Airplanes!

Our ward has been doing some summer "field trips" that the various mom's plan and they have come up with some fun ideas. Usually I work on Mondays, which is when they usually do them, but this week I didn't have to work Monday so we could go. Taylor has recently become very interested in planes. We saw quiet a few planes flying near the lake when we went camping and every time she saw one she would yell "airplane" and then say "bye bye airplane". You have to hear her say it to get the full effect of how adorable her little voice is. But one of the mom's set up a tour of the local airport here in town and got in contact with this wonderful man that let the kids sit in and play with his little plane. He even took some of the adults up for a ride. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. Ethan was ready for a ride though I had explained on the way over that only the adults got a ride. He told me that if he couldn't ride then I couldn't ride. Taylor was just as bad about wanting a ride. She sat in the back sit and kept saying "buckle, buckle" until one of the other kids buckled her in and she didn't want to leave. I had to drag her out when our time was over and she kept trying to run back. I never knew that she would find it so amazing. Probably it is just another reason for her to try and demonstrate her temper in front of everyone. Her new phrase is "I da boss" if that gives you any indication of her temprament. She can be a handful, that's for sure.

Ethan always amuzes me with the things he comes up with. Here is our conversation from the car the other day.

E: So mom, you remember that I want a little brother and another n little sister right?

M: Yep, I remember.

E: So what kind of girl am I going to marry?

M: Hmmm... well she will probably be nice and smart and a good mom.

E: (with a very puzzle sound to his voice) I want a smart girl??

M: Yes, you definitely want a smart girl.

E: Oh yeah, We don't want one of those wrong girls. I'm going to have lots more kids then you have. And I'm going to have a mom to babysit my kids. And then I won't have to do any chores.

Where have I gone wrong? He cracks me up with the things that go through his head. Ethan has told me on several times that when he gets to be a dad he won't have to do any chores. Abe really doesn't like the fact that Ethan thinks he doesn't do anthing.

Our Garden

So this year we planted our tiny garden again and I have to say that I just love having a garden. Thankfully here it isn't all that hot so I don't have to water it all the time and the weeds aren't out of control so there really isn't a lot of work. But it is so fun to go outside and see what has grown since the last time we checked. These veggies were from this week. Last year we made the mistake of planting just a few green bean plants and only about 4 green beans would be ready at the same time so usually I was too lazy to cook 4 green beans. I love to see Ethan so excited about the zucchini and checking for more veggies.

We decided to make some cheese crackers yesterday and Ethan was so excited about helping. He asked if we could take a picture of his crackers. I went a little overboard on the red pepper and after Taylor ate one she kept saying "hot, hot, hot".

So we have decided that Taylor is definitely OCD. This is a video of her with her baby. I started recording her because she is so adorable with her baby dolls. She totally has the "mom" rock going on as she tells her baby "sh, sh, sh". But they the time I got the camera the baby had gotten unwrapped and you can watch her try to cover the baby again and again to get it just the right way. She is such a sweetie.

4th of July

We really enjoy 4th of July around our house. Maybe it is because our anniversary is around the 4th so we always love an excuse to celebrate but we decided to pick up the family tradition again of going camping on the 4th. Boy is it a lot different with 2 kids compared to the trips that Abe and I took before Ethan came along. We decided to go some place close to home and only do 1 night since we were pretty sure it was going to be bad. And we were right but we'll talk about that later. Ethan was terribly excited because he had been camping with his dad in May and couldn't wait to go again. He told everyone we saw that he was going camping, and invited most of them to come along. I love his enthusiasm.

We stayed at a state park which was on a lake and the weather was perfect for camping. We did a lot of swimming and digging in the sand. And the kids probably would have stayed there all day if we hadn't made them leave. We also played at the park. walked around in the woods and watched the fireflies. And you will probably notice that Taylor and I refuse to do our hair while camping so we are looking a little rough.

The kids were excited to get to roast (and eat) marshmallows on graham crackers. I was glad I had gone through all the effort to make them when I saw how excited Ethan was to cook them over the fire.

Everything was going nicely until we got to bedtime. This is where any vacation is challenging but camping just takes it to a whole new level. While we were out doing on thing the campground filled up and though we started the day with lots of extra space around us by 9 we had tents on every side and VERY close. As our luck would have it the tent closest was a group of teenagers with one adult with them in another tent. As we tried to get the kids ready for bed they were talking REALLY loud and all the girls were laughing at everything the one guy said. Since we could hear every word they were saying it just got to be pretty aggravating. Of course, Ethan was hyped up on sweets and hearing other people talk convinced him that it was not time for bed. And as the language next door got worse and worse I could feel my blood pressure rising. We got Taylor to bed and then Ethan claimed he needed to go to the bathroom. That woke her up and she started to cry, REALLY LOUD. We got her calmed down and the kids next door were quiet so we thought we were in good shape. Then the neighbor started up again and woke Taylor up. Then they had the nerve to talk about how annoying her crying was and what they would do if it was their kid. Once again, I'm thinking they were just stupid enough not to know that we could hear everything, or maybe just annoying enough not to care. So then Ethan fell asleep and we finally let Taylor out of her crib and she just ran around like a crazy her for a while. It was after midnight by now and we were so tired. Our only salvation was the thought of how fun it would be when our kids got up early and we could annoy the neighbors by waking them up early. So you can imagine how aggravating it was when those same kids woke up before 6 am and were once again talking so loud that they woke up Ethan and Taylor. Not to say that we were getting any good sleep but I still wanted to kill them. We soon got up and started making breakfast and the neighbors continued to talk and the language got worse and worse. Finally I asked them to watch the language and they quieted down for a minute but then were back to talking foul. After another 5 minutes I asked told them that there were children around and they didn't need to hear that. Finally they stopped for good. Abe did tell me later than when I walked away they were talking about their rights to freedom of speech and the amendments. I'm so glad that I wasn't there to hear that or I might have lost it. Idiots really bother me. We did have another nice day at the lake and playing with the kids. The kids were so tired that they fell asleep after 1 minute in the car and slept the whole 2 hours home. It was a very peaceful drive.

Of course Saturday night we had already planned to eat at a friend's house and then watch the fireworks. The kids got a second wind and were pretty good even with the lack of sleep. I absolutely love fireworks so it was fun to enjoy them with the kids. Ethan has never been afraid of the noise and Taylor wasn't bothered either. She lost interest after a few minutes and was ready to go home but we stuck it out. The two late nights definitely made for a rough day at church but we survived our fun filled weekend. Now it is back to studying and work and all the un-fun things that our lives are filled with. We can't wait for this part of medical school to be over with.

Just because I want to put these other pictures in. This is "Kitty" a cat that has adopted our front porch as his home (well and inside our house when Ethan strategically leaves the door open just wide enough for Kitty to get in). The neighbors are cat people and have been feeding Kitty so he isn't going anywhere right now. Abe is NOT a cat person and neither am I but it is pretty cute to see the way Ethan and Taylor love that cat. To begin with Ethan would get sad every time we had to leave the house because he wanted Kitty to come with him. We are warned him that Kitty might leave one day and not come back. So every time he can't find Kitty he sits on the porch and makes everyone say "I wish Kitty were here" which is like a magic phrase that makes him appear. Ethan and Kitty have had a few altercations, in which Ethan is always the loser, but I'm 99% sure Ethan did something to Kitty to make him mad, like drag him by the tail. It makes Abe want to get Ethan a dog so bad cause he wants Kitty to follow him around but Kitty has a mind of his own. Ethan is ready for a pet but he is requesting one that doesn't poop and doesn't have claws. Since we have yet to find that kind of pet we are still petless.

This picture of Taylor is my favorite because she looks so big. She loves to chat on the phone with her dad. She usually hangs up on him at some point but she keeps chatting away. I was going to paint my toenails the other day so I let Taylor have hers painted too. She had never had that done before and she sat so still. She was so excited to show her toes off to everyone. Ethan wanted his done too and we explained that boys don't really paint their toes. After awhile he came back and asked if he got a boy color, like green, could he have his toes painted. He got over it eventually though, thankfully.