Summer Fun

Once again, I have put off writing because I am lazy. Unfortunately, my brain does not retain things as well as it once did and much of this summer has been lost. I will do my best to recall as much as possible. I know I will forget a few things, so just count this entry as "Summer: Part I"

Let me start of by giving props to all three boys for being awesome on the flight to the U.S. Jacob and Andrew have always been great travelers, but I must admit I was worried about Matthew. Eighteen hours in the air with a four-month-old sounds like a form of modern torture. However, he was pretty good for a majority of the flight.

Our first pit stop this summer was Scott's parents' house. We were all thrilled that Scott's brother and his family were in the process of moving to the Bay Area, so we had a few days where we were all in the house at the same time. It was a blast! The cousins had a great time playing together, and the adults had fun watching the kids and catching up. It was a great way to kick off the summer!

One of the "projects" the boys worked on was making a brick throne for the one girl amongst the cousins. No, the boys are not drinking beer. They were just chugging down some of the "root" version after a long day's work.

Matthew loves the water. Well, at least we think he does. Actually, we love Matthew to go in the water because it seems to make him very sleepy at night! Someone thought it would be funny to let him drift for a little on the raft. Not to worry, Scott was close by the entire time.

Andrew was able to celebrate his seventh birthday while at Grandma Jan and Opa's. Andrew wanted to decorate his own cake, so here is the result. (Yes, all of Andrew's curls are gone. About a month before school ended he announced he no longer wanted his curls and requested that we buzz his hair.)

About a week after we got to California, we drove south for the Barry family reunion. We rented a large beach house and all thirty-one of us moved in for a week of fun and laughs.

While there, a few of us decided to hit Lego Land. Jacob was excited that he got to take off with the "older kids" and not have any adult supervision. His favorite part of the park was the section where you could build your own Bionicle and then put it on display.

To say Andrew is a Lego-fanatic would be an understatement. I am convinced that he thinks Lego Land is what heaven must be like. One of his favorite sections was the U.S. Capitol because the marching band guys moved around.

When we got back from Lego Land we realized we were locked out of the beach house. Andrew took it upon himself to entertain Matthew by dancing around with his (Matthew's) pacifier. Note the blue blur in Andrew's hand. Also note how thrilled Matthew looks.

Scott's favorite part of the reunion was when he decided to take an early evening swim out to a buoy with our nephew, Tyson. The buoy was about a half mile off shore, and the two of them left just after sunset. Let's examine why this may have been a bad idea:

1. It was pitch black before they even reached the buoy.

2. Tyson did not bring his goggles.

3. Sharks generally feed at dusk.

4. Due to the darkness, no one would have known if either or both of them had been consumed by aforementioned aquatic life.

No one was too thrilled that the guys decided to leave so late in the day. After about an hour and twenty minutes into their excursion, the executive decision was made to call the Coast Guard. While my sister-in-law was on the phone with the authorities, some of us could make out the faint splashing of someone coming to shore. As the guys emerged from the water, they were giving each other high-fives. Tyson then asked Scott, "I wonder who all those fire trucks are for?" It was in that split second the two of them realized who the fire trucks were for. Haha. Well, not really.

But it was a "haha" afterwards.

The last night of the reunion somehow turned into Dance Party U.S.A. Tyson, Scott's swim buddy, is also a part-time DJ. Luckily he brought along his play lists. What turned into a "remember this song" conversation quickly turned into an all out dance party. It was a complete and wonderful Brady Bunch moment which lasted for a solid two hours.

Our next major stop was our annual visit to Utah.

As is tradition, Scott always plays "poison ball" with the nieces and nephews. The game entails Scott throwing as many balls as he can at the kids while they are jumping on the trampoline. If the ball touches any part of their body they are off. I cannot tell you what a hit this game is with the kids. They are always begging Scott to come out to play "poison ball". In this match it looks as if Andrew and Ridge are the two sole survivors....oh wait, it looks like Ridge just got tagged!

The boys also took Greg's Rhino out for a drive in the mountains. Can I tell you how thrilled the boys were to drive!

One requirement I have every time we go to Utah is to eat lunch at the Church Office Building. Don't ask me why, I just love eating there. Mike and Andrea are always kind enough to humor my needs. After lunch we walked outside and decided to take this picture on a whim. It is one of my favorites (hence why it is on the home page of the blog). For those of you who don't know, this is the Salt Lake Temple where Scott and I were married almost twelve years ago. (Thank goodness I was only thirteen when we got married so I'm not that old :P)

One afternoon we decided to go on a walk to the store where the kids could pick out any treat they wanted. While we were walking, Jacob just decided to put his arm around Andrew. This is another of my favorite pictures.

Our last night in Utah we went out to Tepanyaki! Yum!

After dinner, Mike put his sunglasses on Matthew. We all got a good chuckle out of this one.

All in all, it has been a wonderful summer. Below are some of the funny quotes and stories that happened over the past couple months.

Right before we left for the States, I told the boys I would pay them each $5 if they learned the "Latter-day Prophets" song in its entirety. Well, I got to the part of the song that says, "David O. McKay was followed by Joseph Fielding Smith". Andrew piped up immediately and yelled, "Why did he eat him!?!?!?!?"

I responded (rather frustrated), "What are you talking about!?"

Andrew answered, "You sang, 'David O. McKay was swallowed by Joseph Fielding Smith'!!!!"

Another great Andrew quote was when we were watching some soccer event...which is generally on an hourly basis in this household. I think it must have been the Women's World Cup. After one of the teams scored, Andrew announced, "Another girl scored!? That's hot!" Ummmmmmm...... where did that come from!?

Another great story this summer involved our dear pet turtle, Bowser. While we were in the U.S., a lady came over every other day to feed Bowser. At some point, the filter to his tank broke and she did not feel the need to clean out the tank. No filter+turtle+turtle eating+humid weather+refuse = water that looks like mud (and smells like death). I almost passed out when we walked into Andrew's room. I thought for sure the turtle surely could not be alive living in such filth. We couldn't even see in the tank because the water was so filthy. Scott had to dump out the water, and at the very bottom, Bowser was still wiggling around. He was immediately moved to the day spa for some clean water and to allow time for the "toxic tank," in which he was living, to be cleaned.

I guess Bowser must have had enough of life with this family because the next day he broke out of the day spa and was no where to be found. We spent two days looking for him and eventually gave up. By that point I was waiting for the smell of his decomposing body to lead us to his location.

Two weeks went by.

One morning I came home after dropping the boys off at summer camp. I put Matthew down and noticed Andrew had left a toy on the stairs. As I was approaching the toy I was thinking to myself, "Why does Andrew always leave toys on the floor!? Wow! I don't remember him having a plastic turtle that big!" Just then I realized it was not a toy. It was Bowser: on his back, with his legs sticking straight up.

I did not want to touch the dead turtle, so I went into the kitchen to get a paper towel. I almost started crying as I approached the sad, little body laying on my stairs. As I bent down to pick him up I was trying to decide what to do with the body. Just as the paper towel brushed against his shell, his legs suddenly retracted. Bowser was alive!!!!

I immediately put him in his day spa and poured in a ton of food. The poor guy was so weak he could not move to eat. It took him about half an hour to eat one little tablet.

After his two week disappearing act, Bowser was put on "rock restrictions". However, after a couple of days I felt badly that he had no where to climb in his day spa. So, I found a new container with higher sides and moved him in there with his rock.

I have not seen him since.