Still In Utah

Saturday was a great day. I took the kids and headed to Cedar City. I had plans to meet up with my in-laws so they could take D and K for a few days. We met up with Grandma and Grandpa in Walmart where K wasted no time sweet talking Grandpa into letting her ride the mechanical rides in the kiddie area. He hooked all 3 kids up with rides and they loved it! We did a little shopping - getting lunch, sunscreen and the like before going out to move the car seats and suitcase into G&G's Jeep. A was disappointed that I didn't move her seat. She whimpered, grunted and pointed but didn't put up too much of a fight. I kissed the other two goodbye and warned them to be good, obedient and not fight. I hope it takes!
A and I then went to meet up with a great friend from college. Sarah and I went to SUU and walked around the campus with her two youngest and A. A had a great time checking everything out. Sarah and I had a great time talking and talking. We moved it over to a frozen yogurt shop next where we enjoyed watching her 4 boys eat their yogurt. Then we went to her house and talked some more. It is always so much fun spend time with old friends.

Sending the big 2 off with G&G Pyatt has one fatal flaw. I'm stuck with the littlest who has no big siblings to entertain her. She was great on Saturday because we played with Sarah's boys all afternoon. Today she has been wandering around the house looking for "Diwwie" (what she calls D and K) and Daddy. It is very pathetic. We just got to Skype with them and A loved it. I'm so glad they're having fun at their Grandma's house but man I miss those little guys!

Like a slumber party!

Last night I put A to bed in the Pack 'n Play mom has. She lasted about 4 minutes before she climbed out. It seems she wants to sleep on the big bed like she has become accustom to. I relented (did I have a choice?!) and put her at one end of the bed and K at the other end. When I checked on the girls in the middle of the night, this is what I found:

How precious! So, after taking a million pictures trying to get a good shot I weighed my options, put some pillows on the floor and went back to bed.

Visiting and Playing

While Roy and I were at Trek, my mom was at my house taking care of my kids. Then I drove her home to Utah so I could be here to help get ready for my brother's wedding and reception that will be in the backyard. The kids are having a GREAT time! They love to play here.

They have jumped on the trampoline all day.

We went to Quality where there is this great mechanical horse that is approaching 100 years old. Seriously. It still have about a 5 minute ride for a dime. A DIME! Naturally D and K both took a turn. A rode in front of K for a minute but I didn't get a picture because I was too busy making sure no one fell off.

K climbed this tree by herself.

Mom bought Just Dance Summer Party and Just Dance for Kids for the Wii. We have been playing that this evening. K is a dancing maniac! I totally took video but not pictures. And D is having fun with it too. He only has about 2 songs he likes to dance to because D only likes to do something if he is good at it and he scored well on those 2 songs. Even A was getting her grove on, holding a TV remote and modeling what her big brother and big sister were doing. It is going to be a fun 2 weeks!

Trek

Roy and I spent 3 days walking in circles in the desert supervising a bunch of kids dressed in pioneer clothes and pushing handcarts.

Before you question my sanity, let me just say it was totally worth it and I would love to do it again.

Now, you may question....

Big kid beds

Last night marked a great milestone in Pyatt family history. The crib is folded and stored with no projected date of being restored to its functional state. This has not happened since we got it. D moved out of the crib to a toddler bed about 7 months before K was born. K moved out of the crib into the bottom bunk on our bunk bed about 2 months before A was born. Now A is out of the crib and there is no one coming to take her place.

A has been wanting to move into a regular bed for a few weeks. Imagine our delight when some friends asked if we wanted a bed because they were getting rid of one. Now we could stack the bunkbeds up and put K on top, A on bottom and have a bed for D.

Thursday, my friend, Tyce, came over to drop off the pieces for the bed and stayed to help me set it up. Since then D has only come out of his room for serious needs.

It is a cool bed.

Then Friday I spent the morning and my energy rearranging the furniture in the girls' room and stacking the bunkbeds. By nap time, everything was ready for A to try out her new bed. I put her on her bed, turned on her music, left the room and waited. This is what I saw when I went back 30 minutes later:

I learned two things.

#1 - A is ready for a big girl bed.

#2 - A should always have pants on before going down for a nap.

Friday evening, we went to Costco to pick out a mattress for the new bed. And wha-la! All three kids in their very own big kid beds. Everyone went to bed okay. The only interesting thing happened about 2:30 a.m. when I woke up to A sitting by my bedside reading stories in the dark. Luckily she went back to bed easy enough!

Hiking

We have this place we like to go hiking. It is a well groomed trail, more like a road without cars along one fork of the Lewis River. There are 5 little bridges and one big bridge, beautiful trees and easy access to parking and bathrooms. All the elements of a perfect trail. We headed out there for a great Saturday activity. Plus, I needed one more 5 mile hike as part of my preparation for the pioneer trek Roy and I will be doing soon. Things started out great with K falling asleep about 5 minutes before we parked. We headed to the potty for a little break before we got serious then headed out on the trail. A big part of hiking with Roy and the kids is the food. We weren't 1/10th of a mile in before D is asking if he can have something to eat out of his backpack. Roy always tries to get him to wait and the food always gets consumed in the first 15 minutes of walking. It is practically tradition.

We hiked along for almost a mile and a half before Roy and the girls turned back. D and I continued on for a total of 2.5 miles before turning around so I could get my 5 miles in. D is such a good little trooper. He hiked along with me and only complained about his feet getting sweaty. We had to explore any possible trails leading off the main trail and touch the water and railroad tracks that run parallel to the trail any chance we got. It was awesome. We talked about nature. We talked about Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ. I loved being able to have that time with just D and I. We don't get much time without the girls.

Unfortunately things weren't quite as serene for Roy. K was dragging behind and whining a lot more than usual right from the get go. I figured it was just because she was tired and wanted to continue her nap. She fell asleep on a bench when Roy and the girls stopped for a little break. She slept in Roy's arms for a bit while he hiked. A was great but she is s...l.....o........w. 'Course, she's only 2 and her legs are shorter than my arms....

Roy finally made it back to the river where people can play in the water to wait for us. D and I made it back after an hour and a half or so. K was ready and wanting to go. I went ahead and started back to the van with her and A while D played in the river for a few minutes. The parking lot is less than 1/5 of a mile from where we were. Yeah, K totally fell asleep in my arms on the way back. Turns out she actually developed a fever later. Oops. Sometimes it is so hard to tell.

Proper hiking attire:

jeans -- check

comfortable shoes -- check

too big woman's straw hat -- check

backpack full of snacks -- check

K and A's birthdays

For the record, it isn't as easy to make a rainbow out of M&M's on a pan of rice crispie treats as one might think. And K didn't think that green thing was a "K". She recognizes the letter "K" now and that one didn't meet with her approval. Until she ate it. Then it was good.

For A's birthday we had spaghetti for dinner because it is probably A's favorite food. You can see she enjoyed it!



I whipped out some cupcakes with sprinkles. A LOVED trying to "foof" out the candle. She finally had K help since the only thing A was capable of was "foofing" and laughing. She found the whole idea of a candle and blowing it out hilarious!



So, here they are. My brave, adventurous 4 year old and my sweet, even keeled 2 year old. They are so sweet it makes my teeth hurt!

Happy 4th of July!

Bike Parade

The kids rode in a kids parade this year. They decorated their bikes with crete paper streamers and such. A was UNBELIEVABLY sad that she couldn't ride her bike. She kept going to the back of the van and crying for daddy to get her bike out. Problem was, her bike wasn't in there to get out. She finally settled for the stroller.

It was super hot while we were waiting. There were tons of kids there but I apparently didn't get a shot of the crowd.
When the parade started, the kids started out kind of slow. That only lasted for about 10 feet. Then D took off. K tried to keep up with him for a block or so before she was too far behind. I had to jog to keep up.

The parade ended in the park with popcicles. It was so fun and something I think we should incorporate into all our Independence Day celebrations.