Fishing at Granite Basin Lake

We spent Saturday afternoon fishing at Granite Basin Lake. It was a beautiful, perfectly warm day. For some of the afternoon, I took the boys on a hike around the lake so Chad could do some real fishing in peace. It's hard to actually fish with the boys around making a bunch of noise. I had Cole in the backpack and Grant walked with me. It was a pretty difficult hike at times. We had to climb up some big boulders and them climb back down. We also had to slide down some very slipper dirt hills. Grant did so well. He didn't complain or ask to be carried. He did most of the climbing and sliding without help from me. He didn't even ask. I was very surprised and pleased. Thank goodness the lake wasn't too big though. Grant loves to fish. He has had a pink Barbie fishing pole but Chad just bought him a new blue fishing pole. However, that one wasn't strung right so it wasn't working. We did have some casualties in the outing. We lost many worms to greedy fish, two bobbers and about four hooks. Most were my fault. I caught the line in an overhanging tree twice and in some reeds a couple of times. I tried to get Grant to hold one of the worms but he wouldn't do it. Cole thought the worms were great though. I held it in my hand for him to look at. He reached out, grabbed it and chucked it as hard as he could. He thought it was hilarious to throw it. Once, Cole threw it at Grant and Grant did not like that one bit. Also, to entertain himself while we were all fishing, Cole decided to try eating dirt. His face was filthy and so were his hands.

(Cole enjoying a snack)

(Grant helping Chad fish)

(Grant trying out his new fishing pole)

(Cole checking things out)

The other night Grant took the cushions off the couch and started jumping. Normally, parents would not be ok with this but I have had to be because it is so hard to get Grant to try anything daring. When he wants to be daring and boy I have to let him. He was jumping out pretty far and taking some big risk in his world. I even got him to try seat drops onto the cushions. We are making progress. Thank you gymnastics.

Windmill Farms preschool field trip

Yesterday, Grant had a preschool field trip to Windmill Farms in Chino Valley. Parents and siblings were invited to attend. Chad had the day off of work so we all went with Grant. We had a fun time as a family. We got a tour of the farm. We fed small goats, pigs and a calf. There is a stocked catch and release lake there. The kids were able to ride on a barrel train pulled by a small tractor. The finale was playing and running around in a large area with pre-picked pumpkins. When we got home we had lunch and rested. That afternoon Chad took Grant to see the double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3-D. Grant loves movies about as much as Chad does. We weren't sure if Grant would make it through both movies but he did. He came home with a big chocolate circle around his mouth too. Daddy bought him some ice cream after the movie popcorn and soda. You've got to love father/son outings. I thoroughly enjoyed my quiet afternoon. Cole napped for about 2 hours and then I just watched and helped him play. He's so much quieter than Grant. I don't truly realize how noise my Grant is until he's not around for awhile and then comes back. The chatter starts up in full force.

(Lindsay, Chad, Grant and Cole with the pumpkins)

(Cole climbing on the pumpkins. He loved crawling around in the dirt and hay and climbing all over the pumpkins)

(Cole conquered the pumpkin)

(Grant with his preschool class - this is his first class picture ever - he's growing up too fast)

(Grant trying to pick up a pumpkin)

(Grant with his pumpkin)

(Grant riding the train)

(Lindsay, Grant and Cole with the small animals - Grant wanted nothing to do with feeding the animals so Chad fed them)

(Chad with the pumpkins)

(Chad feeding a goat)

(Chad feeding the animals - I loved the little calf)

Even though Grant has started preschool, I still do preschool things with him at home. We are working our way through the alphabet with his painting posters and pictures and learning songs.

(Grant with his G poster)

(Grant with his F poster)

Grant's first visit to the dentist

On September 28, 2009, Grant had his first dentist visit. I was able to take him to Dr. Bowman, my dad's former partner. Grant did amazingly well. As with preschool, I was worried that he would refuse to get in the chair and throw a huge fit. Not the case. He climbed right up into the chair and laid their quietly while he had his exam and cleaning. He did everything that was asked of him. He had his teeth scraped, polished and flossed and did not complain at all. He did say the lights were bright in his eyes so the hygenist put some sunglasses on Grant and he was fine. I forgot to brush his teeth before we left so he had a bunch of goldfish in his teeth that had to be cleaned out but there were no cavities. I am so proud of how well he did. Grant was excited to get a toy out of the treasure chest. He got one for me too because I had my teeth cleaned as well.

Cute pictures of the boys

Chad had this past Wednesday off of work. I had a playgroup scheduled at my house so Chad took off for a couple of hours to do some errands. He went to Costco and came home with these beautiful flowers for me. He told me that while he was at Costco someone asked if he was buying these for me to try and get back in the house. He told them no, he was buying them so I wouldn't be too mad about the box of frozen corn dogs he was buying at the same time. The flowers are beautiful but I still gave him a disapproving look about the corndogs. They are just gross.

Grant and Cole went to their new friend, Aiden Solorzano's, birthday party on Friday. It was at a park so Grant had a great time running around with the other boys. There was a pinata and cake. Cole loved the cake. I was helping cut and plate the cake while holding Cole and he kept grabbing the bits of remaining yellow frosting left on the cake plate. He then kept grabbing my entire piece of cake off my plate, trying to eat it.

This is Grant watching Aiden open presents. Grant had a great time and was a very tired boy that night.

Video of Cole walking. He is getting stronger. He keeps his legs straight when I try to put him on the floor now so that he can walk some. He is also standing on his own for a good 5-10 seconds. He is close to walking and I think will be walking by Halloween.

List Item #63: Make quiet book

I first got the idea to make a quiet book while watching Grant play in Pottery Barn Kids at Trolley Square in SLC. They had a quiet book there that looked so easy to make. I stealthily took pictures of each of the pages and have wanted to do this. A few months ago Grant started acting up horribly in Sacrament meeting so I figured I had to get serious about finding things for Grant to do. I did some searching on the internet and came across another quiet book idea at ideadoor.com. This one was church related. I decided to combine the two. Below is the result. The church pages are printed right from the website. I then traced the pictures on the back of the paper with an iron on pencil, ironed the pictures onto the muslin, then colored what I could with crayons and outlined with a fabric pen. You then iron the crayon with a paper bag between the iron and the fabric. The time consuming part was the buttons, button holes and activity parts of the pages. For the non-church pages, I copied a lot from the Pottery Barn book but had to make my own patterns. My favorite page is the backpack.


(The closed book - I need to figure out how to decorate the cover but haven't figured that out yet)

(Learn to tell time)

(Jesus Loves Little Children: the children snap and unsnap; learn to button and unbutton the suspendors)

(Jonah and the Whale: Jonah comes out on a piece of elastic; each of Joseph's colored coat stripes comes on and off with a snap)

(Daniel's sheep velcro on and off; Nephi's ship goes from Jerusalem to America from button to button)

(The tithing coins go in the money bag)

(Peter Fishing: unbotton the fish and put them in the net, which are those green squiggly things; Daniel in the Lion's Den: they are finger puppets of Daniel, a lion and an angel)

(Learn to do and undo a belt; learn to undo the backpack)

(Tower of Bable: weave the pieces of felt; snap and unsnap the shirt)

(Noah's Ark: there are animals in the Ark; there is a notepad in the pocket and a pencil)

(Moroni and the Goldplates: The rock opens and the gold plates come out)

Grant started preschool

Grant started preschool this past Thursday, October 1, 2009. He started a bit late but I am glad he started. I was a little worried about how he would handle leaving me and going some place new but there were no problems. He was a bit shy when we got there but when his teacher Sonya Tenney asked him to go with her to get the bubbles he went without problem and I walked away. He had so much fun. He was so excited when I went to pick him up. He was smiling so big and waving at me as I walked up the driveway. He loved it. This Tuesday we are taking a field trip to Windmill Farms in Chino Valley to tour it and I think pick pumpkins. Parents get to go so Cole, Chad and I are going with him. Chad has that day off because he is working this weekend. My little boy is growing up so fast.

(Grant before his first day of preschool - in keeping with Glenn tradition, I took his picture in front of the stairs (also notice the partially eaten waffle in his hand))

(Grant before his first day of preschool)

Grant only has preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I am continuing to do preschool activities with him on Mondays and Wednesdays. This is Grant with his letter "E". We have actually done F and G as well but I haven't taken those pictures yet. He is learning his sounds very quickly. He also loves the nursery rhymes I am teaching him. He sings Baa Baa Black Sheep at the top of his lungs on a constance basis.

R.I.P. my little garden

My adorable, thriving little garden was devoured on September 24, 2009. I knew going in to this venture that it was a likely outcome but I was still sad and even cried. I cried for those blisters I got digging out the rocks. I cried for the back aches I got bending over to dig and plant. I cried for all those mornings I got up to water the garden. I cried because for once my black thumb wasn't killing plants.

This is what my garden looked liked before it was eaten. Look how beautiful and green the carrots and broccoli are.

This is what my garden looked like on the morning after it was eaten.

(You can see the holes where the javelinas actually dug out the individual plants.

(This is my trampled fence and how they entered my garden.)

(This is what is left - a broan fenced area of dirt with a compost pile in the middle)