The last of 49

That's right, 49 grandchildren on my mom's side and I'm the tail end. Something that I've grown up with that most people think is silly is that we always wear name tags to our family get togethers. Thank goodness! I still don't know all my cousins by name, let alone their spouses and children. Even though I don't know all their names immediately, I know their faces and stories and whenever we get together there is a very special spirit. It's familiar, inviting and kind and I love getting together with the Hinckley cousins. This past weekend there was a cousin get together just for the aunts and uncles and cousins, sans kids. I was glad we were able to go. I'm also glad Richie is such a good sport. This is the second time he's met most of these people and so probably doesn't understand why I get teary eyed when we are all together and probably tires quickly of having to repeat the same intro over and over again.
Richie's folks were kind enough to watch the kids for us and let us stay with them. I swear I packed my camera, but couldn't find it once we got there, so all of these pictures are courtesy of my mom. We got to visit the grave site of my Grandma and Grandpa Hinckley and my great grandparents. We also visited the grave site of Ralph Johnson, the family farm hand who was more like a family member than an employee. We enjoyed a nice dinner at a park and caught up with as many cousins as possible. Such good times.

Opposition in all things...right??

It's times like this that I love being a mom.

Simple, pure joy, honest, complete love and on and on and on!

It's times like this when I think, "I shouldn't have laughed and thought it was cute and taken a picture the first time."

Because now when Gwen wakes up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep and I go in to see what the matter is, and I find Miles in the crib with her, I want to be SO mad. He's just trying to cuddle with her and share pillows and stuff, but it makes me a tad nervous. And angry.

Lately I've been having a lot of "those" days where I start out completely content and just in awe of my great life, and by 3 o clock, I'm ready to punch someone's lights out. So Richie walks in and sees me collapsed on the floor and Miles jumping on me and he asks, "What's for dinner?" I growl at him and he scoots into the kitchen and makes us french toast or something. :) I guess some days are just like that.

The Seminary Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, there was a man; a man who wanted to teach seminary. He got dressed in his best seminary teacher-looking outfit and drove 15 minutes south to the magical kingdom of Rigby Junior High. He settled into his very own office and prepared to teach his first lesson in the classroom his rockin' wife helped him decorate. (Shout out!) But things took a turn for the worst when the air conditioning went out and over 10 extra kids were added to every class, making it over 40 hormonal teenagers to corral in every class.

The young seminary teacher came home bruised and battered. But because of his noble character, he immediately started to plan for better lessons and better classroom management for the next day, so as to slay the bad behavior quickly and teach precious gospel truths. He armed himself with visual aides, well thought out questions and object lessons. He received help from his supervisor, king over all the seminary teaching land, and the class sizes were changed to be a normal, manageable number. The air conditioning even decided to cooperate!
And so our brave hero reigned victorious for the next two days, resulting in kids who were crying because they didn't want to be taken out of Brother Garner's class, some serious gospel learning and testimony growing.
So far it looks as though we may live happily ever after.





The End.

Everyone Needs an Uncle Jeffrey

This past week we had the opportunity to host Richie's younger brother Jeff! I don't know who was more sad that he had to go home, me or Miles. I was amazed at how much stuff I could get done and not even be phased! He helped me can all sorts of things from our garden, made a green drink for us every morning, worked on Gwen's ridiculously complicated stocking (That's right ladies, he cooks and can sew! But you'll have to wait until January till he's on the market :) and kept both kids entertained and happy 24/7. He was even a good enough sport to help Miles go to the potty and deal with Gwen's blow outs.
You can only go to the park so many times, so I fear we had him quite bored the majority of the time, but we had a blast with him. Miles is asking where you are and keeps playing hide and seek by himself, so you'd probably better come back up soon, ok Jeffrey? "C'mon Jeff-ey!"
To sweeten the deal, Richie's parents and younger brother Ross came up on Friday to pick Jeffrey up and brought their dog Cricket. Oh man, Miles was in Heaven. We got to hang out with them over the weekend and as always they left us better than when they found us. :) Thanks again for the corn and all the other yummy food!
At the Splash Park


At our River Spot doing tin foil dinners and mallows. We found a bunch of frogs. Miles was...cautious about them.



playing games together


Making sure Grandpa is comfortable


Feeding the bread fish and going to Mesa Falls


Riding the Carousel


This is how we all felt when we had to get in separate cars and depart. Nothing a little ice cream and play place can't temporarily fix, right? Right.

Check, Check and....Check!

We've got a few more things crossed off our Summer to do list. For your viewing pleasure, may I present:
Mesa Falls and feeding the bread fish



Washing the car outside


More Mallows with friends


Tonight we're going to our river spot again. I have this nagging fear in the back of my mind saying, "Summer is almost over, oooooh winter will be here before you know it! muahahhaa!" It's a very scary voice. I don't want to believe it, but I know it's true. So we're trying to soak it up over here.

Last Thursday

Every Thursday is the same, in fact every day of the week is the same for the most part. Richie, a busy young father, comes home to a somewhat frazzled housewife who he lovingly calls his sweetheart. They hurriedly gulp down dinner sometime between 5 and 6 when Richie switches hats and goes to a different job and Rachel, the previously mentioned housewife, tries to keep some piece of sanity in the last 2 hours before nirvana, otherwise known as bedtime.
She survives another evening of poop on the floor, one million "Wha Doo Mommy??", and relishes in the few hugs, laughs and smiles she receives in payment for her services. The natives are getting restless so she puts them in the tub to occupy their time, then gets jammies on, brushes teeth and starts reading stories when Richie walks through the door at 7:55. Scriptures, stories, songs prayers, lights out. Takes a breather.
"Hey Stranger!" Rachel says as she puts on her running shoes.
"Hello there Sweetheart! Ready to go to the gym?" Rich asks as he gives Rach a little peck on the forehead.
"I'm ready I guess. I'm exhausted. Remind me why I should go again instead of just watching a show with you??" Rach laments.
"Because you love going." Says Richie.
Eventually Rachel gets up enough motivation and makes her way through the door. Meanwhile, Richie spies a small glass of milk left over from dinner on the table. It's no secret Richie has a weak spot for ice cold milk. He grabs the cup, takes it all in in a single swig. Almost sent into convulsions he spews the milk into the sink and dry heaves a few times.
Rachel arrives home from the gym about an hour later and is met at the door by an accusing husband.
"What the heck was in that cup on the table?" He demands.
"What cup?"
"The small green cup."
Rachel thinks for a moment and then breaks into laughter so intense she can hardly breathe. Impatient for answers Richie interrupts her enjoyment and asks again, "What was in that cup?"
Rachel then proceeds to tell Richie how she had pumped a few small bottles for Gwen and put them in the freezer. However the storage containers she had them in broke after they fell out of the freezer so she put them in a small green cup in the fridge to thaw out without spilling everywhere. Earlier that night she noticed they were completely thawed out, so she threw away the little storage containers, leaving only what looked to be a small glass of milk on the table. She had forgotten to put it in a bottle.
Richie is still gagging. Rachel is still laughing.

Proportionately Big

That is how the doctor described Gwen at her 4 month check up. :) She's officially 16lbs 1 oz (90%) 27 inches long (Holy Moly! 98%) and I can't remember her head circumference, but it was in the 93%. This is all happening too quickly! For goodness sakes Gwen, just slow down this whole growing thing a little will ya?? I looked in Miles' baby book to see where he was at at 4 months and he was almost a pound heavier, but about 2 inches shorter. What a chunk. :) Below is a picture of her first taste of rice cereal. Not too big of a fan from what I gathered. She preferred to eat the bib.

From Trash to...Treasure?

We've been creative with our activities lately and have found some fun ways to use things we would otherwise throw away. True, these toys may not last another week, but it's fun for the process.
Juice Box Bowling Pins (And if you look carefully in the background you'll see some old PB jars that work great for storing small pieces)


Tissue Box Monster Shoes, with sponge toes! Miles hasn't gotten into them yet, he prefers the timer we made him out of some old bottles, colored sand and a button.


Juice Box floating boats! (Our favorite so far) We use them outside in our "pool", but Miles found it just as entertaining to put them in a pan and use the straw to push them around.



And just for good measure, here's some Gwen cuteness. Jenn, this is one of the adorable outfits you sent when she was born. I was worried she'd miss wearing it because it was 9 months and she is only 4 months. Guess what, it's a little tight on her already. :)

To Do

It seems like these summer "to-do lists" have been popping up everywhere. I thought it was a fabulous idea, so I copied. In fact, I may take it so far as to do a to-do list for every season. I'm a big fan of to-do lists. They keep me in check and make me feel like I'm accomplishing things.

The rules of our summer to-do list are as follows:
*We must complete everything on this list
*Just because an item is crossed off doesn't mean we can't do it again



Here are a few pictures of things we've been doing so far this summer, on our list or not.

Feeding the ducks at the pond. Always a hit.


Hanging out at the park with friends


Heading to our favorite spot by the river, cloud watching and having tin foil dinners. *Note to self, don't forget the forks next time.



Going on walks and looking really cool.


Loving on siblings


Walking in the rain...without pants.



Cooling off in a plastic bin :)


Watching Movies


Whew! We're tired!

Starting off with a bang!

I read the books/articles/blogs. I debated/hesitated/got cold feet. As a first timer here, I don't think I've come up against a more daunting task, in my humble, inexperienced opinion. But what it came down to is that I'm tired of paying for 2 sets of diapers each month. Even more than that, I'm sick of changing big boy poopy diapers. So last week, I put all my reservations aside, pumped myself up, and got ready for operation potty train. Right about here, you should imagine me pulling surgical gloves on my hands. *snap!
We went shopping and got Miles a Lightning McQueen potty seat in case he preferred that to his little potty chair. We bought special treats, and he is definitely his mamma's boy. He chose the most expensive ones. We also got a bajillion pairs of big boy underwear. All while shopping I kept talking about how much fun it was going to be to be a big boy and go potty on the big boy potty. I was 99% sure everything I was saying was going in one ear and out the other, but I kept going.
Here's where the story gets really interesting. If you have a weak stomach, you probably shouldn't read on. I wake Miles up the next day and find his sheets completely covered in puke! Dried on puke all over the pillow case, his hair, sheets etc etc etc. I'm a little surprised since he's just as happy as ever. Puke? No big deal, clean it up, on our way.
After breakfast I announce "it's time to go potty!! WAHOO!!" And we run to the bathroom. He seems to like it. He seems to especially like the treat afterward. After we put Gwen down for her first nap we put Miles in a swim diaper and head out front to our luxurious swimming pool. I'll post pictures later, but it's really a food storage Tupperware from under our bed that I fill up with water. He totally loves it. About 30 minutes later I notice the water is a funny color... I become more suspicious when Miles asks to go inside after such a short time. I proceed to take the swim diaper off and am attacked by...are you ready? Poo!!! I'll spare you the details, but it was gross. We get him cleaned up, get the front porch cleaned off, get the Tupperware cleaned out and go inside. A little while later Gwen wakes up and we have a snack. Miles leaves the table abruptly and goes into the living room. 5 minutes later he comes in the kitchen and announces, "POOPY!". I say, "Good job Miles for telling me you have to go to the bathroom! Hooray! Let's go!!" We head off to the bathroom and I pull down his shorts to reveal....are you ready?? Poo again!! Astonished, I set him on the toilet while he cries. I clean up the bathroom floor and head to the kitchen for reinforcements and notice a strange trail leading into the living room. Sure enough, it's a poop trail. A poop trail for crying out loud!!! I grab the cleaners and start scrubbing, meanwhile Miles is still crying on the potty and Gwen is crying in the kitchen. Where is Seth Myers, cause I'm thinking "Really???"
Let me spare you any more gruesome details, but just so we're clear, Miles caught some bug and his bum looks like a cranberry field or something, all red and ouchy. Besides the two episodes stated above, I changed, what felt like, a million more poopy diapers and washed a bunch of shorts.
The throw up should have tipped me off. Rookie mistake.

We're all together again!

We spent this past weekend in the beautiful Cascade Idaho at Grandma Linda's cabin with Richie's folks. We were all feeling jipped at the short amount of time we were able to see each other over that weekend Richie's brother Ross came home, so we got together again and it was fantastic to see everyone again. Miles was in heaven with all of those people to pay attention to him and all that "outside" to explore. I think he's thoroughly bored with me this week. Gwen got to meet her great-great grandma Ewing and we took another 5 generation picture! I think that's so incredible. We also celebrated Richie's 26th birthday! We're pretty much 30 now right? Yikes. I never seem to take enough pictures, but here are a few of this weekend.