Future Geek

I am breeding Star Wars junkies. This was Spencer's reaction to hearing the SW theme song. It is genetic! He got mad when Justin turned the music off, so we kept playing the beginning over and over again.

Cub Scout

This is what we would like it to be like:



Reality:




Parker had his first "official" day of scouts on Wednesday. He has been going with us (Justin and I are the Wolf Leaders) for the past 2 months, but had to wait to wear his gear until he was 8. We did a little "First Aid" lesson with the boys. I made fake blood (corn syrup and food coloring) and told them we were going to be learning knife skills. When I passed the toy knife to Justin, he screamed and held out his "bloody" palm. The boys were in shock for a moment! Parker and Blake thought it was so cool and couldn't wait to put it on themselves while poor Andrew turned white and had to leave the room.




It has been fun doing scouts, especially since I only had sisters. My mom helped out a couple of weeks ago and couldn't believe how much energy the boys had. My dad walked by and told me how grateful he was to have girls.

Real Food

Spencer is finally starting to like real food. Last week at Parker's party, we gave him some sorbet to try and he loved it! I think it felt good on his gums. He still doesn't have any teeth, but I suspect that they are on their way.




Yesterday, he had his first Cheeto and orange cheesy smile. It reminded me so much of Parker. Cheetos are still one of Parker's favorites.




Spencer is 8 months old now. He is waving bye-bye and does "stinky" if he farts or poops. He waves his hand in front of his nose--it is so funny! When he gets mad, he grunts and he is FINALLY sleeping through the night (thank you Emma and Jill for the encouragement.) It is nice to feel human again during the day!

Man vs. Wild

To celebrate Parker's upcoming 8th birthday on the 25th, we had a "Man vs. Wild" sleepover with a few of his friends. It was the ultimate boy party--full of mud, bugs, adventure, junk food, farting, and of course, watching Bear Grylls on "Man vs. Wild."




We had the boys dropped off at our local park a few hours before sunset to take part in the filming of an episode of "Man vs. Wild". For those of you who have never seen the show, this guy, Bear Grylls, gets dropped off in remote places of the world and must find his way back to civilization while finding shelter, food, and water along the way. He has been known to drink his own urine and eat raw zebra meat amongst other disgusting things in order to "survive." We decided to put the boys up to different challenges to test their survival skills and had gross things for them to eat once they got back to our house.





Parker "accidentally" fell into the water. Once that happened, the other boys seemed to "accidentally" fall in too. By the end of the adventure, we had 5 stinky swamp things walking back to our house. Thank goodness for hot showers and washing machines!




Cam-Cam climbing the tree like a little monkey.



The boys discovered a "raft" that they could use to go down the stream to find civilization. Parker placed logs underneath it to help it float better--an actual technique Bear has used on the show. Who says you can't learn anything from TV?!?



CJ climbing the rope swing.




We headed home once the boys started to get hungry. We had "authentic" Bear Grylls food for them to eat.










We celebrated with a dirt "Earthworm Farm" cake fully equipped with trick candles.



So, you'd think after all the fun at the park, the half mile walk home, the dance party, and all the running around, the boys would have crashed...NO WAY! They were up until 2:30am and awake by 6:30. By miracle, Spencer slept through it all! The survivors were rescued by their parents at 9am. It was so much fun!

Church Ball= Death Match

You are looking at what resulted from a "friendly" practice game of Elder's Quorum basketball. What began as a peaceful evening with the kids tucked in bed fast asleep quickly turned into a trip to the ER with what Justin thought might be a broken ankle. Thankfully, our friend James took Justin to the ER and stayed with him so I wouldn't have to wake the kids and take them out in the cold rain in the middle of the night. We were also thankful that it turned out to just be a really bad sprain. Justin is on crutches gimping around the house today. The ankle has gone down quite a bit and Parker was thrilled to wake up and find out about dad's hospital experience and basketball injury. I would really like to know what goes on at those games. Our other friend, Matt, left early last night because of a bloody nose. Hmmmm...

Final Hours in Utah

We met up with the Hales Family at Temple Square for a quick tour of the sites and lunch at the Lion House. We saw the tabernacle, listened to the organ, toured the visitor center, walked around the temple, went to the top of the Joseph Smith Building, and took a quick tour of the conference center all in about an hour and a half with 6 kids. It was a great way to end our weekend in Utah!

Grandpa's Trip to the ER

So, we finally figured out the real reason Grandpa had to make a visit to the emergency room due to low oxygen levels.

Cedar City

There are a few great things about going to Cedar.

1. Seeing family and playing Mafia (Grandpa claims I am a natural at it since I am Italian) each night.












2. Eggs (cooked in the bacon grease), bacon, and toast every morning for breakfast

3. Shakes and artery clogging food at Top Spot









4. Playing Hand and Foot with Grandpa and Grandma.









As always, Grandma and Justin failed at their attempts to outsmart Grandpa and I. We are the official champions of Hand and Foot!

Doggie Heaven

Between the snow and the 2 Chihuahuas, Jose and Darla, Parker was thoroughly entertained during our stay at Grandpa Jeffs. The dogs were good sports about letting Parker tote them around. If we couldn't find Parker, he was usually found in the dog pen playing with them.





The dogs were both very sweet and even Spencer had fun playing with them.




Parker is just like his dad and would have at least 10 dogs if I would let them.

Snow At Last!

Anyone who has traveled with children knows how patient you must be. That said, Justin and I were going crazy by the time we arrived in Cedar City because all Parker talked about the ENTIRE way there was snow. He wanted to touch snow. He wanted to eat a snowflake. He hates the sun because it melts the snow. You get the picture. Snow was in the forecast, but you never know with the weather. Well, as we got close to Beaver, about an hour outside of Cedar City, it started to snow. It was the melt as soon as it hits kind, but snow none the less. Parker was temporarily satisfied. He stuck his hand outside the car until it was frozen, but had at least touched snow. As we rounded the corner to Grandpa and Grandma's, we were thrilled to see that the snow plow had made a huge pile of the remaining snow right in front of their garage.




It kept Parker entertained the entire time we were there. He and Justin built a snow cave out of it and it also provided us with more than enough snowballs for a good fight.



On our last day there, we woke up to actual snow falling from the sky. It was just enough to make everything beautiful but also keep the roads safe for our return to Salt Lake City.




Justin took Spencer out to experience his first snow. I am not sure how much he understood what was happening, but he seemed to like it.

Future Cougars

Last week we flew out to Utah to spend a few days with Justin's grandparents in Cedar City. Grandpa Jeffs, aka Ratface, has been sick for the past few months and we wanted to take the boys to see him. On our to and from Cedar, we stopped through Provo to show Parker a few highlights from the first 18 months of his life. One of the must sees on his list was Cougar Stadium. He was hoping to catch a game, but was happy to see the few patches of snow and drink his mom's favorite, BYU chocolate milk. We got to spend an hour on campus, giving Parker the quick tour. Hopefully we will get to go back again sometime soon and spend more time in Provo seeing the sights and visiting with all our family and friends in the area.