First Trip to the Zoo

I had been feeling like a bad mom for not taking Corbin to the zoo yet, so you can imagine how happy I was to hear that Granny Reed, aunt Jess, Brett and Lisa were taking him and Brycen to see the animals today. I was even happier when I got to work to find out that it was slow enough for me to go down and meet them there and enjoy the experience. To top it all off the fall leaves were absolutely AMAZING! I had the most enjoyable ride there in my car alone with the sunroof open and the radio blaring. I even heard the song "killing me softly" by the Fuji's that reminded me of a funny story between Mindy and I that we have ultimately determined it was one of those "had to be there moments," but I sure got a good laugh out of it.

Anyhow, the zoo was so much fun. We got to see lots of baby animals including the new baby elephant "Zuri", the baby giraffe, and several different types of baby monkeys. Corbin was really having a good time looking around at all the animals, eating ice cream, churro's, and popcorn, and as usual running around like a wild man. He especially enjoyed riding on the train. Grandma was so nice and bought Corbin and Brycen these obnoxious roaring tigers that they had a blast running around with. Overall, it was a really good time and I am SOOOOO glad that I got to go and be a part of it. Thanks Granny!

Bonneville Speedway...Speed Week

So Layne told me that if I was going to live in Utah....I had to at least experience the Bonneville Salt Flats at least once. Reluctantly I agreed to go and to my surprise...I had a lot of fun. I had no idea how beautiful it was out there. Corbin and Brycen had a great time together watching the races, running around on the salt, watching the little airplanes fly in and out, and hangin' out with "Papa". I know Layne had a good time hanging out with all "the boys" and he was greatful that I was willing to go and share one of his passions with him.

Me and CeCe!

This morning we had Cierra over for a little play time. It was so much fun to have her here and to watch her and Corbin play. It is so amazing for me to watch the little differences between the two of them. CeCe is so sweet and soft spoken and generally well behaved and Corbin is 100% the rough and tough boy...climbing on everything and being as wild as possible. Cierra is so sweet and so patient with him. Corbin climbed up on the chair with some Goldfish Cracker and CeCe climbed right up there with him. It was so cute....I had to take a picture. You can tell they really love each other.

Corbin's 1st Time Swimming Alone

Today we got invited to go swimming with the Hassell family over at Carl and Marilou's house. It was a beautiful day today and Corbin and I were excited to be getting out of the house to do something fun.

I decided today to try out the "yellow inner-tube suit" again today. When I first bought it and tried it on him he had a meltdown until I took it off. I knew that Mindy had one and sometimes her kids used it so I thought there was a chance that it might fly today.

At first, he wasn't excited in the least to put it on and it required a little help from Mindy to get it on, but once he was in the water he settled down a bit. Initially he was unstable and kept tipping forward so I just held onto him for a while and walked around the pool. It only took about 10 or 15 min. until he started to get the hang of it. From then on he wanted nothing to do with me.

He spent the good part of the next several hours swimming around the pool all by himself. He was so proud that he could do it by himself and loved his freedom. I just sat on the edge of the pool and watched in amazement and took lots of pictures to show to Dad. He is growing up so fast.... I can't hardly believe it.

We both had a great time today. I really enjoyed being able to hang out and talk with Mindy, bask in the sun, and watch our kids have a great time together. Thanks Hassell's for the wonderful day!

My Little Escape Artist

Today I put Corbin down for his usual afternoon nap. My dad was at the house working on the tile in the downstairs bathroom, but other than that we were having a quiet afternoon. I noticed that Corbin had been asleep much longer than usual so I went in to check on him. He was still soundly sleeping so I closed the door to his room and continued doing what I was doing. I had also closed the door to the room where I was at so that I didn't wake him and was just patiently waiting and listening for him to wake up. It had been some time when suddenly....I heard someone running down the hall. I opened the door to my room and walked out into the living room to find Corbin playing with his toys.

I was very confused as to how he got there and wondered if I had failed to hear my dad get him out of his bed so I went downstairs to ask him. To my surprise...he had been downstairs the entire time and had not been up to rescue Corb's from his bed. Well as you can guess by now....my little baby has discovered how to escape from his crib and to top it all off he has also discovered how to open doors by himself!

If only I could have seen his face when he opened that door and let himself out. I have no doubt that he was quite proud he was of his new accomplishments!!!

Easter 2009

Today I took Corbin to the Dinosaur Park for the annual Easter egg hunt. This year Corbin was able to go around and gather eggs by himself although he still wasn't overly interested in the eggs themselves. Instead, he found it much more enjoyable to run as fast as he could and step on as many eggs as possible.... cuz they make such a fun noise when you break them!!!

Once he had gathered his 5 egg limit, I followed him around the park as he discovered all the neat things to look at and play with. He could see all the kids going down the big slides and decided that he wanted to give it a try...so all by himself...he climbed all the stairs as I waited patiently at the bottom of the slide. After some time I finally saw his little head pop up at the top and he walked slowly to the edge of the slide. After watching a few kids go down he turned around on his stomach and slid down. He was so proud of himself and quickly ran around to do it again. After a few times going down on his stomach he decided to go down like the big kids and he sat on his bum and away he went.

It was finally time to go so we walked through the museum to leave so that we could pick up our season pass at the front desk. As we were walking, Corbin notice this area where they had large life sized dinosaurs that were making noises and moving around. I was sure that they were going to freighten him so I stayed close to "protect" him. To my surprise...he was utterly amazed by them and stood at the fence and watched them intently going back and forth along the fence to get a better look at them. Finally he decided just to sit on the floor and make himself comfortable as he watched in awe.

I can honestly say that it was one of the funnest times that I have had with him so far. We had a great time playing and hanging out together. And as sad as it is to see my baby grow up and become a little boy, it was so much fun to watch him grow and learn new things!

Hard Hats Still Required!

I have had many requests for picture updates of the basement so here goes. We have been at this remodel thing since the beginning of January and minus a few set backs (ie: Stewart the"Inspection Nazi" who is bound and determined to make this project difficult for us) it is coming along very well. My dad and brothers have worked their fingers to the bone and spent countless number of hours making sure that the job is done well. All of the sheetrock and trim is up and we are just about ready to start painting....yeah!!! Which also means that the dust will soon be starting to settle. I never could have imagined just how much dust that I would have to contend with in my upstairs with this job. It is literally going to take me years to get it out of all the nooks and crannys, but I have no doubt that it is going to be worth it.

I am STILL fighting a bidding war with the cabinet dudes and I think that I am losing the battle. It is truely amazing how much things cost these days. Wow...I certainly just made myself feel really old with that one! I am so grateful to my dad for all his help in making the thousands of decisions that have gone into this remodel. I don't know what I would do without him.