Monday, September 29, 2014

A quick visit and trip to Dinosaur National Monument

We were so lucky to have my Mom and Dad come and see us for a quick visit last weekend.  They came down to Utah to go see Elton John and we are more than grateful that they drove out here and made us a part of the trip.  The boys sure loved spending time with them.




Rai even tried some banana while they were here with Grandma's help.


We headed to the park, and I am not sure who had more fun - Grandma and Grandpa or Tracen?






My mom mentioned that this might be the last time they visit us in Vernal, and we decided to try to see more of the area.  We first had to stop at I Love Drilling, a smoothie/juice bar here that has over 50 options, sells waffles, and has a camouflage seat cover store and there is also a day spa.  With smoothies in hand we drove out to Dinosaur National Monument.  We were pleasantly surprised with what was out there. 

We drove up to the quarry and it was really cool, they have this building built on an open wall of a dinosaur quarry, you can touch a few real dinosaur bones and see hundreds.






The views from there are quite amazing. It was so cool that we went back as a family on Saturday and went on the little fossil discovery trail. 

We finished off their visit with a trip to what google said was the #1 restaurant in Vernal, The Quarry, close runner up was 7-11 coming in at #2. That tells you a bit about dining out here.

After dinner we sadly said good-bye and they left on their long drive home through the night. 

Here's hoping that we sell our place soon and get to Denver, and that their next visit is to us there.







Monday, September 15, 2014

Celebrating Tracen's 3rd Birthday

I tried to get all creative with the title of this post for about 1 minute, and gave up.  But we threw Tracen a birthday party this year.  Last year we had a great party (Tracen, Jenelle and I) but Luke and I used the excuse that Luke was already living in Utah and I was in Canada to throw a big party this year.  (This is all mostly for my record, and so that Tracen can never tell me that I don't do anything for his birthday)
Tracen has always loved the movie "Cars" and so we decided to go with that as our theme.
While looking on Pinterest for ideas, I got to the Disney website, and they had some great ideas like those Lightning McQueen cupcakes and the Mater cake.  I had to improvise a little when I realized that the M&M's I asked Luke to grab me, were actually peanut M&M's and not a little circle (where are Smarties when you need them?)


All the food had labels that corresponded to the movie.  Mater's p'tater chips (chips), white wall tires and black (donuts), Luigi's organic fuel (fruit and veggies), Uncle Topolino's Pizza (which was pizza and is not in these pictures), and our re-fueling station with Dinoco and Allinol (the drinks in the tires).

We also went BIG with a bouncy house.  We had to go to Provo to pick it up, but it was worth the drive there and back (and the chance for me to go to Costco).



I know I didn't post any pictures with any of our guests faces, but I promise there were lots of friends from church and work there and Tracen was spoiled.  Rai also didn't make it into any of the pictures, but he was passed around a bit and I was happy that he went down for a nap during the party as well.

Other interesting things:
Helium is going extinct and is hard to track down in Canada, but this isn't the case in the USA
I was worried how Tracen might react to having a bunch of kids playing with his toys, and he actually didn't care at all.
I am kind of annoyed that we bought that box of chips at Costco, as well as a huge thing of juice boxes (bags?) there and that there was way too many of them left over
I enjoyed throwing a themed party, and even though Luke doubted a few of my requests and actions, I was happy with how it turned out.
Most of the party guests were actually Canadian

Friday, September 12, 2014

We are moving!

I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Denver (more accurately Lone Tree). We are here to check out Denver and surrounding area because WE ARE MOVING!!! No real timeline or anything but our place is going to go for sale (anyone looking to move to Vernal?) and we are constantly looking at homes for sale. I'm hoping to be in Denver by Cheistmas, but we will see how things go. 

Hotels with one active 3 year old and one baby boy that needs naps is not my ideal... And improvising "healthy, balanced" meals is difficult with no car to drive while Luke is working downtown. But I do love Tracen's "coloured Cheerios" self portrait above, you can tell it is him by the green eyes. He spent a good hour eating and making happy faces. 

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Rai at 5 months


My little Rai guy is now 5 months old (plus a week or so)
Head circumference: 17.13 inches (90th percentile)
Length: 25.5 inches (60th percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs 15.5 oz (50th percentile)
Time sure seems to be flying by, and I can't believe how fast he is growing up.


He continues to be a pretty laid back and relaxed little guy.  He loves Tracen, and seriously loves to watch Tracen run around the room, and loves when Tracen talks to him and holds him (for a few minutes). 

He is rolling all over the place, and isn't quite as good as rolling from belly to back and gets frustrated when he gets stuck like that for too long. 

His hands and fingers are starting to work so well together, he is constantly grabbing at things and putting them straight into his mouth.  He loves Sophie the giraffe.
He is really starting to notice food, and watches us eat with envy, I think we will be starting on some solids in the next few weeks.  I did have him on a good 4 hour schedule, but then I got sick and my milk supply went down and we haven't quite got back on our schedule yet. 

He loves to chat, and he loves to spit and stick out his tongue.

He is quite smiley at home, but as soon as we are around new (or other) people he is somber and straight faced.  
He likes to sing a long to music in the car, and doesn't like his carseat too much after 3-4 hours in it (we have been doing a lot of traveling). 

We recently went swimming with some of our friends and Rai LOVED it.  The water was a bit cool, and I thought he would cry when we got him wet, but he was just happy as can be.  He was kicking his legs and flapping his arms and kept diving to go under the water. 

I had thought maybe Rai had some hip displacement because of some weird angles of his legs, but turns out, he is just really flexible on one side.
With Luke and I traveling so much this summer (not as much together as we would like) I have noticed Tracen really misses his Dad, but Rai has surprised me with how happy and excited he is to be with his Daddy after a few days separated.
Tracen is constantly sharing his cars and teaching Rai the ways of race cars.
He loves to bounce and it is great to allow me some time to get meals ready or (try) to tidy up the house.  





Friday, September 5, 2014

Jamie and Chet (Asian marries Japanese)

Jamie and Chet are married!!  I didn't think I would be able to make it to all the wedding festivities, but I managed to do it.  I drove up to Canada with my boys and we were able to be there for the (p)reception there, a bridal shower at my Aunts, and then we drove back down to Utah and made it to a shower that Chet's sister threw, and then the wedding and reception in Idaho.   In the month of August I think we saw Luke for a total of like 6 days or something.  Here are a few pictures the last week of wedding festivities ( I am not sure why the pictures are all over the place... has something to do with blogging from my phone)

Jamie and Chet are both half japanese (I wonder what their kids will look like!) and on their marriage license one of them is listed as Asian and one is listed as Japanese, so funny.
  

Jamie got all ready for her wedding night during a game at the shower at Kimi's.
 Last minute wedding prep

Waiting for the newlyweds:

The newlyweds:











It was so fun, and Jamie looked beautiful, I loved all her flowers and her dress and all of it.  Big thanks to Candi and Chris for taking Tracen to Bearworld with his cousins, and Jenelle for cuddling Rai during the wedding. It was so fun to be with our family before we all took off to different places.  We had a tearful group hug good-bye before Jamie and Chet left (we didn't want it to be like Father of the Bride)