Fun at the Zoo

Yesterday we were able to go to the zoo with Tony's parents, brother (Nate), his wife (Amy), and their son Matt.  Tony's Dad's work had reserved the whole zoo for the evening and we all had a great time.  The only bad part was that Tony had to work and couldn't join us, but we still managed to have a good time.
We started off meeting Tony's family at the zoo about 4:30 pm.  They had provided a BBQ dinner with all the fixin's and non-stop drinks.  Tyler and Josh seemed to like the drinks the best and didn't really eat any dinner.  Then we headed to go get our free hats, visors, and t-shirts for the kids.  They really did so much to make their employees and their families feel special.  We also got three snacks each from the concession stands.
After getting our goods, we headed to see some animals.  We saw lots of monkeys and the ape was really fun to watch.  He was sitting right in front of the window looking back at us.  We saw the elephant with her baby - super cute!  And the giraffes rounded out my favorites. 

Josh did really good just sitting in his stroller drinking his lemonade (he loves cups with lids and straws).  Tyler did good either sitting on top of the stroller or walking right by me.  There were a lot of people there so I was a little worried when he walked that he might get separated from us, but he did good.  He liked going over all the different bridges and seeing the different sites.  We got to do the carrousel and ride the train.  Then we let all the boys play on the big play ground that they have.  Always a big hit with the kids.
Then we decided we were all "zooed" out and decided to go.  When we left the park Tony's dad, Lloyd, gave Tyler his map of the zoo.  Tyler LOVES maps and was so happy that Papa gave it to him.  In the car Tyler told me that he thought that the map belonged to Papa, and I told him that it did but Papa gave it to him and then Tyler said, "I know, that's what makes it special."  I thought that was such a sweet thing to say.  Both boys really did have a great time, this morning however Tyler did tell me that next time he goes to the zoo, he wants to go with Daddy.  I think that is only fair.  Thanks so much to Papa Lloyd and to Rio Tinto for such a fine evening.

Steenblik Adventures

Today we went up to Logan to go and see our puppy.  They are all so very cute and it was so much fun to sit and play with them and hold them like little babies.  We stopped at the Cannery first to drop off Tony's car and then we took a tour of the green bean process.  It was pretty neat and fun to see all the different machines at work.  Tyler tried a fresh green bean and liked it, so that was exciting too.
After our tour we headed up to Logan.  We didn't technically talk with the breeder, so we were really hoping that she was going to be home.  When we were about there, Josh threw up all over himself all the juice he just drank.  So we stopped at the WalMart that is in town and got him a new outfit.  Lucky for us they are cheap, so it wasn't to big of a deal - and Josh seemed perfectly fine after that, so that was good.

Then we headed to the puppy house.  She was there in her back yard and we were all very happy and relieved that she was home.  We got to play with the puppies and the other dogs for about an hour before we had to start heading back to Ogden so Tony could be to work by 2:00.  They were SUPER DUPER CUTE!  We are really excited to get the puppy in about four more weeks.  It will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it.

Last Monday our little family went with Tony's brother, Nate, his wife, Amy, and their little boy Matt and we went to the copper minds.  It was really fun to see the really big trucks and all the rocks and dirt that they move.  We even bought some magnetic rocks that Tyler and Josh have enjoyed playing with.  After our little trip we went to lunch.  It was a lot of fun spending time with family and we are really going to miss them when they move to Oregon for Optometry school.

We're Having Way too Much Fun

Our computer has been on the fritz this past week and so Tony has been playing with different things to see if we can keep'r.  Luckily to say, he found the problem and we don't have to go and spend lots of money on a new computer - YEAH!
So the computer is good and I can go back to blogging about my super exciting life.  On Tuesday I went with my sister Wendy to Murray Park with all the grand kids from my parents side. So there were five boys and one girl - and then Wendy and I of course.  They had a great time and played well with the other kids.  After we went back to my parents house for some lunch and then I took the boys home for Josh's nap.  Later that night I went to Weight Watcher where I gained from the two week vacation that I took from tracking and trying to be good - I wasn't surprised, I thought it would have been worse.
Wednesday a friend of mine from the ward came over for a play date with her three little kids.  Tyler really likes her oldest son (age 5) and they play really well together.  I enjoy chatting with this friend, Bronwynn, we are close in age and have a lot in common.  Later that day I went to the dentist because my crown that I had put in last Wednesday was still really hurting me, so I called a neighborhood girl to come sit with the boys while I ran over there.  Luckily they just had to grind down some parts of the tooth that were hitting wrong.  It already feels better today.
THEN...we got to go to my friend, Natalie's house and go swimming.  The water was nice and the boys loved it.  Tyler did great swimming around with his arm floaties and a blow up circle around him.  That worked out good for me because Josh was all over the place.  He didn't want me to hold him in the water, he just wanted to play by himself...in the deep water...yeah, didn't let that happen.  Then he decided to jump from the wall into the water.  This was good as long as he was jumping to me.  He thought he could just jump in anywhere and be fine...silly kid.  I was able to catch him each time.  It was fun, but would have been more fun with Tony.
Tonight Tony and I are going on a much needed date.  Tony's mom is going to watch the boys so we can go to dinner.  Tony will start his green bean schedule tomorrow, so that means that he will start working 6 days a week from 4:30 pm to 4:30 am.  It should be interesting.  The overtime is well needed, so that is definitely the silver lining in this new schedule, and it is only for about four weeks - you can deal with anything for four weeks.  I will just have to remind my self that when I am OH SO lonely in the evening times.

Family Cabin and Park City Fun

Last Tuesday was the first day of Tyler's Diggin' Dino's Camp.  We drove him up to Park City and met up with my sisters who were also dropping off their kids.  After we dropped them off, Tony and Josh continued up to the cabin and Gabe, Wendy, Julie, Sherri and I all went to lunch at The Blue Iguana.  It was pretty good food, but not quite as good as The Red Iguana.  After lunch we walked the streets of Park City and then went and got the kids at 3:00.  Tyler had a good time at camp with Hayden.  Then we headed up to the cabin.
We enjoyed four-wheeling (I am pretty sure that Josh enjoyed it the most, he couldn't get enough).  We ate dinner and enjoyed each others company.  My parents and Teagan were there that night and it was nice to have so many people around.

Wednesday we headed down to Park City with Wendy and Julie (their kids were in swim lessons in the morning).  After swim lessons the kids ate a picnic at the park before they went to their camp.  While they were at camp we all went to a local sandwich shop and then to the Tanger Outlets.  We did a little shopping, but not as much as we wanted to before it was time to get the kids.  But then it was time to go back to the cabin for some more fun.  We rode the four-wheelers more and even went fishing in the pond.  Dad caught three fish and Gabe caught one.  I even have it on tape.  The trout are still really small, but it was fun that they caught some (they just threw them back in to the pond).  Josh lost his camouflaged croc shoe while on a long ride with Tony during the day, so Tyler and I followed Tony and Josh to try and find his shoe.  We didn't find it and I just figured it was a goner, but then when we went on a ride later that evening Josh was looking back and giggling, so Tony was trying to see what he was giggling at and it ended up that Josh had found his shoe, so I was super glad about that.  Silly Joshy.
Thursday was more of the same.  Sherri and Rich came and met us for lunch and then we went and got pedicures.  LOVE THEM.  Sherri got a really funny guy and we were all laughing the whole time at how funny they were both being.  We still joke about them.  After camp it was more four-wheeling, swinging, playing, chatting, and eating (of course).

Friday was the day that we were coming back home.  Wendy, Gabe, and the boys went down to Park City first for swim lessons (Julie and her kids had left to go to Island Park the day before).  Then we cleaned up the cabin, went for one last ride and then Tony, Tyler, Josh, and Peach (Wendy's dog), and I headed down to Park City to met up for lunch at Cafe Rio.  It was yummy food and good company.  After we dropped Tyler off at his last day of camp and Tony, Josh, Peach, and I drove back home.
Wendy and Gabe picked up Tyler after camp and took him swimming with them and Alex and Jacob.  After swimming they went and ate some pizza and then Gabe brought Tyler back to our house.  It was kind of fun switching Tyler for a dog for a couple of hours.  Peach is such a good dog and mostly just liked to be where we were.  We took her for a walk and the neighbor, Uncle Max, told Tony that he looked good walking a dog -- only about 6 more weeks and we'll have our own dog.
All in all we had a great time.  Tyler loved Diggin' Dino's Camp and Josh had a wonderful time playing at the cabin and going on lots of four-wheel rides.  Tony even got a couple of hours of work done on his play set for the kids up there.  We loved spending time with our family and love when Wendy and her family is in town.  We can't wait to get back up to the cabin, don't know when that will be, but we hope soon.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July, like usual.  We started out the day by going to the Murray Parade.  It is one of my most favorite things to do.  I just love being there with my silly family and seeing all the floats, people, bands, horses, etc.  It is also super fun watching the kids get tons of candy and fliers.  It is fun to be loud and funny and just have a good time.  The weather was great.  Very cloudy and only a few drops of rain.  I was worried that Josh would run out into the road a lot, but he really did a great job and Tyler did really good at staying close to the sidewalk.  My dad announced, like usual, and my whole family was there.  That doesn't happen too often, but it did that day - and we loved it.  The boys went away with a big bag of candy each.  I think that we will have taffy for a couple months at our house.

After the parade we headed to my parents.  The kids played for a while and then we headed to WalMart to pick up Averee's birthday present and some lunch.  Then we came back and let the kids play.  I went with Wendy and Gabe to ShopKo to get Averee's present from them, and then when we came back I put Josh down for his nap (not an easy feat - he was enjoying playing outside).  Then we pretty much just hung out and then started making some dinner around 5:00.  After we ate then we went and got on Papa G's trailer and we had our own little Clark Parade around the neighborhood.  It is super fun and silly and the kids just love it.
Then it was parachute time.  The kids love to chase and catch the parachutes and so we try and buy a lot each year so the kids can each have a couple turns.  Always a big hit.
Then we went to Julie's for Averee's birthday party.  We had some cake and ice cream and then did presents.  Julie handed out cool glow sticks and the kid really liked playing with them.  After that we headed back to my parents for
fireworks.  Since they legalize so many new kinds, we had cool fireworks all around us.  Then we sat back and watched Murray's fireworks from my parents back yard.  It was so fun.  Josh learned to say "ooooo" after the big ones.  Then we headed home, tired but happy.  Happy Independence Day!

Another one bites the dust

I weighed in yesterday at 2.8 pounds lighter.  Now my total weight loss in 38.6 pounds.  Not too shabby.  I will be up at our cabin next week, so I won't be able to weigh in for two more weeks, but I hope by then I am at 40 pounds lost.  That would be awesome.  I guess I could check out if they have a location in Park City?  I would probably eat better if I knew that I was still going to weigh in somewhere.  Maybe I will check that out.

The Puppies are Born

Yesterday we decided to go up to Logan and see the puppies that we will be picking a dog from.  We decided to go before Josh's nap and just have him nap in the car so that we could get up there sooner.  So I left our house and picked up Tony from his work about 2:00 (so he got to leave work a couple hours early).  We then headed up to Logan and found the house of Sister Nielsen (one of the missionaries from Tony's work) who is going to give us a puppy.

Once we got there we were greeted by three adult Samoyed's and three little dogs.  She loves her dogs.  Then we headed down stairs where the momma was there with her four boy puppies.  They were so cute and little.  We thought that they were born last Saturday, so they would have been over a week old, but once we got there we found out that they were just born on Sunday so the puppies were only about 24 hours old.  The boys totally loved the puppies and did a great job at being gentle.  The momma was very protective of her puppies and checked on them often while we were holding them.  We already know that we want to name our dog, Koda.  We should get to take him home in about 8 weeks.  We will probably go back in a couple weeks to pick out which one we want.
After we saw the puppies we headed over to Tony's brother Nate's apartment.  We went to dinner with him and his wife, Amy, and their little boy, Matt.  After dinner we went and got some yummy Aggie ice cream.  It was delicious, of course.  Then they showed us a really fun playground for the kids to play.  We let them play for a while and then we headed home.
I would love to say that both boys were perfect angles on the ride home, but that was not the case.  Tyler drank his drink too fast (and there might have been some bad apple juice in his cup) and so he threw up right outside of Logan.  Luckily we brought jammies for the boys to change into, so we had extra cloths to change Tyler into, but the smell was pretty bad on the floor under him.  Then Josh decided to cry...and cry...and cry.  He had a hard time calming down.  Tyler some how was able to fall asleep with all the noise and ended up sleeping the rest of the way home.
I was able to calm Josh down right when we got to the Cannery to pick up Tony's car.  I was going to drive Tony's car back, so I got out and got in Tony's car (and was so happy to enjoy some nice quiet time).  Well that was short lived.  A couple blocks away Tony pulled over because Josh had thrown up all over him self from crying so hard (guess he missed him mommy).  So then we got him out and he acted like he wanted to come in the car I was driving.  So we put him the car I was driving and started back.  He was okay for about ten minutes and then the crying started again.  So I spent the next 45 minutes either listening to Josh cry, singing Josh songs to keep him entertained, or talking to Josh about how he needed to stop crying.  So much for my nice quiet car ride home.  But then we got home and he was happy as can be.  Tyler woke up and both of them had a very hard time getting to sleep.  I can only hope that tonight is a better night, but we did have a fun time seeing the puppies and our family!

Water Fun

On Wednesday, Julie came over with Averee and Hayden to play in the water.  Josh started out sleeping, soon woke up once the kids really started playing in the water and on the slip-n-slide.  I tried to keep the kids quiet, but it was an impossible task, they were having way too much fun.  Josh didn't seem to mind that he was up and able to play in the water with the kids.
They started out in the little swimming pool jumping in and out and floating around, and then Tony got out the slip-n-slide.  We got a really fun slip-n-slide with two sides to slide and then a little pool area at the end.  Tyler and Averee had a blast sliding down multiple times and trying out new ways to slide down.  Hayden didn't seem to care too much for the slide, so he enjoyed playing in the pool by him self and then he found the big water gun and enjoyed squirting people with it. 

Josh started out slow, but got right in the mix.  He mostly enjoyed the pool, but then he started playing with the slip-n-slide.  He didn't ever slide down, but he liked to play in the little pool at the end - and drink the water coming out of the little holes.
Once the kids were all done with the water, they all got changed and then played inside while I made dinner.  Then we all enjoyed some food and then the kids played a little more before they had to go home.  It was super fun to spend time with family and we are so happy that summer is here!

Another one down

Last night I lost another .8 pound.  So total is now 35.8..  I probably should have done better, but I bought some yummy chocolate covered peanuts for the Grandpa's and Tony for Father's Day...and I enjoyed my fair share of them.  They were delicious.  Worth every bite!!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my dad, father-in-law and to my amazing husband.  I really am blessed to have such amazing men in my life.  Not only these three but also a great brother, and brother-in-laws.  I know that I can count on the men in my family to be there for us whenever we need them.
First I would like to say how much I love my father, Awesome G.  He is a good example of having a good attitude and loving everyone.  Everyone loves my dad.  He has taught me many valuable lessons that have helped me in my life, mainly about having a positive attitude.  We stills have daddy/daughter talks and he makes me feel good about me and about my decisions in life.  I know that I can always count on him.  He is a good dad and a good Papa G.
Next I would like to talk about Tony's dad, Lloyd.  He has never let us down.  He has always been by Tony's side on almost all the major projects in our house.  He has taught Tony a lot about building and fixing things and about how to think things through.  He is an amazing Grandpa.  I can't believe it when I see him on the floor rolling around with the kids and always wanting to take them for walks.  He never says he is too busy, he always just gives of his time and talents.  He is a hard worker and is so generous to fund many of our amazing family vacations.  He is a good man and a great example for his kids and grandkids.  I love you Dad and Lloyd.
Mostly on Father's Day, I think of the love of my life, Tony.  He is amazing.  Yesterday we had cupcakes at Julie and Boyd's for Haydens birthday and Tony spent well over an hour playing with 7 little kids (6 years and younger).  He played tickle monster, chaser, red light - green light, and many many other games.  He flipped them up and let them climb all over him.  He did such an amazing job entertaining these kids for so long while their parents talked.  I don't know any other man that would do that.  Tyler and Josh are so lucky to have such a fun dad who loves to play with them, not because he "has" to, but because he wants to - and enjoys it.

Tony works so hard for our little family.  He is good at making sure we don't spend too much money and at the same time letting me have pretty much whatever I want (I generally only want things that we can afford).  He treats me like a queen and makes me feel so blessed to have him all to my self.  He has done an amazing job with our home and doing great with his career.  I only see good things from him.
AND...as if that wasn't enough, he just keeps getting better and better looking.  I am one lucky lady to have such a hottie.  I fall more and more in love with him daily and can't wait to spend my eternities with him.  Thank you Tony for being you - because you are pretty darn good!