Check Ups

Check ups are like a holiday around here. My boys get so excited! Sounds weird right? But our pediatrician is just that great. They literally ask for her when they are sick or get hurt. I love her for this reason and many others, she's really just that good!
Today we went for Jake's 6 year and Emmett's 1 year well checks.
Emmett is growing up nicely, but not out a whole lot. He's only gained a pound and a half since his last well check 3 months ago, which dropped him from the 24th to the 20th percentile. Height wise though he's growing like a weed. He grew 2.5 inches in the three months taking him from the 16th to the 38th percentile. And in true Cox boy fashion his head is resting nicely just under the 94th percentile. So, to sum him up, he's long, skinny, and top heavy.
He did great with his check up that Jake helped Dr. Lau give him. He didn't even flinch when they poked his finger for blood to check his iron. That all changed when it was vaccine time though. Luckily he only needed two today and nurse Mary is always super quick, so he settled down fast with a quick snuggle from mom.
I think Jake had the most fun at this check up. He's all caught up on vaccines until he's 12, and he knows that so he doesn't have anything to worry about going in. He's the 53rd percentile for weight so pretty average. But  he's a shorty like his parents coming in at only the 28th percentile for height. They don't measure their head anymore, and that's kind of sad.
His favorite part of the visit was when Dr. Lau came in and took off her coat, stethoscope, and badge and dressed Jake up as the Dr. to help her give Emmett his check up. He giggled hearing his heart and especially the bubbles in his belly. It was super cute. Jake tried to get Coop to try but he was far too busy exploring the room to be bothered.

Jake's First Day of First Grade

This kid is growing up on me way too fast! First grade? Really?
He was kind of bummed when we went to back to school night and learned that he only had 2 or 3 kids from his kindergarten class in his class this year, but luckily on of them was Colton, one of his best buddies, so that made it okay.
Getting up and ready for school was no problem. During the school year, on school days, are one of the few times I feel grateful my kids wake up early. Weekends and all summer, not so much.
This year he has decided he is big enough for me to drop him off and pick him up at the curb, which is totally bittersweet. Again, stop growing, but hey thanks for not making me unload and reload your brothers in and out of carseats all day! So, I'll honor his wishes.... after I get my first day pictures by his classroom. He was less than thrilled with me walking him to the door, but he's good to let me fill those mom needs every now and again.

His first day went great! He has a great teacher and is thrilled to be back among all of his friends come recess time. Jake really is such a good kid, and I miss him while he's at school, but I'm so proud of the kid. I always hear great things about him when I go to the school and I'm sure this year will be no different.

Eclipse

We had been hearing about the eclipse for a few months, and especially the last couple of months. As it grew closer, I realized that, hey, this is going to be kind of a cool experience and the boys, at least Jake, will probably want to check it out. Of course by this point trying to find the solar eclipse glasses was an impossible feat unless you wanted to cough up $50 per pair on ebay. Nope! So I started checking out pinterest for the best ways to make a pinhole viewer.
With just a couple days until the eclipse, I was scrolling through facebook and see a post from a couple of teachers that had bought the glasses for their students and then were told that it was too much of a risk. Bummer for them but lucky day for me. They said they would be in the Wendy's parking lot at 11 am to sell them off. I looked at the clock. 10:45. Jake and I jump in the car and got there just as they were setting up. Lucky Day!

I totally geeked out over the eclipse far more than I had anticipated. The boys and I spent the morning outside, checking the sun with our cool new glasses every so often to watch it change. Where we are at we got about 95% totality, so no middle of the day nighttime for us, but it was still so cool in so many ways.

About 15 minutes before totality, we saw that the shadows coming through the trees were all making crescent shapes, almost like a large pinhole viewer.
The other thing I just couldn't believe, and was in awe of was the drop in temperature. It dropped enough that you could feel a distinct difference, probably 15 degrees or so. Also looking around as everything went to a grayish, sunset like brightness was just crazy.
After that experience, and especially seeing and hearing about people's experience in the path of totality, I think I may just turn into an eclipse chaser for the next one in a few years that's supposed to cross over Texas.

Trouble

Trouble. That's become Emmett's nickname, times like this are why.

I was sick of keeping him out of the garbage can under the sink, and I kept forgetting to buy the child locks for it, so I thought I was smart and blocked it. Good-bye garbage, hello sink. I can't win!

The Great Outdoors (Days 4 & 5)

On Saturday the plan was to take the 4-wheelers up and find an empty spot along Millcreek near Elizabeth Ridge. Like before, we parked my car and the truck with the trailer before heading up the dirt road. Coop and Jake got to ride in the back of Jason's truck with Murray and they thought that was the greatest thing ever up that bumpy road.
We found an empty campsite where we got out some chairs and our lunch, snacks and the bb gun, and took turns taking the 4-wheelers up and down the road. Kelsea and I took Coop and Molly and had almost made it to the ridge when the littles started to fall asleep, so we went back. Grandpa managed to get Coop and Maddi all the way to sleep though.
Later, Dee and Julie made the journey with Jake and Maddi and they made it the whole way.

When it came time to leave, we put all of the kids in the bed of Jason's truck and Kelsea and I got to take the wheelers down the road solo. This was easily the most fun I had on the trip. I love 4-wheeling. I love Dee's because it's big and fast. I can't go fast and a little crazy with kids and I never get to ride without kids, I'm a mom, such it is. So, I took full advantage of this glorious opportunity, full speed ahead with donuts to top it off.
Every so often Kels and I would find some trees to park behind to pop out as the trucks passed and surprise the kids that said we were the cops chasing the bad guys, them. It was hilarious watching their faces looking for us and the laughter as they found us.
When we got back to camp, Cody and Kelsea started breaking their camp to head home. They had some Sunday commitments to get back for. As they worked on that, I got started on the tin foil dinners for our dinner that night.
After dinner, Grandma graciously offered to stay with Jake and Emmett so we could go back and fish the pond one last time. Saturday night was not my greatest night of fishing, no matter how much Cooper tried to coax "Rocky" and his buddies out of the water, they weren't biting.

The evening was made though when we saw two deer slowly crossing through a break in the trees straight out from where we were fishing. Seeing things like that just never gets old.
That night was spent enjoying a large fire and talking as the boys fell asleep on the laps of their chosen snuggle buddies for the night.

The next morning we woke up to rain. Not exactly perfect weather for breaking camp, and really nothing is more fun that trying to feed and entertain three kids, in the rain, while try to pack up. Luckily the rain blew over and we made quick work of loading up and getting on the road home.
Aside from a couple small hiccups, camping couldn't have been more fun. I'm actually already looking forward to next time... hopefully in a trailer. I'm not sure my still aching, carried three children, 30 something body can do the air mattress thing again.

The Great Outdoors (Day 3)

Breakfast on Friday went much smoother than the previous day. I brought French Toast and had made my egg mixture at home so I just had to dip and cook. Easy and delicious. After getting everyone ready again, we made our way to Butterfly Lake. When we arrived, Emmett had fallen asleep so I volunteered to stay in the car and let him sleep while the others went to find a fishing spot. They
ended up staying close by since the lake was pretty busy. I sat and enjoyed the sun and quiet while I watched for Julie and Coop coming in and out of view as they took a walk around the lake.
Once Emmett woke up I took him down and tried throwing a line in a few times, but quickly gave in because I was having no luck, and due to the spot we were in, I kept getting hung up in the trees. If I did get a line in, Dee thought he was funny and would throw his across mine and drag it in along with his. I didn't stand a chance, but it was still a beautiful day and place. Maddi however was able to catch her first fish there. Like Jake, she didn't want to touch it, so we got the best picture we could as it flipped water everywhere and sent it back into the water.

After Grandma had taken two trips around the lake with grandkids, we packed up and headed back to camp. A few of us went down the highway to get some more ice (and ice cream cones, don't tell the others.)
For dinner Kelsea made scones that we used for navajo tacos and then topped with some raspberry honey butter for dessert. They were so good! I lost count of how many Jason had, I'm just glad he resisted the urge to drink the honey butter straight from the bottle.
After dinner, Julie and I stayed with the big kids and baby while the others went back to the pond to fish.
We had just got out the marshmallows as the came back, so we all ate s'mores, then went to bed after some chatting around the fire.

The Great Outdoors (Day 2)

The boys woke us up early, as they always do, to start day 2 of our camping adventure. Emmett still in our bed, Coop bouncing around like it was a bounce house, and Jake laying on the ground on his completely deflated air mattress.

That first morning with everyone, Dee and Julie had brought up the goods to make baggie omelets for breakfast. If you haven't made these, they're easy and virtually no mess. You crack your eggs and whatever you want into a baggie, mash it around a bit, then throw it in some boiling water. It cooks and voila, omelet!

Dee and I had done them many times before and never had an issue. This time though it was a total mess. The bags kept sticking to and thus melting from the heat on the pots. So we had to re-bag a few of them and only cook a coupe at a time, babysitting them so they wouldn't melt again. Somehow this job fell on me and Kelsea. It took forever to get them all cooked, and when we finally finished, feeling successful, we sat down to eat ours and of course I had Julie's 8 parts sausage 1 part egg "omelet". Sad. Luckily, Dee had brought some tortillas, so it was a little better as a burrito.

We all got dressed, loaded up and jumped in the cars to head to Lily Lake for some fishing. 

It is so pretty at Lily. I would even say it's my favorite fishing spot up there. We parked a couple of the cars and the 4 wheeler trailer at the bottom of the dirt road. Kelsea and Julie took Jake and Coop up the road on the 4-wheelers and the rest of us all jumped in a truck to ride up.

I was so sad I missed getting a picture when I found out Coop had fallen asleep on Kelsea somewhere along the way. She said it was quite the balancing act with him stretched across her, and trying to keep him on and steer with only one hand. That boy is like his dad, if he's tired and gets the opportunity to sleep, he is out.

We hadn't been at Lily very long before Jake caught his very first fish. He was so excited, the pole grandpa had got him for his birthday worked! He had a decent sized very pretty rainbow trout. He didn't want to hold it, so we took a picture and tossed it back in. This was followed by several catches by everyone. Coop helped me reel one in and Jason got one while holding Emmett even. Grandpa wasn't catching anything, ha. There was a lot of banter about that. I even walked down and showed him a picture of Jake's fish so he could at least see what they looked like. He wasn't laughing as hard as the rest of us.

Eventually the kids got bored so Kelsea and I took them on a little 4 wheeler ride, and upon our return we found everyone loading up to head back.

The best part of camping is how fun it is to watch the kids entertain themselves with nothing but what they can find there. We brought some cards and things, but the majority of their time was spent exploring the meadow, adventuring in the trees, and playing in the dirt with sticks.

Not tired at all

Gus found a squirrel friend

Me: "Coop do you need a napkin?"
Coop: "No, I just lick it off mom."
Good luck...

 

For dinner Dee made his oh so yummy dutch oven chicken and cheesy potatoes and we all stuffed ourselves sick, totally forgetting the caramel apple cake he had in another dutch oven for dessert.

After dinner was cleaned up we went to this little pond down the highway where the guys like to fish. There are just these little feeder fish in there, but they are so fun to catch and the scenery can't be beat, especially at sunset. Coop loved it here and decided to name his fish Rocky. He was pretty upset when we put "Rocky" back in the pond because he had planned on taking him home to live in our backyard.

 We got back to our camp and once we had gathered around the fire we all found room for Dee's cake as we watched Kelsea pop Jiffy Pop with a 4 foot long stick.

All of the kids slept much better that night, thank heavens, and likewise, so did us parents.

The Great Outdoors (Day 1)

Ever since we got back from Disneyland back in April, we've been planning a camping trip with Jason's family up to their favorite spot at Sulphur Campground in the Uinta's. The time finally came for our adventure, and it was all we had hoped for and more.
Dee and Julie left a day before everyone else because the particular site we wanted at the campground is a walk up only, so we weren't able to reserve it. I'm so glad they did too, because Wednesday night a huge group showed up and they for sure would have taken our site along with the several others they occupied. It's just the perfect spot, it's a double so there's plenty of room for us all, it's close but not too close to the bathrooms, right next to a water spigot, and behind it is a big, beautiful meadow.
Since we can't fit all of our things in just one of our vehicles, the boys and I left Wednesday morning leaving Jason to follow with Gus and a couple of the larger things after he got off work. It was a remarkably short two hour drive up. The boys watched movies (Jake watched The Great Outdoors, he loves it) and Emmett slept until about the last 20 minutes. It was at about that 20 mins left mark that I learned that Cooper does not realize how lucky he is to be able to pee anywhere and refused to exercise that ability on the side of the road. Luckily he held it the rest of the way and Grandpa kindly walked him to the bathroom while I started to unload. This continued the rest of the trip, minus maybe two or three times. He refused. That was supposed to be one of the benefits of having all boys. Jake however proudly watered quite possibly every tree in or near our site.
Moving on. ( I'm really let down by the pee thing, can you tell.)

We got there around noon and Cody, Kelsea, Maddi, Molly pulled in around 4 or 5. The kids were all excited to see each other so I kept an eye on them while Cody and Kels unloaded and set up camp.
After they finished we roasted some hot dogs for dinner and let the kids play until the rain came.
The one and only downfall about our favorite spot is that it rains just about every day. Typically the rain will come and go in 20 minutes tops, but this one did not want to let up. Have you noticed that there's still no Jason up until this point, and did I mention that he had our tent? Thinking that it would blow over quickly like the rain usually does, we all just huddled under the canopy with the tables and camp chefs to wait it out. And wait we did. 5 adults, 5 kids, and the dog crammed under a canopy among all the cooking supplies. Coop fell asleep standing up with his head resting on grandpa, so we moved him to grandma's bed. Finally, around 9 or so the glorious sight of Jason's headlights beamed into the campsite. We found a spot under some trees, waited for the rain to get light enough and made quick work of getting the tent and beds all set up.
I have never in my life looked forward to sleeping on an air mattress as much as I was that night.
When Jason and I settled into our bed, we looked at one another and both agreed that we are definitely getting a trailer. This happened again around the third or fourth time Emmett woke up, right before he ended up on our air mattress between us.

Loving Our Neighborhood

A little over 5 years ago, we moved into this neighborhood and we loved it. The neighbors were great and the ward beyond amazing. I slowly started to realize something that I hadn't given much thought when we bought the house since Jake was only 6 months old then. There were no kids around. None. There were plenty in our ward, but they all lived down in the bigger part of the ward and we're up in this little, almost peninsula of the boundaries.
Over the past 3 years though that has changed and we love it here now even more than we did then. In that time we had boy/girl twins that are Jake's age move in just two doors up, a family with 4 kids including a girl Jake's age and a boy Coop's age 4 doors up, and most recently a family moved in right next door with 4 children as well ranging from almost 2 to 7. I especially love the newest neighbors because the mom is the real deal, not phony, not "perfect", but fun, sarcastic, and REAL! We've gotten to know each other well since she is here pretty much on her own a majority of the time. (Her husband is a physician and still working in their old state as he works on getting all of his licensing moved to Utah, which is apparently quite the process.)
It is so much fun, almost reliving my childhood as I watch all of these kids run from house to house playing with one another. There really are no words to describe it. As mom's, we've spent the summer doling out popsicles and kool-aid as the need arises. I feel so blessed to have such great neighbors knowing that we're all watching out after these kiddos together, and especially that my kids will grow up making some awesome memories with such a fun group of kiddos.

Do I stop them or grab the camera?

When I ordered a new cooler for our upcoming camping trip on Amazon I did not realize that it would come with a free rocketship/airplane/bobsled. The boys were pleasantly surprised. Then came the moment that you stop and ask yourself, Do I stop them or grab the camera. I got the camera. No bones were broken. They actually didn't even make it all the way down before the bottom of the box broke open and Coop's legs popped through. 

Roy Days

About 3 years ago, Roy City moved the annual Roy Days carnival to the park that is just two blocks from our house. The fireworks have always taken place there, but now all of the festivities except the parade are a short walk away and we couldn't love it more!

This year we walked over on Friday afternoon to check it out, grab a treat, and let the boys ride some of the shady carnival rides. This year was a lot bigger and better than past years I must say. It's especially fun running into your friends and neighbors and just hanging enjoying the fair like atmosphere.

Saturday, we got brave and decided to actually walk over to the park to watch the fireworks rather that just watching them from our backyard like we usually do. We will be doing this from now on. It was not nearly as packed as we had anticipated and we found some neighbor friends to sit by so that was fun. Of course Jake found a friend that was in his Kindergarten class so him, the neighbor kids, and the friend all had a blast running around playing tag until the lights went out for the fireworks to start. Sitting right beneath where the fireworks are going off really is the best way to watch them, though Emmett would not agree. He did not love the fireworks at all. He started trembling from the first boom so we had to snuggle him tight until it was over. The rest of us loved it however. And the very best part was the super short walk home feeling bad for all those people getting into their cars to fight the traffic out of there.

Swingin'

Summer is coming to an end all too quickly (and not quickly enough). It has been too darn hot out to even go outside for most of the day lately, so when Emmett finally got his swing from aunt Megan after Amazon's little mix up, we had to head out first thing in the morning to enjoy it. Needless to say, he loved it! You could tell he was a little unsure at first, but quickly warmed up to it as he watched his brothers swinging alongside him.

Also, I have to share this picture of the caterpillar the boys found the other day because he's just so darn cute. I'm glad that I was okay with bugs (to a certain degree) before I ended up with three boys because we sure do get to experience a lot of them.