We headed back up to Logan for a few days for the boys to have their check-ups with their pediatrician. It seemed odd to go to some random doctor that does not even know them for their check-ups. So back to Logan we went!

Ian - 3 years old
Weight 33.2 lbs 62nd percentile
Height 39 in 79th percentile

There are so many things that I can say about Ian. First, there is never a dull moment and something is always going on! I have decided I need to have a quote page for all of the funny things that Ian says.

Ian is known as our little gamer. This is both good and bad. He loves playing games on the ipad and iphone. We have had to put a limit on how long he may play which is twice a week no longer than 10 minutes. Since he has this restriction he has become very sneaky. He will take the ipad or iphone and go hide under his blanket in his room. In the picture below I could hear him giggling under the blanket playing a game. I decided I needed to grab the camera. All I had to say was "Ian" and he flips the blanket off just giggling.
He loves hiding and being inside of anything. Allow me to set up the picture below. Since Tim works graves he comes home and sleeps during the days. He takes his phone with him downstairs to use as his alarm. Tim tends to be very out of it and is not easy to wake (lets not forget his beauty mask he wears to bed (it is really just a black out mask but I do like to tease him)). Ian has discovered daddy will not wake easily. Ian will inform me he is going downstairs to get some paper, crayons, markers, etc (our craft/playroom is downstairs). When I come downstairs he is hiding in his tunnel playing games on daddy's iphone. Plus, daddy has no idea.
His favorite game was Monkey Preschool but according to him it is "just too easy." His second favorite is called Mirrors Edge. I had thought this was a game that you run around and jump over different obstacles. I have even watched him play it and he is very good at it. However, once you get to the higher levels the object of the game is to run away from the people that are shooting at you and trying to kill you?!? Sound like a great game for a three year old? No way. I blame his dad for that one. At least there is no blood and guts. I will say though I have never seen him get caught. He also loves Angry Birds and Cut the Rope.

Ian absolutely loves his Uncle Andrew. He will sit with him for a solid hour and play games with him. The other day I overheard Ian saying "I deaded you." He was playing some Airplane bomber game that Andrew had taught him. Thanks Andrew. But how can you deny such a cute and innocent face?
After writing this I am realize how sneaky he is becoming. I always have a chocolate protein shake in the morning with my breakfast. While I was fixing Aaron more oatmeal Ian took a sip of it.
Ian loves learning new things. He currently loves dinosaurs, reptiles, animals, everything alive and moving. He is amazing at coloring and since he was two years old has been very good at coloring in the lines (when you remind him). I have a lot of file folder preschool activities and puzzles. He will complete one and say, "find a harder one." He will be starting preschool this year and is very excited. He will go three days a week for three hours in the morning. He also loves puzzles. He can almost do the 48 piece puzzles all by himself.

He also likes to hang is artwork all around the house. Apparently he thinks the walls are too empty.Not sure if you can tell because his eye is healing in the picture. Ian had he first black eye just a month ago. How you ask? On the way out of the store he tripped and fell straight into Tim's knee. Tim had got a bumblebee transformer to surprise Ian with at the store. He immediately pulled it out and all was well.

Here are a few other things about Ian...
-He loves the televison shows dinosaur train, curious george, and more recently jake and the neverland pirates.
-His favorite movie is megamind. He will inform me, "You don't know what is good for bad" as he jumps around the house singing Michael Jackson's "I'm bad."
-Whenever we see the color purple he stops and lets me know that he saw my favorite color
-His favorite colors change twice a day
-He still needs a nap but does not always take them. He will come out of his room and say "I took a little tiny nap today"
-If another person is being grumpy he will inform them that they need a nap
-He loves sour cream and butter (if they are sitting out for dinner he will eat them plain if he does not get caught)
-He would be happy with peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch everyday
-He loves playing with his transformers action figures
-He thinks it is a lot of fun to share food with his brother (but not toys)
-He loves popsicles but will not touch an otterpop. It must be the superhero popsicles.
-He can eat a soft serve ice cream cone by himself without spilling a drop
-He can touch his nose with his tongue



Aaron
Weight 18.38 lbs 17th percentile
Height 28.5 in 60th percentile
Head 18.0 in 60th percentile

Well we have always called Aaron "chubs." However after going to his check-up appointment we are looking into other nicknames. I have always thought Aaron was just a cute little ball of chub! When the doctor informed me he was in the 17% percentile I was astonished. Yes, he should be on the lower end because he was born three weeks early. But really? He just doesn't look small. My 9 month old that is wearing 18 month clothes? That still eats 6 times a day, plus oatmeal, fruit, and veggies? I have tried and tried to get him to drop a feeding but he will not. Oh well we will keep our "skinny cow" and still love him to pieces.

He will laugh at absolutely anything and everyone. He put his binkie in the wrong way and thought he was quite funny.
He loves getting into things that he should not. The leftover hanger box -don't worry it is finally all unpacked.
We have also discovered he is very good at untying things. We tie on his bumper, he takes it off, we tie it on, he takes it off. You get the point.He is one happy and good little boy.
Here are a few other things about Aaron...
-He loves playing tag
-He walks along all of the furniture (on monday August 1st he let go of the couch and stood with out holding anything)
-He thinks it is funny to try and bite Ian
-If you say, "Aaron no no" he giggles and crawls away as quickly as possible
-He thinks it is hilarious to throw all of the pillows off of the couch
-If you are eating something he will cry on demand until fed that same thing
-He is starting to like books being read to him but you better make it quick before he tries to chew on them
-He is in love with his Taggie blanket
-Loves sticking his head under the faucet in the bath
-Can clap his hands together
-Thinks everything that Ian does is hilarious and follows he throughout the house

Life with TWO
Many of my friends are onto their third child. Not to mention that most of the families around here have four children. The question has been asked when we are going to add another one to the family. Are you out of your mind? Life is busy enough with the two of them. We will have friends over and my children are running around like the busy bodies they are while the other children sit quietly on the floor, probably wondering what is wrong with mine. Phone conversation are close to nonexistent because at least one child must have my attention. It must happen frequently enough because if Ian is talking on his play phone (or to relatives and friends) he will inform me, "Phone on my ear, attention in a minute." We are constantly going through band-aids. I am always picking up and clean up something. With Tim working all night and sleeping all day time to kick my feet up and take a break is practically nonexistant. So add another one or two -you are out of your mind!

Both boys excited to have daddy home!

Ian and Aaron love playing in the hallway. I am not sure what it is, but they love it. They have been lining their cars up along the hallway. Ian has decided that he needs more cars because he cannot make it from one end to the other. Playing chase down the hall. Aaron thinks that it is funny if Ian will crawl with him.

Playing together in Ian's room. There are a few remarks such as "Aaron that's mine" or "No Aaron." Overall, they have been getting along very well. I can't imagine when they both get a little bit older........oh dear....... hopefully they will have a blast.
For right now our two handsome and healthy boys are absolutely perfect. I have enjoyed all of the time I have to watch them grow and see both of their personalities develop. We are very blessed to have them be a part of our family. We love you!!!

Fourth of July

Tim has been working 60 hour weeks so we decided to head back up to Logan. Since we still own our town home we had thought of just staying there. However, Ian has been struggling with the move. He is continuously asking to "go to my other house" or go play with his friends. We decided it would be best to stay with my parents as to not confuse him anymore. It ended up working out great. We tried to get together with friends a couple times but unfortunately plans did not coordinate. Ian had a blast hanging out with my family and each day asks when we get to go back to grandma and grandpa's house.

Aaron and Grandpa

Providence has a small splash park for the kids to enjoy. After hunter pushed Ian straight into the fountains he was not a big fan. Hunter and Ian tend to act just like brothers. In fact Hunter is actually closer in age to Ian than he is to Andrew. After 5-10 minutes Ian warmed up to the water and had a lot of fun running in circles and standing on top of the fountains.
Aaron wondering why we would voluntarily come to a place so warm. He was sneaking goldfish crackers behind my back.
Grandpa, Aaron, Me, and Hunter -Relaxing in our little bit of tree shade
On Friday night we headed up to the park just above the stadium for the firework show. We have been going to this park for years and it is by far our favorite place. Erin and Ellie were able to come and see the fireworks. Ian could hardly control himself he was so excited to see both of them (Erin I have no pictures of the two of them I am hoping you do?!?!)!

Aaron loved being outside. His pants were also a little big. When he would crawl around on the blanket he kept crawling right out of them.Grandma is always excellent at putting Aaron to sleep. Once the firework show began Aaron was no longer sleeping. At first he did not like the loud fireworks, but once we sat him up so he could see them, he loved them.

We stayed in Logan for a couple more nights and enjoyed hanging out together and lighting more fireworks. We found Ian's long lost sunglasses at grandma and grandpa's house.

Ian was actually happy to share them with Aaron as well.
Meanwhile back at home (still getting used to calling Cedar Hills home) Tim was sending us pictures of what was going on there. He came out from work in the morning and saw this...
We still are not sure what was going on but there were hot air balloons everywhere!We had a wonderful holiday! Thanks to my family for letting us crash at their home for a week. Well see you again in a couple days :) No seriously -Ian even made a calendar to count down the days.

Cedar Hills

Family Festival
June 25

We have decided that there are rarely any dull moments here in Utah Valley. Pleasant Grove just finished up their strawberry days, Cedar Hills is having their family festival, then American Fork is having their festival next week, to be followed by many more all summer long! The nice thing is our house is in a wonderful location that we are able to see all of the cities firework shows without leaving our family room. However, that definitely has its downsides. We see fireworks every single night. Try putting a three year old to bed when there are fireworks going off all around you. It doesn't happen. I can only imagine that once it is actually July things will get much worse.

We headed down to the Family Festival in Cedar Hills and had a lot of fun! We rode various carnival rides, played in the bouncy house, and cruised down the huge bouncy slide a million times.

One of the things we love about Cache Valley is the Mendon days. The main reason is they have firetrucks come and spray water everywhere which feels great in the heat. Much to our surprise Cedar Hills does the same thing! Ian loved splashing in the puddles the firetruck hoses had made. I was watching Ian splashing had my back turned to the firetrucks. I did not notice that they had turned their hoses our way and we were caught right in the middle of them. Needless to say we were soaking wet!We are so excited to have a fun tradition to look forward to here in our new home!

Hogle Zoo!

Nan's flight was cancel on Thursday morning to head back to New York. We decided since Tim was gone to work we would take the boys and head to the zoo! It happened to be one of the hottest days of the year in the high 90's but that did not stop us. We spent probably a good 6 hours there and still did not get to do everything the zoo had to offer.
We got there just in time to head to the bird show! I am not usually a big bird fan but I think this bird show is amazing! Ian love when the bird fly no more than inches over your head. Above is Nan and Ian posing with a Bald Eagle.

Currently the zoo has a variety of mechanical dinosaurs that are on display for "zoorassic." Since Ian absolutely loves dinosaurs this was definitely the best of both worlds.

T-Rex: Ian's favorite. I am not sure the picture does justice to how big T-Rex actually is. If you like at the fence to the left you may get a better idea.
T-Rex roaring. Ian loved to try and spray him with his squirt bottle.

The baby diplodocus spraying Ian. A few of the dinosaurs spray water which is great for a warm day.

How Aaron enjoyed the warm day. We got a new stroller a few months after Aaron was born. It is a sit n'stand deluxe that I found on KSL for a steal. It is a little worn but after a good wash it works great! I thought Ian would enjoy the standing side of the stroller more but currently he would rather sit and ride.

Ian loves watching the elephants and the baby elephant zuri. They were having fun playing in the water and spraying each other.
He also loves this elephant statue. You can hear to getting ready to sneeze (spray water out its truck) from various places in the park. He doesn't mind getting sneezed on but mostly enjoys sitting on the elephant and laughing at the other kids getting all wet.
They are in the process of expanding the zoo with a large Rocky Shores arctic exhibit. Due to the construction they have an area with a bunch of sand diggers that the kids can use. Ian thought it was fun to use the digger as he watched the big trucks to the side as well. Playing on the Rhino.
After we had a bite for lunch the kids and I rode the carousal. Aaron enjoyed it as well!Waiting in line to ride the train.
Aaron nice and what looks to be uncomfortable with his giraffe. Both Ian and now Aaron are obsessed with these little stuffed animals. They are super soft and just the right size. We lost Ian's a few months ago, so this visit we stocked up on a couple just in case Mr. Giraffe goes missing again.We absolutely love the zoo and are excited that it is no more than a 30 minute drive from our home. I guess that means we'll be able to return more often than once a year! Thanks for coming with us Nan!

Tim's parents flew out for a week to see the new house and visit with the boys. Aaron is finally starting to feel a little bit better and Ian was happy to see familiar faces. Aaron is still pretty glued to me -laying in my lap playing with blocks.

We were able to do a lot of the fun things that Utah Valley and Salt Lake have to offer. Plus relax and enjoy some time at home. One of our favorite places is the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point. Ian was digging for dinosaurs here and thought it would be fun to splash grandma with water. Looks like he did a pretty good job too!
Shark Bruce is trying to eat us.
Another one of Ian's favorites is Pirate Island. When we were talking to him about moving to our new home we would always include that it was by pirate island. This night they had a balloon person there making balloons. Ian wanted a parrot.

Jim had wanted to eat at Tucanos Grill because he remembers eating there years ago and loving it. We all loved it! It was delicious. Even Ian could not get enough of all of the Brazilian Meats and dishes. Oh and he loved using the tongs as actual silverware.


Name also brought a bunch of clothes from a boy in her preschool Luca. He has the cutest clothes and they are all in very good condition. This is Aaron wearing a hat that Luca sent.They also brought our a toy car garage for Ian. Who would have guess that Aaron loves it even more than Ian. Since moving to our new home Aaron has taken off and is crawling everywhere like crazy. His favorite part is the car wash roof to chew on.
Sometimes he quickly grabs a toy and crawls away from Ian. The expression on his face is showing that he might have meant to grab something else.

Happy Baby! (Finally -he has not been himself for about a month)One of my favorites -I love the peas all over his face.

Ian and grandma enjoying popsicles on the deck.Aaron and grandpa playing with the measuring cups and spoons.
We were so glad they were able to come and visit. Thanks for all of your help and hard work in helping us fix up the house. We can't wait to see you in August!