Snap Krackle POP!

Well, this is a first! We were cooking dinner in the oven tonight and heard a "CRACK"....walked over to the oven to see our pampered chef stoneware split right in half! We are totally baffled. We've used this thing for 7 years!

Guess who is crawling!?!

Yup - he finally took the plunge tonight!

Hike up to Mt. Timpanogos Caves

Today we hiked up to Mount Timpanogos in the American Fork Canyon - there are some caves up there you can tour. Our friend from Austin, Jody Ross, was in town visiting - so a hiking we went! Big thanks to the Krotosky's for watching Zach while we hiked...we weren't really sure if we wanted to take him up on the hike. I think we made the right decision by leaving Zach behind. The day was kind of drizzly with rain/hail and inside the caves there are some very narrow areas you have to squeeze through and it is about 40 degrees inside - not really ideal for an 8 month old. One thing we all agreed upon when we finished is WE ARE WAY TOO OUT OF SHAPE! Tomorrow isn't going to be pretty with the sore muscles! Some pictures of our adventure!

The start of the hike...notice the smiling faces?

The caves are at the top!

Dang rain! Luckily it was very light and stopped soon after we started hiking.

Come on Jody - we can do it!

Are you sure there is a cave up there?

Oh no! Don't fall Dustin!

Oh yeah - we made it!

What a morning - now time to head back down. See the city in the background in between the mountains?

Back at the bottom...um...yeah we were dead.

Only in Utah...

There is something wrong about this. We stopped watching American Idol several seasons ago...but apparently David Archuleta was one of the finalists last season. Well, the boy is from Utah - and the people here apparently take great pride in that...therefore the corn field maze at Thanskgiving Point this year is David Archuleta. I have to say it again...there is something wrong about this.

How can you resist?!

Okay we are suckers...complete suckers. Something is wrong when adults get excited to go to Toys 'R' us - and this is what you walk away with:

Zach has been so good lately - so we took him to Toys 'R' us. This is the first time we have taken him to that store and he actually looks around at the toys. So the piano - that was Zach's 1st toy choice....he started pounding that thing and it kept him entertained for about 5 minutes...until Dustin showed him the hammer....and then Jen showed him the spongebob.... $60 later the picture was our stash. Oh, when did 4-D sized batteries cost $7.99?

Sneak peek for Halloween

We found Zachary's Halloween costume online and it arrived in the mail today - and couldn't resist dressing him up early in it (mainly to see if it fits - it is a size 12-24 months!)....






Oh if you couldn't guess...Zach is going to be a Dragon for Halloween :) He actually liked wearing the outfit...so that is a good sign!

owwwwwwwie!

Some things you just can't explain in life....like how do you smash your finger in the car door all by yourself? Go figure. Jen was loading up the car with Zach and all his gear to go run some errands and....well....here is the result:

Now when we sit back and look at this picture of Jen's middle finger - it doesn't look too bad...but the stinker sure does hurt! See the purple right above the knuckle? Well, that area was dented in for a good few hours. Dustin immediately sat Jen down with an ice pack and some ibuprofen - then went to fetch Zach out of the car...poor kid was looking forward to getting out of the house for some errands. A day later Jen can move her finger, but the knuckle is pretty sore and purple....ibuprofen and ice packs are our friends. Oh - try typing at a keyboard with a gimpy middle finger (on your right hand...yes Jen is right handed!).

Baby butt

I have to say my baby has a cute butt...which baby am I talking about? BOTH! I think Zach got his butt from Dustin's genes. Just look at this picture and tell me that this isn't the cutest thing ever.....who knew a baby could look sexy in jeans ;)

Good Luck Texas

Hurricane IKE as seen from the space station

Hurricanes….man, talk about a force of nature! When we lived in Austin we LOVED the storms. By the time the hurricanes hit Austin they were normally downgraded to “tropical storms” – but man were they still powerful. As you drove around town after the storms it was amazing what would get uprooted (trees, roofs, etc.). As Hurricane IKE bears down on the Texas gulf – we wish our friends in Austin the best of luck. IKE looks more powerful than anything we experienced while living in Austin – so stay inside and stay safe!

Fat & Happy

Oh - the guilty pleasures of life! We decided to have a "fat & happy" night....with some homemade mac-n-cheese! This wonderful recipe (compliments of Susan P.) is to DIE FOR! Jen made a double batch of this marvelous artery clogging dish - so we have left overs for the entire week! I don't think we will be going back to Kraft anytime soon! Yummy yummy yum!

Farm Country

Within Thanksgiving Point there are several attractions - one of which is called "Farm Country". It is perfect for kids; there is a whole display on how milk is made (meadow gold dairy is a sponser), lots of different farm animals and pony rides. Today we went for the first time...seeing how we now have a kid we can use as an excuse! Zach of course loved it...it was his first time seeing some of these animals - I think he stared at the turkey for the longest!

Zach's new pet...

This little guy was SO CUTE! He even posed for this picture!

Whoa - going up on the scales!

Zach weighs as much as 5 chickens - not quite 5 newborn lambs yet....

Hilarious....we loved this sign on the way out...

Big boy

Well - Zach has been growing up so much even in this past week! He started holding his own bottle...and now he is drinking juice out of a sippy cup. Oh - and he sat through and watched "Finding Nemo"....he even laughed pretty hard at the birds that say "mine...mine...mine".

The Skipper

Dustin has been dying to go fly fishing ever since making his way back to Utah a year ago. We went about a month ago and Dustin's fly fishing pole broke. Well, we just barely got his pole back from the manufacturer (newly replaced free of charge...yeah!) this past week...so what was first on the agenda for Dustin this Saturday morning? FLY FISHING! This time he wanted to use his new "Fat Cat" raft to go out into the middle of Silver Lake Flats in American Fork Canyon.


Here is Zach and Dustin getting the raft all ready the night before. They were practicing fishing and catching Zach's shark.

So when Zach and Jen woke up at 8am - Dustin was already long gone....on his fishing adventure. 12:30pm rolls around and here comes Dustin walking in with DINNER! He caught 7 rainbow trout - he had to throw 3 of them back because the limit on trout is 4 per day (Utah State rule for the area he was fishing). I think he gained another star for his man card.

Proud man of his take home catch

Zach wanting to see the fish

Now time to clean up that "Fat Cat" - it will stay inflated for a few more weeks...I am sure Dustin will continue to have the bug to go fishing until it snows!

blog happy...

I got to thinking about all the things that we've done in the past little bit that I want to blog about...and there is a LOT! So here goes the documentation of the randomness in our lives at the moment!

snapshot of the tooth

I was going through some of the pictures I took this week and found a snapshot of Zach's 1st tooth! If you can't see it....look at the bottom of his mouth in the middle. The tooth next to it has already broken through since this picture was taken....

What a beautiful night...

Ah....I think fall has arrived! We had a cold front move through over the weekend and now things are much more tolerable at night. We decided to go on a bike ride - test out the "Go Bug" with Zach. He loved it (obviously) - who wouldn't love being pulled behind a bike and seeing the neighborhood at a speed faster than the stroller ever goes? There is a trail that follows the river behind our neighborhood - we should have taken the camera for some pictures, beautiful sunsets! We did get a picture of Zach when we got back:



Hopefully we will be able to got lots more bike rides in during the evenings for the next month!

You are FIRED!

Old Navy....you are fired...yes FIRED! In the age of convenience online shopping has become my friend. Old Navy had an online super sale about two Saturdays ago, I got a great deal on jeans for Zachary. I have been waiting patiently for a week and a half now for the "package" to arrive. I ordered two pairs of size 12-18 month pants in different denim washes. My first impression is the two washes looked almost identical....okay, no big deal. Then I hold the two pairs of jeans up to one another and...yes, one is definitely LARGER than the other. So I look them over again and notice this:

The tag in the jeans is a different size than the tag attached to the jeans. One of the pairs of jeans is actually a 18-24 month size. Grrr.....so you say, "well just take it to a local store and exchange it"...not that easy. Ever been to an Old Navy baby section in Utah? NO SELECTION - especially if your child is a boy. They don't have this style/type of jean in any store around. So just keep the jeans and "hope" he fits into them this winter? Hmmm...I don't know if I can wait for that either....I may just call Old Navy and complain - maybe I will get something free ;)