Lake Powell

Nick and I took Jaxson to Lake Powell over the weekend. My Mom, Colby, Dani, Derek, Gabe, My Aunt and Uncle and some of my cousins had already been down there since Monday. We decided that Ella was still too little to come so Nick's Mom was nice enough to come all the way from Chicago and stay with Ella...and spoil her to death! I have to be honest, I wasn't looking forward to leaving my little girl for the weekend, I knew I was going to miss her like crazy, which I did. But she had so much fun with her Grandma and I knew that she was being very well taken care of.
Jax couldn't wait to get there and see all of his cousins, this was his first trip to Lake Powell so he didn't know what to expect and he was confused when we told him we would be staying on the houseboat since he had never seen it before. He didn't much care for the long drive and he constantly asked "are we there yet?" luckily he had some DVD's to watch. It was late when we got down there so he really couldn't see the lake, but he did walk all around the houseboat looking at everything. He spent a few minutes playing with his cousins and he was upset when we told him he needed to get to bed so we could have fun the next day. He was a unsure about swimming in the lake at first, but after a little while he was like a little fish! All the kids had fun riding in the tube, taking turns on the waverunners, playing in the sand running around the houseboat like monkeys. They all had to live in their lifejackets, they only took them off to sleep but they didn't seem to mind them much.
We surfed behind the boat...actually everyone else did...I just looked like a giant spaz when I did it. We even got Nicky doing it and he had a lot of fun! I got to do the kneeboard for the first time in several years, I had forgotten how much fun it is. The weekend went by way too fast and we were sad to have to go home, but we missed our little princess and we couldn't wait to get home to see her. It was so much fun to be down there with family and we had a blast!

Birthday Princess!!

Our little princess turned two on Friday! Where does time go? I can't believe my little girl is no longer a baby! NO that does not mean we are going to be having another one any time soon!!! We had a 'Princess Party' for Miss Ella Jo on Friday with some family and friends. Ella loved all of the princess decorations and she especially loved being the center of attention! She also loved opening all of her presents, she even enjoyed the cards, which most kids don't really get into. She wouldn't even let me read the card to her before she ripped it out of my hands and said "Ella's card!" I was surprised princess let some of the other kids help her open the presents. In addition to turning two...she also developed what someone referred to as the "2-tude" as if she didn't have enough of an attitude when she doesn't get her way! But for the most part she is still our sweet little angel and we don't know what we would do without her. Happy Birthday Princess Ella! Mommy, Daddy and Brother love you so much!

I'm a big girl now!

So apparently now that princess is almost two, in less than 24 hours :-( she thinks she is big enough to do things all by herself, or as she likes to put it "Do it by Ella's self" in addition to flipping out when I don't have time to let her try and get herself dressed, which takes several minutes, she informed me tonight, with her princess attitude that "Ella brush own teeth, Mommy!" Not only did she yank the toothbrush out of my hand, she did it with a don't you dare try and stop me look on her face. I thought I was the only one around this house that knew how to pull that look! She wouldn't even let me touch her toothbrush, I tried to help her at the end to make sure she had gotten all of her teeth. This backfired. Princess Ella has mastered the art of throwing temper tantrums, and she proceeded to throw one. Since I have dealt with one too many tantrums from my beautiful princess today, I decided to let her have her way. It's a good thing she is so cute!

That's the "Ha Ha I got my own way" look.

Baseball with daddy

Jax: "Hey Dad! Do you wanna come play baseball with me? I even found my glove and my ball from last year when I played T-ball!"
Nick: "Of course I do buddy!" (like he could refuse the sweet look Jax had on his face)
Jax: "Ok Daddy! Lets go outside! Hey Dad, what hand do I put my glove on?
Nick: "On your left hand big guy."
Jax: "Uh...Mom, Daddy said to put my glove on my left hand...is dat right mom?"
Me: "If that's what dad says then it's right, daddy used to play baseball when he was younger."
Jax: (shrugs) Ok mom. Daddy are you ready to come outside with me and play? Mommy I think you better come and watch dis cuz it will be pretty cool."

Could he be any cuter!?! Doubt it.

Swimming update

Jax has been taking swimming lessons since the beginning of the summer and he is doing great! When the lessons first started he was a little apprehensive about putting his face in the water...actually that might be an understatement...he REFUSED to do it! He was afraid, and as his Grandma Bonnie puts it, he is like a little old man, he over-thinks everything! He started practicing in the bathtub and pretty soon he would put a very small part of his face in the water at swim lessons. I decided to make him a deal, there was a "bumblebee" shooting arm (Transformers for those of you who aren't as in to that movie as we are around this house) that he wanted really bad. I told him that if he would start putting his whole head under the water without plugging his nose, then I would take him to the store and buy it for him. Last week Jax decided he couldn't wait for this toy any longer so, he put his whole head under the water, without plugging his nose, and figured out that it's a lot of fun to swim under water! He was so proud of himself! As soon as swim lessons got over I took him straight to the store for his well-deserved toy! Today in the pool he was like a little fish! His daddy and I are so proud of him for being such a big boy!

Nick and I decided to have the swim teacher start working with Ella for a few minutes in the pool. I wasn't sure how she would feel about getting in the pool with the swim teacher, but she jumped right in and started kicking her feet as fast as she could! She even put her face in and blew bubbles! Apparently she has been paying more attention to the kids lessons than I thought. She got a little scared when he had her float on her back, but he is such a great teacher and buy the end she was doing it. She didn't want to get out of the pool!

Family reunion

Over the weekend we had our annual Thomson family reunion, we went to Morgan to stay on my aunt and uncles property. It was perfect because our trailers were on the grass...therefore the kids weren't all muddy and dirty. The kids loved it because they got to run around like monkeys and play on the swingset. On saturday we went to the lake and got to go on waverunners and for rides in the boat. The kids were in heaven playing in the sand on the beach. That night we went to the Morgan County fair and rodeo. On sunday, after a yummy breakfast and some of uncle Todd's fabulously fattening and addicting sourdough scones, we went back to the lake to play around some more. Once again the reunion was a blast and it was fun to see everyone!

Zoo

On Wednesday my bestest friend Janelle and I took the munchkin's to the zoo. Her adorable younger sister's were staying with her for the week and she wanted to do fun things with them, and luckily me, Jax, Ella and Gabe got to tag along! We got there shortly after it opened to avoid the heat....yeah right! Although it was a much more comfortable temperature than in the middle of the afternoon. But it was still rather warm! The kids didn't seem to mind though, they were too busy running around looking at all the animals. Jax was the most excited to see the giraffe's because his favorite animal...that goes EVERYWHERE with him is a giraffe, whom Jax has lovingly named Giraffeee...however Jax was not overly fond of the stench inside the giraffe exhibit. Actually none of us thought it was a particularly appetizing smell, I think Jax was glad that is beloved Giraffeee doesn't smell like that. Ella was content to just sit in her stroller and look at the animals and everything going on around her. That is until I let her get out of her stroller for a minute....BIG mistake! She threw a fit every time I tried to put her back in, surprise surprise. The kid's weren't too happy when it was time to leave, but let's face it, there are only so many hours you can spend at this zoo, it's not one of the more spectacular zoo's, but the kids love it and that's all that matters. Thanks for lettin us come to the zoo with you guys!!