When in Rome

Yesterday we had the 'opportunity' to attend BYU's first football game of the season. Now, if you know me you know that I hate sports, especially football (since I still don't understand all of the random rules)! If you know Matt, you know that I married the biggest sports fanatic of all time (honestly), whose favorite sports happen to be baseball and football . Well, we got tickets to the game and a babysitter, so even though sports were involved, it was 6 hours (including drive time :) out of the house with friends with NO kids! Sports or not, I'll take it! Now comes the part where I will admit that I ACTUALLY own a BYU shirt (it hides in the very back of my closet), and I save it for the once a year that I actually go to a game. When Janette and Brad picked us up for the game I thought Janette would die laughing at me and my Cougar Spirit. All I can say is when in Rome, do as the Romans! The happy couple :)If you have ever attended BYU, been on the BYU campus, or spent more than 30 seconds anywhere in Provo, you know that there are young couples dating and doing the 'lovey-dovey' new relationship thing everywhere you look. So, we thought we would try to fit in :)Unfortunately, it was probably painfully obvious that we were an 'old' married couple with kiddos at home who haven't been out in public in awhile :)The four of us enjoying our day of freedom! Notice that we are the cheesy 'BYU Football Pride' couple on the right - apparently Brad and Janette are too cool to sport their BYU apparel (come on Janette, don't tell me you don't own a BYU shirt, everyone in Utah has to own at least one!). We had SO much fun together, it was really refreshing to spend a day together, just 'grown-ups'. By the end of the day, though, I will admit that I missed my kiddos! They would NOT have enjoyed the slow game in the crowded stadium on a HOT August afternoon, so I was glad that they were having fun at home, but I really do miss them when they aren't with me! Thanks Brad and Janette for putting up with us and humoring our attempt at a date! Oh yeah, and thanks to Janette for FINALLY explaining what the heck a 'down' is, as well as the basics of football! It's a little less boring to watch when I kind-of know what is going on :) We'll have to do it again sometime!

PS - BYU did win! Go Cougars :) haha!

And now, without further ado, I give you... the Playroom!

First of all, I have to say, pictures don't do it justice :). I will admit I am actually happy with how it turned out (that's rare, since I am a perfectionist!), and since this project has been my 'baby' from the beginning, I will also admit that I am quite proud of it. :) The day that we chose our floor plan (June 2005), I went home and drew up the 'plans' for the someday finished basement. In November we decided to finish the basement, we had hoped to be completely done by Christmas. It is now August, but I can now say that the Playroom is officially done! I have had people comment 'well, it helps that her husband does this for a living,' and I couldn't agree more! Matt was able to take my design, add to it, and make it real. However, ultimately it doesn't hurt that I have crazy ideas and when I get something in my head, NO ONE can convince me that I can't do it (unfortunately for Matt)! Sorry for the mass photos, but I can't really explain it in words, pictures do it better!

In case you can't read it, the quote says "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world" - Albert Einstein
This was kind of my theme for this project, I wanted a place for my kids to play, imagine, and create, especially during the winter when it's too cold to go outside. Also, I intend to run a preschool someday (as in someday when all of my kids are in school), so this playroom was planned to accommodate that, as well.

The front of the playhouse - and yes, if you have been in the playroom before, this IS a new slide. We went through 3 slides, but this one is here to stay. It holds up to 350 lbs, is SOLID, and it's green (it matches better than the blue one that we had :)

The 'tree' - this was Matt's baby. When I gave him the plans that I had created, he insisted that we needed a climbing wall somewhere. That SOOO did not go with the theme. However, after several ideas, he came up with the idea of a tree, and of course it had to include monkey bars across the ceiling. I will admit that it turned out pretty cool - I was skeptical at first.The inside of the lower floor on the playhouse - the kitchen and tea table (also notice the new safety rail on the right side of the stepladder - we have had some little ones struggle with the stairs, so this has helped :)More of the inside main floor - you can't read it in the picture, but all of the colored circles are labeled with the name of the color - I was going for subliminal exposure to reading :)The second floor of the playhouse - or as McKinley likes to call it 'the dolly's room'The 'book nook' on the upper floor of the playhouse. I painted frames on the walls and let the kids paint inside of them - they thought I was the coolest mom in the world (for the day). We had so much fun with it!

The Stage (with working stage curtains, dress-up 'closet,' full-length mirror, and spotlight - totally tap-dance ready!) and the grocery store (you can't see it, but there is a checkout stand with a little stool and of course shelves for the food inside)The glass door was an afterthought - since the playroom is right next to the theater, we wanted to be able to close the door, but still see what was going on inside, so that was our solution. The quote on the wall inside reads "We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing". That applies to Matt and I, we decided through the course of this project that we are still little kids, we were way more excited about this whole idea than our kids were!Well, our kids love every minute in the playroom! We really enjoyed having an out-of-the-box project (there is not a store that sells playhouse-sized railings, etc, so we had to improvise every step of the way). I am so happy to have a finished product, but secretly a little sad to be done, I want to do another one! Hope you enjoyed the playroom tour!

Come play with us anytime! Our doors are always open!

PS - I am really not that great of an artist, I only did the stenciling and circles, the murals and tree were painted by a hired artist - I WISH I could do that!

Project general contracted and framed by Beehive State Builders, LLC :)

Preschool Days

Today was McKinley's first day of 'Preschool'! She has been SOOO excited to go to 'school'! We (after much debate) decided to do the neighborhood Preschool Pals. There are seven 3-year-olds in our group. We each take a week to teach on a rotating schedule (so I only teach once every 7 weeks :). Class is on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-3. Today was our turn - of course I would volunteer for the first day :). All morning McKinley kept asking when we were going to GO to Preschool. I had to explain several times that Preschool was going to be at our house today, but next week we will go somewhere else. I'm not sure that made sense to her, I guess it is kind of confusing. Well, the first day was great! We have a fun group of kids, and all of them played REALLY well together (I didn't expect that from the first day!). This will be so much fun! Here are some photos from McKinley's first day:

Well, I couldn't get a 'normal' pose, but this is soooo McKinley, it works :)

On a side note: Ever since the 'hair-cutting incident' which we don't talk about, all scissors in our house have been under lock and key - this includes even nail trimmers! Well, part of the requirements for Preschool supplies was a pair of safety scissors. McKinley must have been seriously scissor-deprived, she could not keep her hands off of her scissors! She trimmed her art project, her 'what we did today' note, anything paper on the table she had to trim. Oh well, at least it was just paper. Finally, she put her scissors away and went to play with her friends during playtime. After everyone left she pulled them out again. I gave her some construction paper to cut, then went into the other room for a minute. McKinley walked in a few minutes later, and as soon as I saw her I knew. She had 'trimmed' her hair - again! Did she not learn the first time? Apparently not. Luckily, I am getting my hair done tonight and I had already scheduled a trim for McKinley while my color processes. I guess that works. Well, that was officially McKinley's first day of Preschool. Aside from the hair-cut, a GREAT day!

McKinley's new hair cut - thanks Alona for fixing it (again!) - it looks adorable! When I told McKinley we would have to cut her hair to fix where she had trimmed it herself she burst into tears and said "I don't want to look like a boy!" I promised her she wouldn't look like a boy, and of course Alona worked miracles and blended everything together to look good as new!

Any yes, McKinley is dressed as a fairy, that's what she wanted to wear to get her hair cut. I don't even try to define 'normal' anymore, I just love that she is who she is!

THIS is what my life has come to...

I am a stay-at-home mom who considers throwing on a relatively clean pair of jeans, t-shirt, and maybe some mascara 'getting dressed for the day.' I change diapers for a living. I obsess over nap-schedules, preschools, the latest Gymboree sale, and calorie-counting. I am terrible at calorie counting. But it didn't really hit me that I had officially become 'A MOM' (by that I mean my mother) until I began to consider my dream car. My current car is not very practical for kids, so I started toying with the idea of buying a new car. My dream car. After all, I will probably drive it until the end of eternity because I hate buying new cars. After weeks of weighing my options, the results are in. Yes, it is official, I have arrived in the world of suburban motherhood, I actually WANT a MINIVAN. Not just any minivan. The mother of all minivans. The Honda Odyssey. Soccer Mom, here I come. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I almost never say 'never' (because I usually live to regret it), but owning a minivan was on my list of things that I would never EVER EVER do, I would die first. But here I stand defeated. I just can't escape it, the Odyssey has everything! Great gas mileage (keep in mind this is compared to my full-size SUV), seats 7 (SEVEN!), amazingly smooth ride, built-in DVD player, automatically opening double sliding side-doors (and cargo hatch), rides low enough for my kids to climb in by themselves, roomy and accessible interior, heated front seats (okay, I would add that one, but who doesn't want a warm butt when it's 15 degrees outside???), back-up sensor, everything. The only feature that I may have to specially request is a limo-style sound barrier between the driver's seat (first class), and the noisy crowd in coach (aka 'the little people in the cheap seats'). How awesome would that be?!? If I could push a button and up would come a little window between me and the kids, I could actually enjoy a drive to the lake in peace (while all heck breaks loose in the back, of course). I will have to suggest it and see how far I get. Anyhow, I digress. Maybe a police-car-style cage so I can't be hit in the head by flying sippy cups and mysteriously airborne goldfish crackers? Again, back to the subject. So, in conclusion, I am right up there with the soccer-team hauling, PTA organizing, Tupperware-party hosting, cannery volunteering (okay I really should do that, it's on my list :), enrichment night coordinating MAD MOM IN A MINIVAN! And just so you know, I am (almost) okay with that. When you see me pull into my driveway in my sweet flashy Honda Odyssey (please try not to be jealous :), that's how you will know that I have finally accepted my identity, and my fate. I will proudly join the ranks of those whose title I am unworthy to bear. I am a mom. And minivan or not, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the whole entire world!

Summer Days Drifting Away...

Wednesday. Now TODAY, we are for SURE going to clean the house. The disaster has now multiplied due to the recent neglect, so cleaning is a must. There was really nothing that I had to do today. A couple of friends had invited us to go up Provo Canyon for a picnic, but I wasn't sure I would get moving in time to go. Well, I woke up at 6 am, ran 3 1/2 miles, showered, looked at the mess, and thought 'what the heck, summer's too short to waste it cleaning!' So, we packed up the blazer and headed up Provo Canyon for a picnic and a dip in the river. I apologize in advance for all of the photos on this post, but I never remember to bring my digital SLR. I foget how much I LOVE it! It takes WAY better photos than my little camera. I am not a photographer (obviously, the lighting could use some work :), but even I can get some decent shots with this baby. Enjoy!

Our little 'mom playdate' enjoying lunch and the gorgeous summer weather in the canyon

The kids were in a hurry to finish eating so they could play in the water!The kiddos playing in the Provo RiverNotice the dirty face - that is a sure sign of a fun day!Don't let the serious face fool you, he was having a blast! The favorite 'game' for the day was to throw shoes into the water and watch the moms jump up and chase them before they floated too far away. Fun for them, not so much for us. :)Kinley just being, well, Kinley!Mason was (obviously) not at all thrilled about being on this log in the middle of the river. The water was FREEZING (duh, mountain runoff - for some reason it still shocks me when I get in and the water is ICE COLD), but oh so refreshing!Well, I can't think of a better way to enjoy the end of summer! Unfortunately, we are officially out of milk, cereal, and any kind of produce, and the dishes are overflowing in the sink, so I think it is about time to get some real work done... Tomorrow. :) For now, we are just going to enjoy... TODAY!

Children's Discovery Gardens

Okay, so Monday was another 'play-day,' but Tuesday I had NO plans, for sure we were going to clean the house. That was, until Janette called to see if we wanted to go to the Children's Discovery Gardens to play. Of course we did! Who wants to clean? Let's go!

McKinley hanging out with Noah :)
Climbing on Noah's ark - notice the giant red 'do not climb on the ark' sign behind her. I think I was supposed to tell her to get down, not take a photo. :)
McKinley playing in the fountains - my kids LOVE this place!
Mason and Carson being cheesy for the camera - crazy 2-year-olds!

Duck, Duck, Goose?

Well, Sunday night as I contemplated the week ahead, I thought 'I really don't have anything to do this week, I think I'll stay home and get my house back together (it looks like a disaster after all of the playing we have been doing :)' Monday morning dawned and I decided to call Ashley to see if she wanted to play. We took our kids to feed the ducks at a park by her house. It was so much fun to see Ashley and Marley, and of course baby Ivy! The kids had a ball, and the ducks came out of it well-fed! Mason didn't quite get the concept of tearing the bread, he just hucked full slices into water at the ducks, then watched them tear it to pieces. What a silly goose! ;)

This was the ONLY photo of the day with all 3 kids looking at the camera!

Mason, Marley, and McKinley feeding the ducksWhat a beautiful view!

Over the River and Through the Woods...

to the Uinta's we go! We LOVE summer, but it has flown by way too fast! We haven't yet accomplished half of our list of must-do activities this summer! One thing on the list was to take the kids camping. So, we decided this weekend we were going camping. We loaded up the Blazer on Friday afternoon and headed out to the mountains with the Wells family and the Jorgensen family to enjoy an adventurous weekend. It was absolutely GORGEOUS! The photo above was the view as I entered the clearing through the trees, about 20 steps from our campsite. As we sat around the fire in front of our tents enjoying hot dogs (yes, hot dogs! I HATE hot dogs, but around a campfire for some reason they are totally acceptable!) and s'mores (also only acceptable around a campfire :), we all wondered why we don't do this more often. Our kids (and dog) were in heaven! Our answer came when we had to pack up and go home - although it really wasn't that bad, I would definitely go again! I didn't take a ton of pictures with my camera since it really doesn't capture the beauty of nature, and I forgot to bring my nice digital SLR (for some reason I NEVER remember to bring it!), so I took most of the really good pictures with Jake and Laura's awesome Nikon - I will post those when I get them from Laura. Here is just a glimpse of our fun weekend excursion:

Monty LOVED camping! He spent the whole trip jumping in lakes to catch sticks (and fish), trying to swim (typically boxers can't swim, their chests are too big. Matt almost had to jump in and save him when he jumped into too-deep water!), and sniffing every tree, bush, and rock he came across.

McKinley LOVES wildflowers! She had fun picking a few, but we did have to remind her that if she picked too many there wouldn't be any for the everyone else to look at.

McKinley and Mason ready for and adventure - and conjuring up some sort of trouble!

In the 7 years that I have known Matt, I have NEVER seen this vest! I had no idea that Matt was a 'fisherman!' Although he didn't catch anything (there wasn't much to be caught), it was quite entertaining for the kids (and me) to watch him fish. The lakes were beautiful!

The family around the campfire. I don't really know what Matt was doing, but this is the only family photo from the trip that I have for now. :) Everyone made fun of my fold-up camping 'end-table,' but it came in pretty handy for the kids to eat at!
Matt and Mason hiking up to Cliff Lake for a day of rock climbing
Ryan and London checking out Cliff Lake - could you imagine anything more amazing? The pictures just don't do it justice, it was incredible!
I think the altitude (10,000 feet above sea level) was getting to McKinley, she was acting a little crazy! Okay, that's not anything out of the ordinary!McKinley rock climbing with a little encouragement from Matt

It wouldn't be an 'M and M' outing without some sort of mishap. :) Jumper cables - check. First aid kits - check. Water, wool blankets, wool socks, insect repellant - check, check, check, and check. It was FREEZING once the sun went down up in the Uinta's. Luckily, I had brought the kids' snowcoats that I had bought at the end of last winter (they had worn them maybe two or three times before, I bought them a size big so that they would last an extra year, so they would easily fit through this winter and possibly the next). On Saturday we set out on our hike to the rock-climbing routes earlier in the morning, when it was still pretty cold. By the time we reached the top it was sunny and warm. We hung our coats on a tree at the bottom of the final ascent to the rock-climbing routes, then continued on. After a day of climbing we were all pretty tired, so we hiked back the same way we came and headed back to the campsite to pack up the tent and head home. We realized about an hour into the drive home that we had left the coats on the tree in the top of the hike (we all walked right by and didn't even notice 3 brightly colored coats on a tree branch). Too late to go back. Oooops, I guess we are buying new snowcoats again! On the way home we stopped with the Wells to top off our fun weekend with amazingly delicious shakes at Granny's in Heber. All-in-all, another AWESOME summer weekend! Thanks Wells and Jogensen families for making this weekend so much fun - and memorable! We definitely need to do this again!

Cheesy Grin

We love Mason, he is a riot! The other night I was grating cheese and left the block of cheese on the counter for a minute while I stirred something on the stove. When I turned around, this was what I found :) Mason just looked at me, grinned, and said 'cheese!' I just had to snap a photo for the blog, it was too cute to pass up! He had eaten several huge chunks of cheese from the block - that boy does love cheese!

The Terrible Twos are Terrific, Too!

My sweet little baby officially turned two today! We have been telling him for weeks that today he would be two. He woke up this morning and apparently decided that he was going to act like he was two. He walked into Kinley's room this morning and the first thing he said to her was "Kinley, you poo-poo-head." What?!?! I don't even know where he heard that, Nursery maybe? I can see him picking up other choice phrases from his mother, but 'poo-poo-head'? I don't think I have said that phrase since I was 5-years-old, if ever! I told him that wasn't nice to call his sister names. He looked at me and said "Mama poo-poo-head." Great. Unfortunately, it was so random and so funny coming from his sweet little lips that I couldn't help but think this was hillarious. I called Matt to tell him his son (he is always his son when he's in trouble) had learned a new word today. I put Mason on the phone and told him to tell Daddy 'hi'. Of course, he said "Daddy poo-poo-head." Okay, kind of funny still. So after laughing at him, I had to spend the rest of the day reminding Mason that it wasn't nice to call people names. :) For Mason's birthday we went to the aquarium with some friends, then a lovely lunch at Wendy's (toddler's are pretty easy to please). After naps and dinner, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Aimee, and several of Mason' neighborhood friends and their families came to share cake and ice cream with us in celebration of his special day. He is obsessed with bikes, so for his birthday we got him the smallest bike we could find (he will still have to grow into it a little, he is pretty small for his age). He also got a fun t-ball set from Grandma and Grandpa. Those were the favorite gifts of the day, the others were pretty much forgotten. :) It was a really fun day, but it is hard to believe how fast time flies. It was just yesterday that he was my teeny little bundle, now he is running around calling people poo-poo-heads. :) Well, he's a pretty fun little guy, so we'll enjoy this new phase, too! Here's to another fun year! Happy Birthday my sweet little boy!

Mason with McKinley, Dallin, and Fischer at the aquarium (it is so dark in there, this was the only picture that turned out, we didn't get any of Hannah, Julia, Max ( :)), or London, sorry!

McKinley helping Mason blow out the candles (since there are SOOO many!)

Mason enjoying his cake - considerably more civilized than last year!

Mason is his father's son all the way! All he wanted for his birthday was a bike and a helmet (which he calls a 'bike-race hat').

My terrific two-year-old all tuckered out!