Month: June 2012

I saw a water blob tutorial on the famous Pintrest and I decided I had to give this a try for myself. With some modifications we will be doing this again! I used clear plastic sheeting (must be heavy duty), duct tape, glitter and food coloring. instead of duct taping the edges Im going to try to iron the plastic together beforehand. The duct tape was a little leaky but it totally worked!
We decided to put green food coloring in ours. With a little help from my Brother in law Josh and my husband Ben we taped up the sides and my sis in law Jessica started filling it up. We used a whole thing of glitter and it was really pretty. Next time I would like to use like plastic confetti or something that floats, and lots more of it.

At first everyone didn’t understand how this would be fun. Jessica and I had the idea in our heads and were determined to make this work! We fixed any places we had missed and then it got fun!

Ciara was actually scared to step on it. She would slap it and giggle. It was so hot outside and the water was so cold inside the blob so Caleb hopped on it and put his face right down in it. It was so funny because he put his but in the air and cooled his face right off. We played on it while it finished filling up and it was great!
We sprayed some water on the top of it so it was slippery. Caleb used it as a giant slip and slide. Ciara would get a running start and then stop and slap it. Caleb actually slid across the whole thing. Both kids then became unshy of the idea and started jumping and having a great time!

Caleb started wrestling with his Aunt Jessica. She could throw him down and he would land on the water and laugh so hard! Josh sprayed the top of the blob and she rolled in it and got soaked.
Caleb would run across it as fast as he could and the waves that came off it was really neat to watch. The little girls ran across but the waves kind of took Ciara out. It was a great way to cool off and not get wet.

It was nice being dry but then the kids wanted to get wet so we blew up the pool and put our slide in it. The water was freezing! All three kids went down the slide and had a look of shock as they came back up from the water. Both little babies got some water from the pool. It was such a hot day and just perfect!

We shared hogi sandwiches and popcicles and chatted. At the end of the day the adults chilled on the blob. Felt SO good! We will definitely do this again! Totally worth the money and time! Just loved it! We got the whole family together and partied! WAHOO!

When we got home our kids were pooped! They both passed out in the car at 7:30. Lots of sun and family. Couldn’t Think of a better way to spend my Saturday!! I love this family!

Thursday I posted some pictures of a fire on the hill behind our home. It started Thursday by a target shooter and seemed small. Friday morningI noticed the fire getting bigger so I took pictures, a couple hours later it was really bigger. The sun was even covered with smoke and everything had a red tint. The evacuated a lot of Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. Our home was right on the boarder of the evacuation line but I could smell the smoke and I decided that I didn’t want my children close to it. I packed some clothes and toys, including a pool and headed over to Jessica’s house in Orem. As I listened to news radio, the fire was getting worse due to 20mph winds.

On my way to Orem I stopped to take some pictures of the black smoke rising up. Not gonna lie, I panicked. I have anxiety disorder and things like this just kill me. I decided that if there was any chance my house could burn that I wanted all my family pictures. Jessica (my sis-in-law) like the sweetheart she is watched my kids while my mom went back with me to get our family pictures and any important documents. We as close to the fire as we could and we decided that the house would be ok from fire but maybe not smoke. At this point the fire had doubled in size to 1,600 acres. We went back and we prepared the house by turning on the sprinklers (that will keep fire away right? lol) and I turned on all the fans and closed all windows and doors. Then I left.
We spent the day at Jessicas house and it was the most stress I have felt in a long time. KSL news had me sick with worry. I was worried for everyone. Ben was teaching a class at his new job and couldn’t talk.
The fire grew more but the winds changed direction toward Eagle Mountain. This helped our area. They tackled fire that was threatening homes but the air is still really smokie. When Ben got off work we drove down there just the two of us and the smoke was still pretty thick but it seemed ok to come back home. We slept in our home… and I have never been so thankful. I know our house was far from the fire compared to others, but it made me realize how much I love this house.
With Ben being laid off before Christmas, financial troubles, his new job, and now the fire I feel so blessed with such a wonderful life. I have so much to lose. Sometimes its easy to look past all the wonderful things we have.

The fire is still going, its more under control. We drove past again and everything is all black. It smells of camp fire. Our house is a little stinky but the fans have helped. This experience has made me want to become closer to my neighbors so we can work as a team if anything like this happens again. Im also so grateful to the firefighters and police officers. As of 12:00pm residents are able to return to their homes but the fire is still burning. The fire has so far burned 5,676 acres and everyone can smell it. The wind turned a small fire into an unpredictable scary fire.

My parents took the kids to the carnival! They rode some rides and played some games. It was extremely expensive so we my parents had to limit the amount of fun that was spent but the kids enjoyed their time. It was 105F when they were outside and everyone got some sun. Caleb won a stuffed animal for his sister and a sword! Wahoo for fair time!

As I was getting ready for my date with my husband, the kids decided to get ready as well. Caleb put on his dew rag (spelling?) and did all these gangster poses for me. He was just adorable!
I usually let Ciara play with my makeup and toothbrushes and brush while I get ready but now Ciara knows how to open the mascara. In the 30 seconds it took me to apply my mascara she had opened another bottle and apply it to her face! He giggled when she saw what she looked like. Silly girl!

We have a fire that is near our home. From what I have heard it was started by someone doing target practice. Its pretty scary. Its still a mile away from any structures but we can see it from our backyard. I noticed the big flames on our way home from orem. And when we arrived at home, you can see the flames. I was told by a girlfriend that they had a fire on the same hill a couple of years ago and they evacuated our area due to the smoke. So we are watching out for it.

My parents took my kids to the carnival so Ben and I went out to dinner. One kid free hour and it was great! I miss my Bengie so much! We got to just talk. 🙂 I love my man!

Then I taped a couple of straws together and put bubble solution in a pan and they blew their own bubbles, and they were really small. The only downfall to straws being used as bubble wands is that there is some risk of eating bubble solution if you are not careful. One little taste (which I even tasted some soap) and Ciara was done. Kaiah and Caleb didn’t seem to mind.

I brought our big fan out and then filled the yard with bubbles. This is the kids favorite thing to do recently, just run around and pop bubbles.

The kids jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler under it and Maisie loved to watch them. She was laughing so hard! Ciara has been so great about asking me for things she wants. She was getting into the habit of whining whenever she wanted something and that was just intolerable! I started having her to ask me what she wanted in a non whiney voice and she has been working really hard. My new favorite thing she says is “Hold me Mommy!” I say awww every time.
When we came inside I noticed that Caleb had freckles!! I love love love freckles! I wanted them all my life and am super jealous of Ben who has millions of freckles, and now my son is getting them! I couldn’t be happier! (in the picture ignore the popcorn crumbs, those arnt freckles)

We went to the Pleasant Grove rodeo! My kids first rodeo and it was great! There is something about being around country folks that always makes me smile! Ben dosnt like country music at all and I can’t lie, I really enjoyed listening to it next to him. There is a good feeling that only comes from country fun. Ciara loved the horses! She was amazed with how many horses there were. Caleb was just adorable! He says “Can you believe those are real dudes riding real horses? I mean they are doing this right in front of us!” I think he really liked the bucking horses and the tackling of the little cows.

Both kids loved dancing to the music. Ciara would jump up and down and point her fingers. Caleb was getting groovy. He barrowed Grandmas cowboy hat and he totally felt like a cowboy. They had kids ride bucking sheep and Caleb totally wants to do it next year. Hopefully he can 🙂 They also had kids chase cows with money stuck to them and that was so funny!
It was great fun!

My friend Sabrina invited us to a summer ice cream party today! It was a perfect day to enjoy some ice cream with toppings in the sun. We did it in the pavilion next to the pool and the stream. There wasn’t a huge turn out but it was still great. She had all different toppings and lemonade.

After the kids had their fill of whipped cream and sugar they ran down to the little run off pond. Its run off from the hot tubs so its pretty warm but it felt really nice. The kids kicked around for a little bit. Ciara watched the boys find shells. They were everywhere. Adien and Caleb said there were stones in there with messages, so they would find the shells from old pirates and their messages left on the stones. It was pretty creative. Caleb was very serious about this business. Ciara would do a little dance every time they found a shell.

Ben is really liking his new job. He feels like his opinion is valued and that he is an integral part of his team. He is working longer hours but he seems happier. When he was in school and busy all the time it seemed like he would enjoy his time off a little more. So we are back to the quality of time, not the quantity. From the sounds of it, there is a future at this company. 🙂 He rocked Ciara to sleep tonight.

Caleb and I have been enjoying Transformers Prime on Netflix. Its a series and its actually fun that we have something just between us. Ciara is speaking sentences now. It makes me giggle every time she puts together a longer sentence. Cant believe she is growing up so fast.

Today I wanted the kids to make a mess in our kitchen…. sounds crazy I know, but it was lots of fun and really not hard to clean up. I looked up some fun activities to do and I found blobby stuff that was safe for the kids to play with. Its just corn starch and water. Whats funny about this mix is that it looks like a liquid but feels like a dry solid. Its actually really crazy. I found it fun to play with. I added some green food coloring and Caleb liked to pretend it was an alien that we were poking. I named it blobby (yeah… very creative I know) but the kids loved it.

At first Ciara was a little scared of it and only poked it with a fork or moved it around with a spoon but then she watched Caleb and me play with it and then she had it everywhere. Caleb added guys that got stuck in it (it was actually very easy to clean) and the war was great! I gave the kids some cookie cutters and that was interesting, it would cut but then act like a liquid and form back together. It was really neat.

I don’t think I have ever actually made the famous science experiment of the volcano myself so I wanted to try it out. Just baking soda and white vinegar and some red food coloring just for fun. I didn’t tell the kids what would happen but I let Caleb poor in the vinegar and he was so excited! He just loved it! He was jumping up and down when it bubbled up. Ciara couldn’t help but poke the bubbles. Very fun! I think we will do this again sometime… at least the blob because the vinegar kinda stinks, literally. hehe.

We went to a stocked pond with Ciara once (earlier post) but she wasn’t interested in catching any fish. But Grandpa came to take Caleb fishing at the lake by our house and Ciara and I decided to tag along. We loaded up the stroller with chairs, lunch, drinks and lots of sunscreen and went off roaring to the lake. We found a great spot all to ourselves.

When we first got down there the boys caught some little fish with nets while Ciara and I watched and threw rocks into the lake. Caleb loves these little fish. Grandpa made the net longer with a stick taped to the end of it so that Caleb didn’t have to get in the mud to catch the fish. Pretty smart.
We ended up being very busy with keeping all three poles in the water and the lines tight. We were there for 15 minutes and then we started catching fish. Lots of action!

I hooked the first fish and Caleb reeled him in. It was a nasty yellow fish (that dosnt really matter…. but still) Caleb gets so proud of himself when he catches fish!
Grandpa hooked two more that Caleb reeled in all by himself. I gotta say, he is quite the fisherman. Im so proud of how smart he is.
Then Grandpa noticed there was another fish on the line and asked Ciara to come help him. She walked right to him and he showed her how to reel. It worked out great because the fish was really on there well and it was pretty far out so she got to reel for a long time until she got the hang of it. Once she saw the fish come out of the water she was pretty proud of herself! We couldn’t get her to touch it but she came pretty close.
Caleb showed her a worm up close. She freaked out at first and called it a bug but Grandpa and I reassured her it was not a bug but a worm. She took a close look at it.

Caleb then caught a big catfish! Grandpa was so proud because he put up such a fight, hr was really long and strong! Caleb did so great!
Then Grandpa took a phone call and stepped away. Caleb picked up the pink pole and started reeling it in. I asked him to stop and leave it out in the water, since Grandpa can’t help me. Caleb insisted there was a fish on the other end. I kept telling him, Please stop! He kept reeling and we kind of got in a fight. By that time I thought the line would be to close anyway, that he could just reel it the rest of the way up and we could wait for Grandpa (I can only multitask so much) But when he got it close I realized he was right… there was a big fish on there… and it was a large mouth bass. I yelled for Grandpa to help me. Grandpa couldn’t believe it. He said he has never seen such a pretty fish. We had lots of fun. It was the perfect, hot but slightly windy day. Cant believe my baby went fishing! Im especially proud of my Caleb! He truly amazes me.