Lions and tigers and bears...

So I couldn't let the summer pass without a single trip to the zoo. This was a spur of the moment zoo day last week...thanks aunt Katie for tagging along! Here is the conversation I just had with Jack:
Me: What was your favorite thing about the zoo last week?
Him: I don't want to talk about it.
Me: What was your favorite animal?
Him: The pirates.
Hmm...apparently he was at a different zoo than me...


I love this picture. Jack would take Halle's hand and walk her around to the different cages and show her what was inside...too cute...
Katie looks like she thinks she is on a roller coaster...I bet she was disappointed when she realized she was on the dumb hogle zoo train...

Out of everything the kids loved the playground the most...guess I could have saved some money and just taken them to a playground!

Everytime I looked back Halle was sucking on the belt from the wagon we rented...the same belt that probably a hundred kids have sucked on...I was so grossed out...just looking at the picture makes me want to freak out...

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday Sally! Hope it was a good one. Thank you for being a great sis in law, and an even better friend. KC is not the only one who lucked out when you married him! We love you Aunt Salsa...

{Glitter toe party at my house for Sal's birthday today!}

New specs.

Jack had been complaining about headaches the past few months, so I decided to take him to get his eyes checked out. It really shouldn't have surprised me that he ended up being far-sided, with how bad my eyes are (or were, love you lasik!). So little buddy had to get glasses. He only has to wear them to do close up things, reading, coloring, that kind of stuff. Melanie told me I would cry when he got them...I thought she was dumb but I totally teared up...first it made him look so old, and then I felt bad because I remember being so insecure about having glasses when I was younger, and being teased (kids called me frog eyes, and even thinking about it now makes me feel bad). I just don't want my kids to ever feel bad about themselves...and kids are so freaking mean to each other. He does look adorable in them, I do have to say. So bring on the four-eyes comments...he can take it...he hits hard.

Oh...and the Sponge Bob case is what sold Jack on the whole deal...

Ugh.

My cell phone got ran over. How did we live without them? I am going crazy...but I should have a new one by tommorrow. Until then you will all just have to deal with not talking to me, how sad for you.

Random thought, we are loving the new 90210. And by "we" I do mean me and Randy (yes he loves these kinds of shows even if he will tell you different...him and his college roomates have been known to cry while watching high school dramas, for example the Party of Five episode where Charlie gets cancer, sob fest). He was even more excited than me to see that the Peach Pit was still in business and that Kelly had a baby that we're both pretty sure is Dylans. So 90210 is our new date night by the tv. I didn't think we would be able to get over the loss of The OC...but this could do it for us!

Oh, another random, but will I get my daughter taken away from me if I can't stand The Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus aka Hannah? (sorry KC I have to bag on your weird crush) Everyone knows I'm a fan of anything teeny bopperish, but these guys bug me. Bad. I hope Halle has some better options when she is old enough to care about this stuff...

If anyone sees this guy...

tell him HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Love you babe, hope your birthday is great.

Goodnight sword

The other night Jack was sleeping on the floor in our bedroom (he was sick and I am paranoid). I heard him say "goodnight sword, I love you"...this is what I saw when I looked over the edge of our bed...

I know I shouldn't be buying him swords after the Vegas incident, but how can I resist when he loves them this much?

Girl Power

The girls are making a come back in Randy's family!! For a while, all we were gettin were stinky boys. But now the last 3 babies have been girls. Angelee (Randy's sis) got a new foster baby, Eden. She is roly poly adorable. How can you not want to squeeze those cheeks? She is blonde hair, blue eyed, and will fit into our family perfectly. Welcome Eden!

Why the tears?

Why is it that every day of pre school starts with whining, crying, I don't want to go to school, I don't want to get dressed, I want to stay home...but ends in smiles? I am sorry Jack for ripping your pajamas off you while you fight me to get you dressed, for shoving a few spoonfulls of cereal down you and forcing you in the car on these mornings when you forget how much you actually love school. It has been two weeks since pre school started, and more than half the mornings have gone like this. I just really hope this gets better, because it's hard for me to enjoy my two hours with him gone when I feel like a mean mommy.

Here are some pictures from his first morning of school...he was all smiles this day, I think because he was excited about his new shirt.

Second try

Second round of swim lessons and still didn't pass level 2. Now I'm convinced they just want my money and they figure the best way to do that is to make my kid repeat this level over and over and over...

They can kiss it...I think you rocked it little dude and we are so sneaking you into level 3...

Even Batman gets sick...

This is how me and Jack spent last night...up at Primary Childrens Hospital. He has been sick for a couple weeks, on and off fever, headache, stomach ache, just random stuff. It was to the point where I was having a hard time controlling the fever, so at about 12:30 in the morning we left Halle with my parents and headed to Salt Lake. We were there until 7:00 this morning...all his tests came back fine and they are pretty sure it's just a nasty virus that is having a hard time running its course. Good news...and definately worth the nights sleep to find out for sure that nothing crazy is going on in my little guy. He was brave...the only thing he was scared of was the doctor putting a stick in his mouth to look at his throat. He told the doctor he could only use his light, no sticks. Thanks again mom and dad for helping...are you ready to disown me this month?

Reunion Time!

We had Randy's family reunion at our house a couple weekends ago. Everyone stayed for three nights and we packed as much as we could in...

Things to remember:

Food, food, food...I swear we would just clean up one meal and start making the next. Always good food at these reunions!

Sick kids. The kids all passed around fevers and sore throats. Poor Caleb got the worst of it and spent the majority of the time on the couch with a cold washcloth.

Grandma Dingess here! Grandma was here from West Virginia and we LOVED having her around. The chaos didn't even seem to phase her a bit!

Sarah. I think we were all amazed with her. The things this little miracle has learned and the way she just keeps up with the rest of the kids is beyond belief. She was so fun to watch...

Chuck-A-Rama...this family can't pass up a good buffet!

Shaved heads. All the boys decided to shave their heads together...It took a little coaxing to get Jim and Grandpa to do it but they gave in to the peer pressure! And yes I made Jack sit this one out. Sorry...aint gonna happen!

Boating, swimming, horse shoes, trampoline...just hanging out and being together.

Stitches all around

TWO members of our family have been sporting stitches over the past couple weeks.

{Randy}

The story is he was in a hotel room in San Fran, got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, got a little disoriented, ran into a picture on the wall, glass broke and took a chunk out of his nose. He didn't think it was that bad so he went back to bed and woke up to what looked like a crime scene. Blood everywhere! So he had to take a cab to the hospital, get stitched up, and then head back to the hotel for work meetings all day. I could not stop laughing every time someone asked him what he did and he had to be honest since I was standing right there and would tell on him if he tried to make up a better story!

{Halle}

Poor little bug. Last week me and Jack were both really sick (tonsilitis for me, flu for him). Randy was out of town (weird?) so I was at my parents house trying to get sympathy for being sick. My dad said he would take care of Halle while me and Jack slept all day. This was already after he had been up all night cleaning Jack's puke. When I was growing up, my dad was the puke cleaner. My mom can't hack it. It's the same for me now too. Randy is designated puke cleaner...I can handle anything else. So me and Jack were asleep in the basement and my dad came down to tell me I would have to take Halle to the ER cause she just fell and cut her eye open, right on her eyebrow. My dad stayed with Jack and me and Katie took Hal to the hospital. My mom met us there (what would I do without family?). I had a plastics guy do the stitches...even though the ER doc made me feel dumb for asking for a plastic surgeon. But I didn't care...she's a girl and it was on her face so sorry dude. She fought as hard as she could until they gave her versaid and she was out for the count. It was pretty funny to see my one year old acting drunk off her butt! She ended up with 4 stitches on the first layer, 10 stitches on the second layer, a pretty sweet black eye, and all the popsicles she wanted for the rest of the day. Needless to say we were all happy to go to bed that night and start a new day!

{ps} thank you mom and dad for taking such good care of us

{pss} I think if anyone asks where Halle gets her clumsyness from I can refer them to the first story on this post

Happy Birthday Grandma Judi!

Thank you for all you do for us and for being such a great mom, mom in law, grandma and friend. We love you! (Halle was concentrating too hard on her awesome spit bubbles to smile for this picture...)

Drumroll please...

PJ GOT MARRIED!!!

Those of you who know PJ know why we never thought this day would come! But he found himself a cute little cowgirl in Idaho and we couldn't be happier for them. Randy was in the wedding, so we went up last weekend. It was a fun little get away (thanks mom and dad for keeping the rug rats). Dana looked beautiful, and PJ didn't stop smiling the whole day. Congrats you two!!

24th of July

I love that Utah throws in an extra holiday in July...more reasons to get together and eat all day. Randy was flying home from Vegas the morning of the 24th, so I braved the Spanish Fork parade by myself with two kiddos. My mom is from Spanish Fork, so this is something I did every year as a kid. It's so weird to see your own kids doing something that you loved to do as a kid. This was Jack's first parade, and I don't think that kid sat down once the whole time. His favorite were the "Princesses" (the Royalty queens) and the horses. It was fun to hang out with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins...I think this will be a tradition that I will keep going!

Later that night, we went to the Bees game...another first for Jack. After the game we sat on the field and watched fireworks. Halle was scared of them and Jack had to pee really bad, so neither of them enjoyed them as much as I hoped. Better luck next year I guess!