The Rest of August

August rounded out our amazing summer! It was a lot cooler than usual in August, so we only swam a handful of times. I'm not complaining though, it made it so that everything else we did all month was just refreshingly pleasant! 

We were able to take the boys to see the Ogden Temple open house. Chase has always had a deep love for the temple so I thought he'd be thrilled, but he informed us that he really just wanted to be dropped off at Jodi's (my friend who usually babysits for me when we go to the temple). After talking to him about what a special place the temple is, and what a unique opportunity this was, he was on board again. The boys did amazing as we walked through and were really reverent (for being toddlers). Hudson did occasionally just yell out "temple!" but that was mostly endearing. This temple is absolutely gorgeous and we both loved being able to share it with our boys!

 We did the ice bucket challenge as a family- including Chase. He was excited about it, maybe more so because we gave him a bucket full of lukewarm water instead of ice. After my dad and Ben both did it Chase immediately said, "Did you like that?!"

 We bought both boys (who are obsessed with sunglasses) their own pair at Kohls. They both fell in love with the bright orange "Planes" sunglasses and have been mostly inseparable from them since!

 Grocery shopping with the boys these days is...interesting. It's like running a three ring circus! But the boys do love these carts- especially this one that is a firetruck. On this particular day both boys were starting to lose it as the deli lady slowly prepared my order, so she gave them cookies. They were so sweet and quiet the whole rest of the trip while they munched on their cookies! I tried that again when we went shopping today, but they didn't have the free cookies they usually do, so it was absolute chaos.

 We've done lots of scootering the last few weeks, Chase has gotten really into it! The street we live on is so quiet that it's a great place to play!

 These boys are so in love with their cousin Nora. We babysat Nora one afternoon last week and I thought Hudson was going to come unglued with excitement of having her around. He spends 80% of the time being just thrilled that she's here, and the other 20% slightly jealous/insecure when we all fuss over her. We have to make sure we spend lots of time snuggling and loving him so he knows he's still our baby. My boys + a newborn makes for a hectic combo though!

 We spent a fun day in Springville with Ashley and her darling girls. Chase loves those girls and plays really well with them! Hudson did great too, except that he kept trying to ride on Ella (the crawling 9 month old). We took them to a little farm to see the animals- this alpaca was a highlight. We wish they lived closer so we could all play more often!

We had one more crazy thing happen in August. Ben was helping my dad cut down a tree on a Saturday morning before work. Ben was up in the tree, tied in by a rope, when the chainsaw he was using accidentally cut the rope and Ben fell about 20 feet to the ground. He was in a lot of pain initially and we were worried about broken bones. He ended up being taken to the hospital in an ambulance, but after a full-body CT scan found he had no major injuries we were home two hours later with a bunch of prescriptions for pain. He's healed up pretty well and even went back to work that Monday, even though he was still pretty sore all over. We feel so thankful that it wasn't worse- as it easily could have been devastating. He's definitely got some guardian angels up there!

Children's Museums

My boys and I sure love Children's museums. We have LOVED our Discovery pass this year, but haven't used it a ton this summer since it's so crowded. We've been spoiled! We did do another adventure with Nana to the Discovery Gateway last week, complete with riding Frontrunner. The boys love riding the train, it is just as exciting to them as the actual museum! I love having a place where my kids can play, free to explore and discover and learn as much as they want. 

 Two weeks ago we went with my mom to check out the Museum of Natural Curiosity. It did not disappoint and definitely lived up to all the hype! That place was amazing! We got there right as it opened so we enjoyed the first little bit fairly crowd-free, but even as it got crowded the boys had an amazing time. Chase was fascinated by every new thing. His favorites were the plane you had to climb to on rope bridges, the earthquake simulator and the bear cave. I think Hudson liked all the little toddler play areas and water tables the best, but he was just generally happy the whole time. I didn't bring their swimsuits, and Chase just couldn't resist the cool splash pad there, so we just took their shirts off. Once Chase's shorts got wet he thought we should just take those off too- luckily my mom spotted him early on in this process and insisted that he wear shorts. Hudson was getting tired by then and kept trying to get Chase to put his shoes on (hint- time to go home!).

I know I've said it before, but this summer really has been the best, in a huge part thanks to my mom. She has had so many fun ideas for these weekly adventures and the kids have had such a blast with her. She generously pays for everything, and without all her help these would not have been possible. Since Hudson is now so independent, it has been so fun to have two adults there so each child can do what he wants and get that one-on-one attention. My mom just gets kids- and she's teaching me all about it. I'm sad to see these summer adventures come to an end!

Nursery

Our transition to nursery was the smoothest thing ever with Chaser. He started going at 15 months since we were on the island and there was no other place to take him when he wasn't into sitting on our laps (read: all the time) and my friend was the nursery leader so she let us just leave him. It was wonderful and Chase LOVED it. And then we moved three times in three months and still, each new ward he loved the nursery.

But now we've been in this ward for the last 18 months and Chase completely adores his nursery leaders, Brother and Sister Mondfrans. They are great with him, whether he's naughty or sad, they totally know how to help him and make him feel welcome and loved there. When we drop him off he's never really struggled (besides the occasional attention-seeking whines).

Enter Hudson. We started taking him (and staying with him) a few months ago. He loved it. But now he's 18 months and as soon as I walk into the nursery with him he clings to me, cries huge tears, and basically breaks my heart. It's so so sad. But Sister Mondfrans has found something that works. She takes him from me and feeds him mini-marshmellows until he calms down, and then he happily plays for the next two hours!

So on Sunday as I was pulling him out of his carseat after church I said to him, "Hudson, have you come to terms with nursery?"

His serious little face looked at me and said, "Mah-mewwows" (Marshmellows)

Out of the Mouth of Chase

Chase: Nana, can you help me find me Jake?
Nana: I can't find it Chase.
Chase: Well could you look a little harder???? (Said with a serious amount of attitude)

Chase: Nana, can you help me find my ball?
Nana: How did you lose it?
Chase: Well, I threw it at Hudson but Hudson missed.

Chase came sneaking upstairs a good 1 1/2 hours after I put him to bed for the night with the most sly smile on his face and informed me, "I just can't sleep. My body is just telling me that I'm not tired anymore."

Chase: Mom, what's this? (Points to his throat)
Me: It's your throat Chase.
Chase: Oh, I can't see mine. But I can see yours. Yours is kinda cute Mom!

Girls don't work at work! Girls work at home! (At least he knows that what I do is WORK!)

Nana: A reindeer and a caribou are actually the same thing. They are called caribou in the wild and reindeer in captivity.
Chase: Well, they are just called reindeer when it's snowing. RAINdeer (makes a rain motion with fingers, makes perfect sense, rain-snow-Santa Claus).

In January I am going to be four! And I'm going to have a train party. Three just isn't my favorite number. Four is my favorite number.

In the car, looking down at his carseat straps and totally out of the blue:
I have NO IDEA why these are twisted....

Unky Will, I can't have the ipad tonight. My dad won't let me because I spit on your pants. NOT TWICE, just once. Just one time Unky Will! (Like he wasn't actually that naughty because he only spit on Will's pants once, when he easily could have done it twice. Good logic there Chase. Now let's progress that forward a step to just not spitting at all.)

He threw Hudson's toy out of the pool onto the cement and I told him he'd have to go get it back for Hudson, since he was the one who threw it. Chase replied with, "But mom! The cement will burn my little feet!"

A bunch of Little Things

Just a bunch of little things that we've been up to lately:

This picture is from the day we moved! My mom was on boy watching duty, which was immensely helpful since Hudson's nickname is Mr. Destructo and Chase really thought he was in charge of the move. (He even yelled to the boys who were moving his toys out to the truck, "Hey, be careful with that!") My mom took this picture on her phone of Chase, doing what he does best, playing in the dirt. This little spot is one of Chase's favorite dirt spots at my parents house. Probably partially due to the fact that you have to climb some rocks to get up there, meaning that Destructo can't interfere.

 On the 24th of July we went to the tradition Bowman's Pancake breakfast along with the rest of Kaysville. We all had a good time. Here is cute Hudson walking back to the car. For some reason he insisted on holding both my dad and Ben's hands and had a huge grin on his face, like he knew he was getting away with something- being the controller of two grown-ups.

 We went to the Ogden Farmers Market one Saturday in July- we love that place. So much to see! Chase was obviously especially thrilled that there were these huge tractors right in the middle of the street. Hudson was excited about the tractors, but equally excited about all the dogs he saw there.

This is Hudson riding a horse at the Treehouse museum- my mom took the boys there while I was at Girls Camp. Hudson has an intense love of horses and says "horsey" in the cutest little voice whenever he sees one.

Will blessed sweet baby Nora Lindsay the first Sunday in August. Chase was confused and was pretty sure it was Nora's birthday and asked if he could help her blow out her candles. Also, Hudson recently renamed Nora "Baby No-no" I'm not sure if the "no-no" is his way of saying Nora, or if he calls her that because that's what he hears every time he tries to touch/poke/hit/hold her. Either way, it is darling and will probably stick because I keep reinforcing it.

Thanksgiving Point

We've had a crazy couple of weeks around here, mainly because we moved! We found out at the first of July that our cute, wonderful, cheap rental was going to be sold and we'd have to be out by the end of the month. We were very disappointed- we have really loved living there and were hoping to live there for another year. But the Lord had other plans for our little family, and once we accepted that we were pretty happy about our move. We moved into my parents basement (again) and are really excited to be here- we've got a wonderful place to live, free rent, and all the love and spoiling our children can handle. But moving itself is mostly a big pain and I have been so exhausted all week! We had so much help though, and for that I'm very grateful.

With all the moving craziness though, I really wanted to go out and do some fun things with my kids, who have been troopers. Tuesday afternoon found us at the Discovery Gateway, which of course the boys loved. Thursday we had our real big adventure for the week with Nana! We went to Thanksgiving Point and toured the Dinosaur Museum there and the "widdo farm" (little farm- in Chase's dialect). Chase absolutely loved the dinosaurs. He is so interested in them and loves to learn. Hudson was a good sport through the museum, mostly content to ride through it in his stroller. Both boys really loved the hands-on erosion display and the mini archaeological dig. My boys LOVE to dig!

 After a yummy lunch (the perks of outings with Nana- you get to order food from the cafe instead of the PB&J mom packs) we headed out to see the little farm. Chase's favorite part was this little display that had trucks to move around. And other than that, it was probably the skidsteer he saw. Hudson is our little animal lover. He went completely nuts over every animal, the baby chicks, the llamas, cows and the goats- oh the goats! Hudson loved those darling baby goats! Then we went on a wagon ride pulled by two horses, which both boys loved.

After a crazy week of packing and moving, this was a perfect outing! Thanks Nana for another perfect day!