So Long, So Much to Tell!

So the month of June just seemed to fly by and finding time to document all those cute, funny little things my kids have done in the past month has gotten past me. Where did the time go? Even more important, will I be able to remember all the things I wanted to write down? I hope I remember most because though one might say, well you didn't remember, it must not have been that important, it is still important to me.....I just happen to have a somewhat selective memory that doesn't always really allow me to select the things I would often like to. Even the things I consciously say "I need to remember this" and the things I actually try to commit to memory don't always stick. But not to mislead you, it's not all bad and sometimes I'll be able to remember the strangest, most random details without even trying...I just never know when it's going to work and when it isn't which is why my family has very little trust in my memory of certain events. Oh well!

So to recap, there are a LOT of things that happened last month that I would love to write about: our camping trip, Ben's eye rolling, our new appliances (yay!), Ryan's new little friend Kirsten and their little adventures, the trip to the swimming pool, Christa, Paul, & Keith's recent visit, Rascal updates (still missing ): ), and there were probably silly little things in between. And then that will flow right into this month and Paul's & my anniversary which was yesterday (4 years!) and this current vacation and the Jackson Family Reunion. I even have pictures for some of these topics but seeing as how I'm sitting in a hotel room right now, it's just not the best time. I just figured I should probably post something in the meantime since it's already been a full month. I promise a real post after we get back from Oregon!! Right now, I'm going to sit and read a book and enjoy the fact that I'm on vacation and my boys are actually napping right now!!

Potty Training Bandwagon

Well, since Ryan is now 3 and Ben is almost 2, and everyone I know is now training their own toddlers and it therefore has become a very popular topic that I'm hearing about frequently, I figured it's time to jump on the potty training bandwagon. I had a thought when Ben was born that since he & Ryan were so close in age, I'd just wait a little with the first and do them both at once! I don't know if I truly intended to do it that way but then I stalled and stalled with Ryan to the point that the moment of truth has arrived, it's time, and now I really can do them both at the same time!

I started yesterday and was so frustrated that I gave up by noon!....maybe I made it to 1:00 but that's about it. Ryan was just not cooperating and Ben appeared less than interested. Ryan peed all over the kitchen, Ben peed all over me....we went through about 9 pairs of underwear in a 3-4 hr period between the two of them. I told Paul I was going to wait another couple of months until Ben was officially 2 and Ryan was the magical 3 yrs 3 months I'd read so much about on quite a few message boards online (seriously, 3 yrs 3 months seemed to be the common age). Paul (safe at work) said no, we should keep trying now. Unfortunately, I knew he was right. I couldn't give up that easily.

So this morning when we all got up, I decided to try again. My first obstacle was when Ryan decided, "I don't want underwear! I want a diaper!" Finally, after much pleading and crying, I conceded to put a diaper on him with the understanding that he still had to go potty on the toilet and that if he went potty in his diaper, he'd have to wear underwear anyway. I know, sounds kind of backwards. Underwear isn't supposed to be the punishment! Anyway, that's how it went. Then I cleverly put Ben in underwear and gave him a sucker (yes, first thing in the morning) for wearing his underwear. That got Ryan going! He still didn't want to put on underwear at first but he sure wanted that sucker! After he realized the only way to get a sucker was to wear underwear, and after he went potty for the second time that morning--the first time being before we put the diaper on (and the diaper did stay dry!)--he decided he wanted to wear underwear! First obstacle conquered! YAY!

So I set the timer for 20 minutes and every 20 minutes we would go in and go potty on the toilet. Then they each got one piece of chocolate (about the size of a peanut M&M) every time they went potty. Ryan caught on to that really quick and started putting himself on the potty every 5 minutes or so just to get a chocolate but I only gave one to him if he actually peed. Then he got ridiculous about it so I told him he had to wait until the timer went off to go. That worked! On occasion he still came to me before the timer went off so I let him go but it wasn't every 5 minutes. The only accident he had this morning was when he pooped in his underwear and that's partially just because he won't poop on the potty yet. Ben only had one accident this morning which I was okay with!

This afternoon I got a little brave and took the boys to see Grandma because she had some of her aunts & uncles & cousins visiting and she wanted them to see the boys. I figured it takes less than 20 minutes to get over there so I had them both go potty right before we left and then they both went when we got to Grandma's! Unfortunately we were there for a little while and I didn't realize the time so Ben did end up having an accident at Grandma's. However, Ryan did not! He went once at Grandma's and then made it all the way home totally dry!

This evening Ryan had one accident and then Ben had a fairly significant poop accident but other than that, considering how awful yesterday was, this is a major improvement!!! And then tonight I've been babysitting a few boys that come over here once a month--two of the three are quite a bit older than Ryan and so have been potty trained for years--Ryan noticed one of them use the bathroom by himself with the door closed and so after that, Ryan wanted to go all by himself with the door closed! I wasn't allowed to be in there! But I know he went. I don't know what happened between yesterday and today but whatever it was....THANK GOODNESS!! Ryan should do even better tomorrow!! It sure makes me glad I didn't give up so quickly!

Rascal's Missing :(

Rascal is missing. We don't know what happened to him! Sunday was when we realized we really hadn't seen him for a couple of days so first thing Monday morning, the boys & I took a trip out to the Utah County Animal Shelter. We've seen a few animal control cars around so we thought maybe they picked him up. We got into the last room of cats and we all stopped when we saw a grey cat nearly identical to Rascal.....the boys & I thought it was Rascal. I went and paid the impound fee and everything!! But when I went to pick him up, he wouldn't come to me, and then I noticed, the cat didn't have the little tuft of white in the front like our Rascal does. I think the cat in the shelter was a little bigger than Rascal too, come to think of it. And the shelter said they had picked that cat up in Lindon which really would have been a little far for Rascal to travel since we're in south Orem. It just wasn't him. :( I got the impound fee refunded to me and the boys and I left empty-handed. Fortunately, since Ryan had a doctor's appointment later that day, that word had been thrown around a lot already that day and so when we left without "Rascal", Ryan just thought we had to leave him at the doctor's....I didn't tell him that, he came up with it on his own. He didn't quite connect that when we came home we were still looking for Rascal (he was helping me call for him even!) Needless to say we're quite sad and worried about our kitty. The last time anyone remembers seeing him for sure was Tuesday, May 27th......it's possible we saw him after that day but since we weren't planning on losing him, we weren't paying attention to when and where. His eyes are closed in the picture but they're very green eyes and again, he's all grey except for the little bit of white in the front. If anyone should see him, please bring him home to us!!

Ryan's Handywork.....AAAUUUGGGHHHH!!!!!

WOW! I am so frustrated by this kid sometimes I don't know what to do!! This morning while I was in the kitchen I heard a large crashing noise coming out of my room. Then I heard Ben crying. So I ran to my room to see what was going on......


Fortunately neither of the boys were hurt but they could have been!! I don't even know how to discipline him well enough for him to understand!! I put him in his room and went back there 3 minutes later and he was already climbing on his dresser trying to get into the frog tank!!! Putting him in the time-out chair makes him mad but he still turns around and does the same thing over again!! I don't know what to do that he would dislike enough to not want to try something like this again! What do I DO??!!! The terrifying 3's have begun......

Happy 3rd Birthday Ryan!

Yesterday our oldest just turned 3 years old! I can't believe he's already 3! Since Monday was Memorial Day and everyone in the nearby family had the day off, we had a little party for him then. We grilled up some hamburgers and then there were LOTS of presents to open!

Ryan got pretty spoiled this year. Fortunately they're all things that can easily be shared with Ben.
Ben was having a hard time sitting back while Ryan opened all the presents so near the end, when Ryan wasn't showing as much interest in opening anymore because there was already a winner among the opened group, we passed one to Ben for him to open. That was enough to make Ben happy!

G'ma & Papa got him a couple little games, dominoes and a memory/matching game. Aunt Lissa & Uncle Nate got him a cool 3-D View-Master with extra discs of all sorts of animals and both boys enjoy that since they're very much into animals (running like a cheetah, jumping like a dolphin, wearing laundry baskets on their backs to be turtles, that kind of thing). He got a few other smaller things: bubbles, sidewalk chalk, sandals, a Cosmo Cougar DVD....but the thing that I thought Ryan would have been most excited about was his new "Cars" fishing pole and tackle box from Paul & me--and he would have been too!.....If Kendra hadn't shown us up with her present!!

The present of the year came from Aunt Kendra who spoiled Ryan royally....with an "End Zone Ball Pit" and a couple hundred balls to go with it!! (G'ma & Papa helped with the balls!)

I was happy Tuesday morning that although Monday night the ball pit was definitely the most popular item, when he woke up on Tuesday morning the fishing pole was the first thing he looked for! He ended up practicing his casting nearly all day! Between a few breaks in the ball pit, that is!

Bad Day!

This is so funny!!! I totally had to share it. "You had a bad day! Take one to wwaayyyhhhh...!!"

A Hike to Remember

Friday we took our first hike of the season up Grove Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove. We ended up starting the hike at about 5:50pm and we got back about 9:20. It didn't even get dark until we were pretty much finished with the hike anyway so it worked out just right. It was a long, steep hike (very steep in some places) and I don't know how but I actually made it! Of course, I was pretty sore Saturday and Sunday. I'm already starting to feel much better today which is good because tomorrow Paul wants to go on another hike already, up Battle Creek Canyon in PG. That one will be a lot shorter and easier though so I'm not as nervous about it. We've made that hike a couple of times already but we figure the boys will really like it because there's a pretty big waterfall at the end. It's also a much safer hike. We probably should have started with the other hike but no, we started with the harder hike!


Papa and Kendall went on their Father/Son campout so the rest of us decided to hike up to Paul's bridge on Friday evening. He built a small bridge up the canyon for his Eagle Scout project and I hadn't been to see it yet so we accepted Kendra's invitation to accompany Grandma, Lisa and her on the hike. We were excited to see it was still in relatively good condition despite some severe flooding of Grove Creek a couple of years ago.


We even took the boys with us, though, after experiencing the steep terrain and the narrow trail with the dropoff to one side of the trail, I don't know if that was the smartest decision we've ever made. Still, we all made it without injury (other than sore muscles) and the boys really enjoyed it! There was one moment where we stopped to rest and Ryan started running toward the edge of a cliff. That about made my heart stop and all my paranoid panic begin but I was able to grab him before he got too close and I think all of our panic scared him enough to not want to try it again. Just thinking about it still scares me to death! It'll be awhile before I'm willing to take them on that hike again.


Paul actually carried Ben on his shoulders the whole way up and Kendra had Ryan on hers for most of the hike. They're amazing!!! I barely made it up myself and there's no way I could have done it with a kid on my shoulders the whole way! Ryan actually walked most of the hike back holding someone's hand after we got through the more treacherous part of the trail and he was so happy the whole time! We'd tell him what a great little hiker he was and he'd say, "Thank you!" Ben got to walk a few stretches here and there and really enjoyed that but was carried most of the way and didn't seem to mind that either. By the time we were on our way down the moon was out pretty high so he said "Bye moon!" most of the way back. He's so cute!