July 31, 2012

My sister-in-law Juli came to visit us while her husband (my brother) is visiting multiple museums along the east coast. We are super excited to have them here and can't wait to do lots of fun things with them! Thanks to the summer reading program we had free children's admission to Thanksgiving Point's Museum of Ancient Life (dinosaur museum). 

Here is cousin Clark all ready to go!

 Brylee is super excited!

Tucker was ready too :) (I'm not sure where Hunter is hiding because he does not usually like to miss photo opportunities) 

 I discovered that it is impossible to get Tucker and Hunter to both look at the camera at the same time! I took lots of this same picture trying to get them to both look at me but as soon as I would push the button one of them would look at something else. The museum was just too cool :)

 They had this water sand table for the children to play in. Thankfully they also provided aprons so our kids clothes did not get covered in sand and water. The purpose of the table is to bury a dinosaur and then direct the water over it to erode it out  or have the water rush over the dinosaur and slowly cover it with sand. Of course none of the children attempted to do this but they still had lots of fun burying and finding the dinosaurs.

 Brylee only played for a little while before deciding that she was hungry so we took a snack break while the boys played :)

Gunnar slept the entire time!! I fed him before we left and then he slept the whole time and didn't eat until we got back home!! I was amazed, now if I could get him to go that long without eating at night consistently...

 Here is Bryant pretending to be scared of the big dinosaurs : P

 This is a giant underwater turtle basically. It reminded of some of the creatures in the cartoon movie Atlantis that came out forever ago!

Oh no! The giant shark is going to eat our whole family!!!

Here is Hunter holding Gunnar for the first time!!

 He is such a proud older brother!!

 We have discovered that Gunnar sleeps best when his face is partially covered. This gets him to sleep for hours on end!

Gunnar's first time in the bouncer, while Bryant, Juli and I played a game at the table after everyone else was in bed

While being with us, Clark is learning what it is like to have crazy cousins surround you constantly. He figured out how to dance to the music from the piano. Tucker, Hunter, and Brylee all dance by spinning in circles and so, after watching for awhile, Clark started dancing by spinning in circles too. 

Clark was more than happy to sit back and watch as Tucker, Hunter, and Brylee did "Ring around the Rosies." Thankfully, Brylee is used to older brothers and does not freak out when she is knocked down or pulled down by them.

Summer Reading Program

We participated in the Provo Library's summer reading program again this year. Tucker, Hunter, and Brylee each worked hard to get all the reading done for the program and made crafts each week and attended story times to get the stickers necessary to go to the "trick-or-treat" party at the end of the program. I really like the prizes that they get at the end of the program. We have lots of free ice cream cones from Chickfile, McDonalds and Burger King, free food from Del Taco, free kids meals from Village Inn and Denny's, free pizzas, and lots of other freebies! These things are so nice to have since the boys work on filling up a reward chart to earn a date with me or Bryant.

The boys went to the "trick-or-treat" at the library. It was really just a long line from one table to another but the boys did great. They had lots of fun dressing up as pirates. I was really glad that the library didn't just give them candy but gave them different puzzles and games like connect the dots, word searches, etc. Tucker has been having lots of fun completing the various puzzles. 

Gunnar King Whiting

Well after a lot of deliberation I decided to be induced. My due date was July 20 and my body was super sick of being pregnant on Monday July 23 so I had my doctor schedule the induction. 30 minutes after getting my epidural, Gunnar was ready to come, I went from a 5 to 10 in just 30 minutes after hardly any progress for a couple of hours. The doctor was called and I was told not to push but to lay on my side and keep my legs together...Gunnar King Whiting was born at 8:39 pm weighing 8lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long. He is a rather mellow baby :)

 At only a few minutes old he was already making funny faces :)

The whole family came for a visit the following day. Tucker was super excited and new just what to do. Hunter was quite content to look on his new brother but not ready to hold him. Brylee was very apprehensive, she would not even touch the baby :) A lady from my new ward (that is also new and used to work for one of the companies that takes your baby's picture in the hospital) came while all of the family was there so she got lots of pictures of Gunnar alone and with his siblings :)

Gunnar is ready to come home. Bryant says he looks like Han Solo

Water Sprinkler

One of the great things about having our own yard is grass!! We invested in a basic sprinkler, it just sprays in a square and has no moving parts, and is perfect! It took me and Bryant running with/dragging the kids through the sprinkler a couple of times for them to really enjoy it but now they love it and get super wet when we use it. Even Brylee has a wonderful time!

Splash pad!

I love the Spanish Fork Splash Pad!!! We like to go in the morning, that way we can play at the playground before it gets hot and then cool off in the water. 

Brylee needed a little convincing to get in the water :)

Once in, they had a blast!

As always, they needed a snack after all their running!

I also learned that a splash pad is being built in Provo rather close to us! It won't be ready until next summer, I think but it will be great to have something so close!