Childhood

Summer is flying by and luckily I made it through the busiest parts of it. I think...

Mostly I just hope my kids are having fun. Childhood, ammi right?

There are just defining childhood moments and I love remembering the feeling I had attached to them and keep wondering when Kasen will really start remembering.

For me it includes:

1. Pretending my bike was a horse (a white one, cause I had white tires)

2. Learning to ride it with no hands

3. Riding it to elementary school and feeling so grown up

4. Pretending to be a mermaid at the swimming pool

5. Sleepovers on trampolines (at friends houses cause I didn't have one and usually by myself cause everyone else would get scared and go inside)

6. Cousin Island while camping

7. Building various forts, and making up clubs, plays and/or shows around the neighborhood

8. Climbing trees at the bus stop, pretending they were ships

9. Sitting on the roof of my house

10. Learning to do a back flip on the tramp

11. Hiking to the G

12. Night games

13. Walking around the mall with friends and knowing everywhere that gave food samples, but pretending like we might buy something cause we felt a little bad just asking for free stuff.

14. Birthday parties with my friends

15. Bringing home random animals that I wanted for pets and a red bucket full of potato bugs

16. Mud baths at Lake Powell

 17. Lemonade stands that never made any money

18. Jumping on the tramp with sprinklers underneath 

19. Rollerblading

20. Cartwheels

21. Tiny braids in my hair

22. Clear Creek Camp

Good times being a kid.

But also the chores! I never minded cleaning though and like mowing the lawn too.

Kyle has started giving Kasen little jobs to earn whatever change is in Kyle's pocket to put in Kasen's bank. This week he thought of a good one! Kasen gets to go pick up all the dog toys off of the grass before Kyle mows.

 Just this last week Kasen has started almost having a stutter, but at the end of his words. He repeats the last sound of some words like 4 times! I have asked around about it and I guess it's normal for speech development at his age, but man it is driving me nuts to listen to!
He went to his 4 year appointment with the doctor and when I told him he was going to the doctor he came running out explaining, "But I washed my hands with soap!" Haha

 On Monday the puppies went to the vet to get vaccinations and de-worming done. They are all healthy and there is a 3 pound difference between the biggest puppy (Spark at 14lbs) and the smallest puppy (Boo at 11lbs)!

 The last time they ever slept in a puppy pile because that day Golden Girl went home with her new family to Colorado. Thursday they turned 8 weeks old and Boo left to Oregon and Spark left to go live in Alpine. Saturday Mushu went to Idaho. All 4 puppies in different states!

 We got to go to Hero's week again this year at Cowabunga Bay and Kyle even came with us this time! Kasen went down 3 water slides all by himself too. I love seeing him get bigger and braver and more independent, especially when it means that he gets to have more fun!

Thank you Kyle for being our hero and thank you Cowabunga for showing your appreciation for it.

That night we got to go see Toy Story 4 at the movie theater with our friends!

We got to use the money that Naomi sent us for the movie.

 I didn't love how it ended, but it was still super cute. And Tai stayed in her seat lots longer than she did with Aladdin so that was awesome! She kept laughing out loud and saying, "Mom, did you that what just happened?!" Kasen was covering his eyes during a scary part though.

 Summer this week was all about the rainbow stripes. Kasen got those socks as a gift from the Primary for his birthday and loves them! Then after the splash pad on Wednesday he asked for a Rainbow snow cone. First time he has ever not requested Spiderman!

 Knox invited us over on Thursday to make our own Forky characters like on Toy Story 4!

The kids had so much fun and they turned out stinkin cute.

Lots better to make one than buy a toy version at the toy store for sure.

Tai Lynn has as much passion as ever. You can tell when she talks so loud!

She yells, "I have to tell you something!"

Sometimes when she wakes up we can hear her yelling from her room, "Mom, dad, the sun is awake!"

She yells at Kasen whenever he apologizes to her, "You're not sorry!"

She yells at me when I'm doing her hair that she wants it "Like a girl" cause when Kyle combs it it tells her he only knows how to comb it like a boy.

She yells at Kasen in the car when he tells her she can't say Yellow. "I can't say it yet!" It's so cute how she says, "blight eh-low" so we've been working on saying "bright yellow"

But she is so sweet to always say, "Theenks mom" even if she is crying or mad about something. She screams when I clean her face, but always says thanks afterwards. It's my favorite.

At night she asks me to sing "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Love you", but she always sings Twinkle Twinkle with me.

She also sings her ABCs and "Let it Go" quite a bit. She can identify all of her letters and spell her name, which is extra impressive to me because I haven't taught her those things nearly as much as I did with Kasen.

 This day was one of those summer days that I wanted it to be all about the fun of being a kid.

So I sent them outside to live it up, thinking I'd get some cleaning done just inside the back door, but man these kids are needy!

They needed me to fill up the fish floatie and then fill up the butterfly floatie.
Then I remembered I forgot to put sunscreen on them and had to go get that done.

By the time I was done spraying off the back porch they were already done swimming!

They wanted Popsicles so I went to get their Popsicles and cut the tops off, but then they wanted their towels so I had to go get those out of the back of the car.

Then they were hungry for lunch.

So while I'm in the middle of making them lunch and getting them milk, Kasen is hounding me about how he wants to say a message to his friends and he wants to draw with the markers.

He seriously makes 10 more demands before I can finish a single one of his previous ones!

I usually try to make him finish whatever he starts though. Like his TV shows. We aren't going to watch 5 minutes and switch. I want my kids to learn to finish whatever it is that they decide to start.

 Pools, puppies, and Popsicles are a few good ingredients that make for a bomb childhood.

 Saturday I took my mom out to dinner for her birthday! Ate a giant chimigchanga.

And then she came with me to the Ogden dinosaur park to watch my kids while I ran the Jurassic 5k Run! 13th race I've done and the first time I have ever ran a race by myself.

This one was lots of fun though!

And the kids got to play in the dinosaur playground while I ran.

At the starting line I could see Kasen looking for me. When he finally saw me running by, his face lit up and I will never forget him jumping up and down, pumping his arms, yelling, "Go Mom Go!"

Sometimes I feel bad that Tai only has 5 outfits to rotate through, but then I see her shirt and remember that I still don't even know how to get chocolate ice cream out of their clothes so really what is the point?

 Kasen and Tai were chasing these dinosaurs around until one turned around and bent over like it was going to eat Tai. She screamed the most terrified scream! Haha So funny.

When I was done Kasen came and asked, "Mom did you win?!"

I said no, I didn't win, but I never stopped until I finished and that's all I care about.

"Awe, but I wanted you to win!"

I love him so much. I was so happy to have my cheerleaders there cheering me on!

My time was 30:49, but the distance we ran was only 2.8 miles, not 3.1 so my time doesn't reflect how fast I run 5K. I'm always bummed when that happens!