No More Sneaky- Sneaky

So for the passed month or so Clark has been getting out of his bed at night. At first- I would let him crawl into bed with me for a few minutes, and then go put him back in bed. Ryan was not in love with this and is adamant that kids do not go in our room. So we've been fighting Clark on this pretty much every night. When my Mom and Dad were here, he would head downstairs to their room and they were nice enough to let him stay.
We also have problems putting him to bed. He usually climbs out about 3 times before we have to threaten him within an inch of his life for him to stay in his crib. It drives Ryan nuts, and if we're downstairs watching TV he thinks every noise is Clark getting out of his bed.
Well two nights ago he got up in the middle of the night, unbeknownst to us. He's getting really good at getting out of his crib and opening the door very quietly.
Ryan's alarm went off about 4:30am and he noticed that Clarks door was open. So he started to search for him. He went all over the house, thinking maybe he went down stairs in hopes of finding Nana and Paco. When he got back upstairs he was getting a bit worried, and I sat up to get out of bed and noticed Clark curled up on the side of my bed under some extra pillows!
Ryan decided that was the last straw. He is alot more parinoid than I am, and it drives him crazy that Clark can get out without us knowing. So last night we went to Home Depot and bought a door alarm for Clarks bedroom. It's one of those door alarms that some businesses have- when the door opens a door bell rings that lets them know someone walked in. So now everytime Clark opens his door- we hear the bell.
I think it's kinda funny- but Ryan loves it. He can finally watch TV and sleep in peace- knowing that if Clark gets up- we'll know about it!

Week with Nana and Paco

This picture pretty much sums up our week with Nana and Paco! We had a great time having them stay at our house. Clark followed Paco around the whole time and only wanted Paco. Paco had to sit next to him at meals, help him with his clothes, brush his teeth- the whole nine yards. Kate was just about as much attached to Nana as Clark was to Paco. It was kinda nice for me- I got a much needed break! It was just so nice to have them around. I've been in tears since we dropped them off at the airport! I guess I just realized how nice it is to have family around- and how much I just love my parents! Ryan and I would stay up and chat with them at night after the kids went to bed, usually have some kind of treat and watch some TV. It was good to have them around to talk to, and not be alone all day! My Mom even spent all afternoon Saturday helping me can 3 boxes of peaches. Even though Kate and Clark were attached at the hip- I think I'll miss them most. Clark is already talking about Christmas time when we get to go back to Nana and Paco's house. Well besides all the walks, bike rides, and trips to the park- here are some of the highlights of our week.

This is at Hogle Zoo. There was a little play ground and Kate and Clark are inside a turtle shell.
This is on a teeter- totter.
Kate riding the Zebra on the Merry-go- Round

All of us together on the Merry-go- Round

Kate and Clark looking at the monkey- (he's kinda hard to see- he's laying on his back)

On Saturday we went downtown to check out Ryan's new project. This is a map of all the new construction in downtown.

The tan colored building is the one Ryan is over right now. He's in charge of all the construction from drywall to finish.

This is outside Ryan's office. You have to wear the fancy hard hat and vest to get on the jobsite.

Paco pushing the kids.

After my Mom and Dad checked out Ryan's building we walked around Temple Square. Mostly the kids just played in the fountains.

This is at The Farm at Thanksgiving Point. Clark is feeding the ducks.

Kate feeding the geese. One of the geese honked at them and gave them quite a scare.


Pony ride

Kate on her pony

We also went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. This is Clark on the Tryanosaurus Rex foot.

This is where they got to look for fossils in the sand.
Kate and Clark looking at the Dinosaur bones

Now that you've seen what we did during the day- this is what we did at night!

Thanks Nana and Paco for coming to visit us. We had such a good time and will miss you tons. Don't forget about us while we're away!

Nana and Paco

Nana and Paco are flying up from Mesa to come visit us today! We are so excited to have them here for a whole week. I'll try to keep you updated on all the fun things we do!

Blackfoot Fair

Saturday we drove up to Idaho for the Blackfoot fair. Ryan found out about it from a guy at work and I was more than willing to go. Blackfoot was one of the areas I served in as a missionary and even got to go the Blackfoot fair while I was there.
Ryan's last day at Target was Friday, so we thought it was a great way to celebrate! (He started working on the down town project today)
It was a beautiful day- over cast and cool! The kids loved seeing all the animals and Ryan and I enjoyed the fair food! Here's some pics of the day!

They had a little section with just kid stuff and had these little tractors.

Kate's legs weren't long enough to push the petals, but she had to give it a try.

This was a little ride- the seats are made from 55 gallon water barrels and were pulled by a quad. This was the extent of the rides we did!

They had a petting zoo with all kinds of animals, all of which were for sale. Bunnies, pot belly pigs, alpacas, goats, turtles, puppies, chickens and ducks!

Kate loves the goats

One of the vendors there was heavy construction equipment, so we had to stop and do a 'test drive'

Kate in the back hoe

That is one big bucket!

This just one of the many sheep that was there for prizes and such.

There were also cows, bunnies and horses

What Do You Do in The Summer Time When All The World is Green?

Last Tuesday Dee Dee and I took the kids to Thanksgiving Point for $2 Tuesday. We wanted to get into the Dinosaur museum, but the line was around the building- so we decided to go to the gardens instead. This is Kate, Spencer and Clark next to the biggest man made waterfall.
This is just a little view of the beautiful gardens they have there. We didn't even see all that was there.

Last week we also went to the Sweets Candy Factory in Salt Lake City. We went on a guided tour through the factory and got to see them making jelly beans, salt water taffy, raspberry bars and cinnamon bears. It was quite fascinating to see how they do it- and they even gave us samples along the way. Needless to say, we bought some candy on our way out!

Clark got a bike finally. Is he potty trained? Well, no. But I cracked and we got him one anyways. So now we go on bike rides around the block at least twice a day.

Kate riding her bike. I must say it took them a little while to figure out how to work the petals, but now they're doing really well.

Last Sunday night the weather was beautiful and all the neighbors were outside enjoying it. We ended up over at our neighbors, Jodi and Dave's where Clark and Spencer found a whole bucket of nuts, bolts and other odds and ends. Dave is a mechanic for big construction equipment, so naturally has all kinds of stuff in his garage.

Clark and Spencer in hog heaven.

Dave and Jodi also have 3 boys who are all into BMX racing. So the boys got the ramps out and were doing tricks on their bikes. Dee Dee and I, with all our kids came over to join in the fun.

Clark going on the ramps.

Kate taking her turn on the ramps.

This is just a little snip-it of what goes on in our neighborhood in the summer time!

Happy Birthday Rye!

Tomorrow is Ryan's 30th birthday, and I wanted to take a minute to write how wonderful he is and how much I love him. So here's the Top 30 reasons I love you honey!

1. You work so hard to provide for our family and would give up everthing you have for me and the kids.
2. You are still a little boy at heart.
3. You make me laugh.
4. You know when I need to cry and let me do it.
5. You wrestle with the kids and wear them out so they'll sleep.
6. You can walk into any building and tell me how it was made.
7. You can fix just about anything- blow dryers and flat irons included.
8. You like to watch movies.
9. You only wear 4 colors- while, black, blue and grey.
10. You let me steal all your funny sayings.
11. You are very generous to others.
12. You share your beliefs with anyone.
13. You are ambitious.
14. You own a gun.
15. You can build just about anything with toy blocks.
16. Your favorite pair of shoes is your work boots.
17. You don't go anywhere without your razor blade knife.
18. You know how and like to work on cars.
19. You buy me things just to see me smile.
20. You give me back rubs at night even though you hate doing it.
21. You scream like a little girl.
22. You love me just the way I am.
23. You get along with my family.
24. You can't keep secrets from me.
25. You make me want to be a better person.
26. You are sensitive to other peoples feelings.
27. You can say I'm sorry and admit when you're wrong.
28. You're not afraid to tell me when I'm wrong.
29. You give the best hugs.
30. I can see in your eyes how much you love me.

Those are just the Top 30- there are lots more! Thanks for just being you. I hope you have a great birthday even though you have to sleep and then work through all of it! I love you.

Tired

I'm going to use this post to vent about all the things that I'm tired of right now! Like it or not- here it comes!

1. I'm tired of not having a husband. Ryan is still working 7 days a week and about 100 hours. After 4 and half weeks- I'm really tired of it. It sucks that we never have time to be together just the two of us. He stays up for about 2 hours when he gets home to unwind and play with the kids and then he's off to bed. Then I get about half an hour with him when he wakes up and gets ready to go back to work. The night shift just sucks.
2. I'm tired of sleeping by myself. You might think- it's great- no one to bother me while I'm sleeping! But not me. I'm quite the snuggler and it takes me about 2 hours to fall asleep every night with out Ryan. It doesn't help that I have an overactive imagination and think every noise is someone breaking into the house.
3. I'm tired of temper tantrums. Kate and Clark are going through the "test Mom on everything and throw temper tantrums over everything" stage. Since there's two of them in this phase- I have to deal with twice as many tantrums; which usually means we've had at least 5 tantrums by noon. I feel like such a bad Mom because I'm constantly on edge. I get so frustrated so quickly and don't have the patience to deal with it. So I either yell and get angry or turn on a movie so I don't have to deal with them for an hour. I've tried so hard to do fun things- the park, the library, the candy factory, the gardens at Thanksgiving Point, bike rides and playing with friends - but they throw fits no matter what.
4. I'm tired of Kate and Clark fighting. That pretty much sums it up.
5. I'm tired of having to run and do P90X to exercise. It's getting kinda old. You can only do those videos so many times before you go crazy. It's just hard to stay motivated with no variety and no one else to exercise with. Plus Kate and Clark are getting kinda heavy pushing in that baby jogger.
6. I'm tired of not having any friends. I know I need to invest some energy in trying to make new friends, but I'm having a hard time being motivated. I just want to hang out and talk with all my friends who already know me. I don't want to have to walk on egg shells until I know if they can handle the real me or not! I miss hanging out at my Mom's house and just talking to her or seeing my sister Nancy and just talking about everything and nothing. Talking to 2 year olds all day is not very stimulating conversation. I miss Book Club and Bunco and all my friends at church. I miss Ellen and Josh coming over for 'bake off' every Sunday night.
7. I'm just physically tired. Not sleeping well is catching up with me. I know that's probably the reason I'm so fed up with so many other things- I just don't have the energy to deal with anything anymore.

So there you have it. I hope you're not too depressed after reading that! I just had to get it off my chest.