My Little Boy is 3!

Three years really flies by. Tyler is becoming less and less "a baby" and more and more a "big kid." He told me now that he's three he can play with knives "big guy ones." I think we have a few more birthdays to go before that. He did pick out his own clothes for his birthday and can dress himself if he's motivated enough to. Hence the double polo shirt.


I decided to try my hand at a little creative cake decorating this year. The cake is just a box cake mix and I bought some colored fondant. Tyler requested a lion cake so I did my best. Using fondant is a little like playing with edible play dough. It turned out better than I thought. For his birthday Tyler got some play swords (better than knives!), some wooden puzzles, puzzles that teach abcs and numbers (I'm trying to push that in any forum), sun glasses, a new movie and a pretend grocery cart with fake food. Andy thought this last gift was a little too feminine but so far its been a hit.


Standing by his "Potty chart" full of Cars stickers.

Recent funny Tyler comments:

When I asked him what kind of a birthday cake he wanted:
"A big one, a really big one. (thinks about it for a second). No, I want it to fit in the house."

After leaving my sister-in-laws house I asked Tyler if Bryce was asleep yet in his car seat. "Yeah, but lets let him sleep."

"This day, I'm not going to pick my nose." (An appropriate goal for a 3 year old)

"Bryce needs to go back to the ospibable (hospital)." After questioning Tyler on why Bryce needs to go back and wouldn't he miss having Bryce around etc. "Yeah, he's gonna miss us."

In the car riding to the park on his birthday "I love my birthday."

The Aquarium and Tyler's Television Debut

Today Andy had the day off work and my sister in law Carin was down from Idaho so we all went up to the Aquarium with the kids. Shelly and Jonny and their kids came too.

TLC happened to be at the Aquarium today filming one of their reality shows "The Little Chocolatiers" which is filmed in Salt Lake. Its about a midget couple who own and operate a chocolate shop. I'd never heard of it before. But they'd closed off one section of the Aquarium to film it. As we were looking around the film crews came in and started filming the stars of the show looking at the fish. All the cousins were watching the Shark tank when the couple walked over to look. The man struck up a conversation with Tyler and the film crews filmed the two of them talking for about 5 minutes! It was too noisy to hear what they talked about and Tyler apparently doesn't remember. Afterwards one of the t.v. people asked me and my sister in laws to sign waivers to have the footage appear on the show and they had to take a picture of Tyler holding up a number. He told me the show will air sometime in the Spring. I'll keep you posted for Tyler's big debut!

This is a harmless Garter snake thats common to Utah. Although I usually hate snakes, for some reason I was compelled to touch this one. I was kind of proud of myself that I did. Although, I don't think I'll be brave enough to do the same if I find one in my garden again though.

This was one of my favorite exhibits. All these sting rays were swimming around and you could reach your hand into the water and touch them. Unfortunately I didn't realize how deep the water was and soaked my sweater sleeve trying to touch them.


All the cousins listening to Story Time

Evidence that Bryce was there too.

Fire House

 

A new couple moved into our neighborhood recently and he works for the Provo Fire Department. Tyler really likes Jordan and thinks its pretty cool that he's a real fireman. Jordan was nice enough today to give us a tour of the fire department while he was on shift and show us all of their cool trucks. I think Tyler was in awe of all of it but a little intimidated too. His favorite part was sitting in the drivers seat and pretending to drive the fire truck. He did get a little unsure when Jordan actually turned the truck on and it got kind of loud. But he was brave and still stayed in the driver's seat. He also got to sit in the ambulance. We told him you ride in an ambulance when you get hurt. When Tyler got to climb in the back of the ambulance he kept saying "I don't want to get hurt." I think Andy was in just as much awe as Tyler over all of the cool gadgets and tools the trucks are equipped with. It was pretty fascinating. Jordan tried on his special mask they wear when they're in smoke to breathe oxygen. Tyler thought this was a little scary at first too, but eventually he came up and touched the mask. The tour was probably the highlight of Tyler's month. He even got a cool fire hat to wear and take home. I noticed he played with his toy fire truck a lot after we got home too.

 

 

 

Cute Kid

Weekend in St. George

We had a great weekend in St. George with Andy's family. Everyone played tennis on Saturday (it wouldn't be a weekend in St. George without tennis), and on Saturday we visited Snow Canyon. This is us in Jenny's canyon. I love the rock formations in southern Utah.



The grandkids were kind of scared to be up on this ledge even though it was only about 2 feet off the ground. They'll climb on everything without thinking twice but this two foot ledge was a little too scary.

They LOVED the sand dunes though. They couldn't stop digging and playing in the sand. Tyler had sand everywhere when we left - even in his mouth.

Four Wheeling

Andy and I got the chance to go four wheeling today with my in-laws and a man my mother in law works with. It was really fun to get away from the kids for awhile and out in nature. Andy's pretty experienced with driving the four wheeler so mostly I just rode on the back but I did get to drive it for a little bit.

My in-laws, Paula and Loel.

Andy likes to be more daring on it than I like to be so he went off by himself for a little bit to play around.

We were way out in the mountains southwest of Lehi. I love the wide open spaces here in Utah. It was really pretty and had about a foot of fresh powder on the ground. Good thing we had four wheel drive.

Family Tennis

About once every few months we get together with Andy's siblings for "Family Tennis." Andy and his siblings are tennis fanatics. They're all really good and all but Andy have played at the college level. I say I've become a "forced" fan of professional tennis and do enjoy watching the finals of the Grand Slam tournaments. We bring the kids along and Andy's mom and I usually occupy them on the sidelines while everyone else plays. The kids have grown in number over the years and no longer just sit on the blanket and play with toys. It takes some creativity to keep them entertained and off the courts.

I'm sure before long these kids will all have a raquet in their hands too. Its in their blood.

Tara and Jonny playing doubles with Brad and Shelly.

Bryce's early intro to tennis.