Backyard Adventures

The boys and I are really enjoying having a backyard to play in. It's very secluded with lots of room for exploring. Besides the usual bugs and such we've seen Monarch butterflies, a mama cat with her 4 little kittens, Elvis the neighborhood dog and this...


It's a box turtle that belongs to the neighbor. Apparently he survived all winter in the bushes, since she hadn't seen him for a year. Paul found him first a week or so before. I thought he was pretending that a rock was a turtle, but when I came to get a closer look it was gone. Jeremy found him later adn he was a fiesty little thing.

Here's the top part of our yard. (And the patio in the making.) On a clear day you can see downtown and Antelope Island. It's a pretty view at night too. The yard goes all the way to the wall.
This is the bottom part. You can see a little bit of how the stairs go down, the garden and some toys. There's also a playhouse, trampoline (which is Paul's favorite), grape vines and fruit trees.
Finally, here are my cute boys after playing in the sprinkler which they used to make mud of course.

Silly Sam

Sam is becoming much less of a baby and much more of a little boy. He's also at that fun (sometimes challenging) stage of quirky behaviors. Here are some fun (and not so fun) things about Sam-man:
Sam will go anywhere (running) if you say, "ready, set, Go!" I can say go here or there forever and he won't move until I say those magic words; then he takes off.
Sam loves to hold whatever he can find up to his ear, cock his little head, and pretend to babble on his phone while walking around the house.
He throws everything (and I mean everything) he can get his hands on.
He loves shoes and hats.
He enjoys pointing to and naming his body parts, especially his toes, which make him giggle.
When he's happy about something ( like seeing his binky) he claps his hands and says, "yea!" (sometimes it's so random it just cracks me up).
Sam gives me kisses when he's being naughty.
If he sees a pillow, he'll lay down on it and pretend to snore.
Sam can throw a monstrous fake tantrum.
If someone says anything about singing or a song Sam will break out into "E-I-E-I-O."
I'm sure there are so many other things which I can't think of right now, but needless to say, there's not much of a dull moment at our house lately.

Memories

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Welcome to Our Home

4th of July

We had a great 4th. It began with the Granite neighborhood breakfast and parade. We have been amazed at how friendly and great the people are in our neighborhood and ward. Next we walked down to the carnival at the Stake Center. Paul had a pretty good time. We went home for lunch and long naps and then took off to Grandma and Grandpa Gerritsen's for dinner, slip n' slide fun and fireworks. Jeremy also attempted to blow up several things in our old microwave. Paul was excited about the fireworks all week. He kept asking when it was time and if it was dark yet. His job was to pick them and hand them to Jeremy for lighting. He took it rather seriously. Honestly we didn't get a huge reaction from either of the boys this year, but I think they enjoyed them.

at the parade

watching fireworks

Caboose

The last of our nieces due to arrive this year was born July 3. Here are the boys with Addison Grace Gerritsen. Congrats Andy and Tina--she's a cutie!