Spencer's first taste of food

Tonight for FHE we made it a family event to feed Spencer his first taste of rice cereal.  The weather was so nice we moved the high chair out on the deck.  

Hmmm What's this?

there's something in my mouth?

Haha not anymore?  

What are you looking at dad?  

Catch 22

The kids have started school.

Aaron has started his first year of Preschool at Newcastle with Mis Juilette.

Jane has started 2nd grade at Sprucewood with Mrs. Avery

Emily has started her last year in Elementary at Sprucewood with Mrs. McDonald.

I'm happy to see my energetic kids off to school and structured when they get home and less loud.  Hallelujah for school wearing them out!!!  The catch though is I've lost all my helpers.  Now who will clean my bathrooms and hold Spencer while I get what needs to be done finished?    Oh well My bathrooms won't be as sparkly and they still love spoiling Spence when they get home.    Emily happily announced now that school has started chores will only be on Saturday's!!

First and the last

Spencer enjoyed his first ride at Lagoon (the carousal) on our last Hurrah for Summer before school started.

Of course everyone was fighting over who would hold Spencer on the carousal horse so I did what any mom for equality would do I said I was going to veto the ride and then magically they decided they could each take a turn.  (works every time)

Autograph Bate

Bart claims differently.  I have my suspicions.   

It's a Saturday morning and I can tell Bart has autographs on his mind.  He's texting his autograph friends but is acting  nonchalant about it.  I go about my business and while he in on the phone I mention I'm running some errands with Jane and I'll be back in a while.  He nods and I take off.  

Well maybe 10-15 minutes later I get a phone call.  Bart casually asks "when are you coming home"  Well I say I'm just here at Joanne's but I was planning on going to a couple more stores.    Again he's acting very chill but says how he'd like to go get the director of Star Wars and when do you think I will be home so he can go.  I again say I've got a couple of more stores and then he suggests maybe I could come home now and I can go back to my errands when he comes back.  His chillness clues me in.  You see I've been married to Bart long enough to know a few things about him.  1. when he has an autograph on his mind it's best to not stand in his way 2.  somehow even though I've never said no he's afraid I will so he gets super sweet when he needs my cooperation.  So I rush home and literally as I am pulling up  he is running out the door. Seeing Aaron run after him he asks if he would like to come along.  Aaron says yes but runs back into the house saying "I've got to grab something " and Bart says hurry.  In a matter of a few moments Bart and Aaron are  pulling away off to the airport.  

At the most, 25 minutes later I get this picture as a text.

I respond "I see Aaron's star wars wallet.  So it begins using your child and his star wars wallet as bate"

 When he got home he claims it wasn't so and this was his account.

"We pulled onto I-80 and we were all of the sudden in a huge traffic jam due to construction.  I think crap we are going to miss our chance.  As we are crawling along I notice a transportation car trying to merge in front of me.  Knowing Utah doesn't have a ton of transportation cars especially on an early Saturday afternoon I figure it was JJ Abrams.  I follow the car into the airport and hurry and park in short term parking and jump out of the car.  I tell Aaron to hurry but he says I'm finding my wallet dad.  He grabs it and we head inside.  Ironically I notice Aaron's wallet is from stars wars and we are just in time to see JJ Abram heading to security.  I ask him for his autograph and he being very gracious accepts and signs some autos for me.  I then introduce him to Aaron and say "Aaron show him your wallet"  Aaron then shows him his wallet and he signs it as well.  He then takes a picture with all of us and says it was nice to meet you especially you Aaron and turned and left."

He shows me Aaron's clearance star wars wallet he just had to have a few months ago from Harmons and I ask Bart if this $1.50 wallet is now worth a lot more since it is signed and he laughs and says no.

When Emily and Jane saw the wallet they were very impressed.  Aaron not having a clue who a director is nor who or what just happened all the sudden was getting some positive attention from his sisters about how cool it was so meet the director.  "You know the one who says action on a film" says Emily.  He's since then been showing others talking about how cool his wallet is now that the star wars guy signed it. ----Oh No!  This could be the beginning...... eek....

A few days later Bart has some new information (thanks Mary) about Mark Hamill filming in Utah and Bart is intrigued.  After some tweets about Mark sitings Bart figures out which hotel he is staying in.  He plans a stake out to catch the guy coming or going and Aaron tags along but the first night was a bust.   The next evening Bart's friend see's a transport car leaving the hotel and follows it up to Grantsville.  Knowing Mark must come back sometime to the Hotel he stakes out again with Aaron.  He stayed there with Aaron until 2 o clock in the morning (I'm still amazed how at Bart's patience when does things like this).  They see Mark go into the Hotel and followed him and ask him at the elevator if he would sign autographs.  Bart said grumpy old Mark grumbled but said he would do one.  He then saw Aaron and said "What the f is that kid doing here?  He should be home in bed".   Quick on his feet he said Mark my son Aaron wants to meet you.  Mark then says "He doesn't know who I am"  Bart then said Aaron who is this and Aaron right on cue says "Luke Skywalker".  Bart then said Mark looked a little taken back and then was a little more pleasant and took a picture with him.  

I posted this picture of Aaron and "Luke Skywalker" on my Facebook. 

  

A few of my friends who don't yet know the secret life of Bart questioned how and one even commented that her nephew paid $500.00 to get a picture with the guy.  Bart so modestly responds  

"'m not planning on having Aaron follow in my footsteps regarding autographs. However when he constantly talks about Star Wars I figured it wouldn't be all that bad if he went on one of my wild adventures!

Well Bart might not be "planning" on Aaron following in his footsteps but Aaron thinks it was pretty darn cool he met Luke Skywalker.  So if one day Aaron is trudging through the snow with a broken foot to meet up with some celebrity or buying a greyhound ticket home from a family vacation because an important sports team is in town (does this sound like someone you know)?    Bart's plan didn't work.  

  

Oh well he could do worse like on drugs or out looking for pokemon!!

Everything he does is fantastic

About 100 times I day I say "Aaron don't touch Spencer."  I have a great deal of anxiety when my busy body destructive Aaron gets close to Spencer.  The ironic thing is Spencer can't get enough of Aaron.  He's settled down a lot and will chill in the bouncer or his favorite the Bumbo for a while unless Aaron is around and then he's totally captivated by his big brother for as long as Aaron has the attention span to entertain him or I jump in to stop Aaron from suffocating him with loves or squeezing his feet right off.  

I've never sensed even a second of jealousy  from Aaron.  He loves having a little brother and often talks about when Spencer is bigger they get to share a room!    Something tells me Spencer will have many years of entertainment from his fun loving older Bro.  

Days of '47 week

It started out as a quiet week with very little on our agenda.  Then on

Monday we got a call from Suzanne asking if we'd like to meet her at the South Town Expo center for the "Day's of '47 floats preview".  We had just a little bit of time while Aaron was at his arts and crafts class and the girls, Spencer and I headed met up with a few cousins.  I'd have to say walking around the floats in a nice air conditioned building seeing all the incredible floats each with either candy or games for the kids was way more fun than the actual parade.

Tuesday:   We are finally able to join a group "Take a hike Tuesday" that is headed up by a few ladies in the ward.  The plan was to go to the Temple Quarry site.  I had never even heard of this place but I liked the history behind it as well as a paved path which was great for the stroller.  I attempted to explain the significance of the place and show my kids some of the chisel marks where actual pioneers carved out the granite for the temple.  My kids were mostly interested in climbing all the many huge boulders.

Wednesday:  Emily and I attended an activity days at the Lion House.  First they took us on a tour of the entire house and talked about how life ran back in Brigham Young's day.  Did you know that for each meal they made enough food to feed 70 people.  That was also during the time when if you wanted chicken for dinner you'd go cut off the head of one running around a pen.  I guess I can't complain about cooking for my family of 6 with Harmon's a block away.  Then the girls played some pioneer games, pulled taffy, and ate a light dinner and cake.  Emily loved it and said she wants to have a birthday party there.

Friday:  My girls have been complaining that they haven't gone to any parades this whole summer.  So I kind of invited my family along with Suzanne's to attend the Handcart Days parade in Bountiful. She ever so graciously not only let us come along but made a fabulous chicken salad w/ croissants dinner.  I stopped by to visit Mary's Millie as we call her around here and loaded up the older boys to come along.  The kids had fun and each scored a super big shirt.  Since Jane will only sleep in ratty old big t shirts both Emily and Aaron gave there's to her and now Jane is set for a year with PJ's.

Sunday:  We are walking to church and Emily exclaims I totally forgot about my talk mom.  Oh well I say lets make one up now.  What's the topic?  "I love to see the temple" said Emily.    Hmmm what should you talk about I said?  Emily then said "Well it is pioneer day today so I could share how Brigham Young told people to build the temple when they got here and it took 40 years to build it"  "Perfect" I said and then we talked and Emily gave a very sweet talk about how it was so important for the pioneers to have a temple that they kept working for 40 years and it should be important to us.  She also said at night she loves to look our her window at the Draper Temple and it makes her happy and excited to go there someday.


It was a great week filled with ways to remember the Pioneer's and their lives.

Happy Pioneer Day!!!

For a Good Cause...and Doubting Thomas

It's Sunday afternoon I'm frantically loading up the car for our annual Teasdale/swimming lessons trip and Emily keeps insisting that I help her find a picture from the web for her lemonade stand flyer.  In a rush I keep putting her off but my persistant Emily forces the issue until I finally take a minute and help her look for just the right picture.  As I'm reading her sign I ask her where does she plan on doing this lemonade stand?  Well Emily said in front of the Wayne County Pool.  Oh and here it says for a "good cause"  what is this good cause.  Emily then said that when she was down in Teasdale with Allyson she overheard my mom talking about how this could possibly be the very last year for the Wayne Pool because it's been losing money and they county just can't afford it anymore.  "So we are going to raise money so the pool can stay open".    In my mind I think Oh boy just what I need a lemonade stand to watch over but I'm quiet hoping this idea is fleeting and she forgets about it before we reach the Wayne County line.

Well I was wrong. All the way down Emily carefully colored each flyer.

The the next day after swimming lessons Emily Bentley and Jane start harassing me about doing the lemonade stand.  I tell them "No" about a hundred times but they keep insisting.  Finally on Tuesday my mom says "If they've got an idea let them go with it".   I can't tell you how many times I went along with you and the rest of you girls big ideas" .  I had to agree I do remember coming up with lots of  ideas with my best friend Melanie like  putting on a performance on the trampoline to the beach boys song "Kokomo" and charging 50 cents and scattering a huge sams club bag of popcorn everywhere.  In the end I think our moms were the only ones who came and paid and I never remember my mom putting a stop to any of my crazy ideas,   popcorn and all.   Emily hands my mom the flyer and she reads "For a good cause" and my moms asks the same question.  What is this good cause.  So they explain about the pool and my mom said I don't think a lemonade stand will help save the pool so lets think of another good cause.  The girls are all stumped so my mom suggests that they have a relative who is a small boy in Bicknell who has cancer and has to drive to Salt Lake every week or so for chemotherapy which is really expensive and he could probably use some money. The girls were very inquisitive asking things like why is it so expensive and we responded with things like it takes a lot of money for gas and maybe to buy lunch and things while they are there.  The girls got excited about that idea and I agreed to let them do a lemonade stand if they do it in Teasdale instead of Bicknell.  They agreed and said if we do it in Teasdale can we do it in Torrey tomorrow.  I agreed thinking after a day of selling lemonade in a tiny town they won't want to do it the next day. My mom also said it would be a good idea to offer some cookies or something else as well.  So we spent some time making homemade oreo cookies and off we went to set them up in front of the DUP building on main street Teasdale.

 I left them in the heat of the sun at 2 PM saying things like are you sure you guys want to stay here its so hot.  They were all determined to make the lemonade stand happen and I left them with my cell phone thinking I'd get a call and be back in a 1/2 hour or so.  Well time went by and my mom got a few texts.  Here is some screen shots of my mom and them communicating.

They also took a few sun burned faces selfies

Meanwhile I'm at home amazed that they are sticking with it.  Around 4 I question if I should go get them and my mom says "Wait until they ask to come home"    Finally they texted they wanted to come home and when I picked them up they were so excited because someone stopped and asked what the good cause was and they said "We are raising money for my moms second cousin's little boy who has cancer"  Whoever it was said "I know that boy  his name is Wyatt and gave them 18 dollars and said keep the change."    So after subtracting what Grandma Becky gave them for their till they ended up with over $45.00.  I was amazed!!  I was also amazed they wanted to do it again but this time in Torrey where there was a little more traffic.  So once again after swimming lessons Emily and I made up a batch of Bart's chocolate chip cookies and I drove them over there with their money and specific instructions to stay out of the busier road and always stay with the lemonade stand.  Here's the second batch of texts.  Less this time I think they were a little more busy.  

When my mom picked them up they were 3 very happy girls with a grand total of $83.85 and only one cookie left.  

Later that night I overheard the girls conversation it went something like this "It would be really nice to have all the money for ourselves."  Yeah but it really is for a good cause.  I was also really touched when Emily had a $5 bill to take to the swimming pool to get treats but instead said " I think I'd rather give this to Wyatt and put it in the envelope along with homemade cards and all the money. 

The next afternoon my mom texted Wyatt's mom and she said come on over he'd like to meet you.  It was an awkward sort of meeting.  Wyatt was a very shy 4 year old and I think all the kids were trying to figure out what cancer looks like and if he looked "sick".   

I'm not quite sure Dayson and Aaron knew what was going on but Dayson told his mom he went to visit a very sick boy.

After we loaded them up in the car my mom asked them how they felt.  They said good and then Bentley said "I have a very warm feeling in my heart"  May these girls always remember that warm feeling and know the greatest happiness comes from giving instead of getting.  May I always remember to have more faith like a child that even in a small sleepy town great things can happen for a "good cause"  

Lava & Jackson Hole

We had such a fun week spending time on a vacation with our family.  Emily spent her time in the car illustrating our vacation.  Good thing since I seem to not be very good at a newborn and taking pictures.

First we stopped for a Pace family reunion at Lava Hot Springs. We found a huge house that fit the whole clan perfectly.  We arrived Friday night for hot pizza and then I went to bed but the little girls well they apparently ran around the house laughing causing a ruckus.   I didn't hear anything which is amazing that I could sleep through a 4 rather loud giggly running around girls but wake at the slightest movement from Spencer.  Finally at around 1:30 in the morning Ally yelled for all of them to get to bed.  

Sat it was up and at it to the Lava Family Pool.  Emily and Jane remembering it from last year challenged Bart to jump off the highest platform.  Bart obeyed like a good dad and ended up ripping the side of his shorts and did not want more to rip so stayed away from the platforms.

Emily became very daring and slowly made her way from the diving boards to the lowest platform and then jumped off the medium platform.  The next morning she was complaining of an ear ache.    We tended it a day or so and then realized she had swimmers ear, probably from jumping off the platform but with some hydrogen peroxide she was good as new in a few days.  

Bart, the girls and Aaron also rented a tube and floated down the river a couple of times.  Aaron held on to Bart and had a great time.  Jane somehow flipped over and hated the experience and did not want to do it again but Emily loved it and went down a few times.  

Later that night Bart, Spencer and I headed to the hot springs.  The least hot pool was the perfect bath temperature and Spencer cuddled right up to Bart's chest and loved it.   

Sunday Matt blessed his baby Clara at the local ward.  

It was sweet to see her all dressed up and fun to be together as an entire family.   

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the cabin.  I fell asleep with Spencer but the kids played and played outside on the lawn.  Grandma Becky in keeping with old time Morrell family reunion traditions brought a fully loaded piñata.  The kids had a blast of course.  

he next morning most of the family took off for home but Ally and my family headed up to a condo in Victor Idaho to spend a few days in Jackson and the Teton's.

First we stopped by Sarah's to visit and she popped in some pizza to share with us for lunch. 

Tuesday headed up to the Tetons to hike around Jenny lake.

Half way across about 2 miles they have a boat you can jump on that takes you back.  It was a good family hike.  Bart carried Spencer in the mobe the whole way and there was only a few moans and groans from the kids.

Our condo had access to a country club nearby but you had to pay the daily rate of $25.00 each person. We opted to stop at the Jackson hole rec center's pool.  It was a fun pool with a couple slide, toys in the water and it wasn't very crowded.  Mostly it just felt good to get out of our hot sweaty clothes and cool off.


Wednesday we spent the in Jackson Hole.

The kids with Bart first went down the Alpine slide.

 After lunch in the park we walked around the town.  My girls enjoyed shopping trying to figure out the perfect souvenir for their 10 bucks they each had.  They each chose a bracelet and a small wooden jewelry box.

We found out that after 4PM you can take a free tram up to the top of a local ski resort.

After the ride we went to see a live shoot out downtown Jackson then went to dinner at Bubba BBQ.  It was there that Jane took off her beautiful bracelet so it wouldn't get dirty and then forgot it.  Halfway back to Victor she remembered she left it and wailed so loudly that Bart immediately took a u turn.  Back at Bubba's nobody had seen the bracelet.  I'm sure it got loaded up with the trash and was soon forgotten.  Too bad Jane would not forget about it.  We had to hear about it all the way back to Victor.


Thurs we loaded up early and headed home.

Emily was already planning our next road trip.  She suggested possibly Oregon or maybe Colorado.  Funny girl always forming a new plan.