The Gray Family

Determination

2012-02-05T16:02:00.004-07:00

Here is another example of how Logan just doesn't give up. If there is something he wants.....he tries EVERYTHING in his power to get it accomplished. Take this morning for example - Jen was taking a shower. Logan wanted into the bathroom, but Jen had the door locked. Dustin stood by and captured pictures of everything Logan went through to try and open the door.

The kid went through himself, a baseball bat and a gun......

Kangaroo Zoo

2012-01-27T16:14:00.005-07:00

In an attempt to let the kids burn off some energy today - we took them to a place nearby called Kangaroo Zoo. It has been about two years since our last visit here. We were impressed that Logan could keep up with what ever Zach wanted to do. They have a special area for kids 2 and under....here was no way Logan would have been entertained in that....he wanted to climb the big ones!

Zach also had a blast. He was running around so much his head turned into one big sweat pit!

We hung around for as long as possible...but once Logan started going around pushing down the smaller kids and was successful in finding and dumping a bucket of water on himself....it was time to leave.

Zach's 4th Birthday Party - kid style

2012-01-21T15:48:00.002-07:00

We hosted our first official 'kid style' birthday party! Jen put some good thought into a theme for the party and finally decided on 'monsters'....not scary monsters....just monsters. The theme colors were blue and green (Zach's favorites). He held it during lunch and provided pizza and some snacks for everyone to share. We even invited the parents to stay and attend the party - and they all did! It was a good opportunity for us to meet some of the kids and parents at our children's daycare.....

We made monster masks for all the kids and they had fun running around in them for about 5 minutes....here are Sophia, Lily and Zane...

We played pin the monster face pieces on Zach....it is pretty much just like it sounds. Each kid picked a monster face piece out and each took turns pinning the pieces on a picture of Zach (they were blindfolded of course). I think Logan enjoyed it the most out of everybody...I think he took three turns!

We also had a monster pinata. No party is complete without a pinata! The kids each took a few turns trying to beat up the monster to have it break open to get the goodies from inside....here is Allen and Sophia.

Finally we let some of the dad's take a turn. After the second dad (Floyd) the monster busted open - the kids were excited and the parents were just laughing.

Next it was time for presents. I was quite impressed that Zach was fine having all his friends around him looking at his gifts and helping him open them when necessary - there was no fighting....not what we normally see when Logan tries to help Zach open his gifts!

At this point the kids were itching to dig into those green monster cupcakes. We sang happy birthday and watched all the kids lick off all the frosting...

The it was play time with everything in our house until people wanted to leave. We were getting a kick out of our neighbor, Sydney and her cooking skills...

Logan on the other hand was trying to open all of the boxes his gifts came in.....

Logan also enjoyed being a monster for the rest of the day :)

We had a blast throwing this party for Zach and having all nine kids just run around and have fun today!

Zach turns 4 years old!

2012-01-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today Zach turned 4 years old! He had quite the eventful day. When Jen woke him up this morning he was SO EXCITED it was FINALLY his birthday. He kept running around the house doing his "birthday dance" (this basically looked like a kid skipping while singing a song).

Zach decided he wanted to spend the day with his friends at preschool and daycare. He was excited to bring cupcakes to share with his friends. Jen had taken Zach to Sam's club over the weekend and he picked out Spiderman and Mator/McQueen cupcakes to take (daycare/preschool rules are all food brought has to be store bought). When we picked Zach up from preschool he was wearing a crown. His teacher Mrs. Madsen had given him a birthday crown to wear for class and Zach ended up wearing it for the rest of the day!

When we picked the kids up from daycare tonight all the workers at the center said the kids had a BLAST eating the cupcakes. They had cupcake frosting EVERYWHERE on their faces. Sure enough Zach's face was a bit blue :) We asked where Zach wanted to go for dinner - he wanted Chick-a-fila. Zach and Logan had fun eating nuggets and playing on the play scape.

Now it was time to head home for presents and cupcakes (yes - Zach worked it so he got THREE cupcakes today!).

I have never seen my kids tear through wrapping paper so FAST! Zach and his helper Logan were able to clear through everything...

Overall a quite successful day. Zach has a birthday party with his friends this upcoming Saturday - so we wanted to make sure we didn't go overboard today :)

Zach is our little character. He is so full of personality it is such a joy to spend time with him. Zach is also pretty easy going. Right now he is going through is "TV" phase - so if Mom and Dad need a break, we know what to do to keep him entertained :) Zach also likes to be out and about. Every weekend he is always asking where we are going to go and what we are going to do....he gets that from his dad.

Zach and Daddy

2012-01-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

We are loving the lack of snow so far this winter. Zach decided that this afternoon was the perfect opportunity to spend time with his daddy. It was daddy and Zach time in the garage with the green dump truck.

Daddy spent some time teaching Zach how to drive backwards in the green dump truck.

I think these boys will continue to have their 'guy time' in the garage!

Living Planet Aquarium

2012-01-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today we hit up the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. Every time we visit this place they seem to have expanded even further. This time they were getting ready to open a otter exhibit the next week. The otters are going to be housed right behind this frog our boys like to ride on.

Zach kissing some fish!

The stingray exhibit is always a hit....Zach loves to pet them, Logan is still a bit afraid of them. No matter how hard we try to get Logan to pet the stingray he always resists....

We love the sharks too....

We love to spend the bulk of our time watching the penguins at the aquarium. Logan and Zach have grown so much lately they are as big as some penguins!

Here is Jen having fun with her new DSLR camera!

We just can't seem to win

2011-12-31T16:50:00.002-07:00

Monday, December 12th @ 5:30pm - when I picked the boys up from daycare Zach told me his left ear hurt. Zach never tells me his ears hurt. I asked if he wanted to go to the doctor and he said yes. So a quick call to our pediatrician after hours urgent care clinic and we had a 6pm appointment. We just drove straight there....the clinic started at 6pm so I knew we were the first appointment. When the doctor looked in Zach's ears it was confirmed that BOTH EARS were infected. Zach had tubes put in just under two years ago, but we learned back in October his tubes were no longer connected, but just sitting in his ear canal waiting to fall out....which meant we were susceptible to getting ear infections again. So the doctor faxes in a prescription for amoxicillin. We head to the grocery store next door to pick up some supplies (the boys sweet talked me into donuts and we needed more kids ibuprofen). We then headed to Walgreens to pick up the prescription...and apparently they 'forgot' to look at faxes in the past half hour - so we had another 20 minutes to burn until it was ready.....we hit the McDonalds drive-thru (next door to Walgreens) and eat in the car while talking to Dustin on the phone as he was in Boise for a business trip. We finish eating, get our prescription head home. Zach takes the full 10 day treatment of amoxicillin, and doesn't mention anything about his ears after the 2nd day of the antibiotic.

Friday, December 23rd @ 3:30am - guess who woke up saying his left ear was hurting again - Zach? Wait....it has only been TWO DAYS since he stopped taking the antibiotics for his last double ear infection. We head back to the pediatricians office when it opens. Guess what - DOUBLE EAR INFECTIONS again. The doctor opted for a stronger antibiotic - Omnicef.

Thursday, December 29th @ 4am - Zach comes in our room saying his stomach really hurts, he falls asleep on our floor. Two hours later he throws up in our toilet. Jen stays home from work with him - he can't keep anything down, even liquids up until about 3pm and has a low grade fever (99deg range). He just keeps complaining his whole body hurts, his stomach hurts and his head hurts. Then all of a sudden he decides he wants Ritz crackers, eats a whole roll over the course of three hours - keeps it all down, but develops a 100 degree fever. Jen looks in his throat and it has all these red dots in the back -- does Zach have strep throat while on antibiotics?

Friday, December 30th @ 3pm - Zach stays home with Dustin today. He doesn't eat anything, he doesn't throw up, his temperature stays in the 99deg range. Logan already had his 2 year check up schedule for today so we decided to take Zach with us as well to be looked at. He is still complaining about the body aches. Zach has been on Omnicef now for 7 days - the pediatrician looks him over and decides to remove the tube in his right ear as it was pretty far out in the canal (the tubes tend to block the view of ear part they need to look at for infections). Once the tube is removed the doctor sighs and says the right ear is still really infected. Strep test comes back negative. The doctor feels that the issues Zach has been having the past few days (vomiting, body aches, etc) are actually stemming from him having an ear infection for a few weeks now that isn't responding to any oral antibiotics. It is too close to the holiday weekend to have our ENT put tubes back in and the pediatrician is adamant we can't just let it be - our only option is Rocephin injections. One a day for the next three days. Zach gets his first injection and cries/whines for almost TEN MINUTES afterwards. I've had that shot in my butt before and it DOES hurt - Zach had to have it in his thigh! Dustin carried Zach around for the next couple of hours so he didn't have to walk. Oh - this gets better.....guess who else has an ear infection?! LOGAN! Logan's right ear also was infected - the doctor found it during his wellness check...so Logan is starting on Omnicef (screw amoxicillin).

Saturday, December 31st @ 11am - Wow, Zach is back to his normal self. The boy with all the personality. We can tell the injection yesterday at least was making him feel a bit better. We head back to the pediatricians urgent care office for the 2nd injection. Zach took it better. He only cried for a few minutes this time. We reward him with lunch at Del Taco (he likes the playscape) and a trip to the movie theater with Dustin in the afternoon.

So with one more Rocephin injection left for January 2nd - we are worried we will still end up having Zach get another set of tubes for his ears in a few weeks. Who knows.....maybe Logan will need tubes as well :( Time will tell, but as of right now - we just can't seem to win.

Logan's two year check up

2011-12-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today we headed to the pediatricians office for Logan's 2 year check up. Most of the visit revolved around Zach with the ear infection issues (see 12/31 post) - but Logan ended up having an ear infection as well - his right ear. Logan also still has his dry skin issues, living in Utah doesn't help. The doctor tells us to use the creams, lotions and soaps we are already using...guess we just need to be more aggressive about it (lotion and cream 2x-3x a day?)

Logan continues to be our happy child that loves to play and be active. His personality continues to shine and everyone loves to be around him. Our pediatricians office is right next to the day care the kids attend. While Logan and I walked from they daycare to the pediatricians office kids from Zach's class were playing in the backyard and waving hi to Logan and asking how he was as we were crossing the street. Logan just smiled at the kids and talked to them in his two year old gibberish language. Logan is apparently the social butterfly and everyone knows him.....sounds like Dustin, right?!

Here are Logan's growth stats - he continues the tradition of tall big headed kids :)

Height = 35.7 inches = 83rd percentile

Weight = 28 pounds = 50th percentile

Head Circ = 49.8cm = 78th percentile

Happy 2nd Birthday LOGAN!

2011-12-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

Today our little man turned two years old! We kept it quiet this year - the kids were looking forward to going to daycare and having cupcakes with their friends. Jen took Logan to the store last night to pick out the cupcakes (they have to be store bought.....state health code rule at daycare). As soon as Logan walked in the the daycare center everyone greeted him and wished him a happy birthday - he had such a huge grin on his face! After work we went home and had some take and bake pizzas and cheese sticks (Logan's favorite). Jen finished putting the finishing touches on Logan's cake and then it was time for presents!

Presents turned out to be quite an ordeal at our house this year. Zach felt like he HAD to open all the gifts...he had a hard time with everything was for Logan and he was quite upset it wasn't his birthday - we heard many times throughout the night from Zach, "my birthday is taking too LONG to get here!". Logan was kind enough to let Zach help with the wrapping paper....

Believe it or not the hit of the gifts was from Jen's Grandma McIlwain - she had taped together ten $1 bills for Logan for his birthday. Logan thought it was sooooo COOL!

The ToysRus gift certificate from Great Aunt and Uncle Twogood also brought a smile to Logan's face - he knows what the ToysRus logo looks like - the place with all the TOYS!

Now it was time for birthday cake! Jen made Logan a construction cake. Logan just stared and stared at it....after a few minutes he finally stuck his finger in it to taste it. He loved eating the chocolate rocks!

Happy 2nd birthday Logan! Logan is our happy child - he smiles all the time and loves to laugh. Zach and Logan are best buds and play together all the time. Logan likes to share - when ever he gets a snack or a drink he gets one for Zach as well. We think Logan will be our little athlete...he is so active and can throw a ball better than any two year old we know!

The first gator ride!

2011-12-25T16:53:00.002-07:00

The boys on their first gator ride in the neighborhood!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-25T10:17:00.003-07:00

Logan was the first one up this morning - he got to see what Santa brought him first! He enjoyed going through his stocking with Grandma Twogood....and of course checking out that green dump truck (John Deere ride on Gator).

When Zach woke up - he was SO EXCITED to see the green dump truck in our living room. He was also excited to see that Santa's reindeer ate the food he left them. We let the boys play on the gator for a bit...we weren't ready to tackle the rest of the presents yet!

Okay NOW it was time to rip into all the other gifts! The boys were really spoiled...they had presents from every family member and even from some of our friends!

Here is Jen's stocking stash.....her "Santa" sure knows what she likes!

Dustin got his ipad2!

Now the boys decided to start playing with some of the toys.....they liked playing with the play BBQ set - Dustin even got dressed up in his apron and hat and played with the boys.

These pet hamsters were such a hit too....Zach and Logan were chasing them around the house!

When the boys finally decided to start watching some of the movies they got for Christmas....they decided it had to be drive-in movie style in the green dump truck. The battery for the gator wasn't going to be ready for another 4-5 hours, so the dump truck wasn't moving.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Santa made his stop!

2011-12-24T23:51:00.005-07:00

Zach made some reindeer food at pre-school to leave out tonight. Santa's reindeer LOVED the food....check out the nose marks!

Look at our pretty tree all lit up.....

The presents were put in piles....

Zach and Logan apparently got their Christmas wish from Santa - the GREEN DUMP TRUCK!

The Canyons

2011-12-24T14:26:00.001-07:00

Today we had a free trip to the Canyons ski resort......and when we say free...we mean much much more than a free lift ticket! Apparently the company we work for are Canyon Club Members - as a form of recognition the company GIVES the membership to employees to use on a specific day basis. Yes - GIVES! Dustin received recognition from his management on the awesome job he is doing and gave us the club membership to use today! This worked out perfect for us, because Jen's parents were in town - so they could hang out with their grandchildren for part of the day while we went skiing!

We arrived about 8:30am to the resort in Park City. Valet unloaded our car and showed us to the Alpine room - the exclusive area for the Canyon Club Members. They had a private locker room and a lounge with a complimentary continental breakfast. They even had a dedicated concierge person just sitting in the Alpine room waiting to answer our every question. The lifts didn't open until 9am so we had the concierge gives us some tips on what ski runs would be best for our skill level, then we headed out to check out the area.

We soon learned that one of the BIG perks of being Canyon Club Members was you were able to go to the front of EVERY ski lift line! Oh Yeah. The employees at the lifts would see our membership badges and even go out of their way to get us to the front of the lines - you could easily tell everyone else was getting jealous....especially a few hours into skiing when the lines were getting really long.

We stuck to the easiest slope for a good hour - once Jen felt we had mastered that, we tried moving on to a blue run. That run turned out to be ONE LONG RIDE! It took us almost an hour and a half to make it back down the mountain.

Dustin was enjoying the scenery and finding ways to have some fun.

Jen on the other hand was taking her sweet time - the blue runs were a bit too intimating for her. We haven't really had much natural snow fall in Utah yet this time of year (yes - this is not normal), so most of the snow was man made...and really icy. We were used to the Utah powder snow....not this trip! Jen was excited to see this sign....Once we made it back to the bottom of the mountain - Jen decided she needed a break. Dustin headed back up the mountain for the next hour - he was able to take the lift up THREE times since he didn't have to wait in any of the long lift lines! After his hour he decided he was done for the day as well......we both aren't exactly in tip top shape ;)

We both put up our feet and had some hot chocolate for a moment of relaxing.

We headed back to the Alpine house, let them know we were done for the day. They took all our gear out to our car and offered us some drinks. It is going to be hard to go back to the Canyons ski resort again unless we have the Club Membership to use....VIP all the way!

Once we got home we learned the kids had a complete blast with Grandma and Grandpa Twogood - they watched movies and went to the Harley Dealership in Lindon. The boys love going to that Harley dealership because they have a toy ride on bike that is free - no quarters needed. We were able to make a great Lasagna Christmas Eve dinner and then bundle everyone up to go out on a drive to see the local Christmas lights!

Jen's Birthday

2011-12-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today is Jen's birthday! Her parents came to town this afternoon to help celebrate and enjoy Christmas with us this year. We decided to go to Cheesecake Factory for dinner and dessert. The boys LOVED having Grandma and Grandpa Twogood with us!

Afterwards we opened presents at home. Jen's parents bought her a new pair of shoes....

The boys picked out some footed PJ's and cake ball making kit for Jen...

Some other awesome gifts from friends/family...

Then Dustin topped them all with this gift....Jen's first DSLR camera! A canon Rebel T3i...

He had already charged it up and taken some pictures of the kids on it for me! Here is my first memorable picture on my new DSLR camera :)

Thanks for the great day!

An early birthday celebration

2011-12-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight we decided to do some birthday celebrating early. Jen and her friend Kristin's birthdays are only three days apart....we always use this as an excuse to go to a yummy place for dinner without the kids. This year we decided to hit up....

Dustin and I had never been to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse....and boy was it YUMMY!

Getting caught up....

2011-12-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

I know...behind on blogging. I am working on getting caught up! Leave me a comment to let me know you love me and want me to hurry up! ;)

Pets are family members too

2011-12-09T21:31:00.004-07:00

**This post contains some 'graphic' images...if you can't stand blood - don't read it**
We have two cats. Aussie who is 10 years old, which we adopted when he was a kitten a month before we got married. Sammie who is 9 years old, we adopted when she was a kitten thinking she would be a great 'companion' for Aussie. The two cats really never had the ideal brother/sister relationship. Of the two cats - Aussie was our favorite...the more laid back cat. Sammie ended up being the spastic cat that had a love/hate relationship with everyone.

For the past couple of years (yes...YEARS) one of our cats would randomly spray on the walls in our house. Not all the time...just randomly. We always figured it was Aussie, you know...a male cat marking his territory. We could never catch the guilty cat in the act. A few weeks ago we came home to this...

Yes - that would be BLOOD in cat urine on our master bedroom wall. It was almost like the guilty cat had to make it obvious for us to see it. Well, we flipped both cats over so see which one had blood on their fur and guess which cat it was? Not Aussie, it was Sammie. Our poor kitty had a bad UTI.

Now remember our spastic Sammie? We actually had a vet tell us one time when we lived in Austin to not to bring her back because she is SO HORRIBLE at a vet's office. So we knew it wouldn't be a fun experience to get a UTI looked at with a vet here in Utah. Dustin clipped Sammie's back toe nails and headed to the 24-7 vet hospital (it was a Sunday).

$300 later the vet agreed she had a UTI - what urine they could obtain from Sammie spraying on the vet (yes, literally) confirmed the infection, but also ruled out any type of cancer or other concerns. Sammie was given some antibiotic injections and was a very happy laid back cat for a few days. The vet even called us a few days later to ask how Sammie was doing (first time we have had a vet call to follow up)....she seemed perfectly fine. No more pissing on walls, and from what we could tell no more blood in the urine.

About three weeks later when we returned home from work on a Friday - we found the blood stained urine spray on our master bedroom wall again. We knew that wasn't good. Dustin took Sammie back to the same 24-7 vet hospital on the following day. They sedated Sammie and did an ultrasound of her bladder to figure out what was causing the infections. Here is what they found...

That would be a 1/2 inch calcium oxide 'stone' in our cats bladder. Calcium oxide is very hard, sharp and does not break down - it just keeps growing bigger. This 'stone' in our cats bladder was obviously too large to pass, but was not blocking her urine flow. This 'stone' was moving around in her bladder constantly scraping the sides and causing internal infections. The only way to eliminate this was surgery to remove the 'stone'.

So after a discussion on what to do - we decided to fork out the $$ to get the surgery to eliminate this unnecessary and completely treatable issue. Blood work was done to ensure all the internal organs of the cat were in good health and surgery was scheduled for the following Thursday. Monday the vet called and said the full urine analysis came back and her bladder infection was REALLY bad and she needed another antibiotic injection today so she could still have surgery on Thursday.

Thursday came and Sammie had surgery. The vet kept us updated - everything went as planned. When the bladder was opened to remove the 'stone' the entire lining of the bladder was really bruised - the vet felt it would take a few weeks for Sammie to completely heal from the damage of the 'stone'. Sammie came home on Friday and was hooked up with some great pain killers for three days.

We kept her cone on for a full week to allow her abdominal incision to heal. Three weeks after surgery we have noticed a remarkable difference in how our cat behaves and the luster of her fur coat! If we only could speak the language of cat we could have solved this issue much much earlier - that 'stone' had been inside her bladder and growing for a few YEARS. Where is Dr. Doolittle when you need him?

What life is like in the Gray house

2011-12-04T18:04:00.001-07:00

Lets just say life is quite interesting with TWO boys in the house. I thought I would try and capture on camera the things Logan 'does' on a daily basis to keep Jen on her toes. I say 'Logan' because Zach NEVER did any of this....

Smear cheese on the window by the front door...apparently the window looked too clean to Logan.

He goes and gets any trash can, empties it, and then turns it upside down and stands on it to reach to places he shouldn't be. In this picture, he has unlocked and opened the front door.

The one that REALLY put me over the edge today.....it got really quiet in the house. I found the boys under the kitchen table, eating chocolate, and shoving the foil wrappers from the chocolate down the AIR VENT in the floor. Don't let Zach in the picture fool you...Logan instigated it, Zach followed.

I am not sure who's brilliant idea this one was...but it did make me laugh. The even funnier part is Logan got his leg stuck in between the bars on the bottom and couldn't get out.

Visit with Santa

2011-12-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

We brought in the month of December with a visit to Santa and his reindeer. Every year a few of Santa's reindeer come and stay for a visit at Thanksgiving Point - and meet with everyone that comes to see them. Luckily today - there weren't too many other people visiting the reindeer, so Zach and Logan got some upfront and personal time with them!

The boys then got to visit with the REAL santa for a bit. No tears during this visit. Zach was telling Santa about the cut he just got on his finger...also that he wanted a 'green dump truck' for Christmas. Logan just nodded his head waiting for the candy cane to appear.

Next up was the surprise for the kids...we were getting professional 'Santa Shots'...only Dustin was the one dressing up as Santa! One of the studios around here got a GREAT idea of having the parents dress up as Santa (so the kids are not afraid) and then they take photos and hide your face (you will see what I mean when you see our 'shots'). It only cost $20...and overall a better experience than the mall photos we have done in the past. Here is Dustin getting fitted for his moment...
Here are the excited boys...

And here are the awesome shots we ended up with!

deer

2011-12-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Dustin took the kids on a drive to try and make them fall asleep for their nap (a common occasion during the weekends). They spotted some deer on a side road near our house!

Nick, Sarah and Levi

2011-11-26T21:58:00.001-07:00

Nick, Sarah and Levi were able to stay with us for the day -- they were a big help getting our Christmas decorating done! Zach and Logan enjoyed hanging out with their cousin Levi (7 months old in these pictures). Levi wasn't so sure about us though.....

Logan loved to share his toys with Levi...he kept bring out all the 'cool' baby toys for him to play with....

Logan also took a fascination to Levi's car seat.....

Give Levi a few more years and he will be rumbling and tumbling with his cousins Zach and Logan :)

Christmas Tree Hunting

2011-11-25T21:41:00.005-07:00

It is time for the Gray family annual tradition of hunting and cutting down our live Christmas tree! Everyone was healthy and the weather cooperated for us this year - so we were able to do this the day after Thanksgiving. We headed to Alpine, Utah (yeah, just a few miles from our house) - same place we have been going the past couple of years. Oh - yes, the kids were only wearing hoodies...it was that warm...the hats were a bit overkill, but the kids looked cute :)

Logan enjoying the ride....on Dustin's shoulders!

Zach was enjoying 'hiding' from us.....lots of trees to hide behind!

Logan didn't like how 'prickly' some of the trees were...

Attempted family shot with our tree in the background...

Dustin helping haul it to the 4x4 after it was cut down...
All loaded up on the 4runner...

Zach and Logan are 'helping' Dustin secure the tree to the stand.....

Logan helping 'prune' the tree...

We even got our Christmas lights up on the outside of the house the very next day! Dustin's sister Sarah and her husband Nick were in town and spent the day with us. Nick offered to help Dustin put up the Christmas lights...how could we turn that down?

Our Christmas mantle this year - Jen loves doing this kind of stuff....

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

In honor of Thanksgiving - Dustin smoked us this yummy looking turkey!

We had some friends over to our house for dinner and we enjoyed our food and company so much, we forgot to take any pictures....except for the awesome looking (and tasting) bird!

Colorado Trip - Day #5

2011-11-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day in Colorado - our flight leaves in the late afternoon to head back to Utah. We spent some time this morning at the Johnstown post office - so the boys could see the inside of where Grandma Gray works. Grandma Gray was proud to show off her grandson's to her co-workers.

Jeanette's mail station - where she sorts the mail for her route

Mail tub - perfect for kids to play in

Oh - look who has the mail truck KEY....ZACHARY!

Zach trying to get the door of grandma's mail truck open

Look - Zach is a perfect fit!

Logan's turn to drive...

All of us in the back of the truck

After that morning of excitement at the post office it was time to head back and finish packing. Logan decided he was going to go into stinker mode. He was supposedly 'napping' when Jen found him in the bathroom doing this...

Yes - that would be hand soap all over the counter, mirror, and Logan's entire body. Lets just say he got another bath to clean that one up...

Then right before it was time to leave - Logan decided to go into stinker mode again.

It is going to be a fun plane ride home.....

Colorado Trip - Day #4

2011-11-15T15:23:00.007-07:00

Today is the big day - Jeanette turns 60 years old!

In the morning Zach and Jeanette made some homemade noodles. It is a Gray family tradition to make homemade noodles when they have turkey left overs (remember - we smoked a turkey yesterday!) - for turkey soup. Zach LOVED being Grandma's little helper.

After all the noodling making we decided to head the bowling alley for some some bowling and pizza lunch.

The kids found all the other 'cool stuff' at the bowling alley that wasn't related to bowling...like vending machines and arcades!

The boys did get a the knack for bowling as well....they get to use the special ball ramp!

We had a good time bowling....look who is worn out!

Later in the day Glen helped the boys build some trucks. These are the learn as you grow kits from Lowe's. Both the boys LOVED being able to use the tools to make something so cool...

The finished products!

Zach enjoyed it so much he went around trying to find other things around the house that needed to be 'fixed' so they could use the tools. Here he found the porch milk box lid was really loose and needed to be tightened.

We decided to hit up the family's favorite Mexican food place in Johnstown for dinner tonight, then afterwards headed back to Dustin's parents house for birthday cake. We set the cake out on the table to start thawing.....and guess what our two boys did...

Apparently they each took a side and tried to bite into it. Since the cake was still frozen they didn't get much - just the icing that broke off. Dustin found some whipped cream in the fridge and fixed it all up. The ironic part is it was a 'sugar free cake'....until we added the touch up whipped cream!

Here is Korbin and Jeanette right before we all sing Jeanette a 'Happy 60th Birthday!'

Colorado Trip - Day #3

2011-11-14T14:28:00.006-07:00

Today the boys were itch'n for cousin Korbin to get out of school so they all could go to a place called "Bounce". What can we say....kids love bouncy houses! They had a blast for almost two hours - Zach, Logan and Korbin.

Glen had he most fun out of everyone....

Now it was time to head back to Grandma and Grandpa Gray's for that smoked turkey!

Colorado Trip - Day #2

2011-11-13T13:55:00.001-07:00

Today we hung out - the boys wanted to smoke a turkey, so we started the day off running some errands to get the supplies. Logan was enjoying our rental car - it had a built in DVD player. He was perfectly content just sitting in the car watching Rio.

To marinate the turkey before it was smoked the guys decided that the best way to do it was in a Home Depot bucket! That was one of our errands - buying a new bucket from Home Depot!

We also went over to the post office to look at Grandma Gray's mail truck. We didn't have the keys to look inside (it was a Sunday) - so we just got up close and personal from the outside.

There is a park right next to the Johnstown post office - Korbin and Zach played around for a bit...

These cousins were having fun together today!

Colorado Trip - Day #1

2011-11-12T20:04:00.003-07:00

Dustin's mom turns 60 years old in a few days and we decided to fly out to Colorado and surprise her. She had NO IDEA we were coming. Dustin's dad and brothers of course were in on the whole thing. We had the whole first day planned out....but we hit a snag right before the plane took off...literally.

Everyone was loaded in the plane the door was closed. The flight attendants were just wrapping up the safety spiel. Then the pilot hit some button - the flight attendants stopped mid sentence and picked up the phone to talk to the pilot. Our plane had been grounded. Apparently Denver was having some really bad wind and had to limit the number of runways they had open to the point that our plane was grounded from almost 2 hours before it could take off. Hmmm...a short 1.5 hour flight now just turned into sitting on a plane for 2 hours, then a 1.5 hour flight. Sounds like fun with an almost 2 year old lap child, right? The flight attendants and the pilot did do everything they could to keep people happy. One flight attendant was showing Logan all the drawers in the serving area - she let him open them and go through them to see what was inside, she even let him sit in her jump seat! Another reason we like to fly Southwest Airlines.

Once we were finally in Denver - they weren't kidding it was really windy. We got our rental car and drove to Dustin's parents house (an hour from the airport). Dustin's mom works for the postal service and she was doing her Saturday mail delivery -- apparently they got quite a late start because the wind had impacted the delivery of the mail to the postal department as well. The plan was to have us surprise Jeanette while she was delivering the mail - and boy did we ever! We pulled up right behind her mail truck as she was filling up a mail box cluster. Dustin got out of the car and walked up to her and said, "Who do I complain to about the excessive late mail delivery?". Jeanette turned around with a fake half smile and just stared at Dustin. She didn't know what to say...she was still thinking it was one of her postal route customers getting mad at her for late mail delivery that she had no control over that day...but the guy looked like Dustin, her son. She just stood there for a few seconds and finally said - "Dustin?". He gave his mom a big hug and he told her we traveled to Colorado to help celebrate her 60th birthday. We then left her alone so she could finish her route for the day.

The boys back at Grandma and Grandpa Gray's house found lots of things to keep them busy. Logan was enjoying eating little cutie oranges.....

And playing with the phone....

We finished off the evening playing the game of "LIFE". Our nephew Korbin apparently cleaned up in the game...he beat everyone!!

Turkey painting

2011-11-11T18:17:00.003-07:00

The daycare center the boys go to was having a family turkey decorating contest. We decided to give it a shot and finger paint our turkey.

N. Cali Trip Day #6

2011-11-01T22:03:00.000-06:00

Today we headed back home to Utah. We left bright and early - Jen's dad drove us back to Reno to catch our flight. We had a great time in California visiting Jen's side of the family. The kids enjoyed hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa and their cousins Scott and London. Until next time....

N. Cali Trip Day #5

2011-10-31T21:52:00.002-06:00

Today is HALLOWEEN! My kids have had a taste of what this day is all about....and they are ready to go GET MORE CANDY! To start the day out right....Dustin, Mike and Zach all headed to the movies to see "Puss in Boots" while Jen, Janice and Logan ran some errands. Then we all met back up for a quick lunch......then off to Janice's work for some trick or treating. Dustin had a surprise for the boys - he bought some foam pirate swords on Amazon.com and had them shipped to Jen's parents house...check out these two pirates!

At Janice's work our kids were able to find the bowls of candy "hiding" in the office area before the trick-or-treating began.

dum dum suckers....Logan's sugar of choice!

Now it was time to head back to Jen's parents home and carve our pumpkins. Zach and Logan took some interest of carving pumpkins at first...

But in the end it was Dustin doing the sole pumpkin carving...

We ended up using Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head pieces to decorate the rest of the pumpkins we had. The kids found that a bit more interesting at this point in the day (sugar high has worn off and no nap has been taken!).

Cousin Scott and London arrived and it was now dark outside...time to hit up the neighborhood for some trick-or-treating!

The kids ran house to house filling up their candy bags. After a few streets they were exhausted....but they didn't want to stop trick-or-treating. Good thing we brought Grandma's stroller with us! Nothing like getting pushed house to house to claim your candy!

Happy Halloween 2011!

N. Cali Trip Day #4

2011-10-30T17:32:00.000-06:00

Today Jen's grandparents drove down to Jen's parents house - so it was a chill at home and visit with everybody day. Garrett, Renee, Scott and London showed up too. We took some pictures of all of us together.....

Logan by the pumpkins we picked out a few days ago....he liked these things!

The four grand kids together...

The four grand kids with their great grandma and grandpa McIlwain...

All of us....four generations!

Great Grandma McIlwain surprised the grand kids with Halloween candy...they were oh so excited :)

N. Cali Trip Day #3

2011-10-29T16:48:00.000-06:00

Today there was a reptile show going on at the Sacramento Convention Center. We figured the kids would get a kick out of seeing all kinds of different reptiles - so we went. I don't think we realized how MANY reptiles there would be. There were so many different booths and they all had TONS of snakes in these containers they were trying to sell. Then there were all the people buying the snakes, walking around carrying their snake in its container, and people just walking around holding their snake with NO container. Both Dustin and Jen are anti-snake, so we were interested to see how Zach and Logan would react to all the snakes.

Logan had no problem getting close and petting a snake - check out Jen's face...she isn't quite so sure...especially since the lady handling the snake wasn't even paying attention!

Zach tended to like the larger creatures. The mini-alligators and the large tortoises.

We think Logan really liked the snakes. He tried to bust this one out of its cage....

Then he want to try and bust the hose out of the wall - maybe he thought it was a snake?

This just made all of us erie....yes it is real, and very alive.

We didn't stay super long....I think we were all afraid someone would yell, "my snake is missing" at any given moment - and everyone would have to witness us scream like little girls and run out of there as fast as we could.

Later on in the early evening Jen's parents ward was having their Halloween Trunk-or-Treat party. They have a huge park next to the church building - lots of open area for the kids to run and have a great time!

It was a potluck dinner - Dustin enjoyed the homemade chili.

They had several activities for the kids to play. Eating donuts from a string......face painting....and whack-a-mole (Logan is whacking Zach!).

They even had a 'cake walk' - that was the first time Zach had ever done one of those. He loved it even more when he realized he got a cupcake when they called his number!

At the end of activity - the kids lined up for a costume parade.....

Then the trunk-or-treating in the church parking lot began! Dustin ran off with Zach - with the goal to hit up as many cars as many times as they could to maximize the amount of candy collected. Jen went with Logan - with the goal of showing him how you trick-or-treat. Logan was just THRILLED to get candy....after a few cars he decided he was done and just wanted to eat what he had....

We went back to Grandma and Grandpa's car and Logan helped pass out the candy to all the other kids coming by.

Halloween is still two days away and my kids already have WAY TOO MUCH CANDY!

N. Cali Trip Day #2

2011-10-28T22:03:00.000-06:00

Today started off with the kids doing lots of exploring at Grandma and Grandpa's house. There was lots to see and do. First the kids had to watch a movie on the big TV - sitting in the cool blow up chair.

Then there was the dog (Sadie) to play with....

And we had to FEED the dog some of our breakfast...

And we had to explore the dog house in the backyard...

Grandma had some crayons and books for the kids to color with...

All this fun and it wasn't even lunchtime yet! Today we decided to hit up Bishop's pumpkin farm in Wheatland. We went to this place last year during our California Halloween visit, but the weather didn't cooperate very much (cold and rainy) so we didn't get to spend much time exploring all the activities at the pumpkin farm. This year the weather was PERFECT...and we had ALL AFTERNOON to spend there. We decided the first thing we needed to do was get our pumpkins. We rode the hay wagon out into the field and everyone picked their own pumpkin.

Here is what Logan picked out...

Zach and Grandma on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin...
Zach picking a fresh pumpkin off a vine...

We loaded up all our pumpkins on a cart to haul to our car. Both boys wanted to help get the pumpkins to the car.

Zach was the big helper getting the pumpkins into the back of Grandpa's car...

Strong boy!

Now it was time to do more exploring at Bishop's - first we rode the train. The kids LOVE riding on trains. Here is Zach and Grandma hamming it up for the camera.

The kids found some tractor toys to play with - those were a hit for quite a chuck of time.

Then we found this HUGE caterpillar - everyone loved looking at it, and feeling the fuzzy fur. Both the kids ended up holding it!

There was lots more exploring done. Logan ended up checking out the pumpkin fields, while Zach went to the mining and slide area.

When that was done it was ice cream time with Grandma and Grandpa!

At this point - it was nap time for all. We had succeeded in wearing out both kids (and all adults!). It was time to head back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We prepared a traditional Twogood dinner of BBQ hamburgers. Logan helped supervise Grandpa in the backyard.

Garrett, Renee, Scott and London were heading over for dinner tonight - the kids were excited to see their cousins again. Grandma had a surprise for all her grandchildren...she had made SPIDER CUPCAKES for dessert!

I think they were quite a hit!

N. Cali Trip Day #1

2011-10-27T21:50:00.000-06:00

Today was the big day....we all headed on a plane to visit Jen's hometown in Roseville, California for a few days. We normally fly into Sacramento, but scored a sweet deal on a direct flight to Reno (1.5 hour drive from Jen's parents house) - so we were Reno bound this afternoon. Mid week flights also rock when traveling with a lap child, because 9 times out of 10 the plane is half empty and your lap child gets his own row. Today was our lucky day!

Even though the flight was only a little over an hour, they boys still needed LOTS of activities to keep them entertained. The biggest hit was our portable DVD players - Zach would be perfectly fine watching a movie the entire flight, Logan on the other hand only sits still for the movie a few minutes at a time.

The next best thing we have found to a portable DVD player are sticker books. I can't say many stickers end up on the pages....but it is entertainment!

Jen's parents were waiting for us in Reno when we arrived. We began the 1.5 hour drive back to Roseville - finally the kids decided to take a quick nap. We got all settled in when we arrived, and then decided to head out for dinner. Jen's brother was going to meet up with us.....we didn't tell any of the kids they were going to see their cousins tonight! Boy were they all super surprised and excited to see one another. They all sat together at dinner and compared toys and ate pizza.

After dinner we all headed back to Jen's parents house to let the kids blow off some energy with their cousins and then we hit our beds. It was a long day!

Preschool Halloween Parade

2011-10-27T15:12:00.000-06:00

Zach's preschool class had a Halloween Parade and Sing-in today. Parents were invited to show up the last half hour of class for the presentation. Zach was super excited to show up in his pirate costume.

The kids paraded into the dance room in their costumes. You know there is always one kid that jumps out of the line and runs around and yells, "hi mom and dad"....Zach was that kid. He broke away from the parade line, ran over to us and gave us his pirate hat. Then he did his own little dance out on the floor....and finally decided to join back in the parade.

The kids all sad in their own red chair and sang us Halloween songs. We never knew there were so many Halloween songs out there!

Great job Zach! We are super proud of you.

Cornbelly's Trip #2

2011-10-22T14:35:00.001-06:00

We had so much fun at Cornbelly's last weekend...we decided to do it AGAIN this weekend! There was still plenty for us to see and do....

Cow trains to ride....

Corn mazes to get lost in...literally....both Zach and Logan thought it would be funny to run away from mom and dad through the corn...

Corn boxes to play in...

Tube slides to run in...

Wave slides to ride down with mom and dad....

Giant volleyball to play...

We all left pretty tuckered out. We LOVE going to Cornbelly's!

Fall Family Photos

2011-10-16T22:00:00.000-06:00

Who needs a highly paid professional photographer to take your family portraits when you have friends with a nice DSLR camera that know how to use it?!?!

Dustin has been DYING to get family portraits by train tracks in the Fall time for the past couple of years.....today was the day....we were actually doing it! We met up with our good friends the Krotosky's - they took our family pictures, then we took their family pictures. Here were some of our favorite shots.

This picture looks like were were cut and pasted in....not so! The lens actually sensed the light differences and made the image look like that! We love it...makes us look like we are glowing angels :)

We tried the walking on track tracks shot...but apparently it is not as easily done with two kids and two adults. This was the best we got...

And finally....the WINNER of them ALL! This is the one that will grace its presence on our fireplace mantle and will be our 2011 Christmas card. This is the un-edited version (we centered it more for the mantle).

Cornbelly's trip #1

2011-10-15T21:40:00.001-06:00

Every Fall season we look forward to heading to Thanksgiving Point for the Cornbelly's Corn Maze. It isn't just a corn maze....it is much, MUCH more! This year they added on even MORE stuff.....I think we were there about five hours and didn't even touch half of the things to do. In fact we didn't even go in the corn maze this trip! We spent our time....

...floating ducks

...watching singing chickens

...climbing giant stacks of hay (every ~~young~~ boys dream come true)

...playing on a firetruck

...climbing rock walls

...chilling with mom in some big rocking chairs

...and FINALLY - checking out all the pumpkins!

Everyone had a blast....we might have to visit this one again before the season is up!

10 year anniversary

2011-10-12T21:35:00.001-06:00

Today is the day.......our TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

When you follow a cloud...

2011-10-09T17:20:00.000-06:00

Today was BEAUTIFUL outside. We were intrigued by the skies and went for a drive.

We decided to head into the American Fork Canyon to see if the tree colors had started changing yet. At first it didn't look like they had - but the further we got into the drive the more the tree colors had changed.

We stopped off at a short trail because there was a bit of snow on the ground. The boys got out and checked it out. They threw some small snow balls and then said it was too cold outside and they wanted to get back in the car.

We exited the canyon through Provo and stopped at Bridal Veil Falls.

We enjoyed our day of following the clouds and not having a time table :)

Jody's visit

2011-10-02T20:57:00.000-06:00

Our friend Jody Ross of Austin makes a trip to Utah to visit us every Fall. Dustin and Jody always spend the first few days of the trip playing some newly released video game. After they beat the video game they come out of hiding from the basement and we spend some time outside :)

We decided to take Jody up to the Kenecott Copper Mine. The kids always love seeing the huge trucks.

The kids managed to score a candy bar out of the gift shop from their dad. Logan ate an ENTIRE three musketeer candy bar. Look - he seems so determined.

As always we enjoyed having Jody come out and visit us a for a few days. If only Texas was closer to Utah...

Double Trouble

2011-09-30T21:30:00.000-06:00

Sigh.....I think this picture says it all....nothing is safe!

They teamed up to get the donut package off the counter and opened it and each picked what they wanted, Then looked to see where Mom and Dad were.

A Pirate's life for ME!

2011-09-25T12:23:00.000-06:00

Jen couldn't help purchase some Halloween costumes from Old Navy....they were SO CUTE! She figured the boys would get a kick out of wearing the pirate costume, not just for Halloween, but for every day play. Boy was she right....

All those entering our house from now on are required to give the pirates some gold coins (chocolate gold coins work too...).

Cute stuff

2011-09-17T20:49:00.000-06:00

These boys seem to have a knack for looking cute.

Zach has been coming into our room early in the morning and sleeping on our bedroom floor. Once Jen gets up to get ready for work, Zach jumps in the bed and snuggles with Dustin....

Here both boys are snuggled in our bed watching a movie....

Eagle Eye

2011-09-14T22:35:00.000-06:00

You HAVE to have an eagle eye with Logan around.

This evening Logan was hanging out in the garage with dad. Mom was inside, she had drawn a bath for the boys and went to get Zach out of his bedroom. During this couple of minutes, Logan decides to head back in the house. Dustin doesn't think much of it - Jen is in the house, she can watch Logan. Jen walks into the bathroom with Zach to start his bath and this is what was found...

Yes - that would be Logan, fully clothed....in the BATHTUB! Zach was VERY concerned his brother had clothes on in the tub. He promptly jumped in and helped Logan get undressed.

Jen in the other hand went in the garage and had a word with Dustin.....

Earth Wellness Festival

2011-09-11T21:59:00.010-06:00

One of Jen's friends was performing at the "Earth Wellness Festival" in Park City so we decided to check it out and make a day out of it. We had lunch at our favorite local restaurant, Good Thymes. The kids always enjoy eating at this place, as they have the BEST giveaway for kids to keep them entertained (instead of crayons and paper menus).

Outside the restaurant, there is a big open area for people to perform - no performances today which means there were lots of things for kids to play on.

First there were Olympic bobsleds to climb....

Then there were lots of dogs to meet...

Then there were sculptures to climb...

Jen's friend wasn't performing until ~3pm, so we tried to NOT get to the festival super early. Why you may ask? Well, what do you picture when you hear an "Earth Wellness Festival" is going on? We pictured hippies and lots of people that don't believe in wearing deodorant.

When we arrived it turned out to be lots of information booths with people selling their earth friendly goods. There was a stage area for performers. I was impressed they even had things to keep kids entertained. Zach loved spending some time on the rock climbing wall...

Next we hit up the ~~hippie~~ music bus. An old school bus had been converted into a room with lots of drums. The "driver" lead us in our own musical exploration. The kids liked pounding as hard as they could on the drum. Logan decided to leave the bus first....we just followed him out :)

We finished up looking at all the booths, and headed to the stage area. Now THIS was a bit more like what we were expecting. Hippie hula hoopers. Yes - they called themselves professional hula hoopers....and those weren't costumes they were wearing....that was their everyday attire.

Finally Jen's friend was up. They were doing a Zumba demonstration. Zach got friendly with all the ladies....he hung out with them before their performance, even went through stretching exercises with them!

Zach even told us he was going to go and perform with Jen's friend. We were all for it...we wanted to catch it on camera. But alas, he chickened out....

It was almost 4pm and Zach was on the verge of a melt down....no nap, So we stayed a bit longer and then decided to head home, where Zach fell asleep about 5 minutes into the 45 minute drive home.

We enjoyed our day in Park City!

We remember...

2011-09-11T09:29:00.001-06:00

We planned to spend some time in Park City today and decided to take a longer route - through Provo Canyon and Heber to reach our destination. While driving through downtown Heber this completely caught our eye.

It caught our eye so much we pulled off to the side of the road to take some pictures and ended up driving around the block so we could pass by it again! They fire department had the ladder extended so the flag would be right over the middle of the four lane road. What a PERFECT tribute in remembrance of the events that happened ten years ago.

Looking for employment

2011-09-04T14:41:00.000-06:00

Our kids love hanging out at McDonald's so much that during our last visit Logan decided he would apply for a job!

Uh....that computer may NOT have been working after Logan was done working with it.

Getting with the times....

2011-09-03T21:09:00.001-06:00

When Jen graduated from college over 11 years ago and moved in her own apartment in Austin, Texas - she bought this....

Her first 32 inch TV. Eleven years ago this was an AWESOME television.....today it is just BIG and BULKY. Check out the side view:

The TV still works great today. It has been our "bedroom TV" for the last 6 years....we don't really watch TV in our bedroom so it has just been collecting dust. All the TV components for our living room TV have been residing in the same armoire in our bedroom with this old Sony 32 inch. The kids have been playing WAY TOO MUCH with all the TV components (loading/unloading DVDs in a PS3, pushing any and all buttons, etc.) so Dustin decided to move the components above our bedroom TV instead of leaving them below the TV. That quick "switch" was taking WAY TOO LONG. After 20 minutes Jen walked in the room, looked at all of it and said, "that is it....we are heading to Best Buy and buying a flat panel to replace this old TV." Dustin looked at her for about five seconds and responded with, "come on kids, get in the car quick before mom changes her mind".

So off to Best Buy we go on a Saturday afternoon. We walked up and down the TV aisles until Jen said, "this is the one I want". Dustin just smiled (cause he knew Jen picked out a good one!). Jen then said, "I want a blu-ray player to go along with this TV - Dustin please go pick one out." The smile on Dustin's face got even bigger. Ten minutes later we walked out of Best Buy with our upgrade.

Hello 2011!

It's smoker time!

2011-09-03T20:23:00.000-06:00

We have been getting GREAT use out of the smoker Dustin got for his birthday this year. Most the time when we smoke some meat we plan ahead and make it an all day affair. Zach LOVES to help his dad every chance he gets. This weekend we did salmon, chicken and pork.

Here is Zach vacuum sealing some seasoned meat so we can smoke it tomorrow.

The meat turned out oh so yummy! We have and endless supply of salmon in our freezer from Dustin's fishing trip to Alaska....here are some of the cuts after they have been smoked.

Jen is a fan of the smoked chicken. We put a strip of bacon on top and it keeps the chicken oh so moist!

We also tried Jaren's smoked pork recipe - it also turned out PERFECT!

This is how you watch football

2011-09-03T16:51:00.003-06:00

I think Zach has started something new....

Breakfast

2011-08-31T20:38:00.002-06:00

Weekday mornings are a bit hectic in our household. Getting two kids ready and off to the babysitters by a certain time every morning so we can get to work on time....yeah, a bit hectic. If we are running behind on time, Jen normally packs the kids breakfast to go and they eat it in the car on they way to daycare. We have been learning what doesn't work well for kids to eat in the car. Today it was powdered donuts....

...thankfully baby wipes cleaned most of it up!

Snuggle Bug

2011-08-26T08:48:00.000-06:00

For the past week Zach has been walking into our bedroom about 4-5am. He brings some books with him and asks us to read him a book. Of course we say "NO - we are sleeping". So he curls up on our bedroom floor with a blanket and falls asleep. This morning Zach walked in to our room, said nothing, and just curled up with his blanket on the floor....

...we have to remember not to step on him when we get up for work! I sure hope this phase is short lived.....

End of Summer = Start of Preschool (again)

2011-08-23T14:14:00.000-06:00

Today Zach started his second year of preschool. We decided to have him return to the same place he attended last year. This year he goes two days a week instead of one day a week. He as excited to meet his teacher, Mrs. Madsen, and see the "jungle" room he would be in this year. Zach always talks about his preschool friends from last year....so now he is going to meet more friends!

Here is the big boy ready to roll to his first day of preschool this year!

Logan came along for the ride. Daddy always provides treats to the boys on car rides, this morning it was GUMMY WORMS. Yup....Logan enjoyed every single gummy worm he was given. Doesn't he look happy?

Lagoon

2011-08-17T21:42:00.005-06:00

We survived our first family trip to Lagoon! Lagoon is an amusement park (think 6 flags style, just on a smaller scale with a LOT more shade) in Farmington Utah - about 40 minutes north of our house. Our neighbor was able to score a bunch of half off tickets, so we decided to take they day of work and hang out with them at Lagoon.

We arrived about noon (the park opens at 11am) and found a pavilion to eat our lunch under. Lagoon lets you bring in what ever food you want. Here are the kids chowing down.

We had two 3.5 year olds, a 2 year old and a 1.5 year old. Our neighbor Natalie had two of the leash children backpacks. She put one on her 2 year old daughter and Logan decided he wanted to wear the other one. He thought he looked SUPER COOL with a monkey on his back...UNTIL he realized other people could pull him around. Here is Haley taking care of Logan.

The monkey backpacks only lasted until we walked to our first ride, then they came off. We hit up kiddie land first. There were tons of rides for the kids. They loved all of them....the adults loved all of them too! Here they are riding the airplanes/helicopters...

Here I think Zach realized just how HOT it was outside...with no breeze what so ever.

Daddy and Logan flying the skies...

Three kids looking for trouble...

We survived until about 5:30pm. Both kids refused naps (obviously). We pumped them up with some sugar...but the melt downs still happened. Here is Zach - he walked 20 feet away from us and threw himself on the ground.

So at 6pm we decided to hit the road back home. On the way out we decided to let the kids run wild in the splash pads the had at the entrance. Logan wasn't too much into it (really tired boy at this point)...but Zach went to town! Good thing Jen packed an extra change of clothes...the boy was drenched!

We never even made it into the adult roller coaster part of the park. That didn't bother us as the kids were having a blast and it was awesome to see them so happy and get excited over rides. I bet our next trip to Disney will be the highlight of our kids year!

IM Flash Open House 2011

2011-08-13T17:54:00.004-06:00

It is summer time, which means it is time for our work to host another Friends and Family Open House! This year they combined what had been most popular from previous years for one great big event.....outdoor catered lunch from Goodwood BBQ, outdoor games, sno cones, cotton candy AND some booths indoors - Bunny Suit pictures, AMHS race cars, YE lab show and tell....and liquid nitrogen ice cream (Jen's group hosted that one!). We can't explain how much our kids enjoy coming to this event every year. Every time we drive by our work Zach says, "that is mommy and daddy's work!" He even tells us he wants to go to work with us some days so he can play in the bouncy houses...yes, Zach thinks we play on bouncy houses all day at work :P

Here are Jason and Rick from Jen's group mixing up some liquid nitrogen ice cream!

Zach and Logan checking out the race track...

Zach in his bunny suit picture.

Logan in his with dad! Check out the grin on his face...

We invited the Abel's to come to this event with us this year. The kids loved the YE group demo - they were freezing all sorts of things with liquid nitrogen and were able to look at small objects through a powerful microscope and see semiconductor wafers.

Of course Logan was a COOL dude most of the day.

Outdoor activities when it is 90+ degrees outside aren't always popular with us. Zach and Logan were drawn to the 'kiddie' pool where they could fish out their very own rubber ducky to keep...

All in all a great day. The kids get excited to see where we work and this year we were able to bring the Abel's along with us...maybe now they will understand why we are such NERDS!

Hogle Zoo

2011-08-07T21:45:00.001-06:00

It had been a while since we had been to the Zoo - so we decided to make that today's adventure! Zach remembers the "train ride" at Hogle Zoo....all four of us were able to ride it this time. Logan's first train ride at the zoo...he was a pro! No pictures from that ride, mom spent the ride keeping Logan sitting on his chair.

We also brought a picnic lunch for us to eat. The kids started to enjoy that until they realized all the distractions that were around them. There were some birds making some noise right behind us. So the boys climbed the brick retaining wall to get a closer look. They were being nice to each other so I took a picture...

Some of the highlights from the trip were the elephants. Zach loved how this one made noise (not a real elephant)...

Logan couldn't take his eyes off the real elephants. He stood there and watched them for a good 10 minutes before we convinced him to keep looking around for other animals...

I think the next big highlight for the kids were the giraffes.

At this point it was just too HOT to stay outside. We made the loop back towards the carousel for a ride, then got some ice cream to help cool us down. Zach rode the tiger, Logan rode the panda.

You know it was a good day when on the drive home you look back and see this....

Doggy wanna swim?

2011-08-07T09:15:00.000-06:00

Dustin walked into our master bathroom this morning to see this....

That would be two dog stuff animals in our bathtub...with the water turned on very slowly...with about an inch deep of water in the tub at this point. I guess Logan thought the dogs needed a bath!

Slip 'N' Slide

2011-08-05T16:58:00.002-06:00

On this hot August night we decided to get out the slip 'N' slide and let the kids have some fun. Zach was all over it - he remembered using the slip 'N' slide last summer.

Logan on the other hand wasn't into it as much. We had to force him slide down it....

That only worked a few times then he gave us the 'face'.....NO MORE MOM....NO MORE!

Zach on the other hand got really into it. He was doing all sorts of tricks down the slip 'N' slide!

Only one more month of summer left!

Jordanelle Reservoir

2011-08-02T20:56:00.000-06:00

We decided to take the day off and spend some time in the sun!

We headed out near Park City to the Jordanelle Reservoir for the afternoon - we rented a pontoon boat with the Krotosky's. We left Logan and Sophia in day care (Logan has NO FEAR when it comes to water....that's all we needed, a 19 month old jumping in the water every chance he had!) and brought Zach along with us. Zach was so thrilled to go in a boat, it was all he talked about the day before - check out his smile!

The water was a bit chilly, but once you were fully emerged it was fine. It actually was very refreshing to be in the water with the warm afternoon. We rented a tube with the boat and we all took turns on the water. Jeff started it off for us....we tried as hard as we could but were unsuccessful in flipping him off the tube!

Next up was Dustin....we also had a hard time getting him to flip off the tube!

Jen had a blast on the tube....she squealed like a little girl....

Next up was Zach and Dustin! Zach actually did pretty good until he realized the water was a bit chilly...and then he didn't want to have anything to do with the water.

So Zach became the captain of boat and was driving us around in the tube instead of riding in the tube. Here Zach is driving Dustin around on the tube.

After a few hours of tubing we decided to do some chilling. We parked the boat

Awesome afternoon! We might have to make this a yearly thing....next year Logan and Sophia might be old enough to join us.

Rainbow Cupcakes

2011-07-31T21:49:00.000-06:00

Jen tried to get creative today and made some "rainbow" cupcakes. The kids had been eyeing them all afternoon...and FINALLY they got to sample them!

Living Planet Aquarium

2011-07-30T17:42:00.000-06:00

We got memberships again at the Living Planet Aquarium with a SWEET deal from Groupon. It had been a while since the kids had been to the aquarium and they had yet again done some expanding...so lots of new little rain forest critters to see. The kids loved getting up close and personal with all the exhibits!

Yup....lots more visits planned in the next year!

Daddy & Zach time in the canyon

2011-07-24T16:52:00.001-06:00

Logan was taking a LONG nap today......and in attempt to get Zach to take a nap, Dustin took him a drive. They drove and drove and drove....no luck, Zach was still awake. So they ended up driving through the American Fork Canyon. Zach LOVED it! Here were some of the pictures Dustin came back with, all taken with his iphone.

Chocolate Money

2011-07-19T20:21:00.001-06:00

Dustin had a quick business trip to Boise for two days this week. When ever Dustin goes out of town he brings the kids back a "treat". Zach is now to the point where he requests the type of treat he wants Dustin to bring back. Lately the "chocolate monies from Boise" have been a hit....so that is what Zach requested....boy oh boy were the boys SUPER EXCITED to have Daddy come home tonight!

Hot Dilly Beans!

2011-07-17T21:37:00.003-06:00

Look what Dustin made this weekend! Hot Dilly Beans! His family loves these and Dustin has been itching to use his canner, which up until recently has only been used for salsa.

Here is Dustin's Mom's recipe. It makes (4) 1 pint bottles -- (Since we used quart jars, we just doubled the recipe to fill the jars)

Ingredients:

2 lbs green beans, both ends trimmed (leave them as long as you can)
2 1/2 cups cider vinegar (white vinegar also works)
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup pickling salt (canning salt)
1/4 tsp. dried red pepper (like the kind you put on top of your pizza)
4 fresh garlic cloves

Directions:

1) Place bottles into the oven and set the temp to the lowest setting to keep them warm.
2) Boil vinegar, water, and salt in a large pot.
3) Trim the green beans evenly (both ends) and wash.
4) In each jar, pack the green beans. To make it easier to pack the green beans, set the jar on it's side and stack the beans in the jar.
5) Sprinkle the dried hot pepper over the beans, place one clove of garlic in each jar and top it off with a head of dill.
6) Fill each jar with the boiling liquid leaving 1/2" to 1/4" of head space. Remove air bubbles, make sure nothing is on the lip of the bottle, and place the lid and ring securely on each bottle.
7) Boil the bottles for 10 minutes. Start the timer when the water comes to a boil. After 10 minutes turn off the heat and let the jars 'settle' in the hot water for about 5 minutes, remove to a towel to cool for 12 to 24 hours. (if after 30 minutes or so one of the bottles fails to seal, unscrew the lid, clean the lip of the bottle, and try placing a new lid and ring on the bottle, then re-boil).
8) Wait at least 2-4 weeks before eating the beans. (It's hard to wait that long but well worth it)

Dustin's family has been canning these hot dilly beans for as long as he can remember. Its definitely one of the Gray family favorites. Hope you try this recipe and in a month let us know what you think!

Whirlwind Saturday

2011-07-16T23:41:00.000-06:00

When we woke up this morning we didn't realize EVERYTHING we would do today. We really only had one thing on the agenda.....professional pictures of the kids! We decided to return to Photoworks in Orem (where we had Logan's 1 year portraits taken). I am not sure what happened to our kids this morning, but NEITHER of them were cooperating very well for pictures. Jen wanted individuals of the boys and then some shots together. Apparently the kids had another agenda........

We started with Zach. The photographer had to coax him a bit and we got a few good pictures. I think we have a total of SIX pictures of Zach...yes only SIX.

Next they photographer tried to get pictures of both boys together and Logan would have NOTHING to do with that. After 20 minutes of tantrums and tears, Jen found some rocks in a display and that caught Logan's attention. We threw them around like they were "balls" and the photographer was able to get NINE pictures of Logan, yes only NINE.

...and that was it. Both boys would have NOTHING to do with pictures taken together. So 15 pictures and $79.95 later we walked out of the studio with a CD and one disappointed mom. We walked around the mall for a little bit, and picked up some needed items.

At this point we to head down to Spanish Fork to check out ThunderPig. We were in Orem...half way to Spanish Fork, so why not! When we arrived at Horvath Hotrods Zach was in heaven. There were TWO jeep Wranglers in the parking lot being repaired. He got inside the red jeep and checked it all out.

Now it was time for LUNCH! Where do we go for lunch when in Spanish Fork? McDonalds :) The kids had fun on the playscapes. We even splurged today and got ice cream cones. I was impressed that Logan knew now to eat an ice cream cone....no instruction needed!

It was a warm day...probably upper 80's maybe even hit 90 degrees. We couldn't leave Spanish Fork without visiting the park with the water. We didn't pack any swimsuits for the kids, we were lucky to have an extra set of clothes (brought along because we had the pictures earlier in the day). So both boys stripped down to their shorts and loaded up on sun screen. They of course had a blast!

The kids fell asleep on the drive back home after the park. Once very one was up from naps we had dinner and then went on a bike ride. Jeff and Kristin came over and we headed out around 7:30pm. We each had a trailer for the kids. It was a great ride - we will have to take more of these bike rides!

You would think our day was over right about now...but NO! Our neighborhood was having a "movie" in the park (by our pool). We all bundled up, sprayed ourselves with mosquito repellent, and grabbed some snacks. Everyone voted on watching the movie "Tangled".

Both kids stayed awake for most of it. This was way past Logan's bedtime and about 10pm (half way through the movie) Jen took him home...he wouldn't settle down while watching the movie, but once home in is own bed he was out in seconds! Zach fell asleep with Dustin at the movie about 5 minutes before it ended.

That was our "whirlwind Saturday"...good thing we have Sunday to recover from it!

White Trash Night

2011-07-15T20:14:00.001-06:00

Tonight was white trash night. We didn't plan on it being white trash night....that is just how things played out. It was a long week of work and the kids wanted to play outside when we got home from work. So we pulled up some lawn chairs in the driveway and let the kids play. We got supper comfortable. There was NO WAY we were cooking dinner. So Domino's pizza was ordered. The kids played in the front yard and garage.....we dug up the cheese balls....

At this point I think the neighbors started noticing. In fact the Finlayson's join our white trash night! Haley and Zach are the same age (Haley is actually 2 days older than Zach). She brought over her pink princess chair and put next to Zach's yellow Spongebob chair and Logan's red Cars chair. We continued to each cheese balls until the Domino's delivery man arrived.

We dined on pizza and diet coke - all of us!

Scott and Natalie one up'd us with some homemade steak quesadillas. Poor Sidney wasn't feeling good and just wanted to be held.

It was fun to listen to the conversations between Zach and Haley. Here was my favorite:

Zach: I like our dad's truck. Do you like my dad's truck?
Haley: Yeah.

Zach also let Haley drive his "bike". Zach doesn't even let Logan ride his "bike"...hmmm. The power of women, eh?
We stayed out on the driveway until bedtime!

Which side are you on?

2011-07-13T14:34:00.000-06:00

One great thing about Utah is the weather. It is so unpredictable and changes rapidly. The benefit of this is some SWEET pictures. Check out what we saw today while leaving work for lunch....

Good thing we were on the "sunny side" of this picture!

American Fork Steel Days

2011-07-09T22:31:00.000-06:00

Today ThunderPig was in a car show in American Fork for Steel Days. Dustin headed up around 10:30am with the truck as the show started at 11am. The kids and Jen spent a bit more time at home (Logan took an early nap) and about 1pm we loaded up to meet Dustin at the car show. We decided to pick up some lunch on the way and eat together when we arrived.

After lunch, Zach and Logan assumed their positions in the captains chairs.....staring everyone down that was stopping to see ThunderPig.

Dustin noticed there was a sticker on his windshield (must have been put on while we were eating lunch)...we were a "winner"! Awards weren't until 6:15pm so we had to stick around for another 4 hours to find out what we won.

Here is a full sun shot of ThunderPig - it was a beautiful day!

Then Logan the decided it was quality control time with ThunderPig......he is checking out the exhaust to make sure someone didn't accidentally hide food inside of it!

About this time Jen decided to let the kids explore a bit. The car show was at Rotary Park in American Fork and there were a few playgrounds.

We were enjoying the playgrounds until my children apparently liked to go around scaring other kids.....check out the faces of the kids coming off the slide...now look at my kids. Yeah, they were screaming at them trying to "scare" them.

Next adventure to kill time, checking out all the dogs at the show. Lots of people had brought their furry friends with them. Logan found this 9 week old puppy and made friends. They would just lay next to each other and exchange some pets for a wet dog licks.

When the award show finally started we learned how they do it in American Fork. The show had several sponsors and each sponsor picked their favorite car, and those were the awards. So the "winner" sticker on our windshield was put on by the sponsor "Home Depot".

Now it was time for the night cruise. They close down Main/State street in American Fork for TWO HOURS so all the cars from the show can cruise the street for everyone to see. Jen and Logan went and waited along the side of the road while Dustin and Zach were driving around in ThunderPig.

Here comes ThunderPIG!

Dustin and Zach cruised around for about 30 minutes before Zach started falling asleep. He was tired...long day playing in the sun with no nap....it was almost 8pm as well. So we cut the cruise short and headed back home. Next year I think the whole family (Dustin, Jen, Zach and Logan) will be inside ThunderPig for the AF Steel days car cruise!

Logan's 18 month check up

2011-07-06T22:14:00.001-06:00

Yup - it is official! Logan is 18 months old! We had his pediatricians visit today and here were his stats:

Height = 33.25 inches; 50th percentile

Weight = 25.6 pounds; 50th percentile

Head Circumference = 48.75cm; 75th percentile

The Gray boys in this household continue the tradition of having larger heads :) Here are some other interesting facts about Logan:

Clothes Size: 18-24 months

Shoe Size: toddler 6

Diaper Size: 4 in Huggies

Number of teeth: 7

# of hours he sleeps at night: 10

# of naps a day: 1 (2-3 hours long)

Latest Injury: tumbled down the garage cement steps scraped the top of his face at the hairline at 17 months.

Talking: Kind of......he is definitely trying. He likes the word "dadda" and "ball" the most.

If Logan was in charge what would be his typical day in our house: Up early at 6:30am. Raid the fridge for some yogurts. Eat the yogurts and make the biggest mess possible. Hit my his toy box and play with everything Zach normally doesn't let him play with. Raid the Ziploc bag drawer. Snack time - goldfish and milk. Chase Sammie our cat around the house, finally corner her and pet her nicely until she starts to relax, then squeeze and pull her tail as hard has he can. Start crying because Sammie hits back at him. Cuddle time with Mom. Lunch - PB&J is his favorite. Makes a big mess too. Clean up and then swimming pool time. Mr. Logan with no fear jumps in and out of the pool and tries to swim on his own. When he is done he likes to cuddle up in his towel and sit on the lounge chairs at the pool and watch everyone else swim. Then it is time for a wagon ride around the neighborhood. Once home it is our daily LONG nap. When he wakes up almost three hours later it is time for more snacks, more toy playing, more outside time in the sandbox. Then McDonald's for dinner and playtime in the toddler play area. Back at home a long bath and then time for bed!

The host is victimized?

2011-07-05T21:36:00.000-06:00

I think I have been robbed. Robbed from my own home - during our 4th of July party with all 60 guest around.

I could be wrong....but all I know is my 6 month old iphone4 is missing. I realized about 11pm on the 4th of July (after everyone left our house party) that it wasn't on the counter I thought I left it. I called it, thinking I misplaced it - but it went straight to voicemail. That is when I started to panic. I NEVER turn my cell phone off and it had been fully charged earlier in the day. I checked my account usage online, the last time my phone received "data" was 10:18pm. Our house guests were all outside watching the Thanksgiving Point Fireworks show from 10-10:30pm. Did someone sneak inside and take it while everyone was distracted watching fireworks? Ironic for someone to just take my phone. My phone was sitting right next to a PSP - that did not get taken.

What do you do?

Iphones have the locate me function, but it only works if the phone is turned on (and mine wasn't apparently). When I talked to an AT&T store employee they said if someone takes out my SIM card while the phone is off it is no longer trackable. Bummer.

I don't have the $$ for a new iphone4 - I just blew it all on hosting a massive 4th of July party for 60+ people! Guess I am stuck with my old iphone 3G (yes, the slow one) for a bit of time :(

4th of July BASH!

2011-07-04T23:51:00.000-06:00

The past couple of years we have had some awesome 4th of July fireworks at our house. Dustin's brothers always drive here from Colorado (through Wyoming) and pick up some "nice" stuff - like $500-$600 worth of "nice" stuff. This year the "nice" stuff is LEGAL in Utah....but we still had them pick up fireworks on Wyoming along the way.

The first 4th of July party we hosted in Utah was pretty much just some relatives from Dustin's side of the family that live in the area. The second year it grew a bit bigger....the third year a bit bigger again. This year - our FOURTH year hosting a 4th of July party was the biggest bash we have ever hosted. We extended our formal guest list outside of just the relatives. We expected some of our guests to decline the invitation, thinking the would already have plans. NOPE. Everyone RSVP'd with a YES - and even brought some other "friends" with them! We were excited, we love to throw parties so the more merrier!

We decided to grill/smoke hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, salmon and some chicken. I don't think we realized it would take all day to prep and get things ready for a party of this size. We started at 10am to get the food marinaded, moving toys and chairs around...you name it we did it. Eight hours later the party began at 6pm. During the "prep" time the kids kept busy playing in the backyard.

Check out the smoker hard at work! We smoked our neighbors ribs!

About 8:15pm we shut down the road (it is great having our neighbor who is a cop and the HOA president!) - we had people crowding around from all four sides!

Zach really enjoyed the Roman Candles this year. He kept asking for MORE!

Eric and Jaren are the official firework engineers. They set up the big one and light them at the perfect time for a GREAT show!

At 9:50pm we finished our show, just in time for Lehi City to start firing off fireworks from Thanksgiving Point at 10pm! Everyone just watched the show from our front lawn.

Poor Zach, he made it until about 10:15pm. Then he zonked HARD. Once the entire show was over and people were leaving Zach stayed wrapped up in his blanket asleep on our driveway.

Here is part of the remains of the fireworks we shot off.....we had already filled our neighbors large trashcan!

I wonder what next years 4th of July party will be like?! We LOVED having our friends and family around to celebrate our country's freedom.

Super Logan

2011-07-01T20:29:00.000-06:00

Today Logan turned into a superhero! He apparently had been training all day at the babysitters....

Dairy Days 2011

2011-06-18T22:16:00.000-06:00

Today we went to "dairy days" at the Thanksgiving Point Farm. The kids love going to the farm to see the animals and today they had everything a bit more cow themed.

We started the day off with some popsicles. What is not to love about a popsicle?

Zach loved the smack a cow game....

Logan loved throwing the cows out of the barrel...

We all enjoyed riding the "cowdapiller"....

Logan liked the chickens.

Zach liked the baby horse.

What happens after potty training

2011-06-05T22:45:00.002-06:00

Zach has been fully potty trained for a few weeks now. Today when he was "done" using the bathroom we walked in to find this:

Yes - that is an ENTIRE roll of toilet paper in the toilet. Lets just say our plungers have been coming in handing around here!

When daddy comes home....

2011-06-03T19:19:00.002-06:00

When we got home from work tonight the kids were all waiting for us out front. Turns out Lisa had bought them all water squirters that day. The had spent all afternoon "practicing" how to use them in the backyard and were "waiting" for Dustin to get home so they could soak him! It was quite entertaining to watch. Peyton and Zach were all decked out in their swim gear...and Dustin had barely gotten out of the car when the kids decided to attack.

I think the kids won. Sorry Dustin, maybe next time :)

Dustin's BIRTHDAY!

2011-06-01T21:52:00.000-06:00

Didn't you hear? Today was Dustin's BIRTHDAY! Woot woot! We had Glen, Lisa, Peyton and Jackson in town to help us celebrate. So how does Dustin spend his birthday?

#1 - sleeps in (anything past 7am counts as sleeping in)

#2 - Beto's breakfast burritos

#3 - massage

#4 - haircut

#5 - bowling with everyone

#6 - helps our neighbor retrieve their car from the hospital

#7 - mexican food for dinner

#8 - cake and presents!

That is quite a bit to pack into one day....but we made it HAPPEN! Here are some of the bowling pictures. Zach had been bowling one time before, Logan had never bowled before. There were a total of EIGHT of us - four adults, four kids (ages 4, 3, 2, 1). Guess how long it took all eight of us to bowl one game....TWO HOURS! We opted NOT to bowl a second game (the kids lost interest after about the 5th frame).

Zach's first ball...he walked onto the bowling lane and slipped - oops...

The kids were literally fighting over the bowling balls...Peyton and Jackson keeping an eye out for "their" bowling ball.

Jackson with the perfect aim...

Logan giving it a shot...

Zach and Logan actually "sharing"...had to document this one.

Logan chilling with Grandpa Gray

Now the presents and cake part ended up happening after Logan fell asleep. I think this is the third birthday that Logan has been asleep for presents and cake. Zach of course was up front and helping his dad the whole way...don't they both look excited?

After a little bit the kids got bored...check out Peyton and Zach...they kept asking for cake!

Happy 36th Birthday Dustin! Yes that is a CROWN!

Birthday boy likes his cake!

Lemon Torte from the Cheesecake Factory (compliments of Costco)...very YUMMY!

Family Reunion in Costco

2011-05-31T21:21:00.000-06:00

Yup - that is right...tonight we had a Gray family reunion in Costco! Dustin's Aunt Mary invited everyone in town to meet at Costco for pizza dinner. We have Dustin's sister Lisa, her kids and Dustin's dad in town so it was great to have them spend time with everyone that lives around here.

So if you were in Costco tonight and saw the full food court and kids running around....that was probably us! :)

What fish DON'T eat

2011-05-29T20:21:00.001-06:00

The fish tank was looking gloomy the past few days...not an abnormal thing, just was a clue it was time for a cleaning. This morning I took a closer look and there were a LOT of dead fish. Everyone ran into Zach's room to look. As Dustin is getting all the dead fish out he turns and looks at Zach and says, "did you put anything in your fish tank?". You want to know his reply?

GOLDFISH

Yes....those little orange, cheesy, crackers. Goldfish crackers. Our almost 3.5 year old thought his fish needed to eat goldfish crackers. I am sure the fish LOVED eating them, but the tank didn't like the PH balance shift and it killed almost all the fish! We tried to remember the last time we gave our kids goldfish crackers and it was been 2-3 days. So our 10 gallon tank of 40 fish had been polluted for a while. The end result? 35 dead fish.

Only five of the fish survived. Of course they 35 dead ones received a proper burial....

No worries - this fish tank started with five fish just two years ago...and they kept breeding and breeding...so I am sure they will multiply yet again and our missing 35 will return.

Z-Diddy and LL Cool Gray

2011-05-28T21:52:00.000-06:00

Plasma Cars

2011-05-27T20:58:00.002-06:00

You seen these before?

Last summer Zach would ride the one at the babysitters house all the time. it was a fight to get him off it every time we picked him up! We were thrilled to find a red one in Costco a few weeks ago. We debated on if we should get one or two. We settled on one as we thought Logan wouldn't probably be big enough to use it until next year, so we would buy one now and buy a second in a year. Once we got it home Zach had fun riding it all around the neighborhood.

But Logan....he sure had the eagle eye on Zach's new plasma car. When Zach would get distracted and ride his trike Logan would get on the plasma car. Jen taught him how to put his feet up and she would push him down the street. After a few days we decided we might as well buy the second plasma car - but Costco was OUT OF THEM! So what was the next best thing? Amazon.com!!! Jen was able to by a blue plasma car for Logan at the same price Costco had the red one for...and FREE SHIPPING!

Boy was Logan excited when we got home tonight and saw a plasma car box at our front door.....
Now we can take family trips around the neighborhood!

Zach's 2nd dentist visit

2011-05-25T19:34:00.000-06:00

It has been 6 months since our last attempt at taking Zach to the dentist. This time he was more than willing to let them clean his teeth! He was Mr. Joe Cool for sure. Check him out...

The dentist gave him two thumbs up for no cavities (total shock to us given the amount of CANDY this kid eats!).

Of course after Zach's cleaning he took pictures of mom and dad getting their teeth cleaned....and then promptly found the toys he could choose from as his reward from the dentist.

All three of us left the dentist today with NO CAVITIES!

U2 360 Tour

2011-05-24T23:43:00.006-06:00

Today we FINALLY got to see U2 perform in Salt Lake City. We bought these tickets over a year ago - and then the tour was postponed for 11 months for Bono's unexpected back surgery. I can honestly say the concert was worth waiting for! We bought tickets with two other couples and as luck would have it both couples had a baby in the past year - so the husbands attended. That is right, it was Jen and three men at this concert!

We headed down to SLC a bit early and scored a sweet, FREE parking spot. The concert was at the University of Utah stadium - so we got on Trax and rode it into downtown for dinner at the Blue Iguana. We got back to the stadium in plenty of time...watched the opening act...and then waited about a hour for U2 to begin. Some findings along the way.....

Yeah - you see all those semi trucks in the picture above? This is a picture of about 15 red/white semi trucks parked side by side. What you don't see is there are THREE ROWS of 15 semi trucks parked side by side. Yes - about 45 semi trucks to haul the concert stuff. Seem a little excessive? Check out this stage....

Yup a bit huge. Not sure it still takes 45 semi trucks though. Here are the boys (Dustin, Cliff and Dave) anxiously waiting for U2 to make their appearance.

...and of course the beautiful sunset we were able to watch.

The last time we had been to a concert together was before we were married....a little more than ten years ago....when we were first starting to date - it was a STING concert. This time I think we were in the right age group that were in attendance for U2. Bono rocked it for 2.5 hours straight. The stage was fantastic with all the effects. The cameras they had filming him during is performance help make you feel like you were right near the stage (because we obviously weren't!). It was a GREAT show. Here were some snapshots of the stage - nighttime pictures never turn out perfect :( The screen actually separated and moved towards the ground to make it huge...pretty cool.

It is also the era of not using lighters during concerts....you use your cell phone! Yup, these tiny lights are cell phones.

...and the last bit of entertainment for the evening....watching Cliff and Dave rock out!

Thunderstorm

2011-05-22T21:24:00.000-06:00

Tonight we got one heck of a show! We were all outside enjoying the evening when Jen started noticing these clouds moving over our house.....

It just keep getting darker and darker....

We ended up getting some Texas sized rain for a good 30 minutes with a bit of hail.

We miss storms like this. It reminded us of Austin weather.

Cousin Scott

2011-05-21T20:50:00.001-06:00

Jen's parents came to town this weekend for the ThunderPig car show reveal. Cousin Scott was able to tag along and spend the weekend with us! Zach and Logan were really excited to have their cousin (Jen's brother's 4 year old son) at their house. We had a busy weekend of hard core playing that wore all the kids out!

The first night Scott was in town we took the kids to "Planet Play". The kids enjoyed eating pizza and playing the arcade games. Zach and Scott played every race car arcade game in the place. They even sweet talked Jen and her dad into driving the go carts with them (sorry no pictures of that....we were DRIVING!). Before we knew it...it was 9pm!

Zach and Scott slept on a blow up mattress in Zach's room. Every night Grandma Twogood would read them all stories before bedtime. Logan liked to hang out with the boys too during this time.....

Logan also tried snaking Scott's scooby-do stuffed animal. Thankfully Scott let him play with it the whole visit.

The second day of Scott's trip was the big car show for ThunderPig's reveal. The boys liked looking at all the cars....of course they wanted to also TOUCH all the cars. Luckily there was a wide open area with lots of room for them to run around in at the spot ThunderPig was at. They had fun playing in the mud, and tickling each other with long pieces of grass.

The rest of the trip the boys had fun hanging out with everyone. Scott LOVES the movie Ironman - so we watched it a few times. I finally decided to video him being Ironman. Every time Ironman was on the screen he would act out the motions of what he was doing! He pretty much had it memorized.

Grandpa was also the popular man during this trip! All three grandsons getting a ride on our recliner.

Zach and Logan are already asking when Scott is coming back for another visit. Thank goodness for Apple Facetime!

Hawaii Trip Day #10 - San Francisco

2011-05-13T20:49:00.000-06:00

Today was our "chill day" in San Francisco. Jen's brother and family met up with us for the day (Jen's parents were still with us as well). We made a pit stop at Walmart before crossing over the bay bridge to head into San Francisco. We witnessed a dent removal company doing business right in the parking lot! It was quite entertaining to watch.

Once in San Francisco we headed to Golden Gate Park. We decided to go to the Academy of Sciences. The place was pretty sweet - there was plenty of things to keep all of us busy! There was a butterfly house, planetarium, aquarium....and much much more!

Zach got to attend his first planetarium show! He was super excited to sit next to his cousin Scott, Uncle Garrett and Aunt Renee. Good thing it wasn't super crowded, because he talked through a lot of it....we kept hearing "wow, look at that!".

Zach had a great time with his cousin Scott!

After the Academy of Sciences we decided to hit up pier 49 so the kids could see the sea lions.

Very interesting family shot....it was cold and windy....

To get the cold and wind off the minds of the kids we headed into the pier shopping area. Zach saw the merry go round carousel and wanted to ride it! The operators were smart...the rules were kids 3 and under had to have an adult ride with them...a paying adult! So both Zach and Dustin went for a ride!

Afterwards we hit up Garrett and Renee's favorite place to eat on the pier. We enjoyed fish and clam chowder!

Here is Zach and his cousin London watching movies on their parents iphones while the rest of us ate dinner....

At this point we all are wiped. We head back to the hotel and crash. Our flight back to Utah is tomorrow! We had a great time spending the day with all the Twogood's. Our kids loved hanging out with their cousins!

Hawaii Trip Day #9 - Back to Oakland

2011-05-12T23:24:00.001-06:00

This morning we left Hawaii. Our tropical vacation has come to an end. We took some pictures with our lei's and the kids....these turned out pretty good. Don't we all look so tan and sun kissed?

All went well in the 5 hour flight back. Logan started off taking a nap - it only lasted about an hour though (darn!). Then he wanted to get up and roam and make friends with all the passengers.
Zach was entertained by his movies for about half the flight....then he wanted to get up and roam.

We were glad when we touched down in Oakland. It was about 7pm California time when we arrived. By the time we got to the hotel and went to grab dinner and got back to the hotel to get settled it was about 9:30pm. The kids were still on Hawaii time so it took longer than normal to settle them down (they were in bed by 10pm though). Apparently that was "too distributive" to our hotel neighbors....after only 5 MINUTES of us being back they checked out and moved to a different room. I am glad they did...if they couldn't handle 5 minutes of kids talking it would have been a horrible night of them complaining and hitting the walls.