alex has come and it has been so exciting!!
We have been telling him all the past shtuff that we can remember. He also went with us to the Oquirrh (“Oker”) temple dedication.
~James
Alex is here!!
Spanish Fork Fiesta Days
Spanish Fork’s big celebration for the year is July 24 (Pioneer Day). They hold the Saturday before the 24th a Children’s Parade, that has grown into a much larger event than what the original was intended to be. Now after the Children’s Parade, there are activities and festivities in the Library Park that last all day. It really is a lot of fun, but also exhausting!
But that’s ok, since summer time is about having fun!
The boys really wanted to take Ruxpin with us for the parade. I really didn’t want to have to drag him around with us in the park for the rest of the day, but I relented and asked Dave to come get us when we were done. Well, our day turned out much different than we thought it was going to be.
I had Jacob in my sling and Ruxpin on a leash and I walked down with them on the parade route down to the park. Ruxpin was very excited for the walk. Jacob loved all the attention too.
Once we got down to the park, there were activities galore. The first and most important for my boys and for LaMont’s family was to get to the Fish Derby. They really wanted to make sure that they caught a fish with their bare hands. For $5 each they waited in line for 45 minutes waiting for the fish to arrive. I called Dave and had him pick up Ruxpin, and drop off swimsuits. They really wanted to have swimsuits so they didn’t have to get their clothes wet.
Dave was a good sport and was taxi person for the next 30 minutes doing my To Do list (like going to the ATM to get cash, bring the swimsuits, then coming to pick us up when we were done).
But the boys had a great time! 2 years ago when we did the fish derby James was heartbroken to see his fish die before his eyes
in the Ziploc bag. This year he did ok, but it was Anthony that was traumatized with the death of his fish. He started crying, asking for Dave to get to the park fast to pick us up so we could get it home and in the fish bowl. Even though we kept telling him that a trout can survive in a little bowl. He had to see it for himself. After quite a few tears, he insisted that we bury it in our backyard. So we did. We planted a plant over it too. Benjamin couldn’t wait to have his fish grilled up. (Which we still haven’t done yet. It’s still in the freezer.)
We got home with the fish, changed their clothes (the boys, not the fish), and returned back to the park to do more activities. This time we brought along Jessica, Ryan and Savvy. (Boy that’s a full crowd to put in the van!)
There was also a jumping trampoline thing that was $5/jump for about 3 minutes. There was a huge line for this right after the parade, and Brynn Lewis waited in line for it for 1 hour. By the time we got to it at noon, there were significantly less amounts of kids there, so we waited about 10 minutes for a turn, and nearly everyone took a turn jumping HIGHER than they’ve ever jumped before. Too fun!!!!
TV Station Tour
Provo Colonial Days
Last year I heard about this free event that Provo holds called “Colonial Days” as part of their Freedom Festival. (One of the largest festivals celebrating our Freedom – aside from Washington DC of course.) So I loaded up the boys and took them.
It was at the Crandall Printing Museum and surrounding buildings in historic Provo. I didn’t know that the Crandall Printing Museum has the only fully-functional Gutenberg Press replica. We learned about where “upper-case” and “lower case” comes from. Also saw a replica of the Golden Plates, taken from a description that Joseph Smith recorded, including the ‘sealed’ portion. Because it was nearing lunch time Samuel was getting crabby so we didn’t get to stay very long in that part of the museum. So we ventured outside where we saw some Revolutionary War army items. Also heard a rousing rendition of the speech, “Give me liberty, or give me death”. James and I were the only brave ones in our family to say “Hear! Hear!” when the actor/orator was giving the speech.
We moved along and happened to run into a man who was telling about the Indian Chief Crazy Horse and why General Custer didn’t have a chance against him. Very interesting history!
We also saw a 98 year old man who is the oldest registered Scout in the Boy Scouts of America! I wanted to get all my boys around him for a picture. But Samuel was having a fit about his shoes, and Benjamin was not feeling well (left over from the dentist visit the day before). So I just quickly took a picture of him. Impressive with all his awards on his shirt!!!
We left before being to see everything. But I’m sure that we’ll do it again next year. And bring dad along to help.
Samuel wanting violin lessons?
Yesterday when loading everyone up to go up to Meika’s house for lessons, Samuel insisted on taking the little violin. I didn’t argue, and let him. So he had a short 5 minute lesson with Meika that made him so happy. The interesting thing was that during one of my cello lessons today, Samuel watched the whole lesson. At age 3, I’ve never had any of my boys stay and watch a lesson voluntarily. He was squirming back and forth on the couch during the lesson, but he was watching nonetheless! Hmmm….I wonder….
Jacob finally decides to crawl!
On his 8 month birthday, Jacob finally decides to crawl!
In words from cousin Savannah:
We were downstairs and Jacob saw piece of a horn. Then he decided to crawl to them. Then he crawled to them! I tried to get him to do it again. I used one of his toys. Then he did it again! I was so glad i told everyone!
Back to LaReita: It was a very exciting day for everyone! Jacob was beaming while everyone shouted and cheered for him. Today he has been crawling a bit more to everyone’s delight. I have been wanting him to figure out crawling because I know that it is an important developmental step for them in learning how to read. (Cousin Laurel Ann Strate, who is an excellent educator can fill you in on all the scientific details.) So our patience and efforts in helping him get down on his knees finally paid off.
Though his favorite thing to do is still to stand. And grab the glasses off my face. He’s getting pretty quick at that!
Samuel has potty trained!
The most exciting thing that has happend this summer so far is that Samuel has potty trained. Well, I shouldn’t say potty trained because sometimes he doesn’t use the potty. I’ll explain.
When we went camping the end of May I decided that this would be a good chance for Samuel to learn how to get close to nature. So I took off the diaper, and let him “go commando”. This is something that my Aunt Joanna did for her kids on the farm. Teach them how to go while running around outside playing. “Go on that rock,” is what she said to her kids, and it worked remarkably well. I just forgot to include that part of the instructions because Samuel decided to be like the dog and mark his territory everywhere.
So now that he has potty trained, I now have to remind him that if he’s in the backyard playing, that he needs to come inside to go pee. In fact yesterday after dinner, Samuel finished his dinner then went outside. The rest of us were finishing up. One of the kids got up to clear their plate and went to the window to see where Samuel was. “He’s got his pants down again. Oh! He’s popping!” I sent Dave out to help Samuel. When Samuel came back inside I quietly and gently pulled him inside and told him that he really needs to be inside when he has to go pee or poop. “Understand?” He said yes. I asked him “Where do you go to pee and poop? “Inside.”
We’ll see if he actually remembers and follows instructions.
Firemen for the morning
Julles told us that Springville was opening a new firestation, so we went over to check it out. Not many
people for the ceremony (complete with a printed program – only in Utah), but more people drizzled in with the rain. I found the EMT explanation quite interesting, but the boys were much more interested in the big trucks.
But the LifeFlight that landed and their tour was very interesting. Not that there was much to tour through, just their pointing and showing….
The boys kept asking silly questions. But I thought it was interesting that the flight nurse had to have a certain amount of years as an ICU nurse, ER nurse and take flight school classes. (Makes sense.)
One of the funnest things for the boys was to go and be able to sit on one of the original firetrucks, now on
display. It was used until 1975, and still was fully functional at the time of decommission. That wasn’t impressive to the kids. What was really cool was that they were able to ring the bell from the inside of the truck that made it ring on the outside. Anthony immediately went to work trying to figure out how pulling a cord from the inside would make the bell ring on the outside. He figured it out pretty quickly!
Wish I had brought my better camera, but the phone camera will just have to do sometimes!
What really made me laugh was that they began serving cookies/cake/punch at the Open House by 9:30 am. Talk about needing to help people that go into sugar shock!!! I told my boys, NO SUGAR because they had not eaten breakfast yet. Apparantly I didn’t get the memo to Dave. He let them have cookies and punch when I was off helping someone else. Sigh.
chaos faction
I like Chaos Faction right now I am on the last level with Vortion & a ATOM BOMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bionicles
James- I have a lot of bionicles I built over 15!!!! Cool huh?? I like bionicles