May - Flower Garden and Memorial Day

The new Payson Temple is gorgeous! We went to the Open House with the Grubers, thanks to Karl for getting us tickets and making that happen. It is such a unique temple with an old fashioned exterior and a beautiful, modern interior. We were all very impressed, especially with the sealing rooms and waiting room. Charlie had a challenge with the booties, unfortunately. Early on, he did not want to wear the booties over his shoes. A kind worker let us know he could just take off his shoes and wear his socks instead. Well, in Charlie’s mind, that was a problem too. He did not want his shoes off. So he just cried and cried. There’s not really a room you can escape to in the temple during an Open House that you can take children with bad behavior. Jason was a saint and took Charlie outside while the rest of us finished the tour. Once we were all through, we stayed with Charlie while Jason, his dad, Karl, and his friend went back through the tour. I’m relieved it worked out and that Jason could still tour the temple.

After touring the temple, George treated us to breakfast at Kneaders.

Sometime in mid-May, the boys and I went to Farm Country with Nancy, April, and her kids. It was a fun, hot day looking at the animals. Charlie shocked us all and was actually willing to ride the pony. Hurray!

playing fast food drive through

very excited for the wagon ride

Jason and I finally got around to planting some flowers in the front. Since my tulips never bloomed, to my disgust, and the poppies were getting on the old and droopy side, we knew we had to figure something else out for our front area under the windows. We knew the planter boxes had to go, as they looked worn and not quite what we wanted. To be honest, it is funny that they even stayed there as long as they did, as when we moved in we said they would be the first things to go. Because of rain, we pretty much had one night to get everything done before we left for Idaho for Memorial Day weekend. Our first local babysitter was hired just so that Jason and I could go to Cook’s Nursery without the boys. I think that is hilarious! We were that desperate to really be efficient. It makes such a difference being able to go places without Colson crying, or Charlie running around and getting lost. It was a nice, and busy, date. After getting home and putting the boys to bed, we worked in the dark preparing the soil and putting in a rock border around the flower bed. It looks a lot better! We have plans to also put a border around the flower bed on the other side of the door, but we have to take these projects one step at a time. We couldn’t actually plant any flowers that night because we had to get some soil, which we couldn’t do until they opened the next morning. The Coburns saw us working that night and actually helped us set up the stone border. Josh came the next morning, after Jason picked up the soil at 7:00 am, and helped him rake it in. Then we planted the flowers. We were in such a time crunch because we were leaving for Idaho later that morning. We were working like bees planting and packing. It was crazy! But we did it and it turned out lovely! I must say, picking out flowers and shrubs was a lot harder than I thought it would. There are so many different plants, and you have to consider the amount of sun, amount of water, the color, the height, price, everything! We have lots to learn, but we did our best, and it was a fun project.

After planting and packing up we headed to Idaho that Saturday morning. This trip was kind of a big deal because it was Memorial Day and it was kind of our last hurrah before the house got sold. It was finally being bought by a nice family. The emotions were definitely bittersweet! The boys did an amazing job on the drive! Colson slept for all but the last ten minutes of the drive. Charlie did great with games on the iPad and snacks. When we got to Idaho, we visited with family and cleaned up the house a little bit. The plan was to do a big bonfire that night, but it rained so hard that we had to change our plans. We had dinner inside and played games. Once the rain let up a little bit, we let off balloons with messages and memories for Grandma and Grandpa Rich.

That night, Jason thought it would be fun to let off some of the sky lanterns that we brought. We thought with the rainy weather, it would be cold enough for the sky lanterns to fly. He lit a test one. It was very slow to fill up with warm air. It didn’t look like it was going to work. Finally it started rising a little bit, but the crowd seemed to feel it didn’t have enough power to let it fly. Jason was feeling confident though and so he let the lantern go. We watched it slowly rise and drift with the wind, right towards the tree above the garage. To the horror of the family, it got stuck in the branches and continued to burn there. I’m pretty sure my mom even screamed when it caught in the tree. Visions of the house burning to a crisp just days before selling was playing in the minds of the family. People wondered if they should get the hose or if we needed to call the fire station, but Jason played it cool, reassuring everyone that the lantern would burn out before catching fire and that the tree was too wet anyways from all of the rain. The family tensely listened and trusted in his confidence. Just as Jason said, after several minutes (that felt like forever), the lantern burned out and all was well. He told me later that he was sweating it pretty bad. He was pretty confident, but you never know, right? He joked that if things went south he would immediately run inside, pack up his things, and book it out of there, as he surely would have been disowned by the family if the house were to catch fire. It was an intense moment, but it is a hilarious memory!

On Sunday, we went to church, visited with family, and then met up in Parker to visit the graves of my grandparents. It was a special moment, as we soaked it all in while sitting on blankets by their graves. On the way home, we stopped to see Brooke and Nate’s new house. It was an awesome house that they had built with a great yard.

We got home a little later than expected, but we ate dinner and then the new owners came for dessert and some outdoor games. We had family prayer, a few tears, and then once everything was settled down, the cousins played the customary game of Mafia. It was hilarious as usual!

Jason had a busy week of work ahead of him, so we got up early the next morning at 5:30 am) and drove home. You will find it funny to know that we were actually pulled over twice on this trip! We were excited to be taking a road trip in our new Explorer, but it definitely is more of a target for the cops than the old Accord was. I had never been pulled over once for speeding! Then here we were, being pulled over twice in 24 hours! I got pulled over driving from the cemetery to Brooke’s house on Sunday, and then Jason was pulled over driving home the next morning. Somehow, we both were let off with warnings! I think it helps that the second stop was on the Utah side of the border. We weren’t going any faster than we usually do, but this car just really seems to draw out the bacon! Beware!

Throughout April and May, Jason had been working on planting things for our vegetable garden. We were very excited to utilize our new space and to plant a variety of things. We weren't prepared for the amount of weeds that came along with it, but after using some Preen I think we have it somewhat under control. Here is a look at the garden at the end of May:

The garden includes 25 strawberry plants, 13 raspberry plants, two rows of onions, two rows of peas, three jalapeno plants, two Anaheim pepper plants, two cantaloupe plants, two zucchini plants, two rows of green beans, one pumpkin plant, two Roma tomato plants, two cherry tomato plants, seven "regular" tomato plants, and three rows of corn. Salsa and corn season should be awesome! We are crossing our fingers. 

already seeing some Roma's growing

...and some good-sized strawberries

Here are some other random pictures from the month of May:

having fun with some left over frying oil...bean and cheese crispy tacos and homemade potato chips

Jason's shot of Timpanogos

Colson's Sixth Month

(April 6 - May 5)

In an effort to help Colson with his naps, I started napping him with the soft white, blue, and green blanket that his Grandma Arbon made. It seemed to work, however, with the rising temperature, I had to stop after a few attempts. It was just getting too hot.

I tried to sleep train him so he wouldn’t wake up until five or six in the morning. I would basically let him cry it out for an hour if he woke up in the middle of the night.

He is able to sit up for a few seconds unsupported. He is getting stronger and stronger.

Colson LOVES Charlie and is so entertained by him. He will totally giggle whenever Charlie gives him attention. It is so cute!

He is still super close to rolling over.

I wondered if he was teething because he was always wanting to chew on things and he was bringing things to his mouth.

Colson is doing well with holding some objects and switching them from one hand to the other.

His cradle cap finally went away! His hair is still really thin and wispy, but the scales are gone! Colson’s hair is coming in lighter.

As mentioned in a previous post, Colson was blessed on April 12, 2015.

My friend Amy came and took some adorable pictures of Colson (and Charlie). She did an awesome job really capturing Colson’s cuteness! (See pictures at the end of this post)

Colson is a happy baby, for the most part. He enjoys walks outside in the stroller for awhile. He loves holding onto things, like water bottles, chains, and noisy toys. He is able to reach and grab onto things pretty well.

By the end of the month, Colson had rolled over a few times from his back to his stomach. I even found him laying on his stomach for one of his naps. He had actually flipped over and gotten stuck on his stomach and then fell asleep.

Colson has some spots that are on each cheek, below his eyes, that have pimple like pressure on them. Every once and awhile they will swell up and look really painful. They don’t really pop like pimples, however, so we are confused as to what they are.

I started trying to sleep train him during the day so he didn’t have to nurse to fall asleep. It was pretty tough. I didn’t quite have complete success by the end of this month. He did start doing a little better with soothing himself to sleep. I would feed him when he woke up from his nap, instead of when he was going down. Often times he would cry for 10 to 15 minutes after putting him down, and then he would fall asleep, swaddled lightly in his crib. Half of the time he would kick out of his swaddling, and then fall asleep. Overall, however, it didn’t seem like he was completely sold on this napping routine.

Colson loves baths! He splashes out of control! We still bathe him at the kitchen sink in a little portable tub. His splashing gets all over the floor, counters, and me! Daddy has gotten to the point that he doesn’t let him splash. He will hold his hands over his legs. Another way we have avoided the splashing has been to put him in the actual bathtub with Charlie. We sit Colson in the Bumbo and he just loves it. We learned that the Bumbo floats if the water is too high, so we keep it right to his legs and things go pretty well (with really close supervision).

Colson takes bottles beautifully now! It was a long, hard road, but we have made it! At least he does great with breast milk. He has taken formula, but I can tell he doesn’t love it.

He likes the song “Pop Goes the Weasel”. I can sometimes distract him with that song, like when changing his diaper or after he gets upset.

We started him on rice cereal. Colson was a little unsure how he felt about it, though. I figured he would love it because he was totally smacking his lips while watching us eat at meal times. We will have to see how things go.

And here are the pictures from the photo shoot with Amy:

Charlie being difficult, as usual, with taking pictures

...I had to resort to holding them together...

I sure do love my boys!