Happy Birthday Ian!

It's hard for me to believe but Ian celebrated his 2nd birthday last week.  Before I get to the pics of his party I wanted to write about him a little.  I haven't done the best job of documenting his life, but there is a lot to say.  This kid is personality plus, and he makes everyone smile.  He has certainly added a lot of extra fun and excitement to our family!  So here's some stuff Ian is up to as he turns two....
Dressing up in strange garbs.  He is always trying people's shoes on.  He also likes to wear jackets and hats or just streak around in the buff.  And yes we do feed him, and I will be applying sunscreen by the gallon.

He is mischievous.  He loves to get into things as much as the next kid.  The other day when he was being mysteriously quiet he had climbed up and got Vaseline and applied it very liberally.

This picture has terrible lighting and flash, but it demonstrates his awesome fashion sense.

And no he is not a biker baby on drugs.

Ian does talk a lot.  He communicates to us in full sentences these days and can be quite funny.  He loves to touch your eyebrows and call them "fuzzies."  He is extremely friendly.  He approaches people everywhere and wants to climb up in their lap, play with their toys, share their snacks, or just hang out.  He shouts "hi" followed by the person's name if he knows it whenever he sees someone.  He loves to play with cars that "go fast" and "shoot basketball."  He loves "Yuke" and "Seff" and can't get enough of hanging out with them.  They are sometimes so rough, but if he ever thinks he hurt them he is quick to give a kiss and say sorry.  He hates Sacrament meeting (like starts crying and squirming when we walk in the chapel) but loves nursery and runs in without looking back.  He can jump well with two feet off the ground and goes down any slide he can find.  He loves to play outside but is a total turkey about staying out of the road.  He loves to have his "shoes on."  He has a recent hate for the shower and screams bloody murder.  He loves to "find a bug" and hates/is terrified of the car wash.  He has the blondest hair and most beautiful blue eyes you will ever see.  He loves to "exacise" and can do really funny versions of squats, situps, a yoga pose, and burpees.  The burpee thing is hilarious.  It is an exercise where you drop down to a pushup then jump up straight to your feet and clap your hands.  He learned them by observation and drops and does them in parking lots, on our camping trip, in the shower, you name it.  Ian likes to go "nigh nigh" with a soft blankie and his Jazz dog.  I could go on and on about this happy, amazing kid.  He lights up our life for sure, and I can't believe he's two. 

We had a fun Cars themed family party.  He's not really into the Cars characters, but he loves race cars.  He was so excited and cute at his party without really understanding that all of the fuss was about him.

Since we already have every other boy thing on earth we got Ian this balance bike.  It has no pedals.  It is supposed to be an easy way to learn to ride a bike without ever using training wheels.  We'll see! 

Seth was his biggest helper while opening presents. 

He got this "big truck" from my parents and loves it. 

His brothers and cousins had to help him out when it was time to blow out candles.  I made this cake for Luke when he turned three, and I think I somehow made it look even worse this time around!  It tasted good though.  Seth was my assistant all day long...he loves helping in the kitchen. 

Ian didn't care much about the cake, but he can slam the ice cream.

Since Ian was born on my dad's 65th birthday I have to get a shot of the birthday boys together.



And just for the sake of mom nostalgia I found a few baby pics to post.  He has sure come a long way since this first glimpse in the hospital.  He had us wrapped around his little fingers then and still does.  We sure love this kid and even though I should I probably won't stop calling him my "baby" anytime soon!

Windy Weekend

We headed to Moab for a crazy weather Spring Break weekend.  We had planned to go to Baby Animal Days on the way but bagged that due to pouring rain.  We did hit Chuck-E-Cheese though.  That's right.  It was a party.  Way back in November our kids filled up this good deeds chart and for some reason they wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese for their reward.  We've put it off but finally bit the bullet and went.  We've never been there before and I'm not a huge fan of places like that, but the kids loved it and we finally fulfilled our promise!  Jer actually had quite a good time reliving his glory days with the skee ball and basketball shooting.  We finally got to Moab after Luke had asked no less than 100 times if we were there yet!  We checked in at our fine campground in the city.  Even back in January we couldn't get the camp spot we wanted in Arches, so we decided to get a camping cabin in town.  Considering the weather it was perfect and of course the kids thought it was awesome.  Bunk beds and sleeping bags are hard to beat at this age. There was not a blade of grass in sight, but Ian had fun playing in the rocks and they all loved the playground.  We cooked breakfast and made lunches and ate out for dinner, so it was the best of both worlds. 

Our first day trip was to Canyonlands.  It was overcast and chilly but no rain.  There was no lack of wind though.  Ian had fun hiking the 0.5 mile loop to Mesa Arch.

At this point the wind really picked up and blew a bunch of sand in everyone's eyes.  We pretty much had sand in every crack by the time we got home that night. 

It was so windy at lunch time that we fixed lunch and ate it in the van.  Mr. Ian was so cute and quite a trooper about the wind.  He only freaked out when we went on a little hike called Whale Back, and we were high on the mountain, and the wind was literally blowing us around.  He was not a fan.  I can't say I blame him.  We headed back to town for a yummy dinner, way too much ice cream, and smores by the fire.  We had a scare when Ian choked on a marshmallow.  He inhaled a big chunk and was moving no air for what seemed like forever while Jer worked on him.  We finally got it to resurface, and I fished it deep from his throat.  I said how scary it was and the rest of the trip Ian would say "it's scary."
We bought Ian this new jacket for the trip, and he hated it.  He pitched a huge fit whenever we put the green coat on.

On day 2 we hooked up with our friends the Snyders, and it was so good to see them again.  They are great friends, and the kids have lots of fun together. 

Jer with Ian on his back at Double Arch in Arches National Park.  The kids loved climbing on any and every rock.

Miles was even quick enough to catch a lizard and Seth was excited to have a turn holding it.  He was quite disappointed we couldn't take it home with us.

We had another windy lunch, but it wasn't quite as bad.  For some reason the kids were all running and climbing and eating their lunches in full wind, and the adults were all huddled by the van wishing for more shelter. 

After lunch we went to Sand Dune Arch.  The kids took off their shoes and had fun running in the sand.  I thought Ian would love the sand like he did last year, but he hated it.  He even went to a complete stranger crying and wanting to be held and didn't want to come back to us!

There was a wedding party up there taking pictures, but the kids just had fun anyway.  Once again the wind picked up, and we had to high tail it out of there before we were sandblasted!

When we got back to the campground, the kids wanted to go swimming.  It was maybe 50 degrees and super windy.  We tried to talk them out of it, but they were set on it.  They loved it despite shaking and shivering!  We watched and Jer said he would fish someone out with a hook but no way was he setting foot in that pool!

Dinner at Zax where the napkins became headwear.  After dinner we shopped around town a bit and picked up some sweet souvenirs.  Seth even picked up one we didn't pay for, and we didn't realize it until quite a few stores later.  We had to head on back with an apology!

Finally some sunshine on our last day!  It was still cold but a beautiful day. 

When we could get the kids down off of the rocks we hiked to Landscape Arch.

Miles, Brighton, Stella, Seth, and Luke.  Ian was stuck in the backpack, but he had fruit snacks so life was good.

Hitting the trail and heading for home.

A final group shot.  Despite some crazy wind we had a great time with good friends.  I can't wait until next year!

Goodbye Husqy

I'm trying to do some blog catchup so I thought I'd post about a bittersweet event (for Jer and Seth) in our family this last month.  We've been the proud owners of this very old Husqvarna 500 2-stroke for quite some time.  We decided it was time to sell it and use the proceeds to buy a much-needed new computer.  We were amazed at how much we got for a 1983 bike.  I guess it's quite a collector's item, and they just don't make them like this anymore.  Jer took Seth, who is our motorcycle buff, on one last spin around the neighborhood for old times sake.  (Don't feel too bad for them...my dad's dirt bike that he has kind of permanently lent to us is sitting out in the garage still!)

I thought now would be a good time to record a funny story about Jer and this dirt bike.  To say this is a fast, powerful motorcycle is an understatement.  It is a butt kicker!  When Jer and I were first married my dad had this bike at my uncle's house up in Laketown.  Jer decided to take it for a spin (with my dad's permission of course because it was his back then.)  This was a classic "I told you so" moment in our marriage.  I pointed out to Jer that this was not a little putt, putt dirt bike and maybe he should be careful.  He dismissed me and recounted his extensive motorcyle riding experience.  Well, he took off in the dirt down the side of the road and when he hit powerband the bike wheelied up big time.  He actually did quite an impressive job of hanging on and almost rode it out but didn't.  He got bucked off and took some amazing, long jumping strides through the air before eating crap.  He rode back a minute later with a sheepish look and some sideways handlebars.  Was I worried about his safety?  Not so much...I pretty much gave him a Scotch blessing for being dumb!  It is a story that has been retold and brought us lots of laughs since.  He has had a lot of fun riding the Husqy since, especially when we lived in Willard.  Goodbye old Husqy...on to your next victim!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I'm a little behind, but I thought I'd make a note of my birthday celebrations back in March.  Despite the fact
that I turned 35 this year I had a great day.  Jer and I went skiing...just us, and we had a blast.  The snow was terrible, but it was sunny and beautiful and we had such a relaxing day.  Thanks to my mom for tending the kiddos.  We had a chance to ski, chat, and eat a relaxed lunch and it was awesome.  We celebrated later with my parents and the kids.  They were all eager to get their hands on my cake.  The boys sang me a song which went something like this:
"Happy Birthday to you."
"You live in a zoo."
"You look like a monkey."
"And you smell like one too."
I'll try not to take that too personally.  Here's to the last half of my 30s!