And then there was one...or so we thought

Since we arrived home a few weeks ago we had noticed there were two new baby lizards who would hang out on the back patio. It was lots of fun to see these little guys who were not so fast. Myles would often get to touch them because they were so slow to move. When I say baby lizards I do mean small. I think they were about an inch long when we first saw them. I never saw a momma lizard with them, and I'm not sure how it works in lizard land, I guess you are on your own from the get go. Anyway we had been having fun watching these little guys run around and play. When you saw one the other wasn't too far behind. Well I noticed that one was in the same spot on the patio for quite a few hours. The other just hanging around beside him. When I went out to investigate further I saw that the one baby lizard's head had been smashed to the pavement and the other little guy was just hanging around like he didn't know what to do.

I felt so bad for this little remaining guy. He hung out all day and into the next day beside his dead little friend. What should I do? I didn't want to go scrape the dead guy up, then where would the other little guy go. I didn't want to leave him there all smashed on the patio for the dog to go and have a tasty little treat...what to do, what to do. Well I did nothing like a big chicken and the following morning I took out the dog and noticed that the dead little lizard was now gone. I was glad that I didn't have to worry about it anymore, but sad for the remaining little guy who I thought would be all alone now. Drum roll please...well it turns out that he isn't all alone. Today I went to take out the poopy morning diapers and found in our rubber mat outside the door there were again TWO little lizards.

I couldn't be more happy about it. Now I don't worry about the one! Hurray! We love the lizards, they keep down the bugs in the backyard and the bigger ones don't like people so they are a great friend to have.

Single mom vacation

My hat is off to all your single parents. I don't know how you do it. I've just returned home from a two week trip where I was single parenting most of the time. It's no fun and it also made me realize how lucky I am to have my husband help so much. Don't get me wrong, my mom was there and she is an amazing grandma, but as for the other parent that I'm used to having after working hours, I was on my own.

We traveled to Utah for a two stay while Bjorn was really crazy busy with work. We wouldn't get to see him much at home, so we took off for a bit. It was a full trip packed with lots of cuzzies, grandma and Papa, Aunties, and Uncles and lots of Utah fun.

We drove all night Thursday night thinking that the kids would sleep most of the way and it would be a great way for them to travel the long distance. Well, they didn't sleep. Lydia slept the longest and that was for only two hours. They didn't cry or fight, they just didn't sleep. They watched movies, ate and just sat there looking like they would really like to sleep, but they never did. We arrived at 8:30 am in Bountiful just ready to crawl into bed. Not so fast. The roof was being removed and we were sleeping right under it. Then the machines in the backyard were going. Not the best way to start off the trip, but fortunately Bjorn and Myles and the girls were so tiered they slept right through it. I choose to stay up and get the car unpacked along with all the other things that needed doing. I also ran our errands for the day and was home when the kids got up from their naps. Bjorn left early Saturday morning.

Our fun filled time was full of activity. We went swimming to the Bountiful Rec Center. It's a great new facility full of pools, splash pads, a water slide, lazy river and more. This is the day the camera went for a swim so this is the only day I have photos of anything. The kids loved it. Well lets just say Myles was crying when i made him get in and crying when I made him get out for us to leave.

We also visited Snowbird resort for an alpine slide, bungee trampoline bouncing, rock climbing, tram riding, bounce house bouncing, bull riding, chair lift riding, and ice cream eating. It was a great fun day with Leslie and Seth and Tate.

We were in town for the 24th of July Parade and carnival. It's always a hit with the kids. They love the parade and the get lots of candy. The carnival has all kinds of good junk food to eat and fun little rides for the kids. Myles wandered off during the parade, I had to go retrieve him from the announcers stand. He was really "scared", but no worse for the ware. He stuck close by after that. All this was followed by fire works at the Jr. High, visible from Ryan's front lawn.

Mom and I took the kids to do some shopping at the outlet mall in Park City. I love the stores there and its always cooler than in the city.

We got to see our good friends Mary and Jack and their two boys as well as Kate and her two boys and Elisabeth. We had a great pizza dinner in the park and the boys all got to feed the ducks and eat popsicles.

I got to have lunch with three of my Kindergarten friends. That was a highlight for me.

More shopping at Kid to Kid in Bountiful. I have a small addiction to that store.

Lagoon was a highlight for Myles. He loved all the rides and it's where he discovered that his floating ring does really hold him out of the water. It's funny he took so long to discover this. He loved it so much he was drug kicking and screaming from the water. Good thing we did the water park too, it cooled up all off and the rest of the night was great. All the kids were great, even the girls who didn't get to ride anything except the train.

We went to the South town expo center to view the floats that were going to be in the "Days of 47" parade on the 24th of July. It's fun to see them up close and be able to see all the details and time that goes into working on these big floats. This was followed by lunch at McDonald's where Myles had a total and complete melt down. Good times, Good times...

And what trip would be complete without a visit to the local E.R. Audrey ran a really high fever for a few days and had a seizure one night so she spent the morning in Primary Children's Medical Center Emergency Room. This tag is the only picture I got of her. I should have captured her sad eyes. She was really pathetic looking.

There were lots of late nights for me as I was catching up on all my Tour de France watching at night over to Ryan's house. It's always a good time when we go to visit family. Thanks for a great stay everyone.

Take a picture mom

Mom and Kristin and I took the kids to the Bountiful pool. It was a great day and the kids had a great time. I wanted to capture some photos, so I asked mom to take a few. I got some great shots, but then the cameral went into the pocket of moms shorts and went for a 40 min. swim. I think that Myles said it best, "camera no workie." Stay tuned for photos later, I'm searching for a new camera.

Sleep anyone?

Last night (7/18) Audrey went to bed with a fever. Not all that unusual since she is cutting teeth. Around 11:30pm she was crying, by 1:30am she was in bed with me. (Mind you that Thursday night was spent driving to Utah all night. So no sleep that night either. I felt like warmed over death by the end of this night) If you know my kids, then you know that they don't wake up during the night. I've trained the to be good little sleepers and sleep is the one thing that I'm very careful to protect. I'm out of town visiting my family in Utah and Bjorn is home working really hard on a trial, hence the reason there was room in my bed for her. And as an aside, I don't ever let the kids "sleep" with us. It's not any fun for anyone and I value my sleep way too much. Anyway, back to the story. Audrey ran an extremely high fever all night so I called my SIL who is a nurse and she said to take her in. I was going to wait till morning, but around 4:30am she started to convulse. It scared me so bad that I scooped her up, ran to get into the car and was at the hospital 30 min. later. They just needed to observe her and run a few tests and wait for her fever to drop a little before letting us go home. It was just a virus and therefore nothing could be done for her. Poor little thing, she was such a good little sick baby. She just lay there and would moan, but not cry and she had the most sad eyes you have ever seen. She fevered for the next 24 hours, but thanks to Tylenol and Motrin every three hours around the clock she recovered fine. By the following day she was getting back to her normal self. What a trooper.

It's neck and neck

I always think of race horses as I put the girls on the stairs to climb up before naps and bedtime. It's always a race to get to the top, and one that Lydia usually wins. You see, Audrey could go fast, and does when she is trying to get away from me. The problem is that when they are both going to the top she gets distracted by other things and is always the slower of the pair to reach the top. Not that it's always a race, but Myles gets great pleasure in yelling "go, go, go." It's fun to watch their progression side by side.

In other news the kids all had a first this week. I took them to the park myself the other day. (usually we go with a big group of moms, but this day I was on my own) There were not a lot of kids at the park, so we got to all use the swings at the same time. They only have two "baby" swings and two "big kid" swings. Myles usually used the "baby" swing, but he agreed to try the "big kid" swing so that the girls could swing too. It was their first time swinging, and Myles' first time on the "big kid" swing.

All the kids love the new fountain at the new Library. It's especially nice on a hot day. Myles thinks it's great to stick his arms into the cold water. He would climb all the way in if I let him.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...

This week on one of my three trips to Costco(don't ask!) I purchased 25 lbs. of sugar. It comes in this nice big pink and white bag made of woven plastic. I brought it home and put all the sugar into other containers as you can't store it in the bag for fear of ants. I was going to put the big pink bag into the Recycle bin, but got an IDEA! I *Heart* all my shopping totes, but I always wish that I had a smaller one for taking lunch to the park or the zoo or for snacks in the car on road trips. Ta-dah, it came to me. I could use this old sugar bag to sew a new snack bag. This is what I whipped up today while all the kids were sleeping. All materials were reclaimed items. What do you think? And cute too! Pink handles would have been even better, but hey, what are you going to do?

Casualties

The kids are just at the ages when casualties happen often. Yesterday Lydia was found in the middle of the floor crying. No one around her and blood pouring from her lips. She aparently bit her lips as she crashed to the floor. She is starting to stand and she isn't so stable, thus, the casualty. She is completely unfazed by it today.

Later that day we were walking home from the park when Myles, who is quite clumsy, ran right into the corner of a building. The hit was so hard it knocked him back and he instantly had a large goose egg and bruise over his left eye.

It's a good thing kids are so pliable. Otherwise they wouldn't make it out of childhood. Let's just hope that the rest of our injuries are this small and don't require the E.R.