I'm Doo

Friday was Ethan's 2nd birthday. He is so cute when he says, "I'm doo." Katie and Aaron came from Wyoming so our whole family (except Dane) went to South Ogden to celebrate. My Dad was feeling pretty good so he came too. We were impressed with Ethan's present opening skills. What a difference a year makes. Kent built a car bed for Ethan and Naomi made a blanket for it. I sewed a pillowcase and Katie sewed a matching curtain.

It was hard to stop buying presents for him, especially once we got started on the car theme. The Cars pajamas we found were so cute.

Chris made delicious seasoned french bread sandwiches for dinner and then we went to a park that had some fun water features. Ethan was just starting to have fun with the water when it turned off for the night. He was able to play on the "whee" though. That's his name for slide.

Most of the adults played ultimate frisbee while Nanette, Naomi and I played with the kids. Logan's medicine kicked in (he has ear infections) and he enjoyed playing on the grass. How cute is he?

Nanette made a cute car birthday cake and Ethan is a pro at blowing out candles with very little spit. He is also good at singing happy birthday.

So, with Ethan's birthday over we are finished with our busy month of celebrating 3 birthdays, Father's day and our anniversary. What a great month. I'm so thankful for family.

I Want Bland!

Today I am on a clear liquid diet in preparation for my colonoscopy tomorrow. I am really longing for my bland diet back. This is what I'm craving right now:

Of course Reese's peanut butter cups and KFC fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy aren't on my bland diet either so I'll be craving them after the colonoscopy too.

Here's a picture of me drinking the "liquid laxative". I'm not including the picture of me grimacing after drinking it.

Yesterday was Kent's birthday. Nanette, Chris & boys came for dinner and cake and ice cream. Here's the birthday boy and Logan:

Nanette made a delicious birthday cake but learned the hard way of what happens when you try to light 48 candles without a lighter. Most of the candles were melted before we could sing to him! It tasted great though!

I had a little pity party today because no one commented on my blog yesterday and it's been few and far between lately. So, if you've been lurking and not commenting, shame on you!

Bland & Grand

I finally have a diagnosis for the pain I've been having for the last three months: pancreatitis. The plan of action is a bland diet and pain pills for now. I think another name for bland should be blah! I guess blah is better than an air conditioned gown with an IV and nothing by mouth which is the next step if this doesn't help. I'm having a colonoscopy (routine check-up) on Wednesday and I'll talk to the gastroenterologist about it more.

The grand part of this last weekend was being able to tend our youngest grandson Logan while his parents and big brother went camping. Naomi and I went birthday shopping for Kent on Saturday (today's his birthday) and we couldn't pass up the kids section. We tried a bunch of hats on Logan and he is such a ham. As soon as he sees the camera he gives a big cheeser. Sadly, we used my camera phone and somehow those pictures got deleted. Here is a picture of him in the cute outfit that we couldn't resist buying. It came with the hat. Too bad he was tired and didn't want to smile.

Camping, Fathers, Anniversary Oh My

What a busy weekend. I'm being liberal with the term weekend because I'm talking about Thursday to Monday. We went camping from Thursday to Saturday. I was really looking forward to it but I forgot how much work it is. I think it is pretty much the same amount of packing for one night as for five. Especially now that we don't have a trailer that is full of stuff like pots and pans and utensils that we just leave in there. We all slept in tents but we weren't roughing it too much because we had nice air mattresses. I did miss my trailer's heater the first night though when it got really cold but the rest of the time was warmer and the food was outstanding! Saturday morning Nick (with a lot of volunteer help) completed his Eagle Scout project at the campground amphitheater.

Logan & Ethan were happy campers

Caleb & Nanette goofing off

Naomi & a sleepy Logan on a hike to an abandoned mine

Nick fishing on a very full Porcupine Reservoir
(Nanette took this picture to show me what he was up to!)

Aaron & Katie on the hike with Kent & Ethan in front of them
Ethan actually fell asleep on Kent's shoulders

Chef Chris & his amazing ginormous pancake

The Eagle Scout Project

Yesterday was Father's Day and I'm sure thankful for my Dad. Next week it will be a year since he came to live with us. He has prostate cancer and Alzheimer's and still has a good attitude. I'm also very thankful for Kent, the father of our six children. The poor guy has to put up with a lot, like this embarrassing picture that I'm going to post from out camping. He was goofing off around the campfire, making the kids laugh.

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. What a wonderful 24 years we've had. I hope we have another 50 and we still recognize each other then!

Nana's Little Genius

I am amazed at the intelligence of the newest beings to inhabit this planet. We had the privilege of tending Ethan for a couple of days last week and I still can't get over the way he can open child proof bottles or figure out a way to climb up to get anything he wants! And where did he learn to bat his eyelashes and smile and say, "Hi!" when he thinks he's done something wrong? He's turning two in a couple of weeks but I think he's really 10!

Graduation Tripping

We just got back from a fun trip to Wyoming. Naomi graduated from high school and was able to take a few days off from work so we could visit Katie and Aaron. She and Nick and Caleb had never been to the Willden's new house. We had a lot of fun; sleeping in, eating, playing games, eating, bowling, eating, four wheeling, picnicing, visiting the "Big Pen" (the Wyoming State Penitentiary museum) and eating.

Aaron turned 23 big years old while we were there.

Nick said, "I didn't know there were so many fun things to do in Wyoming!"

Some people in the family needed bumper bowling. We won't name names!

The trip wasn't too good for our family's biggest loser competition as you probably figured out from all the eating we did.

Naomi wasn't happy until we went and saw the jail. She wasn't quite as thrilled when the tour guide asked her to demonstrate how dark it was in one of the cells. Seeing the gas chamber where they executed prisoners was gruesome also. The hour long tour was kind of pricey but enjoyable.

Kent in a real cell

Katie in the zoo(?)

The aforementioned gruesome gas chamber