non-stop family fun...

Last Monday was a day of non-stop family fun...

The boys got to spend a good part of the day together--Daren took Ben, Will and Jake boating with his firefighter friend and "brother-from-another-mother," Chris Milne, and his three boys. They went to Utah Lake, and although the sky was overcast, they managed to have plenty of fun and get plenty of sun. Photo 1 is of Will, Jake and Ozzy (who obviously isn't too sure of the crazy boys he's sitting next to!). The older boys, in photo 2, were a bit more crazy than the first group! Daren already enlarged this picture of Zach, Ben, and Jake #2 (or is he #1 because he's older?!), framed it, and it is hanging in Ben's soon-to-be room downstairs! It sounds like they had a blast. Me? I went shopping the whole time they were gone and actually had a great time (I don't really love shopping, but that day it was fun).

The boys and I pulled into the driveway at the same time that afternoon, ready to head out on our next adventure...the Cox family get-together at a park in Farmington.

Will's first order of business when we got to the park was to find himself a "whip," which he seems to find wherever we go. Jake was pretty tuckered out by the end of the day, and he found a comfy place to rest on Grandpa Train's lap--he loved the tickles on his back!

Will was constantly trying to locate all of the Cheetos in the area, and when he found them he isolated himself at the end of a line of tables so he could not only be by himself and eat in peace, but I'm sure it was also so he could see anyone coming close who would perhaps try to take some away from him.

I guess I should explain that the Cox side of the family is Daren's mom's side. Daren's mom is Susan, and she has two sisters, Patty and Janyce, and their parents are Ed and Jane Cox. Grandpa Cox recently passed away a couple of months ago in April, and he was a great guy. Daren wrote about him in our family newsletter just after he passed away and so I thought I'd let his words tell a little bit about Gpa Cox: "My favorite story from Grandpa's life (and he had many stories) was from WWII. He was trained as a dive bomber pilot in the Marine Corps and he was deployed to the Pacific theatre to stage for the ground invasion of Japan late in the war. He said by that time (1945) there had been so many battles with the Japanese and so many atrocities committed that the American soldiers who were headed for Japan were virtually sure they would all be killed by the Japanese, who would take no prisoners on their own soil. Grandpa said his ship was in port in the South Pacific waiting for their assignment to be among the first waves to attack Japan and the mood was very somber among the men. He remembered being at work on the docks when an announcement came over the speaker that the Japanese had surrendered and the war was over. He said every single man in sight was overcome with gratitude and emotion and that it was the happiest day of his life. I heard him tell the story many times and he never could tell it without his voice cracking." Gpa was married to Gma for over 60 years, and although I'm not sure of the exact number of years, it's still very impressive. They raised three amazing girls in Bountiful, Utah, and Grandma still lives in the same house. After WWII Grandpa went on to work for the BLM for many years, and I have to say, he had some of the most beautiful handwriting I have ever seen. Gma took care of Gpa right up until the end, and she has been a great example of love and devotion. It is so fun to get together with the Cox family because they are so close and have so much fun together. In the photos above, Daren is showing Grandma some of the pictures from our Route 66 trip, and the other is Patty visiting with her mom.

While the adults were visiting, the kids were playing all over the park. They found some trail maps in a box, and they pretended they were maps to buried treasure--it kept them entertained for quite a while. As you can see, there are lots of boys in this family, and they sure have a fun time when they get together. Even Sydney will join in with the boys for a good time. In the picture of Sydney and Jake, you can see how burned his face got from boating earlier that day. It blistered up pretty good, but he's ok now.

These are the smallest boys in the group right now--our nephew Isaac "Ike" and Daren's cousins little boy, Connor--you can tell he has a great smile, even through his binki!!

The rest of the week was filled with playing with friends, swimming lessons, swimming at the "big gym," and getting ready for Gpa and Gma Airplane's visit starting on Saturday morning. And we did get to see Janae, aka their favorite babysitter, on TV Thursday morning--she was the first attendant to Miss Riverton and their float was in the Days of '47 Parade. When she was waving and blowing kisses at the TV the boys kept saying, "Look! She's waving at me!!"

It's always a treat for us to go to the airport to pick up Gpa and Gma Airplane--the boys love to see the airplanes and long for the day when they will get to ride one again (it may be a while!!). We were quite late picking them up because Jake spilled a small cup of orange juice in my car just before we left, and that's not something you can leave to dry up! After we finally made it to the airport to pick them up, I thought it would be fun to go to the Farmer's Market in Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City...hmmm, what was I thinking?! The boys loved playing in the park, but not so much the wandering around, looking at all the booths. Will kinda freaked Gma out by climbing to the top of this ladder, but he's good at climbing things, and has been for a long time! Ben, Jake and Gpa got into playing a little bocce, and had fun. I loved looking around at all the booths and wish we had more time and patience, but that will have to wait for another day.

While I was taking this picture, Will was behind me, laying on the grass next to a light post when a man walked by him and handed him a gas station refill cup (my mom saw him do this). It wasn't until a minute later we realized that it had a dead baby bird in it--how weird is that to give that to a little boy????

Our day was a complete whirlwind after that. We made it home to rest for a short time before splitting up. I took the twins to their cousin's, Sydney's, 4th birthday party while Gpa and Gma took Ben bowling and out to eat. We all met up after that to go see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was a great movie, for the second time, and it got the boys going once again on their play-acting of Indy.

My mom found this fedora (hat) and side bag, and I don't think I've ever seen Ben wear a hat so much! I have to say, though, that he did take note that the hat is black and not brown, so we are still on the hunt for a brown fedora! He has hardly taken it off, but as you can imagine, there have been battles over it!

Part of their day on Sunday was spent in the front room with the building blocks (these are blocks my mom gave us, and they are ones we used to play with when we were young'uns.). In keeping with the Indy theme, these are the 13 "crystal skulls" from the movie. When our boys get into something, they dive in and don't let it go too easily!!

From this point on I don't have any more pictures right now from their visit because Daren and Will left Sunday afternoon to go four wheeling in Sun Valley, Idaho with a couple of Daren's brothers. I sent my camera with them so they could take many pictures, and my parent's have pictures on their camera from our outing at their hotel, so I'll get them all sometime this week and post them later. Later!

From Movies to Mountains

One way Ben has always amazed me is that he has one of the most active imaginations that I have ever seen, and he's had it for the longest time. He constantly makes up stories with whatever objects are around, whether it's a car, train, stick or spoon. Jake has picked up on this trait very well from Ben, and those two can play for hours making up stories back and forth. Ben's imagination was in full force this past Tuesday as we threw together a Spiderwick Chronicles party at the last minute--that's how we work best, you know. We thought it would be fun to have a few neighborhood friends over to watch the movie, and then Ben's ticker really got going. He and Danielle, his friend who lives down the street, together made up a goblin game, and after talking with them for a few minutes to iron out the details, they put it all together themselves. They really worked hard and it was so cute.

When everyone arrived, first thing on Ben's "agenda" was the goblin game, with Ben and his friends: (l to r: Sydney, Jezzie, Danielle, Thomas, Ben, and Zane). The object is that you divide into two teams, boys v. girls, and you start behind the cement line.

The weapon of choice is a stick, and you have to hit your goblin into the bucket.

Once the goblin (which originally had arms and legs, but didn't hold up well under so much beating) is in the bucket, the bucket is then raised up and quickly smashed down so it explodes, sending the goblins flying out of the bucket. The team who gets the most goblins in first wins...and after a hard fought battle, the girls took home the prize, faerie berries--aka: Swedish Fish.

The other game we played was guessing how many "seeing stones" were in the jar (answer:63). And finally it was time to watch the movie, treats and all. I love these popcorn containers I got at Target for $1 each--we have definitely gotten our money's worth out of them!! And if you don't know Ben well, he thinks he could survive on Tootsie Rolls alone for the rest of his natural life. He doesn't like most other candies or ice cream or sodas, but give him some Tootsie Rolls and Hershey bars, and he's in heaven!

The neighborhood gang watching Spiderwick Chronicles.

The party didn't end when the movie ended. Ben still had more fun plans for his friends. The younger ones mostly ran around the yard, but most of the others made their own "Field Guide." I'm not sure how many Field Guide's Ben has made in his short little lifetime, but we have been through enough paper, tape, staples and crayons to fund a preschool! Ben used one of his Field Guides to show others how to make their own, and some of them got very creative. Those who wanted also made necklaces out of their Seeing Stones. When the party ended (around 10pm) and everyone had gone home, it was almost a let-down for Ben. He said, "Oh Mom, I already miss all my friends so much. It was such a fun party." Not bad for such short notice!

Saturday morning, July 19, our stake primary was invited to march in the annual Day's of '47 Youth Parade in Salt Lake City. We had to dress up as pioneers, and because Will is so unpredictable, one of us had to march in the parade with the boys--Daren was only too quick to volunteer to take the pictures :) Our stake float was really cool. It represented the Riverton Tithing Yard Storehouse on Tithing Hill here in Riverton, circa 1886.

It was a very warm Utah July morning, and fortunately there were a few water bottles around to cool off with. Will got a hold of one of them and was on the hunt for victims!

For those of us walking in the parade, we were supposed to be carrying baskets of our "tithes." Some had chickens or eggs or carrots or apples or wilted lettuce that was going bad in the fridge. I'm pretty sure the pioneers would have loved to have crocs or Merrell's or Asics running shoes to walk in!! My friend Julie, who I am walking with (and her son Thomas, who is Ben's friend), and I were talking before the parade as we were waiting, that we were definitely born in the right era and how hard it must have been to be a pioneer--as we were sitting there drinking our cold bottled water. It was hard and hot enough for the kids as we walked the four blocks that the parade went; I can't imagine crossing the plains without fresh water or much food or all the other hardships they went through. I am so grateful for all their sacrifices to come and settle this valley and beyond.

After the loooooooooong walk, so thought the kids, there was a festival at the Salt Lake City and County building for all the participants. There were more fancy bouncy things there than I have ever seen, that the kids could jump and slide on. Plus a storm trooper or two didn't hurt!

Later that day, much to Ben's reluctance, we went to the Deer Valley Music Festival to hear the Utah Symphony play Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Daren, Ben and I went with Daren's parents, Barry and Susan. I think they have tickets to every cultural event around town, and it is always so fun to go when invited. We have been to some amazing performances with them, including the opera, ballet, theatre, etc. and this night was no exception. Ben looked at least 9 or 10 years old this night. He was a little miffed that this was cutting in to his playing time, but I think he liked it in the end.

We got there plenty early before the gates opened so we could get some good seats, and there was quite a crowd there that night. Ben was amazed with the condos, seen just beyond the crowd, and figures that would be a good place to have one. Do ya think?!

We got great seats, right next to Barry and Susan, aka Grandma and Grandpa Train.

The orchestra opened up by playing the national anthem, and at the end of the song they shot off one of the cannons. Ben was nervous about the cannons anyway, so it took him, and the rest of us, by surprise. He spent the next few songs with his ears plugged up thinking they could go off again at any time.

The rest of the cannons didn't go off until the 1812 Overture, and because we were sitting so close to them, they were quite loud. It was a great concert on a beautiful night out in the mountains.

Keith Lockhart was conducting the orchestra...he has been a great conductor here for many years, but now this is his last season since he is leaving to spend all his time with the Boston Pops Orchestra. He is a very fun conductor to watch.

Other than that, it's been a low key fun summer week. Amazingly enough, it was our first "real" week of summer--last week Ben was at that summer camp class, so now we are in "normal" mode, with swimming lessons, visits to the library, playing with friends, and everything else that goes on. Daren is back to working like crazy at the fire station and with his law practice...and with his golfing game! :) We are looking forward to Gma and Gpa Airplane's visit later this week. Good times!!

Tornadoes and Trains

I've been trying to get this blog done for days--I finally got my computer back from PC Laptops last week, only to find out I couldn't view my pictures from the SD card slot in my computer, so back it went. Now everything works and on with life. Ok, I have to begin this blog with two testimonials--the first one being Carbonite. I had heard for a while about this online backup service that automatically backs up all your files safely and securely. Earlier this year I finally signed up for it hoping it would do just that. As you may recall, during our recent trip my computer died in Texas, the day after I had just downloaded all my pictures to the computer from the first couple weeks of our journey, so now it was time to put Carbonite to the test. Seriously, with only a couple of clicks my files started to download, each of them just how they were. It took a few days to download because all my pictures are on there, but it worked and I'm up and running again. It is so AWESOME!!!!! And I never have to worry about backing up my system again because it does it automatically, all for the low price of $49.95 a year! It is seriously a sweet deal and I love it. Carbonite.com rocks!!

My other testimonial is of the Schick Quattro Titanium razor blade for men. In May I ran my first marathon (in Ogden, Utah), and my running friends and I stayed overnight at a hotel in Ogden--and that's a whole other crazy night story for another time. Needless to say, they didn't have our right room when we checked in, and while trying to make ammends, they gave us their last two "goody bags." In it was this razor blade, and how convenient since I had forgotten mine. I tried it and I have never gone back to my old Venus razor--I think it's a big coverup somehow that the guys get this awesome razor blade; the shave is smoother and I haven't gotten cut yet. So there you go...

For a couple of days Will has been obsessed with these old western guns of Ben's, and one morning when he got up, after sleeping all night with them, he came around the corner, ready for action, crazy hairs and all! He is so funny sometimes!! The other day we were driving somewhere and out of the blue he said (while looking over his shoulder behind the truck), "Hey, I think we have some company!" I'm still not sure which one it is from, but this has to be an Indiana Jones quote, since he is our resident junkie!! He was ready to take on whoever it was!

Ben had his summer meteorology class this week, and he loves his teacher, Mrs. Perkins. They went on a field trip on Wednesday to the main Utah weather station out at the airport, which Daren got to join in on. I'm just the messenger for these next few pictures, so hopefully I won't mess it up too bad. This is the main weather room which includes dopplar radar and all that good stuff. All the TV and radio stations get their weather info from this station.

Twice a day a weather balloon, which takes several measurements in the atmosphere, is sent out of this little round weather building. It is one of 102 weather balloon sites in the US.

Ben (second from the right) loved the field trip and loved the class...maybe someday he really will be a weather man.

All week Ben had been looking forward to doing the experiment "mini-tornado-in-a-bottle," in class. Then he couldn't wait to get home and make his own tornado...in a bottle that is. (Too bad it's not exclusive to the bottle only because the house can go from clean to disaster with these boys in no time!) So here Ben is working on the tornado in our room, which has become the arts and craft room lately. Ben can't wait to move into his room downstairs, hopefully soon, so he can have his own desk with his own paper, scissors, tape, stapler, yarn, crayons, pens, etc. We can't wait either!

Experiment #1 was with painter's tape because that's all we could find in our house at the time. If you look close in the second picture, water is leaking out and didn't work so well. Back to the drawing board...

Experiment #2: Daren brought home some duct tape so Ben taped it up super tight and...

SUCCESS...with a smile!!

Saturday morning was our ward's annual primary pioneer bike parade. We missed the parade part because of swimming lessons, but made it in time for the games at our primary president's house. The kid's favorite was the balloon toss.

Jake and Jaycie had a blast just throwing the balloons down to watch them break, and then running back to the cooler to get more. Jaycie lives just down the street from us and she and Jake are inseparable most days.

In the meantime, Will was snarfing down as many Otter Pops as he could, which was probably around 23 or so.

Jake must have sat in this chair for 10 or 15 minutes working hard to cut out this paper ship.

After the party was over, I was talking to Maryanne, our primary president, and she and I and Jake were trying to talk her son, Adam, into coming over to our house to play. Adam is Will and Jake's age, but doesn't like to stray too far from home. It took us over an hour to finally talk him into it, and the deal breaker was that we had apple juice in the cute little cans at our house. He finally said, "Fine, I'll come to your fun house!" He loves trains like Ben used to love trains, and so we pulled out the tracks and put them together (this wasn't even all the tracks either). What I love about this picture is that it reminds me of the MANY tracks Ben and I have built over the years in the front room. It's a perfect room for doing this in, and the boys have a blast in there. Life is good!!