A little of our week....

My sweet little boy has now refused to call me "Mommy" and insists on yelling my name when he wants to tell me anything or needs my attention. We go to the store and it's, "Kara look" or "Kara stop it." He has also insisted on calling Kurt by his name and not dad. He has started adding more and more words together in his sentences, telling me what he wants for lunch, telling the nursery leader he needs "to go polly (potty)" even though he isn't or hasn't even started to be potty trained, and is content to sit and watch Monster Trucks on TV.

We also had a huge accomplishment of actually sitting in the sandbox. Ethan is very OCD and from the time we got the sandbox has only walked around the outside and occasionally stuck a shovel or bucket in the sand. Just the other night a little buddy of his threw sand on him to which we had a mental and physical breakdown. He also insists that I take his shoes off if he can feel one grain of sand in his flip flops. Well the other night when Kurt was grilling us up some hamburgers he went and sat in the sandbox. He had actually stepped in it the day before with no shoes on, which was huge progress, but this was HUGE. He then told Kurt he wanted his shirt off and then continued to go SIT in the sand. Both of us were in disbelief so of course it was captured on camera. He even let Kurt bury his feet.

Saturday was quite the day. It started off getting up at 6:30 and heading to Sugar House Park to participate in the "Love your Body" Wasatch Women's 5K run. I did it with Kurt's mom and sister. It was a great race and a nice kick in the butt. I did it to prepare myself for the 10K I'm about to run in two weeks....to which I think I might die.

Right after the race we were off to East Canyon. Any day we can take the boat out we try and take advantage of it. Our friends the Jacobson's met us up at East Canyon for a day at the lake! It was so stinkin hot, but the water was ice. It was lots of fun just hanging out and playin around. Of course with no nap Ethan crashed sitting on one of the seats.

We got home in time to shower, get ready, and head out on our date to Desert Star Playhouse. We got season tickets this year and it's been so much fun! It guarantees us a date night with just each other every couple of months. So we got a neighbor girl to come babysit and headed out for the night.

Finally to end the week on a great note we attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication at our stake center tonight. It was so awesome and wonderful to hear our prophet speak to us and know that all of our temples are dedicated and set apart as a House of the Lord. We are so blessed to have so many temples so close. They said that here in Utah we have ten temples in a two hour radius. How lucky are we? I can't imagine the sacrifice people go through just to have their families sealed together or attend a session. We are so lucky and I take it for granted every day. It was a good reminder of taking the time to really attend the temple as often as our circumstances permit. I'm so grateful to live here in Utah with so many so close to us!

And now it's off to another week.....

Oh the Zoo

So with my sister in law living like two minutes from the zoo, I hit her up to head to the zoo with Ethan and I. This year proved much more interesting for Ethan. He was way more interested in the animals, and loved seeing the "horsies" which were actually zebra's; but they all look the same right? It was a good day with two boys who wanted to snack, relax, and check out some animals.

The highlight for Ethan was definitely the play area where Bennett had to be the brave one. He had to do things before Ethan believed it was safe and would try it for himself. He also loved the train and had a pretty good hand wave down for the thirty second train ride in which we saw like one animal....no wonder they make some good money. It was a fun day to get out of the house, free tickets from some random ladies in Kellie's ward who happened to be going the same day, and good company.

and what is the zoo without the ape picture? This took some coaxing on Ethan's part, but Bennett as you can clearly tell wanted nothing to do with it. He was way more interested in his freedom out of the stroller and the stick he was ABOUT to find.

Terrible Two's

Every day the minute Ethan hears the garage go up he yells "Dad home!" and bolts it to the hallway where he patiently sits and waits for Kurt to open the door. Kurt is then showered with a hug and a kiss and asked to go play on the swing. Not only is Ethan excited for Kurt to be home, but I'm thrilled! Let me explain...Ethan has developed the two year old attitude rapidly. Not only does he act like he is twelve, he tells me what to do and yells "No!" to everything I say. My patience level has grown very thin in the past two months. I have to remember that he is two, but when my nephew Jack asks his mom if, "Ethan is going to hit him today?" I remember the havoc my child reaks....(some lady told me that at Chick-fil-a, because apparently he was hitting her daughter on the head). Anyways lets not mention that Jack is 4 and looks like he is 8, so if he would just deck Ethan back I would probably have a child knocked out, at the same time learning not to mess with older kids. So in my opinion it would be a good lesson to learn.
By the time the day is over I have heard enough "no's," placed my child in time out for the hundredth time, and have taken away treats or a toy! So I love when my hubby gets home for the break that I get!! Don't get me wrong, I love that sweet face who gives me kisses for no reason and wants to be held to see his pancakes spinning around in the microwave, but I've come to realize that what they say about the terrible two's is TRUE! Boy do I love two year olds...I can't wait for this independent stage to be over with.

No Kids, Lots of Boating, & Great Company

This past weekend we headed to Midway with some of our great friends...and NO KIDS! It was short and sweet and should have been a lot longer. We met up at Cafe Rio in Provo with the Woolstenhulme's and the Jacobson's to have some good dinner and then headed up Provo Canyon to Midway. There's nothing like sitting around talking with your friends, making fun of each other, and getting yelled at by the boys for talking too much and too loud. Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast which was made by Sha and Blaine. You have to understand that they were assigned breakfast in order to redeem themselves from a camping trip we took with them over three years ago where Blaine thought he was a master chef with his NEW dutch oven. He proceeded to make us the most disgusting breakfast we had ever had. I took a bite and then casually hid mine and Kurt's plate and made it to the garbage can, Isaac ate two bowls to make Blaine feel good, and the best part is when Blaine tasted it himself and couldn't believe any one else would eat it. Needless to say their breakfast this time turned out great, no dutch oven was used. We then headed off to Deer Creek where we did some major boating. Here is an overload of pictures from our boating adventures. Sha, Tanya, and Nick had never been wakeboarding and were all able to get up!

Some major tubing where Tanya freaked out just being pulled in a straight line! It was hilarious...and some how Sha got some nasty bruises from her nice tumbles from the tube.

Kurt, Blaine, Nick, and I on the air chair. Well technically I would say that only Kurt could stay up. The rest of us got up and within a couple of seconds fell!! But it was a good laugh for everyone on the boat.

Then later Saturday afternoon the Coon's joined us! We headed into Main Streets Pizza and Noodle in Park City for some yummy dinner. What we didn't know was that it was the Park City Arts Festival. We ended up parking up by the Alpine Slide and making our way down to main street. Blaine's trusty GPS told us in was .9 miles....I think Blaine needs to get a new GPS. I swear the walk was over a mile.

It was a super fun get away with some of our friends and much needed laughs to get us through until we hang out again.

Like Father...Like Son

Who honestly wants to read magazines about boring race cars? car parts that you can buy? Or how fast the new 2010 mustang can go?

...apparently my son! We have too many of these in the house and for some reason it was pure entertainment to Ethan. He's seen Kurt reading all of his car magazines so why not do what daddy does!!

I'm getting older....

Yesterday was the big 2.6. for me! I'm getting old. For my birthday my hubby surprised me with a Garmin watch that tracks my distance and runs; and also some new computer stuff. Then my sister, Grandma, Aunt, and cousin all took me out to lunch to Zuppas. Always fun to be with family, but I sure missed my mom not being there this year!

Later that night Kurt and I headed to the Cheesecake Factory where I totally splurged!! Love that place! Then we hit up the mall where I got me a super cute new watch band to go on my watch that my mom had given us girls. It was a great birthday!! Thanks to all who called, text, and sang me songs!!

Summer Fun in Bear Lake

The anticipated short trip to Bear Lake is already over! Every year Kurt and I try and go up to get in some good boating time with my aunt Becky and her family. This year however we smartened up and got us our own little one room condo for two nights. We camped the first year we were married, which I vow to never do again, driven up for just the day the next year, bummed in a room with my mom and grandma last year, and finally got our own this year. It was well worth the money, especially with a two year old.

We left early early Friday morning and got a full day on the lake both Friday and Saturday! There is something that I love about Bear Lake or more like the raspberry shakes. The lake is so blue and so huge. Maybe it's the memories from fun trips down with the Terry's in high school, and the new memories we create with family.

Here is my hubby doing what he does best on the water. He is such a water bug and makes everything look so easy.

So with a hubby that can do what's pictures above this year I was determined to do three things....
1. Get up on one ski, I've never been able to actually get up on one. I have dropped in the past but that's all.
2. Get up on the dang air chair.
3. Get up on our wake skate.
I can now say CHECK to all three! I have to say I was most proud to get up on one! And I stayed up until I was done. The air chair was quite the experience. I screamed the entire time because it takes you where ever it wants. No pictures to prove anything but this one of me screaming on the air chair that my aunt Becky was able to snap. We were also able to get my Grandma out on the boat, which was a first in a long time!

Here are lots of pictures of fun times! We had some beach volleyball games going, a lost wedding ring of a friend (and yes by some miracle Conner found it in the water), botchi (?) ball games, and good conversation on the beach.

Pictures with family...

and some fun on the boat...

Ethan spent lots of time on the beach with Becky playing, while Kurt and I took all my cousins out on the boat! My little guy has some major OCD problems with the sand. He does not like to be dirty and would take about thirty minutes to actually get off his chair and want to touch the sand. Even then it was back to the chair super fast. He definitely got mom's "not wanting to be dirty" gene in him. I don't think I could pass that one off on Kurt.

And here is what happens to a two year old when he is completely exhausted. This was a short walk back from the beach...he was out cold!

We had tons of fun, yummy shakes, great pizza, and most of all fun times with my extended family! Thank you Snyder's and Grandma and Sharon for the fun times.