the Loveridge family reunion '09

So, this year's destination... Grover, Ut. It was my sister's (Steph) turn to plan the big event. Her husband's family has a little cabin down in the town of Grover (near Capital Reef). So, the herd of us migrated down there with our tents and sunscreen for some fun. I had the back of our truck filled: stroller, bouncer, high chair, pack-n-play, baby carrier... I was prepared. It's interesting that the smaller the person, the more stuff you end up packing for them--half a truck bed dedicated to a 10 month old.

Unfortunately, Adam wasn't able to get work off, so he missed out on the whole thing. I was a little nervous to solo the trip with my three boys: a) I've never tested Asa's sleeping habits away from his crib, b) camping with a crawler is pretty exhausting, and c) Luke is, well, Luke... he usually requires a person to constantly shadow him. But, my negativism was apparently unnecessary and I ended pleasantly surprised. Asa slept great and Isaac and Luke did pretty good, overall... playing like normal children play. Some fun moments and highlights of our trip:

On our drive down we played the "animal game". You know, the game where someone thinks of an animal and the other people ask questions to try to guess it. Well, this was Isaac's first time playing, and I was surprised that he got the concept so easily (this is the kid who doesn't understand that when you play hide-and-go-seek, it's best not to tell people where you are going to hide... oh, but it is his favorite game). Here are some of his questions: "Does it have eyes?", "Does it have a head?", "Does it have ears?" Now that I think about it, I guess someone could have been thinking of a worm.

One of the days some of us hiked to Calf Creek and played in the water. My mom volunteered to stay back and watch Asa for me... what a great mom I have. Isaac and Luke did great on the hike. It's only about a mile, but it is pretty steep for a good part of the way. Of course, I do have to thank my little bro, Neil. He was always there to hold a little hand and offer assistance when needed.

The group of us who hiked to the upper falls of Calf Creek.

Uncle Neil being a champ.

Matt and Kalli

We also went into Capitol Reef and played at Boogyman Falls. This was the highlight of Asa's trip... the kid just LOVES water.

Cute little Shae

Best of all, Isaac and Luke had a blast for 4 days playing with their cousins. Isaac, especially adores his cousins and they all had fun chasing lizards, feeding chipmunks, scaring each other with rumors of bears and coyotes, riding bikes, finding bones, and getting nice and dirty.

Kalli, Isaac, and Halle sharing some wisdom and licorice.

Kade--one of the cutest little boys, ever.

Luke adores his Uncle "Me-oh". Thanks again Neil for all of your help with the boys.

it's a beautiful day

This week's 5 things:

1. Oh, what a sweetheart Isaac is. Today, Adam and I took the boys to the good ol' PCHD (Park City Home Depot) to get materials for some planter boxes that I want to attempt this summer (more exciting info to come). The whole way there Isaac kept saying, "Wo, it's such a beautiful day!"; "Look how pretty everything looks!"; "It is SO beautiful today!" And then he said one of the sweetest things, "Aren't you so happy that Heavenly Father gave us this beautiful day?" I'm grateful he has learned to give credit where credit is due.

2. So, as referenced in #1, I'm going to attempt a garden this summer. I know it's kind of a late start, but I wasn't orginally planning on it this year. But, Isaac finally wore me down. Literally, every time we went to the store and passed by the seed display, he would BEG for us to get some seeds to plant. Well, I decided it was probably a good idea to cultivate this enthusiam for self reliance, so I bought some.

We planted them a couple of weeks ago in some little cups, and we now have a bunch of little sprouts... it's so exciting! So, now my plan is to create a 'square foot garden'. And, to keep things doable for myself, it will start out small. I consider this my practice garden, so hopefully we will harvest some wonderful veggies in a couple of months... I will find out just how green my thumb is. I will post some pictures of the beautiful boxes next week (they are still only images in my head).

3. Now for a Luke moment. Now that Luke is officially potty trained (yay!), he has decided to make things a little more exciting:

We didn't get the camera out quite fast enough, so I will explain what he is doing here. He is on top of the playground and he is pulling up his pants, because he has just finished peeing onto the slide. I guess he has decided that when he is away from a toilet, and feels the need to pee, he will find the most practical/amusing alternative. When he was showering at the pool the other day, it was the drain; when he's on top of a playground, the slide seems the most logical choice. Yes, I am so proud.

4. I need to record one of my favorite Luke-isms before it ends and is forgotten. When Luke gives a kiss, it is a full on pucker. He has been doing it for a good year or so - at first I thought it was probably just a cute little phase, but it has become his trademark. He gets those lips out as far as they will go and leaves you with plenty of spit to remember him by. I've tried a few times to capture it on film, but this is the best I have got so far:

You don't really get the full effect from this picture, but it gives you an idea.

5. Now, a little on Asa. I need to change my description of him over there on the side, because he's not so mild anymore. He's still pretty easy going and he's definitely a happy little guy, but he is pretty intense. For example, any time he gets in water, he gets WAY excited and splashes like a maniac the whole time. I cannot bath him without ending up DRENCHED from him splashing the whole time.
He also loves to make noise, so he's constantly pulling pots out of the cupboard and pushing them around on the tile - cracking up as he does it. It is LOUD and he LOVES it. And, he continues to squeal and scream like a mad man, to make himself heard.
He is getting more and more fun every day as he learns new things. He laughs at silliness; he laughs at the little games we play with him, and he's now learning to clap... I love this age!

Just look at that crazed look in his eyes.

bummer

This week's 5 Things:

1. Today, Isaac asked me what 'bummer' meant. So, I explained that it's when something sad/bad/lame happens. He threw out a few scenarios that assured me he got the whole idea: "Like, how Drake is gone... is that a bummer?", "If someone stole your car... is that a bummer?", "If someone stole your TV... is that a bummer?".

"Yes", I said, "Those are all big bummers." Then I asked Luke, "Luke, do you think that's a bummer?"

Luke: "Yes, I have a bummer.", while pointing to his cute little bum.

2. The last couple of days Luke has been obsessed with skeletons. It all started yesterday at breakfast, when Luke randomly said, "I like skeletons." And, it has continued with many conversations about our bones and how they are "in dere (there)" as he points to different parts of the body. Then, today, he started saying, "I don't can't see (pointing to his eyes). Skeleton in dere take it off (as - I think - he's making motions of his flesh coming off of his skeleton). I be so sad. Dat (that) be eewee (really), super sad."
So, what I think he's trying to say is that if he were just a skeleton, he wouldn't be able to see and he wouldn't have the rest of his body... that, or he thinks his skeleton will rip itself from his body someday, which would be terrifying.

3. So, #2 reminds me of something I want to write down. Luke's use of the words 'eewee' (really), and 'super'. He loves dramatic conversations, so everything is: "eewee, eewee scary", or "super, super sad", or the combination of the two. For instance, Adam was telling me how he almost got attacked by a group of birds at the lodge. We were laughing about it, then Luke says, in his serious little voice, "That's super, super scary." It makes me smile every time.

4. Asa is now 2 years old... at least he looks older, since I cut his hair. Isaac decided to capture the baby wrangling, while holding a sharp object, fun:

Don't worry; no babies were hurt in the giving of the haircut... only a mother's finger. I don't know why I did it on my lap this time. The high chair is way easier.

Doesn't he look way older?!

5. The other day Isaac had me come see what he had made:

If you can't tell; it's a fire pit. But, what made me laugh is the size of the fire pit; about 8 inches across with tiny twigs in it. He was so proud of himself and asked me to start a fire in it (this was located in between our garage and trailer). I felt bad having to tell him that we couldn't start a fire there, so I decided we should have a weenie/marshmallow roast that night. We traveled down to Nunn's Park for the big event. First, we decided to go play at Bridal Veil Falls, then we built a spectacular fire and started roasting. The boys had a lot of fun, but I worry about them becoming little pyro's... they have always been obsessed with fire.

a sad little guy

So, this is kind of sad, but I felt the need to write it down before I forget. It's a great example of Isaac's sensitive soul.

A couple of months ago Adam and I were sitting on the couch chatting with Isaac. I'm not sure exactly how we got on the subject, but Adam told Isaac how lucky he was to have a daddy around who loves him so much. He told Isaac that he didn't know his daddy. Of course, this led to MANY questions from Isaac. I don't remember word for word what was said, but it pretty much went like this:

Isaac: "Why don't you know your daddy?"
Adam: "Because he left our family and moved somewhere else."
Isaac: "Why did he leave your family?"
Adam: "I don't know... I guess he just decided he wanted to leave."
Isaac: "Can we go see him someday?"
Adam: "We don't know him, so probably not."
Isaac (at this point you can hear the tears in the voice): "But, why can't we go meet him?"
Adam: "Well, he lives far away and we don't know him at all."

He paused for a minute and you could see the pain in his little face... his eyes filling with tears, his mouth turning down. Then he said, "My throat hurts." You know how when you are fighting back tears your throat hurts? That broke my heart. I told him it's okay to cry and to feel sad, and then the tears really came. We have talked about my dad quite a bit before and how we will get to see him in heaven. Isaac makes comments of how he wishes he could have met Grandpa Loveridge, but he understands it. This, he doesn't understand... the fact that he has a grandpa out there, somewhere, that he doesn't know. Luckily, Isaac has two WONDERFUL grandmas that make sure he feels loved and adored.

I can ride my bike with no handlebars... I mean training wheels.

This weeks 5 things:

1. We were driving by the Wallsburg turnoff the other day, and Isaac asked where that road went. I told him that's how you get to Wallsburg, and that we use to live there before he was born.
"Can we go there someday?", he asked.
"Sure", I said.
"Do they speak a different language there?", he asked.

2. Asa is getting louder and LOUDER. He has this insane squeal that he does that makes me think he is going to be just as loud as his brothers. I guess he's learning from the best.


3. I received the most beautiful bouquet of flowers from Luke:


4. With the recent loss of our beloved dog, Grandma Loveridge thought the boys needed some new pets to help take their minds off of him. It just so happened that she had some right in her garden:

Anybody who knows me, knows how FREAKED out this makes me! But, I am determined not to make my boys as paranoid of bugs/slimy things as I am. So, I put on my happy face, and politely declined all offerings to hold the snails.

5. Isaac can officially ride his bike without training wheels. He's been wanting to try, so I took them off and headed over to the track for our first lesson. Our first attempt left me thinking that it was going to take a while to master a 2-wheeler. Well, tonight we all went back over - this time Adam was there to give his expertise. Apparently, Adam said or did something that worked, because Isaac made it around the entire track pretty smoothly (I still think he just needed time for my lesson to sink in and his confidence was ready). By the time we were leaving, Isaac had figured out how to start and stop (sort of) by himself. He kept asking us, "Are you so proud of me?". And, yes I really was. I love these moments, as a parent... to see your child so proud of himself for learning or mastering something.

I hadn't been on a bike since selling mine to pay for my baby Isaac. Nice to see that I've still got it.

soccer mom?

Isaac participated in his first team sport this year... soccer. It's funny, I wasn't sure what to expect from him, but once I saw him play his first game, I wasn't surprised. Granted, he had never played soccer before, he is only 4, and he had never played in a team sport, so you wouldn't expect a (insert any famous soccer player's name here) performance. He was pretty much in la la land... running around in the general vicinity of the group of kids, looking everywhere except at the ball, occasionally sitting down mid field or running over to me at the sidelines to tell me he loves me. I'm not trying to sound disappointed, because all that matters to me is that he had fun... which he did. I'm not sure if it was just the anticipation of snacks after the game, but he was definitely excited for each game. The best part is, at the last game he actually made a goal! I even captured it on film. I finally remembered my camera at the last game so that I could show my family how funny it was (again, not making fun of him, he just makes me laugh). Instead of being like every other game, he actually put some effort into it - keeping up with the kids, kicking the ball in the right direction a few times, and then making the big goal. What a way to go out! Now we will just have to see if he liked it enough to do it again next year... I'm really eager to be a soccer mom.

A good soccer mom would have had her child's soccer attire ready for his first game. Luckily, he doesn't care about that kind of stuff and he still had a blast.

5 things

So, when I use to email my little bro on his mission, I would make him a list with 5 things that had happened during the week; to force me to come up with something to write. I usually had to stretch to come up with 1 or 2, let alone 5, but I made it happen. I have recently gone back and looked at some of those emails that didn't end up deleted. It was cool to read about some things that I had completely forgotten about... which is why I am kicking myself for not starting a journal sooner (my blog is pretty much my journal, until I can really get my act together). I can't stand the feeling that I have forgotten so much about my boys when they were younger (my oldest is only 5!... my memory sucks!) So, I'm going to start making my lists again, and I will be digging deep into my brain and writing down anything that I may remember from the past.

5 things from the last couple of weeks (other than the major one of Luke pooping on the potty. I already covered that):

1. While driving home the other night, Isaac and Luke were talking about poptarts. Isaac asked Luke if he liked poptarts, and Luke's reply was, "No. I like tuna fish".

2. The boys were eating some Spongebob fruit snacks (thanks, Grandma Pulley), and Isaac was lining all of his up to see which characters were in his bag: Mr. Crabs, pineapple, pineapple, pineapple, Patrick, pineapple, Squidward... no Spongebob. As he is holding Squidward he says, "I bet he's glad there is no Spongebob in here" (Squidward can't stand Spongebob). The two thoughts that went through my head at that moment are, "What a clever boy", and "We watch way too much Spongebob!".

3. Asa finally cut his first tooth. I guess 9 months isn't all that late for teeth, but my other two were both 6 months when they got theirs.

4. We took the boys on a couple of little "hikes" to enjoy the wonderful weather we have had. I love how fascinated they always are about EVERYTHING that they see. Flowers, cactus, horse poop, rocks, dirt, lizards, ants... it's amazing stuff! They LOVE picking flowers as they walk. I finally had to tell Luke to leave some for the deer to eat because it was literally taking us 15 minutes to walk 20 yards.

5. My favorite one: Tonight, as I was in my room folding clothes, Adam was taking Luke to his bed, and I hear Luke say, "Mommy's eewee (really) cool." If that didn't just melt my heart...

Isaac and Luke had to have their backpacks for our big trek.