Happenings

We spend a lot of time at home these days.  It's hard to get out with a baby that sleeps, eats, and poops all day.  :-)

We spend lots of time in dresses and we even break out Syd's hair clips often to dress up our hair!

Aunt Annette kindly sent some clothes for Ethan and Lyla and included this lion costume.  Funny thing is...it's an 18-month size.  Sydney squeezed into it and stayed in it for a while and was a little sweaty.  

All the back-to-school sales came in handy with our little learners!  They are starting to want to write their letters and are asking me what letters a word "starts with" regularly.  They starting singing their ABC's almost instantly after I hung these letters.

Grandma called and realized I was having a rough day.  She said she would come and pick up Ethan and Sydney to plat at her house after lunch (in less than an hour).  I told Ethan and Sydney and they ate feverishly during lunch in anticipation.  They were distraught when Grandma hadn't arrived yet and brought their little chairs to the front step and sat and waited...patiently.  :-)

While I was vacuuming today, I spotted a little shoe Aunt Annette had sent for Lyla with a little baby inside and laughed out loud.  I grabbed the camera to remember these sweet moments I get to have with my babies.  

Ethan has turned into quite the little artist!  He will draw for a LONG time.  He has always asked me to help him draw people...until today.  While I was stopped at a stoplight, he asked me to look at his picture.  I was stunned.  

Summer sun

We have enjoyed lots of time by the pool this summer.  My sister, Tiffany, has a community pool and has invited us to join them several times.  Lyla isn't as big of a fan as the rest of us--it's been a hot, hot summer!

We've been downtown to Liberty Park twice and had a great time with Doug's coworkers.  His internship is about over and three of the five of them will be returning home away from Utah.  They have been so fun!

Lyla is two months old today!  She is getting so big and is still such a sweet, pleasant baby.

We went to a concert in Pioneer Park--if it wasn't for good company, we would have turned around and went home when they told us they were charging us admission (full price $5 each) for every member of our family--including our 2 month old!  We sat far away from the stage so it wasn't too loud, but there were people smoking although they were not allowed.  I am pretty allergic and had a headache within a few minutes.  I was also concerned about Ethan, Sydney, and Lyla.  It was fun to spend time again with Doug's coworkers, Rose and Laura.

Sunday chill time

This beautiful baby is 8 weeks old!  I have told Doug that I want her to slow down.  I'm not ready for her to get big.  She is so wonderful.  I took a photo of her after I fed her and she was so happy.

Ethan and Sydney were showing their creativity this afternoon.  Doug and I were doing our own thing and then realized they were singing "Maria" from "Sound of Music".  This is pretty common behavior (except this was a new song they were learning) but was not-so-common was Ethan putting on a sheet over his head and pretending he was Maria.  Sydney had put on this hat and was Captain VonTrapp.  What was more interesting was that they were acting their parts!  Ethan 'ran into the room' while Sydney was singing this song just as Maria does in the musical.  After taking this photo, we found Ethan pretending he was Maria walking across the room and kneeling at the alter (repeatedly).  We were stunned and grinning from ear-to-ear.  Our little actors.

We were happy to have some family visit in the evening.  They brought a gift for Lyla and stayed and chatted for a little while.  It was so fun to see Elyssa, Keslee, and Josh as well as Uncle Kyle and Aunt Tamra.

Friends!

It's no secret that Ethan and Sydney are VERY social.  Well, it is also no surprise that they are constantly asking if we're having cousins (or friends) over or going to "someone's house".  We were excited that Doug's childhood friend, Ezra, came to visit with his family for a few days.  We went to Hogle Zoo with them Friday after Doug was off work.  We had a great time.

I worked to keep Lyla somewhat cool on the 103 degree weather day.  She just snoozes the day away when it's warm like this.

The carousel was magical.

We went out for dinner that night, and then headed to the splash pad nearby the next day.  We opted to have a hot dog roast in the backyard and the kids had a great time.  Sydney needed a make-shift table to eat and the kids all wanted to eat on the slide.

Now they keep asking me for more cousins/friends to play with.

So big

This little baby is growing up so fast!  She's over 7 weeks old and adorable as ever!  She is nearly sleeping through the night and rarely spits up.  I've learned that she does not like when I eat chocolate or any soy products.  :-\  Missing Doug's chocolate raspberry ice cream he makes me...

These two are growing up fast too!  When I asked them to get dressed, they went in their room and picked out these clothes.  When I told them they didn't match well, they both defended their choices.  It was too adorable. I let them wear them (we weren't going anywhere really) and couldn't help but smile at how proud they were of their accomplishment.

They earned a little lawn mower I bought online by being helpful, good listeners, and good sleepers.  They waiting impatiently until the day arrived when dad would be mowing the lawn so they could 'help'.  This is such a fun age!

We played over at my sister, Sarah's house this week and Ethan runs for dresses and tutus.  Their cousin, Grace, is a BIG fan of dresses and Ethan loves having so many options.

I picked up tickets to the "Sound of Music" stage performance several weeks ago and we were excited when the date finally rolled around.  They had a great time at the outdoor amphitheater and knew all the songs.

Lyla was so cute in this outfit that I had to snap a photo.  I thought I should get a crying one to make sure I represent all sides of having a newborn.

Ethan and Sydney have a tradition of singing "two little babies in the deep, deep cuv" (rhyming with love).  No idea what cuv means, but they've done it forever.  I used to sing something like that to them, but I do not remember what that word actually was meant to be...

This time, when they got out of the bath, I placed Lyla on top so they could sing, "three little babies in the deep, deep cuv".  They were thrilled. Too cute.

Packing up

It's always sad when vacations come to an end, although we're excited to get back to our own space.  Having someone make my bed and tidy up everyday was amazing!  They did the dishes even.

Ethan and Sydney played while we packed up.  They thought it was awesome to roll around in their inner tubes.

I put Lyla in her Boppie on her tummy.  Within seconds she was crying.  She had kicked against the floor twice in a row when I tried to do this again.

On the way home, we stopped for lunch at my grandparents' house again.  It is so fun that they moved closer.  They've been in Missouri or Oklahoma my entire life.  I have great memories visiting them and I was excited watching my kids making memories of their own.  They loved them and their fun toys.  They are great people.

The Strip

We decided we couldn't visit Vegas without taking the kids to see a few attractions on the strip.  We parked near the Billagio and took them right to the fountains.  They loved it.  

We visited the Flamingo to see the bird sanctuary and then headed back to our hotel.  We'd had enough of the smoke and Lyla was going to be hungry.  

Vegas Marchant-style

We were suckered into a timeshare presentation incentive and got a 3-night stay at a Hilton resort in Vegas.  Although we don't love Vegas, we loved the idea of the stay, dinner for 2, and show tickets.  We arrived at our hotel in time for dinner and watching the fireworks on the strip.  We went to a neighboring casino and kept the kids up until 10 pm (UT time) for the start of the show.  Ethan was terrified but Sydney loved it.  I went inside with Ethan and Lyla for most of the show.  That's what happens when you're a mom.  

Lyla spent most of the day sleeping in a crib in our hotel room or sleeping in the portable bed under an umbrella by the pool.  It was 120 degrees when we arrived, but cooled to about 113 degrees the next day.  That's cool, right?

Sydney loved playing with this bar and swung like a monkey for hours.

Ethan was brave and adventurous and spent a lot of time jumping into the water.

We had a kitchenette in our room--blender too.  We brought our popcorn popper from home for our favorite movie-time snack.  I made a spinach smoothie a few times and missed my Vitamix for sure!

Ethan asked me why I didn't bring dresses for him to dance.  He improvised with some plastic (Syd wet the bed the first night and they brought new bedding up in the plastic.  It was adorable.  He loves "dancing dresses"!

They loved the massive bathtub in the hotel.  They even could fit with their inner tubes!  We just had a hard time getting them to stop screaming and squealing with joy in their bath.

Friday night, we saw the Beatleshow on the strip.  The kids were all free and were the only kids there.  We scrambled to eat fast enough at our free buffet dinner and then ran to show (literally).  Ethan and Sydney danced in the aisle almost the entire time.  They attracted lots of smiles from the audience and performers.  I fed Lyla and held her covering her ears the entire show.  It was VERY loud.

Let the party begin

Doug's dissertation is submitted and he's nearly ready for printing.  We had planned a little getaway with the kids to Las Vegas and stopped in St George for one night.  It was my grandma Creed's birthday and we met them to go to dinner for her birthday.  My Aunt Julie purchased a cake that read "Congrats Dr. Doug" which ended up being an appetizer as our dinner service was pretty poor and dinner was about 45 minutes late.  It was so fun to spend time with them.

Ethan and Sydney were completely enamored by grandma and grandpa's toys.  They were antiques that my mother had played with as a child.  They sat in a high chair my mother sat in decades ago.  They were in heaven.

Lyla got lots of love from both of them.

Thursday (4th of July), we met Ezra and Elise in the morning and went swimming in her uncle's pool.  It was over 110 degrees, so swimming was about the only thing we could think to do.  I laid Lyla on a portable bed under a beach umbrella and sprayed her with water several times.  She seemed to stay cool enough.

Ethan and Sydney had a great time with the kids--Landon, Lucas, and Anna.  They got along well and it's a good thing--they will be seeing each other for years to come, if we have any say in the matter.