Summertime Happenings

We hope you all have made some happy memories this summer. Here are a few of ours.

Logan recently suggested and planned a family date on one of Topher's days off.

He chose the dinosaur museum.

Logan attempted to snorkel in the irrigation ditch. It was a bit colder than he expected.

Grandpa and Logan built a trellis for our new blackberry bushes.

Shoes are optional on jobs like this, aren't they?

Logan happily consumed the remainder of his teddy bear treats on the bench outside after his first day of pre-school. His baby buffalo got to accompany him on the first day, by invitation of his new teacher, Mrs. Thompson.

We had a relaxing weekend getaway in Park City with some of Topher's family.

This is Logan and Grandma Karin atop the mountain after a chair lift ride.

Daddy and Logan were all smiles after the Alpine Slide.

We are looking forward to the arrival of our new little brother, scheduled to arrive sometime in the next few weeks.

"Duck" Tape and Peaches

Thank you to the nice eBay seller who sent us replacement tent poles in the mail. The tent poles were arrived as described and in a timely manner.

Much to Logan's surprise and joy, the poles were shipped in a nifty triangular box that provided an afternoon of delightful "duck" taping for Logan, while he fashioned a home for his "baby animals" (the stuffed sort).
While Logan was working on his project, we had the following conversation:

Logan: "Mom, is 'duck' tape the strongest kind of tape?"

Mom: "I'm not sure Logan, but it is the strongest kind of tape I know of."

Logan: "Is 'duck' tape stronger than ducks? If you taped their wings down with 'duck' tape, would they be able to get out and fly?"

Mom: "Probably not. We should not try that, because it might hurt the ducks."

Logan: "What about cow tape? Is 'duck' tape stronger than cow tape? Cows are stronger than ducks."

Mom: "I don't know if there is any such thing as cow tape, but if there is, it makes sense that it would be very strong."

Clearly, we need to take a tour of the furnace room in our basement, discuss the duct system that runs between the walls, and the purpose of DUCT tape.

I just couldn't bear to do it today.

On an unrelated note, Logan is feeling quite protective of me and my growing belly. He insisted on climbing the ladder to pick our peaches.

So I let him.

Thanks for the help, buddy. I really don't know what I'd do without you.

Paper Plates

When I was little, I remember my mom pulling out a stack of paper plates when life got crazy at our house. If there aren't enough hours in the day to keep up, why not sack the dishes? When life calmed down, we always returned to our more civilized dinnerware.

I think her idea was a brilliant one. When I was writing my thesis, we ate on paper every night. Now that I'm in the third trimester of my pregnancy, paper plates are looking pretty good again!

Hope to be back to washing my dishes soon.

Glad THAT is Done

Also glad THIS is almost done.

We are looking forward to meeting our new little brother who is scheduled to arrive Fall 2011.

Spiderman

Logan has never seen Spiderman. I'm not quite sure how he figured out who he is.

Nevertheless, he thinks Spiderman is very wonderful, and he requested a Spiderman face painting for the 4th of July, which his grandma happily purchased for him.

He spent the rest of the day serenading us with the Spiderman theme song, running back and forth from the bathroom mirror exclaiming, "MOM!! CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW AWESOME I LOOK?!!", and doing cool Spiderman moves.

Here he is singing on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru9o3ZmO0QA

He is still wearing the face paint today. I just couldn't bear to have him take a shower before bed and ruin his fun. It was worth the load of laundry to wash the bedding this morning.

If You Live By Mountains,

and you haven't been up to them lately, you should go.

Logan and I abandoned our garden weeding and dish washing this morning. We took a drive up the canyon for a picnic and a hike instead.

Memorial Day Weekend Birthday Hoo Haa

We took off for Memorial Day weekend to celebrate my birthday...

in Sunny St. George.
Topher got his ear pierced while we were there... by a lizard. No kidding. He thought it would be funny to let the Lizard we caught for Logan hang from his ear... until it didn't let go... for a long time. We are still awaiting the onset of a strange lizard disease from his wound.

Logan stayed with a safer approach of keeping him in his hands.

We spent a few hours at our favorite splash park.

Logan took us on a desert hike.

It was my birthday. Topher made me this yummy fruit pizza for my cake... most of which I ate... in one sitting. Yum.

Confessions of a Backblogged Mom

Springtime is busy at our house. There hasn't been much time for blogging or picture taking. In fact, I haven't even downloaded the pictures from my camera for months. When I did, I got a surprise...

Clearly, Logan has not approved of my lack of picture taking and downloading, and he took it upon himself to take up the task. I found dozens and dozens of pictures of his "baby aminals" all lined up and posing for a variety of shots.

Not quite sure when he confiscated the camera, or who taught him how to turn it on and use it.

When I Grow Up

Logan and I read a book about occupations this week. After we finished the book, he began telling me all of his plans for adulthood. I quickly grabbed a pen to write down his comments so I can read them at his wedding breakfast one day. Here is the list:

1. Drive cars
2. Fly airplanes
3. Drive boats
4. Buy a "house" at the end of our street (a small business complex we drive past every day) and be your (my) neighbor. I will come visit you every day and every night, even on Sundays.
5. Be a very cool kite flyer
6. Protect people
7. Marry a girl at the "ogre" (Oquirrh) temple
8. Trim trees (watched his Daddy trim the apple tree on Saturday)
9. Jump high
10. Work hard
11. Work for my family
12. Be an awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome kite flyer
13. Read books every night and every day
14. Be an awesome box fighter... that is put bad guys in a box and punch them with socks
15. Get my kids a drink
16. Take Mommy on a date when I'm big
17. Exercise
18. Play basketball games with my daddy
19. Do great things
20. Get new clothes

Disclaimer: I Did Not Take These Pictures

My sister-in-law, who claims not to be a professional photographer, came over to our house and took some pictures of Logan. I can take credit for standing behind her and making ridiculous faces though. Thanks, Lizzie!

Logan recently learned how to snap, but it still requires a great deal of concentration.

There are also some great shots of Logan with his cousins. We'll save those for another post.