This About Sums Them Up

...the best noise in the world...

Dress Up & Dolls

Max's Idea of playing dress up and dolls.

Dress Up= Old Chicken Halloween Costume

Doll=Luke

NANA'S PLACE

Nana takes the grandkids out to the pond

Mom is about to start school again which means we won't get to see much of her so we went Idaho over Labor Day weekend. Jolea's family, Carrie's family, Jim's family, Kelsey, Eli & Mom were all there too. Aunt Kelsey makes play-dough cakes with Addie Brandon & Carrie make a quick trip Handsome Brothers-Jim & Eli

What a great time we had hanging out, visiting, eating, and playing. I love that we all live relatively close and can get together and I hate that Cory and Ashley live so far away. Every time we are together I feel sad that they aren't with us too! Nana helps out with Luke Cole loved the splash park

Max loves playing with his cousins. These kids are so lucky that Nana lives in such a great place with lots of outside room to run around, skip rocks, and dig worms. Max gathers rocks to throw in the pond

Eli turned 19 while we were up there so we got to celebrate his BIG DAY with him, which included a game of lazer tag.Happy 19th Eli! Uncle Eli is loved by all the kids!

Nana also lives close to a really great park with a full on FREE splash pool, indoor carousel, and an awesome playground.Jordyn, Avery, Sarah & Max getting dry Nana's park has a Carousel...and a FREE Splash Park!!

It is just so beautiful up there. Ryan and I went for an awesome run through the hills and up to the new temple. The air is just so clean and crisp there. Pretty in Pink Climbing Trees

We are so lucky that my Mom lives there. Our kids are making such wonderful childhood memories.

Lineman Luke

(It's a little late, but...On August 24th...) At 26.75 inches and weighing in at a whopping 20.11 lbs., it's 6 month old Luke Loveless. If the current trend continues... Luke might be our future lineman.
Other milestones:

• 5.5 months-- eating rice cereal & rolling over. Sitting up mostly on his own.
  
  
  


• 6 months -- Got his first two teeth on bottom! Sitting up all on his own. Rolling, Rolling, Rolling. Loves sweet potatoes & carrots. Hates pears and other fruit. Loves to play with his brother, with his basket of toys, and to be outside. Went on his first run in the jogging stroller! Absolutely loved it! Has lots and lots to babble about. First ER visit. Had croup and ear infection. Then he got croup again and two more ear infections.

Roady without Daddy

Generally speaking, Ryan and I like to do most everything together, trips being one of them. But last month Ryan needed some serious quiet time to wrap up his studying for another portion of the CPA exam, so I attempted what was bound to come at some point in time...a road trip, with my two kids (age 2.5 & 5 mos) sans Ryan. Some of you might think that the 4 hour drive from Lehi to Rexburg does not constitute a road trip, but it does when you travel to Rexburg via Twin Falls then up to Rexburg; on the way back it was Rexburg to Lehi, via Logan. So by the time the trip was over I had spent about 16 hours in car.

Thankfully I had Eli with me the first two legs of the trip to sit in the back and shake the rattle at Luke for two hours at a time to keep him happy. On the third leg of the trip I was lucky again to have Kelsey with me from Rexburg to Logan. Her bottle feeding skills are in good shape. The last leg of the trip was hellacious as I had to stop twice to put Max back in his buckles and twice more to try to nurse Luke. Nothing seemed to soothe him and he pretty much cried from Logan all the way home. Needless to say, I was wore out by the time I returned to Ryan after 6 days. But what a fun trip it was.
Here are some of the highlights of my first trip alone with my kiddos:

• Twin Falls- our first stay-over at Carrie & Brandon's new home. We arrived around midnight and after being there only 5 minutes, Max tripped on their beautiful stamped concrete walkway and smacked his head on their step. Max loved Addie's toys--especially her power wheels!
  


• Rexburg-- Nana's house had lots of room to run and play and Max loved gathering rocks and throwing them in her pond. Max loved her neighbor's dog Tanker and all the farm animals down the road. Running--Max showed the first signs of being a future runner. We went to the track at the college one night and Max ran a mile (on his own free will) by himself, without stopping! I was shocked. He threw himself down on the track and cried when we had to leave because he wanted to keep running... a trip to the snow cone shack calmed him down. Nana and Mama were so proud to have witnessed our little running prodigy!

To Logan with Aunt Kelsey--we got to take Kelsey back to Logan as she had car trouble and it was so nice to have her all to ourselves for a few hours. Now Max asks where "Selsy" is all the time. I was ready to come home and get my kids back to a normal routine and see my husband but I just wished Icould have somehow packed up Nana, Eli, and her beatiful, peaceful, place and brought them with me. Thanks Nana for making our first Road Trip such a fun one!

BeLaTeD BiRtHdAy ShOuT OuT!

August is a special time because we always celebrate two of our favorite people's birthdays...Jolea and Jeff. Jolea's birthday was especially fun this year because Mom, Eli, Carrie & Kelsey all came to the PARTY! I always love a good get-together with any portion of my family. We surprised her with a well deserved shopping gift certificate and I made her favorite-- a German Chocolate cake!
We actually celebrated Jeff's big 30th first with just us and then again with his parents; but we were lucky enough to have him all to ourselves on his actual birthday. Max just recently figured out that Birthdays are really fun and mean that candles, fire, and singing are all involved. All week he was talking about Jeff's birthday. We practiced changing the Birthday song from "Jolea" to "Jeff" for days and he had it down and delivered it very well on his Uncle's big day.

Jeff's birthday was also exciting because he bought himself a fancy-smancy new CAR! It is lovely-- a black '09 Camry sporty thing. Now every time Max sees a black car he thinks Jeff is nearby. And what do you get the guy who just bought himself a new car for his birthday?... A fatty carwash package!

We love you JOLEA & JEFF!

The Perfect Time of Day

Luke 5 months, ready for bedtime!

I love my husband for many reasons, but one of the best times of our day is when we get to get our little boys ready for bed. Ryan is always a big, big help. Most nights he bathes Max and I usually get Luke bathed or ready for bed simultaneously. I love it when my little guys are all dressed in their jammies and we and just sit downstairs in our family room and chill together. We all cuddle up on the couch together, Ryan and I holding our clean babies, breathing in the baby lotion, and watch an episode or two of Curious George. If Max is really tired, we can snag something on the Food Network or our old favorite, Everybody Loves Raymond.

Max (2.5 yrs) & Luke (5 months)--Jammie Time

Then it's off to bed, with prayers, scripture time, and of course, story time from Max's current favorite...a 200 page Disney Classics book. Luckily, he doesn't want us to read to him each word, he just goes from page to page asking what is going on in the pictures (he now knows all names of the 7 dwarfs but could care less that Snow White is poisoned by an apple). I just love this little routine. It is one time a day that we can just all sit and be together...what a perfect way to enter into slumber.

Rewind: Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

Towards the end of July, Jolea told me that she would be taking her family to the open house of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and she invited our family to go with them. We love doing things with the Beatty Family and what could be better than exposing our little ones to the beautiful temple. I was really excited as I realized that we had taken Max to the open house of the Rexburg temple when he was just a year old, and now Luke, even as little as he is, would be going to his first open house too! What a beautiful little temple it was and Max did relatively well practicing his reverent skills, considering he is 2 1/2 years old. I had been showing him pictures of the temples and as we got closer to the temple he saw it and shouted "Mom...Teeeple!" He was especially excited about the 'swimming pool' (aka, The Baptistery), the 'Cows' (aka, The Oxen) and the elevators that we got to ride time and time again (as we had strollers with us.) He was equally excited about the cookie he received at the end of the tour. I was thrilled that just last Sunday we were able to go to our meeting house to be a part of the beautiful dedication of this temple. Ryan and I had just attended the temple together and it just made me wish I could go every week. I am so glad that Max and Luke were with us as we walked through that holy house and that at such a young age, Max knows that the 'Teeple' is a special place.

REWIND: 'And the Rockets' Red'....SCARE

This past 4th of July we learned that Max doesn't like fireworks unless he is a considerable distance from them. And by considerable distance I mean, inside the house and a good foot from the window. He enjoyed the little Pops that Dad bought for him but that was about as good as it was going to get for him.

Thanks to our great friends and neighbors, the Bambrough's, for all the entertainment they provided.

The most entertaining part of the evening had to be when Matt flipped over in his wheelchair and was laying flat on his back in the road right by a lit firework (that's not the funny part). Mark and Ryan run over to help him as his wife Krista stands by laughing and taking pictures of the whole scene. They have such a good sense of humor about life!

Luke loved the fireworks and Ryan had a good time lighting them...mostly with Krista & Matt's kids. It was perfect way to finish celebrating the freedoms that we are so blessed to enjoy!

Oh What do You do in the Summertime?

At the end of June each year, Lehi holds it's LEHI ROUND-UP DAYS. Every year at this time, I am reminded again why I just love living in small towns. Lehi has a lot of pioneer and cowboy heritage and they definitely showcase it in the parades and rodeo each summer.

Max has a real love for horses and loved the all horse parade on Thursday. On Saturday we went to the "big" parade and cheered for our ward as they marched down Main with our Double Decker Bus Float. It didn't take Max long to learn that waving to the pretty royalty girls earns you lots of candy. What a weekend it was!

On the 4th of July, we always go to Tooele for the parade and then we always get together with the Johnsen side. This year I actually ran in the 5K prior to the parade with Stacey and Jeff. Crazy enough, we each placed in our own age groups...Jeff took 1st, Stacey 2nd, and I took 3rd. Considering that there were several hundred runners, I think we were pretty pleased. We enjoyed the parade and then went back to the in-laws house to shower and get ready for our BBQ at the Hogan's farm in Stockton. Aunt Jill has a great place out in the country and she bought one of those big inflatable water slides for the kids this year. Max loved it there. He just ran and played all day. Matt took him to see the pigs and he is still talking about them. We had Eli with us too and I think he had a good time using the theater to play his Wii, using the putting green, and all the good food.I love the traditions we have on these holidays. Ryan has made one of his own 4th of July traditions. Every year after the parade and before the BBQ lunch he watches the Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN. It fascinates him and it repulses me every year.Other than the parades and holiday fun, we've spent the summer swimming (even took Max and Eli to 7 Peaks for the first time), had a few BBQ's, and mostly enjoyed the summer evenings outside. Max has a real love for the water! Looks like swimming lessons are in the very near future. We've had our share of popsicles and ice cream and always have an ample supply of sunscreen and mosquito wipes around.
So that's what we are doing with our Summertime!