Super Angie...walk and walk and walk

Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked...

On the 25th of July, it was beautiful 80 degree, overcast Utah day, so I grabbed the kids and we went to THIS IS THE PLACE HERITAGE PARK. The kids LOVED it so much, and so did I. We rode a train around the park, played in the kids village (small playhouse size pioneer houses), went to the petting farm, ate at the Saloon, toured some pioneer cabins, visited the Deseret Hospital and had a wonderful day.

Favorite things: going to school and learning to write our names in the Deseret Alphabet.
playing pioneer games in the yard of the school
making a leathing craft at the saddlery
washing clothes the old fashioned way
beating a rug with a stick to get the dirt and dust out
seeing all the volunteers dressed as pioneers

The day was fantastic. I enjoyed being with my kids and seeing their excitement as they discovered and explored. I highly suggest visitors to Utah go to this park. I can't wait to go back! :)

Super Angie signing off...

Super Angie...Oh What Do You Do...

Oh what do you do in the summer time, when all the world is green?
Do you splash in a stream, or picnic with me,
Do you climb every rock in Sight?
If thats what you do, we do too!

Yesterday was so much fun. We took a McDonald's picnic (which BTW was eaten in the car before we even made it to the mouth of the canyon!!) up to American Fork Canyon. We drove around until we found a great picnic area with lots of big boulders for the kids to climb on. For those who aren't familiar, in the sport of Rock Climbing, there is a thing called Bouldering, where you climb on big boulders. There are no safety ropes, usually people bring huge crash pads, so if/when you do fall, you can at least have a semi safe landing. Anyway, we forgot our pad, but the kids climbed anyway. We only had one fall--Dallin--and he just skinned his knee. It was really fun watching the boys get braver and braver.
After a while, we decided to head to another site where there is a well known boulder. No one was climbing it and the level of it was beyond that of the boy's abilities, so instead we went and played in the river. I sat on a rock with Tanith on my lap. I splashed some mountain water on her legs and feet and she seemed to enjoy that. The boys threw rocks (even DH!) and then waded across to the other side. DH could only take one at a time, so the other boy and I would cheer as we watched them go. That water is so cold, but it was 100 degrees, so it felt pretty good. It was cute to watch them all explore the shore line together, holding hands. Sometimes Brennan would hold DH's leg. So cute!

It was a great family outing.
What types of great family outings have you had lately?

Signing off...Super Angie
PS..I changed the colors of my blog...let me know what you think..does it work? Is it hard to read? Do you like it better? What should I do?

Super Angie...climb on!

I am such a proud mom! Yesterday, we took the boys rock climbing. This was Brennan's third time top roping (you wear a harness and you are connected to a rope at the top of the rock wall). --Dallin has been top roping for a while now because he has taken two summer camps for it.

Anyway, yesterday Dallin climbed two new routes that are actually pretty hard for his level. Brennan goes about half way up and then wants to come down. He does like the swing from the rope a lot though.

Well...yesterday I convinced Brennan to keep climbing and climbing and climbing until...he reached the top! I AM SO PROUD!

Here are some photos from the other day (unfortuantly, we didn't take any pictures yesterday).

What types of SUPER things do YOU do with YOUR kids (or family)?


Super Angie signing off....

PS...I changed the colors of my blog. Does it work? Do you like it? Was it better before? What should I do? let me know...

Super Angie...silly things

"Wank you"...yes, thats how Brennan says "Thank you". The other day, we were at a resturant and the kids got a bit anxious, so DH gave them some ice cubes. Brennan grabbed the cubes and proclaimed, "Wank you Rick! I am freezing!"

Today we met my brother's family up in the mountains for a nice picnic. Of course all the kids got crazy and wild very very dirty. We asked my nephew who is 14 to take Dallin and Brennan to wash their hands. Well, everyone must have gotten confused (or just thought their idea was better) because they all came back soaking wet. Well, of course they weren't ready to stop playing in the dirt, so the wet, plus the dirt = muddy mess! So, as we were walking back to the car, DH said, "okay boys, strip down" (so they wouldn't get their muddy shoes, pants and shirts all over our clean car). The same nephew heard this "Strip Down" and said, "Okay Micheal Jackson!"

We often call Tanith, Tan. DH and I thought it would be funny to see how the other kids reacted to having their name shortened, so DH called Brennan "Bren", to which he replied, "BREN! Oh Rick! Your so funny!". That was a few weeks ago. Now, instead of saying that, he either says, "Thats not my name! Me name Brennan" OR he says, "Dal!" (instead of Dallin), "Ma!" (instead of Mama) and Ri(instead of Rick). What a clever kid!

Right after we got married, Rick started joking with the kids a lot when I would go out for a girls night or something that he and the boys were going to "stay home, watch R rated movies and drink beer.". They started watching "Evil Shows" --which means watching a show I don't like--which is like a cartoon that annoys me (not neccessarily a "bad" show, or one that has "adult" humor in it, but just something I can't stand). They cuddle up together, eat junk food and enjoy some time together. Sometimes they watch a show that is rated, "7 and older" but since Dallin is only 6, its so EVIL to watch it! LOL

I love how silly life can be...Anything SILLY happen lately in YOUR life?

Signing off..Silly Super Angie

Super Angie...funny feet

Today, while Tanith was napping and Dallin was at rock climbing camp, I had a rare opportunity to be alone with Brennan. I opened up the July 2007 issue of THE FRIEND and saw a cute page for young children. It had a bunch of pictures on it with words like, "Jump", "Skip", "Hop", "Giggle" etc. I thought Brennan would enjoy this and he did. So I would read a word and he would act it out. I had to teach him how to skip, but he loved everything else about it. I added some of my own words too, like, "Stand on one foot" and "Strike a pose" etc. He loved it and so did I. It was a great mom/son moment.

Suddenly I noticed a bit of spilt red jello on the kitchen floor, where Brennan was performing all these moves. Wait, there is some more. And more. Where is this coming from? I got closer and started to clean it up...wait a second...thats BLOOD! I look at his foot and it was bleeding. He had reopened a wound on his toe (he fell out in the yard and cut it on a rock) while doing all these poses and moves and jumping things. Poor little guy. I cleaned him up, put a new band aid on (HOT WHEELS>>>very cool!) and thought we were done. Nope! He still wanted to do more and more words.

What a sweet little guy.

Super Angie signing off with a warm feeling in her heart. :)

Super Angie...all wet

So, after another 100 degree day, I had had enough...or maybe my brain was fried from the heat...or maybe my inner child just needed to come out. Heres the story...

Tomorrow morning is a huge parade in Provo, so I went down today to save a spot on the sidewalk. Well, I was feeling especially nice and took the kids to the fair they had. We spent a few hours at the fair--in the heat. We drank plenty, but forgot to eat. So when we got home, lets just say I was grumpy. After dinner, feeling bad for having been so grumpy, I told the boys we would light off some smoke bombs (its legal in Utah to light fireworks 3 days before and after the 4th). So, we lit them off and had fun. Then I turned the sprinkler on and felt the sudden urge to run through, so of course the boys did too. It was great. Then they decided they wanted to swim in the kiddie pool in the backyard, so I told them to just go in their underware. They thought that was awesome and so the squealing began... Maybe it was their laughter that made me do it. Maybe I was suffering from heat stroke. Maybe I'm just a Super crazy mom...but I ran and jumped into their pool with all my clothes on!! (too bad I forgot to take my cell phone out of my pocket!!!)

Ahhh...that pool felt better. Suddenly I am not grumpy anymore. Suddenly I don't mind the heat.

So my advice...when its really stinkin hot outside and you just feel miserable, Go jump in a kiddie pool with your clothes on....AND LAUGH!

Signing off...WET super Angie