Camping 2011

This year for our annual camping trip we decided to go to Jolley's Ranch up Hobblecreek canyon in Springville. We usually go up American Fork canyon but with Isaac being so young we wanted to be a little closer to home just in case. We had a lot of fun! It was Isaac's first camping trip :)

We always do tin foil dinners the first night :) This has been a tradition of ours since before we had kids!

Sleeping in a tent with all four of us, one being a baby = no one slept very well. Oh well, its all part of the experience I guess! I am always so worried about the kids being warm enough that I ended up sleeping horrible the first night. Then Isaac woke up at like 5:30am so I took him outside of the tent to keep him from waking everyone else up.

So cute, Daddy & Malea snuggling

While we were up there we saw SO many caterpillars! It was really cool. This is one of my favorite pictures, you can just see on her face how proud she is (see the caterpillar on her hand). She ended up putting it in a cup with some leaves and it turned itself in to a caccoon!

Daddy cooking the bacon :) For the record I cooked everything else, but the grease splattering on a gas stove makes the flames roar and it always freaks me out!

Much needed nap time :)

This was so funny....there is a little doggy door on our tent, and when I was walking back from taking Malea to the bathroom Isaac saw me and started crying. I took this cute picture :) This was at the height of his separation anxiety/I-only-want-mommy phase

We took Malea down to a part of the creek that was not as fast and more shallow (most parts of the water were SO fast and really high this year, it was scary). She had fun playing in the water even though it was sooo cold. Isaac didn't like it for very long....I don't know how Malea could stand it!

Muddy Bum :)

Hanging out by the fire....one of my favorite parts of camping

(Malea looks so big in that hiking backpack lol)

After playing at the nearby playground, we went back and roasted 'mallows and then went to bed early that second night....we were pooped!

Washington Trip 2011

We just got back from visiting Keith's parents for the 4th of July....it was lots of fun! We haven't been since summer of 2009 because I was pregnant with Isaac all last year and didn't really feel up to traveling :P

The kids did surprisingly well on the drive, I actually had a harder time than them! (I get car sick really bad...not fun). We rented a Hyundai Sonata, which I absolutely loved. It had XM radio, so Keith and I had a blast rocking out to the 90's channel! I was so sad to have to give that car back :(

Grandma "Dub" had the pool set up when we got there :)

It was fun seeing friends we hadn't seen for a while!

(L to R: Chud, Emily & baby Isaac Lundgreen, Desiree, John, & Tommy Wolfgramm, and us)

Family photo
4th of July

Family BBQ....the food was so yummy!

Waiting for the fireworks to start. They do a fireworks show over the Columbia River, it was way cool!

We decided to also spend a day and drive out to Seattle. Its about 3 1/2-4 hours from the tri-cities. We visited with some friends out there and saw the waterfront. We also ate at the yummy fish house Ivar's, it was so good!

We met up with our friend Bri Wilson (her husband Ben was out of town unfortunately) and spent the day with her and their cute girls. Malea had a blast playing with them!

(Ginny, Vera, Malea, & Violet)

Seattle Waterfront

We got Malea the same Seattle bear (in pink) when we were there 2 years ago :)

Bri also took us to the Seattle Center Children's Museum, they have so many fun things for kids to do!

After the museum we met up with the other Wilson's (Brandon and Ashley) at a park and had pizza. We were excited to meet baby Ezra for the first time!

Bri was nice enough to let us spend the night at their house. Malea and the girls had fun playing dress-up :)

After we got back from Seattle, you could tell the kids (Malea especially) were starting to burn out. We wanted to make sure and do the last thing on our list though, which was to go for a ride on the boat.

Here's a picture of the kids with Grandma and Grandpa "Dub" the night before we were leaving (we weren't going to see Grandpa in the morning because he had to work)

We had so much fun!

A Much Needed Update!

Man, life just seems so busy and crazy right now! We have had lots of goings-on, thus the need for a long update!

Isaac's 9 Month Check-up


Isaac is 9 months! HOLY COW! Life just goes by way too fast. I can't believe I'm going to be planning his 1st birthday at the end of the summer.

Here are his 9 month stats:
17 lbs (4th percentile)
27 3/4 inches long (32nd percentile)
17.9 cm head circumference (55th percentile)

He is still just a little guy. I am actually kind of glad he is on the small side sometimes, because I feel like he is trying to grow up too fast so he seems younger than he is. Isaac is just as busy as ever! He is pulling himself up and walking along things, and he can stand up against the couch or whatever and will stand with only holding on with one hand. He also climbs stairs which has been an adventure because he hasn't figured out how to go down yet so we have to keep a gate up all the time. He is so smiley and fun, and is SUCH a mommy's boy. I love it but it can be exhausting at times. I can barely even walk out of the room sometimes! He is just such a treasure. Isaac's favorite show right now is Sesame Street ("Play with Me Sesame" to be exact)....every time it comes on he will stop whatever he is doing, crawl over to the TV and watch it. It is so cute! I think I might do a Sesame Street theme for his 1st birthday.

Isaac is such a little climber!


Swimming lessons

So ever since I had Isaac I have had anxiety about taking both kids to the pool by myself. I took Malea to the pool all the time, even last summer when I was big pregnant. But now that I have two of them, I have just been nervous about how I would balance both kids. Malea is too brave for her own good and I can just see her jumping right in without waiting for me! Because of that I decided to put Malea in swimming lessons. I don't imagine that she will be swimming laps any time soon, but she is learning some basics like putting her head under water, blowing bubbles, floating, kicking, etc. We got 7 peaks passes (which we have yet to use because the weather hasn't been nice enough!) so I'm looking forward to going to the pool and letting Malea try out her new skills :)

Malea is in the "Frogs" class :)


Art City Days

Well it wouldn't be summer without Art City Days! This is one of my favorite family traditions. We have been going since I was just probably Malea's age. We went to the $1 night at the carnival (it was SUPER busy but still fun) and got a delicious scone of course. Then we all met up for the parade on Saturday and had lunch at my mom's afterwards. It was really fun!

(Malea and Grandpa Rick going down the slide)

Isaac's hand :(

Speaking of Art City Days..... Like I mentioned, we went to my mom's for an outdoor picnic lunch after the parade. We were just all eating and visiting and Isaac was crawling around on the grass. He came over to my chair and pulled himself up to the chair begging for food I think. :) Well he dropped to the ground to move on to the next thing, and when he fell he scratched his finger on the metal lawn chair. He started to cry and I couldn't figure out why at first. Then I saw that his finger was bleeding. It wasn't deep or anything, but it was bleeding so I took him in the house to wash it. I put a bandaid on it but that only lasted about 5 minutes. He seemed fine and life just continued on. In all honesty, I kind of forgot about it, because Isaac also had a pretty bad cold so I was distracted by dealing with that. Well about 5 days later I noticed that his scratch had scabbed over but it was a little pink around the edges. I didn't think much of it, but put some neosporin on it and again tried to put a bandaid on it (he pulled it off within a few minutes). The next night I noticed that it was a little bit worse, and again I washed it and put neosporin on it. Well the next morning (so a week after the cut) I looked at his finger and could not believe my eyes. It was so infected, it was super swollen and red and he couldn't even bend it! It looked like there was a blister on it. Well we called the pediatrician's office and luckily we were able to get in to the last appointment of the day (it was a Saturday so they closed at noon). We took him in and the doctor told us that it was a good thing we brought him, and that it was definitely infected.

This was the sad part......the doctor had to drain the infection (aka puss) out of his cut so he peeled off the scab and squeezed his little pinky so hard! It was like he was popping a blister. Needless to say, Isaac cried VERY hard. It was so sad :( He took a swab of the infection and said they were going to test it and that he would have the results on Monday. Because of Isaac's age and his resistance to keeping a bandaid on it, he told us we would have to wrap his whole hand to keep a bandage on it. He gave us a Rx for an antibiotic ointment that we had to put on twice a day for a few days. Isaac did surprisingly well letting us do his bandage each time. We had to put the medicine, some gauze, and then a tender wrap over his hand with some tape to keep it on. Well Monday came and the pediatrician's office called. Turns out he tested positive for a Staph infection! I couldn't believe it. I felt like a bad mom, naturally, and wished that I would have been more diligent about cleaning it and keep a bandage on it. Live and learn I guess. It was just such a small cut and I kind of just forgot about it. Now we have to continue with the ointment and he has to take an oral antibiotic for 10 days. Hopefully that will help him get all of the yucky infection out. Poor Isaac! I swear its always something with that kid!

Bee's game

Keith got tickets to the SL Bee's baseball game from his work at Nu Skin. It was so fun! We took the kids and just sat in the general admission section (on the grass). The cool thing is that they do fireworks after the games on Saturdays, and we got tickets to a Saturday game! It was really fun other than the fact that they went in to extra innings (I think there was like 12 innings!) so the fireworks didn't even start until like 11pm! Malea was a trooper and stayed awake through the whole thing, but Isaac was starting to get a cold and wasn't in the best mood so Keith took him out to the car.


Auntie Kenzie times two

I became an aunt again....twice! First my sister-in-law Sherri (my husband's brother's wife) had baby Cambrie on June 1st. She is so tiny and cute! We helped out with Nathan (big brother) the couple of days she was in the hospital, and then they had to go and move to Montana for the summer. :(

Then on June 13th my other sister-in-law Kelsie (my brother Dan's wife) had baby Miles! Poor Kelsie went over her due date by 8 days! Miles is so cute and its soooo weird to see my baby brother with a baby of his own! I'm so excited for them.

Seeing these two new little babies makes me realize how my Isaac is growing up too fast! He's going to be 1 in just under 3 months! Its makes me sad but not enough to have another one any time soon :)

Things to look forward to

Well we have a fun-filled summer ahead. We are going camping for the first time this summer up to the Jolley's ranch in Hobble Creek canyon. Then the next weekend we are going to Washington to visit Keith's parents for a week over the 4th of July. Its going to be weird not being in Provo for the Freedom Festival, but I guess they have a lot of fun festivities up in Washington too. We also got the 'Pass of all Passes' (which includes 7 peaks passes), so we are excited to use it for all the fun activities.

A Great Reminder

A friend of mine posted this on facebook and I just wanted to share it here! Its such a great reminder that our children are only young for so long and we need to enjoy it while we can!
(I found the poem here.)

Babies Don't Keep

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Its so easy to wish our children's lives away, to say "I can't wait until they are ____ age, it will be so much easier then".....I catch myself saying/thinking that regularly. It may be true, but I also need to ENJOY them at the age they are at now! I get teary when I look at pictures of Malea as a baby, and how FAST it has gone! And here Isaac is, almost 9 MONTHS OLD, and going to be 1 soon! I just can't believe it. Being a mom is so hard sometimes, but I will try to remember this poem when times are tough!

Here is a picture of both of my sweet angels as babies, I love them so much!!!

Malea Mary

Isaac Asay