tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31665028770093075062024-03-04T21:55:31.591-08:00Jeff and Cyndi DayJeff and Cyndi Day's family blog. This will keep y'all updated on the major events in their lives, their eventual children, etc.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201516222830158064noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-85896815508771824542014-02-07T13:12:00.001-08:002014-02-07T13:12:25.196-08:00Merry Christmas and a Happy New YearChristmas was a lot of fun this year. Not that it isn't always fun, but this was the first year Michael really cared. Santa was coming and Michael was going to get presents! It was a bit more stressful because I felt like I had to impress my 3 year old and actually do all the Christmas stuff Jeff and I grew up doing (like put up the tree which, if you'll remember, took <i>two and a half hours</i>).<br />
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Michael got to sit on Santa's lap at the Jones's Family Christmas party. He was absolutely ecstatic to be called up and talked Santa's ear off while he was up on his lap. It was really cute:</div>
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I convinced Michael to ask for a monster truck from Santa and he very enthusiastically acquiesced, so he was very happy with his Santa gift (until he saw everyone else's presents, of course). </div>
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Michael's class made "gingerbread" houses at school:</div>
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(Michael was not very happy that I made him stop eating for a second so I could take his picture)</div>
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And I felt we had to top that by making a sugar cookie house:<br />
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Christmas morning was great:<br />
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Santa came and left us stockings (which I left til the last minute to make, so I was up nice and late making sure we all had one with our name on it):<br />
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And presents, of course:</div>
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Waiting at the top of the stairs to come down:<br />
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This video is really long (3 and a half minutes) so feel free to skip it, but I love every second of it. This is practically Michael's first Christmas since this was the first year he actually understood what was going on (it's a very quiet video- sorry, we're not too talkative early in the morning):</div>
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We took turns opening our gifts, which was practically painful for our excited boy. Here's my favorite video with Michael opening his gift from Grandma Veronin:<br />
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Then went to Grandma and Grandpa Day's house and admired everyone else's gifts, like Danny's new balance bike:<br />
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We also got to talk to Derek and Dallin (Jeff's two youngest brothers on missions in Sweden and Hungary) on skype with the whole family. It was really great to see them again and hear their voices. Apparently Dallin gained some weight but refused to show us his gut. Weirdo. <br />
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Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-44434341806640522652013-12-15T19:11:00.001-08:002013-12-15T19:11:28.827-08:00'Tis the Season<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
'Tis the season for snow in our backyard and snow shoveling:</div>
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'Tis also the season for getting really cold after tossing snow onto yourself:<br />
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'Tis the season for a homemade advent calendar so Michael will stop asking mommy, "What time is it, Cyndi?" "It's not Christmas yet, Michael." Now I can ask him, "How many days do we have left?" (It's just plastic cups with tissue paper glued on and treats- mostly animal crackers inside. Michael can pop them with his finger and loves keeping track of how close to Christmas we are.):<br />
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And, of course, the same day I make mine while Michael is at school, they come home with this cute project- an advent calendar where you glue a cotton ball on Santa's beard every day. Thanks for being as late as I was with this, school:<br />
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'Tis the season for going through our Christmas box and finding weird decorations and gifts and letting Michael play with them:<br />
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'Tis also the season for putting up the tree and letting Michael "help" (it took 2 and a half hours):<br />
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He loves Jeff's blue car ornament from 1987:<br />
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'Tis the season for illnesses. Thankfully, Michael is a cuddly, sick boy:</div>
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Also thankfully, Michael was out of commission when the cats brought a mouse into the house and <i>lost it</i>! <b><i>I</i></b> finally caught it in a jar and let Michael see it before loosing it outside (far from our front door). He decided to adopt it as a pet and wanted to feed it:</div>
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It wasn't terribly impressed with our offering of a froot loop:<br />
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And then I took it outside when he fell asleep again.<br />
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Mommy and Daddy are actually the ones that are sick right now with colds, but you don't want pictures of us sick. Trust me.<br />
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'Tis the season for Michael's class to take a field trip to a local assisted living home and "sing" for the Grandmas and Grandpas there:<br />
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Michael didn't do any actual singing, unfortunately, but he did wave to me and yell "Hi, Mommy!" in the middle of a song. He also gave a handmade Christmas card to one of the Grandpas and wished him a Merry Christmas. But he did it really fast and didn't want to stick around for a picture:<br />
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'Tis the season for indoor "picnics." Michael loves the Costco food court and calls it a picnic when we eat there. The last time we shopped there, we were in a big hurry to get our neighbor to school right after so we couldn't stop for food, so I told Michael we would come back for a "picnic" if he could help us move fast. He did (as much as a 3 year old can) and so we returned to Costco later that day just for a hotdog picnic (I try to keep my promises to him even if I regret them):<br />
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We hope you all are enjoying the most wonderful time of the year too!</div>
Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-78318738041586384632013-12-07T12:02:00.000-08:002013-12-07T12:05:02.398-08:00Thanksgiving<br />
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We had a great Thanksgiving at the Veronin house this year. The food was <i>amazing</i> and the company was pretty good too ;)</div>
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Doesn't it look delicious?:</div>
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Ki went full barbarian again this year and took a drumstick:</div>
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We had a great time playing games, watching movies, sleeping in (at least, I certainly took the opportunity to send Michael upstairs in the morning to go find Grandma while I slipped back into lala-land), and generally just spending time with my family. Jeff even got a decent amount of alone time despite the small children running around.</div>
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Michael got his token ride with Grandpa on the tractor:</div>
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And, of course, he spent some time with the chickens (though I forgot my camera for that).<br />
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The only Black Friday shopping I did was online- no lines, no fighting, free two-day shipping, no downside- but I did leave the house when my mom told us about a farm in their area that had pony rides for kids. We took Michael and Tess (Ki wasn't feeling well) to go play with animals but, thankfully, we only had to drive on rural roads- no shopping traffic (I understand that the Walmart right by our house was so busy people were parking along the roads in our townhomes! I'm so glad we missed all of it). <br />
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We found out that the pony was sick and unable to give the promised ride after we got to the farm, but we were able to somewhat distract Michael with alpacas they had available for petting.<br />
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Michael insisted that they were "deer" and immediately wanted to ride them. We did have to have a talk about not petting their tails or butts (seriously, that shouldn't be an issue, right?) but Michael eventually agree that it was a bad idea. Not because butts are dirty, but because they might kick him if he stands behind them. Either way, he stopped trying to pet that particular portion of the alpaca.<br />
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He eventually found this sweet girl, Sarah, who was kind enough to lie down next to the food supply and let Michael and Tess love her:<br />
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Sorry about the amount of pictures, but I love them. It was adorable.</div>
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Another woman thought so too and took some random pictures of my son feeding and hugging Sarah, so there are probably more pictures online somewhere else. Thanks, weird stranger. </div>
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Michael insisted even after we left that he should be able to ride the "deer" and was sorely disappointed with us for breaking our promise.<br />
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Anyway, Thanksgiving was a <i>lot</i> of fun even if the drives were not.<br />
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I cannot describe just how tempting it was to put Michael in a diaper for the trip but I didn't want to take that backwards step. So, instead, we were at his beck and call for potty breaks. At least he was willing to tell us every time he needed to go to the bathroom rather than just wet himself. <br />
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The drive out was pretty good. We went through Wyoming and stopped by the Cantrell's house where Kimberly fed us <i>amazingly </i>good food and my little sisters were tickled by Kelsey. It was a lot of fun and uneventful, except that Wyoming is incredibly windy and has far too many deer (though none in the road that I saw, thankfully).<br />
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The drive home was easier, though Michael decided he needed to take a potty break more often than I would have liked. But, again, at least he didn't just wet himself and he eventually fell asleep and we were able to make it home without incident (Huzzah!).</div>
Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-64107531905115428122013-12-06T13:23:00.000-08:002013-12-06T13:23:24.335-08:00Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I was going to post Halloween and Thanksgiving together, but it turns out I have more pictures than I thought I did, so you get two posts in one day! (Lucky you!)</div>
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For this Halloween, Michael <i>actually wanted to dress up!</i> So I did everything I could to make his dream of being an "orange kitty" come true. Unfortunately, black is the popular choice for kitty costumes and, apparently, it is a <i>girl</i> thing to dress up as a cat. So, unless I: A) had a strong desire to try to convince Michael that he really wanted to be a black cat, and B) wanted Michael in a frilly, feathery, or ruffly costume with pink or purple bows on it, I needed to make his outfit myself. </div>
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Thankfully, Michael is a pretty easy kid to please. I just bought an orange hat and mittens set, an orange shirt, some orange and pink felt, and a bit of fabric paint and <i>Voila</i>! We have an orange kitty!</div>
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Here is his costume in all its cute, kitty glory:</div>
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He sure does like hitting people (mainly baby Daniel) with that tail.</div>
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Here is Michael on Halloween night, psyched to go trick-or-treating for the first time (notice Daniel next to him, dressed as Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates- he was very adorable as well):</div>
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Trick-or-treating didn't go as well as I was hoping, as everyone in our townhomes seemed to be either not home or out of candy by the time we got out and about (around 7:30pm- seriously, people?). Thankfully, the kids still had fun knocking on doors and getting the occasional piece of candy, so it was worth almost freezing to death for. </div>
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I was a bit irritated at the number of people who thought it was hilarious to ask Michael, "What does the fox say?" referring to this bit of weird European eccentricity: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE" target="_blank">What Does the Fox Say (music video)</a>. Of course, it bothered me far more than it bothered Michael (he didn't get that they didn't recognize what he was) because I had worked pretty hard on that costume and my son was <i>an orange kitty, dang it</i>. </div>
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Besides trick-or-treating and trunk-or-treating, we celebrated Halloween season with the local pumpkin patch, which Michael begged to go to almost every day.</div>
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He really enjoyed wearing his kitty hat and gloves there, which was nice because they had a little maze where it was easy to lose small children.</div>
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...Unless they had small, orange ears poking above the hay bales:</div>
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There was also the kernel pit where adults let their children play, not suspecting how much corn their children would be smuggling into their cars and houses with their tiny shoes and diapers. <i>So much fun!</i></div>
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A new attraction this year was the addition of a few tube slides:<br />
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Michael thought they were the greatest thing ever.<br />
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Even better than the free funny-face pancake he got Halloween morning from IHOP. Doesn't his look <i>just like</i> the one in the ad on the table? Michael did a great job of decorating his pancake, even if he sucked at eating it ("Can I take one bite, Cyndi?"). Oh well, at least it was free.<br />
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<span id="goog_222252453"></span>Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-61617727972734764852013-11-14T13:10:00.000-08:002013-11-14T13:11:32.411-08:00Warning: This Post Contains the Word "Poop"I feel like I have said "poop" more times this week in public than any adult ever should.<br />
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I will post Halloween, I promise, but this just happened this morning and we wanted to blog it while the memories were fresh.<br />
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While trying to potty train Michael these past few months, we established an order of rewards he got for every time he goes poop in the potty. It went carrier truck, transit bus, blue truck, and school. If he went in his diaper rather than the potty, we would remove the most recent reward and he'd have to earn it back.<br />
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He was stuck on the carrier truck for a long time, getting it one day and losing it the very next day, until this week, when he went poop in the potty 4 days in a row! (Guess who had to deliver on rewards they hadn't prepared for yet?) <br />
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So, yesterday afternoon, I called a well loved, local preschool that thankfully had openings, and set up a tour for this morning. I didn't tell Michael until this morning that he'd get to go today, because he's not the most patient child, and it was a good thing because the hour that we had to wait between him finding out about <i>school </i>and actually going were positively painful.<br />
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"Can we go to my school yet?" "Can you take me to the bus stop?" "I'm going to go to school and you're going to stay here, right?" "Can we go to school now?" Non stop. <br />
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Then, once we left, I forgot to double check the address and got lost. Michael almost had a breakdown in the backseat. "Is that my school?" "Can we go to my school now?" "When are we going to my school?"<br />
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We <i>finally</i> made it there for the tour and Michael fell in love. "Is <i>this</i> my school?!" I filled out the paperwork while he played with toys in the front office. Then they asked me when we wanted him to start, saying we could start as early as tod- I stopped her right there and said, "Really, today? Let's do it."<br />
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We paid the fee, went home for lunch, and brought Michael back for his first class. He had a hard time holding still for a picture, but here is Michael's first day of school:<br />
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Here are Michael's other rewards. Carrier truck (it took a while to grab that bad photo of him holding it up because he was so very intent on playing with it)- it's a Melissa and Doug wood toy:<br />
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And then I just snagged a pic of these two, transit bus (a hotwheels) and blue truck (a semi he saw at Kmart and fixated on):</div>
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Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do every Tues/Thurs for 2 and a half hours while Michael's away. Oh no! :)Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-91324453099474097182013-10-29T10:48:00.001-07:002013-10-29T10:48:04.117-07:00Loving our BoySome days I just live to hear Michael talk in his cute little voice and sing me songs and tell me stories. Other days, I want to just cover his cute little mouth with duct tape. Today is a duct tape day. Mostly because I'm trying to do something, like blog, rather than give him my whole-hearted attention that he so desperately desires- but only when he notices me doing something else.<br />
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Earlier this month, Michael and I were invited to a fire station open house by my awesome sis-in-law, Kaylee, but we weren't able to make it. Unfortunately, I had already promised Michael fire trucks and he made sure to remind me of my promise <i>all day</i>. So, thinking fast, I took him to our fire station in Springville, where they have an old truck that kids can sit in:<br />
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We also brought our adorable neighbor, Maya, who was giving her mom a migraine. Michael hogged the driver's seat the whole time but Maya seemed happy just to be there.<br />
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It only worked so well because I had (luckily) not mentioned the cotton candy, hats, and everything else awesome that was going to be at the open house up in Orem. Huzzah for poor memory skills!<br />
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We also, in the spirit of Fall, went to a Farmer's Farm (or something silly like that) that was free to get in to and had a mini petting zoo, pony rides, bouncy houses, and food booths. They didn't tell you in the ad, though, that while it was free to get in, you pay through the nose for <i>everything</i> else. And they only took cash. <i>And</i> they didn't even have stamps for reentry if the kids got bored after 5 min in the petting zoo but decide they love it again 5 min after that. <br />
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I went with my two neighbors and their kids (5 small children all together) and we all left after just a few minutes of checking out prices and trying to keep the kids from noticing the expensive activities.<br />
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Then this:<br />
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very smart man approached us on the way out and said he'd let Ashton (I'm pretty sure he just pointed at the closest kid) jump on his trampoline for free since it was really slow and, of course, Ashton <i>really really </i>wanted to. Then, since he got to, everyone else wanted to try it.</div>
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Michael wasn't sure whether to be excited or scared, but he seemed to have fun nonetheless:</div>
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Michael has started drawing pictures for us, and he especially loves drawing on the whiteboard. This masterpiece is "Mommy, Daddy, and Michael." I love it!:<br />
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I love emptying Michael's camera (we have two pretty terrible digital cameras and Michael gets the worse one so he'll leave mine alone). We get awesome shots of strangers' backsides:<br />
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Fun shots of the boy, taken by Mommy and Daddy:<br />
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And shots of Mommy and Daddy that no one else could get (a picture of Daddy is rare in itself, much less a silly Daddy):</div>
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And then he gets a hold of the ipad camera and takes 500 pictures in two minutes. I'm half tempted to print them out and make flipbooks out of the shots:<br />
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And this is what he's been doing during the majority of writing this post ("Look at me, Mommy! Look at me!"):<br />
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Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-89611726570008665982013-10-16T14:18:00.002-07:002013-10-16T14:56:02.884-07:00Family TimeMichael and I have been traveling quite a bit over the last few weeks to be with family. <br />
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First, we drove to Colorado to hang out with the Veronins before snow made the mountains practically impassable (horribly miserable and terrifying, if nothing else). And, while I normally really like road trips, I had an awesomely painful migraine for the majority of this one. Michael was really good for most of the drive but by the time we reached Castle Rock (about a half hour from Grandma & Grandpa Veronin's house) he was <i>done</i>. It was about 1:30am when he woke up screaming and kicking. I pulled over to hold him for a minute to help him calm down and ended up passing out with him. My brain was fried and I thought it might be smart to stop and actually sleep for a few hours before driving the last stretch. How wrong I was. <br />
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I set up a bed for us in the trunk of our wonderful, beautiful van (we got a minivan- have I mentioned that yet? It's glorious). Michael slept like a rock (a very shifty rock that likes to steal covers) while I took catnaps, 5 minutes at a time. It was pretty miserable. <br />
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I eventually gave up and we finally made it to Grandma and Grandpa Veronin's where Michael was very happy to see Ki and Tess and play with them and all of their toys. His favorite was Ki's quad, which Michael insisted on calling "the motorcycle." He was surprisingly good at driving it, considering how horrible he was at driving the Jeep last time we visited (it makes sense though, because Michael is pretty good at steering his scooter and tricycle):<br />
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I thought for sure I had taken more pictures than this, but apparently not. I wish I had gotten some shots of Ki and Tess being so sweet to Michael and driving him around in the Jeep (where he preferred to be a passenger rather than the driver) and the kids playing games together all day, every day. It was a great visit, but I'm glad we left when we did because it started to snow as we drove home (no migraine though).<br />
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Another thing I wish I'd gotten a picture of was Michael hanging out with my sisters, Mary and Jessi, who we met for lunch before driving back to UT. We had calzones and talked for a long time. In fact, we hung out so long that I was much later than I thought I would be getting on the road and didn't get home til after 1am. We had a lot of fun though. I'm really glad I got to see them before I left. Especially because I'm not sure if I'll get to see them again before next year.<br />
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We also went camping with the Days. It was technically the Goblin Valley family trip, but most of the family was unable to make it and we actually only spent an hour or so at Goblin Valley. Even Jeff wasn't able to come with us because things were (and are) so rough at work (here is what he's dealing with right now: <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425215,00.asp">http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425215,00.asp</a>).<br />
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This was the weather for the majority of the trip:<br />
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We stayed at an RV campground next to a hotel where the kids were able to swim in the indoor pool:<br />
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I brought our tent, on the off chance I wanted to attempt to set it up, but mostly intended to just sleep in the van (even though it went so poorly last time, I figured it would be much more enjoyable with a bit more prep- aka, lots of blankets and pillows). Michael, though, was dead set on sleeping in Grandma's trailer. He is <i>obsessed</i> with her trailer. Almost every time we've gone to their house in the last few months, Michael has gotten Grandma to take him out to the trailer. He seems most interested in the fan in the bathroom and even showed it to Mr. School Bus, his invisible friend who can drive on walls and ceilings. In any case, Kaylee agreed to let Michael sleep with her and Paxton on one of the beds in the trailer. Unfortunately, Paxton way too psyched about having so many people around that he couldn't stop talking and laughing (despite the fact that everyone else was dead asleep) so poor Kaylee came and knocked on my van door to trade me places, hoping the isolation of the van would help Paxton sleep. So I got to sleep in the comfy trailer with my son (who was so out he didn't even twitch when Kaylee left and I climbed in a few minutes later) while poor, <i>pregnant</i> Kaylee got to "sleep" in the cold trunk of my van. At least the isolation did help and Paxton did sleep, so that's something.<br />
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The next morning, I woke to tiny heads poking over the top of the bunk bed (Carly and Braxton), waiting for everyone else to wake up. Michael didn't wake until Grandpa tried to get out of the Durango (he slept in their trunk) and set off the car alarm, very effectively letting everyone know that it was time to get up. Everyone but Grandpa thought it was really funny.<br />
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Here's Michael staying warm, patiently waiting for breakfast:<br />
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After breakfast, we went to the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum in Price. Their front entrance statue was surprisingly violent! None of the kids noticed, but it's one dinosaur lifting another in the air while biting its neck (luckily, it wasn't in color):<br />
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Inside, Michael basically ignored everything while demanding toys to play with. I was able to get some cute pictures of him and Danny in front of some cool bones though:<br />
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And then we finally made it to the activity area at the end where the kids could dig for dinosaur bones:<br />
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And color pictures:<br />
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We ate lunch at Goblin Valley parking lot and dug in the dirt before playing on the rocks in the actual valley:<br />
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We climbed for a few minutes before Michael decided that he needed to pee and no rock or bush was good enough for him to urinate on. He needed the smelly bathrooms up in the parking lot. We had to climb back up the new staircase that was installed to decrease the chance of a broken neck while increasing the chance of small children wetting themselves as they slowly struggle to the top. And, of course, Michael stubbed his foot (Is that a thing? I don't know. All I know is that he kicked a stair rather than step on it and started crying) so I had to pick him up and try to run the last 2/3 of the stairs without throwing other small kids out of my way and telling Michael that he was <i>not allowed to pee on me</i>. <br />
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I was gasping for air by the time we made it to the top, so of course the wind was blowing air directly from the oh-so-fragrant-bathrooms. No time to gag, I had to get this kid to the potty. <br />
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We waited semi-patiently for our turn in one of the two spider-infested stalls while I tried, yet again to convince Michael to just pee on a bush ("They want to be peed on. Please!"). Nothing doing. We got inside and discover the "toilets" are about as tall as Michael, so he can't just stand and pee. First I try to get him to sit on it but he freaks out thinking he's going to fall in (can't blame the kid, I feel the same way) so I lift him up and tell him to aim. <br />
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After I finished cleaning the back of the toilet and the seat (and Michael's hands because he feels the need to touch every public toilet we come across... toddler bucket list?) we are finally free to go outside and enjoy the wonder and beauty that is Goblin Valley. And, of course, it has started to rain while we dealt with the toilet issues. We sprint to the pavilion at the top of the trail and wait for the inevitable exodus of sopping wet Days.<br />
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We stopped at Grandpa's favorite melon stand in Green River before heading back to Price. Michael and Paxton had a good time in the back of the van playing peek-a-boo with their blankets. It was very cute-:<br />
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-right up until Grandma and Grandpa put on their hazards and pulled off to the side of the highway. Their transmission had blown, and we needed to call a tow truck. It actually made me pretty nostalgic for my own family road trips as a child with the old Veronin aerostar van.</div>
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Thankfully, I had a minivan (how did we ever live without this van!) and I could pack everyone but Grandma, Grandpa, and Emmy in to take back to Price while the unfortunate three got to dump all their firewood and water out of the trailer to make it easier to tow. We (Kaylee and I, at least) were hoping to go back to the RV campground to let the kids swim again (but probably get rooms rather than rough it) to end the trip on a good note, but the tow truck was willing to drive the Durango and trailer all the way to AF- basically and offer the Days couldn't refuse. So we let the kids play at McDonald's for an hour before shoving them all back in the car for the hour and a half drive home. </div>
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Overall, I had a great time and I know Michael loved most of it (the last half hour or so in the van was pretty rough for everyone) and I'm really glad we got to come.</div>
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Closing picture: Michael is getting better at hiding!</div>
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<br />Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-27284429890118646122013-09-24T14:15:00.001-07:002013-09-24T14:18:11.243-07:00Backyard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As much as we loved having this:<br />
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for our backyard, we thought it might be time to upgrade to something that doesn't look awful. We worked our butts off over a weekend to remove, well everything:</div>
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(Michael loved all the bugs we dug up and found a ton of rolly pollies to keep in that bucket in the middle of the porch.)</div>
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And brought in professionals to cover the whole thing with cement (and they move the shed for us). Please forgive the quality of picture for these next few, as they were taken through Michael's bedroom window:<br />
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They worked <i>really</i> hard and only got some ice water and a check for their trouble, but <b>we</b> got this!:<br />
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(before putting everything back)</div>
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(after Michael has made himself at home)</div>
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At first, Michael didn't even know what to do with all the extra space and kept trying to bring his scooter and bike in the house to ride around rather than play in the new, awesomely huge (comparatively) area! Now that he's use to it, he loves to go run, draw, and ride in the new backyard and can do it all unsupervised! Yay for everyone!!!!!</div>
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And now Michael will read you <i>Duck is Dirty</i> (notice the "quacks," as they are adorable):</div>
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<br />Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-25098243977366427532013-09-09T13:27:00.001-07:002013-09-09T16:24:57.250-07:00Our Summer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">4th of July</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Michael was psyched for fireworks (and insisted they were "for Michael's birthday!"):</span></div>
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Uncle Richard was very sweet to Michael- talking with him and sharing his extra chair. It was cute:<br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">Family Reunion in CO</span><br />
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Having tons of fun playing with cousins:<br />
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Michael would rather be naked than wear wet clothes:<br />
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Awesome Aunt Jessi bought Michael construction trucks for a late birthday gift and he adores them! He insisted on carrying all 5 of them with him everywhere he went. Even now they're still all together:<br />
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Poor Pumpkin tried to hide in the rafters from the massive amounts of people invading his home:<br />
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And Michael learned to drive (poorly) with Ki and Tess's new power wheels:<br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">California</span></div>
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Michael and I traveled to CA for my cousin Allison's wedding:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywJk1cS9VxxSll59KrziVB4nOBa5V6beZt_gesD2S_HHIM8pXO6kUPTE6R0Y99Z-xolZIwTdtmtDKgcYelrGNmo9y10iZ1zavlmdEA6iH83T2zXey6IWhM9DO8u2KOg9FEQPfuJBySmk/s1600/1150911_10200265013123208_598672121_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywJk1cS9VxxSll59KrziVB4nOBa5V6beZt_gesD2S_HHIM8pXO6kUPTE6R0Y99Z-xolZIwTdtmtDKgcYelrGNmo9y10iZ1zavlmdEA6iH83T2zXey6IWhM9DO8u2KOg9FEQPfuJBySmk/s400/1150911_10200265013123208_598672121_n.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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Michael is all dressed up:</div>
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Uncle Ki teaches Michael how to climb the stairs in creative ways:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKCf4s8X8VxaKuvL7f5SD2loqoVKgYIo6ln8O3Qz5w787dokFpORMdlM59WZp_kaazSQh1_wWowfrWVcmxWOki33tiIAaAxfPjRMXrtnT624jbgsDhU8NiIsBKv6r1mVczr19jpVeeRY/s1600/IMG_4581.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKCf4s8X8VxaKuvL7f5SD2loqoVKgYIo6ln8O3Qz5w787dokFpORMdlM59WZp_kaazSQh1_wWowfrWVcmxWOki33tiIAaAxfPjRMXrtnT624jbgsDhU8NiIsBKv6r1mVczr19jpVeeRY/s400/IMG_4581.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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We also got to swim in the Warr's pool where Michael mostly just wanted to roam the edge and squirt people with water guns. Grandpa Veronin was nice enough to offer himself as a ferry to Michael to try to get him into the pool. Michael very happily used his services but did not linger in the pool:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNExR-Qqx_ocDDyQnsVBkyvMpqv6aw1pHCaGm3PNw9TWcYzdR15Mzlu7cC6CYdawUmJz3DguKUOWqy0CYyPllUsgfHwMWeYVlavdJc3GL7J4zWeLhOYQexSo0eeMUbzx542MV3KnAhCXk/s1600/20130822_111532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNExR-Qqx_ocDDyQnsVBkyvMpqv6aw1pHCaGm3PNw9TWcYzdR15Mzlu7cC6CYdawUmJz3DguKUOWqy0CYyPllUsgfHwMWeYVlavdJc3GL7J4zWeLhOYQexSo0eeMUbzx542MV3KnAhCXk/s400/20130822_111532.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Michael also learned that if you blow into pool noodles, water squirts out the other end. Grandpa was playing with Michael by looking into the end saying, "What's in there?" while Michael blew as hard as he could (he was usually laughing too hard to blow very well). One time, though, Michael caught Grandpa by surprise and got him right in the eye! My Dad was done with the game until Michael said, "Grandpa, Grandpa, you want to hold it? Grandpa?" My Dad couldn't resist being called Grandpa and put his face back up to the noodle hole to get squirted again. It was adorable. </div>
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Here are some fun, traveling pictures I got while everyone else was sleeping. :)</div>
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You're welcome, Joe.</div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">Miscellaneous Activities</span></div>
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Michael still loves Jump on It (aka "the jumping place") and was very happy to show it to Aunt Kaylee (whom he <i>loves</i> to talk to on his play phone) and her son, Paxton:</div>
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We also like to visit the multiple splash parks near our house. Michael especially loves the waterfall at one and will fill his mouth...</div>
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...and run at mommy, spitting. The punk: </div>
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We also bring toys:</div>
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And our friend, Daniel, whom I babysit every Mon and Fri. He prefers to get right into the waterfall:</div>
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We visited the county fair where Michael got a balloon monkey:</div>
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Petted a horse (Without any encouragement! He just walked right up to that sucker and stuck his hand through the bars!):</div>
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He also petted a humongous tortoise. Needless to say, we used a lot of hand sanitizer that day:</div>
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Grandma Veronin got Michael a spiffy new suit:</div>
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And Michael loves the number of rolly pollies we get around here:</div>
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He's even got a bug jar for them to live in:</div>
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He sure is a cute kid!:</div>
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<span id="goog_1385408607"></span><span id="goog_1385408608"></span><br />Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-2070659831820760262013-07-07T23:32:00.001-07:002013-07-07T23:40:59.369-07:00New Flooring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We've finally gotten rid of the terrible, disgusting carpet that came with the house. The people before us didn't care about it and, in fact, had a naughty dog that was apparently allowed to relieve itself wherever it wanted to. When we moved in, it was hard to care about a carpet that was so stained already, so we didn't worry about eating on it or anything (though we didn't let our animals pee all over it, just saying). The split between the carpet and linoleum was very awkwardly placed directly beneath the dining table too, so it was a huge relief to see that old carpet go.</div>
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We decided to go with a vinyl that looks like wood flooring but is way easier to maintain and incredibly durable. It's textured, too, so it feels nice on bare feet :)</div>
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Michael was kind enough to get this close-up for y'all when the little punk borrowed my camera:</div>
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We had no desire to do the work ourselves, so we hired professionals to take care of it for us. Unfortunately, I had to deal with moving everything we own upstairs all by my lonesome because the <i>professionals</i> didn't confirm their appointment with me til I called them the morning of to see what was up. By then, Jeff had already left for work. In fact, when I called at 8am, they thought they were coming over at 9am. I told them, no, they weren't coming over in an hour, but they could come around 10am so I could have some time to move all our stuff out of the way (and, actually, when the guy showed up at 10, I sent him away for another few hours because we have a <i>lot</i> of stuff). You never realize how much useless junk you own until you have to carry it all up a flight of stairs. My sisters actually came over to help with the last bit. You guys are freaking awesome.</div>
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We moved everything into the master bedroom (my bed is under that mess... somewhere):</div>
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It was really weird having such an empty downstairs:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqkzexNHnt999dS13nCkNC9mtqMkHVVCRYPScoVLthSnWEub1PdipxlaMkCd2O5yzql4E2lDRsJdHINGOhzqg7RoP6pxBhZaMh8q2jqCMvAv7gZnjslE9vNYpH0f_huxgYxfA7sIpq3Wk/s960/IMG_0977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqkzexNHnt999dS13nCkNC9mtqMkHVVCRYPScoVLthSnWEub1PdipxlaMkCd2O5yzql4E2lDRsJdHINGOhzqg7RoP6pxBhZaMh8q2jqCMvAv7gZnjslE9vNYpH0f_huxgYxfA7sIpq3Wk/s400/IMG_0977.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Michael was fascinated by the whole process and kept trying to get closer and closer to the action. I had to tell him many, many times that he could stand on the big chair, the couch, or go upstairs. (Bonus: you get to see the bottom of my pantry covering my counters):</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiq6nGmDfTSLDvP0JSFpL__Wn8APnC4F1l9ue4dnXOY1VdKaX8IMgUX9R5H_8-GKH7zKegezuWWtZTsQc7n1Q-2ERhGZbWr27eRhyphenhyphenqc0_AbZj8mL2ZmKBKE1GSLimWeEqnlMCjcZaGVzk/s960/IMG_0976.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiq6nGmDfTSLDvP0JSFpL__Wn8APnC4F1l9ue4dnXOY1VdKaX8IMgUX9R5H_8-GKH7zKegezuWWtZTsQc7n1Q-2ERhGZbWr27eRhyphenhyphenqc0_AbZj8mL2ZmKBKE1GSLimWeEqnlMCjcZaGVzk/s400/IMG_0976.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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And when he saw the tool that was being used to tear up the carpet (a long metal bar with a flat, curved end), he grabbed his "stick" (the back scratcher) so he could help!:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislOlg386YKSr61VAD1rVlDjY5PhrmZeAi92P-qXEK8MApCr5mJJ47lyh7fThSoPqV3DlcAELyWF0tto7qBjcTIl69PRo4uDdLmN27mL4ZKvHfy2k7wvv123RU8RyiklziKwXohVyELLI/s960/IMG_0979.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEislOlg386YKSr61VAD1rVlDjY5PhrmZeAi92P-qXEK8MApCr5mJJ47lyh7fThSoPqV3DlcAELyWF0tto7qBjcTIl69PRo4uDdLmN27mL4ZKvHfy2k7wvv123RU8RyiklziKwXohVyELLI/s400/IMG_0979.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Luckily, I was able to convince Michael that he would be much more helpful if he stayed far away from Solomon, the carpet man. Instead, Michael wielded his stick like a machete and "cut" up the carpet for Solomon. <br />
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The first day, only the one guy showed up to do the kitchen all on his own. He was at our house til 8pm working and then I practically shoved him out the door. It would have been a lot less awkward if he spoke better English. <br />
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The second day, we got 3 guys to tear up the rest of the carpet and we were confined to the stairway and upstairs while they spread glue and lay the rest of the floor. We spent as little time as possible in the house. Thankfully, the guys were really honest and didn't steal anything while we left them all alone (nothing we've noticed, anyway, so we're happy).<br />
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Two days, many hours, and a whole lot of mexican polka music later, we were blessed with this glorious sight:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQWz_o5lkD3pYGyHBejwyziYGLRgYdngBsvS2AnU57W4SVLn7u1z1F_jM2MTiozDePZBEed0eAt_eroVBvM09bN5Pgfwx67NtjSKVNa5qQzLe5sVkYPbcF0q-P1WQu4SZ1p_sre8NIYyQ/s960/IMG_0987.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQWz_o5lkD3pYGyHBejwyziYGLRgYdngBsvS2AnU57W4SVLn7u1z1F_jM2MTiozDePZBEed0eAt_eroVBvM09bN5Pgfwx67NtjSKVNa5qQzLe5sVkYPbcF0q-P1WQu4SZ1p_sre8NIYyQ/s400/IMG_0987.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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We <i>love</i> it!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeLewbGRcQ89l_gGzpc8HWjsu0FvKx_-f_DEtTf0slmoxVybMxBN5Thz17ryEerHHDSCzpDJwJ0kZZLL-oKlRUZ456fyfZI27tBx2O4aNgOSu6Qkr5UH7UX-L8IOH9UZPhKe2T33e4iI/s1600/IMG_2519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeLewbGRcQ89l_gGzpc8HWjsu0FvKx_-f_DEtTf0slmoxVybMxBN5Thz17ryEerHHDSCzpDJwJ0kZZLL-oKlRUZ456fyfZI27tBx2O4aNgOSu6Qkr5UH7UX-L8IOH9UZPhKe2T33e4iI/s400/IMG_2519.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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It also gave me a good opportunity to go through all our junk and figure out what we could live long and happy lives without and organize everything else. These pictures are "progress," a day and a half after the floor is already done:<br />
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It's been a few weeks and I'm still not completely done going through everything (there's still a decent amount of crud in my room), but the downstairs looks amazing and I can sleep in my bed, so I'm happy. :)</div>
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<br />Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-66347235833752162382013-07-02T15:49:00.001-07:002013-07-02T15:50:44.423-07:00We're Still Cute... Well, Most of us, Anyway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
What can I say? Michael's been off his game lately:</div>
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I mean, come on, kid. Sharing your blankie with the kitties? Watching football with Grandpa Veronin? You're trying way too hard.<br />
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Anyway, here are some catch up whatnots:<br />
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We celebrated Amy's birthday with an angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries. It was yummy. Michael loved the fire:<br />
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Michael got cupcakes at his birthday, which my Mom, Ki, and Tess were able to be in town for:</div>
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Grandma Veronin gave Michael his first scooter. It was a big hit:<br />
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Michael was even willing to share his new scooter with his Uncle Ki while Michael rode his bike:<br />
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I love his cupcake mustache!<br />
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We went to Grandma Day's house that Sunday and had <i>more cupcakes!</i>:<br />
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Random picture of Michael in his big boy underwear (nope, not potty trained yet), knocking over a stack of blocks with his scooter. He'd yell "Boom!" when the tower fell and then he'd build it back up to be knocked back down:<br />
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Summer play:</div>
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Plus, he dances! (Well, sorta):</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxQ5f8ySlHGWUuE_91GPdMtJLZnuHpS92TPZ-VQTKykU-62LoYsXJpYWMxl-gufEoTldJLKy2gw-16FQRiawQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-9502444404862450322013-04-01T09:11:00.004-07:002013-04-01T09:11:37.403-07:00Tuesdays with MichaelSo, I've been ridiculously busy the past few weeks with my work, and to make up for it my boss gave me 3.5 days off, including Tuesday. Tuesday turned out to be such a great day that I'm going to try taking Tuesdays off on a semi-weekly basis.<br />
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Last Tuesday I took him to the playground, and Michael decided he wanted to go down the slides all by himself. So he did. This is a big step, because I never liked slides as a kid and still need Cyndi at the bottom to feel totally comfortable with them. Michael has no such problems.<br />
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Since we haven't posted anything in the past few months, I'm going to go ahead and clear out the photos and videos I have taken in that time. In no particular order. Deal with it. </div>
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Cyndi already blogged about Michael learning about how hot his grandpa's fireplace was, but here's a picture of his hand that I took:</div>
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This was a few days later, so some of it's healed.</div>
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Guess what's in the cupboard:</div>
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If you guessed demon Michael, you were correct!</div>
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Michael got a garage from Santa that he loved, and he got a book called "Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site" from his grandma that he loved even more:</div>
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This is just Michael pretending he's playing games with us:</div>
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Michael loving his aunt and uncle:</div>
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Finally, and these are the best, two videos. The first is Michael singing "Old McDonald". He had already sung and been clapped for, so he was anticipating a good response.</div>
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The second is Michael reading to his chicken while putting it to bed. The chickens are grandma's chickens and they live on the ceiling of daddy's office. This particular chicken was pulled down with a green chip clip that Michael had, it ran downstairs, then upstairs, then outside, then back upstairs (with us chasing the whole way, of course). Michael didn't want to go to bed, but he was more than happy to give the chicken a bath, watch videos on daddy's computer with it, and then put it to bed. This is basically Michael's bedtime ritual, just with him playing the parts of mommy and daddy.</div>
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Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201516222830158064noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-59597817197985430902013-02-20T13:15:00.001-08:002013-02-20T13:16:23.488-08:00ChristmasIt's late February and I am finally posting about Christmas. Long and short of it- I'm lazy.<br />
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At the Jones Family Reunion in mid December, Michael got to meet Santa Clause for the first time. He wasn't quite sure what to think, but forgave us for the awkward sit on a stranger's lap after he saw that Santa had given him a flashlight.<br />
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He loved it (<strike>Jeff </strike> Santa chose very well and found a flashlight with a red light on one end and a blue light on the other). He spent the rest of the day playing with it and it's still one of his favorite toys.</div>
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2012 was our 5 year Anniversary and we wanted to celebrate in style. So, Jeff and I dropped Michael off at his Grandma and Grandpa Veronin's and flew to Las Vegas. We stayed at Caesar's Palace and saw "Love," the Circ du Soleil based on the Beatles' music. We also ate lunch at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa, and had the <i>amazing</i> Goat Cheese "Queso Fundido" appetizer:<br />
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I'm a little embarrassed to say that, yes, that is the only picture I took in Vegas. But it was really, <i>really</i> good...</div>
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Anyway, when we got back to my parent's house, we expected to find our little boy happy and well. Unfortunately, Michael had lost his blankie <i>and</i> burnt his hand on the fireplace while we were gone. My Dad made sure to prep us for an unhappy child in the car on the way home from the airport by breaking news of the lost blankie before telling us about the burns. We couldn't help but laugh... not at Michael's misery, but the way my Dad told us. The blankie was found a little after we got back (he had shoved it behind the unused guest bed in the sewing room, the weenie) and his hand just had a few blisters. They didn't even keep him from sucking his thumb.</div>
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I took a picture of the fireplace where Michael placed his hand instead of the blisters (you're welcome). You can see his tiny handprint in the soot:</div>
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Christmas Eve was great. After celebrating my big sister, Mary's, birthday with homemade pizza, we had the kids act out the nativity story. Michael did <i>not</i> want to dress up and would rather not have taken part in the play, but we convinced him by having his mommy, yours truly, toss on an arabic headpiece and play the part of a shepherd with him so he could sit in her lap.</div>
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Christmas day was a lot of fun. I took no pictures of the present opening, cos that's how I roll, but I did get a great picture of the kids eating their Christmas day feast. Notice Ki's turkey leg:</div>
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Random picture of my happy boy:</div>
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The day we left, my Dad let everyone shoot the gun he got for Christmas. And, since it's his house and his land, he set up a target down on the range and let us shoot at it from his balcony:</div>
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Obviously, the kids did not get to shoot, but they did have to wear ear protection while the gun was active. Michael, after our picture, chose to play in the snow with a toy bulldozer. He was blissfully happy despite having no boots and a light jacket (I'm such a good Mom) and refused to come inside until we bribed him with pizza (or something sweet- I don't quite remember):</div>
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In fact, Michael could have cared less that it was winter and snowing and freezing. His favorite thing to do now at Grandma and Grandpa Veronin's house is to ride the "red race car." It didn't matter what the weather was doing outside, he asked to go ride it multiple times every single day and was ecstatic when someone agreed to go outside with him so he could play: </div>
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We had a great time visiting my family (although 2 weeks was a <i>bit</i> long for Jeff, poor guy). Thanks for putting up us for so long guys!</div>
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Here are some more pictures of Michael, cos he's just so dang cute:</div>
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<br />Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-76863772998563317432012-12-05T08:39:00.000-08:002012-12-05T08:39:01.725-08:00Cyndi the BarberShort blog post, just a quick update really.<br />
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Haircut</h2>
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I've been really enjoying the short hairstyle I got over the summer, so after Cyndi got a pair of clippers from her good friend Shelly, she went to town on my hair. I LOVE having short hair and should have done this years ago. Next time I'm going to have Cyndi go with the lowest setting instead of the second lowest.</div>
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<h2>
Is That Grandpa?</h2>
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I know you are all sick of hearing about Michael, but you're just going to have to deal with it. I already gave you the good stuff, so you have no right to complain.</div>
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Michael loves going to Grandma and Grandpa Day's house. He loves his uncle Duane and playing with his cousins. He especially loves Grandma's collection of trucks that she keeps just for little boys.</div>
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On Sunday, Michael started running up to Grandpa, who'd put him on his lap and Michael would start yelling, "Is this Grandpa? Mommy, is this Grandpa? Look, Michael's got Grandpa!" I had to take some pictures.</div>
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<h2>
Michael Climb The Cat Tree</h2>
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Here's Michael climbing the cat tree and watching SportsCenter. He's already manlier than I was through high school.</div>
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Michael Go Up There</h2>
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So, Michael woke up from his nap the other day and came down the stairs, pointing at the wall saying, "Michael go up there." I just assumed he was referring to the master bedroom, but it turns out he wasn't. </div>
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I'm really sorry about the crappy pictures. I had to do it fast and wasn't able to let the camera focus as well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOr2ujbU46lZhIa3jwDMNgtA4uUbIfky6uPT11K4r9fBAprfa0ACxS2CELilNPVlwPIOQgRAWzxpdFNxXO073Dq3Bfv0oontwrGw2ZTjl-MBCg6ruy0pRSN4X7BPPpJsgJwsI1NHvCw0I/s1600/IMG_0177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOr2ujbU46lZhIa3jwDMNgtA4uUbIfky6uPT11K4r9fBAprfa0ACxS2CELilNPVlwPIOQgRAWzxpdFNxXO073Dq3Bfv0oontwrGw2ZTjl-MBCg6ruy0pRSN4X7BPPpJsgJwsI1NHvCw0I/s320/IMG_0177.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael scoping out his climbing surface</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's going for it</td></tr>
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Unfortunately, he didn't quite make it up the wall. </div>
Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201516222830158064noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-20857638527282709002012-11-27T12:48:00.001-08:002012-11-27T13:00:45.290-08:00Ketchup/Catsup/Catch-up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am procrastinating a one page paper for my History class and instead decided to catch up my blog in one, giant, picture-filled post. Jeff, being the wonderful man that he is, has been filling in to make up for my lack of updates and I almost don't want to take over again because I love his posts, but it's time I get these pictures and stories up before I forget everything.</div>
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First, a quick stitches update (obviously, Michael is fine, but here are some additional pictures to share).</div>
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A picture of the stitches the day after Michael got them:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEito0DQrhme0ruFeWbnmyJEcOlu6Oe9nAjmzCYMQQpK6pfE346HRActCMtwhp5AptoTVoA50eEL4UOfi9ON06RpuRLLzziNFPqakTEUCPX82E8mQ8NPjJmfAdaoCd0MWsav5OBZuoEIDlk/s1600/IMG_4167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEito0DQrhme0ruFeWbnmyJEcOlu6Oe9nAjmzCYMQQpK6pfE346HRActCMtwhp5AptoTVoA50eEL4UOfi9ON06RpuRLLzziNFPqakTEUCPX82E8mQ8NPjJmfAdaoCd0MWsav5OBZuoEIDlk/s400/IMG_4167.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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And Michael's practically invisible scar. It's the slightly pink line barely covered with hair:</div>
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<b>Bear Lake (Late July, Early Aug)</b></div>
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Michael and I went camping at Bear Lake with Jeff's family for their yearly family trip (they switch between Bear Lake and Goblin Valley). Jeff wasn't able to make it since work was crazy and he couldn't take the time off, but his brother-in-laws were very sweet and helped me put my tent up and take it down (Thank you again Jon and Spencer!)</div>
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Michael wanted nothing to do with the lake at first, but eventually warmed up to it and loved running through the shallow areas- fully clothed, of course:</div>
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One night I had to make a bathroom run and almost ran into a skunk. I didn't have my glasses on, so I didn't notice it until it spun around at my approach. It was about 20 feet away and just looked like a big black and white blur. I didn't really know it was a skunk until it ran off (as I backed slowly away) without turning around, meaning its rear had been facing me! I was more than a little freaked out. Unfortunately, it had run off towards the bathroom, so I sucked it up and peed behind a bush. We were camping, after all. <br />
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When I got back to my tent, I found that my child had completely taken over my side of the blow-up mattress:<br />
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Good morning, pillow thief:</div>
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We had a lot of fun swimming, collecting shells, and flying kites. Michael even got to fly a Lightning McQueen kite and only let go of it twice (note: it did not immediately fall when he released the string, so I got to sprint and dive after the escapee -which I'm sure was why he let go twice because it was so funny the first time):</div>
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Our improvised time-out chair (we seem to need one where ever we go):</div>
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The cutest thing about this trip was the great game Michael and his cousin Luke came up with. They'd run under the flap to our tent's "porch" and run out again as fast as they could and surprise each other:</div>
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My favorite moment was when they collided. I shouldn't say that, but it was absolutely hilarious. Each kid was on one side of the flap and both ran at the exact same spot. They both cried for a bit, but eventually went back to their game as if nothing had happened. Okay, that's not quite true. They were both a bit more cautious when running under the flap, but that's how you learn, right?<br />
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One last Bear Lake story. This one doesn't have any pictures because it was probably the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me:<br />
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Michael, after I put him down for bed in our tent one night, escaped. I was across the parking lot playing Bang! with the family when Jenna walked up with a crying Michael. She had been checking on her kids in their tent and heard Michael crying. He walked out of a bunch of trees clutching his blankie and sobbing for mommy. I can't even try to describe how horrified and sick I felt. I thought for sure he was safe in the tent while, instead, he was wandering the campsite. He could have gotten completely lost and just disappeared. I had left the zipper at the bottom of the door and he had figured out how to open it. He even zipped it up behind his clever little self. It still makes me feel sick to my stomach remembering. Needless to say, he did not spend any alone time in our tent after that. When Michael went to bed, so did I.<br />
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<b>Visiting the Orrs (Aug)</b><br />
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Jeff touched on this already, but I had a ton of pictures on my camera and wanted to share. We use my Uncle James's improv show as an excuse to go visit Anne, James, and their awesome kids as often as possible. Last time we went, we stopped off at Promontory Summit to see Golden Spike National Historic Site and the "choo-choos" there. We watched the train demonstration and had a blast.<br />
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This picture pretty much sums up how Michael felt about the whole thing:<br />
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He wanted Mommy and Daddy to sit next to him on the choo-choo stairs:<br />
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We'll definitely be going back.</div>
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Once we got to Kuna, we discovered we were lucky enough to have timed our visit to line up with Kuna Days! They had a parade and fireworks and a huge vendor area (that we did not visit). Michael and I joined Anne, Becca, and Sarah for the parade. Jeff, the crazy, thinks parades are boring. </div>
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I love small town floats:</div>
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We saw horses and cows and trucks and tractors aaaand...<br />
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Firetrucks! Michael was ecstatic:<br />
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Until they sprayed us with water:<br />
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Thankfully, they were the last thing in the parade so it was okay that Michael decided he was done:<br />
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They kind of killed his love for firetrucks for a while. I pointed out a firetruck on the way home from the parade and Michael just whined and sucked his thumb. He's fully recovered now and can't get enough of them again. Huzzah.<br />
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I also got a quick picture of Uncle James doing improv: <br />
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We love his show (his group is called Chicks n' Giggles and if you ever get a chance, we <i>highly</i> recommend you see them!). We can't wait for winter to pass so we'll feel safe driving North for another visit.</div>
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<b>Visiting the Veronins (Sept and Oct)</b></div>
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We've actually visited my family twice during my no-posting time. I can't remember which pictures are from which visit, so here they all are.</div>
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Michael <i>loves</i> playing with Ki and Tess. Hanging out with them always encourages him to do new things like climb:</div>
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and jump:<br />
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and go crazy:<br />
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Those kids have a blast together:</div>
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Jeff and I were invited to learn how to catch,<br />
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kill,</div>
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pluck (the easy way with a whizbang barrel- they go in feathered,</div>
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and come out clean),<br />
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and clean chickens with my dad while they cleared out the bad egg layers in their flock:<br />
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We were also present for my Granny's 75th birthday (Sept) and she let the kids blow out her candles:<br />
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Also, now that my parents have their own bees and harvest their own honey, they're a part of the local beekeeper club. They had a party where honey-based foods competed for rather extravagant ribbons. They also compared honey and beeswax to see who's was the best and most pure. My parents came home with a ribbon in each category! The big winner was my mom's blueberry lavender (honey) cheesecake. Everyone raved about it:<br />
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I just love this picture, so I had to post it. On the drive home from my family's, Michael got to play the iPad and decided to keep his blankie on his head so he wouldn't lose it. I laughed really hard when I first noticed and, since I was alone in my car with him, took about 5 pictures over my shoulder in an attempt to capture it:</div>
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<b>Brigham City Temple Open House (Aug)</b><br />
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Michael, baby Daniel, and I had the opportunity to attend the Brigham City temple open house.<b> </b>Michael's favorite part was the transit bus that shuttled us from the parking lot to the temple:<br />
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In fact, he loved the bus so much, that he wanted nothing more than to get back on it. He refused to walk and cried the entire time. The temple was gorgeous, but I couldn't wait to get out and take my dang kid home. This picture is about how the whole adventure went:</div>
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Of course, as soon as we got back on the bus, life was good again.<br />
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<b>Haircut (Nov)</b><br />
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Last, but not least, Michael got yet another haircut. I love to post these just because I'm always amazed at the difference a haircut makes. I always let his hair grow out far too long, but haircuts are such a battle that I put them off as long as possible.<br />
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Before:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lMCG86oNOfrK0nkE-hl9HmSbIx5o84NkdDtTOsNMhF1IMXz2b6A6eqw6sM3OJ2wQX1C1GDHUmj0NIWoz-HV4Ur_X47AI7JVe-S9Z5JmayA36QHwXv4Ddvx5C-Wautjij34m_XH0OB2Q/s1600/IMG_4193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5lMCG86oNOfrK0nkE-hl9HmSbIx5o84NkdDtTOsNMhF1IMXz2b6A6eqw6sM3OJ2wQX1C1GDHUmj0NIWoz-HV4Ur_X47AI7JVe-S9Z5JmayA36QHwXv4Ddvx5C-Wautjij34m_XH0OB2Q/s400/IMG_4193.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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After:<br />
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Sorry about the length. Hopefully I'll never let myself go so long without posting again. No guarantees, unfortunately. Love you all and thanks for bearing with me! :)</div>
Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-65648806363127051182012-11-21T12:57:00.000-08:002012-11-21T12:57:30.674-08:00Tuesdays with MichaelCyndi has class on Mondays and Tuesdays, which gives me lots of quality time with Michael. They're my favorite nights of the week, because Michael loves playing with daddy.<br />
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(P.S. Tuesday this week Michael actually went to bed really early, so these photos are from Monday. I just wanted to use the cool title)<br />
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<h2>
Throwing the Ball</h2>
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Michael loves his plush soccer ball. On Monday he decided we were going to play catch, which means he throws it to me while we're in the kitchen, then we run to the living room and I throw it to him, and back and forth like that. Here's some photos of that happening:</div>
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Hiding</h2>
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Michael's also hiding more. Sometimes he's good, sometimes he's not as good. For instance, when he hides in the entertainment center he does a pretty good job:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnb3tIl81YKLBAP2URUoGFPUnYmCmo2qQ6IW6byrUuw5nE_bXa8C28HAW8PTDUJGPY2cgnD8DPKKMc8E7hL3ALM-erdPyC06j6KZ_pMtX0B6xfKhWnYWk9bY7GurtlBGL8L2oULwfLoc/s1600/IMG_0171.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnb3tIl81YKLBAP2URUoGFPUnYmCmo2qQ6IW6byrUuw5nE_bXa8C28HAW8PTDUJGPY2cgnD8DPKKMc8E7hL3ALM-erdPyC06j6KZ_pMtX0B6xfKhWnYWk9bY7GurtlBGL8L2oULwfLoc/s320/IMG_0171.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You'll notice he's doing that while the 49ers trounced the Bears - a good time is being had by all</span></td></tr>
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When he hides on the kitchen floor, on the other hand...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5p4uMnRso6Hs0jS5Gm8aF4bh-XZjmhsaZj49foWru52zxPvlQZ8u4zekhbcv0isKxLslU-y-VNsARPRO2pp5ovIXw4uwARPdzLZ5UG7vK5UkqBxEwY-E0WJlKMycyYdGPDciGmVYKMs/s1600/IMG_0166.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5p4uMnRso6Hs0jS5Gm8aF4bh-XZjmhsaZj49foWru52zxPvlQZ8u4zekhbcv0isKxLslU-y-VNsARPRO2pp5ovIXw4uwARPdzLZ5UG7vK5UkqBxEwY-E0WJlKMycyYdGPDciGmVYKMs/s320/IMG_0166.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See if you can spot Michael</td></tr>
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At first I thought he might be in on the joke until one night when he got out of bed and I went to put him back and he was laying like that on the floor outside his room, convinced I wouldn't be able to find him. It's too dang cute.<br />
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Misc</h2>
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Here's a terrible video where I'm way too loud, but Michael is asking for daddy to be a monster and hiding from him. My apologies for me. </div>
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Michael putting his blankie in his bucket.<br />
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Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201516222830158064noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-12632565082703824752012-11-04T20:25:00.001-08:002012-11-04T20:35:58.510-08:00Michael Asks For Them By NameSo, seeing as I'm terrible at this and Cyndi's really busy, you're going to get a low quality post! Hooray!<br />
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I also considered naming this one "A few of Michael's favorite things" but decided not to.<br />
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Being a two year old boy who's learning to communicate pretty well, Michael's started getting more opinionated about what he does and doesn't want. These are some of his favorites that he asks for all the time.<br />
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<h2>
Grandpa's Honey</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHsRj4dUNRObvYIxKWmgfPZ7kYCwmQzo6Uv5rzDMEln-_EWPg2tqGVEC-x46aGwkTUuhJUyUW20PjQYAXkC-5IXTXfmn0N-aqX3QLYj872D37HWX_ehoLQdGy4JDq1VHCSgH7qeDSM_Y/s1600/photo+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHsRj4dUNRObvYIxKWmgfPZ7kYCwmQzo6Uv5rzDMEln-_EWPg2tqGVEC-x46aGwkTUuhJUyUW20PjQYAXkC-5IXTXfmn0N-aqX3QLYj872D37HWX_ehoLQdGy4JDq1VHCSgH7qeDSM_Y/s320/photo+(3).JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Michael and Cyndi visited her parents last month and her dad gave us some honey. It's phenomenal and we eat it every chance we get. Michael requests it on his peanut butter sandwiches and Cyndi and I use it to sweeten our tea when we have sore throats.</div>
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Grandpa's Truck</h2>
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While visiting Grandma and Grandpa Veronin, Michael fell in love with Grandpa's tractor and truck. And chickens. And house. Anyway, the point is, for a few weeks afterwards Michael was asking to go visit Grandpa and Grandpa's truck.</div>
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Amy and Katie</h2>
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Cyndi's sisters are over often enough that he asks where they are. It's cute. He really loves his aunts.</div>
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Amy's Truck</h2>
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The last time they were over here, Michael wanted to go outside with them and they took him to their truck and let him play around in it. Apparently he enjoyed it, because he's still asking about it. Every small green truck we see around is Amy's truck, too. </div>
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Grandma's Daddy Car</h2>
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This one's a little weird. Michael loves my car, especially when I let him play inside, because it's the car he never goes in. Also, he loves my mom's house because she's got so many cars and trucks and, it goes without saying, Grandma. One day he borrowed one of her cars without telling her (sorry, Mom) and started calling it daddy's car. We've since amended it to Grandma's daddy's car since it belongs to Grandma and we're going to return it.</div>
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Songs</h2>
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This kid loves his songs. He loves the Bunny Song that we sing to him before he goes to bed. He'll ask for songs about whatever he's interacting with, like this morning when I went ahead and made up the Big Chair song. We've also made up truck songs, chicken songs, and window songs. The boy loves his songs.</div>
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In addition to making up songs, he has a set of songs he loves to watch on youtube. It's a good way to get him in a better mood, and he uses it to delay bedtime by 15 minutes. These songs include:</div>
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<li>The Naked Song (aka <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY" target="_blank">Somebody That You Used To Know</a>) - so called because the people in the video aren't wearing clothes. He's always enthralled at the colors and the way they appear and disappear on the singers.</li>
<li>The Car Song (aka <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic" target="_blank">Call Me Maybe</a>) - Michael saw the car in the thumbnail and had to listen to it. He also remarks on it every time she falls off the car and the boy takes his shirt off. He doesn't seem bothered by the lackluster dancing or the minor homophobia at the end.</li>
<li>The Robot Song (aka <a href="http://youtu.be/KQ6zr6kCPj8?t=1m23s" target="_blank">Party Rock Anthem</a>) - He loves the robot, but he's also amazed by the person standing on a car at the beginning and then the person dancing on a car as well. He's started standing on my car sometimes when I take my bag out there in the morning.</li>
<li>The Horse Song (aka <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0" target="_blank">Gangnam Style</a>) - If you haven't seen this then you need to, because it's amazingly weird. Michael doesn't seem to care about the critique of Korean society or the <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/10/12/162740623/gangnam-style-three-reasons-k-pop-is-taking-over-the-world" target="_blank">economic</a> impact of Korean music gaining popularity in America. Apparenly, he just loves the horses, the dancing, the red sports car in the background at one point, the flailing around in water, and the fact that the singer's sitting on the toilet at one point. </li>
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Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201516222830158064noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-6077873816898602672012-10-12T13:15:00.003-07:002012-10-12T13:15:27.464-07:00Stitches<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Okay, I know I've got an embarrassingly huge amount of catch up to post about, but this just happened this morning and I felt the urge to share.</div>
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At about 5am today, Michael fell out of my bed and hit his head on the bottom shelf of a nightstand. It opened a huge (about a half inch) gash in his forehead and ended up requiring 4 stitches.</div>
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I yelled for Jeff that I needed help after I noticed the blood on Michael's face and he was at my side within a second. We cleaned Michael's head and fought him to put Neosporin and band-aids on the wound. Jeff kept his cool amazingly well the whole time. I, on the other hand, almost blacked out while Jeff put band-aids on our poor, screaming boy and I held his hands. I wish I knew what happened because I'm really unhappy and embarrassed that I wasn't able to control myself and properly help. I'm guessing my adrenaline wore off and everything caught up to me because the initial sight of blood and the wound did not make me feel the least queasy. </div>
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Thank goodness for Jeff. </div>
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After the incident, Michael had no desire to go back to sleep and just wanted to be held by Mommy. We bribed the heck out of him to try to distract him from the band-aids on his forehead until Urgent Care opened at 8am (thankfully, it wasn't bad enough we had to rush him to the ER). He got his fill of chocolate milk, cheetos, and netflix. Here he is hanging out, finally letting me put him down:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PjCaX1-lNJBsnOqFtRPSv1dupl_IPukYGnfPMTvupky7JTqsirlBtDdIJdPROcFQy6ysv3cVgCxlq4-eUPTN8jCbif3N7D5YKIEc6eSEaNnRFz28Jinc1vrRkTiYKXWYZp0hyphenhyphenPdF-qc/s1600/2012-10-12+06.59.49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PjCaX1-lNJBsnOqFtRPSv1dupl_IPukYGnfPMTvupky7JTqsirlBtDdIJdPROcFQy6ysv3cVgCxlq4-eUPTN8jCbif3N7D5YKIEc6eSEaNnRFz28Jinc1vrRkTiYKXWYZp0hyphenhyphenPdF-qc/s400/2012-10-12+06.59.49.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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We were the first ones at Urgent Care when it opened and got right in and Michael was pretty excited ("Michael see the doctor! Michael see the doctor!"). My poor, unsuspecting boy. <br />
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His wound had to be numbed, so they put some ointment on a pad and secured it to his head with some awesome, blue bandaging. Michael was less than pleased, but was easily distracted by Signing Time on the iPad:<br />
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The stitches themselves were really rough. I had to basically lie across the boy and hold his hands to hold him still while the nurse held his head for the doctor. Michael, of course, was crying the whole time and begging me to hold him. I could only kiss his hands and talk to him to let him know I was still there since he couldn't see me through the sanitary cover over his head. He actually didn't fight us very hard, but it was still really rough.<br />
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He bounced back about 2 minutes after the procedure was over though. He's a tough kid and even thanked the doctor and nurses before we left. They thought he was the cutest thing. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll be as excited for Michael to "see the doctor" next time.<br />
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Within 20 minutes of getting home, we ran some errands with our good friends and neighbors. Michael was really excited to see his friends, Boston and Ashton, and wasn't about to let a few stitches stop him. He fell asleep in their van for about a half hour and woke up really happy to still be sitting next to Boston. It was really cute:<br />
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So that was our morning adventure. Michael is doing really well right now. We're watching Cars and I'm slowly weaning him back from chocolate milk to just regular milk. He's been a real sport though. We sure do love our brave, resilient boy.</div>
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I'll see what I can do about getting caught up soon with this thing. My apologies. Love you all!</div>
Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-44801555938678670872012-08-24T10:58:00.001-07:002012-08-24T10:58:04.425-07:00A statement I can agree withSo, Cyndi's been really busy the past few months with school and watching our friend's baby while she works, so she hasn't had time to blog. Unfortunately for all of you, that means I'm going to have to step in and fill the gap a little bit. My apologies.<br />
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A Statement I Can Agree With</h2>
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Every morning as I head out to my car, I take Michael with me to put my bag in the trunk. This morning we were playing a game where I make him say things for me before I take him with me. Our conversation went like this.</div>
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Michael: "Daddy's car!"</div>
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Me: "Can you say 'please'?"</div>
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Michael: "Please!"</div>
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Me: "Can you say 'thank you'?"</div>
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Michael: "Thank you!"</div>
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Me: "Can you say 'I'm a good boy'?"</div>
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Michael: "I'm a boy!"</div>
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Cyndi and I had a good laugh and both agreed that it was the more accurate of the two statements. He's a very good natured little boy, but he's not always a good boy.</div>
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Goodbyes</h2>
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Michael likes saying goodbye and we like making him say goodbye because if he doesn't want to leave something, making him say goodbye to it eases the transition. So if he wants to continue playing at daddy's computer when it's bedtime, he'll often stop fighting if we have him say goodbye to it. About a month ago he started adding more "b" sounds when he says "bye". This results in cute exchanges as he's going to bed.</div>
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Cyndi: "Can you say goodbye to Katie?"</div>
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Michael: "Bye Katie!"</div>
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Cyndi: "Can you say goodbye to Amy?"</div>
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Michael: "Bye Amy!"</div>
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Cyndi: "Can you say goodbye to daddy?"</div>
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Michael: "B-b-b-bye daddy!"</div>
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Cyndi starts heading up the stairs.</div>
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Michael: "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-bye fire truck! B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bye dump truck! B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bye digger! B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-bye daddy's car!"</div>
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As you can see, the more "b" sounds he adds the more he loves the thing he's saying bye to. We try to not get jealous.</div>
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Pictures</h2>
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Now for the part everyone wants us to just get to: the pictures. Unfortunately, I'll still have words to go with them. Deal with it.</div>
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In July we had Cyndi's birthday. We had a party for her with Rikki and Taylor and Amy and Katie. It was a ton of fun. Here's her with her cake.</div>
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Also in July we went up to Idaho to visit Cyndi's Aunt Anne and Uncle James, who were very kind and let us stay in their home. We love their family and we love watching James perform in his improv shows. The dude's hilarious and everyone who has the opportunity should see Chicks n' Giggles perform if they have the chance.<br />
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On the way out we stopped at McDonalds, where Michael wanted to sit in Ronald's lap.<br />
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Ronald has an eye, which Michael gladly points out.<br />
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Michael loved climbing through their cat toy.<br />
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We also went to Kuna's firework show, which was amazing. Michael loved the "rainbows" as he called them.<br />
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On the way home we stopped at a scenic overlook in Twin Falls, where Michael was more concerned with rocks than scenery. He also liked water and running on the trails.<br />
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We stopped at a McDonalds on the way back too. Michael was not pleased with their speed of service.<br />
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Earlier in August I went to Vegas for the BlackHat and DefCon conferences on computer security. Working for Adobe at these events is freaking sweet because you get invited to just hang out in suites while companies advertise their products to you. The suite below in Caesar's Palace was four bedrooms, and the bathrooms alone were as big as my room in Bally's. </div>
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BlackHat is a corporate conference for people whose companies can drop a few thousand for them to attend. Defcon is for amateur hackers who have a weekend and $200. The two crowds are extremely different. In an attempt to fit in, here's me and my manager right after getting mohawks.</div>
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(The woman in the middle cut our hair. Most awkward hair cut ever. I'm pretty sure she was drunk)</div>
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Also this month, we had a little gathering with our friends in the valley who have kids. Michael wasn't very pleased sharing with other kids, so he had some timeout time. The other chair is there because our friend's daughter wanted to hang out with Michael while he was there. It was super cute.</div>
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That same daughter loved playing with Cyndi and followed her around while Cyndi was on the phone.</div>
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As a matter of fact, all of the kids loved playing with Cyndi. It was a lot of fun. Sorry for the blurry.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXacKBP9ZGj9xu51WALX6pMslqEzVrukLVG_xkAZ5KNVIEa1T2IxBifRKSCavhguMt18OYyhyphenhyphen_1LJoEMTle6rax9F04iKubQJwjxqIYKuy9tGxiGwTn3zFtKNAV6PsnWYUIF_4XGVh2w/s1600/IMG_0085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXacKBP9ZGj9xu51WALX6pMslqEzVrukLVG_xkAZ5KNVIEa1T2IxBifRKSCavhguMt18OYyhyphenhyphen_1LJoEMTle6rax9F04iKubQJwjxqIYKuy9tGxiGwTn3zFtKNAV6PsnWYUIF_4XGVh2w/s400/IMG_0085.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Finally, the little baby that Cyndi watches for our good friends. He is SO CUTE and we love having him over. Michael doesn't mind playing with him either and only occasionally gets jealous now. Here's Michael retrieving a ball for him and them just hanging out.</div>
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Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201516222830158064noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-54244525596740369832012-08-24T10:50:00.000-07:002012-08-24T10:54:08.121-07:00California <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bear with me, this is a very picture heavy post.</div>
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On arriving in CA, we checked into our hotel rooms and explored the beautiful coast in hopes of finding a beach to fly kites on. Unfortunately, we couldn't find an easy way down to the beach. We did have a fun walk though, and Michael enjoyed walking and talking with his Grandma Veronin:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYNdA6wsrxGLe0xpaR_lTfOaM5xfPwWrEBdfWbNOJinBTj9VribEDMkhIlLFD_Xu62bEkgco-tyyPPKZzhAWBQpQuyYwYJ73w9vAg7Ejnm0f63PllvuA-BCuL8rEQ8GA2KuNbZwLXosk/s1600/IMG_3794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYNdA6wsrxGLe0xpaR_lTfOaM5xfPwWrEBdfWbNOJinBTj9VribEDMkhIlLFD_Xu62bEkgco-tyyPPKZzhAWBQpQuyYwYJ73w9vAg7Ejnm0f63PllvuA-BCuL8rEQ8GA2KuNbZwLXosk/s400/IMG_3794.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The next morning, we headed to Legoland, which was surprisingly fun for everyone. It had some bigger rides for older kids, but a <i>lot</i> of rides and entertainment for young children. They had a lot of fun statues made out of legos, like this velociraptor:</div>
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Michael loved the fossil dig "ride," where he just dug in the dirt for a half hour while everyone else rode actual rides:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyqFEMxoNdmRfbJoR3W_A3tfQcTXQ-oyD4y-0uR-Sxvh5DQ6UUWhOR0mtxOV0tlEwzt6kUDx3Cvnf0N-1PLCoXJ446n47YmbWKsh-l2cryuN8t1U2f-CmDHu6rvzhyphenhyphenwbE8ixFcX_HlxQ/s1600/IMG_3801.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyqFEMxoNdmRfbJoR3W_A3tfQcTXQ-oyD4y-0uR-Sxvh5DQ6UUWhOR0mtxOV0tlEwzt6kUDx3Cvnf0N-1PLCoXJ446n47YmbWKsh-l2cryuN8t1U2f-CmDHu6rvzhyphenhyphenwbE8ixFcX_HlxQ/s400/IMG_3801.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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He also really liked this water gun where he got to squirt lego frogs. He had a great time yelling "Water! Water!":</div>
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They also had a jumping fountain area where I was surprised Michael had as much fun as he did. He got really wet, even laying down at one point to get a better look at one of the jets and got absolutely soaked.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ep0L6ebGHvgjuaoAy1lCFpk1GoG3UDYxsBZ2RpuhPrwC-4NxWQfuKcVB5TbBcocai0IRT2Dxu0A1zvD7bZrW23ajaHi-mmT_huM9qLsCoKp2kH9F5ZB0PlS0Wa5Ll1C2MX6D8DVvrbw/s1600/IMG_3804.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ep0L6ebGHvgjuaoAy1lCFpk1GoG3UDYxsBZ2RpuhPrwC-4NxWQfuKcVB5TbBcocai0IRT2Dxu0A1zvD7bZrW23ajaHi-mmT_huM9qLsCoKp2kH9F5ZB0PlS0Wa5Ll1C2MX6D8DVvrbw/s400/IMG_3804.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's just a cute video of him running around and other kids there:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxWfbykvMKDAlNTqibycx2l2I9XIkGEEkrCbP3xDQFc-G-hH3fzSeup1Hx5uoYo6g14hRUyDwEgX1vwHtMXqQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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They even had an awesome Sea Life experience that Michael loved:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZz8jsyjwdXtnaJMskCEEr7eXBFzi25uPiZM_f1tVSKOPU3UHS2L-yVD_6JJoKLJKsh1pOj3-TmVh_QtTRJRT4OoiXd8kraYTIjGh9y5Zpzur1thzSppBc4rnxFvvCYB021xvhvEWlyQo/s1600/IMG_3838.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZz8jsyjwdXtnaJMskCEEr7eXBFzi25uPiZM_f1tVSKOPU3UHS2L-yVD_6JJoKLJKsh1pOj3-TmVh_QtTRJRT4OoiXd8kraYTIjGh9y5Zpzur1thzSppBc4rnxFvvCYB021xvhvEWlyQo/s400/IMG_3838.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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But his <i>favorite</i> thing at Legoland was the train ride ("Choo choo! Choo choo!"). He loved every second of it and cried every time we had to get off. We'd immediately jump back in the very short line and be able to get on again within a few minutes. Michael was very upset at the wait and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him to the train once the gate opened: </div>
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Tess really liked the driving track for little kids. I felt really bad for the lady running the ride, though. Most of her job consisted of pulling the terrible, tiny drivers away from walls and back onto the track. Tess spent most of the time waiting for the poor woman to come put her back on the track:</div>
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I even got to ditch Michael for a bit to ride some bigger rides. The entire day was a <i>lot</i> of fun!:</div>
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After Legoland, we headed North to the beach house we would stay at for the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. We only had to walk a couple hundred feet to the beach in our backyard. It was really amazing and everyone loved the beach... except for Michael (of course):<br />
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Mary got some really cute pictures of Ki and Tess running on the beach:</div>
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And though you can't see them in this picture, we saw dolphins! (I will admit I kind of overreacted when I saw a fin off the shore and started yelling "Fin! Fin!" to my Dad. He saw them and yelled "Dolphins!" to Mary. I was really afraid it had been a shark. Silly me.) Mary swam out to them and I think she got to touch one:<br />
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Katie got partially buried and decided to be an octopus instead of a mermaid:<br />
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Then Ki wanted a turn:<br />
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Michael wouldn't even play in the wet sand down by the beach. He only wanted to dig in the hot, dry stuff right behind the beach house:<br />
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The Safari Park was fantastic. We went on the African Plains tour and saw a lot of incredible animals. Michael really loved it:</div>
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We also got to see the Cheetah Run. It was absolutely amazing. Cheetahs are so beautiful:<br />
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I even got a video of the run. I really wanted to edit it and just get a still of the cheetah racing by, but my software wasn't working. Sorry. Watching her run after her toy is pretty cool though. I'm sorry it lasts 30 seconds since the actual running lasts all of a split second:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwjogNKOoRrtN2uVDU5W8gb7kRL0v01S-PgVR45nTiZQ86C0TFIxJYH2UlTD0StMNnULE93ggbySIZjtcr5Og' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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The San Diego Zoo was a lot of fun. I didn't take as many pictures here though. Just take my word for it that it's definitely worth seeing. </div>
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They had a petting zoo where you could pet goats, sheep, pigs, and tiny ponies (only at certain times a day for the ponies):</div>
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We even got to witness two goats get into a small spat. It was really cool, but a little scary with so many small kids around. Thankfully, it was really short:</div>
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It was a really long, exciting day, but Michael was good enough to take a bit of a nap for me. What a good little boy:<br />
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We came back to Utah and ended up not hitting Lagoon or Cherry Hill, but we had a lot of fun just hanging out with family. Katie and Amy slept at our house so they could spend extra time with the fam (Amy had really been missing Ki and Tess and they all ended up sharing a bed because the kids didn't want to leave her either).<br />
Overall, it was an amazingly fun trip. I love roadtrips. I especially love that Michael is growing up with roadtrips and handles them surprisingly well. <br />
Thank you, Mom and Dad, for inviting us on your fantastic trip! Let's do it again sometime soon! </div>
Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-91703498933664995192012-07-19T16:01:00.000-07:002012-07-19T16:01:57.559-07:00This One's For You, Mom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Really, it's for everyone, because I haven't posted in <i>forever</i>. Sorry about that. We've been up to a lot. We've taken a few roadtrips, had a couple birthdays, and Amy and I have been having fun analyzing the impossibility of the Cars universe since Michael is obsessed with the movie and we get to watch it so often (Amy is babysitting Michael for me while I go to school). </div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In order to play catch up, I've had to split up everything into multiple posts. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">First, the Veronin Road Trip. My parents got a lot of free tickets to amusement parks from the Make a Wish Foundation for Ki and decided we needed to use them before they expired, so they planned a trip that would let us use as many as possible in one go: we'd drive down through AZ to see family, then across to CA to see Legoland, the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, and circle back up to UT for Lagoon and possibly Cherry Creek.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">This post will just cover the first portion of the trip, AZ. </span><span style="background-color: white;">I didn't take as many pictures as I should have here. We were really just having way too much fun hanging out with family. </span></div>
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Katie, Michael and I (Jeff and Amy couldn't make it) rented a minivan and drove the 12 hours to Mesa, AZ to visit our Granny Veronin and Uncle Matt. Michael was surprisingly good during the drive but, then again, he did have poor Katie in the back seat with him to cater to his every need. We also had Signing Time and McDonald playplaces available to us. It would have been nice if he had slept a bit more than a bare hour, but it all worked out. </div>
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We met Mom, Dad, Ki, Tess, and Mary in AZ and invaded Granny's house. Uncle Matt invited us over to swim in his pool, which everyone <i>loved</i>... except for Michael. He cried and cried when I tried to get him into the pool, and refused to take off his long sleeve truck shirt. Eventually he discovered he enjoyed splashing in the water with his hands and feet:</div>
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Also, Uncle Matt had <i>dogs</i>. Michael was in heaven. Ki and Tess were a little less pleased.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The kids had a lot of fun running around Matt's house in their dry clothes (Michael agreed to take off his wet truck shirt, if I gave him the truck pants):</span></div>
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And petting dogs, of course:</div>
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While in AZ, we also visited our Uncle Clay and Aunt Tracy- some of the coolest people ever. Here's a picture of their "game room" (Get it? It's got animals <i>and</i> pool!):</div>
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Michael really, really liked Uncle Clay. And his truck. Here he in in the back of the truck, signing "truck" and making horn noises:</div>
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We also got to take a drive in their Rhino. Mary and Uncle Clay led the way into the desert on the ATV. It was amazingly fun. Michael spent the first half yelling "Go Go Go!" and "Truck!" into the wind. I even got to drive the Rhino back... and then I broke it. Disclaimer: my Dad was sitting next to me, egging me on to see how fast we could go, and then we smelled burning and it wouldn't get into gear. Thankfully, we were practically at Clay's house, because we had to push it the rest of the way there. I hope they were able to figure out what happened and that it was easily fixed. I felt really awful.</div>
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It was really great to see so many Veronins at one time. I don't get to see that side of my family very often.</div>
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The drive to CA was pretty uneventful, besides passing checkpoints to make sure we weren't hiding any illegals in our car, and getting a look at the very creepy and imposing Mexican Border fence (You can barely see it here, but it's that big black line on the horizon. It was really disturbing):</div>
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A checkpoint sign:</div>
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We got to see a lot of desert and interesting landscapes. Katie and I even saw some really cool birds flying around and had a lot of fun pointing them out to each other. Mary later told us they were vultures. Awesome. <br />
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Next post, California!Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-41186694664980355972012-05-09T23:22:00.000-07:002012-05-09T23:29:13.582-07:00Happy Birthday, Michael!I've got a whole lot to catch up on because I'm a slacker, but I <i>have </i>to get this post up tonight, because we're leaving tomorrow for a week-long road trip that I'm going to have to post about when I get back! So, before I get too far behind in our lives, here's a catch up since Easter:<br />
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I'm trying to do more slightly educational things with Michael, like playing with play-doh to work on dexterity and problem solving and whatnot (and have fun, of course). I made some play-doh and let Michael do as he would with it. He mostly wanted to stab it with a fork and knife, so I had fun with the cookie cutters so he could stab my creations:<br />
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Michael also got another haircut. His seventh real haircut, actually. This kid's hair grows like a weed. He'll thank us eventually, even if he despises the hair clippers. Here's the beloved "before" picture where I tried to distract him with the Wii:<br />
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And here's the "after," where he is now more than willing to play with the wii-mote and eat his lollipop (which he refused during the haircut but remembered to ask for as soon as he was done screaming):</div>
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Michael had his first (and hopefully last) hour-long tantrum. I had a hard time not laughing at him as he kicked and threw things to try to get a reaction out of me. Instead, I grabbed the camera!:<br />
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This probably isn't worth posting about because it isn't about Michael, but I got into a fender-bender:</div>
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I was making a left turn out of a parking lot and the people going past me got a red light. A nice, red truck gave me room to make my turn and waved me on (in what I now know insurance claims refer to as "the wave of death"- delightful) and I made my left while watching the right to make sure no one was coming. Another truck was driving up on the <i>other</i> side of the red truck, intending to make a left at the light and we didn't see each other in time to avoid a collision. Thankfully, we were both going very slowly and the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been. Also, Michael barely blinked at the crash and was just ecstatic we were parked next to a truck for so long while we waited for the police to arrive ("Truck! Truck! Truck!"). No one was hurt, but it did make me a bit skiddish for a while. I've never hit another car before this. The crunching sound is absolutely <i style="font-weight: bold;">awful</i>!</div>
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Here's a picture of the truck we hit. It's pretty perfect because the glare blocks the license plate:<br />
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Of course, the <i style="font-weight: bold;">big</i> news for this post is that Michael turned TWO!!! Happy (late) Birthday, Michael!:<br />
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He is such a big boy, but it's so hard to believe that I've been a mom for over <i>two years</i> now. <br />
Grandma Veronin was in town for Women's Conference and was able to celebrate with us a day early and help Jeff put together Michael's new tricycle:<br />
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On the 29th, Michael's actual birthday and Derek's farewell, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Day's where Michael wasted no time turning two. He slipped while climbing the metal ladder of the swing set and smacked his face into one of the bars, giving himself an impressive black eye and bruised cheek. It doesn't look so bad here, since you can't really see the swelling:</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">The next day, though, the bruise started to</span><i style="text-align: left;"> </i><span style="text-align: left;">show:</span><br />
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It looked <i>really</i> bad before it started to noticeably fade:</div>
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It didn't seem to bother him at all after the first day, but it looked so terrible. Thankfully, most of the people who commented on it also asked, "He's two, right?" </div>
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There was no damage to his eye, cheekbone, or teeth, and I haven't noticed anything different brain-wise, so I'm hopeful. I'm really grateful it wasn't worse. </div>
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I'm really excited for our road trip tomorrow, but Michael and I are going to miss Derek going into the MTC (he's going to Sweden, by the way). I'm really glad we got to see him this last weekend, though, so I could get a picture of him and Michael before he left. We won't see him again for another two years! </div>
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Good luck, Derek! We love you and hope everything goes well for you in Sweden!</div>Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-33808614855421763232012-04-13T12:43:00.005-07:002012-04-13T13:25:18.853-07:00Easter!<div style="text-align: left;">We actually celebrated Easter a week early and had our egg hunt conference weekend. I hid eggs for my sisters, Jeff hid eggs for me, and we all hid Michael's. There were about 50 eggs and 4 bunnies hidden in my small downstairs. We had a lot of fun:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE-_auAV4k6nUePu55flqt8C3RLkvtre6vg389n-wxSzD7SBhCAWKcjjJEgwlMXwaEytmMw0U9cPNr_5yPGf8vXgwFG9YqVJblD2Rq_cWvlg-waQn6W3n2elkrxWn857m_5Cvpbt09dO4/s1600/IMG_3634.JPG" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6TOygFHpHQncSY8ebRbcx0JvEZI-KKan31aIiLlUO7PsU_S3YndPXgoYBxFzyCIIaHYl_yxX8Cv_ynVWr-2kru7HhvkpN0jNM2VujIKCMJqNNNuhD10g2zFCDF30dUiyi1EjWbUSSmT4/s400/IMG_3631.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730976603704778770" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrNyrPeiHT4U3RZmZbX49A6csjSg7o6CX2g1VzGNaUhdcp1pVyJv2tD9-RwMuFlwy83BrcoZZOybZgzM9lU4pXqLLO81FLDutRPeSsWjWSW72m3ZRj7JeFj1TV0kC7KvLyJ58admJxwY/s1600/IMG_3630.JPG" style="text-align: left; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrNyrPeiHT4U3RZmZbX49A6csjSg7o6CX2g1VzGNaUhdcp1pVyJv2tD9-RwMuFlwy83BrcoZZOybZgzM9lU4pXqLLO81FLDutRPeSsWjWSW72m3ZRj7JeFj1TV0kC7KvLyJ58admJxwY/s400/IMG_3630.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730976590058789170" /></a></div><span ><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE-_auAV4k6nUePu55flqt8C3RLkvtre6vg389n-wxSzD7SBhCAWKcjjJEgwlMXwaEytmMw0U9cPNr_5yPGf8vXgwFG9YqVJblD2Rq_cWvlg-waQn6W3n2elkrxWn857m_5Cvpbt09dO4/s400/IMG_3634.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730976612020544018" /></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "><div style="text-align: left; ">Michael's favorite part was playing with the Easter eggs. He wasn't as interested as I had hoped in the egg hunt. He did eventually figure out that there was candy in them and if he found more he'd get more candy, but he preferred to find an egg, eat the candy (<i>very slowly</i>), and play with the egg for a while before hunting again:</div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: left; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: left; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsEo4GKoA1RETc7-hoeTxFoeQUXbJ-9mE2sLuy9aSrhVHkoj2fiVreh0DPrPXVYBqDvYzhZVr2I2DYaRmAJtbYFJW8prBhPAHOql97HXAD56_Rpm6ztR0tDzqMT-PZO9VZG1uWszo4hA/s400/IMG_3632.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730976907725687890" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 16px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "></span></span>I tried to dress Michael up for our ward Easter party to make it a little more festive. He was less than pleased. At least I got a few pictures before I took it off him:</div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: left; "><br /></div></span></span></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkn0zJtIDi7VFonKjPtFhuB5135OL4U7ZA0NtwXO16LJaDtkwfusj4FFf_L1NgLDOdDcF7kidtsBax_QR1siHzXISG3rMEOru8KDYeNaII1_V2IeUbOe4jN1X7pgeIvPcHAReakJJLQQQ/s1600/IMG_3672.JPG" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkn0zJtIDi7VFonKjPtFhuB5135OL4U7ZA0NtwXO16LJaDtkwfusj4FFf_L1NgLDOdDcF7kidtsBax_QR1siHzXISG3rMEOru8KDYeNaII1_V2IeUbOe4jN1X7pgeIvPcHAReakJJLQQQ/s400/IMG_3672.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730976580863947954" /></a>Like I said, it was a lot of fun. </div>Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-47094827722045936722012-04-03T12:13:00.010-07:002012-04-03T14:29:52.138-07:00Sisters<div style="font-style: normal; ">Life is still pretty much taken by school and respective jobs, but lately it is not unusual to find my little sisters, Katie and Amy, over for food or hanging out. We'll watch tv and play on our phones and ipads and pretty much just enjoy each other's company:</div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: center; "><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc7cPmBQmbo40PK7J5bhgracDLBfPI8vL4DA0kvcj1rw9eioKLR7yqr7cLCg2VDaD0c9PXGrrTbZjPOtcA-MnS2NU9Eo_-9MVI9fS-jLVK_VA3qOaDKlvUbj7CjSAB2RwZGgjAJcmm-Ek/s1600/IMG_3623.JPG" style="font-style: normal; "><span ><span style="font-size: 100%; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;"></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV10ycmILDO4ubo5iXSnQwLgVOksITx2cppZMD7Vd3_oO_m6O1Prgzfsouc3GRrgtLU44mek33HW3cPDzAoNwreX8HTx0ZHZKvRyTHUXIeAZ-UtYwKYSGho3nd1OPSIX2EZXb9IulnnTw/s400/IMG_3602.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727254964707717506" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi451WRCXjtPeMLBYtbKbC3qsJcDITl-rOVe8Tr-2-KrLyX1FRojW7gq6O19KATGHF-H6F5Nywe_K6Ib4wKJ7EWUqQ56tlzdjowqWepeD_BcGc8zskApIEQsCQhSWyCSnJguqqXA2CmH88/s400/IMG_3622.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727254969880764258" /></div></a><div><span style="font-style: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc7cPmBQmbo40PK7J5bhgracDLBfPI8vL4DA0kvcj1rw9eioKLR7yqr7cLCg2VDaD0c9PXGrrTbZjPOtcA-MnS2NU9Eo_-9MVI9fS-jLVK_VA3qOaDKlvUbj7CjSAB2RwZGgjAJcmm-Ek/s400/IMG_3623.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727254987219664802" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></span></span><div style="text-align: left; ">Michael loves the extra attention he gets as they compete to be <i>Favorite Aunt</i>. </div><div style="text-align: left; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: left; ">I really like having my sisters over so much, partly because I love cooking for more than 2 people (and a half? Michael doesn't really count) and I usually don't have to deal with left overs when they join us:</div></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxjkxSLu0hFwiRjjLxzTIaMj593EVFbAuNrnI6UTbh8a2ao976o_BiIxLi_CYIQhPvQKY0HwRJPtRGWdZqEzEOT4F7yEVfykRPriPdjmRSPJNjtvycbFBSMSecWBT2QzsQZ0Ipfm9gaBM/s400/IMG_3601.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727254957958057602" /><br /></div><div>Michael is, of course, still cute. And a pill. He's gotten into the "tantrum phase" and we're working on how to deal with it and him. Timeouts seem to be making an impact, thankfully, but sometimes my patience wears a little thin and I end up making his timeout a bit longer than the recommended 1-minute-per-year. Michael is very good about staying in his chair until the timer beeps, though, and even cheers when he hears it. He's such a sweet boy and we sure do love him. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here he is "loving" on poor Sadie:</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfCoZr_BsA4cK-jBJ9HgsMff2_upRGq39gD4mSvgyE2EGikHxUGlMXy-Y93ZbONSn4BtgY1AI6jPsnz2VbhVO1TQzEuRRwwr62EhEiR5glm8LBHePkBXCYc3GJtB8gdWRaDnGqX79FO70/s400/IMG_3607.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727254993129690626" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%; ">And pushing Minnie in the baby swing:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: center; "><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyepiXuO-fRnHyGqxeVznde7Q_FQZyeqAw22dKYUzyQrXSsnnLykT4-uCJ4JG4tfgWfRj1WS4Imb_GLB0sAQw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166502877009307506.post-29078771566020137302012-03-12T20:08:00.016-07:002012-03-13T20:39:31.460-07:00A Trip to the Farm<div style="text-align: left; ">I don't get to see my parents as often as I'd like, so when Jeff suggested Michael and I fly out to CO for my mom's birthday I jumped at the chance. A month later. But still. I brought her gifts and it was great. </div><div style="text-align: left; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: left; ">We really did have a great time. The flight out was a lot better than it should have been with a packed puddle-jumper plane and Michael sitting on my lap the whole time. People actually commented to me afterwards how surprisingly good he was (I noticed they didn't mention how worried they were when they saw us board, but I caught it). Michael played with the window and reading lights the whole time, with the occasional ipad intervention to keep the guy sitting next to us from snapping.</div><div style="text-align: left; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: left; ">My Dad and his driver waited for our flight (since my Dad had just flown in too) and we had a fun drive in a taxi. Michael enjoyed the car-seats-aren't-mandatory rule for public transportation and spent the ride trying to get to the doors. When we pulled up to my parent's house, Michael remembered that <i>this is where the chickens live!</i> and bawked for the next 15 minutes. He couldn't even stop long enough to greet Grandma properly. Thankfully, she thought it was hilarious and adorable. </div><div style="text-align: left; ">We went out to see the chickens first thing the next morning:</div><div style="text-align: left; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv4VB51j7Ey0VoC8ryXwfgQnC92swgAz-tzs36RHQtSjOJqyxIdGK47lPQC4Sqw9S2JDqG5PWeWIwoUnVwA51ud2BFLYdKXeBfFbWJk-wX2T2ItnvLoFNctnQ7nzy3UakkOR3MG4BpPO0/s1600/IMG_3588.JPG" style="text-align: left; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzP-VPZJZWqAOLkWnU1_gPr6fFoNGIojnbD_AX2HeWPNehJCZWMjFvP5A9dQGUhb8dVrY4TyEEG3TnnfhEdEd9wDZqQlrzZNeQjuVOqG12YKlH9RHvEfWDXuzSqowZluYSh-MNiaFYDl4/s400/IMG_3580.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719215837069975810" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><div style="text-align: center; "><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: center; "><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy9piGdIpENCIwHZGEa9-4iYaghX_0Ukp1-w0FeQcdHWz73z15xUZU9aBNzKt8yDb3jCULWL9c5cTiPPKK_vg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: left; ">It was a very relaxing visit. I got to make a lot of fires, watch Highlander, and just hang out with family. I got a lot of good quality time in with my Mom, which I loved.</div><div style="text-align: left; ">I also got to babysit a bit, during which I fed children cupcakes and let them watch Signing Time on the ipad:</div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwIp3PaVQVCZ1LjQUqd5Z1XWAU_n6gk8o7jorPVnxwk9vS5MAPXM-RkU_cBQvZ2_MMlhUzmJMV0fA_-i4ZKZYNTxHxP15FyJ4jPzDv0a7PeGH8crNGVAi9DQmxFqwPbT-ew3gB9qqRhQ/s400/IMG_3565.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719215799633106066" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><div style="text-align: left; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: left; ">Michael got to spend some quality time with his Grandma Veronin and tiny aunt and uncle:</div><div style="text-align: left; "><br /></div><span style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWcRNQ6Vg5g7_cEF6-PodGJlswy5DoGnugTy_0KksGoi2EzZhZtodQLolRQhsbQWUua42QYEIEsbZJvgTQpUfz65RM-atd48bOmWRGKxBKJaxfHKgthr3vbboiiZbGk4YIw0u-dK-Qnw/s400/IMG_3560.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719214006861688706" /></span><div><br /></div><div>And we all had a great time making pretzels (yes, that is a screwdriver):<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-uxcihzlkPHSfs2gUIoScn2YV92Dros16wVm8-qyfE_8ekrURQ0OBgA3QXa8MjbcqPVNPyc9bmuDAZoC253zRL0sQ-OXF400_qqgAODEABc67WeXDrcRD59Xu04YjGhVYRW73YDME4g/s1600/IMG_3551.JPG" style="text-align: left; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-uxcihzlkPHSfs2gUIoScn2YV92Dros16wVm8-qyfE_8ekrURQ0OBgA3QXa8MjbcqPVNPyc9bmuDAZoC253zRL0sQ-OXF400_qqgAODEABc67WeXDrcRD59Xu04YjGhVYRW73YDME4g/s400/IMG_3551.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719577483372874018" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAyzYv1jYmEpnynJWJv4NysrTt_kXkQb7Uxg-qDxfxEao1w8ToDmi-pICrQ8fvNEtd2Kbck4gC14xI1PcM8PQ3A1hZeZHVaJMxW51UvLZGKRf_o37QBzfFk2yoo8ysa5si7XHM5vbqUCs/s400/IMG_3558.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719213997939948530" /></a><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Michael's favorite thing was playing with Ki and Tess. He loves following them around and they seem to really like having a duckling (even if he did get in the way sometimes). They were very good to let him join in with whatever they were doing, be it playing outside in the courtyard:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv4VB51j7Ey0VoC8ryXwfgQnC92swgAz-tzs36RHQtSjOJqyxIdGK47lPQC4Sqw9S2JDqG5PWeWIwoUnVwA51ud2BFLYdKXeBfFbWJk-wX2T2ItnvLoFNctnQ7nzy3UakkOR3MG4BpPO0/s400/IMG_3588.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719215843681337442" /><br /></div><div>Or jumping on the mini-trampoline; climbing onto the table; collapsing onto the couch, laughing hysterically; only to get up and do it over and over again:<br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikll2Qfmv5yMtFoT1C3Ipd69EGyeLvMevjHRM9nsRiKL4_GLSigKUbPn6mmG9Apdbfd3j0AOc9jhcaKCxev_e7naKaIR_SKEhTnHd2NGz3oNMQhAiflIk-7Z_Agn1JrQN0pCuoi0IOEGs/s400/IMG_3574.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719215805136747874" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></div><div>That was the best game ever, in Michael's opinion:</div><div><br /></div><div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNhZWTFqzMor-JGmwkRxmaONyuiiL0Oqj90hexn9ENMMN6PxQjeS2LjKK9jzUn4AOChIg3FfXK2G8G5SLe2h_Qz-bYDRCOPfrGcQHDP2myip3bfPWH4itKLvGT_nNMk19RDkfmuxaS4eo/s400/IMG_3573.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719215816141914098" /><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Here are some more pictures of Michael in the courtyard, learning to shovel snow and loving the heck out of it:</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQqZ0llpxTByI0H9SIHQmAYa-qvXikFTmxjHr8NU_bxXFW4prX0y1KszuknPbZZGt8h8lGf_lsL8X0Qb2l_1xpYYnnFCCoN63LkujJrTXIU_xwG4lMvhEwkE14-bSA__7S6rwnDHuMQc/s400/IMG_3596.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719217090166098066" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></div><div>(I interrupted:)<br /><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSbvB99HkPU5_TmVnC46ekbNmlpUAJRlKCZFv2S1557KIAHbSLN4o9zqQNPg6qHCDTrF80Q-mhkWgTVpPyLmJQ8LKuK8MTO0QSV8mPTaf8KU3dgr3pOvo6wOsRMjSQlbL8XnonUG1_Po/s400/IMG_3599.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719217093396276738" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and Michael made a new friend while we were there. He already knew her name, cos I'm an awesome Mom like that, and carried her around talking to her and saying "Minnie! Minnie!" Thanks Mom and Tess for letting him keep her:</div><div><br /></div><div><span><span style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2p-j9SIMknhybKijxPUW0T17Nn1DcLUnfPsjpQla5psGLLAFhStK8DalwqOAOshkB8V-9RqhDhvVjd0hvZ5ZY3ONIjFJUjgPfgbK_c56HS8-xPcStrBxtDbKURi_g7cGx1dJOUnNCbPY/s400/IMG_3545.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719213974573033474" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px; " /></span></span></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Once again, the plane ride home was better than I expected it to be. Michael had a bit of freedom since the very nice ticket lady opened the seat next to us and he got the window all to himself, but he spent a lot of time trying to climb over me to the isle. I had to distract him with cookies and the ipad and showing Minnie what was outside the window (which he would then take over). Still, no screaming = great flight. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Sadly, the next time we fly, he's not going to be free. On the other hand, at least I don't have to worry about him kicking the poor soul who gets stuck sitting next to us since I will have paid for both seats. Whoo hoo?</div></div><div style="text-align: left; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: left; ">It was great to get home again. Michael was very happy to see his Daddy in person (we tried Skyping and Michael wasn't too interested) and Daddy was happy to have us home again, but happy to have had a break of his own. It was a great vacation all around.</div></div>Cyndi Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06539050616592624074noreply@blogger.com6