What We Have Been Doing

The boys went back to school this week.  They have two weeks left until their very short summer break.  We have C track, so they will have a 3 week summer break, go to school for 3 weeks and then have another 3 week break. 

Paul's first day back was a field trip to Antelope Island.  He mistakenly called it Cantaloupe Island, so now we jokingly call it Watermelon Island. 

Everyone seems to enjoy being back in school.  Daniel is able to concentrate better on his work when he doesn't have to work on tuning the boys out.  I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Mark will be starting 6th grade this year.  This will be our last year of being on the same schedule for school.  I understand why the upper grades don't do year-round schedules, but it sure makes family schedules difficult with year-round and traditional students.  It all works out though, so I'm not too worried. 

I have been meaning to post this picture for several weeks now.  I was at my parent's house for a family reunion of sorts (my mom's cousins from New Jersey and Florida were visiting) and I caught my dad and Jane talking to each other on the stairway.  It was so cute to see both of them interacting together.  Jane has been folding her arms a lot lately and I think that it is so adorable! 

I didn't catch a picture of Jane with my cousin Kara, but perhaps pictures of gigantic snot bubbles coming from Jane's nose with Kara just inches away wouldn't be too appetizing to look at, however funny it may have been at the time!  ISLO!

We went to the Riverton Art Festival specifically to buy fresh cotton candy.  The boys had never eaten fresh cotton candy, they have only had it from a bag at the store.  It was delicious and we all loved it- including Jane!  We also bought some cinnamon almonds and we finished the bag while we were at the park!  We walked around and looked at the exhibits and had a fun afternoon at the park.  I discovered that pushing a stroller around in the grass is not fun- it is hard work!

Last week  the boys and I went to the library summer reading program party at the park.  We watched a professional yo-yo champion perform and a jump rope group perform.  The boys played on some inflatable slides and ran around having fun.  They had a bunch of Star Wars characters roaming about, so the boys were pretty excited to get pictures with them.

Masks that the boys made at the library party

 Mark won a free lesson for Tae Kwon Do, so we took him into the class.  Master Hong is a very nice man and Mark did really well with the class.  We signed him up for a 6 month class and we'll see how things go from there.  Mark really enjoyed the challenge and the interaction. 

Jane helped Daniel make punch for dinner.  She had a blast stirring the punch.

Jane also loved 'testing' the punch.  Daniel had to pry the spoon away from her!

This weekend Daniel went golfing in Grand Junction, Colorado and in Monticello, Utah.  It was perfect weather and he had a good time.  Although Daniel had fun, he is in no hurry to get in the car for another road trip for a while.  We joked that it was his Father's Day present, but it wasn't really because he just happened to go this weekend.  He bought a GPS tool for golfing and before he bought it he called me to make sure that I hadn't purchased one for him already.  I told him that he gives me too much credit because I hadn't given it a second thought since he told me about it a few weeks ago!  He just didn't want to buy one if I had already bought one.  The boys asked if I got him anything for Father's day and I told them that I got him the GPS!  They were impressed and Daniel got a good laugh out of it!

Things went well here at the home front without Daniel.  It is so strange to have Daniel gone.  I am so use to him being home that having him gone throws me off.  Jane sure missed her dad.  She kept calling out "Da?  Da?"  This morning when Daniel woke up, she saw him and scrambled to get to him and gave him a long cuddle hug. 

Jane's One Year Pictures

Just for fun I decided to have Jane get her one-year-old pictures taken in the same dress that I wore for my one-year pictures.  It was fun to pull out my picture and compare. 

Sherron 1 year

Jane 1 year

I love the 'O' picture on this one

Pictures of Snowbird

The view from our balcony

The view from our balcony

Jane playing on the balcony

Check out that wall of snow behind Paul! 

The picture didn't pick up the steam coming off of Seth as he came over to me.

Paul prefered to take the stairs over the elevator.  We spent a lot of time playing on the stairs during our stay.

Things I Learned or Reconfirmed This Week Part 2

Vacationing with out a baby is relaxing. When we packed the van when Jane was staying home, we had so much space left over. No stroller, playpen, etc. Now, don't get me wrong. I love Jane as though she is my own daughter (ha ha) but it was much more of a vacation for ME without having to worry about her. The boys seemed to appreciate not being kicked out of the room during nap times, too!

Baby socks make me smile. We had inadvertently left a pair of Jane's socks behind in the room when we left the first time. I found them behind some towels and it made me smile. I really did miss her. I was going to put them in the laundry bag, but I left them out where I could see them and be reminded of my little baby Jane.   

It is hard not to take things the kids do/say personally. Thursday morning as we were packing to go back up to Snowbird, Mark came to me tearfully and said that he didn't want to come up with us. His skin was really rashy from the pool water, he was bored up there, and he said that he missed playing with his friends. I told him that I really wished that he would come with us, but I respect his decision to stay. Since Daniel was home, it was possible for him to stay. I felt slapped in the face that he didn't want to spend time with me. But that wasn't what he was saying, it wasn't because of me that he didn't want to go. I didn't want to force him to come and have a terrible attitude to deal with. He said that he was staying home and we went over some rules of him being home (he'd need to help out with Jane more than normal so Daniel could get some work done, chores, computer time, etc.)

Giving kids options (when available) helps them to feel in charge of their lives. About 1 hour after Mark decided to stay home,I started to load the van. Mark came upstairs with his bag packed, and told me that he had changed his mind. I gave him a hug, and threw in a few extra bits of food to accommodate our new member. We left quickly thereafter so that he couldn't change his mind again! He had a good time and we were all glad that he decided to come. 

Kids can surprise me. It was 9 pm and I suggested that we get a movie and watch it before going to bed. Mark, my night owl, said that it would be better if we went to bed and watched the movie in the morning. What? Seth agreed. What?? I wasn't going to argue, so we all got ready for bed and turned out the lights.

People talking on cellphones don't realize how loudly they talk. A guy was walking up and down the hallway talking loudly on his phone. I finally went to the door and asked him to be quiet. It was nearly 10 pm and it was driving me crazy. 

Slinky toys don't work on all stairways. Big bummer because we were excited to race a Slinky down the stairs.

Dominoes is a fun, relaxing game to play.  Mark and I played with a group at the lodge.  Mark was the youngest member of the group and the oldest member was 91 years old.  It was fun to finally learn how to play a real game of dominoes (we played Mexican Train)

If you don't want to copy down a recipe, take a picture of it with your phone and you have the recipe with you!

  It is so nice to be home from a trip and sleep in your own bed.  Seth does not share a bed very well. 

All in all I am really glad that we took some time to go on a family vacation.  It was  a lot of fun and the boys are still talking about our trip and thanking us for going.  We plan on going up there again for a day trip to see everything when the snow has melted. 

My friend is looking to sell his timeshare, so if you are interested, let me know.  We will need a bigger room as the years go on, otherwise we would be interested in buying it.