Building and Dog-sitting

Does anyone else feel like summer is flying by?!?

One of Matt's summer projects is to build a new play gym for the backyard. Our old one was gifted to us, but some of the wood was badly warped. I was nervous each recess for preschool when we had 3 kids swinging at a time that it would break! Luckily it held up for the year, but I didn't want to chance another year. Rather than replacing the wood that was warped, Matt decided that he would build a bigger and better play gym (male ego). Hopefully it will get finished this week, but here's the progress so far.

Digging the holes to place the poles and fill with cement (it has to be extra sturdy because it's extra big!)

#1 helper: Caleb

#2 helper: Carter

#3 helper: the dog we were sitting

Unfortunately his help included digging holes in our grass where we didn't want holes!!!

(Yes, Carter is eating dirt.)

The holes were the perfect size for Carter to jump in

All boy

Where we stand today. Still to do: 2nd tier, roof, attach swings, ladder...

The same night that Matt dug the holes, it rained (which we need desperately!) so he didn't get a chance to set the posts that night with cement. That also meant that the holes in the backyard became mini-swimming pools for Carter and the dog. Carter escaped in the backyard with the dog and thoroughly enjoyed the muddy pools, along with the dog. Then we watched as Carter and the dog climbed up into the sand table (I was impressed that Carter could pull himself up there!). 2 of a kind.

Not a fun clean-up, but the dog and Carter had a lot of fun!

The puppy and Carter were quite the pair for the 2 weeks we dog-sat. The dog stuck like glue to Carter whenever Carter was eating, because something always goes over the side of his high chair for meals/snacks. And Carter stuck like glue to the dog the rest of the day. He was fascinated by him. Carter usually greets me with a kiss first thing in the morning, but I moved down the totem pole with a dog around. The first thing Carter did each morning was run and lay on top of the dog. He would then give him a kiss on the mouth, which for Carter is an open mouth. It was gross to witness.

We learned a lot by dog-sitting. I've been contemplating getting a dog for awhile now because my boys love dogs as do I. I learned that we are not in a stage in our lives where we are ready for a dog/puppy! It was a hard 2 weeks. I think the puppy was missing his family desperately, and we had different rules in our house than he is used to.

4th of July

Is it sad that I didn't miss the fireworks that were banned here in the south? Ever since having kids, fireworks = crying babies and no sleep for the whole house until like 1 am when they finally seem to taper off. We enjoyed a family breakfast and baseball game with my family in the morning and swimming and hamburgers with Matt's family in the evening.

I truly am grateful for the freedoms of this country. As I am teaching about temples to the children in my church this month, I'm also appreciative of the opportunity to worship freely. My beliefs influence everything I do in my life, and I'm so grateful for this freedom.

Recipe

The recipe from my last post. Definitely yum. And I love her food blog.

Chocolate Orange Swirl Muffins

I made a few variations: I used milk chocolate chips; the orange taste wasn't enough for me, so 2nd time around I added a little orange extract; and instead of buttermilk, I used milk with a T of vinegar (a trick I learned in my BYU cooking class). I also under bake all my sweets by a few minutes.

Father's Day

For Father's Day, Matt got a chance to sleep in while the boys and I made breakfast for Daddy. At Matt's request, we made bacon and eggs. I love trying new recipes, so my boys also helped me make some orange and chocolate swirl muffins. They were a hit, and Caleb's been asking for them every day since Sunday.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Matt is a terrific father. The second he walks through the front door after work each day is everyone's favorite moment of the day I think! The boys immediately drop whatever they're doing to greet him at the door. Matt is so good about spending time with them, and they love him so much!

Day 4--Heading Home

We had to check out of our hotel by noon, so our morning started early. The earliest church time we could find was 9 am, and we had to take the subway to get there. The church looked more like a cathedral than an LDS church. It seemed relatively new and was beautiful. It was interesting to go to different floors for each hour of church. We only had time for the first 2 hours, but can I tell you how nice it was to have a week off with no kids at church? We could actually listen the whole time! And I loved going to Sunday School. Being in Primary, I really miss the other meetings.

We snapped a few more pictures below ground. We were really fascinated by the subway system of travel and how crowded it can get!

One of the items on the agenda for Saturday was to see Grand Central Station. Due to the rain, it didn't happen, so as we were walking back to our hotel, we made a quick side trip to snap a few pictures.

(The clock was not as big/tall as I had assumed based on Madagascar.)

Leaving the hotel

Catching a taxi back to the airport

The plane ride home was not fun. There was bad weather on the plane's route to Texas, so we had to taxi for an hour while someone rerouted all the courses. Due to this hour delay, we had to refuel in Memphis, Tennessee. We were either in an airport or on an airplane for 8 1/2 hours on Sunday. Not fun! We were so excited to see Caleb and Carter again though once we got home.

Worst part about the trip: The taxi ride to our hotel and the plane ride home were pretty bad, but the part I hated the most were the elevators in our hotel. The Waldorf Astoria is old and the elevators were not a smooth ride. If we would have been on level 10 or less, I would have opted for the stairs everyday, but we were on floor #22 of 25 floors. 3 days after the trip, I still feel like my equilibrium is off and I feel slightly dizzy when I run each morning.

Best part about the trip: I loved experiencing the city with my hubby. The heart truly does grow fonder with each passing year we are married. I look up to and admire him so much for the person he is. His areas of greatest strength are probably my areas of greatest weakness...we constantly joke that I'll make it to heaven hanging onto his coattails. I've never met someone with such a good heart who has the best intentions always. He gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, assumes the best of everyone, doesn't participate in gossip, and is willing to help anyone he can. He comes home in a good mood from work everyday willing to help me with the kids or dinner or dishes. If only I could greet him with a cheerful attitude each day! There's much I need to work on, and he is so patient with me loving me despite my faults. It was so wonderful to escape "life" for a few days and share this experience with him.

Day 3

We took advantage of having no kids around and actually slept in for the first time since having kids! We only slept in until 8:30, but it felt glorious! The first thing on the agenda was a visit to the Manhattan, LDS Temple. We were excited to visit another temple. It was our first time to have to wear headsets to hear things in English as they were doing a Spanish session at the time we arrived.

When we left the temple we were met with rain. A cool front had come in on Thursday night, so it was chilly and rainy, and we were not prepared for either. We had planned on visiting Central Park after the temple, so I was really bummed about the weather condition. Since it was just a few blocks away, we ran over to Central Park, snapped this picture, then ran back to the subway!


We still had a long walk to get back to our hotel after the subway ride, so we ducked into a few stores on the way to step out of the rain. One of the stores was a Lego store. It was neat to see so many things made out of Legos.


Luckily the rain slowed down later in the afternoon so we walked over to the Theater District hours before our show for the night so we could walk around and find a nice restaurant for dinner.

Toys R Us Ferris Wheel (inside the store!)

I loved the way the store was organized. I won't post pictures of each section (Barbie, Lego, Willy Wonka, NY, etc.), but here are a few:
Candy Land section.

Jurassic Park section

Hershey store...yum

M&M Store


We ended the night with The Lion King. It's our second time to see this one together, and we're both just amazed with the costuming, animals, props and the staging of the performance. So fun!

We had a rainy walk home after the show, but this time we had an umbrella provided by the hotel! We wanted to send some of the rain to Texas where it's desperately needed!! I was very sad at the end of the night, because I knew our trip was pretty much wrapped up by that point. Sunday would be filled with church and travel...

Day 2

We got an early start as we had mapped out lots to see. We heard the Empire State building gets busy, so we headed there first. After our first taxi ride, we opted for lots of walking (and it cost money to use the hotel's fitness center--lame--so I wanted to walk for the exercise). For long distances we took the subway/train, but mostly walked.

The entire time at the Empire State building I had scenes from An Affair to Remember running through my head. It was a great way to start the trip to be able to see all of New York City from the top of the building. We were amazed with how many foreigners were there as we walked around catching different languages and taking pictures for others. Neat experience.

Statue of Liberty in the distance

Next we rode on a subway for the first time as we headed to Brooklyn.

A cool building we saw as we hiked up the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Brooklyn Bridge

I love this picture that Matt took.

Next: Ground Zero

There was a lot of construction due to the rebuilding process.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was the boat ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was neat to see the Statue of Liberty in person. I have to admit that she was shorter than I imagined based on movies and pictures.

Ellis Island

Exhausted from a long day and lots of walking, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our Broadway show. After a quick dinner, we arrived in the Theater District for Phantom of the Opera. Of course it was phenomenal, and we enjoyed it immensely. It's such a sad and tragic story.

It was a packed day, but come Saturday, we were so glad we fit in so much on Friday!