Gavin & the Sons of Mosiah

My mornings entertainment . . .

School drop-off zone

Okay, people. Seriously. Is it so hard to understand that to drop your kids off at school in the morning, you are to pull over to the curb and let them out of the car? As you have been instructed to do by the twice-a-year letter from the principal reminding you on drop-off procedures. You DON'T sit in the middle of the driveway, taking your merry time kissing your kids goodbye, flattening their hair back down with some spit and your hand, or wiping their face with the same spit and hand, yelling instructions to them about heading to the sitters house as they run off into school, and then continue to sit there and watch them disappear into the building.

For one, it's a safety issue. For example, I was sitting behind some woman today who was dropping off her kids. In the middle of the school driveway. The door closed, the kids ran out of the road, and as we start to pull forward, another lady pulls in front of me on the right. Since when did it become okay to pass somebody on the right? Especially in a school drop-off zone where kids are exiting the cars and heading to the right to go into the building.

For two, it makes a HUGE traffic nightmare. One person stops in the middle to drop their kids off, and the next five people behind them do the same thing. So, the next 15 people in line, like me, that understand that you're to pull over to the curb to drop your kids off, are stuck in the driveway and out into the road for the next five minutes.

In fact, sometimes it has gotten so bad that there is one big, gridlocked circle - people waiting to drop their kids off, and people that have already dropped their kids off and are waiting to turn back into the road. Only, they can't, because traffic is so backed up because of that one person that stopped in the middle of the road to kiss Jr. goodbye.

So, if you have to kiss Jr. goodbye (like I do my kids in the morning) pull over to the curb to kiss them and flatten their hair. And let those of us that have already kissed our kids goodbye get on our way. People would be a lot happier. I know I would.

Sunday with the Shaffers

Church, fussy baby, lunch, 10 minute cat nap . . .
Then comes the fun part.


Jumping . . .


. . . tackling mom . . .


. . . grr, I'm gonna get up . . .


. . . almost there . . .


. . . gah, they got me!


Reading a good book . . .


. . . cookies . . .

. . . and a game of pinochle with the in-laws.

Guess what I'm doing today?

I'm hanging clothes out on the clothesline. *happy sigh*

I love spring.

B's 8th birthday

My B is 8. My 8 lbs 3 oz baby boy - born at 7:35 in the morning after 11 hours of labor - is 8! My little boy that used to climb in bed with me in the mornings just so he could cuddle with me.

He doesn't cuddle so much now. Or maybe he wants to and I'm just too busy or too tired. Hmm.

Anyway, he's 8. And, he was recently baptized. But, that's another post for another day. His grandparents came over in the afternoon while he opened his presents - a razor scooter, a bow and arrow (with suction cups for the pointy arrow part), beef jerky (his request), lizards (not real ones, and which also came with snakes and frogs), a computer came (highly addictive - it's called "The Wizard's Pen"), a football and reese's p.b cups from his grandparents, as well as some money and other things from other family members at his baptism.

But, for now, his b-day pictures!


Mmm - jerky. And lizards, and snakes, and frogs!!


Riding his new razor scooter with his bow and arrows




He chose a radio cake for his b-day cake


Trying to light the "antennas" (or is it antenni?)


Blowing out the candles


He requested a strawberry cake with blue frosting. Yummy!


My cute boy with his b-day balloons

We love you B!

Stork Landing loot

So, I mentioned in an earlier post that the counselors at the high school where Brandon works gave us a gift card to Stork Landing when Connor was born. (The people he works with are seriously awesome. I couldn't ask for better co-workers for Brandon. And what's more? I think they like me too. Of course, that could just be that I take treats in a few times a month. ;) Hmm).

Anyway, I got a few things the first time we went there, and then went back several weeks later to spend the rest. These are just some pic's of the stuff we got with the gift card.

Thanks again, guys!


Connor playing with his ball - you can squish it and squeeze it and twist it and it won't break.


Connor with his loot


Connor's jammies - look at that "bear" bum!


Connor with his caterpillar and butterfly blanket

This blanket actually zips up to the caterpillar and you can stuff it inside. So, it can be a pillow, or a pillow and blanket combined, or separated. And, it's SO soft! And, it came with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" book. Pretty cool.


And, I LOVE this frog. Isn't he cute?

Spring Break 2010

Okay, so Spring Break 2010. We were tired of the cold, so we decided to head down to St. George. Brandon has a brother who lives down there with his wife and their five kids, so we decided to head on down for some fun and relaxation.

We left on a Wednesday, and took our time traveling down. We ate lots of snacks, read books, listened to music, and even napped. All of us. (Well, except Brandon. He was driving.) We made it down there, got settled in and watched the kids play with their cousins - mostly on the trampoline. They had a ball.

We got up the next morning, and decided to check out a museum called Rosenbruch's. It's a wildlife museum that features real animals (not alive) in their habitats and natural surroundings. Here's a short description that I found on their website: It allows visitors to experience over 300 species of wildlife throughout the world in their natural habitat. Nearly a quarter mile of mountain pathway (suitable for handicap access) winds its way through the plains of Africa, the forests of North America, and the mountains of Asia.

After we wandered along this pathway, listening to stories of the man that had hunted these animals, we rested for a while (okay, Brandon & I rested) and the boys played in a kids section they had set up - complete with a fort, a couple of tents/hideouts, cooking area and camo gear for the kids to wear while on safari. The following are some of the pictures from that area.

Gavin cooking lunch for "his boys"

I'm off on my hunt!

Scott, riding his bear while on the hunt

Me, chilling on the couch with a sleeping Connor

I actually fell alseep for a little bit too. We had Connor in a playpen the night before, and every few hours, he'd stir, raise his feet up in the air, and thump them down on the playpen. We started calling him Thumper. It was noisy, and not a very restful night sleep.

This little guy watches you as you walk into the exhibit

After Rosenbruch's, we headed across the street to the Cracker Barrel for lunch. DELICIOUS!!! The older boys ordered pancakes and sausage and were absolutely estatic when they got their own miniature bottles of syrup - to keep.

After lunch, we headed off to a place called Jumpin' Jacks. It was a huge bounce house place with about a dozen different blow-up, bouncy, slides, climbs, tramps . . . It was a lot of fun. I love to bounce and I love trampolines, so this was a lot of fun for me!

"B?"says Dad. "What?" says B

Trying to climb up the long slide - it was REALLY hard

After that, we headed back to Dustyn & Linda's house for dinner, more playtime with the cousins, and sleep. We slept a little better than the night before - mainly because we decided to put Connor on the floor instead of in the playpen. That way, when he thumped his feet, it didn't wake us up.

The next morning, we got up and headed off to Snow Canyon for a hike. A lot cheaper than Zion's, especially considering we didn't know how Connor would do on a hike, and still really cool. We found a hike called Pioneer Names that runs along the base of the cliff. On one of the vertical walls, pioneer names were etched into the rock - thus the name "Pioneer Names." We all had a lot of fun finding different rocks to climb on, or in, and taking lots of pictures.

Connor and Mom getting ready to hike

Braden & Scott at the base of the Pioneer Names wall

When we finished that hike, we drove up the rode a half a mile or so and found another hike called Galoot Hill. Connor needed to eat, so I stayed in the van feeding him while Brandon, Scott & Gavin went off on the hike. B didn't want to go with them, but after being in the van with me and Connor for about 15 minutes, he decided to go join them. We had walkie-talkies with us, so I called to Brandon to let him know that B was on his way.

Really cool formation on the rocks

I thought this was a cool picture of Scott & Gavin hiking

Here comes B - "Wait for me!!"

Gavin & Scott looking down as B climbed up to them

They hiked around on the rocks for a while, and Connor and I rested in the van. Imagine being cool up in the mountins, but having the warm sun shine in through the windows. The windows are down just a touch to provide a bit of a breeze. It's cozy. Silent. Comfortable.

When they got back from their hike, we headed back down in to downtown St. George to the new splash park. The kids had a ball - although Connor didn't quite know what to think of the cold water.

Um, Mom, what is this? This isn't like my bath water

Scott spent most of his time watching his crocs float downstream - he thought that was pretty cool


Oooh, this is cold on my legs - but feels really good


They also had some really cool statues there at the splash park - this was one of them

Then, we headed home for some quick grilled cheese sandwiches, and then off to the park to play Pickle-ball. Yes, Pickle-ball. You can find out more about the game by clicking here. It was really quite fun, although kind of windy. Dustyn & Linda had invited our pedi.'s brother and his wife (got that?) to eat dinner with us, so headed home to hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. We were all wiped out. It was kind of funny to watch all of us just kind of stare off into space when the conversation lagged. :)


All of the kids that night

The next day, Saturday, Ethan had a soccer game, so the other Shaffer family, and a couple of my boys loaded up and headed out to the game. Scott, Connor & I stayed at the house. Connor ate, and napped, and while he napped, Scott & I played Wii Sports Resort. We had a lot of fun sword playing!

Then lunch, and then swimming. I didn't take my camera to the pool, but it was cool. They had a slide that extended outside the building, and a river that had panels that could be removed so that in the summer, when the weather was warm, the lazy river would take you outside into the sunshine as well. My boys loved the slide. I even got Gavin to go on it once.


This was Connor after we got home from swimming. And he slept through the whole swimming experience!

That evening, Linda & I decided to go to Tai Pan Trading since I had never been there before. However, Linda got the hours wrong, so when we walked in, the lady said we had 15 minutes to look around before they closed! Ahh! Not enough time. I still found some cute wooden buckets for planting flowers, though.

Sunday, we headed home. Again it was a long trip, but we took our time, eating snacks, feeding the baby, stretching our legs. It was a really good trip, and we had a lot of fun! Thanks Dustyn & Linda for letting us come hang out!

Um, ouch

So, last night, we had waffles for dinner. As I was preparing them, Toady was up on the counter helping me, and leaned his knee over and accidentally touched his knee on the waffle maker. It's stainless steel, so it gets REALLY hot. I wasn't thinking, and it didn't even enter my mind that it would be that hot - otherwise, I NEVER would have let him sit that close. Really. Anyway, he got burned pretty good. We put some ice and water in a baggie and held the baggie against the burn, the covered it with a big band aid so it didn't rub on his blankets over night. I took the band aid off today and found this.

Yikes!









His comments, though, make this situation really funny. As I took the band aid off this morning, he said, "Wow! Hey, that looks like that thing in your tummy. You know the thing you feed Connor with?"

Um, wow sweetie! You're right. :)

eta: Scott's comment when he got home from school just a few minutes ago: "Are you serious??? It looks too much like a measel!"

Mmm - tasty