Cousins!!!

Last Friday (holy cow, I can’t believe it’s already been a week ago!), Rob’s brother and family drove down all the way from Washington for a fun visit! So much to say and so much to do that I’d better just tell the story in pictures with one or two line captions.

Friday Night

Aaron, Brit, June (2.8) and Logan (15 months) came to our house in Roy. The night was spent watching Mulan and eating delicious popsicles.

 

Saturday

Saturday morning we met Grandpa Clayton and his friend Jean for breakfast at Marie Calendar’s. They gave each of the grandkids some fun books.

 

Next the guys went shooting while the women-folk and kids went to the zoo with Grandma Strong and Aunt Nicole and Julia. The best part was the carousel!

 

That night we all attended an extended family party in Salt Lake, then home again, home again to baths and bedtime.

Sunday

Sunday we had a leisurely morning and went to church in the afternoon. (Mary Ann and Clayton, you owe me big bucks for this pic).

  (no, I am not in any of these pictures; my way cute sister-in-law is though!) Afterwards we drove to the cabin near Oakley.

Monday

Monday we spent at the cabin, and woke up to four inches of snow!!! This meant a morning of pulling kids behind the suburban in a sled. So much fun!

Since we hadn’t really planned on snow, the kids were soon wet and we didn’t have TONS of clothes for back-up, so we were off again by the early afternoon. That night Brit and Aaron went to SL to celebrate their anniversary (Happy Anniversary last month!) while we watched the kids. It was SUCH A BLAST to have them down, and we MISS having them closer. To get a much better write-up of the weekend and more cute, cute pics, (and because honestly, her blog is much cuter than mine) please visit Brit’s blog at: http://stevens1007.blogspot.com/ . YEA!

The Cabin—&—My Two Boys

The Cabin

This past weekend we had the opportunity to hang out with Rob’s family at their cabin near Oakley, Ut. The bright yellow aspens contrasted beautifully with the dark green pines! One of the families has horses, and Mason had fun poking his finger into the nose of a very patient horse. The inlaws and outlaws went for a ride in the mountains in the back of our old truck. We also drove to the picturesque Smith & Moorehouse reservoir. Rob took me on the four wheeler into the mountains which were gorgeous. We rode back late in the day, with the sun lying low on the horizon; making our surroundings appear to be pillowy soft with gilded edges. It was exceptionally relaxing to know Mason was safe with the grandparents back at the cabin while Rob and I had some time to ourselves. The good Lord really blesses us. Thanks so much to Rob’s family for the fun visit (and for drinking all of Mason's whole milk necessitating another trip to the store).

Baby Boy #2

Today I had my ‘target ultrasound’ to make sure baby is growing properly. It was amazing to see his little hands and feet and face! I also got to see his heart and the four chambers. This was most cool to me, because although I’ve seen many pictures and movies about the heart; and I’ve seen pigs and other animals’ hearts; this was my baby’s and I just thought it was awesome (plus this heart was in full function and when you dissect an animal that is usually not the case). The ultrasound tech said everything looked perfect and he’s in a great position. His length is 6 days ahead of schedule and his weight (1 lb 6 oz) is 5 days over, but that that was ok. She also said he has a cute little nose and a very round little forehead; haha! Sounds like Mason all over again already… Here is a picture of his little foot and his onery little face (I apologize if ultrasound pictures gross anyone out).

My Mason

Yesterday Mason turned 18 months and also had his first real day of nursery! We only had to rescue him twice for being sad and missing us, so I count it as a success. Today he had his 18 month check-up and his last shot until kindergarten!!!! YEA! Here are his stats: * 25.13 lbs, 50th percentile * 32.5 inches, 50th percentile. He grew TWO full inches since his last appointment; and he’s right there in the middle! The PA said he looks very healthy, wealthy and wise (ok, maybe not the wealthy part). He is where he should be developmentally except for his speech. We were told just to keep working with him on it. The nurse and dr were VERY impressed because he stayed quite calm during the entire visit. The dr kept saying over and over again “most 18 months old just scream and scream”, but not my Mason- as the nurse said, “he’s the perfect specimen of a little boy”!!! And now, for my memory’s sake, some of his daily doings and likes and dislikes.

LIKES:

• cars, trucks, and diesels especially
• the Disney movie “Cars”
• Airplanes
• the great outdoors
• any furry, four-legged creature
• rocks
• water (as in rivers, lakes, etc)!!!
• bath time and brushing his teeth
• his slide and ladder
• the park
• swings
• BOOKS!
• milk, marshmallows, peaches, tomatoes, bread, pasta, juice, kidney beans, and carrots
• WHEELS!

DISLIKES:

• the vacuum
• bedtime/naptime
• being indoors
• the shower
• baths at other people’s houses
• getting his diaper on

DAILY DOINGS

Every day we go for a walk outside, and every day he stops at the rock piles and throws rocks around. He especially has fun when the gutter has water in it and he can throw rocks into the water. He waves at every car/truck/etc which drives by. He loves watching dirt fall from his hands/shovel to the ground. We read several books several times a day. He climbs up his treehouse and slides down the slide; makes me roll his truck up the slide to him; and then makes me push him in the swing. He takes a bath each morning and LOVES IT! Each afternoon we go for a little drive to put him down for his nap. Every night he runs to his daddy when he walks in the door from work, and immediately becomes his best friend and most advent follower. I love my little Mason and cannot imagine life without him :)

Those Su-ummer Ni-IIGGHHTS!!!

Well I’m afraid it’s official; those hot summer days and wonderful summer nights are at an end. How do I know?- three reasons:

1) The fall leaves have come (and are mostly gone) in the mountains. The last Saturday in September we went for a four-wheeler ride with Clayton and his friend Jean in Fillmore. 

2). There is no longer water running at the splash pad in the park; we can no longer stay past 7:30pm because it is dark; and we have to wear jackets now.

3). A little propane fire goes a long way when the sun goes down. By the time we got done with dinner and cleaning and resting a moment this evening, it was already too late to go to the park. We thought we’d be creative and do some homemade finger painting, but as luck would have it we found the ingredients to s’mores before we found the food coloring for finger painting.

Well summer, you have been a friend as always. Fall we welcome you! And…the past couple of cool nights have been a very vivid reminder that winter is peeking his head around the corner. As always I’ll miss you summer! Please come more quickly this next time around than you have in the past.Until we meet again…