the horse

anytime we are anywhere near ransom and katie's house, jack wants to take a ride on their horse. he asks me to watch him over and over. then he as he slows down, he says "easy horsey".  makes me laugh to see the joy on his little face. he is also getting better at looking at the camera and smiling. if we aren't near their house, and i can get on all fours, i get to be his horse. of all animal noises i ask him to make, the horse is by far my favorite.
-ash

naked, naked, and more naked

jack loves being outside and he loves playing in the water. why not add in naked? he loves being naked! he loves to squirt me with a water gun, and when i told him i would get him first, he ran away, then got a water gun, filled and got ready. after our little fight (me splashing while he soaked me) he got his truck and put it in the pool. it was a great day!
-ash

lettuce

jack loves lettuce! i mean it, he loves lettuce. in fact, he loves most of his veggies. abby likes to take out that thicker part of the romaine, and she gives it to him as a snack. i giggle and laugh as i watch him eat the whole thing. i am so glad he loves his greens...maybe he should pass that love of veggies onto me.
-ash

Chainsaw

There is nothing more than Jack loves, than watching Paul use his chainsaw. Earlier in the summer, Paul helped our neighbors, the Smith's, take a tree down with his chainsaw. Jack sat up on their porch with Colleen, watching Paul cut it down while eating sweedish fish. Even now, when we walk by their house, Jack points to where the tree stood, and asks if I remember "dad cutting it down", then he tells me all about it. We knew he needed one of his own. We got the chainsaw at the same time we got the mower. Jack loves to hide in the trees and cut away. Plus, he makes a great chainsaw noise.
-ash

girls & dad weekend

we all thought it was about time we should have a girls weekend. we got together and thought of all the places we could go and the things we would like to do. we settled on durango colorado. we would drive out early in the morning, and get there late afternoon. then spend a few days, and drive home on sunday afternoon.
about a month before we were to go, mom hurt her back. we all knew she wouldn't be able to ride in a car for 8 hours, even though she would tell us she was up to it. we decided to look for places about an hour away. we decided to go up to salt lake. we wouldn't do shopping, but we would hike and try to do things out of the ordinary. we put our input in of what to do, and made an itinerary. grandma betty came down to watch jack on thursday and friday while paul was at work.
the moment had arrived. we piled in the suburban, and headed up to park city first. i deemed myself "sister matriarch" of the group and we were off to a good start. we started in park city and did the alpine slide and the coaster (whose line was about 45 minutes long). mom and lindsey watched and had a snow cone (lindsey also realized that she had taken the van keys). we grabbed a bite to eat at an okay mexican restaurant and headed to the hotel in salt lake. we were all getting along and laughing. it was really nice to be with just my sisters. we got to the hotel (marriott inn and suite), unpacked, took a tour around the hotel and looked at the pool. the hotel was offering a happy hour with free food and drinks. we went down and had some wings and soda and then read by the pool. went back to the hotel room and played games late into the night. we laughed and laughed. lindsey and abby shared a bed, katie took the couch cushion and slept in a tight ball on the floor, kelsie and i shared the pull out bed and dad and mom had their own room. we fell asleep talking.
friday morning, we woke up and lindsey was feeling under the weather. we went to breakfast and brought back some toast for lindsey. she was throwing up and decided to stay back from our hike and rest up to feel better. mom found a really pretty hike up little cottonwood canyon to cecret lake. it was about a mileish to the lake. by the time we got up there, it was a little cool, but perfect. on the way up to the lake, we talked and kelsie us if there was something we could change about our bodies what would it be. i mentioned that i would like to have a longer torso, mom said she would want skinny legs. she paused and kelsie said "just your legs? wouldn't that make you out of proportion?" mom stopped walking and her mouth fell open. all of us instantly started laughing so hard.  we laughed the rest of the way up the hill. the lake was beautiful and there were so many salamanders in it. mom caught one for me to hold and it brought back so many memories from visiting grandpa and nana in california. oh i miss them. we got back to the hotel, and lindsey still was not feeling good. we called mrs. cavanaugh's chocolate factory and made an appointment to go on a tour. we left lindsey again and went on tour. after the tour we went to ruth's diner for dinner. our waitress wasn't that great and i didn't have much of an appetite. we got back to the hotel, went swimming, read by the pool and played games well into the night. abby slept with kelsie and i (kelsie in the middle) and again, we fell asleep talking.
saturday morning, lindsey woke up feeling better, but not ready to go out yet. we went to the farmer's market and we were sorely disappointed. after the farmers market, we went to orson gygi's and then up to bruges waffles and brought some back to linds. when we got to the hotel room and lindsey was getting ready! we went to the leonardo museum to see the in and out display of animals. it was fascinating and kind of nauseating at the same time. dad and mom stayed at the hotel to take a little nap so it was just us girls. we went back to the hotel to pick up dad and mom for dinner. we picked a really good authentic italian restaurant, setebello, for dinner and had some gelato to top it off. we went back to the hotel to read by the pool and then play games into the night. some of our favorite moments are playing cards at the table.
we woke up early sunday morning, ate breakfast and then went to banbury donuts so we could take some home to the guys. we went to a flea market and i found the greatest treasure. i have wanted to find an old typewriter for so long and i found one! it was only $20!!! i was thrilled. after the flea market, we went to hike donut falls. the hike was really nice, but once we got closer to the falls, some rocks had fallen and it would have been really hard for us to get to it. we settled in for lunch in the shade and talked.
on the way home, we talked of our favorite memories, and what was ahead for the rest of the summer. we also started planning for next year. it was so nice to be away with just my parents and sisters, and as always, so nice to come home.
-ash

our little mower

Jack loves to watch me mow the lawn. Sometimes, I even let him help me push it. Sure it takes twice as long, but he loves to help. Our neighbors let Jack play with their kid mower (while their grandkids were away). He loved it, and I mean loved it! Paul and I decided to look for our very own. We found a great deal on a mower on Amazon, and he can't seem to put it down. I love watching him help, and most of all want to help.
-ash

 

(Jack and the neighbors mower)

bear lake getaway

our dear friends, the robisons, called mom and asked if we would be interested in using the last few days of their timeshare. of course we said "yes!". we planned, shopped, packed and were on our way. those who were able to go... ransom, katie and the kids, josh, mom, abby, lindsey and lucy, paul, jack and me.
when we got there, we became familiar with the room, unpacked and then packed up for the beach. we played and played and played at the beach. there was a smaller sort of overflow pool (about 14" deep) from the lake that had about 15' of beach separating it from the lake. it was perfect for the kids to play in. jan told us of a beautiful hike to go on that would take us to a lake the boys could jump into from a rope swing. it was about 40 minutes away from the condo.
we ate pizza at our favorite restaurant, made sure to get raspberry shakes, chocolate covered raspberries the size of paul's thumb, burgers and more shakes. lucy ended getting up sick so she and lindsey went home early with josh and abby (who needed to get home for work). the rest of us stayed and played more on the beach. we also rented a couple wave runners and had a blast.
it was so fun to watch jack play in the water. he would drive his trucks in it, pile the sand into a pile and then stomp it flat over and over again. the instant he saw the playground with the swings, he was done with the water. all he wanted to do was swing. when he got his swing-fix in, he played and played in the water. other memories...
-paul and jack had a little sleep out in the tv room
-paul's brand new phone was stolen on our last day there, and we spent the entire afternoon trying to see if we could track it, or texting the person who stole it telling them to be honest. i'll just say that put quite a damper on the trip
-lucy threw up while we were in line to get burgers...oh the smell!
-jack giggling made me so happy
-the fact that paul was able to go on such short notice was awesome!

-ash

owlz game

last night we went to an owlz game...
it seems that each summer, we have a list of things we want to do. usually includes a couple baseball games, hikes, new places to eat etc. we do some of them, but not as much as we want. a few days ago, we looked at the owlz schedule and said "it would be fun to go sometime". all the sudden, i said "let's plan to go to one now, how about monday?". it was planned. we had a great time.
-jack loved eating popcorn, in fact, he had a hard time sharing
-the bigelow's came a little late hoping to see fireworks (this game wasn't close enough to the 4th)
-the owlz mascot, came to get a high-five from jack. jack started to raise his hand, and then he saw the hand and then underneath, there are feathers. he couldn't figure out where to high-five, so he didn't.  it was really funny
-the owlz won!
-we had a great time answering jack's questions of what was happening...of course he wanted to know "why" to everything
-i ate a hotdog...(i don't like them), but it seems fitting to have one at a baseball game.

-ash