Look Who's Two

Valerie
It is hard for me to believe that Valerie is already two. She is growing up a little too fast for me, but I am enjoying every minute of it.

We started off her birthday with her present from us. It was not too hard to decide what to give her. Valerie loves real babies and every week in nursery she heads straight for the baby dolls and strollers. She is a good little mommy.

Then it was time to get ready for the party.

As soon as dad arrived home with balloons for the party Valerie claimed them as hers and quickly took them to her room. She then came out and shut the door behind her. We have had a couple of sad experiences with balloons flying away, so I guess she was making sure that didn't happen again. Eventually I talked her into letting me take a few pictures of her with them, and then she helped me put them around the front room to decorate. (After the party she put them right back in her room, and wont bring them out.)

At 3:00pm the Party began. We started off the party with the Dora Bubble Machine, while we waited for the guests to arrive. Valerie loved this, and the boys did too after they decided how it worked.

When the bubble game started getting a little wild, we headed outside for some more fun.

Valerie's latest talent she has been developing has been coloring on all of the blank canvases she can find around the house, like walls and couches. (Luckily she has used washable pallets for her work.) So I thought she might like to play with Sidewalk Chalk.

All the kids, (and a few adults) had fun with this. Valerie liked it so much that by the end she had collected all of the chalk pieces for herself.

We finished off the games with one of Valerie's favorites,

Ring-Around-The-Rosie.

Then it was time for cake. Valerie really likes Dora right now, so My mom and Emily made her a Dora cake. Complete with most of the Characters.

Valerie liked the cake so much she did not want us to eat it at first. Luckily we had some cupcakes.

Eventually we did cut into it, and Valerie ate a piece of it too.

She received some fun gifts. My Parents gave her a bed and stroller for her baby, She started playing with it before Grandpa could even get it put together.

Ryan's mom and dad gave her a new trike. When she saw it she said, "My bike!" She and Grandma had a fun time learning how to ride it.

At the age of two Valerie is.................................

Determined to be big. She wants to be like the older kids and does not let them leave her behind. She thinks she is as big as the boys and is not afraid to boss them around a little. She started potty training herself, so she could wear underwear like them. She seems to be afraid of nothing, if the boys can do it so can she. Luckily her brothers don't seem to mind her following them around.

She does not like to be left behind in a literal sense either. If someone is going somewhere, Valerie wants to go too. If she even thinks that you are leaving she runs and gets her shoes on. Then if she does not get to go she gets very upset. Unfortunately this happens more than she would like.

She loves shopping, and prefers the color pink. She is a good shopper and likes to pick things out not only for herself, but also for others. When she sees something purple, she will say, "Oh that's Emily's." Green and blue are either Joe's or Josh's, and when she finds something pink she says, "Oh that's mine!"

She still loves music. She loves to listen to it, dance to it, and sing it. At least once a day I hear her singing a song. Usually it is a familiar tune with her own words as lyrics. She also loves to be sung too. She really likes the song "The Wheels on the bus." Her favorite versus are, The baby on the bus, and the mama on the bus.

One of my favorite times to sing to her is at bed time. She will tell me what songs she wants, and they are usually ones from nursery. So it is a good thing I have subbed in nursery a little, otherwise I am not sure I would know what the "heart" song is. A few of her favorites are I am a child of God, Happy Family (heart song), and The star Song.

Valerie is very good at communicating and uses two to four word sentences, and is very good at telling us what she needs. She is also good at fit throwing when we don't give her what she wants. She knows and identifies the basic shapes. (circle, square, triangle, star, heart, rectangle) Sometimes when we are out on a walk or shopping at the store she will point to something and tell me what shape it is.

As with most Two year olds, Valerie is very busy, and is keeping me on my toes. I knew I was in trouble the day that I called her name to see what she was doing in the other room, and instead of her running out to me, she just called out "What!" She is learning new things all the time and trying things out.

Valerie is a happy little girl and it is so fun to watch her play and grow.

I love you Valerie.

Happy Birthday!

Lagoon!

As a child my family used to go to Lagoon once a year on Stake Lagoon Day. It was something we looked forward to every summer. When I was eight my family moved to Farmington. I thought it was so neat to live right by Lagoon. At the time Lagoon gave the residence of Farmington a free entrance pass. So we still only went to ride the rides once or twice a year, but occasionally our family would go down and see a show or walk through pioneer village, and, (to let you know how old I really am.) We would go swimming at the Lagoon pool. My family was a little sad when they tore out the old pool and put in Lagoona Beach.

When we first moved there, I pictured myself going to Lagoon all the time when I was a teenager. I could even imagine myself working there. But when the time came to find a job, I was happy when I ended up working at the local grocery store instead. I had friends who worked at Lagoon and loved it, but by then working there did not appeal to me. I loved going and playing there. Not the entire summer like I thought I would. I still usually only went 2 or 3 times a year, but I never got sick of Lagoon. It always stayed fun.

When my kids ask to go to Lagoon I think I want to go as much as they do, but I have not been to Lagoon for five years. For some reason or other we just never made it to Lagoon the past few years. However my kids did go two summers ago. The day after I had Valerie, while I was in the hospital recovering, my parents took Emily, Joe and Josh to Lagoon with their cousins.

This summer my parents were planning to come for a visit and my mom and I talked about some fun things we could do while they were here, and Lagoon was put on the list, we just needed to try to find a deal. Jon came through on that and got us Stake Lagoon Day tickets.

When my kids found out we were going they were so excited and started talking about what rides they were going to ride. Thursday the kids and I went to Lagoon with my Parents, Jaxson, Jon and Jenny. (Baby Violet spent the day with her other Grandma, and Ryan had to work :( at his new job:)

The one ride that Emily wanted to make sure she went on was Wicked. That was her favorite the last time she went. So we decided we would go to that first. She had even talked Joe into riding it this year.

The line was not too bad, so we got in line and waited, and waited and waited. Then we realized that there were three people at the operating booth and one of them was on the phone. This is never a good sign. So we decided to head to another ride and come back. It was good that we did, because a few minutes later they shut wicked down for a little while.

The ride next to Wicked is Spider and the Fly. So the kids made that the first ride of the day.

You had to have an even number so Uncle Jon went with them. I rode this ride later in the day. It is a little crazy riding backward and spinning around while you go on a roller coaster. I could see why the kids like it.

While the older kids were waiting in line fore the roller coasters My parents took Jaxson and Valerie to kiddie land. I wondered if Valerie would get on the rides, but I forgot that Valerie is a dare devil.

She Loved it!

After Spider the boys joined us in kiddie land. (Emily and Jon headed off to more roller coasters.)

Joe tried to be brave at first, and say he was going to ride all of the big rides, but in the end I could tell he loved the kiddie land rides the most. This was really good, because Josh wanted to do what Joe was doing and he is not quite tall enough to do all of the big rides. But as brave as Joe was talking Josh was talking even braver. Even when Joe started admitting that he did not want to ride on Wicked Josh was telling us he did....convenient for him that he was not tall enough.

The boys favorite rides of the day ended up being two of the smaller roller coasters, The Bat and the new roller coaster Bombora. The boys loved them.

Around dinner time Valerie discovered her favorite ride of the park.......

Bulgy The Whale.
She road Bulgy so many times we lost track, but I am pretty sure it was more than 50. I put her on it seven times and then we went and had dinner. After dinner Emily and Joe wanted me to go ride a few rides with them, so Grandpa headed back to Bulgy with Valerie. She road it over and over again. They left for a few minutes to go potty or something and when my dad brought Valerie back to the ride he said the ride operator just laughed.

Odyssey was a hit with everyone. Joe and Josh had fun getting my mom and Jenny wet on this ride, and Valerie laughed every time the water sprayed her and Emily.

Because I had not been to Lagoon for so long, I was not sure if I would still like riding the roller coasters, or if I had gotten too old and would just get sick on the rides. So when Emily asked me to go on Colossus with her I was willing, but unsure..........

I still love roller coasters. We road it twice together and then headed over to give Wicked a try. Then we went and got Joe.

Joe had decided he was not going to ride Wicked, but he said he would try Colossus if I road with him. I could tell he was really nervous and the entire ride he was holding on for dear life. When the ride came to an end. He breathlessly repeated. "I survived, I survived."

By the end of the day Josh was getting to be a little daredevil too. He started holding his hands above his head on Bombora and when we rode The Tidal-wave together he held his hands up then too. I had one hand on josh, because I was afraid for him.

We had so much fun at Lagoon, and I am so glad my family went with us. I have to say a big thanks to Jon for being willing to be Emily's ride buddy for most of the day. She loves all of the big scary rides and had so much fun.......and Jon, I am really sorry you ended the day with motion sickness.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the fun day at Lagoon, and thanks Grandpa for staying until the park closed.

Independence Weekend

Because the 4th of July was on a Monday we were able to celebrate all weekend. On Saturday our friends invited us over for a cookout and fireworks.

The kids had a great time playing with all of their friends, and they were all excited about the fireworks. The dads started off with some of the noisier fountains, and Valerie did not like those,

so she came and sat in my lap. After the first few she fell asleep.

When the show was over the kids did sparklers.

Someone had brought the really big long sparklers. The boys had a great time with those.

On Monday the 4th we had all of our family that lives in the area (and my mom and dad who are visiting from Washington) over for dinner and fireworks.

In keeping with the tradition that Ryan's mom has set, we had a parade after dinner while we waited for it to get dark.

My mom showed the kids how to make newspaper hats.

Then we all headed to the garage to decorate the bikes and other vehicles.

Then the parade began. Valerie led the parade in her wagon. And Jon and Jenny were good sports and pushed baby violet in her stroller to end the parade.

Our parade route was just around the block, but we didn't get started until 8:30pm, so there were a lot of people out. When we got about half way around the block some kids came out to watch us pass, and Joe said, "Oh mom this is embarrassing." Emily said "Try being my age and doing this."

I am glad that even though it might be a little embarrassing they are both good sports about it, and I think secretly they liked it. Because other than that little conversation, they were waving their flags and having a good time.

When the parade ended the fireworks began. The laws in Utah changed this year and we were able to do Aerials. This made the show even better, and with all of the neighbors lighting off their fireworks we were very entertained. Not to mention the two show stoppers my dad got for the end of our show. It is always fun to get together with family.

Happy Independence Day!

Apple Pickers

My parents have come to town for a visit. They are spending a few days in Tooele at my Grandma's, so on Saturday we went to visit. My kids are always excited when I tell them we are going to Tooele. They love it there. They love my Grandma, the animals out there, and they even love the chores my Grandma asks them to help her with.

This visit my Grandma needed help thinning the apples on her apple tree.

The kids liked this job, especially getting to climb the ladder.

Valerie was a good helper too. She stuck with Grandma most of the time helping her get the ones she missed.

When that task was complete the kids noticed the Job Grandpa was assigned, and they went over to see if he needed help. My grandma was having him spray paint some metal folding chairs all kinds of fun colors.


After the jobs were done it was time to play. Joe and Josh brought my Grandma's mini trampoline outside to jump on.

As always it was a great time at Great Grandma's. She has invited us back in a few weeks to help pick the ripe apples. It will be fun to go visit her again.

First Hike Of The Season

The weather has finally started cooperating, so we headed into the canyon with a few friends for a hike. Because there are still quite a few feet of snow in the mountains we started our hiking season off at Bell Canyon Reservoir. This hike is about 3/4 of a mile to the reservoir. With an elevation gain of about 500 feet.

Two of our hikers were small, but they were determined to do it themselves. This slowed the pace a little so the older kids got a few extra breaks while they waited for us.

I was impressed with how well the kids did, especially the little ones. We got almost 1/2 mile before they started wanting to be carried.

Then after a few minutes of being carried they would try to walk again.

The view was really cool on this hike.

the kids liked looking out over our city and seeing places that were familiar. We had a really good view of the park in our neighborhood.

Somewhere along the trail Joe found a great walking stick. He was really excited. He used it the rest of the hike, and then brought it home to use on our next hike too.

The first thing we did when we made it to the end of the trail was have a snack.

Then we headed over to check out the water.

The water in this canyon is part of the watershed.

So that means no swimming.

But it was fun to look at, and throw rocks in.

Valerie was tired, so I carried her back down the trail most of the way. I think the other kids liked this because that meant we could go faster.

It was a great day for a hike and with the water so high this year, everything was very green and pretty. I can't wait for the snow to melt a little more, so we can check things out a little higher up the canyon.

Let's Play Ball

For Family Night we headed up to the school to play a little ball. Grandpa and Grandma joined us. We designated Grandpa as the pitcher and then everyone took turns hitting, while the rest of us played the outfield.

Josh was excited to play. He had watched Joe and Emily all season and thinks baseball is what he wants to sign up for in the fall.

Joe dressed for the occasion, and got a few hits off of Grandpa. He is really starting to get the hang of it.

Grandma took a swing at it and got a hit.

Emily was having a lot of fun helping her brothers and getting hits herself. After the boys got board with the game and wandered off to the playground, Grandpa and Emily got in some extra practice time.

Valerie did not try to hit the ball, but she had a lot of fun with the bat.

Until she discovered the after game treat. Then all she could think about was the cookies.

It was a fun night, and I am seeing a lot of baseball (and softball) in our future.