Bear Lake

The other day I realized that summer was almost over and we hadn't made it to Bear Lake yet. So we planned  spur of the moment day trip to go play at the beach. We packed a beach bag with towels, swim suits, and sandcastle supplies and a cooler with all the picnic food you could ever eat and we headed for the beach.
When we got to Bear Lake we realized that the cooler was still sitting in the kitchen and we didn't have a picnic so we got snow cones and some sandwiches at the local grocery store. While we were eating lunch we were right by the KOA bike rental shop and decided it would be fun to rent a little family bike and go for a ride. We had fun but overestimated our biking energy and after a half an hour ride we were ready to go relax on the beach. Tyson thought the bike was pretty cool especially since he didn't have to peddle.
We headed for the beach and found a nice spot on the sand to build and smash sand castles and dig holes. Garrick would build and Tyson would promptly smash each little castle as soon as it was finished. We were all dirty and sandy and decided to go wash off in the water. The water was perfect and warm. Tyson LOVED the water and the waves and we all played in the water for quite a while. We finally decided we had gotten as much of the sand off as we could and it was probably time to head home so we packed up the car and headed back to Logan. Tyson must have worn himself out because he was asleep before we even left the parking lot. It was a great day and mini vacation as the summer was all too quickly coming to an end.

Surgery for Tyson!

Earlier this month Tyson had surgery to remove his Tonsills and Adenoids. This was a bit scary for me and led to a tough couple of days but he was a fantastic patient. Watching your kids hurt or sick is SO hard but he is such a sweet happy kid even when he wasn't feeling great he was awesome. After his surgery Grandmie and Grandpa and the Stamps aunts and uncles stopped by to keep him company and share some fun movies with him while recovering. Plus Maggie and Grandpa stopped by later that evening and played with rocket baloons which was very exciting.
All the extra attention, popcicles, and italian ice made tyson very happy! After about a week he was fully recovered and we are very glad he had it done now. He is sleeping through the night most every night (for about 11-12 hours straight!!!) And he doesn't gag and throw up his food randomly. So overall we are all very happy.

Happy Birthday Garrick

Last month was Garrick's 27th birthday and I fully meant to get this posted a month ago, but I'm behind and didn't get it taken care of as soon as I should have. In honor of his birthday I though I would share a quick highlight of a couple things about Garrick which you may or may not already know-

1- He is an amazingly hard worker- Sometimes I give him a hard time about this, but I love this about him. Its wonderful to be married to a man who really knows the value of hard work, it has been such a blessing to our family.
2- He is an even more amazing dad- even with the 12 hour days at work and endless lists of people and things pulling at his attention, Garrick always devotes his best time and attention for his son. Tyson LOVES his daddy and its not hard to see why.
3- He likes golfing. Unfortunately with the demanding work schedule in the summer he doesn't get to go very often but given a chance to just go do something fun just for him, golfing is usually his pick.
4- He is a bit picky about desert. Cookies, cakes, even icecream and brownies are rarely a temptation for him. His weakness is Marie callendar's Chocolate Silk Pie and "Dirt Cups".
5- He lOVES candy! His willpower and disinterest in deserts and baked goods is very well compensated for by his love of candy. Almost any kind of candy will get eaten, he loves fruity things, starbursts, jelly beans, sweedish fish, etc. and he really likes Peanut butter Twix and Peanut butter M&M's.
6- He loves watching TV. This is his go to relaxation activity (which is pretty understandable after the long days he has.) Its kind of funny to me because TV hasn't ever been that interesting to me but Garrick will watch just about anything that is on and loves to have this as his "winding down" time each night.
7- He is a great housekeeper. This has been a lifesaver for me. He does dishes, mops floors, does laundry, empties garbages, he even cleans bathrooms! And he does this stuff on a regular basis. I am one very lucky wife!
8- He is an awesome "Handy man" he can fix just about anything from a broken car window to a clogged sink. This definately has saved us a fortune over the past couple years and will save us even more when we own our own home!
9- He goes along with my silly birthday traditions just because he knows I like them. Last night he made sure he left exactly 1 of his 27 candles lit after blowing all the rest of them out in one breath. (Our family always said that the number of candles you have left after your first blow is how many boy/girlfriends you had.)
10- He is an awesome husband. He is so kind and caring and as if the list above wasn't enough to make me the luckiest girl on earth he goes above and beyond just this stuff. He makes me treats when my sweet tooth is acting up, he runs to the grocery store when I forget to pick something up for dinner, he washes and rubs my feet when they are tired and swollen, he gets up off the couch to bring me a drink even when he is all settled in and comfortably watching a show.Even on his birthday when he was supposed to be the one relaxing and having a night off, he put Tyson to bed because by the end of the day I was just too worn out, and he did it without me even asking!

Tyson and I are so grateful to have such an awesome husband and dad in our lives.

For his birthday dinner Paul took us out to Sizzler to celebrate, then we had Brad & Janelle, Mazey, and Pual over for cake and icecream. It only took me 5 years but I finally found a cake that garrick actually liked! We cheated and purchased it from coldstone but it was well worth it. Icecream cake rocks!

Broken

Tyson recently caught a little stomach bug. Seriously, kids with the flu is so gross! Deffinately NOT my favorite part of parenting, but I can be greatful that even when he isn't feeling very well my little man is the happiest, sweetest, most easy going child you've ever seen. The only thing that changes when he doesn't feel well is that he wants to be hugged, kissed, and cuddled a little more than usual, and that is never a bad thing.
Well this week as his little body has been getting back to "normal" he's had a bit more gas than usual. He is quite proud that he knows the difference between "tooting" and "pooping" and always announces to us which one is happening. Last night he let off a little string of toots causing mom and grandma to giggle at him and his cute expression while he did it. Due to the added attention he decided to try to toot again. Unfortunately it didn't work. So he looked back at us, pointed to his bottom, and said "Broken..." :-(
I just about fell over laughing, it was so cute and so funny.
I know most of you don't care that much about my childs gas or the discussion surrounding it, but someday I'm going to miss those moments and I want to remember at least some of the funny things he did, so I decided to post it just incase I forget about it. This way if I ever need something to smile or giggle about I'll be able to look back at this and remember his cute concerned face as he informed me his tooter was broken. :-)

Summer Time Fun!

Well this blog has been neglected for the past little while (as I expected would happen)

So just a quick update on what we’ve been up to for the past month:

We have enjoyed several dinners with Uncle Paul. Tyson absolutely loves having him over (almost) every Thursday night.

6/16/12 We went to the Treehouse museum in Ogden with Meagan and Amy. It was lots of fun but we didn’t get as much time there as we would have liked.

6/17/12 We celebrated father’s day- nothing terribly exciting happened. Dad got a couple movies he had been hoping for and we had Maggie & Grandpa Everton (and Mazey) over for dinner.

6/22-23/12 Garrick and I went on an overnight stay in Salt Lake City. We went to the City Creek mall then met Bethany & Stetson at the National History Museum. It was great to spend the afternoon with them and it was a very cool (and big) museum. Tyson had a super fun sleep over with Grammie & Grandpa Stamps and all of his fun Aunts and Uncles.

6/25-28/12 We had a fantastic week visiting with the Austins and the Stamps at Grammie and Grandpa C. house. We went to the park and played for hours most evenings. Tyson loved having so many kids around to play with and follow around.

6/27/12 We went to the Splash Pad with the Austins and the Stamps. Tyson loves water and had lots of fun getting sprayed. In the future I will have to remember to wear clothes I can get wet in too because Tyson thinks the best part of the splash pad is dragging everyone else in with him. After that we had a yummy spaghetti dinner at Grammie & Grandpa C’s house.

6/29/12 We stopped by a wedding reception for Ben (Garrick’s cousin). There were lots of yummy gluten free cookies available and Tyson learned all too quickly where to find them.

6/30/12 We went to a BIG family reunion with Grammie C & her extended family. There was a fun little creek that Tyson was fascinated with and lots of footballs to chase & try to play with the older boys.

6/30/12 We went to another post family reunion party with fewer people but still lots of fun cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmas to play with and love. Tyson had SOOO much fun participating in the big kids water fight and couldn’t hardly stop to eat yummy pizza for dinner.

6/30/12 Bethany and Stetson stayed over night with us. Dad and Stetson tore into the car door but successfully fixed the window that had gotten stuck down.

7/1/12 We had the opportunity to see Joseph ordained a Deacon. Then we had a lovely family dinner at the Stamps house with the Austins, Olsens, Coburns, Will (robinson), Jensons, Jannsens, and Womacks. It was the same huge crowd from the day before and it was lots of fun.

7/2/12 Garrick and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. We headed to Sennora Grill in Ogden after work for a delicious dinner. Tyson hung out with Maggie and Grandpa  and even got to go play games at Uncle Paul’s house.

7/3/12 We went up to the Everton’s to watch the fireworks from their backyard. It is a great view so much family Tyson didn’t hardly even notice the fireworks he was so excited about the people. The Anderson’s were there with their cute girls, the Stamps and all the aunts and uncles showed up, Grammie & Grandpa C. came with Will, Brad and Janelle showed up and even Sarah & Nate Ruben (tyson’s babysitter) were there. And obviously Maggie and Grandpa were there too. It was a late night but lots of fun and Tyson slept great when we finally got home.

7/4/12 Tyson went to work with dad for an hour or so in the morning while dad tried to fix some sprinklers. I had the day off work so later in the afternoon Tyson and I went to the pool with Maggie and Mazey. It was a HOT day but it was perfect pool weather. Tyson had so much fun playing in the water. That night we did a tiny fireworks show in our driveway. Tyson thought some of the fireworks were cool but his absolute favorite was the pop-its.  He loved throwing them and listening to them pop.

7/7/12 We went to Milee Anderson’s baptism. It was a great to be part of her special day and Tyson had a great time being with all sort’s of family again.

7/8-12/12 We had an informal family reunion with the Everton’s since Beckett & Alex were in town all week. Every night Tyson would ask to go see Maggie and Beckett. He loves his littlest cousin so much. Its so fun to see him interact with him.

7/11/12 Tyson went to see Dr. Blotter about his Tonsils and Adenoids to see what we could do to help him breathe a little better. He is a very healthy kid and rarely gets colds, or sore throats but his tonsils and adenoids are just so big and in the way. Dr. Blotter suggested that we schedule surgery to remove his tonsils & adenoids. I am still freaking out a bit at the thought of my baby having surgery of any kind (even though this is a simple procedure) but it will be good if it means Tyson will sleep better and breathe easier in the future. Surgery is scheduled for August 2^nd and seems almost too close.

7/12/12 The Everton’s and Paul joined us for a little BBQ at our house.  Tyson was so excited to have everyone there to play with him.

7/13/12 Jake, Alex, Mazey, Garrick & I went out for dinner as the Kick-off to the slightly more official reunion. Then we went and got Aggie Ice Cream after. Yummy food and good company, and it was fun to have a night out without the kids plus Maggie & Grandpa got extra time with their two Grandson’s.

7/14/12 We bought an elliptical and Garrick and Brad spent the morning picking it up and getting it in the house. Turtle moved into Tyson’s room to make room for the new exercise equipment front and center in our living room to make sure it gets as much use as possible.

7/14/12 We went to dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe and went Rock Climbing at the Rock Haus with the whole Everton group. Everyone had lots of fun climbing and Tyson even tried it out. He also made friends with a menacing looking wolf dog that was thankfully mellow and great with kids.

7/15/12 We went to church with the Everton’s to Dan’s new ward where he was just called as the Bishop of a YSA ward. We experienced just how quiet a YSA ward actually is and we were frequently embarrassed by our darling son who was very well behaved but very noisy compared to the absolute silence of the YSA wards. When grandpa got up to speak Tyson was thrilled to see his grandpa standing up there and repeatedly yelled Gampa! Gampa! while pointing up at the stand. After church we went back to the Everton’s for tinfoil dinners.

And that brings us to today. WOW! It has been a crazy couple weeks. We have had lots of fun seeing so much family but I think it might be nice to just have a quiet week at home getting caught up on all the housework that got neglected the past little while.

 P.S. I’ll add pictures of some of the events listed above when I get them loaded on my computer. I still don’t take nearly enough pictures but I’ll work on it.

Comedy vs. Tragedy

SPOILER ALLERT: If you are anxiously awaiting the release of “A Little Bit of Heaven” and do not want me to ruin the end do not read this post. I however do not know anyone who feels this way about this particular show and actually don’t know many people who will ever watch this show so I feel relatively safe posting the following.

This post is a bit off topic from my usual rambling about my kid. This post is a public service announcement in hopes of educating the greater population. Apparently the difference between a Comedy and a Tragedy is not as well understood as it ought to be so I felt it my responsibility to inform everyone that in order for a movie to qualify as a "Comedy" it needs to be funny! A comedy would also imply no tragic deaths of the main characters. A "Tragedy" on the other hand does not have to be funny and a tragic death of most of the main characters is required. The only circumstance where this rule can be broke was by Shakespeare because apparently some of his tragedies were quite comical. Until we have another playwright like Shakespeare this rule cannot and should not be broke. I think we all know the writers of EVERY chick flick out there do not hold up to the standard of writing of Shakespeare and are not talented enough to pull up a comical tragedy or a tragic comedy so they should not try.

Please feel free to pass this information on to your friends and family that might be confused and particularly if you know the folks responsibly for categorizing movies so they don’t make this awful mistake again.

In case you’re wondering I realized the need for this information to be shared this weekend when we rented “A Little Bit of Heaven”. Brianna I know you are probably cringing knowing that I watched yet another dumb chick flick, and I'm sorry (sort of). The bottom line for me though is provided it is mildly entertaining, not disgusting or offensive I’ll watch it. I don’t really care if it is award winning material. I don’t really care if the script is that well written or if the actors are fantastic. I like a legitimately good movie just as much as the next guy but I don’t have such high standards that I can enjoy the mediocre entertainment. Its an excuse to eat popcorn and relax on the couch without feeling too guilty. I don’t know what it is about relaxing on the couch doing absolutely nothing but when I’m doing that my mind instantly wanders to my endless to-do list and I feel guilty. If I’m otherwise occupied I can easily avoid that lovely to-do list and the associated guilt (hence the dumb chick flicks.)

Well, we checked out Redbox online and it described the show as: Comedy, Drama, Romance. Two of the three descriptive words indicate ROMANTIC COMEDY and a little added drama to give the movie some depth beyond your average chick flick sounded like a good idea. WRONG! This movie should have come with a disclaimer “WARNING: MAIN CHARACTER DIES!”

I can handle a movie where the main character dies on occasion; I might even chose one of those touchy feely tragic ending shows on purpose from time to time. But it is very important that one of those shows is not misrepresented as a romantic comedy. A hormonal pregnant woman who sobs during most TV series season finales should not be stuck watching a tragedy disguised or mislabeled as a comedy. Luckily I was far to annoyed about the whole situation to sob through the whole film but that is beside the point.  If you would like to go watch a show where the main character dies an untimely, relatively unexpected death after living a sad unfulfilling life please do go rent this movie. Otherwise I would strongly recommend relaxing on the couch doing absolutely nothing until your guilt about the unfinished to-do list eats away at you enough to drive you off the couch into productivity.

News worthy events a the Everton's

We are now entering a new phase with Tyson. Or maybe I'm just finally noticing it today, I'm not really sure. I know kids have their own thoughts opinions and desires from a very early age and so much of our developing relationship with our children is learning how to communicate with them to help them express those feelings. We are far from perfect at this communication process at our house but I always get so excited when Tyson and I reach a new point of understanding and communication, and yesterday was one of those moments. So I decided to document it even though to most it is far from note-worthy these are the moments I want to remember that I know will quickly fade.  So with that amazing introduction yesterday's life changing event was...  Today as we were playing in the living room, Tyson saw his coloring book on the shelf and decided he wanted to color. So he said "color, please". So we did!  I know this is a terribly remarkable eventand I'm sure you're wondering why it wasn't on the evening news, I guess they missed it which is why I'm letting the world know today.  Up until now he frequently had his own opinion of what he wanted to do,  but it was usually a guessing game. He would point or pull or whine or ramble and I would guess. "Do you want a drink? Do you want a snack? Do you want to play blocks?  Do you want to read a book?" Eventually I'd get to the right thing and he would vigorously nod his head, relieved that mom finally figured it out. But today, he knew what he wanted to do and he knew how to ask. It was great!  Plus to top it off a little while later he walked into the kitchen and said "dinner?" and pulled his chair out.  I asked him "Do you want to eat dinner now?" he smiled and nodded and was so excited that he could call the shots and I could understand him. So I put in his chair and got him some dinner. It was great that he could tell me he was hungry and ready for dinner without any whining or guessing or miscommunication.  He is growing up so much lately. It is amazing all the changes that are happening. For a while he would repeat everything that we said but he has now started to really remember LOTS of words. Every time I hear him say a new word I didn't realize he knew I get another moment of excitement. Needless to say my day is filled with excitement lately.