Hogle Zoo

Every year (or sometimes twice a year) my family has a "girls day out" where we go shopping at the Park City outlets. We don't always find tons of deals but we have a great time. This year the boys came down with me to have a "boys day out" with Grandpa and their cousins Taylor and Riley. They headed off to Hogle zoo while we went to Park City (oh, and we did find some super deals this time). It was a perfect day and they had a great time.

Getting so big!

His cute little face kills me!

I wonder where he gets his smile?

Jack ADORES grandpa. They are best buds!

Summer flowers

One thing that I love about summer is the flowers in my yard. More specifically my front yard since I haven't been able to get much to survive in my hot backyard. This year Shad said that I really "nailed it." I would love to have tons of perennial flowers that come up and look beautiful every year, but I haven't had much luck in keeping them year after year. However, the annuals that I plant every year always do really well. 

Shad isn't much of a fan of the "cheap petunias" so I try to mix it up a little with the more expensive flowers. I also treat myself with my favorite begonias to put in my flower pots every year. One of the reasons why I like having my birthday in May :) This year all of my flowers got huge (thanks to a little miracle grow and lots of sun) and they still look great even though we are already into October. I just can't get myself to pull them out when they look so great, but the pumpkins we now have on our porch look a little silly next to the flowers.

Even if no one else notices my pretty flowers, they make me smile every time I pull into my driveway. I will be sad when I have to pull them up and everything gets covered in snow. It won't be too much longer...

My camera doesn't do it justice, I think I like Shad's instagram pictures better

I think next year I will try to add some more light pink and
yellow to the spread.

Note: at the beginning of the summer our front lawn had a huge patch of dirt in the middle since we decided to cover it up, fill in the low spots, and start over after our bug situation last summer. It has filled in so much better than I expected. You can not even tell it was all dirt 4 months ago and now we don't have big trenches in the middle of our yard!

Gracie is 3 months

Today Gracie is 3 months old! She is now 1/4 of the way through her first year. Crazy! Although, she has still been in the womb longer than she has been out, and that makes me feel a bit better.

Here are a few highlights from this month:

- She loves to suck on her hands. Quite often I get her out of her crib in the morning with the bottom of the sleeves on her pajamas soaked. 

- She still does not like a binki, which I am actually kind of liking (never thought I would say that with my boys being huge binki babies) It just makes things way easier when we go somewhere and I don't have to keep track of it as well as worrying about Jack stealing it.

- She is a huge smiler. It doesn't take much to get her talking and smiling at you. She is quite the talker too. I guess I would expect that from a girl!

- She is starting to actually grab toys on her bouncer instead of just hitting them.

- She went 3 nights in a row sleeping through the night. I was hopeful, but didn't have high expectations. She usually wakes up around 4:00-5:00 a.m. to eat, although she has surprised me quite a few times this month and gone all night. So good for how little she is!

- Eats every 3 hours during the day. Awake for an hour to an hour and a half and then sleeps until the next feeding.

- Has such a cute little cry. I actually don't  mind hearing her cry because it's kinda cute, which is why I guess I am ok with her not having a binki too. 

- Started to laugh a bit. Her first time laughing was at Shad's beat boxing. 

- Fits pretty perfectly into some 3 month clothes and all 0-3 months.

- Can sit up in the bumbo for a while. Her neck gets a little tired after a while but she does pretty well.

- Rolled over from front to back

- Doesn't mind tummy time as much now.

- The hair on the top of her head is SO long! I have to curl it with a curler to keep it under control. She is also starting to rub off some of the hair on the back.

- People are always commenting on what a beautiful baby she is. I have to agree, but then again I am a little biased. One lady at McDonalds just could not get over her. She just kept saying how she looked like a little doll. She really is my dream baby doll...

Walk-a-thon

Haken's school does a walk-a-thon every year for their main fundraiser. I like this because all of the proceeds go to the school instead of paying for wrapping paper, chocolate, or books. No one really wants to buy that stuff anyway and I think it is totally overpriced. 

The way it works is that the kids pledge to walk a certain number of laps around the track and then people pay money to "sponsor" them and it all goes to school for computers, field trips, and other stuff that they need. Haken pledged to walk 4 laps around the track (1 mile). We pledged some money as well as my mom for Haken to walk. We also bought a pizza that night for our family and some of that money also went to the school. 

We went to the high school track as a family and watched Haken walk....well actually, run. He ran the entire 4 laps. If I would have known that he was going to be that into running I would have put some shorts on him or something, he was pretty hot even though it was a cool night. I think that is the farthest he has ever run. We were super proud of him and loved cheering him on (and eating our not-at-all fatty pizza) as he came around the track. He ran most of the way with his buddy Bodee. I'm glad that he had a jogging partner.

"Drive"

Jack's new thing this month has been his obsession with driving the car. The second I park the car in the driveway he says "drive" but it sounds more like "dive." He then sits in the car for at least a half an hour in the driver's seat just having a ball pushing all the buttons. Then, when I get in the car to go somewhere later I have a surprise when the windshield wipers kick on. I had to learn the hard way that I have to make sure the lights aren't on before I get him out of the car. I refuse to buy another car battery this year! He also has to sit in Shad's car the second he pulls in. Such a funny little kid.

Here is a video of him being silly in the car. Notice that his new favorite word is "no." Typical toddler I guess...

August at home

Here are a few random pictures from our fun month of August at home. I know most of the pictures are of Jack but that is because Haken will hardly ever give me a smile (or really any picture of his face) and because Jack has been so stinkin' funny lately. Haken and I are constantly laughing at him throughout the day. I love that Haken also appreciates the funny little boy Jack is.

Jack is obsessed with this hat.
He wears it all over the house.

Shad made this puppet theater for the boys one night using
some scrap wood, clamps, and a blanket. The boys loved it.

Hanging out with daddy before bed.

Again the infamous hat. He also always has
shoes on his feet, usually not his own.

Jack loves "dip-dip" and will pretty much eat anything
dipped in ranch, ketchup, or yogurt. Unfortunately more got
on his forehead than in his mouth this meal.

Brigham City Temple

Shad took this photo while he was ushering on the temple grounds. Amazing!

 This beautiful building has been one of our main focuses for the month of August. The Brigham City temple was announced during the 2009 October General conference. I still remember the shock that was audibly felt in the room. It hit pretty close to home for us because it will be our family's temple district. It has been so much fun seeing this temple come up from the dust. When Jack was only a month old I took the boys to see the construction of the temple. When I looked back on that blog post I can't believe how much they have grown since then. Every time we would go to Brigham City Haken would ask to drive by the temple to see the progress they have made. Although it seems like such a short time, a lot has happened in the two years since the groundbreaking.

It is an amazing building! The dedication will be on September 23rd. However, the public was able to tour the temple for 4 weeks before then. On August 13th we decided to go have a picnic for family night and then tour the temple grounds as a family before it got too crowded with the open house that week. It was such a fun night and I think Haken was the most excited out of all of us. He is so good at seeing all of the little details and pointing them out to us, like the beautiful flowers, fruit trees, and the shiny rocks cemented into the exterior walls. 

The beautiful fountain in the front. 12 waterfalls come out from
 the main water source. I thought that was very appropriate.

Jack loves to push

Pointing to his favorite flowers

Oh how I love these boys!

Family photo with the temple peaking in the corner.
(Can you tell Shad loves his Iphone camera?)

Picnic at the tabernacle across the street

On the 17th of August we had a very unique experience. Although the temple open house hadn't officially started, they were giving private tours to some members of the valley. Because Shad now teaches at the Box Elder seminary in Brigham they asked if the seminary teachers would like to come have a private tour with their wives. um...yeah. So we dropped the boys off with my friend (thanks!) and took Gracie with us. It was an experience that I will always remember. They took us from room to room, telling us interesting things and bearing testimony. We even got to tour a few rooms that they don't show the general public, including the bride's room. Shad said that was his favorite room because he got to hold his little daughter there who might one day be in this room getting ready for her own wedding. The church definitely spared no expense in this temple. It has attention to detail everywhere. There are peach blossoms all over (a symbol of the many peaches and other fruit that grow in the Brigham area), beautiful blue tile ceilings, large wall murals, original paintings, gorgeous chandeliers, ornate hand carved wood work...I could go on and on. I'm sure I will notice something new every time that I go there.

Following our tour Shad had the opportunity to be one of the tour guides himself for the remainder of the day. They needed extra people that day since they were accommodating many people who would be using wheelchairs. He had an amazing experience bearing testimony and spending time in the temple all day. On the 21st he was also able to volunteer as an usher. After working all day, he served on the grounds of the temple until 10:00 pm. He was so hungry he had a pizza delivered to the corner he was standing and then took the remainder to other hungry volunteers. He had two other assignments the following week but had to give them to others since he was so busy with school starting the following week.

The following Monday (August 20th) we went as a family to the open house. This time it was a silent walk through as we went from room to room. Haken was so interested in what every room was used for, so Shad made sure to stop and pull him aside so they could talk about it. 

I hope that my boys felt the special spirit that was there even before it was dedicated and know that it really is a house of the Lord. So, between the tours of the temple, ushering, and me helping to sew costumes for the temple celebration that will be the night before the dedication, we have really had our focus on the temple this month. We truly feel blessed and know that we will be continually dedicated to attending the temple once it is finished. We can not wait until the dedication!