Milestones

We've had quite a few milestones in the last week. Let's see . . .

1. 7th Wedding Anniversary.
It has officially been 7 years! Not a very important or round number, but I sure am glad to have Christopher for my best friend. We celebrated by . . . hanging out at Costco and getting some ice cream with the kids. We were scheduled to have family pictures taken, but it rained for the first time in weeks. Boo. We're goin' on a date on Saturday though, so don't worry.

2. We ran out of saran wrap.
What, you don't think that's a milestone? Well, it's actually very related to the first bullet point. We bought this box of saran wrap when we got back from our honeymoon, believe it or not. Best $20 I ever spent. When we realized that it was the never-ending roll, I started using it for everything I could. And then, the day after our anniversary, it finally ran out. And I just stared at it in shock.



3. Christopher finished the deck.
I really should have a picture of this, but I forgot to take one. I don't think a picture could do the amount of work it took justice anyway. He has been working tirelessly on our back deck lately. The two story deck has been so unstable that, according to neighbors, no one has used it in over a decade. But Christopher rebuild nearly the whole thing and put Trex down, and it is fabulous! We already have the grill up there, and it is great to be able to hand the meat out the kitchen window rather than send Christopher out the front door and around to the backyard.

4. Tyler finished summer school.
This was actually last week. It was a busy six weeks for me, taking him back and forth to school and going on all the outings, but it was wonderful for him. We have applied to get him into the regular school year, but we'll just have to wait and see how things go there.



5. Kaitlyn is potty training.
I have been putting this off for about six months, but it was really TIME. She has been taking off her diapers when they were too messy and getting herself new ones, and she has been able to go in the potty when I take her just fine since January. But I kept putting it off because I didn't have time to get the entire job done, and didn't want to be halfway there and make a big mess. But with Tyler not in school for a few weeks here, and no other things on my schedule, I am out of excuses. We just came up to the cabin to take care of it, since that way we can be outside all day (it's cooler up here, and there is more for the kids to do). No messes to clean up = relaxed mommy. And so far things have been good. My favorite was the way she looked at me when she had her first mess. It was just this face of pure confusion. As in, "every other time I went, nothing bad has happened, but why on earth are my legs wet now?" She had a lot of accidents the first night we got here, but then the next day she would start, realize the problem, run to the potty and finish there. Today is our second full day, and she hasn't had an accident yet! I'm sure we aren't done with accidents, but we are doing great. Eventually I will have to wean her off of her "frog potty" and onto regular flushing ones, but for now it is great to have it right there while the kids play outside, and not have her running in the house.

Jon Schmidt and more cabin pics

So, story time. When I first came to Utah, I dated a guy my Freshman year who liked Jon Schmidt. In fact, he and his sister used to race to see who could play Waterfalls the fastest. I think I will consider myself amazing if I ever get through that piece.

Well, he asked me to Homecoming and picked one particular location because they were going to have Jon Schmidt play. But when we got there, we found that he was only playing on one of the nights. We picked the wrong one. So my date sat at the piano and played Jon Schmidt songs in consolation (he was a bit sad about it). I think some people actually thought he was the guy.

So I have always wanted to see Jon Schmidt! And lo and behold, Jon came to play for our stake's Youth Conference. I had no actual reason to be there, but my husband did . . . and told me I could come. Yeah!




The rest of my life is just spent going back and forth to the cabin. There is something about taking pictures of hummingbirds that I love. I guess it is a challenge in many ways- but also rather accessible since the birds love our feeder. I just set up my tripod and wait for them to come into my trap.




Tyler, on the other hand, loves digging in the sandbox. And wearing the bucket on his head.





We all love going out for a ride though!




Especially Kaitlyn, who thinks she can drive.

More summer school

This little summer program has been a lot of fun. I was hoping to learn more "tricks of the trade" to help Tyler at home, but I think one thing I learned is that just having activities to involve him in is one of the best things I can do. You know, getting out of the house or just off our routine and seeing the world around us. I am really sad this is our last week!

Well, let's see, we have a trip to a farm up in Sandy. That was one hot day, but the kids had fun. Tyler liked feeding the ducks a lot.



We explored a treehouse,





climbed on some bales of hay,



rode on a "horse",



and rode on a wagon ride.



Then came the big activity - horseback riding! There is a great program in our area that specializes in horseback riding for kiddos with disabilities of all kinds. They have found it can be really calming and therapudic for them, and they did a wonderful job with our little group.



Tyler might not have been as impressed as I would have hoped, but he did like it and did a fairly good job picking up the commands.



While everyone else had their turn, he enjoyed playing with these little cars off to the side . . . with his helmet on. If you took it off for him, the quickly put it back on. I love that he actually made the tow truck tow that other car. That kid knows his vehicles!



Today we went to an aquarium, and it was a very crowded place. But Tyler enjoyed checking out all the fish, running through the tunnels, and laughed for quite a while when the sting ray tried to come up the side of the tank at him.

A pile of random pictures

I tried to think of a title that gathered all of this together, but . . . yup. This is as good as it gets.

First off, last weekend I went to the cabin to amuse myself while Christopher hiked Timp overnight with his scouts. I figured that since it was so warm outside, I would dig out the old pool that I never use and let the kids play.

I forgot it was three feet in diameter. Poor kids. Also, the hose water in the mountains is especially cold. But they seemed to like wading in it.



Notice the murky water. Kaitlyn decided to dump a bucket of sand in there. I guess she decided it needed a more beachy feel, eh?

I also tried out a new slip n slide. Tyler loved this thing, but Kaitlyn wanted nothing to do with it. She would tell me "Tyler's turn!", "Mommy's turn!", but if I said "Ka-ken's turn?" she would say "NO!" (Ka-ken, by the way, is what she calls herself.)




I have also been having fun taking pictures at the cabin. I love it!





The Buzztones performed for PG's Concert in the Park series again, which is always great.



It is a free concert on Sunday nights, and everyone just sets up lawn chairs and blankets to come and listen.



Christopher even had a solo!



Afterward, Daddy had Tyler carry his trombone case around, which was hilarious to watch. But he was very serious about his new job.



Of course, we also need to check out what is inside, too.



The next week, Tyler's school group went to try out miniature golfing. The task was a bit tricky for the little man, but he got into the idea of getting the ball into the hole just fine. Usually he pushed the ball around in a granny shot motion, but the idea was there.



They are a fun group!



And then for July 4th weekend we were hosting parties up at the cabin. When we first invited Christopher's family up for Saturday lunch, it looked like no one would come. But we ended up having about 25-30 people there! I would have pictures, but . . . I was playing hostess. And same thing on Monday. We had some friends from Christopher's work come to play, and I don't have too many pictures of that either. But I had to find the camera for this.



Kaitlyn was already dirty from the sandbox, but we went back to watch Daddy go around the dirt bike track and she fell flat on her face. And every time I saw her after that I burst out laughing at how dirty she was!



I love our hummingbird feeder! Interestingly enough, I have discovered that we get more birds with sugar water than we do with humingbird food from the store. But we sure get a lot of these guys.




Mostly, I love just sitting on the hammock and staring at the trees above me.



But Daddy likes building a fire. And roasting hot dogs.



Yum.