On our way...

We leave first thing in the morning for our annual 4th of July trip to Utah. The kids are very excited; Sam is so excited that he can't wear a shirt. ~I don't get it either, but he is half naked right now and seems to be very happy about it. He tried to convince me that his shorts were making him cold, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

If any of my Utah friends want to meet up for lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks, let me know. I know this place...

Here are a few of the fun items on the agenda: Tyler fishing in Montana, Jack's baptism, Lagoon, Crafts with Lucy and Jake (b-days), 15th anniversary, Ballard family 4th of July extravaganza, COUSINS, Grandmas and Grandpas, catching up with friends, and so much more!

A girl in the house

It is the time of year when all the young people 14 - 18 years old go on "trek". I find trek to be a funny Mormon phenomenon. I think that our pioneer ancestors are looking down saying, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS??? Are you crazy? You have cars! It's OK for girls to wear pants! We did this so you didn't have to!" :) That is why I have not and never foresee being asked in the future to be a "ma" on trek. I do have several wonderfully obedient, serving, humble friends that are gladly dressed like pioneers trekking through the desert as we speak. One of those friends asked us if their 8 year old daughter, Rachel, could come stay with us when they were gone. Rachel has been Jack's best friend since he was 4, so we happily said yes.

Having a girl around has been so strange. She listens to me when I tell her something. She actually does what I ask...the first time. She wants to play with the baby all of the time. When I ask the boys, "Where's Logan?" He could be sitting on their head, and they would have no idea. When I ask her where Logan is, she knows. She put him there, and she is keeping him entertained. She can hardly stand it when he naps. She keeps getting him out of his crib. That part is pretty funny. Jack just looks at me and says, "I don't know why, she just did it." Rachel likes everything I feed her. She doesn't ask me for anything. Instead, she quietly says, "Jack I need to tell you something." They leave and I hear whispers. Then Jack comes and says, "Mom, can Rachel, I mean we, get Logan out of his crib?" She makes up fantastic games where Jack and Sam are exterminators and she is a Walmart employee who sells them their gear. She lets Jack tell her all about the critters he is exterminating. She is so patient with Sam and makes sure he is included in everything. They didn't even watch TV today! Plus when Jack does some obnoxious boy thing, I catch her rolling her eyes at him.

The best part is that she has several different pairs of shoes packed in a ziploc bag and bracelets and earrings to match each outfit all packed into a darling pink suitcase. I watched her go through them this morning trying to decide which ones to wear. It is kind of nice having another girl around. Tomorrow she will go back to her family and things will be back to their loud, crazy, normal self again. No one will be wearing bracelets, and no one will know where Logan is!

Yellowstone!

Back in 1999, the Ballard family took a family vacation to Yellowstone after attending a family wedding in Jackson Hole. We had so much fun together. My brother Mike and I were the only married kids, and this was the first time we had vacationed together since any of us were married. This is my scrapbook page from back then. (Love the old school scrapbook pages!)

Fast forward to 2010...we decided to do it again. You can read my sister in laws post for details and more pics. This time we had Mom and Dad, Me + 3 (Tyler had to stay home), Mike + 4, Steve + 6, and Karen +1. We were missing David and his family. They were definitely in our thoughts throughout the trip. Love you guys! If you add this all up it equals 10 adults and 10 little kids all under 10 years old. Here is a pic of some of us.

Tyler couldn't go because he had a trial during the trip that he couldn't get out of, but I thought I could handle it on my own. My family would be there to help. The drive over was great. Jack is an amazing car traveler and he takes care of the other two for me. Our DVD player broke before we were at the end of the street, so we did make a pit stop to Walmart to purchase another one. It was the only way I could do this on my own.

The first day of our trip was rainy and cold! We were so wet, and it was hard on the little ones. I volunteered to take the little kids back to my cabin while the other adults and bigger kids enjoyed a few more attractions. On the drive home, this is what happened:

I carried each of them into the cabin where they all woke up. I fed them cookies and played with them until the rest of our group came back. Gretchen (girlie in the blue and pink jacket) is so much fun. She loves to "babysit" She wanted to bath Logan and Myckaleigh as soon as we arrived. We just loved them and held them instead, because the cabins did not have bath tubs. I had fun holding both Logan and Mychaleigh at the same time; neither of them liked me holding the other alone.

Jack and Jake didn't mind the rain at all. They were having fun in their rain ponchos.

The next day was beautiful. We hiked a lot, saw lots of buffalo, elk, and even a coyote. When we saw the coyote, Sam said, "Mom are we in Africa?" I carried Logan in my Kelty pack and several adults tried to keep track of Sam. Sam was a little difficult. He would take of running and wanted to be carried a lot. This picture is a perfect representation of Sam on our Yellowstone trip.

Here is a fun picture of me with all three of my boys. I need to remember to get in front of the camera every once in a while. I definitely like taking the pictures better than being in them, but this is a fun picture of all of us.

I am so glad my family planned this trip, and that I was able to go. I love them all, and I think we travel together very well. I can't wait to see them all over the 4th.

I will finish with a few great quotes from the trip:

Jack: "I don't need to get out to see the buffalo unless they are going to head butt."

Jack: "Wow that Yellowstone movie was really good, I didn't pay attention at all last time."
Jack: "Can I have a pocket knife?" repeated 5000 times until I gave in!

Jack: "Do you see this spear? I am pretty sure it was made by Indians." Holding a freshly sharpened stick probably used for some hot dog roasting the night before.

Jack: "Those Elk are probably domesticated, Buffalo are herbivores, Bears are carnivores, fish are intelligent, and every other fact he knows about animals." Repeated throughout the whole trip. Seriously, I sat through a lecture about the mating habits of cuddle fish. I can't wait for him to ask me what mating is. Maybe he already knows. UGHH.

Jack: "I am glad it is non toxic, or I would probably be dead by now." After he bit a hole into a glow stick and got it in his eyes and nose.

Sam: "Mom, what is that!?!" Pointing to the phone booth. An older couple stopped to listen to me try to explain it to Jack and Sam. They were laughing their heads off.

Sam: "Can I go to Grandma's cabinet?" He called our cabins cabinets. It was really cute.

Sam: "Carry ME!!!"

Sam: "My legs hurt! Give me tylenel!"

Sam: "But what about our friends?" I would say what friends, and he would answer, "You know our cousins!"

Sam: "Where are we going?" "But we already went to Yellowstone!"

Sam: The second we got into the car to leave, "I really miss Grandma."

A little perspective

I am having a guilty day. Beating myself up over working too much and not keeping up with the house work or the kids. I can't remember the last night that I cooked dinner. During lunch, I asked Sam why mommy works. He said, "because she wants to!" I asked him what does mommy get for working. He said, "Stickers!" I told him that mommy gets money for work, not stickers. I asked him what we bought with money. He said, "Toys". We talked about using money to buy food, pay for our house, clothes, and other needs. Then I asked him if it was important for mommy to work, and he said yes. I guess to Sam, he doesn't even know that a non-working mommy is even an option. He was pretty confused by the whole conversation.

A bit later, he came running to me with his stickers. He wanted to know what color I wanted. He told me if I keep going potty, I can get lots of stickers and then Grandma Gloria will take me shopping to buy some new pajamas. He loves talking about Grandma Gloria being my mom. He thinks of the funniest things.

The best part of talking to him today was when he told me the rules. He said, "I love you mommy." I said, "I love you!" He said, "No, when I say I love you mommy, you have to say I love you too." I know that this bothers him, so I like to answer in all different ways of saying that I love him, but he will not accept anything until I say, "I love you too". Then he told me, "You are my best Mom." and I told him that he was my best Sam. Then he smiled and crawled into bed for a nap. No more guilt trip. I am his best mom...and that is enough.

Eating Crab Legs with Jack

When Tyler and I were a young married couple, we went to Red Lobster for dinner. I was just getting more adventurous in my eating habits - no more ordering cheese sandwiches off of the kids menu. Next to our table was a young family with several little kids 12 and under. Instead of ordering Mac and Cheese or chicken fingers, those kids were eating crab legs. I told Tyler that I hoped some day that I would have kids that would eat crab lets.

Last night, we were once again driving around running errands during dinner time discussing our options for eating on the road. Jack piped up and asked if we could go to Red Lobster and get crab legs. Not a quick McD run, but I couldn't refuse. I wondered if he would really eat them, or if he was just excited about the thought of eating them. He had tasted mine before, and was certain that he loved crab legs. They had them on the kids menu - who knew?

First thing to come to the table was his very own "crackers". He played with them, practicing on his nose and finger. When the crab legs came, he was thrilled. I gave him a few lessons and he just went to town. It was hilarious. He examined each leg, and gave commentary on what the crab probably used "those spikes for". He informed me that "the claws were mainly used for feeding, not attacking. However, they will use the claws for protection if needed." He wanted to know if he was eating a girl crab or boy crab. I won't share Tyler's recommendations for finding out (those of you who know Tyler, can guess). He also devoured his garlic mashed potatoes. Sam enjoyed his chicken fingers and then at the very end of the meal, said "Mom, I want lobster now." He meant crab, but it was all gone. Maybe next time...

On our way out, we made the stop at the lobster tank. The boys were going nuts. Logan was squealing. The lady at the door decided to take out a lobster an let the boys touch it. They were all over that. She actually knew a lot about lobsters and Jack asked tons of questions. He put his finger right into its little pinchers to see what it felt like. Sam wanted her take out another one and refused to leave. They both would like a pet lobster now.

For the record, I have eaten wonderful seafood at nice seafood restaurants all over the country, and I know that Red Lobster is not anything like that, but without a coast we take what we can get!