July 2011

July was pretty low key for us. I seriously don't know why it's taken me so long to write this post. We mostly hung out and enjoyed the outdoors before school started.

Greg's birthday was at the end of the month. We celebrated with our own little family, and both my parents and Greg's parents had a little party for him. So he ended up having three birthday cakes. I got him an ice cream cake that I think most of is still sitting in my freezer. Yum. As far as presents go, I got him a few little things, and then he wanted to pick out his own "bigger" present. He still hasn't decided.





We also did some more boating in July. Isaac has taken a step backwards in learning how to ski. He will be out there for less than 5 minutes, and then decide he's done and wants to get back in the boat. It's really frustrating, but what do you do?

See? Doesn't he look just thrilled? Um, NO!

We also spent some time with Isaac's cousins at the zoo. I'm kicking myself for not getting them together more in the summer. All three kids get along great and it's so fun to hang out with them.

Isaac and Zach in the turtle.

All three kids checking out the peacock in the back ground. Notice Isaac is the only one not looking at the camera? Gah!

We also did some hiking. We live really close to the canyon and love to go wander around. We really should do this more often too. Look how pretty!

Annnnnddd . . . I may or may not have starting watching Say Yes to The Dress. How have I not watched this before???? I love it. So, I decided to get all crazy and try my own wedding dress on to see if it still fit. Guess what?! It totally does! Woot woot!

June 2011

The most exciting thing we did in June was to take a vacation to Florida. Greg served his mission there, and I had always wanted to go. Also, we decided to take a bigger vacation to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.


These pictures are in reverse order of our trip, but I have already been working on this post for almost a week, so I'm not going to take the time to switch them around. Deal.


It's become tradition for our family vacations to include a baseball game. We went to see the Tampa Bay Rays play the Boston Red Sox. We were at the field early enough for batting practice, and one of the Boston players threw Isaac a ball. Lucky kid.





We also went on a dolphin sight seeing tour. I was a little skeptical whether or not we would see anything, but we saw quite a few dolphins. They were even jumping along side our boat. Pretty cool. When the captain asked if anyone wanted to drive the boat, Greg jumped at the chance.

Isaac looks totally bored in this picture, but he was just mad I was making him look at the camera rather than at the Coast Guard boat. I promise he had fun.

We went to Gatorland too. I know this is going to sound strange, but the coolest thing at Gatorland wasn't the alligators! They had this aviary with about 100 parakeets. You could walk around and feed them. We probably spent more time in there than at the rest of the park.

It actually got us thinking we might get some pet parakeets.

That day was a hard one for Isaac. Not because he didn't like what we were doing, but because he got bit by two different things that day. At Gatorland you can buy hot dogs to feed the alligator's. Gross, I know. Greg and Isaac were feeding the alligators these nasty hot dogs, and there are these giant scavenger birds every where. I have no idea what kind they were, other than they were HUGE. So Isaac goes to throw a hot dog chunk to the alligators, and one of these birds decides he wants it instead. It miss took Isaac's finger for the hot dog. Aggggh!

Would you want this thing chomping on your finger?

He's just nasty looking. Fortunately, it just scratched Isaac's finger. But it did traumatize him a little.

Also, that same day Greg decided he wanted to drive past one of his old mission apartments. We found it and he wanted to take a picture by the mailboxes like he did as a missionary. He wanted Isaac to be in the picture with him. Isaac was being ornery and did want anything do do with it. So he thew a fit and ran behind the bank of mailboxes. Guess what was back there. A hornet's nest. Aaaaand he got bit. He FREAKED out and ran screaming to the car. He was fine, but now if anything looks remotely like a hornet/bee he jumps. LOL.

Greg got his picture anyway. Without Isaac.

We also went out to Clearwater Beach. On the way back we drove over Skyway Bridge. Since we have nothing like this at home, we thought it was pretty cool. Isaac looks soooo tired in this picture, but the sunset is pretty. :)

We spent about 3 days at the beach. I really wish I lived closer to one. We had a blast! We went to Clearwater, Daytona, and Coco Beach. I don't have that many pictures of the beach, but that's because we were having too much fun!

Of course, if you go to the Orlando area, you are required by law to go to Disneyworld. We only spent one day there because Greg doesn't like theme parks. Isaac and I thought it was fun though!


We also went to the Kennedy Space Center. Since Isaac has been into all things space/astronaut lately, he was enthralled with this place. He kept running to each new exhibit yelling, "Come look at this, Mom!!"

The ONE thing Greg wanted to do while in Florida was go on an air boat ride. Even though we had a GPS, I was sure we were lost when we were trying to find this place. It was in the middle of nowhere. Picture Greg and I arguing that we're in the wrong place while driving our rented Ford Fiesta down a sand road hoping that we won't get stuck. Awesome. We did eventually find it, but it was pretty tense there for a while.

Somehow we lucked out and were the only group on the boat. We had our own private tour. We saw so many alligators. It was cool to see them swimming around rather than holding completely still like at the zoo.

Can you spot the gator?

We also got to hold a baby alligator. Greg and Isaac did it willingly, I was forced. It felt really gross.

We had so much fun in Florida. Although, I don't know if I would want to live there. It is way too hot and humid for me. I felt like my clothes were sticking to me the second we stepped outside. Yuck. I'm so glad just our little family went. We went at our own pace, and weren't rushed to do anything. Isn't that what a vacation is supposed to be like?

May 2011

So I've decided that instead of stressing over the fact that I go weeks (months?) between blog posts, I am going to TRY and post something about each month. We'll see how this goes.


Greg and I ran in a 5k the first part of May at the Ogden Nature Center. My brother in law, Dan, is on the board of directors, and he asked (made) us to do it. It was fun. I was happy with my time. Here's Isaac giving me five towards the finish line.

Greg did really good. So good in fact that he took 2nd in his age division! This is the best picture I have of him getting his medal.

Also in May, Isaac graduated from preschool. Again. Here he is with the cute Mrs. Kaye.







This picture makes me laugh. They were singing a song about Halloween. Instead of singing, Isaac just made this face and stomped around.



Greg decided that one race a month wasn't enough, and he and Dan ran the Ogden half marathon. The thing is that they decided to do it two days before the race. No training. They both did really well, but Greg was in pain for about a week and a half after the race. I had a hard time feeling bad for him.

Greg's the one in the gray shirt. I suck at photography.

We also got some things done around the yard. Which is saying a lot because it rained almost the whole month of May. Greg and Isaac took out some bushes that were getting kind of gross in the backyard. They would both come in every night COVERED in mud. It was heaven for Isaac.

Soccer season ended in May too. Greg was the coach of Isaac's team. They were the Golden Pokemon Dragons With Fire. Try saying that three times. They went undefeated the entire season. (Yes, we kept score.) Greg did really well with these cute boys.



As I mentioned in my last post, Greg and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. TEN YEARS! It's crazy to me that it's been that long. We dated for 2 1/2 years before we got married, so that means I have known Greg a little over a quarter of my life. Wow. To celebrate, we went to dinner and a movie. We also decided we needed to take a vacation. We thought about just the two of us going, but decided to bring Isaac along. More on the trip in next month's post.

Ten years ago . . .

Greg and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. I seriously can't believe it has been that long.

Happy Anniversary Greg!

A Much Needed Update

So here's what we've been up to lately. Greg started a new job in February. He seems to be liking it okay. The downside is that he has been in training for 4 weeks. In Chicago. He had 2 weeks there 2 weeks at home and then 2 weeks in Chi-Town again. We'll be glad when this stuff is over. It's no fun being a single parent. Other than the training, it seems to be going well.

Isaac finally got to put up his swing set that Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin gave him for Christmas. He LOVES it. The second we get home at night, he bolts straight for the back door to go swing.

Here's a few other things that we've done . . . In pictures!

I saw this ball at Costco and was so excited for Isaac to play with it. It's a giant (like 5 feet tall) inflatable ball that you climb inside and roll around like a hampster. So fun!

We also went to a monster truck show. Isaac was in heaven. It was cool to me for about 10 minutes, then I was bored. Oh well, we went as a surprize to Isaac. Good times.

December/Christmas 2010

I think I'm done apologizing about the lateness of my posts here. If anyone reads this I'm sure they know by now that I am a good month and a half behind on my posts. Meh.

So Christmas this year. As I usually do, I tell myself that I'm going to start Christmas shopping early so that I can be done and enjoy the holiday. Never happens. Although this year, I did buy a few things early online, and when they showed up at my house I put them in a closet (I have to hide them you see, since I have a child in my house who believes in Santa.) and promptly forgot about them until a few days before Christmas when I went to wrap everything. When I finished wrapping Isaac's presents and set them out on Christmas Eve, I realized that I had gone overboard.

Um, yeah. This is only the presents from Santa/Mom & Dad. This doesn't take into account the gifts he received from both sets of Grandparents, Great Grandparents, aunts and uncles. The kid is spoiled. But, he's an only child, so sue me.

Christmas and Christmas Eve were the usual. We went to Greg's Grandma's house for dinner and to act out the Nativity. Then off to my parents for the pinata. Christmas morning we were up at 6:00 am to see what Santa had brought. Then it's back to my parents, on to Greg's parents, and then we finished at my grandparents' house. Whew! Although it makes for a crazy and exhausting day, I don't think we'd change it for anything. Who else do you want to spend Christmas with than your family?

Picture time!

Here's Isaac and his loot from Santa. I will redeem myself a little by mentioning that a few days after Christmas I took about 4 gifts and put them back in the closet. I'll pull them out again when he gets bored. Just to spice things up.

Greg and Isaac working on breaking Spiderman the Pinata.

Prolly part of the reason I bought Isaac so many presents is this:


He is soooo fun to give a present to. He rips the wrapping off and then goes on and on about whatever was inside like it was the greatest thing he has ever received. He says stuff like "I've always wanted one of these!!!!" "This is the coolest ever!!!" I mean look at his face! He is THAT excited about the Matchbox car he's opening. It's so fun.

There were a few other things that we did in December, besides Christmas. Believe it or not. We made the trip to Temple Square with Greg's brother and his family.

Isaac took this picture. Not too bad, eh?

Maddie, Zach and Isaac.

One last thing worth blogging about. Greg and I went to see the Utes play against Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl. It was a quick trip. We left on Wednesday, the day of the game, and came home Thursday. Utah lost, but we still had fun.