24th of July weekend

It was a busy weekend for us. Justin spent some time with his Grandpa Petersen at the farm where he worked for the summer when he was 16. He couldn't stop talking about it. He also had a good time with his family that came to town. He said Baby Jack is darling. I headed to Park City with Nolan to be with my family for our annual shopping trip. First we went to the 24th of July parade downtown and then spent some more time at Gateway. Nolan loved the jets and news helicopters the most. And the marching bands... maybe he'll be a drum major like his Daddy! Park City was beautiful. I was pleased that Nolan enjoyed the new surroundings and watching his cousins. He now jumps off the edge of the pool. I turned my back for one second and he jumped in! I was ready to jump in after him but Uncle Bryan beat me to it. He was wearing floaties, but it was still startling. From then on, he kept jumping in and he DID NOT want to be caught. I had to pretend that I wasn't watching and then catch him as he bobbed back up to the surface. What a wild boy! I'll have to get that on film next time. We also went to Rocky Mtn. Chocolate Factory for caramel apples two nights in a row. Nolan was so happy to carry around the core to suck on. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for having us all to that beautiful condo. I'm already excited for next year.

Here are some pics I took as I followed Nolan around the grounds. I wish I was a photographer... these will have to do.

Gateway date

Justin and I had a fun time with our friends, Amber and John, at the Gateway last night. We ate at Z Tejas and the steak salad I ordered was divine. The boys, Jaxon and Nolan, were well behaved at dinner... throwing food, eating crayons, tossing sippy cups (you know). Actually, they really were quite pleasant. We then walked to the fountain and the boys weren't as thrilled with it as we thought they'd be. Nolan started to get used to it about when I was getting tired of the sun in my eyes. I guess the water shooting out of the ground is a bit unnerving. We still managed to get pretty wet though. At Barnes & Noble, the boys had the most fun playing with the train table. What a good time for a lesson in sharing (yeah, right). Ever since going out, Justin keeps saying how pleasant I've been: cleaning the house, cleaning Nolan after J let him play in the mud, and other things. I told him that it pays to take me out! Thanks, honey!

Some of the grandparents have been wondering what else Nolan has been saying lately. And I wanted to write what he says so that I'll have a record of what he's up to at this point. Here is Nolan's repertoire: mom, daddy, happy, uh-oh, busy, owee, yummy, happy day, up, grandpa ("gam-pa"), no, whoa, and thank you (but this sounds like "ah-do"). It sure is fun when the language skills take off. He also gestures or signs: yes, more, all done, stinky (for diaper changing), and he folds his arms so cute for prayer. This is my favorite! I just want to squeeze my reverent boy (it's rare, oh so rare, that he's quiet). Hopefully we'll get some more cute video to post or better yet, we'll just see all the grandparents in the next month or so. As Nolan would say, have a "happy day!"

Speakin' my language

It has been a difficult week for us. It seems Nolan has been whining or all out screaming non-stop. He is literally bored to tears and I'm out of ideas. Today, at the end of my rope after church, Nolan brightened my day. He has been saying about 10 or 11 words, but today he has two more! One is more a gesture, but you'll see:

Obviously he has heard us say "no" a lot this week. It's cute that he is saying more, but I'll probably start wishing he didn't know that word. One of his 2nd cousins, Andrew, would really get along with him... he is always saying "no" also! And I might as well say, at the end of this video scene he scooted toward the salt shaker and poured half of it all over the table. Cute, real cute.

Long summer already

I'm already finding myself wishing for cooler weather. Nolan and I get a little (or a lot) bored of staying in the house all day. I thought I'd let you know what we've been up to. I've been reading two books: The Host and A Burning Within . The first one is for fun and the second one is for the ward book club. I can hardly put them down, especially A Burning Within. I've now finished it and I think I'll be thinking about it every day for a long time. It's by Ranelle Wallace; I highly recommend! Justin is also reading The Host (he's a Stephenie Meyer fan to the core) and can't stop talking about it. Nolan wanders around the house just bored out of his mind... probably because we're just reading. Suddenly the whining stopped. It got very quiet and here's what I found:

It's a fish frenzy! He found the whole bag of goldfish (which are actually whales because they're the cheap brand) and had a good 'ol time. I left the mess there for at least an hour because he was behaving so well amid the school of fish! And when I made cookies for FHE I gave Nolan a beater. Again he sat for a long time (what a relief) licking every last bit.
My friend Amber invited me over to put our boys in her kiddie pool. They loved it until Jaxon stuck his finger in Nolan's mouth and, naturally, Nolan bit. It was sad for all involved. Nolan cried out with guilt.

Nolan and I also went to my sister Lacey's house and hung out in her backyard for an hour playing in her hose sprinkler. She was out of town and knew that we'd enjoy a fenced in yard. I only wish I'd brought my book! I think we'll go back there next week. I can't wait until we put in a fence!
Also, we finally got around to doing sparklers when Justin's Mom came to visit on Sunday night. That was fun and he loved getting hosed down along with the sparklers as they died out.
Lastly, we all just returned from swimming and snarfing down a Papa Murphy's pizza. We took Nolan down the waterslide and he walked all around the shallow area until he went too far and he walked in past his chin. He didn't know when to stop! Even though the heat keeps us mostly inside, I'm grateful for when we can get out and have fun together!

Independence Day (kind of)

Happy 4th of July everyone... a little late. We just returned from Hyrum, UT (near Logan) where we spent two days with all of Justin's family. Nolan absolutely loved the parade! I was afraid he'd run into the road every two seconds (turns out it was only every 10!) but he was quite interested in all the sights and the candy being tossed his way. It must of worn him out because he fell asleep halfway through! That's very unlike him. We spent the time "up the canyon" where J's grandparents have a trailer and some pretty space for picnics. Nolan loved riding the "toy" (a glorified 4-wheeler) and getting hosed off. He can't get enough of playing in the water! It didn't feel like Justin and I had much independence though. Between the rushing creek, the wasp's nest and the hot grill, we weren't exactly free to enjoy the holiday. I'm sure I looked the part of "frazzled mom" just perfectly. Not to mention the heat! But we're thankful for all of our family and the delicious food they provided. We love our country and all of our freedoms, even if we can't enjoy some things right now because Nolan keeps us too busy! Hope it was a good holiday for all of you!

We have friends!

Justin and I have always joked with our family that we don't have any friends. It seems like we've always had trouble making friends and actually getting anyone to WANT to hang out with us. We could never understand why (because we are so dang fun!) but that was the truth. We are proud to say: NOT ANY MORE! We have friends! Actually, we've been slowly getting to know some friends since moving to our home, but we've recently spent the weekend with 5 other couples (and our 11 total children) from our neighborhood so we feel like we all know each other pretty well now. We took them to my Dad's cabin in Alton and we had a great time. We ate, we relaxed, we hiked, we chased our kids, and Justin and I conquered our lack of friends! Everyone was so pleasant and funny. We love our friends! Thank you, everyone, for coming. You brought wonderful food and made the weekend one to remember.

I learned that Justin is in the wrong career. He should have been a tour guide for a National Park. He planned out our daily adventures to Bryce Canyon and Cedar Mtn. Or he could have been a shepherd... getting us all to one place whether we wanted to go or not. Baaa. Baaa. Nolan had a fun time with all those kids, even though he was in his own world searching out trouble: the dishwasher, the carbon monoxide detector, the garbage can, the pantry, etc. It was a great trip. Thank you to my Dad who let us stay at the cabin. He is always so generous! I was pathetic at taking pictures. I'm going to be getting copies of everyone else's, but until then here are the three I have to share. We played the Wii and the kids loved playing with balloons. What fun!

Grandparents

Last week, Nana (Kenzee's grandma) came to visit from San Diego. We've never seen Nolan show so much affection to one person. Seriously. He was always kissing her! He was really eating up all that attention she gave him. Nana would say things like, "Is that so? Whatever you say, I believe you!" It was great to have her visit and see our home. She's just the sweetest little Nana ever... I'm pretty sure she's about 4 ft. 5 in. tall.

And then we went to Logan so that Nolan could visit his Grandma Kathi (Justin's Mom) and both sets of great-grandparents. Justin and I helped Kathi build two garden boxes. We went to Summerfest because her band, "The Hotflashes" were playing. It was fun except that Nolan got sunblock in his eyes. So sad! We had a great dinner with all of Justin's grandparents. It was really a nice Father's Day until the drive home. We have since ordered a portable DVD player. We love all of the grandparents in our lives... thanks for all you do for us and Nolan!

And lastly, I'll share some of the silly pics of Nolan that we've recently taken. Turns out he loves lasagna. It makes a refreshing evening facial cream. (He did this on his own... we didn't even have to encourage him.)

And he discovered how to growl while chomping down fiercly on a straw, which seems fitting in his Superman p.j.'s.

And finally, if I say "Listen" when I first start the dishwasher, Nolan presses his ear against it to hear the water inside. He's always so curious!

Support

Hi everyone! Some of you may know my sister, Lacey. She's so awesome!!! She has a degenerative retinal disease that may one day leave her without her vision. She has come across a website that is donating to Foundation Fighting Blindness. We need all the help we can get! If you have a few minutes, please follow this link: http://www.rcause.org. Copy and paste it in your browser in case the link doesn't work.

All you need to do is click on the orange bar that says "RCause donates daily to this charity When you CLICK HERE. IT'S FREE." There's no limit, so keep clicking if you have the time. I hope that somehow researchers can find something to help Lacey's eyes.