August 29, 2009

Weekend Whirlwind

Butterfly Garden

On Friday Ethan and I joined the spouses club (or politicallycorrectly known as the significant other support group) on an outing to the butterfly garden at Saylorsville Lake. We had several toddlers in our group, and there was another playgroup ahead of us. A big sign in the garden instructs visitors to find a place in the garden and stay quiet and still until a butterfly lands...well, needless to say we only saw one butterfly, but Ethan had a blast tearing the place up.

He was so excited to run I couldn't even get a picture. When I'm around other kids his age I notice how much energy he has - he has one speed and it is FAST! He has one volume too and it is LOUD!

Iowa Cubs Baseball Game

We joined the college of podiatry to cheer on the Cubs. The weather was perfect, the fireworks after the game were fun, and I think the game was good (they won?).

Representing BYU here in Iowa. We are just a little jealous about missing out on the group football tickets at BYU with my Dad, brothers, sisters in law, cousins and friends!

Craigslist Adventure

Clark decided that Ethan needed a basketball hoop. He is constantly stealing things from my room and shooting them into the laundry basket. (I had one frustrating morning looking for my makeup everywhere - finally found it when I did some laundry). He loves balls and he loves throwing them. So we found him the perfect little hoop that can grow with him up to 6 feet on Craiglist. It took us to Indianola Iowa (we thought it was just a suburb of Des Moines)...it was about a 40 min. drive.
After driving all the way there we decided to explore the town. Lucky us - they were having a quilt festival downtown and displayed several local quilter's art all over downtown. Lucky us again - I had my Entertainment Book and we had a buy one get one free sandwich at the Crouse Cafe.

We walked in and the place was packed...seriously tons of people and everyone was over the age of 70! I panicked that we had crashed an old folks home or a retirement party (which I've actually done before on accident) or something. Seriously, the joint was hopping - it was busier than Chuck-a-rama during the senior discount hour. On the way back to our table we passed 4 walkers, and 3 oxygen tanks. Feeling a little out of place we ate our yummy buy one get one free sandwiches and got out of there before Ethan got his cheeks pinched off by the grandmas!

After going to a few more shops we found another coupon in our book for the Corner Sundry, an old fashioned ice cream shop. Clark had a strawberry ice cream soda and I had a brown cow. Ethan just loved sitting on the tall bar stools and eating both of ours!

It was a pleasant little visit in Indianola, the people were nice cooing over the strawberry blonde curls on our little guy and telling us how cool their town was.

We did make it home with the hoop!

At first Ethan thought he needed a little boost to reach the basket...

That didn't last long, he loves it!

I love this picture because Clark is in the back shooting with the mini ball, and Ethan is on the run with Clark's real ball.


Soggy Doggy

Ethan's favorite things right now are playing in water, dogs, his horse, Clark and throwing things (probably in that order). This toy combines the top 2 perfectly. He loved it!

Riding into the Sunset

Every cowboy needs a faithful steed.

So the little horse in the auction made it all the way back to Iowa - and Ethan has a new best friend! He loves riding and hugging his little horse. Tonight Clark rigged it so that we could pull Ethan and his horse on a little walk around a pond. It was like wakeboarding, there were a few downhills that had Ethan holding on for dear life. Every once in awhile he would dismount and chase some ducks, but come back every couple of minutes to give his horse a hug and make sure he was still there. I think taking a horse on a walk is way better than a stroller.

August 26, 2009

Seattle or Bust!

I had a trip planned to Seattle in May to visit my kindred spirit Debbie and see her new baby boy. Poor Debbie had some crazy health problems due to a huge blood clot, and I thought it was best to postpone my trip for a few months - and not take a wild little toddler to her house!

I finally got to see cute baby Austin last week!

We had so much fun! It was my first time visiting Seattle and I loved it. It was beautiful, I loved being surrounded by pine trees and mountains.

We did a lot of fun things and I got to see a lot of Seattle in just a few days...but as Debbie's husband Tom pointed out - all we would really need to be happy was a couch to sit on and chat. And its true, I had too much fun staying up late and talking about everything!
I really think I need to live next door to Debbie!

Beautiful water...

Beautiful gum wall...

Beautiful fish at Pike's Market...

Ethan loved the children's museum by the Space Needle (free if you go at 4:00 pm)

Ethan loved poor little Austin, he loved to poke him...

He loved to crowd him out of his play mat...

Hopefully Austin won't remember much of him so they can be buddies in the future. He also loves "smiling" (if you can call it that) for the camera. If he notices me taking his picture lately I get a real picture perfect smile - as you can see above and in the 2 examples below!

August 23, 2009

Going Once, Going Twice...

So I don't know how it happened but we managed to spend an ENTIRE Saturday at the Main Auction in Boise!

There really are no words to describe the auction...it is a garage sale on steroids! People take their junk and other people come to buy and take home and add to their own junk. Weston and my Dad took a few items to sell this week.

Everything is in cages so you can see everything, but then you have to wait for the auctioneer to finally get to the item you want to bid on. There is everything from power tools, to furniture, to toys, to lumber, to cars, to antiques to JUNK!
There is something really exciting about winning an auction even if it something you don't really want! The first item I bid on was a train set that was brand new in the original package - I was so excited and I couldn't really understand the auction language and I started the bid way higher than I intended too (luckily someone else outbid me). After getting outbid on everything I had my eye on I walked down to another cage just in time to see the HORSE. I knew Ethan would love it...after a fierce battle between a man that wanted it for his grandson I won the horse for $7. It has wheels, plays music and the wheels fold up and it becomes a rocking horse. Ethan absolutely LOVES it! He rode it to the car after the auction and it had to ride next to him in the car or he would sob. Now I have to figure out how to get the thing home on the airplane. I think my $7 deal is not going to be so great.

I was standing with Erica when the tub full of games came up...It was going for $3 so I quickly handed Erica my number so she could bid. 4 bucks for all of these games..."Quip It" was still in the plastic wrap. What a bargain!

So Weston wanted to bid on this metal sign because it is the seal where my Dad works. It came with an entire box of junk all for $1.

When we looked through the junk we discovered there was an entire collection of frogs! It was hilarious - there were over 100 frogs...ceramic, plush, plastic and even a little mug with a frog looking out on the bottom - even a few inappropriate frogs. Oh my.

My cousin Mark waited all day for this real slot machine from the Aladdin casino in Vegas.

The auction crew with our treasures!

Wedding Gift

Our family has a few little jokes having to do with "The Christmas Story" movie. James came home from his mission to Guatemala with a hot pink one piece pajama set - a real pink nightmare! So I was thrilled when I found that one of the Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments this year was Ralphie in the pink nightmare, when you push the button it says lines from the movie. I thought it would be the perfect wedding gift for James and Erica to start their Christmas traditions.
But then of course I had to add to it...so I made his and her bunny hats so they can act out the story and wear the pink nightmare whenever they want!
Muah ha ha!

August 22, 2009

Sister of the Groom

August 21 - Today my baby brother James married Erica Kerr. It was a wonderful day! It was so fun to catch up with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends that came into town for the wedding.
Wedding Ceremony - Boise Temple 1:00 pm
The wedding ceremony was beautiful! Growing up I always wanted a sister...now I have 2 on my side of the family and they are both named Erica.


100 degrees, polyester tux, too many pictures...you would cry too if it happened to you!

Still looks like a million bucks though in his white tuxedo.

The Wedding Luncheon - 3:30 pm

My parents, aunts and my mom's friends prepared all of the food for over 100 people at the wedding luncheon. Everything was so good!

James wanted a big pinata for the groom and the groomsmen...and why would you not want to smash a pinata on your wedding day? After all of the big boys took a few turns I had to help them break it!


There was also a little one for the kids (those under the age of 20)

Wedding Reception- 7:00 pm at the Kerr Residence

A re-enactment of one of my favorite photos from my wedding reception.

What goes around comes around...

The dance party was rockin!

The boutonniere Ethan was wearing lasted about 32 seconds.

Such a fun celebration! I thought it was a success that I kept Ethan from diving into the pool. Congratulations to the happy couple!