To make sure I don't forget

Some things I really enjoy about blogging as opposed to writing in my journal is having pictures right next to the text and also my tendency to blog significantly more often than write in my journal. I just ordered our first blog book from 2008 (hooray) as a belated Mother's Day gift and I can't wait! This is me doing our family history. Of course I want all the big milestones remembered and documented, but I know I will forget the small moments of day to day life if I don't record them too. Really, that's most of what this blog is; small stuff.
It's becoming a pattern that on Sundays, after the kids are in their church clothes, Miles requests "pretty music" and dances with Gwen. He tells me that he is the prince and baby Gwen is the princess. Maybe he just likes the attention he gets when I make a mad dash for the video camera. I love it.


Miles still naps about 50% of the time. Even if he doesn't sleep, I make him stay in his room....for my sanity. One day he was being particularly obnoxious about not napping and I kept getting after him to stay in his room. Nap time was almost finished, and I realized he'd been very quiet so I peeked my head in his room and found him like this.

I knew he was tired! He was dead to the world, just when I needed him to wake up for dinner. I poked and prodded him to get up, but not after I took some more "evolution of waking up" pictures. He has this thing with switching his entire wardrobe during nap time, so I always find him in her clothes. Also, that spiderman toy next to him is a big deal. We pay him for doing chores on Saturday and he has saved every penny for months. This past Saturday dad took him to the store to pick out a toy with Gwen. Gwen got a new baby doll and Miles got this car thing. Where does this innate love for spiderman/batman/superman etc etc etc come from? I've never really exposed him to that, but he thinks it the coolest.

Angry that I woke him up

Stop taking pictures of my mom!

Aaaand back to sleep. Can his face just always stay chubby and kissable please?

Today we went to the grocery store and then to the library. We were planning on hitting up the park next to the library after we were done picking out books and movies, but all of a sudden the clouds gathered and the burst open, complete with thunder and lightning. This was not a wimpy storm. This was the kind of summer rain where the actual rain drops are big and full and just a few of them can soak you. We ran to the car holding hands and laughing, and then caught our breath inside while we wiped off our faces and listened to the rain hit the roof. Summer rain is my favorite. When we got home, we had an impromptu picnic in the garage so that we had a front row seat to the festivities.

Memorial Day

This Memorial day we finished planting our garden, helped in Grandma and Grandpa's garden too, visited Matthew and Karl at the cemetery, Richie got some frisbee golf in, and had a bbq with some family. The end.

Make New Friends, But Keep The Old

I haven't blogged in a while just because it seemed like just a bunch of different, unrelated things happening. Then I looked at our pictures and realized it was all stuff we've been doing with our friends!
All besides this event :) Miles plays favorites (me being the favorite) and so to make dad even cooler, he took the kids camping in the backyard. Originally it was only supposed to be Miles, but Gwen didn't want to be left out. :) We roasted Marshmallows and then they got to watch a movie on the lap top inside the tent, all snuggled in their sleeping bags. I stayed inside and cleaned until it was late, and right about the time I was finally getting ready to turn in, they all came in, very sleepily. I gave Richie an "A" for effort.

One really fun thing about being in the SLC valley is that a lot of people from high school have settled here. A week or so ago we got together with 2 of my favorite high school friends (Peter Anderson and Laura Wintch), and their families for dinner. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the adults, but I only managed a picture of 4 of the 5 kids. Miles was slightly obsessed with Peter and Madeline's girl named Ella. He kept calling her "princess" and "Nella" and still talks about her. We had such a blast, I wish we would have done it sooner!

Some of our best Idaho friends, the Wilsons, are transitioning to Washington and made SLC a part of their road trip. So we met at temple square and made a morning of it. Every time I go to temple square, I'm amazed at the grounds. They are immaculate! I can't imagine how much money goes into making them so pristine. We took them to the Children's museum while we were so close and the kids had a blast. We tried to get a cute picture of all 4 kids together, but it just wasn't happening. Here are some attempts.

Reconnecting with old friends is a favorite thing of mine. It's almost as much fun as making new friends! We had a fellow seminary teacher at Murray, and his family over for dinner the other night. They also have a son named Miles, only he is 9 years old. Miles can't stop talking about "Miles Miller" now. :) We met them, and other staff members, at a Murray soccer game last night and enjoyed a home team victory. There was a park nearby, so the kids and I saw about 2 minutes of the game and spent the rest of the time at the playground. 2 of the Miller kids came to play, including their girl who is about 6 and just was the cutest little Mother to Gwen. She made sure she got up all the ladders, down all the slides, and protected her from some annoying 10ish year old kids playing ball tag on the equipment and running amok. That's right, amok. I won't sugar coat it for you, the mama bear did come out a few times. The millers also have a little boy Gwen's age and he and Miles got along great.

Z is for Zoo

I was lucky enough to find 3 other mothers in the ward that were interested in doing a little joy school set up with our kids this past year. We wanted it to be really low key and fun for us and our kids. We've gone through the entire alphabet, and since prices for the Zoo were cheaper in April as opposed to May, we decided to go out with a bang and take the kids to the Zoo for the letter Z. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as we walked in the gates, I whipped out my camera to take the first of many pictures, and it died. Luckily another mom took pictures on her phone and shared them!
The kids were in heaven! I have rarely seen Miles so excited, it was hard to even keep him at one exhibit for more than a minute. Gwen tends to be more fearless than Miles when it comes to animals, so I knew for sure she'd love it. She got right up in the faces of any animal that was close enough, including rhinos, snakes and polar bears.



These moms and I have decided to do our own preschool this upcoming school year. I know some of them plan on putting their kids in "real" preschool as well, but I for one am excited to not have to pay for preschool and be in charge of what they'll be learning. Glad I found some moms willing to go in on this with me! We had a planning meeting last week and we've come up with some really fun things to do with our kiddos! Looking forward to it.