Four

This little guy turned four on Sunday. It was a much anticipated event. He's been asking how many days until his birthday for about a year now! Okay, probably more like a month, but still, he's been anxious. Owen decided that his birthday meant he was king for the day. And he took that quite literally. Ains even made hims a crown. Here he is watching Spider Man while eating skittles and wearing his Batman cape. Ahh, such a life of luxury!

He had quite the birthday weekend. His birthday coincided with the Welch Family "stay-cation" this year. The whole family was in town. Michael even brought his girlfriend. Friday was pizza, s'mores, and a sleepover outside at the grandparents. Saturday was a bike ride on the greenbelt (that Ains and John missed because Ains woke up throwing up that morning). Then there was swimming, a bbq, and a movie outside on a big screen. It was a lot of fun and Owen thought the whole weekend was about him. And here is the one picture I got of all the festivities.....

Owen and his cousins looking at the fish at the nature center along the greenbelt. Breath taking isn't it?

John let him open one present a day early. His big boy bike. It's all he's been asking for. Other than his own tv and wii, a nintendo ds, and a few other minor things.

(That's Michael's girlfriend Courtney on the left. Good thing her name is spelled differently than our Kortney or that would be confusing :o)

Sunday the party moved to our house for Owen's little celebration. Sunday birthday's are kind of a bummer in my opinion. But what do I know. I'm pretty sure Owen had fun though.

He requested spaghetti for dinner (after I talked him out of mac n' cheese from a box because no one else in the family will eat that). He has recently decided that he loves noodles and rice and hates sauce. He even wants his pizza without sauce. So when he said spaghetti, he actually meant noodles. Yum!

He chose a Batman themed party (thanks to Batman Legos).

His day was filled with Batman, Spiderman, and Star Wars. A four year olds' dream come true.

The Life Jacket

A few months ago I bought Owen a life jacket. I knew we would be in lakes or rivers more than once this summer, so I decided it was time he had his own. He's been very excited to use this life jacket. So much so that on occasion he would wear it with his myriad of other protective gear while riding his 3 wheeler on the sidewalk. Lookin' good Owen.....Lookin' good!

Finally he had an opportunity to use his life jacket. He technically didn't need one, seeing as how the river we were in was only about 6 inches deep, but he didn't let that stop him. He fully submersed himself in the FREEZING cold water. I'm sure it was to check out the floating capabilities of his life jacket.

Days later he was excited when he was able to pull out his life jacket and use it again. This time however the life jacket was mandatory for water play. We spent the day on boats and jet ski's (courtesy of my ritzy sister and her in-laws :). Owen was very brave. But soon discovered he liked his life jacket more for swimming than cruising on the water. Let's just say that speed was not his thing. I did love it though when he held onto a handle every moment that he was in the boat. He thought of it as more of a ride.

And then, only a week later, he got to use his life jacket again!!! Lucky boy! This time it was for our little day trip to McCall. (Camping trip turned day trip due to my back suddenly going out. Boo.)

None the less, he had fun in the lake swimming, and playing in the sand on the beach. Pretty much a little boy's dream come true.

Oh, and Ainsley got to use her life jacket too. She was much more excited about speed than Owen.
And enjoyed her time in the lake and on the beach just as much as Owen.

And I got to use my life jacket too. I was joking when I took this picture. Ironically, we tipped over about 10 seconds after this was shot. So my life jacket got good use. I also used my life jacket a lot when I tried to wake board, after a 10 year hiatus. Lets just say I'm not able to do that anymore. And I have the battle wounds to prove it.

And last but not least, while Emmie had a life jacket made available to her, she currently lacks a neck. And therefore was very uncomfortable and hated her life jacket. So she spent her time on the beach in her pack n' play in the shade. She was very good considering she spent 2 Saturday's in a row in that thing. What a good baby!

Our first visit from the Tooth Fairy

The moment Ainsley has been waiting for, "for her whole life" has finally happened! She lost her first tooth. Her favorite tooth to be exact! She was quite brave, considering her dad pulled it out after she discovered that there would be pain and blood.
There were only a few tears shed, and those were earlier when she bit into food and her tooth hurt. It was then that we thought it was time for the tooth to come out. And then she was all smiles!

The tears in this picture came when Owen opened her tooth box and her tooth disappeared into the carpet. Fearing that she would never find her tooth again, there was some drama. But the tooth was found and she was able to pose for these pictures.

And here she is this morning. The tooth fairy was very kind to her and left her a $2 bill. And now she can show off the toothless grin that she is extremely proud of!

Family Prayer and FHE

We've had a couple of interesting prayers lately. Specifically Owen's prayers.

My 2 favorite lines were..............................

"Please bless that we can have banana spits." (Especially since this was the only line in the prayer.)

"Thankful Mom and I could made this yummy juice." (Again the only line in the prayer.)

Ains also recently gave quite an impressive family home evening lesson. She read the Joseph Smith story from the picture version of the Book of Mormon and then proceeded to read almost all of this talk. I must admit I was so impressed I got a little teary eyed a couple of times. She read it beautifully and only needed help with a few words. She never ceases to amaze me.

Ahh, to be young again.

I often say that I would love to relive my college days. Specifically my sophomore year, and most of my freshman year, and the summer after my sophomore year...it was all awesome! I don't know that I would like to relive the whole year and go to classes again, but I would love to show up on any given night or weekend just to hang out and be carefree again. I firmly believe that the time spent single in college is the most selfish time in a persons life. It is also typically is short lived, and therefore usually looked back on with fondness.

Since I do not currently own a time machine and can't relive my college days, I try to live vicariously through others. Specifically my sister Syd, who just finished her freshman year at BYU. She is home for the summer and kind of bored because she has few friends (who does when they come home for summer after being in college, right? I mean there's a reason people choose to spend their summers at school after their boring summer home after their freshman year of college right?)

I worry that my vicarious living may have reached a new low however. On Saturday night I transposed myself into a young single adult again. That's right, I ditched my family and went to a young single adult activity. Not so much to hang out with other young single adults, but more because it was at a water park. And I happen to be married to someone who hates water parks and thrill rides, and my children are too young and too short to enjoy the water park. And it was free! And I'm completely cheap, so usually if an activity is free.....I'm in!

I must say that I loved it! I loved going through the park without a care in the world. Going on all the rides without worrying about kids or time. Averting my eyes from the guys I saw that I went to high school with and my friends parents who were the adult leaders there. I felt like I was 20 again. Although, truth be told, I always feel like I'm 21. It would have been nice though if after my careless night of not worrying about time I could have come home and slept through the night instead of waking up twice to feed a baby.

And yet on some level it was even more enjoyable because I got to go home and be a wife and mother again and not worry about boys or what people thought of me. I just got to go be the crazy mom that was hanging out with the college kids trying to relive her glory days.

Time............

Time is something I seem to have little of lately. I have good intention of posting our happenings, and have formulated several posts in my head, but when it comes down to having the time to take a picture and actually post something it just never seems to happen!

So here are some of the post that have been forming in my head lately. All squished into one gigantic post. Because I am blogging this morning instead of doing dishes.

1. This summer I copied a friend and her ABC summer idea. We sat down before school got out and came up with activities for each letter of the alphabet. We don't go in order...because that would be hard. And we don't do one everyday...because that would be hard! But it does help me to remember to keep the older 2 busy when it would be easier to just stay home and let Emmie sleep. I'm starting to think we won't get through the entire alphabet, and we'll probably do some letters twice. Because I'm sorry, but there are a ton of "S" activities and no X activities. And when it comes down to it, I'm as lazy during the summer as the kids. And some days we do NOTHING!

2. Emmie and I play a little game. Similar to hide and seek. She hides her binky and I find it. Usually during her nap, or after her nap. And then she cries if she hides it at the beginning of her nap. And then I have to go find it. More often than not it's under the crib. Or hidden in something surrounding her bed. Actually, now that I think about it, it's not so much a game as it is a chore for me. I have a solid winning record so far. It will be a sad day if I ever lose, because Emmie has only ever had this one binky. I'm sure that is some sort of world record. I also think I will have it sealed in some sort of a box like a shrine if I can keep track of it for the duration.3. John says that Emmie is our little Garden City Walmart baby. He'll probably get mad at me for writing that, but it makes me laugh. Because she does look a little rough around the edges. Her hair is in need of some help. But we're just plowing through waiting for it to grow out. It wouldn't be so bad if she would leave a headband or clip in her hair, but she refuses. So it just looks like we don't love her.

4. And some more about Emmie (you would think she was my favorite child right now....which might be true.....but I won't say for sure :) The day after she started really crawling she started pulling herself up on all kinds of furniture. She has taken a few steps walking along the couch. She has also bonked her head several times falling down. I keep thinking she'll learn. But she' s just too darn determined. So much for a mellow baby that just sits! I got another one that just can't hold still!

5. A preface to the story.....Owen hates getting water in his eyes. I don't have a picture to show this. But my little boy insists on wearing his goggles anytime he is playing in water. Last night he turned on the sprinkler in the front yard, went and put on his goggles, and was running through in his clothes. I still giggle when I picture him running around the front yard, fully clothed, soaking wet, with his goggles on!

6. And last but not least, my kids (and I'm including John as one of my children in this one) are completely obsessed with Star Wars. The movie and Star Wars Legos. It may or may not be slightly ridiculous. But probably the first one.

A lot can happen in a week!

This past week we..............

Got family pictures taken...a few edits to this one and it will be perfect!!!

("What's wrong?" you ask. "You all look stunning!'" you say. Don't worry, we know how awesome we look! I'm just having a friend play with the lighting a bit, do some cropping to get rid of some of the feet, take out Owen's hand on the fence, and remove Emmie's headband from my hand.)

We celebrated the Fourth of July
Which just happened to be the coldest 4th of my lifetime (I think).

Which also happened to be the fourth (technically 3rd I guess since the holiday landed on a Sunday this year) where Owen's sweatshirt caught fire because his mother rolled up the sleeves on an over sized jacket to keep him warm and when the sleeves unrolled they went over the sparkler. I'm still a little traumatized by it all. Luckily Owen's only injury was a scrape on his neck from the zipper, since I ripped it off his head without unzipping it trying to get it off. Owen was ready to do sparklers again the next night....I'm still shaken up.

Ainsley also now has two loose teeth. Her bottom front teeth to be exact. We hear about them often....

And this little girl started crawling! She just leaned over her legs one afternoon and crawled four or five paces across the floor and then sat up as if nothing had happened. Until today she had yet to realize the benefit of her new found mobility. But today I think she realized that she could move around a bit. Which led to the covering of all the outlets, and the crash of a lamp.
Ahhh, the joys of having a crawler....but watching her scoot her little legs and move around the room is about the cutest thing I've ever seen!