Mom On Strike

I've had it!  I've seriously had it.  Kids not minding, husband working late all the time, grumpy attitudes all over the place, to do list growing and growing no matter how hard I try.  I can't watch even one show on TV - I'm too busy with the kids, we're watching a cartoon or Marcos comes home and takes over possession of the remote.  I gave up possession of my radio to my children a few weeks ago and am quite sure I will not be getting that back any time soon.  It's Bob the Builder and Bear Necessities over and over in the Uboldi car.  I can't find a moment for myself.  Marcos got home tonight at 8:00 - just in time to tuck the kids in bed - and then informed me his soccer game was at 8:50.  Nice!  He can work late and still find "me" time, but I can't seem to.  Someone is always around or needing something.  I just want a boring night all to myself - or with my friends.  I thought about up and quitting my 24/7 job that pays a big fat nothing, but I know how prone to extreme measures I am (especially on days that I'm feeling rather hormonal) and that I would eventually feel guilty.  So I'm not quitting...I'm just going on strike until further notice.  To even begin negotiations with the ungrateful union, I have a few expectations that need to be met.  They include more love, support, and appreciation, less whining, fewer tantrums and more minding.  Until further notice, the following is a list of the tasks I will not be performing until my needs have been met.

No more laundry - stain removal, washing, drying, hanging, folding and ironing.  No more cooking, fixing or preparing meals.  No more loading, washing or putting away dishes.  No more scrubbing, scouring and polishing.  No more vacuuming, dusting, sweeping or mopping.  And no more cleaning icky boy bathrooms.  No more sorting and organizing mail.  No more paying bills, calling to get better prices and taking care of EVERYTHING that has to do with money and accounts.  No more errands, coupon cutting and grocery store shopping.  No more kid taxi driver.  No doctor, dentist or other appointments.  No planting, weeding, pruning or watering of the garden.  No more extra projects.  No more building and painting and fixing and deciding.  No more reading and teaching and playing.  No more parks and swimming and museums and the zoo.  NO MORE!  If you need me, I will be sitting on the couch watching movies and eating bon bons.  After all, that's what most people think we stay-at-home moms do all day anyway. 

Our Uninvited Guest

You know the kind. Visitors that unknowingly show up at your door and stay for weeks on end with no sign of leaving.  You end up spending way too much money entertaining them (and then trying to get rid of them) and yet you share no real quality time together. I've seriously had it with our most recent guest!  Oh the amount of cleaning and laundry I've done the past two weeks. Our whole family is a complete mess right now!  Marcos is freaking out, I've tried everything I can think of to remedy the situation, Dylan's protective instincts have kicked in as he plans an attack, and Preston...poor Preston is the real victim in the whole ordeal.  My baby can't even sleep at night any more.  Oh the problems this uninvited guest has created for the youngest member of our family.  This inconsiderate visitor has yet to introduce himself to us, but evidence points to an eight-legged, brown/grey-ish colored pest who is tremendously skilled in hiding and escaping from even the most skilled exterminator.  In case you doubt the severity of our situation, I am posting evidence of the unwanted pest's existence.  

The first mysterious bite

Two more bites a few days later (wrist and thumb)

The result of so many bites 

(it's hard to see just how swollen his hand was - poor little guy)

As the swelling goes down, his hand gets redder and more blotchy 

(again hard to see in the picture, but you'll have to trust me on this)

This is what his other hand looks like so you have some sort of reference

I took Preston to the Dr and we're watching him closely.  I have a prescription in case the red marks change direction.  For now, the only benefit to the whole ordeal is the need for Benadryl every night for several days.  At least I know my baby will be able to get some sleep! :)

Dylan Update

I don't have a lot of new funny Dylanisms to add right now, but thought I'd better at least write down some of Dylan's major happenings for journal purposes.  

• Dylan taught himself to ride a bike without training wheels the day before Mother's Day -May 9.  We were at a little bbq at my mom's house and he yelled down from her basketball court for us to come watch.  Sure enough, he's a pro already.  We took the training wheels off of his bike (which is a little taller) and he did fine on that one as well.
• Dylan is so excited about finally figuring out the monkey bars.  He's been close for awhile, but he's recently tackled the whole stretch of monkey bars at several local parks.  It was his goal to be able to do this before kindergarten and he made it. 
• He wants to learn to read so badly.  He's pretty close, but gets frustrated with words that don't follow phonetics rules (which unfortunately are many).  We'll see what we can do this summer.  It would be nice if he could read a little before kindergarten, but as I've learned with this one, you can only push so hard before he freaks out.  Best to let him go at his own pace.
• Dylan is obsessed with counting lately.  He finally figured out how to count to 100 and he counts to 100 over and over - usually when we're in the car.  Now he's decided he wants to learn to count to 1000.  I'm not sure I have the patience for that one!
• Dylan finished his first season of soccer and was more excited about the trophy than anything else.  Good thing they all receive one!  His team did really well.  I think they only lost twice.  He started off rocky in the fall chasing players around and acting like a true "Black Dragon" but by the end of the spring, he was scoring and enjoying playing much more.  
• Dylan will graduate from preschool next Thursday.  His teacher is holding a carnival for all her students the day before.  He is so excited for both the carnival and his graduation.  I can't believe my baby is old enough to graduate from preschool!
• He is super excited about kindergarten.  I hope it turns out to be everything he's dreaming of and more. :)
• He's also excited about swimming and everything water-related.  He can't wait for summer to officially be here!
• Dylan amazes me with his knowledge of the scriptures.  We've been trying to read as a family more often, and I'm always surprised at how many of the scripture stories he already knows.  Despite all the wiggles and difficult moments in Primary, he's actually learning something.  :)  We bought the church's Book of Mormon DVD, which just has gospel action pictures on the screen while a simplified version of the story is being told.  I think that has really helped him understand the scripture stories.  I can hardly get through a handful of verses in the scriptures before he is asking pertinent questions.  At least he's paying attention!
• Dylan is still as creative as ever.  One day he brought down a magnifying glass and a clothes pin and made me open my mouth as he inspected my teeth.  Best dentist I've ever had!  There is truly never a dull moment with this child.  

I'll update more later, but just wanted to share a few of the top things happening with Dylan.  Here is a little video of our soccer adventures this year.

Things I Am Grateful For Today

1.  Dylan's sense of humor (if you call it that)

- We went to the park and were playing on the playground.  Out of the blue, Anthony came over and sat on the bench and said, "My mommy went to heaven.  It's far, far away and I don't get to see her any more.  I miss her so much."  He folded his arms across his chest and just started sobbing.  I scooped him up on my lap and did my best to comfort him through my own tears.  "I know you miss her.  It's okay to be sad.  Your mommy will always be in your heart and watching down on you from heaven..."  (I don't know what exactly I said, but whatever I could think of at the time).  Dylan noticed the two of us crying and came over and started to cry too.  Next thing you know, my sensitive little Preston, having no idea what is going on, is next to us crying - he's a sympathizer (empathizer?) that one.  Dylan, sensing the tense emotional moment, says, "Anthony, I hate it when you're sad.  I'm going to tell you a joke."  I can't remember what he said, but it wasn't a joke - it was like 5 of them combined.  It started like a knock knock joke, mentioned something crossing the street and I'm pretty sure included a banana, an eyeball and a chicken.  Either way, it was enough to lighten the mood and help get us back to playing.  

2.  A swamp cooler that works

- Marcos has been working on that thing for a couple of days and was convinced we needed a new one.  It is 15 years old and pretty much rusted through.  Unfortunately the timing for our cooler to go out was horrible!  It's a year we've had to upgrade a lot around here...everything is pretty much falling apart faster than we can replace it.  Luckily with the help of our neighbor Marcos got a new float put in (the thing that stops the water when it's at the top - like in a toilet...that may be part of the reason our water bill was so high last year).  Then the dang spider/octopus looking tube deal that takes the water to the hay insulators wasn't working.  My brother-in-law told him to take it apart and clean it but the dang screw is stripped and he couldn't get it out.  He tried a wire, squirting into the tubes with the hose, but nothing worked.  He finally got the idea to blow through the grimy tubes with his mouth.  You should've seen him on top of the roof with his head inside the swamp cooler blowing into this tube.  But it worked.  He bought a new pump and some new hay (the stuff around the cooler) and we're back in business for the year - for just over $40.  Way better than the $1000 + it was going to cost to get a new one (not to mention we don't want to put money into a new swamp cooler, we'd rather wait and get central air when we can afford to).  So we're grateful for what we hope is another cool enough summer with the swamp cooler and are praying we can save enough for a new air conditioner of some sort next year.

3.  Sleeping in

- Marcos let me sleep until he had to leave for work this morning and didn't even pester me.  He has a hard time with this.  He's a morning person by nature and doesn't understand why I wouldn't want to be woken up with his talking to me, hugging me or whatever.  I have nicely (and not so nicely) tried to explain this to him and I think he finally gets it.  I just want to sleep - it's the best, most loving gift he could give me.  So yep, I think it was in the 8:00-ish range before I had to roll out of bed.  So nice!

4.  Preston's morning

-Preston is a little more like me.  He can sleep in if allowed to.  Dylan somehow ended up with the non-sleep gene from Marcos.  Dylan has gotten better at tip-toeing out of the room so Preston can sleep.  Well not only will he sleep in, but he is completely content to play and talk to himself in his crib in the morning.  I heard him playing in his crib, but decided to hop in the shower and get ready first.  When I went in to get him, he was reading a book and playing with a ball that he found.  Just as happy as can be.  What a blessing that is!

5.  Dishes all loaded and running

- Again thanks to hubby, I have a dishwasher full of dishes and just had to load the stuff from the kids' breakfast and get them started.  What a sweet man I married!

6.  Laundry that's almost caught up

7.  An office that can hold all the unorganized stuff until I can get around to it

8.  My newly stained deck (I've been busy lately)

9.  Summer stuff - camps, swimming, sunshine, fresh fruit and veggies

10.  Kids that mind (I thought I'd throw that one in there - I'm hoping my being grateful for it helps it come true)

It Is With Great Sadness...

...that I write today.  I don't know how many of you know, but Anthony is a little boy that I... tend.  I hesitate using the word tend because it seems like such a casual way to describe what really takes place when you care for a child.  Three years ago, I reluctantly agreed to watch Anthony a couple days a week.  Dylan was two years old and I was trying to help make up our budget deficit and still be able to be home with Dylan.  Taking care of another child didn't seem like the easiest way to make a little extra money, but I was willing to give it a try.  It was through a mutual friend that I found out about Anthony, but soon realized that his parents knew my parents very well, which added greatly to their trust in my ability to care for their son.  It was kind of a weird twist of fate - and what Marcos and I have since thought was meant to be...for whatever reason.  Dylan had just turned 2 and Anthony was not quite 1 yet, but they hit it off right away.  Dylan was protective and loving with Anthony and it was soon very clear that they would be great friends.  Since the day we met Anthony (almost exactly 3 years ago), he has become more like family to us.  When I have Anthony, he's like a member of the family.  I take him to the park, the zoo, swimming or wherever we may be going - the same way I would do if he were my own child.  At times it has been challenging to juggle another child, but it's been a true blessing to have him (and his family) in our lives as well as be able to have a little extra income to help when things are tight.  I cannot even begin to describe what a big part of our lives Anthony has become.  My children look forward to his arrival and miss him when he's gone.  He is like a brother to them and has become like a son to me.  

Anthony's mom was diagnosed with cancer last year.  They were cautiously optimistic throughout her treatment and things looked up for awhile, but the last few months have been tough.  She lost her battle to this horrible disease yesterday morning.  I kept Anthony over night on Friday because she had taken a turn for the worse and Anthony's dad was afraid to leave her.  When he called me in the morning, she had just passed away.  I've never been in a position to have to smile through news like that for a child before.  I kept Anthony longer than we had planned so Dave (the dad) could get started with the funeral arrangements.  We took Anthony with us to Dylan's soccer game.  I was watching him play with such child-like innocence and it just broke my heart to think of this little boy not having his mommy with him as he grows up.  I know she was suffering and that death is not always the worst thing that can happen, but it's still sad - and very difficult for those left behind to mourn.  

I try to keep most of what involves Anthony private because he's not my child and I don't feel like it's my place, but I just had to talk about this.  I know it's going to be a difficult road for Anthony and his dad and that our family will probably be a big part of that journey.  I won't say much more until there is an official obituary I can post or something so that I don't say more publicly than they would want said, but I am grateful to have this family in our lives.  Please keep them (and us) in your prayers at this difficult time.  

Grubby Gardener By Day...Glam Girl By Night

I finally got the vegetable garden planted!  What a chore!  I made the mistake of starting yesterday morning and then ran out of time.  I helped my friend put on a black tie event in Salt Lake and needed time to get the dirt out from under my fingernails.  So I got up and got out there again this morning.  It takes plenty of time to plant a garden by yourself, but when you add kids helping with the hose, carrying around big rakes and shovels, tipping over plants and sinking in soggy mud puddles, you need a whole day.  Yikes!  I went inside to get some of the starts my neighbor gave us that were sitting in my window sill and it was time for Dylan's preschool to start.  I had no idea it was that late - and he was muddy, needed to change clothes and of course we had to drive there.  I literally hosed off both kids, pulled their clothes off, threw clothes back on Dylan, put Preston in the car wet in his diaper, grabbed each boy a piece of bread and a couple pieces of turkey (since it was 1:00 and I hadn't fed them lunch yet) and rushed down the street.  Crazy, forgetful mommy moment!  Anyway, I worked a day and a half planting the garden and catching up on the weeding, but it's done.  I get a little crazy when I work like this though.  I've convinced myself that I need rose bushes back in the same spot where we took them out a couple years ago (although half of the reason we took one out was because our next door neighbor took one out for us without asking us...in an area that is clearly our property - gotta love helpful neighbors like that).  I love gardening - I'm just not very good at it.  But I can usually keep vegetables alive through the summer.  Oh, and I think we might try to get a fruit tree to replace the two we lost last year from Marcos' super thorough trimming techniques.  ;)  I hate the thought of a messy fruit tree, but we're trying to be more self-sustaining so it seems more practical than a regular shade tree.  We'll see what we can decide.  

So about the black tie event.  It was just nice to get out, help my friend with her event, see some old friends and faces, get dressed up, eat great food, watch a really nice program and feel like a total grownup again.  I didn't have to think about dinner or baths or bedtime.  So great!  The only thing missing was my hubby!  It would've been nice to have him there, but it was too hard to get everything figured out in time.  I sat at a table with some really neat people, who I got to know a little bit during the dinner.  It was one of those things where you think there was probably a reason you met them and heard their story and shared yours.  I won't share the details, but it was pretty cool!  

The vegetable garden (it looks empty but there really are lots of little tiny plants out there)

The kids were filthy at the end of the day so we threw them in the tub

I LOVE this cute "cheese" smile of Preston's

My purpose of taking a bath picture was to show the disgusting water, but it's hard to tell just how dirty it is in this picture.  The kids looked cute though so I decided to post it anyway. :)

Here's me posing for Dylan the photographer before I left for the event.

Seriously, I should just stand normal and not pose for the camera.  I try way too hard!  I definitely play a much better "girl next door" roll than sexy vixen.  :)  I love that my pose is in the kitchen with the kitchen utensils in the background.  That's real life for you right there!

Shelving Projects

Remember the clothing project I was working on a few weeks ago?  It all came about because I decided to organize the shed, which then took me to the garage and totes of clothes.  It's been a bit of a mess since then as I decided to pull about half of what we own out and reorganize.  In the process, I decided we definitely needed better shelves to hold all our junk.  We called up Dane and asked him if he could help us out.  Dane is one of the Larsen children - a family Marcos knew when his family was living in Venezuela.  Some of the families from the church in Venezuela have recently gotten together to catch up a little bit.  They are such great people!  I have only known them a short while, but feel like they are life-long friends.  Marcos has such fond memories of that time in his life.  "Big Papa Larsen", who was the mission President while Marcos' family was living in Venezuela, came over to watch Dane work one day and Marcos was so excited to see him.  Dane did an incredible job on the shelves and gave us the super discounted "we love your family deal".  Thanks again, Dane!  We owe you a big bbq dinner. :)

Marcos and Big Papa Larsen

The Larsen boys joke about Marcos being his favorite person

They say Marcos was the son he never had (although he had many) - kind of funny.

Marcos chatting with Big Papa Larsen while Dane and his toolbelt work in the background

I never got a picture of Dane - too much going on I guess

I didn't remember to take "before" pictures, but the garage just had three shelves like this before.  They were fine, but we needed something bigger and more sturdy.  By the way, if you need shelves, I'm selling these.  They're great for food storage.  I'll even give you the "I love your family" discount. :)

The final product.  We really don't have much space at all in the garage.  It is a 2-car garage and that's about all it fits so it's amazing  how much space this shelving unit freed up for us.  There's still room left - AWESOME!

Another view of the shelves

I didn't take a before the of food storage area either, but this was clean and organized compared to what it had become.  

Here are the shelves after I painted them (what a pain painting those was - it took me forever!)

The shelves with food storage back on them

Another view of the new shelves - there's also a shelf over the washer and drier to put my laundry stuff on, but I couldn't get the right angle in the room to show that one.

Happy Mother's Day

We've had a lovely Mother's Day celebration. It started with a nice Saturday evening dinner at my mom's house (we moved it to Saturday since Angie and Justin were in town). My mom made a delicious dinner (we ate later because we had a soccer game, but it was still scrumptious) and helped our children give each of us some useful mom stuff in a cute homemade basket (vacuum scents, magnetic clips for the fridge, a travel sewing kit, gum...) We splurged a little and did a combined mother's day/father's day gift for her and Barney and bought a new faucet for her sink, which Nate installed (I think it was Nate at least). It was a really fun evening with all the family together.

Sunday morning we got up early and got ready to go over to Amy and Esteban's for a Mother's Day breakfast. It was the first time we'd done something like this, but it turned out so good. We had yummy french toast, fruit salad, eggs, bacon and pasta frola (and Argentine pastry). The kids got along so well, the food was excellent, we had time to chat for awhile and still make it to church in time. My kids gave Mercedes a little photo box and photo album and the present from us is on its way (sh...I can't tell you yet). Mercedes gave each of us a beautiful book with quotes and pictures of mothers and a can of window and glass cleaning spray. She swears by the stuff - way better than windex. I can't wait to try it out! Anyway, it was a great morning.

Church went well. Preston was a little grumpy, but the song the Primary children sang in sacrament meeting was great. Singing time also went well (although of course I got misty-eye and totally lost it one time ... I'd blame the 5 hours of sleep I got except that I seem to cry more often than not. Seriously I'm such a baby!) The men came in and did closing exercises for us and the women went in and had a piece of cake and watched a movie. I ended up talking more than anything, which is why at 2:10 my family was nowhere to be found. I guess I lost track of time. It was so nice to have a moment at church without so many responsibilities.

This afternoon the whole family took a nap (even Dylan fell asleep for about a half hour) and then ate whatever was in the fridge for dinner and made some brownies and a card to take to our neighbors. They were so sweet and offered to come sit with our kids last night when our game got changed at the last minute from 8:25 to 10:20 and we couldn't find anyone to babysit. We have such great friends, neighbors and family. I cannot begin to express my appreciation to everyone in my life.

Anyway, I am so grateful for not only a good weekend spent with family, but for the wonderful mothers I have in my life. We are so fortunate to have so many wonderful women in our lives. I would not be the person I am today without all the love, kindness and teaching I have received over the years. My mother, my step mom, my grandmothers, my mother-in-law and Marcos' abuelas. They are all such great women who have helped show both of us the way. Thank you for who you are and what you mean to us. We love you!  

Here are a few pictures of some of the mothers in our lives.  Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of Marcos' other grandma (his dad's mom).  I think they're on my other computer that's having trouble right now.  

Grandma "St. George" (my mom's mom)

Grandma Betty "GG" (my dad's mom)

Marcos' aunt Maggie, his abuela (his mom's mom) and his mom

Mercedes and her four kids (Laura, Tomasina, Esteban & Marcos)

My mom and her four girls (Melissa, Angie, Alicia & Maria)

Suzanne (my step mom)

It was hard to find a picture of the grandmas without kids in them so I gave up.  Here's a cute one of my mom (grandma) with Kenya on her 1st birthday.

A darling picture of Mercedes (abuela) with her grandkids on Milli's blessing last year

(left to right: Gabi, Preston, Leah, Milli, Diego, Dylan, Mylo, Kylie & Mason)

I didn't want to make this post any longer than it already is, but I found a story about motherhood that really hit me.  It's here for those who want to read it.  

Goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

We're the luckiest family ever!  Thanks to my mother-in-law, we got to go to the zoo twice this week.  It was practically free for two days of non-stop entertainment (always a bonus). Our adventures began on Thursday when I met Mercedes and the two children she babysits, Nicolas and Alex, at the zoo.  Dylan and Nicolas were so excited to play together and see all the animals. They walked around together talking about zoo animals and acting like best buddies.  Dylan was ecstatic about the map they gave him.  He carried it with him all day as he directed us from exhibit to exhibit.  And imagine the look in Dylan's eyes when he found out that not only were we going to see the animals, but that Abuela had bought tickets to ride the train and the carousel.  Priceless!  All of the kids had a great time and were so well behaved.  The only down side was that I had to hurry to get Dylan to preschool by 1:00 so we were rushing at the end. Poor Dylan wasn't quite ready to go yet (which is part of the reason we decided to go back).  

Friday Marcos was off work (since he's working all day Saturday) so we took advantage of some family time and headed back to the zoo for some more fun.  It was another awesome day!  We cranked up the radio with kid music on the drive down to really get the kids pumped...and it worked.  They loved everything: seeing the animals, eating a picnic lunch, playing on the playground and riding the carousel.  Oh, and they really loved the bird show.  They were giggling at all the silly things the birds say and do.  We ran into some friends we haven't seen for a couple years who  have moved back into town.  What a small world!  We're afraid that after two days of excitement, Preston might think the zoo is a daily occurrence.  When we drove into the parking lot today, he knew exactly where we were.  He was talking about all the animals and yelling zoo before we got to the front gate.  That crazy kid ended up walking around for more than half of the day.  He's growing up and I don't even realize it sometimes.  Oh yeah, it was really fun for the adults too.  Both Marcos and I were talking about how much we enjoyed our time together at the zoo.  It was definitely time well spent.  Anyway, I made this little video about our zoo adventures.  Enjoy! 

A Pretty Perfect Day!

Well, today's been pretty much a perfect day. There's been plenty of not minding and difficulty sharing toys, but I consider normal. So I think I get it. A big part of how the day goes is determined by me. Go figure! Here's why I think this day is going okay. I got out of bed with the kids, went right down and fixed them breakfast, ate with them, went and took a shower and then got both of them bathed and dressed - all without turning on the TV. During this process, Dylan found some toys I was hiding under my bed for a special day - some toys my grandma had sent home with me when we left St. George. I decided today was as good as any other day so we busted out the little toys. They are the cutest little remote control cars I've ever seen. My kids have never had real remote control cars either so Dylan was pretty excited about this. We set up Preston's first and he was a pro at it. That little car was so dang fast cruising around the new tile in the kitchen. We got Dylan's set up next and whoops, I didn't think about the fact that both remotes would interfere with each other. Preston was holding down the buttons on his, which made Dylan's tires spin. When Anthony got here, we took them outside to play some more. A little while later, I decided a walk was in order and grabbed my mug for a soda at the local convenience store. It's about a mile down the road and we walk there often. I let the kids bring one big wheel to trade off riding. I figured that way if one was tired, they could ride on the double stroller and the other could ride on the big wheel. To my surprise, Anthony ran the whole way chasing after Dylan on the big wheel. Then on our way back, we took a detour to the local park and played for a couple hours. Holy cow, I think I wore those poor kids out! We probably walked 3 miles total, plus played at the park quite awhile. We headed home around lunch time, fixed and ate lunch and put Preston down for a nap. Marcos stopped by and I fed him too and then I read stories with Dylan and Anthony. We busted out Dylan's homework and got that done and then gave up on Anthony's nap (I'm pretty sure he's just about outgrown a nap now). We picked out some scholastic books to order from preschool (his last month of preschool - I might just freak out soon) and then I let the kids watch a show. As it should be - one or two shows a day. We're just waiting for Preston to wake up and then we'll head back outside to play either in the sandbox or around the cul-de-sac. That's kind of our afternoon ritual. The kids love riding their bikes around the cul-de-sac when the older kids get home from school and are out playing around. It's a great amount of time before Anthony gets picked up and then I can come in and get ready for dinner. I know I've probably jinxed myself into having a crazy night, but I had to share this beautifully simple day with everyone. Now if only I can get some painting done tonight and still get up early enough to go to the gym tomorrow morning. We'll see how it goes :)

Dylan concentrating on his remote control car

Preston just happy to be alive - as always!

Preston copying Dylan's every move

Playing at the park

Cheesy grin from Anthony

My little Dylan

My monkey at the playground

Dylan's homework - I love that he sticks his tongue out when he concentrates hard like this.  

His Papi does the exact same thing!

Utah Museum of Natural History

If you follow the Uboldi and Trevino family blogs, you'll notice we all have a similar post about the Utah Museum of Natural History.  That's because my mother-in-law called Monday morning to tell us that it was free that day at the museum and that they had a big frog display going on.  It sounded like a perfect family night, but Marcos had to work late (we've moved family night to Tuesday since he usually works late on Mondays).  So I decided to brave the free museum day with three kids by myself.  It actually wasn't that bad!  I packed a picnic for lunch and we headed down.  We walked around and saw the frogs, then the dinosaurs and then went upstairs to see bugs, some awesome archeology displays, and rocks.  I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but it was cool!  Dylan really is a scientist at heart (takes after his geeky mom) so of course he couldn't get enough of the museum.  After we had seen everything, we went outside and had our picnic.  Then we went back in to see everything one more time before we left.  The kids had a great time!  It was definitely worth the trip to SLC!

The kids under some sort of hut/shelter

Very cool display of early people and how they lived

I love this picture with the kids leaning over digging for fossils.

They had so much fun.  There were little paint brushes and tiny pebbles for them 

to sweep away from the bones.  Definitely a favorite of all three boys!

More digging

Climbing on the frog prince

I don't think Preston realized he was part of the witches' brew.

He seems pretty bored with the picture-taking process.

Dylan, however, seems very nervous.  

Maybe he's feeling guilty for trying to make a potion out of his brother ;)

These frogs are so tiny and cute - even if they are poisonous!

The smallest frogs I've ever seen

Birthday Bashes

We've been a bit busy this past week. In edition to our sometimes hectic lives, we had two birthday parties. They were for two sweet little girls both turning one. And guess what, they share the same birthday. Marcos' sister, Laura, and my sister, Alicia, both had baby girls on May 1, 2008. I was waiting to hear news from Mercedes (Marcos' mom) and then got a call from my mom saying Alicia was pretty close. We went up to the hospital to help out with Kamyn and got there right as she was pushing. We could totally hear everything from the hall. It was awesome! Of course, it was also very chaotic with Dylan, Anthony, Preston and Kamyn, but it was a very cool moment. Right after that, I got a call from Mercedes telling me Laura had just had her baby. I can't remember right now, but they were only minutes apart (I think maybe 7). And they were similar in height and weight as well. So crazy! So we had the privilege of attending two one-year-old birthday parties for two very sweet little girls this week. Luckily they were not the same day. :) Both Alicia and Laura are so creative. They both had their girls in such cute outfits, made the cake on their own and had delicious food prepared. Much better hosts than I can ever hope to be! Both parties were so much fun that we didn't want to leave. The food was great, the kids played and got along great, and we got to visit with people we don't always get to see. What a fun week for birthday celebrations. Here are a few pictures from the parties that I thought I would share. I'm stealing the collages off of Laura's blog since she's already done the work. It's easier than trying to create them myself. :)

Milli's 1st Birthday Party

Playing with presents

Loving her birthday cake

The proud parents: Dave & Laura

Crazy kids!

Playing on the tramp

Sweet Milli

Some of the guests

Kenya's 1st Birthday Party

Some of the guests at the party

Notice the cake faces on Dylan, Tony and Kamyn

(when one goes crazy, they all do)

Kenya's birthday

Sweet Kenya