Brother and Sister.

I am so excited about the bond I hope these two will have. Moments like this make me think it is possible.

4th of July- Celebrate!

Happy 4th. I love July. Love, Love, Love! It is like a month long celebration and vacation starting with the 4th of July. We spent most the day preparing for Scout Camp, but headed to a party at the park. Later it was off to my parents for a BBQ, campfire and fireworks.If you think these are the best looking boys you have ever seen- you are right.

Why is it tradition for everyone to wear patriotic colors on the 4th? I have my family do it too and don't they all look so happy about it.
We took the kids to the old fashioned 4th at the Main Street Park. I am not sure what we expected. Turns out "old fashioned" means "no effort- little fun". Especially since they were charging for everything (really $2 for a balloon?). We spent most the time letting Kate play at the park.

While Kate played on the swings with Dad, I played dress Sam up and take some more fun 4th of July pictures.
Kate and I with sparklers. Kate tried to blow them out and sang Happy Birthday.
Kate hanging out with Ali. I was a little worried about Kate burning herself on the fire or fireworks, so she was always being held.

Kate watching fireworks with Grandpa. Where was Sam during the festivities. He was asleep. I put him down around 7:30 and he slept until 10:00 when we left. Then I put him back to sleep when we got home and he slept until 6:00 am. I hope he keeps that up while I am on my own this week.

To Grandma's House we go.

Kate checks out the frog I caught for her so play withtrying out a tricycle

Samuel's first trip to the farm. He seemed to enjoy it- especially with his handy hand along for sucking on. He seriously can't leave his hands out of his mouth for two minutes.We weren't use to the central valley heat. Sam spent much of the time like this.
Swimming with Cousin Cami, Grandma and Jake


We spent a quick weekend at Jake's parents. We left Friday after work and drove through the night swearing we would never drive through the night again. We were exhausted. Luckily the Freeman Farm has all things entertaining to a 2 year old so it didn't take a lot of energy to keep her happy. Kate couldn't get enough of the cousins, dog, bikes, picking fruit, frogs and , trampoline, swimming, swings, and basement full of toys. It was wonderful as always to see Jake's parents, and two of his brothers and their families, these two families alone have four girls 5 and under and the perfect playmates for Kate. Church here was interesting as always (they have a ward of hardly 50 people). Not only do we pray, play the piano, talk or teach often when we come, Kate was the only kid in the nursery older than 18 months. That is right, they let babies come to nursery since otherwise there would be nobody in there- ha ha . It is such a wonderful ward though really. We headed home Monday afternoon. It was over 100 in Frenso when we left, driving mid desert, mid day with the air conditioner full blast we should have only expected what happened next. The car died, going up a hill. That is right- almost to Death Valley, at 4:00 in the afternoon. Stuck on the side of the road, Jake got out to see what he could do. The car heated up in seconds, and with two small children in the back we were sure dehydration and heat stroke was only minutes away.I did my best to keep them comfortable as I forced them to drink the luke warm water we had brought along. With some hope and a prayer, we were able to get the car started and going (although slowly with the heater on) until we could get to the nearest town about 20 miles away. We decided to let the car rest and hang out at Jack in the box until the sun went down and our car had cooled. Apparently our kids were the cutest things that town had ever seen, as eating our burger they seemed to draw a crowd of fans. When we got back in the car it seemed to have no trouble. We did pass a thermometer as we left around 9:00 at night that read 103 degrees. Putting our guess of what we were stranded in at around 112 or higher. I know there are a lot worse things that could have occured on our trip, and we are almost laughing now, but it was very miserable at the time for sure. We pulled into our house around 6:00 am. The sun was coming up, we were exhausted and seeing that is was already morning made me depressed. Thankfully the kids slept for about two more hours or so and we got a little sleep, especially Jake who had to be at work at 8:00. I am looking forward to cleaning out the car, doing the laundry and other chores so I can nap with the kids this afternoon. It feels good to be home.

Seriously So Blessed

Have you heard of this blog?
Seriously So Blessed.

A spoof on the cultural phenom that is Mormon Mommy Bloggers.
She is making fun of ME
She is making even more fun of YOU
She couldn't be more accurate
And I laughed so hard I cried last night reading her posts.

Cute Pictures of Cute Kids

I finally got this in a picture- this is such a classic Samuel smile.
Playing outside in the water- finally a sunny day!
Wants to do it himself

Samuel tries rice cereal. Mmmmmm- not so good huh?

Summer Time

It has been awhile since I last posted (for me anyway). We haven't really been that busy. We've been painting the downstairs, doing yard work, seeing friends and family, enjoying the kids- the usual stuff. One thing I haven't been doing is laundry. I can't remember a time I had so much laundry to do. Around 12 loads or so. It seems to daunting. Instead of doing laundry- I have been reading a lot again. I am almost done with my third book for the week. With nothing good on the tely in the summer I seem to just consume books. Here is a mini review.
1. Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers. Roach.- A strange informative read. A history of death and burial mostly. Not what I expected- but perfectly dark for the morbid part of my psyche. 3 stars
2. Austenland. Hale.- The closest thing to a romance I have ever read. A successful LDS author always peaks my interest but her storyline failed to do so. 3 stars
3. The Last Lecture. Pausch.- Promises to change your life, and only slightly falls short of its promises. Any book that brings real tears to my eyes repeatedly deserves 5 stars.

Project Prepared Part 3

Disaster Survival Kit and contents

Project 3 is a 72 hour kid- or really a natural disaster survival kit. I used the space for other things instead of putting all the diapers and clothes we would need for 72 hours because I have an emergency diaper bag for the kids in my car at all times with wipes, diapers, socks, clothes, drinks and kid food. I also have blankets, the first aid kit, and flares in my car as well instead of in this kit.

I had made us a 72 hour kit a few years ago when Hurricane Katrina came. At the time I was not working and had all day to watch the news coverage. It prompted me to make the 1st version of this which we kept next to our front door. We wanted to be ready- but mostly because we had no choice- our house was very small after all. I packaged everything in this great soft backpacking backpack I purchase from Out N Back before I went to China. It works perfectly and cost me $25 at one of their super sales. I like the large backpack for storing everything in because although it is heavy- it is the most portable it could be.

I decided to re-evaluate the kit and our needs in my current preparedness obsession. Then we were two healthy hardly twenty year olds who could have likely survived without shelter or food for three days regardless of the kit. Now we have to small children. I had a ton of stuff already- including all the first aid stuff and most the disaster supplies, but I added a few new things- mostly kid stuff, and all new food since the other stuff had all expired. This ended up costing me more than the other projects so far. About $100 and about two hours of time. I think if you had to start from scratch the project would take double the money and time.
All the items barely fit inside the backpack. I just used freezer bags to pack everything and keep it water proof. I talked about adding a survival guide and Jake came back with some comment about how he is a scout. It is true that now we have all the supplies and as long as Scoutmaster Jake is with me I think I will feel very capable of survival.

Resources
http://www.ready.gov/america/index.html
http://www.providentliving.org/channel/0,11677,8033-1,00.html

Food and Cooking
One Mess Kit
Plastic spoons
dish soap
1 gal water
dehydrated apples
Large Beef jerky
3 sevings instant pasta
Large Trail Mix
3 pediasure ready made drinks
6 servings dehydrated chili
6 serving dehydrated soup
6 servings instant oatmeal
4 servings hot chocolate
2 cans soup
crystal light packet- for water flavoring
water purification tablets aprox 4 quarts (should get some more)
I would also like to get some high calorie energy bars

Personal Hygiene
sunscreen
bug repellent
contact case and solution
razor
shampoo
hand soap
lotion
chapstick
toothbrushes and paste
hair bands
comb
maxi pads
nursing pads
diapers and wipes for both kids
Lysol spray
toilet paper
Clorox wipes
Germ- x

First Aid
packet distilled water
80 band aids various sizes
8 gauze dressings
large wound dressing
6 butterfly band aids
20 alcohol prep pads
20 antiseptic towelettes
3 iodine prep pads
3 insect relief pads
tape
4 finger splints
splinter removers
neosporin
blistex
4 doses antacid
3 electrolyte tablets
4 non aspirin tablets
instant cold pack
q-tips
10 latex gloves
tweezers
scissors
blessing oil
first aid guide
thermometer
super glue
respirator masks
sting/bite relief stick
Most of this came in a ready made kit I purchased, I am debating whether or not I should take it out and give the space to something else, since I have an even better kit in my car already.
I should probably add some infant fever reducer too

Disaster Supplies
firestart
lighter
6 boxes of matches
leather work gloves
collapsible shovel
compass
magnifying glass
whistle
leatherman
8 glow light sticks
reflective tape
duct tape
citronella candles
two flashlights battery operated
4 D batteries 8 AA batteries
crank flashlight
4 rain ponchos
4 emergency blankets
50 ft poly cord
pocket knife
pen
paper
trash bags
tarp
I haven't been able to find a crank radio so I ordered this one from Amazon today.

Comfort Items
money- bills and quarters
Book of Mormon
Playing Cards
Bubbles
Small stuffed animals
crayons
candies
hot wheels cars
army men
toy whistle

Again if you have any ideas for something you think I left out leave a comment.



Closer Look 72 hour kit contents

Project Prepared Part 2

Being motivated by my church group I have been making great strides in preparing my home and family for anything. Perhaps you remember this post: http://jakeandcrystal.blogspot.com/2009/04/project-prepared.html- then you are familiar with what I am talking about and why it is again midnight while I type this. I have felt a new weight of responsibility in protecting and preparing my family lately. Perhaps it is because my family has grown recently. Tonight the project was first aid. Although I am still anxious to take a refresher CERT class at least having and organizing all the supplies to respond in an emergency makes me feel a bit more ready.

Tonight I made two car first aid kit and a large one for our home. I had most all of this stuff already in my home- just not organized. I did purchase a few things totaling under $30. It took me a total of 1.5 hours- which includes a trip to the store. I am starting to see that it really does not take that much time or money to prepare ever needful thing.

Car Kits
Tupperware container- red of course
infant tylenol- I seem to always buy when we still have 1/3 a bottle left- all the car needs
IBuprofen
Benadryl
tweezers
latex gloves
gauze
tape
bandaids of all sizes
ace bandaid
tums
alcohol wipes
alka seltzer
iodine wipes
germ x wipes
saftey pins
Immodium
vaseline
neosporin wipes
maxi- pads -use to stop bleeding from large cuts as well
Tic Tacs- diabetics or keeping kids quiet in an emergency
Lighter
Fingernail clippers
super glue
Benadryl cream
eye drops
Emergency/ contact phone numbers
Basic first aid fact sheet
Allergy/ medication family information
I am still hoping to get some kinds of sting kit for the car kit as well

For our home first aid kid-
I had this great red cooler that we just don't use that often- perfect. I zips shut- where I could easily put a combo lock through it to make it more child proof. For now I just have it on the top shelf on the linen closet with a child proof handle
I went through our medicine cabinet and threw away everything that was expired- half of what was in there was
What was included
Infant fever reducer
children fever reducer
Ibuprofen
children's bendadryl
rubbing alcohol
hydrogen peroxide
cotton
ear thermometer
traditional thermometer- I had four. I guess I never need to buy another one
Immodium
Children's immodium
Pepto
Children's Pepto
bandaids of all sizes
ace bandaids
gauze
tape
super glue
icy hot
hot pack
surgical masks
latex gloves
eye drops
Tums
Vaseline
milk of magnesia
cold medicine
night time cold medicine
pain antiseptic
cold sore medicine
Tucks
Itch Cream
Cold Compress
Large Neosporin
Emergency/ contact phone numbers
Basic first aid fact sheet
Allergy/ medication family information
I am still also hoping to get an epi pen and/or sting kit

I also went online and ordered some more surgical masks and am going to get some more gloves since I only had a few of each. Knowing me the next time I am at the store I will make a quick sweep of the pharmacy to see what else I am lacking.
If you have an idea of things I should add- based on experience or need leave a comment.

Car First Aid Kit contents picture
Home First Aid Kit Contents

family scrapbook stuff

Hey Little Sister

My youngest sibling Ali graduated this past weekend. We are so proud of her. We had a lot of fun with her this year as she stayed with us off and on while my parents were gone. She is awesome. She seriously rocks. She let me take her graduation pictures which was really fun. I know she will love Utah State next year. Congrats Ali!

I could look at these all day

I am using my blog to upload straight into a scrapbook now. Instead of printing any pictures. So you will likely see more pictures than usual for a while on my blog. I realize that not everyone has the same fascination with my children that I do.

A little media review

I've been reading and watching and listening to a lot lately, and enjoying it a lot. I thought I would leave a review for my readers.

Movies
Doubt- 3 stars. Beautiful with intense actors, but the plot had me expecting a big finish and then it let me down.
Australia- 5 stars. You know me and anything based on fact. I don't even usually like Kidman.
Twilight- 2 stars. Visually pleasing, but darker than expected, The cannibalism really bothered me strangely when Silence of the Lambs it one of my all time favorites.

Books
To kill a Mockingbird. 4 stars. I have read this before, but we listened to it on our AZ drive and I loved it this time. Such a part of our culture.
The Hobbit. 3 stars. Not my cup of tea fantasy.
The Hiding Place. 5 stars. Not just another WWII autobiography.

Just the two of us.

Jake and I don't have a picture of just the two of us since last August- almost one year ago. Funny enough that too is a snapshot we took of ourselves. Yesterday when I was taking picts of the kids all ready for church I had us snap a shot since it has been almost a year. I thought it was nice too because Jake subconsciously matches whatever I am wearing all the time. Looking at this picture I think it is so true that the longer you live with someone the more you look alike.

Chumby

Chumby is pretty sure this muscle tee is going to impress the ladies at church today.

On the Stranger Side of Springville

I have mentioned before how I have a tracker on my blog. It is always interesting to see where my traffic comes from. For instance, I get a lot of traffic for people searching for nicknames for Kate and all variations of the name. I get a lot of traffic from people googling my husband's name. ( He has a stalker as well I guess or someone of his name sake). And I don't care who looks at our lives, who marvels and the lighthearted things I have to say each day. That is what it is there for after all.
Recently I updated my tracker and found that I have a lot more friends in Springville Utah than I thought. Or one very interested one. Every four to six hours it seems on most days some one from Springville or Utah County (Springville could just be where the server is located) logs on. They are direct traffic, meaning they are not hopping to me from their own or another blog. They are usuing a Mac as well. But that is all I can tell. It is a little strange to me to think that I could possibly be that interesting. After all, I don't even post everyday, but they look sometimes up to four times in one day. And they don't hop off most of the time to other blogs either- I mean they are not usuing my blog as a menu for their blog viewing or something like that.
Does this sound like you? Is it you? Maybe you just aren't aquainted with the feed feature blogger provides? Maybe somebody should show you google reader? Maybe you should leave a comment so I am not so weirded out, or a personal email if you prefer to be discret.

AHHHHHH

More coloring

It is amazing how Kate's drawing is coming. She is barely two. This is a picture of her and a picture of Dad. Jake and I laughed at how mean he looks. But she even picks the right colors now for hair and lips.

Phoneix and the Carpenters

Our family had the opportunity to visit Amy and Jeff and Kaylie this long Memorial Day Weekend. We enjoyed so many things about our trip. We left home in the afternoon hoping that with afternoon naps and bedtime that the kids would sleep most the time there and we were right. Except for a 45 stop for running around and dinner we didn't have to stop except for gas one other time. Jake and I really enjoyed the road trip. We stocked the car with treats and drinks, and a few books on tape. Now that we often seem to have to travel 12 or more hours to visit family we try to have the philosphy to make the journey part of the trip as well. It was our first time driving through Kanab/ Page area and we thought it was one of the most beautiful parts of the country we couldn't believe was only a few hours away. We listened to "To Kill a Mocking Bird" and "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families" as books on tape since I don't have a CD player in my car. And it seems we always spend at least a little time while we are on a road trip talking about how things are going for our family and making new goals the make us even stronger as a family unit. In the end road trips always give me time to think and a small sence of renewal. Of course I usually only drive 1/8 of the time so perhaps Jake doesn't fell as positive about the driving as I do.
One thing that was really fun for me, was that even though Amy and I constantly talk to one another, seeing her life and home in Arizona was still different than I had imagined it. They have a beautiful home with a pool in the backyard and Amy is both a wonderful decorator and hostess. She has been in her home for less than 6 months and it still looks more put together than mine that I have lived in for 2.5 years. She also kept us well fed with tons of wonderful meals. Jake enjoyed golfing at the Truen North course with Jeff- his first golfing of the year where what amazed him most were the hundreds of bunnies roaming the course. And we had as many chances as we wanted to get Kate to swim. I had purchased Kate some new water wings before the trip and been talking about a swimming pool for days to get her excited. When we got there however not only did she think that water wings were what a swimming pool is, she screamed when we put her in the water. Three days later she was warmer to the idea, but still did not want to get in. This was strange to us since she has always loved the pool in Kamas. Their one year old however is going to be the next Michael Phelps. We spent time eating out, watching movies, at the awesome children's museum geared for kids under five and just relaxing. Just being away from the house is a vacation. I didn't think about cleaning or yard work or life.
We also had the chance to visit Jake's brother Joe and all four of his kids. He lives about 30 minutes from Amy, and it is always nice to get more than one visiting done on a trip. His children are growing up quickly and it was fun to see them if only for an evening.
We thought the Phoenix area seemed a wonderful place to live except for it was only May and I was melting. In fact I am pretty sure Kate had a mild case of heat stoke on Sunday until we pumped her full of popciles and gatorade. Here are some pictures from the trip.
The had an awesome noodle forest. Kate couldn't get enough of it.
Kate crawling through a play area at the museum
Kate and Kaylie painting the house at the museum
Sam slept most of the time at the museum but was happy when he woke up
Sam ready for swimming though he never got in.
Kate would point at pool toys and shout " a swimming poo"

Our sad Sam. He is actually laughing and smiling a lot now, but his normal face is this sad or a serious one. I think he is happy though his face doesn't show it. If he looks huge in the picture that is because he is. He is already in some 9 month clothing. I think he looks like a rugby player today with that shirt and those cheeks.

Here is a picture of the finished floor. Wheeew. Last night after I finished sealing and cleaning it I asked Jake if he thought it was worth all the money and all the work and all the hours and all the stress. He was quick to answer "no". Regardless of that, it is done now and we can just enjoy the kitchen. We added a few finishing touches too like the new light and handles for the cabinets. I am now looking for some new accessories- I am thinking burnt orange, to spruce up just that much more.