Camping.

Our family LOVES camping. Seriously. Love it. We went camping up American Fork Canyon over the 4th of July with Mike's brother, Rob, and his family. So fun. We had to drive up a nasty bumpy dirt road for a while, but finally found a great spot. No toilets. Just us, and nature. And Jaida thought peeing outside was the coolest thing ever. I finally had to put a stop to the "I have to go to the bathroom" every 30 minutes.

Mya was filthy. The entire time. Her favorite thing to do was pile as much dirt as you could on her legs. Or pile it all on a rock and then swish it all over the place. And we just let her. Because she's only a kid once and at some point she'll think that's gross. But for now, enjoy the filthiness.

This is her face after she had to spend a little time in the chair for throwing dirt at everyone else. She can pull out the best sad faces ever. And she's genuinely sad. Which makes it very hard to discipline her. She gets away with a lot.

It's hard to see, but there's a deer in this picture. There were 2 or 3 of them that hung around our camp the entire time. I'm surprised they weren't scared off by all our noise.

Mike's a champ at making breakfast when we're camping and I'm too cold to pull myself out of my sleeping bag.

Filthy. So filthy.

Until next time.

The Night.

8:17pm: Mya falls asleep
9:45pm: Jaida gets in bed with me
10:15pm: I fall asleep
11:20pm: Mike carries Jaida into her room
11:33pm: Mya comes into our room. "Mom, I want you to lay with me."
1:20am: Mya is crying. Can't find her binkie
3:45am: Mya needs a drink
5:01am: Mya is in my room and wants me to come watch Blue's clues with her
7:03 am (yes that's still early for us): Mya crying again. Mumbling in her sleep. Having a bad dream
7:45am: Jaida awake.

It's now 8:23am and I'm ready for bed. :)

Lehi Rodeo

This is obviously from a while ago. But we went to the Lehi Rodeo. We love rodeos. What's not to love about a bunch of cowboys throwing cows around, getting bucked off bulls, and sometimes occasional blood. This year we managed to talk a bunch of the family into coming with us. The girls got a little bored and I don't think Mya enjoyed the cow tying. The motorcycle flips were a big hit though. Maybe we'll have to go to an X games event.

Jer and his girlfriend just "being cute together."

She's seriously awesome. No idea where she gets all her personality from. :)

It's all coming together now.

I'll admit Jaida going to primary (without crying--I still made her go every week) on Sunday was surprising. For my blog followers who don't know what primary is, it's part of our church service every week. We all meet together for the first hour, and then the kids go to "primary" for the next two hours. Yes, I'm Mormon. Yes, we believe in Jesus Christ. No, we don't have horns. Just thought I'd clear that up.

So on the way home from school yesterday, Jaida was talking to her friend about the boy she played with at recess.

"He's soooo cute."
Me: "Who?"
Jaida: "Brigham"
Me: "The same Brigham who just moved into our ward. And is in your primary class now."

It's the same one. And thus the reason for going to primary without tears. Because she likes a boy. And she's five.

Then, she gets home from school and asks if she can ride her bike around the block. I let her do it every once in a while. It takes her about 30 seconds. About 5 minutes later when she hadn't come back, I went on a search. Only to find her at the top of the neighborhood in the new boys front yard. No idea how she knew where he lived.
Great that she "snuck out" for the first time to find a boy when she was 5 years old. It's only going to get better from here. :) Let the games begin.

Primary

For the first time since she was 18 months old, Jaida went to primary without crying. She just decided she was going to do it. We've tried sticker charts, threats, promises, toys. . .to no avail. But yesterday, she decided she was going. "Mom. I'm going to primary today without crying. I'll just have a few tears in my head." And that was it. Such a testament of her character. She doesn't do anything she doesn't want to (without a fight at least) and if I'm patient enough, eventually she'll decide to do what needs to be done. The patience part is NOT easy. We're doing our best to point that "strong will" in the right direction.

REAL game.

Another activity during party with the Paxtons week. REAL Salt Lake game. Great seats, great game, great company.







Jaida and Nathan (her cousin down in front flashing signs with her) are BIG trouble together. Alone they can do a lot of damage. Together. WATCH OUT.

Christmas presents

Yes, I'm thinking Christmas. I know it's only September, but I'd like to be done with my Christmas shopping sooner rather than later. Hopefully that will inspire the baby to come early. :)

So. Anyone have good gift ideas for little girls who already have WAY too much crap?

And, I would appreciate suggestions on good kid books. I need some more kid books for our library but don't want lame ones.

And, does anyone have the V-smile Cyberpocket game system for kids? Is it good? Are the games okay? And can they draw on that little pad with the stylus??

THANKS.

Skewed reality.

Me: "Mya, you need to get your bike out of the road or it's going to get run over by a car."

Mya: "I don't care"

Me: "You won't have a bike to ride anymore."
Mya: "I'll just tell my dad to buy me a new one."

Different conversation.

Me: "Will you please pick up all the poly pocket stuff off the floor so I can vacuum.

Silence

Me: "If you don't pick it up, I'll just vacuum it up and then it will be gone.

Mya: "It's okay mom. Santa will bring us new ones."

Let's go bowling!!!

Mike's sister came in town from Vegas and somehow we managed to talk her and her four kids into staying for an entire week. So we partied. All week.

One of the activites: bowling.

J learned this from her dad.