Silver Lake

One of our family's favorite Sunday afternoon past times is to go up to Silver Lake at Brighton ski resort. The kids love to look for animals to feed and we love that the temperature is so much cooler up there! Paige had the idea to go up after church one Sunday and we invited our friends, David and Heather Doman, to come with us. We have known them since we moved in, but never gotten together. It was so fun to get to know them. Later that week, we got an email from Steve's brother inviting us there for a picnic the following Sunday. Of course, it didn't take much convincing to go up again! (Just a lot more bug spray!!)

While the girls and I went around the lake with our cousins. Little Bode was able to stay back with daddy and his Aunties to be snuggled. No one seemed to mind taking a turn to hold him! Especially Aunt Valerie, who just kept saying, "Brady is going to have so much fun with him when he gets home!" (Just over 4 months left!!)

Paige and Claire had a great time with Paige's "twin cousin" Katherine and the "big girls", Victoria, Tavia and Tessa. They climbed up giant rocks and hid bread crumbs in squirrel holes.

We totally scored on our first trip and were able to find 2 sets of baby ducks for the girls to feed stale hot dogs buns to. However, we couldn't find them the following week. But look how cute they were!

We had a great time eating yummy pulled pork sandwiches and homemade ice cream. And of course visiting for hours on end while the kids ran themselves wild!

Tepanyaki

We seriously have the funnest neighbors ever! Since the day we moved in, Steve hit it off with our next-door neighbor Brandon. We spend almost every evening chatting in the driveway while the kids play and this summer, their little boy Maihson and the girls have become inseparable. Over the weekend, they invited us to join them at Tepanyaki for dinner. Now we have been there before, and knowing our girls, vowed NEVER to take them to a place like that. But it was dinnertime, of COURSE Steve and I wanted to eat there, and we really didn't want to deal with the girls whining until the Browns got back, and we had a coupon...so we did it! I was shocked at how great the kids were! We had told them there would be a show, and Paige kept asking me when they were going to start the movie, but seemed thoroughly entertained.

The place was deserted! It wasn't until we were almost done that another family walked in. There were lots of ohhs and ahhs as our chef flipped raw eggs around on his spatula and made "fire" on the tabletop. I knew the girls would love the onion volcano, but what I wasn't planning on was them loving the food. My girls?? The picky ones??? I simply ordered a larger meal than usual with extra noodles to share with them and they chowed down! Both girls finished their fried rice, Paige took over my soup, and both girls went crazy over the steak! I even got Claire to eat a piece of zucchini. (Only one piece, but a piece just the same!)

I think aside from the awesome company and the yummy food, the best part of the night was Paige's comment, "We should totally come here more often!" I think we will!!

Thanks Brandon, Chasity, Maihson and Addysen for a fun night!

A Snaggletooth No More!

This is the snaggletooth smile we have seen at our house for the past several weeks. No matter what I bribe her with, Paige is not willing to let this tooth go! She seems to think it is cute to poke the crooked little thing out of her lip, or whistle and watch it sway in the wind. Short of sitting on her again, I have tried EVERYTHING!! I have even tried to pull it in her sleep, and got smacked! Finally today, I just couldn't stand to look at it anymore. I told her it had to come out today, or I would call the dentist to pull it out and that came with shots! She poutedly retreated to her room and came back with a hand-drawn diagram of her "plan". She planned to tie dental floss to her tooth and the other end to the Polly Pocket limo. Claire would dress 2 Polly's for the prom, put them in the limo, and drive it away, pulling out the tooth. She got out the Pollys, hooked up the floss with double knots, and chickened out. She came to me with the scissors, crying, begging me to remove the floss from her tooth. With a quick yank, I popped out the floss and the tooth came with it!! (Lucky me, she would have killed me if my trick hadn't worked!)

But look what a happier, cuter girl it left behind!! Now, if only the ATM would give out ones....

drinking buddies

I don't understand the obsession...but lately the girls are ALWAYS wanting to pretend they are babies and drink out of bottles. I have always said no...I don't need MORE dishes to do, but this particular day I caved. They were so excited to share a drink of juice together, but both girls remarked how slow the juice came out, so maybe they won't ask again!

4th of July Tradition

I know it is terribly "un-patriotic", but when my kids hear 4th of July, they instantly think of hot air balloons. This has been a tradition Steve and I started when Claire was just a baby. It is a VERY early morning, but worth it to see the magic in the kids' faces. It doesn't matter how many times we see them, every year is so exciting to them.
Of course, this being Bode's first time, he didn't really seem to care. He looked at them a little bit, and jumped when they shot the fire in to blow them up, but other than that he was just happy to be along for the ride.

Among our favorites were, the piggy bank (every year!), Smokey the Bear and this year a new balloon, Tony the Tiger! In talking to the Frosted Flakes guy, rumor has it that next year will bring Mickey Mouse! I'm voting for the Coke bottle, but this is Provo.

Even though it is painfully early, the sunrise is breath-taking!

And the best part...Krispy Kreme has hot donuts on the way home!

The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing But the Tooth...SO HELP ME!!!

In preschool last year, Paige lost her first two teeth on the bottom without a problem, so when a few more got loose this Spring, I didn't panic. Who knew the drama that was ahead? One on the bottom right became a little bit loose and out of NOWHERE in the 3 hours she was at school one day, her top left tooth became ready-to-fall-out loose. It dangled there for weeks. She would wiggle the teeth with her tongue, blow air and whistle through the top one, but refused to pull them. She had done it before...what was the big deal?? It got to the point where I tried to pull them in her sleep, she busted me a few times before I gave that up. I tried bribing her with money, milk shakes, etc....to no avail. Then I put her in the bathtub with Bode. As they were playing, Bode tried to remove her nose, to which we all cheered, "Not her nose...get the tooth!" In an attempt to be funny, Paige punched herself (not hard) in the mouth, to show Bode how to "get her" and knocked out the bottom tooth. Weeks later, that top tooth was still hanging by a thread, but by this point she was crying about it non-stop. She still wanted it to fall out by itself, but her little gums were red and swollen trying to push it out and she couldn't eat. Finally, tired of the whining, I pinned her to the ground (don't judge me, it wasn't that abusive) and pulled the thing out. It hardly took any effort, but she was not happy. She cried for about an hour saying that she looked hideous and wanted it back in. That being said, this picture is from a few days later, after she has healed from the trauma. She was thrilled to see that the tooth fairy had come and left her a dollar, and more importantly read her note begging her to leave the tooth, which she did. She came running in to our room that first morning, where Claire was dead asleep, frantically waving her dollar. Claire sat straight up yelling, "You got money??" Paige actually forgot about the second tooth for a few nights, but finally found that second dollar. By then it must have been old hat because she just casually checked her pillow after I had mentioned it a few times. However, when she removed her dollar from her tooth fairy box, she handed it to Claire, saying it was for her since she already had one. See...sometimes they can be sweet to each other!
So as Paige is loosing her teeth...Bode has been gaining his. It's hard to believe his are coming in so late compared to the girls, but my dentist has told me the longer they stay in the gums, the healthier they will be. So, here's to no cavities ever!! He has been so great through all of it too. I mean really, does this look like the face of a teething baby??

So, for the record...Bode, first tooth, bottom right, June 24.

Second white nubbin coming in soon on the left.