Fishing buddies

Last week my cousin Darin was visiting from Colorado. He loves to visit with us every year and we love having him visit. One of Darin's favorite activities is to go fishing. Since we have the perfect fishing lake 2 miles from our new home he decided to bring his fishing poles this time. He got a one week license and fished all but 2 of the available days. He had fun teaching the girls to fish. Dakota loved it the best and she would fish with him for hours.

He loved to see that Alexander had a fishing hat just like his.

Dakota and Darin on their first fishing trip.

Dakota caught a fish on her first day and caught the fishing bug.

Megan liked to fish too. She didn't like the waiting for a fish to bite part so she would hold the pole for about 2 minutes and then she would start to slowly real in the line. One time as she was reeling in the line, the line started to fight back. I couldn't believe she had a fish! I wanted to help her real it in because it seemed to be a big fish and she struggled a little to bring it in but she is very independent and let me know that she could do it. I couldn't believe how big this fish was that she reeled in. She got it to shore and then Darin (who couldn't wait to see the fish and was practically biting his hands to keep from taking the pole from Megan) brought it in the rest of the way because it was too heavy for her. She had caught a HUGE catfish. I wanted to take a picture of her with her fish but she wasn't about to get close to it so Darin held it for her.

This is Megan's big catfish.

After catching her fish Megan was done and decided it was more fun to go and feed the ducks. I had a hard time convincing her that she couldn't hold the ducks. We had so much fun fishing with Darin and can't wait to do it again.

On the move.

Alex just keeps growing faster everyday. He is 5 months now but he sure doesn't act it. This is supposed to be a great time with baby because they don't cry as much now and you can set them down and they don't go anywhere yet. Yeah, right! I don't think Alex has stayed still a day in his life. Even in the womb the ultrasound tech said she had to chase him so that she could get all the measurements. I know this is normal for some babies but this is the first time I have had to chase such an active baby. Just trying to change his diaper has become an Olympic event.

He is not just on his hands and knees rocking back and forth anymore, he is really crawling now.



This was actually two days ago. He is so much faster now. It amazes me how fast he can go when he wants to get to something he's not supposed to have. He is a really good eater as well. He loves to eat real food. He loves fruit and some vegetables. He doesn't really like the meat flavor of baby food and he absolutely HATES the green beans but I would have to say I don't blame him...just the smell of the meat and the green beans makes me want to gag. He still begs for our food and it is really hard for me not to just give it to him. He eats so well and acts so much older that I forget his little digestive system is still developing and not ready for prime time meals yet. I'll be so glad the day I can just set him in his chair with a plate of food for him to enjoy. He has also gained so much weight these last 3 weeks. He had to go to formula full-time. He was a skinny little kid (because of low milk supply in my opinion) but not anymore. He has filled out nicely now. He has gained as much weight in the last 3 weeks as he did in the first 4 months. It's amazing what actually getting enough food will do to a little guy. The down side to his new food supply is that he isn't sleeping through the night anymore. Oh well, what can ya do. He is still so much fun! Even though he has enough energy for five babies he never ceases to dig his way deeper in to our hearts every day. He is such a happy baby. He tries to smile even when he is crying. He laughs so much and he loves to be sung to. He has a way of getting into your soul just by looking at you. What a precious little spirit we have been blessed with.

Here are some pics just for fun.


Safe in daddy's arms.


Having fun with Lizzie.

Sleeping with his monkey and his thumb. He is so cute when he sucks his little thumb. He is already starting to out grow it though so I'm not worried about him having to kick the habit.

This was just such a cute video that I wanted to share it.

Cabin Fever

I have been working really hard in the back yard trying to get it ready for grass. The older girls have been really good at helping me with Megan and Alex so I can get the work done and be done with the yard so that we can finally enjoy the summer. Megan hasn't really been able to go anywhere because of this and has developed a really bad case of cabin fever. One day I wanted to get her out of the house so I asked her if she wanted to go to the store with me and she got so excited. We got in the van, went to the store, and came home. Megan started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said that we didn't go play with McKenna (her friend that lives back in Orem where we moved from.) For days now she has asked when she gets to go play with "Tenna". I keep telling her that Momma's busy right now and we'll go visit and play with McKenna as soon as we can. I guess that wasn't the right answer for her. Yesterday, mid-morning, as I was on the computer taking care of some business for CJ before I headed back out to the backyard Megan came up to me and in her broken 2 yr. old language said, "Tenna at house, I see she sleeping like this, (she put her head on her hands, closed her eyes, and started snoring) I play now." Trying hard not to laugh at how cute that was, I told her that if McKenna was still sleeping that she couldn't play right now. Megan just smiled and left. A few minutes later she came in to show me that she had put her shoes on (she's still in her pj's) and I asked her where she was going, she said she was going to go play and left the room. She came back in with a bag in her hands and started to go out the front door by herself. I asked her where she was going and she said, "I go play with Tenna now. I be back latter." I looked in the bag and she had packed it with about 5 diapers for the trip to McKenna's house.

I guess when she told me that McKenna was sleeping what she really meant was that she was going to go to her house for a sleep-over. I thought it was so funny that she actually "packed" for the trip. She was so proud of herself for being such a big girl. I felt so bad that I once again had to tell her that she couldn't go, it really broke my heart...hers too. Rebecca took her to a neighbor's house and they played in the water so she was able to get out and play for a while but she still has her heart set on playing with "Tenna" as soon as she can.

Private Bounce House

Two days ago Rural Housing had another open house for group 26 (we were group 20) in our neighborhood. For this open house they rented two bounce houses for the kids. We were busy for the first hour of bouncing but took the girls to jump for the last 30 minutes...who can pass up a bounce house that gets the kids energy out, especially when it is only a block from your house. When we arrived there were about 3 kids in the houses but after 10 minutes those kids left and it was just our kids and two girls from our build that the girls love to play with. It was their private bounce extravaganza. They had so much fun jumping all over with out fear of hurting another kid or getting hurt by another kid. The only one who didn't like it too much was Megan. This was her first time in a bounce house and she did not like it at first. After some time and a lot of cuddling by Rebecca she was able to hold on to the netting on the side of the house and jump.

The kids were able to play until they were so tired they couldn't jump anymore, then they got to watch as the bounce houses were deflated. They thought it was so cool that the houses only took a few seconds to deflate. I can't wait until the next (and last) open house in the neighborhood so the girls can have one last "private" bounce house experience.