Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh, My!

Okay, so Hogle Zoo doesn't have a lion anymore, but it does have tigers and bears, and many other animals that we had a lot of fun seeing on Thursday!

Speaking of tigers, this is one of the first things we passed.

Ethan really liked this bighorn sheep. He even made up a story about half man, half bighorn sheep! That kid has an active imagination!

The boys were in awe of the height of the giraffes!

What is that mysterious fuzzy tale up in that tree?

It's only a sleepy red panda. Isn't he cute?

The penguins were fun to see, as usual.

We went on a rainy day, which I really recommend even if you get wet. The animals are so much more active and fun to see. Check out this bear!

I thought it was interesting to see how these zebras almost blend in with the fence behind them.

Doesn't this monkey have an adorable face?

This rhino is enjoying the sunshine!

The elephants were, by far, my favorite! This one was kind of shy.

This one, however, loved the attention!

This elephant's name is Christie. She was so interactive with her keeper. I think the whole audience was in love with her.

Christie is expecting right now. Did you know that elephants carry their babies for 22 months before giving birth? And their babies are somewhere around 200 lbs and 3 feet tall! Wow!

She was so much fun to see!

I thought this chimp was totally cute!

We actually got to see the prairie dogs! They were loving the rain!

This one prairie dog looked really strange, though.

This is a very rare tortoise. There are very few in the world today. This one is about 8 years old!

These are the cutest spiders I've ever seen!

Libby decided to take this old croc for a ride!

Later, that nasty, old croc decided it wanted to eat Ethan for its dinner!

But Ethan was way too smart for him!

There were lots of baby animals at the zoo. Many were hard to get pictures of. I was lucky to get pictures of these sweet, little ducklings.

We love the zoo!

Bang for Your Buck

Over the years, Ethan has taken on the voluntary position as "Mom's Shopping Partner". This, you see, is a very important job and must be carried out to perfection! It's amazing to see how much he has learned just by helping me at the store. He has learned how to identify many varieties of fruits and vegetables. He gets to practice his sorting and counting skills, among others. He has learned that if the bread or eggs are placed in the bottom of the cart, they will most likely get squished or broken. And of course, the biggest perk of being Mom's Shopping Partner, is that if you do a good job, you are paid with an item of your choice from the store, provided it does not cost more than a dollar.

Another thing Ethan has been learning about as part of his special job is about money. He is no where near perfect, but he's beginning to pay attention to price tags, and is starting to recognize which items cost less money than others. He has figured out that Mom generally chooses the items that cost the least.

So, Monday evening we were at Albertson's for our weekly shopping trip, and I was looking for garbage bags. He found the cheapest package and handed them to me, and was surprised when I said "No, not those. Get these." pointing to a box of Glad bags. Anyone who is familiar with this brand knows that these are generally not the cheapest find on the shelf when it comes to garbage bags. Ethan pointed out to me that the box he had picked up was the cheapest. I explained to him that while he was correct, that the bags he had picked out would easily fall apart and get holes in them, creating a big mess in the process. This turned into a good learning opportunity about choosing quality items.

I try to live as frugal as is comfortable for our family. I admit we are not perfect, but we do what we feel we can. One thing that I think is very important to realize is that frugal does not always mean cheap. This is a mistake that I see so many people make only to be frustrated when the product they have bought falls apart quickly or otherwise doesn't live up to the buyer's expectations.

If we are really being frugal, we are trying to get the most that we can out of the products we buy. This is why I wash and reuse ziploc and foodsaver bags, use cloth wash cloths and towels for most messes, etc.

This attitude should extend into the quality of the products we are buying. I don't normally buy clothing or shoes from Walmart because I have found that they don't seem to last long. Especially kids clothing and shoes. I would rather wait for a good sale at Old Navy, Sears, etc, and get better quality stuff. I also really like Shopko for kids clothing. It's usually very well made, you get it at a good price, usually, and if it falls apart before the child grows out of it, they will replace it free of charge. We don't buy the cheapest computer products. We don't necessarily buy the most expensive either, though. We do some research, and then choose the product that seems like it will give us the most for our money. I don't generally like store brand jelly. It always seems to have a weird jell-0 consistency. Which is fine -- if you are eating jell-o. But I don't want jell-o on my peanut butter sandwich! So, I tend to wait for a good coupon and hopefully a sale to go with it, and buy Smuckers.

I am not saying that we should never buy the cheapest product. In my mind, flour if flour and there isn't much you can do to screw it up. So, I buy the cheapest brand. Same with sugar, or salt. I've never had much of an issue with the cheapest herbs and spices, either. I buy my milk cheap, cereal, mac and cheese, I could go on. But there are those certain products, like trash bags and jelly, that I continue to buy the bigger brands, because they really are better quality.

I'm hoping that the next time Ethan is allowed to pick out a toy he will remember our little discussion on quality and spend a little more on something that won't fall apart so quickly that he can enjoy playing with for a good, long while.

Glines Reunion 2009

We spent the last few days up at our traditional camp spot at Pineview Reservoir for our annual Glines Reunion. The Glines' Family is Corey's mom's side of the family. Few reunions have been held anywhere else since I joined the family. We always enjoy a few days of swimming, boating, eating good food, and just catching up.

We were getting a little worried as we counted down to the day of the reunion. The weather had been rainy and cool lately. And as the week of the trip arrived, storms were predicted for the first two of three days.

Once we got there, got our tent set up, and got everyone ready for some fun in the water, we got maybe an hour at most before the rain came.

It didn't last long, but by then, it was late enough that we were wanting to eat and start getting settled in for the night.

It rained during the night, and the next morning looked really iffy. The skies finally cleared nicely around 11am, and we went down for a while. The water was COLD! Libby didn't last long, and I soon went back to camp with her to get some lunch, and she took a nice long nap in the tent!

Because there has been so much water this year, Pineview has no dry beach. I didn't dare have the camera down there too much, and I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of Libby in the water. But I got some cute ones of the boys.

Johnathan loved riding on the jetski with his Great Uncle Rolan and his Great Uncle Lane, and pretty much anyone willing to take him.

Grandpa Glines and Marje liked the jetski too!

The boys enjoyed a little "rock" climbing on the sandy hill behind us.

Several sand castles were made by Ethan and the 14 other small children who were there.

There was this awesome tree behind our tent that Libby loved to climb on. I got some great pictures from it. I can't decide which I like best!

My niece, Abby, was one of 3 babies that came to the reunion. Isn't she beautiful?

And cousins had fun getting into trouble together. This little monkey that is with Libby is my niece, KoDee Jo. She turned 2 the second day of the reunion.

We were lucky and got a good dose of sunshine. But that night at dinner, we found ourselves scrambling to get something in our stomachs and get the camp put away for the night as a big thunder and wind storm came upon us. I learned something! If you go swimming on a camping trip, it's a good idea to let your ponytail down so your hair can dry just in case of such weather. I ended up getting very cold, even though I was bundled up in a sleeping bag. I finally spent a little while in the car with the heater on. I brushed my hair out, and used the heater as a makeshift blow dryer. I went to bed that night in a pair of sweat pants, two pairs of socks, a t-shirts, one of Corey's flannel shirts, a sweatshirt, and three heavy blankets!

The only thing missing from the reunion was Aunt Laraine, Uncle Jim, and their three grandkids that live with them. Laraine and Jim are Corey's great aunt and uncle. Uncle Jim passed away two days before the reunion.

Everyone packed up and left the camp ground earlier today than we normally do so we could get home for his funeral. No one from the reunion was as cleaned up as we would have liked, but it was fitting, since Uncle Jim loved camping, fishing, and horseback riding.

I didn't know him very well, but I love Aunt Laraine. She has always had a genuine interest in the lives of her neices and nephews, both old and young, and is a wonderful person. From what little I knew of Uncle Jim, he did too.

My Hiatus

Sooooo...... it's been awhile, huh?

I've known I've been neglecting my blog, but what can I say? I just haven't really been much in the blogging mood. Not that there is anything bad going on. Nope, all good around here. Everyone is happy and healthy. But we've also been crazy busy, and when I finally get a moment, I just don't seem to be in the mood and would rather read or something.

We are out of school for the summer, and have been for about three weeks or so.

My brother-in-law graduated from high school last month. That seems really weird. He was Ethan's age when Corey and I started dating! It was kind of neat and nostalgic going back to my alma mater to be at his graduation. There were not many teachers there that I recognized. At one point, everyone who had graduated from Roy High was asked to stand. It was really neat to see at least half the audience standing!

Five days later, my little boy, Ethan graduated from preschool. I can hardly believe he will go to kindergarten next year! It doesn't seem that long since I had him. He was such a sweet baby. He came at a time when our families from both sides as well as myself were in serious need of something that symbolized hope and joy. What symbolizes such things better than a baby fresh from Heaven?

We had a nephew from Corey's side of the family and my grandfather both pass away during that pregnancy, as well as a nephew from my side of the family diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. When I first got pregnant, I remember being angry! I was on birth control, and wasn't feeling quite ready for another baby. But it goes to show that Heavenly Father knows what He is doing. My family and I really needed this baby to help us get through the tough times and the grieving period. I think it's only fitting that he was born on my grandfather's birthday. He has been such a comfort to me. He loves to make people laugh, and loves for everyone to be happy. He always seems to know just what to do to help people feel better, has a deep compassion for people as a whole, and he gives the best hugs! I'm going to miss my little guy while he is in school all day. But I look forward to seeing what his future will bring.

Here he is with his certificate and his teacher, Mrs. Clark

We have had some wet weather so far this summer. It's been rainy and cool. I'm not complaining, though. I have enjoyed the cooler weather, and know that it will be really hot all too soon. It's been warm enough that we haven't needed the heater on, but cool enough that we haven't needed the swamp cooler either. It's been comfortable. I also haven't had to water at all! Watering the yard for me means dragging hoses all over all day, since we don't have an in ground sprinkling system (someday!). I hate doing it! So, I appreciate all the rain. It's also given us the opportunity to do some things that we might not otherwise do if the weather was sunny and warmer. We have gone bowling a few times, we've been to the library quite a bit, we've been to the playground at the mall. We've also done a lot of reading! One day, we stayed in our pjs all day and snuggled together with a blanket, a few pillows, some snacks and a big pile of books! It was our own little read-a-thon! The boys are both working on the Summer Bridge workbooks for their grade level this summer, as well as doing a few different summer reading programs. We have a deal that if Ethan completes at least 15 lessons out of the workbook and reads at least 20 minutes at least 15 times, he gets a trip to the Treehouse Museum. Johnathan has chosen a trip to the zoo. They have almost been earned!

Johnathan's baseball season is now over. They played in their tournament last Friday. Johnny's team, the D-Backs, won the first game, which meant they got to play for the championship. They played against The A's. It was a tough, close, and fun game. And when I say fun, you know it's serious, because I don't particularly like to watch baseball games. They are rookie leaguers playing coach pitch, so they play three to four innings, depending on how long the innings take. The first inning they tied with the A's 6-6, and the second inning they tied 9-9. Our team finally won 13-10! It was a very exciting game! The tournament was part of the Terrace Days celebration, so he got to ride in the parade the next morning. The parade was very cool, and it was raining by the time we got down the carnival. If Johnny hadn't been in the parade, we wouldn't have gone, but that's all the kids on his team talked about while they were riding in the parade, so of course, he wanted to go. They had a bunch of bounce houses that were free, so we went and played until Libby started getting cold and tired, and then came home to dry clothes, a blanket, and a movie.

Today, Johnathan went off to Cub Scout Day Camp. Corey went with them too. They went to Camp Fife, for the day and had a great time. They had to meet at the church this morning at 6:45! Needless to say, it was an early morning at this house! At least he got breakfast at the church before they left. They shot BB guns, rode the zip line, listened to some history on Isaac Newton (which is cool because we have good reason to think he is an ancestor of mine, or at least a cousin of an ancestor -- lots of Isaac Newtons back there around the right time period), and got to listen to some info and see some cool pictures of airplanes. He also made it about halfway up a rock climbing wall! He had a fun, but long day. I haven't seen my boy so tired very often.

Tomorrow we leave for Pineview for the weekend. The weather doesn't sound very promising, and for the first time, I am complaining. Camping in thunderstorms is no fun! I hope it stays away until we get back Saturday afternoon. It can come back after that.

Growing Up

I've been really busy the last couple weeks, and haven't had much time to keep up here. I'm not going to try to remember everything that's gone on, but I wanted to brag on my boys for a minute.

First, Saturday was Johnathan's Space Derby with the cub scouts. It made an already busy week very hectic. Corey has classes three nights a week, and we're coming up on finals week, so he could not miss any classes to help us work on the rocket. He also works full time. So, that pretty much left me to help Johnny with his rocket. I'd never made a rocket before. And if you were in my shop class with me in 7th grade, well, even my bridge was a failure. Every spare moment we got was spent sanding, and sanding, and sanding... When it came time to paint it, Johnathan chose the design all on his own. He found some gold star stickers in the arts and crafts box that he thought would be cool. So, he decided to paint the body black, and the front and back ends gold. It had a gold racer stripe going down the length of the top, and a gold 100 on each side, along with three of the gold stars. I'll update with a picture in a little while.

Tuesday, was Ethan and Elizabeth's last sign language lesson. They had fun with it, and we are still signing to each other. That used to be the time that we would go to Discovery Time at the main library. The new branch of the library opened this week, and their Discovery Time is on Mondays. This doesn't work for us because it runs into when Ethan goes to preschool. So, we've decided to take a break for at least the next month until school is out. Then depending on what we've got going on, we'll decide whether or not to start going.

Wednesday was kindergarten round up for Ethan. Next year is going to seem a little strange. Kindergarten is an all day program. So, I will only have Elizabeth at home all day next year. I'm hoping to get a neighborhood preschool together like I did for Ethan last year. Either way I will not be paying for preschool next year. Between a combination of the neighborhood preschool if we do it, Circle Time that is done through the Family Resource Center at Club Heights Elementary, Discovery Time, playgroup, and any homeschooling I do with her next year, I think it will be enough for a 3 year old. So, it will be very strange for me to only have one child at home next year. It actually makes me want another baby that much more. It's hard to believe that Ethan is old enough for kindergarten.

While we were at the round up, the school counselor started talking to me. He works personally with Johnathan, as well as the other children in his class. He told me that he thinks Johnathan has made vast improvements in the last couple of months. I have to agree. He seems much more mature to me lately, and is really handling things well, over all. It made me happy to hear his counselor had noticed it too.

The day of the derby, Ethan went to a birthday party. His friend Tyson, and Johnathan's friend Daghen are brothers. The derby was Daghen's first Cub Scout activity, and he and Johnny were both excited that we was starting scouts. We took Daghen to the derby with us, and his mom kept Ethan after the party to play with Tyson while we finished up at the derby. Johnathan's rocket didn't do very well, but I was really proud of him. He was happy and excited the whole time and was having fun just racing his rocket and cheering on his friends. He never once complained about his rocket's poor performance. Then later on, his friend won first prize! Johnathan didn't place. But instead of getting upset, he happily congratulated his friend. This is just some of the proof of the way he has matured in the last year.

Finally, Sunday morning, I woke up and came out of my room to hear Ethan saying "Johnny's going to vacuum!" I went in to see what was going on. The boys had gotten up and by their own choosing, had picked up their room, and Johnathan was about to vacuum. Johnny is hypersensitive to certain sensations. Loud noises, and anything that gives a mechanical shake are just some examples. He has always been terrified of the vacuum. So, although I know he is plenty old enough to learn how, I've never pushed the issue. So, it was neat to see him come out and get the vacuum by his own choosing and attempt to do it himself. I did help him to keep the cord out of the way, and told him that until he gets a bit older and a little more coordinated and proficient, that I don't want him vacuuming without me or Corey there to supervise. But I was really proud of my little guy for jumping such a big hurdle. Autism may not have a cure, but I think bit by bit, we are going to conquer it.

Pictures from my Old Blog That I Want to Keep

Day Camp

The preschool Ethan has been attending this year is also a music, dance, and tumbling school. During the summer they have several day camps available. As a thank you to the families who do business with them through preschool, dance, tumbling and music throughout the school year, they kick off the summer day camps with a one hour "Thank You" camp. Ethan got to go to it this morning and had a great time. He got to go into the tumbling room and do an obstacle course and climb the rock wall. He got to see several different musical instruments and hold them, and play some music games. And he got to make a man out of beads and pipe cleaner. The last activity is what he was doing when I came to pick him up. It is the cutest thing. I'll have to take a picture later. I asked Ethan if his person was a girl or a boy. He rolled his eyes and answered "A boy, Mom!" with as much annoyance as a 5 year old can put into his voice. I asked him what his name was, and then started guessing "John, James, Mike" none of which were the answer. I asked him again what the man's name was and he told me to keep guessing. "Bob, Matt, Mark" Nope, all wrong. So I asked "So, what is it?" He got a big smile on his face and shouted "Ethan!"