Raging Waters

We tried to do the Raging Water visit earlier this month, but schedules didn't quite match up with our friends until last Friday. Nate took Friday the 23rd off of work and Nate's mom watched Andersen so we could let Jackson go have some fun! Look how cute he looks in a life jacket. He was so excited, that is until he actually stepped foot into the freezing cold water. Good thing our good friends the Sparrows were meeting us there, so Jackson could see Bodie be so brave. After a little coaxing Jackson went down the big slide with Nate. Supposedly he was a little scared but had no problem getting on the tube and riding down the slide. Half way down the slide they both fell off the tube and rode down the rest of the way on their bums.

Now that is one happy boy! He was so proud of himself for going down the big boy slide and couldn't wait to do it again, but with Mom this time. With Raging Waters only having a few double tube slides, we took turns taking Jackson down those and then the rest of the time we spent in the Lazy River floating around in circles while the adults took turns on the really big slides.
Here Stephanie and Bodie. We met at Weber State when we worked as Ambassadors together and have been friends ever since. Husbands and two boys each later, it makes it even more fun to get together.
The other place the boys had fun was the kid sections which are like playgrounds with water spraying everywhere.

The kid slide was Jackson's favorite.
Thanks Sparrow's! We had so much fun and it was a good way to start out our holiday weekend.
Can you tell Jackson was exhausted? He crashed within 5 minutes of getting to the car. If only I could sleep like that too because after being in the hot sun and water all day I was feeling the same way. I am still recovering from the sun burn. Should have listened to Steph and worn sunscreen.

Girls Camp {Beaver Ridge}

The week of July 14-17th was our Stake Girls Camp. We took these 8 cute girls into the Bear Country. We never saw a bear but we did see a deer and a million and 1/2 biting flies! Our stake theme this year was "United We Can Stand" and each ward picked a country. Our ward picked Ireland, hence the clovers on their shirts.

Even though we were constantly surrounded by flies, the area we camped at was BEAUTIFUL!
We of course had to do the traditional "Snipe Hunt". Aren't our snipe hunters so cute? Out of my many years of attending girls camp, whether as a youth or a leader, this by far was the BEST snip hunt I've seen. Lizzie I sure hope your elbow is okay from your snipe bite!
And the best part of being a leader is getting to pull pranks on all the girls. The girls didn't see the water guns coming at all! We were all sitting around in the hot sun with flies all around, little did they know we had already armed our guns with water and had them stored in our car for the perfect moment.
Unfortunately on our way home I got a flat tire. Thanks to our 1st Counselor in the Bishopric and his muscles my spare was switched out and we were back on the road. What an ending to a great week! Even though the flat tire became more drama than expected, I wouldn't have traded those 4 days with our Young Women for anything. They are all amazing!
And a huge THANKS to all our leaders and camp directors! (Liz isn't in the picture and she was the Master Mind to all this show)

What a FUN group! Love you Ladies!
(Jordyn Greaves, Megan Chase, Marissa Howard, Me, Emma Howard, Liz Merritt, Adrianna Crow, Nichole-Emma's friend, Lizzie Olsen, Alli Cook, Alix-Jordyn's Cousin, Bonnie Vuyk, and Nikki Eddleman)

The fastest 9 Months EVER!

Where did my little baby go? This honestly has been the fastest 9 months in my life. I can't believe this little guy is already 9 months old! It seems like with Jackson I caught myself saying "Oh I can't wait until this, and that, etc" but with Andersen it seems like he is doing everything before I can even prepare myself for it. Andersen the last 3 months has grown up so fast and is learning so many new things. This picture is by far my most favorite picture of him yet. One morning we went in to get Andersen from his crib and this is the smile we got from him. He thought he was the coolest thing ever that he figured out how to stand up and hold on to his crib.
Here are a couple more pictures of him playing one day. He loves to pull himself up on everything now so he can be apart of all the action. Jackson used to be safe putting his toys on the couch so Andersen couldn't get them, but this little guy just got smarter.
This is usually how you will catch him standing... Mr. Cool that doesn't need both hands.
He is officially a crawler rather than a scooter. He figured out the army crawl months ago and I loved watching him do it, because his whole right side would go limp as he would pull the back side around with his arms. He soon realized that was too much work and up on all 4 would take him places way faster. Now he is all over the place and loves being able to follow me and Jackson from room to room.
If you look close in this picture you can see his 2 lower teeth. He got his first tooth a day before he turned 7 months. We were in Colorado visiting for birthdays and he decided to give my Dad a special surprise because his tooth came in on his birthday (May 10, 2010) Just days later the other side kick popped up. His upper 4 front teeth are working hard to come through right now, so I am sure he'll be up to 6 teeth soon.
His favorite thing to play with now that he is moving around and enjoying toys more, is all of Jackson's books. Jackson has a bench in our family room of all his books (the black bench in the back of this picture) and it sits at Andersen perfect height to stand up and look in. He will spend so much time flipping through all the pages while sitting on the floor just like his big brother..

The latest on Andersen is we might have to get his tonsils out just like his big brother. While I was a girls camp Andersen started running a high fever that wouldn't break with medicine and then his breath became atrocious. Well Monday this week was his 9 month check up so I figured I would do two visits in one. Sure enough, his tonsils are completely abscessed just like Jackson's were last year. We have started our first out of 3 rounds of antibiotics and then depending on how they react to the medication will determine if we make an ENT appointment. Andersen has always been such a mellow kid since day one, but when he lays on the couch like this with no desire to do anything it breaks my heart. 24 hours of medicine has done wonders for his energy level, fever, appetite, and he will even swallow now where he would just slobber everywhere because it probably hurt so bad to swallow before.
His stats from his Dr appointment were 30 1/2 inches tall (96% for height) and 22 1/2 lbs (77% for weight) He is usually 2 lbs heavier but he must have lost some weight from not eating for a couple of days. Andersen also loves any kind of food. There is isn't one thing I have found that he won't eat. He also is the most easy going kid you'll find and has the cutest smile ever I think!
We Love you so much Andersen!!

Who is this kid?

With Jackson almost being 3 1/2 years old, I look back and try to remember all the funny things that this kid has done because at the time I think I will remember because they are so funny... But of course I can't, so this is a few of the things Jackson has done this past month that have made me laugh.

One day Jackson really wanted something from the kitchen and did not want to wait. I told him as soon as I was done feeding brother I would help him. The first suggestion out of his mouth was "I'll feed brother while you go do this for me!" So clever already this kid is.
Another funny story... We invited some neighbors over for dinner one night and as we were getting ready to sit down for dinner Jackson decided to get the punch out of the fridge to help me and sure enough it got spilled all over the floor. Well dinner was postponed for a few minutes due to disaster cleanup. I told Jackson to go sit in his chair until I was done cleaning so I didn't get punch foot prints all over my floor. As he was sitting in his chair and I was on my hands and knees cleaning punch, he asked for some grapes that were set out for us to eat for dinner. I said yes, because I knew it would keep him busy while I was cleaning. When I got done cleaning and looked at the dinner table this is what I saw! I PLATE full of all the grapes. Hopefully no one else wanted any grapes.
This is Jackson's new friend that moved in across the street. His name is Tate and these two left alone could cause some major trouble. Good thing they both are so cute! Jackson's new favorite thing is jumping on his tramp with the sprinkler underneath.
Like Father like son. Here is Nate watching the UFC fights with our neighbor the same night as the punch and grapes. Look at Jackson sitting just like Daddy. I promise this picture was not set up at all, Jackson just has to do whatever his Dad is doing. Notice both pinkies are at the mouth.
This one did not make me laugh and I don't have a picture of it yet, but today Jackson decided to use our carpet as his doodle pad! He had a straggler marker that should have been in with the others, but he found it and decided to draw lines on the carpet in mine and Nate's bedroom closet. Looks like I will be getting my carpets cleaned here soon and someone doesn't get to color for awhile.

Overall, this kid makes us laugh all the time. From him starting to play make believe and telling us random stories, to him backing up his back side in our face to let out a toot and then asking us "if its in our nose yet", we are definitely on our toes and love this age that he is in.

Our 4th of July Weekend

I think I really like having the 4th of July on a Sunday because it makes for an excuse to celebrate all weekend and then still have another day off on Monday. We started celebrating last minute with some friends down in Provo. We went to dinner at Winger's and then watched part 1 of the Stadium of Fire fireworks from the East side of the Provo Temple.

We had so much fun catching up with Michelle and Brad, especially Jackson. Brad and Jackson ran, rolled, walked, etc up and down the hill we were sitting on until it got dark.
Once it got dark, Jackson instantly got into position. This kid HATES fireworks. He always has to cover his ears or have someone else do it for him. For some reason this night he was really not interested in even watching the fireworks because it took 30 minutes of persuading him that the fireworks aren't scary. (Keep in mind, fireworks haven't even started at this point. This is all the anticipation leading up to the actual show). Go Michelle for busting out the phone with the idea of letting him watch a show to distract him.
The phone distracted him long enough to make it into this position to at least let Nate hold his ears while he watched the fireworks. He did actually open his eyes but he wouldn't for the picture.
Andersen on the other hand loved every minute of it and kept giving raspberries to the air in awe of the colors.
After 10 minutes of fireworks we thought it was over so we all packed up and got into the car to drive home. As we were waiting in traffic part 2 of the show started. Come to find out something happened during the show and fireworks went into the audience. So we watched the rest of the show from the car in traffic and Jackson was a happy camper because he could see the fireworks without hearing the noises.
Thanks Pearson's for inviting us down to P-Town to play! Its about time we see where you are living.

Nate had Monday off of work so we spent the day swimming in the backyard with some neighbors. After nap time we went and saw Toy Story 3 as a family. What a cute show! Jackson hasn't been a big fan of movie theaters either but he did awesome during this one and Andersen loved his first movie.

Funny Story: If you can imagine a row of seats going Nate, Jackson, and Me with Andersen on my lap sitting in between me and Jackson. We all shared a large popcorn, but had Jackson hold the bucket in between his legs so we all could reach it. Well we were all watching the show and Nate looked over to witness Andersen helping himself to the popcorn. He had his hand in the bucket and then fed himself popcorn multiple times all while his eyes were glued to the movie! Hilarious!

Right after the show we were invited by more neighbors for more fireworks and ice cream. We have such a fun neighborhood because all the kids are around the same age. It makes it easy because the parents get to chat while they run around like a circus. Here are some of Jackson's buddies in the neighborhood. (Jackson, Boston, Sadie, and Ayden)
Everyone kept talking about the fireworks that we were going to do, so Jackson prepared himself early this time by holding his ears early. With it still being light outside he wasn't too scared yet if you couldn't tell already by the big smile on his face.
Luckily while the older kids are playing, Andersen even had some friends his age so they crawled around us parents and shared and slobbered on each other toys.
Before the firework show started we all enjoyed yummy homemade chocolate ice cream while the kiddos had their popsicles. Look at these two posers!
And then Jackson was back to his traditional firework position. While all the other kids are loving the fireworks Jackson ran to my lap for me to cover his ears, so all he had to do was watch them rather than listen. Little chicken!!
What a fun weekend we had as a family! I wish the time didn't go by so fast. When we were driving home from Provo Saturday night I saw on a van a sticker that said...
'The Land of the Free, Because of the Brave"
How true is this! I don't have any connections to family or friends serving in the military so I don't think I completely comprehend the sacrifices they go through every day for our families to live with the freedoms that we have, but I do know how grateful I am for them.
GOD BLESS THE USA!

Summer Visitors

With these two getting married (my brother Jared and Emilee) my beautiful sister and family came out from Minnesota to attend the wedding. It was a short trip but we managed to pack it full of fun. Thursday June 24th was the rehearsal dinner at Olive Garden. Friday the 25th we spent the day letting the kiddos play at the neighborhood splash park.

While the older kids were loving the water, Andersen crashed the second we got there and slept the whole time.
Saturday the 26th was the wedding day. We spend the afternoon at St. Vincent Cathedral for the actual wedding and then the rest of the day and night at Heritage Gardens for the dinner and reception.
In between the wedding and dinner, Jackson found the party favors that were filled with M&M's and enjoyed himself a pre-dinner treat. He even fed himself the M&M's with his spoon.
Here are some of Jackson's cousins playing around the garden... Hayden, Katelyn (the flower girl), and Hunter.
After a few hours of socializing and waiting, it was finally time for dinner.
Too bad Jackson was so tired that he skipped dinner and chose to take a power nap on Nate. Nate's parents were invited to the wedding as well so after dinner they took Jackson to see Taylorsville fireworks while we stayed for dancing.
Later that night while we were all dancing, Andersen decided it was his turn to take a power nap. Good thing Nate doesn't mind being the pillow for them to sleep on because he spent a good chunk of the night cuddling his boys to sleep. Thank goodness the boys will do this or it could have been an extremely longer day than it already was. The next day was everyone's travel days, so back to reality it was for us as we said good bye to our visitors.