The gospel is true, families are forever and we love St. George

This weekend we decided at the last minute to drive down to St. George and spend Conference weekend there. And I'm so happy we did.

We left on Friday after work which is never a great idea due to all the traffic. We usually make sure that Oliver goes to the bathroom right before we walk out the door, but somehow failed to do so this time. So, as we were driving into Utah County, we heard a small voice say "I have to go potty". There was no way we were going to pull out of the carpool lane in traffic to take him to the potty, so he peed in this little bottle.

And I think he really enjoyed it. What little kid wouldn't??? He then asked if he could play with his bottle of urine. I had to draw the line somewhere, so I said no.

After a quick 4 hour drive, we arrived and so glad to have made it to our Happy Place (St. George).

That morning I got to go running with my Father in Law. Call me a weirdo but really, since that passing of my own dad, I think Larry is the next best thing and I'm so happy that he is such a great father figure to me. I felt like it was a special moment.

Oliver enjoyed looking for Lizards on the rocks.

Luke was nice enough to watch Oliver out. He took him to the Crack (pioneer Park) and others joined in on the fun.

 Val and Jared's first time through.

 



And they all played around the park.

Meanwhile, This is what I was doing with Amy after a little bit of shopping...

Hitting up happy hour at Sonic, which we had no clue about and then took about 10 different pictures to get the "right" one to post on Instagram.

After the priesthood session, we all met up to have some delicious Thai and Sushi at Benjas.

 Oliver especially loved this because he got to play with "Magic Beans" and use chop sticks for the first time ever.



We also finished the 1000 piece puzzle that we started working on back in January. That sky was killer.

And spending time with family is the best...

 Although maybe Sue didn't think spending time with OUR family was the best ;)

We also enjoyed listening to conference of course...the parts that we caught. I'm not going to lie, I'll have to go back and read the talks, but what I caught was excellent and what a more relaxing place to do that than in St. George.

Happy October

So happy October is here. This is one of the reasons why.

Our pumpkins are ready for picking!

Oliver was so excited, he put on his gardening boots to go help Luke cut the pumpkins.

Luke was a little creepy, but it's okay it's almost Halloween.

 Oliver was so excited with all the pumpkins. He was even posing with them.

 They washed them all off

 And helped set them upon the porch...under my direction of course.

Happy pumpkin picking and happy October!

Lake Mead 2012

Last weekend we were able to get away for the weekend and extend our summer just a little more by going to Lake Mead.

Our friends, the Kitchen's invited us to stay with them at their family home down in Logan dale (aprox. 30 minutes from the lake). It was two full days at the lake and it was all so much fun to be a part of.

This is where we parked for the 2 days.

Oliver just wanted to be on the boat the entire time. He didn't want to ski or tube. He just wanted to ride in that boat.



Luke was so much fun to watch and be with on this trip. This was just his thing.

Since I am so accident prone, I was more nervous than Luke, but still had a blast.

And then there were the Professionals. These guys were so fun to watch. Top to bottom, Left to right we have

Tiffani, Becky, Bret, Karen, Amanda and Jeremy. I didn't get a picture of Captain Dan, but I know he's good too.

One of my favorite things from this trip was watching Luke in the Tube....and his many faces.

And we had a couple battles. I quickly learned that the longer you hold on, the rougher they get with you. After 3 times, I was done.

Jeremy vs. Brett

 Tiff vs. Kim

 Amanda vs. Emma

Joshua vs. Luke

Joshua vs. Brett

And a few more shots of the trip.

On the first day we had to rescue a cute couple from the Netherlands, Patricia and Bart, who locked their keys in the car when they got out to take a quick picture by the lake. It took a few phone calls and a few  hours to finally get someone to where we were to unlock their car and be on their way.

We also enjoyed some great food, lots of laughs, hang out at the house and making new friends. And a huge thank you to the generous Kitchen family for inviting us and making this trip possible.

 

The Color Run

I've been running for a few years now. Never once has Luke ever wanted to run with me...until I told him about this "race". It is The Color Run.

It's pretty much a 5K of a chalk fight so he said "okay!"

I signed up as the team captain and we ended up having 21 people on our team. Best part? our team name, New Kids on the Chalk!

Sadly, the day came and I chose not to do it because I ran another race that I got a free entry for and a chance to win an awesome prize...but I didn't win and was sad in the end that I didn't run with Luke.

Anyway, back to the race. Holly ran in my place and once I was done with my disappointing race, that I might add wasn't even a full 5K, I met up with the group for a little fun.

Love this picture of Luke and Holly.

 The Veigels in the sea of chalked up people

 Look at that blue head.

 Cousins

 Luke ran this race in his Chacos and even brought his chalk bag to fill up with chalk at the stations. What a smart man.

 Luckily I had changed out of my running shoes and into flip flops, but then this is what happened. A muddy, chalky mess.

Luke said that he loved it and would do these kinds of races again. He still thinks I'm crazy for running just for the sake of running.

And finally the Veigel group.

*picture stollen from Tiffany.

Next year, I'm so there. And with Oliver too.

Neighbors Night Out

I have said it many times before and I won't stop saying it, but our neighbor hood rocks! It has quickly grown into such a fun neighborhood with all the younger couples that have moved in and all the kids everywhere that just get along. A while back we started hosting BBQ's at each other homes and it has just taken off and we love it.

This month, Corey and Lisa hosted and they went above and beyond to make it super awesome. Lisa had access to this awesome blow up projector and so we watched "Puss in Boots" out on their front lawn. See I told you our people rock.

 Everyone pitched in and our concession stand was perfect. Complete with hot wassail...because it is officially fall now! Woo!

 And the lovely and talented Melissa making us all freshly fried doughnuts. Luke ended up getting sick from eating so many of them. I had to stop at 2.

Of course there was some preparation involved...

But the preparation made it perfect!

Melissa.Camila.Kim.Lisa.Jamie.Julie

A huge thank you to Cory and Lisa who made this possible. It was a great turnout. Can't wait to do it again. We're thinking a Just Dance tournament...?



Ode to Oliver

Oliver turned 4 and I can't believe it. Seriously, I have shed a tear or two because he is just growing up so fast.

Here are a couple of things about him that we love and maybe a couple of things that we don't love but I will still tell you about.

* Oliver Loves Hot Chocolate in the mornings. He always asks to watch cartoons and for his hot chocolate which is Milk and Nesquick first thing in the morning.

*Learning his colors is not his strong suit. He struggles and struggles no matter what we try. He does know green because that's the color of his room, Hulk and his favorite blanket.

* Oliver has been sleeping with the same green blanket since he was little. There is a soft side and a not so soft side to the blanket and he will let you know if you put it on him wrong with the soft side not directly on him. He also rubs the soft side on his lips as a soothing mechanism.

* When we are having a tickle fight and he has no way to defend himself he manages to put his pointer finger in his mouth, cover it in spit and wipe it on you where ever he can touch you. Usually it's on my face and I let him go.

*He does not like to eat a lot of meat.

* He loves Mandarin oranges

*He loves taking bath/showers especially with his Super Hero's

* His best friends are his cousins. Mainly Andrew with Jack at a close second.

*He makes the funniest little facial expressions when he is trying to be silly.

* He teases people by calling the "hot dogs"

* He snores

* He is not so great at going to primary...in fact, he hates it.

* He is scared of spiders and although he likes to see other insects, he wont touch them. Must get that from me.

*He still has big fat feet that I love to squish and tickle

*He loves watching Netflix. Mainly the Fred movies, Super Hero Squad and now Power Rangers.

*He loves reading books and scriptures at night. His current favorite book is "Too many Toys".

*He says the sweetest prayers at night all in which he asks to be protected multiple amounts times, to play nice, and to nourish our bodies.

* After going poops, He yells as loud as he can "Wipe my bum please!" We need to get him to wipe his own butt soon.
*He LOVES Halloween. Recently when we drive in the car he says "Mom, let's talk about Halloween."
*He usually goes to bed about 9 PM and wakes up at 8. He has always been such a good sleeper.
* His favorite treats are the Life Savor candies that are strawberry apple flavor. He calls them the "white circles".
* He loves to wrestle with Luke. He could do that all night if we let him.
*If you were to ask him what his favorite food is, he'd say Noodles. Yep, Ramen Noodles. Great parent here.
*He loves camping
*He loves watching movies
*He can be one stubborn grumpy little turd, but on the flip side, he can also be the most loving, sweet and cuddly little boy around.
*At night after we tuck him in, we have a little ritual where we both say to each other "Guess what? You're. My. Favorite!" followed by "Sleep good" and "I love you."
*He loves going to pre-school and runs out every time so happy. We love Mrs. Eggett.
*He hates getting his nails cut which is unfortunate for him since nail growing is his super human power.
*Currently he loves Star Wars fruit snacks, Capri Suns and cheese for snacks
* The other day he said "Mom, guess what? When you get baptized, the Holy Ghost comes out." Luke and I were surprised by him when he told us that. We think he may think the Holy Ghost is a scary thing.

And there you have it. I'm sure there are many more Oliver-ism that I just couldn't think of at the moment. We feel so lucky to have this little man in out lives.