If you're going to be mean to me...

So, we've had a busy weekend, and our house needs some cleaning. I go back and forth between sticking a movie on for my kids so I can just get things cleaned... and trying to teach them that they need to help.
This morning, I decided the kids needed to pull their load and start cleaning up. I told both of them that they needed to clean up. So, I left them to putting toys away while I went downstairs to register Sam for swimming lessons on the computer.

Fighting ensued.

Sam is always worried that Katelyn isn't putting in her share of the work (and she probably isn't, but he's so worried that she's not working, he doesn't work... he just monitors her and who likes to be monitored!) Anyway, when he got so frustrated with her that he smacked her and she came to me crying, I sent him to his room and told him that he needed to set his timer and he could come out when it beeped and that if he couldn't get along with his sister he couldn't play with friends. (This had added weight since he was supposed to go and play with a friend after lunch.)

When his time came up on the timer Sam came downstairs and said, "If you are going to be nice to me I will give you this."

(Notice Katelyn isn't represented in the picture. He draws these pictures all the time, usually with the words: Sam love Dad, Sam love Mom... and Katelyn always says: "Where's me?")

Then he said, "If you are going to be mean to me, then I will give you this."

Family Party... for you Jeanna

This post is for the Swapps since they were missed and I know they will want to see pictures.(We had a big family party because my brother John has been living in Michigan for the past 3 years and they were driving through on their way to their next place to live.)

All the Bateman grandkids... minus the 5 Hawaiian boys. (We missed you guys!) Surprisingly everyone was there except for you guys. I don't think this has happened in I don't know how long.

My family does not take kindly to taking pictures, in fact they are kinda grouchy about it so this is the best faraway candid shot that I have... but for nostalgia sake I put it in there.

And since this is my blog... this is Kate eating an ice cream cone, and Sam riding his bike.

Here's John and Carolee's family. Jerusha is known to get away with more than the rest of us, and she took my camera and Jerusha got this picture of them. It's a great picture of them. I'm so glad they came through to see everyone and I hope it's not too long before we see them again. Sam loved playing with these long lost cousins and was sad to find out they would be leaving.

Photogenic...

So, I have mentioned before that I think that Michael is the most photogenic person I've ever met. He always looks great in pictures. This makes me incredibly jealous. Because I, AM. NOT. But here's just an example of what I mean.

So, if you notice. Michael looks exactly the same in every picture. You would think that they were the same picture if you just looked at him. But if you look at me and the kids... blast! Seriously, that's why we have to take a bajillion pictures to get one good shot. Family pictures are stressful, but I'm a firm beliver in them. I think they should be taken.

Fishing

On Thursday, Michael came home from work and said to Sam, "Do you want to go fishing?" And he said, "Dad are you being serious." Michael said, "Yes." And then Sam came over to me and said, "Is dad being serious, or is he joking me?" Needless to say, Sam was super excited...
We went fishing up AF canyon (Tibble Fork) with some friends of Michael's. I have to say I think AF Canyon is one of the prettiest canyons in the world. Ok. I've never really been to many canyons... but it's VERY beautiful.
So here's a shot of Sam fishing, with Mount Timpanogas in the background.

Kate doesn't have a fishing pole. But Michael's friend was kind enough (and thoughtful) to bring extras and so she had a fishing pole (I didn't want her to have a hook, so there were sinkers on the bottom of hers.) She wanted to catch a fish, but both of the kids were satisfied in being able to pet the fish the others caught.

This momma duck and her little ducklings came by and we fed them some chips...Sam liked them for a while and went back to catch some fish. Katelyn and I stayed for a long time trying to lure the baby ducklings closer.

It was a fun evening!

More Rainy Days...

So, when it gets too rainy my kids have been riding bikes in the garage. They wanted some pictures taken of them riding...

and I noticed something peeking out of Sam's pants...

They were giving their kitty's rides (both named Sydney in honor of our neighbor's real life cat named Sydney. Sam wanted to name him Oscar because he likes Oscar better, and for good reason, he's much friendlier, but since his cat looks more like Sydney he named his Sydney too). Kate's bike has a basket, where her Sydney was hitching a ride. Sam's bike doesn't have a basket and so he improvised.

New Cement

So, we got some new cement on the side of our house. It was a big project and I'm super glad we did it. The guy that did it was great, and I hope that he wasn't bothered by Sam, because he oversaw the whole project. I'm not kidding. Even when Michael wasn't there Sam wanted to be out there. Sam would come in the house and give me updates on what was going on. "Corb did this... or Corb is working on that... or Corb's bobcat ran out of gas" I'd try to get him to come into the house, but he'd stay out there.

Some days I'd go outside after getting ready and Sam was already outside, standing there with his shovel waiting for him to come and I'd feel bad telling Sam he couldn't help. I just wanted to make sure Sam stayed out of the way. Sam didn't quite understand because he's usually in on all the action with Daddy.

So, this is Sam watching the cement being poured.

This time Daddy was there, so he didn't need an invitation, he got his shovel and got right in there and shoveled the road base with the guys.

This is the final thing (without the fence put back together). Glad it's done... and now that it's done. Sam learned to ride a 2 wheeler... practically in a day, on the new cement.

Rainy day at the zoo...

So, yes, I decided to take the kids to the zoo today, knowing full well it was going to be a rainy day. I thought we'd be cooped up all day in the house with nothing to do, and Uncle Josh had the day off so we invited him along and he's great to have along. For lots of reasons... but it's always nice to have a nice uncle who will tote kids on their shoulders -- because I don't.

So the weather was more than wonderful. Yes, we got rained on. It would pour down really hard for a while. Which the kids thought was great because of the umbrellas. And then it would stop for about 20 mins. Then rain again (you know the running joke in Utah, I'm sure you've heard it... if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes). But because of the rain, it was also not very crowded at all. We pretty much got our pick of the carousel ride. I think there was one other kid on it with us.

This little monkey was so funny. It just sat there and stared at my kids. They were showing it their toys etc. Then Katelyn turned to me and said "I wish I could have one of those."

The animals were so active. It was fun to see. Pretty much all of them were up and about roaming around. We even got to pet a possum (well, I didn't... but my kids did, I'm not much into petting animals, even if I will never have the chance again). Usually when we go to the zoo, we see a bunch of sleeping animals, but this tiger was up and about. He was actually pacing back and forth. So were the bears and monkey's etc. So, even though I make fun of my sister for taking pictures of the animals here's a picture. (I say why would you take pics of the animals... you'll see better pics online, or in a book, and they look better and it's not like you'd print any of those or scrapbook animals...)

So, by far the most exciting part of the zoo, was the BIRD SHOW!

Since there weren't very many people at the zoo... there also weren't very many people at the bird show, and we were right there front and center. And Sam is so cute, he couldn't help but pick him ;)

So, at first he asked Sam what his name was, but Sam just stood there (a little scared at first I think.) But then he opened up and answered his questions. It was very cute. He put the seeds in Sam's hand and said "Okay, have you ever heard of a California Condor?" and Sam said "No" and he said "good" (for those who don't get the joke, that bird is big bird - it got a laugh).

Then he put birdseed in Sam's hand and had him hold out his hand. Then this dove came and landed on his hand and ate the seeds out of it. While he did that the guy told facts about the dove and said that if you see a dove on your wedding day, it is good luck. Then he asked Sam if he was planning on getting married any time soon. And Sam said clearly into the microphone "Yes." It was cute. Sam did great, I thought he'd be scared of the bird. But he did great. Even when the bird was supposed to fly away... and landed on his head.

So... after that long post.

I totally recommend the zoo on a rainy day!

Air Show

Halfway through there was a cloudburst and we ran for cover. It only lasted a few minutes but it dropped tons of water. We thought the show might be over, but it started back up again and we saw some more cool stuff.

On Sunday we went up to the air show in Ogden. We hopped in the car at the last minute and headed up and watched it from a parking lot not too far away so we saw a lot of cool stuff with the Thunderbirds (I think). It was really cool, and really loud. I think next year we will actually try to see it on base (maybe... no promises, but I think it would be fun).

The kids really liked it. We went to Steve and Andrea's (Thank you) afterwards for a yummy BBQ. It was yummy food and we had lots of fun!

JUMP!

We went to a local place called "Jump on it" and it was super fun. There's not much to say about it, other than they jumped, and they had fun.