Sticks out like a...

...sore thumb? Where did that saying come from, anyway? Because as I sit here thinking about things that "stick out," a sore thumb is probably one of the very LAST things that would come to mind. A broken thumb, perhaps. But not a sore thumb. Sorry. For the purpose of this post, I'm going with "sticks out like a black eye." Something that actually seems to make a little bit of sense. And is relevant to my children, who are not currently experiencing thumb pain.

The story I'm about to relate happened two weeks ago, before Jeff was fulfilling his John Wesley Powell fantasies and rafting down the Colorado River, aka the Grand Canyon. I am just now able to talk about it. One morning, McKay had just awoken from his nap and Kyla asked if she could go in and talk to him. I told her yes, even though I knew that "talk to him" really meant "crawl in his crib with him," because I was doing something else and needed to buy a few minutes before I went to get him out of bed. It wasn't long before I heard a gigantic THUD followed by a very hurt little baby cry. My first thought was that Kyla had dropped him on the floor (unfortunately, it wouldn't be the first time). I yelled upstairs and asked her what was going on, and she brought him out to me. He clearly had a circular carpet burn about the size of a silver dollar above his eye and he was a little pale. He was also whimpering and just laid on my shoulder when I took him from Kyla. I began questioning her, asking what had happened. At first, she tried to tell me that she didn't know. Finally, though, she confessed.

"I tried to frow him on the bed." WHAT?! Suddenly my heart started beating faster, as I realized what had happened. She had climbed into his crib, as I expected, picked him up, and thought that she would be able to throw him from the crib onto the bed. Obviously he didn't make it. My mind ran through worst case scenarios, such as he fell straight down onto his head, not even grazing the bed, and I began checking for serious injury. Kyla was hysterical. McKay, who was no longer crying, but still a little pale, seemed unaffected. But still, I made him sit up and perform his usual "tricks," such as reaching for things with both hands. He seemed okay. But I was still worried and so scared.

After a while, the carpet burn faded and normal coloring returned to his face. He was acting normally, eating and sleeping, and I finally breathed a sigh of relief when it seemed he was going to be just fine. I asked Kyla to reenact the event for me, so I could try to determine EXACTLY what had happened. She demonstrated how he hit the edge of the bed and slid to the floor. I hoped with all my might that that was actually what happened. She told me, "I'm not a good frower." No, I think not.

The next day, his left eye looked a little swollen, and he eventually developed some light green bruises newt to his eye, but mostly escaped the situation unscathed. And believe me, I know how lucky we are about that.

 The REAL black eye story happened while we were in St. George. Carter, yet again, let his cousin, Jayda pick on him. She pinched his cheek, and must have really had a hold on him, because it turned black and blue underneath the eye the next day. Then, to add injury to injury, when we got home, Kyla thought it would be funny to scare him while he was in the bathtub. However, this caused him to bump the top of his eye on the faucet. I have had a hard time getting a good picture of it, but you can see it a little bit here.

Yesterday, it had really turned some pretty colors. I needed Damon's help to get a good picture. I'm sure the girls are jealous of that natural eye shadow! And believe me, it sticks out much more than a sore thumb would have.

So...I guess you could say that preschool couldn't have come at a better time for Kyla. Or her black-eyed brothers. She started on Tuesday and had to have some pictures of her own. Nice pose here.

After changing her mind repeatedly about what she wanted to wear, she finally decided on this little dress. Definitely fitting, seeing how she loves wearing skirts and dresses so much.

 Here she is hanging up her backpack and saying good-bye to me. Clearly, she isn't nervous at all. So it's surprising that she burst into tears only moments later when I had to leave. It actually is a little surprising. Kyla usually doesn't have separation anxiety. Well, unless she is separating from Grandma Karen. Then it's quite bad. But she doesn't usually have a problem separating from me. It did break my heart a little to have to leave her there when she was upset. Fortunately, she had a fantastic day and has been so excited to go back every day since.

It's good to have talented friends

At our ward play group a few weeks ago, Lori Harris took some pictures of all the kids. We should have paid her for her services, they turned out so good. So, thank you Lori! Now I only have to worry about getting a family picture before Christmas. :)

Kyla, age 4

Carter, 18 months

Have I mentioned that I am totally in love with this kid? I just think he is the cutest thing in my closet (literally). :)

 Damon, age 9

 McKay, 5 months

Allie, age 6

Love this one of Damon!

Lately

Damon's corn plant produced three, delicious ears of corn. Seriously, it was the best corn I had all summer. We are seriously thinking about planting some more next year because it was so yummy. 

 The only problem was the earwigs thought it was tasty too. Disgusting little creatures liked making their home in the husks and we would find them crawling out the top of the corn. I would kill 10-15 a day and they just kept coming back. Luckily, they didn't eat much of the corn, but still...the thought gives me alternating sweats and chills. Bleh!

Carter has become a little obsessed with guns. Mostly Damon's Nerf gun, but another toy gun is fun for him, too. He will hunt for the darts, carefully insert them into the gun, and then find someone who can help him cock and fire. Then happily, he will chase the dart and start again. He will be highly entertained for quite some time doing this, until he can't stand it any longer and chews on the darts, thus rendering them incapable of being fired. I'm not sure how much longer this game can continue, as he is quickly running out of darts.

Fortunately, he also has taken a liking to other toys as well. Most notably, babies. He wants to take one to bed with him (as well as a book and a ball and sometimes a toy car) and when he can find a bottle, he likes to pretend to feed them. I'm training him early so maybe he'll like real babies a little better than his daddy...

Another thing Carter is really good at is making a mess. He didn't want to eat in his high chair anymore, so he now joins us at the big table, where he prefers to feed himself. This is what his area looks like on any given morning after breakfast.

In case you were wondering if I still lived here, or if the kids were basically running the show alone (as the pictures may lead you to believe), here's a self-portrait of me and my favorite little man. Lots of people say he looks like me. I still don't know where he came from.

Busy First Day

Yesterday was a busy, busy day. It was the first day of school. Monday night, Jeff gave all the kids a blessing for the new year (including Kyla, who will be starting preschool in two weeks) and I put a drop of lavender oil on their pillows to help them fall asleep (they wanted it, not that I thought it would really make much of a difference). Because they had gotten to bed later than I wanted, Allie hadn't had time to wash her hair, so I told her she needed to be up by 7:30 so that she had time to shower before school.

When I went in to wake her up in the morning, she was not well rested. She started crying, "the lavender didn't work!" I could tell it was going to be a tough morning and that first day excitement wasn't going to be enough to carry her through. She promptly got back in bed and I went downstairs to start breakfast. A few minutes later, I came back and told her she needed to get into the shower. Her response? "This is not what I expected!!" I tried to stifle a laugh long enough so that I could explain that a warm shower would wake up her body and she'd feel better. I guess she decided to believe me and we got her washed and clean and ready for school.

After breakfast, Damon helped her make her lunch (by "help" I mean "told her exactly what she could and couldn't take for lunch") and we sat on the front porch waiting for the neighbor who was taking them to school. We had enough time to take the obligatory first day of school photos next to the front door. Allie was first. She was in love with this zebra shirt so that is what she chose to wear. She has only earned a few of her school clothes (in fact, if she wants something new to wear tomorrow, she's going to have to do some work for me today), but at least she got her favorites. Her attitude was suddenly much better and she had no problem heading off to her first day of 1st grade (which is in the Dual Language--Spanish and English--classroom).

Next, I had Damon pose for his picture, but Carter couldn't let him have his moment alone. He stood there saying "cheese" before I even had the camera ready, so how could I exclude him?

Then I got all the kids in a shot. What a group!


After school, the real fun began. Allie had her first soccer game at 4:30 (I picked up the kids just after 3:30), so I tried to rush them through an afternoon snack and changing so that we could go. Of course, McKay used that opportunity to have a huge blowout that required me stripping him naked and furiously wiping him down with baby wipes. I also had to tell Allie, who appeared to be in no hurry at all, that there was no time to listen to her playlist on the computer. Finally we were ready to go at 4:25. Jeff called from the soccer field to ask where we were and I told him we were on our way. Her game was all the way across Provo, and we were 10 minutes late (which Damon kept reminding me at every stoplight). I dropped Allie and Carter off with Jeff and then took Damon all the way back across Provo to his soccer practice, which was starting at 5:00.

Kyla, who had been sleeping in the car, woke up when we pulled into the other soccer field and asked, "where's Allie?" We waited in the parking lot until 5:20 for his coach to show up and then I had to drop him off so that I could take Kyla to a meeting/training for the UPSTART program (a computer based preschool program she is doing this year). We got there at 5:30 for her testing/training and I took McKay in with me (he had also been napping in the car). After Allie's game, Jeff went to pick Damon up from soccer and we all met back at home around 6:45. Damon had pack meeting at 7:00, so he and Jeff headed up to the church when I got back. Allie, Kyla, Carter and I ate leftovers for dinner and then I took the boys up for a bath (remember McKay's blowout? He needed one.).

I got both boys in bed by 8:00 and got most of the kitchen mess cleaned up before Jeff and Damon got home. Damon then had to do some math homework and the girls got ready for bed, we prayed, and sent the kids to their rooms. Sheesh! What a crazy day! Luckily Jeff was able to help, otherwise there is no way I could have done all that by myself.

In other news, McKay is now five months old. He's getting bigger, more active and happier every single day.

He now spends quite a bit of time in his saucer, playing with toys. That is, when Kyla isn't taking him out and carrying him around the house (which happens to be nearly every time I put him down).
He is also starting to sit up for a few seconds at a time. It goes like this:

Sitting and happy

Not so happy

Tipping over

Repeat

No solid food yet. Maybe next month (unless he starts acting like he's starving). Carter still loves his Bubba more than just about anyone, even though he tries to sit on him in the bathtub. McKay has yet to roll from his back to his tummy, but can get on his side, so it's probably close. He drinks 5 bottles a day (usually) and ends up about 30-32 oz a day. I think that's just about right. We are still working on a consistent nap schedule during the day, as I would like to have him take a morning nap from 9:30-11:00 or so and then go down with Carter at 12:45 (after we drop Kyla off at preschool). I have two weeks to get that in place. Wish me luck.

And please wish for no more days like yesterday. Busy is one thing. Crazy busy is another.

What should I call him, Trappy?

(Forgive my laziness. I just scanned a page out of my ever-so-amazing wedding album instead of digging through photos to find originals).

When I first broke the news that I had met an RM, and I really quite liked him, to my mom, she didn't seem very excited. I was 19, in my second year at BYU, and was really planning on going on a mission. But instead of voicing any of those concerns, she just made fun of his last name. "What are we going to call him," she asked, "Trappy?"

In the 11 years we have been married, I don't think she has ever once called him "Trappy." Because once I decided that I wanted to marry him more than I wanted anything else, she was on board. And she loved him, too. Even when he took me FAR away from Utah for six years while he was going to school. AND, even though Tara said she wouldn't come to my wedding if I married him (give her a break--she was 16 and thought I should wait for my missionary to come home--), I think she loves him, too. Because Jeff is easy to love.

He's a hard worker, he's a great provider, he is happy and fun. He loves history and sports and laughs at my jokes. He is thoughtful and adventurous and wants nothing more than to travel the world together. And he loves me. What more could a girl ask for?

The last 11 years have been very good to us, and we are so blessed to have a beautiful family. But I think we are the most blessed because we have each other. Happy anniversary Jeff!

A few things...

My cousin, Monique, was in another pageant this month (she was second attendant in the Miss Orem pageant in May) and she asked Allie if she would be her Little Miss again. Allie was only too happy to be a part of it. She got to wear mascara and got a tiara. I think it was literally her dream come true.

Our garden is doing awesome. I love gardening. And by "gardening," I mean "planting the plants, doing nothing to them at all, and harvesting them three months later." Our cherry tomato plant is going crazy and our other two tomato plants have a bunch of green tomatoes on them, too. Carter loves cherry tomatoes, and I'm sure he's trying to find some in this pic.

To the left, we planted onions, corn (Damon planted those from a seed at scouts and we transported), strawberries (which have been a huge waste of space, as we have gotten 3 strawberries from two plants), and squash, which gives us WAY too much squash. The small box ended up being the pepper box. There are two jalepeno plants (and those are spicy little devils!), chile pepper, two bell peppers, and sweet banana peppers. They are just starting to do really well and hopefully soon I'll be able to make salsa with (nearly) everything from my garden!

To answer the question about the rubber mulch: the only place we put it was around the trampoline, and we already had the curbing done. We got it mainly so it would be softer for the kids to land on when/if they fell off the tramp. Also it should last forever, as it doesn't get bugs like some other mulch does. I was worried it would get too hot during the day, but when it's REALLY hot, no one wants to jump anyway. It hasn't been a problem. Carter was happy to pose for this picture, too.

Finally, Heather posted a picture of her baby, Ella, doing this new trick and so I had to see if McKay could keep up with her. I think it's fun (sorry Facebook friends, it's a repeat!).

The Rest of July

A few events to document from July:

1. I took the 3 older kidlets to see Camp Rock at the Scera (two of my cousins were in it). Kyla was a little bored and kept asking to play my phone (I said no), but the other two were mesmerized. I still feel like Damon will end up in musical theater. We'll see...

2. Jeff and Damon went to SLC one day and came back with 2,000 lbs of rubber playground mulch to go around the trampoline. That was fun. Damon wasted no time introducing Tara's kids to the joys of burying each other in it.

3. Damon finished playing baseball. He's a good little hitter and a terrible little fielder. Cute in those baseball pants, though.

4. Jeff, Damon and Kyla went fishing one morning (Allie was too tired to get up. Obviously a teenager at 6 years old), and came home with this whopper. We estimated it weighed 8 lbs! Allie and Kyla (who looks like she has been fishing all morning) kept daring each other to touch the eyeballs. It was quite comical. And we commented that the fish was nearly the size of McKay!

Allie's playlist

About a month ago, I kept finding Allie at the computer watching music videos on YouTube. Seriously, what am I going to do with this girl? After password protecting the computer and talking to her about how I didn't like her doing that (to which she told me, " I don't care about the videos, I just want to listen to the music"), I set her up with her own Playlist. And while she doesn't have complete control over what songs she can add, she (and consequently the other kids) has really put a lot of time into compiling her playlist. Here's what she listens to:

Bad Romance (Lady Gaga)

When Will my Life Begin? (Tangled)

The Edge of Glory (Gaga)

Dynamite (Taio Cruz)
I See the Light (Tangled)

Baby (Justin Beiber)

Firework (Katy Perry)

Hit me With Your Best Shot (Pat Benatar)

Baby One More Time (Britney Spears)

Before He Cheats

Jesus Take the Wheel (Carrie Underwood)

I'll Make a Man Out of You (Mulan)

Don't Stop Believin (Journey)

Hair (Gaga)

Man in the Mirror (Michael Jackson)

Never Say Never (Beibs)

California Gurls (Katy Perry)

Black or White (MJ)
Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)

Halo/Walkin on Sunshine (Glee)

Last Friday Night (Katy Perry)

I Won't Say I'm in Love (Hercules)

Barbie Girl (Aqua)

Alone (Heart)

You're the One That I Want (Grease)

Lucky 4 You (SheDaisy)

Love Story

Picture to Burn

Our Song

Haunted

Shoulda said No (Taylor Swift)

The Circle of Life

Can't Wait to be King (Elton John)

Phantom of the Opera

Axel F

Written in the Stars (Tinie Tempah)

Viva la Vida (Coldplay)

Paparazzi (Gaga)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper)

At the Beginning (Anastasia)

Poker Face (Gaga)

The Boys are Back (High School Musical 3)

Single Ladies (Beyonce)

Hot and Cold (Katy Perry)

Hot and Cold (The Chipettes)

No Air (Jordin Sparks)

The Climb (Miley Cyrus)

On the Floor (J-Lo)

Price Tag (Jessie J)

Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn)

You Spin me Round (the Chipmunks)

True Colors (Cyndi Lauper)

Your Love is my Drug (Ke$ha)

My Life would Suck without You

Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson)

Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis)

Because of You (Kelly Clarkson)

Favorite Girl (Justin Beibs)

Fall for You (Secondhand Serenade)

Fix You (Coldplay)

Electric Chapel (Gaga)

Landslide (Dixie Chicks)

Hotel California (Eagles)

The Final Countdown (Europe)

Shake it Up (Selena Gomez)

You are the Music in Me (HSM2)

No One (Alicia Keys)

Set Fire to the Rain (Adele)

The Middle (Jimmy Eat World)

Telephone (Beyonce and Gaga)
Tonight Tonight (Hot Chelle Rae)

Born This Way (Gaga)

Watch Me (from Shake it Up)

You and I (gaga)

Once Upon a December

Phineas and Ferb theme song

A Whole New World

Almost There

A Dream is a Wish (Disney)

Blue (da ba dee) Eiffel 65

Who Says (Selena Gomez)

Party in the USA (Miley)

and a bunch of songs from Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2.

Quite the list. And my input was fairly minimal. She wanted Teenage Dream. I said absolutely not. I let her have Born this Way, but we had a lengthy discussion about how I don't agree with everything the song is about. We talked about how you should never use "I was born this way" as an excuse. Just because you think you weren't born with musical talents or math abilities doesn't mean you shouldn't succeed anyway. We also had to have a talk about how Lady Gaga is not a person we want to look up to and emulate (she does love her Gaga), but we can appreciate how catchy her songs are.

In some ways, this goes against my better judgment, letting her be involved in popular music. But I think it's better that we have open communication about what the songs are about (as much as she is able to understand) than shielding her from them all. At least this way I still have control over what it is she is listening to.

Condo Vid

You can see the condo here. The hot tub was on the second deck on the other side of the condo. I wish we had a clip of it. It basically filled the entire (small) second deck.

Also, I must mention the steam shower in the bathroom in the hall. That was heaven for me. I would turn it on to about 95 and sit and breathe in the warm air. It was so refreshing!

The kids are begging to go back. I don't even want to know how much it would have cost us if we had to pay for it. So we tell them to just be grateful we got to go once!

Stay-Cation

The week after the 24th of July, we had our annual family trip. This year, we knew we wouldn't be able to do anything too ambitious because of the two little boys.

Jeff had done a trade for a condo in Park City and we decided to stay there for 4 days and have a stay-cation instead. Unfortunately, we didn't take very many pictures (but did get a lot of video) of the trip.

We headed up Sunday after church and the kids were THRILLED to find they had a tv and bunkbeds in their room. They pretty much had a Disney free-for-all every night we were there. The other exciting feature was the gigantic hot tub on the smaller of the two wrap around decks. Seriously, we could have fit 10 adults in there with plenty of room to spare. The kids thought it was a small pool and loved taking a dip every night (up to two hours at a time). It felt especially like a pool because it had a hard time staying heated. 98 degrees was warm the first night, but the second night it was down to 93. Just not hot enough for me. But perfect for the kids and we didn't have to worry about them overheating.

Monday morning we spent in Park City at Olympic Park (where the ski jumping and aerial events were held in the 2002 Olympics). We road the Alpine slide and zip line and pretended we were at Disneyland. It was a lot of fun and the weather was absolutely beautiful! We also did some school clothes shopping at the outlets in the afternoon, which was an adventure with all of us, but we came home with quite a load. We cooked dinner when we got back to the condo and spent an enjoyable evening hot tubbing and hanging out.

Tuesday morning we got stuck in a convoy of cars leaving Park City. Several cops and cars with darkened windows drove slowly down one of the main streets, and Jeff commented that it must be the President of the United States or something. Close. It was actually Michelle Obama in town for a fundraiser and we were stuck right behind her. Eventually, we made it to SLC and Hogle Zoo. After living in Columbus and Jacksonville, which both have really nice zoos, Hogle Zoo isn't exactly impressive. It was quite smelly, and Allie's irrational, crippling fear of spiders made it hard for any of us to REALLY enjoy it. The bird show was super fun, though, and it was all worth it to see Carter's excitement when he saw the animals. Tuesday night was more of the same--dinner, "swimming," and sending the kids to their room to watch tv when we couldn't take the noise anymore.

We only had room to take one pack n play (for Carter), so McKay was sleeping in bed with Jeff and me. That lasted part of one night, and Jeff was worried about rolling over on him, so he went and slept in the kids' room (not only did they have bunkbeds, but they also had a double bed besides). The sleeping was hard. McKay had nowhere to really nap (and we were on the go a lot), and I had to hold him like a newborn while he slept. That was definitely the biggest challenge of the entire trip. Carter held up amazingly well, considering he didn't get nearly as many naps as he usually does, and was happier than he has been in a long time. I hope that means he's growing out of his extreme orneriness. That would be nice.

Wednesday, Jeff's parents came up and met us for another day in PC. We went to a fun farmer's market at the Canyons ski resort and then took a gondola to the top of the mountain, where it must have been 70-75 degrees. SO nice. We did a little hike and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and even found a patch of unmelted snow.

Proof that we were all there.

Including McKay, who enjoyed nature by snoozing in his grandma's arms.

The kids loved this moose that was there at the top.

All except Carter, that is, who wouldn't let go of his grandpa.

You can see the gondola in the background.

That night we had a yummy bbq and then--you guessed it--let the kids "swim" and watch tv. I really think they were in heaven the whole time. Jeff commented that it was a kid's dream vacation. We all really enjoyed ourselves, though, and it's been really hard getting back into our real lives here. The kids have especially felt lost without their constant tv time at night. But all good things must end sometime. And that cliche is all too true.

18 months

It seems like Carter has really gone through a burst of development lately, and is really at a fun age right now. When he's happy, which, unfortunately, isn't often enough. But let's focus on the positive here. He's a fun, adorable little boy (who hates nursery).

He has finally started talking and communicating much better. For recording purposes: he says mama, daddy, day-day (Damon), allie, bubba (his term for McKay) (no Kyla unfortunately for her), hi, bye-bye, cheese, poopoo, all done, drink, ball, yeah, uh-uh, uh-oh, shoe, night-night, bath, eyes, soft, hot, hat, teeth

He insists on feeding himself, which is always EXTREMELY messy. Most of the time, though, I let him because I just have too many other people to take care of.



He still LOVES food and will eat just about anything I serve him. He's not crazy about raw vegetables and will usually refuse those, but he is not picky about meals at all. Recently we have found that he loves cherry tomatoes. Good thing we have a plant growing in our garden with dozens of them. That might keep him entertained for a few minutes. One day he was snacking on a lemon, rind and all, and he gave me this smile when I asked for a picture.

Like Damon at this age, Carter loves balls of any type. He has spent a considerable amount of time finding a ball, climbing the stairs to the top, and dropping it over the railing below. He also loves baby dolls, so that's a good balance. He loves animals, especially dogs, and gets so excited to see them. He about lost his mind watching the monkeys at the zoo last week. It was worth enduring the smells to see him so excited.

He needs a lot of sleep (probably because he's such a whiny child). He would take two naps (two hours each) most days if I wanted. He only gets his "night-night" (frog and binky) when he's in bed, so he still doesn't really fight me about going to sleep.

In order of preference in our family, I would say he likes 1. me 2. Jeff 3. McKay 4. Damon 5. Allie and a very distant 6. Kyla. He doesn't like her to push the stroller, sit on the couch by us or interfere with his time with me in any way. He loves his bubba and is constantly kissing him and reminding himself to be "soft" with him.

He is learning to run and it's my favorite thing ever. He swings his right arm only as his little feet slap the floor. He also loves to climb on the coffee table and "jump" to the couch. One day he forgot where he was and jumped from the step stool onto the kitchen floor. Ouch. I don't think he'll do that again!

He likes books but still has a very short attention span. He recently started noticing the tv, which is more than he ever had before, but has yet to watch more than 30 seconds continuously. Except for that one time we were watching Wipeout and he was getting sad for the contestants who kept falling. His eyes were glued to the screen and we couldn't stop laughing.

He likes going for rides in the car and will only fall asleep in the car when he's really tired. He LOVES being outside and is constantly getting balls out of the garage and "jumping" on the trampoline. He also loves getting dirty, but he hates the bath/shower/swimming pool. I think it stems from a bad experience with spray sunblock (and his least favorite person, Kyla), and we had to flush his eyes with water. After that, he wouldn't go near the water of his own accord for weeks. It's starting to get better, and he even sat in the shallow end of Chris' pool by himself the last time we were there.

He's incredibly sweet and loving and I can't get enough of his hugs and kisses. I'm really just in love with him right now and wish that he were his happy, adorable self a little more often.

This picture just made me laugh.