9 Months

Talia turned 9 months on Monday! Today I took her to the pediatrician for her 9 month well visit. She is pretty much perfect. A little on the petite side, but that was expected. Here are Talia's 9 month stats:
Height: 26.5 inches (20th %ile)
Weight: 15 lbs. 11 oz. (7th %ile)
Head: 70th %ile
At nine months Talia is not crawling, but has perfected the art of sitting up and reaching for toys. She still does not enjoy tummy time, and I have my doubts that she will crawl at all. She has three teeth. Her two bottom middle teeth are in, then today at her checkup the doctor noticed her top left tooth had popped through. I guess that explains why she slept in until 8:30 this morning.
Talia babbles and squeals and says "mama" and "dada." I don't know for sure if she connects them to Ian and I yet, but those are definitely sounds she repeats. She loves her Duck and Goose books. She also just discovered the fun of the ball popper this last week. Unfortunately Davin also still enjoys the ball popper so it keeps getting pulled out of her reach by her big brother. Speaking of her brothers, man she loves them. They are great with her and she does not like to be left out of whatever they are doing.
Talia is still a fantastic sleeper. She sleeps 11-12 hours straight at night, plus two daytime naps. I love her for it. She is also a pretty good eater. She has not really turned her nose up at any foods I've tried so far (except peas, but who can fault her for that?). She is getting more interested in what we are eating on our plates and wants to be eating at the same time as us.

Sorry for the long, detailed post, but Talia doesn't have a baby book, so if I'm going to remember anything about these milestones and months I have to have them on the blog. To end this little mommy memories post . . . yesterday afternoon I took some video of us just hanging out at home. This is about what its like most afternoons around 5pm. Everyone is a little bored and a little tired, so we all need extra attention. FYI this really showcases Talia's voice (listen for her saying "mama" when prompted!).

We love you Talia!!!

Missed

There are several fun things we did in the last few weeks of August that I somehow missed posting about because I got burnt out from posting all of our California trip. I still wanted to include these fun outings and photos though, so here's the backlog of posts from August.

Ogden Dinosaur Park
We used one of our Groupons and went with friends to the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden. I had never been. It was a fun little outing. They had a museum inside with lots of similar types of exhibits as the Musuem of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. The boys loved it. They had some different dinosaur bones and dinosaur poop. That was, of course, a big hit.

Outside they have a path you can walk that has replicas of different dinos all along the way in the trees and fields. It was pretty hot the day we went, so we didn't spend a ton of time on the path, but the kids loved all the little scenes you could put your face into. We went and did a bunch of puzzles and coloring inside after our walk to cool off a little bit, then ended the outing with some playtime on the dinosaur slides and playground.
After going to the dinosaur park, the Herrin's were kind enough to invite us over to their new house in Ogden for a BBQ. It was a really great to hang out with them again. We met in our Murray ward about 5 years ago back when our kindergartners were just babies. :) Glad we have been able to keep in touch all this time.

Bishopric Bowling Night
Using yet another Groupon we had a bishopric group date a couple weeks ago. It was a blast. We drove out to Park City together and had pizza and bowled at this really awesome place called Jupiter Bowl. It is about as fancy as bowling gets. We sure love our very supportive friends and are thankful we get to serve with them.

Bishop Spaz and Michael Ann with Alison

Kerry and Alison

Me and my hubby

The whole group. Bishopric and their wives. Friends.

Uncle Eli
Ian's brother, Eli, came for a quickie visit a few weeks ago. He was here for just about 24 hours to be at a good friend's sealing, but we got to spend a little time with him too. He helped Ian clean out the garage, then we hit up In N Out before he went to the temple, and watched a movie out on the patio later that night. It was a short, but fun visit!
Classic Fun Center
The week before Weston started school we went to the Classic Fun Center in Sandy to go on the bouncy slides and the giant play place. It was interesting. I had only been there once and that was just to roller skate with the youth, so I didn't really know what to expect from the rest of the place. It was honestly pretty gross. I just felt dirty and sticky the whole time. It didn't help that it was hot inside, so I was sweaty too. The bathrooms were icky, the fire alarm randomly went off, and Talia was tired. Not quite the hours of fun I had imagined. The kids did love it, but I don't know that I will be paying to go there again any time soon.
Bug Hunting
The weekend that Ian bought his new car the kids were playing outside in the backyard while Ian showed me the car and they found this awesome leaf bug! Who knew such exotic creatures lived in our yard! The boys thought this was awesome and I was impressed that the poor bug didn't fly, jump, or skitter away from the not-so-gentle 5 year old fingers that were so interested in it. We got these cool pics of it.
Davin Goes to Preschool
The day after Labor Day Davin had his preschool open house. He was a little out of sorts that morning so we didn't end up staying long, but he did enjoy playing Legos and making a fruit loop necklace. He was kind of losing it when I tried to get this photo with his teacher, but she managed to coax a (weird) smile out of him with the threat of tickles.
The next day was his official first day of preschool. He was very excited to bring his new big boy Cars backpack and play on the playground before the doors opened. We are now on week 2 of preschool and things are going just fine. Davin is a very chill little boy. He loves playing in the water table and with Legos and having snack. I don't hear much from him about other kids or what he is learning, but his teacher says he's doing great. I love my big little boy!

Utah State Fair 2011

Yesterday I picked up Weston from school and took the kids to the State Fair! I love going to the fair, so I was pretty excited. We somehow missed it last year, but not too much had changed. Our favorite parts were the "Little Hands on the Farm" exhibit, the construction machines, the giant slide, and the hot dogs.

When we first walked in we ran into this bee character. I'm really not sure what he was all about, but Weston ran up to him an the bee covered Weston in stickers. Weston thought it was hilarious. He shared a bunch of stickers with Davin because he is such a good brother. :)
Weston was finally tall enough to do the giant slide by himself! Davin went once with Ian, then decided he was done with it. Weston gladly finished using the rest of the tickets.
The Little Hands on the Farm exhibit is so much fun. The kids run through the different parts of a farm and collect wool, milk, and produce in their baskets while learning about how a farm works and what the different animals give us. Then they "sell" their harvest at the farmer's market for $1, which they can then spend at the little store on a snack and milk. The boys both got this delicious root beer milk. It tasted like a root beer float. Mmm.
I bought an ear of roasted corn and we went and sat on the grass to eat our snacks. The construction vehicles were right by us on the grass, so we stayed and played there for a little while. It was also right next to the Walmart display. They had these cool stationary bikes that would blend a smoothie when you pedaled them. We made a peach smoothie. It was delish.
***Incidentally . . . if you live in the vicinity of the Walmart on 6200 S. and 5600 W. . . yesterday they had peaches and plums both on sale for .25 a pound!
We wandered through the animal barns before meeting up with Ian. Weston got to pet this adorable baby calf. The boys both liked the goats the best though. The rest of the time with Ian we went on the giant slide a few more times, got hot dogs and corn dogs, and watched the skydivers come into the rodeo arena carrying the Utah and American flags.
I met up with my friend Jackie while we were eating and she and I headed over to the grandstand for the Wilson Phillips concert! Ian is such an awesome dad and husband. He took all three kids in search of cotton candy then took them home and put them to bed.

It was SO fun to see Wilson Phillips! Definitely a big dose of nostalgia. I remember listening to their cassette on my little walkman on family road trips. Good times. They played about a 60/40 mix of covers (including the Mama's and the Papa's, the Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, The Eagle's, Joni Mitchell, etc.) and their own songs. I really liked hearing their own songs the best.
There were quite a few die hard fans in the audience. It was kind of weird because this show was the first day of filming for their new reality tv show that is going to be on the TV Guide channel, so there were cameras around the whole time. Also, if you are a Dancing With the Stars fan (Mom) Chyna (the blonde lead singer) is going to be on it this upcoming season. Anyway, I am really glad I went and got to hear some great songs live. I don't know why I didn't record video on my regular camera, but for whatever reason I used my phone. Sorry for the low quality. . . And that you can hear me singing along. :)

Busy Busy!

Holy cow! Life with kids in school is crazy. Or maybe life with 3 kids is crazy. Or maybe I'm just crazy. Whatever it is, I feel like we are always going. I am exhausted and in bed before 10pm every night. With Weston in school all day, Davin in school half days on Monday/Wednesday, Weston doing karate twice a week, YW mutual activities, Ian's bishopric meetings, early morning Zumba and swimming workouts 4-5 days a week . . . not to mention grocery shopping, laundry, dishes, keeping Talia on a relatively stable nap schedule, and getting everyone fed I am just wiped out!

I have to admit that part of me enjoys the routine of school and my life as the mom of school aged kids. I like getting up early, exercising, and being ready for the day before 9am. I like feeling like it matters if I'm ready for the day at all. Sometimes when you have little ones it's hard to find the motivation for any of that. The other part of me misses our lazy mornings and the ability to keep my eyes open past 9:30 at night to watch a movie with Ian.

Don't forget there is a non-school-aged child along for the ride! Talia is such a trooper. She takes being woken up from her naps and being hauled back and forth to the school, karate, the church, etc. with all the grace an 8 month old can possess. And she looks good doing it. Usually.

Today was unusual. Ian's new car was in the shop . . . did I mention Ian bought a car? Well, anyway, it was in the shop getting some routine maintenance done, so he had gotten a ride to work this morning. That meant that I picked up Weston from school at 3:45, had to be at karate at 4, and then go straight over to pick up Ian from work so he could pick up his car from the shop before they closed at 6.

Ian and his 2007 Hyundai Elantra

I had to wake up Talia from her nap to leave at 3:40. She was pretty happy. When I went to put her back in her car seat after getting Weston from his classroom I had poop all over my arm. Gross and gross. I had to change her in the front seat while Weston put on his karate uniform in the back. I didn't have a clean onesie in the diaper bag, so she got to ride to karate in just a clean diaper. I dropped Weston off then drove home to get Talia dressed. Needless to say it was a hectic afternoon. We made it on time to all our commitments though. There is really no point to this story except for me to marvel at how nutty life is with lots of little ones and to be able to laugh at it in the distant future.

Really, truly, life is good. I am blessed. You know why? See below.

Some much needed down time after school. Watching Avengers with juice and fruit snacks. Can't beat that.

My cutest BFF!

Pretty in pink

The boys built robots to enter into a Lego magazine contest.

Talia's first outfit of today. It sure was cute while it lasted! (which was only until about 11am) Also Talia was busy Labor Day weekend cutting her second tooth! On the bottom right next to her first tooth. :)

Kindergarten!!!

My big kid started Kindergarten this week!

Side Note: When I first got the letter telling me who his teacher is and that he got extended day I told him, "Guess what?!? You got all day kindergarten! And your teacher is going to be Miss Butler!" He giggled. I just stared at him straight faced and said "what's funny?" He kind of looked at me weird, didn't answer, and stopped giggling. :) Hee hee. I couldn't let him think his teachers name was funny, but I did get a kick out of the fact that he's a 5 year old boy and he knew better than to tell me that it's funny because her name sounds like "butt." Smart kid.
He goes to school Monday-Thursday 9am until 3:45pm. On Friday he goes 9am to 1:30pm. He loves eating lunch at school, but is still getting used to having to eat quickly. The first day he ran out of time and only ate his apples and half of his sandwich. I was very impressed that he didn't eat his Zinger first! I let him eat it after school. Yesterday he bought a lunch because he wanted chicken and noodles. Turns out he didn't like it very much and didn't end up eating hardly anything. He decided lunch from home is pretty good.

Monday morning was a little emotional. I was surprised that I teared up. I have been sending Weston to preschool at this same elementary school for the last two years, but leaving him all day. Not spending lunch time with him. It was a little hard to let go. He had no problem running into the classroom though. He had a couple friends from preschool in his class, so maybe that helped him adjust.
Yesterday he told me that his best friends that he plays with in class are all girls. I told him that it's fine to be friends with girls. I asked him if there were any boys he likes to play with, but he said he mostly sticks with the girls because the boys all play rough and mess around in class. But not him. He's such a funny boy. I love him. I hope he does find a boy or two to be friends with though.

I quite like his teacher. She seems very organized. Weston has a little 10 minute homework assignment each night plus 20 minutes of reading. So far he's been a little cocky about his homework, saying that it's too easy for him. It kind of is true, but I'm attempting to teach the kid some humility, so I point out the things he can do better on with writing his name, learning to read, etc. Needless to say Weston is more than ready for this leap into school and I am so proud of my cute, smart, sensitive kindergartner!

As for us non-kindergartners . . . we are bearing the absence of the 5 year old tolerably well. The first day Davin asked where Weston was three different times. Today we went on our first outing without him. It was fun. I met up with a friend and her little girls at Wheeler Farm. I am enjoying having some more one on one time with Davin and Talia. The house is MUCH quieter with Weston gone. Also I feel like I can finally get and keep my house clean. It's amazing how much more chaos and mess there is with 3 kids home all day compared to just 2.

I think we are all still adjusting to our new schedule. It will change again next week when Davin starts preschool on Mondays and Wednesdays. I asked Davin if he likes being home with me and Talia. He said "Yeah, but I wike to go to school too." Mixed reviews for Mom. :) Anyway, here's some photos from our farm fun today!

10 Years

Has it really been ten years since I graduated from high school? In some ways it feels like that ten years has flown by, but in other ways it has been an eternity. We finished off our California trip with a night in downtown Fullerton for my 10 year Sonora High School reunion. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it really was a ton of fun and I'm very glad I went. I got to see lots of old friends that I had lost contact with or just hadn't physically seen in a long time.

I spent most of the night talking (more like yelling actually since the music was ridiculously loud). Ian was a good sport and came with me. He shook hands and looked handsome. :) I loved seeing how everyone's lives have played out since high school. I was definitely not the norm having been married for almost 8 years and with 3 kids, but this is exactly where I wanted to be in life. No regrets. I could have stayed and visited for another hour or longer since I was having such a blast catching up with people, but around 10:30 we headed home since we had a looong drive on Sunday.

Me and Steve Herring

Sarah Stein (friends since 3rd grade), me, Ian, Stephanie (drill team bff), Stephanie's husband, Ashley Glass

Some of my old teachers from HS . . . Mr. & Mrs. Clark, my swim coach Mr. Hawkins, and Mr. & Mrs. Boothroyd (they got engaged my junior year).

Victor, Kiren, and me. These are seriously two of the funniest people I know.

Me and Ashley Mains. I have been friends with Ashley forever. I think 1st grade? It was really great to catch up with her!

Stephanie, me, and Kristina . . . drill team buddies! So fun to see these girls!

Stephanie and me. I wish we lived closer!

Kristen, Kiren, Monique, and me. We always ate lunch together. Good times.

Me and Mackenzie. We were swimming bff's and worked on lots of projects for classes together over the years.

Sunday we drove all the way home. It was uneventful, just long. I sure do love California. The more I think about where I want to ultimately raise my family the more I find myself searching for a place as awesome as southern California. I don't know if anywhere else compares. In the meantime we will keep enjoying our trips.

It has been good to be home. We enjoyed every second of the last of our summer. It is still hot, but the pool will be closing after this next weekend and school has started, so the summer is mostly over. Speaking of school . . . Weston is at his first day of all day kindergarten right now. I sure hope he is enjoying it. Talia is napping and Davin is watching a movie. I think I'm going to like the school years.