Quick Visit

One of my dear friends growing up came "home" for a visit!  Of course it's not her home anymore, but I've known her since I moved here at the age of 7 until we left for college together.  Our personalities didn't click at first, but after several years we realized our folly and never looked back since!  It was so nice to have such a great friend throughout high school especially who shared my same values.  I remember our long conversations and how Angela was such a great listener!  It's due to her that I got a job at the BYU Creamery, which holds so many great memories for me.  Her little girl, Kylie is adorable, and I'm so sad that we didn't get to meet Bobby, her husband, and Tyler, her son.  From everything Angela said about Tyler, he and Caleb would be great friends!  It's been fun keeping up with her life through blogging even though our lives are completely separate now.  I'm so glad she made time to see me and that we got to catch up!

Falling Asleep

I mentioned in a previous post how Caleb's sleeping habits have finally improved with Carter now in his room.  Carter has had some off-and-on-again issues, mostly dealing with needing to go potty in the middle of the night, but something that has been hilarious is his constant movement.  He tosses and turns a lot in the night.  Occasionally we'll hear a big bang where his foot or hand hit the wall or his bed.  Sometimes his movement is even bigger.  On a handful of occasions, we've gone in to check on the boys before going to bed and find Carter in a completely different location, i.e. Caleb's bed or the floor, even though we know he fell asleep in his own bed.  This picture was taken on such an occasion where Carter fell asleep in his own bed, then we found him a few hours later sleeping like this with Caleb.  So strange.

Tunnel-building

Our "Fun Saturday" last week included a family activity of building a tunnel together!  Matt did all the work, and the boys and I supervised.  We just purchased our first-ever kitchen table.  Prior to this, we've always used hand-me-downs from various people, which we've greatly appreciated.  But I was tired of our table not matching our chairs and ready for something a little more elegant.  A new table and chairs means that there were lots of boxes!  Here's what Matt came up with.  The boys loved it!

Back entrance

Carter, Caleb, cousin Dallin, and cousin Gavin

Front entrance

Daddy and the boys

The whole tunnel

Everything is more fun in a tunnel...racing cars, watching movies, etc.  Hours of entertainment! :o)

Soccer Camp

Caleb participated in a soccer camp last week!  It was fun to start each morning with some physical activity.  One thing that I love and admire about Caleb is his persistence in anything he does.  This was his first time playing organized soccer, and he worked hard and tried hard each day.  There were a lot of bigger kids than him, but he definitely held his own in the group.

The last day, a rhino came to visit!

Here's a video of Caleb playing.  He ran and chased after the ball the whole time, no matter how tired he was.  He's a competitive little guy. 

Hopefully we'll start him in some baseball this fall when he finally turns 5.  That's a sport I think he'll really excel in.

Gardening

When we were buying seeds in February to plant in our garden, we gave Caleb the option of picking any seeds he wanted to plant.  He picked carrots.  Neither Matt or I have ever grown carrots and weren't sure how they would do in our tough growing climate, but we read the directions and gave it a shot.  We picked these carrots a few days ago.  Maybe if we would have left them in longer, they would have continued to get bigger?  We don't know what we're doing.  But Caleb was so proud of his baby carrots!  They tasted great too!

Broken Bow, Oklahoma

Every year we do a summer vacation with my parents and siblings.  We started our adventure by picking up Clayton and Kara on the way to our final destination: Broken Bow, Oklahoma.  We left on a Saturday, right after my good friend Lauren's shower.  It was a bit hectic helping to put the shower on and then taking off to start our vacation immediately when I got home from the shower.

Saturday: Swimming at Clayton and Kara's apartment pool

After going to church with Clayton and Kara, we took off for Oklahoma.  Both of the boys fell asleep for a few hours, so that helped the drive go quicker.  Here is our cabin that we stayed in all together.

Front view:

Back view

We had everyone there except Kari and Jared's family who are out of the country.  We missed them a lot!!  The week was filled with one big activity everyday, and the rest of the day was filled with eating, games, and naps for the kids.

Monday: Swimming at Brazos Bend Lake

(This water was freezing!  It took us all awhile to immerse ourselves.)

Tuesday we went boating

Lindsey and Derrick and their new puppy, Roger.

L & D just celebrated their 1 year anniversary!

I wanted to ride the tube with my boys, but it proved a lot more difficult than I thought to hunch over with a pregnant belly.

Tube war between Zane, Derrick, and Clayton.  Clayton is just barely hanging on at this point!

Lindsey riding the tube with my boys.

Beautiful scenery.

Clayton and Caleb had a really good ride together and caught some air a few times.

Grandpa with my boys

Gavin's first time on the tube!  Do you see a common theme in all the tube pictures?  Caleb LOVED riding and wanted to go on every ride.  It was difficult to convince him to take turns with other people.  He always wanted to know when it would be his next turn.

Carter helping Grandpa drive the boat.

On Wednesday we went hiking.  Caleb and Dallin each found their own walking stick, and we set off.

Walking on a fallen tree.

Good hikers!  ...as long as it was flat.  As soon as we started hiking up a hill, then the complaining started.

Matt catching tadpoles in his hand to show the kids.

Grandma and Carter looking at a bug.

Caleb refused to pose for a family picture with us, so Dallin posed instead.

Hiking with Daddy up the hill

Carter refused to walk up the hill so several people helped to carry him on their shoulders.  Clay says he wasn't sweating on the hike until he had to carry Carter.  Carter's a heavy 30 pound boy.

Poor Zane.  Gavin fell asleep on top of Zane's shoulders.  Zane's neck was killing him.

Vacations always consist of yummy food!  Here's Carter enjoying some ice cream.

Vacations also have lots and lots of games!  Here's Grandpa and Caleb playing Parcheesi.  Caleb's a little obsessed with this game and was constantly asking for someone to play with him.

"Whose turn is it to play with me next?"

Chutes and Ladders before bed

As adults, we covered the spectrum of games: Dominion, Ticket to Ride, Rage, Rummikub, Spoons, Taboo, Armpit (Scum), Spades, Catch Phrase, 4 Men on a Couch, and a fun Noun game that Kara introduced to us.  Here's Matt playing Spoons.

Due to all the great meals, it is a necessity to exercise on vacation.  These 4 did Insanity.  It's too intense for my pregnant status, so I went out jogging a few times.

Caleb loves to fish, so Thursday morning, Matt and Caleb got up extra early to go fishing.

Caleb took this picture

On their way back from fishing, Matt saw and followed a truck that he knew was going to restock the lake with fish.  Matt asked if Caleb could help.

After breakfast on Thursday, we found a warmer lake to swim in and rented some tubes for added fun.

Kara, Clayton, and baby Ellery

Lindsey and Roger, who did not like the water!

Grandma and Gavin

Me and Carter

Practicing floating

Caleb collecting some rocks

The men trying to get three men standing up on a tube at the same time.

A few succeeded standing up individually.

Tube wars ensued.  Ariane was the victor of the first round, and Matt won the second round.

As always, vacations go too quickly.  I LOVE spending time with my family!!  With more kids coming into the picture, these vacations are just going to continue to get harder, but I appreciate the effort on my parent's part to always make sure these vacations happen.  We had a fabulous time!