Catch up

I LOVE SUMMER.

Majorly. Big Time. Huge Crush. Twitter-pated. Seriously. I LOVE summer.

I used to not be like this.

I used to get sick of summer.

I used to miss school and all my friends.

Summer was dull.


NOT ANYMORE.

I LOVE having my husband feel stress-free from school! I LOVE the bright mornings and still-lit nights. I LOVE being able to play outside and have all sorts of adventures. Mostly, though, I LOVE having my best friend feel stress-free and ABLE to play!

So- here's a few things we've been up to.

The evening we got back from our fabulous camping trip (see previous post), Our dear friends and siblings, Jon and Alyson, invited us to go to 7 peaks with them. Hmm... or maybe it was the next weekend. Nuts, I forget. At any rate, we went to 7 Peaks. Shanners watched Channing for us, and we took Christian. IT WAS SO FUN!!! J&A were awesome enough to trade off watching Bubbies so we could all go on the slides. I was a huge fan. It was my first time there, and I loved it!
Afterwards, we came back to our house were we had delicious restaurant style mexican dinner that J&A brought over. We played games and ate brownies, and I lamely fell asleep during our extremely rousing game of Skip-bo, and then everybody left. Oops. :) But major thanks guys for SUCH A STINKING FUN AFTERNOON. Wooot!
(no pictures, but rest assured, Christian was the CUTEST creature on the planet (over the age of 2 weeks).

The next weekend I really wanted some watery fun, so we made a giant slip-n-slide out in our yard. It was a blast.

The funniest part: Patrick had me lay down on my tummy and had Christian straddle my back. He then picked up my legs and was going to try to push me along so Christian could get a good ride. It didn't work. I didn't move. Try to picture this, people. It looked pretty darn hilarious. Then our civilized neighbors from upstairs came walking out- they didn't get to witness the actual slipping and sliding, just me on my stomach, Patrick holding my legs try to shove me along a giant tarp with Christian on my back. We are official lunatics. Patrick's note: There was too much friction on the front of the slip-n-slide and not enough water. Once we got to the water it turned out to be a great idea and a lot of fun for Christian.

But we had FUN!

We did figure out that we could hold Christian's hands and run along the tarp and he would slide along nicely on his tooshie. As we would slide along the tarp, we'd say, "Weee!" and Christian started to crawl around the tarp saying "Wee!" It was super cute.




Later that night..

Patrick took me on a hot date (thanks, Stewarts, for watching our kids!) to McGrath's Fish House. It was super delicious. We got Italian sodas and accidentally slurped up all the syrup in the first drink... so we had to get new ones. :) Patrick's Note: Why in the lame-sauce did they not stir them up for us? That definitely put a ding in our server's tip.
Thanks babes for such an awesome night!

Can you tell I'm a happy girl?

Camping? You must be Crazy!

I am fed up with our computer/internet.
More pictures soon.
Blah.


In anticipation of the Summerhays' River Running Trip in July, we decided to test the camping waters with two kiddos to reassure ourselves (okay, mostly everyone else- we were pretty confident in our kids' camping abilities) of the plausibility of said river trip.

I am pleased to report a raging success.

June 27, Fri., we spent packing and purchasing final camping items. Then, right after Channing's biblical surgery, we headed out to Hope Campground up provo canyon.

We had a Total Blast. Seriously. We sent up our almost embarassingly large tent (and by 'we' I mean patrick) got a fire going, and started cooking our delicious Hobo dinners. After dinner we went for a walk around the campground and returned for one of the celestial desserts- Smores. Oh yes. Let me not fail to mention- the camping was made official in the first 10 min when christian totally face-planted in the dirt and rocks.

Christian went to sleep like a champ, and the patrick and I stayed up reading our book and enjoying smore smores.

Channing woke up around 4 am for food and Patrick changed his diaper on the little changing station of the playpen where Christian was sleeping. The commotion woke up Christian who was quite delighted to find his little brother in such close proximity. And to find that everyone was sleeping in a tent. He was so perky and happy. It was a bit ridiculous. Thankfully he went back to sleep like a charm.

The morning found us enjoying hashbrowns and eggs and a few marshmellows for good measure.

It was an AMAZING trip. one of the best parts? Getting home in like 15 min. Ah, yes. Gotta love Provo.

And so, we ask ourselves as Erma Bombeck did:
What Kind of a Mother....
-Goes camping 2 weeks after passing a watermelon through her body?
-Takes said infantile watermelon camping at a mere 2 weeks of life?
-After his hopefully most traumatic man-surgery of his life?
-Gives her 18 month old a year's supply of marshmellows?
-For breakfast?
-And thinks the whole thing is wonderful?

Insanity? Possibly.
Wonderful? Yes
Being able to say within our hearts: "i told you so"? Priceless.


Channing most of the trip:

Post 100!!

Okay. This is our "big 100th Post"-which apparently is supposed to have quite a celebratory and special theme to it. However, rather than continue prolonging creating said 100th post in an effort to come up with said celebratoriness and creativity, I am going to simply post what I am starting to forget.

I had quite a story about my first day alone with the two kiddos (yes, this is old) but as I tried to retell it to a friend today, i realized i have forgotten much of it. So! Before it all slips my mind completely... Without further ado, I present:

The First Day Alone.

The Monday after Channing was born, Patrick went back to work. He was only going to go until 12:30, then we would take Channing to his Dr. appt. together. Okay. 4.5 hours. I can handle this.

Feeling ambitious, I got Channing dressed. The ambition continued. I got christian dressed. Wow. Its only 9am and I have both kids dressed. I impress even myself! What an Awesome and super stellar mom I am!

59 minutes later....

IT"S ONLY 10 O CLOCK!?!/!/!?!? I'm. going. nuts.

Christian NEEDS a nap. Christian doesnt want to nap. Not when there is such a fun new novelty that breathes and squirms and moves around. Mom says Christian must nap.
Channing is napping in the crib ('why can't you be more like your brother?? HE's taking a nap. HE doesnt jump out of bed..') Christian gets sleeping while mama rocks him. Channing makes a squeak. Christian, suddenly alert, belts out his new word: BAAAYYYYYBEEEEE!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYBEEEEEEE!!! Clearly, Christian can't go to sleep if channing is already in the room. I remove channing. Place him safely in the middle of our ginormous bed. Return to Christian. After 2 more failed attempts, I finally decide with Channing safe in our room, if I shut Christian's door tight, even if he Does get out of bed, there's nothing in his room that can either a)endager him or b)be endagered BY him. So, I shower.

Ah. Relaxation. halfway through shaving my legs:
BOOM TICK BOOM BOOM TICK BOOOM TICK BOOOM BOOM TICK.

Our electric keyboard. rhythms. Full Volume. Im half-deaf. In a seperate room. In the shower. And it still almost hurts my ears. ear. Lovely.

Christian is standing on keyboard bench, jamming to the pulsing beat. Smiling like a Crazy. Channing, angel, is still sleeping on the bed.

later...

Im in the kitchen. I dont remember doing what. Christian comes out with the toilet brush, 'helping' scrub the floor. Not too bad. after all, he's trying to help, Im sure. "Thank you christian for helping mama! now, lets go put this back!'-
Enter bathroom. The ENTIRE toilet is COVERED in red marker. Look at the Crazy. Marker covering his arms, hands, chin, and even in his ears. 'Oh my! were you coloring in here?" (note- all this really was said in a pleasant, high, soft voice. This is the one aspect of the day that I am proud of.) Take a picture as proof.

Finally. it 12:15. 15 more minutes to go.

Channing messes his pants. No biggie. Go to change him. Patrick calls. I answer. He's only blocks away. Hallelujah! Still pleasantly chatting.
Changing diaper. get everything wiped up. Reach for new diaper.

I never knew poop could shoot out like a water fountain. For 10 seconds straight. Covering a very large distance and surface area. Of brand-newly washed items.

I just love learning.

"Honey. Come Home. Fast. Run."


4.5 hours down. 1 lifetime to go.

-The Beginning.



Moral of the story:
It has been reconfirmed to me that one thing for sure I was blessed with is a 'sense of humor' in these situations. Rather than get stressed, I laugh. (this is both a blessing and a curse). I never once lost my cool. That day, at least. I saw the humor in it all, and paused to take a picture of the toilet. (something patrick did not understand.)

Yes, Life is Crazy. and an adventure. and wonderful. A great big crazy, wonderful adventure. and I am Loving it! :)

Happy 100th.