Garfield Park–July 20

Last week, I drove down to Ashland to spend some time with my mom helping her get ready for my sister’s wedding on Friday.  It was fun to be there with her and help plan and prepare for Camille and Bryce’s wedding.  We did take a few breaks for the kids.  Tuesday it was really rainy, but Wednesday, the weather was perfect, so we went to Garfield Park, where they have some fountains you can turn on for the kids to play in.  Becky and Nate and their two kids came with us, and Jake and Stacey joined us a little later with their kids.  The kids had fun splashing in the water and filling up the buckets mom had brought. 

             

The three cousins taking a break to eat a snack

Stay tuned for an account of the wedding!

Berry Picking

On Friday, my dad had a conference up here in Portland, so my parents drove up late Thursday and stayed with us until Saturday afternoon.  As soon as they got here late Thursday, I left to go meet Shane at the theater to see the last Harry Potter at 12:01 a.m..  We met up with several of Shane’s work friends, and it was fun to go and participate in the Harry Potter frenzy and to see all of the Harry Potter fans dressed up in their costumes (no, we didn’t dress up). 

Friday morning, while Shane was at work and my dad at his conference, Mom, the boys, and I went berry picking.  We were hoping to get some blueberries, but they had just come on, so while we got some, they really needed about one more week to fully ripen.  We also picked some raspberries, and there were a ton of them.  Mom and I had a hard time not thinking of Grandpa Landon and his huge raspberry patch.  I always remember waking up in the morning and seeing grandpa outside picking raspberries, helping pick buckets full, and enjoying a delicious bowl of raspberries and half & half.

Landon was a pretty good picker.  Davis, on the other hand, pretty much just ate them.  We asked him at one point if he had any berries in his bucket.  He paused, looked in his bucket, then looked up and said, “Nope!”  If he ever did get a few in his bucket, they disappeared pretty quickly.  James was pretty content in his stroller at first, eating his cheerios and even some berries, but eventually he wanted out.  He was in heaven walking around and picking berries. 

     

James discovering he could reach the blueberries from his stroller, and trying on a bucket hat

   

The evidence of James’s berry eating

 

A bucket of raspberries, and Landon and Davis resting in the shade

That night, we walked over to the park and played a game of Bocce.  I won’t say the score, but let’s just say Mom and Dad did much better than me and Shane.

 

Saturday morning, my mom and I went to a community garage sale and scored some great items, especially stuff for kids.  We had fun looking through the items for sale and getting some bargains.  Mom and Dad had to leave pretty early, but they did have time to stay for lunch and to eat some berries for dessert.

  

James did his “mmmm mmmm” sound when he saw the berries, so my mom fed him some while he sat on her lap.

Landon and Davis with some blueberries (Landon’s favorite)

Becky and Nate’s–July 9

Friday evening, after James’s birthday party, we arrived in Lehi to visit with Becky and Nate for a day.  Unfortunately, we didn’t take many pictures (I didn’t take any), but we had fun relaxing with them and letting Landon and Davis play with Bennett.  Saturday, we went swimming at their pool, played at the playground, and in the evening, we went down to BYU campus to walk around and show the boys where we went to school.  Camille, Bryce, and Camille’s good friend Sara walked around campus with us and came back to Becky and Nate’s for some brownies and games.  Here are a few pictures of our walk on campus:

   

Cute baby Ryan in his stroller, and me, Camille, Bryce, and Sara talking with each other

  

The boys had fun going down this steep hill by the library, and James had fun as long as he was pushing Ryan around in the stroller!

Thanks Becky and Nate for letting us come for a short visit.  It was fun to stay at your house!

This ends my many Utah-trip posts.  I was smart this time and did all of my blog posts in Windows Live Writer as we drove home, so all I had to do this week was go in and publish one or two per day.  I haven’t got caught up on anything else, but at least I did that!

James’s 1st Birthday–July 8

Friday was James’s 1st Birthday!  We were excited to be able to celebrate in Utah with Shane’s family.   We had fun relaxing in the morning before beginning the rest of the day’s activities.

  

For his birthday and for our last day in Ogden, we decided to go swimming at North Shore, a fun swim place in North Ogden.  The boys had fun with the fountains, the river, and all of the different water-splashing areas.

       

James had woken up early that morning, apparently excited for his birthday, and then hadn’t taken a good morning nap, so he got tired pretty fast after we got there.  Christie held him on her lap while he napped for quite awhile.  Apparently, Grandpa was a little tired too, because he soon dozed off while reading his book. 

 

After swimming for a couple of hours, we headed back for lunch and a small birthday party for James.

 

James’s cake and cupcakes, and his birthday balloons.  He was pretty excited to see the balloons and kept pointing up at them.

 
Singing happy birthday, and Landon and I helping James blow out his candle

 

Clapping for James, and James eating his birthday cupcake (we had to change his outfit after!)

 

Mark and Melanie, and Grandpa holding Ames

 

After the cake and ice cream, we moved over to the living room for James to open his presents.  He had two big brothers who were pretty excited to help him out, but once we reminded them, they were pretty good about letting James open his presents.  It’s kind of hard to choose presents for your third boy, but he got some really fun gifts, including a ball and monster truck from us, a fun ladybug and car from Grandma and Grandpa Malan, and a cute rhino flashlight from Mark and Melanie.

     

James and Ames playing with the cute ladybug from Grandma and Grandpa

 

James opening his ball from us, and the four cousins together

 

James walking around pulling his new ladybug, and James and Ames playing together

After the party, we unfortunately had to pack up and leave.  We had such a fun week, and the time just flew by while we were there!  It’s always sad to leave, but we look forward to the next great time together!  Thanks Kent and Christie for an amazing week!