Grandma and Grandpa visit!

We were all super excited when my Dad texted me a few weeks ago to ask if we wanted company for Thanksgiving.  My kids hadn’t seen my parents since June and were excited to see them again.  They stayed with my brother in Ogden for the first few days they were here.  We met them at the Aquarium Saturday for a fun adventure.  Liam was hoping to see Orcas, but he was placated with the sharks especially when he got to see them be fed.

Em with baby Paulchecking out the fishI don’t think Liam actually touched anything that was in there, but he put his hands in all the water.  He freaked out every time I tried to put my hand in to touch the stingrays too.  He didn’t want them to sting me.  All the cousins and Aunt Lynn

Liam’s almost as tall as that type of penguin—I can’t remember which one it is.  Liam thinks it’s an emperor penguin.Em enjoying the fish.  Jason stayed home since he had been at a campout all night and was tired.

Sunday they came down to Spanish Fork to see Liam in his very first primary program.  I was so excited that the timing worked out for this since they have never been here for a primary program before.  That was lots of fun to watch.

Unfortunately Liam came down with a fever Monday afternoon and it lasted until Friday.  We took him to the Dr. on Wed just in case and there was nothing wrong with him that we could find other than the fever so we had to just let it run its course. 

We kept thinking he was better because the fever would stay away after the medicine should have worn off so on Wed we headed to the bowling alley for some family bowling fun.

before we started—Jason being a goofball.

Liam has lots of fun bowling

My Mom’s vertigo was acting up so Jason would help her walk up to the line so she could still bowl.  what a good grandson!My Dad is a pretty good bowler.He gave Emily pointers to help her out.

Liam got tired of the bowling assist thing and started tossing his ball down the lane.

Afterwards we hit the bookstore, the creamery, and then the Dr. for Liam since his fever had returned yet again.

Because Liam wasn’t feeling 100% he was much more mellow than usual.  He had both Grandma and Grandpa read him tons of books.  Thanksgiving afternoon everyone is checking out the black friday ads. (do you think they’ll change the name since so many stores are starting their sales on Thursday now?)Lots of chaos and fun with all the kids around.

Liam took this picture of Paul

Paul and Jason were buds.

Thanksgiving was great.  I woke up early to go exercise with some friends and I didn’t sit down and stop moving until probably 7 pm or so.  I had lots of help, but still there was just a lot to do to get everything ready for so many people.  It was great to have family here and be able to enjoy them and make memories together.

Friday was spent recuperating and then we did a little bit of shopping later in the day.  I helped my Mom wrap all the grandkid gifts and get them organized too.  It was a good day.

 Saturday came all too soon and my parents had to leave.  We always love it when they come and wish they could stay longer.  I didn’t have too many good pics of the kids with their grandparents so I tried to get some, but Em refused.  Oh well.  The boys.with Grandma. 

We love you and miss you already!  Thanks for an awesome Thanksgiving!

Progress

Well, the motivation is working, but the more I get done the more things I notice need to be done and so my list seems to be getting longer instead of shorter.  Here’s my list starting with what’s left…

• Clean cobwebs outside and in (partially done)
• wash walls (also partially done—at least we got the worst ones done)
• Spray for spiders
• Clean blinds
• Clean and organize pantry
• clean out kitchen towel drawer
• dust
• wash windows
• clean cobwebs outside and in
• clean blinds
• clean oven drawer
• wash bedding (I won’t tell you how infrequently this happens…it’s embarrassing)
• clean fridge
• clean freezer
• organize food storage closet
• clean out laundry room
• clean off patio store everything for winter
• clean bathrooms
• rake leaves
• clean out kitchen cupboards
• organize/clean out paper clutter
• clean out under bathroom sink
• clean out linen closet (found a towel I’ve had since I was a freshman at BYU—it was see through.  Not sure how I’ve missed tossing it before now)
• clean under kitchen sink
• clean stove (I hate how gross those drip pans get and even though I scrubbed my fingers raw there’s still stuff I couldn’t get off.  yuck!)
• vacuum couch

Nice to see how much I’ve accomplished, but there’s still lots to do especially since some of the day to day cleaning has been put off to get these things done.  I’m going to enlist my kids over the weekend to help me get everything ready though.  It won’t matter if I don’t get some of them done because I know my parents won’t care, but I’ll feel better knowing they are done and that everything is good and clean before the holiday rush hits.  

So, obviously I’m not Martha Stewart, but I’d love any hints on how you keep up with the day to day cleaning while still getting the organizing/cleaning out/deep cleaning done too.  What works for you?

Fun night

Last week I got the opportunity to attend “My Fair Lady” at the Hale Center Theater in West Valley.  Thanks Jenny!  I’ve never been to the HCT in West Valley before.  My daughter and I have enjoyed season tickets to the HCT in Orem and loved every show this year—their productions are awesome even with the small venue they have to work with.  HCT in West Valley is just as amazing with a bigger venue and it was a stellar production.  This is the beautiful staircase when you first walk in.  I’ve always loved me a fancy staircase.

The stage before the show.  I didn’t want to take pics during the show since they would likely turn out black anyway. 

Before the show we got to listen to the choreographer and the musical director (if I’m remembering right…) and it was really fascinating to hear some of their stories.  Having family that has often been involved in theatrical productions I know the amount of time and work involved and I’m sure it’s even more on this large of a scale.  They did a fabulous job and made me want to return soon with my daughter. 

Happy 11-11-11!

October exploits continued

Liam’s preschool had a Halloween party and right before pick up time they did a little parade for us.  It was super cute. 

There’s my little Iron Man

Right before Halloween we finally made it to Pumpkinland at Vinyard Gardens with our playgroup.  It’s such a cute place for the preschool age kids. 

All the kids before we got lost in the maze.

In the mazeThe gourd tunnelWhy are these cutouts always so cute?

STILL couldn’t get Liam to stick his head through this jack o lantern to take  a picture

This is the three little pig’s house of straw. 

There’s even a pot inside to catch the wolf!

There’s a fun playground at the end.

Liam thought these giant pumpkins were pretty cool.  This one was the perfect chair for him.

There was a “light alley” too, but I didn’t get any pictures of it. 

The Sunday before Halloween I realized that we still hadn’t carved our pumpkins so we got to work.  Liam and Daddy did a simple design while Emily did a really intricate design.  Jason Jr’s design was pretty easy too.  In fact, Emily started with Liam and Daddy and Jason didn’t start his until about an hour after the rest of us because he was watching a movie and he still finished before Emily.  She got a little frustrated a few times, but was very proud of her hard work in the end. 

Can you guess which one is Emily’s?

Halloween was perfect this year!  The weather was gorgeous and Liam was a trick or treating machine.  He didn’t want to quit.  We started out early and headed to the house in town that gives a dozen krispy kreme donuts to each person.  You have to get there early and stand in line, but it is worth it for the look on their faces!  Above is Liam eating a donut—he just couldn’t wait. 

Liam and Lauren—we went with our neighbors at the beginning.

After the donut house we headed to the church for a little trunk or treat, but we were a bit late and missed most of the action.  Then we went home and started around the block.  I thought Liam would be done after that, but he wanted to keep going so we dumped out his bucket at home and went back out to hit more houses.  Even after hours of trick or treating I had to lay down the law and make him go home.  He had quite a haul of candy and he loved every minute of it.  I’m glad it was such good weather for his first year when he really got it and was old enough to enjoy it.  Towards the end I could tell he was getting tired even though he didn’t want to go home because he would knock on the door or ring the bell and then he’d sit on the step while he waited for the door to be answered.  It was really cute, but I didn’t have my camera (of course).

The costume.  He insisted on being Iron man, but the only one we could find was this black one.  I never saw the  movie with the black one so I’m not sure exactly who it is, but it was good enough for him and the only one we could find that was his size so I was fine with that and so was he. 

Whew! Hope you had a Happy Halloween too!

October Exploits

Where did October go??  I came in with a bang when a quick snowstorm worried us all that we would have an early winter, but thankfully a beautiful Fall came back in full force soon after.  We kept ourselves busy and since I’ve had such lack of motivation in my life I haven’t blogged about any of them! 

I had fun catching up with a couple of my room mates from college.  It was so much fun, but really just made me want to see them even more.  We had so much fun together!  Thanks for taking the time to visit us Angela!

We checked out “Country Farm Fest” and were slightly disappointed, but still found ourselves a little fun there. TractorsLiam’s favorite was the bouncy house. 

He liked the train too, but it was a little bit bumpy.

 Jason had fun flipping to his hearts content.  They offered to let Liam try for free, but he didn’t want to wear the “swing” so they wouldn’t let him do it that way.

Cute cutoutsPetting some animalsThat cow was born just the day before we were petting it.

I went with Liam’s preschool class to a pumpkin patch.  They had a blast and we were the only ones there for the majority of time we were there which made keeping track of the three boys in my care a *little* easier.

The whole classThe corn box making corn angels

The hay maze—Liam spent more time on top of the bales than in the mazeThe animals—yep, that’s a kangaroo—I felt bad for it, but then it started punching that poor Llama in there with it.

feeding our fingers to the goat.

The gigantic pig

Then they got to go in the field and pick their pumpkin right off the vine.  Liam got a kick out of running around in the field with all the pumpkins.  I didn’t get pictures because I was toting three pumpkins around. 

One of LIam’s friends invited him to a Halloween party.  He loved getting to see and play with Christian.  He misses him since they moved across town from us. 

In their costumesThe cute cupcakes Heidi made

Making their cards with stamps

eating cupcakesAll the party goers

 

Wow, this is getting long. I will continue in another post soon.