18 Months Old Already

This post is a couple of weeks over due, but I've been wanting to post about Dallin and his 18 month birthday. I cannot believe our "baby" is as old as he is. He's not even a baby anymore by a long shot. This kid is talking up a storm. Just today he grabbed his trick or treating bag, slung it over his shoulder like a purse, and waved as he said, "Bye, Mom." I said, "Bye bye, Dallin. Where are you going?" He goes, "Church. See ya later!" The doctor said a kid his age should have a 10-word vocabulary. He's got probably 10 times that. Dallin is our little red headed lefty (only 1-2% of the general population have red hair and 6-10% the general population are left-handed, according to wikipedia. I've yet to find a percentage of left-handed red heads.) Danny hopes he makes it to the big leagues as a lefty pitcher. Dallin is a great mimick. He closely watches Emily and then does exactly what she does or says (positive or negative). He LOVES his sippy cup of milk and asks for it all the time. When he takes a drink he throws his head way back (half the time he almost loses his balance) and drinks deeply till he's completely out of breath. It's pretty funny. Dallin's been our cuddle bug from the get go and lucky for me he still cuddles. He often rests his head on my shoulder and just lets me hold him. I love it because Emily wasn't cuddly at all. He's actually a pretty big mamma's boy and we wondered how he'd do in nursery. Well, Dallin went for the first time on Sunday and they said he did well. He cried when we left, but was okay till someone either came or left the room. They also said that Emily was a big help to him and tried her best to take care of him. He loves Cinderella and the other princesses, going back to when Emily was obsessed with Cinderella. "Rella" is what he calls her. He loves to sing the "So this is Love" song where she and the prince dance, and he dances too. He likes all of Emily's girly toys: tiarras, purses, dolls. We're planning on getting him some toys for Christmas that are good and masculine. :) He collects rocks wherever we go, and around here there are plenty of rocks to be had. He's getting be a stuffed animal lover like his sister. The regulars in his crib are a kitty, a hippo, a bear, and a moose. Today he included two of Emily's baby dolls, a little one and a huge one almost as big as he is. Dallin loves horsey rides. Any time either Danny or I get down on our knees to do something he comes over and says, "Horsey ride. Horsey ride." He is such a drooler! He nearly always has a little drool drop dangling from his chin and his shirts often are wet. He only has six teeth, which means he has a long way to go in getting all his teeth. I'm thinking he's just constantly in the teething process, which explains the constant drooling. He's a good prayer. He folds his arms, bows his head way down, and squints his little eyes tightly shut. He even says the prayers good and loud, repeating the last word or two of the sentence we give him to say. It's all I can do not to laugh when he prays. Well, these are just a few things about our little guy I wanted to share and to document. He's such a happy kid (though he's learning to hold his own with his sister as of late) and is a joy to have in our family.*

Dallin's stats as of 10/20/08:
Weight: 24 lbs. (25th percentile)
Height: 31 in. (95th percentile)
(long and lean like his daddy)

*Lest there be any concern of favoritism occurring in our family, I'm planning on doing a post about Emily in the near future.

Fall in Ann Arbor

So, while I'm in the process of figuring out how to do a slide show of our trip (stay tuned for more pictures), I have to get this post off my chest and document such a great time. We left for Mesa to spend Conference weekend with family (it was a wonderful Conference) and then the kids and I took off for Ann Arbor, Michigan to visit my sister, Michelle, and her family. We were not alone in our travels as Jennifer (my other sister), her two boys, and my mom also made the trek to Ann Arbor. Where can I even start to try and convey the fun, the chaos, the laughs, and the memories of the trip? Let me start by naming the characters: Michelle, Byron (her husband), Jack, Max, Lucy, and Sam (her children) Garn; Jennifer, Nathan, and Ryan Wallis; Ann (my mom); Me, Emily, and Dallin. For the record, six out of the eight children were three and under - you can imagine how that would be. After a while, we got to where we fed, dressed, changed, and combed the hair of whatever kid needed it, be it our own or someone else's. Mealtimes and bathtimes were insane, but with all us adults pitching in, we got it down to a science after a few days. Just imagine three boosters, three highchairs, and then the rest of us around the dinner table. We actually joked a lot that this is how polygamists must feel. One man, several women, and a whole bunch of kids/babies around the same age. Kind people that Michelle knows loaned us highchairs, boosters, and car seats. Getting loaded up into the car and going somewhere was a huge production, so we really didn't do it that often. When we did, two of us had to sit in the front passenger seat of the van because we were just too many. We didn't even all fit comfortably in the house when it came to sleeping arrangements, so Byron, Michelle, Lucy, and Sam all gave up their beds to us and the babies and slept across the street at Tabitha's, their blessed neighbor. Jack and Max too gave up their beds and slept in the basement with Grandma.

In the midst of it all the constant juggling, we had SO MUCH FUN. As an extra bonus, I got to see my old roommate, Megan, for a few hours one morning. It was so good to see each other again! The weather was perfect, unseasonably warm for a Michigan October. This permitted us to spend lots and lots of time outside, be it taking walks and collecting beautiful fall leaves, playing at the park, or at Michelle's house. They have a huge backyard with nice grass, a trampoline, a hammock, and good toys. Oh, and lots of gigantic Midwestern mosquitos. One day we all went to an apple orchard and got to pick apples and pumpkins. We all loved the cider and fresh doughnuts. We always had plenty of good food at every meal. And we had yummy treats almost every night, I think: chocolate chip cookies, caramel corn, snickerdoodles, chocolate gemini cake, and a pumpkin roll. We stayed up so late every night - Garn Standard Time (if you know Danny and me, we're almost always in bed by 9:30 or 10). Mostly we just talked and laughed, but we also watched a movie and played games on a few of the nights. I just LOVED being with my mom and sisters. I loved seeing my kids interact with their cousins (I use the term "interact" loosely. It might include pushing, stealing toys from, or yelling at). I loved interacting with my neices and nephews who I don't get to see very often. I loved watching U-tube videos of big hairbands from the '80's with Byron. Go Bon Jovi! It really was such a fun trip and we were all sad to have to go home. So, THANK YOU, Garns for such a wonderful time! You guys sacrificed a lot to have us all there. We appreciate it and hope you had as great a time as we did!

Wildlife Museum

On Monday, I took the kids to the International Wildlife Museum after seeing an ad for it on T.V. last week. It's funny how now that we live here, a 30-40 minute drive doesn't deter me from taking the kids somewhere since most things are just far. When we lived in Mesa, we hardly ever traveled that far to do something, especially with the kids. Anyway, it was a great museum (taxidermy heaven, really) with almost every kind of animal you could think of from all over the world. Even better was that many of the exhibits were hands-on with signs that read, "Please Touch." We spent a full hour and a half there and the kids were still going strong. In one room I couldn't get over how many mounted heads they'd crammed onto the walls; like hundreds. Emily's favorite animals were the big horned sheep and the polar bear (she has an affinity toward polar bears ever since seeing Boris the polar bear at the zoo and all polar bears are named Boris to her). Dallin's favorites were the zebra and the rhino. Mine were the full giraffe, the huge man-eating tiger, and the enormous elephant head mounted on a wall.

Apple Annie

Last Saturday we took a half-day trip to little ol' Willcox, a small town an hour and a half northeast of us. We'd been planning this little outing for more than a month, waiting for the weather to cool down, all for a visit to Apple Annie's Pumpkin Patch and Orchard. We left bright and early at 7:30 a.m. and got there just as they were opening. We went first to the pumpkin patch, where they have something along the lines of a country store, a bunch of fresh produce, a corn maze, a hay ride, and of course, a pumpkin patch. We rode out to the patch on a tractor-drawn, hay-filled trailor and got to pick our own pumpkins right off the vines. Some teenage worker dudes hacked them off right then and there. Then we walked over to try out the corn maze. We opted for the "baby maze", which only took 10 or 15 minutes to complete, verses dragging our kids through the two-hour ones. It was perfect for us and they had a good time in there. Then we headed for the store to pay for our pumpkins and some home made toasted almond syrup that we couldn't resist buying.

Then we were off to the apple orchard, a 15 or so minute drive. There, they let you grab a bucket and pick your produce right off the trees, be it apples or peaches. We opted to pass on that, but looked around the gift shop instead. Then we grabbed lunch: apple burgers, baked beans, chips, and soda. It was a fabulous lunch, the beans in particular. To top it off, we got some home made apple crumb ice cream. It was DELICIOUS! In Danny's words, "This is a very pleasant ice cream experience." He ranks it #2 in his ice cream experience rankings (#1 is the huckleberry ice cream from Reed's Dairy in Idaho Falls). After finishing lunch we loaded up and headed home. We were home by 1:30 p.m. and all took naps after our big, exciting day.

I feel the sign says it all, and therefore, I can forego a caption on this picture.






The sprawling landscape of Apple Annie's Pumkin Patch.

The fam.

Dallin and Emily loved all the pumpkins. Emily especially loved the tiny ones. Dallin's favorite thing of the whole day, however, was collecting rocks everywhere we went.

On the hay ride going to the pumpkin patch.

Danny scoping out the the vines for the small pumpkins, with vine cutters and all.

Emily's pumpkin.

Dallin's pumpkin.

We bought some honey sticks at the little country store. They had a varitey of flavors, from mint to peach to cinnamon to English toffee and more.

Needless to say, Emily loved it.

And Dallin too.

Again, I'll forego a caption.

Here's the insanely difficult corn maze. Who are these people? Can you see why we went for the 15-minute baby maze? Heck yes!

Entering the corn maze.

In the maze.

Throughout the maze, we let Emily decide which way we'd go.

Exiting the maze.

At the apple orchard for lunch. Over lunch Danny goes, "This place does with apples what Bubba does with shrimp." I laughed and we proceeded to name all the things we'd seen done with apples that day: apple burgers, apple ice cream, apple butter, apple syrup, apple cake, apple honey, apple crisp, apple pie, apple spices, apple scones, apple candles, apple potpourri - and the list goes on, I'm sure.

The beans Danny is still talking about. With pride, he keeps counting the chunks of meat he scored after fishing them out of the big pot. Thanks, Apple Annie (whoever you are), for a fun day, good food, and lasting memories!