Family Reunion

Here is a little slideshow of some of the pictures from my big family vacation to the beach in San Diego and Disneyland...

Teaching Language - At It's Finest!

This is how it feels to teach language to some of my children...
Seinfeld History Lesson

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An exchange I had the other day with a child...
Me: What is this?
Child: A dog
Me: You're right
Child: YES!
Me: So what group should we put the dog with?
Child: I don't know... the shirt?
Me: No. A dog is a what?
Child: DOG!
Me: Yes, but what is a dog? Is it a person?
Child: YES! ... No (and laughs)
Me: You're right, it's not a person it's an "A" "A"
Child: ANT!
Me: No, it's an "ANI.."
Child: ANIT!
Me: No, but good try, it's an "A-N-I-M..."
Child: ANIM!!
Me: ANIMAL! It's an animal
Child: Oh yeah, an animal!
Me: So where should the ANIMAL go?
Child: With the cat!
Me: (sigh of relief and roll my eyes that the exchange is over)

Mind you this concept has been gone over at least 6 times with the child. And the exclamation points are because the child says everything with emphasis and excitement!

By George, He's 2!

I've decided that being an aunt is the best job EVER! I get to spoil the nephews and then when they aren't behaving, send them to see mom :) However, I was glad I got to buy a fun vacuum toy for my nephew A's 2nd birthday. He likes to say "I need to clean, I need to clean"

Visit to Seattle

My mom and I drove up to Seattle on the 4th of July to see my brother and his family...

Since my brother's neighborhood is "un-incorporated" all types of fireworks were legal. A was scared to death so I let him wear my dad's Bose headphones (sacrificing my own hearing for the children...) I had borrowed for the trip. J thought it was great fun - noise and all! But mostly he liked chewing on the light-up necklaces I bought them :)


Since A was taking swim lessons, we decided to try out a local community pool. The temperature was a little chilly, but that didn't seem to deter the boys much!


We also tried out a new Aquarium/Zoo. You can't really go wrong with little boys and animals.


What trip would be complete without a picture of someone standing inside an animal's head?!? None, I believe :)

Spring Time Fun

Well, the time has come for me to update. I don't make any promises as to the frequencies of the updates, but 6 months is a little longer than I would like. So here were some activities from the spring...

They have this awesome park in West Jordan that the boys love to go to. Add bubbles and life just does not get any better!


My brother's kids came out for a little bit while he and his wife went to Hawaii. One of our entertainment options was going to the pool. Does it look like J likes the slide? I'm not quite sure...


My nephew A liked to do everything that his older cousin does and so I was the jumping pole that got him from place to place.


The bounce house is a FAVORITE with the boys! Although playing the video games has become more enticing than bouncing :)

I'm a Homeowner!!!!

I closed on my condo/townhouse on Tuesday March 3rd and I received the keys on Friday March 6th. Welcome to my new abode...

Doesn't the outside look inviting??


There is a half bathroom to your left in this photo and then my living room. Don't the carpets look clean? My sister and I spent about 3 hours cleaning the carpets in the whole place with a steam vacuum. Jealous you weren't there to help aren't you?!?


Where I will probably spend most of my time :)


I am almost done cleaning the kitchen. I just have to clean the inside of the fridge and stove...


This room is opened to the hallway and stairs, so it is technically a "loft" room.


The 2nd bedroom that hopefully I will eventually have a roommate for...


And the bathroom they will get to use...


This is my bedroom with my new queen bed. Well, new to me!


There is a huge soaker tub in there. It's too bad that I don't like baths! Showers only...


My friend wants this closet. One day I'm sure I'll fill it up :)

The Beach in February

We went to La Jolla beach on Saturday Feb 28. C wanted to run around in the freezing water, so I staked out my spot on the beach with A and made sandcastles. He would say "castle", I would build it, then he would knock it down and laugh hysterically. Who knew that would be so fun???


A and me relaxing on the beach.

Legoland & Dramamine

My first trip to Legoland...

I just want to know who gets paid to build these things?!?!


A could only go on a couple of rides due to height restrictions, but he loved the train!


I did go on a couple of rides with C, who was the perfect size for all of these rides. However, this is where the Dramamine came in. Who knew I would need it for kiddie rides?!?


For those of you who haven't been there - they have entire city scapes built out of legos. So I decided to take my picture @ New York City since they have a lego Citicorp building (where my dad worked pre-retirement). He would probably have been a little prouder if their stocks weren't doing so poorly...


Since C did not want his picture taken today - this is what we got! Good thing A loves to get his picture taken and says "cheese" as soon as a camera is pulled out :)


There were some play areas and A liked me to follow him around so he could label everything he saw and wait for me to confirm that he was correct.


I thought it would be fun if we were all in the shark. Can you see my eyes at the top???


I figured I should get a picture taken that you could actually tell I was in it :) 3 Dramamine and 1 Excedrin later, the day was over!

Professional Sledders...

My brother and his family came into town President's Day weekend to visit, so we took advantage of the fresh snow..

My sister is just admiring my sledding skills :) I half went off a jump and was very off-balance...


In case you weren't convinced of my skills in the last photo - I tried tubing as well!


Me and my nephew coming down the hill. I had to use my feet to make sure we didn't go over the jump - hence the flying snow!


Fortunately we made it down the hill in one piece - and he loved it!

Ou-Ou-Ou...Ah-Ah-Ah

A trip to the zoo included A saying "Ou-Ou-Ou...Ah-Ah-Ah" a thousand times and running from animal cage to animal cage. I must say that visiting the zoo has an added level excitement when in attendance with a child whose favorite thing to do is make animal sounds :)


After a few attempts, I got both of my nephews to look at the camera at the same time. Monkeys and gorillas were big hits - especially the gorilla eating his own poop. Ah the memories...


Finally we went on the merry-go-round. A chose 3 animals to sit on before finally being satisfied sitting on the animal right next to his big brother! Although I must say that the merry-go-round went a lot faster than I remembered. Next time I might need some Dramamine...