Sunday Afternoons

Sunday afternoons are always interesting at our house. We get out of church at 4 and since Dan stays after to do his clerk duties, the kids and I get to hang out for a while. Mason is normally exhausted by this time and we normally drag him straight to bed, but since he slept for about 10 minutes in Nursery this week, he was set to go! We used to have nice meals on Sundays, but lately our feasts have been very similar to our weeknight dinners--anything quick that I can bake or stir while also juggling two kids! This past Sunday it happened to be salmon and Rice-a-Roni. This is what the kids were doing:

For some reason Mason loves to carry armfulls of pillows and blankets around the house. If they're not on his bedroom floor, they're being drug through the kitchen or, recently, down the stairs. I was washing his bedding, and I guess he wasn't real thrilled with the plain white pillows because he found those green pillows in our guest bedroom to carry around. It's a great feeling when I put him down at night to know that his pillows have been on the kitchen floor and on the tile inside the front door--yuck! That's why they were in the wash.

Tristyn was being so good just chillin' on her fun blanket from Grandma Higbee. She loves to read those soft books that are next to her. I love this cute little skirt that we recenlty bought at the Children's Place.

Mason has become very independent. He knows where his juice boxes are and he doesn't hesitate to get one when he's thirsty. I swear he goes through 2 or 3 a day. Not only does he get them from the fridge, he takes them out of our storage room in the basement! Normally if their on a high shelf in the fridge he'll pull us over to help him--this is the first time I've caught him climbing on the shelves! Luckily I had my camera handy!



Tristyn fell asleep cuddling this cute bear (her hand is covering the DFCU logo). I guess all of that rolling on the floor wore her out!

So now Dan knows what goes on around here while he's at church!

Our big girl!

Tristyn has been doing a lot of new things lately! I was so excited on Sept 11th when she rolled from front to back and I even tried to get video of it on my phone to send to Dan. She did roll over a month or so ago, but I had propped her up on her arms so really really just had to fall over. I was excited that she was rolling without being propped. Well, when Dan got home and I told him about it, he said that she had also been doing it the night before when I was at my scrapbooking workshop. Why the heck didn't he tell me??? That's an important milestone (and is a good reminder that I shouldn't leave her unattended on the bed!). She has almost rolled from back to front several times, but that dang arm keeps getting in her way.

Since she's been holding her head up really well and enjoys sitting up, we brought up our Baby Einstein Excersaucer. She's a little small for it, but her feet reach the bottom and she is able to turn around in it. Within minutes she had figured out how to push the buttons to hear the animal sounds. She isn't content with the toy that's in front of her, though--she wants to get to the toy that's just to the right of her. It's fun to see her in it and I love that I can get a few things done while she plays. It's also a great place for her to watch Mason--he could entertain her for hours without even trying.

It won't be long before she figures out how to reach for things. She's kind of already doing it, but mostly she is good at grabbing anything that brushes by her hand. And of course, anything in her hand goes straight to her mouth! If she doesn't have a hold of a toy, she'll suck on her middle two fingers, or even her whole hand (she seriously has almost had the whole thing in her mouth).

She's quite the jabber box and it's fun to have little conversations with her. She's very matter of fact about things and she has this look like she's telling us the most important secret ever (I wish she could use our words, because I'd give anything to hear stories about where she's been). She's let out a few chuckles, but I have to work hard to get that. I'm excited to hear her laugh. She gets the closest when she hears us laughing--it's like she missed the joke but doesn't want everyone to know she did, so she'll smile and wonder what the big deal is. The other night she was standing on my lap and I was throwing my head back and laughing like a witch and she looked up and chuckled a little bit. It was dang cute.

She has outgrown most of her 3 month clothes, so it's been fun to dress her in new clothes again (as well as buy lots of cute clothes for winter). We went for a walk earlier today and she was able to sit up in the stroller. She loved being able to look around and watching Mason on his tricycle. It's great that she's easily entertained. Hopefully she'll stay that way! We're so blessed to have a good baby that is happy and content. I swear that I could eat her up!

Here's a photo of Tristyn and Mason relaxing a couple of weeks ago. All of my other photos are on the other computer, so I'll have to add those later. I find that I hold off on blogging because I don't have quick access to photos--then I end up not blogging at all. I need to work on a solution for that!

Finally Friends

I know it's midnight and I've posted a bunch tonight already, but since I'm becoming a blogaholic and haven't posted in a couple of weeks, I really need to catch up (I wish I could stay up until midnight every night to post or read posts!). I was ecstatic on Friday when Mason let me put Tristyn on his lap! I've been really careful not to push her on him because he does better with new things if he can warm up to them first. I've asked him if he wants to hold her and he always says no, but he was sitting on the couch the other day and let me set Tristyn on his lap.

He even put his arm around her to help hold her up and kissed her.

Then just like that he was done and his full attention was on the TV!

He thinks it's silly when I play Patta-Cake and peek-a-boo with her and he'll sometimes join in. As a side note, he's been filling in blank words (and sometimes several words) when we sing I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee and when we read familiar stories. It's refreshing to have him say new words and use them to ask for things he wants rather than pointing and grunting. He still has a ways to go before he's caught up, but we're grateful for his progress. Another side note--he did get a haircut over the weekend and no longer looks like a child from the 70's (see Dan's kid photo below).

How Time Flies

I can't believe that my baby is already 3 months old! My sister gave Tristyn this cute outfit and I've been waiting patiently for her to fit into it so I could snap a few photos. It matches her room perfectly, so I want one to hang on the wall (although I may need to run to Target to have them take one worth hanging!). It's still a tad big for her, but I wanted to capture her at three months! She's about the cutest baby girl ever, but that's just my opinion!

Are they ours?

I pulled out a few of our baby/kid pictures to compare them to Tristyn and Mason. What do you think--any resemblance? I think you can click on each collage to view them larger.

Top: Tristyn 3 months, Steph (age unknown, but probably about 3 mos also).

Bottom: Steph (age unknown, but probably approx 4 months), Tristyn 3 mos

Dan is the old fashioned pinkish photo. Mason is about 2 1/2 in all of the photos. I'm not sure how old Dan is in his, but I assume it's around 3 or 4. Other than the full rust-colored hair (okay, I know it's just the photo), Mason looks a lot like him.

Wild (Winter??) Weather Weekend

I'm not talking about this weekend (which was absolutely perfect weather)--I'm talking about last weekend, Labor Day weekend. I'm not sure I've ever worn a swimsuit and a snow clothes in the same day, besides maybe when we would go hot tubbing in the winter. Mason had a blast doing both last weekend!

We started the weekend on Friday by letting Mason play outside with the hose while I worked at the table just inside the door (he has no sense of water conservation and we give in because it keeps him occupied for hours!)

Meanwhile Tristyn was having naked bum time to help her diaper rash (she managed to turn herself all the way around and pee on the carpet).

On Friday evening we took Mason to the pool. He didn't go down the slide quite as many times as he did a couple of weeks ago (26 times), because he decided it was more fun to hang out in the deep pool and watch the kids dive and make big splashes. He did pretty well at getting himself around with his life jacket on. He even climbed up on the diving board and we tried to get him to jump to Dan, but he wouldn't do it. Jumping off the edge was good enough for him!

On Saturday we went to Logan and visited Diane and Emelia while Dan golfed in the Founder's Day golf tournament. The weather was great enough that afternoon to go fourwheeling, so Dan and Mason went on a fun ride over to the reservoir. After a yummy birthday dinner for Grandma Higbee and uncle Dave (Dan's brother), we headed home. Normally we stay for the Founder's Day parade and festivities, but I was too lazy to pack overnight stuff for everyone. Plus, we wanted to be back for our buddy Drew's baby blessing on Sunday. That's when the weather started to go crazy! It was so windy going out to the car after the blessing. It started pouring that night, so we opened the door to let Mason watch.

And this is how Labor Day 2008 started. Dan had to run out and empty all of our gutters and extenders because they were so backed up with hail. We filled a bowl up to show Mason, but that wasn't good enough--he wanted to play in it!

He was so mad when we brought him in, so we let him go back out with his warm clothes on and play for a few minutes. He was still mad even after that! It'll be fun to build snowmen with him this winter!

The yucky weather ruined our plans to either go to the zoo or the airplane museum, so we tried to go to Kung Fu Panda. At first Mason sat on our laps and did great. We thought we'd be able to enjoy the whole movie! Well, about 15 minutes into it he was done sitting and just wanted to run around, so we ended up leaving. At least we got to have lunch and spend a few minutes at the movie with with Wiggins' (thanks for coming with us even though we ended up leaving!)

We didn't do much else for the rest of Labor Day. After all of that we were ready to be lazy! We're already looking forward to the next three day weekend!

It Must Be Love!

Mason has taken a fancy toward the Old Navy mannequins! We stopped by last week for their $12 jean sale and for some reason he was drawn to them from the second we walked in! We had him count the fingers on one and when I asked him to count the toes he looked down and laughed because they don't have toes--they're just stumps! I asked him where the head was and he pointed up to where the head should have been (they were all headless). He started rubbing their arms and legs and hugging them. There were three mannequins at the front of the store and he ran from one to another hugging them and checking them out. I'm glad that I happened to have my camera so I could snap a few photos (the third photo below was actually a video and my software wouldn't rotate it, so sorry you have to crank your head)! I would have guessed that Mason would be scared to approach them, but he was quite the ladies man. Silly kid!

I

Phelps Phan

I think everyone would agree that the Beijing Olympics were a lot of fun to watch! It's amazing how addicting they are. I love watching beach volleyball and gymnastics, so I was so glad that Mason seemed to enjoy them too (otherwise he'd get the DVD remote and turn on Open Season or whatever cartoon happened to be in). He thought it was so cool to watch the gymnists on the bars and rings. We're not really into the Equestrian competitions, but we happened to turn on the obstacle jumping (sorry that I don't know the exact name for it) and Mason start jumping off his little chair as the horses jumped over each obstacle. He also loved immitating the divers by jumping off the couch onto a pile of pillows (I have video that I will try to post later). During volleyball, Dan blew up a balloon and let him hit it around. My favorite, though, was when he started rotating his arms saying 'swi, swi' when we were watching Michael Phelps.

Before he could get too involved in the Olympics, he had to make sure Tristyn was content. He's been great at helping give her binky when she cries.

Here he is swimming in mid air with Phelps in the background. This was the match for his 8th Gold Medal.

We all know how it turned out. Phelps had every reason to celebrate! On a side note--he's dang wripped.

I'm glad we were all able to witness this moment. What a great athlete! We're excited to watch him again in 2012 London! Since this TV isn't HD ready, we'll either be watching him on our big screen or hopefully on a new flatscreen (we're crossing our fingers for Christmas!).

Popsicle Smiles

Mason has really loved popsicles this summer (I know, what kid doesn't love them). I gave him this red popsicle with a special purpose in mind--I needed photos to put on the "Popsicle Smiles" scrapbook page that made for our a Quarterly swap that I'm involved in.

He took his sweet time eating it . . .

And didn't seem to mind that it was dripping all down his arm, on his clothes, and through the holes of his Crocs.

He savored every last drop.

Thanks Mason for being my subject!

Jon & Kate Plus 8

What is it with this show? For the past three months I have been seriously addicted. For the past week I've been going through withdrawal (since I went back to work). Before June, I had noticed the show when channel surfing, but hadn't ever watched it. When my doctor was releasing me from the hospital, for some reason he mentioned the show and make me curious about it. That's how my maternity leave addiction began! For those of you who haven't heard about the show, it's about a couple who couldn't get pregnant so they used fertility treatment and ended up having twins. After that they decided they wanted one more, and after another fertility treatment they ended up with sextuplets. Can you imagine??!! I think the show just started it's third season, so I had two seasons to catch up on! Luckily, I was able to catch several marathons and 4 reruns each weekday (I planned Tristyn's feedings as much as possible around 9 am and 2 pm so I wouldn't miss one). I checked the episode list online and I think I managed to see about 90% of the old shows. I'll still try to catch episodes I haven't seen on the days I'm home, but you'll bet that Monday nights at 7 pm, I'll be planted on the couch watching the new season!

Dan asked me why I like the show so much. I'm not really sure--maybe it's to see how Kate manages to keep her house almost spotless despite having 8 kids running around (I can't keep mine put together with only two kids). Maybe it's because I come from a family of 8 kids and I'd like to see how this family compares (although we didn't have any multiples). Maybe it's because Aunt Jody has the same flowery yellow couch that I have (it's just as ugly in her house). Maybe it's because I like to be the fly on the wall watching how other homes operate. Maybe it's because I wonder how they can afford to feed 10 people on one income. Maybe it's because Kate and Jon can be blundt without offending each other. Or maybe it's because I like to get ideas on disciplining my kids, or ideas on keeping them entertained all day. Whatever the reason, I've really enjoyed watching the show. I'm trying to only watch the episodes I haven't seen now, rather than watching every episode that comes on. I know I'm not the only one--Natalie has admitted that she's onto the show too! Why do you like it, Nat??

The other show that I forgot I really liked is Scrubs! I only watched the first season, so it's been fun watching reruns. I haven't forgotten about Friends, though. I still catch it on cable when I can, but I'm afraid to get out the DVDs because Mason would make them his own!

Now that I'm back to work, I'm realizing again that I don't have time to keep up with all of the TV shows that I'd like to. And starting on Labor Day, I'm going to have a real dilemna--Prison Break or Jon & Kate?? They both air on Monday nights! We seriously need a DVR!

All Smiles

I was finally able to get a couple of shots of Tristyn smiling. These are just little smiles--her full smile is pretty much impossible to catch on camera. I'm going to keep trying though! She also rolled over for the first time last Friday! I put her down on her belly for a couple of minutes while I packed and when I checked on her she had rolled to her back! I know that she was high up on her arms when I put her down, so that probably helped. Either way, she's growing up way too fast!

Season for Reunions

This weekend we went up to Star Valley for the Jenkins Reunion. This year they picked a spot up Grey's River that's closer to Murphy Lake. It was beautiful and the weather was great! We opted to stay at the Flying Saddle Resort in Alpine rather than tent-it with the baby. It was her first 'long' roadtrip (she's been to Logan and to Fairview--both of which are about 1 1/2 hours away). It normally takes about 3 1/2 hours to get to my parents, but the trip up to Alpine took us about 6 hours! We left our house at about 5:30, stopped for gas, then for cash and a dirty diaper and were on the road by 6:00. We stopped in Evanston to grab dinner and feed Tristyn. The 1 1/2 hour stop included 3 more diaper changes for Tristyn and a complete meltdown from Mason. We also stopped in Cokeville for a quick feeding. I never imagined it would have been such an ordeal to travel with two kids! Luckily, my sister Melissa rode with us and catored to the kids in the back seat. Despite only having about 1/2 hour nap, Mason had to explore the hotel room even though it was midnight and we were all completely exhausted! I think he finally fell asleep at about 1:15 am.

On Friday we went up to the camp and had a great time visiting with everyone. We let Mason play at the lake for a while. He loved riding out in uncle Danny's raft. It was cute to see him and his cousin Emelia shooting water guns at everyone. There was a rope swing across the lake that some of the kids jumped off and my cousin Travis 'remodeled' a log raft that someone left. He looked like Tom Hanks from Castaway out there!

Mason also loved the river at camp. I'm pretty sure he thought it was his duty to throw every branch and pinecone in. If one got stuck on a rock, he'd make us push it out so it would go downstream. Dan went shooting with a few of the guys (I wanted to go, but had to keep track of the kids). We mainly sat around in the shade and visited. My uncles Paul and Doug and their families did a great jop planning it and although we were only there for the day, we had a great time!

On Sunday we stopped at my parents for lunch and to visit for a while. The trip home went much better and we made it in the normal 3 1/2 hours since Tristyn slept until Park City and Mason slept for a while, then was content watching his DVDs. We need to start shopping for a trailer so we can actually camp next year! I'm pretty sure Tristyn will love playing down in the dirt by then! Here are a few photos:

Arriving at Camp

My mom and Tristyn. She slept most of the day.

Dan, Mason and my brother Danny

Mason's new lifejacket left a tattoo on his back! He was the toughest guy at the lake!

Mason and Emelia playing with the waterguns.

Mason inspecting the twig he just threw in the river.

Aunt Ruth chased Mason around for a while to help get his wiggles out!