Splash Pads

I am a fan of splash pads. They are free. It is hot. That's all I need to know.

Most splash pads are modest and nothing to brag about, since they're usually hidden away in the middle of neighborhoods. Imagine my delight when my Surprise friends (hi Megan and Tatum) told me about an amazing one way out in Sun City Festival (this is even more west than Surprise, if you can imagine).

Leigh Ann and I decided to venture out to Sun City Festival and take our 3 boys and 1 girl for a free day of fun. The whole drive out there we were telling the kids, "We're going to a HUGE splash pad! Water! Fun! We're almost there!"

About half an hour into the trip, we saw a sign that said, "Welcome to Buckeye." We were way out there.

Finally we made it. We drove up and it looked pretty impressive. We unloaded the kids from the car and let them run up to the gate at the front of the splash pad. As we got closer to the gate, we saw that there were pieces of computer paper with very faint writing on them. Yep, it was out of order.

After a lot of convincing and one tantrum we got the kids back in the boiling hot car and headed to Marley Park (my beloved former neighborhood). By the time we arrived Leigh Ann and I were beat, and we hadn't even played yet.


I like this picture because it looks like I am claiming Leigh Ann as my woman. Notice Sam's cute little back in the background.





Why do kids tell you they don't have to go to the bathroom when clearly they do?

It was an exhausting day but we made it. Thanks again, Leigh Ann, for driving us to heck and back. I should probably give you some money for gas...

10 Months Old

Mollie turned 10 months old this past Wednesday.
She is the best girl. I can't believe how fast her first year is going.

Cabin Video

Here's the video from the cabin. Treslee, Millie, Ryan and Greg, we missed you so much! And Scott Sorensen, apparently we missed you too.

Back

We've just returned from our Barry cabin trip. This is how we feel:




Cabin video coming soon!

Brains and Brawn

All my posts have been about Sam lately and they all seem to take place while Mollie is napping. Poor Mollie. I promise I will post about you soon!

So, this morning while I putting Mollie down for a nap, I heard a lot of commotion going on out in the hallway and family room. Usually I put on Calliou for Sam (which is the most annoying show I have ever watched, by the way), but this time I told him he just needed to play with his toys. That boy loves TV a little too much.

I came out of Mollie's room about 10 minutes later to find this:


Not only did Sam lug every container of our water storage from the pantry to the family room, he put them in a perfectly symmetrical pattern.

Not bad for 2 1/2, huh?

Images of Today

This is nothing compared to the diarrhea blowout he had yesterday.

(this is just mud, by the way)




This is my Mollie girl. She is such a great eater. You can see the evidence of that if you notice the Cheerio stuck to her leg.




I have been trying to do my hair sort of cuter lately. This picture is deceiving because it looks pretty good. I look like I escaped from Amish country from this angle.




Speaking of hair, I want you to do me a favor and picture your grandma right now. What does her hair look like?



This?




How about this?




Selena and I were discussing old lady hair today. Is it a requirement that when you hit 60 your hair must look like this? Selena says she is keeping her hair long even when she is a grandma. All I can say to that is GROSS.

I'm Going to Have to Start Shaving His Legs.

Love This Boy

When Sam was first born I used to rock him to sleep at night and be overcome by the joy of being his mother. I would cry as I held his warm little body and felt his breathing on my neck. Now that Sam is getting closer to 3, these moments have become a bit more sparse. It is a rare thing for he and I to be together and experience stillness. And quiet. He is a boy on the go and likes for me to be right there beside him.
Yesterday Sam and I were playing cars in his bedroom while Mollie napped. I was lying on his floor, pushing the cars back and forth. I guess I didn't realize how tired I was because I started to doze off, mid-driving. The next thing I knew, I heard Sam turn the fan on (we always have his fan on for white noise when he sleeps). He then crawled next to me and gave me the most delicate little kiss on my arm, and whispered, "goodnight." He walked to the door, and closed it as softly as he could so as not to wake me. As I heard his little footsteps walking down the hall, I had deja-vu of my "rocking baby Sam to sleep moments." As I lay there thinking about what a sweet and wonderful little toddler Sam is, he came bursting in the door yelling, "Time to wake up!!!"
The rest of our day looked something like this:




Sam, you are an adventure.

Free T-Shirt

Hi. Do you want one of our Barry Fresh T-shirts? They're free. Leave me a comment and I'll drop one off to you. The women's sizes run very small, so we ordered them in Large and Extra Large.
This is what the large looks like:
(very bad picture of me)
This is what the XL looks like:
(equally bad picture of me).

and here's the back:


We ordered the men's shirts in medium and large, so let me know if your husbands or boyfriends want one too. I don't think I have any male readers. If I do, sorry for my frequent mention of chesticles.

"Happy Fourth of Joo-Lie Everybody!"

A few years ago my family and I (before we were all married off) were eating at a Chinese Buffet (I know, gross) on the 4th of July. As we were leaving, I dared my mom to yell a holiday greeting to the whole restaurant. My mom accepted the challenge. She straightened her shoulders, put her chin up, and shouted in her southern accent, "HAPPY FOURTH OF JOO-LIE EVERYBODY!" I don't remember if anybody said anything back, but this is a moment I will never forget. Even though they weren't even there, Devin and even Selena still bring this up to me every year. I have to admit my mom's famous line was playing in my head repeatedly this past Monday.

No famous memories were made this year, but here's what we did do.
Millie and Mollie hanging out. They are going to be BFF.

naked swimming in Grandpa & Gogo's pool. It's the kids' favorite pastime. Yes the adults were clothed (this year).

Waiting for Rich's fireworks show. I actually got Mollie to go to sleep over there, so she missed all the festivities.

Bastian had to guard his life while Sam was holding a sparkler. Notice Bastian's new short hair cut!

This time next year she will have 2 babies on her lap.

Ashlyn preparing herself for the loudness of the fireworks.

We had a great time crashing John & Brenda's house while they were out of town. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY EVERYBODY!

Long Hair

While my family and friends are posting about their growing bellies, I am going to talk about something that is growing on me. My hair.

This is the longest my hair has been in years. It took me a long time to notice just how long it has gotten since I only do my hair on Sundays, although I have noticed my ponytail has been a lot heavier in the past few months.

I guess there is one plus to having every possible part of your body get thicker after 2 pregnancies (minus my chesticles of course).
Look how thick that is! I feel like I'm back in 7th grade again!
Do you feel sorry for me because of this picture? I had just discovered eyeliner and liked to wear my pants very high. Looks like I'm still doing the same hairstyle though.

The Past 7 Days

Friday
Temple trip with the Barry girls, ear pain

Saturday
At home with the kids while Devin worked, ear pain

Sunday
Relief Society Visit, church, baby shower planning pow-wow with my mom and becca, ear pain

Monday
Playdate with cousins
Playing church for Family Home Evening, ear pain

Tuesday
Oil change (thanks for the ride, Brenda), playdate, ear pain, ear infection diagnosis (thanks for going with me Becky), walking group

Wednesday
Smoothies
Playing with Sam's toys while he napped
Devin's Barry Fresh uniform came in the mail

Thursday
Preparing to see Cars 2 by watching Cars
My happy girl
Mommy/Sam date seeing Cars 2. I wasn't impressed but Sam was in love.