Conversation with Kyle

Kyle: Mom, my throat hurts (pointing to his stomach)

Me: You mean your stomach?

Kyle: Yeah

Me: What's wrong?

Kyle: I ate some fish.

Me: Fish? Where did you get fish (sidenote: I hate seafood and refuse to cook it)

Kyle: At IKEA (in an "of course, Mom" kind of tone)

Me: When did you go to IKEA

Kyle: A few minutes ago

Me: Wow, how did you get there?

Kyle: I was big and I drove there.

Me: Okay- do you feel better now?

Kyle: Yup.

Conversation with Kyle

Kyle: Mom, my throat hurts (pointing to his stomach)

Me: You mean your stomach?

Kyle: Yeah

Me: What's wrong?

Kyle: I ate some fish.

Me: Fish? Where did you get fish (sidenote: I hate seafood and refuse to cook it)

Kyle: At IKEA (in an "of course, Mom" kind of tone)

Me: When did you go to IKEA

Kyle: A few minutes ago

Me: Wow, how did you get there?

Kyle: I was big and I drove there.

Me: Okay- do you feel better now?

Kyle: Yup.

Ice Cream Ball

My brother and sister-in-law (Preston & Jen) always find the coolest gifts for my kids. For Kyle's birthday, they got him an ice cream maker in the shape of a ball. On one end, you fill it with ice and rock salt then in the other end, you add the ingredients (cream, vanilla, sugar). Roll the ball around for about 15 minutes and Presto! Ice Cream. It actually works really well. We've already used it several times. I'm thinking it will be really fun to take camping.

Bethany's Hangout

Bethany has recently mastered going up and down the stairs. If the bathroom door is open at the top of the stairs, she zips in there and starts unrolling the toilet paper. But, if that's not an option, this is usually where I find her. I peek in her room and this is the look she gives me. She loves sitting in her rocking chair!

Huck Finn Day

One of my favorite summertime traditions is going to Huck Finn Day as part of Pleasant Grove's Strawberry Days. I've gone every year that I've lived here and we love it! They have face painting, a cakewalk (with doughnuts as prizes), inflatables, fishing game, a real fishing pond, and other carnival games. The weather was perfect this year which was nice because it's usually blazing hot!

I couldn't believe Bethany sat still enough to get her face painted.

Kyle's face painter was like 10 years old. She did her best spider and Kyle was thrilled with it.
Kyle and Lydia posing with their faces painted (I didn't realize Ali was posing too or else I would have centered the picture better!)
The kids playing in the "fishing pond." They stock it with real fish and in past years, they've had kids fish with poles until the last 30 minutes or so when they let them run in and try to catch fish with their bare hands (eww!) but this year they just let the kids run in the whole time.
Jacob tried really hard to catch a fish. He borrowed a net from someone and told me later that he did catch a fish but he let it go. (I can't say I was disappointed)

I love KSL classifieds!

I've been wanting to get a walker for Bethany so she's not always crawling around outside in the dirt, but I didn't really want to spend a lot because I knew she'd outgrow it quickly and I really don't want to store it. So, I looked on the KSL Classifieds and found this beauty for $10 from a seller in Lehi. Perfect!

(PS: Stay tuned for my really fabulous KSL find- Pictures coming soon)

Science Experiment

Last week, we did the coolest (and easiest) science project. All you do is put some milk in a shallow bowl then add a couple drops of food coloring (red, yellow and blue) to the corners of an imaginary triangle (with the points at the edges of the bowl) in the milk. Next, drop a few drops of dish soap in the middle of the bowl. The colors all start to swirl and create new colors. My kids thought it was the greatest. I'm still not sure why it works- Maybe someone with a much more scientific brain than mine could explain it to me. Anyway, try it- you'll be your kids' hero! (By the way- thanks to Brooke S. for the idea!)

Fake Sleepover

A couple weeks ago (on one of MANY rainy nights), we decided to have some friends over for a "fake sleepover." Everyone got in their sleeping bags with popcorn and watched "Igor." The kids thought it was great (meanwhile, I was able to sit peacefully upstairs and read- win-win!)

Aunt Jodie

12 years ago (while in high school), I had a foreign exchange student from England. Her name is Jodie and we've kept in touch after all these years. She's been to visit nearly every year since Jacob was born. We love having another special "aunt" for the boys. She's taught Jacob and Kyle to speak "like proper English boys" (like saying "football" instead of soccer and "rubbish" instead of trash) and appropriately spoiled them. My children love Jodie and had so much fun taking her to Disneyland (for her first visit). We hope to get over there soon to visit her (trying to rack up those frequent flyer miles!)

One highlight of her visit was when we let her drive our van (it was her first time driving an automatic and on the right side of the road). She did great and ended up driving for 4 hours on our trip home from CA.

Jacob and Kyle with their Aunt Jodie

At Disneyland (doesn't Jodie look giddy to be there!)

Jodie finally meeting her "first love" at Disneyland.

The Picture to Prove It

My friend Jodie (who witnessed the event), sent me this picture taken just moments after jumping in a pool fully clothed- good times...

In case we forget...

 (PS The marker did wash off- thank goodness!)

Product Review

A few weeks ago I bought some of these Green Giant frozen vegetables on sale.  I decided to have some with my lunch today (I really struggle to get vegetables in before dinner time).  They were SO tasty, I just had to blog about them.  They have carrots, sugar snap peas, edamame, and black beans in a light butter sauce.  There are 2 servings in a packages, so as soon as I heated them up (in the microwave steam bag) I split them into 2 portions and put one in the fridge.  It was a great way to get some veggies in and I can't wait to have the leftovers tomorrow.  By the way, they have 90 calories per serving with 2.5 grams of fat and 5 grams of fiber.  

Mommy Field Trip (BYU)

Last Saturday, we spent the morning packing and getting ready to leave for California. We finished by about 11:30 but couldn't leave until 6:00 because Jermie was working. I put the kids into the car to run a quick errand. We decided to stop by Pizza Hut and use Jacob's free pizza coupon he got at school. We ended up going to the park to eat it. I decided I didn't want to take the boys home (because I knew they would make a mess in the house), so we decided to go down to BYU. We started out walking through the new (well, new to me- it wasn't there when I graduated) Joseph F. Smith building and walked through the atrium area.



Next, we headed to the Eyring Science Center. The boys LOVED it. Jacob thought all the rocks and little experiements were so cool. I can't believe we haven't taken him there before.


We stopped in the statue garden for a picture. I love this picture because everything is so green.


Next, we headed to the art museum. There was an exhibit of Walter Wick's artwork.


Next, we headed over to a special exhibit with artwork by Dan Steinhilber. This was definitely the highlight of the day for the boys. This artist takes everyday items and creates artwork with it. The first picture is the boys' favorite exhibit. It's a giant pile of packing peanuts in the corner of a black room. The industrial fans are hooked up to timers and blow every few minutes sending the peanuts flying into the air. For two little boys, this is like magic- they loved it!


This is an exhibit made entirely of balloons.


PVC pipe artwork


Can you guess the medium for this picture? (Look below for the answer)

It's made entirely of packets of duck sauce (they're like little ketchup packets.)

Afterwards, we headed over to the Creamery (because you can't go to BYU without going there) and had some ice cream. It was a great day- Lots of fun memories with me and my boys (and Bethany- who was really well-behaved). We got home about 5:00 and Jermie had finished early and was ready to go.

Spontaneity is not dead

Typically, if a spontaneous thought crosses my mind, I dismiss it right away and move on to much more practical, productive things. Every once in a while, I act upon a spontaneous thought, although this is rare. Tonight was one of those instances. I was standing by my in-laws pool and my father in law and brother in law were teasing me saying they were going to throw me in. I had a thought cross my mind- "What if I just jumped in the pool? Wouldn't that be crazy?" Before I could talk myself out of it, I was midair (too late to change my mind). So, I jumped in a pool fully clothed- when's the last time you did that?