Didn't We Just Do This?

Last Monday I went to the SLC airport with my family to see my little brother Travis off to Brazil...again.

Travis served in the Londrina, Brazil mission for two years and returned home in late March 2007. After getting home he kept himself very busy...he was a full-time student at BYU and a player on the BYU hockey team, the Icecats, which required a lot of time for practices and workouts during the week, plus games almost every Friday and Saturday night, many out of town or out of state. On top of that, he worked as many hours as he could squeeze in at his job and managed to do quite a bit of dating as well. So he surprised us all about a month ago when he told us he had decided to go back to Brazil for awhile...5 months, to be exact! He had told many people in Brazil he hoped to come back and visit them again someday, and he decided that now was a better time than any to do just that.

Of course we were all a little sad at the idea of seeing him go for an extended period of time...again...especially when it seems like he just got back. But, I am really glad he's taking the chance to do this while he's still single. There are some things that are just too complicated to do once you get married, and I know it will be an awesome experience for him. He loved his mission and the country of Brazil and the people there. Now he'll get to travel around, see parts of Brazil he couldn't before, go swimming at the beach, and best of all...he can see or call or email anybody he wants, whenever he feels like it! I am actually a little envious of him...how awesome would it be to live in an exotic foreign country for 5 months doing whatever you want?

Although, he will be working. He plans on traveling around and visiting friends and people he knew or taught for the first several weeks, and then he'll settle in one area, get an apartment, and find a job teaching English. He's planning on flying back to the U.S. just a few days before Christmas. After having three brothers go on missions, it will be so weird to go to the airport when Travis arrives and see him walking out wearing something besides a suit! I'm seriously considering bringing the "Welcome Back Kotter" banner I had made for his mission homecoming to the airport again, just to embarrass him when he walks out in his casual clothes. =)

So, til then, I'll miss ya Trav! But I'm glad you decided to do this. Have fun, please take care of yourself, and call us every once in awhile...because you can this time! ;)

The Budding "Twilighter"

In all reality, I spent most of our afore-mentioned camping weekend reading "Twilight" for the first time...I stole away every chance I got to read! I know, I know...all you Twilighters out there are blown away that I took so long to read these books, right? It seems I'm always behind on these trends. My mom hadn't read them yet either, and at one point during our camping trip I let her borrow my book for a little while when I was busy. She got pulled in pretty quickly, and after I took it back she was a little impatient for me to finish so she could borrow it! Before the trip I went to buy "New Moon" and I brought it with me so I could keep reading if I finished the first book. But, I didn't manage to finish "Twilight" until the night we got back from camping...I took a long post-camping shower, then stayed up until 3 or 4 AM so I could finish reading! And, yes, I loved it of course! So now I'm on to "New Moon" and my mom's reading "Twilight." I'm trying to hurry through the books so I can buy "Breaking Dawn" and see how it all turns out! And I am getting soooooo excited about the movie in December. I was pretty skeptical at first, mostly about the casting. But I'm always checking Stephenie Meyer's website for updates on the movie, and I've been watching all the clips and behind-the-scenes stuff she has links to...now I am really beginning to believe its going to be awesome! Like every other Twilighter on the planet, I am very interested to see how Edward Cullen is portrayed onscreen! Though I'll be sad when I'm finished reading all the books, I'm happy knowing they'll probably make all four into movies eventually. Oh, the joy of cinema! =)

Campin' at Paiute

For the weekend of July 24th/Pioneer Day, we went on our first camping trip of the summer, up to Paiute (PIE-yoot), in the mountains outside of Beaver, Utah. We went with my mom, dad and two younger brothers Travis and Jared. Ryan's family has been going up to Pauite for years and he absolutely loves it there, particularly because there are lots of great trails for dirtbikes and fourwheelers. Not to mention that its beautiful! Originally Ryan and Travis were just planning to go there and go dirtbiking for a day or two, but since Travis was soon to be departing for several months (see next post) we decided to make it a family trip...one last hurrah before Trav left. We decided to rent a camp trailer, which we had long talked about trying sometime. I'm so glad we did, not just because we got rained on quite a bit, but because I am not a big fan of tent camping with Thomas! He does not sleep well in tents, so Ryan and I don't either!

It was a fun weekend...we did lots of eating (doesn't food taste way better when you're camping?), sitting around the fire, playing games, reading, taking walks and exploring, and of course, four-wheeling/dirt-bike riding. Thomas absolutely loved it up there! Whether it was going for little rides on his Powerwheels ATV or on the big four-wheelers with Daddy, or just playing in the trees and rocks, he had a great time! We even bought him his own riding helmet and goggles for the trip. We got the smallest helmet available and it was still quite big for him, but he actually loved wearing it! He sure looked cute, and I'm glad his little noggin was protected...and at least he'll be able to grow into it for awhile.

Lucky came along for the weekend too...she managed to climb up into our camp chairs on her own and spent a lot of time just relaxing!


The boys did most of the riding, but I did take one good ride with Ryan and Travis. Its been awhile since I've done some serious four-wheeling, and I have to say I still do ok! I kept up with the boys really well, even though the trail was quite curvy, rocky, and muddy in places. I was pretty darn dirty when we got back, though I tried really hard to avoid the big mud puddles! The photo really doesn't do my dirtiness justice! Our four-wheelers are sport four-wheelers, not the big, cushy utility ATVs that go over rocks and bumps pretty comfortably. Ours are very fast and nimble, but considerably less comfortable, and a little more difficult to operate.

My husband comes from a big dirtbiking, four-wheeling family...you could say its a tradition, and its definitely carried over into our little family. For us, camping is not camping without going riding! Ryan already had a dirtbike when we got married, and he bought me a four-wheeler and taught me how to ride it before we had been married 4 months! I had to learn to operate a clutch for the first time when we got our ATV...I didn't even know how to drive a manual car yet! In the years before I got pregnant with Thomas we used to go on quite a few riding trips, especially to the Little Sahara sand dunes. Back then I used to think I was a pretty good rider. Its nice to know I still do pretty well! I gotta keep from getting too rusty, because I'm sure Ryan will have all of our kids zooming around on real dirt-bikes or four-wheelers by the time they're 4 or 5 years old! I have to at least keep up with the little kids, right?! =)

We had originally planned on staying over through Saturday night and driving home Sunday morning, but it was raining so much Saturday we just decided to pack up and go home. We were all pooped! And I was happy to get home and get thoroughly clean. Camping is fun, but coming home from camping is wonderful! =)

This photo was actually taken on the way up to Paiute...Thomas was chowin' on Doritos and conked out with his hand still in the chip bag! Thought it was pretty cute. =)

Tommy's 2nd Birthday

I'm so behind, as always! July 10th was Thomas' second birthday...I can't believe my baby is two already! I can still remember the frightened feeling I had when it came time to bring him home from the hospital! When it comes to children growing up, how does time manage to slip through our fingers so quickly? Doesn't every parent wonder this?

We threw a birthday BBQ for Tommy one day early, on Weds, July 9th, because Ryan's parents happened to be passing through town that night on the way to California, and we really wanted them to be able to come. July 9th is actually my birthday...yep, I went into labor with my son on my birthday!...so it kind of morphed into a party for both of us, even though for me it was all about Thomas. I decided to get him a cute, classic red Radio Flyer wagon for a gift, so I ended up giving the party a red, white and blue Radio Flyer/wagon theme, and it turned out awesome! I wanted to try and keep the party low-key, (which it wasn't so much last year!) so we just did a family party this year. The funny thing is, we still had quite a big shindig...24 people total! It was a lot of fun though...Thomas got to celebrate with all four of his grandparents, most of his uncles and aunts and 4 of his 6 cousins. (We missed you, Uncle Josh, Uncle Zane, Aunt Amber, Ciara and Dalin!)

Thomas was of course spoiled by all those in attendance, especially by his parents! (I can't help it, I enjoy giving gifts way too much!) It was so funny watching him and all the other kids reveling in all the fun new toys there were to play with. Thomas was so distracted after the first few gifts that me, Ryan and the older cousins had to do most of the opening for him. Later, after we sang "Happy Birthday" and it came time for Thomas to blow out the candles on his cake, his cousins helped out with that too...they pretty much beat him to it! But, he didn't seem to mind. He loved the cake, though he didn't make nearly as big of a fun mess as he did last year! I think he had a lot of fun at the party, though he had a little mini-breakdown later in the evening...he was pretty pooped by the end of the night, and I didn't blame him...so was I!

But I got a little spoiled too! Ryan was so sweet and surprised me with balloons, gorgeous pink roses, a cheesecake (he said I should have my own cake...ahh), and he got me Photoshop Elements and more RAM for our computer...so I can actually run Photoshop! I'm so excited because now I can finally start learning to digital scrapbook! From my friends and family I also got some books, cash (always love that!) and the DVD set of the fabulous 6-hour-long version of "Pride and Prejudice." It was a wonderful birthday, even though I was the one paying the least attention to the fact that it was my birthday!

And on top of that, I was so happy because Tommy's party was a fantastic success! I was actually glad we did it one day early, because on Tommy's actual birthday the following day (Thursday) I was much less stressed...we just took it easy and totally relaxed. I took him to the park to play in the morning, let him eat whatever he wanted all day long, and when daddy got home we went swimming and got McDonald's afterwards. A lovely day!

On Friday Ryan also took me out on a belated birthday date, just the two of us. We had dinner at Los Hermanos, my favorite restaurant, and went to see the movie "Hancock"...it was very good, but I was sad because there were no chick flicks out at the time! I'm all about going to a chick flick on my birthday, because its the one time a year Ryan can't complain! It was a fun night though. Thanks, Hayley and Eric, for watching Tommy for us. =)

So, it was a great week! I love my little boy so much and he has brought so much happiness into our lives. I can't hardly remember what life was like before he was a part of our family. I have learned so much since becoming a mother, and I hope I can always be the mother that Thomas deserves. I love you buddy!