Push Swing

Yesterday, Tyce said two simple words at the park that made me a very happy mom.
"Push swing!" I know that isn't much for a 2 1/2 year old, but for me it was a victory. Communication!
Having been blessed with two terrific talkers, I wasn't sure what to do when Tyce came along.
You know the stage when babies are about 15-18 months old, and things get frusturating right before they are able to talk. Well, we have been in that stage for about 15 months.
Luckily, we were blessed to be able to catch it early and to get his ear tubes in and get him into the infant toddler program. This is a wonderful free program where therapists come to our house once a week and help Tyce with his speech. Rian started coming a couple of months ago, and Tyce has made so much progress with his speech. I've always taken for granted the gift of talking, but now I know what a blessing it is.
Tyce is very proud of himself that he is starting to communicate with us.
Keep it up big guy!

Romance is in the air

This week has been exciting as Brandon (age 6) got proposed to by his cousin and Creighton (age 4) kissed two different girls on the same day!
Brandon's cousin from Seattle came this week, and when they got ready to leave she said, "Since you are the boyfriend and I am the girlfriend, we are going to be married, Ok!"
That will make for some interesting granchildren.
Then Creighton and Brandon came home from a friends house and Brandon told me that Creighton had kissed Livy when he was over there and he was kissing Hattie on the trampoline right now. (see Creighton and Hattie in previous blog!)
So, I look out and sure enough, they said to each, "Let's kiss!" and then they did.
I guess I should just enjoy it when it is cute and funny right now, and I'm not stressing out about what my teenage boys are doing!

Top 9 Reasons I love summer

After a really looong winter (the first snow was the beginning of October and the last snow was mid-June), I was really looking forward to the goodness of summer. I decided to make a list as something to look it during my seasonal depression this year (halfway kidding!). So here goes:

1)Lazy dazy summer days! After being an experienced mother of a school child for one whole year, it is actually a nice break to let the kids sleep as long as they want, with nowhere to be. There's no homework to get done and no volunteering, If the kids want to spend hours in the neighbors rock pile-good on them. Unstructured summer days are one of the best parts of childhood.

2)Which leads us to summer nights! There is nothing better after a hot day, to come out and feel the cool air and let the kids play with the neighbors, or just hang out in your backyard watching the kids play. I never appreciated that Idaho cooled down at night until I lived in Provo. It's not an ocean breeze, but it will do.

3) Summer fruits! I always look forward to the first grapes you can afford of the year, and the first bite after a long winter is cool and so refreshing. This year I splurged on a whole bunch of summer fruits and spent $6 on 2 lbs of blueberries. Usually I'm more frugal than that, but summer comes but once a year. Right now we are getting a bowl of raspberries a night, and are loving raspberries on cereal, on ice cream (or better yet brownies and ice cream), in shakes, etc. I don't know how you could be an atheist and have tasted these precious as gold fruits.

4)Summer BBQ's! What’s better than dinner you didn't cook yourself, more than one side dish to choose from, kids entertained by other kids, and good friends to talk to?

5)The ease of getting kids out the door. No gloves, hats, coats, boots, just grab your sandals and maybe your water bottle and you are out the door. This is especially handy with new babies.

6)Nature! After so many months of no greenery, I have tried to enjoy beautiful things more. These were even found in my own garden. (And we all know how much the Johns have a green thumb)

7)Shaved legs and painted toenails. (On a good day!)

8)The summer sounds of baseball, sprinklers, lawn mowers, and kids laughing. And the summer smells of grilling meat, freshly cut grass, warm children, suncreen, campfires and chlorine.

9) Cheap summer movies! We love going to the summer movie program at the Paramount for 12 movies for 8$. Can't beat that!

Usually I would list fireworks or the big trip as my favorite part of summer (and I still like those things), but this year I tried to appreciate the small things. This isn't to say that I don't love the first nighttime chill that promises fall, or would like to live this unstructured all year long, but I do love summer.

Six Random Things

Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules
3. Write six random things about yourself
4. Tag six people
5. Let each person you are tagging them by leaving them a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your blog entry is up
Here we go!!
Remember they are six random things--(pretty much the first things that come to my mind :))


1) I got voted most likely to not have any white walls at my last family reunion. I have 12 different colors of paint around my house right now! For coming from a white-walled home I somehow am not fearful when it comes to color! Sometimes I could use a little fear (like when I painted my trim and the color of my laundry room isn't my favorite). I do like the rest of my color though.

2) I am not sentimental when it comes to things. I love to throw away and clean things out. Even though you couldn't tell with my cluttered house.
However, I married the opposite of myself you literally gets sick when it comes to throwing away something you paid actual money for. Right now I think I could throw away 70% of my closet. Does anyone want to nominate me for What not to Wear so I can get a new wardrobe?

3) I have had 5 callings in the last 5 years since we moved into our house: Sunbeams, Activity Days, Nursery, Beehive Advisor, and 2nd Counselor in YW's.

4) I really want a girl. I know I should be Ok if I don't get one, and I should be grateful for my healthy children (and I am), but I'm really going to be REALLY sad and going to Tina for moral support if I don't get one. I want to see what a John baby girl would look like.

5) Like paint colors, I get sick of my hair and like it to change it up a lot (that should be a blog in itself, complete with pictures). I've done super short, dark, light, curly, etc. The only thing I've never really done very well is have it long enough for a pony tail. Right now I am trying to do that. I don't need super-long, just long enough to put it in a pony that doesn't fall out. Any advice for that spontaneous day when I can't stand it and chop it all off?

6) Here is a list of jobs I have had in my life: JJ Norths, Afterthoughts (for one day doing inventory), Starlite Skating, Tautphaus Park Ice Rink, Target, Sears Telemarketing, Waste Connections, MailBoxes, Etc, Disability Resource Center, John and John Acct.

People I'm tagging: Kristen, Krista, Diana, Sharon, Kami, Teasha

Diving Board Day

Today was diving board day at swimming lessons. We had to bribe our kids with cinammon rolls. I tried to get video of it, but it wasn't working.

Beauty School Drop Out

Ok, so today was haircut day and Brandon and Creighton's went well. Tyce was last and I was going to give him a trim. We did it outside in an effort to control the mess. Anyway, I was buzzing along and I looked down and noticed that the guard had fallen in the grass and I had given Tyce a BIG bald spot! The only thing I could do was make the rest of his hair as short as possible. Hopefully he will wear a hat when we go in public, but church will be interesting.

What is your design inspiration?

Today my questions is this: Are you like me and collect little photo's of cool rooms of how you would love your house to look? I'm curious what your inspiration is. Here are some of mine:

Lowes Projects

One of the things that our family LOVES to do is the Lowes and Home Depot projects.

Brandon has gone from needing help with every step to being able to do it mostly all by himself.

It is great male-bonding time, and when I come Tyce and I get to wonder the stores and dream.

It is definetly the process and not the product, because most of them end up in the garbage sooner or later, but the boys get to feel a sense of accomplishment as they complete these projects. Best of all, it's free and requires no preparation besides showing up.

Remembering Grandma Ann and Gratitude

My heart is full today. When I got home from church there was a message from my mom saying that my (step) Grandma Ann had died before midnight last night.

I'm so grateful to have had her in my life. She married my grandpa when I was about 5 or 6.

A few years after that I was able to spend some time alone with Grandpa Reeve and Grandma Ann and she carefully showed me what every flower was in her beautiful yard and how much she loved her flowers.

I also had a step-grandma on my dad's side, and she would often take me shopping and buy me presents. These two women showed me in different ways that they loved and cared for me, and even though they never tried to replace my grandma's that I lost when I was young, they still loved and cared for me and wanted me to make

the most out of life.

I'm grateful that Grandma Ann was a wonderful companion to Grandpa Reeve during these many years and I'm grateful to have known her. She is definitely a life that has touched mine for good. I love you Grandma Ann!

I was also touched at church by a comment made in Relief Society. A sister that has just moved into the ward commented on how she had never felt such a welcome of love and the spirit of God in any ward before. Sometimes I take for granted what a wonderful neighborhood and city I live in. I'm grateful for good friends the good friends that my children have whenever they open the door. God has blessed me and my family!

The water-lover in me

I don't water-ski, knee-board, or really even know how to swim, but I have a love for water.

The site of the beach makes me giddy. (Hence, the theme for my basement).

So anyway, last night we did something that was a favorite memory of my childhood. It is the closest thing we have to a beach here in good ol' Idaho: We went with my parents to Rigby Lake.

I decided I wanted to float from the shoreline (shown in this picture) to the island. So with my life-jacket on and floating on a tube, I kicked my way across. For a person who only took one year of swimming lessons, this was a big accomplishment!

Brandon thought the water was cold,

but we told him it was probably the warmest

lake he'll ever swim in.

Canoeing a great family activity. Even

Tristan likes it (and he doesn't really

love water that isn't chlorinated!)

Blog help!

I'm new to this. 1)Who can tell me how to change the ugly green to something cute?
2) Is there a better time to upload photos so it doesn't take three years?

Almost done!

Progress of Basement

4th of July

If anyone has been to my house, you know I love the 4th of July! Who can beat parades, BBQ's water games, and fireworks?


Especially after such a long winter, we are going to enjoy every minute of summer this year.


As you can see, my kids were hot during the parade, but it was worth it to get all of that candy!


My kids were pretty tired after a hard day of playing, but it's unAmerican to miss the fireworks.


So, we borrowed my dads truck and found a side street to park on. (We found out the next day that a pipe bomb was detonated about 1 1/2 blocks from our where we parked.)


Tyce was melting down during the finale, so we left and were home by 10:50.

The next day we went boating with Tristan's aunt and uncle. Tristan and Tyce stayed for 2 hours. The rest of us stayed for 9 hours. The next in the paper there was another report saying there was a boating accident at the same place we were. I guess we were being watched over that weekend!

Our other exciting news is that our basement is almost finished. Last night every last door and touch-up was finally and completely painted. I don't care if I see another spot, we are done!

My dad is working on our vanity, and we have carpet coming on August 1st! We are so excited to have our living room, bedroom, and garage back instead of being storage!