Summer Fun

This weekend was our local community celebration. We've been here for three and a half years, and this was the first time we've gone to check out the festivities, since the kids are finally old enough to appreciate the activities. We sure had a lot of fun.

We took the kids out on the lake in on a paddle boat. It was obvious to us that Ethan was having fun. Brooklyn had a look of indifference on her face the entire time but when we were done, she cried - she didn't want to get out of the boat. It made us want to get a boat so we can do it more often.





The kids also had a lot of fun on the inflatable bounce house/race track shown below. We thought they may have been a little small to play on it with the other bigger kids, but they had a blast.

There was also a car show that we checked out. Ethan was assigning names to the various cars - "This one is Lightning McQueen. This one is Snot Rod." etc. We saw this souped up car and Ethan said, "That one kind of looks like Grandma Morrey's car." She drives a Honda Accord.

The other "car" we really liked was the semi shown here. It's a little hard to tell at first, but this is a golf cart that looks like a semi. The golf clubs behind it gives an idea of the scale.

We took the kids swimming at the local kiddie pool, which was free for the day. The had so much fun. It is so fun to see them playing with each other.

This morning Brooklyn decided she would dress herself before church. She put on the Super Why costume Jen has been working on for Ethan for Halloween. Jen was surprised to return from her presidency meeting to find the kids parading around the front yard, Ethan in his PJs and Brooklyn dressed like this.

Ethan has finally figured out how to pedal his bike. He loves to ride up and down our sidewalk. The other day we caught Brooklyn helping him. So cute.

This morning while we were rushing to get out the door to get to church Ethan got so mad when I put gel in his hair. He usually likes it. He got upset and said, "No! I don't want to be handsome!"

We've been impressed with the improvement in Ethan's coloring as of late. Here are a few of his masterpieces from Sacrament Meeting today.

Prince and Princess

Tonight, while in our backyard Ethan came outside carrying Brooklyn's clear, jelly shoes trying to catch her telling her, "I've got your glass slippers! I can be the prince and you can be the princess!" He tried to put them on her feet so he could dance with her. Unfortunately for him, she was having too much fun picking and eating strawberries to give him that dance. We were surprised and impressed at his princess knowledge. I don't think he has ever watched Cinderella, though he has seen the "Super Why" version before. We sure love these kids!

24th of July Festivities

We spent the 24th of July weekend with family in Cache Valley. We had a lot of fun at Grandma Taylor's annual 24th of July family party. Ethan had his traditional fireworks meltdown when we pulled out the fireworks. He just doesn't like loud noises. We couldn't even get him to touch any of the little snaps you drop on cement for a small bang. Brooklyn couldn't get enough of them. We finally got him to agree to go the big fireworks in Mendon as long as he could wear Grandpa's gun shooting ear muffs so the fireworks wouldn't be loud, but he fell asleep ten minutes before the fireworks started. Maybe next year. Brooklyn loved the fireworks, showing no sign of fear. She just sat and stared in awe.

Friday night Kyle, Ethan, and cousin Brian had a campout in the backyard. Kyle thought he wouldn't sleep very well, but he probably got more sleep than anyone sleeping in the house thanks to Brooklyn waking up crying at least three times in the middle of the night.

Ethan was excited Saturday morning to go to Grandma Morrey's house and watch the parade, but he flipped out when he realized he left his Buzz and Woody toys at Grandma Taylor's house. He was so upset that he started walking back to Mendon to get his beloved toys. He got as far as the end of Grandma Morrey's driveway before he realized he didn't know which way to go. He sobbed and screamed through the entire parade, repeating "Buzz and Woody, Buzz and Woody." The rest of us had fun though.

We had a family pot luck with at Jen's Aunt Kaye's house on Sunday and Brooklyn was such a doll running around in her "princess" dress. She and Ethan couldn't get enough of the swings, picnic table, and sandbox.

The kids also enjoyed eating at a picnic table their own size.

Brooklyn loved having Grandpa Taylor read to her.

The other day Jen's mom came to visit and she took us all to to Wendy's near Kyle's work. Ethan got a microphone toy with his kid's meal and he was so excited. He was hard to keep quiet once he had it in his hands. He has always wanted a microphone like on the PBS cartoon "Sid the Science Kid." He sure got a lot of laughs from the other people in the restaurant.

Water Babies

Last week we went with some of our neighbors to Deseret Peak for the first time. The kids really enjoy swimming and we had a great time.

This was the best we could do at getting a picture of the kids together.

Ethan was very nervous of all the fountains of water that this pool offered. He continually reminded us that we were getting too close to them.

We tried to take Ethan on the water slide, but he refused. Brooklyn, on the other hand, kept repeating, "Again!" at the bottom of the slide and was disappointed when it was time to go home.
Ethan has always been more timid around water than Brooklyn, except when it comes to our small cold kiddy pool. He loves it when I throw him in it, but Brooklyn cries if any of the cold water gets on her. When Ethan was a baby he loved baths, but for the last while they are the worst thing in his little world. He always cries and usually asks to have a shower instead, though he cries during the entire shower as well. Brooklyn, on the other hand would have several baths a day if she could. She will strip her clothes at the mere mention of the word "bath." A few weeks ago while filling up the tub for Ethan, Brooklyn suddenly appeared out of nowhere promptly removing her PJ's and diaper and dove into the tub. Funny girl!

Ethanisms:
The other day Ethan randomly told me, "When you have an accident you close your eyes."

A few mornings ago while in bed I heard Ethan suddenly exclaim from his bedroom, "No! It's still nighttime!!" He got upset that it was morning. What little kid hates waking up in the morning to play? I guess that Morrey sleeping-in-gene must be kicking in. Although Ethan could have gone back to sleep if he would have wanted to, there was no way Brooklyn would. I'm afraid she has inherited the Taylor light-sleeper/insomniac gene.

Analogies

We had a picnic outside today after church. Ethan was so excited. He helped Kyle put together our new picnic table yesterday and couldn't wait to use it. We bought it a few weeks ago and meant to use it on our deck. Before setting it up, Kyle wanted to fix up a few things on our deck, but what started as a quick project turned into a complete overhaul. We'll get into more details about the deck in a later post.

Lately, Ethan has been full of analogies. Last week he said "Wind is like ice cream. They're both cold." Today, while helping him floss his teeth he said, "Floss is like Woody's pull string." Our mac and cheese tonight had bread crumbs on it. They inspired the following deep thought, "Crumbs are like a fuzzy face." Tonight he also said, "A playground is kind of like a park."

The other night he really made us laugh. He passed gas and exclaimed, "Oh . . .my bum burped!"

Haircut

We took Brooklyn and Ethan to get haircuts yesterday. It was Brooklyn's first time to get a real haircut, though I've trimmed her bangs a few times over the last few months. We forgot to get a before picture of her getting it done and didn't get a great after picture either. Ethan wasn't happy at all about needing a haircut and only cooperated when the hairdresser told him he could hold a cookie in each hand if he agreed to cooperate. Brooklyn, on the other hand was a perfect little lady.

Here is a before pic (actually taken a few weeks ago).

We mostly had the hairdresser even things out and trim her bangs. She only took off an inch or so off the length.

We rewarded the kids with some ice cream for being "so good" getting haircuts. While we were eating the ice cream Ethan said "Wind is kind of like ice cream. They are both cold."

Reunion ²

Last weekend we attended both the Morrey family reunion at Beaver Creek Lodge up Logan Canyon, and my ten-year high school reunion. Sadly, we didn't get many pictures, though Kyle's dad got lots of the kids playing at Bear Lake (which we still need to get from him).

My reunion consisted of a family picnic and an evening dinner. Since we were attending both reunions, we opted to go to the family picnic. It wasn't greatly attended, but I did get to see several old friends and meet their kids. It was kind of strange stepping back into the high school era, but refreshing that it didn't have that same awkward intimitading feeling of high school. I especially was pleased to see my dear friend Amy and her boys.

I must admit it took me a little while to recognize my friend Lara, but hey, it has been a long time.
Ethan and Brooklyn had fun playing in the sand at the park with other kids. Ethan said he wanted to make a "snowman in the sand." Brooklyn saw what he was doing and had to join in.

Ethan has been excited about Toy Story 3 for about a year. He started being wishy-washy about wanting to see it for the last few weeks saying that he wanted to see it at home, or that he didn't want to see "Pixar" because he has lately been afraid of the lamp at the beginning of the movies. We tried so many things to make him want to go, but what finally worked was Kyle asking him if he wanted to "see it in a theater on Blu-ray." He had a blast. Grandma Taylor and I bawled. My kids are still babies, but it still got me how fast they grow up.

At the Morrey family reunion all Brooklyn wanted to do was "'wing, 'wing."

A trip to Bear Lake isn't complete without a trip (or two) to get a shake.