Circus!

Robby's office moved a few weeks ago to the Gateway. The other day we were having dinner and Robby told the kids he had seen a parade of elephants down the street in front of his work. The kids weren't sure whether or not to believe him, but then he told them the circus was in town and they knew why there were elephants walking down the street. They asked if we could go to the circus and we said probably not. Then a couple days later Robby surprised even me by getting tickets for us to go. We tried to keep it a secret from the kids but my friend and my mom both told Savannah not knowing that it was a secret (my fault! I should have told them it was a secret). But the boys had no idea. We told them we were going for a drive and headed to Salt Lake. Then we asked if they wanted to go for a walk and see where dad's new office is. They were thrilled with that idea. Then we walked outside and across the street to the Delta Center and they got their first clue what we were doing. It was so fun to watch their faces! They were so excited! Sarah especially liked all the animals. There were elephants, tigers, horses and zebras. She loved it. Plus, there was so much to see the whole time. It really was a fantastic show!

Robby's parents were able to go with us and since they were babysitting Rebecca and Gabriel for the day while their parents celebrated their anniversary they got to come along too! The kids were excited to have their cousins there with them. I didn't have a camera so I was lucky to get these pictures from Kim to remember we were there. The other pics below I stole from the internet.

I can't wait to go again!

Willard Bay

On Saturday of Labor Day weekend we had the best time with my family. My parents decided to rent a boat and a waverunner and treated us all to a day at the lake. We went to Willard Bay and it was such an awesome day! The kids were in heaven playing in the water and the sand with their cousins and taking turns riding in the boat and on the waverunner.


The boat my parents rented. You can see Robby inside and Randy on the front.

The kids playing in the water and on the sand.

We had a nice spot on the beach with a pavilion and plenty of shade. It was perfect!

It was technically a birthday party for Ben and I think he had a great time too!

Sarah wasn't so into playing in the water (or the sand) at first, but she warmed up over the course of the day.

Isaac loved playing in the water with the life jacket on.

Ali with Whitney and Savannah. Whitney had the cutest little ladybug floaty thing that she loved and I was so happy later that Sarah actually liked it too.

Clara and Savannah had fun getting buried in the sand by all the boys and Lily.

I had to laugh at Heather because she was wearing a black coat on the beach while the rest of us were in swimsuits. It was a little chilly at first, but she wore that thing until like 1:00 in the afternoon. She did finally warm up and change into her swimsuit too.

Isaac took a turn getting buried too.

Ali was nice to let all the little girls have a turn in the ladybug. I'm not sure if Lily liked it very much though.

Ali with her cute kids Alonzo and Whitney.

Oh, she is getting closer to the water. It only took 4 hours to move from up the beach to this close.

Robby and I got a turn on the waverunner. I like going with him because he goes a lot faster than I dare to go by myself so it is really fun.

Robby and Isaac took a turn behind the boat being pulled on the tube. They didn't like it very much because the front of the tube went down under the water and Isaac fell off. They were both done after a short turn.

Will loved riding in the boat, and especially driving it.

I loved riding on the tube. It was so much fun! My dad had me flying through the air and barely able to hold on. My neck was sore for days after this, but it was worth it. In the picture above I am riding with my nephew Tyler and below I am riding with Will. Neither of them wanted to go very fast though.

Papa took Savannah and Clara for a ride on the waverunner and they loved it!

I think all the adults except for Heather (who is pregnant) and my mom (who just had surgery on her toe and couldn't get it wet) tried either wakeboarding or skiing. I am so sad I didn't get to see Robby try wakeboarding. I think he got up on like the third try and had no problem getting up after that. I, on the other hand, tried for like an hour before I was finally able to get up. I did get it eventually though and it was so much fun! Thanks Robby and Ali for being so patient with me and helping me figure it out.

Yay!!

Man, that is a good workout. Muscles I didn't even know I had hurt the next day from that.

It was so fun to see my dad have so much fun. He loved taking the kids for rides on the waverunner and the boat. He even let them each have a turn driving the boat (with his supervision) and he skiied for the first time in I don't know how many years. It was awesome! Thanks so much Mom and Dad for making these memories for us and our kids.

Savannah just chillin.

Ben with Will and Ty on the waverunner.

Robby got a short turn alone on the waverunner.

Will trying to drown Ben, I mean Ben playing in the water with Will.

And Sarah finally made it into the water! After that she kept saying ladybug over and over trying to get me to take her back into the water. Even in the days since she has been saying "Play, water" and "Ladybug" remembering how much fun she had.

What a fun day this was!!

Gangrene Film Festival

We started the holiday weekend with a bang! Last year we went to the Gangrene Film Festival with our friends the Wheelers and it was so much fun! This year we were hoping to get one of our parents to take the kids overnight so we could stay for the late session as well, but it didn't work out. Robby's parents went to Las Vegas and mine went to Logan so it was a no go with the grandparents. So I tried to get one of the young women in our ward to watch them but they were all going to our neighbors house to watch a movie projected outside and no one was available to babysit so we ended up just taking the kids with us. We were a little nervous about taking them because we knew the theme and the band this year was about Bigfoot. We thought they might be a little scared, but it turned out to be great. The band was Wasasquatch and it was hilarious to watch grown men in bigfoot costumes singing and dancing onstage. They were actually pretty good too! It was very entertaining. We ended up being on the front row and Will and Savannah even got pulled onstage for one of the songs. Where is my camera when I need it? I am so sad I didn't get a picture of that! Anyway, they ended up having a blast and it was actually cheaper to pay for them to come with us than to pay for a babysitter.




The film festival was good too. Isaac was pretty tired and tried to go to sleep about the time the films started, but the other three really enjoyed it I think. Sarah was good the whole time on my lap. I was looking on the Gangrene facebook page and I found a video someone posted of the band's performance of Stairway to Heaven and we are right there on the video. They must have been sitting right behind us. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5qdBpEeMZY&feature=player_embedded

What a fun night! I can't wait for next year!

Sarah 18 Months

My baby girl is almost 19 months now. I was a little late doing her 18 month checkup because I wanted to wait until the other kids were back in school. She had her checkup last Wednesday and she is doing great. Here are her stats:
Weight: 22 lbs 4 oz 17%
Height: 31 inches 25%
Head: 18.5 inches 60%

She is so much fun right now! She is talking like crazy, she is into everything and she is always making us laugh. The other morning I was putting the boys' laundry away and I came downstairs to find this:

She climbed up onto the table and was eating the leftover pancakes on the table. Oh, and she had dumped the bag of chocolate cereal all over the floor. What a mess! She was so pleased with herself though. It was pretty funny.


Later that same day I found her standing up on the table again. Apparently a glass of water tastes a lot better standing way up high. I need to figure out how to break her of this new habbit before she falls and breaks her head.







Sarah has been talking in sentences for awhile now and she trys to repeat anything we say or do. She is still kind of a picky eater, but she is doing better. She even sings sometimes and it is the cutest thing! Today she said "Hey, watch this!" I wonder where she learned that.


Her new favorite food is applesauce. I couldn't even get her to try it a few weeks ago, but she finally tried it and she loves it! She is also loving cereal with milk. Since I can't get her to drink milk at all I have been giving her cereal a lot in an attempt to get her to drink even a little bit of milk. She will eat most anything we are eating and will ask for what she wants quite forcefully if we don't offer it to her. Still her most favorite food is berries. Strawberries and raspberries. The strawberries in our garden are doing really well this year and one of her favorite things to do is go outside and pick strawberries. She will say "Outside, berries" over and over until I take her outside.


Nursery is not going so well. Today when I took her in she started crying as soon as we walked through the door. I was asked to sub in primary (with my old class which I was thrilled to do) so I took her with me and tried again for the third hour. No luck. She cried the entire time and they eventually brought her back to me. I think this is going to be a long road I think. She is really clingy to me right now. She is pretty slow to warm up to new situations unless I am there to hold her and get her used to it.


I think Sarah's favorite phrase right now is WHAT!?! When I call her name she yells back "WHAT!!?" It is pretty funny. She also really likes to say "Daddy home, daddy home!" The other day when he got home she yelled "DAD!!" about 20 times until he answered her. She really demands our attention if we are not giving it to her.


Sarah is still totally in love with animals. Any time we see someone with a dog she gets so excited and asks if she can touch it. This has caused me recently to consider getting a puppy again. Some of you may remember we got a puppy for about a week 4 years ago and I couldn't handle taking care of it and 3 kids. They are older now so I think it would be better, but I'm scared it would be too hard. I am tempted though because I know Sarah would LOVE it.


Sarah is such a good sleeper. She is still taking two naps most days and sleeping from about 7:30 pm to 7:30 or 8:00 am.


She is just so much fun and I love watching her discover new things every day.