Lucy

The stars of our Utah trip, that my boys look forward to seeing as much as anyone else, are Lucy (my mom's class hamster) and Piper and Happy (the Schow's dogs).  You might remember the tragic fate of the original Lucy hamster (squished under the couch) but no worries...Lucy Deucy is here to take her place.

Every morning my mom would get Lucy out for my boys.  Bryce is content to sit on the table and watch her run around.  His favorite is when she runs across his legs.  

Caden stands right by, wearing special gloves.  When Lucy takes the plunge off the table and runs for it, Caden is in charge of tracking her down and catching her.  The gloves are if she decides to bite.

Chad told me he used to carry his pet hamster around in his pocket when he was a little boy.  I try to make him say things like that quietly so as not to give my own little boys any ideas.

Oh Snow.

30 seconds before I took this picture, Chad said, "Let me show you how it's done."

Wedding Day

I woke up the morning after the wedding dinner and went out for a jog before heading to Salt Lake for the wedding.   A few minutes into my run, it started to sprinkle and was a downpour when I got home.  By the time we left for the temple an hour later, it was a full on snow storm.  The snow was steady, peaceful, and beautiful.  It didn't stop falling until the next morning.

If pictures speak a thousand words, this one sums up my niece Abbey very well:

Chris was really worried no one would be there to clap when they came out of the temple.  He told me at least 4 times that morning I'd better be there.  

Everyone moving to the steps for one (very quick) group photo:

Love my dad's face in this picture:

It was quite the ordeal trying to keep them dry (by "them" I mean Shayli and her dress...we weren't so worried about Chris.)

But I think they got some good ones: 

Wedding Dinner

I took a little break from blogging and I'm sure the 4 of you that read this missed me, huh.  I felt like I needed a big event to get me back into it and it finally happened...my little brother Chris got married!

The first festivity was the wedding dinner which they held the night before.  My sister and I were in charge of decorating and we were pretty pleased with how it turned out.  You can't tell from my awful-flash pictures, but it was really pretty. I got different sizes and shapes of jars and put a variety of yellow and white flowers in them, with a lot of billy balls since those are Shayli's favorite.  I also made a really cute program by sewing pieces of cardstock together, but alas, no pictures.

My sister and I: (Thanks to Chris' friend for the awesome photography skills on the blurry picture...)

The happy couple:

My dad started the program by saying that Shayli’s family is very talented (all three of her brothers were state wrestling champs), but quiet, and that our family is the opposite—not too many talents, but we all love to talk.

I gave the speech about Chris from my family.  I began by truthfully saying that I’ve been planning what to say about my brother at his wedding dinner since I was 11. (My original speech told the bride to be that Chris has to pee first thing every morning, but since she has 3 brothers, I figure she already knows that.)  My dad had warned me to only take 3 minutes so I talked really fast trying to get it all in.  Chad told me I talked closer to 15.  What can I say?  I really love Chris.

Next up...the day it snowed 12 inches...

 Another happy couple:

Caden

 Caden sure keeps me on his toes!  We'll be driving in the car and he'll ask (this one was just today), "Mom?  Remember the time we were at the airport when Casey was coming home and great Grandma popped my gold balloon and Mark's wife gave me a silver one and we got in the car to go home and your hair got stuck in dad's watch and it pulled it out and dad said he was sorry?  Why?"  He remembers the smallest details and  is always wanting to know "Why?"

Caden started preschool back up.  He is in his buddy Sean's class and the first day the teacher said they were having a hard time with wrestling during center's time.  It kind of made me laugh, but luckily they've gotten better.   One day when I asked him how school was that day he said, "Mom?  Hannah kissed me!"  I asked him what he said, "Nothing--I just wiped it off."

Recently at family night we were acting out if a friend was trying to get you to do something.  He's been trying that out on me, "Please mom?  Come on--if you play with me I will be your son." instead of "friend" like we'd gone over.  

He's also trying to us positive reinforcement on me.  He told me, "Mom, if you don't put me in time out for 3 days, I will give you a secret identity."  Then the next day, "Mom, you're doing a really good job not putting me in time out...I think you're going to get your secret identity!"

He still loves catching rolly pollies on our morning jobs.  Yesterday I didn't have a container to put them in, but let him just carry it in his hand.  When we got home he couldn't find it.  We searched the stroller but finally determined it had gotten away. 

About ten minutes later, he all of a sudden said, "Oh!  I did bring it home.  It was just stuck in my elbow."

Gross.

One of our favorite things is to go to garage sales together.  I give him a few quarters before we leave and let him pick out a toy or two.  When we were in Utah, we were at garage sales with my parents one day.  Caden had spent all of his quarters for the morning.  When we were leaving, Caden was carrying a book and my dad told him to put it back because he hadn't bought it.  The lady said, "Actually-he did.  He found a penny on the sidewalk and gave it to me for the book."  Well played, Caden.

Everyday he has preschool I put a little surprise treat with his snack.  Usually it's 3 or 4 skittles or gummy bears.  And everyday when I pick him up, the first thing he does is open his lunch box and pull out one treat that he saved for me.  It really is the sweetest thing ever.  One day on the way out of class his teacher gave him a smartie.  He bit it in half and gave me a piece.  Life as a mom doesn't get much better than that.

Bryce

My boys are sure growing!  Bryce is at such a fun age when he is learning to do so many new things.  For awhile his new things was "prayers".  Several times throughout each meal he'd fold his hands and call us to do the same.  We usually oblige and he smiles and giggles about it.

Licking the plate clean from his birthday cake:

He's becoming a tad bit possessive about things.  If he's sitting on my lap and Caden comes, Bryce screams and pushes him.  Usually it's the older child doing that, isn't it?  The other day I was washing his hands in the sink and he was just playing in the water.  Caden came up to wash his hands which made Bryce scream and try to grab him.  We're going to have to work on that bit...

Bryce still isn't walking.  He'll push a little walker around the room but as soon as we try to go beyond that, he kneels down and starts crawling.  If he's not in a hurry, then neither am I!  It's easier to catch a crawler than a walker.

Bryce got his first haircut. Well, actually, Caden got his first pair of scissors...and you can probably guess the rest.  Luckily it's just one spot on top of his head and as Caden pointed out--Bryce really needed a haircut.  We'll probably be doing the rest to match the one spot soon.

On the morning these next pictures were taken, Caden had finished his breakfast.  Bryce crawled over, got up in the chair, and started eating the French toast using his fork.  I was so surprised since he'd never used his own utensil before.  He was very very proud of himself.

Bryce loves his Duckie.  At bedtime and nap time he just needs his Duckie and he's good to go.  

For awhile when asked for a kiss, Bryce would say "MMMmmmmm" and lean in for a kiss.  I guess I asked too many times because a few weeks later he's over it.  Now the only way he'll give me a kiss is if Caden gives me one first and I make a big deal of it.  Then suddenly Bryce is game.

I don't care if I have to trick him into giving me kisses...I'll take all the loves I can get from this little boy!!

Summer

There is something about summer--swimming, popsicles, barbeques--that I can never get enough of.  I was really happy to spend a month of summer in Utah.  While Chad completed his second clinical rotation for the year in Spanish Fork, the boys and I kept busy.  I loved that Caden and Bryce got to do so many things that I loved doing as a kid.

We spent a lot of time with the cousins.  Sometimes it was meeting at Artic Circle for free kiddie cones or others at a splash pad for a pizza picnic...we never ran out of cousins from either side or activities to entertain us.  

Sometimes all you need is a hole in a field and you're good for awhile.

The biggest bummer of the month came in the form of a stomach flu passed from one person to the next.  Caden literally slept for three days straight.

On the 4th of July we went to Strawberry for fishing.  Toward the end of the morning we all emptied our pockets for a prize.  We came up with movie tickets, a king size Snickers bar, some loose change and a few bucks for the winner.  Jon was reeling in the winning fish when my brother Mike flung his pole up over his head, with a flying fish to follow, to win it all.  

Chad had a great experience at the clinic.  They kept him busy, including an emergency call one Saturday night around 8 pm.  A foal had fallen in a window well and had broken through the glass when trying to climb out.  Chad and the doctor cleaned and stitched the horse until 2 in the morning. All in a days work I guess.

Bryce's new accessory

Chad and I went out to dinner for his birthday.  We got a phone call that Bryce had fallen down the stairs and hurt his arm.  We hurried back, and by the time we got there he was reaching out, grabbing things, and petting the dogs.  We figured he was all right.

However, two days later he was still not putting weight on it and crying whenever I touched it.  I took him in for an x-ray and found out his arm is broken.  He's now sporting an arm sling that will be around for a few weeks.  The tech who fit the mold told me it was the tiniest one she'd ever done.

Bryce had to re-learn to crawl and you can see how he did it here or here.  He's been getting used to doing things one handed, and since he wanted to constantly be held, I'm learning to do things one handed too.

I am happy to report he's still making messes and getting into mischief.  

And speaking of broken arms...

Look who got a new bike!