Father & Son '10

Not to be confused with the "Fathers and Sons", this weekend my dad and I spent a wonderful time flyfishing the Tule River near Springville.  Rated in the top ten streams in the coutry to flyfish (Field&Stream), it is one of our favorite spots to fish.  This post will be full of pictures because I like to take them.

 

Although the 3' snow drifts prevented us from our typical 4x4 cross country excursion, we camped at Wishon Campground and hiked up to where we typically fish (8 Miles round trip) - Needless to say, it was a long day but we enjoyed ourselves.

Once we dug around through a few boulders and found the underwater bugs, we matched the hatch and began fishing.

Fishing Trip Statistics 

Total Fish Caught: 85

Largest fish: 16" German Brown

 

Once the time came to leave, we made camp, ate our lunch/dinner and headed out.  Upon passing through Springville, I just had to stop and take a photo of dad in front of the retirement apartments there.  I have always "joked" with him about renting a unit for him there when he retires; which is next year.  He will make some good friends there I'm sure.

Until next year.

Dear Journal,

I apologize for the picture-less post. I have taken none this week. And now as I have gone back and proof read this post, I apologize for the length as well, feel free to skim, or skip, or stop all together.
We had a relaxing Mothers Day weekend. Friday Thad brought home flowers and an entire flat of strawberries that someone brought to work. Instead of making jam, we ate them. It took all week, but we ate an entire flat of strawberries. Thad and I also went to see Iron Man 2 that night, and while I am usually not a fan of comic book movies, I love the Iron Man movies. All 12 of the Spidermans were lame, X-men, eh, only the new Batmans are any good and that might have something to do with Christian Bale, fabulous 4 or whatever they are, blah. But Iron Man was awesome.
Saturday, for my Mothers day gift, Thad offered to watch the kids while I did some shopping by myself. The novelty of that idea, by myself! I did end up taking Andi because she kept telling me she needed to help me find a bathing suit. It needed to be pink and have flowers just like hers. So I drug her all around town and she did really well. We spent the afternoon puttering around the house and cleaning because we hosted the Mothers Day shindig with Thad's family on Sunday. We BBQ'd, but right before it was time to eat some nasty clouds were rolling in, so we moved the party inside just in the nick of time. It poured while we were eating. But it was a really nice day. Andi kept bringing me random toys and saying Happy Mothers Day! And Sammy kept trying to get on the table and smell the flowers. He points at them and sniffs, and if you tell him to say flower, he sniffs.
Speaking of the children. I mentioned last week how Andi decided to get a puppy when I die. Well that's her new favorite phrase. "Mommy, when you die I'm going to. . . (fill in the blank)" Seriously, it's starting to get really irritating. Yesterday she had been asking for a milk shake all day and I kept telling her she had to wait till after dinner. So after dinner she got the milk shake and said, "Mommy, when you die I'm going to have milk shakes all the time!" A pet I understand, but wishing my death for ice cream is offensive!
Sammy is becoming a pest in his own right, a silent pest, but pesty indeed. His favorite way to bug Andi is to wait till she's totally zoned on some show and then he climbs on the couch, get's behind her and sits down. He then proceeds to push and wiggle and kick until he's knocked her off the couch, and then tries to block her from getting back on. Nice. He climbs everything, and twice has been pulled off a ladder right before he actually gets on the roof! He loves to be outside all day long. The yard is really his happy place. He loves to read books, and brings them to me all day long to read to him. A few nights ago I had read him a story and then was reading Andi her story and he decided we weren't done with his book yet. He kept shoving it in my face, and when I tossed it across the room he tried with all his might to close the book I was reading to Andi. When that didn't work, he sat on it so we couldn't see. Sam is also getting "sneaky smart." When you tell him no, or not to do something he stops, but you can see the wheels turning as he tries to find a way around the command, and he often does.
This weekend is Thad's annual camp out with his dad, and they left yesterday morning. So I went and had a girls night and saw Letters to Juliet. It was fabulous. There are chick flicks, and then there are timeless romantic movies like Pride and Prejudice. I could watch P&P over and over and never get tired of it and still get that fluttery happily ever after feeling at the end of it. Letters to Juliet is on the P&P level and will be living in my media cabinet when it comes out on DVD.
So we have been having a bit of a struggle lately coming to a decision about something. Okay, maybe I'm having the internal struggle and Thad is rolling his eyes at me, but whatever. We have been talking about adding on to our bedroom/bathroom since we bought the house almost 3 years ago. Last year we were talking about it seriously and then Thad lost his job. Once he got his new job we started making plans and were just waiting till the spring for better weather and tax returns. Now that the funds are in place and we could really jump in to the project, I'm not sure. Don't get me wrong, I've dreamed of this mater suite complete with walk in closet and jacuzzi tub, and built in book shelves under arches on either side of my window seat for some time now. But do you know how many other things we could do with the money we've saved?(Take a Real trip, pay off my car) Or how much time Thad is going to have to put in to this, that he really doesn't have? All of a sudden my bigger bedroom fund seems like much more of a want than I really thought and I'm trying to think of ways to make our current bedroom/bathroom function better. Not that there is much to be done with our miniature bathroom. There will always be a house project in the works no matter where we live, because that's just the way we are, I just don't know if we should do this one now or not. Ugh! And now you can all see Thad's eyes rolling at me can't you?

Nursery, Dentist and More

Last Sunday was Sammy's first week of nursery! Thad and I were definitely more excited about it than he was. I had to run and get things going in primary, so Thad dropped him off, and Sammy did not take that well at all. So after a few minutes they brought him to me and I had to go find Thad and hand him off because I was still busy in primary. So Thad took him back to nursery and stayed with him for a few minutes this time and that seemed to help because he didn't have to come back out. It was a shock for me though for them to bring him to me. Andi went in to nursery a few months early, had no problems, and never looked back. Sam has a totally different temperament, and I think it will be a few weeks before he stays in with no problems. Here is a picture of the BIG boy (that shirt is a size 3) on his first day of nursery.

Thad has been modifying nerf guns again lately, and the kids LOVE when he does this. Mostly because it means all the guns are out and there are parts and pieces and darts all over the place to play with.

Andi had her big dental appointment monday morning where they filled 4 teeth. They do "sedation" at this office, meaning they made her drink "yucky medicine that made me sleepy". It doesn't knock them totally out, just enough where they are relaxed and can't really tell what's going on. Relaxed and everything she still did not like the dentist after this trip. Her biggest complaint was that they "sucked up my lip!" which I assured her was only the spit sucker and they were just keeping her teeth dry. She also did not like that her lip was big, and even though I showed her in the mirror that it wasn't big, just felt like it, she was not happy. Once the drugs wore off though she was back to normal and only occasionally reminds me that she did not like them sucking up her lip.
We have had more interesting conversations with Andi lately. A few days ago she was watching 101 Dalmations and when it was over it went something like this.
A: "Mom, I really wish I could have a puppy."
M: "I know you do, but you know why you can't"
A: "Ya, cos you're allergic to puppys."
M: "That's right."
A: "Mom, when you die, I am going to get a puppy."
M: "That's fine, but you don't have to wait till I die, you can get one when you grow up and get married and have your own house."
A: "Ya, but won't you be dead then?"
M: "not quite."

We had another little project going on last weekend in the front of the house. The front porch has always been covered in blue outdoor carpet. I HATE it and always have, it just kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list. So last weekend we finally tackled it. We ripped off the carpet and used concrete paint on the porch and I love it. We also added a cute little pot of plants which helped finish it off. It's not a huge transformation, but I feel like it made such a difference. The problem is I don't have a single before picture. I went back 3 years in my picture folders and found nothing of the front porch.  But here is the after. Ignore the hose.

Hair Trauma

This has been an eventful week for the children and their hair. On Tuesday Andi was playing with her bubble blower gun and got the front of her hair tangled in it. This has happened once before, and I had to trim half a centimeter off her hair to get it out. On this day however, Andi decided she could fix this herself and took her little craft scissors to the front of her hair, without even letting Mommy know there was a problem. Needless to say I called/facebooked Kassi immediately and we got Andi's hair fixed Today. Her first real hair cut at the big girl salon.  Here is the damage she inflicted. Really it could have been much worse.

And here is a shot after our trip to Kassi.

She was able to turn it into swoopy bangs and blend it in nicely. Andi of course asked her to curl it like princess hair, so she did. The new problem, Andi had such a good time getting her hair done that on the way home she said: "Mom, next time I get a toy in my hair and cut it we can come see Kassi again." To which I said, "You will never cut your own hair again. If anything gets stuck you come tell Mommy, and if you want to come to Kassi and get your hair cut we will talk about it." I might have created a little hair diva. ugh!
Sam has been in need of a hair cut for a while now. Aunt Tenille has trimmed it for him twice, but it grows so quickly, and is so thick, that he sweats constantly. It's not even hot here yet, and his head is always a gross sweat ball. So we took the clippers to him and cut off about 3 inches. It was so long and fluffy and full I was sad to see it go. Mostly because he looks like a big boy now instead of a little toddler/baby.
Here is a before of Sam doing his best Tommy Calahan impression(another reason we cut it).

And a couple of afters. I have yet to get a really good shot of it, because he won't hold still! This is combed with a little spikeage in front. The "Church look".

And here is all spiked, which is kinda funny and he won't be wearing out any place.

In other news Sammy had his 18 month check up this week as well and as usual, is a beast. 31 lbs, 36 inches he is in the 94% for weight and above the 97% for height.
Tanya and Billy and Cole were in town last weekend, and though we of course took zero pictures, we had a good time hanging out with Thads fam for a few days. We took updated grandchildren pictures Saturday night, had a birthday dinner for Grandpa Sam and Savannah Sunday, and then had a BBQ at the park Monday. We know how to party ;)

Summer is Here

Tuesday evening was the cub scout pinewood derby for our ward, which was turned into a combined cub/boy scout derby, which meant that as scout master Thad got to make a car and race it. There was a lot of time and serious engineering put into this car, and it paid off as he won first place. Note the top section in the back. That is actually fishing weights that were melted down with a blow torch and poured into the mold Thad had on top of the car. Part of the winning strategy was putting all the weight in the back to give the most potential energy. . . or something like that.

The weather has been absolutely lovely this week, and all the flowers in my yard are blooming. I cut these off just a few of the rose bushes we have around the yard, and they totally made my day.

The kids have been outside enjoying this weather. Sammy was out "enjoying" a few afternoons ago while I was trying to get some primary phone calls made. I guess the sprinkler had just come on in the garden and made some great puddles, because I went to check on him a few minutes later and found this happy little guy.

He's not all trouble though. I found him like this just this morning and I love it! He may look just like his daddy, but this picture is proof that there is a little bit of me in him after all.

I just pulled all these pictures off of the 3 cameras we have sitting on the desk and between the three found at least a hundred "self portraits" of Andi. Now realize, I empty the cameras every time I post, so she took all of them in the last week or so. Most of them are her making faces and sticking her tongue out. She will take a bunch and then look at them on the camera and laugh her head off. She really finds herself amusing. Big thanks to Aunt Kelsie who taught Andi how to take these lovely pictures a few summers ago. NOT!

Yet Another Project

Surprise! I've been busy. . . again. Is it weird that I always have to be working on something?
Well my latest project actually started back in January when I bought the fabric, but it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I really started working on it. And now, It's done.

Here is it on the bed with the throw pillow covers I made today. Ignore the awful headboard, it's on the list of things to fix/change/redo. Also, it looks darker in the picture than in person.

Thad has been working on something as well, but it's not quite finished. The Derby is in a few days though, so there will be pictures soon ;)

Easter & Utah

I feel like It's been forever since I posted. In reality it's only been 11 days, but it's been a busy 11 days.
Easter was grand. We started the morning with an egg hunt and breakfast at my parents, followed by an attempt to watch conference with children who didn't "like that show" and then dinner with Thad's family.  We took several pictures of Andi that morning, but this is the only one that isn't super blurry. She was literally running all over the yard and could not be bothered to stop for pictures.

Sammy was a bit more cooperative with the picture taking, and seemed to get was the egg hunt was all about.

Monday morning bright and early we headed for Utah and it snowed and rained on us the entire drive! We stopped in vegas for lunch at a park so we could let the kids out to play and stretch. Of course it was sprinkling but they didn't seem to care.  As evidenced by Sammy's cray hair, it was also really windy at the park.

We finally made it to Draper where we stayed with Thad's Aunt and Uncle and spent the week visiting with family and friends. The Morgans have the ultimate kid house. All of theirs are grown and gone but for their grandkids their house is almost as awesome as Disneyland. Here is Andi outside in the play house.

The first night Andi was unsure about sleeping there and said she wanted to go home to her bed, but by the time we left she was begging to stay with Aunt Kathy and the playhouse.  We took our friend Deasiya with us on the trip to give her a tour of her future home, BYU! and of course had to go to Temple Square too. The reflecting pond was the kids favorite part.

And tearing them away proved to be a struggle.

We saw lot's of old friends and didn't get a picture with a single one! We are lame. But here is a shot just for Deasiya of the drive home. Poor thing was stuck between those two the whole week!

I also picked up a new book, or should I say series. The Hunger Games. Awesome. I was hooked, so much in fact that I read the first two books in 4 days. I'd be reading the 3rd right now but it doesn't come out till August! Ugh!

Easter/Utah Preparations

Normally I would be posting this picture after Easter Sunday, but given that this Easter is also Conference Sunday we had the kids wear their "Easter" outfits to church last week.

Yes, Sammy was chasing me trying to get the camera, so we had Andi chase him and tried to get a good semi still photo. That was as good as it got.
This week we have been getting ready for Easter and a trip to Utah on Monday, so we've been a little busy. I pulled the pack & play out of the shed a few days ago, because I was worried Sammy was too big for it and was trying to figure out what to sleep him in if that were in fact the case. He still fits, just barely, so I have no idea how we are going to sleep/contain him on vacation this summer.

I left it up that afternoon for him to get used to it, in the hopes that come next week he won't object to sleeping in it. He thought it was really fun to play in, especially when Andi stuffed as many toys as she could inside with him and put a "roof" on it.

Today we colored eggs, and though Sammy didn't participate other than pulling everything he could off the table, Andi enjoyed it and can't wait to find them tomorrow.

Now that the laundry is all put away, I'm off to round up whatever is left of the kids winter wardrobes so they don't freeze in Utah. Weather.com says it snowed this week, and will snow again on Monday. Good thing Andi has holes in the knees of every single pair of pants she owns!

Conversations with Andi

This afternoon during our tea party. . .
A: "Mom, would you like some dessert, It's really yummy. I call it fish cake."
M: "Fish cake?"
A: "Yes, you'll like it, it's not poison."

Last week as I was raking leaves out of the flower beds.  .  .
A: " Mom stop! Don't throw the leaves away!"
M: "Andi, I have to. They are old yucky dead leaves."
A: "They are old?"
M: "yes, they fell off the tree and are dead, and now we have to get rid of them."
A: "What happens when YOU get old Momma?"
M: "Well, I'll die too."
A: " No! I don't want you to die!" (cue full on tears!)
M: "Andi it's going to be a very long time before Mommy get's old. In fact you will be a grown up mommy with your own babies before I die."
A: "But then I'll get old and die and my babies will be sad!"
M:(seeing no other way out of this conversation) "Yes, but that will be a long, long, long time from now, so don't worry about. Don't talk about it anymore."

Just a shot of her during play time with Daddy.

Battle at the Bernard Building

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about Thad's cardboard armor for the primary activity day? Well yesterday was the day. The activity went really well, Captain Moroni was a hit, and every time the kids spotted the lamanites (Bradon & Matthew) they charged them. Here is Moroni with the fearsome lamanites

Here is a shot of the battle after he's killed one of them.

Then we had the kids make their own shields. Here is Andi and her friend Ali showing off their shields.

Once the shields were finished the kids got to run through the stage while the lamanites threw darts at them. Here's a sweet action shot.

We also got started on our garden this weekend, and are doing things totally differently this year. We really want a mini pumpkin patch, but realized that if we plant pumpkins, that's all that will grown because they will overtake everything in our small area.Especially since we planted "giant pumpkin seeds". So we did some research on hanging gardens and planted strawberries, and an upside down tomato plant. I think it's cute.

 And here is a shot of Sammy's latest accomplishment. Playing in the kitchen sink because he can now push the chairs all over the kitchen.

Trash to Treasure

So Monday night we had a family first. At least it was a first for me and the kids. Thad needs some new camo gear for an upcoming paintball outing and so we went shopping at goodwill to find some. We did find pants for him, but we also found this rocking chair for Andi. She was so excited when she saw it, and I thought it could be this weeks project. Here is the before, and it's not even a true before because I had already taken the nasty stickers off of it and scrubbed it.

And here is the after, after some sanding, puttying, spray primer and spray paint. And then I thought it still needed a little something so I made the little cushion from the leftover material from Andi's magnet board and some leftover batting.


Excuse the fuzzy picture, Thad had the camera set on something weird and I can't get it changed. So for now I am stuck with the fuzzy photo.

Daddy's Girl

You see those pearly whites? The ones she got from Thad. One day(after braces) I know they will be the big beautiful Bulkeley smile and I will be glad she has Daddy's teeth. Until then I will curse the fact that she has daddy's weak, cavity loving teeth.

Today was her first dentist appointment, and I knew going in I was going to hear something along these lines, so I guess I wasn't surprised when he said she has 4 cavities, Just frustrated that even though she has always used adult toothpaste and has worn out many a toothbrush in her few years of even having teeth we still have a problem.

Busy Busy Busy

It has been a very productive yet relaxing weekend. Thursday morning I took the kids to Daddy's work to meet people and look around. They were entirely unimpressed, but I had a good time. Then I got a call from Home Depot saying the pantry cabinets we ordered a few weeks ago were in. Yay! Long story short, after another fiasco we finally got the dumb cabinets and will never be shopping at Home Depot ever ever again. We basically swore off the store a year or so ago, but were forced to order the pantry from them because that's where our kitchen cabinets came from and we obviously wanted them to match. We will never cheat on Lowes again.
Here is a before, like waaaaay before, before we moved in or painted. Ewww, that yellow hurts.


And here is the after. Thad still needs to put the filler in that gap above the fridge, but other than that, ta-da!

I stayed up late friday evening moving our food from closet to pantry, and then saturday evening moving the rest of the closets in the house around. I love organizing, it really makes me happy. Saturday we had a baby shower for my SIL Tenille. It was fun, and I ate too much, but who can resist chicken salad croissant sandwhiches and costco cake? Yum.
We have also been working on the primary activity day I have coming up at the end of the month. We are doing the armor of God, and guess who got roped into being the guest speaker Capt Moroni? Don't worry, Thad's really excited about it because he gets to wear a full suit of cardboard armor and fight some lamanites. Here is a sneak peak of what he and Andi have been working on.

Funny note about that picture, taken right before church. Andi thought she looked very Dorothy-esq with her braids and plaid dress and carried around a little toy dog in a basket purse all morning. She kept asking me to put apples in the purse and was really sad when she couldn't bring them to church.

Channeling the inner Martha

I really feel like I have been doing that lately. In January I made wedding invitations for one of my really good friends. I've posted the picture of Andi's magnet board already. And this week I've been painting all kinds of things. Like this vase(used to be purple) and glass pear(used to be clear) that now sit above my kitchen cabinets.


And these "paper lines" on Andi's wall. The letters are vinyl.


And these gift boxes for My SIL's baby shower this weekend.


I put a button on my blog over on the right side for a blog that is amazing. This lady does all kinds of refinishing and crafty projects that have given me all kinds of ideas for future projects, and a desire to hit up all the thrift stores in town for "things" to refinish. My list grows daily. You should really check it out. Again, Amazing.
Today has been a wonderful day for really no reason at all. I was taking pictures of my little crafty projects around the house and talking to Andi and I just had this overwhelming feeling of peace and gratitude. I feel so incredibly blessed today, and realize that I should feel that way more often, because it's true, I am. I spend my days with two stinkin cute kids who keep me on my toes and love to learn new things. I come up with all kinds of crazy projects for the house that I can never completely do on my own and Thad always jumps in to help, even if it's just getting his level and making sure the lines I am painting on Andi's wall are straight. I am just amazed at my life today and couldn't ask for anything else.