Coming to You Live from Our New Home!!

Coming to you - live from our new home, further down south where the people are more friendly and we have more room to breathe! What a crazy couple of months it's been! Ethan is almost 7 months old and we've now been living in our new house for about three. We've been sick most of the time in our new house, not to mention trying to unpack, purchase furniture, and get used to life living further away from stores. It's been a whirlwind, but we've enjoyed it! I'm anxious now to catch up our blogging for the last..well 5 month-ish! Here's to hoping nothing technical gets in the way! Look for posts (though I'll be back dating them) on Ethan's development, other Santaquin adventures, and fun family activities!

Sick, a Beard, and Bird-Watching

Stress, a new environment, far too crazy schedules, and yucky eating all caught up to us this month. The month of June we spent, sick, sick, and sick again. We probably have gone through 2-3 rounds of illnesses (everyone being sick slightly after each other) since we moved here. It's been difficult for us, yet at the same time, the blessing in being sick is an excellent excuse to focus inward on your own family. For Austin, it was a great excuse to grow out his beard. 

 At two weeks long, this is the longest he's ever grown his beard. He likes to keep himself clean shaven and even if he doesn't take the time to during the week, he always shaves by Sunday for church. Skipping a week of church for being sick (which Austin doesn't do unless he's VERY sick), he took the opportunity to grow it out. I'm not sure it's really a good indication of what his "beard" looks like. Two weeks wasn't long enough to grow it in full, but I think he decided he mostly didn't like it. 

 Another exciting thing has been enjoying some relaxing days at home (sometimes just looking outside and hoping we could be there). Austin has started to "bird watch" at our house. Every morning you can find plenty of birds to keep you interested, flying, and even jumping around in our backyard. Robin's are plentiful as are Pigeon's. We've also seen European Starlings and Yellow-Headed Blackbirds close by, and some sort of, what Austin thinks is, a Yellow Finch.

 We found a nest just outside Ethan's window in the front yard. I thought it was so fitting I was repainting and decorating the nursery and a Robin was doing the same just outside.

 This is a piece of the bird egg (on our kitchen counter) we found outside in the grass.

 Next, we found a lower next in the back yard (outside the other boy's windows), with three beautiful eggs inside. Bird watching has been a blessing of slowing down while we were sick. I'm not sure in fast-paced life if we would've seen them, and had the opportunity to teach the boys about them.

There are little gems inside each trial. I could list off so many other small blessings from the long-lasting illness. I'm so grateful for trials in our lives that help us see God's hand and help us more fully appreciate His blessings.

JC Mickelson's & Nebo Loop

If you've ever been south of Provo, you've seen some interesting billboards for a Restaurant in Nephi called JC Mickelson's. One of them reads, 

"Nephi? 

It's worth it dear...eat some peanuts!

HUH!?! I found myself trying to figure out what this billboard was saying. Then I realized - oh someone might think it's a long drive so "eat some peanuts" to tide you over until you make it (because it's worth it). 

So we talked for the first while about someday going there to see what the restaurant was all about. One Saturday (we were actually north in Provo shopping), we just up and did it! On our way down we saw more billboards with words like "cabooses" and "boxcar" and started to hope they had a cool train. And - they did! The boys loved it!

We were worried that we had built up the restaurant so much in our minds and it wouldn't live up to our anticipation. But, we LOVED the food. And while the outside of the restaurant is nothing to get excited about, or the "updated" look, the trains were wonderful, the service was great, and we couldn't have had a more pleasant experience. 

 Even better, the day we just up and randomly decided to finally (driving from Provo), the Thompson's were there too! Ironic that some of our best friends ended up at the same restaurant, at the same time, in NEPHI, when we hadn't planned it. We've been sick off and on since we moved so we hadn't planned many official playdates. It was fun to randomly run into them :-)

Matt told us they took the scenic Nebo loop to get here. They actually set out to do that first and ended up in Nephi, deciding to check the restaurant out while they were in town. So, we decided to do the same thing, and took the scenic loop back home. It was a beautiful drive (and it dropped us out only about 2-3 minutes from our house)! We love living so close to such magnificent mountains.

Camp Koholowo

This weekend was the first "Father and Son 's" Campout with our new ward and stake. We looked forward to this campout every year. The boys love getting outdoors with their Dad, and I enjoy having the house all to myself overnight, excepting Ethan of course. Next year I'll get to send him too!

They went to Camp Koholowo, a campground in Santaquin Canyon. It was a cold evening. In all those blankets somewhere is a cute two-year-old. Guess I know how to keep him still now!

Cadence was excited to sleep in a tent, and disappointed to find out that they had cabins with bunks. So, Austin draped up the tarp above his bed so he'd feel like he was still sleeping in a tent. It satisfied his 4 year old dream.

They showed a movie in the evening, which they enjoyed watching together. Austin didn't have a very restful sleep though, worried about the boys falling off their beds, and not having much room sleeping with Kory.

Here's the tired two-year-old in the morning. Tired, but happy.

Good Morning, Cadence!

Here we are ringing the breakfast bell in the morning! I'd love one of these for our backyard! They also enjoyed tackling a ropes course (yes, both boys did it!), and seeing some wildlife! A great little overnight that is over all too soon. I debated about what to do with the evening and decided to do "nothing" and went to bed early to get some good sleep. Ethan decided to wake me up nice and early in the morning (which I didn't appreciate at the time) and we were off to enjoy some shopping! A successful campout!

Buraston Ponds

 Today we enjoyed Memorial Day by going to Buraston Ponds (which is technically south of here in Mona). We didn't have time to take the canoe, but it would've been the perfect spot! It was Ethan's first day in his swimsuit, though the water was so cold he didn't get in. Still, he had fun lounging on our blanket.

We went with the Thompson's. Austin hadn't been feeling very well so he didn't swim for more than a minute and didn't try the rope swing. It took some convincing from Matt but Elise and I finally roped in! It was freezing! I was done after saying I had experienced it!

 Austin got in some great bird watching pictures! Not sure what he found out about this little guy... (but in the picture he looks impaled, doesn't he?)

 Even Evan joined in the fun! The other boys were too cold to try it. Cadence complained the entire time about being there. He didn't like getting dirty. He didn't like the cold water. He just wanted to go home. Kory didn't say much of anything until, like usual, we were leaving. In the car on the way home he said "Mom, do that 'gain, 'nother day?" He always has such a placid look while taking things in, and when it's all over, he'll let you know what he really thought. I'm glad he had a good time!

We had a BBQ that night with the Roney's at our place. A yummy hummus platter, kabobs, and salad. Delicious and healthy! We spent the after dinner time enjoying the lawn and playing duck duck goose! It was a wonderful holiday break!

Projects at Home

 Austin has been busy at home this month working on a few projects. Our sprinkler wasn't working in two different locations in the backyard. He spent a week or two digging and cutting and taping to get everything put back together! We were so proud of him!

 Unfortunately we found out the hard way that the ceiling vent in Austin's office was loose. It fell out once and made a dent in Austin's glass desk. Shame on us for not having fixed it then! It fell again and broke Austin's computer screen. He took it upon himself to install a new screen! Mr. Handy!