Reunited!

July 23- 26, 2010: Another Weekend of Celebrations!

Happy 24 everyone!

Friday

My parents had the day off so we went up to Highland to visit their splash park. I wish we had on of these close to our house.






Saturday

. . .of course, found us in the pool.





Sunday

Just a good old fashioned day at church.

Monday

We had a great thunder storm. I love a good summer storm, and I had to take my boys out to enjoy the weather.




They usually throw what I fix them to eat on the floor, but apparently mine and Craig's taco salads looked good. Why didn't I just fix them one? Because if I had they probably would have thrown it on the floor.


Then we ended the night with some fireworks. The boys are getting to enjoy them more each time.



Do you like Little H's dress? I was too lazy to snap up his overalls after I changed him.

Visitors From the South!

We had a fun visit from Craig's mom, Grandma and his Aunts. And from the sounds of it they all had a fun time too!

We went out to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant in Orem that I had never been to before- even though it's just right around the corner from our old apartment. I'm always up for Mexican though. No matter what restaurant it's at.





After dinners we stopped by Craig's cousin and her husbands cute home. That's where everyone was staying. We tried to get the boys to show off their cute little talking voices, but they were too entranced by the big screen TV. Of course, on the way home they filled our ears with bye bye's and Ruby's.


Before they headed out of town they stopped by the house for a quick visit.




Hope you guys enjoyed your trip. It was fun to see everyone.

Oh the Messes We Make!

Would you ever believe that such cute little boys could make messes?

He tries to keep his tray nice and orderly by putting everything in a cup.



Look Ma! We can use a spoon. . .to throw oatmeal everywhere. They actually have gotten really good at using spoons and forks.




Little H, I think you really only need one blanket in your crib.



My personal favorite. Could there be a more horrifying site for a mother then finding your child covered in paint? Surprisingly he didn't ruin the shirt, and the shorts were only $3.50 so I just picked up another pair. Yay for Garanimals!

Meet Ruby!

You may be thinking one of two things: "Why aren't there photos of the dog?" or "Why is she posting about a dog that we all know she has?"

Actually this is a post about this "Ruby"



This "Ruby" was swiped off the shelves at Shopko while mom was looking for window shades. Big H's eyes got big as he picked it up and happily exclaimed "Ruby! Ruby!"

Then, to put the cherry on top of the cuteness cake, he snuggled it close to his chest and gave me a huge smile.



The fact is that this is not an unusual sight. Every stuffed animal gets this loving adoration from Big H- and it also gets named "Ruby". But didn't mean that this emotional pregnant mom didn't continue to pace around the store, trying to stall while I thought up a plan to take away the "Ruby".

Perhaps a bribe with candy? Nah! It was close to lunch time and it's hard enough to get them to eat without a tummy full of sweets. Take it away and let him cry while we make our way to the car? That would probably have been the best choice, but my pregnant heart could not take it.



The toy was just the right price: cheap enough for buying it not to be totally ridiculous, but expensive enough for me to feel a twinge of guilt for spending so frivolously. Craig called me while I debated in my head, and I asked him if I could just buy the Giraffe. He said it was fine, so we walked out of the store with a new "Ruby".



For days the "Ruby" never left his side. He'd go to sleep with it, wake up with it in his hand and he'd carry it all through the house- and to the doctors office. He even shared it with his brother who also happens to be quite fond of it.

Sadly this "Ruby" is out of commission for the week because it happened to be in the same bed as the poopy diaper Big H managed to take off the other day.

I'm sure there will be untold excitement when Big H is reunited with his "Ruby".

DragonHeart - To the Stars

I just had to share this simply because I have been searching for this song forever. I can't believe it was right there under my nose this whole time. I have loved this song my whole life and have hummed the tune for as long as I can remember. Yet all I knew of the song was that it was on a movie trailer here and there. I couldn't even remember what movie trailers those were. One night of having to stay up and do laundry finally led me to search it out.

July 18, 2010: Trip up Hobble Creek!

Craig and I both wanted to take a nice relaxing drive on Sunday. So we decided to drive up the local canyon and scout out some camping area's. We came to a fun little Place called Jolley's Ranch.

The boys got antsy so we parked and decided to let them play. We tried the playground, but Big H fell and hit his head. To cheer him up we went and looked at this bridge.




Unfortunately Big H followed me and discovered the hot black mats that were basking in the sun. We then decided it was time to take them down to the nice refreshing creek.




We found a great spot to play at and we all had so much fun!





The boys loved throwing mud everywhere.




Lets play spot the Dachshund.





Look at my handsome cowboys!





Such a fun and relaxing day!

The Stratton's Have Gone Cloth!

With the changes we've made around here some might think we've jumped on the green band wagon. Truth is we're just trying to save money by finding ways to cut back that work for our family.



I have a friend who has started cloth diapering and she made it sound so simple that I thought maybe I should give it a try. After all, I don't mind washing out poop. In fact most of my employment has led to some poop washing here and there. So we looked into it and we found that there are a lot of new ideas out there that make it surprisingly convenient. And I didn't find the transition hard at all. We had a few overstuffed diapers and one day of leaky disasters, but aside from that we've gotten along pretty well.

Aside from saving us money, don't those little cloth diapered bums look so cute?



Can you see his little muffin top?



Along with cloth diapering we bought a clothes line. And I was told by Dendra that clothes lines and cloth diapers go well together because the sun will keep down the stains. So far so good. The clothes line has worked well for us, and I love having extra help with the stains on some of the other articles of clothing we own.

For the Love of Phones!

Little H loves phones. He turns everything into a phone including food and his stuffed dog.



When he gets older if he asks why people mistook him for a girl I'll show him this video ;)

My brother was way into phones as a kid too. He drove people crazy because he'd go around saying, "It's for you!" and then hand you the play phone.

My Dad got so annoyed he started to say "Hello" and then he'd throw the phone across the room. So one time in Sacrament meeting my brother picked up the play phone, said "Hello", and then threw it 3 isles up and hit someone in the back of the head.

I guess love of phones runs in the family. Lets hope we don't have a repeat of the Sacrament scenario though

Warning: Yard Sale's May Lead to Overheated Pregnant Women

Sitting outside all day in 90 degree weather left this prego woman roasted. I was too exhausted to go get into the pool due to the fact that we stayed up until 2:00 AM baking cookies, so I changed into the only comfy pair of shorts I could find and a light t-shirt





and convinced my husband to take me to the shaved ice stand.




Little H liked to eat it with his fingers



This was Big H's doing.



We stopped at a church and sat on the grass to enjoy our refreshments. Unfortunately we sat under a pine tree. Luckily Ruby enjoyed chasing the pine cones that we didn't enjoy sitting on.



P.S. I highly recommend topping your shaved ice with some cream. YUM!