First Steps

Landon started taking steps about a week ago. He gets so excited that it throws him off balance. I love his little excited squeal.

Landon's First Haircut

It was time.

He didn't know quite what to think. He had this face for the first few minutes.

Then he started growling at me.

He just wanted to look at the scissors and clippers, which made things a little difficult.

More yelling and growling as Daddy takes a turn doing the long hair in the back.

Landon did much better than any of the boys on their first haircut. It's usually a screamfest full of tears. He didn't love it, but no crying or screaming really. Just growling and yelling that he wasn't happy about it.

Pictures taken by Jacob.

Old Pictures

I've had a few people email me pictures of my kids from things they've been doing. Zach had some really fun Wolf leaders that put a lot of effort into their activities. For a while it was just these three boys each week. Now he will be getting new leaders and will miss Sister Alvarez and Sister Crompton. They made flower terrariums.Peanut butter bird feedersFor one holiday they made homeade bath and body scrub for the moms.

In the spring Savannah went on a field trip to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm.

She and her friend Keira were in a group together.

Savannah getting her diploma from the principal, Mrs. Hildebrand, at Kindergarten Graduation.

Bird Friends

Our bird friends are back in their spot. And this time around they're not even afraid of Lucy. They took a couple of days to build their nest. Now there are 3 eggs and the mom bird sits faithfully all day. The daddy stands guard or brings her food.Sometimes he checks in on her and they have a little conversation. It's so fun to watch through the window.

Don't Make a Mess

Sunday Afternoon (clean playroom) -

Lauree: "Don't make a mess in the playroom because we're having the missionaries over for dinner. They need to be able to walk through."

20 minutes later I happen to walk past the playroom...

Six Flags Fiesta Texas

On Saturday Jacob and I went to Six Flags for the day! Every year at school he earns a free ticket doing a reading program, but we've never gone. I didn't want to spend that much until he was tall enough to ride all the rides. This year he was tall enough so I told him we might go. Friday evening I found his ticket and decided very last minute to take him the next day. I surprised him Saturday morning when he woke up. He was really excited but very nervous. He knew that I wouldn't take him unless he rode some of the big roller coasters. He is afraid of heights and gets motion sickness. But I told him I'd only make him ride two big coasters and then he could decide with the rest of them. I get motion sick some too, so I chose the two that I thought would be fun, but not too queasy. I knew that he would be super nervous all day, so I made him ride those two rides first also. It turned out to be a good thing.

We got there about 9:15am (it's 2 hours from our house). We got a really close parking spot and they actually opened the gates at 9:30. This picture was standing in line to get into the park. It was actually cloudy for most of the morning, which was so nice. We went straight for this roller coaster, The Goliath. We were in the first group to ride it.And we both did not like it. I normally love the roller coasters where your feet are hanging, but this one just knocks your head around the whole time. It wasn't as smooth as the others I've been on. Jacob was proud he went on it though. We stopped for a picture and the crazy characters would not just stand with us.

We then headed straight for the Superman ride, which was the largest and tallest one in the whole park. Again, no wait at all still. Jacob was so, so nervous. But guess what, he actually liked it! Not enough to ride it again, but he liked it. I enjoyed it much more than the first ride too. And I was so proud of him.

We rode lots of other rides with hardly any wait at all. It is definitely worth it to get there right when the park opens and ride all the bigger rides then. At noon they opened the water park and the Boardwalk section of the park. We headed straight for the Scooby-Doo ride. This was Jacob's favorite because it was interactive.

You are in a haunted mansion and sit in these Mini-Mystery Machines. You have a laser gun and shoot "ghosts" as you go throughout the ride to get points. It's all flat and slow, but lots of fun for boys who love to shoot things. We did that one more than once. Jacob's other favorite ride was the log ride, but I didn't get any pictures of that one.

We went on a larger splash ride and hardly even got wet. So Jacob stood on the balcony over it afterward and got drenched a couple of times. It was so hot that it actually felt good to be pretty wet.

I told Jacob he could choose one small souvenir under $5. He wanted one of these capes. What made it even more fun was that you had to play a game to get it. But everyone who played won a cape, so I was okay with that.

The bumper cars were at the top of his list and did not disappoint.

By about 1:15 we had ridden all the rides we wanted to except one because the lines were so short to that point. We headed all the way across the park to the Gully Washer. It's one of those rides where like 10 people sit in a circular tube and you go around a river of rapids. The wait looked to be about 20 minutes. But you couldn't actually see the end of the line and it was more like an hour and a half wait. But it was worth it to Jacob, he loved it. Here we are just about to get on the ride...finally!

We finally finished that ride about 3:00pm and headed to the car for some lunch. We changed into our swimsuits and stashed our stuff back in the car. I was not about to pay $11 for a small locker when my car was just 2 minutes farther away. We went on all of the water slides that were open. This one was the first. It is a water slide that shoots you into a big funnel thing and you go back and forth until the little part at the bottom. Jacob was pretty scared, but loved it. I took this picture after I had gone back to get our clothes from the car and changed.

Jacob also liked the Whirpool water slide. Your tube goes around and around and then down a little hole in the bottom. He loved the wave pool, which was shaped like the state of Texas...of course. After the water park section closed at 7:00 we rode one more roller coaster and did the log ride again, since the lines were short again. We left about 8:00pm and picked up some McDonald's for dinner. We got home at 10:15. It was a very fun day with lots of great memories. I'm so thankful I got to spend that fun one on one time with Jacob. It made me realize that we need to do that more with our kids, so we'll be working on doing just that. Thanks for a great day Jacob!

11 months old

Landon is 11 months old today. My baby is growing up and is so much fun! He is a happy little guy most of the time these days. This month he finally started crawling and is now very fast. He has a sixth sense for whenever a door is open in the house. He quietly sneaks in and stays quiet while he gets into as much stuff as possible. The kids are getting better about closing doors after having him in their stuff constantly. He also learned to pull himself up to things. His favorite thing is to stand next to things without holding on. He's tried to take a few steps, but then just dives forward. He has 9 or 10 teeth. It's really hard to get my fingers in to look because he is quick to bite down. He still doesn't love most foods that he has to chew, but is getting a little better with that. Landon will wave "hi" sometimes, only if he wants to. Sometimes he'll even say "hi." I think that's probably his first word. He'll say mamamama and dadadadada and sometimes nanananana when Savannah is near. He loves to growl too. He still takes 2 or 3 naps a day, being flexible around whatever we're doing that day. If he misses his morning nap though he is CRANKY. The kids are loving watching him change from day to day. We love you Landon!
Update: I wrote this in the morning and by tonight Landon was taking his first steps! He took a couple of steps and then stopped, then took a couple more. And he kept doing it!Grab a lego out of the lego table.Taste it.

Watch it drop to the ground and start over.

Dallin had an eye exam and brought home these "cool" glasses for Connor. We tried them on Landon and were surprised when he actually left them on for quite a while. The kids thought he looked so cool.

Happy Dallin Weekend!

Saturday was Dallin's 36th birthday! The kids and I had a really hard time thinking of anything to get him. So we came up with a plan. On Friday morning the boys and I all went out and spent a few hours weeding and clearing out the flower beds in front of our house. Savannah was getting over a fever, so she stayed inside and was designated to tell me when Landon woke up. They worked hard and did a great job. Then I stayed out and did all the yard work while the big boys kept an eye on Landon. I figured if we couldn't think of something to buy him then we'd do something for him. Friday night I got a babysitter and we went out to dinner and he bought himself some wireless computer thing.

Saturday our new fridge came. Dallin also went and got new tires on the van before our long drive for vacation this summer. Then he went to the gym. Not that exciting, but he got to sleep in and relax some. After dinner the kids gave him all kinds of cards and stuff they had made for him. We kind of meshed birthday and Father's Day, since Savannah wanted to give him everything all at once. She had made a bunch of stuff for him the last week of school and I'm amazed she didn't give it to him earlier.He requested apple pie.

On Sunday the kids brought home some cute white shirt cards that the primary president had made. He also got to sleep in and not go to early meetings. The relief society had a treat buffet for all the men during priesthood opening exercises at church. I heard it was a big hit. They got to socialize a little and the kids didn't steal all the treats from them like they usually do.

This is one of my favorites that Savannah made. Here's the translation:

My dad is special because "he nose math and he nose sinse." (He knows math and science)
I like it when my dad "tikls me." (Tickles me)
My dad can do many things! I think he's best at "hoola hoop."
My dad has a great smile! I like to make him smile by "tikl on the arm pit." (Tickle him on the arm pit)
My dad is as handsome as a "man."
My dad is smart! He even knows "sinse." (science)

Jacob made him some "coupons" too...

So this weekend Dallin realized that the air conditioning on his car also needs to be fixed. Then I was in a fender bender in the church parking lot in the van yesterday. A guy and I ran into the back of each other as we were backing out. So Father's Day had a few downers too. With the fridge, new tires, new air conditioning in the little car, and a new back to the van it's adding up to an expensive month. Luckily we've got savings...that's what it's for!

Ribbit

Dallin found a frog (toad?) last night playing in our sprinkler in the driveway. He caught it and put it in a box to save for the kids. This morning he let them all hold it and touch it before we let it go.Zach named it Obert and really wanted to keep it as a pet. No way.

Even Landon was pretty interested in touching it. Don't worry, I immediately washed his hands before they went back in his mouth.

See ya later Obert.

(Obert is the first name of the author of the book I'm reading right now. Zach thinks it's a funny name.)

Cub Scout Day Camp Part 2

Friday I was back at Cub Scout Day Camp, this time with Zach's group. Luckily they had BB guns first thing in the morning, so they weren't burning hot. Zach did a great job and got a few on the target.He made a shield.

He built a flower box for the front porch.

As much as he loves flowers and gardening, he was not excited to touch the soil.

Kona Ice came and gave all the boys free shaved ice. That was very nice in the middle of the hot afternoon.

They did a tug-of-war, but got tired of it after a couple of tries in the sun.

So we let them go on the water slide for a few minutes, even though it wasn't in their schedule.

The other den leader found the hugest wolf spider with an egg sac attached.

We ended the day with skits. They did a skit about Floyd the Trained Caterpillar.

I only saw Jacob a couple of times the whole day. He got scratched up pretty good on his chin from "jousting." I heard they even changed the weapons to pool noodles after his injury. Jacob was very proud because he got 42/50 points on the BB gun range during a 5 shot round. The boys had a great time and really enjoyed the activities at this park. I loved that it was much closer than the last couple of years too. This was Jacob's last year because he'll be considered a boy scout next year. But he wants to come back as a volunteer. We'll definitely be back next summer!