Mommy Daughter Date

Jeremy and I decided that Mikkele needed to have some one-on-one time with her mommy. She is such a good little girl. Often times she gets put on the back burner because of Grant's needs, but she is so good about it. She very rarely complains that Grant gets more attention than she does. So I told her that we were gonna go out on Saturday and she needed to pick what she wanted to do. She decided that she wanted to go to the Aquarium up in Sandy. So Saturday afternoon we left Granty with Jeremy to have some boy time and headed up to Sandy. We stopped and had lunch at Chick-fil-A first and then went to the aquarium. We saw a lot of really cool fish and sea life.

The octopus was pretty active. It was cool to see it move around and how long the tentacles were when they were fully stretched out.

The jellyfish were one of the main things Mikkele wanted to see.

Just a really big, weird looking fish.

Typically Mikkele is kinda a scardie cat about touching things. But she broke out of her shell and touched a few things while we were there.

This is her best shark face. She is such a funny girl.

She has always been scared of touching stingrays. She finally touched one after 8 years of trying to talk her into it. What an accomplishment.
We had a lot of fun spending time together just the two of us.

Grant

Grant has been really cute lately. When I am on the phone with Jeremy he knows and starts to say "A Dada, A Dada" until he gets to talk to him. Once I put the phone up to his ear this is what happens....

A few other things he's been doing lately...
*The other night I thought I heard Jeremy's truck pull up so I told Mikkele to go see if D-A-D was home. Grant then proceeds to say "A Dada, A Dada" I asked him how he knows what D-A-D spells and he just got a big smile on his face. He really does know what's going on and is a lot smarter than we give him credit for.
*He has started to drink out of a sippy cup. This is a HUGE accomplishment for him. It's not perfected to the point that we can switch from bottle to sippy, but I know it's not too far off.
*He learned a new word....Ya.
Mom: Do you want to go take a bath?
Grant: Ya
Mom: Do you want to take a nap?
Grant: Ya
Mom: Do you want something to eat?
Grant: Ya
You get the point. It's really cute. It takes months to sometimes see new things, but I am grateful for those little accomplishments. However minor they are a huge milestone for him.

The Anniversary Trip

For our 10th anniversary we wanted to get away on a trip somewhere. We had a lot of thoughts that ranged from a cruise, to lots of states between California and New York, etc. After doing a bunch a research on the internet, we decided on IDAHO. I know it sounds kinda funny, why would we choose Idaho out of all the places we could go, but we did and we had a great time. We went to the Twin Falls area. Why Twin Falls do you ask..well if you get on their chamber of commerce website their motto is "In the middle of everything". And they seriously are. There is so much to do within the city and about an hour and a half radius, and we only covered a small portion. Thursday we just hung around the city for a bit. The bridge that you cross to go into the city is a big attraction to base jumpers.

So we were able to watch some crazy people jump off the bridge and land on the ground below. These are some nice "professional" pictures taken of us on the bridge looking down and with the bridge in the background. They have a golf course in the bottom of the gorge that we heard is a great course for those golf enthusiasts.

Thursday and Friday night we stayed at a place called Miracle Hot Springs. We stayed in these things called geo domes. Have you ever gone camping and wished that you could bring your bed with you?

Well this is basically what it was, luxury camping. Inside the go dome were tile floors, and a queen sized bed. But outside our room was a picnic table, fire pit, etc. all the things you need for camping. The hot springs were awesome. It was so nice to get in the pools at night after a long day. They had one pool that was about 93 degrees, and they had another pool that was about 103 degrees, and they had private pools also that were probably somewhere in the middle. I didn't get any pics of the pools, whoops, so if you want to see what the pools were like click on the link above. One really random thing about this place was they had 3 live alligators.
Friday morning the grounds keeper was in their pin mowing their grass. This made Dean, the male alligator, a little upset. It was definitely interesting to watch. The females didn't care about what was going on so we didn't get to see much of them. They stayed under the water.

Friday we did a bunch of exploring. The first place we went to was called Mammoth cave. It was about 1/2 mile long path through the cave. It was pretty cool.

A few miles up the road was another cave called Indian Ice Cave. This cave has a floor of ice that is 25 feet deep. We didn't think it was as cool as a cave. It was a lot shorter and guided, so we couldn't really explore what we wanted ourselves. The pictures below are the pathway to the entrance of the cave, and then some of the ice on the bottom of the cave floor.

After those 2 caves we went to the Crater's of the Moon National Monument. It is a huge lava field that was formed forever ago. The lava flow caused a bunch of lava tubes which are now caves. We took a guided tour through one of the caves called Indian Tunnel. It was pretty big, and had a lot of ceiling collapses so you didn't need a flashlight.

After the guided tour we decided to go through some of the other caves close by. The next one was called Boy Scout Cave. This cave was pitch black inside so we had to take flashlights. The entrance of this cave was quite a bit trickier than the stairs that we took into the other one. Once we got in it opened up big, but then we noticed that the ceiling got really low up ahead. We thought about going back, but continued on. We had to army crawl through most of this part. We were definitely not prepared for this type of cave exploring. Our hand, knees, heads, elbow, etc. were very sore. We had a lot of laughs as we were crawling slowly through the small space. You can see in the picture of Jeremy the small space that we had to fit through. It was fun, but we decided that we were done with the spelunking after that.

This is a picture of some of the lava fields. They stretch for 60 miles north to south. It's crazy. There's that awesome professional photographer again. She followed us everywhere.

Saturday we went to a place called Thousand Springs. They just happened to be having an arts, crafts, and blues festival that day as well. We walked around the booths for a while, had some lunch, listened to some music, and then went on a canoe ride. This was hilarious. Jeremy has a slight fear of the water and doesn't always feel safe around it. So as we're taking off he starts freaking out that we're gonna tip over. The only reason he felt like we were gonna tip was because he was panicking. Once he calmed down a bit and got his bearings we did just fine, for the most part. We did decide that we would not make a good team for the Amazing Race.

The canoe ride took about an hour. We went around the island that they were having the festival on. Throughout the ride we were able to get pictures of the different springs that are in the area. It was really pretty. These falls go year round because they are springs. The other falls that Twin Falls is famous for weren't flowing because they are mostly from snow runoff, so it was fun to see these falls. We did make it back alive to the docking area with only a few mishaps of paddling us into some of the shrubbery on the sides of the river, mostly when I would stop to take a picture and stopped paddling. Jeremy took most of the mishaps since he was at the front. He he he.

That night we decided to lay low and went to a movie. We saw Eagle Eye. It was pretty good. On the way back home we stopped by the new Twin Falls Temple. It was really pretty all lit up at night.

That night we stayed at this cute little cabin. It was pretty simple with just a bed, a bunk bed and a small desk. I didn't feel well that night and went to bed early so we didn't get to sit outside on the cute porch swing like we wanted to.

We had a great time. We did miss the kids though. We kept saying we wished the kids were here and how much they would have loved the things that we did. So we might just have to make another trip back up in the spring. The falls will be going at that time with the snow runoff.
Thanks to my mom for coming up from TX to watch the kids. She is such an amazing grandma and the kids love her to pieces. The night before she went back home Mikkele had a bit of a melt down because she didn't want grandma to go back home. I explained that she needed to go back home and take care of papa now that she had been at our house for almost 2 weeks. I told her we would take some pictures the next morning before she left so she had something to look at when she got sad. So here is one of the pics that we took of grandma and the kids. Thanks mom! We love you and miss you!

10 years ago today....

I can't believe that we have hit our 10th anniversary already. It's really making me feel old. As I was looking through our wedding album this morning I was amazed at a few things. 1. We look so young. I really don't feel that much older, but to look at us now we are definitely older. 2. We look so much thinner. I know it happens to the best of us, but it would be nice to go back to the days where all you cared about in life was looking good to the opposite sex, so all you did was things to benefit that. There is just not as much time to do that anymore. 3. Photography has changed so much. Our photographer did not have a digital camera. All of the effects that were done were from different lenses instead of altering them on photoshop. That was probably the biggest thing that hit me. Technology has changes SO much in the last 10 years it's crazy. Here are some things that i remember from this day:

***My dad about passing out when he saw his oldest daughter kiss a boy for the first time over the alter.

***Jeremy forgot to bring his Tuxedo to the temple. He says that he wasn't told to bring it. Woops, minor detail. We could pretend that he did it on purpose to make me look that much better on our special day. :)

***The weather was crazy that day. It was really windy outside the temple. Everyone that didn't have a gallon of hairspray on their head had had issues during pictures. Because of the wind we had great clouds blowing by. I love the clouds in the pictures. It rained in between the temple and the reception. It stopped raining about an hour before our reception, so it really wasn't a big deal, as our reception was in doors.

***We had our luncheon at Hometown Buffet. I'm definitely looking back at that and thinking that was kinda tacky. Oh well. It pleased everyone with the variety of food options. During the luncheon Jeremy's Uncle Kelly stood up and told about how when Jeremy was little he had a problem saying his T's. He said them as an F. So when he would say Truck, it sounded like something else. Thanks Uncle Kelly for giving us all that lovely memory.

***During our pictures at the reception, we had some in front of a huge mirror. I grabbed Jeremy's butt forgetting that everyone could see my actions in the mirror. He he he. :)

***We stood in line for over 3 hours. People started coming early and showed up late also. The line was never ending. We had so many people show up. Don't get me wrong...I'm grateful for all of our guests, but my feet hurt BAD. We didn't end up leaving until like 11:30. What an extremely long, but enjoyable day.

***Apparently we had great food. We wouldn't know. We were in line for so long that we didn't get to eat any of it.

***I loved our cake. (I should have included pics of it, but oh well) It was one of my favorite parts of our reception. It was so pretty. Jeremy was nice to me and didn't make a mess everywhere, but I wasn't as nice. I got cake everywhere when feeding it to him. It didn't taste very good a year later. Uh duh, why do we do that anyway???

***I loved our flowers. Our good friend Becky Sohm did the flower arrangements for us. She did a great job. Thanks Becky!

***Miranda caught the boquet, and Pete caught the garder. Haven't seen those two for almost the whole 10 years. Miss you guys.

***We had a limo ride from the reception center to the Anniversary Inn that night. So our car didn't get destroyed with decorating.

***At the Anniversary Inn we stayed in the Lighthouse room. The bed was inside the lighthouse, so it was circular. We had a fish tank above us. It was pretty cool.

I feel like I could go on and on about the things I remember from that special day. It's fun thinking back on it. Thanks Jeremy for all you do for me and the kids. I love you! Here's to 10 more years!

Grant's New Bed

We had a friend tell us about a lady that had a hospital grade crib that was sitting in her garage, that she was wanting to give away to a family that could use it. So we gave her a call and arranged for us to take it off her hands. It's huge! It will be able to grow with Grant for quite a while. He has been in a toddler bed for the last year and it is just not as safe for him as this will be. We had him try it out after we had it assembled.
Mikkele got in and tried it out also. The bed can hold up to 350 lbs. so if he's having a hard night I can get in with him.
It can also incline at the head and feet. It will be really nice to have this feature in the winter time when he gets his respiratory issues going on. Now we just need to get some cute, I mean handsome bedding for it. Thanks to Jenny for giving us the heads up on this bed.

The Woopie Cushion

On Friday I was wondering around Wal-mart trying to kill time while Mikkele was at her Little Entertainers practice. I came across the Halloween costume isle and found the funniest costume. It was a giant woopie cushion. I thought to myself that this would be a perfect costume for Jeremy for Halloween. It totally fits his personality. So I sent him a picture text to show him, but he said no. Well that night we were at Shopko with some friends just walking around killing time again, and we came across the same costume. After much persuasion I got Jeremy to at least try it on and humor me. Lucky for me, but not him, I had my camera with me. So he humored me a little more and let me take a picture. I was laughing so hard, it was difficult to hold still long enough to take the picture.
Then we got the bright idea that someone needed to sit on him like a woopie cushion's intended use. So Aaron was nice enough to play along and humor me a little more. Aaron wouldn't actually sit on Jeremy, but you get the idea with the picture. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Thanks Jeremy and Aaron for playing along with my crazy ideas.

Facebook

***There are a TON of posts for today. Be sure to scroll down to see all of them.



I've had a lot of people ask me lately if I'm on Facebook. So I decided to sign Jeremy and myself up. I've been told that I am finally joining the 21st century. Maybe I'm a little slow. It's a pretty cool network though. You just put in your e-mail address book, the school and year you graduated from highschool, and it starts suggesting people that you may know. I was amazed how many people that I had wondered what they've been up to for the last 10+ years are on there. And on the other hand how many people I haven't given a thought to, and still probably won't, are on there. It has been good to catch up with people from the past. I have to admit I'm definitely not the best person for keeping up with people. Thanks to Facebook it will do it for me now, and e-mail me when there are updates.

Also on a completely different subject...Mikkele has been asking and asking and driving me CRAZY asking, if she can have a blog. So we have added a blog for her. The address is princesskellybelly.blogspot.com. It is going to be a private blog, so if you would like to hear what Mikkele has going on in her little head leave me a comment and I will add you to her list of readers.

Little Entertainers

I don't know how many times this summer Mikkele has put on little backyard concerts for us, there have been TONS! She sets up chairs, isles, and rows; makes and hands out tickets; and of course then she performs for us. Here is one of the ones that I recorded.

Since she enjoys performing for us so much, I have decided to put her in a singing and dancing group. It is called the Little Entertainers. She had her first practice on Friday. They will perform 3 times a year. The first time will be in December. So of course she is learning Christmas songs, which means she is now singing Christmas songs in September. It may be a long holiday season. We are excited for this group though. She has a good little voice already, and with some training she may some day be the next American Idol.

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round...

Grant is back in school!!!I keep reading all these posts that the mom's are sad and crying that their kids are going to school. I'm not one of those mom's. I'm happy to get my kids back in school. Don't get me wrong...I love my kids, but we all do so much better when there's an actual schedule to follow. As you can see Grant wasn't too happy about getting on the bus and leaving mom. I'm convinced that it's really all an act to make me feel bad. He really does enjoy school but is always happy to come home. He has a new 1 on 1 aid this year. Her name is Brittany. I haven't met her yet, but he gets a big smile on his face when you ask him about her.



You can see and hear from this video what we get to listen to every morning. Notice how he stops to evaluate and kind of look around to see if we are watching and feeling bad.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day weekend we went down to Page, AZ for Jeremy's Grandpa Decker's 80th birthday/family reunion. We spent most of the weekend just visiting with family member's that we have not seen in quite a while, some of them 8 years.

Mikkele had a good time getting to know cousins that she didn't know she had. One of Jeremy's aunt's has 9 kids ranging from 18 years old-18 months old. So they had a kid for just about everyone to play with. They had a great time and it was fun to see the kids interact so well. Lots of creative minds in that bunch, so there was never a dull moment.

We went down to the Glen Canyon Dam. This is the dam that holds up Lake Powell and drains in to the Colorado River. We've been there a million times, but it's tradition to go down there when we are in Page. The waterfall in the picture with Mikkele is actually rain runoff. It rained all night Saturday night and most of the day Sunday. It kind of dampened any plans for swimming. The picture with Jeremy is kinda funny. We're still wondering what his Dam IQ is.

On the way home from Page we stopped at Moqui Cave. It is a naturally made cave a few miles outside of Kanab, UT. Jan, Dave, and Connor ended up stopping there also so we got some pictures with Mikkele and Connor.


Inside this teepe was the biggest cave area. It had a bunch of glow in the dark rocks. Kinda hard to get a picture in the dark, but you get the picture.

Mikkele has been OBCESSED with rocks for as long as I can remember. I am constantly finding rocks in the washing machine, around the house, in her back pack, in the car, etc. While we were in Page she found lots of rocks that were "cool, pretty, or awesome" that she thought she needed to bring home with us. I was nice enough to let her bring home one cup full. She also picked out some at the Moqui cave that she thought were cool. Connor and Dillon got in on the fun also. You can see Connor scaveging for some outside our hotel room in the picture below.

Overall we had a good trip. We wish the weather would have been better, but I guess it's a Gallier trait to bring bad weather with you on trips.