Tuesday, December 16, 2014

August - Part II

We really had a fun summer soaking up the sun at parks and at friend’s houses. We had several playdates in the kiddie pool in the Dunaway’s backyard (with Provosts and Stones). By the end of the summer, Charlie finally started showing some interest in playing in the water. One evening, we all got together at the Provosts, husbands too, and we had dinner and a movie night. I think we watched Rio 2 to keep the kids entertained. It was really fun to spend time together with the husbands, since they miss out on all of the playdates.

At Timpanogos Park


Jason had his ten year high school reunion. That is so unreal! I can’t believe we are getting that old. High school seems like yesterday! We kept going back and forth trying to decide if we should go. It is sad how nowadays not many people attend those things. It seems like people pretty well keep in touch with who they want to on Facebook, so a reunion just isn’t necessary to reconnect. I think there were only like 30 people who said they were going to attend, and none of Jason’s close friends were going. Plus it was rather expensive for the kind of food they were serving. Regardless, we ended up having a reception to go to for Keri Madsen (a close family friend of the Grubers), so that settled that. That was after we dropped by Trevor Cook’s house...they were having a get together/BBQ with the rest of the gang. We also picked up our first box of Burgess peaches for the season. They are the best!

We made yet another trip to Idaho! My cousin, Kaden, was giving his farewell address for his LDS Mission to England. Since my grandparents house is being lived in by one of my cousins, my family stayed at the Hampton Inn in Idaho Falls. Camry drove up with our car Saturday afternoon and we checked into the hotel then headed to Bri and Brad’s apartment to meet their new baby, Bexley! She is just the cutest thing! We chatted it up then headed to Chilis for dinner. The rest of my family arrived at the hotel after midnight. Kaden’s farewell started at nine the next morning. I was so impressed with his talk. He is going to be a wonderful missionary. It is so fun to see cousins who you grew up with and who are younger speak for these kinds of things. It always shocks me how mature they are/can be...because that is not usually the side you see of them when you are just goofing around as cousins. After sacrament meeting, we headed to the Hillams for a tasty luncheon. While we were eating outside, the sweet smell of the food brought a ton of bees around. Poor Charlie got stung on his pinky! It swelled up pretty good, but nothing to cause alarm. You could tell it hurt and that it was bothering him, but he toughed it out and it eventually came down. Since then, he has been scared of bees (even any buzzing sounds). Later that afternoon, some of the cousins played croquet. And then it was time for the drive home. The visit came and went so quickly!

Breakfast in bed at the Hampton Inn



Through the month, we continued looking for houses online. We also decided to enlist the help of a realtor in our ward, Melissa Downs. She proved to be essential! She was awesome! We really wouldn’t have known what to do without her. I don’t know how people do it on their own...there is just so much stuff that is involved that we would have no idea about. We really appreciated having her help. If anyone is looking for a realtor, I would definitely recommend her. We spent a good amount of time driving around to different houses and checking out the neighborhoods. Charlie was a good sport and did a lot of driving around with me. Jason came when he could and after I had eliminated the definite “no’s”.

Jason went on his long awaited Canada Fishing Trip with his friend Parker (more on that next post). While he was gone, Charlie and I got some more quality time and filled our days with fun things. Wednesday morning we went with our realtor to a couple of house showings, and then we met up in Alpine for a playdate and lunch with Nancy. For dinner, we met up with Jaleah at Kneaders. Jaleah then came back home with us, and after putting Charlie to bed, we watched Endless Love. Thursday we invited Kylie, Stacee, Kara, and their kids to a playdate at South Fork Park. It was a lot of fun! We showed them where we like to play in the water and went on a small hike on one of the trails. It was a little crazy because the grass was wet when we first got there and it was hard for Kara to push her stroller around on the trails. We were also surprised when several school buses showed up with tons of elementary kids. They came for lunch and games. The park went from deserted to filled just like that. But our kids had fun watching the other kids play their games. Before too long, they were gone and the next thing of interest was the man and the big lawn mower. Overall, we had a great time watching the kids explore. It was a nice change. 




Kenzlie, Ryder, William, London, Hayden, Charlie


When we got back from the park, a package had arrived for us from Daddy. Charlie was given some stackable cups and a fun drawing pad. I was given a huge body pillow! I had seen my cousin, Bri’s, body pillow and really wanted one to help with my pregnant sleeping. I was shocked to see it arrive for me and I was so thrilled! It was such a thoughtful gift. I knew he would regret it though because when I tried it out the first night I could tell that it took up more than half of the bed. Jason was going to have a couple months of small sleeping quarters thanks to this amazing pillow! When he got back he was shocked to see how big it was, but he was a good sport and dealt with it.



Thursday night, Amy came over and we watched Divergent, painted nails, and ate ice cream. On Friday, we headed to Swiss Days in Midway with my Mom. That was a fun outing. That night, after I put Charlie to bed, it was just me...so I rented Noah and watched that alone. I figured Jason wasn’t interested in seeing that movie anyway. On Saturday, we went to the zoo with Kerstin, Alisha, and their kids. It was an overcast day and we thought it might rain, but we got super lucky. It didn’t rain and it was nice and cool! Perfect! That night I stayed home and watched Gilbert Grape. Thanks to Netflix, I never have to have a boring or lonely night.













On Sunday, after church, I headed to Draper for dinner and to stay the night. The next day was Labor Day, and we had an Arbon Picnic at my grandparent’s house so we could all visit my cousin Melina while she was in town. That afternoon, Jason returned home...and we were so excited to see him! As you can see, we kept busy and had lots of fun, but things are always better when Daddy is home!

Other August pictures:

Charlie sorting his Smarties

Dinner at the American Fork Farmers Market

Tyson's birthday dinner

Zion's baptism
(Julien is so great at being Charlie's buddy/helper...even if he doesn't appreciate it)

At South Fork park with Daddy:





Monday, December 8, 2014

August - Part I

We were lucky enough to get a free evening at the new Draper Aquarium, thanks to Kids on the Move. (Apparently Kids on the Move services lots and LOTS of families...when we first drove up, the line was backed up clear through the parking lot and to the road. It was crazy! We spent time at the nearby RC Willey to wait for the line to die down.) When we did finally make it in (also avoiding a huge freak rain storm...would have hated to be standing outside in line in that weather) we had such a great time. We especially loved watching Charlie explore everything. We kept him in the stroller for as long as we could, but that only works for so long...once he was out, it was a little tricky keeping track of him with all of the people. But he was having a blast...and we were getting a workout chasing him around.








At my doctor appointment in August, when they measured my belly, they found that I was measuring two weeks behind. This surprised me since the last ultrasound had him measuring right on track. They decided I would have another ultrasound at my next appointment.


Charlie and I had a fun lunch date with my high school friend and dancing buddy, Desi, and her son Will. We met up at Cubbys (love that place) and had a great time catching up and reminiscing on old times.




Jason and I decided to join the ward in Ward Temple Night. I don’t think we have ever done that. We were excited to go, but the real news about the night was we got our first legitimate paid babysitter... that was not family! That’s right, at two years old we were paying our first babysitter. We have been so lucky to have family usually tend Charlie. I was super nervous….she was only 12 years old. She was one of the young women from the ward. But everything went fine...we should really do that more often and give our family a break!


Speaking of ward activities, we had our Ward Summer BBQ (replacing the traditional Ward Luau since Bishop Uda was released). Jason was responsible to help a lot with that. It was stressful for him, but it turned out to be really fun. We had a BBQ and pool party at the Veteran Memorial Pool in Pleasant Grove.


We made our first batch of salsa for the season! For whatever reason, we didn’t get nearly as many tomatoes this year! We were disappointed, but we were still able to make a decent amount of salsa. We weren’t able to make enough to share as much as we would have liked, but we had sufficient for our enjoyment needs :)

Another good use for our tomatoes...



We had our annual Arbon Camp Out! We had such a fun time last year with the extended Arbon family that we invited them again this year! We had a blast, as expected. We had lots of good food, games, walks, volleyball, camp fires, and s’mores. You will be surprised to know that we didn’t play a single game of airsoft wars! Too many pregnant cousins and cousins with kids, I guess. Jason and I were able to fit our big air mattress and Charlie’s pack and play in the tent again. That made things really nice. Charlie was into exploring everything and going on lots and lots of walks. Thanks to lots of volunteering family, Jason and I didn’t have to go everywhere with him. He had a ball and got plenty dirty.



Aunt Erin, Aunt LoyAnn, and Grandpa Arbon










We started the process of house searching! We knew it was time. Thanks to my dad working for a mortgage company, he got us started and we got pre-approved for a house loan. And so the daily internet searches began!

And who could forget about Alpine Days! Sadly, Nancy couldn’t make it again this year, but we joined George and sat in our perfect seats right in front of their house covered with shade. It was fabulous! Charlie had a great time with all of the candy. Rather than heading to the hot and crowded festival like we usually do, we just had lunch in the backyard. Very relaxing and peaceful.