1st Bear Lake trip of the summer!

So I know I have a million things to post about but I don't have much time tonight so I thought I'd just make a post where it's mostly pictures cause it's easier! Today we spent the day up at Bear Lake (a lake about 45 min. from Logan) and had a great time!! It's my most favorite thing to do during the summer here in Logan because it's relaxing, we get to be together as a family, and Tyler LOVES being at the beach so it makes for an easy afternoon! I just can't get enough of summer and the cute toddler bodies running around in nothing but shorts and flip-flops, Popsicle juice dripping down their chins and laying out in the nice, warm sun. Ahhhh, it was a good day!









Tyler ruining the sand castle daddy was trying to build




After a little lunch Kylee fell asleep


So I took a little nap with her!


He looks comfy...














Burying Tyler in the sand


Well half of him anyways










Bobby's back was SO sunburned so he put Tyler to work with an Aloe Vera back massage


Tyler was actually really getting into it and rubbed his back for like 20 min! Child Labor at its finest.


Since Kylee's been sitting up so good we decided to give them a bath together for the first time tonight. I was still a little nervous about her being in a big bathtub so I clung to her most of the time!


Bobby wasn't so great about angling the camera so that certain body parts weren't exposed so I had to crop the pictures kind of funny which is why you can only see Kylee's head!




Until next time...

More to come...

Stay tuned for-

• Our Anniversary getaway story

• The Fourth of July

• Kylee's first time (sort of) eating solids

• Why Bobby shooting off fireworks in St. George is a BAD idea!

• And Hundreds of pictures!
  

What was supposed to be a fabulous-and so VERY VERY needed- vacation for Bobby and I, turned into nightmare after nightmare. But really, would you expect anything less than drama from my life?

Some videos

Sorry there's a lot...

She's starting to laugh a lot more easily now (like not JUST for Tyler)! My favorite part is at the end where she sees Tyler and just lunges for him. She LOVES him!


The skin tight jammies, the ballerina dance move and the dainty hand gesture will make this video worth millions when he's a teenager. Bobby's really mad that I taught him though. I guess I can sort of understand why...


The pipes in our house can be really loud and for some reason this particular night, when our neighbors were using their water, the pipes were really loud and they totally freaked Tyler out! For some reason he thought the noise was coming from his little couch and when we said, "oh it's just the pipes." he thought we had said it was the vipers-as in the snake-and he refused to sit on it. Every time we would try to put him on it he would scream and run off of it clinging to us. (it was actually really funny and I wish I would have got that part on camera, but i didn't think about yet.) This video was taken a good 10-15 min. after it happened so he had finally calmed down, but I just thought what he was saying was so funny-especially because it was totally
unprompted.

A little catch-up

Last week Tyler's friend Jillian got to come over and play for a couple hours so her mom and dad could go out and celebrate her mom's birthday! Tyler's still pretty shy around girls (okay everyone really) but Jillian brings out his fun side and he pretty much just follows her around and does whatever she does!

Yes, these were totally posed...but at least he complied and was pretty happy to put his arm around her ;)


I love that she always has the silliest faces for the camera!


She loves to grab his hand and say, "Come on Tyler let's go!"




One day I found his elephant comfortably taking a nap under the TV and I thought it was funny so I took a picture...


Tyler got so mad at me and said, "No mom, you wake ewaphant up!!" So I guess he felt he needed to rescue him.


The other day my super fabulously creative, totally on-the-ball, visiting teacher came over and brought me this "happy meal" that she made by hand just to make a visiting teaching appointment! She puts me to shame.


She even hand made the lunch tray and french fry holder thingy.

*The hamburger is cupcake, brownie and frosting and the fries are sugar cookies. How stinkin' cute is that?!?! She did feel really bad that I couldn't eat it, but knew I would be uber impressed with her mad skillz!

This week I had the opportunity to drive down to Salt Lake and meet with some old BYU roomies for lunch. It was so fun to catch up and get together again! Thanks for setting everything up Ellen!! Ellen (Jake), me (with no kids-thanks Bobby!), Bree (holding Melinda's baby Bree, but also due with her own baby in 2 weeks!), and Melinda. Too bad my eyes are closed and we only took 1 picture! ha ha!


The other day we were going out to have a BBQ with a bunch of people that live in our apartment and Tyler wanted to wear red AND blue flip-flops. I told him he had to choose either red OR blue, but he was not havin' it! He wanted both so I said, "fine. Wear one of each!" And that made him happy. I've decided to choose my battles. Makes life much easier! *Unfortunately this photo-not posed.*


It's official, she's a sitter upper!


She's been sitting up in spurts for awhile, but now I'm able to set her down and walk away and not be afraid she's going to fall over and hurt herself. Every once in awhile she'll tumble over if she's been sitting for awhile, but for the most part she's got the hang of it!

Playing in the rain

So lately I've been really trying to become better about just going with the flow of things and accepting that everything in my life does not have to be run on a schedule. There does not have to be a written script for everyday of my life and it's okay if everything doesn't go exactly as I planned for it to. Some days we have naps, some days we just play all day. Some days we do laundry and some days we let it pile up. Some days we make Tyler eat well balanced meals and some days he lives off McDonalds chicken nuggets and french fries. I've tried to be better about setting up my priorities in a way that what's best comes first (my family), what's better comes next (my calling) and what's good comes last (housework). So far it's working out okay and I seem to be able to balance things a lot better when I'm not trying to make everything a "best".

A couple days ago it was pouring rain outside (well almost everyday the past 2 weeks it's rained, but this one was a really good downpour!). We were coming home from running errands and it was already an hour later than Tyler usually goes down for a nap. We had been out all morning and I still had more errands to run once I put them down for naps before I had to be home that night to babysit for a friend, so I was eager to get him inside so I could be on my way to accomplish the next thing on my list. (BTW-To Do lists and I are becoming quite good friends) Bobby ran Kylee from the parking lot to the porch by our house and I was left to bring Tyler. I put him down on the sidewalk so that he could walk because I was carrying armfulls of groceries. The second I put him down he was off, running the opposite way we needed to go and jumping in any puddle of water he could find (in his flip-flops!). I was yelling at him to stop and please come with me but he would just laugh and run farther away, thinking it hilarious that his mother was getting drenched, waddling after him with jugs of milk and chicken breasts. I finally just set the groceries down and ran after him pretty angry grumbling, "Why now?! I have too much to do!". Then right when I was about to catch him he jumped into a huge puddle of muddy water, totally spalshing me, and started laughing so hard he fell down. I then had what you might call an 'Aha' moment because I realized what I was missing out on. I was focusing so much on this little event in my day that I was ignoring the big picture-and more importantly the importance of the big picture. Here was my little 2 year old boy, enjoying his life to the fullest. Begging me, without using words, to play with him. To enjoy the world from his perspective. To let go of the responsible adult in me and, for just a couple minuets, be a child again.

So I jumped in the puddle right next to him and sat down and laughed with him as the rain soaked us. Bobby came out and looked at us like we were crazy, but I just told him to go up and grab the camera. I wanted a picture that would remind me that sometimes it's more important to say "Why not?" than "Why now?"



And just a couple other pictures of Tyler's fun!






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Kylee stayed nice and dry :)


He was SOAKED, and freezing!


But it was SO worth it!


Love this boy!


Thanks for teaching me a great lesson Tyler. I love you!