FUN With Food

Ted is a really fun Dad. When we were first married he would cook some of the funniest things. Like an octopus hog dog. And everytime we would have hot dogs he would cut messages in them. We never have plain regular pancakes. He would always dye them a different color. I would find myself laughing at my food that was prepared to look like a spider, hearts, and lots of other silly things. And the kids love it.
Yesterday while Keegan was taking a nap Ted did something really fun for Daesha.

Can you guess what it is???

Your half right... it is a cucumber. Here is another clue.

IT'S A BOAT! And it really floats!!!

Daesha Goes To Kindergarten

Today was Daesha's first day of Kindergarten. She was really excited. After she got dressed and was ready to leave she got a gift from her Mom and Dad. It was a necklace that my Mom gave me when I started school. (I added the circle charm)

She was so sweet and really liked it. She thanked me and gave me a big hug. DANG! She is cute! I love her so much.

I put Keegan in a stroller and we walked to Daesha's bus stop. It's just at the end of our street. As we were walking Daesha said, "I have huge butterflies Mom." I giggled and asked if they were nervous butterflies or happy butterflies. She said, "They are happy" I said, "I bet they will be even happier when the bus comes!" Then she started jumping and laughing. Daesha has wanted to ride on a school bus ever since she started preschool 2 years ago. She didn't like the fact that she was going to school but couldn't ride a bus.

Daesha was the only child at the bus stop and she was the first stop on the route so she was the first child on the bus. After saying bye she got on the bus and took the very first seat across from the driver. I heard the lady driver say, "You sure look happy to go to school today, don't forget to wave bye to your Mom" Daesha quickly waved and before the doors closed I heard Daesha asking, "What's your name?" I have a feeling she will be asking that alot today...

My big girl getting on the bus.

(sniff, sniff)

Since Daesha is not a morning girl (she takes after her Mom) she goes in the afternoon. So she rides the bus home with the rest of the school kids. A 6th grader is assigned to each Kindergartner for the first week, to make sure they get on and off the right bus. Daesha's is our next door neighbor and babysitter, Kayla. So that is a big relief for me.

Here they are getting off the bus.


Once she was home and eating her favorite sandwich ham, lettuce, and pepper. She told me all about her day. This was my favorite part. she told me lots of things with much enthusiasm. First she told me about a boy named Dillan who cried because he wanted his Mom. And a girl who had on a polka dotted shirt, like she used to have. And another girl who was spying (that's the word Daesha used) on her. I tried telling her she was probably thinking she was cute and wanted to be her friend. Daesha didn't believe that. She said "No, Mom she was talking about me to another girl" I asked her what she said and she said she couldn't hear her. So I said well maybe she was telling the other girl that she liked your hair. Daesha said. "Well, she could just tell me that herself!" She was right. She probably was talking "about" her.
She also couldn't believe that the soap in her class turns blue!!! So you have to keep washing until the soap doesn't turn blue anymore. I heard many more cool things about her day and she is still happy to go back tomorrow.

Daesha isn't the only one who is having a big day. Keegan officially started potty training. YES, he is only 2!!!! But all week he has been telling me he wants to go potty and takes his pants and diaper off BEFORE he goes potty. So I figured I am already cleaning up poo and pee off the floor, I might as well see if he can figure this out.
I just love the cute little bums in those tiny unders. So here is a first for Keegan in his "not so tighty" whities.

Manti 2009

The bow hunt this year was not as fun as it has been in the past. The main reason was that Keegan was sick. He never stopped crying. I felt really bad for the poor little guy but by the 2nd day of nonstop crying I had had enough. I packed up the suburban and took the kids home. Ted is staying 2 more days in hopes that he might get a second chance at a deer that's been named. "BFT" . Which is short for Big F@*# ing Typical. These men get out in the mountains and they become prehistoric cavemen. All manners and civilized world gets left behind. It's really pretty funny to see. Crazy Hunters!
One really cool thing we saw this year was the planet Saturn. It was really bright and with Ted's binoculars we could see 3 moons around it. It was super neat!

These are the only pictures I was able to get of Keegan "playing". Not so much a happy camper.

This is what Keegan and I did for 2 days. We never left the comforts of our trailor. Doesn't he look miserable?
A tradition started several years ago is Daesha's favorite activity. It is called the Animal Hunt. The moms bring a stuffed animal (one for each of your kids) to hide. The kids go for a small walk while a couple parents hide the animals. When the kids return to camp they find animals hidden among the bushes and trees. This was the first that I was able to get Keegan out of the trailor. He even smiled when he found this cute dinosaur.

All the kids with their animals they found. Keegan is not in the picture. He was hanging on my leg and crying because I set him next to his sister and took more than 5 steps away from him to take the picture.

The kids rode the 4-wheelers all weekend. They are small just for kids but still go way too fast if you ask me. (around 15-20 miles an hour) I loved watching them buzz around camp and shooting each other with their toy bow and arrows. Even though Keegan and I were not having any fun in our trailor I was happy to see Daesha having a great time. I realized that camping is sometimes way more fun for kids than it is for the parents.

Love this picture of the kids. They are so dang cute. Sorry Kim, I promise I tried making ALL the kids wear helmets while on the wheeler. Your kids are just naughty!!! Somehow I got the role of being the wheeler patrol. Because I could see the crazy antics happening on the machines from my trailor window. As soon as I would step out side the throttles somehow would let up. hahaha!!

This year the "ward" split. A few of us felt the group was getting much to big. In the years past we have had up to 80 people in camp. I did miss seeing and visiting with some family and friends left behind in the "old" ward. But even if we had camped there I wouldn't have been able to visit anyway due to a sick kiddo. We camped at John August Lake. It was just a short 5 minute drive to the other camp.

Things I have grown to love about Manti Mountain:

- The view out our trailor window.

- Crisp morning air.

- Seeing a night sky plastered with billions and billions of stars.

- Thunder storms.

- NEVER hear the words "I'm bored"

- Everything tastes better.

- Can eat everything and the guilt isn't there because we are camping.

- "It was this big" stories from the hunters at the end of the day.

- "I was this close" or "My arrow went right over it's back" stories.

- Sitting by the campfire with loved ones.

- Getting a sunburn when you don't remember being outside for long lengths of time.
- Getting a bunch of wild flowers with roots from my daughter.

- Getting one wild flower from my husband.

- Loosing track of time.

A MOGE POGE of the end of summer.

Before we go to Manti for the bow hunt I decided I had better wrap up our summer. We had a very.. how should I put it? It was Fun, Stressful, Joyful, Maddening, and everything in between. And yet my blog journal hasn't kept up with things like it should. Which relays to me personally. I have not been myself. I found myself busier than ever this summer (a bit self centered, maybe)and as a result I have not kept in touch with friends and family. Ted has been working for Anderson Drilling. This job was temporary until the job was complete. They are ahead of schedule and were told last week that they would be done by September 1st. That is a whole month ahead of the deadline. Good for the company, bad for Ted. Luckily Ted is past the point of looking for a career job. (He has already found that, in real estate) And didn't have too much trouble taking what ever job opportunity comes up. It would be easier if every other person wasn't looking for a job right now too. :-)
Daesha is thrilled to be starting kindergarten this year. She will be going to the same elementary school Ted went to.
Recently Daesha's 2 neighbor friends have taken their training wheels off and riding around like big girls. Daesha gave it a try one afternoon. She was definitely not ready. But it's soon.
Keegan has learned to copy EVERYTHING Daesha says. Which is great because it is really helping him to learn more words. And helps us to figure out what "his" words are. He loves to say "WHAT THE HECK" because it is what I say every time I walk in a room that he has been in for more than 5 seconds. It is always a disaster!! On Sunday Keegan ripped up Ted's scriptures he has had from his mission. I started to document all of Keegan destruction achievements. But I quickly realized it just wasn't as funny as I had thought. Most of the time I end up being angry and yelling at the little monster. I for one am really dreading the winter. Keeping Keegan indoors for more than an hour is simply asking for catastrophic destruction!!! Heaven help me.
One thing I AM looking forward to this winter is painting my house. This is going to be lots of fun because I love to paint! I recently painted our master bedroom. I love it. But no pictures until I can get a decent bedspread. And finish our head board. Yup. I am making it.

These are pictures of the kids playing at some water fountains. Keegan was really funny. He likes to yell and scream at the water for some reason. Then this cute little blonde walked by and Keegan has hooked. He loves blonde girls. hahaha








These are pictures I took when we went to the Spanish Fork Rodeo. Daesha really liked watching the ropers. She didn't like the bare back bronc riders. She said. "those horses are mean." I thought it was funny she didn't think it was mean when the ropers tie up the poor little calf. :-)


And of course Keegan loved the cotton candy!!! His favorite part was the rodeo clown blowing up his little car. He was laughing at him and kept asking for the car through the entire rodeo.

And of course there were fireworks after. And poor Daesha is really sensitive to the noise. She couldn't possibly put her bag of cotton candy down. So she used her Dad's arm to cover up her other ear.

Daesha and her friend Sidnie making cupcakes.

Keegan was eatting them just as fast as Daesha was making them.

Then just last week we drove up to Ogden to visit my neice and together we went to the Treehouse Children's Museum. The exibits change according to the season. Right now they have rodeo and farm country stuff. There are also exibits of some counries that were really cute.

There is a big tree that has a slide down it. But it was closed that day. Bummer!! I really wanted to go down. (stomping my foot)

Daesha dressed herself as Peter Pan.
Keegan feeding this bear a plastic roll.
The oval office with the President. Both Keegan and Maddie did not like the Obama cutout.

This is Keegan carrying a tray of sushi to our table. He kept it low to the ground incase he dropped something.

Don't look at me! His sister picked the hat!

Daesha milking the cow. Aw! It's just water!!!