First Day Again

School has swung around again. It's kinda like a ship's boom; if you don't keep an eye on it it may whip around and whack you upside the head. I felt that we were better prepared for this school year than we've ever been. On Sunday, before school began, Chad gave the kids a father's blessing and we talked about the wonderful lesson David O. McKay learned as a missionary: "Whate'er thou art, act well thy part." We are working to keep that in mind this year.

So...drumroll please...here they are!
Merritt is now my big 4th grader! I did not stand in line with him this year. :( That would be embarrassing in the extreme! ;)



Grace is now in first grade. Her excitement for and love of school is so fun! I hope it continues (despite the boy who told her she wasn't a real princess and twisted her arm when she asked him if he'd like to play.)

It's funny how you can go to school for years and yet still have so many first days. There are not too many other experiences out there like that; parenthood is the other one that springs to mind - you get a "first day" with each child, that beautiful day of introduction to the wondrous new person in your life. But maybe I'm thinking about it all wrong. Isn't every day a first? We may do similar things each day (for me that would be cooking, doing dishes and laundry, cleaning some section of the house, etc.) but it is the first time I'm doing it that day and in that particular way. And even though I have a routine with my children, the things that they say and the things that they teach me are always different; it is never the same day with them! Perhaps the greatest gift I could give myself each morning is the realization that today is my new first day; my first day to hear the funny, insightful, compelling things that my husband and children will say. It is my first day as a better parent, wife, and person because I have forgiven myself for the mistakes of yesterday and moved on to better things today. It is my first day if I choose a better road, think kinder thoughts, and do more good than I have done before. I like that! I'm glad it's a first day again!!

Our Kids

These are our kids...


How in the world did we get so lucky??

Om Nom Nom!

Solid food is so exciting!!!!!!! Or is it? When I think of food deliciousness, pureed sweet potatoes don't jump to mind but hey, ya gotta start somewhere! We started with avacado, then brown rice cereal I ground myself in my awesome Blendtech, then sweet potato, and finally banana. Here's a little picture journey through Joseph's first two solid food adventures.




Joseph is getting the hang of this different type of food intake and likes sweet potatoes the best. He's so fun!!

Zoorassic Park

Some genius at Hogle Zoo decided to create the money maker to end all money makers! Forget about the draw of a zoo full of amazing and exotic animals...let's get thirteen FAKE animals, place them all around the park, and watch the people flock to see them. You'd think that would be an idea that wouldn't work, but the fake animals were animatronic dinosaurs and people DID flock to see them...including us!
This is not an exhausted after picture, although it certainly looks like it should be. Grant fell asleep on the way to the zoo and Merritt snapped this photo of his little brother sucking on his shirt in his sleep. Yes, he's sucking on his shirt...little kids have strange comfort things they do and this is Grant's. It pulls his shirt collars out of wack and makes me feel nuts, but whatever.

The first time we came to see the animals and dinosaurs was with my parents; the second time was as Merritt's birthday activity. Since we had purchased a zoo pass in the spring, we didn't have to shell out any money upfront to get through the gates and so didn't mind paying extra for a train ride. We found out that it was the only way to see the 13th dinosaur; the Coelophysis and it's baby. Sneaky, Hogle Zoo, really sneaky.

A Kentrasaurus is browsing among the greenery behind the kids. Grant would, with a little coaxing, turn his back on the plant eaters for a picture...

but NOT the meat eaters. He was convinced they were real and since they moved and roared AND real animals walked around both in and out of cages (see peacock below), I'm not surprised.










Grant was once again chewing on the neck of his shirt, this time in a tizzy of nervous excitement over the dinosaurs and the animals we saw up close. Even though his back is to the camera, you can see that his shirt is in his mouth. I guess it's really not that much weirder than me chewing my fingernails; fingernail chewing is more accepted though.










We saw the big cats (the tiger is in between Merritt and Grace below)...
and the biggest dinosaur.

Yeaaah! It's T-rex!! The kids would have stayed their all day if we let them. Merritt was having a roaring conversation with it.

We saw an eagle up close (Chad and I liked...the kids wanted to go back to the T-Rex...brother!) and then found the water spitting Dilophosaurus and baby. The Dilophosaurus would spit a fine mist of water but the baby dino would squirt a jet of water right in your face.










Merritt and Grace had no fear about approaching the water spitting baby, but see how Grant hangs back, once again chewing his shirt. When he observes that this is a fun, albeit scary dinosaur, he joins in the water fight.

As we wound our way out of the park, we found a T-Rex to pose on and then stopped at the Elephant Encounter to admire the pachyderms and rhinos and play on yet another water feature; the sneezing metal elephant. It was here that I actually got photo proof that Chad was with us...

See how sneaky I am?! He'll normally duck out of any picture but he thought I was focused on the kids. Ha ha ha!

It'll be sad when the dinos are gone, but Zoorassic Park was sure a lot of fun. Hopefully we'll enjoy the zoo as much when it's just boring old tigers and such!

Summer Birthdays

Grace and Merritt are our summer birthday kids. Since their big days are less than a month apart we seem to barely finish one birthday cake before we bake another. This year it was white cake versus chocolate, unicorns versus dinosaurs, pink streamers versus primary colors. Here's the birthday rundown...










It was the battle of the girlie, foo-foo, rainbow/flower/butterfly/unicorn cake and the dinosaur dig site cake. I buried a t-rex skeleton in chocolate frosting (smothered by chocolate...what a way to die!) and had an action figure there "uncovering" it. I really wanted to have a paleontologist toy, but guess what...THERE"S NO SUCH THING! I guess paleontologist action figures just aren't that trendy or exciting. Merritt was satisfied with my efforts, so that is what counts.










Blowing out the candles...how is it possible that Grace is 6 and Merritt is 9???










Birthday decorations are difficult to make unique and exciting unless you want to spend lots of money, which I don't. We change up streamer colors and balloons, everyone ALWAYS gets the "Happy Birthday" sign I got for free years ago, and sometimes I find something fun to include (like the butterfly at Grace's party; which was a decoration and also a present...$2.00...woohoo!).












Grace got a stuffed animal (unicorn), a Fancy Nancy book, and a ballerina piggy bank, too name a few. Merritt got books (dinosaur and Goosebumps), Rango (hilarious!), and Hero Factory toys, among other things. Both birthdays were lots of fun. We love those two soooooo much!!