More Gavinism's

So I have to write down a few things Gavin has started saying recently.

• Some kids ask "Why" to everything. Well Gavin's is "What Kind?" We tell him we're going to a store, "What kind of store?" Walmart "What kind of Walmart?" The Walmart in American Fork. "What kind of American Fork?" Eventually, he'll finish by saying, "Ooooh, that kind" Very cute, but can get cumbersome at times!
• He likes his cereal "clean" I could not think of what this meant, he wanted me to wash the cheerios? Chris figured it out that he meant he wanted it without milk. Clever!

The Host

I finally finished the book last night! I know, all you die hard fans finished it months ago, but I'm slow :) I realllly liked this book, I think I liked it better than the Twilight Books, I know, blasphemes. It just wasn't as sicky sweet sappy, and I liked that. I thought it was excellent, so if you're looking for a good fun read, check it out. If you've heard about the Twilight books and have been hesitant to get sucked in, try this one out first and see if you like it. I'm excited to be done so I can read the new Twilight one when it comes out in a couple weeks. Happy Reading!

Happy 24th

We had a great 24th. We went and saw Batman The Dark Knight on Wed night while the kids slept at Sharon's. Thanks Grandma! We really liked the movie, very creepy Joker! Then we got up early and picked up grandma and the kids and went to the zoo. We had a great time seeing all the animals before it got too hot.






The crowds were mostly down at the parade so it was very uncrowded at the zoo! It was perfect. Gavin's favorite animal was the elephants and tigers, and Maci's was the monkeys and the little turtle we saw swimming. We went to Chick Filet for lunch and had a great time, thanks Grandma!




We spent the rest of the day relaxing and packing some. It's the never ending job! We went without the usual fireworks, we were all beat!

My New Favorite Crafts

My new favorite crafty things! The top one is a magnet board covered in fabric. The magnets still stick great, the neodymium ones anyway, it's a fun way to dress up your magnet board. The magnets are fabric covered buttons, you can get the supplies at Nuttals or any fabric store, then you can coordinate your magnets with your board, very fun! The next two are chipboard squares hinged together to spell out the word. I decoupaged paper onto each one, inked the edges, added glittered cardstock letters, and then ribbons, stickers, etc. These were way fun to do, and endless possibilities with words, great for baby showers. Hope you enjoy!

The Wedding/Birthday of the Century

Well the time finally came for this wedding. It just happened to be on Chris's 29th birthday as well, we'll never let Katie live that one down. So we tried to make the day extra special by making breakfast for Chris in the morning. The kids and I made waffles and bacon, and gave him his presents. The kids picked out two cds, Jack Johnson and The Bravery, two excellent picks if you ask me. I got him a Wii Zapper. Very exciting presents this year, I know. We had a good morning and got the kids ready for the big day ahead. Happy 29th babe!

The wedding ceremony was beautiful, Katie and Brett looked so happy and it all went very smoothly. I didn't even lose it emotionally! I could have, I just choked it back so I wouldn't have mascara everywhere :) Weddings are such a mix of emotions, happy for them and their future, sad for what will change in your relationship with them, at least that's how I felt. Katie and I have gotten so close with us living here, we've always been close, but it's different when you can talk till 2 in the morning and eat breakfast together the next day. She's been a great help to me while we've been here and I just love being around her. I'm going to miss her! But I'm very happy for her. We had a great day, filled with pictures, food, friends, family, fun! We did family pictures outside the temple right after the ceremony. Then we went home for a bit and went to the reception place, Mellor's in Lehi, to set up the tables, etc. The dinner started at 6:00, it was great food. There were a few touching speeches, then we went out to the gardens for cake and the dancing, throw the bouquet, etc. It was a lot of fun, and much more personable than a reception usually is I think. If I had it to do over again I might do the dinner thing like Katie and not the long reception line. We had a great time. Now the kids are off on a Baja cruise till Sunday.




My sister Sarah was here with her husband, from San Jose. They didn't stay with us but spent a lot of time at our house. We played plenty of Rock Band and had a blast with them. The kids love it when they come into town since they don't seem them that often.






My dad held up exceptionally well through the day. He's doing really well and has been on his best behavior with listening to the Dr's advice. It was a long day but he made it through with flying colors. He slept a lot on Sunday though ;)

Etsy

So you guys probably noticed my new Etsy pop-up over on the right. If you haven't been on Etsy, you have to go check it out. It's like ebay but with no auctions, and it's all handmade stuff, everything from purses, scrapbook layouts, jewelry, stuff for your kids rooms, home decor, it's awesome. You've got to check it out! And after we get moved feel free to browse through my stuff and order :) I will still do kits, if you one of you brave ladies wanted to start up a craft night and do all the same craft for everyone, that would be a fun way to keep it going, and easier than letting everyone choose their own thing. If you see something on there and you want the kit just let me know and we'll work it out! Thanks for your support over the years "painting ladies"! as Maci calls you :)

Busy Summer Days

Maci's newly found talent, climbing walls and flagpoles!

Man this summer is just flying by! 4 weeks from today we will be packed in our mini van driving to Missouri. UGGGGGGGG! I wish you could here my sigh of discontent. Not only do I have a whole house to pack up, my sister is getting married this week, yeah! and we're going on a 4 day family campout the week the truck comes, yeah! but that means diminished time to get all this stuff done. And the other UGGGGG of discontent is the reality that we are really doing this! moving sooooo far away. I could not sleep last night for the pit in my stomach rolling over knowing 3 people in MO, our realtor, our insurance guy, and the guy taking care of our lawn. I'm excited to go, at times, but other times I'm petrified. So all you moved-out-of-staters, HELP ME! give me some advice on what you did to fill the void of family and friends at first and how you got adjusted. Also any packing advice, we've heard horror stories of couches having burns in them from the friction of stuff being stacked on them. Any advice is welcomed.

So this and last week we've been busy with wedding stuff, and general stuff. Maci is doing a reading tutoring thing at the Lehi literacy center twice a week which has been great for her. She's definitely coming along and hopefully will be ahead and not behind when she starts school in the fall. So we've carted to and from that, had a sleepover at Annie's house for Maci, went to Barnes and Nobel (aka the library) for story time on Fri, and various other fun summer things. Chris even played soccer on Sat. and scored a goal! He's on a local co-ed team, Katie's on it too, they have fun, even with a slightly broken foot ;-)

The kids love watching daddy play.

Goooooaaaaaaaalllll! well not on this shot, but you get the idea.

We had a shower for Katie on Thursday with the ladies in the ward that she knows well. Karol Smedley and Terese Hansen threw it for her. We had a great time, chatting with old friends, eating GREAT food, and learning a little more about Katie and Brett through some questions they asked her. She was not shy to give details! about how they met, first kiss, etc. That's why boys are not allowed at these things. We had a great time.

It's been really fun getting to know some of these ladies on a more adult level while living here in the ward. I thought it would be weird going to church as an "adult" with people that taught me when I was a kid. But it's been great! It's been a treat to learn from them about life, kids, marriage, etc. I'm going to miss them!

No my sisters and I are not triplets :) that's my oldest niece Mikayla in the orange, her mom Jessie in the pink, and Anne's oldest Casey in the red. Anne, Katie and I and my mom you probably know :)

We had a great 4th of July, very full! We started things off Friday with seeing the Hot Air Balloon launch down in Provo. We debated between that and the parade. We hadn't done this before and the parade is always long, hot, and very crowded, so we opted for the earlier, cooler activity! We LOVED it! We got up around 5:15 and drug the kids out of bed. Chris's mom came with us as well. We got to Provo HS around 6:15, most of the balloons were mostly filled. There were 18 balloons in total, everything from a pig, Smokey the Bear, Stars and Stripes, and even a fall one with leaves on it. The kids loved watching them get almost full, and how the people pull on the strings to get them tipped up the right way. After all of them were full, they started lifting off, 2 or 3 at a time. It was so cool to see them all up so close and then drift slowly into the beautiful blue sky. It was a little overcast so the temp was perfect. We had such a great time!! I'm definitely glad we chose this before we head out of UT for a while.






The hot air balloon thing made me think of 4th of July's past, where me and my sisters and brothers, and my dad would go to the Provo 10k and sign the runners up. I don't know how we got signed up for this job, my dad knew somebody running it or something, but it's such a great memory for me! We'd get up suuuuper early and go down to the stadium, get the runners checked in and give them their numbers, see them off, and then mosy around til the parade started. We'd get a free t-shirt out of it, but even better were the fun talks and laughing, dancing to music from loud speakers, and maybe even a milkshake on the way home. Ahhh, fun memories!

After the balloons we went to Jim's Restaurant for breakfast. It was so tasty! Chris got the "Jim's Breakfast", and maybe put a 1/4 dent in it. It was HUGE! The kids stayed good the whole trip, and while at the restaurant practiced their spoons on the noses technique. Very fun.



We vegged out at home for the afternoon, the kids took a nap, I packed a little, etc. Then we went to our friend Duff and Nichole Sutherlands for a BBQ and fireworks. Our friend Doug Hall from High School was in town from California, we haven't seen him in years. I worked with Doug at Zuka Juice, he was good friends with the guys too. We chatted with him, the kids jumped in a bounce house Duff has, we had awesome burgers and chips, home-made rootbeer, the works. Duff had purchased the XL package of fireworks from Costco, and we did about 200 sparklers I think. Duff even had a few not so honestly procurred launching fireworks from WA state. Very loud! Duff and Nichole live just west of Thanksgiving Pt., they launched the big fireworks directly across the street! It was a fabulous view and a great show. I think they lasted about 30 minutes! We had a great time, catching up with old friends and soaking in the patriotic spirit.









We had such a great day, and are so grateful to have a reason to celebrate such a day. We're so lucky to live in this wonderful country with all the freedoms we have. Every time I think about complaining about food prices I think of my parents while in New Zealand paying 8$ a gallon for gas and around 12$ a lb for chicken breasts. We're soooo lucky here! So I'm going to try and not take things for granted, especially my kids and my wonderful husband, and all of the beautiful family, friends, and things that the Lord has blessed me with.

Happy Birthday America!

Family Pics

The proofs are in! We haven't seen them all yet but Joel sent me a few of the family pics. They turned out pretty good! considering Gavin was being kind of a pill. But that's a 2 year old for ya.





I'm happy with them, and excited to see the rest! Joel's gonna do some color correcting and maybe nipping and tucking a little here and there ;-) At least they're taken! yeah!

Swim Lessons

Maci is taking a week of swimming lessons at a house in Alpine. She took here last summer and really enjoyed it. Her friend Parker Smith is in her class too. Maci is a great swimmer and is not afraid of the water at all. She "floated on the magic bed" for about 2 minutes, the longest of anyone in her class! Next year we'll get Gavin in there too, he's just not quite ready this year. Here's some pics of the little fish.

Floating on the magic bed.

Maci and Parker

Yipee!

This is what Gavin did, scooped up "poop" in the sand pile. I think it was gum.

Ahh a warm towel.