waiting...

I am waiting for Travis to get home from work....counting down each excruciating minute. Do you ever have days where you cannot wait for them to be over? Today has been one of those days (well, not the whole day...usually the countdown begins when Phoenix wakes up grumpy from his afternoon nap), in fact I have been having a string of those days (kind of the whole summer). It is still too hot to play for any length of time outside (umm...hello mother nature! it is almost the end of September!!!), we are more or less confined to the house because Trav takes our beloved Camry most days, and after a few too many creepy encounters in our neighborhood I have decided to eliminate walks (as if it is cool enough to walk outside anyway). Sometimes I hide from Phoenix because for some reason if he is grumpy he will just follow me around and whine and cry...but if I leave the room he is totally cool playing with his kitchen. He is on to a lot of my hiding places.

Needless to say, me and the kids jump up with excitement when Travis comes through the door. Relief for all of us. For me the relief comes in the form of another adult to help with the kids many (MANY) needs...whether it be fixing Audrey her 7th meal of the day, or changing Phoenix's 12th poopy diaper. For the kids, they get relief from their boring (worn out) Mom.

Yay! He just came home!! Excuse me while I pretend that our outing to the mall and to get pizza with the kids is a romantic date with my hunny!

Premier Week!!

Finally the fall premiers are upon us. Here is my schedule for the week...

Monday - DWTS (Dancing With the Stars)

Tuesday - Glee, then DWTS results

Wednesday - The Middle, and Modern Family

Thursday - The Office, and 30 Rock

Friday - Nothing (no good shows are ever on Friday because I think the TV networks assume that most people do things on Friday nights...I am thinking about starting a petition to bring back TGIF)

What shows are you watching this week?

Lake Benson

We discovered an awesome lake a few weeks ago when our ward was having a Pig Pickin in this location. There is a pretty cool playground, a huge field where you can literally let your kids run wild, and then of course a beautiful lake. The bathrooms smell like the latrines from Girls Camp, but that is pretty much my only complaint.

With cooler weather on the horizon, I am thinking it is the perfect time to start weekly outings here.

new shoes = big boy

Phoenix has been walking for a few weeks now. I was just thinking the other day how even though he is walking like a big boy, he still looks like a little baby to me. We went shoe shopping for the little man today, and suddenly he seems so much older with his new shoes on.

(sorry about the mess behind him, I am currently reorganizing his closet..a little bit at a time)

Potty Mouth

I am talking about Phoenix. No, he is not saying bad words, he is quite literally a potty mouth.
He loves playing in the toilet water, and he LOVES unrolling the toilet paper. I have caught him with the toilet brush in his mouth (GAG!) and on another occasion the toilet bowl cleaner bottle was in his mouth. Now, my main concern about this was the germs, but luckily he also likes taking a healthy bite out of soap (Irish Springs is his favorite) to sanitize his mouth, stomach...etc.

The first time that he bit off a chunk of soap (of course he swallowed it one second later) I rushed to the computer to see if I should be concerned. I found this site where people would post a question and other people would respond. A concerned mother (much like myself) expressed concern about her baby eating soap (just a bite). Most of the answers assured her that everything would be OK, but to expect some diarrhea. Then I saw this comment from a lady who said that when she was pregnant she ate Irish Springs soap all the time because she craved it . I am still having difficulty processing that.

JoNaS bRoThErS Concert

Yes, you read that correctly. Jonas Brothers Concert. I love them! Now, I am not about to start wearing a T-shirt with their faces on it, and I do not have any posters decorating my bedroom, but I do consider myself a fan. My sister, Joanna is also a fan, more hardcore than myself. Michelle was in town and she obviously likes the Jo Bro's enough to go see them in concert. I totally thought I would be the oldest one there, but I wasn't (I might have been the oldest one there with out a little girl at my side though). It was at Hershey Park, PA so we had a few hours before the concert to catch...3 rides. Lines are so annoying!

I had this plan of looking amazing for the concert (I do not get many legit occasions to actually dress up anymore), but I looked totally horrid for the concert. That may or may not be related to the whole showering the night before, waking up at 5 am, driving 6+ hours in the car....with kids, waiting in long lines at Hershey Park, riding the rides, sweating...for some reason I was planning to take a shower before the concert started, but since 3 extra hours in the day did NOT magically appear I had to go to the concert in the state I was.

(sorry Jo, I couldn't resist)

The concert was so fun!

There are a few cool things about the Jonas Brothers...

1) They are brothers

2) They write pretty much all of their own stuff

3) Most of their songs are catchy (imho) and fun to sing along to (most of the video I got of the concert has me and Jo singing in it...it ain't pretty)

4) They wear purity rings (except for Kevin who is married, but he wears his wedding ring so...)

Anyway, I will definitely plan on going to a concert next year, or next time they go on tour. Maybe Travis will come with me (and maybe even Audrey), and we can pay the extra $ for the closer seats.

Audrey's First Day of School (and the yellow ticket)

Yesterday was Audrey's first day of preschool. She isn't really a skirt wearing type of girl, but she really wanted to wear a skirt to school for her first day. She picked out a black Tinkerbell lunch box at Target, and we had a whole bunch of snacks for her to take (I wanted to make sure that she was happy with the contents). I also included a jelly sandwich (she doesn't like peanut butter, crazy right?). She told me she didn't need the jelly sandwich, but after school I found out that the sandwich was pretty much the only thing she did eat. She said that all of the kids had sandwiches.

Before I took her to school I read through the information packet for the parents. She goes to preschool 3 days a week, and at the beginning of the week the kids all start off with 3 green tickets. If they are naughty then the green ticket for that day will be exchanged for a yellow ticket. And if they are really naughty then the yellow ticket will be exchanged for a red ticket (this is my wording, it is nicer in the packet). If the kids survive the week with 3 green tickets they get a reward. One of the first things Audrey said to me when I picked her up was "I got a yellow ticket today". Luckily I had read the packet so I actually knew what that meant. I asked her why she got it and she said it was because she was tickling someone. That is so like Audrey! She also told me that she likes the boys better than the girls.

The car ride after I dropped her off was very quiet with just me and Phoenix. That girl is usually talking non stop. It was also much quieter at home for the 4 hours she was gone. I can't say that I missed her just because I knew that she was having so much fun at school, but both me and Phoenix were very excited to pick her up.

I am looking forward to the many stories that Audrey will come home with.

Recovering

Yes, I know it has been a little while since I last posted anything on the blog. My excuse? Recovering. From vacation. I did not have enough time to fully recover after my SLC trip (pretty sure that might take a few years) before I left to NY. Phoenix was pretty good there, he didn't sleep totally great during the night, but no major complaints. The ride home...I cannot imagine how such a generally sweet little fella could cry for hours at a time, but he did. And it was torture. If they could have a minivan with a sound proof window separating the parents from the kids I would buy one tomorrow. As a result of the ride home, me and Trav have promised each other that we will definitely not travel any great distance for a long time.

Park City/Salt Lake City

The Linford family reunion was that weekend in Park City. We had missed out on the last 2 years and Travis really wanted to make it to this one. I sadly did not get many pictures to document our time there, but here are the few that I do have...

We all went on the Alpine slide. You can control your speed. I went slow. Really slow. I heard the person behind me come up. I was embarrassed of how slow I was going. I bowed my head in shame and sped up a little. At the end I avoided eye contact with the person. Then I realized that it was a lady in her 60's. Then I was really, really embarrassed.

We had a great time. It was fun to see most of Trav's extended family. On the last night there myself, Janae, Heather, and Ryan were playing Settlers. Trav, Jared, and Jason set up their laptops in the same room and played Starcraft. It was fun. But Travis ate too much candy and he drank too much soda. He had the worst toothache of his life that night. I felt so bad. I kept my hand on his arm all night so that he would know I was there. He said a prayer, I said a prayer, and the pain went away (he said that he heard of that happening, excruciating pain, then the tooth stops hurting because it died...let's hope that is not what happened). The next day we said our goodbyes. Travis and Phoenix flew out on Sunday afternoon. I tried to get me and Audrey on the flight, but the man at the desk rudely told me it was full. And so was the one at 4:55. So I asked if he could give me a pass to help Travis with Phoenix to the gate. He asked me if Travis could manage the "infant son" on his own. I said probably. Then he nodded his head like he was talking to the dumbest idiot on the planet (aka me). I turned and walked away and blinked back tears till me and Audrey got to our car. Why are some people so nice, and other people not? So then I took Audrey to a restaurant with a good chicken wrap. When I walked outside I saw that the car lights were turned on. Dang it! Of course the battery was dead. So me and Audrey waited, like it was our job, for the owners one of the cars parked next to us to come out. A nice family came out and the guy helped us (and he did not have to tell me where to stick the charger cord things thank you very much). Then me and Audrey went to the Salt Lake. And we went swimming. I think we were the only people there that spoke English. There are millions and billions of brine shrimp in the water. But the water is so warm and it is so awesome to float in it. After that I called Delta to see if there were any seats open for the midnight flight (I was kinda ready for the trip to be over by that time), and of course it was full. So we went to John's apartment and spent the night with them. It was fun. The next morning we flew out and after a long trip we were home. You know the Ikea commercials where the people come back from vacation and they lay on their bed with their faces in their bed and say "I missed you so much!" to their mattress? Well, that is exactly how I felt about our bed, our camry, the kid's beds, etc. It is so nice to be home. And might I add that Phoenix has been the perfect angel since we have come home. Like, no whining! Trust me, I am enjoying it.

Fishing

Jason is the man to thank for all of the fish caught..

Can you believe how big this fish is that Audrey caught? Jason caught an even bigger one later on!

This is my catch (keeping my distance from the fish)

So there is an unfortunate, but laughable (because Diane wasn't hurt too badly) story. Me, Trav, Heather and Ryan were playing Settlers and Jason came up and told Heather he had a bite on a line. She hadn't reeled in a fish yet, so she jumped at the opportunity, but she wanted a photographer and Diane, being the nice Mother that she is, volunteered. Earlier that day the guy in charge of deciding how much to adjust the dock pushed it out far enough so that you had to leap from the stairs to the dock. It was tricky because wet wood is slippery. Especially when you are wearing crocs. Diane found out the hard way.

Nothing like a moonlight dip in the lake!



I have a hilarious sequence of pictures with Heather, I will post them on facebook. Her, me, and Audrey all reacted the same way to the wriggling fish. Heather's face says it all.

Floating at Mack's Inn

Most everyone else did other things (go to Yellowstone, look out points, etc) but I stayed around the cabin for the most part (Phoenix was taking 3-4 hour naps during the day and if he wasn't napping he was crying so there was no way I was going to push him). It was so nice and pleasant at the cabin that I really did not mind just taking it easy. I could seriously just stare out at the lake all day (there were boats, jet skis etc, not to mention to beautiful scenery). Every night I would rock Phoenix to sleep and try to put him in his little bed, and he would wake up. It was an exhausting cycle that lasted way too long. During the day Phoenix was pretty much attached to me (if I hid from him he would stop whining though...so I did sometimes hide from him). Travis flew out on Wednesday night and got into the SLC airport at 11:30pm, he rented a car and started the drive up to Idaho. The plan was for him to stop and sleep in the car, and then continue driving so that he could get to Island Park Thursday morning. At 5:15 am (with a fussy baby in arm) I texted Travis to see where he was (hoping the answer was "pulling up right now"). He was in Blackfoot...aka 2 plus hours away. By this point I was pretty much emotionally and mentally spent (all thanks to the lil fella). I was literally counting down each minute till Travis got to the cabin. At around 8:30 I figured that Trav should be almost to the cabin so I walked out to meet him (Phoenix had been up since 5 and there was literally NOTHING I could do with him except walk). After a 15 minute walk I called Travis. He was stuck in Traffic. Road construction. He said that there was a guy holding a stop sign. I asked him to explain the situation to the stop sign holding guy...that I was going to die if he didn't get there soon. He (Travis) didn't...OK, so maybe I wasn't on my death bed...but I was at least well on my way to the crazy house. So I walked back to the cabin, and somehow managed to survive the next 30 minutes (by this point I was counting down each second!). Travis finally arrived. Relief!!! Travis gallantly offered to stay with the little guy while the rest of us floated the river. It really was nice of him because this was his vacation to, but who was I to say no to an offer like that? Anyway, that is the long, unabridged version of how I came to float the river.



We got to ride up in a van...for some reason Audrey loves vans. I can assure you that I get no thrill from riding in a van.





Janae and Jared (or Janared as I sometimes refer to them), Diane, and Addie were in one canoe. Jason, Jeff, and Audrey and Brighton were in another. And Janae suggested that I join Heather and Ryan in their canoe (no kids). At the beginning everyone was decently nice. I once had the opportunity to get Jared really wet, and I didn't take it. It haunts me now. Jeff and Jason pretty much soaked out entire canoe (I'm talking an inch of water at the bottom!). Then Jared threw a water bottle across the river and it landed right in front of us, splashing us. Then either him or Janae said "pick it up" and being the nice people that we are, all three of us reached for the bottle...in the water...at the same time...yeah, we came about 2 inches to tipping the canoe over before we realized it was a trick. I must admit, I was impressed. Me, Heather, and Ryan made it our mission to get revenge, on both canoes. Let's just say we failed miserably. But we had fun.

Addie just wanted to play in the water. The water was maybe 60 degrees. I do not know how she could stand the cool temperature, but she loved it!

There were TONS of fish in the river. It was a very fun excursion. Many thanks to my wonderful hubby for making this very enjoyable experience possible!

Island Park

Grandpa Linford was kind enough to let us stay in his cabin in Island Park for a few days. It is breathtakingly beautiful there. On the first day there we saw not 1, not 2, but 3 Mooses (just kidding, I know it's Moose). One mother with her two babies. Moose are so tall! We had a canoe to play around with, Jason, or should I call him Dr. Fisherman? had 4 fishing poles set up at all times during the day. He shared the excitement of catching a fish with all of us by generously letting us take turns of who reeled the fish in. More pictures to come of that. By the time we got to the cabin Phoenix had been getting about 8 hours of sleep per day...compared to his usual 16. It was not pretty. And by "not pretty" I mean...let's just say whenever Addie saw Phoenix she said "baby crying" and 90%...maybe 95% of the time she was right. And why is it that the more tired the baby the harder it is to get them to sleep? WHY?!?!? Everyone helped out, so that made everything much easier.

Trav's Dad picked out a pink life jacket especially for Audrey. She loved it, I mean LOVED. Her and Brighton both wore their life jackets as much as possible, and we did not discourage it.

On one of the first night there Audrey and Grandpa were sitting out on the deck and talking. It was so cute I had to get a picture. After they had posed Audrey said "Mommy, can you leave?" I asked her if she wanted to have Grandpa all to herself and she said "Yes". I thought it was so sweet that she valued the one-on-one time with her Grandpa.

Another thing about kids...why is it impossible to keep dirt/sand/rocks out of their mouth, but if you try to feed them certain kinds of food they spit it out immediately?

These two missed each other soo much! They were so excited to be together and surprisingly they didn't fight that much.

Here is Jason's set up I was telling you about...