School Days!

We are all SO excited that preschool started back up this week! Weston couldn't wait to see his friends. I couldn't wait to have some time with just Davin to get things done and enjoy my 2 year old before a new baby enters the mix. Tuesday morning we all went to the preschool open house. The parents were all invited to stay. It was fun to watch Weston play with his friends and at all the "stations" like an old pro. This year he is in the 4 year old class and goes to school Monday through Thursday 8:45-11:35am. So far our morning schedule is working out well. We were about 20 minutes early for school today. We took some pictures and got to play on the playground for a little while before it was time to drop Weston off.

Playing at the sand table during the open house. Davin loved this spot too.
Weston and his teacher, Mrs. Palmer, at the preschool open house.
Showing off his Transformer's light-up backpack. He stuck those pencils in the side pockets himself. Just in case.
Brothers and buddies. Davin kept asking where Weston was this morning.
The big 4 year old preschooler!
Weston had a great first day. He came home with a paper bag puppet of a frog, which is of course awesome. He immediately asked if he has school again tomorrow. Yes!

Best Weekend. Ever.

Well, certainly best weekend of the summer. Having this entire weekend with Ian home and not trying to work was fabulous. It also made me realize how much we missed having him around this summer. We definitely made up for it a little by getting tons done, playing lots, and also relaxing a bit this Labor Day weekend.

Saturday we worked around the house/in the garage. Things had been piling up since Ian was never home to put things away and the garage was too full for me to even take stuff out there. We got the extra building materials from the den project listed on ksl and hauled off within an hour. That helped clear out the garage. Weston and I vacuumed out the van. It was a mess from our wet and muddy camping trip. I also dusted the dash and cleaned the inside of the windows. Hooray for a clean car!

After doing some work on the garage/car we all went to the pool. It was pretty windy, but sunny and warm. The splash pad and some of the slides were turned off because of the wind, but the big twisty slide was still on and we went on it several times. Weston wore arm floaties and went down the orange slide all by himself for the first time. He also got to show off all his new swimming skills to Dad. When we got back from the pool we were starving, so we decided to bbq hot dogs for a late lunch instead of dinner. It was a good call.

That afternoon while Davin took his nap Ian took Weston to see The Karate Kid at the dollar theater. He was so excited to get to go to the movies just him and dad. He said he liked the movie, but apparently he thought Jaden Smith's character was a girl the whole time. When he was telling me about it he kept saying "she." He does have long hair in the movie, and we live in Utah where fewer little boys have long hair like that. Whoops. :)

Sunday was a nice down day. I didn't have RS choir rehearsal, so I got to be home and it was very relaxing. On Monday we all went and ran a couple errands in the morning then headed down to the Thanksgiving Point gardens. Ian had never been to the gardens even though we have had a Thanksgiving Point pass for 2 years now. It was beautiful day and we had fun showing Daddy all the fun things at the Children's Garden and the big waterfall in the main gardens. When we were done we had lunch at the TP deli. It's so yummy.
Monday afternoon we all came home and took naps and relaxed. We also went over and said goodbye to our friends, the Severinsen's, who are moving to Missouri today. We will miss them. That night we grilled again and ate outside since the weather was so perfect. We cleaned up, had FHE, did back to school blessings, and baths then called it a good weekend.

Check out Weston's major summer tan! His bum is SO white compared to the rest of him. Hee hee.
Today was our trial run of our new morning routine and school. Weston's preschool had an open house. It was great fun and we are all very excited for the regular days to start tomorrow. Since Weston's preschool this year is Mon-Thurs I decided we needed more of a structured morning routine. I also thought it might be a good time to try out doing scriptures and family prayer in the morning. Ian is gone at least a couple evenings a week, so it's really hard to be consistent with that. We decided since the kids are generally up right at 7am every morning anyway we would just all get up then and read scriptures and say family prayer. Weston has certain morning jobs he has to get done. If he finishes them by 8am then he can watch Super Why or play on the computer until 8:30 when we leave for school. So far so good, but I'm looking for some kind of way to reward him for doing his morning jobs without fussing and being ready for school on time. Any suggestions?

Weston's morning jobs:
-Eat breakfast (this is a hard one for some reason)
-get dressed
-go potty
-put jammies in the hamper
-make bed
-get hair combed and teeth brushed with Mom's help

It was really just the best to all be together this weekend and have time to play and work and rest. I am excited about the new routine of Fall, but at the same time it was nice to have a long weekend to bid the long, lazy days of Summer farewell.

In Honor

In honor of the end of summer we have been playing a lot this week. Monday was our down day at home to clean, do laundry, and go to the library. But on Tuesday we cranked into gear. After I went to Weston's preschool orientation I took the boys to the West Jordan park. Weston has been asking to go there most of the summer, but it is not a fun park to be at in the heat. It has no shade for me to lounge in and I can't see the kids from any one spot so I have to follow the kids around the whole time. Tuesday was nice and cool, but still sunny. This week is a good week to play too because all the rest of the world is back in school, so everything is less crowded.
In honor of school starting I let Weston pick an outing for the week before school and he picked the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. Luckily there was a coupon in the paper on Sunday, so it was a little cheaper. It was also less crowded than normal and when it did get a little busy it was all the 4 and under crowd, which is still fun. When we came back to keep playing after lunch it was pretty empty. We all had a lot of fun, but after about 4 hours we were wiped out and ready to head home for some down time and a movie.
In honor of the fact that my pregnancy countdown has dipped below 100 days I thought I'd post a belly picture. I'm generally not a fan of a belly picture during my 3rd pregnancy, you know? But I do enjoy looking back at the few belly shots that I have from my first pregnancies, so I figured I'd better document it a little. Sorry this is so blurry. That's what happens when I try to take a picture without the flash. I had Weston try to take a few of me, but they were a little scary. So here is the belly at 25 weeks.
In honor of the weather cooling down significantly and the nights being borderline chilly I decided to start cooking again. :) I tried a new baked pasta recipe that turned out decent. I don't know that I'll make it again since no one wanted the leftovers, but the first night Weston said he liked it and ate it all gone. Here's to being a better homemaker between now and December!

Weekend Wrap Up

Well we ended up having a really great time on our date night. We doubled with the Wilson's while Oliver (their son) babysat for us. We went out to dinner at Johnny Carino's. It was pretty yummy, but going to a sit down place made us a little late for our movie. Whoops. I hate to miss the trailers, but it couldn't be helped. We also missed the first few minutes of the movie, which was a bummer.

We saw Get Low with Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, and Sissy Spacek. You can watch the trailer HERE. I would give it a 4 stars out of 5. It was slower than I had thought it would be. It wasn't exactly boring slow, just a more contemplative plot than I had imagined. It also is not as comical as the trailer would have you believe. Those are most of the funny parts. However, I loved Robert Duvall as this character. I thought he was fabulous. It is a good tale of redemption. I would recommend it, but if you rent it you wouldn't really be missing out on anything. It will translate just as well to the small screen.

On Sunday we had a pretty low key morning, which was great. After church we were having friends over for dinner, but I didn't really have anything for dessert. I had cut out a recipe from Family Fun this last week for Smores Bars. I figured since I had everything for smores that we didn't get a chance to make on our camping trip I would try it out. The only substitution I made was that I used regular marshmallows torn in half as the marshmallow layer instead of the marshmallow creme since I didn't have any. I don't think it baked up with quite the same consistency that the creme would have, but it tasted good and Ian says it's a keeper. Feel free to try it out. It makes a fabulous bbq dessert! Find the recipe HERE.

Last night I had another Relief Society choir rehearsal. We had to wear our performance attire to get it approved. It was kind of a stressor for me since the required outfit included a white, long sleeved, button down shirt. Well, I have one, but it doesn't fit over the belly. Apparently button down shirts are not a very popular maternity wear item because they are hard to make grow with you, so I looked at a several stores and couldn't find one. I ended up buying a long sleeved, collared white shirt from Motherhood that doesn't button down, but it was the best I could find. Luckily they said it was fine and I saw another pregnant girl wearing the same one, so I wasn't the only one having a hard time finding something in the maternity section.

Last night was a cool rehearsal too because not only did we have a member of the RS General Board there, but Sister Thompson, 2nd counselor in the General RS Presidency was there too. I got there early and was sitting on the front row, so I got to meet her. She was very sweet and genuine. She spoke to us for a few minutes before we started rehearsing and it was neat to know that the music for this conference is so important. I better get practicing my part!

It really ended up being a nice weekend despite the wet camping trip. It looks like this week will finally be a little more normal for Ian too. It's our last week of official summer before Weston goes back to preschool, so we will be trying to fit in some last minute outings and maybe even a last hurrah at the pool (if the weather cooperates).

Camping . . . Sort Of

We had planned to go camping this weekend with the rest of the bishopric and their families in Little Cottonwood canyon. We were really excited. This is a good time to take the boys camping. They are both old enough to play and sleep in sleeping bags through the night. We don't have an infant. I can still sleep on an air mattress as well as I would sleep at home.

Ian has been working non-stop for 3 weeks and he was really looking forward to having a little getaway. Make him feel like he's actually getting to participate in Summer. So he took Friday off and we headed up the canyon after lunch. It started down pouring as we were leaving Kearns and we chased the storm up the canyon. When we got to the campsite the rain had stopped and it was nice and cool and beautiful. The wildflowers were all in bloom and it was just so quiet. Luckily they had a few campsites left, so we picked one and started setting up.
We watched the big dark clouds blow over the mountain, rain on us for 5-10 minutes, then blow through. It was chilly and I knew we would be in for a cold night, but I was still hopeful it would be a relatively dry night. It was raining sporadically and then stopping. At one point after we had started the fire it even hailed. What?!?

After the hail all the clouds blew through and the sun came back out. There was blue sky and it was just gorgeous. We put our dinners in the fire to cook. By the time they were done it had started drizzling again. We decided to all go sit in the Wilson's giant tent to eat out of the rain. Good thing we did because it never stopped after that. We ate and chatted and the rain just got harder, the sky got darker, and the temperature got colder. The Wilson's tent was leaking and the boys were getting tired. I decided to take Weston to the bathroom with me and then get the boys into jammies and into our tent. Why have to go out in the rain more than once?

We got the kids into jammies and into their sleeping bags. Luckily our tent was dry, but the rain, thunder, and lightning were still going in full force. Davin was crying about being in his sleeping bag and about being cold. The Wilson's decided to go home since their tent was pretty soaked and still dripping. At that point I decided we should probably just head home too. Ian was really disappointed. I was too, but not enough to spend a long, wet, noisy night in a tent with 2 kids. Weston really wanted us to sleep in the tent all together. He was sad that we didn't. About 10 minutes after putting the kids in their car seats while we gathered up our soggy stuff they were out. We ended up getting home by 10:30 and getting a full night's sleep in our own beds.

It was pretty depressing having to unpack everything this morning after not feeling like we even went camping. Sigh. I guess we will just have to try again next summer. At the very least the boys will both be big enough that they can camp with Dad. We really did have a good time while the weather held. I think the thing I was most sad about was not getting to make smores (the rain put out our fire while we ate dinner in the tent) and talk around the fire. Maybe it will all work out to go another time.
In hopes of making up for a bust camping trip, Ian and I are going on a date tonight. We are going to go out to dinner and see Get Low with Robert Duvall. It looks great. I'll let you know. We are even doubling with the Wilson's. Should be fun. Ian got a new toy today too. A weed whacker! I know, so exciting. He is out there playing with it right now. :)

When we were unpacking and cleaning stuff out in the yard this morning Weston found a little grasshopper and was so excited that he could hold it. He asked me to take a picture of him with it and put it on the blog so his friend Makenzie could see it, so here you go.

New Favorite

A few months ago our cable went digital and we didn't so we lost all our fun channels. We kept our basic cable, but that's all. No more Playhouse Disney. That was the biggest blow. The kids make do with PBS Kids, but it's not quite the same. We watch episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse online sometimes, and rent Little Einsteins DVD's from the library. Well, our newest discovery and favorite thing to watch is the original series of Inspector Gadget on hulu. The kids both love it and Davin is hilarious when he quotes it. I took a video of him singing the theme song and quoting Dr. Claw, but it is having issues loading. Sorry.

In other media news . . . I am sad that So You Think You Can Dance is over and none of my Fall shows are back yet. Except White Collar. That's the only show I have right now. Most of them will return in September. I guess I will have to settle for finishing up Psych Season 4. I am also waiting (somewhat impatiently) for it to be my turn to read Mockingjay. As of 5 minutes ago I was #502 on the library waiting list and the status of my hold said "in transit." I am keeping my fingers crossed that that means I will get it by the end of the day. If so, I fully intend to neglect the house, probably the kids (well you know, except for necessities), and sleep for about 48 hours while I read it. I hope it lives up to my expectations!

Opportunity Knocking

I feel so blessed to have so many great opportunities to use my musical talents right now. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I am so grateful for the gift of music in my life. I'm grateful to everyone who helped/s nurture it, and I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with the talent to share music with others.

My current calling in the church is to play the piano for the Primary. It is such a fun calling! I love that I get to be in Primary with the kids. I love that I have something to practice the piano for. I enjoy having a "Sunday only" calling right now too. A few weeks ago I got a call saying the bishop wanted to meet with me. Yikes! I did not want to give up my pianist calling, but it turned out that I got to keep it. I also was given a new musical opportunity. The Kearns stakes were asked to provide women to sing in the choir that will perform at the Relief Society Broadcast in September and I was invited to sing with them!

I was pretty excited about it from the start, but now that we have a couple rehearsals under our belts and I am a little more familiar with the music I am SO excited. It is truly a blessing to be a part of this choir. At each rehearsal we get to hear a message from a member of the General RS Board before we start practicing the music. Then we get to sing these amazing arrangements of familiar hymns. It is just so inspiring to be a part of. I am really looking forward to performing in the Conference Center too. How cool, right?

I am so glad that I chose to sing Soprano 2 too. The harmonies are difficult, but so fun to sing. I also am not quite as comfortable with high G's as I would like to be. :) Anyway, if you weren't planning to attend the RS Broadcast you should! It's September 25, 2010 at 6pm MST, so probably 5pm for all you Californians. And keep an eye out for me in the choir!