Red White and Blue in Cedar City!

Last year I spent the 4th of July on an airplane with my two kids flying to Las Vegas to meet Jon and see our new home for the first time. There was only an empty, dirty house awaiting me then-- with no ice cream, no fireworks, and no extended family. This 4th of July we decided to do things right!

We headed to St. George first thing Saturday morning and met Jon's parents, Jeremy, Kylene, and baby Sophie for lunch with Grandma Del Toro, before heading on to Cedar City. It was Jon's Grandma Cardon's 80th birthday celebration as well so there was lots of fun things planned-- starting that night with a stop at the Shakespeare Festival Green Show at SUU and then a family get together and birthday cake afterwards!



Sunday we headed to church with everybody, and then made Zachy's dream come true when we went to a nearby playground and there were all these trucks just sitting around, and then introduced him to the magic of fireworks. Trucks and fireworks in the same day?!? Hello!

Hey-O!! Firework time!! Helping Grandpa Cardon set up the goods. This kid is a little pyro in the making...

Wohoo!! Good show!! As soon as it got dark that night we watched "Tangled" out on the lawn with a movie projector and the whole extended family. The kids LOVED being up late and outside after dark!


Monday morning we hurried over to the 4th of July parade on Main Street, and then over to games and activities at the park (which yes, included bounce houses!). Jeremy and Kylene had hooked up with the Marsh family (friends from dental school) who have a practice in Parowan, so we all headed to lunch at Cafe Rio to catch up.


That afternoon Lucy's dream came true when Jon's cousin Crystal who is a cheer leader at SUU and super girly and fun (so obviously automatically Lucy idolized her,) found Lucy a spare cheer outfit and pom-poms to practice with!! Although this family unquestionably bleeds blue, it was cute to see Lucy dressed up and super excited about her new duds.

As you may recall, Jon's mom had broken her leg the week before on a dreaded bounce house, so she was basically laid up all weekend during the festivities. In order to lift her spirits, Crystal and some other cousins bejeweled her crutches as a surprise. Ta-da!!

Lucy playing "Shoe the Old Horsie, Shoe the Old Mare" with Great Grandma Cardon and baby Sophie.

Cheese!! These Cardon Frousins sure love each other-- and we'll get to see the Sophster again in a little over a week when we drive through Albequerque to NC.


After the 4th of July festivities had wound down a bit, the kids and I loaded up, said our farewells, and headed to Provo to stay with Whitney before continuing on to Boise the next day. We decided we needed a little treat before bed and got some yummy ice cream at the Creamery on 9th. It was a GREAT holiday weekend!

Wild Weekend in St. George

Jonathan's mom has been visiting her mother in nearby St. George the last few weeks, so the kids have gotten some extra chances to spend time with Grandma! She and Great Grandma Del Toro were able to come visit over Father's Day weekend, and this past weekend the kids and I headed up to St. George on Friday afternoon to go see both Grandmas again. Grandma Cardon had some fun activities set up for the kids to do as soon as we got there!


Zachy and Lucy got to paint some fun magnets, which was very serious business for Zach who worked super carefully, then they had dinner, went for a bike ride to the local elementary school, and got to stay up late and watch a movie while I shopped at Tai Pan.

Saturday Jon headed rock climbing with his buddy Matt Kelly, and then met us at the new recreation center in Washington where the kids got to go swimming! It was a huge swimming pool with slides and things to climb on and even a mini lazy river, and was completely indoors so you weren't dying in the hot sun all afternoon.

The kids had a BLAST swimming with Grandma and mom and dad!

I bought Zachy one of those suits that has floaties sewn in on both sides, and he was SO cute to watch bobbing along in the water. He wanted NO help!

Lucy has been taking swimming lessons all month and they are really starting to pay off-- this is her impression of "Patrick," the star fish on "Sponge Bob."

Getting a quick bite to eat in between swimming breaks!

That night Grandma was kind enough to babysit so Jon and I could go celebrate my birthday, which was the next day on Sunday. We got dinner at Texas Roadhouse (which by the way, DON'T tell them it's your birthday because all they do is make you sit on top of this ridiculous wooden horse so they can publicly humiliate you, and NO free birthday dessert!!), but at least the food was good. Then we went to "X-Men First Class." At 28 years old I think I look a little worse for the wear-- but hey, it's been a long year!!

Sunday I was treated to waffles with strawberries and cream for breakfast, and then church for everyone but Zachy and I who stayed home to let the little monster, er, bambino nap. This is us ready for church (before Zachy crashed). It was a great, relaxing birthday!

Lucy, Grandma Cardon, and Great Grandma Del Toro


Jonathan left for home Sunday night since he needed to be back for work, but I decided to stay a little longer with the kids and play on Monday. We headed to a local place called "Jumpin' Jacks" which is an indoor warehouse FULL of bounce-house-things.


The kids had a blast sliding down the huge slides (they were FAST!), and bouncing around on the equipment.

But REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! ***Record scratching to a halt*** That was the end of the fun. Poor Grandma was trying to help Zach up a steep ladder when she lost her footing and fell about 3 feet, and wrenched her leg so that she fractured it in TWO places!! It was A-W-F-U-L. I felt terrible. She had to go to the ER in an ambulance and have X-rays taken to find out her leg is BROKEN. Needless to say, the weekend ended on a definite sour note. BEWARE the bounce houses!! That's two people--count 'em, TWO people in my family who have broken limbs or appendages on these contraptions this year. First my sister in law who broke BOTH feet, and now my poor mother in law. Here's to a quick recovery!!

Tribute to Our Fathers

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to the many amazing men we are so lucky to have in our lives!! What a thankless job it is to go to work day in, day out-- punching that time clock simply to make sure all those material needs are provided for your families!! I have only known in my life the best examples of hard working, selfless, devoted fathers who love their wives and children, and who honor their priesthood. I am SO thankful for my own dad who showed me what kind of man to expect to marry, and for my husband who has worked SO hard to keep our little family afloat through thick and thin (but mostly thin!), and for his father who was such a great example to him as a young man- and still is.

One of the best examples of what kind of guy Jon is was when I was admitted to the hospital with pre-ecclampsia while 35 weeks pregnant with Lucy. I was lonely, scared, feeling VERY far away from home (we'd been in Philly about 2 1/2 months), had 0 friends, and Jon was in the midst of his first semester of dental school and FINALS. He came EVERY night without fail to visit me-- despite the horrible rush hour traffic from the city, probably didn't eat dinner for 4 weeks straight, studied round the clock to pass his tests, managed to keep me sane while on bed rest, and stayed up all night with me through labor only to leave 3 hours after Lucy was born to take a final. His support meant SO much to me, and I would literally count down the minutes from when he got out of class to when he got to the hospital because I was so excited to see him. He is such a GREAT husband.

"It is a joyous privilege and blessing, and a heavy responsibility, to be the father and the patriarchal head of a family, with the challenge to teach and prepare its members to go back into the presence of their Heavenly Father, where the family can continue to enjoy eternal life together."
-N. Eldon Tanner

"God bless you, dear fathers. May He bless you with wisdom and judgment, with understanding, with self-discipline and self-control, with faith and kindness and love. And may He bless the sons and daughters who have come into your homes, that yours may be a fortifying, strengthening, guiding hand as they walk the treacherous path of life. As the years pass—and they will pass ever so quickly—may you know that "peace... which passeth all understanding" (Philip. 4:7) as you look upon your sons and daughters, who likewise have known that sacred and wonderful peace. Such is my humble prayer, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

Just Your Average Every Day Trip to the ER

I've never been to an emergency room. NEVER. I think that's actually quite impressive-- I'm almost 28 years old, I have 2 kids, and my husband has been probably more times than he can count. But me? Nope. Never. I found myself very fortunate, up until yesterday when there was a little incident in our home involving a pair of fabric scissors, a devious 2 year old, and a precocious 4 year old who thinks she can do anything she wants.

I was in another room when I heard some serious screaming-- I recognized it from the many of my children’s cries as Lucy's "help-I've-either-done-something-reeeeally-bad-or-I'm-HURT!" cry. I knew things were serious, especially when I got to the master bathroom and saw blood all over the floor and it dripping down Lucy's hand and onto her feet and I'm like, "What the heck happened?!?" Mother of the year award…

Apparently Lucy wanted to cut some ribbon to play with so she found my fabric scissors, but when she wouldn't share Zachy got mad and grabbed them from her and accidentally (well, that's debatable) chopped through her finger! After a good 10 minutes I couldn't staunch the bleeding, so I began to worry she needed stitches. Guh. She is a total drama queen and I knew it would be a huge ordeal to take her in, get it numbed up, and then put in stitches, but slappin’ a band-aid on (which was my vote) just didn’t seem like it would cut it (no pun intended).

Ten minutes later we were on our way to the ER on base. Luckily they weren’t busy and they got her right in to look at her finger. They debated about whether or not to do stitches, but finally decided to just to glue it together with Derma-bond and see if that would hold it together to avoid traumatizing her with all the needles. A day and half later its popped back open but isn't bleeding, so we'll see what happens... She seems more concerned with missing out on swimming lessons than her "owie," plus I survived my first trip to the ER. And I’m sure there will be many more in our future (Zachy is just getting started!).

The pictures don't do it justice-- it's cut through literally from the tip to the first knuckle and was GAPING open before they glued it. Gross!

Five Minutes Peace!

Did your mom ever read you that book "Five Minutes Peace" when you were a kid? Mine did. And I never quite got the message... I thought that mom was a little over dramatic about needing her space-- who wouldn't want to play with their kids all day long?!? Isn't that what moms are for?? Until of course I became a mom, and realized how true that book is! It is without fail that I cannot get FIVE. MINUTES. PEACE.

Even when the kids are perfectly content eating lunch, watching a movie, whatever it may be downstairs, if I try and sneak upstairs unnoticed to check my email they suddenly appear in no less than five minutes. It's like that wherever I go, whatever I'm doing, wherever I'm hiding (yes! sometimes I hide! I admit it!) they sniff me out!!

In fact, 9 times out of 10 I can't even go to the bathroom unaccompanied. If I can't beat them to close the door in time they follow me in and most of the time I just don't have the energy to kick 'em out. This time despite my best efforts to outrun her, Lucy SLAMMED the door back open so hard before I could close it that the door jam literally poked through the door!

It left this GAPING hole on either side. Please tell me someone knows how to fix it?? Since we will be moving in 2 months I'd reeaaally like to get our security deposit back... And I'd like to pee alone. Just once. Sorry, TMI.

Anyway, what's a girl to do? Jon's residency has picked WAY back up in its busy-ness levels, so I've got lots of single mom time. And I craft the loooong lonely nights away! This is my latest block/Cricut project.

I got this mirror for free (it was originally just a plain mirror with a brown frame), and I finally decided to recycle it and make it fit into Lucy's room. After spray painting the frame hot pink, I was trying to get a few stray paint spots off when the whole thing CRACKED down the middle. So my sister suggested gluing ribbon across the crack and nobody would ever be able to tell the difference. What do you think?


And since I've been posting so much about little Luce lately, I decided to throw in a pic or two of this little guy. He's so much fun!! T-R-O-U-B-L-E. But fun. He's talking SO much more which is awesome, still HATES getting his diapers changed and will lie to your face whether he's pooped or not (these pictures are documenting a particularly soggy doggy), he dumps RED crystal light all over my carpet while staring me down, and he likes to pretend to be a puppy. He barks, he pants, he drinks water from a bowl, and I love it. He also pretends my bathtub is a boat while I'm getting my makeup on, so basically all 27 months of him is PURE entertainment!

Lucy's Preschool Graduation

Sad, sad day!! You have finally arrived... Lucy's last day of preschool was last Thursday, and her teacher the beloved Miss Andrea held a graduation in the kids' honor. I don't know who will be more lost without those glorious Tuesday and Thursday afternoons-- Lucy or me? The 8 little monsters marched in to the "ABC's" with matching caps and gowns and then sang several songs they'd learned throughout the year.
My favorite was about not telling a lie, and "if you do you feel like you might die-- your heart will race, you'll get red in the face," etc. Loved it. Lucy sang with such gusto! Then the kids were called up one at a time to get a binder full of some of their artwork, and their official graduation certificate. Lucy's class--Jenna, Ammon, John, Cullel, Lucy, Logan, Cannon, and Paisley. It's so cute how she came to love each of these kids over the year-- she really worried when someone was sick, or told me when someone was out of town or got in trouble, etc. And can you believe Lucy's still the 2nd tallest in her class?? Lucy's best friend and partner in crime, Paisely, whom she met through preschool. They are peas in a pod and we will sure miss Paisley next year!:( Lucy's hero-- Miss Andrea. She taught Lucy a TON. She started the year off knowing two letters (A and L) but has completed it knowing all the letters and their sounds, how to write the lower and capital letters, the ASL signs for them, she recognizes all of her numbers up to 12, how to count up to 20, all of her colors and shapes, she learned to write her name, memorized her address and phone number, and lots more. I think this will be a hard act for someone to follow in North Carolina... I think the fact that Lucy got to go play at Paisley's house after graduation took some of the sting away-- but now I'm scrambling on how I'm going to keep her entertained for another 2 days during the week this summer!