Happy Birthday, Kristian!

Kristian turned the big 3-0 while we were there so we had to celebrate! His requested birthday dinner? Hamburger Pie! YUCK! He has chosen that nasty stuff for every birthday I can remember. I used to think he did it just to annoy me, but I guess he must really like it if he is still requesting it after this many years. We also had banana splits and angel food cake. It was a fun party!

The Birthday boy.
Isaac enjoys the treats.
Lucas
Audrey
Chloe
Dylanie (check out her ear injury!)

Day at the Lake

On Friday we went down to Jordanelle Reservoir for a day on the lake. Here are all the older cousins on the boat with the grandparents and Aunt Amy.Lincoln loved to hang out in the shade on the shore with Grammie.
Lucas is such a cutie!!
Here is Chloe getting ready for her ride on the Sea-doo with Daddy. Right after I took this picture she yelled out, "Put that on the blog, Mommy!"

We had such a fun day at the lake. It was so windy though--at the very end of the day everyone else was out on the boat or the Sea-doos and my mom had taken some of the kids down to the shore to play. I was left with the two babies. Things were going well until a huge gust of wind came and blew our canopy up, up and almost away (luckily we had tied it to the pavilion.) The wind was so strong it snapped the metal poles of the canopy in half and blew over our wooden tables. It also scared the babies half to death, so there I was with two screaming babies and a giant metal canopy blowing in the wind. Quite the adventure, let me tell you!

Cousin Bonding

Royal and Linky in the bath.Isaac, Dylanie and Audrey play ball.
Audrey and Dylanie ready for church.
Dylanie, Lucas and Audrey play with dough while Grammie makes treats.
Lincoln and Royal hanging out.

The Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point

On Saturday we went to the Dinosaur museum. It was fun for all of us--we especially enjoyed watching Lucas. He LOVED all the dinosaurs and ran from skeleton to skeleton with so much enthusiasm, exclaiming "Roar Roar!!"

Mt. Timpanogos Cave

On Monday we hiked up to Timpanogos Cave. It was so much fun! It is about a mile and a half hike UP the mountain. The kids did awesome! At one point my mom was talking to Audrey about the trail, and how nice it was that someone went to the trouble to make the trail for us to hike on and how she wondered who had done it. Audrey looked at her and said, "I think President Hinckley made it." Sweet girl.

Here are Lincoln and I before we got started.The kids at the top of the mountain and the entrance to the cave.
Isaac and Audrey inside the cave. The funny thing about the cave was that they make the biggest deal about how you can't touch anything or else you will totally damage the cave--but half the time you have to do the limbo and be a contortionist just to get through it. My dad is 6'4" and kept hitting his head on the stalagmites. It was pretty hilarious.
On the way down...

Mr. Lincoln

We've always been intrigued by this statue of President Lincoln on the side of the road outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming, so this time we decided to stop and take a look.

Lincoln meets Lincoln.

Welcome Home!

Although our trip was altogether WAY too short, it was nice to have a beautiful Colorado sky to come home to.

Thanks for the idea, Ms. Cleary.

Did anyone else read the Ramona books as children? My girls found this old copy of Ramona and Her Mother and thought it would be a good idea to experiment with the toothpaste in the sink like Ramona did. Luckily they didn't make quite the mess that is depicted on the cover. Close, but not quite.

This is how I feel after church, too.

Chloe fell asleep before we ate dinner this afternoon (around 3) and she is still out cold (it's past 8!) Hopefully she will sleep straight through the night...more likely we will be getting a little visitor in our room around 3 am. I guess I should go to bed early tonight!

The First Annual Crazy Colorado Cousins Camp

Yesterday we had our first annual Crazy Colorado Cousins Camp.
Eli, Audrey, Kyle, Kevin, Emily, Chloe, Isaac, Lincoln, Grace, Ross, Evan--sporting their camp t-shirts!

We added the "Crazy" to the title halfway through the day. The cousins have so much fun together, things get a little wild! Out of the 20 grandkids on that side of the family, eleven of them live within an hour of us (including our kids) and all were able to attend the day camp yesterday. Here are Kyle, Eli, Isaac, Emily and Ross playing in the yard.

We started off with a nice lunch that everyone enjoyed, with s'mores for dessert--because we were "camping" after all! After we got lunch cleaned up, we went outside and shot off canister rockets. We still had all the supplies left over from Isaac's birthday party and I'm telling you these things provide endless entertainment. If you are interested in learning how they work, leave a comment and I will post the instructions. Here we are all watching the rocket go. Look for the little tiny white dot in the sky--that is the rocket.


After we ran out of rocket supplies, we changed the kids into swimming suits and headed over to the splash fountain.


I think the kids could have stayed there all day. They had so much fun playing in the water and exploring the little area we were in. The only problem with the day was that it ended all too soon! Uncle Justin got in on the fun at the end of it--he ended up almost as wet as the kids by the time they were done with him.

We feel so blessed to live close to some of our extended family. That is something I never had growing up, but always wished for. There is something about family that is really special--the kids play so well with their cousins, and yesterday we were noticing how well they were all playing together, regardless of the age differences (which are quite substantial.)

We plan on making this an annual event and wish that all the cousins could have joined us! There is an open invitation to all of the cousins that couldn't come this year--we would love to have you come sometime!!

The power of suggestion

This morning I was cleaning the stove top and Chloe said, "You need to put Clorox on the [shopping] list." I just looked at her and said, "Where have you heard of Clorox?" She replied, "From the commercial." Then a few minutes ago I was cleaning the bathroom with those disposable Clorox wipes and she came in and exclaimed with great enthusiasm, "Clorox! Clorox cleans anything. You don't need to worry when messes happen."

Maybe she has been watching too much t.v. lately.

The Little Bully

I took the kids to the day care center at the gym yesterday. I wasn't sure how Lincoln would do since he is just starting to be more wary of strangers and he was crying when I left him. When I came back to pick him up, he was laying by himself in a little wooden crib like an orphanage baby in a third world country. The lady in charge said that he had head butted another baby so they put him in there. I just looked at her. Does she not have kids? Has she never had a baby? Lincoln is seven months old. It's not like he maliciously attacked another child. He probably just lost his balance and fell over!! It was really crowded in there and I think they just didn't have enough manpower to deal with all the kids so it was easier to put him in the crib. Which is fine, but don't make it sound like a punishment for head butting another baby!

He did much better today, by the way. Maybe there weren't any babies for him to beat up on.

Basement progress

Ryan has been working so hard on the basement. He literally spends all of his free time down there--every weekend and every evening he is hard at work. Isaac has taken to sleeping in our bed until Ryan comes to bed and moves him because the nail gun and saw are just too loud (his bedroom is right next to the basement door.) I haven't really thought to take pictures mainly because it is so hard to get an accurate view of what it really looks like, but Kayla convinced me that I need to get it all documented. I guess if nothing else, I need to show how hard my husband has been working! He has literally done almost all of it completely on his own. His brother came up for part of a Saturday a few weeks ago, and a good friend helped him for 14 hours one weekend, but other than that--this is all Ryan's handiwork!! We are so grateful for the help we have received and for the people that are still planning to help. Hopefully you will all enjoy the fruits of your labors when it is done and our kids all disappear for hours in the incredible playroom we are creating for them! (That is my plan, anyway.)

Here is Ryan doing something to what will be a wall in the playroom.

As I mentioned, it is really hard to get an accurate idea of what is going on here, but nevertheless...here is a view of the hall, with the bathroom on the left and the workout room on the right. The guest room is at the end of the hall and the playroom is in the foreground of the picture.
This is what will be the playhouse and the bathroom.


Here is the workout room.And here is our lovely guest bedroom. Anyone want to come for a visit?

Our plan was to have the whole thing completely finished by the end of August, but unless we have some little fairies come do some work while we are sleeping, I don't see that happening. It will get done at some point though!! We are very excited.

Hang Ten

Ryan went in to check on napping Lincoln the other day and this is what he found...

Princesses

On Sunday I was able to lure the girls up to my "salon" (bathroom) to get their hair done like princesses for church. Sometimes you have to be tricky with these two--especially when it comes to doing their hair. You would not believe some of the lengths I have to go to! Here are the results from Sunday.

Now I know why I'm crazy!!

"Parents of Twins are More Likely to Have Mental Health Issues"

Friday July 11, 2008

Results of a Finnish study of new parents found that mothers and fathers of twins were more likely to have symptoms of depression, anxiety, sleeping difficulties and other mental health problems than parents of singleton babies. The study was presented at the 24th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in an effort to support arguments in favor of reducing the number of multiple pregnancies as a result of assisted reproductive technology (ART).

The results of the study probably won't surprise most parents of multiples (especially the part about sleeping difficulties!) Having twins or multiples is stressful, especially during the first year. So it's important for parents to be aware of the risks, be alert for symptoms of serious problems, and seek support when necessary.

The only part I have to disagree with is that the first year is the most stressful. For me, each year has gotten WORSE!!!!

Music Man

Isaac brought home his brand new recorder from school today. I have two questions. First of all, who on earth invented that thing? It has got to be the most annoying instrument on the planet. Second of all, who in their right mind came up with the brilliant idea to give it to a bunch of second graders?! We have had to make a few new house rules--no recorder in the car, no recorder in the kitchen, no recorder within a ten foot radius of me. In fact, the recorder has been banned to Isaac's room, with the door firmly shut. (Don't you love that picture? Audrey obviously shares my opinion of the recorder.)

On another note, Isaac is actually quite musical. He has been doing so well in piano lessons. His teacher told me the other day that he randomly transposed one of his songs from the key of G to the key of C. I said, "On accident?" Apparently even if it was on accident, this is quite a difficult skill! This week he has been transposing the song to every key he can figure out.

Movin' and Shakin'

Lincoln may not be crawling yet, but he can get wherever he wants by rolling and scooting himself around. This afternoon I found him back in a corner between the couch and the table.