Let's go to Hooters!

Here's a conversation between Bracken and Brian from the other day:

Bracken- "Dad, sometime we should go to the pet store again." 

Brian- "Okay."

Bracken- "And then we should go to the owl store."

Brian- "The owl store?" 

Bracken- "Yeah, the one by our house.  Hooters."

Brian- (laughing) that's not an owl store buddy.  It's just a restaurant."

Bracken- "Oh..."

We won't tell him about the restaurants reputation for a while. :)

Broken Arm

We went to Cedar City to visit friends while Brian taught a class at SUU for prospective medical students.  On our first night there, Bracken was playing on his friends playhouse/swingset and fell off the top and broke his elbow.  It was a pretty sad night.  We took him to the Insta-care where it was x-rayed and put in a splint and sling.  He got his red, water-proof cast a week later.  Once he had a cast on, his fractured elbow didn't slow him down much.  He was constantly on the go, went to the water park at least five times, (and went down all the water slides he could), still jumped off the couch, climbed too high, and went swimming every chance he got.  He had his cast on for 5 weeks, and is now as good as new! 

Strawberries and Summer Fun

We love having our own little strawberry patch.  Chandra goes outside every day and eats until she can't find any more berries.  The boys had more fun digging for worms, or finding cool sticks to play with.  Tyson came to visit for a few days and we loved having him here as always.  Bracken had just gotten his new water-proof cast on so we spent several mornings at the waterpark.  The kids love going to the waterpark with Brian.  Chandra and I spend most of our time in the wave pool and the lazy river while Brian and the boys went on the slides...over and over again! 

That's Love...

I didn't think I'd ever see Brian dressed up in bows and a tutu. But that's what I came home from the gym to find.  I guess it just takes having a little girl.

Grandma Lisa

Chandra has a very special place in her heart for Grandma Lisa.  They just "click." In the past when she has been completely unreasonable with anyone else, she could have a heart to heart with Grandma Lisa, either in person or over the phone, and her behavior would drastically change.  Chandra loves playing baby dolls with Grandma Lisa, snuggling with her, and how Grandma Lisa always blow dries her after a bath (as well as each item of clothing).  She asks for "Grandma Lisa eggs!" (poached) every morning, and tries to get me to feed them to her like Grandma Lisa does.

My mom has been staying at our house while attending some conferences a couple of weekends this month, and the kids have loved having time to spend with just her.  Bracken's usually running around with Dallin and Tyson whenever we're at my parents, so it was nice for him to get to spend time with Grandma too.  She read the kids stories each night, and watched the kids for me one day while I went to a morning class on Body Language. While I was gone they had fun playing outside and practicing riding their bikes:  Bracken practicing without training wheels, Chandra getting the hang of moving her pedals in a continuous circle on her new birthday bike.

Last weekend Sarah came too, and I don't know who enjoyed her more, the kids or me!  She is a huge help, fun, smart and happy.  The kids love playing with her so much, she probably felt exhausted when she left. Love you Mom and Sarah! Come visit again soon!

"Mommy Can I do the Dishes?!"

"Mommy, can I wash dishes?" I hear her hopeful voice beg at least daily. For a long time I told her, "not this time," or "wait until I can help you," because I'd end up not only re-washing all the dishes, but cleaning my cupboards and mopping the floor as well.  But she asks so often and gets so excited when I let her, that I finally decided the happy child was worth the extra work.

A funny thing happened.  Not only does she still get ridiculously excited every time I say, "Yes you can!" but she's started finding other things she can do to help.  Whenever I take out the garbage she runs to put a liner in the garbage can and then hides so I don't know who did it.  She tries to be super sneaky and get her diapers in the garbage without me seeing her, then tells me, "It was a diaper helper!  The diaper helper was me!" You're a super cute big helper Chandra!