Random Stuff

This is my post of random things...
Emma started crawling on Friday, the 25th of July. Life as we have known it in our house is now over. Sarah was playing with Polly Pockets all over the floor today. I repeatedly told her to play on a table, not the floor. Well, we found Emma with Polly's shoes in her hands & mouth. She's also found the rubber door stopper things (I think those must have kid magnets in them or something, a room can be full of toys & that's what is played with).
I had my neice Megan stay with us for a few nights while her parents were out of town. It was fun to have a teenager in the house. I went to the store with just one child, instead of three, during naptime, whoa. My kids had fun waking her up at 8:30 (cruel I know!). We also got to drop her off at work at Hogie Yogi & order a Yogi from her. Fun fun.
My last random thing, I think. I got a calling in church today. I am the Relief Society Pianist. Yeah! The presidency was all worried that I would not be happy with that or something, but I was thrilled! I don't think I've been consistently in Relief Society since we left Provo eight years ago. Emma's going to be a bit challening sometimes, but there are not many babies in the ward & I don't think it should be too hard to pawn her off for a few minutes each week.
Oh, one more church moment. Mason had to give the opening prayer in primary. Sarah decided to be a great big sister & helped him. She felt very important. I figured that would be better than having me help him because if I set foot in the primary room he won't let me leave again. I just listened from the hall. He did great.
Todd's been called as a substitute Sunday School teacher. He's always in the Sunday school, but he was happy with it since he probably won't be needed every week & won't have to find subs when he's on call.
Now I really am done with my random ramblings.

Bountiful Parade

We went to the Bountiful Handcart Days parade on July 23. This has been our family tradition forever. This year it was really fun because my dad was in the parade, as Noah on his ark. The kids had fun yelling & waving to grandpa.
This parade is also fun for me because 11 years ago, after this parade, was my first date with Todd. We went to watch the fireworks that happen after the parade. Todd picked me up from the parade where I was sitting with my family. My sisters got to check him out & my parents got to meet/drill him. Too bad he did not make it to the parade this year, he was working. I think he's only made it to this parade with me once or twice. I'd sometimes come to visit from Virginia & Minnesota over the 23rd & come the the parade, so my kids have been more than Todd has. Mom, Becky, Emma, Sarah, Allie & Becca watching the parade.
Mason, Isaac, Jonah, Ava, & Liam watching. Good thing we were in the shade, it was toasty!
Dad as Noah, roasting in his robes & beard.

The bubble

Mason has finally mastered "the bubble" as the kids call this jungle gym in our backyard. He's tried since we moved in. He saw Sammy do it the other day, so finally on Friday he made it to the top. Whew, no more whining about not being able to do it!

Jenni & Co. come to visit

Jenni & her kids came to visit on Wednesday. We'd set it up Monday night, so Mason asked about a hundred times between Monday night & Wednesday at noon when they arrived when Sammy would be here. Then on Thursday he asked if Sammy was coming again. They had a great time! They played for 5 solid hours & would have kept going if Jenni & I had let them! We can't wait for the next visit!

50 cases in 11 days

As of Friday Todd has worked 11 days. He's done 50 cases, that's a bunch! He's been REALLY BUSY!!!! He'd better not repeat last week any time soon. The money will be nice, when it shows up in a few months, but having him around more is even nicer!

Saturday night fun

We are renting a large house with an even larger yard this year. Mowing the lawn is quite a task. Luckily the owners left their riding lawn mower! The job takes an hour with Todd on the riding mower & me doing touch up with the regular mower. Luckily there is an empty lot next door to dump the grass on, otherwise we'd fill an entire can each week. Todd cruising around. The kids always want to ride on this with him.
The kids playing while mom & dad work on the yard. Mason had been helping with his mower too.

Family "campout"

We went "camping" this past week at Granite Flats in American Fork Canyon. I say "camping" because we did not stay overnight. Lori & Bill had their trailer there & stayed (Sarah stayed over with them) but we just came for the day, then drove the 25 minutes home to real beds. I did not want to stay in a tent with Mason & Emma (I'd done that 3 years ago with Mason & Sarah). Todd did have Thursday off & was able to enjoy some ATV riding.


Mason & Isaac were the first to ride with their dads. They were excited!

Sarah & Allie got the next rides.

Jonah & Mason enjoyed playing in the "swamp"

Mason's bath after the campout. He was filthy!

8 months old, wow!

Emma is now 8 months old (on the 13th). It's gone by fast!

She now has 2 bottom teeth & is almost crawling. She gets up on her hands & knees & heads backwards. She can roll around all over though. Today she almost got into Sarah's Barbies. Time to keep the big kid toys off the floor!

Cousin sleepover

Sarah would always sleepover at Allie's house when we'd come to visit. We finally got to have the sleepover at our house this time. The kids loved it! They played, we had pizza for dinner, we rode bikes to the park, they swam, watched movies. They were all pretty worn out the next day! Allie, Isaac, Mason, & Becca heading down the slip & slide.
The girls doing some beading.

The boys playing with Littlest Petshops (yes, they both have big sisters & yes, Mason is wearing winter pajamas!)

Restaurant review

Becky put in a movie review, so I thought I'd review what I've recently done.

We have been here over a month & had yet to visit a "playplace" fast food something or other.  Mason always gets excited when he sees one.  Rochester had a playplace McDonalds & that was it for the entire city.  We did not go often because it was always so crowded.  Anyway, the kids were dying to play in the greasy tubes of a playplace so we gave them  chance last night.  I wish we had stayed home.

We braved Carl's Jr.  Fine.  I got the new taco salad.  It was fine at 6:00pm, but 7 hours later it was not so fine as it came back up.  Blah.  I am feeling a bit better now & am really enjoying just Emma since Todd took the others to church.  I think it will be another month before we brave a playplace again & maybe I'll just stick to a soda.

Official Utahns, again!

Todd had the day off yesterday, so we took the plunge & became official Utahns, again, & hopefully for the last time!
We started our morning of fun by dropping the civic off to be inspected. Then we headed to Orem to get new drivers licenses. We lucked out & did not need to take the written test like we thought we would, since our licenses from four years ago don't expire until our birthdays in 2009. So, we just got new pictures taken, blah, paid our money & were done.
Then we picked up the civic in American Fork, took it home, & headed to Provo to get new plates. Emma was not happy with all this business, so we were lucky the DMV was not busy! As the guy typed in the civic info he asked "has this car been registered in Utah before?" Yep, this is it's 3rd set of Utah plates (it's had Virginia & Minnesota in between) & it's only 9 years old. This will be the last set of plates I put on this car!
Finally, we headed to an insurance office in Provo. We'd used these guys before during our other times living in Utah, so they had all our car info & the set up went relatively quickly.
We got home 4 1/2 hours after we had left, official state residents & no longer able to use the out of state plates as an excuse for not always knowing where we are going!

First day survived

Todd survived his first day on the job. He did not get home until 7. He was tired, but happy. He'd done 5 cases with very little downtime. Welcome to private practice!
Things went well. He had one scary moment trying to intubate someone who was a bit tricky, looked around, realized again he was it & that he did not have access to an instrument like at Mayo he'd use in this situation, and was able to get the tube in & move on. Whew. Now he's back again for more fun!

Social Sarah

Yesterday we they had a primary activity. We got off to a bad start. Sarah was upset because she could not find the right shirt to go with her shorts. She's a fashion queen (in her own way) & this set her off. So, the kids rode bikes to the park while I pushed Emma. I got them somewhat settled, then some girls drove up in a toy jeep. Mason wants one of these so badly, so then he was on one, begging for a jeep & whining. Well, the activity started but my kids were both whining & grumpy & refused to participate. We sat there for a while & finally I gave up & we left. I was all sad & mad because my kids need some friends & this would have been a good way to get to know the other kids a bit better. I told my kids they could not whine to me all day about nobody to play with since they did not stay.
Anyway, around 3 that afternoon Sarah decided maybe she could try to have someone over. There are some twin sisters in her primary class that she thought she'd invite. We did & they ended up having a great time. She's so much more social than me. I had just let the party problem get me down & make me feel sorry that we don't know many people yet. Sarah did for a while, then decided to do something about it! I hope she can always be that way!

The first day.....

Todd's first real day is underway right now.....hope it's going well. He did not sleep too well last night. He was excited & nervous & who knows what else! He left really early this morning, he said why bother lying in bed wondering about it all, might as well get to the hospital & get ready.