Monster Trucks

Last weekend some monster trucks came to town. Tyler LOVES all things trucks (just like his dad) and so Kace's family planned on going. Mart really wanted to take my boys, so Saturday night we headed to the fairgrounds.

Kace had gone early enough for Tyler to take pictures next to the trucks. He loved them!

Tyler waiting for the show to start!

Lincoln pizza face was excited to be there too!

I had to have proof that I was there too. It wasn't something I necessarily wanted to do, but went to watch my boys have fun.

Kace and Tyler patiently waiting for the show to start.

Ryan and Zack. He was such a good baby! 

And of course Traves came along too!

Testing out the ear muffs. Because the boys couldn't hear while wearing them ... it made them louder! I know you can't hear it...but you can see how loud he was in this photo! Ha!

Ethan had a blast eating pizza, sitting in a new place and waiting for the trucks

 
All three little boys. This is about as good as it gets with three super wiggly kids!

The show was laid out so the trucks did a lap of something and then they asked the audience who had the toughest car. They had 3 people sign up and then they ran the course in between the monster trucks getting worked on. This was during the audience rounds. 

Mart and Ethan. 

So apparently the show was Friday and Saturday night. Mart thought it was only on Saturday. If we would have known, we would have gone Friday! Friday must have been a good show, because all of the trucks were damaged for Saturday night. The show started about 20 minutes late due to trying to get one up and running. Then they started and right after, the red truck broke on the course which meant lots more time fixing it. We probably 5 minutes of a show and then it was onto the audience running the course. Which lasted ... a while. They were going to bring out the monster trucks after that, but they were still trying to get them working ... so we went to a crazy long intermission. It was supposed to be like 20 minutes, and it ended up over an hour. After which, the truck was still too damaged to come out and we waited for almost nothing. They brought out the other two trucks for free style, which was semi-okay. It was just another couple of minutes and they promised that the red truck that was damaged would make it worth the wait when he finally came out.

He did come out and do freestyle right at the very end, and must have driven it as hard as he could because by the time he finished, something was leaking and there were sparks everywhere!

All in all...we watched about 5-10 minutes total of a show that we had sat and waited for for 3ish hours. Not worth it. It was kind of pricey to get in. There was a group of crazy upset people in the audience who stormed the ticket stand in the middle trying to get their money back. The police showed up to break it up!

After the show was over, we ended up getting each of us a $15 free t-shirt to make up for it, so that paid for our tickets.

If I was offered the chance to go to another local one, I'd probably turn it down unless we went the first night. It ended up being a more boring version of the demolition derby .. watching the audience cars fill in the all the gaps while the monster trucks were being repaired.

But, while the trucks were driving, it was kind of neat to see how big they were and how high they jumped in the air!

Here are some photos that Traves took during the show (Thanks Traves!)

Before the show, during intermission and after the show, this truck was giving ride on the track. The people seemed to be having a good time!

If you look close at this last picture, you can see the sparks under the truck!

Even though it ended up being pretty disappointing, I think my boys still had a fun time. They haven't stopped talking about monster trucks since!

Sophie

The same Monday that Nanan, Grandad and Ber left, we also had to say goodbye to our sweet dog. Ethan's dog.

We have had her for 3 1/2ish years. We took her in when she didn't have a home. Mart's uncle lost his house and was moving and couldn't take her with. We took her in planning on just finding her a new home, and then Ethan fell in love and we just never started looking. We've registered her every year and each year they tell us we need a kennel license for 3 dogs, but they've never told us how or any other communication at that point. So we just continued to do what we were doing. They finally sent out a letter this year stating that we had to have a kennel license, and we were 100 feet short of enough land to get one. 

The last couple of months they've also sent out a notice in the Richmond newsletter about the issue. If you have more than 3 dogs you need a license. If you don't qualify, you have until November 1st to find the dog a new home or get turned over to the Sheriff's office.

Sadly, it was time to say goodbye.

This sweet little one has been so cute to have and Ethan has just adored her. He loved that dog so much.

Lincoln saying goodbye to her before she left. 

Can't forget the kiss. :)

Ethan had to say goodbye before he went to school. We thought it would be easier if he was gone when she was picked up.

He has been asking for her to come home all week, but he's behaved better than I expected. It was hard, but it was for the best.

My other two dogs were quite sure what was going on, and I think they are missing their friend too, but seem to be adjusting. 

I hope she's happy and adjusting and loves her new home!

"Baby!"

For our last Sunday Dinner before everyone left, Nanan wanted a bbq. We had everyone come over to hang out, and we made bbq chicken, grilled corn and dutch oven potatoes. Of course, Ber needed to spend some much needed time with all her nephews, so there was lots of playing going on!

Baby Zack was passed between Nanan, Grandad and Ber the entire night. They all wanted to snuggle him before they left. Ber had to share her turn with my boys for a little bit though, because they both LOVE babies!! They talk about Baby Zack all the time! (But, if you ask them if they want Mama to have a new baby, they will both shout "No!" and then Ethan will say "I want my Lincoln!" Ha. We explained that if we had another baby one day, we would still keep Lincoln. He's still not big on the idea. Silly boy)

Anytime Lincoln see's a baby on the computer, in person, at the store, etc. his reaction is to just shout "Baby!" or "Zack!"

Ber and Zack. 
 

They had to head home reasonably early so that they could all get some sleep. They had a long drive the next day.

We loved having Nanan and Grandad here for the summer, and we are so excited that they will be back next summer!

Ber ... I still can't believe you are gone. I hope that you have the best time ever in California for school. We will miss you so much and can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Bowling

As the summer came to a close, the time for Nanan and Grandad to head home and Ber to head to California to go to school crept closer and closer. We wanted to get together one last time and do something fun. We chose bowling!

Nanan is always funny. No matter where we are or what we are doing. :)
Grandad has a phrase he uses about her quite often. (It helps that she can't hear very well so rarely catches him saying it!) He will lean over and say to me "I can't take her anywhere!"

For example: They came to our church on the 16th, the last Sunday they had before they left (not counting the temple dedication) ... and in the middle of the class she raised her hand and said something like "You'd think God would learn" ... It was pretty quiet at that point. Grandad told her she needed to explain.  (And then told me "I can't take her anywhere!" with a grin on his face)

I have never met two people more in love and it's so fun to be around them.

Anyway, back to bowling.

Nanan walked up to the counter, asked for shoes and walked off. Ha ha. I had to let Grandad know that she didn't pay for herself so that he could pay for her. Silly lady.

The last time we went bowling, Ber got a gutter ball almost every turn. She was having problems with her shoulder and it hurt for her to bowl. This time, she beat us all! 

If Ethan knows we are going to go bowling, he will start talking about it nonstop until we actually go! He loves it!

Here he is choosing his ball. He was very specific each turn on which ball he wanted. (It would rotate). 

And then he did his wait-for-the-ball-to-hit-the-pins dance/stance.

Ethan and Ber. He loves her so much.

Traves came along with us. He normally smokes us! I'm not sure what was going on this night. :)

Mart and his very sweet and hilarious Grandad. 

Tyler and Lincoln also love to bowl! Tyler will bowl for Kace's turn, and Lincoln will bowl on mine. On one of Tyler's turns he rolled the ball. We waited and waited and waited some more. It went so slow, and then when it got close to the end ... it started slowly rolling back toward us! In the end, it eventually stopped in the middle of the lane and we had to have someone go and get it for us.

After bowling we all went and got some frozen yogurt. It was a fun last activity together! We are going to miss them so much!

Salt Lake

Like I said in my last post, Ethan LOVES temples. Because he talks about them so much, it has now rubbed off on Lincoln. Whenever we drive by a church, Lincoln will yell "temple!". We have to correct him each time, and then make a big deal when we see the actual temple.

My cousin got married a couple weekends ago and his reception was in Salt Lake. We stopped by the temple to show my boys. They loved it! (Even now while blogging about it, Lincoln walked by, saw the picture and yelled "temple!") 

These cute boys were so excited to be there! 

Ethan LOVED the fountain and had to do a little dance in front of it!

This picture just shows that they were having fun ... too bad it doesn't have a volume control on it. They were screaming so loud!

The best we could get ... they were done with picture taking by this point. 

And last of all ... me and my Grandma at the reception. Love this lady!

Brigham City Temple Open House

We were able to take my family to the Brigham City temple open house back in August. Ethan talks about temples all the time and asks to go see the Logan temple at least once a week. We were excited to finally get to take him inside. We went in a huge group, and it was really busy. There were people everywhere!
 

Once we got inside, we were worried about Ethan being a little out of control. It didn't end up being him that was the problem, it ended up being Tyler. Baby Zack had just been born a week before we went and I think he was still adjusting. The minute we walked in the doors we walked right past the font and he wanted to get in the water. When we wouldn't let him, he lost it and started throwing a huge tantrum. Mart took him and made a big deal out of the smallest things while Kace got ahead of us so he couldn't see her anymore. He calmed down after that.  

 Ber was holding Ethan's hand, and each time we walked in a room Ethan would ask "Is Jesus in THIS room??" It was fun to watch him see the temple. He loved looking for peach blossoms with Ber too. 

Love the little booties on his feet!

  

The cookie at the end of the tour was the icing on the cake for my boys. It was all worth it for that. :)

There were so many people everywhere and it was hot and we had been there for so long, that we opted out of family pictures and just said we'd go back and take them another time.

I'm so glad that we were able to take Ethan inside the temple. I hope that he always continues to love the temple.

Preschool

Ethan is a high energy, social kid. That's all there is to it. He needs to be around kids, and he's not very often. We have been thinking for a while that preschool will be really good for him. Maybe it'll teach him how to behave a little better and to listen to teachers, and he will get to socialize with other kids. I had no idea where to send him, and I knew that my old achievement day partner had a daycare, and for 2 hours during the day she would do preschool. He had been there with me a couple of times and I knew and trusted her, so we chose to send him there.

His first day was yesterday, and he was SO excited! At 7:45 he came booking it into my room and woke me up and said "Mom. Wake up! It's time to go to school!" He was very antsy all morning. He was walking around in his pajama shirt and his underwear and at one point he told me he needed to get his shoes on so we could go to school. I told him he needed clothes on first. He then told me that he had a shirt on already.

When the time came to finally leave, he was so ready. He even allowed me to take a couple of pictures ...

But after about 45 seconds, he was done and ready to go. He was shaking his hands in excitement. 

And then he started to tug on his shorts to keep himself occupied enough to stand there ...

And then it was time to go!

When we got there, I walked him in. There was a little girl who was crying, and that made him nervous. He just stood in the back corner and watched what was going on. But I'm sure after I left, it took him no time to warm up and become his usual, high energy self.

Lincoln thought it was really strange to have Ethan gone, so I took him to my moms house to play on her playground. He thought that was fun and barely noticed Ethan was gone once we were there.

2 hours later, we went back to get Ethan. He was playing outside and looked like he was having a great time. He said he liked the boy in the green shirt (He told me his name was Jordan, but I have no idea if that's right or not...) and he loved playing the dice game that they made.

They did say he was high energy and needed to learn the boundaries and how far he could push, but that he did good. He is excited to go again tomorrow!

He can't be old enough for this already can he?!?