July 23rd, I packed the kids up, and Kevin took us to the airport. I had a 7:00 flight, with two children, 3 bags of luggage, 3 carry-ons, 1 stroller, 1 carseat, and no husband to help. We were flying to Salt Lake to visit, and to go to the family reunion. Kevin pulled up in front of the Southwest zone, and he helped me check my bags with the aircap. While he got my luggage checked in, I unloaded the kids from the car and our carry-ons. We prepped Jameson this time by telling him we need to wear our seatbelts and sit nicely on the plane. We made it through everything just fine, and boarded. Luckily, the plane wasn’t nearly full, so I could take Ella’s carseat on. She slept from just after take off, till we landed. Jameson actually sat quietly playing his games or reading his books. The loud ones on the plane were the teenage girls across from me. I’m pretty sure the guy in front of them was so glad when that flight was over.

We always seem to get on the planes that have flight attendants with personalities. Just as we were landing, they came on and told us, “We will be landing in just a few moments. We are actually 5 minutes early so tell your friends. We know you always tell them Southwest is always late.” I was laughing, because this is normally true. Not this trip, though.

So we got into Salt Lake just after 11:00 pm (it was a 3 hour flight plus time change). Paul picked us up, and when we got to Grandpa’s and Grandma’s we were greeted by Kayden. They drove up that night and met us there. We got up early Saturday morning and headed up to the reunion at my Aunt’s cabin near Preston Idaho. We were able to make it there by noon which was pretty good for us. The kids had a blast. They had cousins and second cousins to play with along with swings, cars, slides, and rootbeer to keep them occupied for the day. We never saw them. (Well we did, because we keep watch on our kids, but you know what I mean. They were busy, and didn’t care about us.)

Grandma and Grandpa had gone up the night before, so she had her first meeting with her 2 newest great-granddaughters. She also has a new great-grandson that was there. I want to say she’s somewhere around 45 great-grandchildren.

Ella is named after Grandma Cartwright’s mother, Ellen. Everyone called her Ella. I was reading Grandma Cartwright’s autobiography she wrote when Kevin and I first got married, and knew I wanted to name our daughter Ella one day.

Grandma meeting Jenna…

They even match.

Aunt Carol put the hose down the slide for the boys. It was hot, especially for us who came from 60 degree weather and we’re now in 90 degree weather.

(Sorry the video is sideways. I forgot I can’t rotate videos.)

It was a little fast with the water, so Jameson always ended up on his bottom. Drew had a little help from Aunt Carol

The older boys left Drew behind, and found the teeter-totter and the other kids. Don’t worry, Drew found stuff to keep him occupied.

These cars were the biggest hit of the day. This is where Drew was most of the day, especially when the older boys ditched him. They would do circles, around the patio, into the pavilion, back around the patio, back into the pavilion. The only time they stopped was to get rootbeer that my Aunt had made. It was in a big 10 gallon cooler, that the boys learned how to work the spout on. They had free access to rootbeer with no monitoring… if they didn’t get caught. We tried to monitor.

These boys would all head to the top of the hill, and the ride down and land in the grass. They thought it was hilarious, and did it over and over all afternoon.

While the boys rode their cars, the adults sat and chit-chatted.

Grandma and I took a walk down to the river behind the cabin. There were cows on the other side, which we couldn’t tell what they were until getting a closer look.

Ella took a nap in the stroller, and only her toes were making appearances.

Drew was probably the biggest rootbeer thief of the day. He was so quiet about it, where the other boys would be laughing and talking while getting their rootbeer and get caught. Drew was more sneaky.

Jodi kept Ella entertained for me once she was awake. Even with her hurt leg… what a trooper.

I think this picture describes my child with no words needed…

Chase and Easton are always so good to play with Jameson. We wish they lived closer, because Jameson loves them.

Love this picture of these two…

After the boys had played all day, we decided to head out. We got everything cleaned up, and then it was time to pull the 4-wheelers back inside. Paul and my cousin, Blake, gave all the boys a ride around the yard before pulling them in. Jameson did not like how loud it was, but didn’t complain. He just covered his ears. This was my test since we were going to the cabin. I was wondering if he would like the 4-wheelers there.

While the boys were giving rides, Aunt Kathleen was trying to get her lawn mower started to pull it back inside. For a while, I thought the lawn mower was going to win.

In the end, she beat out the lawn mower.

We got everything cleaned up and headed back to Salt Lake. The kids were out cold before we even left the drive. They slept the whole way home. We’re so glad to have been able to see family and play together. Jameson has been lucky this summer to see his cousins more often and play even though we live further away.

(July 22, 2010)

This week for park day, we ventured to Farrel McWhirter Park. It used to be an old homestead, which was then bought out by a family in the early 1900s and turned into a horse ranch. When the owner died, she left it to be used as a state park. They have a bunch of farm animals to go see, so naturally, Jameson loved it.

We started out by chasing the chickens that were free to roam where ever they wanted.

We then checked out the baby cow and goats in the nearby pasture.

We went around the back into the barn. They had the biggest pig I’ve ever seen and the baby goats to watch.

See the biggest big ever!

So we’re in there checking out the pig, and can hear a turkey. The pen next to the pig is empty, and the goats are on the side. We can’t figure out where the turkey is until we realize there is a loft in the barn. We look up at this sight…

Half its feathers on its chest were gone. It kept looking like it was going to jump on us. Can turkeys fly? I didn’t thinks so, but this bird looked like it was going to. We walked back underneath the platform for protection, but then it would crane it’s neck around the edge and look at us. We decided we better get out of the barn. Just as we were about to walk out, the turkey jumped from the loft to the light fixture. Apparently, they don’t fly so well, but can hop really well.

We walked around the side of the barn and found the bunny hutches.

Back around the front of the barn, the goat and her kids were out in the yard. Jameson loved the goats, especially the little one that would lick his hand.

You can see it’s mom kept a close eye on her baby and Jameson.

It was nice that we could visit the animals, and it was even more nice that it was free. (Ella was there, but was asleep in the stroller the whole time.)

(July 21,2010)

I signed Jameson up for a gymnastics class this summer. You could buy a punch card and then attend however many classes you paid for. It worked for me since I knew we would be out of town, and I could make up those weeks. Jameson was so excited the first day. He ran right in the class with his friends. Which wasn’t as good as you might think. After a few minutes, myself and another mom (I won’t rat you out ) were asked to come into the class to help monitor our children who were not listening. There did happen to be about 10 kids that day so I’ll give the teacher that credit.  He couldn’t stop talking about it after that.

The next class wasn’t as successful. He didn’t have any friends this time (we went on a different day). He ran in the class, but then threw a fit and cried. Luckily, he had Miss Jen this time and she is awesome. She kept him whether he was crying or not, and got him to calm down.

We went out of town, and upon returning, had to start the whole process over again. I tied to only go to Miss Jen’s classes, because she was much better at handling the stress of so many toddlers. He didn’t like the beginning of class, but once he got comfortable, he loves “junastics” and talks about how “I listen to my teachers.”

He loves being in the big gym with the trampolines and “the pit.” Here he is doing their routine for the day. They do seat drops down the trampoline (he is easily distracted), then somersaults down the cheese matt, jump one either side of the red line, and then walk down the balance beam. Oh, and he’s with Miss Jen.

Enjoying his time in the pit.

(Image from zazzle dot com)

Today, on our drive home, there were some suspicious noises coming from the back seat. We’d just been to Wal Mart and Panda Express… a real treat for me since it took 30 minutes to get there. I got Jameson a few characters from Toy Story since he was being good. On the way home in the car, I can hear kissing noises behind me. I looked in the mirror to find Jameson holding Woody and Jessie. Apparently the characters have a better relationship than previously thought.

(July 20th)

We had a very eventful Tuesday. We woke up early and headed out with friends to pick raspberries. They open at 7:30 am, and you need to be there when they open or the raspberries get picked out. So we got there by 7:45 and it was only after I left my house, I realized I had no jacket. It was a bit cold, but we managed. Ella slept in her carseat for part of the picking, and Jameson helped. These were much easier to pick than strawberries. No bending over for one thing.

Jameson thought he was so cool, because he had a bucket that hung around his neck. Good thing he brings his blanket everywhere to help give cushion around his neck.

You can see here, whatever he picked did not make it to his bucket. The kids pretty much ate anything they picked.

We got home around 10 am, and I got everything prepared to make jam. My friend came over with me to learn. First, we headed to the farmer’s market down the street to pick up some peaches and strawberries. We got back, I put the kids to bed, and we made about 4-5 batches each of raspberry jam. Once we got that done, I had some pretty ripe bananas, so we made some banana bread. Delicious.

She headed home with her jam, I got dinner ready. Once I got the kids to bed for the night, I headed back to the kitchen. I had kept some raspberries aside for some raspberry peach jam.

My Grandma Judd had given me her mother’s recipe. It took a little bit of guessing, since her measurements just said 3 boxes of frozen raspberries and a box of frozen strawberries. I think it turned out pretty tasty, though. I almost didn’t have enough peaches. Good thing it worked out. I did have to split it up while the jam boiled, so it didn’t spill over the top of my pan.

So if you need any jam, I have a freezer full of about 4 different flavors.

(July 16th, 2010)

The neighbor kids have been outside this week, and they actually came and invited Jameson out. There’s 4 kids belonging to the neighbors, and then another little boy staying with his grandma (who lives at the end of the street) for the week. Well, the visiting boy brought his skateboards with him. Just past our house, the road starts to decline into a cul-de-sac. The kids start at the top of the hill, and ride the boards down into the circle. They let Jameson use one of their boards, but it was a mini size. He was having so much fun, though. So today, while at Target, I checked out the boards. The cheapest I could find was $10, so Jameson got a board. We got home just before nap time, but when we pulled in the drive, he saw the kids outside playing. He could barely wait. He jumped from the car yelling to them, “Friends! I got a skateboard!”

I couldn’t confine him to a nap, so I let him play for a while. He loves his skateboard.

He looks like such a big boy with his skateboard.

This is Naria going down the hill with him. She is 6, but acts like his little mom. Fine with me. She makes sure he’s ok, and wears his helmet. She also keeps him entertained. The kids love to play with Jameson which is kind of funny since he is 2 and they are from 6-10 years old.

My Skater boy!

(7.14.2010)

We had an eventful Monday. We headed to the lake for the ward lake day. Jameson enjoyed the water and building sand castles. He loves to get me nervous by walking out to the rope which means he is neck deep in water. He says he’s swimming. Luckily, he does come back out of the water before I have to go in after him.

Ella and I enjoyed some beach time.

Then Jameson walked his girls to their car.

He’s actually starting to like his baby sister, and he’s becoming more helpful… at times.

That night, after we were all in bed, Kevin came in and woke us up. Well, I wasn’t asleep yet, but I was still in bed. It was not something pleasant he woke us up for either. He was taking the trash out, and found a bunch of slugs. He picked the biggest one he could find and brought it to show Jameson. I have never seen slugs so big. NASTY!

Stretched out it was about 6 inches long.

(7.10.2010)

I had the bright idea to go pick fresh strawberries and then make some jam. Well it was the last weekend for strawberries so we had to go. It also happened to be a very warm day. (I say warm and not hot, because it was probably in the high 80s, and growing up in Vegas, that’s a nice day. Here, it felt really HOT!) A friend of mine said she would come with me. So we had her, and her little boy along with me and the two kids. Jameson and Evan love to play together. So we got there and got our buckets. I strapped Ella in the pack on my front and we hunted out the red strawberries. Well, since it had been so hot, the strawberries were small and really ripe. Jameson wasn’t much help, and bending over to pick the strawberries with a baby on your front was actually pretty tiring. After about an hour and a half I gave up. I decided I would just go to the farmers market on the way home, any buy their already fresh picked strawberries. Suzanna, my friend, was so sweat and probably picked most the berries (she’s pregnant mind you). The boys did like to pick, they just didn’t have the best judgment and would get sidetracked.

So we headed to the farmers market on the way home. Ella had to show off her shades from Grammy Brazell.

I bought my strawberries, and ended up eating the ones we picked. They were delicious, but very small. The jam did turn out delicious, though.

(7.9.2010)

First of all, Happy Birthday to my mom. (I guess it doesn’t have the same effect since I’m back dating these posts.)

What happens when Jameson doesn’t take a nap? By 5 pm he looks like this…

And I just have to say, What happened to Ella’s hair? She had a ton of dark hair when she was born, which is slowly growing in blond, and also falling out. So basically the only hair that is left is on top and above her ears. She pretty much has a backwards mullet. Do I just cut it and start over?

(7.8.2010)

We’ve been doing some swimming this summer in actual pools rather than lakes. Lakes are fine, but Jameson doesn’t really get a chance to swim. He mostly just plays in the water and the sand at the lake, but no swimming. This is totally different than when I was little. I lived in pools in the summer and we all knew how to swim by his age. I mean, we had to. It was Vegas, and that’s all you can do in the summer is live in the pool.

He surprised me this summer by wanting to swim. I put floaties on him, but he stays pretty vertical. He kicks as hard as he can, but doesn’t really go anywhere. Some friends had a tube for their little girl. Well, when she was out of the pool, Jameson snagged it. Then, he was off. He cruised all around the pool, and loved swimming. In fact, he didn’t want to get out of the pool.

Ella was a great observer of the activities.