Camp Out

If there's one thing I love about summer, it's escaping to the mountains for a few days here and there. With little girl on the way, we won't be able to make it as much this year (Mike is jumping for joy) but we did make it at least this one time to camp with some friends at Granite Flats campground. The weather couldn't have been more perfect all weekend and the kids were loving it. They even stopped to pose for a few pictures the first night in our site with hardly any prodding.

They were super excited that we put up our "house" to sleep in and it had it's own door they could go in and out of a million times.

We tried out some new marshmallows I found at the store called stackers from jet puffed. They are basically flat and made just for smores. I have to say, they worked out pretty good. This smore right here, was amazing.

The boys thought that Mom roasting some hot dogs the first night was the best thing ever, so of course they wouldn't eat the yummy dinner Mom made the next night and had to roast their own hot dogs. I have to say it was pretty cute.

All in all, it was a pretty good trip. We had a rough time getting out of there this morning after we got it all cleaned up. The wheel prop on the trailer broke it's bolt, the kids played in the truck while we put down the tent trailer and managed to flood it which delayed our leave time and we noticed a brand new crack in the passenger side of the Durango windshield that wasn't there before we left. Thank goodness we were camping with a friend that knows how to fix stuff and was able to help us out before we left. But even with all that aside, at least 4 of the 5 of us had an awesome time. Mike is just going to have to keep indulging us for years to come I'm afraid. Caleb is already saying he is asking Santa for his own camping stuff this year.....That's my boy!

West Fest

After swimming lessons last night, we got to take the boys to a treat and go to the first evening of the West Valley Days or West Fest Celebration underway at the park. We walked around and checked out the few booths they had there and then headed for the rides of course. Caleb was in heaven that he got to go on a few rides by himself, indulged in a few kiddie rides with the twins and even got to go on one big kid ride with Dad. He told me it was the "most awesomest carnival ever!" Afterwards we stopped by McD's and got some ice cream cones. It was a good night indeed. Silly Mom forgot to put the memory card in the camera, so we only got a few shots from my phone of the fun. Enjoy!

The Fisherman and the Pirate

Meet the newest Fisherman in the family. The twins discovered Caleb's old toy fishing (or Pishing, as they call it) set yesterday and have been having a ball fishing all over the house. Zaric is especially fond of "pishing" and sits here catching his "pishes" with a big grin on his face.
"Aaargh!" Is what you will hear if you show either one of these boys anything with a pirate on it. Zaden is officially my "pirate boy" and loves anything to do with pirates. He loves the hats, the handkerchiefs, the boats and especially anything with skulls and crossbones on it. He was thrilled when he discovered that Mom knew how to tie this one to his head like a pirate and wore it for quite a while.

It's so fun to watch these boys and how they enjoy playing things together, but are still different in how much they favor one thing or the other. That being said, I think they would make a great team if they were ever at sea together. One to catch dinner and the other to steer the boat.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to a great Daddy who does so many things for us:

Like not minding when we get him dirty.

Taking us on Field Trips

Indulging Mommy in her need to camp every summer.

And so much, much more. You are the glue that holds us together sometimes.

We Love you Daddy!

In honor of Mike's day, we have done just what he requested.....nothing! I did make our tradition started last year of homemade doughnuts. And the rest of the day will be spent in our jammies taking advantage of the rainy day outside and relaxing inside.

And Happy Father's Day to my Dad's out there. Thank you so much for all the stuff you do for our family and always being there for the kids. They have some of the greatest Grandpa's in the world! Sorry, I haven't gotten a chance to go shopping yet, so your gifts will be late. :)

Chalk Art Festival

Yesterday, we had plans to hang out with our friends, The Jones's. We hadn't made a firm plan of what to do yet and I came across some info (totally by chance) that there was a Chalk Art Festival going on downtown at the Gateway. So we invited them along and they were all for it. So we got to go admire the wonderful artwork and visit with great friends along the way. And the kids (and me) got to enjoy the first Snowies of the summer. It was a great afternoon and a great kick off to Father's Day since this is something that Mike is totally into. We tried to talk him into entering it next year as one of the artists. I don't think he will go for it, but he definitely wants to go again. Here's some pics of some of the favorites.

Sharked

More of the goodies I ordered have been pouring in and I am happy to say the boys bathroom has been mostly sharked out. Here's the cute stuff I found to adorn the sink.


I think this toothbrush holder is my favorite piece.

And we have a large framed shark picture up above the potty.

And this curtain greets those brave enough to enter and shower there.

The best part of this project is that no painting was involved. Just the switching out of decorations. We have one more idea for a crafty decoration in there but since it may take a while to get up the time and energy to do it, I thought I would share the rest. The boys love it!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes....

Caleb seems to be getting a good dose of the life lesson of "Change" and learning to roll with the punches this summer. About 2 weeks ago we received a letter from his pediatrician Dr. Joe whom Caleb and we adore both as a Dr. and a friend (since Mike and him were friends and co-workers for a time before he became our Dr.). Dr. Joe is leaving his practice and taking a position with the State of Utah as the Director of Medicaid. You could have heard Caleb's heart breaking into pieces when we explained to him that we would have to pick another Dr. for them to see. And he asked, "but who's little buddy will I be now?" It was so sad. We have since called the office and gotten switched to another Dr. there and we'll see how that turns out the next time we need to go in.
Last weekend Mike and I got to have a few hours away from the kids to go to our beloved friends, Allison and her boyfriend's going away party. After 13 years of her being a prominent fixture in our lives, since our chance assignment of being Freshman roommates, they have decided to leave and move to Seattle. When we had to finally tell Caleb why we were going out and a babysitter was coming over, he was again heartbroken that his "Auntie Allison" was moving away. He asked , "do you mean like to live there?" and when I replied with a yes, he held in the tears but his little lip quivered a bit. Then he made me promise that we could go visit sometime.
With all of this talk of moving rooms and preparing for baby, I am beginning to wonder how much this little boy can take this summer. Luckily, so far he seems excited for that change. He has helped me map out a plan of where to put his furniture and is thrilled that his new comforter and body pillow arrived this week. He's been packing the pillow with him everywhere and had to put it together on the family room floor today to test it out before it goes onto his bed when we move him in just a few weeks.

We are wondering what other changes he will encounter this summer and marveling at how resilient kids really are. Even with being sad about the current changes, he continues to be a ray of sunshine and happiness day after day. We are truly blessed to have him.

Ouren Updates-June edition

I decided it was about time to do some updates on all of us. So here we go:

Mike: Mike continues to be the best husband and Daddy possible (most days anyway). His department of work is going through a lot of changing and reorganization since combining forces with another entity in New Mexico. He'll continue to be the IT Manager until August and then we are anxiously awaiting to see where he'll fit in after that. He continues to work so hard and we are anxious to see what happens. His loves of science fiction, movies, Nintendo, Xbox, and reading are never wavering.

Becca: I continue to work part time at SLCC. It has its good days and it's bad days, but I enjoy it much more now that I work a normal day-time shift. I am both happy and sad that it's summer. Happy to be able to let the kids outside to play, to BBQ often, to camp, to be outdoors etc. but sad that means an entire school year has gone by and the kids are another year older. I am super excited to start rearranging rooms in this house and finally be able to start my "nesting" phase for baby girl. I've been ordering goodies and gearing up to get started next month.

Caleb: Caleb officially finished the First Grade on Friday. He was both happy and sad to have it be his last day. He has loved his school and especially the Chinese program. He has already asked both me and Dad several times if he can go back to the same school and learn more Chinese. He came home with another beaming report card. We are so proud of his progress over the last year. He really worked hard, learned a lot and continues to baffle us with how much Chinese he knows already. Some of his favorite things right now are his DS, Lego's, playing Lego Star Wars on the Xbox with Dad, learning all about the planets and space, and some of his old favorites, like dinosaurs and stuffed animals linger on. He chose not to play baseball this summer but is looking forward to getting back into a few swim lessons over the break and playing at the babysitters house while Mom is working. He also has a new fond love of Otter Pops and has wanted one most every day since June hit so far. I think the thing he's most looking forward to this summer is going to the Bees game on the 4th of July like we normally do. He's been talking about it non-stop. He continues to be both an awesome and an obnoxious (at times) big brother to the twins and he's looking forward to baby girls arrival, and to have a new room soon.

Zaric- Zaric has finally been moved off the waiting list for speech therapy and we attended our first 2 sessions. The first session wasn't very productive as he wasn't very cooperative. But the 2nd one was a lot better and I can see progress in him just in the last few weeks. Both on his own and from the sessions. He continues to love playing outside, running, cars, trucks, airplanes and is finally starting to like to take a few minutes out to actually be read to. Up until now he's never had the patience for it. He continues to be our "Dennis the Menace" and is always innocently causing mischief wherever he goes. He's my early riser and worries about his brothers whenever they aren't around, especially his Doodle, whenever Zaden is missing, he starts to panic a little. He's starting to show some interest in potty training and loves to sit on the potty, we just can't seem to catch him at the right time to actually get him to go on it. But we'll keep working at it.

Zaden- Zaden loves to be outside as well. He loves to be read to and is having fun starting to learn his shapes and colors and a few numbers and letters. He loves to watch cartoons and movies with his big brother. He continues to also love playing with car, trucks and airplanes. He is my only child that will sleep in (past 7) on a regular basis and still loves to be my cuddle bug. He is also starting to like to sing along with songs on the radio and can already sing the tune to Star Wars on his own. He cracks us up regularly. He's starting to also show a little potty training interest and follows Zaric's lead of sitting on the potty, even if it's just sitting.

Faith- Baby girl (as far as we can tell) continues to grow, thrive and kick her mommy. We have hit 25 weeks today. It seems like she's coming too slow and too fast all at the same time. The last OB appt was short and sweet and we have another coming up this week. I continue to give myself progresterone shots in hopes that she stays in there longer than her brothers at least and have been trying to take it easy as much as possible which is easier said than done with 3 others running around demanding Mom's attention most of the time. The middle name debate continues, we'll eventually agree on something. We are so excited to meet our little pink caboose and bring her home to this family full of chaos and love.

HOly SmokES BaTman!!

We got a real treat last night when one of the local elementary school's was holding a car show fundraiser. And not just any car show, a car show that featured the Batmobile from the 1998 Batman movie release. Of course Mike was rearing to go for weeks after getting wind of it. Luckily it turned out to only be a slightly chilly evening and we set off.





Of course we got to see lots of other cool cars as well. And we got to see the Mascots from several sports team as well as the Ken Garff dog and Caleb and I got silly Stringed by the Utah Blaze Tiger and the Ken Garff dog at the same time. Caleb also collected their autographs. He thought that was the best thing.......ever!

Afterwards we decided to take the kids to get ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Caleb decided he wanted to try a chocolate dipped waffle cone for the first time. He loved it but I think he ended up with more of that and his oreo ice cream on his face than in his belly. He was worse than the twins. But look at this smile. What a happy Boy!

It was a great kickoff to summer vacation. Hopefully the weather finally continues to improve so we can actually have a summer.

Wowza!

I love it when a plan comes together. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I had taken a bunch of the twins old stuff to the Salt Lake Mother's of Twins yard/consignment sale. I knew that I had sold quite a bit of it and was anxiously awaiting the check to come in the mail. Well it finally did and I was actually shocked! I made more than expected. Over $300!!!!! Whoot, Whoot! And that was after the club kept 10% of it. I am so excited both to be rid of those things and to be able to buy some new things that I've had my eye on like this cute lady bug bedding that I've been eye- balling for baby Faith.

And Caleb has put in his orders for some new bedding for his room since he'll be moving downstairs. Of course he has picked his beloved NY Giants.

And there might even be enough left over to change the boys bathroom from dogs to sharks as also requested by Caleb. So much fun!