I Need

Caitlyn has started something really funny and I have no idea where she got it from. The other day she asked for something, actually demanded(can you tell she is almost two?), and I told her no. She kept asking and suddenly she said "I ee". At first I had no idea what she was saying, this is a pretty common occurrence at our house, but I finally figured it out. She was trying to say "I need" whatever it was that she asked for. So now she does it constantly. And it is everything from needing to play on William's tricycle to needing Mommy to pick her up. It is really hard not to laugh when she starts into it. She does tend to get a little hysterical while she is saying it and we have discovered that there are a lot of things that she "needs."

Colorado Adventure Cont.

Well, I promised that I would give you the continuation of our Colorado adventure and here it is. I know what you are all thinking, how could they manage to fit any more in? They are going to need a month to recover from this experience. I think that I might need a month recovery but the kids seem fine. After the Rockies game we spent one more night at the hotel where Caitlyn didn't even make it through one short story before falling asleep. We packed up the next day, got some breakfast, made a short stop at Uncle Terry's house, and headed into the forest for two days of camping. We camped at Red Feathers lake and I would love to show you our incredible tent but of course I forgot to get any pictures of it. So we all prepared for some days of fun, rest and relaxation.

I'm not exactly sure what Francis is doing here but I like to caption this photo "Rabid Chipmunk." She was a really good sport about my taking her pictures and also about my children latching on to her and dragging her all over the place. Caitlyn had to get used to everyone all over again every morning but by the end of the week she decided Francis was okay, even first thing in the morning. The funniest thing was that one morning, must of been about Friday, everyone was trying to talk to Caitlyn. Cameron came up to say hi, bent down so he could see Caitlyn's eyes under her hat, and Caitlyn took her thumb out of her mouth, reached up, and pulled the brim of her hat down so she couldn't see him. Cameron didn't think it was so funny but everyone else did.William really took advantage of the fact that he is incredibly cute and there are no other grandchildren on that side of the family. Here he is cheesing it with Gwen by the lake.

The lake had these massive boulders all around it and William thought they were great. He was constantly asking if he could go climb the rocks and he managed to convince many people to go with him. He did manage by the end of the week to figure out that I was okay with him going with people as long as he told me before hand. If I had to come looking for him and thought he was lost, then he got in trouble.William loved to get to the top of this pile of rocks and proclaim that he was so tall and so high.It seemed like the majority of the time was spent fishing, not by myself but by the rest of the family. They didn't have much luck though. Brandon claims he caught a fish, he was fishing at a river so I didn't witness this. Aunt Joanne had the best luck, she caught three fish at the lake. The thing that was funny was that Most of the fisherman had gone to the river and didn't come back with any and Joanne caught hers while they were gone.

We spent two nights camping and the kids slept really well. We had to wake William up both mornings for breakfast. We didn't hear any bears, well Brandon and I didn't others claimed to, but on the last night there was an owl hooting by our tent. Saturday we all packed and we thought about leaving, which really set our three year old off. We decided to stay an extra night and head home on Sunday. So we went to Uncle Terry's and got to hang out. Brandon and I went to a movie with Uncle Terry, Aunt Cara, and Aunt Tayona while William and Caitlyn got to hang out with cousins, play with the dog, and eat pizza.

William was not happy when it was time to go home. He kept telling us that he didn't want to go he wanted to stay. He has since told us that he wants to go back. Uncle Terry told us to remember when it comes time for us to decide on jobs in a year that Colorado is the right answer. So we had a lot of fun and Caitlyn is actually sleeping better at night since we got back. That was our big family vacation for the year. Hope you all enjoyed.

Colorado Adventure

I am beginning to understand more and more why my parents never took us on long drives. Why would you want to do that to yourself? I keep asking myself why I take my children on ten hour drives. But I guess seeing family is worth it. We had the opportunity to spend a week in Colorado with Brandon's family last week. I was excited because I had never been to Colorado, and to see family as I mentioned, and William was excited to go to Water World. He did tell me while we were driving that he likes Uncle Terry(he likes the rest of the family also but we have been telling him that in June we were going to Uncle Terry's). What with bathroom breaks we made it to Fort Collins in about eleven hours, which would go much faster if the kids slept more.

It was fun to see family and we got the chance to go visit Crystal Egger, she worked with Brandon and did the weather, while we were in Denver. We got to visit the Denver Temple and Caitlyn sustained the first of many scrapes in the parking lot. Caitlyn came home with way more bumps, bruises and scabs then when she left.

William was excited to stay in a hotel but he was really excited when we woke up and got dressed in our swimsuits for Water World. He kept insisting to look at the pictures online while we were home so he new what rides he could go on.

He was excited to get into the wave pool with his aunts and uncles and various cousins. He thought it was great to jump over the waves as they came rolling in. He insists that he had fun on all of the rides, he did cover his eyes a lot, but he really enjoyed that they had some areas just for kids.

Caitlyn actually let us put her shoes on without socks! It was so weird. She normally insists on the socks. She tended to cling to whomever was holding her during the tube rides, taking her thumb out she say yay when the rides calmed down. She was very content to just find a place to sit down and watch. She was more than ready to get out when the time came.

The National Guard had set up a climbing wall by the picnic shelter where we deposited all of our stuff. William really wanted to climb and the guardsmen where very excited to suit him up.

He didn't go very far up but everyone was cheering him on. He got high fives from everyone and called it good.

After Water World we headed for the hotel to change and get ready for the ball game. After emergency medical care for Brandon's cousin Cameron, we set off to watch the Rockies beat the Cleveland Indians.

We had a great view of the field, it helped that the seats were so high.

William tends to look like he is grimacing but he is really excited to be there.

I'm not sure if all of you can handle the excitement that is portrayed in this picture. Let's just say it had been a long day and my feet were killing me. We only stayed until the seventh inning stretch, Brandon wanted the kids to have that experience, then we headed for the hotel two hours past bedtime and the rest of the family stayed to watch the Rockies win 4-2. Stay tuned for the rest of our Colorado Adventures as this is getting really long and I am tired.

Baby's Heartbeat and the Big race

This all seems so long ago, but we have been out of town for a week. On the 13th we had another doctor's appointment and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat. William decided that he wanted to come in with Mommy so that he could hear it. He thought that was cool. Everything seems to be going well except for the whole nausea thing. The doctor was really surprised that I was still experiencing that and I am too. He told me that hopefully it will go away and sometimes heartburn can prolong it. So I got some Unisom tablets while we were in Colorado and they seem to help, when I take them which I didn't do everyday but the days that I remembered were great. So, half tablet of Unisom at night and 50mg of B6 for those of you who experience nausea while pregnant.

The other exciting moment of that weekend was the Teton Dam Marathon, or Dam Marathon which is quite the conversation stopper when spoken out loud. Brandon convinced members of our family to run the relay with him, I was not one of them. So he ran with Crystal, Zach, Brent, Cami and Becky. It was quite the adventure.

Crystal and Zach started the race and therefore had to be up early to catch the bus. They stayed at Ian and Becky's like we did (thank you Ian and Becky for that) and dutifully set their alarms because they were supposed to be at the high school before the bus left at 5:30. Brandon set his alarm because he was going to drop them off and drive Zach's car as a pick up vehicle. Of course, non of the alarms worked. Luckily Brandon woke up at 5:20, woke Crystal and Zach up, and got them to the school before the bus left. Nothing like a little tension to get the heart pounding that early in the morning. They finished in just over 4 hours, I find that impressive, and they had fun which was Brandon's goal.

Don't Brandon, Zach and Cami look so excited? I think that Zach and Cami are just playing along for Brandon's benefit.

Here Cami is passing on the baton to Brandon. It was actually a slap bracelet. Very eighties.

It's a speeding bullet! Becky sees the end in sight as she blazes along.

Here they come! Finishing off their 26.2 miles racing down main street toward the finish line.

Here are the Teton Runners, plus children. They look happier in this picture than in the picture of them running down main street. I still don't believe that running is enjoyable.

I tried to get a picture of the design on the back of the shirts. You may have to take my word for the fact the R has legs and running shoes. Thanks to Bill (I'm sure Bill has a last name but I don't know it. He works with Brandon, who also doesn't know his last name) for putting the design together.

William is cheesing for me. He was very excited to have "his" medal, and loved the fact that his shirt matched Daddy. He was supposed to run the last block with Brandon but Brandon ended up carrying him. If I wasn't so lazy I would get out the video camera and download that clip for all of you to enjoy but it isn't going to happen.

Here is Caitlyn enjoying the swing. It is her favorite activity at the park. There are only two parks in Idaho Falls that have infant/toddler swings, so she doesn't do a whole lot of swinging down here. Well she does, because that is what she insists on doing but she doesn't get to go very high because I don't quite trust her grip. Getting her out of the swing was another challenge.

It was a fun weekend. We got to help Dad with the wood and spend time with cousins. Then we left for a week. Hopefully I will be able to get things up about our time in Colorado before to long.

New Car

This weekend we became the proud new owners of van. When we went down to Utah at the beginning of May our faithful Neon broke down. This was not exactly abnormal, it has ended up in the shop a lot often times with us stranded along with it, but it was bad enough that we ended up junking it. So we spent the month of May with our little yellow car. Of course this meant that is Brandon took the car to work because of weather then the kids and I were stuck at home for the duration. So we knew that we needed another vehicle, we had hoped to make it until next February, and we started looking around. We decided to go through a dealer in Las Vegas who lives in Brandon's parents' ward because he buys cars at auction and then only charges a modest fee. So he purchase a 2005 Kia Sedona for us, the day after we contacted him also. The bank agreed to lend us money, and then we just had to figure out how to get the van here. Brandon's mom was nice enough to drive it up last weekend, so we got to see her and get our new van. The kids were pretty excited, William thinks that it is just great. So we are hoping that this vehicle will last us for awhile at least.