Is It Fall Yet?

It is so hot here sometimes you can feel like a prisoner to the heat! We have been trying to plan some fun activities to get everyone out of the house and also have fun while staying cool! We went to a play group this week at Lacey and Teresa's house and went to Pump It Up today. It has been really nice to get out and watch the kids have so much fun!


Thatcher and Lacey waiting for Pump It Up to open.


This place is like Kid Utopia!


Taggy with his curly hair! I can't believe my baby will be one this week!


Thatcher hearts the slide at Pump It Up!


Mommy and Taggy going down the slide!


Taggy loves the older ladies!


Taggy felt so big in the car all by himself!


Thatcher and Taggy riding in the cars! So cute!


So nice to let the kids play so the mom's can talk! Ummm Taggy has issues with TV. But like my friend Teresa and I talked about, at least we know he can sit and concentrate on something!


Teresa did this cute project with the kids, they loved cutting out the jello with cookie cutters! The kids also liked eating the project! Taggy and Kira couldn't get enough of the stuff!

Superfudge

Thatcher is Superfudge. I don't know if you have read the Judy Blume books about Fudge, the adorable mischievous little boy, who always got into trouble. I am convinced he is my son. I am going to start taking pictures of EVERYTHING Thatcher does, just to show him one day and maybe he will understand then what he put me through! I am not kidding (I wish I was) when I say that something like this happens at least once a day, usually more. These things usually happen when I am showering, using the restroom, changing Taggy or being busy outside of his sight. He is quite the little piece of work. Good thing he is cute, that is all I have to say.





And this is how he got into it...he boosts himself up to unlatch the LOCKED pantry door, and got the Baking Soda.

30 is creeping up on me!

I had a great birthday yesterday! Thanks to everyone who sent cards, called, and thought of me! It was a very fun day and Todd really did a great job to make me feel special. I got what I wanted which was a photoshop program and I am excited to start digitally scrapbooking, making dvd's with our pictures, and sprucing up my blog! Todd and I went out to dinner last night at our favorite little restaurant called Pastiche. It was nice to get out by ourselves on a real date without the kiddos. Today my friends and I went out to lunch at Texas Roadhouse. This is a great tradition that we started to all go out to lunch for every ones birthday. It was really fun, and I am just glad that I didn't have to sit on their huge saddle for them to sing Happy Birthday to me!

With this birthday I have realized 30 is just around the corner. I am feeling old. Never mind that I am getting gray hairs, although I blame most of them on Thatcher and a few on Todd :), I was sitting on the couch watching a TV show about Disney World's new attractions and I kept thinking, "wow they have done a lot of new stuff to Disney World in the last few years, I was just barely there and none of this was there!" Then after adding in my head I realized it has been 10 years since I had been to Disney World. What? I can't believe it. Almost 10 years since I graduated High School and went to college. Wow. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. Good thing I have a younger husband to keep me young!


This picture is for my parents who love to snap pictures of me blowing out candles with big puffy cheeks!


Sara, Cami, me and Teresa at Texas Roadhouse for lunch...yummy!

Peter Piper Pizza

This past week Teresa, Sara and I took our kids to Peter Piper Pizza for an afternoon of fun. We have to come up with places to go that are cool, because it is still SO hot. We are all looking forward to Fall. I can't even tell you how this little outing rejuvenates me and I know it might sound weird but getting out for one afternoon with fun friends really helps me be a better mom and wife. I feel really blessed to have such great friends to do stuff with here in Tucson, and more importantly that they have darling kids for my kids to be friends with. It was a fun filled afternoon with only a few miner setbacks along the way, ie: Thatcher decided it was a good idea for a makeover as I was rushing around trying to leave the house, and after wiping all the makeup off his face that he got into, we were only 30 minutes late. Kira got her head stuck in the railing and after trying to pull her poor little head out, having the manager tell her to calm down or she couldn't ride the merry-go-round again, and me running to the bathroom and filling my hands full of soap, her mom got her out safe and sound. Thatcher getting into trouble for climbing up the ski ball machine and finally I got yelled at for cutting in line to get Taggy another bread stick. All in all it was a fun time for the kids and mom alike and that makes it all worth it.


"Woo-Ha!"...this is how Thatcher says, "Yee-Ha!"


In the back: Sara and Kira. In the front: Lacey and Teresa


Lacey and Thatcher on riding the mechanical car

Baby Jaguar

So Thatcher is really into Go Diego Go. Diego is the cousin to Dora the Explorer if anyone has heard of Dora (if you haven't you must live in a box!). He LOVES Diego, and loves Diego's little side kick animal friend, Baby Jaguar. The other night Thatcher wouldn't eat his dinner so I had the idea for Todd to call Thatcher and pretend that he was Baby Jaguar. (I got this idea from the movie Big Daddy and the incident with Scuba Steve). So Todd went in the other room and I told Thatcher Baby Jaguar was on the phone for him. He doubted me for a moment but lucky for us Todd can do a mean Baby Jaguar impression and it worked! Thatcher's face lit up and he talked to "Baby Jaguar" for a long time. "Baby Jaguar" asked him if he would eat his dinner to make him big and strong and Thatcher said, "Oh yeah, sure." After he got off the phone with Baby Jaguar he ate the rest of his dinner. Since the other night Thatcher has asked to talk to Baby Jaguar multiple times and so he gets to call him while Todd is at work (it works out nicely this way). Today he has talked to Baby Jaguar three times. He absolutely LOVES it. It is so hilarious.

Thatcher's Latest....

I made these cupcakes for my father-in-law's birthday and we were going to have them the first night of our camping trip. The night before we left Todd and I were busy getting ready to go, and Thatcher got a hold of the cupcakes! In a matter of minutes all my culinary work went down the tube! Got to love little boys!

Lessons Learned....

Here are some pics of our camping trip with Todd's family to Zion's National Park. We stayed at a really cute resort called Zion Ponderosa Ranch and Resort, although if we could do it all over again we wouldn't camp but stay in one of their cute cabins. Camping with two little ones was REALLY hard. I would not recommend it to any of my friends with little kids, unless you are Annie Oakly! I also got really sick and so between that, the heat, and watching after Thatcher and Taggart...it felt like I was in 'Malta'. There also weren't many kid friendly activities planned or to do in Zions so we spent a lot of time on the playground and the pool at Zion Ponderosa. But, I learned a lot of lessons on this trip and so it wasn't a total waste! My vote for our next family vacation? Disneyland!

Grand Canyon!

Since we are from the 'Grand Canyon State' we thought we would stop by the Grand Canyon on the way home from Zions. It was fun to see and it really is amazing to see in person and not just on the Brady Bunch. Thatcher thought it was cool...but to be honest he loved the stone tower more then the HUGE canyon in the ground. He is such a funny boy.


In front of the Tower.


Todd and Thatcher in front of the grand canyon


Todd and Thatcher waving from the tower!


The Grand Canyon.

High School Musical Two

This Friday is the premier of High School Musical Two! Yippee! I know it might be a little sad or pathetic or both, but I love High School Musical! I am excited to see Gabriella and Troy back at East High and on their summer vacation. We will be camping on Friday night, but you better bet that my DVR will record the premier on the Disney Channel and we will be watching it Saturday night!

BBQ

Just a little update on what we have been up to! Life here in our home has been helter schlter since we got back from Bear Lake! From planning another vacation to Zions, to cleaning, to kids colds and play dates, we have been busy! Last night we went to a BBQ at our friend and neighbors house, the Tonks. Here are some candid pictures I caught while there. I have to have something to blog about!




Todd listening intently to a very interesting conversation.


Ian Tonks, Thatcher's little friend.


Taggart loved all of Ian's toys! (They always love everybody else's toys!)


Thatcher looking at my ring through a magnifying glass

President Faust

President Faust died today at 12:20am. I always thought that President Faust was so much like a loving Grandpa. I always felt his love for us when he spoke. Many of his talks have inspired me as a missionary and as a mother. This is a great loss and he will be missed.

Knock Knock...

'Who's there?' This is what I hear all day long now. Thatcher's new thing is knock knock jokes. He loves them. If he wants my attention he will say, 'Mommy, knock knock!' and he will actually knock on me! He also makes up funny answers to the 'who's there?' part like...orange, fridge, light, Taggy, basically anything in his sight. It is really cute. Thatcher is such a fun kid. I absolutely love having him as my little buddy.

What A Shocker!

You Are 92% Girly

When the term "girly girl" was invented, they were thinking of someone like you. You're a feminine and sweet and very high maintenance. But you're worth it!

How Girly Are You?

You Are 96% Republican

You are a card carrying Republican, and a pretty far right one at that! There's no chance anyone would ever mistake you for a Democrat.

How Republican Are You?

For those of you who didn't know this, then you really don't know me at all! :)

A Stop Over At The Other Bishops...

On our way up to Bear Lake we stopped over at Eddie and Brindie's house to break up our trip. It was really fun to be back in Utah Valley and it brought back a lot of memories! It was fun to spend the night with them, we will see them again soon when we go camping next month in Zions with Todd's family!


Kaylor and Thatcher playing on the stairs


Uncle Don with Thatcher and his intruments, Thatcher LOVES pretending to blow into them!


Brindie, Kaylor, Eddie, Don, Todd, Thatcher, Me, and Taggy

Bear Lake

Last week we went to Bear Lake with my family. It was a BLAST! We stayed in this really cute condo that I called 'festive' because it really got you in a lake mood with murals all over the walls of trees and bears and outdoor scenes...it was really cute. We went out on the lake, went to a play, played lots of games as a family (cat balou!) ate the famous Bear Lake raspberry shakes, and just relaxed and enjoyed spending time together. It was a great vacation. Thatcher loved all the attention from Papa and HiHi (that is what he calls my parents) and Uncle Juan (Jon) and Uncle Davis (David) and Taggy loved the attention too. We had a lot of fun!


The whole gang infront of the Lake


Bear Lake from the boat


The condo we stayed in at Bear Lake


A view from the condo, it was such a pretty area! I loved some of the cabin homes around there.


Thatcher playing with Uncle Jon's cell phone


Jon and Taggy on Sunday afternoon

Of course going to Bear Lake we did lots of water activities! We went boating and went out on wave runners and of course went swimming. It was really fun and Thatcher loved it! He is turning into quite the fish. Taggart was really good all day boating and was content as long as he didn't get splashed. The best part for me was watching everyone on the tubes. I don't think I remember laughing so hard in my life.




Jon and Dave on the tubes




Wow who is this hottie?




Jon and Todd on the tubes


Todd and Thatcher on the tube


I even went tubing, I am just not as young as I once was!


Taggy was so good on the boat, this is how we saw him most of the day. He wasn't a big fan of the lifevest, but he got over it.


Thatcher in the tube, don't worry he didn't go by himself


Taking a break from tubing just to swim around


Thatcher driving the boat! AGHHHHHH!


Thatcher and Papa on the boat


Thatcher riding the water banana with Daddy, Uncle Jon and Uncle David