Grasshoppers, Purple Bathtubs, and Other Surprises

This is a great article that I'm sure all of us Mothers can relate to. It's found in the August 2008 Ensign - Check it out:

"Grasshoppers...

Missing Pacifier

On Saturday evening we misplaced Morgans pacifier. We actually have two laying around but she will only take one of the two. They are exactly the same but one of them is more worn out than the other and she likes the newer of the two. So, when we misplaced the newer one she threw a fit when we gave it to her at bedtime. She sucked on it for a second, took it out of her mouth, and threw it on the ground. I knew that I was in for a rough night unless I found it quick. I had Jeff and Ian helping me search high and low. We looked in cupboards, drawers, all of her toys, under the sofas, you name it we looked. Jeff and I kept asking each other if we were ready to deal with the consequences of taking the pacifier away for good. I hadn't had the chance to mentally prepare for it, so we decided to go to the store and get a new one. Wal-Mart is only a few blocks away so I drove over there at 9:30 on Saturday evening, and guess what?... they didn't have any of the kind that she takes. I stopped to think to myself is it worth it to drive all over town looking for this specific pacifier for a good night sleep....OH YES!!! So I went to another store not to far away and they had 2 packages left...yea, so all is well and now I have a taste of what it may be like when we finally decide to take the good ole binky away. The next morning Ian found the missing one in a cup that she had been playing with earlier that day on the kitchen counter, probably the only place we didn't look, so now we have three spare!

Icky Spiders

Last week Ian went to get something from the storage room. When he came back this was our conversation: "Mom, there is a HUGE spider down in the storage room, and I'm not going down there again until it's gone." "Oh, Honey I'm sure it's not that big...just go kill it." "No, way it's too scary." A few days went by and I sent him down to get some paper towels. He said, "No, way...I told you I'm not going down there because of the HUGE spider." At this point I wasn't in to mood to make a huge production out of it. On Sunday Ian had a similar conversation with Dad, but this time Dad wasn't going to back down and he WAS to get paper towels or else... Ian flat out refused to get the paper towels; he said the spider was too scary. I never really realized how scared Ian was of spiders until then. He stood on the top stair trying to get up enough courage to go down into the storage room. Jeff gave him several warnings and finally had to ground him for a WHOLE week because of his refusal to listen. Jeff finally had to pick Ian up and carry him down the stairs and at this point Ian was so scared he was hyperventilating. And all &*^%$ broke loose when the door to the storage room opened. Jeff made Ian point out the spider that was causing all sorts of panic with Ian. This is what he saw. Jeff came up the stairs to get the vacuum to suck it up and kill it. Jeff and I had this conversation, "You need to go look at that before I take care of it, because I guarantee if you had seen it you would refuse to go down there too." Me “I don't need to see it, I believe you that it's, big, huge, hairy and ugly." Well, I got brave enough to go down and look at it. It was high above the ground in a really big spider web, and yes it did give me the weebie jeebies. Jeff sucked it up with the vacuum hose but then couldn't find it in the container, so he kept turning the vacuum on to see if he could see the spider whirling around in there with all the dirt. So, he got his heavy duty gloves on, took the vacuum into the garage and took apart the whole vacuum, with no sign of the spider. Jeff came to the conclusion that when he sucked it up and whirled it around in all the dirt that it broke apart into tiny pieces. So, needless to say now I don't want to use the vacuum because, what if it's still in there somehow or crawled out and now it's making a web in my closet????? EWWWWW...the thought makes me a little nauseated. Poor Ian got his fear of spiders from me and this time I have to say his fear was justified. He learned that he should have communicated better, so we could have taken care of the situation rather than having an all out panic attack.

4th of July Festivities

We enjoyed a fun 4th of July with Family in Wyoming. Going back to my hometown brings back wonderful summertime childhood memories.

We were at the end of the parade route and the candy was very sparce :(

Jeff's Mom and Grandma

Jeff's brother - relaxing after the loooooong race

Jeff relaxing after the loooooong race - there was a restaurant cooking food outside and Jeff was dying of hunger.

Jessica and Jaxon

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We also celebrated my sisters birthday on Saturday at the City Park!

My Mom and Grandma (Nana)

Morgan started walking about a month ago from object to object but is now getting confident enough to walk outside.

My Sister and Neice adoring Morgan

More family

My Dad

My Grandpa!

Half Marathon!

Jeff completed his 2nd half marathon in my home town on the 4th of July. Last year he walked, but this year he decided he was going to run. He did an awesome job! Now his training starts for the St. George Marathon!

Jeff is the one on the left in white - Ian and Matt (his brother who had already finished the race) finished the race with him to cheer him on!

getting closer

Yay...he's done and ready for a nice rest.

Mohawk?????

Much to my dismay Jeff decided to give Ian a mohawk the other night...luckily it lasted all of 5 minutes and they had fun playing with the idea and taking pictures. Boys!!!

Ian had a hard time making a mean face

He's liking his 5 minute new do!

Field Trip

Ian only has about a month before he starts 4th grade. I've been trying to cram a bunch of things for us to do while he's on his short summer break that doesn't cost a lot of money. We recently got a membership to the pool and fitness center so we can go swimming anytime we want. Ian is also taking swim lessons and will finish on Thursday, but I'll sign him up for the next level. On Monday we didn't have anything going on so I thought it would be fun to take him to Wheeler Farm. It's an old historical farm with wagon rides, a duck pond, horses, cows (very smelly), pigs & chickens. When I first mentioned to Ian that we should take a field trip to Wheeler farm he wasn't too excited, come to find out later it was because of the smell. He said as long as we weren't by the cows it was an o.k. place to be. Morgan had fun looking at the geese and seemed puzzled by their honking abilities. Here are some pictures of our field trip to the farm!

Watching the chickens

Hangin' out at the duck pond



Playing in the tree house