Brushing Teeth

 Sweet. That is MY toothbrush on the floor. I once found my toothbrush on the toilet. That was fun, especially since I don't know how often it had been there.

Lately Taj has "owies" very frequently and they are nothing that can't be fixed with a band aid. If you are ever at our house, don't be surprised when you see a naked three-year-old whiz by with band aids stuck all over his rear end.

Morse Family Camping Trip 2012

We pulled the ol' Aristocrat up the mountain a couple weekends ago for our annual Morse Family Camping Trip. It's just us and we usually only make it out once or twice a year, thus the word "annual."  I enjoy everything about camping except for the bugs, peeing outside, sleeping or rather NOT sleeping in a cold trailer or tent, and all the dirt. I do enjoy being outdoors and making dinner for my family. It kind of makes me feel like a pioneer, preparing food outdoors and basically being the coolest person in camp. Who doesn't love the camp chef? The source of food? I know I love the camp chef, especially when it's not me! The kids did really well. Taj ate two smores that consisted of dirt, graham crackers, and cold, untoasted marshmallows and chips for dinner. Don't you love camp food?! Going to bed was a little difficult since we brought the pack and play for Haiven. The dang thing took up so much space, you had to literally hurdle it to get from one side of the trailer to the other. Whenever we go camping I always pray for daylight to come fast. I did this time too, only I prayed that Haiven wouldn't either freeze to death or suffocate. I kept touching her cold cheek all night, sure that she had frozen to death, so I would wrap her in another blanket and then I would check her 15 minutes later sure that she had suffocated to death. Basically I spent all night like that and when I wasn't checking on her, Brannon was and when he did, he flipped and flopped so savagely that the entire trailer rocked and I was sure there was a bear out there trying to get in and eat my babies. I also prayed that I wouldn't have to pee in the middle of the night because there was no way I was going to go out there with that bear in my head out there rocking the trailer! Sunrise finally came, much to my relief and found both kids well rested and both parents baggy-eyed and groggy. Isn't camping fun??? It was fun though. I guess all the inconveniences are part of the experience and part of what makes it fun (only for a night!).

Air Force Museum II

 This kid LOVES taking pictures. Can you tell?

 I could not get him to look at the camera for the life of me. That boy!

 He did check out the wheels on every plane we visited. He had to really get down in there and inspect every tire for himself. He is SUCH a little boy!

 Can you spot Taj in this picture? He was hiding from me because it was time to go. You can just see his little stems for legs underneath the little engine of that U.S. Air Force jet.

 Haiven gets SO excited by the flash on my camera. This is her spaz attack caught on camera:)

 Air Force One circa probably 1950 or 1960 something. Taj is doing a jig because he didn't want his picture taken.

 What did Taj love most about the AIRPLANE museum? The jeep and the moped.

He nearly knocked over the barrier trying to get to the moped. He couldn't understand why he couldn't go for a "wide."

We have been to the Air Force Museum three times since May and I'm sure we will be back sooner than I'd like!

Antelope Island

 I just noticed the "No Trespassing" sign when I uploaded these to the blog, but not to worry, it was just the product of an old park ranger's idea of cozy cabin decor.

 Obviously we couldn't keep Taj off the "twactuhs". I swear that kid was supposed to be born on a farm!

 Taj and Brannon have the same look, sometimes I wonder if I have two boys:) I do not know what was so mesmerizing about this old sheep camp. Brannon says he would love to have one of these. I say I'd rather sleep in my bed at home.

 Plenty of these handsome fellows out there.

 The Well House: DO NOT under any circumstances let your children go in here unsupervised! There are NO signs that say it is a well house and there is still water in here. Taj came in here by himself and thankfully a couple saw him go in and told us about the water.

How much water is there you say? Hmmm, I don't know, but what I do know is that the water is black and dark and freaking scary and it certainly looks deep enough for a curious child to drown in. In my opinion, they either need to board this up or post warning signs right on the entrance. If a child drowns here, it will be on Antelope Island State Park because there were no rangers out there to warn us and there are no signs. SO BEWARE if you take your children to Antelope Island! Does this place not look like it belongs in a horror film anyway?

We took a spur of the moment trip to Antelope Island the beginning of June and it was actually more fun that I thought it was going to be. It was however, unusually cold, so we did not stay long. It is a very pretty drive out there and there are a lot of photo-ops for buffalo and seagulls. I did not see one single antelope. I don't know why they call it Antelope Island. It should be called Buffalo Island because we saw hundreds of those! If you are looking for a nice day out of the house, pack a picnic and head over to Antelope. I heard they have a nice visitor's center and if the weather is nice, you can head down to the beach. I don't know if you can swim there (I wouldn't want to-deathly afraid of water), but I know a certain little boy that loves throwing rocks in the water, so that is what we would do. I'm sure we will go back out there at least one more time before summer's end!

Haivi's Piggies

Poor Haivi doesn't have a mom who knows how to do a french braid, let alone all the other fancy hair-dos I see other little tots sporting,so she will have to settle for regular ol' piggy tails and pony tails. Part of me wants to learn how to do tricked out hair on my baby girl, but then again it also looks quite painful. I remember when I was a little girl getting my hair fixed. I remember all that tugging and pulling and I was expected to take it on the chin or else get whopped on the head with the back of the brush. Some days I got both, but that was mostly with topsy-tails. I still HATE those things! ANYWAY, I am super proud of the little piggy tails Haiven is sporting. Don't judge the lines--it's VERY hard to style an 8 month old's hair. She looked so adorable and too grown-up for my liking, so she's only had piggy tails a couple more times since these pictures:)

New Swing Set

Haiv and I were waiting for Taj to wake up from his nap so we went outside to play:)

Our backyard just got a lot more interesting this summer. Every kid on the block is going to wish they lived at our house. We have now added the addition of a brand new swing set. The set we wanted was way over our price range (never knew those things were so expensive), so we settled for this set, which was still very expensive and it only took us two days and four trips to the manufacturer for parts to set up. Brannon spent 8 hours the first day putting it together. I went out and helped him for about three hours. Those things are WAY harder to put together than they seem. I'm sorry to say that some rude words were said. There were times when we thought we were doomed to be stuck with a halfway put together, useless swing set that we were going to have to pay Lifetime $400 dollars to set up because we couldn't do it. With a lot of elbow grease and rude words, we got it. Brannon knocked the hide off his knuckles and bumped his head countless times on the monkey bars and swing posts. I was impressed because he only gritted his teeth. He may have sworn in his head, but not out loud. Me on the other hand? Taj dropped the rubber mallet on my barefoot toes and that was after Brannon had slammed the ladder down on that same foot. I'm sorry to report that I did not handle either of those situations with much finesse. I may have said a rude word or two and angrily accused them both of trying to maim or kill me. All the sweat and pain was worth it though. Haiven loves her swing and Taj is out on that every day begging me to push him high or to go down the slip and slide slide. That thing shoots kids off it fast! Or maybe it just shot me off fast (must be that extra baby weight I'm still carrying around). The first time I went down it with Taj we flew off it and I hurt my foot and I was sure I had a stress fracture on the ball of my foot. I couldn't walk on the dang thing for the rest of the night. With experience though, I am happy to report that I have now mastered that slippery slide. We love the swing set and I'm so glad that Taj has more to do in our backyard. It's so nice to play in the shade on grass and not on the hot slides at the park in the hot sand! We will get some very good use out of this!