Our Life With Enhanced Children

Antelope Island in April – Part 2

2009-05-12T00:37:00.000-06:00

All these birds were what the kids were so amazed by…after we brought out the food and they swarmed us. lol

Then they were running around feeding and chasing them…

Okay, then there was this one that was just different…I’ve seen a few.

Really, what is up with this??? What is it? Is it like a different colored seagull or what? It’s just weird.

Okay, it’s getting cold we got to go…

Made it up that big hill again…

The harbor on the way out…

Antelope Island in April – Part 1

2009-05-10T00:13:00.000-06:00

We had a “warm but not too warm” day in late April and decided to go to the “beach.” I didn’t want to chance that there wouldn’t be another day like that and it would be too warm all summer.

This is something we’ve only done once before. They loved it, so I wanted to do it again. Hopefully we will have a few more chances this year. It IS nice to have a place like that so close. We will likely never make it to an actual coastal beach. So, this will just have to do.

Don’t know how I did this but I think it’s cool.I guess it could have been a reflection in the window? Or something?

For much of the drive on the causeway, there were bugs everywhere. Ali was freaking out.

This one was right net to the truck while we were stopped…not what was freaking her out either.

Checking out…

The drive out there…

The bugs were gone once we got off the causeway.

Cassie was hungry…lol

On the way…

Look what ran in front of us.

Bird chilling on the table…

More beach…

Some bison…We thought it was funny that the birds were landing on the bison.

Antelope…

Up on the mountain…

The way down…

Antelope down on the beach…

From the restaurant up there…

More…

Oh wow…it’s a wolf. Now that was cool. We waited for quite a while to see if it would walk towards us…but he never did.

More antelope…

Getting cloudy from the storm blowing in.

The beach…

Out of the truck…

On our way down to the beach…

Down past where we went before…

Okay, apparently running on the beach is the thing to do...

Got to the very edge with the seagulls…

Then got down to build a sand castle which they quickly realized wouldn’t work.

Woah…look at all of those birds…

Watercopters and horses

2009-05-08T01:10:00.000-06:00

It was recently brought to my attention that I have photographed other horses…and not ours. I guess that’s a good point. lol

We went to Great grandpa’s to visit…and read the phone book as usual.

Wore the sunglasses of course…

Ali won’t put the phone book down, until she was leaving. lol

Out by the lake…

American Idol…

After dressing herself…(The socks with sandals are totally my fault.)

Playing with the parachute men Riley brought us from his trip…

Also out by the lake. When we saw these guys we thought there must be a fire. So we hurried out there, hoping to get pictures with the Nikon…and found this.

Now, I am not the most observant person on the planet, but I am quite sure I would have noticed a fire. lol

They did go ahead and dump the water…I assume they were practicing or else getting the ground wet to help prevent a fire? I don’t know.

Didn’t matter though, because either way it was way cool to watch.

This was the second one, going to get more water…

Then dumping again.

Then the first one went ahead and landed…

They both landed and stayed there for a while.

Then the first one left…

Then the second one left…and we headed out too. We got there just in time to see them dump 3 times and that was it. lol

The weird child…

The weird dog too…

Just thrilled to be in the car ya know…

Swinging…

Going to see the horses…

Checking out everything…

A stop at a gas station…

I don’t know, the child loves frogs and pigs. The other one loves ducks and horses. I can’t explain it. lol

There is a reason that crack on her bottom lip never fully heals.

This is why:

Canyon Drive

2009-05-06T00:23:00.000-06:00

This goes way back to before Idaho….a lot are even from Easter. After getting up so incredibly early on Easter, the girls needed a nap. Something they simply don’t do at home. So, a drive it was. It ended up being quite the drive.

We headed up the canyon…as usual.

See, they are tired.

A pretty clear day as far as the clouds and sky go…

We continued heading up the road…

Stopped again to take long awaited pictures that actually turned out….of Timp. Seriously, I’ve been trying for 6 months.

This is usually the result, which is fine…but I wanted a real good picture where it wasn’t over exposed. With the clouds, the snow and the sun overexposure is just a given.

Deer Creek…

Still tired…

Jordanelle from different spots…

It’s going to take some adjusting when the snow is gone…

The Jordanelle lookout…

Jordanelle…

The road which connects Provo Canyon to Parley’s Canyon.

Jordanelle…

Oh look! Geesh, took long enough.

On the way up to Weber canyon…

Weber Canyon…

Just off of Weber Canyon Road…

Continuing back down…

Back at Jordanelle…

Back at Deer Creek.

Awake! Rolled the windows down…they were pretty thrilled with that.

Stormy Waters and Foster’s

2009-05-04T00:47:00.000-06:00

“Ali, do you know where the remote is?”

I think she was tapping into her psychic powers?

Yeah, that was funny…

Don’t worry, she did give me the remote…

Halloween mask on a soccer ball…..

Reading with the protecting doggie…

Reading the Human Body book…

Wow…Grandpa just shut the dishwasher with his foot…now THAT is an idea!

First we better open it again…

Then kick it shut!

Yay!!!

We had a storm blow in a while ago…and we were out by the lake when it happened. That’s a first, so I thought we’d take some pictures.

This made me wish we lived closer to a beach or something…

Playing with our blocks that we took with us to Foster’s…

Excuse me, I’m busy…

Playing in the mirror while sister was in the other room…

Being silly and playing…

More stormy water…

Idaho Day 3 and home

2009-05-02T01:06:00.000-06:00

On day 3 we woke up…

Put on our sunglasses…

Went to lunch…

Went to get the new orthotics…played for a while. They really like these table things.

They also really like this one with the wheel…

Of course, legos are always a hit.

You want me to what? Stop playing? I think not.

If you make me do it anyway, I can pout better than all of you put together.

Aren’t they totally awesome?

Had to go walk around for a while…

Then took them back off to adjust them a little…

Back to playing…

My child is quite weird, in case you didn’t know.

Yes, she is kissing Tigger’s feet.

While Sadi made some tea.

Then Amy came in. Ali was a bit more agreeable to allow her to put them on.

See, cuz she likes Amy.

Amy told her to run. Crazy lady.

Then went back in to take another look…

After that and a few other adventures…we finally got out of there at 5pm…2 hours later than planned. At least the weather was good.

We again were great on the drive…just checked everything out.

Except when we pretended to be asleep.

We didn’t stop at all this time. Got gas just before we left and drove straight through.

We stopped on this deserted exit just to take pictures of the sunset.

We stopped at a gas station when we were almost home and got gas…then we returned home. There was a snow storm while we were gone and this poor tree couldn’t handle it. And I couldn’t park because it blocked the whole driveway.

What it looked like in the daylight… my Dad had called someone to come chop it up…they offered to come by the day before we got home from Idaho. My Dad said “No, you have to wait until Chelsae gets home to take pictures.” lol

Bon Jovi…

This was the substitute driveway for a couple days. See, our garage is in the back, past that tree. There was only 1 vehicle in the front that they had keys to. So…fortunately there was room for a little BMW to get by the house. lol

This is just one of the many other things we saw down. I don’t think I saw a globe willow like ours that didn’t break. They were everywhere, it was crazy.

The children found it very funny.

When we got home later that day, they had already chopped it up. Now, we can drive back there and the swing set is not tipping anymore. lol

Idaho Day 2 – After dinner

2009-04-30T01:18:00.000-06:00

We went outside to play after dinner…

For those black and white fans…

Energy….they never run out of it.

The backyard…

The horses…

Grandpa helped us with our shoes…

Played with the stroller…

Sat for a minute…

Oh and posed, of course.

Walked with Grandpa…

Oh look, the dog..what a shock. lol

Checking everything out..

Can’t forget the glasses.

Looking…

Talking…

Running and jumping if you are the dog…

Went to see the horses for a minute…

Sunset time…

The horse was interested….

Sun still setting…

I think it’s time to go inside now…

The sun is almost down…

Yes, we better go inside…it is getting cold out here now.

And there it goes…

Went inside and got our new hats, books and a cookie…

Of course, chilled with the dog.

Played with the stroller…

Tortured the dog…

Got ready to go and got excited…

Too excited, fell over!

Back at the hotel…Ali was just weird, as usual.

Okay, bedtime.

Almost pretending to be asleep…

Just chilling…

Oh I guess we can be awake long enough to talk on the phone for a minute…

And, they are asleep…resting up for the trip home tomorrow.

Idaho Day 2 – Up until dinner

2009-04-28T01:07:00.000-06:00

We had some things to do earlier in the day….so we did that. Ali had a bit of an attitude that day.

But she got over it.

Weird children.

I just thought these were cool, because I’m weird.

This was our main stop this day. We were so excited to find out about this place, even more excited once we went inside.

We were able to find 2 things we have been looking for. These, are really close to Oreo’s. I was amazed.

But the real good thing was the BREAD. It looks like bread and feels like bread. It doesn’t have to be frozen and they can just eat it. I don’t have to grill it or anything. It was amazing.

We thought this was pretty…and had fun watching the ducks and geese.

I don’t know, just thought it was neat.

Again, just thought it was cool looking, especially for a cemetery.

I’m sure we have fields like this in Utah, I am just not observant enough to see them.

This is actually a “ranch” like somebody’s house. Wow.

Later we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s for dinner….but of course we were detoured by the horses.

Then it was time to go in…

Don’t walk or anything. lol

The first place we go is to the dogs.

Then went to the toys…and phone.

Blocks…

Then Karlee arrived…

We played with the blocks and the Elmo toy they hadn’t seen before.

We just chilled and played with everything for a while…

Then Grandpa came in to play too…

Until it was time for dinner…

This is another thing that we found at the store too…finally, egg and gluten free dressing.

Then we had to hug the dog.

We played together for a minute…

Put the sunglasses on again…

Trip to Idaho, Day 1

2009-04-26T01:09:00.000-06:00

We left with promise of fabulous weather…. lol

Again, do we not realize it is SPRING? I swear the April Showers are supposed to be RAIN, not snow.

Either way, we stuck the old camera to the dashboard and just let it take pictures. lol

Out the side…

Continuing on…

This is like the one picture I got of the kids on the drive. I know, it’s shocking isn’t it? But, taking pictures of them while driving isn’t practical and since we didn’t stop, I didn’t have a chance.

This was the ONE stop we made on the drive up to Idaho.

Snowville. Where, the kids asked me why it was snowing in spring time. I told them, because we are in Utah…just wait a few minutes till we cross into Idaho.

I was very much humored when we did and found this.

Though I was far more humored by these signs. I know from previous drives that they say “Frequent High Winds”. I think that goes without saying don’t you?

The snow begins to return…

Okay…it’s back. So much for it being Utah’s fault.

Then it slowed down…

Went away….

Came back again…

Came back quite strongly…

Then, went away again. Seriously, it felt like Utah’s weird weather.

It was gone by the time we passed over the river… Snake river maybe? I forget.

We changed clothes… you are not imaging that.

We drove to the orthotics place…

Checked out all the new toys…the rocking horse, which my children were deprived of. lol

Sat down with Amy, the cell phone and the piece of tubing she let Ali play with.

Got the cast put on…

Got the cast cut off…

Which Ali is not terribly sure about. She hates the cold metal feeling.

Okay, all done.

Amy gave us suckers…

We drove a bit and found some more humor.

The favorite one is this one… (if you are so easily offended that THIS offends you, my blog is not the place to be at all. Though, for the record…Boobie is a dog.)

Had to tell Uncle Riley (who was in Oregon) about our suckers.

Had a little bit of time before dinner to drive around (no trip is complete without me getting hopelessly lost you know.) It really was a gorgeous day once we made it up to the Boise area.

We hurried back to the hotel to ~~watch American Idol~~ eat dinner.

We only caught the end of the sunset…

We got ready for bed and settled down…

Then we finally went to sleep…to rest up for Day 2.

Getting ready for the trip…

2009-04-24T00:04:00.000-06:00

We had a lot to do to get ready for our trip…Now…unfortunately for us, there were some very cool clouds that caused us to take a detour…sometimes you just have to pull over to take pictures. Okay, maybe that’s just me…

It was a very gorgeous day…

Seriously…how cool are those?

You can tell it is spring, check out the bright grass…

The trees are growing back too…

We spent quite a while taking pictures…

Ali was acting a bit weird Monday, so I took her in to be checked before we left. I wanted to make sure she didn’t have strep or something before we went and exposed people to something. She was just getting over something and was fine before we left.

See, she was acting weird I told you.

Sadi tried to cheer her up but Ali wasn’t really interested. lol

Okay sister, let me sit up here next to you…

Come on sister, SMILE…

Okay, we got her perked up now!

Hah, I will play with your hair…

See, how funny is that.

We played until she came in to check Ali…she always perks up when we are there.

Silly children.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20….Read or not here I come!”

The one hiding..

I had to move car seats for this trip…driving that far with no cup holders just wasn’t practical. I couldn’t do it and I also felt these would be easier to sleep in.

Sadi decided to work out, Tinker Toys make weights. lol

I thought that she suddenly looked so much older in this seat in this truck. It was weird. They were a bit confused…

But quickly realized that this meant their favorite car seats were in their favorite truck…and they were very happy.

I had hoped that this wouldn’t happen if they slept in these seats…but they still sat up too far because of the back seat in the truck. Oh well. lol They didn’t end up sleeping on the trip at all anyway.

Easter Day

2009-04-22T00:56:00.001-06:00

To recap…when we got home from the insane Sunrise Service with no sunrise…we found this on the lawn.

Which apparently meant that the Easter Dude had been there….so we grabbed our baskets…

Had to check out the bunnies as well as eat the dried bananas (and blueberries.) Also had to check out the Easter egg lights.

We did manage to wear our ears for some period of time at least. That was nice though they still wouldn’t pose for pictures. lol Too busy playing with their bunnies and eating their treats.

It was decided that the bunny should have two sets of ears…

Just played and were silly for a while…

Went back to the basket to see what else was there for a while…

Readjusted our bunny ears to fit correctly…

Yeah…this child just hated every minute of it, can’t you tell? lol

This one was more subdued…she was definitely tired. So she chilled over there with the dog and ate some fruit.

While this one concluded that the easter eggs made better bunny ears than the bunny ears did…

We all thought that was pretty funny too…

Very silly…

You know…we could like eat breakfast now…

Mandarin oranges….

Our “these children need a nap NOW” drive later that day…had to take our bunnies…

Mission accomplished….Sadi went to sleep shortly after as well.

Nature and Our Hair

2009-04-20T00:28:00.000-06:00

Talk about clouds…

Oh and then the stormy process of doing hair….lol I ended up using the clip to put it on the side so I could easily get to the rest to crimp it.

I decided I liked this, plus Ali didn’t seem to object either. It’s not as hard on her hair as ponytails.

We also curled Sadi’s hair. I just did loose curls and managed to do it really fast.

Reservoir…

The kids were in a good mood…

Again…my bridge obsession…

Coloring Easter pictures…

Rocks and river…

We were a bit tired here…

But most certainly perked up after our nap.

Really, people…what is the point of this sign? I understand no dog signs, okay that way the owners know. I understand deer signs that warn people there are deer. But a no deer sign? Who needs that? Is the deer going to obey? Are deer now pets and I missed it? Really, this makes no sense.

These are everywhere, since are started noticing them. lol

Attitude much?

Sadi’s favorite waterfall, that is only there when they need to divert the extra river run off. Spring would be the time for that.

Playing Outside and in BMW

2009-04-18T00:49:00.000-06:00

Okay, it’s just officially genetic and/or contagious. If you are in this family, you like BMW’s…period.

Though this doesn’t mean we are terribly sure about being in the trunk. We might think this is a bit weird.

But, we got over it pretty fast.

Even on the other side, which wasn’t as cool without the 325 in the picture. By the way, interesting side note. Any people who have reason to routinely carry bodies around…should have BMW’s. The trunks are just huge, seriously. You can fit a 6 foot, 300lbs guy in that trunk with room to spare. Yes, we have checked this because we are just that weird. (And sometimes things do need to be fixed in the trunk you know.)

Ali much prefers the inside of the car.

Sadi decided that sounded fun…

Oh yeah, she’s from our family. lol

Then she elected to be a passenger…

Silly silly kids…

What is this look of uncertainty on her face? Why is she buckling her seatbelt?

Ohhhhh okay… that is understandable.

She even put her own seatbelt on. lol

Again, definitely from our family.

Said hi to the horse…

While the dog played…and we played with the dog.

Did some swinging…

And some pushing…

It was a sunny and warm day. Perfect, not too warm.

More swinging…

Oh, maybe some basketball…or tiny football whatever the case may be.

Of course some sliding…

Then, when it’s time to go inside. We return to the attitude.

Snowbird – Easter Morning

2009-04-16T01:02:00.000-06:00

I will start out by saying, yes I am nuts.

Okay, with that out of the way…

My Dad has wanted to go to the “Sunrise Service” here for years. He brought it up last year and I laughed at him. There is just no way. Getting my children up and an hour away before sunrise? I’d rather do anything else.

But this year I figured, with the new camera that it would be worth it. To get some good pictures. Of a sunrise, which I will likely never be awake for again.

So….I woke my children up at 5am. I had already put on their first layer of clothes for bed. So I just had to add more layers. Tights, leggings, sweat pants….turtleneck, long sleeve, snowsuit, sweat shirt and coat.

We did tights, leggings, sweat pants… turtleneck, long sleeve and snow suit.

We left off the sweatshirt and the coat for the drive up there. I got creative…we can’t have the snowsuits on in their car seats because they are too thick. That isn’t safe in an accident, it will compress and the child will move more. So, we put on the snowsuits and the snow boots but pulled the snowsuits down around the ankles. This was a great idea. Saved serious time and energy just having to add the sweat shirts, hats, gloves and coats.

We rode the bus to the building…

Then walked through there…

Got to the tram and rode it up…

We made it…

We were entirely unsure of this whole on top of the mountain thing.

Yeah, that went well. How beautiful is this view? lol

It was so cloudy there was no sunrise for the sunrise service.

Though it did at least calm down blowing, so we could see a bit more.

We rode the tram back down…

We were quite happy to be on the bus again…

Now that it was light we could see…

We made it back to the truck and stripped off a few layers…

Low clouds for sure…the snow is going to be gone soon.

Heading down the canyon…

Ali decided to add one layer back on…

I love the rocks and everything in our canyons…

We did most certainly feel the effects of waking up at 5am…in addition to what may be an incoming illness.

We made it out…

When we got home, we found this in the yard….hmmmmmmmm…