Utah does it to you...

I was talking to a friend about one of my recent craft attempts and she said, "Yeah, Utah does it to you...you can't help but be crafty there." So, these are some of my recent attempts to live up to Utah standards.

I've had the stuff to make this frame since Christmas 2008 so I finally put it all together. I think all it needs is a picture of two screaming boys sitting on Santa's lap.
We made floor cushions for Max and Jack to use in San Francisco from this tutorial. Hopefully now this makes staying in our fancy house a little less stressful. (Also note that Jack carries around the extra green and orange piping as snakes.)
My mom made these ties for the boys (FAMILY PICTURES!). She thinks she's not crafty, but all evidence points to the contrary.
I know I'm a little late doing this skirt tutorial, but it really was so easy and so fun.
We had a little family baby shower for my cousin Stephanie. We were a little ambitious and made these baby bootie favors. Really, we had quite the assembly line going. But it was all worth it for the homemade buttermints that were inside.
We used more teamwork to finish this puff quilt for Steph. I was in charge of cutting and pinning. Those lines look pretty straight, right? :) (By the way, while we've been here Max and Jack were introduced to Wonder Pets. Now all we sing is, "What's going to work? TEAMWORK!" Love it.)
I gave Stephanie a little ABC's for Sunday book, and made one for us as well. Max especially loves it. I actually have an extra copy of all the pictures if someone wants them. Oh, it's kind of like I'm doing a giveaway. Leave a comment... :)
And I didn't make this book, but I had to share it. Remember how my aunt makes books about the kids? Well, she made this one for Baby Henry and sewed a zipper right into the paper that opened and had little pictures hidden in the pocket. I think it's so cute. She's really crafty.
We made these necklace charms for my mom's Young Women from a segment I saw on Studio 5. I really love Studio 5.
And last, but not least, my new bag. I'm so happy my mom stayed up with me until 1 am, every night, for a week so we could finish it without all our little helpers. It didn't hurt that "Whose Line Is It Anyway" is on that late. Am I the only one who thinks that show is so funny?

4 Generations

We see Great Myrtice around so often I always forget to take an official four generations picture. But today I remembered. Now Gus's set is complete. He is a lucky boy!

Grandma, Addi, Gus, Great Myrtice
August 2010

Great Grandpa Phil, Addi, Gus, Grandpa
April 2010

And here's my four generation picture. It's been hanging above the computer at my parents' house and I love looking at it. My Grandma Ada was one of a kind. But that's another story. I'm starting to realize how uncommon and special it is to have four generation pictures. And I feel so blessed to have known my Great Grandma until I was 16 years old. I hope Max, Jack, and Gus get to say the same.

My mom, Grandpa Max, Great Grandma Ada, and Baby Addi
April 1981

Slip-N-Slide Thank You's

Dear Matt Hill and Lincoln Broderick, thank you for giving Andy a slip-n-slide on his 8th birthday.
Dear Andy, thank you for not trashing your slip-n-slide.
Dear Mom, thank you for keeping Andy's slip-n-slide all these years and remembering it in the top of the garage.
Dear Dad, thank you for getting the slip-n-slide down from the top of the garage, setting it up, and being the official "water-sprayer" since the built in water sprayer wasn't working.
Dear Tony, thank you for showing Max and Jack how to first slip, then slide.
Dear Max and Jack, thank you for being the cutest boys ever!

SUP!

If you're not down with the lingo, SUP is stand up paddle boarding. And it just so happened the day that Rachel emailed all about SUP, the groupon for Salt Lake City was a paddle board rental. So, today I took my date Tony for an outing on the lake. It's been so nice this week, so of course today, of all days, was the windiest ever. EVER. We started out on river boards because they are a little more stable, but they are much heavier and harder to paddle (especially in the wind). Tony quickly advanced to a new board while I was busy paddling with all my might and still being blown back into the shore. But when it came down to it, I'd rather be running into the shore than tipping over. Finally when Tony told me I was paddling like a sissy (I thought I was doing good) and I really started paddling and moving, paddle boarding turned out to be really fun. I'm even planning on going again in AZ where 7-year old Ruby will probably kick my trash! :)

Thanksgiving Point

We've been trying to meet up with Gage and Janay to go to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point all summer. And since our time here in Utah is almost over we finally got around to it today! All of Utah must have wanted to meet us there too. Since it was $2 Tuesday, the place was jam packed. I am so happy Gage and Janay were with me because I'm pretty sure I would have lost at least one of my children without them. The dinosaurs were soooo big and were super fun to see, but both boy's favorite thing was playing in the sand. They have two different sand sections--one with fossils buried and the other with water running through it to show effects of erosion. The sand was another reason I'm glad I had Gage with me--I didn't get an ounce of sand on me!

Thanks for hanging out with us this summer Gage and Janay!

Grandma's China

Yesterday, after riding the trains, we drove up to visit Grandpa where I was presented with a very special gift--Grandma's china. I am in love with it. It is circled with pretty pink roses, which I think is why Grandma wanted me to have it--PINK! And to go along with this gift Grandpa told us about them getting the china. I'm pretty upset at myself for not videoing Grandpa tell this story, but maybe another visit? Until then, here is what I remember--After Grandma and Grandpa were married in the Logan temple, they dined on a chicken dinner at a relative's house, then took off on their honeymoon. They thought it would be fun to stay the night in Ogden at the Ben Lomond Hotel, but it was way out of their price range. So, instead they stayed at the Ogden Hotel for $2/night. After that they spent the next few days in Gunnison, Utah at Grandpa's brother's house. On their way back home, they stopped by the Smithfield Implement (where the motto is something like "We just received a truck load of whatever you're looking for.") and Grandma bought her beautiful china set for $29.95. Grandma had saved up money before she was married by working at a clothes cleaner/tailor 6 days a week and then later at JCPenney. She earned $10/week and was the sole provider for her parents and siblings(she bought them a $1,000 house and paid the $21/month mortgage) in addition to saving the extra money for this china. We think the original set had 8 place settings and since then she had added 6 more dinner plates and several salad and dessert plates. I feel truly honored to have these and I can't wait to use them.

We love spending the afternoon with Grandpa. We snacked on watermelon, made a whirligig from a button Max found in the backyard, watched Jack get Grandpa's cane "stuck" on the tether ball pole, and ate dinner at Kirt's. I have a fun Grandpa!

S&S Shortline

The first Saturday we were in Utah we tried to go to the S&S Shortline in Farmington for a train ride, but when we got there we found out they are only open on the first Saturday of each month. We couldn't go in July since we were going to be in Arizona, so we planned for the first Saturday in August. That seemed like so far away and now, I can't believe it's actually here. So, today we went for a fun train ride. They have two different trains--a small one and an even smaller one. Both rides were a little over ten minutes and the boys loved it.

The smaller train went all over the property including around and through the owner's front and back yards. How cool would it be to have this little train all around your house when you were little?!
Next we went on the larger train and Max wanted to sit in the front so, of course, Jack wanted to sit in the caboose. Brothers are so much fun.
Thanks for the great idea Grandma and Grandpa!

Lagoon! It's Where Fun Is!

Today was Stake Lagoon Day! Ahhh, I love Utah! :) I'm so glad my kids got to relive my Stake Lagoon Day glory days. I loved the little kiddie rides so much, I even cried the year I was too tall to ride them.

Max's favorite ride was the plane with guns, Jack's favorite was Dumbo (but I really think it was the dragon roller coaster or cars), and my favorite ride was the log flume. That stinker Max ducked under the front while we were going down, Jack had no idea what he was in for and started screaming, and all of us got soaking wet.
Baby Gus was allowed to go on two rides (besides his super fun stroller)--the train and the carousel. I think he liked them. Especially his first ever ride on a carousel.
We had so much fun and I never knew Grandpa, Grandma and Dawna were such thrill-seekers. Grandpa went on all the new "big" rides with me and I think he complained less than I did about his neck being jerked around, Grandma kept getting in trouble for climbing on benches to take pictures, and that rebel Dawna got in trouble for not putting on her seat belt while riding the carousel! I love Lagoon!

Meet Triceratops

Oh, you haven't met my second child, Triceratops? Well, here he is. Meet Triceratops. Don't even think of calling this little dinosaur Jack. He won't respond. Or maybe he'll just correct you, "My name is NOT Jack! It's Triceratops." He even introduced himself as Triceratops to his nursery leaders and to some friends when they came over to play. It really is so funny to see him respond to his new name like it was just any other name.

Triceratops usually crawls around the house because as he told me, triceratops walk on four legs, not two legs like T-Rex. Makes sense. Triceratops can also be found putting his food on the floor so that he can eat it straight with his mouth instead of using hands which a triceratops obviously does not have. And Triceratop's other favorite activity is bumping things with his horns of course! He especially likes bumping Blake and Max when they play dinosaurs. Also, while Blake was here there was a kicking incident so we were talking about things you could do if you were ever kicked. We asked Triceratops if he had any ideas and he said, "I would bump him with my horns!" In addition to a form of defense, horn bumping can also be used as recreation. For example, Tony has been lucky enough to also be dubbed a triceratops and the two of them play pass with the ball using nothing but their heads.

And speaking of other dinosaurs, Blake and Max are both T-Rexes (sometimes Max also goes by T-Rex), I am mostly a stegosaurus, Gus is just a baby, and Tony's friends are always asking Jack what kind of dinosaurs they are. You can tell which of Tony's friends Jack likes by what dinosaur he assigns.

I really, really love my Triceratops.

Deacon and Abi Visit

Deacon and Abi (my cousin's kids) are in town and today we all went to the zoo!

Best part of the trip is a toss up between the big misting fans--
And the elephant that sneezes on you--

But that Jack is a hard critic. He wasn't too impressed by either.