A Little Close to Home

I'm not quite sure whose reunion this actually is. All I know is that it's for Michael's side of the family and a lot of his mom's side were there. And since there is a Jenson and a Pyper reunion every year, that both happen to be Michael's mom's side, I'll just put it all together. I really like Michael's family. They are pretty great. And he has a TON of cousins.

This year I had the opportunity to go to the reunion by myself. My real driving point to that was to see my friend Tami. When Tami and her husband Andy were living in Rexburg, we hung out all the time. I seriously love this girl. I haven't felt like I've had a best friend in a long time and when me and Tami finally hung out, it was bestie love. Her daughter Ellie is only a month older than Ivan and they are seriously in love with each other. He still talks about her even though they moved to Utah in April. Tami's kids and my kids are very close in age, so it was really easy for us to get together for play dates often. This was especially nice when I would coordinate a play date with our church and no one but her and I would show up. Oh well, the kids still loved it and I didn't have to worry about those few people that were more difficult to get along with. Tami was pregnant with her second, a little boy named Thomas, who would have only been 3 months younger than Charlotte. Seriously, our kids are the same age. Tami had the unfortunate experience of having a stillborn birth with Thomas about a week away from his due date. Thankfully we still live close enough to one another that I could go visit her and attend Thomas's funeral. He is such a beautiful baby. Well, of course he's cute, he's Tami's and she makes dang cute kids! The funeral was 2 weeks before the reunion and while it was nice to be there for her so close to when everything happened, it was especially nice to be able to visit with Tami one-on-one a few weeks after just to catch up. So I went down Friday night and spent a few hours with her. Ivan and Ellie played great together, as usual. And Ivan kept asking for Ellie for almost a week after that too. It was so good to see Tami. And not just that, but is was so good to see Andy taking such good care of his wife. These two are such sweet spirits with a special role to fill in life. I know bad things happen to good people for good reasons, but it's not always that easy to see Christ's role in our lives when we are enduring such trying times. I know that God has given Tami to Andy and Andy to Tami so that their faith can continue to be built up in the Lord. And while losing a child is probably the most painful, terrible, faith-shaking event to ever go through in your entire life, I know that these two will make it through and be able to see the big picture the entire time. They have such strength in the Lord that he is able to bless them with peace of mind and the comfort of the Spirit. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, through His gospel, and through the sacred ordinances performed in the temple, that families are forever. Tami and Andy were married in the temple and sealed for time and for all eternity. What a blessing that is! Not only were they sealed, but any and all children they have, to include any miscarriages and stillbirths, are sealed to them as well. To be sealed means that they will have the opportunity to immediately find one another in the life after this one. There are tons of people that have lived and died and without being sealed, they could search forever after this life to find each other. When you're sealed, everyone you're sealed to is waiting at the gates of Heaven to great you and embrace you like you'd never been gone at all. And all the while that you're apart, they are in Heaven watching you, watching over you, and waiting for that glorious day when you can be together again. No one will ever be able to comprehend the sorrow that a mother and father feel when they lose a child so close to gaining his first breath. No one other than the Savior. It may be easy for onlookers to say that a child that never gains any more life than that his mother provides is meant for greater duty in Heaven. Or that all he needed was a body and never needed to be tried on this earth for he had already proven his worth in the pre-existence. Or even that God has deemed this mother and father worthy of such a trial because greater people come through hotter fires. I think that, if it were me, none of those things would make me feel better. All I could do is rely on the Lord and turn to him. Sorry for the soap box. I love Tami so much, and even if she might feel that our friendship was short lived to the time we had together in Rexburg, she gave me something that can never be taken away. She gave me the meaning of true friendship. She taught me what it is to be a mother with absolute, 100%, unconditional love for your children. I will never be able to understand what she is going through and I can only imagine how this trial would totally rock my world. I am so grateful for the redeeming love of Christ. I'm so glad I believe in something bigger, something better than this world. I know that families can be together forever and that if anything were to break a family apart on this earth, the Christ has the power to make us whole in the afterlife. I know that God lives and loves each of us. And that He is mindful of our needs. In fact, He is so mindful of our needs that he places specific people in our lives at specific times to aid our individual needs in ways that no one else can. I know that Tami's friendship will never leave my heart and I will never forget the faith that she has. Good luck in Florida you guys!

So after visiting with Tami, I went to Heather's bridal shower then to Ogden for the night. Brenda road down to Utah with me and boy was she a nice companion to have on the road! I love Brenda. I cannot believe how well her and I get along and just how similar we are sometimes. We stayed with Michael's aunt Shelley that night. Here's a picture of their house. Holy cow, it's awesome.

And here's a view from their front porch.

No wonder why the Saints stopped in SLC. The views are gorgeous and who would want to cross over those mountains! Not to mention finding a way around them.

The reunion was up a canyon somewhere and it was real purdy. We got there and had potluck lunch with all of the extended family then went outside to play. It was pretty hot that day so I was really glad there was a creek running through the park we were at. Not at all like A River Runs Through It. Thank goodness. And for some reason, all of Michael's cousins, and even Brenda were like "hey, let's go play frisbee." And I'm all like "hey, that's pretty lame. let's play soccer instead!"
Nope.

I guess they have something against soccer at this park. Oh well. I chose to play with Ivan on the merry-go-round instead. Man those things are dangerous! It was so fun though to push Ivan around on it and make him walk soon after. Talk about a drunk baby! He had a blast playing on the swings and watching a couple dogs. One of Michael's cousins, Kimberly, loves babies. So she wanted to hold Charlotte. That made things a lot easier. Since it was so hot, Charlotte didn't want to be stuck in the sling and carried that way. But I had to have 2 hands to go after Ivan every time he fell in the creek. Thank you Kimberly!

Ivan's brand new bike. Thank you DI!

This sweet girl holding Charlotte is Miia. She was our flower girl for our ring ceremony in TN!

We had lots of fun playing and hanging out with family. But boy was I glad when we left. Ivan didn't sleep very good the night before and was up at 6 that morning, so getting a nap a couples hours after nap time was not pleasant. Then there was the drive home... Brenda stayed another night and road back with her parents which left me with 2 small children by myself. And when I had come to Utah 2 weeks before that being just me and the kids, it sucked! This time was not so bad. They both slept almost the whole way and made my drive that much better. And here's some more pictures to end it on a happy note. :]

Proof that a persons really does fit in the middle of the backseat. Although, I'm not sure Brenda is the best example of a normal sized person. She's small like me. But she's tall so that has to mean something, right?

The view out the window on the way up. 

Another view. 

Oh my goodness he is cute!

Water, water everywhere

As you know, summer means heat. Heat means finding ways to avoid the heat. Summer also means little boys don't want to play inside. In fact, my little boy cannot be contained indoors. He demands to be outside every second of every day. Thank goodness I really enjoy being outside. There have been a few days that is has been particularly hot here. So to keep cool, we play in the water.

As you have seen, Ivan loves to play in the ditch water.

He also loves to play at Rigby Lake. Rigby is a town about 15 minutes away that has a man-made water structure. It's considered a lake but I would call it more of a pond compared to places back home like Land between the Lakes. Nevertheless, it is a pretty fun place. There is a "beach" along the shore with lots of sand to dig in and the water is pretty shallow along the shore for quite a ways. I don't have a life jacket or floaties for Ivan, although I feel I should now, but never felt scared he was going to drown.  There was always someone right beside him, but he's just scared enough of being submerged in water that he wouldn't go deeper than his ankles. We've been to the lake with him a couple times this summer and he has absolutely loved it!

Ivan's first time at the lake this year. 

Charlotte just chillin in the shade.

We went to the lake with a bunch of friends. Sterling is Ivan's best friend ever. 

A different time at the lake. He sure loves the water. 

Other than sprinkles adding water to the ditch and the lake that's 15 minutes away, we find some pretty ingenious ways to get Ivan playing in the water. We put a big rubbermaid tub outside and put some water in it. Ivan thinks it's pretty cool.

And there's always the puddles we find randomly. This one is at a cemetery, but that's another story for another day. 

Ag Days

Brigham Young University - Idaho has a fantastic agriculture program. Or at least they did til they cut most of the programs. I'm a little bitter about that one.

But because of the awesomeness of the students in the ag programs, they put on a little fair for the university. They had tractors pulled into the parking lot, a horse drawn wagon taking trips around campus, homemade ice cream, cheese, and milk for tasting, cows for milking, and lots of livestock to look at. They even had a few people teaching kids (and adults) how to rope. It was a pretty cool experience and Ivan absolutely loved it, to say the least. He about died seeing all the cows. The entire time we were there he yelled cow and moo til he was blue in the face. Oh he had so much fun. He learned that a horse says "neigh" and that yaks aren't nice and that if you run around cute enough, people give you extra ice cream.

This is Ivan staying as far from the pigs as he can without leaving the goats. He doesn't like pigs. 

That's the yak. Not very nice.

Charlotte just hanging out.

Kody teaching Ivan how to rope a dummy calf. He was sorta into it but he wanted me to help too. 

Aberdeen Daze

Aberdeen, ID is the town Michael grew up in. His parents moved there just out of college so Craig could teach elementary school. (Forgive me if I've got any of this wrong.) Craig grew up in Los Angeles, CA and Janet grew up in SLC, Utah. So it seemed pretty crazy to me to have these guys move to such a small place. The population in LA is about 3.8 million. The population in Aberdeen is about 2,000. The population in SLC (and to me it seems more correct to include the surrounding area as well because it's just wall to wall city for about 80 miles) is about 2.8 million. Did I mention the population of Aberdeen is 2,000? That's 6 less zeros than either of the places Michael's parents came from! And then some! But with small towns come great things. Aberdeen has an annual town celebration where the native Idahoans can enjoy the perks of small communities.

Before we get to the festivities... We stopped at a lake just outside Aberdeen to bird watch and play. This was Friday night. We had to get there a day early to be sure to get in line for breakfast early enough the next day.

Oh all the bird pictures... Are you sick of them yet?

At least I only put 2 out of the 50 we took. 

The first of those awesome tributes to small towns is the free breakfast. Now many people stay at hotels and are promised a free breakfast. To be honest, it's not really free. You pay for a room to sleep in and that covers the cost of food too. At these hotels, you might get a waffle or a small bowl of cereal or even a package of mini donuts. But let's get real. Breakfast is about the pancakes! Aberdeen's breakfast has hashbrowns, eggs, sausage, pancakes, chocolate milk, and orange juice. Now that's what I call a feast! I love pancakes. I could probably eat pancakes every day if they were fresh. Breakfast starts at 6 am and ends at 10. And you better get there early cuz that line gets long! We got there around 8, since the kids were already awake. Ivan liked the pancakes and so did I. I never get the eggs, cuz they cook 'em sunny side up and that's just gross. And as long as hashbrowns take to cook, they just don't wait quite long enough before they scoop them off the grill. But the pancakes were amazing! They have the breakfast at the park, so they don't have to worry about fitting enough people. The kids really loved the park being right there. And by "kids" I mean Ivan and his cousins, Charlotte didn't care except she was cold. Last year it was so hot outside we couldn't do enough to stay cool. This year, we wore jackets almost all day long. It was pretty windy, dang SE Idaho, and chilly all day. But almost all of Michael's family was able to make it so it was worth while for all the food, fun, and family.

If you're wondering how they mix up enough batter to make pancakes for an entire town, look now further. That's right, you're looking at a garbage can full of pancake batter. They used a drill with some kind of paddle attachment to stir it. 

Later in the day, there was the ping pong ball drop. They fill a crop duster plane with ping pong balls and the plane flew over main street dropping all these balls on the road. Some of the balls had prizes from local stores on them. Michael's dad actually got a free sucker from the local drug store. This little plane flew pretty close to the ground and did like 4 or 5 fly by's. Ivan loved it! He's really into planes and trucks right now. He thought it was pretty awesome. Charlotte, on the other hand, was not impressed. She was pretty pissed off before the plane flew over, you know on account of the wind and cold. Then when the plane flew over it just set her over the edge. Poor girl. The only thing that calmed her down was the walk from main street back to Michael's parent's house.

While the kids (and Michael) were sleeping, or at least supposed to be sleeping, I went to the parade. We sat in the best spot ever, right where the parade started. That's where the least amount of people were, where the parade ended the soonest, and where they handed out the most candy. Woo hoo candy! We loaded up on all the candy they threw. And it was the good stuff too, not just taffy. Don't get me wrong, I love taffy, but when that's all you get, it kinda gets old. Jane, Megan, and Ben had a blast running out and getting the candy. Christopher brought a small cooler to collect everything and he filled that thing clear up to the top! It was good times.

It appears I didn't get a single picture of the parade. Oh well. Here's a creepy picture of Princess. 

Then there was supposed to be a lawn mower derby. I guess I misinterpreted what was happening. I hear lawn mower derby and I think super rednecks with their push mowers trying to race each other around a figure eight. Nope. Not a chance. It was more of a treasure hunt and it wasn't really for spectating. Oh well.


Michael bought a kite in the morning and we finally had enough down time to give it a go. I'm pretty sure that was my first time ever flying a kite. I remember trying to once with a friend from back home and we just couldn't get our schedules lined up. So Michael showed me the ropes. And let me tell you, it was scary! I thought for sure I was gonna crash it or it would just explode or it would catch on the power lines and electrocute me. So after a few minutes of totally agony worrying about crashing this thing, Michael took over. Then it was fun. He even tried to show Ivan how to fly it. I think by then, the kite was too far away so Ivan didn't understand what he was doing. Michael wanted to get the kite even higher, so he let out all of the line on the kite then hooked his fishing pole up to it and let it go even farther. After only a few short seconds, the line broke and he lost the kite. Ha ha. It was pretty fun to watch. And after 45 minutes of searching for the kite, he finally found it, about a mile away.

In the evening, there is the annual fish fry. I don't really care for fish, but Michael loves it. And they have scones, salad, and french fries so there's enough of the other stuff to make me happy. It's all you can eat and they have bottomless sodas too. This is again at the park. It was harder to keep Ivan happy at the table this time, now that he knew what he was missing from the playground. But he definitely enjoyed all the food.

Ivan loves chasing the cats around. It makes Michael proud that his son torments the cats he hates. 

Apparently the funnest thing at the park was pushing around the stroller. 

Little Babies Update

I really love my kids. They're super awesome. And they really love each other. Charlotte just loves to watch Ivan and whatever he does. Ivan loves to hug and kiss and fist bump Charlotte any chance he gets. In the mornings when he wakes up before her, he walks around the house looking for her. He gets so excited when she makes any kind of noise and usually makes a big deal about her flatulence. He'll say "what's that!" and look all around.  And we've laughed at him enough that he does that when he toots too! Silly kids. Ivan's vocabulary has greatly increased this week. Here's a list of words he can say now.
bird
dog
cow
hat
up
more
mom
dad
bite
bug
boom
uh-oh
ouch
hair
where did it go
what's that
please
amen
moo
george
go
truck
button
apple
juice
bottle
Ivan
Charlotte
bath
car
jump
blocks
down...
and probably more than that I just can't think of them all. He really has only started saying half of these in this past week.

Ivan can say moo when we ask what a cow says and bark when we ask about a dog and caw when we ask about a bird. And I've been teaching him that all birds sound like the Eurasian collared dove, which is one of the most annoying sounds ever. Now we all think it's pretty funny. Charlotte has found her hands and she very much likes to suck on them. She has the prettiest smile and the same blue eyes she was born with. We'll see how long that lasts... Ivan still loves his pacifier and he has this weird word for it that I can't even describe.

His latest mischief moments... let's see... He climbed onto the back of our recliner and climbed onto the counter. One time he actually leaned the seat back and slammed his face on the edge of the counter. He's still sporting that cheek bruise. He can move the bench from the kitchen table so that he can touch everything on the stove. He loves to climb, so any opportunity is taken. He likes to dump bath water all over the floor any time he is given a cup. And if he even sees the cup ( I use one to rinse him from the soap) then he screams til he gets it. We're getting really good at saying please though. Now sometimes he just start saying please and we have to figure out what he wants. He likes to bring us our shoes and make us put them on. And he really likes to wear our shoes.

 Charlotte has those cute baby noises now. I just love this age that they're both at. Ivan is so interactive and has such a personality. He loves giving kisses and even makes the "mwah" sound. Charlotte seems more like a real person lately. You know when they're first born and they just sleep and eat and poop all day it just doesn't seem real. Well, she's real now! She likes to sit in this bouncer chair thing and kick the little toys that dangle down. She doesn't really care for tummy time any more but still rolls over most of the time. She's still in 0-3 month clothes and is about ready to move up in size. Speaking of size, we just move Ivan to size 4 diapers! Woo-hoo! He was in size 3 from 9 months old til 20 months old. How crazy is that? I almost thought he would be potty trained before we switched sizes. He does like sitting on the potty, though I think it's more because I give him a gummy every time he does. Oh well, whatever makes it interesting for him. He's such a little helper. When I do the dishes, he puts the silverware in the dishwasher. When I do the laundry he hands me dirty clothes to put in the washer and picks the wet clothes off the floor and puts them in the dryer. He loves throwing away diapers. He still takes a 2-3 hour nap every day and days that it's not at least 2 hours are not good days. He loves going on walks and riding on the stroller. His best friend is Sterling Wilson, the next door neighbor's kid. Sterling is a couple months older than Ivan, but they're both so mild mannered and play so well together. Whenever the Wilson's are gone and come back home, Ivan freaks out with excited and starts yelling and runs to their car (thankfully not til it's stopped) to greet his best friend. And that's about all I can think of. Here's picture proof.

This is what he does when we say 'show me your muscles' Yea he's just that cute. Especially in my wading boots. 

My version of a double stroller. It works pretty good unless I have  to back up. The front wheel swivels all the way around and pokes out front when you back up. Getting it turned back the right way kinda gets Ivan's legs caught. He's learning to put his legs up when I ask him, so it's all good. 

Ivan loves swinging like this. It's pretty much the best thing ever. 

 As for the rest of the family, we are super busy! I am working at the university as an adjunct faculty member in the animal science department. I am in charge of all the labs for the vet tech program and the animal anatomy and physiology class, which puts me at 7 classes altogether (3 sections of that are just anat and phys). I get to substitute for any of the teachers if they are going to be absent from lecture and I grade a ton of stuff. I really like it and the more time I spend with each of the classes, the more I learn. I signed up to take my national licensing exam for vet tech in August, so I have until then to study. The test costs 300 bucks and is 150 questions. I'm not excited for it, but once I get that done I can stay at home as long as I want and go back to work whenever without further schooling. I have a soccer league in Idaho Falls that plays once a week from June to August and I just joined a team on campus that plays once a week for a couple weeks. Michael is busy as ever with school. This is one of his toughest semesters with Chem 106. He is taking an archery class that he really likes and has fulfilled his bowhunter's certification through it. He really wants to get into the hunting scene and has been doing research with all that. He got a fishing pole a couple weeks ago and has been learning how to do all the knots and what kind of tackle to use and stuff. We haven't been able to go adventuring as much lately, but neither of us has anything to do over the 7 week break so that should be plenty of time.

Family Home Evening

Family Home Evening is this thing with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where families spend family time together. It's supposed to take place every Monday evening. This is a special time of the week where families can share and learn in the gospel and can spend quality time together. We have been pretty good at doing things together every week, but we sometimes forget about the prayer and spiritual thought that goes with it. Through family home evenings we've been able to teach Ivan how to fold his arms and be reverent for prayers, how to say amen at the end of prayers, and we've practiced some really fun songs together. Some of our activities have been a little weird... One time we went to the cemetery to bird watch. But most of our activities have been pretty dang cute. Like walking around lakes, rivers, and streams nearby, playing tag at home, and even just jumping on the trampoline together. Well, after looking at all the pictures I wanted to add, it appears we like to bird watch a lot.

Bird watching at the cemetery. (Insert Michael's bird noise for full effect.)

Throwing rocks into the river behind the cemetery.

A few of our FHEs have been service related, including mowing the neighbor's yard. 

Bird watching at home. 

There's a little nature trail that goes by our house that's pretty fun. I love these little guys. They build their nests on the ground and when you come near the nest they try and draw your attention away. They flutter around on the ground like they are hurt so you go after them and not the eggs. Killdeer are pretty cute. 

On a walk.