Kylee in our little Honda packed between the snacks and sleeping bags on one side and Cody on the other.
Cody taking a nap. Now that is worth taking a picture of. It reminds me of the good old days when he was a regular napper (and not just while traveling).
Park Avenue
Double Arch was the last arch we saw before heading home. Do you think it was time to go? Poor Cody had hiked to Delicate Arch earlier in the day and had had all the fun he could handle. It looks like we just dragged him for miles and miles but really the car is right behind us. He layed in the sand for about 15 minutes and he wasn't crying or anything he was just laying there.
This is also in front of Double Arch, but before the meltdown.
This is proof that our entire family made it to Delicate Arch. This hike is awesome. I love how you don't see the arch until you come around a cliff and there it is.
We took 80 pictures of this pose. This is the only one where Cody isn't bugging his sister. He was either pulling on her ears or pulling her hat off or putting his arm around her in a border-line headlock.
Steve and Cody on the Delicate Arch hike. Cody was a good little hiker, but sometimes Steve had to put his backpack in the front so Cody could ride on his back.
At the Delicate Arch Trailhead. It might look like it's warm, but Kylee is wearing a snowsuit for a reason.
Cody at Skyline Arch. Everytime he sees this picture he tells me that his teeth were "shaking" (chattering).
This is the view from our campsite. It was beautiful. You too could have this view for only $8 a night (running water, garbage bins, and quiet neighbors not included). Camping with just our family was a little interesting. We couldn't set Kylee down and we had to keep an eye on Cody since we were so close to the river. So Steve cooked while I herded the kids and we never really sat down and ate a meal. Steve is so thoughtful. He always made sure I had a drink or food in my hand while we were busy with the kids. And he did the same for the kids. We are so lucky to have him.
Playing in the sand at Sand Dune Arch.
Kylee face-planted in the sand. The poor girl sneezed sand for awhile after that.
Kylee zonked after our first hike. I love holding my kids when they are sleeping.
Cody climbing a rock on the way to Broken Arch. He had SO MUCH dirt in his pockets. We didn't realize just how dirty he was until we were helping him get into his pajamas in the tent. There was a pile of red dirt all over our bedding.
Taking a little time for a snack in the car before hiking again.
This was on our first hike around the Windows. It was FREEZING. It was below 50 degrees and the wind was blowing, but we had just gotten out of the car after a 3 1/2 hour drive and we were excited to be there.
This is the first picture we took after getting out of the car. Kylee likes to raise her arms too and cheer, but we haven't really been able to capture it on camera yet.
In preparation for our big plans to camp at as many of the National Parks in southern Utah as we can this summer, we put the tent up in the living room to test it out. Our first little trip was to Arches National Park this past weekend. Our tent seemed a whole lot bigger in our living room than it did next to the Colorado River (imagine that), but we were glad we could huddle together and keep each other warm. Great pictures of our trip to Arches will be coming your way shortly.
At church the Primary kids had a lesson about mothers and they had a letter for each of the children to fill-in-the-blanks for their moms. This is Cody's letter to me:
Dear Mom
We had to take pictures of our nice little potted balcony garden as proof that we do try really hard to be successful little farmers. So these pictures will either be great to look back on when we take pictures later in the summer and see how much they have grown or these pictures will be a sour reminder of what could have been if they die on us. This year we are trying to grow Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, and Strawberries along with 2 Primrose plants. Wish us luck!
The picture of Cody and Kylee in the stroller is a little outing we took to Wheeler Farm since it was a scorchin' 50 degrees outside and we just had to get out and enjoy it. Kylee has had a nasty ear infection for three weeks now and so we haven't been going out much. It has made me a little more loopy than usual I am afraid. Cody is holding a ham and cheese roll that he rolled out himself…and then balled up, rolled out again, and then balled up and rolled out again. I let him have the end part of the dough to create his own roll with and he pretended he was on a cooking show, explaining every step. It was pretty cute. He was proud of it so we had to make sure it was in the picture. Now is a really good time to go to Wheeler Farm with all the new baby animals. Maybe if we spend more time at Wheeler Farm we can bring some of those good farming vibes home to our plants. Grow little plants! Grow!
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This week Kylee started to officially crawl. She is also eating finger foods by herself.
We love you Kylee!
I haven't been very good at writing down the funny things that happen. So I started writing some of them down last week. I can't believe how long my list is after just one week! I had no idea we were so cool. Here's our Top 10.
1. Every morning I ask Cody what he wants for breakfast and he says, "I don't know until I get there!" (meaning the kitchen)
2. Cody and I were eating lunch and he put two strawberries on his plate. In order to encourage him to eat more fruit I said, "How about you have 3 strawberries since you are three years old." Later, while we were eating, he said, "Mom, how old are you?" (I had forgotten about our earlier conversation). I answered, "28. Why?" He said, "You should have 28 strawberries." (There were only 5 left.)
3. While Steve was cooking bacon on the griddle, Steve told Cody to be careful because it was hot. Then Steve moved a piece of bacon with his hand.
Cody: "Dad, why are you touching it?"
Steve: "Because I'm crazy."
Cody: "I'm crazy too, so I can touch it."
4. Steve was cutting his hair with the clippers and Cody wanted to help. He said, "Dad, we should do your eyebrows too. They are pretty long."
5. In Primary a few weeks ago they were talking about having a Primary Cereal Party. They were asking the kids what some of their favorite cereals were. Kids were yelling out: "Lucky Charms!" "Cookie Crisp!" "Fruity Pebbles!" Then Cody yelled out, "Rice Chex!" That got the adults attention. (For those of you who don't know, last year we were dealing with Cody's food allergies. He couldn't have gluten, wheat, or dairy. So, Rice Chex cereal with soy milk became a favorite "normal" food. Even though we have eliminated his allergies and he can eat anything now he still likes Rice Chex.)
6. Every night when I kiss Cody good night I tell him "I love you more than…". How I finish that sentence usually has something to do with the happenings of the day. Cody is always eager to reply with his own. They are always funny. The other night I said, "Good night. I love you more than looking for pennies on a walk." Cody smiled and said, "I love you than more chunky milk." (That isn't a typo.) Now doesn't that just melt a mom's heart? Cody usually wants to "save" his milk instead of finishing it so I always say it will get chunky if he leaves it out.
7. Cody was talking to Grandma Tammy (Steve's mom) on the phone and he couldn't hear her very good. He handed the phone to Steve and said, "I can't hear your mom very good."
8. Cody was looking at my wedding ring and wanted to take it off. I told him that it was a very special ring so I didn't want to lose it. He asked, "Why?" (which is the word of the day lately).
Tiffany: "Dad gave me this ring when we got married."
Cody: "I want to get you a ring so we need to go to the store."
Tiffany: "That's nice of you, but you don't need to get me a ring. When you get bigger you will meet a girl that is really special and you will want to marry her. Then you can buy her a ring.
Cody: "But I want to marry you."
9. While walking outside Cody said, "Look, Mom! Sloth!" (It was moss.) He says sloth when he means floss, but I didn't realize sloth meant moss too.
10. Cody: "Mom, when we move to Pittsburgh we should have more kids since we'll have more bedrooms."
11. Here's a bonus story. This one happened a few weeks ago, but it should be on the Top 10. We were at church and Cody started acting up so Steve picked him up to take him out. Cody said, "I DON'T WANNA GO!" and of course the chapel was quiet. The Bishop looked at me and started laughing to himself and as Steve was walking out he saw people trying not to laugh or smiling. Cody and Steve had a little talk in the car before they came back in about how we don't yell-especially in church. Cody innocently asked, "Is it because the people don't like it?" Steve couldn't tell him that he had actually cracked up the whole congregation. Quite a few people have come up to us since then and told us how much they enjoy Cody and how they thought that was so funny.
OK, so, I thought we were cool because we have all these funny stories. But, I just realized that they are all about Cody. I guess we would be pretty lame without him in our family.
