One more day before Daddy gets home

Saturday morning was a bit crazy. Etta woke us up at 7:00am. So we did our usual routine. Change all diapers, feed all of us and get us dressed. Then I started packing for Seven Peaks. I also was packing for Gibson because he was headed to my mom's house. Not to much fun bringing him to Seven Peaks with out Andy. My plan was to be at my mom's by 10:00 and feed Gibson again. Then hopefully leave by 10:45 to reach the park around 11:30. To my surprise that is exactly what happened except when we were one street away from Seven Peaks I realized I had forgotten towels for Etta and me. Off we went to the Family Dollar store and grabbed 3 small towels that worked great.
Chari and Amy were saving great spots for us. I was able to play and give Etta my full attention and she loved that. Melissa, Jen and Baby Chase joined us around noon and we all had a great time.

We headed home to get ready to spend the evening up in Park City with Melissa, Jen and Chase.We got home at 3:00 and were going to be leaving around 5:00. 2 hours isn't much time to change, shower and get ready myself and 2 kids. And of course we had a few set backs. Etta Pooping in the tub while bathing. Then I got her out and was draining the tub she peed all over the floor. Luckily I had finished feeding Gibson and he was sleeping. (He can be such a good little boy) After cleaning up the accident Etta and I both showered together which she did not like at all. We then got dressed, made sure all car seats, the stroller and diaper bag was ready. Just then Melissa called and said they left Lehi. Great just enough time for me to get my hair done.
Heading up to Park City was so much fun. I didn't take any pictures except for Etta in the very back of Jen's pathfinder.

We eat at Red Rock, Shopped until the stores closed and then meet up with Nalani and her family. They were great and I enjoyed meeting all of them.
This weekend was great because of great friends to help stay busy and wonderful phone calls from my husband on his motorcycle trip to tell me he missed me and loved me. That is what helped me through about 4 days of being a single mother with 2 children.

Sunday afternoon was a wonderful reunion when Daddy came home!

Another day just playing

Friday we woke up and got in our swim suits and went over to a friends house to play in their pool. They have a 4 or 5 person pool and it was fun to talk to an adult while Etta played with her friend Emily. Gibson slept right next to the pool and would wake up when he would get splashed on every now and then. After returning home and grabbing some lunch we headed off to the Living Planet Aquarium. At the beginning there is all sorts of information and fish that live here in Utah. Etta was really liking the information displays.

We then headed into the sea life with Jellyfish, seahorses, sharks and millions a beautiful fish. Etta wanted to play in the sting ray water but couldn't reach any of the sting rays. Of course she loved it anyway because it was water. At the end they had a small little play area that was the coral reef area. Fun tunnels with fish swimming around the toys.



It wasn't a huge Aquarium but is always fun with my kids. After a long day out we stayed in the rest of the evening. We went to bed early because Saturday was going to be another long and fun day.

When Dads away Mommy and kids will play

Andy headed off on Wednesday evening on a motorcycle trip. They went up to Montana and through Yellowstone and returned home on Sunday. So while Andy was gone I tried to keep us busy.
Thursday we went to the Discovery Gateway. Etta had a lot of fun but I think she will like it more when she is a little older. She played in the water works section for most of the time and came away soaked. She loves water.


They had a little center just for children 3 and under with a cute little beaver den, bird house and fake lake. She was the only kid in there for awhile and just explored at her on pace with out having another kids push her or grab a toy first.


They also have a studio where you can pretend to record an album, a radio station, and a TV set to tell the news. Etta enjoyed the knobs and keyboards.


They have so much to do there. We also went to a farm where you could feed horses, plant a garden and gather eggs. And on the top of the building is a Life flight Helicopter that you can play in and look at all there controls.
So, for the first day Daddy was gone we did keep busy and had a lot of fun at the Discovery Gateway.

Snowbird in the Summer

Saturday we went up to Snowbird to play not ski. They have a lot of fun activities to do in the summer time. We arrived around noon and bought all day passes for Andy and I and three fun jumping passes for Etta. We then headed over to the blown-up castle and slide for Etta to play.


She had fun jumping by herself and then a little boy about 4 came in and started pushing her and jumping on her. She was fine and just like "what the heck" and then he did a flip right at her and smashed his big mean head right on Etta's eye. (she ended up with a small black eye) I got her out of the castle and she cried a bit and then Daddy took her to the Alpine Slide. They went together a couple of times. I waited for Melissa and her family to arrive so we could have a fun time with everyone.
Melissa, Jen, Chari, Amy and all their families came. Momacoates is great she watched the little ones for us while we went on the rides. I loved going on the Alpine slide with Etta. She is just the best little girl in the world. There was lady taking pictures and Andy thought they came out great (I did too) so he bought them.


After the slide we rode the bull and then went on the Tram to the very top of one of the mountains. It was beautiful. Melissa's dad and brother-in-law didn't believe that there was snow on the mountain side, so they took a long hike to find out. Most of us didn't wait for them but we heard they made snow angels and even brought their hats filled with snow back from their hike.

We had a ton of fun and are glad for great friends.

More Pictures

As I mentioned in the last blog. Our friend took some great pictures of my family. I love how he makes them look soft and fresh. This is a great shot showing that Etta does really love her brother.
Andy told me that we should all wear white. So, I just grabbed some plain white shirts. I wish I would have grabbed nice white shirts. Our family picture is great it just looks to me like we are all getting baptized. I do love the background.

wikked lil' girls

A good friend of Andy's does some professional photography and we go see him every now and then to get some great pictures of our family. His wife dressed Etta up like a little cowgirl and they took some amazing shots of her. He just emailed Andy and sent him this picture. He made a CD cover for a CD he made and named it "wikked lil' girls".

Here is MY"wikked lil' girl"

Coming soon are more pictures he has taken of our family. You can also see his work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/skrike/
and past pictures of our family at http://www.flickr.com/photos/skrike/sets/72157594453153710/

My children share clothes

Andy doesn't mind buying clothes as long as they are androgynous. Etta has a few camo, cream and blue shorts, along with some blue crocs. I of course want the pink shorts and shirts and other girly shoes.
The other night I was getting Gibson ready for bed and pulled out some pj's for him to wear. I noticed they were ones Etta wore when she was little and we had a picture or two of her in them. So I popped out the camera for a comparison. Can you tell who is who?



I guess the pacifier and blanket give Gibson away.

For now I won't care so much because Etta looks cute in the boy clothes. They will continue to share a few items until she has a say in what she wears.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my

We headed to the Hogle Zoo on Friday. We went with two friends that have two children around Etta and Gibson's ages. We got to the zoo right as it opened so we could enjoy the morning weather before it got to hot. One of the women brought two girls that where 10 and 9 that helped out a lot with all the children. I hadn't been to the zoo since last year and was excited because last time they had no bears and the penguins weren't out.
We headed off to the elephants first. Two of them came out and the first thing they both did was eat and drink. I don't remember ever seeing an elephant eat hay so it was pretty cool. Etta got out of the chariot to see them and then when we started to go again she wanted back in. Once we made it to the bears the little boy that was with us was walking around and Etta wanted to follow him. They soon where holding hands and walking away. I guess she knows what she wants and goes and gets it.It soon was getting pretty hot so we headed to the bird show to relax in the shade. Etta had fun at the end taking a dollar down to the parrot that took it out of her hand and placed it in the donation box. She said bird...money and laughed. After the bird show it was off to the famous Ghost of the Bayou (white alligator). It was pretty weird looking but didn't move at all.
Last was the train. At the bees game on the 4th they were giving away tickets for the train at Hogle Zoo so I took about 10 of them. We rode around the zoo and then loaded up the chariot to head back to the car. All tuckered out Gibson was asleep before we got to the car and Etta fell asleep as we drove away from Hogle Zoo.
I love the zoo. I wanted Etta to play on the toys they have there but it was way to hot. But there will be future trips to the Zoo. Daddy wasn't able to come this time so hopefully next time.

Is swimming on your front lawn white trash?

We have a pretty nice sized backyard with a fence all the way around it. One problem, we have a dog. Oh and I haven't pulled weeds either. Thursday Etta wouldn't stop talking about water from the day before (seven peaks), so I decided to get out her little pool from last year. Instead of going in the backyard with the weeds and dog poop we went out front. Etta laughed and played in her little pool filled with freezing cold water. Hatcher didn't like getting wet but drank the pool water. Etta loves water and her favorite pal Hatcher.



So if swimming on your front lawn with cars driving by is white trash, we have a lot of fun being white trash.

Happy 4th of July

Here are some pictures of Etta's and Gibson's 4th of July outfits. Being that they are both children there outfits didn't make it very long. Etta spilled breakfast all over hers and Gibson pooped all in his. Needless to say they looked so cute. Thank you Grandma Donna for them and they will still be warn through out the summer.


We headed to Seven Peaks at 9:59am. I wanted to leave by 10:00 and felt so proud that my family of 4 made it out of the house on time. When we reached Provo the freedom festival parade was still happening and a lot of main roads were blocked off. We had to take a bunch of different back streets along with a few u-turns but finally made it to Seven Peaks. Etta could hardly wait to go get out in the water, so I made sure she was lathered up on sunscreen before we even reached our spot for the day. We found Melissa, Amy and Rylee sitting in the sun and saving us a nice spot close to the wave pool. Gibson being only 10 days old just hung out in his little tent and enjoyed the warm air. He loves being warm so he was set and slept the whole time. Andy went out and played with Rylee, Etta and Melissa most of the day in the water. But I did manage to play with Etta a bit in the wave pool during the waves. She loved bending down and trying to catch the wave. Every now and then one would knock her down and wash over her. She would just jump right up laugh and go at it again. I love that about her. She loves life.



After the fun we headed back home to get ready for the Bees baseball game. Gibson's very first game. We had lots of help from Keith and his family with Etta and Jory and Anna helped out with Gibson. The game was awesome. The Sky Sox's tied the game in the top of the 9th, with a runner on 2nd the batter hit a Home Run. We (I) all thought extra innings, no, I just want the fireworks. Our boys pulled through for us with a walk off Home Run in the bottom of the 9th. No extra innings on to the fireworks. The fireworks were amazing with music in the back ground. I loved looking behind me every now and then to just watch Etta's face. She would also pat me on the shoulder and then point to the fireworks. I love fireworks and of course they made me teary eyed.



After the game we headed back home for Andy's own firework show. We invited some friends up the street who came to enjoy some illegal fireworks. Andy probably enjoyed them the most.
We had a great 4th of July and are looking forward to many more.

July is here

We went to church on July 1st with the whole family. It being a beautiful day we walked there. Gibson was great throughout sacrament and Etta loves the bread and water and makes sure everyone knows that "bread" and "wah-we" is coming. Heading home they both crashed out and I thought they looked so cute together. Hopefully best buddies.



Then on Tuesday was Gibson's first and second check-up. He was 9 days old so they just did his second week check up then also. Etta loves waiting for the Dr. because she can look at the fishes. Gibson was great until they pricked his heel for the pku test. He now weighs 6lbs. 11oz. and is 20 1/4 inches long. Dr. said keep up the great work.

Our new life

Gibson joined us on June 23rd and now are family is complete! Etta welcomed her new brother in with love and thought he wasn't going to stay. When she realized he wasn't leaving she was a bit whinny and sad but now tells everyone to look at her baby brother. We had many visitors at the hospital and at home and want to thank everyone very much.





We have had quite the first week enjoying our little family. When Gibson was a week old we (I) needed to get out of the house. We loaded up the bikes, chariot and the kids (the dog stayed home) and headed to Liberty Park. We road around a bit and then took a long ride down to Gateway Mall. There Etta played in the water fountains and we drank Lemonade. We then trekked back to Liberty Park where Etta played in the fun little water streams and pool. What a fun end to June.