Nathan and Holly Harmon Family

Is it really spring?

2011-05-10T16:25:00.001-07:00

I get so pushed around in my emotions by the stinkin' unpredicatable weather! Here are some pictures from "spring" (if we are choosing to call it that this year. It doesn't fit the bill for me). These pictures make me smile no matter the weather!

This is Miss Ava in her dance recital outfit, is that not just adorable? Her recital is on May 21st. This was taken on class picture day.

And here - here the TRUE colors of Ava really shine. Nathan took this photo after finding her in my makeup while I was at ward choir practice. I think she looks like Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight, just totally, totally cuter!

Sweet little snot-nosed Kayla, holding a treasured "wormy". She holds them until she squishes
them to death.

Blossoms on the Asian Pear. I believed it was spring on this day!

I cut my hair. Well, a stylist cut my hair, and lots of it, and I like it. I guess I could have had Nathan take this for me rather than try to do it myself. I love my new hair!

Isaac is playing soccer and loving it. He is number 5. It was like, below zero this game. Poor kids!

Easter Egg hunt and feeding the ducks with cousins at Layton Park.

Miss Ava is 3 now, and this is a pic of just one of the many haircuts I have had to give her in the last six months. I think I did a pretty good job. If only she wouldn't hack away at it every couple of weeks!

Pinewood Derby
Cute little Isaac. I've got my cool car, I've got my candy bar, what else could you need? He did great, winning fifth place out of about 39 scouts. Nathan helped him build the car, inspired by Iron Man. The round light on the hood flashes! It is really cool. Good job, Isaac!

I have told myself I am going to be better at posting on here!

(Which means, we'll see how that goes).

Overall, life is awesome despite my sarcastic humor, and I feel like the luckiest woman alive!

Family Pics Sneak Peeks

2010-10-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

We had our pictures taken on Saturday, and Cecily West Cook was our photographer, and I think I shall never go with anyone else ever again.

These are the sneak peeks she sent me today, I am SO excited to see the rest of the shoot!

Precious!

Our Trip to Kauai

2010-10-08T10:16:00.001-07:00

the famous Na Pali Coast

Our trip started out great, got on the plane to LAX, no problems, an hour and a half later, we land, get on the plane for Kauai, fine - then we have to get back off the plane due to a fuel leak. A lot of people were complaining, and as for us, we were just glad they found it while we were still on the ground and not over thousands of miles of ocean.

But, since we were delayed, our flight didn't get to Kauai until almost midnight. The first thing that hit me was the humidity! I have never felt that before, it's almost like you are drinking the air around you. We took the shuttle to the car rental place (everything in Kauai closes by eight or nine, or five or six...seriously) where two girls had been waiting up for us. We got our car, hooked up the GPS and were on our way.

It took us until we were about 5 miles past our destination to realize the GPS didn't know where we were and was leading us astray. (We will not mention the possibility of user error here). We crept through the Hawaiian jungle, straining to read the not ever up-kept or illuminated street signs, which all have names that start with K, P or M and have approximately 25 letters in them.

Needless to say, we did find the home we were renting, got inside and fell fast asleep after the exhaustion of the day. The dark was so dark that we couldn't really see anything of our surroundings. Imagine waking up in the morning, walking out into the family room and seeing this out the window:

You can't really see in the picture, but we were in the middle of miles of Jungle. It was amazing.

Here I am at the head of our private drive to the house on Helena Lane.

This is a pathway that went down behind our house to the organic garden and waterfalls, etc below. The house we stayed at was called Honua Lani Gardens in Kapaa.

The gardens. Papaya trees in the garden. Sweet.

This is the owner, Jai Roberts, and myself in her jewelry studio that is on the land as well. She made me a beautiful ring that Nathan bought as a gift, and also a gift for my sister in law Aubrey who braved it with all of my children and both of hers the ENTIRE time we were gone. Yeah. She is probably still trying to recover.

Some amazing flowers. (As Nathan took the photo, he said 'I need of picture of my flower next to those flowers').

Not a bad place to relax, eh?

Jai's massage hale in the middle of her beautiful 5 acres. How relaxing to have a massage with all of those bird and other animal sounds all around you, but for real! Not from a CD in a spa. It was awesome!

Coconuts and lychees. We could pick and eat anything we wanted while there. I was in love with passion fruit. We had amazing, ripe fruit every day for breakfast and snacks. Awesome!

This was our house. Home sweet home! (For two days, at least.)

HELICOPTER RIDE

We went on a helicopter ride on Friday morning. It was incredible, other than the fact that I barfed toward the very end. Don't worry, I made it into the barf bag provided. I had no idea my stomach would react like that! It made me mad! Still a great experience though. Kauai is 85% wild and inaccessible by car, so we saw things we could only see from the air. A good example is the famous Na Pali coast (the very first picture in this post). Spectacular!

Don't you love how my hair blew right in my face in time for the picture? I would have asked them to take another one, but that operation runs like a well-oiled machine.

Nathan bought me this lei at the Coconut Marketplace. It was made of real flowers, and smelled heavenly!

SNORKELING

We went snorkeling a couple of times while there. I was nervous at first, because I have tried snorkeling before at Bear Lake, and just about had a heart attack. I felt claustrophobic and cold and so afraid that water would go in my tube thing-ey.
For some reason, in Kauai, it was like second nature to me. I seriously only needed two seconds to acclimate, and I was off. We went to Lydgate beach (the 'bunny-hill' of snorkeling, as the locals say), and Tunnels beach (the best snorkeling on the island). We got to see amazing things like this:

and this:

(yes that is a zebra moray eel. I did not even care that he was inches from me and could have chewed off my finger. I had become a fish by this point and was therefore invincible.

So many colors, so incredible. Under the sea, Under the sea, darlin' it's better down where it wetter, take it from me.....

Schools of fish are so fun to mess with!

I really loved snorkeling. Anytime I see water now, I just want to grab my gear and go! (Too bad all I will find in the Great Salt Lake are brine shrimp).

I still snorkel in my dreams. Really. I loved it that much.

This is the deck outside the second house we rented. A bed outside on the deck! So cool and tropical. Notice the hammock. We put that thing to good use.

The private drive leading to our house. This one was the Orchard Cottage at North Country Farms in Kilauea

A tree outside our window called a Mountain Apple. It has the texture of a soft pear, and is very mild. We sliced one up to put on a salad one night, along with avocados also picked near this spot.

The more formal part of the gardens. That green lettuce against the red soil is so striking! Delicious.

On Sunday we went to church at the Hanalei Branch. What a great experience! Such a small congregation, but so much faith and dedication. They each hold so many callings, it is ridiculous. Most of the seats were filled by tourists, not locals. I also randomly ran into someone I knew. Anyone from Layton High remember Romi, the sweet Italian exchange student who went on the California trip with us? Well, she and her husband and little boy were living in Kauai for two months, and were there at church. What a small world!

The Kilauea Lighthouse overlooking the ocean and bird refuge.

just down the hill from the lighthouse, we stopped to watch the sunset. It started out like this:

Then went to this:

and ended like this:

Inspiring!

KALALAU TRAIL

This next group of pictures are deceptively happy looking, because we only took photos of the first half of our eight mile hike along the Kalalau trail on the Na Pali Coastline. Someone at church said the hike wasn't that bad, and that it only took a few hours. They must have been the hiking champions of the world, because that statement was very false. (As we found out seven hours later). We started right before ten in the morning, and didn't make it back to our car until five o'clock at night. Still worth it. Exhausted, out of water, backs aching and ready to vomit - still totally worth it.

The unsuspecting happy couple, ready to go.

This is a good example of the incline of the entire trail, either up or down. There is Nathan, ahead of me again. That's okay. I think I beat him on the way back out.

This is the crazy man behind us for the first 25% of the hike. Literally crazy, like, talking to people who weren't there, calling across the valleys to nobody, asking questions to thin air, arguing with himself, pacing....in the middle of uninhabited Kauai. Right behind me.

I turned around and took a picture of him so that when the police found our dead bodies, there would be a picture of our attacker on the camera. I am so smart and prepared, eh?

Beautiful, beautiful.

No, the crazy man didn't take this for us, another couple came along and we traded off cameras.

Made it to the hidden crescent beach! Halfway point to the waterfall! Don't tell us we're only one fourth of the way through the hike!

These cats are wild, and roam the island. I can't believe it, they look so domesticated. This one wanted to eat my Slim Jim.

Guava. Paradise. Everywhere. (I didn't know until later when a tour guide told me that you shouldn't ever eat the wild guava because you can't see the worms in them. Uuuugggghhhhhh! Now this picture makes me sick. He said not to worry, that they are not going to do anything to me. I hope so.)

first glimpse of the waterfall

getting closer

....finally there! So beautiful, amazing, huge, COLD!

Brrrrrrr....a refreshing swim. Yes that is me in there. Nathan swam right under the waterfall (always a big NO NO). Another swimmer was watching, and he called out a huge "No way, he DID IT!!! That was AWESOME!!!" which Nathan didn't hear because his eardrums were being pounded by thousands of feet of water falling on his head. That boy is in big trouble. I guess he needed to check it off his bucket list or something.

We relaxed at the waterfall for maybe an hour, then headed back out. Just around the corner, right?.....Torture! The trail doubles in length on the way back out, I swear!

Here is how my hair responded to the humidity:

This is first thing in the morning, no fussing or styling involved.

DEEP SEA FISHING

Yes, I did it. Yes, it was an act of love in supporting my sweetie. Yes, I was afraid I would either be a)bored
or
b) sick

I was actually neither, and totally LOVED it. SHOCKER, I know. And Nathan is the one who barfed (sorry for ratting you out there, dear).

Nathan with his huge, awesome Aku

and me with my cute, little one. I was so proud of myself!

Showing off the catch of the day. Our guide was awesome, a local born and raised, the true Hawaiian experience with fish smell on our shorts. We got to take some home to cook up for a couple of nights. Aku was delicious! Almost like roast beef, I am not kidding.

RAIN FOREST 4WD VAN EXCURSION AND HIKE

We took a personal guided tour through the rain forest up to Mt. Wai'ale'ale, the wettest spot on earth. It receives around 450 inches of rain a year, or more. This tour also covered a lot of ground where scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed.

One of the islands many waterfalls behind us.

Rainbow Eucalyptus trees. Unbelievable!

Okay, girls - you know Paul Mitchell's Awapuhi Shampoo? Well, those red and white things are where it comes from. He takes extracts from the roots of those flower pods. We were able to try out the real thing, which has been used as a natural cleanser in Hawaii for hundreds of years. You take that flower head, and squeeze the flower head, and a clear serum of sorts comes out in abundance. You can use it for shampoo, or you can rub it on your skin. It softens it ten times better than Curel! And I love Curel, so that is saying something!

The posts where the gates to Jurassic Park hung while filming the movie. C'mon, Hollywood- couldn't you have left the gates there? So stingy. Still cool.

Cute little jungle grasshopper

Awwwww....

Another Awwwwww....

Almost like a second engagement picture. In fact, everywhere we went we were asked if we were newlyweds. Then their jaws about dropped to the floor when they heard 'ten years' and 'four kids'.

Our secret waterfall. I had to climb through two spider webs to get up there, so appreciate this photo, please!

Nathan crouching outside a mysterious cave. I told him to go in it, but he said he didn't think he could fit. Right.

One of the 'salads' we ate along the trail, prepared by our awesome guides, Paul and Nicole. All collected by the wayside, edible, and delicious! They loved that we would try anything they handed to us.

We were able to capture a couple of rare photos of the 'eye' above Mt. Wai'ale'ale. Can you see the blue sot of sky just above the ridge?

What a beautiful day. Our tour guides were so knowledgeable and really took the time to teach us about the plants and history of this beautiful island! Aloha Kauai Tours!!!

Then it was time to go check in at our condo on Hanalei Bay (overlooking Bali Hai). Here is a shot of the grounds outside our door:

And some shots of the amazing sunset at the bay down below. I think I have said the words awesome, beautiful, amazing, too many times in the post, so just assume I am thinking them now. Maybe you are too.

See the paddle boarder? So cool.

The view from our balcony. Timeless. *sigh*

We filled our last day with various locations. First the Kilohana Plantation in Lihue. It has acres and acres of orchards and gardens that you can take a train ride through.

What train ride isn't complete without a stop to feed the wild pigs?

They seriously had us throw stale blueberry muffins out at them. With the liners still on. When I voiced concern about this, Nathan said "They're pigs, honey."
Oh. Good point.

These beautiful chickens are WILD, part of the wild bird fauna, and run ALL OVER the place, everywhere, all the time. We were awakened by a rooster almost every day. They are so pretty, though!

The National Tropical Botanical Garden

I think these pics need no explanation, just a moment to be amazed by their beauty and my ability to use the macro function on my camera to take such fun pictures. I've owned the camera for a couple of years now, and the rain forest hike guide is who taught me how to use it. Reading user manuals is such a waste of time, right?

We saw Spouting Horn, a spot where the ocean crashes up through the cliffs kind of like a geyser.

Traveling through the Tunnel of Trees on our way to eat dinner and return our rental car. I couldn't believe it was almost over.....

And here are our shoes, at home in Utah on our bed after the trip. What Hawaii does to shoes.

Thank you, Nathan, for such an amazing experience. I felt like a tropical Queen. Ten Years!!!!

Thank you, Adam and Aubrey for being the parents for us while we were away. You made this all possible for us and we could never thank you enough.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for a beautiful earth
and an eternal companion
to share it with.

My cup runneth over.

September extras

2009-12-02T09:14:00.000-08:00

PARADISE VALLEY ORCHARD

We went to a pick-your-own orchard in Paradise, Utah (by Logan). It was so fun! Nathan was in heaven, as they let you taste anything you want.

Jacob was as excited about our Asian Pear tree as Nathan was. They are so delicious - the best fruit tree we've ever planted! We highly recommend one to anybody, they taste like a cross between apple and pear.
Jacob went with Nathan to a BYU game; the paint on his cute little face used to say BYU!
Thanks to the Harmon brothers and Dad Harmon for putting together our swing set! The boys have loved it.

OH, MISS AVA!

These pictures speak for themselves.

JACOB'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

What a cute boy! He's already smart enough for kindergarten.

HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL AT ANTELOPE ISLAND

I took the kids with my Mom and Dad and Grandma to Antelope Island for the Balloon Festival, which ended up being more like a mini-carnival and booths, and the balloons were kind of like an afterthought....but the kids didn't care, because a $5 armband let them play in big blow up bouncy toys, and life was good. As long as Ava had Thomas in one hand and Diego in the other, she was good to go.

Kayla's First Photo Shoot

2009-09-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

So I took Kayla to Target on Saturday to get her photos taken, and when I arrived, both photographers were helping the current appointments pick their photo packages. I waited patiently by the counter until one of them noticed me standing there.

"Are you here for a session?" the girl asked.

"Yes," I responded.

"Wonderful! We'll be right with you."

So I proceeded to wait another twenty minutes, with a steadily-growing-hungry-in-her-cute- little-outfit-baby.....but all is good, I think. It's okay. I know how agonizing it is to pick between cute pictures of your kids. Let them take their time.

After another ten minutes, they are finally done. I start gathering my things to walk closer to the studio door. I can tell Kayla won't last much longer in the elusive happy-before-hungry phase that you never can predict when taking pictures of infants. This will be perfect timing, I thought.

I smiled at the photographer girl who had spoken with me earlier, and she smiled back. "Okay, would you guys like to come on in, and Josi will get started with you."

It took me a minute to understand what was happening when I was suddenly surrounded by, and then passed by, another family all scrubbed and shining in their picture clothes. They walked in, and I stood, confused, in the same spot my heels had been digging into for an half hour (yes, the studio has a few chairs in it's minuscule lobby, but they were all blocked, unused, by one of the previous appointments' shopping cart. Empty shopping cart).

The girl I had spoken with looked down at everything and anything on the counter that could divert her attention from looking at me. Flabbergasted, I said, "My appointment was an half hour ago, I'm confused - are you running behind?"

She got a kind of high-school-ish feigning innocence annoy-the-heck-out-of-you smile on her face and said, nonchalantly, "Yeah."

I could feel my face grow hot, and I knew things were going to come out of my mouth. Thankfully, those things only amounted to the words: "Well, gee, I sure would have liked to have known that before I stood here forever with a BABY and everything." I reached over to pick up my gargantuan bag of crap that every mom of a newborn must tote everywhere, then turned to ask, "How long will this take, then?"

She reassured me it would only be ten minutes longer. I put Kayla's carseat up into a shopping cart and pushed it around the baby aisles, so ANNOYED. But I knew, I knew that if I was the next appointment, and the other photographer was already helping someone, I was going to have to have my session done by Fake-smiling I-have-no-idea-why-you-are-upset Girl.

I knew to get through it with any kind of good memories, I had to release the anger and do one thing:

Apologize.

So I did. I told her right off the bat of our session that I was sorry for mumbling earlier.

I don't think she forgave me, because after all of that waiting, she had us in the studio for a total of six minutes picture-taking time, and she didn't wait to allow me to coax a single smile out of our little cutie. The pictures are still adorable, of course - but it is sad, that Kayla, the smiley-est baby on the face of the planet, didn't get one smiling two-month photo.

Oh well. Enough of my ranting.

I will at least say that I had such pleasure as I heard her promptly say to the next family who entered the lobby "We're running a little behind."

Hopefully she learned her lesson.

Here are some of the photos of our adorable little one. I guess you'll have to see her smiles in person!

Kayla Is Growing!

2009-09-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Kayla gets cuter and chubbier and sweeter and smiley-er every day. She will be blessed this Sunday, so we'll have more photos to post of that soon! Here are a few of her cute little face.

Every baby needs a photo like this, right?

August

2009-09-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

MORE AVA

Here is a combination of two of Ava's dearest loves: swings, and buckets as hats. This one she especially loves because it is clear, and she can see through it. Silly girl!

My mom came over to help me re-sew the bodice on Ava's original blessing dress. Ava didn't wear it as a baby because it was way too huge! I made the mistake of waiting until the night before to try it on her and she was literally swimming in it. I ended up hyperventilating at the Distribution Center as they helped me find a dress.

So when my mom came, I pulled out the dress, and laughed at the size of it. "I bet she could still wear this," I said. So, 18 months later, Ava finally fits into her blessing dress. Ignore Jacob in the background. He was helping hold her so she wouldn't try to walk and trip on the dress. I've finished re-sewing it so Kayla can wear it this Sunday!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

I didn't remember about taking a picture until the boys were getting ready for bed. Isaac has taken to sleeping in his underwear, and insisted on taking the photo in his underwear, with his backpack on. I relented, knowing I could maybe use this photo as blackmail someday, I don't know know, threaten to show it to Prom dates, etc....but it still is adorable. So here he is with a sign I drew -
- and here he is with a sign of his own drawing. Pretty adorable. He's so skinny! He'll fill out someday! Most Americans are dealing with childhood obesity, and I can't seem to get my kids to gain anything.
Jacob was jealous and of course needed a photo of himself in his underwear. Here he is with an instrument he made by recycling materials from home. It is a combination drum/flute.

FISHING WITH DADDY AND GRANDPA

Nathan and his dad, Kirt, took the boys to Flaming Gorge the weekend before school started. They got to bring grandpa's boat and camp out overnight, all the good stuff. Jacob had a little bit of a hard time, he felt cold on the boat and got sick on the way home. Here he is, wrapped up in a sleeping bag on the boat, in the middle of August. Poor little guy!

More evidence of Jacob not feeling well. His position makes me feel bad as I am laughing at how silly he looks. Again, poor little guy!

He felt well on the boat at night, and here he is with his first bass that he caught!
Look at that handsome Isaac! This is one of the Salmon that he caught. Know what I'm thinking? This picture will be in a wedding video someday.
But probably not this picture. He looks as though he is barfing over the edge, but he isn't. Nathan and Kirt spent all of their time keeping him inside the boat, he was just fascinated by the water, constantly leaning over and dragging his hands and feet in the waves as they were moving. Yet, who was it that fell out? Yes, Mr. Jacob - there he goes, bob, bobbing away as Daddy lunges over the back to rescue him. Fortunately he had a life jacket on, and all is well - unfortunately we don't have photo of a cute, and, and I'm sure very scared and soaked Jacob.
But we have pictures of a very silly Isaac. What a crazy kid.
I love this picture! Isaac was so excited to drive the boat.
There he is dragging those toes. It does look refreshing!
What a cutie!

I'd say those are the three most handsome fishermen in the world! Thanks, grandpa, for the awesome trip!

July

2009-09-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

This has to be the cutest parade marcher ever. Jacob got to walk in the Centerville parade with our Stake's Primary. The insane and weirdly threatening fight for saving spots along Main Street (which starts the night before) prevented us from having any place to actually watch the parade, but I was there with him at the beginning, and then waiting at the end to pick him up. The leaders said he had a great time!

We also went as a family to Park City. We spent some time by the Alpine slide, where they have rides for little kids too. Here is a pic of Jacob and Faith in the airplane. Faith is gripping the sides for dear life.

Isaac is big enough to go on the Alpine Slide?!! Really, really, he's that big? (I was still sick to my stomach the whole time, imagining how quickly an innocent little body could be flung from the track if anything should go wrong.) Yay, they made it to the end alive and happy. Isaac makes sure everyone knows that he chose the "Dynamite Blaster" track to come down with Dad. I was too hugely pregnant to go on anything, so I admit I was a little jealous. Jacob went on the Alpine Coaster, but it was too far away up the hill to get a good picture of him with Nathan.

Kaiden, Faith, Isaac, Jacob, Ava....and some random girl on the kiddie train. Ava absolutely loved the rides, she would scream when it was time to get off. She went on the carousel twice, and each ride was ended with a huge fit. Yay for vacations with kids! She was so cute while the ride was going, it's easy to forget about the screaming part.
Cute cousins in front of our house! Juliana, Isaac, Joseph, Jacob, Ellie, and Ava! What cuties. Ava is already in her pajamas.
All I can say is that I am glad to have that lump off of me in exchange for a cute little baby girl! Good luck to Rachelle, she is having her baby (literally) while I write this. I hope it all goes well, Rachelle!

Ava Marie: Our Little Character

2009-07-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

We don't know if there has ever been as much personality packed into a little 16 month-old person in the history of the earth - and we LOVE HER! Ava makes us laugh every single day. Here is 'the face' we get a lot of lately. Peruse the following photos to get a glimpse of our crazy, silly, beautiful, WONDERFUL little girl...

Kayla Christine

2009-07-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Kayla Christine was born on Saturday, July 18th, at 8:43 a.m. weighing 7 lbs. and 13 oz. and measuring 21 inches in length.

Surgery went smoothly and both Mommy and Kayla are doing well! Kayla has such a sweet disposition, sleeps well and hardly ever cries. She loves to be held and already smiles so much! We are so glad to welcome little Kayla to our family!

She is named after our mothers, Marsha Kaye Yurth and Christine Cooper Harmon. She inherited all of her good looks from Daddy. Ava got all of her good looks from Mommy, so our little girls are opposites in looks, but both so precious.

Ava has taken well to her new little sister. She is such a character at only 16 months old. Jacob and Isaac could probably spend all day right in Kayla's face, kissing her and basically almost squashing her with love.

Welcome to the world, Kayla Christine!!!

June

2009-06-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

Ava started off the month by catapulting herself over the arm of the couch and landing head first on the edge of our terracotta planter. Poor baby! We had to hold her down to ice it. She recovered quickly, and still tries daily to do it all over again.
Here is Isaac with his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Beesley, the day of their end-of-year program. She was an absolutely fantastic teacher and Isaac will miss her! He did such a good job in his program.
Here is Isaac on the last day of school. He had his friends sign his face. Quite creative, and pretty funny to see as he walked down the sidewalk to where I was waiting in the van. Silly Isaac! You are growing up so fast.
Here are Isaac's friends at his party at the South Davis Rec Center. We had pizza and cake and ice cream and opened presents, then went swimming in the kids pool. All of the kids had a great time!
Here is Isaac with Abbi, a girl in his class at school. She came to the swimming party and gave him the movie Hotel for Dogs as her present. She also gave him a card with a picture she had drawn on the inside of them holding hands surrounded by flowers (and then she tried to convince me that her mom had drawn it). Pretty cute. She tells Isaac things like, "I really like your eyes."
Handsome boy! Happy Seventh Birthday, Isaac! We love you!
Isaac with Kari at our family party.
With Jon and Melissa...
...Grandma Barbara...
and Grandma and Grandpa Yurth. Thanks for coming everybody!

May

2009-05-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

GRANDPA'S GALLERY SHOWING

Nathan's Dad, Kirt, is a very gifted artist. He was invited this month to do a showing at a local gallery here in Bountiful. Here are the boys trying the mimic the statues outside of the gallery.
Posing with Grandpa as he paints. We're proud of you, Dad/Grandpa!

BEAR LAKE WITH THE YURTHS
Ava saying "Weee" on the porch swing of our cabin next to Jacob. The pink dog belted around her has a leash attachment (as I was paranoid about her walking into campfires, etc). She absolutely hated it when it was attached! Big surprise! We had fun despite the rain. We had fun telling made-up ghost stories with our little family in our cabin. Some of the boy's stories were very interesting!
Aunt Melissa going Guerrilla Warfare for our marshmallow gun fight.
Uncle Anthony doing the same (except he actually has military training, so watch out everyone)!
Two cute boys above the lake on the drive out of town.
The view to the back of the van on the drive home....priceless.

April

2009-04-30T11:17:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of April we went with Nathan's mom and his brother Adam's family to Zions National Park. Nathan had to work unexpectedly, so he couldn't be there. So, six months pregnant, I pulled up my bootstraps and just went anyway...and it turned out just fine. We stopped off first at these interesting ruins just for fun (if anything, Nathan's mom LOVES to travel and just go for drives and check things out for future trip ideas).

Miraculously, a butterfly literally flew into Nathan's brother Adam's hands. Had to document that. Adam, the Butterfly Whisperer!
Ava spent much of her time in the hotel room like this, watching for birdies out on the lawn. She loves birds!
This is how Ava spent our hike in Zion's. Nathan's mom was so kind as to push the stroller for me the whole way so I wouldn't put myself into preterm labor. Thanks, Chris!
Here we are at the entrance before our hike.
From under the waterfall at the end of the hike.
The whole group (minus Ava asleep in the stroller behind the camera).
Isaac and Jacob with their cute cousin, Faith.
Silly boys!

Breathtaking scenery! So nice to see spring again!
EASTER
My friends and I had an easter egg hunt inside our church house for our kids. It was rainy and awful outside, so luckily we were able to use the church. Look at all those cute kids!
The boys counting their loot. Ava just wandered the halls with a book.
Dyeing eggs with Daddy.
All done!
On Easter Sunday we got to visit Nathan's Mom and Nathan's Dad. Here is Ava at his Dad's, following Vinny (the dog) everywhere he went. Ava loves animals!
Cute little girl!
In Nathan's Mom's backyard.
The whole family on Nathan's Mom's stairway. Happy Easter!

CHEESE NIGHT
In my family we have been trying to do girls' night every month. This month we learned how to make our own cheese. (Don't worry, we are not always that ambitious. Sometimes it is just a movie. Especially if I am the one planning it. Mom is always more creative than that!) Here is Melissa testing out the stretchiness!
My mom and Grandma Barbara getting gloved up for the fun.
I posted this picture against my own good judgment as I feel I look somewhat...not normal in this photograph. (And yes, don't tell anyone, but Nathan was there to help us out on Girls' Night...and thank goodness he was as he kept our methods and temperatures in check.)
Andrea working it on out. Stretch, baby, stretch!

PLANTING THE GARDEN
The big day finally arrives! Time to prepare the garden for planting! The boys are so excited to move their plants from the tray to the garden.
Look at that nice soil. Good job, Daddy!
Even Ava wanted to help.

March

2009-03-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

The boys are always so excited when it comes time to help Daddy start seeds for our garden. Here they are planting the trays and adopting which plants will be 'theirs'. I think it is such a cute and sweet tradition.
Nap time with Daddy.
Isaac playing drums at Uncle Jon's....

and Jacob playing drums at Uncle Jon's. They are actually able to keep a beat pretty well!
Aunt Ally came to visit for Jon and Mom Yurth's birthday and we were so glad to see her! Here she is visiting our house while Isaac was at school. Come back soon, Ally! We miss you!

Updating March: Ava Turns One!

2009-03-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness, how did this last year just fly on by? We are so proud of our cute, funny, fiesty little Ava who makes us laugh every day with her sweetness and dramatic antics. She walks very confidently now, in fact it only took her two days to finally decide she was ready and she was off! She can say about forty different things, and even some sentences, like "Where did it go?" and "Where's my baby?" (trying to find her doll). She is a silly girl who loves getting chased and tickled, and if you are on the floor, she will tackle you. She "reads" books to herself constantly in the cutest little jibber-jabber you ever did hear. We love our cute little Ava Marie! Ava Marie is so precious to me! Click to enlarge the below picture collage to see the mutilation of her cake.

Updating February

2009-02-28T15:39:00.000-08:00

HARVESTING OUR LEMONS! We were stunned to actually get five, full-sized, beautiful lemons off of Nathan's Meyer Lemon tree. As you can see, Ava wasted no time biting into hers, peel and all. We let the kids do the picking since they were tempted to pick them every time they walked by the tree for months!

I caught Ava really getting into a good book.

Jacob - messy yet again. I think this was a popsicle.

This was the 100th day at school. Isaac is showing off the festive garb they made that day in his race care pajamas. Pretty funny!

Ava's adventure eating blackberries - shirtless, thank goodness....

and the subsequent bath after. What a cute messy eater!

We are still alive, I promise.

2009-02-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

Just surviving day to day as I wait for my energy to return now that I am in my second trimester. It is finally coming back. I am thankful that I never get very sick, but BOY am I easily exhausted (having three other little ones to run around after is a big part of it I am sure). We find out on Wed if baby number four is pink or blue, so news is shortly around the corner. Ava turns one on March 1st, I can hardly believe it. I hope that after her party I will have time and energy to post actual photos on here! More news soon...

Okay update on baby number four - I thought for sure in my brain I updated this a long time ago, but yet again, my memory proves faulty. Well, number four is another little GIRL! I am shocked, I thought it was a boy for sure, Nathan said he always knew it was a girl. So much for motherly intuition! So two boys, then two girls - what a nice little package for our family.

Updating January

2009-01-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (THREE MONTHS LATE)

Here are the cute little guys banging pots and pans at midnight (they actually made it all the way). Ava was asleep of course. We let them go out on the back patio to bang and yell. Jacob, instead of yelling "Happy New Year!", yelled "Transformers! Transformers!" over and over. (he has never seen any Transformer anything, by the way). Isaac said his favorite part was getting to stay up late and eat whatever he wanted (we had an array of snacks out on the counter free for the grabbing, which never happens otherwise). We were so blessed in 2008 and look forward to 2009!

WALKING WITH THE DINOSAURS!

We took the boys to Walking with the Dinosaurs, and it was really cool! I, being the cheapskate -no, practical person - that I am, bought tickets in the lower part of the upper bowl so the tickets would still be good but half the price. I was proud of myself until we got to our seats and quickly saw that all of the lighting equipment was hung at exactly eye level and blocked about 25% of our view! Oh well. It still was really cool. Here is Nathan and the boys in front of the ESA (it's still the Delta Center to me).

Are we surprised to see Jacob with his ears plugged? This was even before the show started! The sound of the crowd was enough to elicit the ear-plug, I guess. But don't worry, the boys still had a great time. If you ever get to see it in your neck of the woods, don't miss it, it was very impressive!

JACOB'S BIRTHDAY!

Jacob turned FOUR on January 27th! We are so proud of our big boy! He is such a joy and blessing in our life! We love you Jacob. As we opened presents, there was more plugging of ears (this was a fire engine card that makes sounds).

The love affair between Ava and Faith continued to grow stronger through the party - how cute!

Faith made a fashion statement as well, making us all laugh. I think those are Jared's shoes?

It didn't take Isaac long to figure out the Lincoln Logs that Jacob got for a present. He built this without instructions in an amazingly short period of time (like, a half hour or less). His little engineering mind is so incredible! We love our smarty pants Isaac!

Jacob requested that we make an Oreo cake for his party, and our made up concoction turned out pretty good! Add Cookies n' Cream ice cream, and we had one happy little boy! Happy birthday Jacob!

Yes, I've dropped off of the face of the Earth

2009-01-05T12:33:00.000-08:00

Now that the holidays are over, I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We have big news for the new year - BABY NUMBER FOUR IS ON THE WAY! Due 23rd of July. Ava will only be 16 months old! Crazy.

As I get out of this first trimester and my energy picks up, I will be up to posting all about the holidays. For now...a nap sounds good. (Yea, school has started again!)

Catching Up A Little at a Time

2008-12-31T11:56:00.000-08:00

Updating this blog is way too big of a job to do all at once, so I have assigned myself to do one month at a time, and gradually I will catch back up! So here is a blast back to December....Here is Jacob getting his cast removed...

...then being immediately fitted for a splint as the doctor looked at X-rays and saw it was still broken. This is Jacob's 'cool face'. Pretty funny.
We quickly learned that if this arm was going to heal at all, we had to put it in a sling over the splint, and then belt the splint tightly against his body to hold it there.

Ava's December activities included feasting on the word - literally - , and...
crawling around being cute, when she wasn't screaming (her new favorite pastime). The boys' activites included
making reindeer hats,
gingerbread houses,
and decorating our new tree. What cute helpers!
Jacob's favorite present was his Thomas Action Canyon Playset,
Isaac's was his Darth Vader Transformer that transforms into the death star (and, we discovered, requires a degree in engineering to actually figure out how to do that),
and Ava's was a cute VTech bug toy similar to the one at Grandpa and Grammy's house. Soon I'll have January updated!

Holly gets tagged

2008-11-28T10:11:00.000-08:00

Okay I am never cool enough to get tagged by anyone so I think my little sister just felt sorry for me....thanks Kari, you're a gem! (For having pity on your lame sister).

I AM ME

i am: creative
i think: too hard about things
i know: the Book of Mormon is true
i have: a beautiful family
i dislike: poorly written movies
i miss: being on stage
i fear: I don’t have enough food storage
i feel: immensely….then I compartmentalize and tuck it all away
i hear: Jacob humming “Funky Town”
i smell: toast
i usually: don’t stand up for myself
i search: for reasons to keep my chin up
i wonder: why I ever divulge that I can play the piano or sing, because then I am asked to do EVERYTHING IN THE WHOLE MUSICAL WORLD at church (and always at the last minute)
i regret: mmm, yeah. Not saying it here.
i love: moments when I feel like a kid again
i care: too much about pleasing everyone else
i always: apologize first
i worry: about doing what’s right for my kids
i am not: crazy about Oprah
i remember: my older brother talking me into eating Play-Doh
i believe: that everything is a choice
i dance: when I clean the house to Michael Jackson….or the soundtrack to the new Chipmunks movie
i sing: constantly
i don’t always: pray as often as I should
i argue: only when pushed too far
i don’t like: feeling unproductive
i write: whenever I need to unload…which is a lot
i win: when I do what is right
i lose: to the boys when we play candyland
i wish: I were never tired
i never: lose my faith in Heavenly Father and His promises
i listen: terribly…I’m a writer, what can I say
i don't understand: how the laundry keeps growing despite how many loads I do
i can usually be found: doing all the little things a young mom does
i am scared: of SPIDERS….oh, blech spgghht as;dlfkjslkjf! EW!
i need: to just be validated
i forget: everything these days, thank you Franklin Covey
i am happy: when I hold a baby

I'm actually not going to tag anyone else. I'm the rude one that stops the chain letter and brings seven years of bad luck on herself! Oh well.

Jacob's Tragedy

2008-11-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday in the Nursery at church, Jacob managed to capsize a plastic slide, fell, tried to catch himself with his left palm down, and broke his arm! A clean break, all the way through - poor little innocent guy! By the end of the Insta-Care visit he was voted the cutest and most fun patient ever by the doctors and nurses. Here he is after we got home, proudly wearing his splint, Star Wars sticker, and holding his sucker for being so brave. He'll get a cast after the swelling goes down. Poor Jacob!

Ava the Standing Baby!

2008-11-24T10:49:00.000-08:00

Ava is pulling herself up on anything she can these days. In fact, this morning she tried to pull herself up on one of our kitchen stools and slipped and hit her eye. Little stinker! She is always so proud of herself and smiles the cheesiest little smile when I take a picture of her standing - take a look.

Our Trip To San Diego

2008-11-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

Nathan and I had an absolutely wonderful time on our trip! Thanks to all the family babysitters that made it possible! This post is super-long, and these are only my favorite pictures!

DAY ONE - OLD TOWN

Shall we begin? We stayed in Old Town, which is filled with authentic Mexican Restaurants and little shops, historic buildings, and beautiful little plazas and walks like this:

We ate at this Mexican restaurant the first night, and it was spectacular. On the second night we ate at another in Old Town that served us possibly the BEST Carne Asada in the ENTIRE WORLD, not even joking, it was GOOD.

Okay, Chris - here is a photo of the best Hotel in Old Town (which is the best neighborhood to stay in in San Diego unless you want to be right on the beach). It is right in the middle of Old Town and is huge and beautiful and...and, yes, a little expensive...but not exorbitant, I mean, it is a Best Western. Just a fancy one.

We found this place quite by accident, and were so sad that it is closed for renovations! We were glad to see that it is run by the Church (our name is on the building) and manned by missionaries when open to the public.

This is an historic marker in the Old Town Cemetery. Hilarious.

An old covered well. Would love to have cool things like this in my yard!

Okay Kyle, this one's for you. He's a dentist AND a physician. Look at those scary tools! The chair looks straight out of Sweeney Todd!

DAY TWO - BALBOA PARK

The Botanical Building.

Looking the other direction while standing in front of the botanical building. Beauty, beauty all around!

Us in front of the fountain leading into The Prado, the restaurant we ate at (it is in the top ten in America according to Gourmet magazine).

The fountain head-on as you walk into the plaza the restaurant is in.

Inside the restaurant (no, I did not embarrass myself by taking this photo, I got it off of the web.) Our food was wonderful - Nathan had Paella and I had sauteed Tiger Prawn Fusilli pasta with cappolini onions and a proscuitto cream sauce. We had Blood-Orange Pomegranate Sodas, and flatbread with chipotle hummus for an appetizer. Since it was our first time at the restaurant, they gave us a dessert on them, a special Vanilla Bean Flan with some kind of sculpted fried cookie thing, powdered sugar and caramel sauce. YUM! It was so great! I think I got a little too used to fine dining on this trip...

INSIDE the BOTANICAL BUILDING

Nathan was happy as fish in water in here! It was absolutely beautiful. Here are just a smidgen of our favorite photos.

I think Nathan was exercising great control by not grabbing one of these bananas off of the tree to taste it...

This sign shows exactly why Nathan was loving this part of the building. Now we know we want greek columnar basil, and lemon-scented geranium.

AT THE JAPANESE FRIENDSHIP GARDEN

Upon seeing the full name of this garden, Nathan blew out a relieved breath and said, "Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid that it would be hostile." Such a smart aleck! Okay, so I admit I laughed.

Some cool Bonsai trees (they had a huge collection):

Meditating in the Zen Garden room. (Okay, pretending to so I could take a picture). What a way to end the day!

DAY THREE - BAY, SEAPORT VILLAGE

On the third day we checked out the maritime side of the city. This photo is the view from our table at lunch. We enjoyed watching the various palm readers, tarot card readers, psychics, spiritual readers, balloon twisters, wierd-bird-man-type people that set up camp on the lawn of the park below us, selling their services. One old lady set up a booth that said "Balloons and Bubbles". She would walk her miniature dog around, waving a bubble wand in the air. She had a few long balloons in front of her table that were twisted into...something, couldn't quite tell. Interesting people, for sure!

Argh, Mateys! We found this little shop full of really cool pirate things while shopping at Seaport Village. I have a discount online code if anyone wants to get 12% off, they give it to you when you shop in person. We bought the boys some pirate signs with their name on them and some really cool looking little carved treasure chests.

This ship, the U.S.S. Surprise, was the actual boat used in Master and Commander with Russell Crowe. So cool!

This boat, The Star of India, is the oldest iron-hull sailing vessel in the entire WORLD! Super cool.

A peaceful shot of the port on the way back to our hotel. Time to get our bags and catch a cab to the airport.... *sigh*....Can you see why it was hard to leave?

We are glad to be home, though, and VERY glad to hug our little ones again. Ava looked right at Nathan last night and said "Daddy" clear as day. Oh, they are so much fun! Thanks again for helping us celebrate Nathan's 30th in a spectacular way!

Happy 30th Birthday, Nathan!

2008-11-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

Nathan is the official 3-0 as of November 3rd. Happy Birthday, Sweetie! For his birthday I took him on a surprise trip to San Diego, and our timing could not have been better - highs in the 70's/80's, lows in the high 50's the whole time! It was paradise, literally! We got so many great pictures, I will post them soon! Happy Birthday, Nathan! I love you!

Happy Halloween (11 days late)!

2008-11-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

We had a super-long but extra fun day visiting all of the family. Isaac was a ninja warrior, Jacob was a ghost ("Jacob Boo") and Ava was a ghost as well ("Baby Boo"). We visited Chris and Jared, my Mom at the library, my Grandma Barbara, Nathan at work (forgot to take a pic of that, but they got as much candy 'trick or treating' at the pharmacy as they would going out later that night), and also Kirt and Maureen. (Check out Jacob's serious face as I made him stand next to that scary man to take a picture! When Kirt took off the mask afterward, Jacob smiled and ran to him, relieved.) What a day - but it is all for the kids, and Halloween was my Very Favorite growing up. The idea that for one night, the world is transformed, you get to be whatever you can dream up, and for once the neighborhood at night magically belongs to you...as a kid, that night is pure MAGIC! Happy Late Halloween. If you want to see the pictures closer, just click on it and it will blow it up for you! It's supposed to say Visiting On Halloween, I guess my text got messed up somehow and I am too busy to fix it right now!

2008-10-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Three Peas in a Pod.
Isaac is such a sweet big brother.

Jacob's job (which he invented and volunteered himself for) was to go pick the cherry tomatoes every day. Until the snow ruined it. Thanks, snow. But isn't he cute?

Jacob's first day of preschool at Taylor Elementary! I decided to see if they had any more openings, so now he does preschool and joyschool and loves them both. He is so proud that he has a locker with his name on it!

Gardner Village In the Rain

2008-10-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Stubborn as we are, my mom, sister Andrea, and myself decided we would thumb our noses at nature and go wander Gardner Village during priesthood session, because maybe, just maybe, it would clear up. It didn't. At least we got a few photos, some fudge from the candy shop, and a night out at Golden Corral (because the restaurant at Gardner Village, Archibald's, was insanely busy and cramped), where a little boy at the table behind us barfed all over the place. Miraculously, Isaac didn't see or hear it happen (he cannot handle such things...inherited from me), and we decided it was a good time to leave anyway.

That Little Ava that we LOVE!

2008-10-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

We find Ava like this about ten times in a row before she will FINALLY fall asleep for a nap. Except she is usually crying about it and not smiling like a sweetie, which is the only reason I felt it ethically okay to take this picture.

Look at that sweet little face!

So close to crawling! She gets into this position so easily, rocks her little bum back and forth... and crashes on her face. She'll get it soon, I am sure. And yes, the baby gate is already in place at the top of the stairs.

Already reading!

Squash face!

Don't you all just want to reach through the screen and kiss her little cheeks? Oh, we could eat her right up!

I'm a Talent! (Don't you love that it doesn't grammatically make sense?)

2008-09-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm a Talent!

You're a risk-taker, and you follow your passions. You're determined to take on the world and succeed on your own terms. Whether in the arts, science, engineering, business, or politics, you fearlessly express your own vision of the world. You're not afraid of a fight, and you're not afraid to bet your future on your own abilities. If you find a job boring or stifling, you're already preparing your resume. You believe in doing what you love, and you're not willing to settle for an ordinary life.

Talent: 56%
Lifer: 36%
Mandarin: 51%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

I'm a Mazda Miata!....Yes, it is a little disappointing

2008-09-24T13:45:00.001-07:00

I'm a Mazda Miata!

You like to soak up the sun, but your tastes are down to earth. Everyone thinks you're cute. Life is a winding road, and you like to take the curves in stride. Let other people compete in the rat race - you're just here to enjoy the ride.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Our Cute Kids

2008-09-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

Isaac earned his orange belt on Saturday. He had to test by himself in front of at least 100 people. He did so wonderful, and even got a hair tousle, thumbs up, and "very good" out of Master Kim.

Jacob forgot he was halfway through putting on his shirt when Nathan changed the channel and Jurassic Park came on. Here he is, engrossed...

...and scared. Thank goodness he has Bunny to use as a buffer.

Bed Head!

Reverent and sitting up! What a big, big girl! She has started pushing up on her knees and is so close to crawling! Almost 7 months old, now!

More Garden Photos

2008-09-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

Jacob found this snail while helping Nathan in the garden. He thought it was the coolest thing to watch him leave a trail of slime.

Of course, his favorite thing was to poke his little eye/feeler things and watch them suck in and disappear, then come back out. Poor snail! Yes, I feel bad for a snail.

Our red pumpkin vine has officially taken over, but I don't care because it is beautiful.

The bees love our yard (we are the only ones on our street with an actual garden). They especially love these flowers that come in the fall on our chives.

Our butterfly bush actually warrants its name, attracting multiple butterflies constantly.

Warning: You will see Boogers in this Post

2008-09-22T08:43:00.001-07:00

This last photo is showing Ava's skills in Creative Booger Placement. She gets an A, I think.

Fun at the State Fair!

2008-09-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, Kari - these first three photos are especially for you. The fourth is a close-up, just for extra laughs.

Ava was an angel all night - as expected. She is too sweet for words.

Really. They still do these. Complete with a live mermaid and 'devil child'. Oh, we've come so far.

Jacob could not stand the noise from the ferris wheel as it clunked around and around.

After they braved the spinning tube of doom at the end of one of the many extremely dangerous (I'm not kidding) fun houses. Good thing I went through with them, little Jacob wouldn't have made it!

This pirate ride had a cardboard poster at the front of the line with a picture of two kids smiling under the balloon caption "It's really not scary!" Well. Wish ya'll could have seen these boys' faces as they emerged from 'Davy Jones' Locker.' Of course afterward all they could talk about was that ride. And that it really wasn't scary.

Oooooooo, so close, yet so far...my little boys dream about these cars!

And this is how it all ended...

Can't wait for next year!

Our New Luxury Vehicle

2008-09-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

We bought our Dodge Grand Caravan SXT this Thursday, and it is very posh. And I know everyone was trying to talk us out of a minivan because of the soccer mom stigma, but I have given up on being cool very long ago, so I don't care. I am a soccer mom, so why deny myself the joy of driving this wonderful van? It has every bell and whistle you could ever think of. Look who's cruisin' now...

Company Party at Sugarhouse park

2008-09-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Nathan's pharmacy had a party at Sugarhouse Park on Saturday. We arrived just as it ended (Nathan had to work that day), but at least there were three pieces of pizza left, and some cotton candy, popcorn and snow cones for the kids. Afterwards we played at the nearby playground. Isaac cracked us up by running a race around the playground over and over, and at one point had about four kids that had joined in with him. The other kid in the picture isn't Jacob.

Jacob loves to collect sticks, and this one resembling a fishing pole was so exciting to him.

Jacob, the Master of Etiquette

2008-09-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

These pictures speak for themselves.

Ava the Big Girl!

2008-09-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

Ava Marie is getting so big! She sits up so well in her baby chair at the table and loves to eat baby food. Her favorites are rice cereal, bananas and carrots. She absolutely hates fruit juice and refuses to drink it. The cutest thing is her little mouth mimicking our chewing when she watches us eat dinner.

Jacob's first day of Joyschool

2008-09-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

Jacob had his first day of our neighborhood Joyschool on Tuesday, Sept 2. Here he is sitting on his train mat that we made for circle time. What a cute boy! He loves going and talks all day about what they did and what the rules are (raise hands, keep hands to yourself, etc).

Jared Returns!

2008-09-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well of course I forgot my camera the day of his homecoming, but Jacob also threw up in the car all over himself right as we pulled up to Mom's house just before church started, so the day started out just wonderful. Luckily Mom had some little boy church clothes she had saved from years ago, that were actually handy - incredible! She saved the day. Jacob got hosed down in the front yard while still strapped to his car seat. Good memories. Here are photos of the airport:

Jared is Home!

2008-08-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

Nathan's youngest brother, Jared, just returned from his mission to the Dominican Republic. We're so glad to have him home and safe! He'll be speaking in church on Sunday, and I'll post pictures of the airport and visiting with family after that. Jared, we love you and are so proud of you! At the airport when Isaac hugged Jared for the first time in two years, Jared said "Hey, buddy!" and Isaac replied, "I just haven't seen you for such a very long time." (Isaac was barely four when he left)

Isaac, the Thinker

2008-08-29T17:36:00.000-07:00

Just a little tidbit into Isaac's ever-expanding vocabulary. We were sitting around the dinner table tonight, and Isaac was asking about the food. There was rice, a zucchini-mushroom-onion stir-fry, corn, and teriyaki chicken. He asked what was in the sauce. I replied, "There's soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, garlic salt." He twisted up his little lips and said, with a little nod of his head, "Hmmph. Impressive."

First Day of School for Isaac

2008-08-26T09:58:00.001-07:00

When Isaac came out to the car after his first day of first grade he said, "This whole day was GREAT!" I was so relieved. His favorite parts included a story they read, getting his own locker, having two recesses, and eating lunch in the cafeteria (mac n' cheese, his favorite). He was so hyper all day afterwards, but I was so glad he had a GREAT day...
Jacob was so excited to be in the picture with Isaac.

We made a pencil cake for Family Night. I would like to blame the terrible decorating job on the fact that little children helped me...well they did help me, but I am well aware that I am not a cake decorator. Wilton would be ashamed. (It is Wilton, right? The Wilton method?)

Ava has pig-tails!

2008-08-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

I finally dared to experiment with Ava's hair. Cute little fireworks, that's what they look like, shooting out of her adorable baby head.

Playing at the Park

2008-08-24T20:50:00.001-07:00

One Last Hurrah on Friday as summer ends - I cannot believe that Isaac is in first grade starting tomorrow, and Jacob starts preschool in a couple of weeks! My sweet boys are growing up.

Three cute kids!

Mommy caught this sweet little heart-to-heart at the bottom of the slide. Isaac was saying, "Jacob? I want to follow Jesus. Do you want to follow Jesus?" Jacob exuberantly replied "Yeah!" To which Isaac said, "Yeah. I won't eat or drink bad stuff."

Aviation Day!

2008-08-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

My friend Alison White, who is always so together, knows about random holidays and likes to celebrate them. She planned an adorable party for Aviation Day, which was Tuesday. Okay, so maybe her husband being a pilot may have led her to knowing about that one! But the boys had a blast, given their obsession with paper airplanes. Thanks Alison! (As a side note, the next day was Lemonade Day, so she combined the two and made lemon muffins for a treat at the party. Someday I will have her energy!) Showing off their paper airplanes
Painting pictures on the grass (lesson learned: acrylic paint is water-soluble when it is still WET. After it dries....well, you're out of luck. And a set of clothes.)
The trampoline - hose washing machine after painting.

Ivory Homes 'Summer of Love' Party

2008-08-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

Nathan's dad and brother both work for Ivory Homes, and this year they could invite family to their annual summer party - and it was really fun. Between the snow cones, brownies, lemonade, sodas, and buckets of candy on every table, I think Isaac and Jacob had enough sugar to last a lifetime (or until Halloween at least). We loved the sixties, tie-dye, hippie, fun atmosphere and I especially thought the tie-dyed wagon covering was very creative. One picture shows Ava with two wads of tissue in her ears to keep her from going deaf - the band, although talented, was really loud. It was at This is the Place state park across from Hogle Zoo. Thanks for inviting us, guys!

fashion show

2008-08-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

The boys were so excited one day this summer, saying they wanted to put on a fashion show. Oh boy, I thought. I don't know if I agree with little boys enjoying fashion shows. But we'll see what happens. I was relieved to see that nothing girly of any sort went on, in fact all of Isaac's poses were quite aggressive, and Jacob was just having fun. Silly kids! I love the photo of Jacob with the shirt on backwards.

Memories

2008-08-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Mandy was doing this on her blog, so I decided to join in. Anyone can leave favorite memories with either myself or Nathan by clicking the comments link under this poat. It was fun to read the memories on Mandy's, so we'll see if anyone remembers anything funny about us (because I never do anything stupid that people would remember for years...oh, wait).

2008-08-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

The boys are really into folding paper airplanes lately, but as you can see from the picture, to Isaac that means precision cuts and interesting designs (his little mind is amazing), and to Jacob it means get a piece of paper and twist one end into a nose. Both irresistably cute!
Ava loves her big girl toy
Since Isaac turned six this summer and is going into 1st grade, Master Yong Woo Kim told him that he gets to advance to the older boys' class. They switched out his Little Tiger belt for a solid yellow one, and he is on top of the world right now! Go Isaac!
How cute and official. And I know he will never wear it, because he is just not like that.
Actually, this is usually how it is like with Ava's toy. If she is in it, the boys are drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Or like boys attracted to any toy that is unreasonably loud.

Nathan's Pride and Joy: Part 2

2008-08-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

It's now later in the season and I thought I would share some of the fruits - and vegetables - of our (well, mostly Nathan's) labors. And a few flowers, too, since Nathan says that's my category in the planting area of our relationship!
Nasturtium
Those ever-vigorous zucchini
grapes
Perilla 'Magilla Purple'
Lantana 'Pink Caprice'

2008-08-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

Cherry tomatoes
Eggplant
Lettuce - it's late in the season and already bolted, but the colors are still so pretty that I can't bring myself to take it out of the garden
Meyer Lemon (eventually they will turn yellow)
Asian Pears

Nathan Is Totally, Officially, FINALLY the Manager!

2008-08-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, to our great relief and satisfaction, after a year and a half of his bosses teasing him with the idea that he would be promoted soon, his hard work and patience and perserverence has paid off! So now he is the manager of Superior Care Pharmacy! Yea Nathan! I am so, so proud of my newly crowned Drug Lord...

And on a side note, we had a splendid time at Bear Lake with the Harmon clan - I have the best in-laws ever! (Really. I really do mean that. I heart them) But of course I was retarded and forgot my camera, so please any of my dear in-laws, please email me photos (or else I will steal them from off of your blogs anyway - especially embarrassing Wii tennis moments and the very impressive sand castle built by the boys). I am so sad! I forgot the camera last year too. Geez.

Random Bits

2008-08-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

Jacob was eating a plum one day and said "It's Mickey Mouse!" I just had to take a picture of this silly, proud boy.
Ava was such a trooper on our trip to Flaming Gorge. In a carseat most of time, in a cabin and camping and in the car for sightseeing and museum visiting, she was still so sweet and such a joy, as always. She did get a little overheated I think, her cheeks were pink like this most of the time!
Here are Nathan and the boys standing under the main dinosaur skeleton at the new museum in Vernal, Utah. (I am just now realizing that I always have the camera and am never in any pictures! Note to Self - approach strangers to take pictures of all of us, Holly!) The experience made quite the impression on them, and Isaac now loves to point out rock formations and make his guesses as to which layer holds the bones in it. Isaac's favorite part of the museum was digging for bones, and Jacob's favorite part was a collection of glow-in-the dark rocks. At the end of the museum, you exit through a bunch of life-size dinosaur models, and Nathan had them hold out their hand to pretend like they were feeding them, and well - Isaac was not convinced that they were really dead.
Isaac has been really into treasure hunts and clue games and books (especially anything in the I Spy category), so I planned a treasure hunt for them through our house. They were so excited when they found their treasure!
Isaac has now advanced to Orange Belt in the Little Tiger program at Tae Kwon Do. Here he is on testing day, sitting next to the board he broke with his front kick. It took him approximately 20 tries to do it, but he never gave up and his "Hi-YA!" go louder every single try.

Flaming Gorge Trip

2008-08-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

We took a last-minute trip to Flaming Gorge on July 9-11. Here are some of our photos. The first is the view from in front of our cabin as the sun was rising. Amazing! Notice how close the deer is to Nathan and Isaac! Animals were all around, it was very peaceful...

Major Post Update!

2008-07-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

I have been slacking in my blogging, so here is a quick but thorough update! Over Memorial Day Weekend, we went to Bear Lake with the Yurth clan, and though it was sad to be rained on all weekend, we still had a great time. Jacob entertained himself by finding sticks all day long.
Isaac had an obstacle course-themed birthday party with his friends. My mom lent me this fun blow-up castle for the end of the course. The kids had a great time! Here they are holding their medal cookie necklaces they made.
For some reason the most fun the boys have with the sprinkler is piling all the outside toys on top of it.
We love how in this picture Ava is being patriotic (with her clothes), reverent, and pooping all at the same time! (Little girls don't do that, right?)
Here is Jacob's general reaction to the parade on the fourth of July. He can't stand any noise lately, even the fan in the bathroom makes him cover his ears. He also does it when he is scared (anyone who has ever ridden on the Terror Ride at Lagoon with me will know who he inherited that from).

2008-07-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Aunt Kari for the teeth! Jacob loves them and Isaac refuses to put them in his mouth.
Isaac played t-ball this year and really enjoyed it. My favorite quote from the season: After a game I said to him "Wow! You guys did a great job!" to which he replied, "Yeah! We didn't even catch the ball once!"
Isaac has been doing Tae Kwon Do since January, and he recently advanced to yellow belt in their Little Tiger program. He showed off his 'forms' in the Primary Talent Show last month. He's holding his certificate of advancement and also the board that he broke during his testing that day.
Isaac is so in love with Ava - whenever she's awake, you know Isaac is right there telling her how cute she is, getting her to poke his face and laugh about it, and basically keeping himself just shy of squashing her.

2008-07-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

Nothing makes a mother's heart melt more than finding a sweet six-year-old boy reading out loud from the Book of Mormon to his little sister.

Ava Marie's first photo session!

2008-07-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

Here are Ava's photos from Target. She gets more and more precious every day!

Nathan's Pride and Joy

2008-04-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our yard that show spring is definately here! Nathan loves to spend hours observing everything going on in our garden and elsewhere.

Ava's Blessing Day

2008-04-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

That sure is a cute girl in the top photo! Ava thinks she is so big, and prefers to sit up 24/7. I caught her smiling because she was so proud of herself. If you prop her in the corner of the couch she can keep herself up without falling over ever. She doesn't wobble, faceplant, anything! She thinks she is twelve already. The other photos are of her in her blessing dress (which turned out to be a fiasco - if you want the whole story email me and I will tell you - luckily the dress I could find at the last minute was affordable and adorable). It was great to have all the family that could come to our ward in Centerville! We had a great luncheon at our house after with lots of yummy food and two little boys doing anything to get attention!

It's official - Ava Marie is a Cabbage-Patch Doll

2008-04-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Tiffany

2008-04-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

Our sis-in-law Tiffany taught me a crazy back-roads way to load movies onto blogger, and it worked! Thanks Tiff! Here is the video I was talking about, it is worth watching for sure! He has crazy skills. Also about American Idol, I learned I didn't make the top twenty, but there were thousands of entries, so I am not too sad. The ones who did make it still deserve our votes, though - voting is open and closes on April 23!

Skydiving Video

2008-04-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

Failed Video Attempts

2008-03-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

I was going to post videos of a professional indoor skydiver that we saw at iFly in Ogden, but it keeps taking Blogger five million years to upload the video, so I will email it to you all instead. It was great to watch my brother Jonathon and his wife Melissa catch flight indoors! You have to watch the pro, though - it is incredible!

Holly Nearly Suffocates and Passes Out as she Pushes the Button to Enter the American Idol Songwriting Competition

2008-03-31T16:17:00.000-07:00

Yes Everyone, I entered American Idol, but not as a singer because I would definately lose, but I might have one one millionth of a shot at getting a song to the top twenty. So everyone go to http://www.americanidol.com/ and register to vote in the songwriting contest. They will send you an email after they have selected the top twenty songs, and if I make it, you can vote for me! Wish me luck!

Happy Easter This Last Sunday!

2008-03-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of the boys this Easter. We do all of the Easter Bunny stuff on Saturday, and since we aren't going to church with a new baby until May, we don't have any cute new Sunday clothes pictures of the boys, but here are photos of the eggs they colored and also the neighborhood egg hunt. Isaac found the most of anyone, I think, totalling something like 20 eggs. Jacob found about five, but he still had fun. When I heard him later at home saying "Isaac is sharing his eggs with me" I was so proud, then came to find out that Isaac was giving Jacob his empty eggs after he ate the candy out of them. Oh well! They were at least getting along, right?

2008-03-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

In My Other Life I was a Black and White Photographer

2008-03-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me say that I absolutely love our new camera and the quality of pictures we get from it, especially it having been totally affordable as well. If anyone needs a new digital camera, I would highly recommend the Canon Power Shot Series, we got the A560 and it only cost us $138 on Walmart.com. It has so many awesome features, incuding automatic face recognition, where it somehow recognizes faces (you actually see four squared corners appear around every face in the screen as you are taking the photo) and it focuses the faces no matter what. No blurries! Secondly, I guess I should say that this is Holly talking. And the feature I love the most on our camera is the ability to manipulate the color right on your camera before you even take the photo, so I have fallen in love with the Black and White Feature. (You can also choose Sepia, Natural, Vivid, etc). The display shows the world as black and white, etc, as you point and shoot so you know if the picture will look good b & w before you even take it. Here are some candid shots of our beautiful children! I love black and white photography!

2008-03-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

2008-03-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

Ava Marie is Born!

2008-03-06T14:27:00.000-08:00

Our little sweetheart, Ava Marie Harmon, was born on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. She weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz., and is only 17 1/2 inches long! She has been the most content, sweet little munchkin ever. Isaac is in love with his little sister, and Jacob is warming up to the idea that he is no longer the baby in the family (you'll note him hiding his face in one of the pictures - he wouldn't let anyone take his picture at the hopsital). We are so proud of our little family and are so excited to welcome our little Ava to earth!

Two Cute Boys at Christmastime!

2007-12-28T15:12:00.001-08:00

The Merry Month of December!

The Harmons Finally On the Internet!

2007-12-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

Yes Friends and Family, we are finally making the leap. We got a good quality digital camera and figured the many loved ones we have far away would enjoy seeing our family at the click of a button. Enjoy!