Memorial Day Weekend

I was more than ready for a long weekend, especially considering that it is officially not winter anymore.

On Sunday afternoon we drove out to the Cedar Fort cemetery--a place I love.

Here I am with my two cute babies. Could I be any luckier?


I know there are so many pictures of Max's little, no big, smile, but I just can't resist.
Max is either 120% happy or 120% unhappy.I love him either way, but wow,
a 120% happy baby is about the most fun you can imagine.

At the cemetery Anna had her first experience with worms (thanks to my Uncle John). She thought the little creature was extremely interesting. I don't think the chosen worm will ever be the same again, but he certainly made an impact--just before Anna went to bed that night, she told me "erm, oooooh, little erm!"

On Monday we took our first family trip to Hogal Zoo.
We braved a rainy day, thus the cheap, but not-so-cheap, hats from the gift shop. It actually wasn't as wet as we thought it might be and we all enjoyed ourselves very much. The giraffes and penguins were the definite favorites. Anna can do pretty convincing impressions of both animals. Max was happy to just be carried around all day--(this picture was taken during the first ten minutes when both kids were still riding the stroller which ended up holding all our gear while we carried Max and chased Anna. I wish I had more pictures--I forgot to charge the camera battery.

Graduation and Not Potty Training

So I just want to know where spring is or was. To me 90 degrees, which is what the temperature read in my car yesterday afternoon, qualifies as summer. Not that I'm complaining. We are ready--swamp cooler up and running, summer jammies, etc. Just saying--crazy weather.
And now to catch up . . .

Number One is definitely that Taylor GRADUATED with his Bachelors in Economics. He actually finished classes in December, but walked in April, so the whole thing is final. Thanks to everyone who came to support Taylor and thank you for the babysitting, Mom and Dad! We had a very fun graduation weekend with our families. I, for one, am not sad to say goodbye to good old Brigham Young University for a while (except for football games, of course). I cannot believe what that chapter of our lives included--a lot, I will just say. I am glad to be fondly remembering full-time student days, and complicated dating days, and engaged days, and newly wed-tiny apartment days, morning sick teacher days, and new mommy days, Max as a new born days, and will-we-really-close-on-our-house-days. Yes, I am very happy in the present, which is not normal for me. Maybe I am learning my lesson.
Now for Number Two--a funny story. So at Walmart, where so many wonderful things happen, I spied an Elmo potty seat and I knew it was meant to be. We bought it and I thought, how will Anna not be potty trained in three days if ELMO is on her potty seat. She fell for it immediately--she held it in the cart and then shreiked when we gave it to the cashier. When we got home, I showed her how it fit so nicely on our potty and I tried to set her up on it--definitely not. So I set it down on the floor (oh, at this point she is diaperless) and said “Here, sit on it right here.” That she was okay with, her so she sat on it and I told her she was amazing and big. She was very proud. Then the phone rang. I ran to the kitchen to see if it was the roofer and then ran back to the bathroom at the sound of Anna’s distressed cries. Elmo Potty Seat was not on the floor anymore, it was snuggly around Anna’s head, very snuggly. I think Anna must be claustrophobic or something because being stuck (and she was stuck) sends her over the edge. So in the traumatic process of pulling it off her head, Anna did what I was hoping she would learn to do in the potty, on the bathroom rug. It was a very funny moment, and although we are no closer to being potty trained, we do know now that potty seats don’t go on our heads--so we did learn SOMETHING.
And Number Three--here are a few pictures at one of our favorite places lately--the gardens at Thanksgiving Point. Out of all of the pictures of Anna and Max, I don't think there is a single one where they are both happy at the same time. This one makes me laugh. Oh, the emotional life of a toddler. We took Anna out of her stroller which would usually be a happy thing, but in this case, we found, made us cry.

Here is a happy boy!

And here's our happy girl

I am so lucky to me the mom of these two funny kids--I love them both a lot.