Willow Park

Last week, Floyd was gone so the kids and I went to Cache Valley for a couple of days. We went with my mom and my sis and her kids to Willow Park. I didn't take any pictures of the animals, just the cute kids having fun together. Cole was super excited to be there and each time he came to a new animal he would say, "Grandma, come quick! You have to see." I'll admit that sometimes I think Willow Park is a little lame as far as animals go (how many different types of ducks can there possibly be?), so it was cute to see how happy a simple trip to the zoo made him.


The girls - Annie and Savannah


Cole, Josh, and Savannah on the fence - Annie and Landon below (sorry about the shadows - I could use a photo class)

new neighbors

We've had a duck family move into the neighborhood. I'm not sure exactly where they live, but I do know that every afternoon or evening, they will stop by for a visit. The kids love it. Cole is becoming quite a bread-thrower (probably not the greatest idea to let him feed them bread every day, but he ends up eating most of it anyway). Annie has added the word "duck" (or "duh" - there's not much of a "ck" on it) to her small-but-growing vocabulary.

three of a kind

Here's a little quiz - what do the following three pictures have in common?





If you guessed that they are all scavengers, you're right! I just don't know what to do about Annie. She puts everything in her mouth, which babies should do. I once heard a friend (not too close of a friend, more of an acquaintance) talking about how her children "never put anything in their mouth." She was pretty rude about it and it was all I could do to hold my tongue and not go off about how stupid her children must be since this is the way babies learn. But I digress.

The trouble is, Annie will eat anything. Really yucky stuff. Dirt, rocks, bark, day-old macaroni, squished peas, dried-out rice...basically anything that is microscopic and I don't find in time to get away from her. I promise I sweep my floor at least once a day, but somehow she still manages to find the most random things. I can hardly take her outside because she stuffs her mouth full of dirt so quickly. FYI, her mouth-full-of-dirt smile is very charming. It's usually Cole who catches her - he gets a kick out of it and loves, LOVES, to take things away from her while laughing and saying, "no, no Anners, we don't eat that." I think it's become a fun game for both of them, so I'm afraid it won't be ending anytime soon.

fishing trip

On Saturday, we went with some of Floyd's family on a little fishing trip. I usually use fishing trips as an opportunity to work on my dissertation without interruptions, but decided to go along this time. We had a great time. It was Annie's first time on a boat and she did great, although she wasn't too fond of her life jacket. Cole was the best fisherman on the boat - he's getting quite good at reeling them in.


About to land a big one...


Someday, maybe he'll give us a real smile. For the past year, this is the one we've been enjoying.


Yes, that is a worm Annie is grabbing. She was fascinated by them.

Faith and Works

President Hinckley taught us to pray like everything depended on Heavenly Father and then get off your knees and get to work like everything depended on you. That is how I define faith and works. I guess Cole was listening somewhere along the line. The other day, we found a cricket in the garage. Since you don't see crickets too often, I called Cole over to show him. He was pretty excited and packed it around for awhile. He loved his little cricket friend, but somehow Mr. Cricket's leg got broken. Cole set him down and noticed he wasn't moving much. He was pretty bummed and kept asking if he was going to die. I tried to reassure him the cricket was fine, even though I think it died a pretty quick death. That night in his prayer, he asked Heavenly Father to bless the cricket to be okay. So sweet and thoughtful. The next day, he remembered his cricket and went out to check. It wasn't looking so good, so he went inside and brought out a little medicine cup full of water and set it by the cricket. He then asked what kind of food crickets like so we could feed it. He was doing everything he could think of to help the little guy (or girl, I did not check and do not know how to check on a cricket). Sadly, the cricket did not make it, but I was reminded that faith requires a little effort on our part. Thanks for the reminder, Coley.

Little Monkey

Annie is just about to take off walking. Right now, she's in climbing mode and manages to get everywhere she wants (wherever Cole happens to be) and into everything (whatever Cole happens to have). She is lots of fun. Here are a few pictures of the places we have found her in or stuff we have found her with lately:



We have a lot of stairs in our house and Annie could spend the whole day climbing up and down them if we would let her.


She absolutely HATES getting her diaper changed, but apparently playing in them is lots of fun.


About to take off up the stairs.


She loves the fridge. Sometimes when I make dinner, I just open it up and let her play. Is that bad? I made sure to put the eggs and anything harmful on higher shelves, so aside from being a waste of energy, I don't think it's such a bad idea.


The dishwasher is another favorite spot. She particularly likes pulling the spatulas out and playing with them.

Her current favorite is the toilet. Gross. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that it's time for some of those obnoxious toilet locks!

endorphins

Oh how I love endorphins! Floyd and Cole were going fishing today, and I needed to go on a long run. I didn't feel like pushing Annie in the stroller for 12 miles, so I dragged myself out of bed for an early run. And it was so worth it. I love mornings, but I rarely take the chance to enjoy them. I ran in the foothills and watched the sun make it's way up over the mountains - such a great way to start the day. It really set me up for a good day.

There was one bad part - Floyd took my Ipod to work and downloaded a bunch of the music from his computer for me. It was really sweet - he has pretty good taste in music. Except for one thing - he likes Michael Buble, which I totally don't understand. Which of Floyd's musical favorites doesn't belong - the Eagles, Neil Young, Van Morrison...or Michael Buble? I do not like Michael Buble. He makes me want to pull a Van Gogh, actually a double Van Gogh so I can't hear him at all. And even if you like Michael Buble, his music is just not meant for running. Thank goodness for the skip feature.

On another note...I was tagged...about movies...(as a preface, I'm not much of a movie person)...

1. The total number of movies I own:
75, give or take a few. That's how many fit in the drawer of our entertainment center, so when we get new ones, I usually get rid of an old one we never watch (but NEVER one of Floyd's).

2. The last movie I bought:
The Land Before Time. I'm not sure which one, but between my mom and me, I think we own them all. The last movie I bought that I enjoy was The Office season 3.

3. The last movie I saw:

The Lion King, last night for movie and popcorn night. The last one I saw in a theater isn't much more exciting - Alvin and the Chipmunks. So sad.

4. Five movies that mean something to me:

1) Meet Me in St. Louis. I watch it every Christmas, and always wanted a dress just like Esther's.

2) Dumb and Dumber. Enough said.

3) BYU vs. Miami football game 1990. Not really a movie, but I have the video so it counts, right? I was at this game - for those of you who don't know, I was a crazy BYU fan as a kid. My dad, his buddy from work, and me, went to the game together and sat on the front row. Miami was ranked number 1, but BYU won 28-21. Such a happy memory for me. You can even see me cheering when BYU scores a touchdown (wearing awesome flourescent green shorts). Thanks again, Dad, that was so much fun.

4) Remember the Titans. I love a good sports film, this one is one of my favorites. I especially love the soundtrack from this show.

5) Home movies - of my kids, of me when I was a kid, and of me and my roomates in college. They are so much fun to watch.

And now, I'll tag...Kimberley, Heidi, and Lindsay.