Happy Day, OP!

Today is Orrin-Boys birthday... yeah! The birthday boy got steaks and baked potatoes for dinner, german chocolate cake for dessert and these pictures framed and ready to hang on the wall:

And, this will get all of the other WOW Wives rolling their eyes, I got him this:
I know that I'm an enabler, but it's his day....

How To Entertain Our 17 Month Old...

Yup. Boys are easier.

Too Tiny?

Adi had her pre-kindergarten check up with the doctor today. I am proud to report that her vision is 20/20 (didn't get that from me) and that she can hop on one leg for over 10 seconds (also, not from me). She is doing great in every aspect, except her height and weight. I have always known that Adi was a bit of a shrimp, but her newest growth percentiles shocked me. She was in the 8th percentile for her weight and the 10th for her height (if you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say "percentile" check this out). Tiny, tiny girl!

Usually her small size wouldn't concern me, but for the reason that the last time she was in the 20th percentile. The Doc said that as long as she is growing at least 3cm a year, she is doing fine. But he too is concerned because she has had some kidney problems in the past and he is worried that her lack-of-growth might be connected with that. He says it's nothing to worry about and that I need to bring her in every so often to have her weighed and measured. "It's probably nothing," he said.

I don't think he knew just who he was talking to! Worrying is what I am best at... well, that and procrastinating (which is why Adi's appointment was set for the day before she has to go and do a meet-and-greet at school).

Here's a pic of Adi at 2 years old, back when she was having her "kidney problems", aka constant, reoccurring UTI's. Just looking at this picture gives me a small shiver down my spine! The girl would get 101-103 degree fevers every other week. It was a crazy time, especially considering that Piper was only a few days old when this pic was taken and she started getting reoccurring ear infections about the same time. Let's just say I didn't get much sleep.

I am sure that Adi is fine, though, mostly for two reasons.

1)Porter and Piper are both in the low percentiles for their size and

2)Orrin and I were both tiny when we were her age.

But there is still that nasty worry pulling on me...

An Introduction

Porter, meet the sidewalk...

Sidewalk, Porter.

Rockin' Out

Last night, for one night only, Disney broadcast the Hannah Montana 3D movie for all cable-subscribers to enjoy. We picked up our free 3D glasses at Walmart and gopt dressed in our Hannah Montana shirts (well, ok, I honestly don't have one, but the girls do).

We ordered some pizza (twice in one week, one kind of mother am I?), and then turned on the show.

Yup, even Porter started groovin' to the tunes. Neither of the girls would keep the glasses on- Ai because they would'nt stay on her head unless she held them in place and Piper because she didn't look like Miley.

We were distracted from the concert, however, by a good old fashioned thunderstorm.

Porter loves being outside. LOVES IT! But when there is water mysteriously falling on you and loud sounds coming from who-knows-where, he decided that it would just be safer on the porch with Mom & Dad...

My Lil' Pioneer Children

***WARNING: This is a long post. Lots of pictures, a few stories, this and that. I am trying to make amends for the lack of posting lately***

Since yesterday was Pioneer day, I wanted to plan something really fun for us to do (especially since we are in the SL Valley). Unfortunately, I just couldn't think of anything.

Ok, Ok, I was so wrapped up in re-reading the Twilight books that I kind of forgot that the holiday was so close.

Well, in a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, my Mom looked up This Is The Place Heritage Park online. Sounded perfect, so we left as early as possible so we could beat the crowds.

It was the perfect place to go on Pioneer Day! There were so many things to do and see- the girls even got to try out pulling a handcart...

They got to wash some rags the old-fashioned way,

Churn some butter,
and they got to make some fun crafts, including lamb masks to wear in the parade (which we didn't end up staying for),

coloring some wooden fish and snakes in the Shoshone (spelling?) house while we listened to the lady, who was dressed-up as an Indian character, tell us about the rattlesnake that likes to come into the house (that didn't scare me at all),

and even did a little leather working with Dad.

And what was Mr. Porter doing while the girls were doing this, you may ask? Running amuck of course!

He played in the little wooden houses,

and played with his new wooden pop-gun.

Piper and Porter's favorite part of the park, however, were the animals. We got to walk inside the baby-animal pen and pet some goats, calves, sheep and a big ole cow.

Here's a lil' clip of Porter meeting the goat- and if you listen closely, you can hear Orrin's impression of a goat :

Adi was less than enthusiastic about the animals (there was an incident when the calf snuck-up behind her and she nearly fell into a little creek- it had more than a few people giggling). She did, however, enjoy the pony ride.

And Adi was our little navigator through the village...

Porter kept pointing at the news chopper that was flying over the park (can you see the little dot up in the blue sky?).

Here's one of Porter being tortured by his sisters:
What was my favorite moment of the day? Porter and I were walking down the boardwalk, holding hands. Piper walked up next to P.G., and he reached over and grabbed her hand. My heart melted right then and there. For those who don't know my Lil' Man's personality, he isn't one for much affection toward his sisters. He prefers to bite, hit and head-butt them. He held her hand for five minutes!

Orrin and I met Eli and Vanessa for lunch at Cafe Rio after (yep, we were out of there by noon). The kids spent the rest of the day in the swimming pool playing with the hose and water balloons while OP reread one of his Louis L'amour books and I longed for a new book to read .



And, since I put shockingly little preparation into the planning for the day, OP went and got pizza for dinner- you rock Merrill! We ended the night by telling some pioneer stories and lighting up a few sparklers. Orrin and I even got to relax together and watch a movie in the comfort of our own family room. WAHOO!!!

My Boys

We Love To See The Temple

Now here's something cool that you don't get to see everyday:

From this,

To this,

And, finally, this.

The girls have been so excited about the Angel Moroni being placed on the steeple. Every time they see the temple (which is quite often since we can see it from our street), they spontaneously break into "I Love To See The Temple". They don't know all of the words yet, but they still sing it beautifully!

Nap Scrapping

For Lil' Miss Rylee Sue

Your present is on the way.

OK, I haven't sent it yet, but I will soon... eventually....

Who Needs The Zoo?

Orrin decided that he was sick of doing all of our "girly, boring stuff" on the weekend. You see, every Saturday, we do a "Family Fun Day", sometimes seeing movies, going to parks, etc. OP put himself in charge of this weeks fun.

He chose Cabelas. I was a little doubtful.

Turns out, I was wrong.

They have aquariams, stuffed animal exhibits, games, shopping, a gun muesem, a fudge shop... wow. I was impressed.

Here's Porter when we first walked into the aquarium room, notice his mouth:

Porter calls animals "Lo Lo". Why, you may ask? My mom has a little yorkie named Lilo, and since he has learned to call her Lolo, every animal is one. He also growls whenever you ask him what an animal says. You ask him what a bear says. "Grrrrr." He is so smart, you think.

You then ask him what a fish says. "Grrrrr." A bunny? "Grrrrrr". Daddy? "Grrrrr". Well, he's probably right on the last one. But you get the point.

The girls got a flattened penny,

and shooting lessons from their dad.

And here is lil' P.G. admiring some bucks.


I will now give Orrin some credit- he planned one good outing. But the next one is mine....

A Bovine (And One Lil' Bull) Kind Of Day...

Anyone else hear about this? For today only, if you dress up like cow you get a meal at Chik Fil A for free. So I go the kids all dressed (my mom and I even donned some ears and painted our noses). The kiddies got a free kids meal and my mom and I- since we were only half-dressed up- got a free sandwhich.

Thank goodness for hot glue!

In the play place- Piper had accidentally pulled off her tail.

The girlies hamming it up.

I also had to post this video. Yesterday the girls watched Annie before naptime (Piper was enamoured). Before bedtime, the girls had to clean their room, and I heard them singing this little ditty...

They had seen me before I started recording, but rest-assured they were doing the song and dance before they knew that they were performing for an audience.

For My Sis

So I am trying to Scrap a page every day at nap time, hoping that will get my scrapping juices flowing. Yesterday I was feeling less than inspired by my own pics, but one of Whit's sparked an idea...

I'm glad you had fun in Disneyland, even though you went without us... just kidding!

I Found It! I Found It!

...my phone that is. It was inside of Porter's shoe under a pile of laundry.

Good thing I decided to do laundry, huh?

It Has Happened Again

I have, once again, lost my phone. I don't think that I should be allowed to have one. I am just not responsible enough.

I think that it is a very good thing that my kids make so much noise or I would have lost them by now.

So, if you are trying to contact me, try my email. I have yet to lose my computer (but give me time and I'm sure I'll do that too)...

Newest Discovery

I have recently discovered that Adi is part monkey. Yup. She is usually thought of as the softer one, the more scaredy-cat kind. Apparently not when it comes to heights. Actually, she really isn't afraid of much beyond fires and bears (she was watching the news with me one morning and they were talking about the dangers of bears while camping in the mountains. She is now afraid one will find her in her room).



Today we visited a park up in Daybreak. I need to now take a minute and explain this awesomely-cool neighborhood that I do not live in, but I really wish that I did. Here is a pic of a typical street in there:

Oh yeah. They have a giant lake where you can rent a canoe to paddle on it, several parks (we haven't hit all of 'em yet, but we're trying), a splash pad for kids, swimming pools, a gym, their own elementary school... EVERYTHING!!

Back to my kid, we get to the park that has this HUGE climbing-thingy (anyone know what they are called?) and Adi takes off running for it and has climbed up it, back down, and then back up it before I even get there.

She loves it. Not to be outdone by her big sis, Piper also starts climbing. She gets to where she is in the picture above and decides that she is too scared to continue up or to climb back down. Now, I have a belief that kids need to learn how to work through their fears, so I tell her that if she wants to get down she is going to have to do it by herself. That was before I stood underneath of her in the dome and realizedjust how high and just how posible it was for her to fall. Memories of her previously broken leg come to me. I figured that just this once I could go get her. I started climbing (which is no small feat for me- I am a little afraid of heights myself) and soon realized that there was a flaw in my plan: how was I actually supposed to get her down? I couldn't carry her down.

By the time I got back down and was ready to catch her from beneath, she suddenly decided that she was no longer afraid and had started working her way back down by herself. Figures.

Porter didn't much care for the climbing, he loves running in the grass and waiting for the opportunity to run into the street and catch one of the cool construction trucks that kept speeding by.

Oh, and his shirt says it all. If you can't quite read it, it says, "Trouble. Since Day One."

Scrapbooking Funk

I love digi-scrapping (especially buying digi-scrapping kits). I really, really do. But lately, I have fallen into a scrapping rut. I keep collecting more and more kits, yet I haven't made a page in forever! I decided to start doing some design challenges and hopefully I can start feeling the magic again!

Anyway, I did the latest challenge on Tangie's Design Loft, and although I'm not sure that I 100% love it, here is the result:

I'm actually supposed to post this in a gallery, but due to technical issues (or my own brain malfunctioning on me again), I am unable to do so.

This pic was the one I took for our Christmas cards in 2006, which never actually got sent out. What can I say, I always have good intentions...

**Whoops, I forgot to list the credits for the page (I do that a lot, but I actually caught myself this time!)**

Alphas are from Tangie's store, here, here and here. Green paper from here and red paper is from Tangie's kit Sweet Shoppe which I can no longer find in the store. Paper, Braket frame, hanging clip and staple from Brit-tish Designs here.

Happy, Happy 4th!

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love BBQ's, fireworks, and spending some quality time with family outside.

This year, we decided to do breakfast up in the canyon (complete with homemade cinnamon rolls), have a BBQ (steak, homemade fries, and patriotic jello), and make homemade ice cream and an apple pie (see a pattern?) and do some fireworks at home.

Here's the kiddies with everything they need for a rockin' day (and I once again apologize for Porter's lack of a shirt, but I didn't want him to goop-up his holiday shirt before we even left the house):

We tried to cook pancakes and eggs on a little camp stove from Walmart, but when it takes 10 minutes to cook one hotcake, you gotta find ways to entertain all the kids...

Finally eating a little breakfast:

Piper decided that she needed to go the bathrom, but she took one look down into the pit-potty and wanted to wait. Unfortunately, after about an hour, she just had to go. I hadn't brought the girls a change of clothes, so she put on Porter's:

The kids got pop-its, and Porter was facsinated

The neigbors brought over their new puppies and the girls loved them.

Some "fireworks"

How do you keep a one-year-old who loves to run into the street by you? OP figured out a way: