The last hurrah

We always try to do something fun the last weekend of the summer before school starts. This year, we had free passes to Silver Wood (local amusement park). Before we could go, Jack and I went to a baptism of his good friends Zach and Savannah (twins). On the way home, the fire fighters were in the street collecting money for Jerry's Kids. I told Jack to roll down his window. We were in the prism which does not have automatic windows. Jack looked at me like I spoke a different language and asked, "How do I do that?" Am I seriously getting old enough that kids don't know how to roll down a window? Once we got home from the baptism and made a quick change, we loaded up in the car for a fun trip!

When we got into the gates, Sam looks at me and says, "Mom, just drop me off in the kid's area." He was totally serious as if it as OK to just drop my 4 year old off to play on his own. For a while, we stuck together while Jack and one of the grownups rode a big ride. Jack is fearless and wants to ride every thing possible. Here are some fun pictures of him and Tyler on the Panic Plunge. He was not nervous at all.

Then we moved to the kids area where we all rode the elephants. This is the first ride for Logan. He LOVED it. The lady yelled at me to make him sit down, but I couldn't keep him in his seat. He wanted to push the green button that made us go up high. I also love that Jack was just as happy to ride the kid's rides with Sam. He is such a cute big brother.

After a round on the kids rides and some lunch, we split up. Tyler went with Jack for a while, and I hung out with the kids. Sam was hilarious. He would get in line, and then make a friend. He would spend the whole time in line making plans with his "friend". They would discuss which color they were going to ride and what their "mission" was going to be. If he saw a baby, he would tell me that it was Logan's friend. Logan was so good in his stroller. He didn't take a nap, and didn't melt down once. We stayed until closing (10:30 pm). As soon as Sam and Logan got into the car, they were zonked out.

Tyler switched with me, so that I could ride some with Jack. I love rides too, and I can ride almost anything. Age has made me a bit queasy on the round and round rides, so I only ride a few of them. Coasters are my favorite. It is so fun standing in line with Jack. We have awesome conversations about anything that pops into his head. Plus he holds my hand and thanks me over and over again. I like him at this age. I like that he likes me.

Today (Monday/Labor Day) we got a bonus fun day. What do you do for fun when you are married to a total geek and live with three dirty little boys? You go digging for garnets. Tyler did not explain this to me very well, so I was not prepared. He said we would get "a little dirty". When do we not get a little dirty? I dressed the boys in their cute outfits and off we went.

To find garnets, you first dig holes from a big pile of dirt, clay, and rocks and put what you dig into buckets. You can have two buckets per person. I figured 1 bucket per person was plenty.

After your buckets are full (and very heavy), you go to a sifting area where you sit on dirty buckets and sift out the sand. Our four buckets yielded one full (and very very heavy) bucket of rocks. Then you go to a washing area and clean your rocks to see if any of them are garnets. Seriously, a little dirty Tyler?!? This is also the spot where you ask each other 5000 times, "Is this one?" I loved that they all kept asking me like I had ever done this before." I just said sure to every question. When you find the garnets, you put them in to a baggy.

After a couple of hours of this, you think phew our bucket is empty and we have some garnets in a baggy. Lets go to a cute restaurant and eat something, but that is when your geeky husband and his prodigy decide that you definitely need to go dig some more. So off you go to fill another bucket, which actually ends up being two buckets. Then repeat the steps and now we have more garnets in our baggy. This time, I found some large ones that got praise from the bored forest service guy who stands around and answers the question, "Is this one?" When you are done, you take the baggy to the forest service desk. They shamefully go through your bag and pick out the rocks that apparently are not garnets, and weigh those that are. We came away with 4 oz. This, I was told, is pretty good. The limit is 5 lbs per person. They assured me that no one ever gets the limit. Jack was pretty happy with his bag. He is going to use them to start his rock collection for one of his cub scout requirements. I will put the bag next to the other bag of rocks and the box of fossils that we keep in his closet. Hint to Tyler, NO MORE ROCKS!

After garnet hunting we were going to go to Paul Bunyan Day's (or as Sam says, Small Onion's Days) in St Maries Idaho, but we were "a little dirty", and it was all shut down. We ended up driving home and grabbing some dinner on the road, so that we could get Jack in bed on time. Tomorrow I will take the traditional pictures of him standing on our porch in his darling school outfit going off to 3rd grade. We had a great summer, and we will miss the freedom!

P.S. To the locals that read my blog, garnet hunting season ended today. Sorry, you will have to wait until next year. Also, you will not get a little dirty. People were wearing rain gear and boots. Additionaly, if you tell your four year old to stay out of the muddy puddles, people will laugh at you.

Out of town - again.

I guess this post will be about me and not the kids. That doesn't happen very often. I am in a hotel in Orlando Florida missing my cute family and getting ready to go home. At the same time, I am enjoying myself very much. Every year, my company throws a user's conference. Earlier this year, I received a promotion to product manager and my career - life has changed a lot since then! For this conference, I have given 6 different presentations in 4 days. One in front of the entire group (~250 people). I have gotten reacquainted with customers and colleagues that I spent a lot of time back in the day before I had kids and stopped traveling. I have also met a lot of people that I have only spoken to over the phone for the last few years. I am very lucky to have some of the greatest people to work with. My new job as product manager means that I am responsible for determining the future road map for our product. It means that I have to listen to my customers and then decide what will be best for all of us. I have spent many years of my career taking the customer requirements - creating a design document and then working with programmers to develop the software to the requirement of the users, but I was never the one that decided which features to include. It is scary to be in this position, but it is also really exciting. I love working with people who have a passion for their jobs and are dedicated to protecting their employees and the environment. Also, the hotel is amazing! There are alligators in the pond outside of my room in a giant atrium. Crazy! I also found out today that I get to go to Germany the first week of November. I will be getting a new passport as soon as I go home.

The best part is that tomorrow my brother David and his family are coming from Tampa to visit me. I cannot wait to see them and meet their little baby Lucas for the first time. It is also wonderful that my parents flew out to CdA last weekend to spend this week with my family. It is much easier to relax and concentrate here when I know they are home taking care of my boys (including Tyler). Apparently, mom made them meatloaf and it was the best thing they had ever eaten. Definitely not one of the meals that I make; I still do not eat hamburger and have not since I was 11 years old. We don't usually have it at our house, but Tyler had a client that gave him 20 lbs as a thank you. It has been fun teasing him about what he will get next - chickens, pigs?

I will be home Friday - my boys better get ready for lots of hugs and kisses. I miss them!

Happy Birthday to Sam!

Sam turned 4 on the 15th. This was a fun birthday year; Sam asked every day for several weeks, "what day is it today?" He was very excited. As excited as he was, he could not tell us what he wanted for his birthday presents. He could only provide general instructions like, "I want that star wars guy, and that star wars be-hicle (vehicle)." Tyler's parents came, and we decided that we would just take him to Toys R Us and let him show us what he liked. Then he went to the car with grandma; grandpa, Jack, and I stayed behind and picked out some of the items. He also wanted everything spiderman. I decorated the kitchen table, and he was so cute and excited when he woke up. He about burst when he saw his presents all wrapped up and waiting. He kept picking them up and asking me, "Is this one my star wars guy?" He would go through the whole list of items that he saw at Toys R Us. After church, we opened presents, sang, and had cake. He was so excited about everything he opened. It was a lot of fun to watch him concentrate on opening. I love this picture of him with his tongue hanging out. That is such a "Ballard" thing.
I am also glad that he was thrilled with his spiderman cake. I get off pretty easy when all he needs is a spiderman candle to be thrilled with his cake.

Then we went for a drive to explore a new area. We found people picking huckleberries, so we joined the fun. We picked enough to make a home made huckleberry cobbler. Sam sat on a stump and ate huckleberries. Jack was all business and picked his purple little fingers off. Logan enjoyed being carried in the back pack and loved getting a huckleberry popped into his mouth every once in a while. For dinner, Sam requested pasta bake. I also made chicken parmesan and everyone gobbled up dinner.

I don't know where the time has gone, I still think of Sam still as my baby. He is getting all lanky and grown up. I miss his chubby hands and feet. Luckily, his cheeks are still soft and squishy, and oh that grin...! He also tells me that I am beautiful almost every day. I love my Sam!

It also must be documented that this is the 3rd year in a row that he got to his cake before it was served and used his fingers to get a little taste!

Are you kidding me?!?

It has been crazy around here. I got back from my trip to Alabama and then my brother Steve and his family came to visit the next week. We had so much fun, and I planned to post all about it, but Emily posted today and she did a great job. If you want to read about it, click here.

After they left, I had the busiest week of my whole life. I had several deadlines at work, a busy YW week, swimming lessons, scouts, and everything else that comes along with 3 little boys. I ended up working until swimming lessons almost every night, then staying up late to get everything else done. That would have been enough, but Sam started throwing up and had a fever - again. Being the best mom on the planet, I gave him Tylenol and made him go to swimming lessons. In my defense, what was I supposed to do with him while the other two had swimming lessons and swimming lessons are expensive! Don't worry I still feel guilty. Then Sam stuck his tongue out at me (in a totally darling way, not a naughty way :) cuz that is what kind of kid he is cuz I am such a great mom). It was covered in a white crust. So gross! From experience, I knew that Sam had a nasty strep infection and needed antibiotics. I took him into the instant care, they did a rapid strep test, and sure enough it was strep. We picked up the yucky pink medicine and started the fun. He felt better after the first dose, so we went about our daily routine. This consisted of me realizing at 2:30 in the afternoon that no one had eaten and asking Jack to feed them lunch. Nice.

Fast Forward to Tuesday. Work has calmed down, and things are almost back to normal when I notice that Sam has some spots on his belly as he got out of the pool. I called his pediatrician and scheduled an appointment for the next morning. When he woke up, he looked like this.

We rushed in and guess who is allergic to penicillin. He has had it several times without a reaction, and he had 8 out of 10 days worth of medicine, but from now on - penicillin is forbidden! I kept him home from swimming lessons last night; can you imagine what you would think if a kid got into the pool looking like this? The dilemma is what to do today. It is the last day, and Tyler is in Canada. Do I take him and risk the stares? Should I make a t-shirt that says, "I am not contagious!"? Or do I skip it all together and go the grand opening of Hobby Lobby?

The Great Goggle Debacle!

Maybe, I should buy this poor kid some goggles. The problem is that I hate goggles. They never fit right, so the kids spend the whole time at swimming lessons adjusting their goggles instead of learning how to swim. The rubber piece breaks off, so you have to tie them with knots. Then they don't adjust properly, they are too loose, or too tight. All of these problems trigger whining.

This year, I have deflected the goggle request, but the other kid in Jack's classes has goggles. Oh the horror! Yesterday about a 1/2 hour before we left for lessons, Jack came up with a brilliant plan. I am pretty proud of myself. Instead of telling him that there was no way this was going to work, I took his directions, tied his knots, and almost kept a straight face. When he saw me smiling he said, "You are going to take a picture of this and put it on your blog aren't you?" Yes goofball, I am! After the bottles failed, he found a second alternative. A battery package was a lot closer to the proper shape, but alas it did not keep water out of his eyes. Then he asked Tyler to buy him goggles. Tyler said no, and he cried. Good times!

Poor Tyler

This week I am on a business trip in Huntsville Alabama. I thought I had everything taken care of back home. - Day care arranged, lists made for each day, laundry done, etc. On Monday morning I dropped the kids off at the day care. Cried for a minute, because it is the longest I have been away from my baby. Pulled myself together and got to the airport. Spent the next 10 hours on three different flights, and arrived safely in Huntsville. I was tired, but I woke up the next day early so we could meet with the folks at Redstone Arsenal. Then I got the first text from Tyler. "It said, Sam has a fever." Instead of following my perfect plans that were left behind, Tyler had to cancel his full day of appointments to stay home with a sick kid. Today, Sam was fine, so Tyler sent the kids to day care and worked hard to make up for his lost day. Then tonight, I get a text that says, "Logan just puked all over the van." I guess Tyler is getting a dose of the reality of single parenting. I feel so bad that I am not there to take care of my sick babies, but I know Tyler has it all under control. He HAS to be in court tomorrow, so hopefully all kids will be fine and able to go to day care. So much for my super organizational skills making everything run smoothly while I am gone. :)

Here in Alabama, it is 100 degrees with 75% humidity. My hair is UGLY, my makeup lasts only a few hours until I sweat it off, and today I got chewed out by a lady who thinks we "lied" about her in a meeting. I will be glad to go home tomorrow night even thought I don't get in until midnight. I have one more meeting at NASA Marshall Space Flight center in the morning - I don't anticipate any yelling, but you never know... I can't believe I used to travel like this all of the time. It is a lot of work, and I am exhausted.

Our trip to Utah

This will be a fairly long post highlighting all of the fun we had in Utah over the 4th of July.

We made the LONG (11hr) drive with out any incident. I found out that Jack can ask questions about volcanos and thunder storms for several hours without a break, and Tyler can answer them all. We dropped Tyler off in Idaho Falls where he joined his dad and brother for their annual fishing trip. They ended up in the Island Park/Yellowstone area. Here are a few pictures of their trip.

On June 27th, we had the privilege of baptising Jack. He was very excited and very prepared for this day. I held it together even though I was so overwhelmed I wanted to cry and cry. Jack brings me so much joy and pleasure, and I am so happy that he made the decision go be baptised. After the baptism, we had brownie sundaes at my parent's home. Yummy!

The very next day was our 15th anniversary. We are normally big losers when it comes to anniversaries, but figured we better at least go out for our 15th. We ate at Rickenbackers which is another of my brother Steve's restaurants. It is a great steakhouse with a fantastic view. If you are in Ogden and want a nice sit down dinner, it is yummy. Make sure you try the butternut squash ravioli appetizer. I got sidetracked by food... The real story is that to my surprise, Tyler pulled out a jewelry box. Never a bad thing! He gave me this beautiful anniversary ring that I love. I was floored! He was so nervous, like he was asking me to marry him or something. It was very cute, and I love love love the ring.

The next big item on the agenda was a trip to Lagoon. It was a lot of fun. Jack is fearless and loves all of the rides. He was big enough to ride everything this year, so he did. Tyler was able to come which was a real treat. We all loved the ride called Wicked. It is amazing! Sam liked all of the kid rides and had fun hanging out with his cousin Lucy. They made up stories for each ride, like we are going to Costco in our spaceships... We were there from open to close. My mom took all of us, and it was a blast to hang out with her all day. Thanks Mom! I didn't take a ton of pictures, but these three are a perfect representation of the day: all of the kids enjoying their time together, Jack showing exactly how he felt about riding the "baby" rides with Sam (never complained!), and what happens when you make a 3 year old hang out from open to close.Finally, the 3rd of July celebrations. We went to the North Ogden Cherry Day Parade (took no pictures!), and some of us went to Cherry Days at the park (reliving our childhood). Then we had a slip and slide and water balloon games at my moms before we had a yummy dinner that she prepared for us - this makes it even yummier. As soon as it was dark, my pyro brother Mike and his lovely assistant Steve put on our annual fire works show :) It was a blast, and I was horrible taking pics that day. This the only picture of the evening worth posting. Happy 4th from Adam!And if anyone is counting, I ate at Sonora Grill 4 times - I was there for 9 days. Totally wish I would have gone back at least one more time.

I must end with the quote of the trip. This was a conversation in the van when I took Jack, Jake, and Lucy to Michaels to pick out their crafts.

Jake, "Jack! Your getting baptized on Sunday, there are firework stands everywhere, this is freaking me out!"

Muffled voices about Jake giving Jack a swirly...

Lucy, "Jake, I am seriously going to tell your mom, seriously!"

Jake, "Lucy, you don't understand! Jack wants a swirly! I wont get in trouble."

Jack, "Do you guys know how thunderstorms are formed?"

Lucy, "No, and I don't want to." (Coke might or might not have spit out my nose!)

Jake, "Lucy! Shut up, I totally want to hear this."

Jack gives his explanation.

Jake, "Jack, how do you know all of this stuff."

Jack, "I read it in books, mostly non-fiction."

And then they start talking about Star Wars. Hilarious kids! Jack also gave the cousins a lesson about Venus Fly Traps, but his "Science" lessons were not as intense as they were during our Yellowstone trip.

Congrats to those who made it through this entire post!!!