Teaching Alex to Pray

It may seem a bit irreverent that I'm taking pictures of Alex learning what he should do when we pray.... but it was so dang cute I couldn't help myself. I love the look on his face that says, "I guess I'm supposed to squint my eyes since that's what everyone else is doing." Of course we're all squinting because we're trying to take a peek at him!

Here he's almost got it down. The head is semi-bowed and we've got the one arm crossed.

There we go! It sure looks like it's taking a whole lot of concentration, but he finally got it down!

Hot Hot, We Got It!

Alex loves the movie Polar Express. If you've never seen it, there's a scene where a bunch of singing and dancing waiters with handlebar moustaches come out to serve hot chocolate to the children on the train. They sing, "Hot, hot, we got it...hot chocolate!" Well, the other day I found Alex with a black marker in hand and a line drawn across his upper lip. I didn't think much of it until he started doing a little dance and singing, "Hot, hot, got it..hot hot, got it...". Then I realized he had drawn on a moustache so he'd look like those waiters. Sometimes it amazes me how much these little ones retain when you think they're not paying much attention. Who knows, all this time we've anticipated a future athlete, but maybe we've got a future Broadway star in the making!

Family Camping Trip

Over the 4th of July weekend, we went camping in California at Grover's Hot Springs, a great campsite my family has been going to since I was a little girl. All of my family was there, minus my brother and his family, plus my cousin and his family came so we had a large group.

I've been trying to get Alex to eat watermelon all summer, but he's shown very little interest. Perhaps being in the great outdoors did something for his appetite!

Our sites were near a creek, Alex loved throwing rocks in. He was such a good boy and never tried to wander off. He loves being outside so much, camping is definately like being in heaven for this little guy!

My theme for this camping trip was "simplicity". I just wanted to be able to relax as much as possible, plus knowing that I would be chasing after a 2 year old, my goal was to make things as simple as possible. So, in the campsite next to us one of my sisters was making some delicious chicken fajitas, and to the other side of us, another sister and her family are dining on grilled tri-trip and dutch oven cheesy potatoes. And here are the Lillys preparing a gourmet meal of roasted hot dogs!! But hey, basically no prep work or cleanup was required, so my goal was fulfilled, and let me tell you those were some scrumptious wieners...Alex ate two!

Alex in his 4th of July attire. Would you believe some idiot campers actually brought fireworks...into the FOREST?! We had some fantastic rangers though, who were up to their site as soon as the first one was shot off, and they hauled his drunk @#* off in the ranger car. Serves him right.

My brother-in-law Mark brought this inflatable raft for the little guys for the creek. Alex and Adam sat in there for probably close to an hour being pushed around, they had a blast.

There's a huge meadow at the entrance to the campground that's gorgeous, especially at sunset.

You know Alex is exhausted if he actually allows himself to fall asleep in someone's arms.

The whole gang, minus Alex who had crashed at this point. We couldn't have asked for a better trip, it was so nice to get away and spend time with family. It's such a great bonding time for all the cousins, we've already made plans for same time, same place in 2010!

Happy 2nd Birthday Alex

I can't believe my baby is two. Time just passes so quickly. I'm sad to see him getting further away from babyhood, yet it's so much fun to watch him grow and learn new things.

He had a great birthday and is enjoying his new toys.

In fact, he's enjoying his new toys so much, he has had absolutely no interest in eating any cake yet! (I've made up for his share, though!)

Wouldn't you just love to squeeze this little guy?

Best buds....I love you Alex!

I love summer. I live for summer. Summer has been avoiding me. Until lately. After the first 3 weeks of a rainy June, finally the sun came a calling. The other day, Alex wanted to play with the water. Reluctantly, knowing the unavoidable outcome, I let him. Sure enough, it was a matter of minutes before he was soaked, but seeing the pure joy of a child running through the sprinker, feeling the sun on his back, reminded me of the pure and simple joy that summer brings me.

Dear Summer, I know that in just a few short months you'll be leaving me again. So I promise to enjoy every minute of you, go for lots of walks, go hiking, swimming, camping, and eats lots of ice cream.

Your adoring fan, Lana

A Smashingly Successful Surprise Seventeenth Celebration

We threw Steph a surprise party for her 17th birthday. We had the perfect plan...she was supposed to work at Raging Waters till 6:00, then by the time she arrived home her friends would be there waiting for her and we would barbecue and hang out in the back yard. Mother Nature nixed all 3 of those plans with the lovely rain we've been getting. Raging Waters didn't open, thus Steph didn't have to work. We also had to come up with plan B for food. A kid who Steve used to coach works for Subway, and he got us a 3 foot sub and huge platter of cookies for FREE! At least all that coaching sends us a perk or two occasionally. Anyhow, after a few lame attempts at diverting and stalling Steph, we finally allowed her to come home where her friends were hiding in her room. The picture above is when they surprised her.

Here is the long, lost Jordan (remember him?) with his girlfriend Taleena. My apologies to Jordan for taking his picture with a mouth full of food.

Some of Steph's friends..............

Steph's friend Colton gave her this cake (I think his mom made it). It was so cute, and the lime green and fuschia fondant was perfect for Steph. The actual cake was delish also.

Alex became good friends with this boy Tyler. Tyler and 2 other boys played outside (it had stopped raining by now) with Alex for the longest time, I love to see teenage boys who are cute with little kids. Alex kept feeding Tyler chips, probably to repay him for all the candy Tyler had snuck him.

On Sunday, Steph's actual birthday (she's my Flag Day baby), we were able to get together with a bunch of cousins for more celebrating.

What a nice sister...she let Alex blow out her candles on both days, so we expect he'll be a pro just in time for his birthday in two weeks!

"Take Me Out to the...Well Maybe Some Other Time."

Last week the softball team had their banquet at a Salt Lake Bees game. It was great, we had our own pavilion where they fed us a great dinner, and we got to watch a great game, make that a great inning...no, actually make that a great "up at bat". That's right, we saw one guy at bat, then it began and continued to pour for the next hour. By the time they got the field ready to play again, it was 9:00 at night and I had to get Alex home to bed. Other than that, it was a really nice banquet and all the senior girls got to throw out the first pitch of the game. Now maybe if it will ever start acting like summer here in Salt Lake, perhaps we can actually see a ball game sometime soon!