimated the need I would have for a snack on the course when all they had to offer was chocolate pudding.  I decided that an upset tummy would be worse than hunger.

Tiffany and Tyler headed to she showers first before we could get a good 'dirty' photo.  The showers were freezing and Tiff's lips were blue.  We opted not to shower and changed our clothes and drove all the way home before showering.

I decided I look American Indian in this photo with the war paint mud and the bunny ears my mom gave me.  I love that all of us are sticking our arms away from our bodies to prevent the only clean part of our bodies (forearms and hands) getting muddy.

Running around

Ethan caught Syd's flu bug in Wednesday and I dosed him up with some herbs and stuff right away.  He hasn't had any symptoms since Wednesday except to say that his tummy is 'sore'.  We've laid low and have mostly played inside.  I started doing "Mommy time" right after breakfast cleanup and they have loved it.  Friday proved to be quite hectic.  I needed to mail in my Idaho real estate license information which required a visit to the bank and my office prior to the post office.  That is pretty intense for us!  They did fairly well, but were done once we reached the post office.  They kept trying to jump in their stroller while I was checking out.  It was chaotic!  

Next stop, Sports Authority to pick up race packets for 12 runners for the Dirty Dash Saturday.  They were pretty good until the end when Sydney stood up in the stroller and stepped out and came to me. I was stunned. I put her back in the stroller and no more than 10 seconds later, there was a CRASH and they she had tipped over the stroller backwards because she had stood up.  They both were screaming partly from being scared and partly from Ethan hitting his head.  I called Doug and said, "this was too much for them"and me.

Friday afternoon, we hung around outside with the neighbor kids upstairs.  They showed Ethan and Sydney the glories of climbing trees and they were so excited.

Success in workout

I've been told several times by my sister, Tiffany, that the day would come when Ethan and Sydney would let me workout while they were awake.  I didn't know if the day would come.  I decided to try this week.  Ethan demanded 'exercise pants' and I put on their exercise shoes.  I then gave them a yoga mat and also gave them some 1 lb weight bars out of an old ankle weight so they could really do the workout with me.  They did it and I got a 30-min workout in!  I am going to try to 40 minute next!!

After working out, I told Ethan and Sydney that I was going to shower.  I told them we could watch a youtube video if they didn't hurt each other or the house while I was showering for 5 minutes.  Sad, isn't it?  They are getting ideas from eachother lately and are quite destructive when I'm not looking.

After I got out of the shower, I noticed my hair product that makes my hair curly was gone.  Tragic.  I tried to make it work and Sydney came in and said, "mom, you're hair is crazy!" and started laughing.  Yeah, don't know that it worked.  I did a little taming work and came out with this.  It was interesting.

Brigham City Temple Open House

Many of the Utah Marchants caravanned to the Brigham City temple open house Saturday.  Doug's brother, Jeff, worked directly on the construction of the exterior of the temple--the preformed concrete.  He traveled here once or twice in the past while to see how the construction of it was coming as part of an assignment for work.  It was a LONG day with a LOT of waiting and Ethan and Sydney did fairly well.  They loved their little botties that covered their shoes, but we did NOT love the smell of their sweaty feet afterward.  Yikes!

We took a few photos afterward and Ethan and Sydney loved the bottled water given at the end of the tour of the new LDS temple.  They had their own and were in heaven.

We paused and admired Jeff's work--the exterior of the temple.  The temple was stunning.

We caravanned back to Salt Lake to watch the BYU/Utah football game that evening as well.  It was a day filled with Marchants and pizza, football, temple, waterbottles, and fun.

We slept at Grandma's house that night since the game started at 8 pm.  That night Sydney was up throwing up for 4 hours straight--every 15 minutes.  I felt so awful for her.  We packed up and left before grandma was awake so she wouldn't catch the bug.  I learned my first "mommy lesson" about children puking.  I was not supposed to give Sydney water after she threw up...once I stopped, the puking stopped.  Oops.  She has been fine ever since.

Eat your toes for lunch

These two kids are starting to do the funniest things. I came out of the shower and had left music playing for them to dance for a few minutes and found this when I came into the living room.  They had piled about 6-7 blankets on the head of the rocking horse and were sitting on it together.  It was so funny at the time.  

Oh, and Ethan and gotten a binki out of his bed--I have to put them 6 ft high out of reach for him to have them for sleep only.

I put Ethan in time out in his bed for something (probably clobbering his sister) and he was so upset.  When I got him out of his bed, I noticed this tear in his shorts (my favorite ones, of course) and asked him what happened.  It looked like he'd found scissors somewhere.  He said he ripped it with his hands.  Yes, pretty sure he has super-human strength to rip through the hem?

I asked Ethan to help Sydney get her skirt back on after I changed her diaper and it was so cute to watch him try.  He can be such a sweet brother to her.

Ethan is definitely envious of Sydney's hair accessories and dresses/skirts (he calls them "dancing dresses" because they flow so well when he dances).  He really wanted one of these bows I put in Sydney's hair and kept it in much longer than she did.

Sydney has had the flu for a week and finally was better and we took a much needed walk to the park.  The fresh air was amazing and the walk was even better.

We collected excellent sticks and danced with them.

When we came home, Ethan didn't want to eat what I was making for dinner.  I told him "well, you can eat your toes for dinner if you don't want what I am making."  Next thing I knew, I heard "it's yucky".  He had quickly sat down, took off his shoe and sock and stuck his big toe in his mouth.  Yes son, toes that are sweaty after a walk to the park are especially yucky.

Doug's aunt Leora gave Ethan and Sydney these adorable pencil boxes on Labor Day and I introduced them to them and they were in love.  They were so simple and yet so amazing!  They were coloring thank you notes for her.

Doug snapped this shot today while our two musicians played a masterpiece on a toy they played with with they were 1 year old, but still continue to play with now--even as a bench.  Thanks to grandma with black hair for giving it to them.  :-)

Gone in a flash

We thought it would be great to move to Salt Lake so Doug could be closer to work.  Then we saw how expensive it is to rent in that county.  Doug was visiting lots of places on his way home from work for the last several weeks and we decided this flash was the last one that would be reflected in a mirror of a rental home for a while.  Doug will get used to sitting in traffic every day, right?

Labor Day Pool Party

Ethan and Sydney don't quite understand how they are lucky enough to have TWO grandmas, so they distinguish by calling them "grandma with white hair" and "grandma with black hair".  Well, grandma with white hair invited us over for a pool party on the last day her pool was open for the season to celebrate Maren's birthday.  We had a great time enjoying the sun as we know it's not going to last much longer.

The birthday girl was oh-so-excited to get some fantastic presents.  We are hoping we can visit her and her family this winter to enjoy some cross-country skiing.

We then skipped over to another birthday party for Ethan and Sydney's friend--Quentin.  Her mom and I are happy they get along well because we love to see each other.  She just had a baby, Bently, a few weeks ago and Ethan and Sydney both asked to 'hold' him.  It was so great to watch how delicate they were with him.

When they began to get a little stir crazy, I took them outside to the backyard for a little play time.  Ethan was quite upset when the dog came on the trampoline with him.  He is a jumper!