Our Crazy Weekend

On Friday I was feeling pretty tired.  I debated with myself all morning about whether or not I wanted to take the kids to the Tulip Festival after Weston got out of school.  In the end I decided to go ahead and go.  I figured if I didn't take them we would just spend all afternoon fussing at each other and the kids would destroy the house I had spent most of the morning cleaning. The sun was out, but there was a chilly wind blowing.  We didn't stay too long, just long enough to walk up behind the waterfall, which Talia loved, then run around on the huge hill in front of the waterfall, wander around the tulips a bit, and feed the hundreds of koi fish, which the boys loved.  It ended up being a fun outing and we were still home by 4:30. 

 Talia wasn't too sure about walking on grass. 

 There were seriously SO many fish right here fighting over the fish food the boys were throwing.

 These were the boys' favorite tulips.  They looked like fire.  :)

 My goofballs were pretending to be an eagle and a bat respectively.

Friday night Mel came over for dinner and to do laundry.  Ian and I went to the temple after we put Talia to bed.  Thanks Auntie Mel for putting the boys to bed!  After we did sealings we went out to Applebee's for an appetizer and dessert.  It was a fun date. 

Saturday was pretty much nuts.  We divided and conquered Saturday morning.  Ian took the boys with him to our ward clean up activity while I took Talia with me to the Stake YW Appreciation Brunch.  Once we were all home there was some down time for a few hours.  Then Ian and I got busy packing.  We got most of the bathroom stuff/cupboards done.  We also did some of the boys toys from their closet and under their bed, our nightstands, and one box of desk stuff before running out of steam.  That evening we had a bbq at our friends' house.  I loved not having to cook!  And the food was delicious.  It was a long, busy, but successful day.

Sunday we had a slow morning before heading to church.  It was a busy Sunday for Weston.  First he gave a talk in Primary, which he did great on!  Then later in Sacrament meeting Weston's class sang two songs.  Weston had a solo in one of them and he did a really good job.  I think he was much more nervous about singing the solo than he was about reading his talk, but I was so proud of how well he did!

Last night we got the kids to bed and curled up to watch A League of Their Own (thanks for the suggestion Rick!).  About an hour into the movie Davin woke up screaming and crying.  He was writhing around on the floor and saying his tummy hurt so bad.  It was so sad.  He was rolling around on the floor saying he was going to die (dramatic much?).  He finally threw up a few times and seemed to be settling down a little bit.

I had him wrapped up in a blanket on the floor and I was rubbing his back and he looked up and me and said, "Mom, tan you heal me?"  It was too cute.  I asked him if he wanted Dad to give him a blessing and he said yes.  So we ended up calling our friend, Kerry to come over and help with the blessing.  As soon as Davin said he wanted a blessing he had rolled over and fallen asleep.  We nudged him awake when Kerry got there and asked if he still wanted a blessing.  He said yes.  He sat very still and I thought he had maybe fallen asleep again, but he was wide awake.  After the blessing he smiled and said he was ready to get back in bed.  He fell right back to sleep, didn't throw up again, and slept through the night (except when he woke me up around 5am to get him more water in his bedside sippy cup).  The whole situation made for a late night, but I am so grateful he is feeling all better today and that he got to experience the healing power of a Priesthood blessing.

Out and About

Yesterday was a fun, busy day.  Brad and Mel came with me and the kids up to Ogden.  I went up there to try on a skirt I found online.  It was unsuccessful in that the skirt didn't fit very well, but we also met up with Auntie B and Uncle T for lunch which made the trip worth it.  We ate at the Red Rooster Brewery.  It was delicious and the kids were relatively well behaved. 

After lunch we had to stop at Farr's for some ice cream before heading home.  It was worth it.  Davin asked me to take this picture of him with his ice cream because he really really liked it.  He got Blue Moon Vanilla.  It tasted just like vanilla but was blue.  :)

We had a couple hours to rest up at home before us adults went out to the Jazz v. Blazers basketball game.  I had never been to a Jazz game and it was great fun.  We actually cheered for the Blazers since they are Portland's team and Brad and Mel were wearing Blazer gear and Ian's from Portland.  Our seats were the second to top row.  It was a decent view, but lots of stairs.  It was super fun to go to a sporting event without kids.  I actually got to watch the game!  We got hot dogs, nachos, and churros for dinner at the game and had a really fun time together.  Thanks for inviting us Brad and Mel!

As much fun as yesterday was, I'm kind of outing-ed out.  I am going to take the kids down to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point gardens this afternoon because I won tickets, but I don't plan on staying long.  And I'm very ready for a little down time this weekend. 

Shopping for Deals

Today I went to the mall with just Talia.  It was great fun.  I browsed at Carter's for a little bit while Talia happily played at the Lego table.  I actually didn't end up buying anything, which is kind of a miracle, despite being tempted by a really cute pair of pink sandals in Talia's size.  Then we wandered through a couple of other stores.  I randomly decided to pop into Gap to check out their maternity sale rack.  They didn't have a ton that I liked, but I did find one cute shirt for this summer.  Then I walked next door to Gap Kids and checked out their sales rack.  I found a few cute things for the kids at good prices.  When the lady rang me up everything was even cheaper than I thought since I didn't notice the sign saying an additional 40% off clearance.  I went back and looked a little more in Davin's size and ended up spending about $50, but here's what I bought:
-maternity shirt for me
-Weston's winter coat for next year
-short sleeve polo for Weston
-long sleeve tee for Talia next winter
-pair of tan shorts for Davin
-short sleeve stripey polo for Davin
-short sleeve tee for Davin
I thought I scored some pretty great deals on some cute Gap clothes.  If you happen to be heading to the mall in the next couple of days go look at the Gap Kids sale!

Later this afternoon I went to Smith's to take advantage of their cereal sale.  I had a couple of other coupons that made my total really low.  I got all 23 of these items for $25.53!  I sure love me some great deals!

Zoo Field Trip

Weston's kindergarten class had their end of the year field trip on Friday to the Hogle Zoo. Weston was really excited. I couldn't chaperon with other kids, but I decided to take Davin and Talia to the zoo that day anyway. Mel and Brad were able to come too, which made the day so much more fun and so much easier.

When we first got there I took the kids down to the play area to run around while we waited for Auntie Mel and Uncle Brad. They both liked climbing on the creatures, and Davin finally worked up the courage to actually go down the big snake slide. When Mel and Brad got there we wandered through the cave area and saw rats and bats and scorpions.
Mel and Brad treated us all to a ride on the Zoofari Express train! We had never done the train ride before so it was pretty exciting. :) Davin didn't much care about seeing any animals from the train, but was enjoying the ride.
After our train ride we started wandering and looking at animals. Davin's main objective was to find the giraffes. They were towards the other side of the zoo, so we saw lots of other things first and after every exhibit he would ask, "Now where are the giwaffes?" The animals were all pretty active so we got to see all kinds of monkeys, the elephants eating, a rhino, more monkeys, the entire reptile building, tigers, a lynx, the giraffes (finally!), and more.
Towards the end of our outing we finally ran into Weston's group. The zoo isn't that big so I had thought we would find them more quickly. It was fine though. He was having fun with his friends, so I snapped a picture then we went on our separate ways. Mel and Brad treated Davin to a carousel ride too, which I think he enjoyed despite being so tired he was practically falling asleep on his frog. We ended the outing with some dippin' dots.
While we were sitting eating our ice cream Weston's group passed us again. They were heading back toward the bus and his teacher said I could take him home with me, so that was nice. Unfortunately sometime in the half an hour between when I found his group and then they found me, Weston had managed to get a splinter in his thumb, so he was kind of sad and ready to leave. We were all pretty wiped out after our fun, busy day at the zoo.

In the News

Sorry for the absentee-ism. We are still alive and kicking over here. Here's the latest news . . .

-I am still pregnant. I'm in the sweet spot of my pregnancy where I'm not sick and I'm not huge and getting kicked a lot. It hardly feels like I'm pregnant. I still have a few food aversions, but mostly I'm back to normal. Different for this pregnancy is my aversion to cheese. I love cheese, but not right now. Even the smell of it while I'm grating it for dinner or putting it on Weston's daily sandwich makes me queasy. Weird. Our 20 week ultrasound is scheduled for May 2nd. I'm excited to find out if this last baby is a boy or a girl!

-I got my hair cut and colored. It seems like it was a long time coming. I also used a new friend who does hair and she was great! I'm so excited to have a new stylist that I can go to for awhile. And I love how my hair turned out.
-Talia is walking more and more on her own. I love it! She loves wearing her shoes and brings them to me whenever she happens to not be wearing them already. She is also starting to say lots more words. Not clearly, but definitely imitating the sounds. The most obvious are nana (banana), ha (hot), ba (bye). We're getting closer to actual communication. I love that she doesn't say no, but she will shake her head when she doesn't want something. She also reliably signs "more."

-Melanie and Brad are officially my neighbors! They moved in with Brad's grandpa last week and we have been hanging out and playing ever since. It's extra fun right now since neither of them are back to work yet. They live about 5 minutes away in Taylorsville. I am so so happy to have them close by!

Last Friday Mel and I took the kids to Planet Play for the afternoon. It was pretty fun. Mel took both of the boys on the go karts. They played black light mini golf and lots of arcade games. We ate the pizza and salad buffet and got cool prizes. There was even a dance party in the buffet area right before we left. It was so fun to have Auntie Mel to go with us on that outing.


-House hunting. Our home is very close to being sold. We are just waiting for the final decision from the bank. I was getting kind of stressed out about finding a good place on short notice and decided we'd better start looking at rentals more aggressively. Good thing too because 4 bedrooms in our price range are a hot commodity. We went to an open house for a home that was actually a little too small for us, and it was packed! At least 10 other people/families were looking at it.

This last weekend we went and looked at two more houses. They were both pretty great, so we put in applications for both. Over the weekend we debated and made a giant pro and con spreadsheet (we are nerds) to help us decide which one we would pick if both of our applications got approved (there were several people interested in both places). We picked the one in north Lehi. Lucky for us that was the application that got approved. We will be signing a lease agreement on a beautiful 4 bed, 2.5 bath home this Saturday. We are really excited and plan on moving in the middle of May (shooting for the 12th) or as soon as our short sale is approved by the bank.

Happy Easter Weekend!

We had a lovely Easter weekend with friends and family. On Saturday we threw a fun Easter lunch and egg hunt. Ian's brother, Eli and his family were on their way back to WA from Provo, so they were able to be here for the event. We got to meet the newest Bowles cousin, baby Noelle. She is so sweet and squishy.
Our friend Alison and her daughter Kate were here too. We had egg salad sandwiches, chips, and fruit for lunch. Then we had quite the egg hunt. We ended up hiding over 150 eggs for the 4 kids old enough to hunt them. Everyone had a good time though and got lots of candy.
A little later in the afternoon, after all of our Easter egg hunt guests had left, Mel and Brad rolled into town. After they went and signed paperwork for their storage unit we all went to Target then out to dinner at Spaghetti Factory. We had a lot of fun. That night the kids were worn out and went to bed quickly. We put together Easter baskets and watched a movie with Brad and Mel before crashing into bed ourselves.
Sunday morning the kids woke up and promptly found Davin's Easter basket hidden behind the chair in the den. Weston couldn't seem to find his though. I finally got out of bed and helped Weston. He found it in the oven. He thought that was pretty tricky of the Easter bunny. Talia slept in and when she finally woke up she didn't seem real interested in her basket. Weston bribed her to look at it by putting all the stuff she wanted to play with right next to it. She was much more interested when I showed her that one of her plastic eggs had chocolate chips in it. :)
We relaxed and played with Easter stuff until it was time to get ready for church. Brad and Mel took off to be with Brad's family and unload all their stuff into their storage unit. We headed to choir practice then church. The kids all looked so cute in their new Easter finery. I'm so glad we were ready in time to take a picture.
After church I made a yummy Easter dinner of sliced ham, cheesy potatoes, roasted asparagus, and strawberries. We had dessert with friends that evening. It was a very nice Easter weekend. I'm so excited for the warm weather that is becoming more and more common, and for Mel and Brad to officially be living 5 minutes away! Hooray for Spring!

Springy

We have been playing quite a bit this Spring break. Luckily the weather has been relatively nice. Nice enough to play in the backyard and even go to the park. Talia loves being outside. She is content in the swing for as long as I'm willing to push her. Davin is getting really good at the "big boy" swing too. He doesn't know how to pump, but he likes being pushed pretty high and is good at keeping his balance.
We brought Talia's push toy with us to the park on Tuesday. She thought that was the coolest. Although after walking around the trail for a bit she tried to walk herself onto the playground, which would have been pretty dangerous. Weston took her down a few slides though and it was a successful park trip.
On Wednesday we had the bank appraisal for the house, so I spent all morning cleaning and then we left. We met up with Ian for lunch then I took the kids to the mall to get some Easter ties for the boys and play at the dino playground. It's much more fun for Talia now that she can get around.
Tonight was movie night with the boys. We finished watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Weston just finished reading the book with Ian and I. We decided that we could read the first 2 books aloud together and watch the movies. The rest of the movies will have to wait until he is old enough to read the rest of the books on his own since they get progressively more intense and scary. Weston loves feeling grown up and knowing all about HP. He even stayed in and had lunch with his teacher last week to talk about Harry Potter ("It's kind of like a date Mom." he told me).

And finally, I forgot to post about Davin and Talia's well visits last week. Davin was in for his 4 year old check up and Talia for her 15 month. They are both healthy and doing just fine, even if Davin is still on the small side of small. Davin lucked out and didn't have to get any shots this year. Talia got two. She was very upset after until I mentioned getting a sticker. She loves stickers. Weird right? Anyway, here are their stats:

Davin-4 Years
Height: 36.5 inches, below the normal growth curve
Weight: 28 lbs., below the normal growth curve
*I don't think they still measure the head at this age. If the did do his I don't remember and they didn't write down the measurement for me.

Talia-15 mos.
Height: 29.2 in., 15th%ile
Weight: 19.2 lbs., 5th%ile
Head: 18.2 in., 50th%ile (nothing wrong with her brain)

Going Mobile

Guess who's finally walking?!? That's right, it's our Talia girl! I'm so excited and proud. She took her first real steps last weekend. She still doesn't walk anywhere on her own. She will still walk between Ian and I, but only walks toward a non-human target rarely. But we are getting closer. Her new favorite thing right now is her push toy. She walks it back and forth through the house and throws quite the fit when she gets stuck.

Speaking of fits, we are in for it with this child. I have never experienced anything like this angry screaming she does whenever she doesn't get what she wants. The boys were both just so mellow. They would get angry about stuff, but then they would just throw themselves on the floor and bury their faces in, what we termed, a silent tantrum. I don't think Talia will be throwing any silent tantrums. Sigh. Wish me luck in keeping my sanity for the next 2 years. :) Good thing she's extra cute.
Talia gets very attached to her yogurt. This was on the way home from Sam's Club. She only let go of it when we got home and she was in her high chair ready to eat some.
Talia has discovered what it means when we are taking her picture and will smile for the camera.
In other news we had a pretty nice Conference weekend. We didn't have anyone over or do anything really special, just stayed home in our sweats and watched all 4 sessions. The boys did pretty good with both the morning sessions, then we let them listen while playing on screens during the afternoon sessions. I ended up somehow hurting my foot on Saturday night. It was pretty awful. I even went to the urgent care on Sunday afternoon to get it checked out, but it's fine. The doctor thought it sounded like an overuse injury. If only I had a maid and a chef then it wouldn't get so overused. :) It is feeling a lot better today, so maybe it really was just a rough weekend for my poor foot.

This week is Spring Break for the boys. Weston is calling it his Saturday week. He loves that he gets to play Wii in the mornings just like on a Saturday. Today we headed to the aquarium for our outing. It was packed. We only stayed about an hour since Talia was not a fan of being strapped in her stroller but it was too crowded to let her out. I hadn't been since they got otters, but unfortunately they were all snuggled in a heap sleeping this morning. We did get a good look at the octopus and a ginormous tarantula though. And Weston got to touch the sting rays.

Weston was the only one cooperating for this picture. Oh well.

We agreed we didn't want this guy living in our house. Yikes!

Davin still likes the tropical fish tank the best.

On the agenda for the rest of today is baking cornbread to take to our friends who just had a new baby, a quick run to the grocery store for ingredients for our FHE lesson, and possibly some naps/more Wii time.