Summer Happenings

After we got back from Texas, we had a quick impromptu 2nd birthday party for Griffin. It was a perfect day for it- the kids all got to run around outside in the back yard, and it was just all around fun!

I love this boy!!!

Thanks all  of you who came!

These boys LOVE each other!  I love how well they get along (most days), and can't wait to add another boy to the mix!

We moved the furniture around (switched our bedroom with the boys to make everything fit better with a crib and bunk bed), and when we did, we decided it would be okay for Griffin to ditch his crib and start sleeping in a "big boy bed". I was nervous because the transition for Deegan was a nightmare and he never slept well, but Griffin has always been a good sleeper, and loved his new bed. It may have helped that he didn't figure out how to get in and out of the bed for about a week, so he was used to sleeping in it before he knew he could be free!! 

First irrigation day of the year!

Deegan and I were both pretty excited to wear our new boots!

I tried to get a good picture, but holding the camera yourself and trying to see around that belly is a difficult task! Thanks for the boots mom, so I don't have to irrigate in my snow boots!

Deegan, fighting nap time, decided to lay down and whine in the middle of the hallway!

We love our backyard!!

Baseball/catch at Powell's house

HOT day! We needed to cool down!

Deegan drew a pizza guy for me! See his arm throwing pizza dough in the air? ;-) I LOVE little kid drawings like this, it makes me happy!

Our "car wash" sprinkler. (Oh and the new minivan in the background!) 

Trip down to Kennecott Copper Mine to see the GIANT trucks! The boys were in HEAVEN!

The new favorite way to ride the slide- Griffin starts at the top and slides into Deegan about half way down and the ride the other half together! I took this picture while they were outside playing so well one night, then the next morning I was about ready to throw them both out the window until I remembered how sweet they were the night before... It's the ups and downs of parenting that keep it fun I guess!

When I irrigated the first time this year, I apparently didn't close the water "gate" all the way when I was finished, and I had figured whatever water still trickled into our yard would be fine. I found out hours later that I was wrong! Adam noticed that the carpet was damp at the bottom of the stairs, so we followed the water and found that our little "under the kitchen" storage room had about 3 inches of water in it and had leaked down the stairs (which we re-carpeted less than 2 weeks prior) and into my craft room and laundry room!  My craft room seems to be the low point in the basement and got the most water... it was a MESS! So, we (Adam mostly) quickly cleared everything out of the storage and craft rooms and started sucking up water! It was a LONG afternoon/evening! Luckily, when the previous owners re-finished our house, they dug out the basement kind of weird and there is a funny little slope up from the hallway to the living room, which kept the water out of the living room thankfully!

Adam got a bright idea one day to tie a rope on one of our trees out front and make a swing... it looks a little tacky hanging there, but luckily it can be easily tucked up on the branches and it blends in. The kids love it! To tell you the truth, if I was little enough and not so pregnant, I'd probably be swinging on it too!

Sometime in May we decided to take the training wheels off of Deegan's bike and teach him to ride. He did SO well! I really expected a lot of tears and frustration, but he was excited and cautious enough that he didn't have too many falls. His first real fall/crash was 1 week later at my mom's house when he was feeling overly confident about riding and was riding circles on the sidewalk of the cul-de-sac. He came across the street and hit the driveway curb just as it started sloping upward and crashed into the grass. I'm pretty excited that that was his biggest crash! He's loved having the freedom to ride all over the place. We rewarded him for learning to ride well by letting him pick out a bell or horn for his bike, and now I can hear his little bell ringing all the way up and down the street when he rides!

On the way back from running errands, Deegan started falling asleep in the car. Every time he falls asleep in the car he fights it really hard, which results in him pulling some REALLY funny faces while he tries to keep his eyes open! It never gets old, Adam and I laugh every time!

I tried to get both boys to take a picture for 4th of July before we went to see fireworks, but Griffin wasn't having it. I made their shirts with a freezer paper stencil, and I was pretty impressed at how well they turned out (Griffin had a red shirt with white US ). We went to the fireworks with our good friends, the Anderson's (Christa, Orrin, Sam and Annie) and had lots of fun.  Adam was working that night at USU, so he had keys to the building right by where we usually sit, and we got to watch the fireworks from the roof. It was cool to see them from so high!

Speaking of Sam- (I wish I had a picture of the 2 of them more recently, but I don't so here's a Halloween one from last year)  Deegan and Sam have decided that they are brothers.  I was first informed of this by someone in the primary at church who told me this story: "The music chorister was playing a game with the kids and having them stand up for different things like 'those who have blue shirts on, stand up!'. She got to 'If you have a brother in this room, stand up'. So, naturally, Deegan and Sam assumed they should stand up! When the chorister said to Deegan 'you have a brother, but he's not in this room, huh?' she was QUICKLY corrected by a very feisty little Sam saying 'DEEGAN'S MY BROTHER!'."  I have since had many conversations with Deegan and Sam about being "brothers". We had the neighbor kids over one day for a pizza lunch in the back yard and while the kids all played, Christa and I noticed Deegan and Sam with their arms around each other's backs. We thought it was cute until they came storming over to us to tell us "They said we're cousins!" I was a little confused and said, "you're just best friends, not cousins, huh?"  The reply was "But we're BROTHERS!"  So I explained to them and the other kids that they just like to pretend to be brothers but they are really just best friends, to which I was answered again with "But we're BROTHERS!!!" I finally had to just walk away and say "play nice!"  :-) I love that they are so close! Annie is the same age as Griffin and they get along so well too (as well as 2 two-year-olds can)! She melts my heart and anytime she asks for treats or cookies I just have to give in because she's just so cute!  We are really grateful that we have such a great neighborhood with so many good friends. I couldn't have picked a better neighborhood if I had hand picked every single neighbor!