CANANDAIGUA

What a cute little town. Canandaigua is located about 20 minutes drive from our house. It is a little tourist town (from what we gathered). We swam in one of the finger lakes located there and had so much fun. It is crazy to think that my kids will get 90% of their swimming experience from the lakes that are surrounding us. We haven't explored any new lakes since my mom left (this was while she was here), because is has rained almost every day for the last week and a half. I don't mind it though. It is perfect weather (in the 70's) and rains for a couple minutes in the evening. It is supposed to get a lot warmer in the next coming days and Im nervous about the humidity level ( have no idea if it gets bad or not). So far, it has been the perfect summer weather if you ask me.

1/2 YEAR BIRTHDAY!!!

My girl is 6 months old today. I put Tyson on the scale holding her, so that we could see how much she weighs (I've been eating my worries away this week and don't want to get anywhere near a scale right now). She is 19 LBS!! No teeth. No sitting up. No rolling over (consistantly). Just the happiest baby I have ever seen. Tyson colored a picture and while he was showing it to her, she grabbed it. Once she realized how fun it was to shake ..... game on! The picture didn't last long, but I was able to snap a couple pictures before it was shredded by an overexcited 6 month old. She was moving so fast, the paper is just a blur, but her smile is there.... like always!

INDEPENDENCE DAY

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!

AND..... DON'T YOU WISH YOU WERE THIS FLEXIBLE????

(I'm so glad my broken sun glasses are good for something) Todd and Tyson are out watching the fireworks while I sit home and mourn the fact that my Jonas Brothers are performing in Salt Lake City and I'm not there!

FAREWELL...

We already miss Grandma. She has only been gone for 3 days, but it seems like weeks (I'm not kidding).It was so nice to have my mom here for 10 days as we flew out to Rochester, unpacked and tried to get settled. She was so helpful and fun. She painted the whole downstairs by herself and spent hours with the kids outside. Todd has been spending a lot of time at the hospital and it finally hit me that I will basically be a single mother for the next 4 years. WOW!!! ...............................................We got rid of Tyson's bike a couple of month ago, because it was too small. We haven't been able to find one to replace it, and Tyson was itching to ride a bike with the kids in the neighborhood. As a house warming gift, my mom and dad presented Tyson with a new bike. This was on the condition that he would say his prayers and be nice to his sisters. Ya right about his sisters (mainly Jaisa).

NIAGRA FALLS

Niagra Falls is a little over an hour from where we are living. We decided to check it out and went over the "border" to the Canadian side. It was beautiful. The kids loooved the water falls and the constant mist that came with standing by them. Who would have thought a year ago that we would be standing here with our 3 children???

LAKE ONTARIO

Our "new" beach while here in New York is Lake Ontario. It is about a 25 minute drive from our house. We didn't know what to expect when we got there, but were pleasantly surprised. There were several lifeguard towers and little shops all around. Once we got close to the water, we realized how different it was than the normal Newport beaches we go to. There was complete silence. No waves. There were seagulls however (not a big fan of birds by the way). The kids were so excited. We ate lunch overlooking the water and rode the carosel (the kids, not me). As we were finishing lunch, we heard loud thumping and looked to the sidewalk where we noticed quite a strange sight. There was an older man, maybe in his 60's or 70's wearing a tight speedo. That wasn't the strange part (though I have always wondered WHY on earth men wear those. If you know someone who does, ask them for me would you?)

He was wearing running stilts. He literally had his hands in front of him like a small rodent and would proceed to sprint for 5-10 seconds at a time. It was the strangest thing I've seen in a while. 70 year old man + running sprints + speedo = c.r.a.z.y! I guess that's how they do it here on the East Coast??

The first destination in our line up of things to do this week (before Todd starts at the hospital and my mom leaves), was Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove. I had never been and lucky us, they are only a 20 minutes drive from our house. The weather was perfect and the kids actually listened to the stories and explaination of why we were visiting these sights. The view from the top of Hill Cumorah was breathtaking. It is so green. So if anyone wants to come and visit, we would love to have you.

LAST WEEK IN SALT LAKE ( in a nutshell)

For the last couple of days we have been moving in and we are pooped!!!

It all started when : we spent a whole week without Todd while he drove our SUV out to Rochester. We did get to spend a lot of time with Todd's parents as well as mine our last week in Salt Lake. My mom flew out with us, so luckily I didn't have to say goodbye to her (yet), but we did have to get in as much time as we could with my dad. He tried to get Shawni to like him but she wasn't so sure. He took the kids swimming, which made them love him even more. I went to dinner and had to say goodbye to one of my best friends. We have literally gone out all but 3 or 4 weekends out of the last year. What are we going to do without the Richards??? Then, on Saturday morning, we hopped on a plane and we were off. I was so nervous flying on a 5 hour flight with 3 kids, but luckily my mom was there to help out. Thank goodness the kids were great and we arrived safely, greeted by their dad.

GARDNER VILLAGE

The kids and I met our great friends at Gardner Village today so the kids could hang out one more time before we move on Saturday. We had a great time at the petting zoo and chasing the geese (the kids not us). 2 days and counting........

In running my errands the other day, I realized my kids have never seen the Salt Lake Temple. We live only 10-15 minutes from it and I had never gotten around to taking them (especially with the Christmas lights). So we all (me and the 3 kids - carazy I know) parked the car and walked Temple Square. It was a beautiful day and the best part is the questions that Tyson asked. He wanted to know what each sculpture was and why it was important. I was most impressed at their ability to be reverent. Of course being kids, they would forget and run around screaming, but all it took was reminding them where we were. Jaisa doesn't understand the importance of being quiet, but she follows Tyson and Tyson follows my threats so it worked out great! Then, we headed to the park where they could actually run around and scream. Tyson had fun throwing the cereal and Jaisa had fun picking it up off the ground and eating it. Yes, she would pick it up and eat it as she watched the "pretty duckies" which were actually seagulls. There were no ducks for some reason, but the birds were just as fun to feed. Let's just hope that Jaisa doesn't get the bird flu from sharing food with them.

Tyson came to me yesterday with some ribbon and some tape. He was trying to make a mustache and wanted me to tape the ribbon to his upper lip. I thought a skinny black mustache would be much better than a bright orange poka dot one, so I got my eyeliner and helped him draw one on. Within minutes ( I literally walked to the bedroom to find something and make the bed) Jaisa walked out of the bathroom with not only a nice musty, but some glasses too. I don't think it looked half bad.

Last weekend, Todd's brother and sister-in-law hosted a little family "farewell to us" party in their backyard. The kids were excited to go swimming, but I decided to sit out (what's new?). It has nothing to do with me not wanting to get in my bathing suit, but the kids would need a towel and someone to hand it to them when they got out, right? Tyson and Jaisa had lots of fun swimming and jumping around with Todd.

Until.... this little girl

thought she could swim on her own. I was talking to my sister-in-law while Todd and others were in the pool. My niece said "Lyndsay, I think Jaisa is under the water." I looked over and sure enough I see these big blue eyes under the water sinking lower and lower. I jumped up and shouted to Todd "get Jaisa". He had no idea what I was talking about but saw me run to the side of the pool pointing. He waded through the water and pushed Tyson over a bit to grab her.

Tyson was trying to "save" her the whole time. She came up gasping for air and just wanted out of the pool (who wouldn't?) That was a close one. Needless to say, she spent the rest of the evening playing on the swings and anything else that didn't involve getting in the water. She would get just close enough to shoot Todd with the water gun or throw a ball, but not too close. I think she realized that swimming is not as easy as it looks (hopefully). And I realized how important my children are to me. I've had very few ***knock on wood*** scary experiences like this, but this has definitely got me on my toes anticipating and being ready for the next one - which hopefully will never happen!

It's not fun trying to load a huge truck with your life's posessions, especially with 3 youngins trailing behind me and wanting my attention. I was trying to figure out how I could keep an eye on the kids and still get stuff done. Finally, I remembered Jaisa's playhouse. It had to be loaded on the truck anyways, plus it was a nice weather. We moved it outside and it gave me a good 20 minutes to organize. The kids ate popsicles, played house and babysat Shawni until they got bored (imagine that - kids getting bored). By the time Todd got home from work to help, it was raining like crazy. But after 6 hours non-stop (and soaking wet), we finally got the last of our things on. The truck will ship tomorrow and we will just hang out and wait for our flights next week. Things are about to get even crazier which I am not looking forward to, but I know that in a couple of weeks, we will be settled at our new home and back on schedule - I love schedules!!!

Sunday, my little bug turned 5 months old. She is such an easy baby and rarely cries. She keeps herself plus Tyson and Jaisa giggling all day. I've been working hard trying to get her to roll over, but she just wants to laugh at me. Maybe this next month we'll make some progress. And maybe this next month her teeth will finally break through, since she is constantly needing her shirts changed. Cheers to this next month!

Todd got tickets from work to go see the Salt Lake Bees play. Tyson was not only excited to watch the baseball game, but to spend alone time with his dad. It was raining on and off all day so we thought the game might be cancelled. Luckily, it cleared up and the boys were off... while I sit home, eating cereal and blogging about their fun night.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR........

.........................Last year at this exact time, we surprised my dad for his 60th birthday. My mom bought us and our spouses tickets for a week long cruise to the Western Caribbean. It came right at the end of Todd's 4 years in dental school and a day after I found out I was pregnant (because this was another "accident" baby, I waited until the end of the cruise to spring it on Todd, for fear of being thrown overboard). We layed on the beaches of Haiti, climbed a waterfall in Jamaica, went on a private sailboat in Cayman Island to swim with the stingrays and went parasailing over the ocean in Cozumel. Not to mention the endless hours watching eachother surf and get badly injured on the surf machine at the back of the boat. Or, the karaoke bar where we saw some great entertainment from my brother, husband and brother in laws. THE best vacation EVER!!!

A BIG STEP TOWARDS MANHOOD

Two days ago, I noticed Tyson's tooth was loose. (yes, I was the one to notice, not him). He honestly had no clue, even though it flapped around when he would talk. I told him how fun it would be to pull it out. It was going to be a hard sell. But, we finally convinced, or threatened him - depending on how you loook at it, to let his dad pull it. "All the big boys are doin it", we told him. He gave in after about 20 minutes. His choices were staying up late and eating ice cream with dad - without a tooth. Or going to bed without dessert- but with his tooth. Obviously, he took the bait and couldn't wait to call Grandma and Grandpa when it was out. The best part was Todd just asked to feel it with the napkin and before Tyson could back out, it was gone. For some reason he thought the tooth fairy was going to leave him $2 and was quite disappointed and confused when there was only $1. Considering I only got a couple of quarters back in my day, I would say he was pretty lucky!

PARK CITY.............HOW I WILL MISS THEE

We took advantage of the beautiful weather here in Salt Lake for Memorial Day and took the kids to McDonalds for breakfast. The weather actually had nothing to do with Mcdonalds itself, but it was what would happen inside. Cinnamon rolls.....mcgriddles....diet coke. Yes, we had to get some energy for the day I had planned. Because it was such nice weather, I decided that we would take the kids and go up to Park City for some shopping and walking around. Obviously you can't spend hours with 3 kids in the car and strollers trying to scout out all the good deals (and believe me we scored) without some grease in your belly. So, first we had to load up at Mcdonalds and let the kids get some energy out on the playground. We headed to Park City after breakfast, where I planned on finding some tiny earrings for Shawni. I thought I had a handle on things until Jaisa decided to grab about 12 pairs of earrings off the turn table. She left a nice trail throughout the store and even hid some on the shelves and in the school bags. I quickley paid for my purchase and we bolted out of there. Jaisacontinued to scream that she wanted the spider earrings and Hannah Montana lip gloss. Walking ensued. We headed to the adidas store, where Todd found some shoes. Unfortunately, Tyson and Jaisa found packages of underwear with a guy in his underwear on the front. All the sudden there was shouting from my children. They made a scene by shouting "naked, ha ha ha that guy is naked", over and over again until we left that store. No shoes for Todd. More walking. We had almost reached Gap, when a lady came out of a children's store, pulling a rack behind her, full of kids' shirts that were marked down to $2.30 each! They were actually cute too. 9 shirts and $23.00 later (not bad eh?), we finally made it to the playground. The kids played while Todd went back and got his shoes. Why hadn't we thought of this sooner? As we were driving home, Todd looked over at me and *with a serious look on his face and shaking his head in disbelief* said "Wow, we pulled it off." "What do you mean", I said. " We went shopping with all 3 kids." Wait a second - I do that all the time! That is my life. He was sooo proud of himself for keeping it together the whole time up there. If they only knew-right?