More Wisdom From the Kids at School

My class and I were enjoying the last "warm" day outside today, before it storms tomorrow. This little girl Savannah was asking me about what she should do if her house happened to catch on fire. I explained to her that her family needed to come up with two ways to get out of every room in their house, and that they needed to come up with a meeting place. She thought about things for a minute, and then started naming all the things that her Dad would go back into the house to get. "My Daddy would have to grab his cell phone, his cell phone charger, his laptop, his wallet...." I interrupted her, and reminded her that you should never go back into the house to get anything, and that her daddy can buy a new cell phone and laptop, but that it is most important to get the people out, because daddy can't buy another Savannah.
Savannah mulled this over for a minute, looked up at me and said, "Yep. That would be pretty sad if there wasn't a Savannah around anymore. You couldn't make another one of me, unless you had lots of sex." Without cracking a smile, I looked down at Savannah and replied, "Ya, and who wants to do that?" She quickly cried out with a smile, "Not my Mom!"

Grandpa's Cabin

Our last two weekends have been spent at what we think is absolute heaven, my Grandma and Grandpa Cardwell's cabin. Our first weekend was to relax and spend some quiet, quality time with our boys. It was also James' first hunting trip with his Dad. I was nine years old when the cabin was built, so I have spent most of my childhood coming up here with my family. I have so many great memories of sledding with cousins, snowshoeing with my brothers and with Danny, going for walks with my Grandma. The cabin is about ten minutes away from Smith and Moorehouse Lake, so we've also gone on many fishing excursions with Grandpa. The cabin has been our families little paradise for many years, and we are so lucky to have Grandparents who have shared this place with us.One of our favorite activities up at the cabin is to play card games with our kids. We love to play UNO, Go fish, and our all time best game is Slap Jack. We've had some great Slap Jack Tournaments. The best by far has been with my brother Jeff. He takes it very seriously, and it doesn't matter if you are four or forty, he is a fierce competitor! On this particular morning the weather was beautiful, and we played UNO out on the deck with the boys.

James and Jess love to go on Four Wheeler rides with their Dad. Jesse calls them "Fo-Lows", which I think is pretty cute. There are many trails up above the cabin to ride on, and quite often you come across the local wildlife like deer, moose, bear, porcupines, and the ever annoying grouse.
My Grandparents have this adorable tractor for the kids to play on, and Jesse spends HOURS playing with it. He talks to himself while he's driving and makes up scenarios and stories...which are so funny to listen to. He even pretends to run out of gas, and he has to go fill it up at the Gas station!

This picture was taken on the morning of James' first hunting expedition with his Dad. He woke up that morning, pulled on all of his hunting gear, grabbed his bow, and told his Dad, "I'm ready to go now!!!" I think he felt so grown up, and he was super excited that this was something that just he and his Dad were going to do. It's always cool to leave your little brother behind!
Danny and James rode up and over to the other side of the mountain where hunting is allowed, and spent the afternoon hiding in the bush. Oh, the joys of boyhood!
Our last weekend up at the cabin was spent mostly doing some work around the cabin. We stained the logs on the deck of the cabin, and we also stained the pine bears that Grandpa has.

Danny and I painted the deck, but we let the boys help us paint the bears. I have never seen two boys so excited to work! They wanted to paint the little bear. James told me it made him happy to help Grandpa get some of the work done. I think Jesse just loved being able to get into the paint. He had a ball.
My Grandpa has some stairs that lead down to a woodpile, and we noticed the weekend before, that you couldn't see the stairs anymore! Three aspen trees and a butt-load of other weeds had overtaken the stairs. Danny was happy (as was Jesse) to pull out the chain saw and clear away all the trees. Then, the boys and I trimmed and swept away all the debris until it looked like this!
On the way home, James wanted Lizzy to ride with him. She gets really excited when she is in the car...she can barely sit still. But, she sat for quite a while on James' shoulder and he was lovin' it. It was a great weekend and I hope we can do it again soon!

Jesse's Top 10

Here is a list of some of the funny words and sayings that Jesse comes up with. I wanted to write them down, so that I would not forget:

1. Bullzozer (said with a french accent): Jesse's way of saying Bulldozer

2. What da Heck!

3. Monstow Twuck

4. "You're gonna get fat and fat!" (Jesse referring to the fact that his mom is pregnant.)

5. "Bear it is!" ( Jesse's version of "There it is!")

6. Stweet Weeper (Jesse wants to drive a "Street Sweeper" when he's big!)

7. Stape and George (Jesse loves to visit "St. George" in southern Utah.)

8. "Dats my baby gool!" (Jesse calls our Bearded dragon Lizzy his "Baby Girl")

9. "My Butt crack!" (Jesse pulls this one out just to get a reaction. I think he just likes to say it.)

10. "Good night! No talking! SHHHHH!!! I'm twyin' to sweep!" (What we hear everynight at bedtime!)

Good News!

I am officially out of my first trimester of pregnancy and feeling much relief! Today I had my second appointment with my doctor and listened to the heart beat again. I can't tell you how reassuring it is to hear that little swish-swish. I wish I had my own Doppler machine at home where I could listen to it anytime I wanted to! Four weeks ago, I had an Ultrasound and watched our little Peanut's heart beating. Peanut is the nickname that the boys have bestowed on the baby.
Being pregnant in my 30's is a lot different than in my 2o's. Although physically, I definitely feel older and I get tired easier, emotionally for both Danny and I, we are so excited and are feeling a bit more sentimental about this pregnancy. Probably because it will be our last, and we want to enjoy every minute of it. Except for the vomiting.
Our baby is due on March 10th and we will find out the gender in October. So, I will be posting updates! But, please send us all of your positive energy and prayers for a happy, healthy safe pregnancy and baby!

A Busy, Fun Saturday! Did I mention we met Floyd Landis?

On Saturday, Danny and I loaded up the kids to go watch Stage 5 of the Tour of Utah. We cheered at the finish line as all the riders came in and then we decided to take a walk up by where all the team cars were sitting. We look over, and we both see Floyd Landis standing by his team car talking to people. Danny and I have been fans of Floyd for years, and it was hard to keep our emotions subdued...we didn't want to seem like the crazy out-of-control fans. Danny walked up to him and said, "Do you mind getting a picture with me and my son?" So, I took their picture and then said, "Can I have my picture taken with you too? I love you too!" and Floyd laughed and said, "Sure." So I pass my camera to Danny and I put my arm around Mr. Landis and he says to me, "Sorry I'm all wet." and I look at him and reply, "It's all good!" and he laughs again and says, "Yes it is!" It was one of those experiences that you get more excited about the more time goes by. He was very nice and I'm so happy we had the opportunity to meet him! After we finished at the Tour of Utah, we headed up to Sandy for the Monster Jam Monster Truck show, featuring "Grave Digger"!

The boys were so amped up. They were cheering and dancing to the extremely loud music...

Look at Jesse's face....he just cracks me up! He kept making his monster truck sound effects, but it makes him look a little constipated or like he has a case of really bad road rage...As you can see, there is no lack of testosterone at our house! Anyhoo, that was our Saturday...it was a great day, but boy, I was exhausted by the time it was over. And hot. And very sticky...

Kickin' It Ranch Style

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to go up to our sister in law Candice's family ranch. So, we borrowed my cousin's trailer (thanks Jason!) and headed down to Fountain Green, Utah to spend the weekend with our family. It only took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, but it was so QUIET and so beautiful it felt like we had gone miles away from the city. Candice's parents Sue and Russ welcomed us with a delicious dutch oven dinner (and Candice made a yummy peach cobbler!) and they showed us around the ranch. Sue has a horse named Andy who performs tricks. We couldn't stop laughing as Andy smiled, bowed and blew raspberries for us! There were also several farm dogs to dote over.

The next day we got up, and we rode a sweet horse named Bow (or Beau). He was very gentle and good to the kids, and we had Uncle TJ to show us around. James kept telling everyone that this was the best camping trip he had ever been on!

Candice's Dad Russ was awesome! He saddled up this little miniature horse named Trouble and took all the kids on a carriage ride. Trouble looks like a slow sausage with short legs, but her looks are very deceiving. She can run! And Fast! Plus, Trouble was aptly named...she had quite an attitude! You could see in her eyes that she thought she was the biggest horse in the corral.

Up the road from the ranch was a Fish Hatchery, so we took the kids over there to check out the rainbow and albino trout. The kids found fish food, and when they threw the food in with the fish, they created a feeding frenzy and the fish would jump and splash around.



The ranch had a great play area for the kids. They especially LOVED the tire swing, and anyone who had the opportunity to be the "pusher" got a full body workout!

It was so fun to spend time getting to know our family better and just hanging out and relaxing with everyone! Thanks for inviting us! We had a blast!

Cecret Lake

One of my favorite places to go in August, is up to Albion basin to see all the wild flowers in bloom. My mom and I took the kids up to Cecret lake for a picnic. It's a great hike for kids because it's long enough that you actually feel like it was a real hike, but it's not so long or steep that it's difficult for them to finish. The only problem is, is that it has become a fairly popular hike, so when we pulled up to the guard station at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, we were not surprised to hear that the parking lot was full. But my mom and I decided that we would drive up there anyway, and that we would use all of our positive thinking and will a parking space to be open just for us. Well, the positive thinking worked, because we got the LAST spot at the trail head parking, and there was a line of 3 cars behind us! We started up the trail and we were so excited to be up there. It smells so good, and the wildflowers did not disappoint. We had timed it just perfect and almost everything was in bloom. As we got up the trail to where you can see the small mountain you climb up and over to get to the lake, a new waterfall was cascading down the rocks. Jesse loves waterfalls, so he was so excited about the "surprise waterfall". We ate lunch at the lake and watched all the tadpoles swimming and the pot guts begging food off of hikers. On our way down the trail, James and my sister Carly got a little bit ahead of us, and James, who is my little rock climber, scaled this huge boulder and was perched on top like he was the king of the mountain. I yelled down the trail to him and said, "James, you wait till I get there to help you!" And my mom, who was in close proximity to James, heard him reply under his breath with a great big eye roll, "Oh, for the love of God!" It's so nice to know that I am turning into the voice of reason that he so completely respects!!! But, he waited until I got there to get him down...not that he needed my help....it was more for my own peace of mind. We managed to get everyone down to the car safely and decided that it was a perfect day for snow cones, so we headed down the canyon for a sweet treat. It was a great afternoon!