Excitement

I know it's been a while since I posted (REALLY posted), and I have a lot of things flying around in my head. First, some excitement.

Things I am Excited About:
1. The Olympics (just 11 days!). In HD. Can't wait!
2. Jeff told me Saturday that he only has to work today and tomorrow and has the rest of the week off, and he wants to go camping near St. George, which means I get to go visit my family for 5 days!
3. The fact that Jeff has a real job and gets days off. That's sure nice!
4. It's nearly August, which means Breaking Dawn is oh-so-close to being in stores!
5. Damon is already in St. George (he went down with my sister last night), so I only have two kids to take care of!

Second, the kids are doing great.

DAMON: Latest loves include: High School Musical (he told me the other day, "I wish Vanessa's real name was Gabriella."), Sugarland's "All I Want to Do," collecting rocks, hiking (he hiked the Y again last weekend with Jeff), riding his bike, playing with legos, and watching Tom and Jerry.


Jeff's list of things he wants Damon to avoid: High School Musical, songs by women, watching So You Think You Can Dance, combing My Little Pony's hair, using words like "pretty" and "beautiful" when describing anything, and wearing Allie's dancing dresses. We sure love our Damon and hope that he continues to be "well-rounded," as opposed to Jeff's term, "sissy."

ALLIE" Latest loves include: Care Bears and ponies, "Bleeding Love," "Should've Said No," helping me cook dinner, and looking gorgeous.



Allie has gotten much easier the past couple of months. She still has her fits (like when I comb her hair or for no reason at all), but is such a pleasant, happy girl 75% of the time. I can't believe I am actually saying this, but it is true. She is night time potty trained finally, and is getting better at obeying. She has discovered that she can "read" books and asked today to go to the library to get some "reading rainbows." We love our Allie!


KYLA: Latest loves include: eating, bananas (she loves them so much they are a separate category), dancing, animals, getting into everything, and eating some more.


Just as Allie has gotten easier, Kyla has gotten harder. She suddenly has an attitude and throws fits when she doesn't get what she wants. She cries MUCH more than she ever has (I told Jeff that she is such a happy girl when she isn't tired or hungry. She seems to be tired and hungry all the time!). She has five teeth, but they are taking their sweet time coming in. She signs a little, but has started talking more. She now can say, "baby," "Allie," "all done," "hot," "more," "me," and "kuh kuh." She is now trying to run, as walking isn't fast enough, and I love to see her getting those little (well, big) legs moving. She has grown very attached to her cow and cries when it's time for bed and he can't be found. She knows a few body parts, but routinely sticks her finger in her ear before guessing elsewhere. We love our Ky Ky, but hope her crankiness is due to teething and that she'll go back to being our sweet little girl soon.


Lastly, I am excited for the fall tv schedule. Particularly, I am excited for The Office, Pushing Daisies (the best new show from last season), and The Amazing Race. Plus, in January we get American Idol and the last 13 episodes of Scrubs. Awesome! Jeff can't wait for college football. Seriously. If that was all that was on tv, he would be happy. He's easy to please. I need to take some pics of him. Look forward to that!

Memories

How many times do you have to see something before you decide it's time to join in? I have eight blogs on my google reader with this on it, waiting for comments from me. So, play along it you'd like...



Here's how it works:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember, good or bad but be nice please! ;)



2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. Come on all my blog followers... I want to post something about you, let's see this on your blog!!!

I wouldn't...

I've often wondered what I would be doing if I weren't a mom. I doubt I would be teaching elemntary school (what I got my degree in) because, although it was very rewarding, it's a lot of work and you get paid so little for it. If I knew I would never get married and have kids, I would have thought long and hard about being a doctor. I always wanted to be one when I was younger, and my fascination with the medical profession hasn't subsided as I have grown older (proof: I love doctor shows on tv). I wouldn't be a surgeon or an ER doc, I know that for sure, but I could see myself enjoying a career as a doctor.


It's just as likely that I would have gone into education anyway, and tried to get a job coaching basketball (or another sport). I'm sure that's no surprise. I love sports. I think I would be a good coach. Sometimes I tell Jeff that when our kids are older I would like to volunteer my services at the junior high or high school. Who knows..


I actually haven't given it a lot of thought. It's hard to say exactly what I would be doing if I wasn't currently "employed" as a mom. But I do know what I WOULDN'T be doing:


1. I wouldn't be wiping the same high chair tray eighteen times a day.

2. I wouldn't find myself singing songs made famous by The Backyardigans.

3. I wouldn't be performing the "smell test" on clothes that weren't my own (you know the test, where you sniff an article of clothing to see if it is clean or needs to be washed).

4. I wouldn't find myself using made up words like, "kuh-kuh (meaning yucky)," "num-num (meaning food)," or "night-night (meaning bed time)."

5. The names Damon, Allie and Kyla wouldn't mean anything to me.
6. I wouldn't eat fish sticks more than once every six months.

7. I wouldn't know that nystatin, benadryl and motrin can cure most anything.

8. I wouldn't dig through nostrils not belonging to me to pull boogers out.

9. I wouldn't know how to get baby poop and spit up stains out of my clothes.

10. I wouldn't appreciate Jon and Kate Plus 8.

11. I wouldn't spend half my day in the kitchen.

12. I wouldn't wake up to the sound of little voices long before morning.

13. I wouldn't be doing laundry every couple days.

14. I wouldn't look down at my chest and try to remember what it was like to have one.

15. I wouldn't envy the animal world and their lightning quick pregnancies.

16. I wouldn't get to read "Little Miss Contrary" over and over and over again.

17. I wouldn't get to watch "High School Musical" over and over and over again.

18. I wouldn't have a reason to go to Chuck E Cheese.

19. I wouldn't get nearly as much free candy on Halloween.
20. I wouldn't be having nearly as much fun as I am now...
What WOULDN'T you be doing?

Changes

Not sure I'm going to stick with the new look, but it will do for now. If you're in the mood for a new look, it's gotten super easy. Check out THIS SITE. Awesome! Also, scroll down to the bottom of my blog for even more fun. My favorite is Allie in her CTR-uh (tiara) and dancing dress.

Trapnell Orthodontics

Did you know there is a Utah Valley Magazine? I didn't. But we learned about it in May when Jeff and his brothers were contacted and asked to be featured in a little article. I guess five brothers practicing orthodontics is a little unusual. For those of you who didn't get to see it, here is a scan. And no, we're not bitter that Jeff got the smallest paragraph and some of his info wasn't correct (he didn't do ortho at Ohio State, but in Jacksonville). I mean, it's only Utah Valley Magazine.

We're havin' us a weddin'!

Tonight, Kyla and I were witness to one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. I knew it would be good when Damon announced that he and Allie would be getting married, but I didn't know the treat we were in for once the "wedding" actually happened.

Damon and Allie changed into their wedding attire. Allie faced a problem I'm sure we all had to deal with on our own wedding day--the purple dress she had wanted to wear was giving off a "uriney" smell, and she had to go with her second choice, her beautiful blue dancing dress. She wiped some of the spaghetti sauce off her face, and put flowers behind her ear so she could look "beautifuller and beautifuller." Damon talked her into wearing sandals, as she had decided to go barefoot after only one of her pink sparkly flip flops was located. She picked several flowers from grandma's garden (don't tell!) for a bouquet and waited for instructions on how to proceed.

Damon chose to wear a long-sleeved blue shirt and blue pants, and was mildly frustrated when he learned that his ties had been left in St. George. He managed to get over it, though, and excitedly put on his own belt, socks and shoes. He was heard to say, "I love marriages!" I hope he feels the same 20 years from now. He was ready well before Allie was (imagine that!). I was shown to my seat, camera in hand, anxious to see what the "wedding" would entail.

Then, the fun started. Because I had been deemed photographer, there was no one to act as minister (or justice of the peace, or whatever they were going for). I gave minimal direction, but most of this was straight from their imagination.

Damon waited for his bride

She came down the aisle

They faced each other

They told each other they loved each other and kissed

They hugged

They kissed again

They held hands and walked past me

And that was that. I wiped tears from my eyes (from all the quiet laughing I had been doing), and thanked them for letting me be a part of that. Damon assured me that they were "really married" and then they proved it by fighting with his new "bride" only minutes later.

Reunited!

We're back together. Our family, that is. We were reunited on July 3, and my body celebrated my contracted pink eye. I'm sure Jeff found that very attractive, as I could barely open my eye, and when I did, it oozed and watered continuously. But a quick course of antibiotic eye drops cleared it right up, and I only had to endure three days of wearing Jeff's glasses (explanation: we have the same prescription in one eye and the other eye is pretty close. Neither of us have gotten a new pair of backup glasses in at least four years and mine were broken beyond repair. Jeff's are missing one arm, which I taped back on with masking tape.). It was a good look. But I'm glad to be through with it.

Damon got to do something he had been dying to do since he learned it was a possibility: he hiked the Y. Jeff said he did great, and even asked to do it again when they got to the bottom. I love that he is old enough to do fun things with his daddy, and I'm sure it made Jeff happy, too.

They are on the Y--that's not snow.

Jeff started his first day as an orthodontist yesterday. I am so proud of him, I can't even begin to describe the feelings I have inside. He has been in school since we met nine years ago (minus one year when he worked for his brothers making teeth models, and made a whopping $12,000. All year.), and has finally come to the end of his education. Now things get real. And real scary. The stakes are higher now, as he gets ready to buy an ortho practice (his plan is to buy the Provo office from his brother in two years), as we start the process of looking for the house we will raise our kids in, and student loans start coming due. It makes me a little sick inside when I think about all the money that entails. But I am optomistic that we will be alright. It's probably a good thing that we are both nervous. Hopefully that will help us be smart and careful in our decisions.

It's great to be back together, and back in our own space. We even have internet down here in the basement, which will make life so much easier. I am itching to get a library card, but the one piece of "official mail" that I got has disappeared and I don't know if I can get one without something else coming. Hopefully that will be soon. I'll have more later (including Damon's sixth birthday) when I get some pics from the Esplin fam.

It's good to be back!

Summer Heat

After a whirlwind trip to Temecula, CA for my uncle's wedding, we're all back home and safe in Utah. Including Jeff, who made it to Springville today. After we celebrate Damon's birthday tomorrow, we will head back home and be reunited for the first time in months!

Here are a few shots of the kids at the wedding (which I must admit, was beautiful and the place to get married if you're not going to the temple).

Damon was infatuated with the butterflies. We were handed boxes with live butterflies inside and released them at the end of the ceremony. Many of the butterflies were reluctant to fly away and Damon couldn't let them out of his sight.

Allie was infatuated with the flowers. And the leggings. Hard to tell, but they are there under the dress.

Kyla was infatuated with the food, but we didn't get any shots of that. This was a cute one of her with grandpa.

I found the pics from Jacksonville. They show exactly how Kyla has become. She is NOT going to be pushed around (she enjoys telling all of us "no no"), and she's NOT going to be distracted from what she wants. She and Tyson fought over this dump truck and neither one was backing down. Like all good parents, we stood back, laughing at them.

And one more random shot of the kids, enjoying the heat.