Saturday, September 27, 2008

Paragliding






A couple weeks ago, the Troxel's took us along for a GREAT adventure... we went paragliding! At the Point of the Mountain there is a paragliding state park and apparently it is one of the best places to learn and train in the world (if not THE best). Thanks to Neil and all his hard work for our play!


It was so easy to see why people get addicted to this- it was really relaxing and you just sit

in the little "stadium" type seat and fly. OK- it is a little more than that- the trainer guy sits behind and does all the cord pulling and pushing and all that- but it was really relaxing and peaceful. I loved it! Next time we have an extra $8 grand laying around, maybe we will think about outfitting ourselves!


This is Kent in flight. He is the close chute- the red, black and green one.

Granted, I am not really afraid of heights, but I have STOOD on cliffs and the top of bungee towers and been way more nervous than I was when I was actually jumping off the mountain and flying around. It was such a great time! Thanks, N&K!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

The First day of the rest of our lives....


The madness has begun! Yesterday was Tyse's first soccer game ever! It is a momentus occasion for all- my first day as a real soccer mom, and kent's dream come true! I can't even start to describe how proud Kent was of him and how into the game he really was. He was one fof the few on his team that actually chased the ball the whole time, actually played defense, and he scored 5 goals! He was in heaven! As soon as we got into the car to go home, he started whining, "MOM, I just can't wait until next saturday for my next game." The neighbor taught him how to slide tackle, which surprisingly he didn't use on anyone else, just on the ball when it was going out of bounds. It was so fun to watch and we are excited to continue the saga!

Emitt tribute at 2

So my little boy has turned 2. I am trying to quit calling him my baby because, well, I guess technically Ollie is my baby, but I do call them "the babies" quite often. It seems like 10 years ago we were in california and then in the hospital having him, but he also seems like he should only be Ollie's age. Hmmm. For those wondering about the songs we have on for the month, theya re Emitt's favorites.

Emitt is such a sweet and mischevious little boy! I have really started to wonder why the second (and I am sure the ones following from there) child learns all the things you want them to learn slower, but all the things you don't want them to learn faster. How does that work?

Here are some things about Emitt:

1. He still sleeps terribly! I don't think he has slept through the night once in his entire life. Now that he is in the bunk beds with Tyse, we have to close his door and put a baby lock on the inside to try to keep him in his own room at night. Not that he sleeps with us because he doesn't want to. He just wants us to carry him back to bed. But just last night he appeared in my room at 2 am and the lock was on the handle- we may have to revamp.

2. He lives almost solely on fruit. Doesn't eat much else- which probably explains why he hasn't made 22 lbs. yet. He is negative on the charts in weight and I can't get him to gain weight, no matter how much butter I put on his toast.

3. He is an instigator! He loves to wrestle, tackle, jump and just maul any unfortunate soul around. Unfortunately for Ollie.

4. His favorite word is NO! I am sure you are all surprised that my quiet little observer has a good little 2 year attitude behind it as well. Shocker.

5. He is ALMOST potty trained. I am done buying him diapers and I am ecstatic about it. About half the days we go the entire day in the same pair of undies, and half the time it is a bit of a disaster. I never thought I would ever say "thank goodness for elmo". But thank goodness. He doesn't like to pee on elmo. Thank goodness also to jellybeans, marshmallows, and nakedness. What bribery!

6. He is really starting to try to talk a lot more. He is working on figuring out how his tongue works to make different word sounds and so it looks like he is panting almost every time he speaks. When he says "milk" it sounds a little more than "mel(slurp)k". I vaguely remember when Tyse did this (I think more around 15 months, not 2) and I still think it is hillarious!

7. He LOVES going to target (or any other store where he can climb under the basket and wreak havoc).

8. He LOVES his brothers. Every time Tyse leaves the house he bursts into tears and asks constantly "tyse? Tyse?" until he comes home. He loves holding ollie and walks around singing "Ollie, ollie, ollie" and gets so excited when ollie wakes up from naps.

9. He has developed into a daredevil. One day Kent took him to the pool and finally got him to jump off the side and now he climbs and jumps off everything! He climbs the bunkbeds and stands up there with his arms straight out at his side and says, "Woah! Woah!"while he looks like he is walking a balance beam or something. He also climbs up the bunkbed and then stands backwards at the top and lets go to land on pillows.

10 . He loves music and singing, except he doesn't really say the words, he just blah blah's through it until the token word comes along (ie. blah blah blah blah little STAR!) in perfect tune. Sometimes he wanders around singing the new sugarland song, some Steve Miller, or the brady bunch theme.

That is just a bit of info about our little guy. He has topped the charts at 21.6 lbs- a hefty 2 oz. heavier than he was 6 months ago, and is now negative on the charts. I wish I was told by the doctor to double my butter intake. Me and Pop Secret would get along famously!

Happy Birthday, buddy!

Emitt is 2!








This week we celebrated emitt's 2nd birthday. He is such a sweet looking, two-year old acting crazy boy!

FOr his big day, we had grandmas and grandpa up for "nana pie". He loved it and smeared it all over. He blew his candle out first try before we even sang, so we had to do it all over again and he thought it was so great!





He made quite a haul this year- a Thomas movie from brothers,






a new trike that is just his size from grandmas and grandpa,






a swing to hang from the basement rafters,






and a fishtank! we pulled it back out of storage and got 4 little fishies swimming around in it. It has been a SWIMMING hit thus far! Those poor fish have already endured enough fishy stress for a lifetime! He has only been up to his elbows twice that I know of.... and hopefully we have cured the slapping of the glass. We will see how long they last. But we are all loving having a pet in the house again- especially one that doesn't pee on the carpet or eat food off the counter. I was too busy keeping him out of it to take a picture.


We also had a little party for him with neighbors and friends. We had a beach party up at our lake beach here and did a bunch of Emitt's favorite activities....we played in the sand and then blew tons of bubbles and chased beachballs around the grass.




Emitt got cold and spent most of the time hiding under a blanked in the grass.

We had beachball cupcakes and opened a few more wonderful gifts- all of which helped get us through today, so thanks, friends!


It was such a beautiful evening- so sad to think that they will soon come to an end!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Ollie is 6 months


Ollie has really gotten to be a lot of fun lately. He just turned 6 months and has been so much fun! He loves to interact with his brothers and loves when Emitt gets close and bumps heads with him. He loves his jumper- even enough to sleep there....



he also loves the mirror.
He is starting to eat solids more (even though the first time I attempted he cried harder than I think he ever has) and is a big fan of applesauce and can pass on sweet potatoes.

He is already a thrill seeker and loves being tossed in the air, hung upside down, and jumps on anyones lap at any time. Feedings now take forever because he prefers to watch what is going on and play. He sleeps 11+ hours at night (hard to believe that with Emitt at this age he was still waking up every 45 minutes), which makes you think I should be well rested. Oh well.

He has the most engaging giggle. He is topping the charts at 16 1/2 lbs (25%), which always makes me laugh because everyone always thinks he is so chubby for his age! It is those adorable leg rolls. Love it. He can get up on his hands and knees and sits wonderfully. He chases toys around by rolling and scooting on his belly.

He loves watching almost anything on TV, has definite favorites on toys, and loves his mobile. We love having him in our home. His smile makes my day! We love you Ollie!






Real Salt Lake










Last weekend we went to the Real Salt Lake game. Besides the trauma of actually stepping foot in the home of the "UTAH UTES", tyse had a GREAT time and loved telling us all the fancy stuff they were doing- real technical stuff like dribbling and passing and headers. At least in his book. Anyway, thanks to the Buckleys for taking us along and here are some fun pics from the outing.






Notice the fun time Ollie was having. He loved the game. or something.




On the way out we checked out all the olympic stuff they have at Rice Eccles. We didn't make any of the olympic excitement, so we hadn't seen any of it before. It was fun and the kids loved it.