Gratuitous Cuteness

I don't have much to say tonight, but I was browsing through our old photos and came across a few favorites that I don't think I've shared before:






Dang, our girls are cute!

And I can't leave out Ben. He's pretty adorable as well. . .


. . .despite the uncanny resemblance to a certain billionaire:

Fall Firsts

First day of preschool

First soccer game

First pinstripes

Summer 2011's Greatest Hits

As I was sifting through photos on the computer, I realized that there were a lot of things we did this summer that didn't make it into a blog post. And so I present to you, in no particular order, our summer's greatest hits:

Anna's Birthday Party

I finally did it; I remembered to take pictures of Anna's birthday! This was the first year she had a "friends" party. She helped me plan a fun butterfly-themed party, but then on the morning of the party she announced, "I changed my mind, Mommy. I want a ballerina party." Hence her sparkly leotard and tutu.





Treasure Hunt with Grandpa Pugh

This summer I learned about an old Pugh family tradition: Grandpa Pugh's treasure hunts. It seems that Grandpa Pugh used to stage a treasure hunt, complete with a hand-drawn map, for the kids each year in the ravine near his house. The last treasure (which I'm told includes a substantial amount of cold, hard cash) was never found, but the map has survived and Sarah and Skylar are determined to find the treasure. . .so, with shovels and map in hand, we headed to the park.

Shortly after we arrived, though, it started to rain. A lesser family may have called it quits and headed for the car, but we are Olsons: We weathered a whole day in the rain at Mt. Rushmore, and we weren't about to let a little rainstorm ruin this picnic. We covered up the food and huddled together under trees and blankets. And then it started to POUR. The blankets got soaked, and some of us took cover in the playground:


Eventually we decided to make a break for the car. The storm did little to darken Ben's sunny disposition:



Soon enough, the storm passed. We finished our food and headed out on the treasure hunt:

(Elizabeth got wetter than the rest of us;
while we were all hunkered down,
she was happily skipping around in the rain.)

The kids found the new treasure that Sarah and Skylar hid for them, and then we continued down the path to where the "lost treasure" is supposed to be. No luck finding it this year, but next year we'll be back. . .with a metal detector.

Red Butte Garden

Just last week we packed a picnic for dinner and went up to Red Butte Garden for FHE. I've been here numerous times: on field trips (as a student and as a teacher), for concerts at the amphitheater, with playgroups, and just on my own with a kid or two. But this is the first time I'd been there in the evening--it was wonderful! Cool, quiet, almost empty. . .and with great lighting.





Thanksgiving Point

Way back in June, while the Epperson cousins were here, we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. It's far enough away that we don't get down there very often; in fact, I think this might have been the first time Anna's ever been.

(There was some terrifying prehistoric creature
hanging right above her head. . .)

Hogle Zoo

This summer the zoo had these fabulous animatronic dinosaurs on display throughout the park. I think the girls liked the dinos even more than the actual animals! These fellas gave me flashbacks to "Jurassic Park":

Aunt Kellie, the girls, and the babies posing in front of "Tommy the T Rex".

The carousel and train ride are always a favorite, too:




There was a new baby elephant, named Zuri, born at the zoo awhile back. Elizabeth has been eager to go see her, and finally this summer we did:


Our most recent visit actually happened to fall on Zuri's birthday, and there was a big birthday card on the plaza for people to sign. Kellie and I thought this inscription was particularly funny:

Now that's optimism.

Also funny was this road sign I saw on the way home from a zoo trip:

(Thankfully we escaped unharmed. I guess motherhood has so reduced my brain size that the zombies didn't feel I was worth the effort.)

Dog Days

When school first lets out, summer is a fresh promise of endless delights. June is beautiful. June is practically May, which is a fine month indeed. June is the rubbery smell of new flip flops, the smooth tightness of a brand-new swimsuit. the clean smell of freshly-turned garden soil.

In July, the summer fun reaches a fever pitch. July is gunpowder and freshly-cut grass. July is the invigorating sting of chlorine, the dazzle of fireworks, the explosion of flowers in your garden bed, the sticky juice of watermelon dribbling down your chin.

But August? There's a reason they call them the dog days of August. The novelty of summer has worn off, but temperatures (and tempers) are running high. Both the swimsuits and the morale are beginning to sag. A mother's patience wears as thin as the sole of her flip flops. Even the weeds give up and start looking a little rangy.

And then come September. The long morning shadows, the sweet inky smell of worksheets still warm from the copier, and the rustle of renewed good intentions that strike us all at the beginning of a new school year.

Well, that's almost right, anyway. School actually started on August 22nd for us this year. And Elizabeth goes to a school that is roughly as old as her grandparents, which means it's brimming with authentic retro charm but is also without air-conditioning. With the temperatures still climbing into the mid-90s, the classrooms are sweltering. I'm surprised the crayons haven't all melted. The PTA has gone all out, setting up fans and doling out Otter Pops, even putting out sprinklers at recess for the kids to cool off. Still, Elizabeth comes home each day with pink cheeks and hair plastered to her forehead. She's a trooper, though; she didn't even mention the heat until I asked her point-blank if her classroom was hot. "Yeah, even with two fans blowing it's still hot!" she brightly replied. Yup, this girl loves first grade, hot classroom and all.

Elizabeth, excited for the first day of school

Anna's preschool, on the other hand, doesn't start until after Labor Day. For the first week, she basked in the glory of having Mom and Ben all to herself--but it didn't last. Poor girl was so lonely today; she pulled out her dolls and set them up half-heartedly, then told me, "I'll wait till Nano comes home so we can play together."

Anna, all set to walk Elizabeth to school. By the time we reach home, she's already asking when first grade will be over so Nano can come home again.

Ben celebrated the start of the school year with his own new accomplishments: rolling over, sitting up, and cutting two new teeth.


For the most part he's been a happy little guy through it all, though he did have an exceptionally bad day this week: already crabby from cutting tooth #1, while he was sitting on my bed he tipped over, rolled off the edge, and face-planted in the carpet, giving himself a rug burn on the side of his nose. Ouch.

Ohhh, he's a handsome little devil, isn't he?

Despite the summer heat, Jared is plugging along in the backyard. Our original goal this summer was to put a lawn in the backyard. So far we've gotten a new fence, sprinklers in the front yard, and a beautiful new wet saw. But that's just how we roll around here. Our family motto is "Might as well", as in, "Well, since we've already got the trencher, we might as well dig up the front yard too. And since we've already got the yard dug up, we might as well put in a new patio. . ."

(Oops. Photos of the patio-in-progress are still on my camera. I'll post them later. Maybe.)

We've had to take a break from his projects this week, though; it seems like whenever we embark on a new home improvement project, something breaks on one of the cars. Along with the new sprinklers last month, I got a new radiator in my car. And Jared is getting a new fuel pump in his car along with the patio he's been working on this month.

And then there's me. Hmm, what did I do in August? Ran a 5K. Baked some really fabulous bread. Washed and folded an endless stream of laundry. Went swimming and to the zoo and to the park and to Red Butte Garden. Changed a few hundred diapers. Ate the sole cherry tomato that grew on the plant I stuck in a pot on our patio. Read two of my childhood favorite books to my girls (Little House in the Big Woods for Elizabeth; The Sleep Book for Anna). Squished Ben's chubby little thighs a couple thousand times.




Mmm, yeah. It was a good summer, dog days and all.

On Anniversaries, Checkups, and Pyrotechnics

July is nearly over, with nary a blog post from me. Oops.

4 We started out the month with a visit from Jared's sister, Emily, and her family. We had a great time hanging out with the Swanson crew. (I don't think I saw Henry without a cape for a single second. . .you can see him in the second photo below sporting his latest acquisition). We played at Liberty Park, camped out at Mt. Timpanogos*, and had our traditional 4th of July celebration on what used to be the family farm. Thanks to the Utah State Legislature, this year's fireworks display was the best we've had to date.

Jay thought he'd save a little time and light sparklers for all of the grandkids at once. Once the first sparkler caught on, though, we quickly abandoned the idea!

"Yay, America!"

*Well, not all of us. I may be a PWC (Person Who Camps), but I prefer not to take my chances with a baby who still wakes umpteen times a night. So I sent the girls with Jared, and Ben and I enjoyed a quiet evening at home. :)

16 Yet again, we failed to celebrate our anniversary in the traditional way. Aaron and Joni were blessing their new little guy Noah that weekend, so instead of the standard dinner-and-a-show, we packed up the kids and headed out to Vernal to pay a visit. We spent the evening of our anniversary making sandcastles with the kids at Steinaker Reservoir. Back at the hotel, we all piled together in the "sitting area" of our "suite", where we watched a documentary on candy-making and I ate far more Red Vines than was prudent.

The girls were having way too much fun to look up at the camera.

Actually, as anniversaries go, it was pretty awesome. That night, after I'd bathed and jammied the kids and we were all just hanging out, I was struck by the notion that THIS was really what our wedding day had been: the first step on the road to creating this funny, wonderful, sometimes exasperating little collection of individuals we call a family.




21 July also brought checkups--a little late--for Anna and Ben. Jared and I had both noticed that Anna is feeling a lot more "solid" these days, and lo and behold, she's gained SIX POUNDS since her last weight check right before her tonsillectomy. That's a pretty substantial gain, especially if you consider her tonsils probably weighed a pound each!

Not to be outdone, Ben has also been packing on the pounds and is teetering right at the 20 pound mark. My arms have never looked so buff.

Ben and Yvette chilling in the play pen.
Yvey is no lightweight herself, but next to Ben she looks positively dainty.

24 We celebrated Pioneer Day with the Eppersons, with a barbecue and Cul De Sac of Fire. I especially had fun snapping pics of the girls with their sparklers.



It was the only time that they held still enough for pictures; the rest of the night I had to content myself with some snaps of the as-yet-mostly-immobile babies.



And that brings us to the end of July. Elizabeth is beside herself with excitement waiting for first grade, and Anna is eager for preschool to start, too. I imagine Ben will miss his sisters while they're at school, although I doubt he'll miss having to live in his car seat the way he has this summer as we run from place to place. I'm sure Jared will welcome the slightly cooler temperatures of August as he toils away on the yardwork. And as much as I've loved having the girls home with me all summer, I'm looking forward to the structure and routine that the school year brings. Maybe I'll even find time to write a few blog posts!

Handyman, Part Deux

So it's been brought to my attention that Jared feels I didn't give him a fair shake in my recent post. Specifically, he wanted to know why I didn't post more photos of things that he'd finished. I was tempted to reply, "Well, finish something and I'll blog about it." But that's a cheap shot. I thought, instead, that in honor of Father's Day I'd set the record straight.

The truth is, Jared is excellent at seeing projects through to completion--better than me, to be honest. It just takes him a long time.

Why, you ask?

Well, it's certainly not laziness. This man works long and hard. About the only time you'll find him sitting on the couch on his day off is when a) there's a blizzard outside, or b) he's holding the baby (because I tend to make a fuss when he fires up the welding torch or tries to ride the tractor while doing so).

I could make a crack here about his perfectionistic streak and his adherence to the engineering motto ("If it ain't broke, take it apart and fix it anyway"). Truthfully, this is one of the reasons why projects take a long time to get done. On the other hand, his perfectionism pays off. You can be sure that that new retaining wall is going NOWHERE, that the new fence is going to be straight as an arrow, and that you won't burn the house down when you switch on that new light fixture. I've dealt with enough ill effects of sloppy DIY work at the hands of the previous owners of our home to appreciate what I've got in my obsessive-compulsive husband.

But probably the biggest reason that it takes Jared a long time because he is generous with his spare time. There are plenty of evenings where he's come home raring to get to work but instead he spends time with the kids so I can go for a jog, run errands, or just plain take a break after a long day of kid-wrangling. There are plenty of Saturday mornings that he's spent helping a neighbor prune a tree or rake leaves or roof a house instead of working on his own home and yard. Even around our house, he doesn't get to spend all his free time working on the projects he'd like to work on. Grass grows, taxes come due, pipes leak, cars break down. . .Jared isn't only my general contractor; he's also my lawn service, accountant, plumber, mechanic, and so much more.

Finally, I have to point out that so much of what goes into Jared's home improvement projects can't really be documented in photographs. I thought about posting a snippet from his to-do list (he keeps a running list on the computer, with dates next to each project as it's completed), but it's much too long. He's like an iceberg, this guy: you only see 10% of what he does, and the other 90% is hidden away under concrete/paint/drywall/dirt. For example, take this before & after:

living room, January 2007

living room, April 2011

What you see: New paint, new lights, new tchotchkes.
What you don't see: Jared repaired and re-attached the mantel, insulated the attic above the ceiling, took off the trim around the French doors and filled in the gaps around the doors with spray foam, re-attached the trim and patched up the nail holes, re-wired the electricity throughout the room, put in new electrical sockets and patched up the holes from the old ones, removed the light fixture, installed recessed lighting and patched up the hole from the old fixture. . .and a few days after I took this photo, he repainted that white patch (and another half-dozen spots on the hall and living room that needed touch-ups)

In short, I'm sorry, honey, if that last post left you feeling unappreciated. The truth is that I feel oh-so-lucky to have such a capable, generous, hard-working man as my partner in life. Happy Father's Day, hon!

Top Ten Signs Mommy Is Ready For A Vacation

Jared has been out of town this week, so it's just been me and the kids (and a mean little cold virus that refuses to leave). It's been a busy week, with school letting out, swimming lessons starting, and a visit from the Breppersons, and I'm starting to feel it. One thing I've learned since becoming a mom is that I need to keep an eye on myself. . .I'm talking about Mommy Burnout here. It happens to every mom, so it's important to be aware of the warning signs:

1. You catch yourself arguing with your kids' See 'N Say ("I'm sorry, bunnies do NOT say 'boing' when they jump. In fact, why did they even put a bunny on here? They don't make a dang sound.")

2. The closest you've come to a facial lately is being immersed in a cloud of steam as you drain the spaghetti.

3. You drive somewhere sans kids and as you pull into the parking lot you realize you were singing along to the "Little Mermaid" CD for the whole drive.

4. You volunteer to do double carpool duty, just to ensure you leave the house more than once a week.

5. Your definition of "dressed up" is a T-shirt without any spit-up, your "good" yoga pants, and flip flops.

6. Your definition of "gourmet" is hot dogs in the mac & cheese.

7. You don't like writing checks because you can't remember what year it is.

8. You eagerly anticipate your next dental visit, because it guarantees you the chance to lay down for 30 minutes in the middle of the day.

9. Your kids stop asking you to play Hide & Seek because you are the world's worst "seeker" ("Hmm, I wonder where they could be? Maybe if I lay down on the couch and close my eyes I'll be able to hear them. . .")

10. You find yourself ordering things online just so you can chat with the UPS guy. (By the way, I have the coolest UPS guy ever. He listens to NPR.)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some pics of the kids I love so much it makes me a little crazy:




(Man, these guys spend a lot of time hanging out on my bed. I hope you all like my bedding--it gets photographed a lot!)