Water boys

Today was Tyson's last day of swimming lessons. He did pretty good in level two, but I will still need to work with him a lot to get him ready for next summer. Good thing we have an awesome pool at the hotel to swim in.

Last night I was sick of my boys whining and moaning so I decided to put a bowl of water outside for them to splash around in. Well, what started out as a bowl of water quickly turned into this.....Tanner crawled right in, clothes and all, before I could stop him. And it ended up like this....
An hour of fun for the boys, and an hour of sanity for myself.

Happy Birthday

Yesterday was Tanner's 1st birthday! Throughout the day we did our regular routine, but then we had friends and family over for a little party in the evening. It was really fun. I don't think Tanner quite understood what was going on, but he enjoyed the attention. Too bad Tyson skipped his nap and fell asleep at dinner. He was so tired he actually asked me to put him to bed, so he missed the whole thing. Plus, his allergies were acting up and he gets so asthmatic that I wanted him to get sleep if he could. Anyway, I spent a large part of the day making this choo-choo train cake. I thought it turned out pretty cute but I will never do it again because it is too much work! Thanks to friends and family for the presents! Happy Birthday little guy, We Love You so much.



Below is a picture of a tonka truck our friends gave him. He loved it and played with it all night! Plus he got some sand toys that he can dig around in the dirt with (which he loves doing).

Rub a dub dub

Last night Anthony and I went to Les Miserables at Tuacahn, which I recommend to everyone wanting to see a show. It was a fantastic production. And thanks to a couple in our ward who watched our children until almost midnight. Well, it is after a late night like that that a warm shower to wake you up in the morning would be delightful. Think again...I can't remember the last time I had a peaceful shower experience. My children, as I'm sure with all of yours, like to be where I am at all times. So unless they are out of the house or asleep, it is a fight to get some personal time. So this morning I put a movie on for Tyson and Tanner, hoping that would occupy them long enough. Nope. The second Tyson hears the water running, he tears off his clothes and gets a running start to leap into the tub before I have time to stop him. He thinks he is sneaky that way. Then, of course, Tanner follows him to the edge of the tub and pulls back the shower curtain letting the water splash out and the cold air in. So inevitably it turns out that all three of us are crowding into the tub/shower, even though Tyson is probably reaching (or has surpassed) the age of being too old to shower with mom. But it doesn't just stop at that. The remainder of the shower consists of me tiptoeing around the boys and all their bath toys, bending myself in odd positions to try and shave my legs, Tyson pushing me out of the way so he can get to the water, me trying to block the water so it doesn't hit Tanner in the face, shampoo bottles getting dropped on everyone's feet, and me yelling at Tyson the whole time to stop licking the bottom of the tub, drinking the water, and squirting Tanner with a water bottle. Ultimately, it ended in a cry fest, the water ran cold, and I now have spots on my legs that didn't get shaved. To top it all off, the second I get the boys out of the shower, they scamper off immediately to watch the movie I had started for them in the first place. Go figure. Here are the pictures I promised from the last post.

This is one of the many frogs that came out at night at our beach house. They were huge!

Anthony and I at the temple in Oahu. (I don't think we even got a picture of us at the beach or of the ocean. Oh well, I guess we will have to go back)

The pineapple plantation with a rainbow tree.

Spending the night at the hotel when our AC broke

Tyson at swimming lessons. He is the best in his class.

Long time no blog

The time sure does fly when you are having fun. Since the end of May we have been running from one place to the next. However, I have failed to take many pictures of our busy lives. Anyway, we went to Beaver for my brother Brad's high school graduation, then decided to skip Scandinavian days this year because it involved too much traveling. Things seem a lot farther away now that we moved 45 minutes south. Plus, I felt like my kids were living in the car sometimes. We then went to Hawaii with my side of the family. This was the first time I have left both of my kids, and it was really hard! From now on, they will most likely accompany us on any vacations that we take. Hawaii was amazing and fun, but it is always good to get back home. I was home a week and then went back to Beaver for a week to let my boys play with their cousins that were visiting from Denver. When I got back on Friday, our AC wasn't working and I couldn't sleep all night because it was hot!! The next day we spent at the water park on main street, and then checked into Anthony's hotel for some AC and rest for the night. The owner let us have a two room suite ( I know, we have such a hard life!). Tyson thought it was pretty fun. Tanner, however, slipped and fell in the huge tub and cut his eyelid open. It is a little bruised and sore, but nothing major. So, two nights in the hotel and now we are back home, the AC is fixed and I have to get my house back in order. Tyson started swimming lessons today. He freaked out a little bit because this other kid was screaming his head off, but he did pretty good for his first day. His lessons go for two weeks, and then I go back to Beaver, well, Manti for a family reunion over the 4th of July. My pictures won't load so I will try to post the pics later.

Super Saturday

This week in our stake was family focus week. Among other activities, yesterday we went to Snow Canyon and let the kids play in the sand dunes. The kids loved it, but it got hot pretty quick, so we didn't stay as long as I would have liked. We then hiked a short hike to see some pioneer names written on the rocks with axle grease. After we left Snow Canyon, we went to a park for a picnic and let Tyson play on the playground. After that, we came home to regroup and Anthony took a nap. In the early evening we went swimming in Anthony's pool, followed by visiting our in-laws for a little while. We got home and put the kids to bed, and Anthony and I watched Over Her Dead Body, which was a cute show. Then we both crashed after such a fun-filled super Saturday.Anthony and Tanner taking a breather.

Some scenery

The sand dunes

Pioneer names on the wall

Tyson climbing the rocks

Random Sampler

Here are some tidbits of unrelated events or information that is my life lately.

1. I bought a kitchen table and chairs at the DI for no reason, except that it was a good deal. Yes, I already have a table, and no, I didn't really need a new one. Now I have to sand down all the chairs and repaint them, and find a new top for the table because I chipped all the tile off of it (on purpose). In my mind it will be beautiful when it is done, but we will see how it really turns out.
2. The other day I was sitting in my kitchen feeding Tanner when I saw a little kid run around to the back of my house. I saw what looked like water running down between the kid's legs, and I told Anthony someone was peeing right behind our door of our patio. He ran out there and caught a girl pulling up her pants! What the heck? What is wrong with people these days. I went out front to tell her she needs to use the toilet at her house, but she was gone.
3. I signed Anthony up to donate plasma at 6:00 in the morning, thinking it would be a good way for us to make a few extra dollars. He, being the good guy that he is, gets up early and goes twice a week. However, he says it is an hour and a half of pure pain, and he would rather cut his arm off. This makes me feel really bad, and I told him I don't want him to donate anymore, but he likes having his own money I guess.
4. On Thursday I accidentally dropped Anthony's paycheck and deposit slip into the mail drop, rather than our mortgage payment. Well, we had to call the post office and wait for an employee to come and get it for us, and the lady got stuck on the off ramp for 45 minutes because there was a wreck. I felt really bad for making her come back, but she was really nice about it.
5. Our stake is starting a new initiative, making the first whole week of every month "family week" which means there are to be no meetings or activities, and we should spend the week with our families. I am excited for this, because ever since Anthony was put in Young Men's he has mutual and scouts and camp outs and various other things he has to do.
6. After a year of not being a visiting teacher (I moved into the ward just as a new presidency was put in and I slid in under the radar) they finally caught up with me. As luck would have it my partner is inactive and 2 out of 3 sisters I am supposed to visit are inactive. This is exactly why I dislike visiting teaching!
7. Tyson has made it his personal agenda to taunt and torment Tanner every waking minute of the day. Tanner has taken it upon himself to scream or wail everytime someone looks at him. It is times like these that I say I am done having kids.
8. I am now counting down one month until the time we go to Hawaii. Anthony is going off sweets and junk food with me until our trip. This is my final effort to lose those last 5 pounds before I get in a swimming suit. I did this before our wedding and dropped 10 pounds pretty easily. I am betting I eat enough junk and sweets to keep an extra 10 pounds on because I am addicted to Anthony's delicious chocolate chip cookies and can honestly eat two dozen by myself. Wish me luck.

Cousins

It has been almost a year since I have seen Andrea's family becuase they couldn't come home for Christmas due to her pregnancy. Well, this week her two boys got to stay in Beaver while Andrea flew back to Texas to catch up on selling their house. That means Jake and Will were able to spend an afternoon with us. It was so much fun. Too bad it was cold and windy here, but we did make it to the park. Tyson is taller and bigger than Will, who is 4 months older than him, but Will talks much better. And Jake is just happy to be around.