Visiting Grandma

For FHE last week we went to visit Grandma Roberts.  It has been a long time since we visited.  We sure do miss having her live close to us and seeing her on a regular basis, but we know she is better taken care of and happy where she's at now.  

The last two times we've visited, we've found her in the foyer with a group of her friends just visiting.  These ladies love to gush over the children and how sweet and adorable they are.  However, there is one lady there who seems a little more cantankerous ;)  Last time we were there, she asked Wyatt what his name was and when he told her, she said, "Oh, that's a horrible name.  You should tell your parents to take it back!"

This time, after some of the ladies had been commenting on how sweet the kids were, this same lady said, "Well, I wouldn't give a nickle for the whole lot of them!"

HA!  I wonder if I will be one of the sweet old ladies or more on the cantankerous side in my old age.  I'm sure Greg has an opinion on this, but I won't ask ;)

A Summer of 4-H projects

Lydia has been a busy girl this summer with all her 4-H projects.  She has been raising pigs to show and sell at the fair, a heifer to show, baking with some of her friends in a club, and working on an individual sewing project that she's going to enter.  She loves doing all these things and has really stepped up and taken great care and responsibility of her animals.  She checks on her pigs several times a day and her heifer follows her like a little puppy dog.  The fair will be in two weeks and I think she's ready.  All these projects means 4 record books to fill out, which means 4 stories to write.  She also has had to give 4 demonstrations. She definitely has worked hard!

getting her pigs out to walk them

leading her heifer (in flip flops...yikes!)

For her heifer demonstration she showed how to fill out a Certificate of Registration for her heifer.  Our main operation is focused on production dairy, but we also have a lot of registered cattle.  Greg has been teaching Lydia about these cows and explaining their genomics and all that is involved with them.  She is really enjoying learning about this aspect of dairy farming.  She says when she grows up she wants to be involved with the registered cattle and she hopes she can pick good genomics as well as her dad! ;)

I've even been told that Lydia loves to discuss cows with her friends.  The other day on the way to gymnastics she was telling them all about their reproductive systems and how we pick certain bulls to breed to certain cows.  Brittany (the mom driving the girls to gymnastics) said that she was even asking them true or false questions about cows.  One of the questions was:  "True or False, cows produce more milk when listening to classical music?"  and I'm sure after getting blank, uninterested stares from her friends, she said "It's false and it's a good thing cause our cows only listen to Mexican music."

Oh my, I love this girl!  Probably because she is SO her father's daughter!

Baseball - June to July 2013

Wyatt loved playing pitching machine baseball this year.  He had a great coach who was very dedicated to teaching the kids how to play and to making sure they had nice long practices...which he loved...me, not so much ;)

He really liked playing first base.  He is a hustler and his #1 goal was to see how many people he could get out each game.

The coach really pumped him up at the practices and let him know what a great job he was doing.  So much so, that his head may have swelled a couple sizes bigger than it already was.  But once again, Greg reminded me that it's a good thing to have a lot of confidence at this age.  I just have to remind Wyatt not to TELL everyone how amazing he is ;)

4th of July Fun

I LOVE the 4th of July! 

 This year we celebrated with our ward breakfast and then an evening of fun at the Barclays.  The kids even did a bike parade this year which was a lot of fun to watch.

Amy insisted on riding Dallin's tricycle instead of her bike.  She was very proud of her flags sticking out of the handlebars.

Lydia loves her new bike and had a great time decorating it

Wyatt did not want to participate in the parade.  He has never had the courage to take the training wheels off his bike (even though he was riding it without them ever touching the ground) and he was too embarrassed to be riding with all his friends and training wheels.  We told him it was probably time to take them off and give it a try or else he would miss out on all the fun.  He spent the entire afternoon practicing at home and by that evening, he was riding like a pro....well, a little wobbly, but still a huge milestone for him!  I was proud of him for being so persistent. 

Kim, Me, and Rachael

Kim and family moved the next morning to Texas.  She has been my running buddy for the last several years and they were are #1 game night friends.  We miss them.  A lot!  I think it's time to plan a trip to Texas.

It was very hard to say goodbye to them that night.

We attempted fireworks, but a storm hit and we had to put a stop to them.

Poor Dal did not feel well that evening.  He already had an ear infection but that day he wouldn't eat anything and had sores on his tongue.  He was miserable (and was making the rest of us miserable).  We even worried that he might have hand foot and mouth disease (which we've never had and I was not excited about).  By Friday night he still hadn't eaten anything and I couldn't even get him to take his antibiotic (for the ear infection).  He missed it again Saturday morning and by Saturday afternoon he was a whole new kid!  Sores gone, appetite back, and feeling great.  So, we found out the hard way that he's allergic to amoxicillan.  But so much better than Hand foot and mouth!

Fun with Cousins - July 2013

Aunt Katie and kids, Aunt Joelle, and Grandma Norma met up with us to go swimming and to Register Rock for a picnic.  We love spending time with cousins!

Cameron and Wyatt 

(can you believe these two are the same age?!  Cameron is actually 3 months younger!)

Good Friends

We managed to get in a swim day and picnic with the Browns and the Crumps before the Browns moved to Texas.  Boy do we miss them!!!

A Summer of Swimming

We've spent a lot of time swimming this summer.  It's been a great way to beat the heat and the kids love it. I don't necessarily LOVE squeezing my 3rd trimester pregnant body into a swim suit, but I admit it is nice to be able to relax in the water.  

It's especially fun when the pool is full of friends!

Dallin does not leave this step.  Ever.  Not unless I force him out into the pool and then he has a death grip on me the entire time.  It would be nice if he was a little more brave, but I'm actually relieved that I haven't had to spend a summer chasing him down or worrying about him.  He and I are very content to just sit on the steps and relax!

A Summer of Weeding!

We've had a hard time keeping up with the weeds around our place this year.  We were late spraying (not a good thing around here) and I just haven't been able to physically weed everything that needs weeding.  Our poor garden spot has been the worse.  We didn't plant anything this year (harvesting a garden and having a newborn wasn't something I wanted to attempt) but we did successfully grow a nice garden patch of weeds!  Unfortunately, no one around here has been too excited about taking care of all those weeds (and I don't blame any of them).  So, it was time to do some major bribing....

Legos!

That one simple word kicked my oldest boy into gear and he spent a day (along with Dallin's "help") weeding the garden spot.  He worked long and hard and by the end of the day it was mostly weed free.

 (later in the day...I never made it out to take a finished picture, but trust me, he did a great job!)

He was quite proud of his accomplishment and very happy about the legos he earned for his hard work.  He was also very disgusted when about two weeks later, the garden was full of weeds again!  Since then, he and Lydia have spent most mornings the last two weeks getting up early (to beat the heat) and weeding all the different areas that needed weeding (keep in mind we have a VERY large yard with lots of areas to weed).  They have both worked hard and were so excited when they finally each earned a lego set for all their hard work.  Normally, I wouldn't feel the need to bribe my children for doing chores.  However, weeding really has been one of those chores that just wasn't getting done and was WELL WORTH doing a little bribery for!  Now hopefully my morning spent spraying the small stuff and preening will help keep things at bay for a little while.  If not, well, there's lots more legos on their wish lists.

Bass Lake - June 2013

 Grandpa Alan fishing with the boys

Greg and Amy

Building Sand Castles

Greg's award:  2013 Junior Breeder of the Year

Dallin's Birthday - June 2013

 Dallin's birthday is exactly a week after Amy's birthday and it's a good thing he is only three so he doesn't know what a slacker his mother was for his big day.  Amy's party definitely drained all the creativity and energy out of me so poor Dal had a pretty low key day.  We did manage to pick-up some balloons that afternoon and to him, it was better than any party I could have planned.  I love three year olds!

Highlight of the day!

Opening presents.

That night as we were getting ready for bed, Wyatt asked why we didn't have a cake for Dallin....see, super horrible mother!  I did make up for it the next day by making donuts and we made sure to sing "Happy Birthday" then...

...but without a candle...I really am a slacker!

Facts about Dallin on his 3rd Birthday (The good and the bad):

-He loves Mickey Mouse and Dora....anything to do with either of these things is a win in his book.

-He also loves to play "Biskit Ball" with Wyatt.  Luckily Wyatt is an awesome big brother that will indulge him and play for a LONG time.

-He loves going to the dairy with Lydia to see the calves.  And she is a very patient sister to take him often.

-He's a pro at playing Temple Run on the Ipad (however I probably shouldn't admit that...it means he plays it too often).  Seriously though, he's better than anyone else in our family.  And every time he makes a mistake when playing any game, he says "Aww DANG!"

-He is NOT a social butterfly.  He stays nice and close to mom when around other people.  In other words...HUGE mamma's boy!  (He has a big surprise coming when baby brother arrives)

-He was awesome at catching on to potty training...easiest one of my kids by far....for about a month.  Now it's not cool anymore and he wants nothing to do with the toilet.  Not so awesome.

-He whines.  A LOT.  And a common phrase around here is "MOM, Where are you?"  This is exactly how Wyatt was at age three and there are days I think I will go crazy.  But I have to remind myself that he isn't mischievous...so it's a trade off.  I'm not sure which is worse though ;)

He really is a mamma's boy and currently my youngest and still my baby for a few more weeks.  It's funny how eager you are for your first child to grow up so fast, but by the fourth you want them to stay a baby for as long as possible.  I should probably be preparing him a little more for when he loses his baby status in the family, but I might as well let him enjoy it til it happens.  

I love my little Dal Pal!