V is for Vacation

My nephew, TJ, and his wife, Tami, and their boys Jaxson and Maddox were sealed as a family in the Denver temple in July. We were there when Tami received her endowments (well, at least I was, by the skin of my teeth), so I wanted to be there for the rest. I love going to sealings in the temple--it's such a testimony builder of how much Heavenly Father loves His children. So, on a small whim, we decided to go to Denver for the week and make a vacation out of it. My very gracious brother and his wife agreed to put us up for the week (thanks Craig and Cindy!), though I think Brighton wore out our welcome in about 4.8 seconds as he pulled out Craig's outdoor lighting, threw rocks all over their grass, wrote on their white couch in red marker (thank heavens it was washable!), and poured out the dog food on the floor umpteen times. Not even a change in venue can dampen his spawned-from-a-demon attitude!

Here are the highlights from our trip to Denver:

On our first day we went to the Museum of Natural History. It was fun; in the Exhibition Health room we measured our pace, learned about the benefits of sweating, and followed a granola bar on its journey through the digestive system (yuck!).

If little ears hear big things, do big ears hear little things? Apparently they do.

In the mummy room, we read this about the beliefs of ancient Egyptians and Scott pointed out how close it is to LDS beliefs about becoming like God, and Christ rising from the dead after being wrapped in linens (translated to mummification) for 3 days. It is said that all religious beliefs have stemmed from the One true gospel. Interesting...

I just thought this was a cute picture taken outside the museum.

After finding out we came from monkies inside the dinosaur/ancient life exhibit, Savannah and Irelynd attempt to prove it...

Day 2 we went to the Children's Museum. We were so excited for this one, but alas, my girls are too old to fully enjoy this adorable little museum.

This was the construction room, and Brighton's favorite. I even got him to stop and pose for a picture...sort of. I got lots of inspiration for his upcoming construction birthday party in October.

This was Savannah's favorite room--the pet clinic. Dr. Henry at your service!

Irelynd is an artiste hard at work in her favorite room.

Day 3 we took a break from the Denver traffic and me and the girls drove out to Buttercream Cupcakery in Ft. Collins. I have sprouted a love with cupcakes (not good for the girlish figure I'm trying to reclaim, though not very hard, I sheepishly admit!) Isn't their sign so cute?

For $1.25 each, we just got mini cupcakes. Irelynd got chocolate on chocolate (a girl after her mother's own heart!)

Savannah had chocolate on vanilla--she wasted no time in shoveling that little morsel in! I had brownie with buttercream frosting, but I will not be showing you that awful picture.

That night I dragged Scott to go see Harry Potter 6. It was so good! I took a picture to commemorate it, trying to be discreet, since I always make fun of dorks that do that. So pardon the double chins please! (And, Sallie, I really missed you! It's me and you next time for sure. This time didn't mean anything, honestly.)

The last day we went to the Denver temple. It was a great way to end the week, and so wonderful to be in the temple with my family. The grounds were absolutely beautiful, and I tried to get a good picture of my 5 little monkies, but this is the best I got. Brighton is adverse on an instinctual level to pictures, I believe.




After being gone for 5 days, we were more than ready to go home. This trip made me realize that a trip with kids was a family trip. A trip without is a real vacation. Um, nanny please?

Father's Day 09

Ok, since I'm trying to play catch up (busy summer's to blame!) I got things out of order. Jump back in time with me to June for this entry.

I love the internet and it's plethora of cool ideas! Thank you to all those that gave ideas for me to steal and look good for my man:) The girls and I gave this to Scott at dinner, with a card each.

I had this planned for last year, when the twins so suddenly changed my direction, so I was excited to try it this year. It was harder than I expected. I admire people who can work with this frustrating medium on a regular basis. Looks better from far away, and miniscule, like this picture. I hope Scott appreciated the effort that went in to just keeping Brighton from demolishing them all while they were drying. I was only partially successful. Waverly's hand is a little mis-shapen, and Irelynd's stone is minus one marble. We led Scott on a treasure hunt, where he found these in the garden. It was fun.

Thank you honey for being such a wonderful father and husband. You are so helpful in every way, and put up with my craziness in many things. I couldn't go it alone without you; and it wouldn't be nearly as much fun. I love you!

M is for Magic Show

I took the kids and Grandma LeBaron to a magic show at Provo's Covey Center for the Arts. This building is so awesom! We have been to a few events here and it's long overdue! Provo needed a building like this for a long time. Thanks Mr. Covey for forking out the dough to build it:) The kids loved it; it was entertaining for all of us. I thought Irelynd would pee her pants during a part or two. Try as I did, I couldn't get the girls to volunteer to go up on stage. Alas, and it would have made for such cute pictures! Brighton even sat still to watch some of it. This man is worth gold on that count!
If you could see a bigger picture, you'd notice the death grip we both have on Brighton just to keep him still for 2 pictures. Notice the umbrella? Only way to keep him in the picture.

The magician gave all the kids in the audience a mood fish. It would curl or wiggle, or sit up and beg for a kipper snack (just kidding) and reveal to one what one was feeling.

Irelynd was amused by her fish.

I don't have a picture of it, but afterwards we went to Cherry Lane Cottage, a very fun boutique in Provo. If you haven't been, you should! Call me, I'll take you.

Hair bows

Savannah and Chloe decided to make their own hair accessories to accompany their July 4th t-shirts, of which Grandma Henry bought them matching ones. I was so proud, to see Savannah employ her creativity. I only supplied the glue gun, and the rest is their own creations. Way to go Savannah and Chloe!

Indepence Day

This Fourth of July we had Scott's family over for a backyard campout. I know, I know, I'm an outdoor wimp; I say it's because I'm afraid of a bear taking off with my kids in the middle of the night and making a snack of them, but truth is, I HATE sleeping outside. I think it's one of those things that you have to have grown up with and been trained early to enjoy. I grew up in the "golden age" in my family, when camping was passe, and we moved on to airplanes and hotels. Spoiled rotten, I know, but there it is. My poor kids aren't getting the love of the hot, dirty, bug-infested outdoors ground into them. Anybody volunteer to indoctrinate them? Anyway, as I was saying, Scott decided to try to capture that outdoors, camping thing, and most of his family came with tents and sleeping bags in tow and "camped" on our lawn. (I say most because my sister-in-law and best bud Sallie shares my lack of affinity for all things camping related). We wimped out and slept indoors in our nice quiet houses while the boys and kids "roughed it"...kind of. My girls loved having all their cousins here and running around at night with them until the wee hours, when the neighbors were beginning to get murderous, I'm sure:) Grandma Henry bought Savannah and her best friend, and cousin, Chloe matching shirts. This shirt says it all... They crack me up when they're together. They can be so funny, especially as they get older and start to pick up on the "adult world."

This is the "second round," as I like to call it: Irelynd, Lizzy, Madilyn, and Grace.

Brighton actually konked out early.

Super Irelynd!

I riled the kids up while they should have been going to bed, in a game of Ghosts in the graveyard. It was a fun flashback to my own childhood of playing with my cousins during warm summer nights. This is Savannah and Chloe after finally getting into bed.

The next morning we got up and had a wonderful breakfast. I love breakfast; it is my favorite meal of the day; if you want me to get excited, just propose we cook a big breakfast outside. (I really should love camping, I suppose, just for that fact alone.) My mom came down for breakfast that morning, and stayed behind after everyone else left, to help clean up. It was a pretty big mess, as you'd expect from having 25+ people in your house and yard, most of the kids. I kept telling her to stop and go home, but she is very stubborn, in her own quiet way, and refused to leave. She kept telling me and Scott that she wasn't leaving til we were black in the face. So, Scott made himself black in the face. It worked, and we got her to go home. Scott 1 point, Mom 0. Ka-ching! Mom has met her match!

This is the only picture I got of Irelynd in her cute holiday T.

F is for Fourth of July Freedom Festival

On the Friday before the Fourth, I got the kids up at 6am in order to take them to the balloon festival in Provo. I hadn't been to this since I was about Savannah's age, but it's been going every year since then, and I've wanted to go for a long time. The kids loved it; Brighton less than I thought he would; I guess he's not really a morning kid. We met Grandma LeBaron there and went to breakfast at McDonald's afterwards. It was worth getting up so early!

The kids marching to the rousing music playing softly in the background, much like a jet liner in your living room would sound.

And they're off! I loved the piggy one. Savannah wants to ride in one next year. Me too...maybe.

P is for pizza picnic in the park ( I know, so original and creative)

No story to this one. Just a fun family picnic at Mapleton's city park. Don't you just love this park, with the old building and white, old-fashioned gazebo on the premises? If you've seen Brigham City by Richard Dutcher, this park was in the movie.

This was the highlight of the night, at least for Savannah. She loved this thing; not sure what it was exactly, and never seen another like it, but I tried it and it is a lot tougher than it looks!

The twins loved the swings; Waverly giggled each time I pushed her, and Keaton swung his legs furiously. They are so fun!

Even Scott tried it.

I love this picture below. Maybe because it's a rare, innocent glimpse of Brighton. This picture, if true to normal life, would usually reflect Savannah and Irelynd trying to corrall Brighton from running out to the road, Irelynd finally tackling him to the ground with a thud! and Brighton laughing about it, while Savannah screams at him from the sidelines. Hence, it's nice to look at pictures like this and imagine that my life, and children, are serene and peaceful like this picture portrays.

C is for Candy Store

For C, we went and did a tour of Sweet's Candy store factory in SLC with my wonderful sister-in-law and her 5 girls. The kids had fun, and I was in heaven in the chocolate dipping room. We got free samples of their salt water taffy and other candy. Here's the kids outside afterwards enjoying them.

Don't everybody run out and buy one of these lovely hair net hats at once. I opted to post the picture with Sallie (my SIL) in it instead of me. She pulls hers off better. I might burn mine:) Everybody had to wear one, even 11-month old Wrigley, who wasn't thrilled, and exasperated the tour guide. Irelynd, for some reason ,thought they were really handy to have on hand, and kept hers. I caught her wearing it around the house frequently, until it got ripped. That girl is such a pack rat!

Smart quotes by Brighton

After getting caught hurting Keaton, with his dad giving him "the Look" he says, "I know, I know, time out. Set my timer."

Coming in to report the Keaton was digging in the dirt outside, he says,"Keaton is in the dirt. But don't spank him. He's too little. And I don't have the right."

One morning, after getting caught red-handed making a HUGE mess of my newly-cleaned bathroom vanity, he was sent to get in the shower for his safety while I calmed down. Irelynd reprimanded him for it and he says, very indignantly, "I'm in the shower. Don't worry about it!"

While in the same shower, and talking to himself, he says, "shut up, I'm not a loser!" Disclaimer, I have NO idea whatsoever where he got this. We don't allow "shut up" to be said to anyone in our family, and we DO NOT call our kids a loser. (someone may overhear me muttering to myself occasionally that I'm going to pull the kid's testicles off, but I never call my son a loser).

A quiet afternoon

Scott came across this scene one day and thought it was funny. If you can't tell, we are all reading. I have tried very hard to instill a love for reading in my kids; Irelynd came easy, Savannah has taken more work; Brighton is still too young to tell, but all signs point to an avid reader! Now if I could just convert Scott...

Waverly

Waverly discovered a forgotten ring pop in her dad's office one day. Who needs a dog? We have 2 one-year-olds on clean-up duty. (As long as you use the term "clean-up" loosely.)

She has recently discovered the simple joy it is to look between one's ankles. Still not sure if this is a precursor to a sommersault, but it's very cute to see.