Summer has officially begun

June is in full swing and man did the temperature rise fast. It has been HOT. The kind of hot that leaves you wondering what to do. I hate being trapped inside all day, but it's too hot to be outside unless it involves water.

So that is pretty much what we have been up to. We play in the sprinklers. We go to the splash pad. And last week, I even took the kids on a little day trip to the lake. Willard Bay is only 20-30 minutes from our house, and they have a little beach area to hang out at and play in the water.

We packed a lunch, lots of snacks, and lots of toys to play at the beach. When we first got there, we were the only ones there. But within an hour or so, quite a few other groups of people had joined us. (Not sure why the pictures are so hazy...maybe my phone was too hot...or I dunno.)

 The kids had a blast filling their buckets up, digging holes, and splashing around.

Then a few hours after we got home from the lake, our power went out due to a semi-truck running into a power pole. Not having a ton of options for dinner without a microwave or stove, we headed to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner.

It was Will's idea because he wanted to go to the place with the oreo pizza. He has good taste.

 

Even though it is summer, the kids recently found our box of winter hats and gloves and they have been playing "Christmas". And they really wanted to wear their Christmas things when we went grocery shopping.

They sure know how to make a fashion statement.

Meanwhile, Lance has started a new job within the last week or so. Instead of being in the car rental side of Enterprise, he has switched departments and is now in truck rentals and is working down in West Valley. We are hoping it will be a good move.

And while Lance is away working, I've been trying to stay somewhat busy and not let myself go too crazy. I built some shelves in our shed and totally reorganized. I even got detailed enough that I vacuumed the shed out. It was good because I was able to haul of bunch of stuff outside and clear up some storage space in the house.  I've been trying to de-junk a little bit and get rid of the things we really don't need or use, but I'm apparently not very good at throwing things away.

I wish I could say that we have some super sweet things planned for summer, but as of right now we are just trying to survive. Lance doesn't really get any time off so we are pretty limited in what we can do. Hopefully we can still manage to have a good summer.

Fun Questions for Will

A friend on mine posted this on Facebook and I thought it would be kind of fun to try with Will.

Without any prompting, ask your child these questions and write down EXACTLY what they say.


1. What is something mom always says to you?  Clean up your room.

2. What makes mom happy? Tickles and when I give her hugs.

3. What makes mom sad? Hitting. And when you don't clean your room.

4. How does your mom make you laugh? Tickles

5. How old is your mom? 14
 
6. How tall is your mom? 1-2-3-4-5

7. What is her favorite thing to do? Play games

8. What does your mom do when you're not around? Cry

9. What is your mom really good at? When I'm so excited to go get on the train, she gets on really nice. And she's really good at taking me on trains.

10. What is your mom not very good at? She locks us out of her room. At fixing my bike.

11. What does your mom do for a job? She takes us to Kim's.

12. What is your mom's favorite food? She loves vegetables and sandwiches.

13. What makes you proud of your mom? When she plays with me.

14. If your mom were a character, who would she be? A dinosaur.

15. What do you and your mom do together? Have some time spending with our family. Play hockey. Build train tracks.

16. How are you and your mom the same? We both like playing outside and eating food and playing games and going to the park and going to friends house.

17. How are you and your mom different? Sometimes the bad guys make us die.

18. How do you know your mom loves you? When Jesus is here then you love me. I know you love me, so I like you.

19. What does your mom like most about your dad? Because he's a funny animal then you love him. And it makes you laugh. Then you knock down daddy and he dies. But Heavenly Father makes you alive again. And you like laying by daddy.

20. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? You like going to a mommy store to get some books.

21. How old was your Mom when you were born? 1
Well there you have it. From the mouth of 4 year old Will.

Spring Creek Canyon

There is a group in my family that really loves hiking, especially down in Southern Utah. While we were all gathered down there for my Grandpa's funeral, we decided to do a short hike.

My cousin Seth has a little boy named Will who is about 6 months younger than my Will. When I found out Seth was bringing his Will, I decided to take mine as well. So this was Will's first official hike. And it was quite a decent one, for being his first.

The trail was called Spring Creek Trail. I found this description on a website: This is an easy hike into a beautiful slot canyon located just outside the Kolob Canyons area of Zion National Park. It provides a taste of canyoneering in a relatively easy slot, in an area that is accessible. The canyon is little known, overlooked by most hikers, and so you can often find solitude here.

Total Length: About 5.5 miles round trip (Not sure if we went the entire way, but I think it was close)


Every time we would pass a "cool rock" Will wanted to pick it up and carry it with him. He would carry it for a while until he found one he liked better. Then he would drop that one, pick up the next one and proceed on.

And some of these rocks were pretty big!

The trail was fairly easy, steady uphill but not very steep. There was a small river we had to cross several times. Will stopped at every crossing to dip his hand in the water and see it if was really warm at that spot.

There were a couple of tumbles, but the kids bounced right back and no one seemed too affected or hurt by it.

 Parts of the trail were in wide open spaces.

 Other parts we were walking through some thick foilage.

Then a couple of miles into the hike, we reached the slot canyon.

 These two had become great friends during the funeral and they had a ball walking together in the mountains. The two Wills.

 They really enjoyed chilling in this small cave. Will asked if they could take a nap there.

 They were even strong enough to help hold the mountain up and keep it from falling on us all.

 By the last mile or two, these boys were tired. Heck, I was super tired. But they were such good troopers! At one point they were even walking down hand in hand. Will tripped at one point and scrapped his knee and was dragging from that point on. I carried him a little ways but he's just too big and he ended up walking most of the way.

And check out some of these views! 

I really enjoyed the hike. It was fun to spend a little bit more time with some family that we don't get to see often. We got to be outside doing something I enjoy. I got to watch Will experience something for the first time, and I got to see him enjoying something that I love. Guess that means there will be a lot more hiking in our future. Yes!

Great job, Will! I was so impressed and proud of how well you did!

 

Broken Glasses

Do you remember this picture?

This was the first time Blake broke her glasses. It took about a week for her to get them back. Since she didn't have a second pair yet, she just went a week without glasses. We got them back just in time to go to Cedar City. Two days later on our way home, Blake handed me her glasses...in pieces.

Fortunately, the following day I received a call saying that her second pair had come in. I was super excited about this pair because they seemed to be the ones she really liked when we were trying them on. Plus the ends curl around the ears, so I thought they would stay on better. Turns out they don't. They were a little big and would constantly fall down and sit on the edge of her nose. And she really didn't seem to like them.

I was debating if I should take them in and ask if we could exchange for a different pair, since she seemed to dislike them so much and they weren't fitting quite right. Then Blake brought her glasses to me like this.

Oi! At least this looked like something that could hopefully be fixed and not have to be shipped away. So for the fourth time within a week, I hauled the kids to the glasses store. I received several looks of sympathy.

I thought maybe if I had the right tools I could have fixed this one on my own. But after waiting for them to return them, I'm glad I didn't even try. The screw was somehow wedged in there some way, and it took them over 30 minutes just to figure a way to get it out. Meanwhile, I decided to ask if there was any way that I could trade this pair for a different pair. I ended up getting the same pair as her first ones, but in purple. The only downside was that they were about half the price of the metal pairs and I ended up just eating the cost. Wish I would have known at the beginning.

Getting a bit tired of such frequent trips to this eye place, I decided to go check out Walmart and see what they had to offer. I got Blake a 3rd pair of glasses for about a third of what the other store cost. Another face palm. Why didn't I go there first?!

Anyways, they were extremely helpful and very accommodating. They even told me they would order a few extra frames so if Blake broke them, they could exchange them out that same day. Talk about service!

A week or two later, all 3 pairs of glasses decided to come in within about a day of one another. So she now has a pink and purple pair, and this black pair. And of course, since we finally have a backup pair, Blake hasn't broken a pair of glasses since.

 But I guess if that's what it takes, then that's what you do.


Blake also had a follow-up eye appointment on Monday. He wanted to see her 6 weeks after she started wearing her glasses. He said that she is looking really well. When she is wearing her glasses, her eyes are straightening out. When you take them off, however, they really turn inwards. But that is normal at this point. I was told she looked great, that she needs to continue wearing them full time, and that we would re-evaluate her eyes in 4-6 months.

Will is Four!

It seems as if four years old is the age when suddenly kids aren't so little anymore. They are completely out of the toddler phase, and fully embracing being a little kid.

Will is all boy. He thinks it's funny to burp, fart, play with his food, etc. He loves trains, cars, superheros, and sports.

At the slightest hint of warm weather, Will was begging to play in the sprinklers. I finally gave in one day, even though it wasn't super warm. He still loved it, thought the water was cold. I'm sure we'll be playing in the sprinklers all summer long.

I decided it was time to start teaching Will how to really play sports, so I went and bought him a baseball glove, a plastic bat, and a hockey stick. He really likes to play hockey in the driveway or out in the street. And for having only held a stick a time or two, he is picking it up really fast. He can stop the ball and hit it back to me.
 
 He also really loves to play soccer. He dribbles the ball down the field as fast as he can. The only problem is when he wants to stop the ball. He just slides on his knees and crouches over the ball to grab it. Still working on that one. I'm planning on signing him for for a leagues this fall. Yay!

When Blake got her glasses, he really wanted some too. So we found some cool sunglasses for him.

It rained pretty much the whole month of May. And Will became obsessed with umbrellas.

One of this favorite new movies is The Big Green. He watches it all the times and loves the part where they all play soccer in the rain and mud. He always asks if we can do that next time it rains.

He loves to go to Primary, though he mostly just wants snack time. He also gets mad if he doesn't get to participate and talk into the microphone. He always asks if he can give a talk.

Will says he enjoys church, but the entire time he is asking if it's almost over yet. He likes going to primary, especially if he is able to give a talk, say a prayer or participate in any way. Often throughout the week, I will find him setting up primary in our living room. One time he even asked me to play the piano so they could have singing time, then he got up and gave a little talk, etc.

He loves to learn, and he loves to help.

Will loves riding his bike, though he is growing out of this one. We have a slightly bigger one that we need to fix the tires on. We'll see if he can master riding a 2-wheeler this summer.

He loves playing dress-up and his current favorite is Captain America.

He loves reading and telling stories and I find it's one of the best ways to teach. Most of the time, we aren't necessarily reading word for word, but I like to ask him what is going on in the picture and talk about different things.

Often, he will ask me to sing at the piano so that he can spin. When I play the piano, Will and Blake like to spin. And the louder and faster I play, the faster they spin. His favorite song for me to play is Phantom of the Opera.

He thinks he can read the time, but he ends up saying something like, "It's eighty-fifteen-seventy-twelve o'clock." Not quite sure what that means.

Will has a major problem with leaving lights on and not closing the door. Every time he goes outside, I'll find the front or back door wide open. It seriously drives me nuts. And we work on it daily, and he says he'll never do it again. But I swear I have yet to see him close a door behind him. (Though I will acknowledge that often times Blake is right behind him and I think he leaves it open for her...and she refuses to close it.)

He will start preschool this fall at a place called Kiddie College. I looked at a couple of different options, and I felt this one was best suited for Will. I really think he is going to thrive there. He will go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 3 hours in the afternoon.

For his birthday, he really wanted a crane to attach to his wooden train set. He was super excited when he got one.

Will was also fortunate to experience trick candles on his birthday. He thought it was a hoot.

It took him quite a while, but finally they stayed out for good. I believe he was exhausted.

He is quite the little daredevil and climber. I doubt he is afraid of much.

One of our neighbors built a garage a few months ago. Now Will keeps asking me to go buy a garage. When I tell him it's too expensive or that we can't right now, he tells me that the "fixer man" will do it and that I need to call him. If only it were that easy.

Since we can't build a garage yet, Will just builds houses out of pillows. Great spot for movie watching.

Of course they have their issues, but for the most part Will is a great big brother. He loves to push Blake on the swing. He will help her get her snacks. And they play together really well.

Will is, however, very bossy and likes things to be his way. We have a double slide that comes off of our trampoline. Will only allows Blake to go up her side and he gets to go up his. We have 2 cozy coupe cars and 2 wiggle cars, and Will is very particular about which one Blake uses. He tells her what to play with and how to play with it. Luckily, she seems to go along with whatever he says.

They also play really well together until another kid is around. If we are playing with any friends, you would think Will forgot that Blake even existed. He pretty much ignores her, or torments her with his older friend.Sounds like a brother thing to me.

He is constantly talking about the things he will do when he is older. "When I turn 6, I'm going to fix my own bike." Or "When I turn 10, I'm going to ride my bike and take you to the park, Blake." "When I'm giant like Daddy, I'm going to have my own motorcycle."

Will likes to do anything but smile when I pull a camera out. I have to bribe (or threaten) him in order to get a smile out of him.

Will is very social and makes friends quickly. The other day we were on a walk and passed someone who was working in the yard. Will told me that I was supposed to say "good morning". 

I suppose it has never been easy, but bedtime is especially fun for this dude. But what about bath time? And I need a drink? I'm hungry? What about brushing my teeth? We need stories. And songs. Another story. Oh yeah, I need to go to the bathroom.

When Will dresses himself, he likes wear all one color. He will have blue shorts, a blue shirt, and blue shoes. Or he'll do the same in red. Most of the time, I'm ok with it, though occasionally I make him let me pick what he wears.

He has a great imagination. I'll often find him and Blake playing some sort of pretend game or another. Yesterday, they had our snow sleds out on the grass and they were pretending they were boats. Or they will set up 4 chairs to act like a car and they will go places. Or they also like to pretend that they are going to school. They even make sure to pack pretend food for lunch in their backpacks.

We can't drive far in the car without Will on the lookout for a train. He knows where all the tracks are and if we happen to cross over them, he always hopes for a glance at the train.

 

This boy is incredibly smart and loves to laugh. He has a big idea for everything and can think of a way to solve any problem. He is constantly on the go and wanting to play and learn new things.