Go Cougars!

This season we finally broke down and bought season tickets to the BYU football games.  We actually bought two tickets from my parents - they were wanting to sell two and they have great seats - we could never get those seats through the ticket office.
We sat down at the beginning of the season and tried to figure out who was going to what game, but that is harder than you think.  We had to work around Gavin's schedule, late games for the kids, cold games that weren't that popular.  Once we had everything figured out, it all changed.  Greg and Gavin went to the first two games out of default.  Enoch and Kate were feeling quite left out.  We told Enoch he could go to the Middle Tennessee State game, but then Kate was feeling sad.  Luckily for us, both kids were able to watch the Cougars tonight.  We were able to pick up two extra tickets from some family friends.  Even better, we were all able to sit together because the seats next to our tickets stayed opened the entire game.

 It was a cold game, but not too bad (we've been to worse, nothing like those November blizzards against Utah).  We brought winter coats, blanket ponchos (from Costco, those are awesome!), gloves, hats.  The kids got cold, but we stuck it out through the third quarter.  By then the kids were cold and tired and we still needed to pick up Guard from Steenecks (Gavin was at the Lehi Homecoming game).

 We ate lots of snacks and dinner, did a lot of explaining about football, picked up a hat for Enoch and had a wonderful time.  It  helped that BYU won 37-10.  It was a great night with Enoch and Kate.

Go Cougars!

Scattered Thoughts on Guard

1.  Today while we were driving to kindergarten, I could hear Guard making quite a commotion in the back seat.  When we got home and I opened the car to unbuckle him, I started to laugh.  He looked up at me with the most innocently confused smile, "What's so funny, Mom?"  He had taken off both his socks, and had taken his arms out of his sleeves and push his onesie down to his belly button - all while still having his arms buckled in.  I'm not sure how he did it, but I think he was chilly.  It was cold this morning.
2.  His new favorite hangout is in the bathroom sink.  He crawls up in there and makes faces in the mirror and plays with whatever is left on the counter and had a great time.  Luckily he hasn't turned on the water yet.  When he is ready to get out, he screams and I come and get him.  They few times he has tried to get down himself, he has fallen and hit his head on the toilet, so I am more than happy to get him down.
3.  We have fallen into a schedule in the mornings.  We take Enoch to school at 7:45am and get home a little before 8.  I then get Guard in the tub and do Kate's hair while he is playing a few feet away happily.  After I get Guard out, dry him off, lotion him up and get him dressed (it sounds so easy and basic, why is it such a battle every morning?), he runs into the living room and pulls out a book.  He reads books for the next 20 minutes while I vacuum up the insane amount of dog hair in our house (every day, I vacuum every day and the dog hair still piles up).  Guard then wanders and finds new messes to make until we take Kate to school at 9am.
4.  Guard is the most disproportionate baby I know.  He is tall (75%) and skinny (8%), but all his height is through his torso.  So, I have to buy 24 month onesies, which give him the length, but are about twice as big around as he is.  I buy 12 month pants and still have to roll up some of them.  His feet are the only fat thing about him - it's hard to find him shoes.  I did pick up these super cute shoes at Target for fat baby feet.

I've been making some clothes for him to try to get some of the measurement right.   I did find out after making pants and a fleece hat that Guard's waist and head circumference are the same - both 18 inches. 
Some cute pants I made Guard.  I drafted my own pattern and I didn't mean for them to turn out so skinny, but they look really cute on him.  I love the back pockets.  (Too bad the pictures are so bad; he is so wiggly!)

Matchy Jammies

I've mentioned before that Guard's body shape does not lend itself to traditional clothing sizing.  Our latest discovery is that he cannot wear those super cute, super warm, super comfy footy fleece jammies.  Really, how convenient are they to buy at Costco?  But no, they are too short in the torso and too long in the legs.  My solution was to get over it and make him some pajama pants with my gobs of flannel I horde in my sewing room.
Since the weather was cooling, Enoch also needed some new winter jammies.  He has worn the same jammies for two winters in a row and they were getting quite short in the legs and arms.  It worked out well.  I had enough left over fabric from Enoch's jammies to make some pants for Guard.  Paired with a long-sleeved onesie, they will keep him warm (although he hates to leave his socks on at night).

 

 

Just ignore the dinner that is still on his face!

Enoch got three new pairs of jammies.  His favorite are the ones with chemistry equations on them.  Guard got four new pajama pants.  I don't think he has a favorite - he just gets what I put on him.  Kate, lucky girl, got a bunch of pajamas from her cousin, Brynnley, so she was set.

Let's stay warm!

Family Pictures 2013

Taken at Camera Shy in American Fork, Utah.

Baby Sweet Tooth

Guard does not have a baby sweet tooth, he has enormous shark's teeth sweet tooth.  This kid loves sugar in all forms - ice cream, chocolate, candy, etc.  He can eat huge amounts of sugar.  And I let him.  He needs all the calories he can get.
Tonight it was frosting.  He was suppose to eat his frosting with Graham crackers, but he just licked it off and made a mess doing it.

I love how Coal is waiting patiently to finish up Guard's Graham crackers and lick the frosting off his hands.

Yep, he's a cutie, frosting nose and all.

Marching Band's Family Night

Gavin has been working so hard in Marching Band this summer.  He has practice three days a week, plus extra time at home to learn music and formations.  He has made some great friends, learned a lot about music and has increased his responsibility.
Tonight, the band did their field show for their families.  It was great to see everything put all together and hear how the music flows.  I've seen and heard bits and pieces of the show when picking Gavin up from practice, but I've never seen the whole thing.  In uniforms!
The kids did a great job and it was awesome!

 After the show was over, Mr. Reynold's, the band director, invited one member of each family down onto the field to try out playing and instrument and marching.  Enoch was so excited to go and be with Gavin.  Gavin showed him how and where to march while holding his saxophone.  Enoch's smile was a mile-wide!  He loved it!  (I couldn't get a picture.  They were too far away and moving too fast.  Too bad!)

It was a great night for our family.  We are so proud of Gavin and all his hard work!  (Greg missed the show.  He had a software release that night at work.  He felt so bad!)

Family Band Night

Gavin has been working so hard with Marching Band this summer and fall.  He really enjoys the music and the friends he has made.  Marching Band isn't for everyone, but Gavin is having a great time.
Tonight, they performed their field show for the Marching Band families.  It was great to see what they were working on and how it came together.  I had seen bits and pieces when I would pick Gavin up from practice, but when they were on the field, in uniform, all marching together - it was awesome!

At the end of the show, they asked each band member to invite a family member down to shadow them.  Enoch was so excited to go down and be with Gavin.  Gavin helped Enoch learn how to hold the saxophone and then how to march and follow the people around you.  They had a few practice runs, and then the band members left the field and the family members did it on their own.  Enoch did great!  He took it very seriously and he really did a great job.  I couldn't get a great picture of Enoch because everyone around him was so tall.  In the car on the way home, Enoch kept talking about all the instruments he wanted to play in the band - tuba, drums, trumpet, etc.  I will be interested to see which one he settles upon.
We are so proud of Gavin!  He has worked so hard and is really making a difference in his section.  We love you!

(Greg had to leave mid way through because he had a late night release at work that night.)

Guard's First Haircut

My babies are bald.  Bald as bowling balls.  And, the hair they do have is so blond and fine that it might as well not even be there.
But, Guard is different.  He actually has a little bit of hair.  Shocking!  Still a little bit, but it is there.
We are getting ready for family pictures and I knew he would look so much better with a trim.  I was too scared to cut into that baby fine, thin, blond hair - so I made Rita do it.

Kuddos to Rita for dealing with the super squirmy baby.
He looked so handsome and grown-up after.  It's always amazing what a good trim can do for anyone.

Guard's First Haircut

Guard has more hair than any of our other babies at this age.  We just can't get over how much hair he has!  Blond (sometimes strawberry blond depending on the light) and so cute.  It has mostly grown in following a standard hairline, but he had a few long hairs and about a million calicks (how fun for later!) and I knew I didn't trust myself cutting that fine, wispy hair.  With family pictures coming up, he needed a trim.  Since I was getting my hair cut and colored, I just brought him along to Rita's.
Guard sat on Greg's lap and was super wiggly, but didn't fuss or cry.  Rita did a great job despite with wiggles.  Even with just a few snips, he looked so much older.  Sigh.  I saved some baby hair for his keepsake box.  Sigh.  He's growing up so fast.

 

What a handsome boy!

Visiting the Dinos

We are always looking for excuses to use our motor home.  Close, short, fun trips are the best.  The dinosaurs in Vernal looked good.
We left on Friday after work.  The drive out was nice.

I'm constantly telling Enoch to sit down!

 We stayed at the KOA in Vernal - very nice.  The kids enjoyed the pool, dog park and park.  We pulled in early evening.  We relaxed the rest of the night.  Guard was very restless and Greg had to walk him around the campground to get him to sleep.  He startled a few campers being out the late with a fussy baby.  What a great dad!
We saw the dinos early the next morning.  The kids were so excited.  We drove the short distance to Dinosaur National Monument. 

We rode the tram up to the quarry.  The kids loved not wearing their seat belts in the natural air conditioning.

The museum at the quarry is amazing!  The kids had so much fun exploring.

Touching real dinosaur bones!  The kids loved this!

Enoch and Kate getting their Junior Ranger patches.

After a quick lunch, we drove to the Field House in Vernal - a completely awesome museum.

After a fun day with the dinosaurs, Guard drove us back to the campground.  Just kidding!  He just loves to 'drive' to motor home.
The next day started with a trip to McConkie Ranch.  This is one cool place!  We went on a fantastic hike that led us to the most perfect petroglyphs you will ever see.

It was a great way to start the day!
After lunch at a fun park, we visited the temple.  The Vernal temple is beautiful.  I love the orange stone and the 'old' look.  The kids had fun wandering the grounds and it was a great way to end our trip.

We couldn't leave Vernal without seeing the pink dino.  It was our last stop on the way home.  We had a great weekend filled with fun sights, learning new things and spending time together.