County Fair

Last week my mom and I went to the county fair. My dad had entered a photo in one of the competitions so we went to see how he did. 4th place! Way to go Dad!

It was a lot of fun taking the kids despite the heat. They loved all the animals. Kaden was running from one stall to the next looking at all the cows, sheep, and pigs. In my opinion one cow was pretty much like they next, but Kaden was ridiculously excited to see every one. Jo was also mooing like crazy which was pretty funny. We also got to watch the pigs getting their baths.

They also had a little petting zoo complete with a very feisty camel. Loads of fun!

Round 2

Well Kimball left for OCS, actually he left a week ago. All together he should be gone 8 weeks total which is 3 weeks shorter than basic training was. I'm hoping not having those 3 weeks will make the time fly by, but I don't know. So far I just miss him. It didn't help that the first night he was gone I had food poisoning and threw-up the whole night. Luckily my parents rescued me in the morning and took the kids while I recovered.

We stayed pretty busy while he was here though. Here's a bunch of pictures of the fun things we did:

Kimball turned 28! For his birthday we went to the movies and then to a sushi bar. I was so embarrassed because they only gave us chopsticks and I had to ask for a fork. So the waiter brought me back these pretend chopsticks they use to teach little kids. At least I was able to eat my food.


Happy 4th of July! We spent the 4th with Alvin and Amber and watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks from the grass across from the MTC. Kaden turned out to be afraid of them and hid under a blanket the whole time, but for some reason he was still sad when they were over. Go figure.





Trip to the Zoo. They had a special military day so that our whole family got in free. Every time we go it gets more fun. Kaden was so excited to see the animals. He was trying to find all the animals from the Madigascar movie, but they didn't have a lion or hippo so we had to tread carefully around that subject. But we had a great time.



I know I look really annoyed in this picture, but it was really fun taking Kaden to all the same things I did as a kid, including drinking water out of the lions mouth.

Kaden's Best Buddies

Kaden is going through the strangest phase right now. He plays, loves, and talks to inanimate objects. I'm guessing this is normal, but who knows. For the most part I think its pretty cute he's named most of the objects with wheels in our house. The picture above has Kaden with his friends (left to right) Zarzan, Garbage Can, and Eve. Plus a phone charger named John and another stroller in the car named Wally. I'll be a little sad when this phase is over; it cracks me up when Kaden talks to the grocery carts at the store. He even gives ours a hug and a kiss sometimes. I love it!

Mac'n Cheese

I just bribed my son to eat Macaroni and Cheese. Does anyone else see a problem with that? Yesterday, Jo had her 15 month appointment and she only weighed 18.5 lbs. That's at the 1.5ish percentile. I keep telling myself that my kids are just smaller; that things will balance out, but I still worry. They actually eat pretty good most of the time, especially Jo. A lot of the time she eats more than Kaden does. She just doesn't weigh anything.

So ignoring common sense and putting my anxiety into action I've been working overtime to get them to eat better today. Bigger meals, more veggies all that stuff. Which brings me to the Mac'n Cheese. I didn't have much time for dinner so we just had Macaroni and Cheese from a box, but I blended up broccoli and threw it in to try and make it healthier. Jo didn't mind, but Kaden's familiar with this trick and refused to eat anything. Normally I just say okay, but nothing else the rest of the night. But what did I do tonight? I pull out the Oreo cookies. Kaden freaked out when Jo and I got one for finishing our dinner and he did not. He tried everything, even offered to eat carrots instead. In retrospect the carrots probably had more nutrients then the minimal amount of broccoli on his plate, but lets face it, by this point it was not about eating a good meal. In the end he earned his cookie, but I am a mess.

I was taught not to use food as a punishment or a reward and tonight I'm pretty sure I did both. What am I supposed to do?

I'm sure I'm overreacting. The longer I'm a mom the more I learn that things usually workout fine despite my mistakes. I just hate waiting for things to work out when I don't know how to fix them.

Playing Catch Up

Okay...where do I begin? Life has been crazy and great for the last few weeks, but I've been pretty neglectful on the whole blogging thing. So I guess I'll just lay it all out there for you.
1. Scotty is doing great. His leg has healed really well and the doctors are confident they removed all the cancer. He's been adjusting to a prosthesis for a few weeks now and gets around pretty good. He doesn't need a cane or anything anymore. I'm very proud of him, when he's wearing pants most people wouldn't notice a thing. Scotty wears shorts most of the time though, (it is summer after all) and I'm that much more proud of him for that. He is working hard to adjust to everything, and I'm sure he'll continue to do great.

2. We moved out of my parents house. Hooray! I found a great apartment while Kimball was at bootcamp and decided now was as good a time as any. I meant to keep it a secret from Kimball until he came home, but those plans went arry in the form of Kaden. Someone forgot to explain to Kaden that he should not tell Daddy repeatedly over the phone that he would not go home to grandma and grandpa's house, that we have a brand new house called the apartment, and that he has a brand new bedroom. Try to pass that off as an overactive imagination.

3. Kimball's dad got remarried. I guess its been a couple weeks now, but my father-in-law remarried a dear family friend. He has been very lonesome since Kimball's mom died, not adjusting too well to being alone. While it was a surprise, I know Kimball and I are happy his dad has companionship again and hope they are happy.
We spent a few days visiting Kimball's dad and Phillis down near Bryce Canyon. They seem to be doing really well. It has been fun getting to know Phillis; she is super spunky and energetic. She took us to a few of her favorite places in the canyon and it was amazing. I lost the cord to my camera in the move so no pictures yet. Sorry.

4. Kimball came home! In case you hadn't guessed. He got home a few weeks ago weighing about 20lbs less then when we left and I have to say he looks good. Right now we're just enjoying having him home, he has to leave for OCS in another few weeks. For now, we are just happy.

5. Also, Jocilyn finally started walking, kind of. She's been able to do it for at least a month now, but just wouldn't do it. She's to the point now where she'll take about 5 steps at a time all through the day, but isn't ready to give up crawling as her main mode of transportation.

I guess that's it. Thanks to any diehards that actually read through all that, but I think I'm finally caught up.

Memorial Day

I know I'm way behind; things have just been too crazy. I'll try to fill you in on everything soon. I guess we'll start with Memorial Day though since that's about where I left off last time.

My parents treated everyone to a trip to St. George. They rented a minivan so that we could all drive together. It was pretty funny. It reminded me of when we were little and Monica, Scott and I would fight over who sat in the middle on our drives to California. Luckily we didn't have too much fighting this time (wink, wink).

We had a great time. We went swimming and went to Zion's Natl. Park for the first time (I'm a little embarrassed to admit I've never been before). Scotty had a wheel chair so my dad pushed him through the trails which was sooo funny to watch. Some of these trails were pretty steep. Even if they were wheelchair accessible. Then my dad and I went back the next day to do some more trails and take pictures. Thanks Mo and Grandma for watching the kids!

The trail up to Angel's Landing.

View from the top.



Thanks Mom and Dad. It was a great trip.

The Best Thing About Summer

Food.

Okay, maybe its not the best thing about summer, but definitely in the top 5, right? Some of you might know that Kaden has always been a picky eater. Now that were eating all these yummy summer foods, however, he's a lot happier at meal time. I was totally shocked the other night when he asked for a second piece of fried chicken. It might be fatty, but its also protein and lets face it, Kaden could use a little extra bulk.

I think trying all these new foods has opened him up to some old rejects as well. I got him to eat four carrots in two days! That's more veggies he's had since he's been feeding himself. Just one more reason to love summer time.