Signs of Addiction

A few nights ago Nathan pulled out the ice cream and a spoon and sat down on the couch. Almost immediately Daniel and Liam were sitting next to him--no surprise. Even before the spoon went into the ice cream Caleb had crawled across the floor to join them and was starting to climb up Nathan's leg, making loud repeated begging sounds. We are addicts! A whole family of ice cream addicts!

We all took turns getting our spoonful but apparently we didn't do it fast enough. Caleb not only begged he also used his first sign language. He signed 'please'. We cheered him on for the signing and got him to do it a few more times for a few more spoon fulls. That is one smart kid (when properly motivated). I guess I should be proud that he has such great manners. I've never heard of a kids' first word being please. I guess I should mention that I've tried to get Caleb to sign please again, but with no luck. I think I might have to open up the freezer and pull out the good stuff for the trick to be duplicated.

Nathan says it's my fault that our kids love ice cream so much--he's probably right. When we were first married he used to ask me what I wanted for dinner and I always replied, "Ice cream". (I rarely got my way though.) I remember thinking when I was a kid that when I lived on my own I could eat ice cream (especially shakes) for any meal I wanted. (If only my metabolism was more agreeable.)

We recently tried out a new frozen yogurt place near our house. It's one of those where you fill your own dish and add whatever toppings you want and pay according to the weight. Daniel chose vanilla with gummy worms and jelly beans--yuck! Liam had chocolate with jelly beans and m & ms. (I understand the m & ms, but why are jelly beans or gummies an option with frozen yogurt?) I had a bit of chocolate, a bit of peanut butter, and a bit of egg nog, which I sprinkled with oreos. I have a bit of a sweet tooth. Nathan went with the traditional vanilla with strawberries. I think we'll have to go back and try something new very soon.

Home Sweet Home

We packed up the van after the movie so we could leave early. It was 3 AM CA time. I actually prefer an additional hour of sleep, but Nathan drives most of the way so we let him make the decision. It was nice to make it all the way to Elko before the boys woke up. Daniel would have slept longer but we made him go in to McDonald’s with us for some breakfast. The boys stretched their legs in the play place while Nathan filled up the van with gas. It was so early that the kids had the entire place to themselves. We let Caleb play too and he learned how to crawl up to the top of the slide! Yikes. Daniel crawled up behind him to help and then they slid down together. It was really cute. That was probably one of Caleb’s favorite parts of the vacation. He was so proud of himself. He would have stayed in the slide all day if we’d let him.

There was construction going on all over for the drive back but we made good time. All of us were glad to make it home. Our sweet neighbors Brad and GG (who’ve been adoptive grandparents to my boys) had been watering, feeding the fish, collecting the mail, taking the garbage out, etc. But they went over and above and trimmed back the roses for us (which desperately needed it before we left, but we just ran out of time). Maybe we should leave town more often—something might actually get done around here! The boys were so excited to find that they’d left little treat bags for them on the table with a, ‘welcome home, we missed you!” sign. Then a few hours later they came over with a plate of frosted cupcakes! The boys were excited to see them again and after a round of hugs and kisses they dove into the cupcakes. We do miss family being in CA, but we have the greatest neighbors ever.

Shortly after we returned the boys climbed into their pool to cool off--in their clothes! Over the next three days we took pictures in the pool...clothes, swimming suits, or bare naked--they don't care.

The Logan Leg

On the drive up we listened to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It had been way too long since we last read it and we wanted to gear up for the movie. The reader is amazing. He does different voices for every character. I don't know how he keeps track of all of them. It made the time in the car go by really quickly.

When we arrived in Logan, Grandma Bohman met us out front and took us out back where Grandpa “Growly-Bear” was working on a huge tree house. Do we have the greatest grandparents or what? Liam kept wanting Grandpa to finish “his” tree house while we were there, but I’m sure it will be worth the wait. In the mean time the boys tried out everything in the back yard: the bikes, teeter-totters, 4 wheelers, trampoline, tennis court, sprinklers, wagon, swing set, and gliders. Never a dull moment. The boys also enjoyed staying in Grandma and Grandpa’s Bunkhouse. Liam not only dressed up in boots and a hat, he tucked in 6 or 7 guns to his belt. Daniel took a gun belt and a Star Wars helmet to sneak up on Nathan. Lookin’ good!

That evening the whole family (all of my brothers and sisters and their families-except the Woods in Germany) went up to Tony Grove Lake. All of the kids loved taking turns on the canoe. It was so gorgeous up there on the mountainside. The wildflowers were especially beautiful. We all enjoyed a big picnic then watched all of the kids exploring together all over. I felt like repeating “We’re going on a Bear Hunt.” A few times they came back to us just long enough for Daniel to say, “Hey guys, let’s go on an adventure…” then they’d wander off again. My boys love all of their cousins so much. It was fun to see the line of cousins trailing behind their leader. Caleb loved sitting in (and picking—oops) the wildflowers. He was just begging for some room to stretch his legs out of the car. Just being left alone was worth smiling about! We tried to get a happy picture of all the grandkids on a huge fallen tree—which is a near impossibility with 11 kids. But I have to admit I thought it was great, mostly because this may be the first time none of my three were the criers! Hooray!

On Sunday we went to church with Andrea and Paul and Jonas. (We decided not to totally disrupt the silent single-student ward, especially since it’s been 3 weeks since Caleb has allowed us to sit through an entire sacrament meeting. We wouldn’t want to be responsible for changing anyone’s future-family plans.) I couldn’t bring myself to go to relief society so I went with Andrea to her primary. I figure it’s OK to try to get ideas from other primary music leaders while on vacation. We had family dinner on Sunday and enjoyed being together. That night we attempted a sleepover with my sister Emily’s kids. Who invented sleepovers? Who are we kidding? Actually they didn’t do too bad considering, but a few shuffles had to be made in the night. Conner woke up and thought that Liam wet the bed. Luckily Liam was just sweaty—nothing new. The next morning Liam got up and climbed into bed with Grandma while Grandpa got ready for work. Grandpa told me that Liam said to him, “Papa, Grandma is snoring!” Grandpa replied, “She does that sometimes, but she sure is cute.” So Liam said, “OK Papa,” and rolled over and went to sleep.

That day we remade much of Daniel’s Star Wars birthday ideas so we could have a Star Wars night with the cousins. Grandma made additional Jedi uniforms for the boys. Mikayla was the cutest Princess Leia I’ve ever seen, complete with hair twists on the side of her head! Nothing beats light saber fights, hunting down and shooting bad guys with squirt guns, water balloon bombing bad guys, fishing treasures out of the Pit of Carkoon, and taking a whack at a candy-filled Darth Vader.

We decided to take the boys bowling at Logan’s Fun Center one day. Andrea and Jonas played too. I thought we’d do bumper bowling (for the boys of course). But I was disappointed to find out that the bumpers are on hydraulics and only come up for the kids then go back down so I can get a nice gutter ball. Bumpers should be a fringe benefit to parenting. (Like a mother of 3 little boys has the time or money to invest in improving her bowling game!) I planned on using the boys as my excuse for bumpers for the rest of my life! The boys also used some great ramps that help so you don’t have to wait for a year for their ball to make it down the lane to the pins. So I think I came in dead last! Nathan was first, then Daniel, Liam, and Andrea. I have to hand it to Andrea. She said Jonas was her lucky charm and she held him in one arm and bowled with the other more than once. After the bowling Nathan, Liam, and Daniel played air hockey. Daniel loves it. He even got cocky. I totally laughed when I heard him say “You’re going down!” to Nathan (you know he learned it from Nate). When he scored a point he jumped up and down and said, “Oh yeah! Oh yeah!” Jonas and Caleb kept happy pretending to drive one of the car games (they were totally entertained without putting any money in).

The boys had had so much fun in the little pool at Grandma and Papa Brady’s that Nathan set one up at Grandma and Grandpa Bohman’s. When he showed it to me I was surprised at how big a pool he’d picked. I asked why he got one so big. His comment was he got the one my dad would have picked. I couldn’t argue with that! I always said I wanted to marry someone like my Dad. Little did I know all that that entailed. Conner, Mikayla, Daniel and Liam put it to good use. They spent much of the next two days playing in it.

That night we had a bon fire in the back yard. We roasted hot dogs, ate baked beans, watermelon and (of course) made smores. My pyro husband had fun keeping the fire going. I love bon fires. Caleb enjoyed his first taste of baked beans and wore his marshmallows well. I didn’t torture him with the stickiness for very long.

It was hot the next day, but we decided to take the boys mini golfing. We paused for a drink and popsicles in the middle. It was pretty fun and although I didn’t win, I did get a hole in one! Daniel got one too. Not bad for no bumpers! ;)

That evening we left Grandma with the boys and went with Grandpa and most of the family to see Harry Potter! Wow! You still have to read the book to get the full story, but they did a great job. It was so nice to go out and not have to triple the cost of the date for the best babysitter ever! Thanks Grandma!