Weekend Wrap Up

Well we ended up having a really great time on our date night. We doubled with the Wilson's while Oliver (their son) babysat for us. We went out to dinner at Johnny Carino's. It was pretty yummy, but going to a sit down place made us a little late for our movie. Whoops. I hate to miss the trailers, but it couldn't be helped. We also missed the first few minutes of the movie, which was a bummer.

We saw Get Low with Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, and Sissy Spacek. You can watch the trailer HERE. I would give it a 4 stars out of 5. It was slower than I had thought it would be. It wasn't exactly boring slow, just a more contemplative plot than I had imagined. It also is not as comical as the trailer would have you believe. Those are most of the funny parts. However, I loved Robert Duvall as this character. I thought he was fabulous. It is a good tale of redemption. I would recommend it, but if you rent it you wouldn't really be missing out on anything. It will translate just as well to the small screen.

On Sunday we had a pretty low key morning, which was great. After church we were having friends over for dinner, but I didn't really have anything for dessert. I had cut out a recipe from Family Fun this last week for Smores Bars. I figured since I had everything for smores that we didn't get a chance to make on our camping trip I would try it out. The only substitution I made was that I used regular marshmallows torn in half as the marshmallow layer instead of the marshmallow creme since I didn't have any. I don't think it baked up with quite the same consistency that the creme would have, but it tasted good and Ian says it's a keeper. Feel free to try it out. It makes a fabulous bbq dessert! Find the recipe HERE.

Last night I had another Relief Society choir rehearsal. We had to wear our performance attire to get it approved. It was kind of a stressor for me since the required outfit included a white, long sleeved, button down shirt. Well, I have one, but it doesn't fit over the belly. Apparently button down shirts are not a very popular maternity wear item because they are hard to make grow with you, so I looked at a several stores and couldn't find one. I ended up buying a long sleeved, collared white shirt from Motherhood that doesn't button down, but it was the best I could find. Luckily they said it was fine and I saw another pregnant girl wearing the same one, so I wasn't the only one having a hard time finding something in the maternity section.

Last night was a cool rehearsal too because not only did we have a member of the RS General Board there, but Sister Thompson, 2nd counselor in the General RS Presidency was there too. I got there early and was sitting on the front row, so I got to meet her. She was very sweet and genuine. She spoke to us for a few minutes before we started rehearsing and it was neat to know that the music for this conference is so important. I better get practicing my part!

It really ended up being a nice weekend despite the wet camping trip. It looks like this week will finally be a little more normal for Ian too. It's our last week of official summer before Weston goes back to preschool, so we will be trying to fit in some last minute outings and maybe even a last hurrah at the pool (if the weather cooperates).

Camping . . . Sort Of

We had planned to go camping this weekend with the rest of the bishopric and their families in Little Cottonwood canyon. We were really excited. This is a good time to take the boys camping. They are both old enough to play and sleep in sleeping bags through the night. We don't have an infant. I can still sleep on an air mattress as well as I would sleep at home.

Ian has been working non-stop for 3 weeks and he was really looking forward to having a little getaway. Make him feel like he's actually getting to participate in Summer. So he took Friday off and we headed up the canyon after lunch. It started down pouring as we were leaving Kearns and we chased the storm up the canyon. When we got to the campsite the rain had stopped and it was nice and cool and beautiful. The wildflowers were all in bloom and it was just so quiet. Luckily they had a few campsites left, so we picked one and started setting up.
We watched the big dark clouds blow over the mountain, rain on us for 5-10 minutes, then blow through. It was chilly and I knew we would be in for a cold night, but I was still hopeful it would be a relatively dry night. It was raining sporadically and then stopping. At one point after we had started the fire it even hailed. What?!?

After the hail all the clouds blew through and the sun came back out. There was blue sky and it was just gorgeous. We put our dinners in the fire to cook. By the time they were done it had started drizzling again. We decided to all go sit in the Wilson's giant tent to eat out of the rain. Good thing we did because it never stopped after that. We ate and chatted and the rain just got harder, the sky got darker, and the temperature got colder. The Wilson's tent was leaking and the boys were getting tired. I decided to take Weston to the bathroom with me and then get the boys into jammies and into our tent. Why have to go out in the rain more than once?

We got the kids into jammies and into their sleeping bags. Luckily our tent was dry, but the rain, thunder, and lightning were still going in full force. Davin was crying about being in his sleeping bag and about being cold. The Wilson's decided to go home since their tent was pretty soaked and still dripping. At that point I decided we should probably just head home too. Ian was really disappointed. I was too, but not enough to spend a long, wet, noisy night in a tent with 2 kids. Weston really wanted us to sleep in the tent all together. He was sad that we didn't. About 10 minutes after putting the kids in their car seats while we gathered up our soggy stuff they were out. We ended up getting home by 10:30 and getting a full night's sleep in our own beds.

It was pretty depressing having to unpack everything this morning after not feeling like we even went camping. Sigh. I guess we will just have to try again next summer. At the very least the boys will both be big enough that they can camp with Dad. We really did have a good time while the weather held. I think the thing I was most sad about was not getting to make smores (the rain put out our fire while we ate dinner in the tent) and talk around the fire. Maybe it will all work out to go another time.
In hopes of making up for a bust camping trip, Ian and I are going on a date tonight. We are going to go out to dinner and see Get Low with Robert Duvall. It looks great. I'll let you know. We are even doubling with the Wilson's. Should be fun. Ian got a new toy today too. A weed whacker! I know, so exciting. He is out there playing with it right now. :)

When we were unpacking and cleaning stuff out in the yard this morning Weston found a little grasshopper and was so excited that he could hold it. He asked me to take a picture of him with it and put it on the blog so his friend Makenzie could see it, so here you go.

New Favorite

A few months ago our cable went digital and we didn't so we lost all our fun channels. We kept our basic cable, but that's all. No more Playhouse Disney. That was the biggest blow. The kids make do with PBS Kids, but it's not quite the same. We watch episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse online sometimes, and rent Little Einsteins DVD's from the library. Well, our newest discovery and favorite thing to watch is the original series of Inspector Gadget on hulu. The kids both love it and Davin is hilarious when he quotes it. I took a video of him singing the theme song and quoting Dr. Claw, but it is having issues loading. Sorry.

In other media news . . . I am sad that So You Think You Can Dance is over and none of my Fall shows are back yet. Except White Collar. That's the only show I have right now. Most of them will return in September. I guess I will have to settle for finishing up Psych Season 4. I am also waiting (somewhat impatiently) for it to be my turn to read Mockingjay. As of 5 minutes ago I was #502 on the library waiting list and the status of my hold said "in transit." I am keeping my fingers crossed that that means I will get it by the end of the day. If so, I fully intend to neglect the house, probably the kids (well you know, except for necessities), and sleep for about 48 hours while I read it. I hope it lives up to my expectations!

Opportunity Knocking

I feel so blessed to have so many great opportunities to use my musical talents right now. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I am so grateful for the gift of music in my life. I'm grateful to everyone who helped/s nurture it, and I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with the talent to share music with others.

My current calling in the church is to play the piano for the Primary. It is such a fun calling! I love that I get to be in Primary with the kids. I love that I have something to practice the piano for. I enjoy having a "Sunday only" calling right now too. A few weeks ago I got a call saying the bishop wanted to meet with me. Yikes! I did not want to give up my pianist calling, but it turned out that I got to keep it. I also was given a new musical opportunity. The Kearns stakes were asked to provide women to sing in the choir that will perform at the Relief Society Broadcast in September and I was invited to sing with them!

I was pretty excited about it from the start, but now that we have a couple rehearsals under our belts and I am a little more familiar with the music I am SO excited. It is truly a blessing to be a part of this choir. At each rehearsal we get to hear a message from a member of the General RS Board before we start practicing the music. Then we get to sing these amazing arrangements of familiar hymns. It is just so inspiring to be a part of. I am really looking forward to performing in the Conference Center too. How cool, right?

I am so glad that I chose to sing Soprano 2 too. The harmonies are difficult, but so fun to sing. I also am not quite as comfortable with high G's as I would like to be. :) Anyway, if you weren't planning to attend the RS Broadcast you should! It's September 25, 2010 at 6pm MST, so probably 5pm for all you Californians. And keep an eye out for me in the choir!

Summer Rain Storms

Utah usually gets some pretty impressive thunder storms in the summer. It seems like we haven't had a ton this year though. Yesterday morning we went grocery shopping at Walmart. I knew that there were storms forecast for the day, but it wasn't looking too threatening when we left for the store. By the time we were done and heading home the clouds were dark and the wind was picking up. We made it into the house with the groceries with about 5 minutes to spare before the storm broke. Whew!

The nice thing about summer rain storms is that they usually cool things down. The storm yesterday dropped the temps into the low 60's. I love it. I opened all the windows and let the cold air blow in. It stayed cool pretty much the rest of the day, but the clouds cleared up and the sun came out. So after nap time I decided a mild weather park trip would be a good idea. The slides were mostly dry and so was the park in general except for this one huge puddle where the park paths cross.

Before we got too close I stopped both the kids and told them I didn't want them playing in the puddle because I knew they would get soaked. This probably would have been fine, but there were 2 other older girls playing at the park too and they were riding their bikes through the big puddle. Poor Davin wasn't even playing. He just stood on the edge of the playground watching the girls. It was obvious that all he wanted to do was play in that water.

Finally I decided to let them play in it. Weston had already gotten his sandals soaked walking through the really wet grass (on accident), and Davin's short were wet from playing on a slide that had a little puddle at the top. Sure enough they were sopping wet when we left, but they had a blast. Sometimes I have to remember that I have little boys and I need to let go of all my OCD-ness and let them get dirty and wet and make messes. :)

Fail.

Sorry I'm being such a blog failure. I just realized it has been almost a week since my last post! I feel like there hasn't been a whole lot of blog worthy stuff going on around here. I have mostly just been trying to come up with things to do to keep the kids busy. I spent one particularly bad mommy day catching up on So You Think You Can Dance. Luckily Davin spent most of the day playing with his Buzz Lightyear. Only Weston complained about being bored. We spent one afternoon at the pool and enjoyed a BBQ with some friends on Saturday night.

Ian has been working non-stop again. Like all night last Thursday and most of the day Saturday. He has been taking little breaks to come home for FHE Monday night and we escaped to the temple last night before he headed back into the office. They hired a new designer this week, so hopefully as he gets acclimated the hours will get back to normal.

In other news . . . Davin has started learning to say prayers. It's the cutest thing ever. He mostly only repeats the last word of whatever phrase I whisper to him, but he loves to do it and I'm sure will get better and better. He also like "reading" a verse when we read the Book of Mormon as a family. He just wants to be included. :)

In pregnancy news, I have finally entered the hungry trimester. I am hungry all the time now. It's kind of annoying. I can't go to bed without eating something first. A bowl of cereal is the standard. When it gets cold I'll switch to oatmeal. Tonight though I made this recipe. Not bad for a summer baked treat when you don't want to turn on the oven. Also I threw in white chocolate chips. Mmm.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (Microwave Safe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly before pouring in the milk and oil in. Keep mixing. Add the optional chocolate chips next (who makes that an option!) and vanilla extract, and mix again…Put your mug in the microwave and cook for three minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed! Allow it to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

I have been feeling the baby move a lot. It seems like I didn't feel her move much until after 20 weeks. Baby kicks are my favorite part of pregnancy, so this trimester is feeling great. I'm 24 weeks! And you know December will be here before we know it.

Work Hard, Play Hard

Yesterday was a work hard kind of day. We didn't go do any outings. I spent the day cleaning my house top to bottom and getting the boys room organized. I sorted through clothes, got Davin's stuff moved in, and cleaned out their closet. I also dusted, vacuumed, mopped the kitchen, emptied trashes, cleaned bathrooms, and tidied all my piles. It was gratifying, but exhausting. And the kids were a driving me crazy by the end of the day. They were bored.

We made up for it today. I let Weston pick an outing and he chose the Thanksgiving Point Children's Garden. It was a beautiful day. Not too hot. There were a few new activity areas there since we had been last, including a little river you could float wood pieces down, a sand pit, and a little wooden medallion craft station. I didn't bring the camera, so there are just a few pics from my phone. I thought the water in the Noah's Ark fountain was going to be too cold for the kids so I didn't bring bathing suits. I told them to just put their feet in. Well that didn't work out. Weston was soaked by the end. Oh well. We had a good time.
Tonight we are going to go to the pirate puppet show at the library. Weston is way excited and asked if he could bring his own pirate puppet, Barnacle Bart. I told him we would just watch the professionals do it this time. :)

Ian has been swamped at work this week. Poor guy is exhausted and stressed. He has been great about coming home for dinner to spend a little time with us and then going back to the office for a late night. It makes it seem like he's not as crazy busy when we see him in the evening. I still don't like going to bed by myself though. This little video is from a week or two ago when Ian was working late and not home for dinner. Davin sat there for several minutes before I started recording with his head thrown back yelling "Dad! Are you?" I only caught him doing it once on the video. He gets really excited when daddy comes home from work.

When my mom was here and we went to the pool, we walked out to our car and saw this hilarious bus in the parking lot across from us.
**In case you can't see it . . . it's a short bus from The Winner School. I must be a bad person, but I was cracking up.

Anyway, all in all this has been a pretty nice week. Tomorrow morning I am watching my cousin's kiddos. I am hoping (fingers crossed) that Ian will be able to come home tomorrow night so we can have our take out and Harry Potter at-home date night. :) I have been re-reading the whole HP series and then watching the movies when I finish the books. It's super fun and is getting me really excited for the 7th movie to come out in November. It has also meant I've had something to keep me busy in the evenings when Ian is gone.

So Far, So Good

I hate to speak too soon, but so far Davin has done SO much better than I was expecting him to do in his big boy bed. The first night he came out 4 or 5 times and asked for "dwink wawer." After the last time I said in my tough mom voice that it was time to close eyes, close mouths and go to sleep. And they did. Amazing.

Davin was up at 6am on Sunday and woke up Weston too, but they looked at books and played in their room until almost 7, so no real complaints there. Ian put sickie Davin down for a nap while I was at church with Weston and he said he didn't get up once. He only napped for about an hour, so we shall see how today goes with napping, but I was still pretty impressed by that. Last night no one got up after I put them to bed for the night either. Davin has slept through the night both nights and this morning he wasn't up quite as early. I think that Weston definitely helps the morning situation. He knows he's not supposed to come wake us up before 7, so he just played blocks with Davin until then. Not sure what time they actually woke up.

Davin has the cold that Weston caught at the end of our Snowbird trip and I woke up with a stuffy nose this morning too. I kept Davin home from church yesterday, which is always a challenge because Ian and I have to tag team our other responsibilities at church to be home with him, but I just couldn't take him to nursery in good conscience. Needless to say it was a long day of being cooped up for him.

We really needed an outing today, but with Davin and I not feeling great I wasn't sure what to do. We decided to just go to the park. It's not too hot and I figured the boys could use some time outside to run around. It was perfect. The weather was great, it wasn't crowded, the boys ate free lunch, Weston played flag tag with a bunch of other kids, and they both got a prize before we left. Weston picked out these funny disguise glasses as his prize. I should have made Davin pick some too, but he chose a little tiger instead and now he's jealous of Weston's cool glasses. At least Weston is a good brother about sharing (most of the time).

Because . . .

. . . I love these two goofballs. I had to post this picture. Davin is full on into the monkey see, monkey do stage of brotherhood. They were both perched up here looking at books, but I can't get a straight face out of Weston these days.
. . . after a long day I'm glad I have this waiting for me. I have spent every single night this week doing bedtime by myself. Ian has either been out mowing the lawn, at church meetings, or at work. Sigh. At least I have Harry Potter and a cup of good ice waiting for me in the nice, quiet den.
. . . last night we shopped at IKEA and got some of the bedding for the new bunk beds. Today we decided to buy the mattresses and put it all together. It's kind of fun re-decorating, but there are always more things to buy than I plan on. I didn't think about the fact that I didn't have twin mattress pads or twin fitted sheets. Or a pillow for Davin. Whoops. We ended up having to make an afternoon Target run too. I am very happy with how the bunk beds look. They take up a lot more space in the room, but I think we will manage. Now the question is how often I will be up in the night with Davin tonight. :)
BEFORE:
AFTER:
. . . I'm feeling accomplished. I have to share my dinner menu plan for the week with you. I have gotten re-inspired by my awesome cousin Tasha to get back into menu planning. I have been slacking this summer, but I may as well start transitioning back into the routine.

Saturday- BBQ shredded pork sandwiches with corn on the cob and fruit
Sunday- LO pork sandwiches with carrot sticks, fruit, and chips
Monday- spaghetti with mizithra and ceasar salad
Tuesday- carnitas tacos with corn
Wednesday- BLTA sandwiches with fruit
Thursday- breakfast (probably french toast?)
Friday- eat out/LO
Saturday- grilled burgers/hot dogs with fruit and chips
Sunday- shoyu chicken stir fry

Bowles Visit and Another Family Reunion

Right after my mom headed out to visit her sister we picked up Grandma Denny and Papa from the airport. We just loved having back to back grandparent visits! We had a couple days to hang out and get ready for our Snowbird family reunion. We mostly grocery shopped, did laundry, packed, Denny sewed a few things for us (pictures of Davin's new cape coming!), and the kids played outside with grandma and papa as much as they could.
On Friday we drove the 45 minutes up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird for the Ziegler (Ian's maternal grandma's side of the family) family reunion. I had never been to Snowbird before. I was surprised at how close it is! I was not overly impressed with the hotel. It looks like a converted parking garage. Lots of exposed cement. It was not air conditioned. Probably because it's usually cool enough up the mountain, but it meant the rooms felt stuffy and too warm at night for my tastes. The surroundings though are amazing. Just gorgeous. And there was so much to do! We found this great, all accessible, park down one of the paths from the hotel.
We spent some time meeting/visiting with some of the Ziegler relatives of course. Then Friday night we went swimming in the pool and out for pizza. Saturday was our big play day though. We started off on the mountain tram. I am scared of heights, but I kept my cool for Weston's sake. He was terrified. He wouldn't get anywhere near the edge of the flat ground at the top and was clinging tightly to my hand. After about 20 minutes he finally warmed up and let go of my hand so he could play in the rocks with Davin. The views from the top of the mountain were just beautiful.
Weston and I took pictures of each other. It was really just my trick to get him to let go of my hand and realize that he was fine up there.
After the tram I sent Weston up the chairlift (which I assumed he would be scared of but then he was fine) with Ian and Grandma and Papa to do the alpine slide. Davin and I hung out at the bottom to get some pictures. We checked out the river and did the bounce house while we waited. The weather was gorgeous. It was overcast all morning, so it didn't get too hot until about lunch time. After Davin saw his brother come down the alpine slide he really wanted to do it too, so we headed back to the hotel for lunch, then Ian and Papa took the boys back to do the alpine slide a couple more times. I took a nap. :)
Saturday night was the big Ziegler family reunion dinner in one of the hotel conference rooms. Denny had put together a family history slideshow. It was really fun to watch it all together and hear everyone's comments about the people in the pictures. Eli and Emilee were able to come up for the dinner too. It was fun to see Ivy walking around. Since the boys had had such late naps we went for a night swim before bed that night. The pool was packed, but we had a good time.

Sunday we got up, checked out, and headed back down the mountain. This time we got to bring Grandma and Grandpa Squire with us. They hung out for a little while at our house until it was time to take them to the airport for their flight back to Seattle. We had a great time visiting with family and playing at Snowbird. Another family reunion success!
Grandma and Papa had one more day to spend with us. Papa kept busy putting in the window air conditioner for us and going to the junkyard to find parts to fix Ian's car a bit. He replaced the broken side view mirror and the door panel that had ripped off. Now Ian's car isn't quite so ghetto looking. Thanks Papa! Monday we all went to the aquarium. It was shark week, so there were lots of fun activities going on. It was a blast. Ian met up with us for lunch then it was time to say goodbye to Grandma and Papa. We are so glad they could come and spend some extra time with us. Hooray for family!
Now we are grandparent-less and adjusting to the less fun life we normally lead. ;) You know, doing stuff like cleaning the house, doing laundry, running errands, etc. I think the hardest part is the kids not having someone to play with them all day. We sure enjoyed our 2 weeks of family and weekend getaways! I feel like summer is mostly over now. Just a few more pool days and maybe a camping trip before school starts and we really get back into a routine. I'm honestly kind of looking forward to it.

Since Zion . . .

Last week my mom drove back with us from our Zion family reunion to spend a couple days visiting. We had a great time. Monday night Grandma B took us all to see Despicable Me. The boys have been watching the trailers for months, so they were pretty excited to see it. We all enjoyed it. It was sweet and funny. Although if you've seen all 4 trailers you've probably seen most of the funny lines already. :)

Tuesday we had a slow morning then took Grandma B with us to the pool. We spent a few hours playing in the pools and splash pad area, lounging in the sun, and eating snow cones. It was great fun, but we all got a little sunburned. Whoops. Wednesday's big outing was the Sweet's Candy factory tour. My mom has quite the sweet tooth, which she thoughtfully passed on to all her children, so this was right up her alley. I think it's really cool to see how jelly beans, salt water taffy, and Swedish fish are made too. Here we are in our cool candy maker hats (that are required for the tour) after our tour.
That afternoon Aunt Barbara came and picked Mom up to spend a day with her in Ogden. This worked out pretty well because we went and picked up Ian's parents from the airport right after she took off for Ogden. Thanks for such a fun visit Mom!

That's right, we have been in grandparent heaven for the last week and a half! Today has been a bit of an adjustment to having no company. I miss the adult conversation and the extra hands that are happy to help with the kids. The kids miss the extra grown up play time and attention. They don't mind the extra outings, meals out, and presents that come with grandparent time either. More details of our visit with Grandma Denny and Papa to come!