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.

Date Night

We're busy. I'm working close to full time. Michael is taking classes full time. And we have 2 kids, both full time. So it's been a while since Michael and I have been able to go on a date just the two of us. Very last minute, we decided to go on a scenic drive, cuz that's the perfect date for us. We dropped the kids off with a friend and headed out. We just wanted a short drive and it was getting close to being dark, which means you can't see anything, so what's the point of a scenic drive, right? So to Kilgore it is! I hadn't ever been out that way, so it was actually pretty cool. 

We drove by an elk ranch before we headed into the country. These guys are so cool looking. And their racks get huge in captivity! But they don't count as wildlife for us.

The first of out wildlife spottings!

This cool looking bird blended in really well. 

An elk! A real wild one!

Another elk, I swear this is a different one. 

I had to stop and pick some wild flowers. 

The views were so beautiful. 

And to finish the trip, we saw an antelope!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

You must read that title in the football announcer voice. It's way more fun that way.

Today I want to talk to you about Ivan.

Ivan is a very sweet boy. 

He really loves his naps. 

He rarely goes a day without at least a 2 hour nap. 

And when he does...

Bad things happen.

When we get home from church, which is around 4 or 4:30, I change the kids from church clothes to pajamas. What's the point in being in regular clothes for just a couple hours anyway? Plus, they have some cute jammies. Since church is during Ivan's entire nap time, Sundays are difficult. I try and keep Ivan awake so he'll still go to bed at the same time, but sometimes it just doesn't work. We were watching some Smurf movie and we look over to see this. Ivan was passed out on the couch. So passed out that Michael threw stuff at him and even took the pillow out from behind him (see picture below) without him waking up. 

Poor kid was so dang tired. 

Have I mentioned how much Ivan loves water? Sometimes people in our neighborhood end up watering the street. And it all collects and stays in the drain for quite a while. Ivan gladly takes any opportunity he can to run and splash and play in the water. He absolutely loves it. And it keeps him busy for hours on end. 

"Whoa, what just happened to my feet?!"

"Is this... Is this water?"

"Yes, water! I must run as fast as I can!"

"Ah, just a little pooped. Maybe I'll just sun for a little bit."

And the end result of soaking wet, size too big shorts. Nothing quite like making pants out of shorts. 

And another just cuz I think he's cute. 

We like to give Ivan yogurt as a snack. He thoroughly enjoys it as well. 

gotta lick the bowl clean

I love this little face!

Here's more proof of Sunday pass out time.