4th of July

Okay so this is a bit of a catch up post, but we had a wonderful 4th and I wanted to post about it. This year we opted to skip the parade thing in the morning and instead celebrated our independence by sleeping in and having a easy-going morning. We went to Erin's parents house for lunch where the boys had a wonderful time running around and all kinds of craziness.

Most importantly Kyle was able to reunite with Will. Whenever these two get a chance to see each other they are inseparable. The whole time we were at Erin's parents house these two boys ran around with each other and Noah tried to keep up with them.

Noah also got to meet up with Reagan. Point to your brain Reagan... very good.

Noah decided we were not doing a good enough job documenting the family get together, so he took matters into his own hands and stole the camera. Here is a selection of his 4th portfolio:

These last three were taken as Noah ran toward me, Will, Kyle and Coleman which is pretty impressive... I think

After we had our fill of lunch we headed to Murray Park where we met up with my parents and grandmother to enjoy an American feast (including patriotic cupcakes).

Handsome devil...

Fun with glow sticks.

This is actually a pic of a little known superhero "Atomic Grandma".

The fireworks started (not shown) and Erin and I had prepared for the worst with our boys. The week prior we saw fireworks in Taylorsville and both boys were not so impressed. Kyle had us plug his hears the whole time and Noah stuffed his face in Erin's armpit to hide.

Kyle had a repeat performance, but once Noah got past the initial shock he had a great time. He laid on my chest and the rest of the night was filled with "didyouseedat", "thatwasbigone", "wow" and "thatwasloud".

Last but not least: I am proud to be an American. Being able to raise my family in a free country is one of my sweetest blessings. Thank you to all you military service people, government leader (all the ones that aren't crooks or cheating on your wives, that's why "leader" isn't plural) and postal service people (one of the more highly undervalued arms of the federal government, but I thought I'd give you so props while I was at it).

Father's Day Surprise

I decided that since Father's Day was right around the corner, I would take the opportunity and save my wonderful news to surprise Adam. I found out that I was preggers on Tuesday meaning I had to wait until SUNDAY to tell Adam.

I did it! And it was so worth it. I counted on his cluelessness to make this work and boy was he. He never asked me any questions about "Aunt Flo" or anything else. Hello! Wouldn't YOU be a little curious? Ah well. It worked perfectly in my plan.

I gave him a new smaller wallet (he hated his bulky one) and a gift certificate to a golf course (with Christian, Von and my Dad). Tucked in the back was my pee stick. He didn't even know what it was when he saw it. (See what I mean? Clueless. :) When he FINALLY figured it out the look on his face was priceless.

Now if I can just keep it secret from everyone else for another 7 weeks...

Kyle's Super Soccer Season

Sad

Sadder

Saddest

Utterly distraught

Treat time! This, of course, made Kyle smile every time.

Kyle was excited for his new soccer experience but that excitement fizzled quickly... too quickly.

Many and probably most of his games were spent crying for one reason or another. It was kind of sad but sort of funny at the same time. Kyle is a very tender-hearted little boy and just couldn't find the fun in stealing the ball from others, even on the other team.

Kyle has said he would like to try baseball (t-ball) next time and I agree that this just might be a better fit...no fighting over the ball.

Kyle's biggest fan. Actually, he was wishing HE could get out there and wreak havoc.

My sweet Ky-ky

Reuniting...it's a good thing.

2009

What a group. 66 souls to be exact. (67 if you count the one in Alicia's belly.) Its been a long while since we had family reunion let alone a camping one. The rain, of course, played a huge roll in everything. We even had to go to a different campground since people were getting stuck on the slippery, muddy, dirt road climbing up to Camp Timberlane. We ended up at Scofield Reservoir which was a great fit. We lucked out.

Hanging out in the middle of the Hind Family dominated road.

The kids did some fun crafts (provided by us, the Richard Hind Family) including hiking staffs, visors, and also a nature scavenger hunt. Mom also did a bingo game where we learned a lot about our ancestors.

Kyle and Samuel

Noah wondered down to the dock by himself...and up to the road...and I felt like a crappy parent. Rocks DO NOT work well as fetch toys for Tommy. Blood. Lots of blood.

Lessons learned.

We only spent one night due to Kyle's soccer game -that he refused to play- that we wanted to attend. The time spent was well worth it though. Looking forward to it next year!

Logan, Hayley and Mary

Ken Hind Family

Grandma and Matt

The rocket- glad we brought it. The kids LOVED it.

After just two months of "trying" I recently found out that I am pregnant. I did the test by myself thinking since I felt that I probably was pregnant and if it was positive I wanted to wait until Father's Day to tell Adam. I'm on day 3 of knowing and still have about 2 more to go. I keep accidentally wanting to bring it up and then not so accidentally as well. Its hard to keep this kind of a secret! I had to tell my dentist and hygenist the news because of x-rays. They both thought it was pretty funny that they were the only ones I'd told INCLUDING my husband.

I took the test a couple days prior to the final one but it gave me negative reading. So when I got a positive this time I was happy and felt ready to be pregnant. I wanted to hug the test strip. Ew.

I knew I was pregnant because of one thing. I woke up and immediately had to pee. That just doesn't happen to me. I can get up in the morning and not use the toilet for a while. So after this going on for a couple of days ALL day, I had my suspicions. I don't recall this happening with my previous 2 pregnancies either.

I'm so excited. I can't wait to see what we bring into the world this time. Both of our boys are different from each other so could we have yet ANOTHER different one? I guess we'll wait and see... 8 months from now.

Scooch on down to May 19th to read about our Chicago trip!

He's 4- FINALLY!

Kyle has been with out a doubt anxiously awaiting his 4th year of life. For the passed month he has asked us just about everyday if he is 4 yet and the answer is always "No, not yet." Today was different since we were finally able to say "Yes!" He asked me if he was going to be 4 forever and I said, "Yep. You will never be 3 again." Immediately after I said it I about choked and felt all sick inside. My baby's growin' up!

Well, the day didn't start off quite as Mommy and Daddy had planned.

*sigh*

Kyle.Didn't.Like.His.Present.

(And didn't mince words telling us so.)

Duh, duh, duh.

My worst nightmare.

So off we went to the local Toys 'R' Us (Where he got the royal treatment. Hence the crown.) to get him what he really wanted. A Power Ranger bike. I didn't want him to have one but it's the kids birthday. He gets his way.

Then we had a few friends over to swim in our new wading pool and share in Kyle's birthday and cupcakes.

Grandma came over for a visit as well and didn't even mind being Kyle's rocket target. :)

We will be going to see "Up" in 3-D this evening and bringing Ellie along.

Not bad for just turning 4, I'd say.

*Update: Kyle ran a fever most of his birthday and spent much of it dragging around/napping. Poor baby.

Kyle through out the year.

The kid has grown so much in just 12 measly months. It makes me a little anxious. We figured out that he'd grown a couple of inches since we went to Disneyland in October!

We love you, Kyle. You are our sweet, tender-hearted, "super" super hero lovin', "big boy". We can't imagine life with out you.

Kick'n it in Kodachrome

Picture provided by Erin (ain't it pretty).


Our pilgrimage to Kodachrome has been the official start to the summer for me (Adam) for 17 years now. This one started out wet. We had 2 inches of rain dump on us the first night. It was after a drenching first night that I started getting thoughts of packing up all our wet stuff and driving home. Luckily the sun did come out and the weekend ended up beautiful.


The first morning of the trip we went into Tropic to get some breakfast (cooking in the down pour didn't sound all that fun). We sat down and started looking at the menu when we noticed that Erin's Great Grandfather George Myron Bybee's picture was on the back of the menu. Erin's grandma grew up in Tropic. The Bybee name is well known. George was a cowboy that worked in Bryce Canyon as a horse back tour guide.

Tommy in his natural habitat (sort of). Our dog enjoyed every moment of the trip and tried his best to rip our arms off. Here he can be seen ripping off Erin's.

Stopping to smell the... trees??? That's right, the trees in Bryce Canyon have sap that smells like vanilla. This is also a great way to get people on the trail to give you weird looks as they pass.

We found out this trip that Kyle has a new found passion for hiking. We went on the Navajo Loop trail (1.5 miles with 1000 ft verticals) and he ran much of it.

Kyle makes a new friend at the bottom of the Navajo Loop. This one is named Dale. Chip never made an appearance. Kyle was ALL about the wild life. He spent much of his time hunting down jack rabbits and cotton-tails.

Us on Wall Street.

Noah tries his best to do a George Byron Bybee impression.

Our little hiker/poser.

All funned out. Noah falls asleep mid-chew.

Birthday Boy

This year we celebrated Noah's 2nd birthday at Kodachrome State Park. And so begins the terrible twos ( and Noah is all about the "terrible "part). That's right our sweet, patient, chunky Noah is entering into the twos. Once he was bundle of baby chug we carried around with us. Now he is a Sponge Bob buck tooth big boy, walking, talking and in love with cars.

Noah has grown so much this past year. He and his brother are the best of friends. It is rare to not see Kyle followed by Noah in our household. While they play you can often hear them singing together. Noah is our singer. He has an ability to remember songs and sing them in tune...somewhat (which we think is pretty impressive for a 2 year old). Unlike his brother, Noah lets you know what he wants and when he wants it. He has an opinion and lets you know about it. He is itching to play sports as we are constantly having to watch him at Kyle's soccer games to make sure he does not run out onto the field. His current obsession is cars...big cars especially. He will start yelling "race car" whenever he sees our cars. We have determined that race cars means he wants to get into the drivers seat and drive.

Noah spent his birthday enjoying the great outdoors. We decided to go on a hike and as soon as he heard us mention "hike" he went straight into the tent and dragged his backpack out and started saying "I wanna get in", and didn't stop until he did. Having a 30 something pound boy on our backs nearly killed Erin and I. I think that for my next birthday I am going to make someone carry me around too, it would be a good gig.

We gave Noah a tiger flashlight at Kodachrome but saved his big present until we got back. We gave him a Power Wheels Lil' Kawasaki ATV. Noah was shocked the first time he got on and hit the button that shot him forward at a blistering speed of 2 mph. Erin and I knew we found a winner when he could not contain his laughter while riding on the "bike". After a while of riding around on our driveway Noah got off, looked the bike over and said "I like that". One of the greatest moments in parenthood his getting a present that they love.

We love our big, little Noah. Maybe you have a favorite Noah moment... feel free to post a memory. Enjoy some more Noah b-day pics: