Sights of Summer...

The heat is on and so are the parties! We haven't posted much, and while you may be thinking to yourself that we are boring (which may be a little bit true for a couple of us) I can assure you there is never a dull moment with the Grant-man and our little "Pretty" aka Katelee. Here are some shots of our seasonal favorites from this year:

-->Nature walks in the mountains, not to be referred to as hikes, see previous posts to understand Grant's aversion to those adventures!

Walking sticks a must, of course! (That is not a snake Grant is holding!)

-->Park play, especially when fireworks are involved!

Here Dave, Katelee, and our nephew Jordan are gearing up for the big show!

My dad can't contain his excitement...I think he believes he gets to ride in the tiger train next! Here is another favorite: parades!

-->Swimming, well this is pre-swimming:


-->play dates with friends, especially when it involves getting dirty!

--> and bike riding is a big thrill...Grant is just learning to pedal his bike, I need to get a photo of that. This is just Katelee in a time-out for running into the road! Sorry baby! With half of the summer left, there's lots of fun ahead!

*Side note: I am aware that Katelee has a runny nose in nearly every picture, the girl has some serious drainage issues we are trying to sort out. Sorry if the boogers disgust you, try to ignore them and just take in her cuteness!

Family Fun

We recently ventured out to explore the beautiful Southern Utah Canyons- Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon, and Zion Canyon. It was an adventure with lots of driving and bonding time that allowed us to truly practice the virtues of patience and gratitude! Day one: Cedar Breaks. This picture is overlooking Cedar Breaks; Katelee is eating string cheese not rocks, although she is known to chomp on the latter. Dave and the kids enjoyed a bit of branch/sword play in the overlook parking lots. Grant is new to the whole road trip experience and didn't realize that you can't tell us you need to go potty when you are already going, but actually as a heads up. So, we maximized the learning opportunity and Dave taught him how convenient it is to be a boy when in need of relief. However, this method still needs some explanation because our dear little Grant decided to use his boyhood as we were at a visitor center. He walked out the doors, and dropped his drawers right up against the wall, I turned around to see an exposed 3 year old and a class full of rangers and students observing! Yes, there was a restroom inside, but it must be more convenient to just drop the britches when nature calls.


The next day we went to Bryce Canyon. Grant kept asking where it was and when we reached it he said, "This is it? I want to go inside." Dave and I marveled at the grandeur and decided to take a small hike with the kids. Grant's enthusiasm for the exercise went something like this, (over and over) "I don't like hikes. Nah, I don't like em." I think he secretly loved it! We took the Mossy Cave/Waterfall Hike, the kids loved the river and tossing pebbles in...or boulders if you are Dave. Finally we finished off with Zion and I believe Grant enjoyed riding the shuttle buses more than anything else we did. We are definitely looking forward to hitting up those national parks in the distant future when our kids want to walk around on the more strenuous explorations.

Alas, I almost forgot to mention that I received my first speeding ticket while on vacation! That officer of Cedar City was in a tricky spot and I can no longer say I have a clean driving record. Dave was laughing cuz I always give him a hard time about his driving, and of course, I get pulled over with him in the car! Grant was worried the entire rest of the trip and kept telling me I was going too fast, the police were going to get me.

All in all, we had a blast and loved spending the time together enjoying the awesome scenery! There were a few "I want to go home," moments from Grant, the most difficult time for our boy was when we pulled up to our house, as we returned home. Grant saw our garbage cans left out and let out a sob because the garbage man had come without him being here! Apparently trips aren't worth it if you miss garbage pick up day. The last couple of days all he has said was how he wants to go back to his hotel!! I think we can chalk the trip up as a success!

The Stance...

Many of you are familiar with the Grant pose of one (or two) hands on his hips, as if surveying the surrounding scene. He demands respect and authority throughout the day, and this pose comes so naturally for those motives! It is really cute. I thought I would share for those of you who live far away and don't get to see it. He frequently puts one hand on his hip and when I ask him if he could help me, he replies, "Hmmm...fink fink fink, I guess I could help a tiny bit. Yeah, okay mom."



Katelee's signature position is yet to be determined, although I could argue she is most likely to be seen pulling at my legs and crying, "UP?"

Boston Buddies

I just returned from a fantastic vacation to Boston! Thanks again to Dave for planning this and surprising me with it! My friend Alisha and I flew out to see our friend Laci who lives in Beantown. We have all been friends since we were five years old and they both always have me laughing. At risk of reporting our entire itinerary...I will do a brief overview of the events: Our first night we went candle pin bowling, small pins, small balls-easy you may think? Not so much, but I won, and I never win bowling here, so I was a fan. The next day we hit the road and began our historical adventures from Lexington to Concord. It is an incredible experience to be where our country began its road to independence and learn about the very first battle. We found our own private Minute Man (see below) who led us around the square. The Minute Man museum is really interactive, loved it and learned a ton. Pretty much I will forever have April 19, 1775 in my head...if you want to know more about that date, call me. We also drove to Walden Pond, which is incredibly tranquil and gorgeous. We hit up Louisa May Alcott's house and went past Emerson and Hawthorne's house as well. The weather was cool and drizzly and yes, maybe we grumbled a bit, but when the next two days turned out to be sticky sweaty, we wished for our rain back!
Later that night, we were off to Fenway to watch the Red Sox! I had been diligently trying to learn the names of the players before I went out there(well, okay not diligently, but I did watch Fever Pitch), but it was all in vain because none of the good players were on the roster! They lost, but we had a great time.

The next day we hit all of the city of Boston we possibly could. We started off at Boston Commons, on to the Boston Gardens and the Swan boats, walked the Freedom Trail to see so many great historical sites: the graveyard with Paul Revere and John Hancock, the South Meeting House, the Old North Church (apparently I never stopped asking about it all day and when I did see it, boy did I jump for joy!!), Feneuil Hall, Paul Revere Park etc. We also had to go to Mike's Pastry's and grab a bite there. We finished our day with a Sunset Sail and pretty much a photo shoot on the boat...here is a picture of Laci and I staring off into the horizon, wind blowing through our hair. The glamor shots and pirate pictures we took of ourselves were pretty entertaining as well. The next morning we were up for a walk around the Charles River and church in the good old boiler building.
Well, as the sun set on my Boston adventure...I realized that we had a fantabulous time and another stash of laughs and memories to draw from! Thanks again to Laci for letting us come to her house and showing us around...Christian, her husband for being our slave boy for the weekend and putting up with us rowdy girls... and McDuff the dog for not being too heart broken when I discovered I was allergic to his hair and had to break up with him.

Communication...

So I titled this blog communication because that is what I have been reflecting on here at our house. Heaven knows Dave and I are always working on ours...and we are loving interacting with Katelee as she is learning words. She has the cutest "uh-oh" exclamation I have ever heard! Grant on the other hand is tuning his skill of communicating through prayer. It is so sweet and fun to have him say prayers for us. They usually are lists of what the happenings were for the day. Here is a good example of one: "....we went to Costco...Katelee screams all the time...mommy did not exercise...Katelee screams all the time." That was Grant's prayer yesterday. Now the day before he asks for blessings to get feeling better (he had been sick) and a new petition I had yet to be a witness for. It went something like this, "...bless Jesus not to be bored." How thoughtful. The funny thing is, when I was little my mom told me I used to include in my prayers, "I hope you are having fun up there without me." So, Grant must be like me, just wanting to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves! Although I am pretty sure everyone on the other side is staying busy!! Here are some photos of Dave and Grant when they went to see David Beckham....I mean, they went to watch the Real Salt Lake game!