The Grotto: Payson Canyon

My friend Melissa posted on Facebook last Sunday that she had taken her two kiddos for a hike on the Grotto trail up Payson Canyon.  She hiked the trail with a boot cast, with two small kids (like Ryan and Jake's ages), and all by herself--no other adults to help her.  I figured if she could do the hike with a boot, I could do it 22 weeks pregnant.

This afternoon we headed up Payson Canyon to give the trail a shot.  

The boys were excited to go for a hike.

At the bottom of the trail ready to start hiking.  Jake had to bring his trusty pirate sword with him.

As soon as we started hiking, I wondered how the devil Melissa had done this hike with a boot?!?  It was kind of steep and the trail was kind of slick because it looks like a lot of people hike this trail.  I was pretty relieved that it was quite a short hike.  My hands were swelling cause it was kind of hot, and I was ready to be done with the steep walking, sad huh.  I still go to the gym at least 3 days a week!

There were lots of log bridges like such to cross.  The boys thought they were way cool.

Ryan always had to be the leader.  In the second picture he looked back and was telling me that he was doing it!  He was so thrilled with himself :) 

I love how Jake would hold his arms out to balance as he walked over the bridges.

After hiking for about 20 minutes, we made it to the Grotto. 

 This was the only picture I got that looked semi decent, and its really not that good of a picture.  It looks like we were the only people there, but really there were probably 20 people in a small area.  Plus, the ground was a bit wet and muddy so you had to watch where you stepped.  Everyone was trying to take pictures, too, so I was a bit stressed.  I guess we'll just have to do the hike again soon so I can get a better picture.

 Jake found this log on the way down.  I told him to sit and I would take his picture and he did it!  I was shocked and had to work fast.  Love his little smirk in this picture ;)

I had to keep telling him to put his sword down.  He would hold the darn thing right in front of his face like I wanted a picture of his sword and not his cute little mug. 

I wanted to get a picture of the boys together.  They sat on a rock that was in the sun so I did the best I could.  It's not the best picture, but they still look cute.

I think the hike to The Grotto was a success.  Short and sweet with a cool water fall at the end and fun bridges to cross on the way.

Ryan's Hospital Stay

Monday September 17, 2012:

Ryan still wasn't feeling well this morning so I called our regular pediatrician's office and made an appointment with Dr. Fullmer.  We were able to get in at 9:40am.  Ryan was still asleep at 9:15am. I had to wake him up so we could go.  He didn't have a bath yesterday so I decided to hurry and give him a quick tub even though he wasn't feeling super awesome.  Jim came home from work and stayed with Jake so I wouldn't have to take him and risk getting him sick.

We got to the doctor's office and only had a wait a minute.  Ryan was so exhausted he just laid his head on my shoulder.  We were called back and they weighed and measured Ryan.  Since Saturday, Ryan was down 2 pounds from 36 to 34 pounds.  That's quite a bit of weight for a little guy.  The nurse could tell he wasn't feeling well at all.

Dr. Fullmer came in a few minutes later.  He could also tell Ryan wasn't well and that he was pooped.  Ryan was seriously like a wet blanket--he didn't have the energy to move or stand by himself.  He wasn't well.  Dr. Fullmer said if we went home, Ryan would need to drink 100 ounces of liquid without losing any of it via vomit or diarrhea.  I thought about it--that was like drinking three of my mugs that I fill up with water everyday.  It's hard for me to drink that much.  Dr. Fullmer said that we probably needed to go to the hospital and get Ryan some fluids.  I don't know why, but that made me so nervous.  I told him I needed to call Jim and see what he thought.  Dr. Fullmer said that was fine, but if we went home he gave us a 10% chance of successfully getting Ryan the fluids he needed.  So, I told him it sounded like we needed to go to the hospital.

We got orders from Dr. Fullmer and walked over to the hospital.  As we were being admitted, Ryan threw up.  Thank goodness I had brought our trusty throw up bucket with us.  A few minutes later, we were on our way up to the pediatric floor.

While we were waiting for the nurses to get situated, I had called Lacy and made arrangements for Jake to go and play with Krew so Jim could come to the hospital.  Jim made it to the hospital just in time to help get the iv in Ryan.  I had told Ryan they were going to poke him, but it would only hurt for a minute and it was going to make him feel so much better.  I think he had flash backs to Saturday when he got his shot of zofran.  He wasn't expecting that at all so he was ticked when they stuck him.

Ryan immediately started freaking out and said he hated shots and didn't want one.  The two nurses wrapped him up like a mummy, Jim restrained Ryan's legs, and I helped with his upper body and arm.  Ryan is one strong little guy when he wants to be.

It took 3 pokes and an additional nurse before they were able to get the iv in Ryan's arm.  He was flipping out and saying some pretty funny things.  Some of the things he told the nurses were, "Put my blood back in me!  It's mine" and "I'm going to call the police cause you're bugging me!".  He screamed bloody murder the entire time, too.

I think Ryan was exhausted after they finally got the iv in.  To be honest, I was a little wore out, too.  He fell asleep within minutes and slept until 5:30-6pm.

Ryan asleep after getting his iv in his arm.

The nurse kept coming in to check on him.  She told us we needed to measure how much he peed when he finally needed to, but every time she came in he was still sleeping.

Jim and I stayed with Ryan at the hospital.  I left around 12:30p to get Jim and I some lunch.  Around 2p, I left to go and get Jake from Lacy's house.  I had got ahold of my mom and she was on her way up to see Ryan and help with Jake.

I met my mom back at the hospital after picking up Jake.  Ryan was still asleep and pretty out of it.

Jake was pretty much a turkey while at the hospital.  He didn't understand that you needed to be quiet and not silly.  He thought it was fun to play with the barf bags, ick.  They weren't used though.  My mom took Jake back to our house and sat with him until we figured out what we were doing for the rest of the day/night.

Dr. Fullmer came over to see how Ryan was doing around 6:30p.  Ryan was awake by then, but he still hadn't went potty or eaten anything.  We were pushing liquids and he was getting liquids through the iv.  By this time, he had had one bag of sodium chloride and was onto a bag of potassium chloride.

Dr. Fullmer felt it would be best to have Ryan spend the night in the hospital since he still wasn't well.  As much as I hated to see Ryan in the hospital, Jim and I both knew it would be for the best if Ryan stayed over night.

After Dr. Fullmer left, I headed back to Spanish Fork.  Jake had taken a little snooze for my mom and wasn't much trouble at all.  I got a few things from the house for Ryan and Jim to spend the night then we and got some dinner at Cafe Rio.  We picked up dinner for Jim at Subway.  We went back to the hospital after we were done with dinner.

Ryan was still awake and was asking for chips to eat.  Dr. Fullmer had said it was fine since they were a pretty bland food.  He didn't suggest that we feed Ryan say a cheese burger or Taco Bell.  It would be to heavy for his stomach right now.  Ryan drank Sprite and had a few chips and Jim ate his dinner.

Of course, Jake was a turkey at the hospital and was bugging Ryan so we didn't stay long.  Jake and I left when my mom left to head back to Levan.

It was so weird to spend the night at home without Jim and Ryan.  I had Jake sleep in bed with me--I didn't think he would go to bed without Ryan, and it kept me company, too.

Tuesday September 18, 2012:

Jake and I got up this morning and got ready to go visit Ryan at the hospital.  When Jake woke up, he sat straight up and said he knew he could hear Ryan.  I reminded Jake that Ryan had spent the night at the hospital.  It was still pretty strange to both of us.

While I got us ready and fed, I texted Jim to see if Dr. Fullmer had been by to check on Ryan. I guess the doctor got stuck doing visits in Provo and wasn't able to stop by before having to go to the clinic.  I was thinking they would let Ryan come home some time this morning, but it looked like the Dr. wouldn't even be by until afternoon sometime.

Jake and I got to the hospital around 10am.  Jake was his normal, energetic self so he didn't stay long.  Jim gave me the run down on the night and what I needed to do and then he took Jake home.  Jim did tell me that Ryan had went pee twice and it was alot, so that was good news.  He also said that he had eaten fruit loops for breakfast and had been drinking on his own, without being asked.  That was also good news.

Ryan looked SO much better this morning though.  He was smiling, talking, and being his silly self.  It was so nice to see him  somewhat well again.

Ryan definitely felt better this morning.  I took these pictures after I got to the hospital around 10:30am.  What a difference fluids make and 24 hours!

SO glad to see him smiling again!

Ryan and I spent the day talking, laughing, and watching cartoons and movies.  Around 11:30am, Ryan started whining and saying his stomach hurt.  He said he needed to use the bathroom.  I helped him into the bathroom and he had success!  He let some massive manly toots ;)  They had to make his stomach feel better, lol.  While at the hospital, we had to have Ryan pee in a bowl to measure how much he was getting out.  I wasn't sure if they wanted to measure how much stool he had so I took the bowl out.  She said it wasn't necessary to measure his stool, but we definitely needed to measure the pee.

I could tell Ryan was getting better because he was asking for food again.  He kept saying he wanted tacos and then he would ask for pizza.  I told him we would see what the nurse brought him for lunch.  When she brought chicken in gravy, green beans, and french fries, he was less than thrilled.  He whined for pizza and the nurse actually said she would go and see if she could get him some.  She pulled through and Ryan ate an entire piece of pepperoni and black olive pizza!

After lunch, Ryan started having his gas/stomach pain again.  Of course, the doctor showed up while he was having his pains, too.  Dr. Fullmer said he looked alot better, but he wanted to wait a couple of hours and ride out the stomach issues he was having.  He felt his stomach and could tell it was full of air.  He said he would check back with us at 4pm--2 1/2 hours away.  Other than these bouts of gas pain, Ryan was completely fine so I was little discouraged.

Soon after Dr. Fullmer left, Ryan went to the potty again and had success.  I was able to get Ryan to pee in the bowl first, but he would not let me leave the bowl on while he went poop ;)  The nurse was a little irritated because he did pee a little while he was using the potty, but I did my best in the situation.

We had some time to kill so we watched a couple more movies.  I was falling asleep and Ryan kept telling me to wake up because we'd be going home soon :)  I thought that was pretty funny.

Around 3:30p, Ryan started to have his gas pains again.  I convinced him to try and use the potty to get his toots out or the doctor wouldn't let us go home.  Luckily, Ryan thought it was a good idea, too.  Ryan had success--this was his third time.  I tried to get Ryan to use the bathroom with the measuring bowl thing still on the toilet, but he refused.  He wouldn't even go pee in it first like we did last time so I just took it off.  I figured it was better to have him use the bathroom.  Well, the nurse was not happy with me.  She said it was hard for the doctor to make a decision when he didn't know how much output Ryan had.  I thought for sure they were going to make us stay the night again.  I started to get anxiety.  I kept thinking there was no way Ry  was going to sit there one more night and not go stir crazy.

Ryan after using the potty for the 3rd time.  He didn't want to put his gown back on--he was ready to go home!

Ten minutes later or so the nurse came in and said Dr. Fullmer said we could go home!  Yay!!  We were released from the hospital at 4:50pm.  I was never so happy to leave that place.  I thought we were going to have to spend another night, and it was giving me mega anxiety!  I did enjoy all of the good snuggle time I got with Ryan though :)

Even though Ryan was exhausted and had some stomach pains that night, Jake was so glad to have his partner in crime back home.

I think Ryan was glad to be home, too.  When we got home he sat down on the couch.  Next thing I know he is asleep!  I tried so hard to get him to take a nap while we were waiting for the doctor to come by and he would not.  He finally crashed when we got home.

We made tacos for dinner since that was what he had asked for this morning--he specifically asked for meat, cheese, and salad a.k.a. lettuce on his taco, lol.  Unfortunately, he started to have gas/stomach pains after he woke up from his short nap.  We had him sit on the potty even though he didn't want to, but he didn't have any success.  Ryan was crying pretty hard and telling us his stomach hurt.  I think I started to get nervous that maybe we brought him home too soon.  To get away from it, I took Jake outside and watered the plants.  I just couldn't deal with it :(

We'd been outside for about twenty minutes when Jim and Ryan came outside.  Ryan had finally been able to use the potty and he even ate an entire taco.  Jim and I decided we needed to let Ryan do his thing and use the potty when he was ready.

I'm so glad Ryan is feeling better.  I know I didn't realize how sick he was until we got to the hospital.  He ended up needing three bags of fluids at 1000mL's each!

We're on the road to recovery for sure now ;)

Sick Little Boy

Ryan got sick this weekend.  He woke up around 4:30am Saturday morning and had puked in his bed.  He wasn't acting too miserable, other than he had thrown up.  I got him cleaned up, got his sheets off of his bed and in to wash, and got him and Jake settled in my bed with Jim.  There is NO way all four of us could sleep comfortably in our bed so I opted to sleep in Jake's bed.

Around 6am, I hear commotion going on in my room.  Ryan had thrown up again.  Jake was sleeping through the whole ordeal, and Jim said all he had time to do was get out of the way of the vomit.  He said Ryan said, "Here it comes..." before he threw up.

I moved Jake back to his bed.  Then we got Ryan cleaned up, got the sheets off of our bed, got some blankets out, (we only have one set of sheets--I should probably invest in another set) and tried to get a few more minutes of shut eye.  We were smart this time and got a puke bucket out for Ryan.  Although every time Ryan made a move, one of us shot up to get the bucket ready.

Jake came in around 8am ready to get up for the day.  I had Jim stay in bed with Ryan, and Jake and I went downstairs.

Jake and I watched t.v. and got some breakfast.  Jim and Ryan came down around 9am.  Ryan had woke up and thrown up again--he had made it in the bucket this time though.  But by now, the poor guy was miserable.  There wasn't anything in his stomach so he was dry heaving a lot and throwing up bile.  Jake had asked for a sippy cup of Tampico juice so we got Ryan some, too.

Within an hour, Ryan threw up the juice.  From then on out he wanted water only.  Still, within an hour of drinking water, he would throw it up.  He also had issues with diarrhea, which he had no control over.  He laid on the couch, with a beach towel under him, with a bucket and a sippy cup of water for the day.

This is how Ryan spent most of the day.  He only got off the couch when we needed to change his unders or the towel he was laying on.  He was miserable!

By 6pm, I felt like we needed to do something.  He had been throwing up non-stop since 4:30a and couldn't keep anything down.  He couldn't even rest; he would try to sleep and wake up to throw up.  He was exhausted.

I called our pediatrician's office, which transferred me to a pediatrician's office in Provo.  They said they usually like to see kids after 8 hours of constant throwing up.  Ryan had been throwing up for 14 hours.  We loaded him up, with a towel under him, his bucket, and sippy cup of water and made our way to the doctor.

The doctor said he wasn't severely dehydrated yet, but if we couldn't get a handle on his vomiting, then he would definitely become dehydrated.  The nurse gave Ryan a shot of zofran and we were on our way.  They told me that the zofran would kick in within 30 minutes and would be effective for 3-4 hours.  Within that time frame, we were to try and pump Ryan full of liquids and possibly eat something

We stopped at the grocery store and bought some pedialyte.  Ryan was not thrilled with the pedialyte and wouldn't drink it.  He stuck with his water.  We stopped and got the boys an ice cream cone at Artic Circle (Jake's request) so Ryan ate a vanilla courtesy cone.

Ry acted much better after getting the zofran shot.  He was able to keep liquids down and got a good nights sleep.  He woke up around 6am and needed to go pee.  This was a good thing since he had only went pee one time all day yesterday.  He went to bed after.  Around 7:30a, I could hear Ryan calling for me.  He had thrown up in his bed, ugh.  I thought we were going to be done with this...

Ryan threw up three more times this morning.  He spent the rest of the day sleeping on the couch.  We tried to get him to eat.  Around 2pm, he took two very small bites of applesauce, a few small bites of yogurt, and drank a few sips of Gatorade even though he still preferred water.  After he ate that, he went back to sleep.

He literally slept the bulk of the day.  I thought it was a good thing--meant his body was recovering, but it still made me nervous for some reason.  Well, Ryan threw up around 7pm.  Then Jim made Ryan an omelet.  Ryan ate a few bites and within minutes threw that up.

He was so miserable he didn't even want to get in the tub so we brushed his teeth, changed his jammies, and put him to bed.

I'm hoping he is miraculously better in the morning.  

If not, we'll most likely be taking him back to the doctor :(

Sod, sigh...

We decided to xeriscape a piece of our yard after we poured a slab of concrete a couple of years ago.  When we poured the concrete, we had to cut out some sod where the concrete was going and were going to lay the sod that we cut out on the spot where our grass wasn't doing so well. Because the guy who was pouring our concrete took days between cutting the sod and then pouring the concrete, the sod we cut out ended up dying.  Jim then got the hair brained idea to xeriscape.  I actually don't mind rock landscaping, but I HATE when people have rocks in their yard and they have weeds out the wazoo growing in them.  Jim promised there wouldn't be any weeds in our rocks, and we could get some trees and bushes to put through out the rocks.

Well, two years later and the rocks have no trees or bushes and they rocks are weed filled.  Oh, and I'm the only one who will brave the damn rocks and pull the weeds out.

I took matters into my own hands and listed the rocks on KSL to see if we could sell our rocks.  Only a day after listing the rocks, I had sold them!  The guy that bought them lived in Spanish Fork and would come and get the rocks a few loads at a time.  He finished getting all of the rocks late June.  Jim decided it was probably too hot to lay sod in July and so we should wait until the weather cools off a bit to lay sod.  For two months now, we've had an ugly weed patch.  It has been so awful and such an eye sore.

Jim is going to San Diego for work at the end of the month so I wanted to have sod laid before he goes.  Today was the day, yay!  My dad, Charlie, and Scott all came to help.  My dad  borrowed a trailer from a guy in Levan and picked up some sod from the turf farm there in Levan, too.  We got a pretty good deal on the sod since the guy that runs the turf farm are my parents neighbors.  It didn't take us very long to lay the sod with all of the help that we had.  

Funny story, I came out when they had laid about 1/4 of the sod.  I said much better the grass looked than those damn rocks.  My dad something like, "Yeah, that wasn't your best decision you've ever made (to put the rocks down)."  I told my dad that it was Jim's decision to put the rocks down and about died laughing!!

The finished product--ahh, that feels and looks so much better!

Charlie had to get ready and get on his way to work.  The rest of us got some lunch and had a picnic on the grass.

The help waiting for lunch.

After lunch, we changed the light bulbs in the ceiling fan in our living room.  The ceiling fan is SO high so I had my dad bring up his little giant ladder so we could reach it.  That ladder weighs one ton (ok, really only about 100 pounds) but its so big and heavy that it's hard to manuever in the house, too.  We finally got the ladder up and Jim changed out all 4 light bulbs while we had the ladder here.  Jim also dusted the fan for me and ran a dryer sheet over the blades--a trick I saw on Pinterest to keep the dust from sticking to the surface.  We'll see if it works.

I'm SO happy we got the sod laid.  I'm also so grateful for the help we had.  It would have taken alot longer and been really hard for just Jim and I to do.  I'm loving our new grass!!

Cade's 12th Birthday Party

Ryan and I went to Cade's 12th birthday party this afternoon.  Jake didn't act like he was feeling well and even told us his tummy hurt.  Rather than risk getting other people sick, Jim stayed home with Jake.  It was a good thing though--Jake pretty much slept while we were gone and said he felt better when Ryan and I got home.  In fact, Jake told us he was ready to go to the party because he felt better :(  Good thing we'll have another party in just a couple of weeks that he can go to.

Cade's party was lots of fun, as usual.  We had yummy food and the kids had fun playing while the adults visited.

Cade's cake--he loves the color orange.

Cade with his birthday cake.

Blowing out the candles

Jason and Amy enjoying the party

Cade got a lot of fun presents and money for his birthday.  One of his gifts from his parents was some duct tape.  Cade loves to make and create things.  We can't wait to see what he'll create with his new duct tape.

Happy 12th birthday Cade!

Camera

Ryan recently discovered the camera on my iPhone.  He took these pictures on my phone and they crack me up!  He constantly asks to take my phone because he needs to take a picture of something.  Most of the time it is just random stuff.  BUT, I thought these pictures were hilarious so I had to share :)

Here is another goodie that he took of Jim.

First Day of Preschool for Ryan

Today was Ryan's first day of preschool.  This is his 2nd year at Just Imagine Preschool and he was SO excited.  He has been asking for at least a week when school starts.  He could hardly wait until 12:30 this afternoon to get to school.  Ry was bugged when I wanted to take his picture before class; he was worried that we would be late.  We actually got to school before Miss Tiffany had her garage open so we had to wait about 5 minutes to go in.

Jake wanted in on the picture taking.  Don't you love his rain boots.  I guess I could have taken a wash cloth to his face and wiped off the ketchup :)

Jake and I walked Ryan into class.  They did a little painting project today so the mom's stayed and helped the first 5 minutes of class.  When Ry was finished with his project, Jake and I left.  Jake wanted to go to Wiggy Wash and get the car washed so that's where we went.  Both Ryan and Jake LOVE to take the car through the car wash.

Jake and I went home and did a little house work and played while Ryan was at school.  When it was time, we went and picked Ry up.  Ryan was so cute when we picked him up and wouldn't quit talking about how much fun school was.  While on the way home he said, "Thank you so much for taking me to preschool mom!  It was so much fun!!"  I'm so glad he loves preschool and loves to learn.  

The minute we got home, he was so excited to show up the little book he had made.

Ryan has to take the snack to class tomorrow.
He's super excited because it means he gets to be the leader :)

Labor Day Weekend {2012}

Friday August 31, 2012:

Today was the start of the weekend for us.  We were going to mow the lawn and do a little yard work, but the weather wasn't cooperating and our grass was too soggy so we decided to run errands instead.  We all got ready and ran errands around town, then we went to Home Depot and Costco.  The boys were hungry so we stopped and got a bite to eat at Noodles and Co.

Later that evening, I went on a GNO with my friends.  We went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then to the movie "The Campaign".  Dinner was fabulous and the movie was hilarious!  We even had a little extra time between dinner and the movie that we got to do a little shopping in the mall.  It was a much needed girls night out!  So much fun--I'm so glad to have such good, fun friends :)

The girls.
From L to R:  Robin Wrathall, Sabrina Teasdale, Tiffany Harrison, me, Lacy Nielsen, Merissa McQuivey, Linda Barbakos, Melissa Deveraux, and Amy McAllister.
Remind me to never stand by Tiffany again--wowza!

Saturday September 1, 2012:

We wanted to do something fun with the boys today so we took the boys to see the movie "Para Norman".  It's about a boy who can see zombies and dead people.  Being that Ryan and Jake are obsessed with zombies, skeletons, aliens, etc., we thought this movie would be right up their alley.  We were right--both boys loved the movie.  It was a bit scary for them at times but they enjoyed it.  The popcorn was a plus, too.

Ryan and Jake by another movie set up.  After I took the picture and saw that Jake wasn't looking, I told them to go stand by the monsters again.  Jake refused; he said they were to "cary" in his vocabulary.  He doesn't say the "s" 95% of the time :)

Poor pictures taken with my iPhone, but I still posted them anyway.  The boys, Jim included, enjoying movie treats and the previews.

After the movie, I had to do an exchange at the GAP so Jim took the boys to play in the little play area at the mall.  When I was finished, we took the boys home and made some lunch.  Next, we all took a nap--I would say this was the best part of the day :)

We had told the boys we would take them fishing, but again the weather wasn't cooperating.  When we woke up from our naps, there was a break in the rain storms so we decided to load up and go for it.  We went to Salem Pond and did a little fishing.

Jim getting the boys fishing poles baited.

Jake got a little bored waiting.

Ryan and Jake are both really good at casting their line--well, Ryan is really good at it, Jake is still learning :) But they are both too impatient to leave the line in the pond to get anywhere near catching a fish, lol.  I believe Ryan thinks he should catch a fish immediately after he casts his line out.  Both of the boys were pretty disappointed when they didn't catch a fish.  Jake was done fishing about 30 minutes after getting to Salem Pond; Ryan was done after about 40 minutes.

The beautiful scenery.

The boys checking out the ducks.  Jake would wave at them and say, "Hi ducks!"

There was a little play area at Salem Pond so we let the boys play for a few minutes before we left.  Both Jim and I were not up to cooking dinner, mainly because we didn't have anything planned, so we took the boys to Two Jacks a.k.a. the pizza store.  Both the boys were happy and both actually ate really well.

I had to run to Macey's after dinner to get a few items.  We had told the boys we would get ice cream after fishing so we just killed two birds with one stone and got them an ice cream cone at the deli inside of Macey's.  Going to Macey's on a Saturday night reminded why I prefer to do my shopping after I go to the gym, during the week, around 10:30am.  Holy cow, it was busy!  But, we managed to get the boys an ice cream, get our groceries, and get out of there in about 40 minutes :)

The rest of the night was pretty chill.  I think we had a pretty fun, good day today.

Sunday September 2, 2012:

Today was Madeline and Ethan's birthday celebration in Levan.  We went down early so the boys could get a haircut from Grandpa.  Ryan starts school next week and I want him to have freshly cut hair for the occasion :)

Charlie had his kids this weekend so Ryan and Jake got to play with Max and Katie.  They had a good time playing before we went to the park for the birthday party.

We headed to the park around 5pm.  Dinner was served and it was delicious as usual.  We also opened presents and had birthday cake and ice cream.  The kids had fun playing at the park, too.

Three hooligans!

Madeline and Ethan's cakes.

Blowing out candles.  Not sure why I didn't get a picture of Madeline blowing out her candles.

There were two owls in the trees at the park so we all checked them out.  I didn't take any pictures of them but they were really cool looking.

Monday September 3, 2012:

We decided to have another fun day and take the boys to Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake.  The entrance fee is part of our pass of all passes so we decided to make use of it.

I wasn't sure how interested the boys would be at the aviary, but they did ok.  The main problem was there was a ferris wheel and a few carnival rides at the park that they could see before we went in.  All they were worried about was how fast we could see all of the birds and then get to that carnival, ugh.  I promised them we would get to go to a carnival later that evening.

We saw as many of the birds that we could.  It actually started to get a bit hot so we decided to go.  I was surprised that we had been there about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  I didn't think we'd been there that long.

The boys showing me how cranes stand on one leg :)

They had fun playing.

I did not think they would stick their heads in there long enough for me to get a picture.  I think they look SO cute!

There were tons of cool birds.  These are the only two pictures I took--not sure why I didn't take more.  These birds aren't even that cool.  There were some really colorful birds there.

Another photo op!

The boys wanted to go get some lunch at Noodles & Co.  Yes, we just ate there the other day.  I gave them options and they still wanted to go to Noodles again.  It definitely wasn't as good the second time.  Oh well :)

After lunch, we made our way back to Spanish Fork.  We took naps, started laundry, and got ready to go to the carnival at Onion Days in Payson.  The boys were SO excited.  We had left over tickets from the Ute Stampede since we were rained out our last night at the stampede. We decided to go and use our leftover tickets.

We had rode a few rides when Ryan informed me of the plan.  He wanted to ride the ferris wheel and a few more rides, then get a corn dog, and ride more rides.  It was so funny :)

The boys rode all of the rides they wanted and then we headed back home.

Waiting to ride the ferris wheel

Jake and me on the ferris wheel!

We had a fun filled weekend.  We did all of the fun things that we wanted to do.  As far as all of the things around the yard and the house, well, they will get done later :)