"Love Connor"

Aiden's full name is Aiden Philip Storrs. Philip is my dad's name and we decided that since my dad didn't have any sons to pass his name onto, we would do it for him. Little did I know that by naming Aiden after his "Poppy", I was giving him the plight of the "comic curse". What is the comic curse, you ask? Here's the definition: the ability of one to make jokes that have little humor, yet are thought to be funny by one's self. My dad is the KING of this quandary. He makes jokes all the time, then laughs at himself, and then--in response to his laughter--everyone else laughs at him. Well, apparently Aiden has inherited this obviously "desirable" trait from his maternal grandfather. He is our class clown (or I guess family clown). He loves to do silly things and then bust up laughing at himself. At no other time has this been more apparent than it has the past few weeks. Let me explain...

A few weeks ago, I said, "Love you Aiden!" He looked at me for a few seconds...I could see the wheels turning...he was trying to think of something funny to say. Instead of saying, "Love you too", he came back with, "Love...Connor!" & laughed a good belly laugh. I--in return--laughed at him, laughing at himself. This just fed the "comic curse"...Aiden laughed again, this time even harder. A few minutes later, I decided to try again, "Love you Aiden," I said. Again the reply came, "Love Connor!" followed by another round of self-laughter. Since then, every time someone has said, "Love you Aiden," he has replied with "Love Connor!" It has even expanded beyond "love", he now says, "Thank Connor" instead of "Thank you". Does this make sense to anyone else? I am the one that feeds him, dresses him, bathes him, plays with him, etc. What does Connor do? Takes toys away from him, tackles him to the ground, shuts the door in his face, etc. Yet Connor is getting all the love & the thanks lately! What's a mom to do? I guess the only person I can blame it on is myself--after all, it was ME that decided to name him after my funny father & pass the curse on to another generation! Oh well! --Lindsay

An Exciting Day All Around!

Yesterday was Connor's first day of school! He was so excited for it to start back up again! He was so sad when school ended back in May (remember the picture I posted of him?). I think I may be one of the few mother's in the world that has to "talk up summer". I would say, "Connor, summer is cool! You get to play with your friends all day everyday, without school getting in the way!" I talked it up so much, in fact, that I was scared he WOULDN'T want to start school...but I was wrong. I went into his room yesterday morning and said, "Connor...it's time to get up!" "Uhhhh..." is what I heard from underneath the covers. But, then I said, "It's the first day of school!" All of the sudden, a little four-year-old head popped up from under the sheets, and before I knew it, he was jumping out of bed saying, "Mom! I can't believe I get to go to school again! I'm so excited!" I haven't seen him get dressed and eat breakfast so quickly in a long time...probably not since May, I guess! Connor's teacher this year is Mrs. Bahr. She was Jaxon's (Connor's friend) teacher last year so Connor was pretty stoked! We met her Monday morning at the school open house & Connor automatically fell in love with her! We also had to go visit his old teacher, Mrs. Rodabaugh, to say "hello" to her. We walked into her classroom & she said, "Oh my stars & gardens! Connor Storrs! I have missed you so much!" (Do you see why Connor loved her so much? She is such a doll!) Anyway, back to the first day of school...

Connor had a great first day, although he did already get in trouble. Mrs. Bahr has little letter pictures hung up all over the room. Well, Connor sits right next to the letter "m". He decided the picture wasn't complete without a little stick figure of himself next to the lonely little letter, so he picked up a green crayon and begun his self-portrait. I walked into the room to pick him up just as he was beginning his hair. What's a mom to do? Mrs. Bahr just laughed about it & said it wasn't the first time a child had colored on it, and that it cleaned up easily. Still, I was flabbergasted that a four-year-old didn't understand the importance of first impressions. Oh well! Anyway, I think it should be a great year for him. He'll review all his letters for the next few months & then begin learning to read! Can you believe that? My baby...reading! I can't believe it! It should be a fun year!

So, that was Connor's exciting event for the day, mine came that same evening when I went to my monthly girls night. I forgot to take the camera with me, so there aren't any pictures...but it was a blast! We had a bunko night at the clubhouse. I lost big time! I guess my dice rolling abilities aren't up to par. Oh well! It was such a fun night...and who knew you could learn so much about people over a bunko game? Tami apparently has a fabulous "bell ringing talent" she never shared with any of us; Ashley discovered that one of my folding chairs is apparently lucky (but only for her...Jade got stuck in it for the rest of the night & couldn't get a bunko to save her life); Marni likes to roll bunko the second she picks up the dice...making for a lot of big fat 0's on my score card; Melanie makes a fabulous spinach dip that kept interfering with my game; Sis. Wallace's folding table is way too bouncy for bunko (another fact that played into my poor performance--I'm sure); Karin likes to get on rolling streaks that even SHE can't keep track of (there were several times when she would realize that she had gotten bunko 5 rolls earlier); Alicia is now the official "Bunko Queen"; & I apparently LOVE to eat her "dice rolling dust" (inside Facebook joke); oh, and also, if you eat too many sour skittles, you won't be able to feel or taste anything with your tongue for the next 12 hours! Overall, it was a great night! I LOVE my girls night girls! --Lindsay

The Last Weekend of Summer

I can't believe it, but school starts tomorrow! I'm actually kind of sad to see the summer go! I LOVE summer! Why couldn't Brigham Young have gone on to San Diego or something? Don't get me wrong, I love Utah...but the winters can be brutal here...especially at 5:00 in the morning, before the snowplows come out! So, I'm sad to see it go. However, we weren't going to let it go easily...if it was going to go, we were going to make sure it went out with a BANG! We started the last weekend of summer by going to see "Beauty & the Beast" on Saturday night at the Sandy Amphitheatre. It was AWESOME! Everyone in the cast is a local, but you never would have known! We might as well have been at Capitol Theatre, watching a traveling Broadway crew! A girl in my ward, Camille Clayton, is actually part of the cast. She is one of the "silly girls" that swoons over Gaston. It was a lot of fun to see her! I was a little worried about how the boys would do at the "girl show". They've never seen the Disney movie, and I usually have to twist a few arms to get them to watch one of the princess shows, so I thought they might get bored. But, they surprised me! They both absolutely LOVED it! Connor did get a little bored during the scenes that didn't include the beast, but once the hairy character appeared...he was glued. I don't think Aiden's eyes left the stage once! I've never seen my little monster sit so still! It was a great show & we all really liked it. If you want, you can still catch it...it will be running through the end of this week!

On Monday, we made our annual trip to Lagoon! We started the boys on the kiddie rides, but Connor's eyes kept wandering to the "big kid rides". He wanted to go on all the roller coasters, but you have to be at least 46" to go on all of them. Finally, we found a "big kid ride" he could go on...the Tidalwave! I took him the first time & we sat in the middle of the boat...thinking that he might get scared if I took him in the back. Well, he loved it (of course)! The second we got off, he was saying, "I want to go again...but this time I want to go further back so I can go higher!" Mike took him the second time, and I have never seen a kid so brave! Toward the end of the ride, he had both hands up in the air! Crazy kid!

Aiden wasn't so thrilled about the rides at first. In fact, it took us a good 30 minutes to coax him out of his stroller. He finally gave in & went on the helicopters with Connor. The second that ride started, the kid was hooked! As we would push his stroller up to a ride, he would jump out & try to PUSH his way past all the people to the front of the line! And, if Connor ever went on a ride that Aiden wasn't tall enough for, he would cry the whole time & say, "Ride...ride!" His favorite rides were probably "Puff" (he couldn't stop laughing and he put his hands up in the air like Connor) & the log ride. In fact, when we got off the log ride, he said, "I wet! Cool!" It was so cute! Who knows? Maybe he's following in Connor's dare devil footsteps! We'll see!

At about 1:00, we stopped our riding frenzy for some lunch. We found a pavilion & had started eating when Connor said, "I just know this is going to be a great day! And, no one is going to bother us...except all those people that are screaming!" I just thought it was totally random! We all laughed so hard that I thought Diet Coke might come out of my nose! After lunch, we were joined by all the "slow-pokes" (or the "people who have better things to do than go to Lagoon for 12 hours"). Mom, Ashlee, Gavin, Ty, Kristin & Dan all joined up with us & we went on a gazillion rides...including forcing Kristin & Dan to take Connor on Rattlesnake Rapids (no one else wanted to be soaked for the rest of the day!)

We finally left the park at about 10:00, but not before buying two light sabers for two very tired little boys (as can be seen by this picture). Overall, we had a great time! The boys were at great ages for taking them to Lagoon. As we drove home, I thought about what a fun summer we have had! It seems like something fun has been going on almost every week! Hopefully, we can continue this trend into the fall...otherwise, we're going to have 4 extremely bored people on our hands! We hope you have all had a great summer! I've included more pictures of our trip to Lagoon below! --Lindsay

Connor and Aiden on the Helicopters (Aiden's first ride)

Connor on his dragon. We had to go on the merry-go-round twice so that he could get it!

Connor kissing me! "Okay, what do you want Connor?"

Aiden, Gavin & Connor on the train

Aiden got bored & started eating dirt. We all know who he gets that from (Tata)!

Aiden & Gavin on the boats...and they didn't fight once!

I'm Officially a Soccer Mom!

When someone asks me what I do, I always reply, "I'm a meteorologist on the weekends, and a soccer mom during the week!" Even when Connor was a baby, I called myself a "soccer mom". I like the way "soccer mom" sounds, as compared to "stay-at-home mom". The latter just sounds so dull & lifeless. Who wants to stay home their whole life? The term "soccer mom" sounds active & fun, so I've gone with that one. Up until now, I've just "pretended" to be one, but as of today, I am now OFFICIALLY a soccer mom! Connor played in his first soccer game this morning and it was a blast! I thought T-Ball was fun, but soccer blew it out of the water! Connor seems to like it a lot more...probably because he gets to run the entire time, rather than waiting for his turn to hit the ball.

Connor is on the Gorilla team, and to make it even more fun, Mike is one of Connor's coaches! He and Ryan Hart, Trish's husband, are "co-coaches" (which is just a nice word for "those guys that yell 'You're going the wrong way!'"). For those of you who don't know, Mike ROCKS at soccer! He played all through high school when he lived in northern California & was even Team Captain his Senior year. I didn't know him back then, but from what I've heard, he (and his Jason Priestley 90201 haircut) ruled the field! He's now hoping that some of that "exceptional soccer-playing ability" made its way past my lack of hand-eye (or in this case, foot-eye) coordination into Connor's DNA!

Apparently at least some of it did, because Connor scored two goals during today's game (this picture was taken right before the second one). Now, granted, no one was guarding the goal either time, but we were pretty proud of him anyway! If it were me, and even if the goal were 1000 feet wide, I would find a way to miss it, so it looks like he's following in Mike's footsteps...let's just hope his hair doesn't follow too! --Lindsay

Fun with Gavin & Ty

My sister, Ashlee, and her husband, Greg, are on an Alaskan cruise this week with Greg's family (no fair--I know), so my parents have been babysitting their two kids, Gavin & Tyler. My kids LOVE their cousins--in fact, they are the only ones they've got--so we have seen them almost everyday this week. On Sunday evening, we took a picnic up to Bridal Veil Falls and let the kids play around in the water a little bit. The above picture is the before. This picture is the after. Poor Aiden! Apparently, he was pushed/slipped off the rock, and he face planted right into the water. We were pretty lucky though, he came within inches of hitting his head on some really sharp rocks. All was well a few minutes later when he was all dried off. It was a fun evening, and the kids had a blast!

The next day, we babysat the kids while my mom went into work for a few hours. There are no pictures with this part of the story (you try to take pictures with 4 little boys under the age of 5 running around your house). The kids had a blast...well, except Ty, who was woken up from several naps due to some other boys (who will remain nameless) that kept going into the room to "see if he was awake yet". It all ended up being okay though, because I think they had a great time.

Yesterday, we took the kids to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. The kids LOVED it! They had so much fun feeding and petting the animals. Aiden--remember, he's the animal lover in our family--almost lost several fingers, because he would feed the animals and then leave his hand in the cage or pen. The animals would think that his hand was more food & they would go for it. My mom & I had to be quick to pull his hand out several times, but we escaped unscathed. When we had seen all the animals, the kids got to take a pony ride. Aiden almost fell off the saddle several times, making it an exciting ride, to say the least. Connor enjoyed the ride, but thought the horses walked too slow (remember, he's the dare devil in our family). He thought the best part of the ride was at the end, when his horse decided to "relieve" himself for about 30 seconds. (Note the above picture). I really, truly have never seen so much pee in my life...and I live with 3 boys! It was impressive, to say the least. The kids had a great time, and they were pretty good most the time too, but we decided to throw them in jail anyway (see below):

If only they were this happy when they were put in time-out!

After the petting zoo, we all went to Arctic Circle to cool off and fill our tummies. It's been a really fun week, and my kids have LOVED being with Gavin & Ty (that's supposed to be a subtle hint to Ashlee that she needs to move closer)! Nana, we loved being with you too! Thanks for inviting us to come along with you! --Lindsay

My Fun-Filled Weekend!

This past weekend was a busy one! It began with a girls' mini-getaway with my mom & sisters. A few months ago, my mom got the four of us tickets to go see "Mamma Mia" at the Capitol Theatre. Since our tickets were for a Friday night and I had to work the next morning in downtown, my mom decided that we should make it into a girls weekend and stay overnight. So, she got us a hotel room at the Marriott on Gallivan Plaza, so I could walk to work the next morning & then we could shop all day. Sounded like a GREAT idea to all of us! We met at around 5:30 & headed over to Biaggi's for dinner. I had the Butternut Squash Ravioli & I absolutely recommend it!

After dinner, we made our way over to the Capitol Theatre for the show! It was so much fun! For those of you that don't know,

"Mamma Mia" is the musical that takes all it's music from ABBA songs. I hadn't ever seen it before, and I've only heard excellent things about it, so I was really excited to see it! My expectations were pretty high, but even they were blown away by how GREAT it was! It was hilarious! Let me tell you a little about it (without giving too much away). It's the story about a girl named Sophie who is getting married. She's been raised by her mom her whole life & has no clue who her father is. Well, with her impending nuptials coming up, she decides to try to figure it out. She finds her mom's diary & reads about 3 possible men that could be her father, so she sends them all invitations to the wedding. The story line that plays out when they all arrive is HILARIOUS! In fact, I laughed so hard that my abs hurt afterward! This was the first comedy I've seen at the theatre! In the past, I've only seen dramas like "Phantom" & "Les Miserables". As much as I love those kind of shows, I absolutely FELL IN LOVE with this one! It was my kind of show! As you can see, we were a little silly afterwards! What can you expect from childless women?

After the show, we went back to our hotel room and...pure chaos broke out! We could not stop laughing about anything! Have you ever had one of those nights where EVERYTHING was hilarious to those of you that were there, but if you try to explain it to someone who wasn't there, they just don't get it? Well, that's definitely the case here! I'm not even going to attempt to tell you what happened that night (or explain the above photo) because none of you will get it! But, we do have a lot of GREAT inside jokes from it!

The next morning (which was only about 3 hours after we went to bed), I woke up and went to work. Afterwards, I came back to the hotel & waited for the slow-pokes to get their butts out of bed. About two hours later (Kristin), we went to breakfast. Kristin and I decided to have a sugar packet contest (where you see who can dump an entire packet in their mouth without gagging). I am proud to say I totally kicked her butt! After breakfast, we made our way over to Gateway for a day of shopping. Unfortunately, I only found stuff to Mike. There's no fun in that!

At about 2:00, I had to leave the girls. Now, I know you're asking yourself, "What could pull you away from a day full of shopping"? I had to leave because of my...10-year high school reunion (duh duh duh...that's supposed to be the sound effect that you hear in all the horror movies). I can't believe it's been 10-years since I graduated from high school, and when I saw all my old friends & classmates, it made it even harder to believe! It really was like old times with many of them...just with a few more love handles & a little less hair! Mike even made several friends there too! It was SUCH a good time...and I can't wait to see everyone at the 20-year!

So, that was my exciting weekend! As you can probably guess, I was EXHAUSTED by the time it was over! --Lindsay

I Have Lived "The Pottery Barn Life"...Well, For One Night!

The other night, we had a "reunion" with some of my best friends on the planet...my Sparks Apt. 18 college roommates. So, where does Pottery Barn fit into this? Well, one of my roommates, Elizabeth, married an Ashton. For those of you who don't know, the Ashton's founded Word Perfect, then sold it to Novell when it was at it's peak, took the money & made Thanksgiving Point (a beautiful area with shops, gardens, convention & reception centers, a dinosaur museum, a petting zoo and a megaplex theatre). Obviously, they have a little bit of money. :) So, they took some of this money and bought 500+ acres in Wallsburg (a small town right by Deer Creek Reservoir) and built their own little family resort. This place has it all: a "summer home", a "barn" (pictured above--it's actually another house inside...complete with multiple bedrooms & bathrooms, a state-of-the-art kitchen with Wolf & SubZero appliances, a huge chess set, a little school house for the kids to play in, etc.), tennis courts, basketball courts, a $25,000+ playset from Backyard Adventures, a man-made lake (compete with a dock, paddle boats & canoes), plus two zip-lines (one for the kids & another for the adults that goes out over the lake). It was one of the most impressive places I've ever seen.

Anyway, we had a blast! The night started out with a tractor ride for the kids. Connor thought he was in heaven! Then, we munched down on some barbecue for awhile & then it was on to the REAL entertainment...the "water slide". Brigham (that's Elizabeth's husband) pulled out this monstrous tarp & rolled it down the hill that goes between the summer house & the barn. Then, he hooked several hoses to it and...voila! We had ourselves a pretty cool water slide! All the kids (I'm including Mike, Neal--Jackie's husband--& Brigham in this group) had a blast! We held several contests to see who could go the furthest...but Mike didn't represent very well. Sorry, Mike, guess you're just to muscular! :)

After everyone had had their fill of the water slide, we moved on to the lake. The three big kids (and they know who they are) took a couple rides on the zip line. Unfortunately, Mike--forgetting that he's not 18 anymore--got brave on his second trip down & decided to do a back flip into the lake. Well, he ended up hitting the water wrong, and his neck hurt for about 24 hours afterwards. Connor got brave too and, after a little coaxing from Elizabeth's two boys--Samuel & Matthew--he went down the kids zip line. Unfortunately, the zip line jerked him at the end & he fell right on his nose. After a few cuddles though, he was feeling fine!

We ended the night with a couple paddle boat & canoe rides around the lake. Connor had an unfortunate run in with the lake though. He was leaning over the dock to look at something in the water & fell in for a brief moment. Luckily, he was wearing his life jacket at the time. Overall, it was a great night! I was so happy to see all my girls--Jackie, Elizabeth, Danielle, Kristy & LeAnn (along with all their cute families). We missed you Melissa and Courtney! Thank you to Elizabeth & Brigham for letting us use their little "heaven on earth". I really did feel like I was inside the pottery barn catalog! --Lindsay