Escalante weekend

We traveled down to Escalante over Memorial Day to visit Karl's Grandpa and Grandma. We were hoping for a little better weather, so we could go hiking and swimming, but it was still so much fun to just hang out with everyone. A big thanks to Clem and Joyce for putting up with the chaos that comes with 3 kids under the age of 3, as well as 8 other adults that acted equally as crazy. We hope you are recovering! We had a great time!

I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, but here are a few highlights from the trip:

*Kamille riding down with us, and having an alergic reaction to the dog at about ohhhhh Provo. You're a trouper Milly!

*Watching Riser eat half of Uncle Kevin's breakfast at the park. Sorry we were so late Kev!

*Watching the 3 stooges (Kennedy, Riser, and Matthew) playing together. They cracked me up! They had so much fun chasing each other around all weekend and "sharing" each other's toys.



*Coming home to see an exhausted "Grandpa Kraig", sitting on the chair with 3 crazy toddlers still up at 10:00. (Everyone else went to a play and left him to watch the 3 kids. In all honesty, we are all impressed that you managed to get them all bathed and in their PJ's.... talk about a handful!)

*Playing Phase 10 and all the trash talk and laughing that went along with it.

*falling down in the bathroom at church... this is an entire post of it's own... stay tuned.

*watching The Office, and Signing Time and eating junk food ALL WEEKEND LONG.



Thanks again Clem and Joyce! Let us know when you're ready to have us all come again!

The Big Boy Bed

Monday night Riser reached another milestone. He moved to his big boy bed. We've been talking it up for quite a while now, trying to get him excited about it. I took him to IKEA and let him pick out the covers (they are lime green with hippos if you can't tell from the picture), he also tried out every big boy bed they had in the place (little did he know that we had one already at home). Anyway, when we set it up on Monday night, we let him play on it for a while and then got him ready for bed. He was a little confused when we told him it was time to go to sleep. He went over to crib and waited for us to put him in. We asked him if he wanted to sleep in his big boy bed, and he said "no". We told him to give it a try, and to our delight,he laid down on it, and stayed there all night! Wahoo! He has slept there every night and at each nap with no tears. Tuesday night, he stood next to his crib with a look on his face that seemed to say "I wonder why I don't sleep here anymore", but he has been such a big boy! We're so proud!

Some fun with the cousins...

We went to the Zoo with Riser's cousins last week. It was such a nice warm day. It is so much fun to have so many of Riser's cousins so close. He loves kids, so it's nice to have instant friends.

O.K. so, this is my HUGE son next to his 2 cousins. Matthew is 1 month younger, and Kennedy is almost a year older. That's one BIG kid!
Riding the elephant. Kennedy and Matthew thought it was great, Riser was a little unsure... It was REALLY loud.
Here we are, back at the old favorite. The water.

Getting ready to head home. Riser was feeling a little left out, so he jumped in the wagon with his cousins.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and my mom-in-law! You are both so wonderful, that I know you are going to forgive me for not only posting pictures of you on my blog, but also for gushing about how great you both are. Anyway, as a Mother's Day Tribute, I give you some of the many reasons Riser, Karl and I think you are great.

We'll start with my mommy:


You know a song for EVERYTHING. I still remember trying to come up with a subject that you couldn't think of a song for. You're amazing.

We have great conversations. I love to hear your opinions on everything. I feel like even though we don't always have the same opinions, we always have really pleasant conversations, and always go away from them having learned something new.

You are so supportive. I don't think you have ever missed any performance, athletic event, or major life event of any of your kids. We always knew (and still do know) you were behind us 100%.

You give great advice, and are always there to help. I don't think Riser and I would have made it through his 1st few months of life without you. I really appreciate all the time you spent at our house, and on the phone with me helping me figure out how to be a mom. You've done such a great job that I fully intend to continue calling for more advice as Riser and Baby boy #2 continue to throw me curve balls.

You are an awesome Grandma. I love to watch you play with Riser, and he loves to play with you! I feel so lucky to have Riser's grandparents so close by.

All in all, mom you are amazing. I remember when I was younger you always told me to be just as nice to my family as I was to my friends, because as I grew up, they would end up being my best friends. I never know how true that would be. You are mommy, but you are also one of my best friends. We love you!

And now, My mom-in-law:


Ahhh Kelly, we have so much fun! I don't think many people can say that they have had a wrestling match with their Mother-in-law, but I can! I also love all the nights that you and I sit laughing our heads off while everyone else stares at us like we have completely lost our minds. We have such a great time together... even if no one else does!

You raised a great son. Karl has so many great qualities that I owe to you! Thanks for raising him to be so responsible, helpful, hardworking, righteous, kind and fun.

You also give great advice and help to me. Riser and I owe our sanity to you as well. Thanks for being willing to come and sit with my never-sleeping new born while I tried to recover and get some sleep for myself. Thanks for listening to my non-stop "what do I do now?" phone calls and, as with my mom, don't expect them to stop any time soon!

Thanks for always being so excited to play with the boy (even when he calls to talk to you, and then just asks for Milly and Grandpa). You are such a fun grandma. Karl and I love watching you play with him.

I guess what I'm saying is, I couldn't have asked for a better mom-in-law. In fact, I really don't feel like I have a "mother-in-law" I have a really great friend.

Happy Mother's Day to both of our Moms!!! We love you!!!

Big Congrats!

Just a quick blog to say congrats to the following:

Riser's Aunt Clancey as well as his Uncle Kris congrats on graduating from college (also, thanks for graduating from the same college, it made it lots easier for us to just have to go to one ceremony!). What a huge accomplishment!

Riser's Aunt Milly, congrats on making Dance Company! We knew you would do it! We can't wait to come see you perform!

Riser's... Well, we'll call them Uncle Greg and Aunt Cheryl (Greg is my cousin, so what does that make him to Riser?) on being sealed today. It was such a beautiful day. We're so happy for your little family!

Congrats, once again, to you all! We're so happy and proud of you all! What a great family we have!

Good Luck Milly Moo!

A quick Shout Out to Riser's fabulous Aunt Milly. She is trying out for Dance Company the next 3 days. We know that she will do an excellent job, but wanted her to know that we are thinking about her! GOOD LUCK MILLY MOO!!! You are an awesome dancer and will do incredible! WE LOVE YOU!!!

soaked!

This morning Riser and I went outside to water some patches in our yard that we reseeded. Riser, always the water lover, decided he needed to help. This included standing right in front of the hose as it sprayed him in the chest, hands and face. I know this probably makes me a bad mom, but I was laughing so hard that I didn't bother to move him. I got worse, because once he saw that I thought it was funny, he started laughing too and kept doing it. I wished I had my video camera with me. It was great. Did anyone go outside this morning? It was sunny, but it was definitely not warm. He was shivering by the time we got inside, but was one happy kid.

Anyway, here he is once we got inside.


Not quite as impressive in the picture, but trust me, he was drenched!

A Day at the Farm...

A few pictures from our day... well hour or so at the farm. This was a few weeks ago and it was sooooo windy. I put some sunscreen on Riser before we left, and by the time we had been there 5 minutes, his eyes were watering, his nose was running, he had big red splotches all over his face, all in all he looked terrible! He tried so hard to have a good time. He loves the animals, so he was super excited to be able to look at all of them, but by the time we had eaten lunch, I decided maybe we had had enough. We went home and I washed all the sunscreen (or whatever was doing that to my poor kid) off. I still can't decide what made that happen. Was it the sunscreen? The wind blowing pollen at him? The animals? All of the above? I guess I will have to try a new sunscreen and see if that helps.

This one was taken just as we arrived, right now, he's feeling fine, looking for some ducks

As you can see, the eyes are getting puffy and the face is getting irritated.

He LOVED this cow. He could have stayed here all day.

This is after lunch... The picture doesn't even do it justice. His eyes and nose were just pouring at this point, and his face was just covered with splotches. Time to go home and get in the tub!